I'm mostly just eager to read. This is one of only a few series that I read as it came out instead of waiting until it'd been completed and is by far the most lengthy. I'm not really worried about it not living up to my expectations, because there have already been lots of epic scenes and resolutions in the other books and there were all FANTASTIC. So I really just expect more of the same.
The snippets of the final book that have already been released only made me more confident. Reading/hearing them felt like meeting an old friend, whereas sometimes I spend half a dozen chapters trying to get into a new book. This isn't some silly series that grew because the publisher kept asking for new books. It's been planned out from the start, and it's gonna be GREAT!
*hugs the Mentor* First off, great article, Taelinn Sedai. This series was the first fantasy that I ever read, and the one that I always keep coming back to. Part of me hopes that every thing will be tied up so I know what happens to these characters that have been in my life for 15 of the last 27 and a half years. Another part of me is almost afraid to read this book, because it has meant so much to me for so long. I know that reading this book, finally, (let no one ever say that Robert Jordan's fans are anything but patient!) will be bittersweet, but I also know that I will be reading this series for the rest of my life, no matter what happens in this book. I know that I will laugh and cry and probably do both as I read, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm excited, but also apprehensive. There are so many loose threads still (despite all the tying up of plot lines that Brandon Sanderson's been doing in the last couple books) that I'm worried the ones I care about the most won't be resolved! I'm confident the big over-arching plots will come to a satisfying conclusion. It's the little one's I'm worried about. I'm hoping they're at least, if not ended, at least referenced in a way that leaves me happy to speculate about what might have happened.