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The Shadow Rising Audiobook read by Rosamund Pike will be released in September 2024!

The Shadow Rising audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike will be released on September 17th, 2024. The audiobook is available to preorder now from wherever you buy your audiobooks! This is the  fourth book in The Wheel of Time book series written by late author Robert Jordan.
 
Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine Damodred in Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time, has narrated new editions of The Wheel of Time audiobooks. In 2023 she won an Audie for best female narrator for her version of The Eye of the World. The Dragon Reborn won an Audie award for fantasy in 2024. The audiobooks are published by Macmillian Audio.
 
Rosamund Pike says - 
 
The Wheel of Time series narrated by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are also still available for purchase from Macmillan Audio. 
 
The Shadow Rising is available for preorder now! 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The fourth book in the Wheel of Time series narrated by Rosamund Pike is available to preorder now! 

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Book Review: The Daughters' War

I was incredibly excited to read The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman, whose work I first discovered last year when browsing for audiobooks by top rated performances. Buehlman had read his own book, The Blacktongue Thief, and I was intrigued. In theory authors should be the perfect people to narrate their own books—they will get all of the pronunciation correct, and any intended inflections or emphases will be realized—but this is seldom actually the case. Voice acting is a talent and a skill that takes training to develop, just as writing is, and most folks pursue one path or the other (well, most folks pursue neither but we’ll forget about them for now). Buehlman defies this by turning in an excellent and accented performance of The Blacktongue Thief, deftly introducing readers to the characters and lore of his grim fantasy world.
 
The world of “Blacktongue,” where the duology (and I hope there are more books to come) is set, was not always grim. The Blacktongue Thief takes place several years after the goblin wars, a series of invasions by goblins that required increasingly desperate measures and alliances to be repelled by the kynd (the humanlike [humankynd?] races). The first invasion, known as the Knights’ War, was easily won by knights on horseback who outmatched the shorter goblins. The goblins responded by introducing a plague that devastated the horse population nearly to extinction, and the second invasion, called the Threshers’ War, required the conscription of farmers in order to hold out against the goblins. The humans won but paid a high price in blood and sons, and when the goblins came again, they had to call upon their daughters to march to war.
 
This “Daughters’ War” is where this second book takes us, from the perspective of Galva dom Braga. Galva, who was a grizzled veteran who worships the god of death in The Blacktongue Thief, is now an untried soldier marching to war as part of an experimental unit of women soldiers matched with war corvids. The corvids are magically bred, oversized, intelligent ravens that are trained to kill goblins. Readers of The Blacktongue Thief will know that the war corvids did indeed turn the tide, driving the goblins to an uneasy truce and leaving nearly the entirety of Manreach with a severe case of PTSD.
 
The Daughters’ War takes place during the war of that name, but the book is really about one daughter’s war: Galva dom Braga. Her three brothers are also marching to war, each in different capacities, and the story follows the dynamics of the dom Braga family in tandem with the battles against the goblins. The eldest brother and heir is a drunk who has been given a mostly symbolic rank and spends his war drinking and carousing with other ignoble nobles. The next brother has earned his high rank and sits on the senior war council. The youngest brother is a sort of assistant apprentice to the powerful and slightly mad wizard who created the corvids. Then there is Galva, the third eldest, who has trained at the elite sword academy and is paired with two deadly war corvids but has not yet been tested in a real fight. 
 
Each dom Braga sibling will be tested in this war—against the enemy, against each other, and against themselves—and some will do better than others. Galva also experiences love and friendship, all against the backdrop of a terrible war that can suddenly and painfully introduce loss into any relationship. 
 
And the war is brutal. Readers of The Blacktongue Thief will recall the legacy that the goblin wars had on the lands and their people; readers of The Daughters’ War will experience that trauma directly. These goblins are not the lesser cousins of orcs that populate many fantasy worlds. These are terrifying monsters whose primary reason for invading is simply that they want to eat people. Being eaten by monsters is not an unusual threat in fantasy (who can forget the infamous trolloc cookpots), but there is something particularly terrifying about the matter-of-factness with which these goblins pursue it (Buehlman has also written several horror novels). People are farmed, dumbed with drugs, herded, butchered, and savored. The goblins are intelligent, but in a nonhuman way. They build siege engines and execute strategies, but they also swarm like zombies, piling over themselves to overwhelm adversaries. There is an inevitability to the goblin invasion that permeates these pages. That is why the farmers, and now the daughters, have been called to fight.
 
I applaud Buehlman for creating this menacing adversary, and I applaud him further for making this book about the people who are fighting more than about the fight. There are fights aplenty, but the impact is felt more on Galva's character than on the battlelines. The book is, after all, a prequel, so a prepared reader will know more or less how the war itself goes. What is far more interesting is the path that Galva takes from a green soldier to the hardened, no-nonsense soldier that we meet in The Blacktongue Thief. We also see Galva meet the Infanta Mireya, whose usurped throne is a point of some consideration in The Blacktongue Thief, but whose relationship to Galva is the point of consideration in The Daughters’ War.
 
Perhaps the thing that impressed me most about this book is the change in tone from The Blacktongue Thief. That book is told from the perspective of the titular thief, full of exaggerations and swagger, willing to do most anything to seize an advantage. This book, from the perspective of the upright soldier Galva—for whom lying is a cardinal offense and to whom death is preferable to dishonor—feels entirely different. Even the verbosity is dialed back, from a skilled linguist who clearly enjoys his way with words to the laconic soldier who will not waste breath nor ink on anything that does not need to be said.
 
The Daughters’ War is a masterpiece in evoking the readers’ full range of emotion. This book made me stay up past my bedtime, made me cry, made me laugh (a little—there is little humor in war), and a certain character made me absolutely furious. I cannot recommend this book enough, and we can all hope that Christopher Buehlman continues to write in this world. The Daughters’ War is released on June 25; thank you to Tor for the advance review copy.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman is a bleak and harrowing tale of war and the toll that it takes on everyone involved, even those who survive as heroes. A prequel to The Blacktongue Thief, The Daughters’ War is a wholly different yet no less enjoyable read.

Michael_
Michael_

Review: Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera

Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found at his website.

Is history a fact, or a story—and, if the latter, whose story?
 
Rakesfall, by Vajra Chandrasekera, is a series of stories that intentionally collapse on their way to completion, question their own truth and intent, expound on the nature of reality and history, and then morph into something completely different. Rakesfall doesn't try to invest you in a particular character or plot; it’s not in the business of setting up expectations and then fulfilling them. It uses stories—or fragments of them—as a means of illustrating a philosophical and political thesis, delivered from the mouths of a rotating cast of characters.
 
What is fiction anyway? Is it the same thing as a story? Is it that graph of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement, where someone or something irrevocably changes? For me, Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler was the book that first showed me that fiction could be far weirder, taking readers on a journey and showing them the sights in different ways, sometimes addressing the readers directly, sometimes narrating the readers as though hijacking their minds.
 
The title “Rakesfall” refers to a mythological world war between peoples known as the Yoke and the Rake. The Yoke conquered and colonized, but the Rake survived and persisted in hiding. They form an archetype for conflicts that echo through time, where the conqueror writes history, but the conquered still “haunt” the world the victor describes, a dissonance in the tale—and a ticking bomb.
 
This is the heady premise of a thread that connects several otherwise disjointed stories across space, time, and characters. It’s Hindu monistic philosophy in a Marxist critical theoretic frame. 
 
 
Who has the power, how is it exercised, and what illusions of division does it generate?
 
If this sounds elevated and hard to understand, that’s also my experience of reading Rakesfall. The book is full of mysterious meta-stories that don’t reach any evident conclusions, and character-delivered explanations of why it’s wrong to expect evident conclusions. “You mean that histories are true and stories are lies? No, both are true and both are lies, grandmother says. The difference is that stories have endings, and histories understand that nothing ever ends.”
 
Rakesfall skips among unrelated characters (of fluid genders and species), settings, time periods, and genres, and insists that all these categories aren’t real. The Hindu maya, the illusion we perceive of distinctness and separateness, is an instrument of oppression that it is our eternal mission to dismantle. These aren’t different stories. They’re all one story, whether the illusion is experienced as supernatural or as a glitch in one’s post-human sensor arrays.
 
It’s informative that six chapters of Rakesfall were published as five independent short stories across five magazines and nearly two decades. It has the feel of an author circling a set of concepts and, in a metatextual flourish, unifying them. Those who have read Chandrasekera’s wonderful debut novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, will recognize many of the same themes, laid out in a more straightforward way. (It’s saying something that Bright Doors reads as straightforward in comparison to Rakesfall.) In fact, the city of Luriat, with its invisible laws and powers, bright doors, and rewritten palimpsest history, are part of the much broader universe (multiverse?) of Rakesfall.
 
This is a universe where time is “not a flowing river of cause and effect, but a glacial ocean, whole and complete, past and future laid out full, frozen and transparent.” Reincarnation, ghosts, zombies, and digital consciousness outside of time are phenomena that reveal the lie of the life/death duality. The “akashic record” is the true history of all that is, which is either supernaturally written in the firmament, or a universal blockchain, depending on the era. Identities—our senses of self—are porous and bleed not only up and down our ancestry, but across our connections and sense of purpose. Haunting—a recurring theme—is the shadow thrown by the suppressed past on the current version of history. In this setting, the characters in various eras struggle toward various goals, but their story is really about escaping illusory concerns and seeking wholeness and reconciliation with the past—often through shocking violence.
 
Okay. That’s a lot of high-minded material. But is it a good read? This is a book that engages with the head far more than the heart. The ideas are sophisticated and complex.
 
The language is poetic, sometimes playful, with wry twists in tone and rhythm: “Until then she will not rest, nor sleep, not leavetake, not take leave, not take or leave, nor give and take, nor so much as blink.”
 
There’s humor and relatable truth: “Whenever Uncle rants, about history, about politics, about the injustices faced by his, that is to say their, great race, his comb-over rises up and unfurls like a flag.”
 
There are jokes that are jarring in their context, but it feels intentional: “Grandmother Sits only ever gives explosives on birthdays.”
 
For readers who read to admire the artist’s artistry and the intellectual game of metafictional self-reference, recursion, and infinite regress, this book is full of delights. For readers who seek the union of philosophical and political arguments that can reference the Hindu epic Ramayana, the Sri Lankan Civil War, and post-human cyberpunk detective stories, this is your book.
 
But if you’re reading to immerse yourself in characters, their yearnings, and the escalating measures they’ll take to fulfill those yearnings—if you’re looking for a traditionally-defined story—Rakesfall will actively resist you. To be fair, every step of the way, it telegraphs what kind of book it isn’t. It isn’t a tale, it’s an argument about tales, history, and the nature of the universe. It can explain, in text, why it’s making the narrative choices it makes, but it doesn’t try to win you over to it. That’s on you. I was often frustrated as I latched onto a story thread, only to see it yanked away or interrupted by a screed just as I was getting invested. There was a certain pleasure in going back over my highlights and notes, and discovering all the intentional connections. But this was an intellectual pleasure, not the emotional one of reading a great yarn.
 
Rakesfall is aware, and answers with a shrug. “But maybe it’s exploitative to attempt truth in fiction, maybe it is mere commodification only, maybe fabulism strips histories of whatever dignity realism might have to offer—or maybe it’s the other way around, maybe it’s mimesis that takes away history’s dreams and fantasies, makes it small and lonely and vulnerable in a haunted world.”
 
It is up to you, reader, to determine if that model of fiction satisfies.

Much gratitude to Tor Books for the advance reading copy. Rakesfall will be available June 18, 2024.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera combines Hindu philosophy with Marxist critical theory to tell a genre-bending, millennia-spanning tale that aims for the head, not the heart. There is a certain pleasure in reading this collection of postmodern stories, but it is an intellectual pleasure, not the emotional pleasure of reading a great yarn.

MahaRaj
MahaRaj

Robrt Jordan Memorial Scholarship 2024 from TarValon.net

The Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship is awarded by the community of TarValon.Net to people seeking higher education in pursuit of being a Servant of All.  This year, two scholarships will be awarded, of $500 each.  People in any accredited program of study are welcome to apply; this includes students in two or four year colleges, graduate studies, or non-traditional certification programs.   Apply NOW! because the application period goes until May 15, 2024.  Applicants are asked to explain "how do you plan to use your education in a way that exemplifies being a Servant of All?" and scholarships will be awarded based on the response.  The Tar Valon Community Council will read the essays and determine scholarship recipients, who will be notified in July.    More detail is available on the Tar Valon website.  To apply, go HERE. 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    For years, TarValon.net has been sponsoring a scholarship for fans of The Wheel of Time. Applications are now open for 2024!

