Yea, yea, it's April Fool's, which means that most of you (or at least the two of you who even thought about it) were assuming that my threat to deliver a First Monday post today was just another joak. Ha. Joke's on you. I actually did read a book this month.

In fact, I read it in about two days: the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time prequel, New Spring.

Jordan, who had the poor manners to die before completing his opus, somehow managed to squeeze in the time to knock out this short novel, which was published in 2005. It was a light, enjoyable read.

The book focuses fairly heavily on the relationship between Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche, with a secondary story attempting to develop Lan's character a bit as the plot leads up to the point at which Moiraine takes Lan as her Warder. If you are addicted to the Wheel stories, you've probably already read this one. If you are not and never plan to be, this one is forgettable. If you enjoy the Wheel stories and are twiddling your thumbs waiting for the next book to arrive, you might enjoy this one.

Overall, the writing style is pretty easy. As I said, I blew through this one in a couple of days. My main problems with the book are its implausibility (within Jordan's universe, obviously). Moraine and Siuan are presented in this volume as young Accepteds, in their early 20s or perhaps very late teens, at the time of the Dragon's rebirth. This means that within far less than 20 years, Siuan has to rise to the Amyrlin Seat not via a civil war within the Aes Sedai. That. Would. Not. Happen. Siuan is presented in the series later as a mature, powerful, imposing personality, all of which possibly could come to pass in that time frame, but it just isn't long enough to be credible.

For her part, Moiraine comes across as incredibly naive, petulant and, well, arrogant. Nothing like the character she becomes.

Jordan introduces the Black Ajah in this book, but in ways that I found pretty unsatisfying. And the book wraps up entirely too conveniently and quickly (hard to believe for a Jordan novel). As one reviewer put it, "The term padding comes to mind soon and often as New Spring blooms. Perhaps it should have been left a short story, and perhaps only Wheel of Time junkies will genuinely enjoy it." I think that comes pretty close to the truth. The book fills in some background material, tells a mildly interesting set of stories, and is over with pretty quickly. Not Jordan's best effort, but I didn't feel too cheated by my purchase at a used book store.

What are you reading?