LORD OF CHAOS

The sixth installment of The Wheel of Time series (The Fires of Heaven, 1993, etc.), which is now projected to be an eight-book epic. Propelled by a number of ``Chosen''—who are something like fallen angels—and animal-human hybrid Myrddraal, the Dark One's plan to break free of his Shayol Ghul prison nears completion. Meanwhile, the one fated to oppose him in a cataclysmic showdown, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has persuaded at least some of the all-female, One Powerwielding Aes Sedai that he is indeed what he claims to be. Falsely accused of murder and opposed by legions of deluded, religious-fanatic Whitecloaks, not to mention the Dark One's unspeakable minions, Rand must unite the good-guy opposition if he is to sustain any hope of victory. So then as now: Enormous, imaginative, uncontrolled, and utterly unintelligible to outsiders. (First printing of 250,000; author tour)