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Book Review: Time’s Agent

Raquel Petra has everything she could ever want - her wife Marlena, their daughter Atalanta, and a job working alongside Marlena as researchers for the Institute. Specifically, the Global Institute for the Scientific and Humanistic Study of Pocket Worlds, which investigates little bubbles of parallel reality, and the elusive points that connect them to our own. Then, with one tiny mistake, Raquel loses everything in an instant.
 
Time runs fast in some of these worlds, slow in others. This leads to a wide variety of imaginative uses for time dilation, which is one of my favourite things in the story. Grow crops very quickly in a fast world, then store them in a slow world so they don’t go off. Calculating how old somebody is requires keeping track of all the worlds they’ve been in. 
 
Because the points where you enter a world can be attached to a movable physical object, which can itself be brought inside another world, you end up with worlds within worlds, and all the complexities that might imply. It’s a great science fiction concept to build the tale around, but all the other aspects here shine just as much.
 
This is a story anchored in the Dominican Republic. Raquel works as an archeologist, exploring the pocket worlds for evidence of the indigenous Taíno people of the Caribbean, something that becomes more relevant as things progress.
 
On a broader view, it is very much about colonialism, capitalism, environmental disaster, and war. But, primarily it’s about one person’s sadness, grief, and complete self-destructive refusal to let go of what she lost. Those are the parts that really stuck with me after I had finished reading. Ultimately, it’s also about hope, something I am personally very glad for, and you will be too. This story hurts in all the right ways.
 
Highly recommended.
 
Thanks to Tor for the early review copy.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    An inventive novella about grieving across times and spaces.

James Thomson
James Thomson

Book Review: Navigational Entanglements

This novella has quite a different setting from Aliette de Bodard’s recent Xuya books, but it’s an equally fascinating place.
 
Việt Nhi is a lowly member of the Rooster clan, one of the four opposed navigator clans who help guide ships through the Hollows; another space entirely that is used as a shortcut to achieve faster-than-light travel. As with many shortcuts, there is a slight catch. The Hollows are also home to a form of life known as the Tanglers; large unknowable creatures with deadly intangible tendrils that love to feed on the travellers who cross through their realm.
 
The navigators are not defenceless however—they can project their life energy into a form known as their Shadow; a force that can tear open holes in the universe and protect their ships from harm. Sometimes though, Nhi just uses it to give herself a nice hug when she is feeling stressed out by life.
 
And Nhi is certainly stressed. Not only has one of these eldritch horrors escaped from the Hollows intent on devouring everything in its path, not only is she being sent to find and catch it, but she will have to work with delegates of the other three clans to do so, accompanied by an aloof imperial envoy intent on keeping everybody in line.
 
Nhi does not do well with people. They do not always make sense to her, and she finds social interactions particularly wearing. Plus, all the clans barely tolerate each other at the best of times, so this will be quite the challenge of teamwork. To complicate matters even further, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to another member of the team…
 
With a queer and neurodivergent main protagonist, and a band of lovably broken outcasts, this is a fun tale inspired by xianxia-style martial arts, but rooted in science fiction with an undercurrent of romance. It does a lot of world building despite the short length, and I hope we will get to see these characters again, or at least have more stories set in the same universe.
 
Definitely worth your time.
 
Thanks to Tor Publishing for the early review copy.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    A group of misfits are sent on a dangerous mission to defeat a monster in deep space, but perhaps their biggest challenge is learning to work together.

James Thomson
James Thomson

Book Review: The Fireborne Blade

We join Maddileh on an ill-fated quest to recover the Fireborne Blade. The King himself witnessed her punching Sir Allerbon in the face, but I can assure you that he really did deserve it. So, retrieve the ancient sword, regain her honour. A simple enough proposition. Of course, the slight catch is that this weapon happens to be located deep in the lair of a legendary dragon, known as the White Lady. 
 
The story slowly takes us towards their final confrontation, through pockets of dangerous magic and the ghosts of those who had fallen attempting the same journey. Her useless and argumentative squire Petros is also present.
 
Most of the world building comes in the form of academic papers on the nature of dragons, which are interspersed between the chapters of Maddileh’s story. Typically, these are records of previous encounters, which usually end in gruesome fashion for the knights involved. Even in death, dragons are still to be feared.
 
There are also some flashbacks to her preparations beforehand, notably getting some equipment from a mage, Kennion, and his suspiciously knowledgeable assistant Saralene. Perhaps the only thing worse in this world than a woman who wants to be a knight, is a woman who wants to wield magic.
 
I really enjoyed this book. The path down to the dragon is filled with twists and turns, both literally and literary. Even though it is brief at 176 pages, it paints a vivid picture of Maddileh’s world, and I quickly came to love the characters. Well, some of the characters, at least. It leaves things in such an interesting place that I hope I can read more of their adventures to find out what happens next.
 
Recommended.
 
Thanks to Tor Publishing for the early review copy.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    This is a short tale about Maddileh, who is both a dragon-slaying knight, and a woman. One of those things is almost certainly going to be the death of her.

James Thomson
James Thomson

Book Review: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea

Rebecca Thorne would be the first to admit this book was initially inspired by Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes (check out Ola Aleksandra Hills’ review here) . It’s a (mostly) cozy romance in a fantasy setting about two women who open up a shop, grow to be part of the local community, and have pasts that eventually catch up to them. On the surface, that sounds like the same story, but it really isn’t; think of it more as a familiar framework to hang something new on.
 
Reyna is great at her job as a royal guard, but does not particularly enjoy dispatching the increasingly frequent assassins who threaten the throne. It is not, however, a role you can easily leave with your head still attached, as the Queen frequently demonstrates.
 
Kianthe is the Arcandor; the most powerful mage in all the land. She’s a magical troubleshooter, called in to deal with big (and frequently fiery) problems. But there’s a lot of stifling politics around the role, and many layers of ineffectual men trying to tell her what to do.
 
The two have also been secretly dating for years, and have a shared dream of running far away together to open a tea shop that sells books. Or, perhaps, a bookshop that serves tea. An incident at the palace makes their dreams suddenly a lot more real, and they end up incognito as small business owners in a forgotten corner of the world. There is just the small matter of Reyna committing treason against the Queendom, and Kianthe hiding from the Magicary, but I’m sure that won’t come back to bite them later (it will).
 
It’s worth keeping in mind that this is not quite as cozy or small scale as Legends & Lattes is. There is an underlying dragon-shaped mystery about their new town, which leads them into more adventure, and indeed more mortal peril, than you might anticipate. The two of them don’t always make the best decisions, particularly in terms of self-care and self-preservation. But this is an established relationship, and they are both supportive of each other throughout, which is certainly refreshing.
 
“Tomes & Tea” is planned as a four book series, and books two and three are already written. So, it will not be too long until we find out what is next for our couple, and I personally can’t wait. In fact, since the first two books were originally self-published before being picked up by Tor, I don’t actually have to wait; those two are currently available in ebook form. The physical books look very nice however, and I suspect I will pick those up for my shelves as they are released.
 
A fun tale, recognisable in some ways, but still very entertaining. Another sapphic shopkeeping success!
 
Thanks to Tor for the early review copy.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    We’ve all dreamed of running away from our frustrating jobs, but for Reyna and Kianthe, such thinking is downright treasonous.

James Thomson
James Thomson

Book Review: Foul Days

Many modern fantasy books are showcases of worldbuilding—magic systems, creative (and not so creative) variations on the “orc,” tongue-twisting character and place names, and so on. Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova has the best elements of all of that, but it also has what so many of its contemporaries do not: vivid and engaging prose. Take the very first paragraph.
It was nearly midnight on New Year’s Eve, but the city inside the Wall didn’t celebrate. The people there knew that the birth of a new year was—like any birth—difficult, painful, and dangerous.
 
You better believe I tore through this 350-page book in a hurry after that. It helped that I read it on vacation, of course, with my only distractions being ordering another drink and the occasional dip in the Pacific. But Foul Days isn’t just a great beach read. It is also a great stay-up-past-your-bedtime read, a great take-on-your-lunch-break read, a great anytime read. The action is fast, the world is vividly bleak, and the suspense kicks in early and doesn’t let up.
 
The main character, Kosara, is a young witch who has packed a surprisingly long troubled past into her short years. Before long, she is forced to give up her shadow—her magic—in order to escape from the Czar of Monsters. It’s a short-term solution, because a witch can’t live for long without her shadow. In Kosara’s quest to get it back, she gets swept up in the machinations of the criminal underworld and crooked cops—including a handsome cop with almost as many secrets as Kosara—and a host of monsters. There is an element of steampunk to the fantasy—trains, guns, and a hot air balloon make appearances—as well as a touch of romance (I did mention a handsome cop…).
 
I picked this book up because the blurb advertises The Witcher meets Naomi Novik, and doesn’t that sound like a good time? There is more Naomi Novik here than Geralt; the Witcher comparison stems mostly from the compendium of monsters and specialized monster fighters. Novik’s influence is much more present, with a flawed-but-strong young heroine and a world grown from eastern-European folklore roots. In the case of Foul Days, those influences come from the author’s origins in Bulgaria.
 
Indeed, the “Foul Days” of the title correspond to the Pagan Slavic winter holiday of Korochun, the time of year when the more malevolent spirits are at their most potent. Those spirits are especially potent in Chenograd, where the story begins. Chenograd and Belograd are two halves of a city divided by a wall—The Wall—which keeps all the monsters and evil spirits on the Chenogradean side. It also (mostly) keeps all the citizens of the cities on their respective sides. As you might imagine, there is some tension between the folks on opposite sides of The Wall.
 
We learn more about the origins of The Wall and how this city got to be divided as the book progresses. Dimova does an exceptionally good job of introducing the lore at a pace that keeps the reader informed without overwhelming. The POV is third person, but there is more than a hint of the unreliable narration from our heroine, Kosara, who has some secrets that she would rather not share with the reader or anyone else. This mostly works well, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty that very much matches the uncertainty that Kosara feels after crossing to the other side of the wall and discovering the betrayal and deception that more than validate her secrecy.
 
There are a few instances, though, where I wish Dimova had trusted her own very capable character development and left things in the subtext. For example, after Kosara meets a character who is revealed to have robbed a bank with a toy gun, we read that “Kosara glanced at Nur with newfound respect. This perhaps showed that something was amiss in Kosara’s own moral compass.” Added to the fact that on the very first page of the book we see Kosara using magic to cheat at cards, I don’t think we need to be told so explicitly in which direction her moral compass points.
 
Overwhelmingly, though, I enjoyed the prose of Foul Days immensely. The world that Dimova creates leaps off the page—sometimes frighteningly so—and, at times, managed to take me from my sunny vacation to the snowy streets of Chernograd and Belograd. I loved discovering and understanding the different monsters, some of which are truly evil and some of which are just your average creatures with their own needs and wants. The book also does an excellent job of illustrating that some of the humans are more monstrous than any creature, and, as the cover of the book says, “the scariest monsters are the human-shaped ones.”
 
Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova comes out in June, and I highly recommend putting it on your summer reading list. The second book, Monstrous Nights, is set to release in October, and I am already excited to see how Dimova continues this adventure. Thank you to TOR for the advance reader copy that I reviewed, and thank you to Grace for editing this review.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Foul Days is a fast-paced feast of monsters and humans and the space where the two overlap. The characters and world are highly compelling, and the writing is superb. The June release for this book makes it the perfect summer read and I highly recommend you push it to the top of your list.

Michael_
Michael_

Dragonmount is HYPED to be at JordanCon 2024!

📍 Looking for Dragonmount at JordanCon? We're all over the place! Come find us to grab your exclusive badge ribbon and join in on the fun. We're excited to meet you, share stories, and celebrate our love for The Wheel of Time. Check our plans and stop by—let's make this JordanCon unforgettable! 
 
