Winter's Heart (Wheel of Time, #9)

Executive Summary: Much like some of the other “middle books” of this series, I enjoyed it more on my reread than I did the first time. That said, it's still one of the weaker books of the series.Audiobook: Another fantastic job by Kate Reading and Micheal Kramer. I suspect part of the reason why I enjoyed this more the second time was that I was listening to it instead of reading it, and they make it so much better.Full ReviewAfter nearly 1.5 books, Mat returns! There is also a bunch of boring stuff with Elayne, and some mostly interesting stuff with Rand, and a brief bit with Perrin that was OK.On my first read of this series, I really started to lose steam here. I found the first part of it quite slow both times. However by the time Mat shows up, I was totally engrossed again. And the ending nearly makes up for all the slow stuff at the start. It's probably one of his better endings in the series. The implications make me want to jump right into the next book.Overall I'm still quite enjoying my reread of this series. I still find that there are too many names and characters to keep straight though. Luckily I don't have to worry about spoilers and I can look stuff up when I'm confused. I think that's definitely another benefit my reread had over the first time too.I was really worried this series wouldn't hold up to my memory of it, but so far it's been as good or better than I remember. I'm absolutely dreading [b:Crossroads of Twilight 113435 Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time, #10) Robert Jordan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408325146s/113435.jpg 195579] though because from what I remember there is a bit at the start that's really good, and the ending is excellent but then nothing happens for the middle 80% or so. Hopefully I'll find that even that book is better on a reread, but I'm not optimistic.