and the Wheel Turns...

So, 18 hours on an airplane, and the books at airport shops basically have the NYT bestsellers only.

I see the "Knife of Dreams" by R Jordan, the dreaded book #11 (I kid you not) in the Wheel of Time series.
Ok, it is thick. I buy it.

So. the Wheel of Time is a fantasy series by a fairly well known author.
First book (Eye of the World IIRC) was intriguing, bit derivative (farm lad turns out to be the chosen one, with great powers; destined to fight evil, rule the universe etc. He sets off with his random sidekicks. Much hijinks ensue).

But, the next 2-3 books were actually good. Action packed, lots of sideplots, twists, unexpected variations on a theme.
Then the books ground to a halt. By the time of book 8 or 9, hundreds of pages were spent on agonising descriptions of clothing and repetiton of minor memes to reinforce the readers memory of the hundreds of unresolves subplots.
Last couple of books seemed to not actually advance the plot at all.

But this one does. Major subplots are successfully and interestingly resolved. Minor subplots are disposed of. New plots appear. Time actually advances with resolution in sight. It might even finish in book 12. We hope.

But, for anyone who read the first few books and gave up; may be time to catch up, things are moving again.

I can't say I'll ever be a "fan" of this series, but it is adequate entertainment again and is now worth reading to the end.