Kathy Campbell
aka JordanCon’s Officer of Communications
You’ll find her- in the wild enjoying herself around the con for most of the weekend!
Sunday session- Feedback & Leavetakings

 
Kitty Rallo
aka ½ of this year’s Toastmaster duo
Opening Ceremonies
Project Runway: JordanCon
Unlocking Shakespeare with Guy Roberts
Author Guest of Honor Spotlight
Artist Guest of Honor Spotlight
JordanCon’s Annual Costume Contest

 
Ebony Adomanis
aka JordanCon’s New Member Services Director
You’ll find her- Friday New Member Tours
Remainder of the weekend in the wild enjoying herself around the con!

 
Thom DeSimone
aka JordanCon Panelist
tWoTcast Live!
WoTionary: A Wheel of Time Game Show

 
Crystal Fritz
aka JordanCon Newbie
You’ll find her- in the wild enjoying herself around the con!
 
Kevin Angus
aka JordanCon Panelist
Looney Theories
The Wheel of Time Family Feud with Tar Valon After Dark

 
Erin DeSimone
aka JordanCon’s Director of Media Relations
You’ll find her- in the wild enjoying herself around the con!
 
 

  • Teaser Paragraph:

    📍 Looking for Dragonmount at JordanCon? We're all over the place! Come find us to grab your exclusive badge ribbon and join in on the fun. We're excited to meet you, share stories, and celebrate our love for The Wheel of Time. Check our plans and stop by—let's make this JordanCon unforgettable! 
     

Erin D.
Erin D.

Packing for JordanCon: My Top 10 Essentials for an Easy Trip

With JordanCon just around the corner, excitement is building, and so is the need to pack smart! Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned attendee, having the right gear can make all the difference. Here’s a rundown of the top 10 essentials I pack to ensure my adventure is as smooth as a Tinker's dance moves.
 
VEGER Portable Charger: Never let your device die in the middle of capturing a memorable panel or snapping a selfie with your favorite author. This slim power bank is a lifesaver, with built-in cables for both iPhone and Android devices.
Veken Packing Cubes: Stay organized and maximize suitcase space with these handy packing cubes. They come in various sizes, making it easy to find exactly what you need without rummaging through your entire bag.
Pedialyte Powder Packets: Hydration is key, especially with all the excitement and running around. These packets are a quick fix to keep hydrated, helping you stay energized throughout the con.
Riemot Luggage Cup Holder: Juggling coffee and luggage is no joke. Attach this cup holder to your suitcase handle, and keep your drinks secure while you maneuver through crowds. Two drink slots in case you are a drink goblin like me!
Earplugs: Whether you're trying to sleep on a noisy flight, in a room near the party floor, or next to a snoring roommate, earplugs are essential for peace and quiet. I bring my Loop earplugs, which I use year-round to drown out the chaos of the office.
Neutrogena Makeup Remover Wipes: Refresh your skin after a long day with these individually wrapped wipes. They're perfect for quick makeup changes between events or before bedtime. Unlike travel packs of makeup wipes, these won’t dry out because they are individually wrapped. This is especially handy if you don’t use these frequently. It will keep the rest fresh for when you do need them.
BAGSMART Toiletry Bag: This TSA-approved toiletry bag hangs conveniently and fits all your grooming essentials, keeping them neatly organized and accessible. 
14 GRIDS Travel Pill Organizer: Keep your medications and supplements neatly sorted and easily accessible, a must-have for managing health on the go. It is so small, it can easily fit in any bag you choose.
Electronics Organizer: An absolute necessity to keep all your electronic accessories like cables, power banks, Apple watches, Fitbits, e-readers, and earphones in one place. No more digging through your bag for a lost charger!
Tide To Go Stain Remover Pen: From accidental spills to enthusiastic costume mishaps, this pen will be your best friend. It's compact and perfect for immediate spot treatment to keep your outfits looking great.
 
Packing these items will ensure you're prepared for anything JordanCon throws your way, leaving you free to focus on the fun, the books, and the unforgettable community experience. See you there!
 
*Note- contains affiliate links. Clicking through our links won't cost you any extra, but Dragonmount may get a small commission from Amazon. It's win-win for you and us!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    With JordanCon just around the corner, excitement is building, and so is the need to pack smart! Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned attendee, having the right gear can make all the difference. Here’s a rundown of the top 10 essentials I pack to ensure my adventure is as smooth as a Tinker's dance moves.

Erin D.
Erin D.

JordanCon 2024 Game

Welcome to the 2024 Dragonmount x JordanCon Quest!

Join Dragonmount on a quest to interact with the amazing community at JordanCon, which comes together each year to celebrate The Wheel of Time and other sci-fi/fantasy works.
 
Here's how it's going to work!
Complete any quests from the list below by following the instructions and posting the photos to your social media account using the hashtag #DragonmountQuest.
Write the number of each completed quest in any box on the BINGO card on the back of your JordanCon program.
Get BINGO by placing any 5 completed quest numbers in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal). 

When you've made a BINGO, search out a member of Dragonmount to confirm and authorize your win.

Important note: All photos must be taken with consent. Please do not interrupt or disrupt panels or conversations to take photos.

To be eligible to win BINGO all social media posts must be on a public profile using the hashtag #DragonmountQuest (so Dragonmount can authenticate and repost).
 
Selfie with a Dragonmount staffer Screenshot of your Dragonmount.com profile Selfie with someone in Aes Sedai cosplay Screenshot of you following Dragonmount on Twitch with the alert bell Post in the JordanCon 2024 chat on the Dragonmount Discord Photo of someone reading a book at JordanCon Photo of a Dragonmount ribbon on your badge Selfie with an Author Guest and their book Screenshot of your favorite video from Dragonmount's YouTube Channel Photo of your Con Suite meal Photo of a non-Wheel of Time cosplay Screenshot of your favorite blog post on Dragonmount.com Photo at a panel Selfie with a Dealer Repost your favorite Dragonmount TikTok and comment on it that you reposted it Screenshot of you following Dragonmount on Instagram Screenshot of the bookstore on Dragonmount where you can buy ebooks published by Tor Publishing Group Post a video of yourself declaring <something> "From the slopes of Dragonmount!" A photo of the Dragonmount logo somewhere at JordanCon Selfie with a group of nerds Dragonmount dance party! Find our dance party thread on our social media and post a pic/video of you dancing or a dancing gif Photo of a purchase made from the Dealers Hall Selfie with a piece of art you've purchased Screenshot of you following Dragonmount on TikTok Selfie at the JordanCon dance party Selfie at the JordanCon store Photo of your best Wheel of Time inspired pose Photo of anything that isn't directly related to The Wheel of TIme but makes you THINK of The Wheel of Time Screenshot of you following Dragonmount on YouTube with the alert bell Photo of an awesome Charity Auction item
The first five people with a straight line BINGO will win one of the following prizes: a signed hardcover Origins of the Wheel of Time OR Books 1-4 of the Stormlight Archive. With book five, Wind and Truth, coming out this December, now is the perfect time to catch up on the series!

Anyone else with a completed BINGO will be entered for a chance to win any remaining copies as well as a variety of other amazing prizes from the Tor Publishing Group warehouse.

Special thanks to the incredible team over at Tor Publishing Group for sponsoring these amazing prizes. 

Stay tuned for Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth, which releases on December 6th, 2024. 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Welcome to the 2024 Dragonmount x JordanCon Quest!


    Join Dragonmount on a quest to interact with the amazing community at JordanCon, which comes together each year to celebrate The Wheel of Time and other sci-fi/fantasy works.

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Review: Tsalmoth by Steven Brust

Tsalmoth, a Vlad Taltos novel by Steven Brust, begins with a punchy opening line: “Have you ever noticed that getting married is like trying to collect a debt from a dead guy?”
 
Well, have you?
 
I myself have not noticed this, but I also do not have any personal experience doing either thing, so perhaps I am not best qualified to assess the analogy. In any case, I certainly felt compelled to read the next line, and the next, and the next—which is a good thing, because before that, I had been slightly worried to discover that I was starting the sixteenth Vlad Taltos novel, having read none of the previous fifteen! This seems to be a theme with my book reviews—jumping into series and universes at random points and trying to find my footing. I needn’t have worried though, as I was able to understand enough about the world and characters to find it deeply enjoyable as a stand-alone novel. Indeed, after a few pages, I found myself caught up in the story and piecing together enough context to enjoy the ride.
 
Tsalmoth follows the adventures of Vlad Taltos, a sort of mid-level organized crime boss in a fantasy city, as he attempts to plan a wedding and collect a debt from a dead guy. The story is told first-person from Vlad’s perspective, and I quickly found myself enjoying his voice. Although the first few pages had me feeling in over my head with characters and lore, Vlad quickly addresses this by offering “...maybe I should tell you a bit about myself. Nah, skip it. That’s boring. You’ll figure it out.” This snappy and somewhat cocky tone is tempered by Vlad’s curiosity, good-heartedness, humor, and noted simple tastes.
 
Each chapter begins with several ‘out of time’ paragraphs of Vlad describing the wedding planning process. As he sorts through the various traditions and cultural expectations of a wedding, I was reminded of a The Sopranos meme of actor Michael Imperioli as the hapless Christopher Moltisanti pinching a cigarette between his fingers and earnestly explaining his understanding of a concept. Go ahead and insert “So get this, Tony…” before any of Vlad’s expositions and you’ll see what I mean.
 
Brust, as Vlad Taltos, does include some absolutely effective descriptions that can’t help but resonate with the reader. For example, recounting a conversation with his betrothed, Cawti:
 
We talked about moving stuff around. How can a discussion of moving a table from one side of a room to the other make you so happy? I don’t know. It did.
 
Those few, simple words about the pure contented feeling of planning with another person that you trust and want to spend time doing nothing with do more to capture the feeling of love than a lot of flowery prose that I have encountered.
 
Vlad’s adventures begin, as alluded to, with the death of a guy who owes him money. In his efforts to find who is responsible, and who might be able to make good on the debt, Vlad is drawn into a world of intrigue. In classic mob story fashion, the plot thickens—and thickens again, as more players are revealed, and factions emerge. Each time it seems that he is closing in on the money, a new angle develops, until the very end when everything is tied up in surprising and satisfying fashion.
 
One element that I found to be missing, although I stayed on my toes expecting it for the whole read, is a devastating betrayal. In fact, most of the characters, aside from Vlad, are fairly one dimensional (in the character sense, not necessarily in the planar existence sense). This could be an intentional choice of the author to depict an unreliable and self-interested narrator, so I mention it more as an observation than a criticism. 
 
There is sorcery and necromancy and demonology in the world of Vlad Taltos, as well as a collection of races and classes that I struggled to keep track of. I attribute my struggles more to the fact that I started in the middle of the series than as a shortcoming on the writing. If anything, I am now motivated to read more of Brust’s books so that I can begin to understand more of this world.

Overall, Tsalmoth is an entertaining mob mystery set in a fantasy world. The quick pacing and snappy dialogue helped smooth over any of my confusion about the world of Vlad Taltos. Even if I didn't know exactly what was happening in the universe, I always knew what was happening in the moment. Steven Brust has firmly been added to the list of authors whose works I will always check for at libraries and booksellers.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Tsalmoth is a fast-paced fantasy mob mystery featuring Vlad Taltos. Witty dialogue (much of it Vlad's internal dialogue) keeps the plot engaging even as it becomes increasingly complex and eventually reaches a satisfying conclusion.

Michael_
Michael_

Thom’s Reactions - Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender Ep1

The Wheel of Time flows through my veins as much as it does yours! That being said, there is a TON of wide-ranging crossover in many fandoms with us WoT nerds. Whether it's Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, or even cooking (love them honeycakes)! But another franchise that is near and dear to my heart is Avatar: The Last Airbender. The themes and many story elements deeply cross over into Wheel of Time.I will be exploring all of this in this blog series as I watch the live-action series. You can also catch some AtLAB content by tuning in to the current season of our Monday Night #reWoTch where we are watching the Animated series of AtLAB Book 2.
 
Don't forget to join us Mondays at 9pm Eastern on the Youtubes ;-)
 
Welcome to the Fire Nation capital, a place where beauty is shadowed with ominous foreboding. As the curtain rises on the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we are treated to a visual feast. The set design? Stunning. The costumes and makeup? On point. The opening sequence? Kyoshi, you absolute legend! She graces the screen looking fiercer than ever. The visualization of the avatars, lined up like a council of gods, with Roku's entrance at the end? Perfection. And we can’t forget the delightful addition of rat-chickens, which immediately shows the quirky touch that runs through the world of Avatar.
 
But it's not just the aesthetics that I thoroughly enjoyed. The bending, oh the bending! Earth and fire collide in a spectacular display of power. The earthbender's use of stones to create a Gatling gun? Pure genius. And those rat-chickens? They steal the show with their hilarious antics.
 
As the action unfolds, we witness the earthbender seamlessly blending defense and attack, surfing on rocks like a boss. And those 'chocobos' lurking in the background? A nod to gaming, perhaps, with Square Enix vibes that make you do a double-take.
 
And then there's Firelord Sozen and crew, delivering performances that harken back to classic Kung Fu films. It's a nostalgic nod that many fans probably appreciate. I certainly did!
 
But let's talk about the fire. The burning effects are chillingly realistic, a stark reminder of the showrunners' aim to appeal to “Game of Thrones" fans. The violence and gore is in service of a darker, grittier narrative.


 
Side Note:
I want to dive into a theory I have been seeing people passionately discuss. Is the Avatar truly one soul? I'm not entirely convinced. The Avatar communicates with past/dead Avatars, suggesting a shared consciousness rather than a simple cycle of rebirth. It's a thought-provoking concept that adds depth to the story.
 
And then there's Aang, soaring through the skies without his trusty staff. A bold choice, considering its significance later on. Why the change? It's a departure from the original, but perhaps it sets the stage for new developments.
 
Speaking of developments, the announcement of Aang as the Avatar and subsequent event at the Southern Air Temple adds a layer of tension. It makes the Fire Nation's decimation of the airbenders more plausible, concentrating some of the strongest/most influential airbenders in one vulnerable location. And can we talk about the air temples? Majestic doesn't even begin to describe them.
 
Now, let's address the elephant-bison in the room: accents. Or rather, the lack thereof. Aang sounds... off. Like a robot trying to blend in with humans. It's a curious choice that has me scratching my head.He almost sounds like someone narrating Aang’s story/thoughts instead of a character living in the world.
 
But enough about Aang, let's talk about everyone's favorite sky bison, Appa. He looks and sounds as magnificent as ever, a CGI masterpiece that brings joy to this diehard fans' heart.
 
Aang emerges from his icy slumber and leaves behind his beloved Appa, a choice I’m not thrilled about him just HAVING the Air bison whistle already. Because I fear its the Netflix is giving us a subtle hint that certain filler episodes may be left out, but also a lesson in responsibility and sacrifice for the viewers >.<.
 
And then there's the budding bond between Aang and Katara, a sweet moment that feels a tad forced but still manages to warm our hearts 😉
 
The showdown between Zuko and Sokka is a highlight, showcasing Sokka's clever tactics and Zuko's simmering frustration. Aang's intervention, effortlessly taking out firebenders, is a testament to his raw power. But it's Zuko's disappointment upon meeting Aang that strikes a chord. The gap between expectation and reality is palpable, setting the stage for a complex relationship. They've really got Zuko's obsession (or admiration?) of the Avatar down pat. It's like he worships the Avatar. I’ve always seen it like a kid idolizing a pro wrestler. 
 
The way he rambles on about past Avatars and their abilities, creating a collection of pictures and even little Avatar dolls, predicting what this new one will be like. It's all there, and was something wasn’t fleshed out until much later in the animated series.
 
Now, let's address the Avatar state. His reaction to finding Monk Gyatso feels a bit underwhelming compared to the animated series, missing how it lands with an emotional gut punch. In the cartoon, Katara's role in helping Aang come out of the state was a pivotal moment that seems to be missing here.
 
In summary, this live-action adaptation scores a solid 4 out of 10 from me. The visuals? A strong 7 to 10. The story? A middling 5. The bending, though? Top-notch, with the airbending presenting a unique challenge in a live action medium versus an animated one that the team tackles admirably.
 
In the end, Avatar: The live-action show is a mixed bag of nostalgia, stunning visuals, and a few missed opportunities. But hey, it's a... ride.. that's just getting started. Here's hoping they continue to surprise us and capture more of the magic of the original series.
 
So grab your gliders, wrangle your rat-chickens, and get ready for an adventure unlike any other (lets hope >.<). The elements are calling, is Avatar ready to answer?

 
Air Benders in General
Great Costuming - overall feel of the Air temples and the atmosphere was wonderful. Though it felt like they were all far too serious. The whole theme of the Airbenders is that they are ephemeral, flighty. They don't hold strongly to anything because all life is fleeting and all are one. 
Fire Nation / Benders
I think they are doing well showing the Imperial nature of the Fire Nation at this point in their history. The bending itself does look good and “dance” like. I hope that theme carries through.
Southern Water Tribe
Totally get “Reservation Dogs” feel with how they acted together. I also like the feel from the Indigenous people in the most recent season of True Detective. I am glad they hired indigenous actors. 
Aang
Trying to be as nice as possible and honestly hoping that this kid just received very poor direction but he has almost no personality IMO, he just seems SO FAKE and wooden. Aang’s happy go lucky/childlike nature is basically non-existent. He seems more like a narrator telling the viewer about Aang and what he is doing and less a living character. 
Gyatso
Monk Gyatso was one of my favorite characters in the animated series, this one is… ok. I liked his look and his voice. I think they needed to make him more ‘fatherly’ toward Aang. It was so impactful seeing the flashback scenes and how he took care of Aang in the animated series, that made his death so gut wrenching..
Kitara
Another one I am unsure on. I want to see more dialogue and scenes with Kitara. I like her look, the costuming is great.
Sokka
Overall I like his personality and acting, it took me a minute but I am hoping that he is still in his “protective defense” stage of his personality and that he will mellow out. 
Zuko
Changing his drive from “regaining honor” to  “his destiny to be fire lord” was a terrible mistake IMO. At the heart of regaining his “honor” was really “seeking his fathers approval” and it wasn't until he realized (Iroh showed him) that he would never get that because his father was a failure as a father/leader/person. Only then did he realize that it was up to himself to grant his “honor” back.
 
Iroh
He's ….good. That's the best I can say. I love Paul Sun-Hyung Lee a ton! But I can’t get past seeing the actor instead of the character.The character of Iroh should be bigger than life, while still humble, funny, charismatic, a deep sadness. This isn’t capturing that for me.

I am hoping when he will get a chance to flex his acting muscles as the show progresses.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Avatar: The live-action show is a mixed bag of nostalgia, stunning visuals, and a few missed opportunities. But hey, it's a... ride.. that's just getting started. Here's hoping they continue to surprise us and capture more of the magic of the original series.

Thom DeSimone
Thom DeSimone

Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea

I should begin by explaining something of my own relationship to the author’s works. Like many, I first encountered Brandon Sanderson when it was announced that he had been asked to complete The Wheel of Time series after the untimely passing of Robert Jordan. There are several camps of opinion on how he managed this monumental task, and I fall firmly in the camp of being glad that the plot was wrapped up in an overall satisfying manner, while being somewhat disappointed by the change in the tone of writing and the presentation of some of the characters. Sanderson himself has been open about the challenge of meeting the expectations of Wheel of Time fans and how he found some characters—Mat especially—more difficult to capture than others.
 
It was that exact issue that soured me on his writing for a time, as Mat is a favorite character of mine, and I found myself increasingly disheartened by what felt like a cartoonish representation of Mat’s thoughts and actions. On the other hand, Sanderson did a very nice job of advancing Rand’s arc into darkness (and eventually back out again) that had somewhat plateaued in Jordan’s final books. When I reread The Wheel of Time, which tends to happen every three years or so, I am prepared for the change in writing style and am increasingly able to enjoy the final three books of my favorite series. However, I have struggled to get into Sanderson’s other works, finding within them the same style of writing and characterizations that put me off his Wheel of Time books.
 
So when I opened Tress of the Emerald Sea, I was mentally prepared to not enjoy it. I am delighted to say that Brandon Sanderson proved me wrong! And he did so with the exact elements that I had come to dislike about his writing.
 
I read Tress of the Emerald Sea in three days over my winter holiday break. It was the perfect book for this time of year—cozy and fun and easy to put down as various social obligations arose and then pick right back up again after they were met. Brandon Sanderson says that the book was inspired by The Princess Bride, and this is apparent. The wit, fun, and magic—not the magic system or its wielders, but the magic of simply reading—reminded me of both the movie and the book by William Golding. The word “romp” is overused in describing books and movies, but I am going to go ahead and say that Tress of the Emerald Sea is a delightful sea-faring romp, complete with all of the elements of a classic adventure: pirates, mutiny, a friendly cook, a talking rat… you get the idea.
 
The book is well structured, with a clear and concise plot, believable character interactions, and strong character development. Tress is especially compelling, growing into her own as she leaves her small island home and ventures into an increasingly bigger world. The villains are somewhat comical (the evil sorceress sometimes plays Solitaire on her laptop, er, “magical seeing board”), but it does not detract from the stakes of the story. In fact, the real danger in the book comes from the environment.
 
In a twist that is both very Sanderson and a touch sci-fi, the seas that cover much of Tress’s world are not water but spores that drift down from the orbiting moons. These spores are highly reactive to water in ways that are dangerous and often deadly. The worldbuilding—always a strong suit for Sanderson—is executed perfectly, with details given to the reader gradually but steadily so that our understanding of the world is always exactly where it needs to be. 
 
The narrator is a familiar figure to those acquainted with Sanderson’s cosmere, and is eventually introduced to be a character in this book as well. This allows the fourth wall to be more of an open window, with thoughts frequently directed at the reader. Some of these are useful exposition, some are comical asides, and some are absolutely nonsensical ramblings. There is a reason for that though, as you’ll see.
 
The combination of relatively low stakes and a narrator with a known penchant for zaniness is what allows me to put aside my usual preference for grimdark fantasy and really enjoy Sanderson’s writing in this book. For example, all of the nameless sailors on the ship are simply generalized as “Doug” or “the Dougs.” Descriptions often employ similes, mostly to positive effect. A character described as having a “neck kind of merged with his chin—to the point that after meeting him, you’d inexplicably get a hankering for a baguette” made me laugh out loud. 
 
On the other hand, sometimes these comical descriptions detract from moments of gravity. That particular character is being described right after he dies, one of the few actually depicted deaths in the book. Other times—as when the ship tilts and we are told that it is “as if we are seeing through the lens of a student who had just discovered experimental film”— I am reminded of the note left by a professor on one of my college assignments: “Is this really the best way to describe this?” Maybe not.
 
Overall, this book was a joy to read. The physical copy is beautiful, with an outside cover and endpapers that fit the spirit of the book perfectly (and that you will appreciate even more as you consider them again after finishing the book). Sanderson’s acknowledgements and postscript notes make clear the absolute pleasure that the book was to create. For an author who has been so prolific over the past decade—in fantasy, no less, a genre whose authors have a notorious tendency to be less prolific than we would like—Tress of the Emerald Sea is a welcome addition to an already impressive catalog. In fact, it just may have motivated the Sanderson skeptic in me to take another look at the cosmere.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Tress of the Emerald Sea is a delightful story with compelling characters and inspired worldbuilding. This book can be a perfect introduction into the cosmere, or a welcome addition to those well-versed in the lore. If you love Brandon Sanderson’s writing, I recommend this book. More importantly, if you don’t love Sanderson’s writing, I still recommend this book.

Michael_
Michael_

WoTaHoliday 2023 Recap

This past weekend, the Wheel of Time community came together for Malkier Talks’ annual WoT-A-Holiday event, a 24-hour celebration filled with games, stories, and a united effort to make a difference via donations to the Lightweaver Foundation. Dragonmount had the honor of kicking off this fantastical journey, and what an incredible start it was!
 
Our segment began at 8 PM Eastern with the fun filled "WoT A Quote" game show featuring the Wheel of Tones. Hosted by our very own Michael, and featuring contestants Thom, Crystal, and Kevin, the event was a wonderful start to the night. It was filled with a lot of laughter as our contestants read famous Wheel of Time quotes in a variety of tones – from overwhelmingly bored to absolutely furious to celebrity impersonations! 
 
The audience participation was strong. Viewers were guessing who said each quote and added as much detail as possible to set the scene- who was the character talking to, what were they doing, what book did this take place in, etc. We also had the pleasure of giving away $25 gift certificates to the Dragonmount store and some Wheel of Time bumper stickers. Congrats to LightBlindedFool and GnomeandGarden for being quick on the draw with their vast WoT knowledge and taking home our gift certificates!
 
Rob, the runner of Malkier Talks and our event host, set an ambitious goal of £10K to support the Lightweaver Foundation, a charity established by Brandon and Emily Sanderson to provide basic needs to those who need them.  Thanks to the generosity of our amazing community, the event raised over $10,000 (or £8103) which is the standard they shoot for each year. Not quite the stretch goal set this year, but an incredible achievement for 24 hours of fundraising and it will make a difference! 
 
Following our segment, the baton was passed to Talk’aran’rhiod, followed by The Wheel Reads, the Way of the Leaf and so many more content creators. Each brought their unique flair to the event, with activities like trivia, WoTionary, drinking games and collaborative drawing. The diversity of our community's creativity was truly on display. The Way of the Leaf hosted WoTionary, which included some blindfolded drawing and of course, puppets. Joe from tWoTcast and Skeeter drew a lovely holiday scene which included trollocs pulling a sleigh and a Christmas tree decked out with Foresaken themed ornaments. Shout out to DanaLou_Who who actively participated in all 24 hours of the event with NO SLEEP. 
 
A special highlight of the event was the unveiling of the art for the 2024 Snacc Warder Calendar. For every 1k raised, they unveiled another picture. It’s a year filled with photos of everyone’s favorite Snacc Warder, Taylor Napier, with re-created poses by various WoT content creators!
 
There were prizes won throughout various segments, but what charity event would be complete without some big fancy prizes?  These were won by raffle, based on donation amount.
All four Secret Project books donated by Dragonsteel- Jerri Williams
A Full Leatherbound collection of Dragonsteel books, donated by Dragonsteel- Jamie Borbon
Recording donated by Kate Redding & Michael Kramer- Jay 123. 
The Eye of the World signed by the cast- Charlotte Edmonds
There was a special prize for the person who donated the most money- Roofmistress Leigh-a. £470. She wins a giant canvas print of Rob Christianson’s Wheel of Time map, signed by a plethora of content creators who attended WoTCon. 
 
Congratulations to all!
 
"The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills", and this weekend it wove a beautiful story of camaraderie and charity. Until next year, may you always find water and shade.
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    This past weekend, the Wheel of Time community came together for Malkier Talks’ annual WoT-A-Holiday event, a 24-hour celebration filled with games, stories, and a united effort to make a difference via donations to the Lightweaver Foundation. Dragonmount had the honor of kicking off this fantastical journey, and what an incredible start it was!

Erin D.
Erin D.

2023 Year In Review

Dragonmount's 2023: A Year of Epic Journeys and Celebrations
As the new year dawns, it's time to reflect on the fun times we had at Dragonmount in 2023. From landmark anniversaries to exclusive interviews, 2023 has been a year of unforgettable moments.
Celebrations & Events
25 Years of Dragonmount This year marked the silver jubilee of Dragonmount, and the end of an era as founder Jason Denzel passed the torch to our new CEO Kathy Campbell!
10 Years of A Memory of Light The year also marked a decade since the release of A Memory of Light. We celebrated this milestone with joy and nostalgia, honoring Robert Jordan's enduring legacy.
Twitch Affiliate You all helped us reach Affiliate status with Twitch, which gives us access to more tools to bring even more content to you. 
Welcoming the New Social Media Team Dragonmount's online presence was invigorated with the addition of our fabulous new social media team, bringing fresh energy and creativity.
JordanCon 2023 At the 15th annual JordanCon, we hosted the Feuding Families gameshow, a highlight that brought our community together for fun and camaraderie.
Industry News
Navigating Through Strikes This year, the Entertainment Industry experienced strikes with the Writers & Screen Actors Guilds. Though it dampened the launch of Season 2, we were happy to stand in solidarity with the writers and actors fighting for fair deals.
Rosamund Pike's Triumph at the Audies Rosamund Pike, the voice that brought The Eye of the World to life, won the 2023 Audie Award for Best Female Narrator. Her captivating narration has been an integral part of our experience and we’re so excited to have The Great Hunt and The Shadow Rising in her voice as well.
Year of Sanderson ICYMI Brandon Sanderson blew Kickstarter out of the water in 2022 with his "Year of Sanderson" campaign. It promised monthly boxes of pure awesome and I have to say, we got so much joy from opening our Kickstarter boxes each month. They were filled with goodies and of course, books! Unfortunately, the end of 2023 also means saying goodbye to the Year of Sanderson- but not without one last special surprise from Brandon! He has released a free ebook download of a previously unpublished short story called "Long Chills and Case Dough."
Adventures & Exclusives
Prague Set Visit CEO Kathy Campbell's visit to the Prague sets offered us an insider's view of the show's production, bringing us closer to the magic behind the camera. An incredible experience to BE in Two Rivers! Stay tuned for some releases from the trip!
Connecting with the Cast Our interviews with Daniel Henney, Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford, Ceara Coveney, Dónal Finn, Kate Fleetwood, and Ayoola Smart provided unique insights and allowed for a fun connection with some of our favorite actors.
Artist Spotlight: Marcio Abreu We also had the pleasure of interviewing Marcio Abreu, the talented artist behind the graphic novel of The Great Hunt.
Epic Community Engagement
Charity Livestream  During our summertime charity livestream event, we re-watched all of Season One in an epic marathon #reWoTch where we had contests, gave our prizes and were joined by many WoT content creators as well as Harriet McDougal and Maria Simons. Thanks to your support, we hit our goal of $2000 for the American Red Cross to aid those affected by the Maui Wildfires.
Monday Night #reWoTch We love hanging out with you all on Monday nights, watching TV together. #reWoTch this year included Season 1 and 2 of The Wheel of Time (of course) as well as The Last of Us, Rings of Power, Good Omens, and Season One of The Mandalorian. Join us Monday nights at 9pm Eastern for more #reWoTch goodness!
Gaming with Thom Thom DeSimone took us on livestream adventures via games like Baldur's Gate and the fan-made Third Age Wheel of Time Board Game.
TikToking with Kitty #WoTober was a blast with Kitty, who brought incredible characters to life on TikTok.
The Wheel of Time Season 2 We delved into the second season of The Wheel of Time on Prime, engaging in thorough discussions and analyses of every episode via our livestreams and podcasts. We're WoT fans - it's what we live for! 
WoTaHoliday We ended the year by participating in another successful WoTaHoliday hosted by Malkier Talks, and raising more money for charity.
 
If you missed out on any of the fun we had, read through our blog posts for recaps and look through our YouTube videos to re-live the fun. As we bid farewell to 2023, we thank each and every one of you for being part of our journey.
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain! Here's to more adventures and shared stories in 2024!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Dragonmount's 2023: A Year of Epic Journeys and Celebrations

    As the new year dawns, it's time to reflect on the fun times we had at Dragonmount in 2023. From landmark anniversaries to exclusive interviews, 2023 has been a year of unforgettable moments

Erin D.
Erin D.

Interview with Dónal Finn

When Amazon asks if you want to talk to four cast members from The Wheel of Time on Prime Video, you drop everything and reschedule your day to make ten minutes for each one available. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, the media is finally able to communicate with the cast, and it’s been so wonderful. I know how excited the actors have all been to talk with the fans as well!
 
We were lucky enough to gather together questions to ask Ayoola Smart (Aviendha), Kate Fleetwood (Liandrin Guirale), Marcus Rutherford ( Perrin Aybara), and Dónal Finn (Mat Cauthon).
 
These interviews will make you want to rewatch all the episodes of Season One and Season Two of The Wheel of Time on Prime Video…I know they did for me.
 
Dónal Finn was so charming and clearly excited to be a part of The Wheel of Time. Here’s a snippet of our interview with him.
 
Dragonmount: So as most folks know, productions often do not film in sequence. And you came into Season Two as new to the cast and the crew, but your character had a lot of previous rapport. What was your first day on set like? Did they throw you right into battle scenes or did you get to vibe with Kate Fleetwood hanging out in your cell?
 
Dónal Finn: I feel really, really lucky about my first days on set because, for me it was chronological and like, that's a bit of a blessing because like you said, it's not always that.
 
But the first scenes that I shot on set were the first scenes where you are introduced to Mat, and that's in the cell in the White Tower, and it was with Kate. And then with Kae (Alexander, who plays Min). But I think the blessing was, you know, there were scenes that were all happening in one room. And in that case, like I admired her from afar, like as a someone who goes to the theater a lot in London.
 
And so we and our brilliant director of that block, specifically Tom Napper, said, why don't we, you know, find a space within our studios and maybe just rehearse these scenes? And so we got to kind of imagine them and play the scenes as though, it was as though it was like for a theater. And like, that made me feel really relaxed because I was very familiar with that experience.
 
And so it did put me at great ease. And I think there was, even though I didn't know Kate before those days, even the fact that I kind of like was such a huge admirer of the work that I'd seen her do and because she's so, so lovely and that quality that she has and Liandrin is like she can just turn on and then switch it off when they say cause.
 
And so you can have great, great fun with her like on set that always puts us at ease. And Tom is also such a legend and was so accommodating to all of my questions and ideas for the character. Yeah, my…first days on set were like, really, really blissful. Even though, like with this, what's going on for the character in those scenes is not bliss.
 
DM: This season almost has four different versions of Mat. You have the regular Mat, you have Mat from the Accepted test, you have the Mat high on the Ishy Tea and then Mat after blowing the Horn. How did your preparation for each of those scenes change? 
 
DF: I feel like there's a, you know, that there's like one Mat that gets just like, pushed into these different situations. So there's kind of a, there's a healthy kind of core understanding of the character. And then you just kind of go, he was in, you know, he's being pushed into this circumstance.
 
He's been pushed into the challenges facing today with a different kind of approaches. I think all of them were, I think they all evolved like different things. You know, I'm, but I think, you know, Mat, blowing the horn, that felt like there was maybe two things about that that needed specific like time and effort, as in like there's the fight, there's the kind of, there's the language, there's the Old Tongue.
 
And then, similarly as well, with Mat drinking Ishameal’s tea. It’s kind of getting into the skin of like or what would that be like. What is, what is it like in our, you know, relative worlds and, and what would that be like physically? What would that do to the body and with all their emotions as well, you know?
In the second kind of chapters of Mat that you described, like they're still really challenging and emotional and you know you don't get some of those things for free. And so you're always trying to find a way to imagine, like, what is it like. In my own experience and what's helped me feel that way as well, and I might be, it might be music or might be, you know, it might be if he's in a good mood, it might be just like making sure I'm having like a really nice time on set or enjoying, you know, having fun with the people behind the camera. And just being present to be hopefully being playful with, with the other actor. 
 
DM: The stunt team at Jordan Studios said that you jumped all in for fighting lessons once you were cast. And they hinted at something I know fans have been desperate to see on screen that might be happening in Season Three.
 
Obviously, you can't give anything away, but is there a particular skill or trick that you worked really hard for that you can share?
 
DF: The guys are unbelievable, particularly Andre, who is kind of the, the guy who has taught me from the start. It's like the karate kid you know, like kind of watching him and learning.
 
I kind of get a buzz every time they go….”so we're going to teach you this.” He might be talking to me, and he'd be spinning the staff around. And I'd say, well, what did you just do there? And he'd say, “That? Yeah. It's just like, we've got the stuff in your hand, Twirl it over here, and then you spin it, as you put it, behind your back, and then you pull it over here.”
 
And I kind of go, yeah I don't know how to do that. What's that? And then so he'll kind of like, you know, I get a buzz off of learning at all on like, you know, but he, he is so good that I just stand back and watch him and kind of wait for him to do something cool and then say, okay, I don't know how to do that, show me how to do that. 
 
So I kind of feel sometimes that the tricks are kind of like, you know, a footballer because you go, God, that's like so impressive, but in a battle sense, in the sense of like actually being in a  battle, that's like super impractical, you know? Like, well, how do you have the time to spin it round like your back, you know?
 
So I think, you know, that speaks to Mat’s character as well, because I think he enjoys being good at this and kind of the flourish of it, you know? I feel so lucky that, you know, practical experience and journey with the show is that I'm learning how to do this, you know?
 
So, sorry. I don't have a specific move.

For the full transcripts with the full conversation for this and the other interviews, sign up on our Patreon!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The charming and iconic Dónal Finn was so wonderful to speak with, clearly excited to chat and discuss his work on Season Two and Three of The Wheel of Time.

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Interview with Kate Fleetwood

When Amazon asks if you want to talk to four cast members from The Wheel of Time on Prime Video, you drop everything and reschedule your day to make ten minutes for each one available. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, the media is finally able to communicate with the cast, and it’s been so wonderful. I know how excited the actors have all been to talk with the fans as well!
 
We were lucky enough to gather together questions to ask Ayoola Smart (Aviendha), Kate Fleetwood (Liandrin Guirale), Marcus Rutherford ( Perrin Aybara), and Dónal Finn (Mat Cauthon).
 
These interviews will make you want to rewatch all the episodes of Season One and Season Two of The Wheel of Time on Prime Video…I know they did for me.
 
Kate Fleetwood was just as amazing as the first time we were lucky enough to interview her. Here is a snippet from our interview with her.
 
Dragonmount: Last year, when we spoke, you let us know how much fun you have with your castmates off-set and how much you just love to play. Did that continue with Season Two and the just-wrapped Season Three, and how did you add in all of the new cast members into that playtime?
 
Kate Fleetwood: We always have a really nice time. We did karaoke and I mean, the boys and girls of a certain age are really good at going like waterskiing, things like that. But I don't do any of that. And I've got bad knees, and I like to get to that… but yeah, it is. And we’vehad so many new cast members, and again we've had loads this season as well and they're all international and that's, that's always the brilliant thing about Wheel of Time is that it's so broad.
 
The breadth of people and the kind of people you get to play with is just brilliant. And I'm so looking forward to meeting some of the new characters this season. It’s just brilliant but we were still suffering a lot of COVID restrictions in Season Two, you know, and that was really tough because we couldn't see each other at all.
 
You know, we were still eating little boxes in our rooms and not allowed to see or touch anybody. Here is just as a little bit of trivia on the scene where I'm within the way gate with the horses and the girls. 
 
When we were blocking that scene, our director took her mask off. And it's the first time I'd ever seen her face in three months. It was still really tough on everybody, you know? And we were being like, shut down a lot and having to stop. And so it was actually, it was tough enough to shoot that. And I think people sort of forget that we were still, we were still in a kind of COVID world while you're making something because of so many precautions.
So it has been lovely this year. You know, we've been able to sit in tents together and eat and things like that on set and just like not have to just be shut away all the time. That, that's just been great.
 
DM: Season One Liandrin’s chemistry with Moiraine was fantastic, and I think the, the amazing chemistry between Liandrin and Mat this season is really off the charts.
 
You have chemistry with like inanimate objects, with just your presence. Is there something special that you do that allows for this incredible connection on screen, or is that just kind of your amazingness? 
 
KF: "It's just my amazingness.” No, haha… I think, I think I’m really, really touched that you say that. It's a really kind compliment. I mean, it's really genuine. I'm really genuinely touched by that. Thank you.
 
DM: It's, it's so true. Like, it doesn't matter any time you're on screen. Just, I'm always just so excited to see how you're interacting with anything. I mean, with the horses, with, you know, I got that little look you did before you went through the gates after releasing Nyn like, I just think it's about being so present.
 
KF: The thing I think I try and do, which might be the answer is, I don't know if it is the answer because I think it's quite hard for me to answer this. But when I think about playing, I'm always looking for the playfulness. It is always an opportunity to play everything, you know, like you say, you know, whether it's a cushion or a place or how you unlock a door, you know, every gesture or every motion or inflection in your voice you are as an actor. 
You've got, the words and the story and you've got your body and your voice and, you know, and that is your tool and that is your instrument, you know? And so you're looking for tone. And this is probably going to sound really pretentious, but you're always looking to how do you play this, and you play this instrument in this situation.
 
And that can just be, you know, the look with a glance with it. But you embody and you, I mean, I just spend hours and hours on the set and I spend a lot of time prepping scenes. I just do a lot of work on it. It's like anything, you know, you just got to do, got to do it to work on it.
 
You can't just turn up one night. I like to play at home, you know, I'll move the furniture back and, you know, and I'll play it, I'll play it, play it, and then something will just go *bing*. And then of course, you play with the other characters because you can't. But I'm always searching for other ways of telling story, and I think this really brilliant experience as a young actress, I was really lucky enough to play in the chorus, in a Western version of Medea with Fiona Shaw.
 
She is in Harry Potter and Killing Eve and a lot of people would know her. I learned it from her that you got to be brave, you got to be playful, and you just got to keep true and you got to try things. You’ve got to experiment and play. I don’t know if it pays off but…
 
DM: It definitely, it pays off. When you were filming Season One, did you know things that were going to be revealed in Season Two specifically, like your son? 
 
KF: No, no, no. But that’s the other thing that goes toward this playfulness is that you have to keep completely open. Of course I have to structure my performance because we, shoot a lot of time, not chronologically. So you do have to have some, constant awareness of, you know, the arc of everything. 
But it's part of the fun of playing is not knowing. And you have to be, you have to be open to that as an actor. You got to be open to change. You got to keep things moving and changing and shifting.You have to be always fluid-thinking because anything can happen.
 
Lots of things happen in Season Three... yeah… they sat me down and were like, “This is what we are planning for you in Season Three.” I was, whoaa! Ok…
 
DM: You have had some of the best wigs, intricate braid work and all of that. We're wondering which wig is your favorite and do you name them?
 
KF: I don't (name them), it’s just sort of the great thing about the wigs, it gives you sort of this massive facelift, you know, because it's like they're suddenly like, *eeeee ahh.*
 
No, but the wigs on the show…. I wish everybody could just go into those departments, the hair and makeup department. And the costume department and every department, actually. 

But when you go into that wig room, in the studio, that all lined up, you know, it's like what Davina and her team have done with the way the braiding is amazing. It's incredible. And they have people just doing it around the clock.
 
You can walk in and then they'll go, we're just going to try a new wig on today and, they’ll just have four beautiful wigs. And then you try each one on and then you have to have your photograph taken and everyone decides which one's best and it’s a long process to choose to make.
But yeah, I've got some pretty good wigs in Season Three, just saying.
 
For the full transcripts with the full conversation for this and the other interviews, sign up on our Patreon!
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Kate Fleetwood is the exact opposite of her character Liandrin and an absolute delight to interview, including discussions of Shakespeare and the incredible chemistry she has with everyone.

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Interview with Marcus Rutherford

When Amazon asks if you want to talk to four cast members from The Wheel of Time on Prime Video, you drop everything and reschedule your day to make ten minutes for each one available. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, the media is finally able to communicate with the cast, and it’s been so wonderful. I know how excited the actors have all been to talk with the fans as well!
 
We were lucky enough to gather together questions to ask Ayoola Smart (Aviendha), Kate Fleetwood (Liandrin Guirale), Marcus Rutherford ( Perrin Aybara), and Dónal Finn (Mat Cauthon).
 
These interviews will make you want to rewatch all the episodes of Season One and Season Two of The Wheel of Time on Prime Video…I know they did for me.
 
Marcus Rutherford has such a soothing presence and was wonderful to take some time to talk to us! Here is a snippet of our interview with him.
 
Dragonmount: You have had the opportunity to befriend some of the bestest boys and goodest girls, specifically the Best Supporting Actress Nom of our hearts, Ka Lupinka. How have those friendships strengthened and grown during S2 and do you have any stories about them that you can share?
 
Marcus Rutherford: Yeah. It was amazing, man.
 
I had a very kind of brief encounter in Season One, but I didn't really get to kind of work with the animals. And then Season Two… You kind of forget this is a real animal, man. It's like a real animal, look, it wants to do its own things. It's kind of like when you work with your horse and stuff, you can’t cheat it. 
The animal needs to want to kind of stay near you and work with you and listen to you and all those kind of things. It was insane. I think with that Czech wolf dog, they are sort of like a half breed, so it's not particularly easy to get them to like, you know, there was one scene for me that was really important. Where the makeup and effects built like this sort of “deer carcass,” that the wolves are kind of like eating and they (production) kind of just needed Hopper to stay next to me. It wasn't like on a lead or anything. She just had to sit there. And when you see all, these are the dogs eating, their natural instincts you think would be to follow. It was kind of like a scene that I could tell everyone was like (thinking), this is going to go wrong. 
 
We just put a load of meat in front of a dog, and its friends were eating… and yeah, it just stayed there instead for the whole scene. It was a really beautiful scene with Elyas and it was just one of those moments that was just so sweet, and I kind of needed the connection there, and you don't really want to have to think about, “Is the dog wandering off or is it not calling for the owner off camera or whatever?” And she just stayed there and she just looked at me at the little moment as a little look where he says, like his mate died too, and all this kind of stuff.
 
And I think there were a lot of moments with that dog where I was just like, “You've made this really easy for me,” which is just like, really special, really special. It could have been, you know, it could've been really tricky. And she, um, she really trusted me. And I think, I think the owner, an animal handler named Maria was amazing.
 
She (Maria) was just like, she (Ka Lupinka) doesn't really connect with people that easy. And it was special. And I think, you know, I think Rafe was kind of torn between like sort of big sort of visual effects kind of animals or like, you know, real animals. And of course you can get a bigger scale with some of those kind of things.
 
But I think for an actual human connection, you just can't like you can with a real animal. I've had so many messages with people talking about their own animals. And I just, I just, I think that's the connection that it needed for, for the show. It needed to be a real bond, a real creature, a real thing in camera that people could connect with and understand with their own dogs when they sort of look at them after the episodes.
 
DM: Season Two's journey for Perrin has ultimately been the battle between the Way of the Leaf and his desire to protect others. How did you prepare for a role that relied on so much internal struggle in such a visual medium?
 
MR: Yeah, it's tricky because in the books you have these POVs that can get, especially for a character like Perrin, you get so in-depth with what he's thinking and everything, and then to translate that into a show with just 8 episodes…. is hard, man. It's really hard. And I think what was good about Season Two is he kind of gets thrown into a lot of positions that are quite challenging for him.
 
You see it with… when he's with the Sheinarans or he's with Aviendha he's kind of like… There are kind of those lovely conversations that he's had with Ila and the Tuatha’an in Season One. You can kind of see that still surfacing. But it's becoming apparent he can't avoid violence at war, and it's kind of surrounding him and something that might be within him as well.
 
But this idea that you can kind of just like turn away from it is becoming quite a difficult road to take. So I think with the introduction of the Seanchan and that kind of very, you know, horrible, horrific kind of culture in a way, in the terms of how they use violence and stuff. 
 
I think what was lovely about Season Two is that, for a character that isn't really saying everything that's going on his mind, you can kind of see him going through it. 

Being put in these situations that are hard for him and traumatic. 
 
That dichotomy between violence and being a pacifist in a way is still kind of put to a test really. It's not just a conversation around some wagons that you had in… Season One.
 
He's getting dragged, but he's getting dragged around (literally)... I think that happens a lot in Season Two. 
 
DM: What scene from Season Two were you most excited for the audience to see? 
 
MR: I think…. in general or…?  
 
DM: Either way! However you answer the question is the perfect answer. 
 
MR: Um, I mean, ok. I remember (when I was) reading the book, I remember saying to somebody… to Maddie (Madeleine Madden), you know, I remember reading that book and actually feeling quite sick, reading it, like the way it is described is horrific.
 
It's, it's really, really hard. I remember saying, like, you've got some hard stuff coming man. I've seen this one shot of her where she's sort of like crying. And I don’t know why, but I'm just like, I think it's beautiful. 
 
But I think in terms of the stuff, the scenes I loved, I really loved when he [Perrin] meets Aviendha. I think you needed to kind of isolate him away from the group a bit in order for him to grow. Like I said, you don't really have a lot of time, and we have to squeeze a lot into those episodes, and they do such a good job.
 
And I think when you've got a lot of big characters who, you know, who’ve got their shoulders back, they're quite confident. I think they’ll naturally, you kind of speak and Perrin, he's probably thinking in the corner a little bit. So I think I'm putting him by himself and getting to meet someone who has such contrasting ideas and philosophies around violence, warfare, and fighting, I think, I think was lovely and I think Ayoola (Smart) was incredible.
And I think that scene where he releases her from the cage, and they fight together, and even that little scene afterwards where he can't really gauge her humor like at the campfire or whatever… I think, I think that was a really nice part.
 
DM: I know from speaking with the stunt team at Jordan Studios that you and the rest of the cast have worked to do as much of the stunts and fighting as you can yourself.
 
How is your training, in particular, different from the others because of your use of an axe versus a sword or a shield?
 
MR: What's really interesting with Perrin, in particular, is he's not really fighting to kill, or like I said (before), he’s still in this mode of like kind of defending himself and others and being thrust into these positions, whereas you kind of see some of the other characters, like Aviendha, she's just having fun. She’ll just go ham. So I think that was quite interesting. You kind of have to have a fighting technique that isn't particularly kind of like a bravado or showing your skill or your kind of like, a hunger for kind of violence in a way. It's kind of something that, it's really interesting, and I’ll talk too much, but it's really interesting seeing it develop, you know,  going forward and all that kind of stuff and how it all changes. But I think it takes a lot to kind of show off his strength, but also his kind of resistance as well. 
 
For the full transcripts with the full conversation for this and the other interviews, sign up on our Patreon!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Marcus Rutherford is the epitome of Perrin, and it was so wonderful to speak with him about Season Two of The Wheel of Time, especially about working with Ka Lupinka and the rest of the bestest boys and goodest girls.

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Interview with Ayoola Smart

When Amazon asks if you want to talk to four cast members from The Wheel of Time on Prime Video, you drop everything and reschedule your day to make ten minutes for each one available. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended, the media is finally able to communicate with the cast, and it’s been so wonderful. I know how excited the actors have all been to talk with the fans as well!
 
We were lucky enough to gather together questions to ask Ayoola Smart (Aviendha), Kate Fleetwood (Liandrin Guirale), Marcus Rutherford ( Perrin Aybara), and Dónal Finn (Mat Cauthon).
 
These interviews will make you want to rewatch all the episodes of Season One and Season Two of The Wheel of Time on Prime Video…I know they did for me.
 
Ayoola was an absolute delight and so wonderful to talk to. Here is a snippet of our interview with her.
 
Dragonmount: It’s been pretty universally renowned that we are all in love with your portrayal of Aviendha. I know that our community specifically would love to know how you discovered The Wheel of Time and were exposed to Aviendha.
 
Ayoola Smart: Kind of twofold, I didn't know a lot about like her specifically before the audition process happened. But both of my older sisters are huge fans of the books, so I had grown up with The Wheel of Time in my house kind of my whole life pretty much—the world of it and kind of the ideas around it. 
 
And she [Aviendha] is both of my sisters’ favorite female character in the books. So that was really exciting and I was able to immediately call them and be like I need information! Like now! 
 
And through the kind of audition process I think when I, when the first sides came through she was labeled as like Annabelle and the kind of character description was like ‘a highly skilled warrior with a dry sense of humor. And you need to feel like she could kill you with her bare hands.’ 
And that was immediately something. I was like yeah I want, I want to do that. That sounds great. 
 
Her journey in the books in season two, it's really the starting point of such a huge journey that she'll go on over time. So it was really exciting to be able to play a character that starts from such a strong place and starts with such a strong kind of history, characteristics, and skill sets.
 
DM: Along with Ragga Ragnars (Bain) and Maja Simonsen (Chiad), you are what we call the ‘ABC Maidens.’ You already have such strong on-screen chemistry. What was it like on set with them? Do you guys use Maiden hand talk to have private conversations?
 
AS: Yes, we definitely did. Over filming we we got to a really nice fluid point with that where we could have these kind of silly little giggly chats about things also because, you know, as we continue, our vocabulary is expanding as more words get put in. So with what we had as it grew, particularly when we would get a new word, and we'd be like, we can do this now, and we’ve had a lot of fun with that. 
 
We spend a lot of time together outside of shooting and luckily we all did just click really well, which was nice. And so the kind of, kind of playfulness between us was very natural and it was just there and we spent a lot of time together which has helped.
 
DM: What inspired that absolutely amazing laugh in the campfire with Marcus?
 
AS: A combination of things, I think like, it’s the writers and it is Naomi, my dialect coach, and I kind of spoke about that, it is that humor that the Aiel have that's kind of, can catch you off guard and isn't necessarily funny to everyone but they find it amusing… just where that hits I think and just kind of the situations and we're able to play with that and bring that in. 
 
Also, Aviendha is kind of a little bit more cheeky than some of the other Aiel that we will encounter and kind of her humor is very much part of who she is. Just kind of playing around with that, and it just, it just came out and felt right.
 
-----
 
For the full transcripts with the full conversation for this and the other interviews, sign up on our Patreon!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Ayoola Smart is just as fantastic as you can expect, and so excited to talk about playing Aviendha in The Wheel of Time on Prime Video!

Kathy Campbell
Kathy Campbell

Dragonmount's 2023 Holiday Gift Guide

The holidays are nearly here! Which means Dragonmount has rounded up some of our favorite gifts for fans of The Wheel of Time. We've again focused on artists and small businesses. You can check out last years guide here. 
 
The first gift folks should think about are the book themselves! We recommend picking up some copies from your favorite independent bookstore like Powells. You can also support the wonderful Wheel of Time conventions and get tickets for the 2024 events, like JordanCon in April 2024, WotCon in July 2024, and MalkierCon in September 2023 in Prague! 
 
Don't forget that another great gift is supporting your favorite creator over on Pateron. 
 
Now let's dive into the fun stuff - physical gifts! 
 

 
First up we have this great Mat inspired mug from The Road to Tar Valon ($25.99). There's also this fox pendant ($98.54) to ward off any Aes Sedai channelling. For Perrin fans there's a warm wolfbrother beanie ($22.00). The Bayle Domon shirt is $28 (aren't we glad he was in Season Two!?). The Wheel of Time Christmas ornament is $15. And this cute little ouroboros ring is $98, perfect for the inspiring Aes Sedai. 
 

 
Continuing with our artistic finds, this amazing shadowbox art ($85) comes in a few different themes: Rand, Mat, and Perrin. Badali has the rights to make Wheel of Time jewelry again, including this lovely Moiraine Kesiera ($93) inspired by the TV show on Prime Video. One of the stand out performances in Season Two is Natasha O'Keefe as Lanfear. Lanfear fans will love this Daughter of the Night T-shirt for $25.99. Map lovers will adore this maps inspired by the world of The Wheel of Time ($41.05). Stickers are always as a stocking stuffer, and Mat fans will appreciate this sticker with the ashandarei ($2). Many Wheel of Time fans began with reading physical books, so a leather corner bookmark ($25.99) is a great way to mark your place. 
 
 

 
Did you know Dragonmount has a merchandise store? You'll find this cool Heroes of the Horn t-shirt ($26) and other Dragonmount themed gifts! Another cool sticker for Aiel fans is the Water and Shade sticker ($4.49). You might recognize this ring as one similar to the one worn by channelers in the Age of Legends. It's MAM original for $89. You can personalize this set of WOT map puzzle coasters ($27.30+). Finally for those who love all the costume designs in Season Two, this Sashiko jacket ($352) uses the same techniques as the one Rand wore in Cairhien foregate. 
 
 
Don't forget to check out last years gift guide for more ideas and artists to support! 
 
Happy Holidays from Dragonmount! 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    Check out this years guide to the best gifts for Wheel of Time fans! 

Katy Sedai
Katy Sedai

Interview with Marcio Abreu: Artist behind "The Great Hunt" Graphic Novel

Step into the captivating world of comic book artistry as we delve into an exclusive interview with Marcio Abreu, a highly talented and visionary comic book artist hailing from São Paulo, Brazil. Currently lending his artistic prowess to Dynamite Entertainment, Abreu is expanding The Wheel of Time adaptation into the comic book realm.

Abreu's current project involves the illustrations for Dynamite's comic book adaptation of "The Great Hunt," written by Rik Hoskin. "The Dynamite series will continue its adaptations of The Wheel of Time series into comic books, following 2009's 'The Eye of the World' (now collected into a graphic novel by Tor Books), written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by multiple artists."
 


Join us as we explore Abreu's creative process, the challenges of adapting Robert Jordan's world into a visual medium, and the artist's perspective on character design and world-building.
 
*This interview was conducted in Portuguese and later translated into English.

Q: Did you have any familiarity with The Wheel of Time before? Or this was your first contact with it?
A: No, none! I discovered it when I watched the series on Prime Video, and liked it right away.

Q: How did you start the process? Did you base your illustrations on the other graphic novels, scripts, or some other material the publisher gave you?
A: I relied on references from a website that Dynamite sent me (referring to the iconic Seamas Gallagher artwork).



But I used an already published "The Eye of the World" comic to get to know some of the characters, and I watched the show again with a more discerning eye to capture the atmosphere.
 
Q: What is your working process like? Tell me about how you develop the pages.
A: I usually sketch loosely on A4 paper. I create small thumbnails for the pages, which helps me develop the narrative better. Then I redraw everything on A3 paper, without using a light table.



Q: Regarding the character design, did you have any freedom, or are you following what was in the books? Or a middle ground?
A: I had complete freedom, but I tried to follow what had already been drawn, so as not to deviate too much from what had already been published. But I always try to improve if possible!



Q: What do you enjoy drawing the most so far? Creatures, a certain character, magic, or something else?
A: Aaaaah, man, I love the creatures! I hope they appear a lot! But, everything is very cool. The detailed settings, period costumes, horses, magic, and the characters, in general, are very fun and challenging.

 
Q: I saw on your profile that you make a lot of Conan art. Did you know that the author of The Wheel of Time began his fantasy writing career with Conan books?
A: I didn't know! Woooooooow!!! I hope this is a good omen.


Q: How is it different to adapt a nearly thousand-page book into the art of a graphic novel?
A: Actually, everything comes already outlined in the script. My job is to draw it in a way that pleases a legion of fans from around the world. I hope to not disappoint!

We look forward to seeing Abreu's artistic vision come to life on the pages, and we're sure that fans all around the world will appreciate the dedication and passion he is bringing to this project. We can't wait to follow the journey of The Wheel of Time through Marcio Abreu's hands!
 
The first volume of "The Great Hunt" graphic novel adaptation is now available from Dynamite Comics.
 
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    A quick interview with Marcio Abreu, the artist behind "The Great Hunt" Graphic Novel

Humberto Tramujas
Humberto Tramujas

Review: Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust

Aleksandra (Ola) Hill is a Polish-Canadian writer and the founder and publisher of khōréō, a Hugo-nominated and IGNYTE-winning magazine of speculative fiction by immigrant and diaspora writers. Her fiction has been published or is forthcoming in Analog Magazine, LeVar Burton Reads, Writer’s Digest, and others. Learn more at www.aleksandrahill.com
 
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TL;DR: Legends & Lattes and its standalone prequel, Bookshops & Bonedust, live up to their promise of being novels of “high fantasy and low stakes.” These books are the literary equivalent of a warm hug: simple (but never trite) stories of individuals triumphing over the mundane and heroic that inspire the reader towards kindness at every turn. 
 
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I read Legends & Lattes in about two sittings a couple of weeks before it came out in November 2022—and then, well… life happened. We got a puppy; my first MFA thesis of the academic year was due two weeks after that; and then I was overwhelmed with work, gearing up for my second thesis of the academic year, and trying to handle the landshark that had taken up residence in our once-peaceful one-bedroom apartment. 
 
I thought of Legends & Lattes and the review I’d been meant to write for it every week since—not just out of the haunting of guilt that I’d still not gotten to it, but also out of how applicable it was. I found myself recommending it to anyone who mentioned that they’d been having a tough time—and, in the “post-COVID” years where it doesn’t ever truly feel like the pandemic is over and during which many other troubles have surfaced… well, that was pretty often.
 
It’s with incredible pleasure that I learned I had the chance to review the second book set in this world—which came out just today, November 7, 2023. 
 
Because this review will cover two books, it’s divided into two sections: one for those who have not yet entered the world of Legends and Lattes, and one for those who want to know a bit more about Bookshops and Bonedust in particular. However, these are both standalone books, and you can start with whichever one tickles your fancy more.
 
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Part 1: Legends and Lattes
 
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree begins at the end. An orc by the name of Viv has just beaten what amounts to the Big Bad End Guy (BBEG) of her own adventure. And so… she decides to settle down and open a café in a city named Thune, where no one has heard of coffee (yet). She has a nest egg of gold that she’s saved up in her years of adventuring and a strong work ethic to make her dream a reality. It’s a far cry from her previous life, and a very different path than many of “her kind” take, as so many folks point out to her—but she’s determined to leave that past behind. What follows is the story of how the coffee shop comes into being.
 
This is not a nail-biter of a book: the reader never truly worries that she will end up homeless and destitute—the stakes are never quite that high. Rather, the challenge is whether she will give up on her dream and whether she is willing to continue trusting herself and the path that she has chosen and, more importantly, whether she is willing to ask for help—or, more critically, accept when others offer the help she so willingly and unquestioningly gives to strangers. 
 
It is a book that asks whether a person can truly change, and whether they can find happiness in that change; it also understands that being entirely self-reliant can be the same thing as being selfish, and that trust and faith in others can be more terrifying than fighting monsters. Perhaps most importantly: this is a book that made me want to be kinder and more open to those around me. I live in New York City, where often, the biggest kindness you can give others is space and privacy to live their lives—and yet, while reading this book, I found myself longing to connect more closely to the neighbourhood I’d lived in for the past seven (now eight!) years. Thanks to our now year-old puppy, Virgil (pictured right), and his exuberant friendliness and insatiable curiosity about the world, we’ve been able to make our neighborhood more of a home than ever. I’d like to think Viv would adore his goofy, chaotic self.
 
While I absolutely loved this book (as did many others—it was nominated for multiple awards and Baldree won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2023), there are certain readers who will likely not enjoy it. In particular: if you are looking for higher stakes and extensive moments of tension—this book is not for you. Most challenges are vanquished almost as soon as they appear, which can give the feeling of a lot of stuff happening without much consequence (this is magically explained later in the novel, but that will not be satisfying for some, I presume!). The evolution of Viv’s café is also a big formulaic—from one type of coffee to two, from no pastries to one pastry to more, from tiny kitchen to large kitchen. If you’re looking for a book that goes into a realistic scenario of growing a food services business—this also probably isn’t for you (but I do highly recommend Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential to scratch that particular itch!). 
 
However, this is the perfect book for you if you: are looking for comfort and coziness, want a queer, low-drama romance, and/or delight in descriptions of food. I recommend it most for those who feel deeply lonely: it’s the type of book that makes you want to reach out to those around you, and that may inspire you to ask for—and allow yourself to receive—the help that you need. 
 
Legends & Lattes is available in the DM eBook store. So is Bookshops & Bonedust!
 
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Part 2: Bookshops and Bonedust
 
Bookshops & Bonedust is Baldree’s sophomore novel. This one starts at the beginning: we see Viv, the retired adventurer and main character of Legends & Lattes, on her very first campaign with the mercenary group Rackam's Ravens. It’s almost her last, too: she’s injured by the henchman of the necromancer Varine and just barely survives. But survive she does—only for Rackam and company to leave her in the seaside town of Murk to recuperate. Stuck in a place that takes all of about ten minutes to see (according to the innkeeper) and still healing from a thigh wound that requires dreadful amounts of bedrest, Viv’s worried that she might go crazy from boredom before Rackam comes to fetch her on their way back from hunting Varine—if they come back for her at all.
 
But while in Murk, Viv builds a community through her small acts of kindness. She befriends Fern, a rattakin who inherited her father’s slowly dying bookshop, her gryphet Potroas (for whom I would die)t, and a taciturn orc carpenter named Pitts. She also finds something more than friendship with Maylee, the local baker and a former adventurer herself. Readers of Legends & Lattes may also remember the name of Gallina, who appears in Bookshops & Bonedust as a young and somewhat annoying gnome desperate to be taken seriously enough to join a mercenary group. 
 
This book is also a great option for those who found Legends & Lattes a little bit too low-stakes but are on the lookout for cozy fantasy. It’s still definitely not a book that will set your heart racing at every turn of the page, but it does manage to keep a low level of concern throughout for what Varine the necromancer is up to, and has a greater antagonist arc than L&L managed. I appreciated how everything came together, both in the more mundane aspects of the plot as well as in the larger “BBEG” sense of the story. (With that being said, if you’re looking for a realistic Bookstore Simulator™, this isn’t the book for you—no mentions of consignment or returnability to be found here!)
 
Ultimately, this book is about much more than adventure and magic. At its core, it’s about what it means to connect with others and to trust them; it also thrums with Baldree’s love for stories. Fern teaches Viv to love reading; she does so not with force or snobbery, but by trying to understand who Viv is and what will make her, not Fern, and not anyone else, happiest. Bookshops and Bonedust also considers the price of friendship and what it means to stay in a place temporarily, including what we owe those who care for us when we’re just passing through their lives. It’s a deeply touching book, and, in the end, encourages the reader to take chances and connect with the world around them, just like Legends & Lattes did. 
 
Also like Legends & Lattes, this is a book for those who want something cozy and comforting; who love books about books; who are looking for quiet queer romance; and—of course—who want to learn more about Viv, the wonderful orc of the first installment of this series. 
 
You can find both Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust in the DM eBook store!
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    TL;DR: Legends & Lattes and its standalone prequel, Bookshops & Bonedust, live up to their promise of being novels of “high fantasy and low stakes.” These books are the literary equivalent of a warm hug: simple (but never trite) stories of individuals triumphing over the mundane and heroic that inspire the reader towards kindness at every turn.

Ola Aleksandra Hill
Ola Aleksandra Hill

The old WotC Wheel of Time RPG: A trip down the Memory of Light Lane.

I Rolled a 20 on the Random Article table.

Ah, the Wheel of Time, a tapestry of epic proportions spun by the brilliant Robert Jordan. It's a world we've all come to adore, one that has touched our souls with its grandeur. But I have never entered it so deeply as when I first played a RPG session set in the lands of the Dragon Reborn. 
Bienvenidos, my fellow travelers, to an article about the Wizards of the Coast Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, a forgotten game that has recently resurfaced into my mind and that I believe both old aficionados and curious newcomers will find just as amusing as myself.
Why write about it now?
Personally, I find it intriguing to see how different people deal with Jordan's work, just as Rafe is doing and Brandon has done in the past. Some things in this book are just as interesting to analyze. Whether you're an old fan or a curious newcomer, the Wheel of Time RPG offers a chance to experience Jordan's world in a different way. Even if this way is through the lens of 2000s game designers not as well versed in Jordan’s universe as us diehard fans.
As I revisit this unique RPG, I realize that some of the first images and art from the series I saw came from it, something I didn't remember at all. The first image of an Ogier that I experienced came from this book, and I only realize it now by revisiting it. Maybe that's also the case for some of you. This alone is another reason to go through it once more. Something I catch myself doing from time to time since I grabbed a copy of this book in Auckland when I was visiting my uncle. 
In my opinion, every adaptation is interesting. And it's even cooler to look at them after a new one comes out. No matter how different the media are, it's something that always catches my attention. As we can see on the internet every day: No one would do things the same way and everyone has their own perfect adaptation in mind. So why don't we collectively step into the minds of those who made this game over two decades ago?


The Creators of the System.
Crafted during the heyday of the D20 movement in tabletop RPGs, and at a time when fresh Wheel of Time content was in short supply, this publication undeniably satisfied the cravings of series enthusiasts. Nevertheless, it falls short in terms of the depth and replayability that could have transformed it from a mere novelty.
The 300+-page rulebook featured new and original art throughout, bringing the world of The Wheel of Time to the tabletop. As a short book, it does its best at trying to condense the vast world of Robert Jordan into a few pages, sometimes making its depiction of the setting feel broad and lacking in detail.
The game was based on the D20 rules system used by the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons, following a similar layout and format to the D&D core rulebooks despite all the setting differences.
It was penned by a veteran designer team, including Charles Ryan, Steven Long, Christian Moore, and Owen K.C. Stephens. It's noteworthy that Robert Jordan himself provided a foreword for the game, revealing his own connection to the world of tabletop gaming and his excitement for the Wheel of Time RPG.
The Wheel of Time RPG incorporated the talents of Darrell K. Sweet, the artist for the novels, who provided the cover artwork. It is so cool to see two additional paintings from him in the world of WoT that are not covers of the novels. It evokes a feeling of something familiar, but new at the same time, since not everyone has had contact with these illustrations.
A large number of Wizards of the Coast artists contributed additional illustrations throughout the book, adding depth to the gaming experience. Ellisa Mitchell, known for providing cartographic services on the novels, created several new maps for the rulebook. Again, some of them that I had no idea were created specifically for this.
D&D or not to be?
This game made a lot of changes to the core D&D mechanics. The standard D&D character classes were replaced by new ones, such as Aiel spear-carriers, Armsman, Initiate (in the Aes Sedai or Asha'man), Noble, Wanderer, Wilder, and Woodsman. Multiclassing was also an option since this was a d20 system.
Much like D&D 3rd Edition, feats played a significant role in character creation. Specialist feats for the use of the absolutely game breaking One Power were introduced, along with Feats that allowed players to replicate unique abilities from the books.
The rulebook delved into the setting and history of The Wheel of Time, drawing from the novels that were published at the time. It offered somewhat comprehensive information, including the founding circumstances of countries like the Borderlands, Cairhien, Illian, Tarabon, and Tear during the War of the Hundred Years. But it went out of its way to avoid topics that would be discussed in future books written by Jordan.
Later in his blog, Robert Jordan talked about the process of helping in the concept of the game, wanting to do more but with no time because of the books. And how he managed to avoid items 
The book featured re-drawn, full-color, and larger-scaled maps of cities like Ebou Dar, Caemlyn, Cairhien, and Tar Valon, adding a visual dimension to the gaming experience. An introductory adventure titled 'What Follows in Shadow' was included, set during the events of "The Eye of the World," offering players an immersive starting point for their own Wheel of Time adventures.
It's always a challenge to create a game that takes place during the events of an ongoing story, but sometimes it's difficult to take agency away from the players because they're doing something that conflicts with the original canon or that wouldn't make sense in the world. 
The Lord of the Rings RPG, The One Ring, fails greatly in this aspect, where adventurers can only do the minimum without entering territory that threatens the original story of the books. Fortunately, this is not something that happens in the Wheel of Time RPG. Adventures offer options and stories that don't affect the book arcs and still have meaning for players.
An expansion was created for the game called "The Prophecies of the Dragon," which is the only expansion to The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game that was published. Again, cartography was handled by Ellisa Mitchell, and a new cover was produced by Darrell K. Sweet. Robert Jordan is listed as a creative consultant.

Photos by: @manetheren_miniatures
An invitation 
This is not a review (although if there is enough interest it might as well be in the future), but an invitation for fans to take a closer look at this material and appreciate its unique aspects. It's a journey through the past, a chance to rediscover something that may have been forgotten in the midst of new adaptations. As a fan, I felt compelled to revisit this piece of Wheel of Time history and share its significance. Even if my only conclusion is: Maybe it's time to try again.
In the same vein, I plan to explore other forgotten media and adaptations related to the Wheel of Time universe, like for instance the PC first-person boomershooter reminiscent of Quake and any other turning of the wheel that I can lay my nerdy hands on.
But what now?
The recent television adaptation of The Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime has reignited interest in this classic RPG. As fans of the TV series dive deeper into the lore, some are discovering the tabletop game and finding themselves drawn into the enchanting world of Aes Sedai and Trollocs. Which poses the question: Is it time for a new Wheel of Time Tabletop RPG?
Some fans believe so. As part of the show's 1st and 2nd season promotional material, Prime Video Brazil conducted two different RPG sessions with YouTubers from the country. But these sessions were based on existing systems and seemed more like a patchwork than something designed for WoT. We also had fan adaptations for D&D 5e, but nothing official has been released since these two books in the early 2000s. Perhaps it's time for new materials to come. 
With numerous RPGs emerging every year and new design philosophies being introduced, such as in games like Mörk Borg, Knave, Shadowdark and many others, and with RPGs making a comeback in mainstream media with shows like Stranger Things, I see no reason not to have a new adaptation of Jordan's world for tabletops. Certainly, fans would love it, especially now that the hobby is more popular than ever.
 
  • Teaser Paragraph:

    The time Wizards of the Coast made a weird Wheel of Time Tabletop Role Playing Game.

Humberto Tramujas
Humberto Tramujas