Things you liked, or didn't [WHOLE BOOK SPOILERS]

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OMG
How do you know this?!
Maybe her death was a note from Jordan?

Because I watch what Sanderson is up to like a hawk.


Reference for you.

Interview: 2013
Twitter 2013 (WoT) (Verbatim)
Can (13 January 2013)
@Terez27 Do we know which character is dead by Harriet's choice?

Terez
Bela. @BrandSanderson told us twice that she would survive. :( But apparently Harriet later insisted she should die.

Brandon Sanderson (13 January 2013)
Yeah. Harriet felt that we had painted that character into a corner, and the story demanded that conclusion.

Daniel Shepard
Is that the GRRM moment? Or the character that was gonna recover from their injuries?

Brandon Sanderson
Character was going to recover.

Brandon Sanderson
She was right to make that call, but it does turn me into a liar. That's what I get for speaking too soon...

Werthead
That does seem slightly ludicrous. I think the fanbase turned Bela into a bit of a meme.

Brandon Sanderson
True, but I will note that Harriet personally has a special fondness for her.

Question
Any spoilers for A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson
Let's see here. Harriet killed a character in the book that I did not intend to kill. So I wrote the entire book with a character living and she killed this character.

Question
Did she tell you right before you finished, or what?

Brandon Sanderson
She sent back the draft and said "This person dies."

Question
So did you have to change a lot?

Brandon Sanderson
So they succumb to their wounds. I intended them to live, so there is a character who died unexpectedly. So that's a slight spoiler. There is like a chapter that's over a hundred pages. It's a Super Chapter.
 
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Just finished it last night, staying up later than I should have, but once I got into the last battle, I just couldn't put it down.

Things I liked:
- First and foremost, the end of chapter 39 with Olver being saved by Noal. This just crushed me in a way that I haven't felt from a book in a long time. Absolutely perfect.
- Echoing a lot of others' sentiments, Androl and Pevara. Really grew to love those characters in a way I wouldn't have expected a couple books ago, that's for sure. Androl's whole journey and backstory were awesome, and having it culminate in that epic volcano gateway was fantastic.
- The Hinderstap trick - didn't see it coming, laughed out loud at the cleverness.
- The other part that really got to me when I read it was Birgitte's death. Gasped and had to look away from the book for a bit. Mellar's awfulness was really well-written, which made for a great moment of revenge with the Horn.
- I always found Gawyn to be kind of annoying, so I have to admit that I'd put his terrible decisions and his death coming after a totally failed attempt to fight Demandred into my positives category.

Dislike:
- Agreeing with everyone that the Fain part was given too little emphasis and really just glossed over in an anticlimactic way.
- I kind of wanted some references to the fates of some characters at the end - like Elaida, or some of those who were fighting in throughout the book but weren't mentioned at the end, like Sorilea, Uno, Domon, etc.
- This doesn't really count, but when the "Davram Bashere is a darkfriend" thing first happened, I was like, "OH COME ON." Thankfully I caught on a chapter later, but at the time I read it I felt like the book was jumping the proverbial shark. Again, not a dislike in the end, and just my fault for not seeing what was going on!

Questions:
- What happened to Egeanin when Egwene died? Did I miss that?
- In chapter 6 when Rand is getting everyone to sign his treaty, they ask him how he's going to get the Seanchan on board. At this point when I was reading it, I kept expecting Thom (who had arrived by now with Moiraine) to speak up and say, "Hey, go talk to Mat - he's married to Tuon." But he didn't. And then in Chapter 16, it says, "Before he could move against the Dark One, he had to do something about the Seanchan. If what Thom said was true, Mat might be the key." When did Thom say that? He said it in my brain, but I didn't see him say it in the book! Again, did I miss something?
- Anybody else wonder whether Nynaeve would discover a way to heal the channelers who had been turned? I didn't necessarily expect this to be part of the book, but it was one of the future things I was wondering about at the end.
 
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Just finished it last night, staying up later than I should have, but once I got into the last battle, I just couldn't put it down.
^Oh why it has to always be that way?? Best books always ends about 4 am and then next day at work is a horror...

Questions:
- What happened to Egeanin when Egwene died? Did I miss that?

Egwene released the bond before her death, so no harm to her. Suppose she lives
 

Taika Vinh

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Things I liked
-Graendal and her sabotage of the Light's army
-Androl & Pevara
-Mat's schemings
-How Aviendha & the Aiel demanded to be part of the Dragon's Peace.
-Some of the epic battle scenes, like Egwene's death, Lan and Demandred's fight, Androl & co surviving the Turnings at Black Tower, Olver blowing the Horn
-The fact that it wasn't too neatly wrapped up, i.e. there were dangerous channeler darkfriends left in a stedding, or Moghedien left collared, the whole channeler issue (Aes Sedai & the Oath Rod, Windfinders, damane, Wise Ones, asha'man and their power struggles), etc.

Things I didn't like
-Fain & Mashadar's and Shaidar Haran's anticlimactic endings
-the absence of Eelfinn and Aelfinn, and what was the point for having Mat's eye
-Gawyn was made even more a moron he was previously
-The whole interaction between the Seanchan and Randlanders. I didn't get it. Maybe with a re-read...
-What was the thing about Elayne actually leading her army, and waving a sword. :( Bad taste, imo.
-And how much I like Brandon Sanderson's style (more than Robert Jordan's descriptive way of writing), some of the characters were "off". Can't really point why, but for example Mat was too lightly funny (though it annoyed me more in ToM than aMoL), Tuon less mysterious and capable, that kind of stuff.
 
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-What was the thing about Elayne actually leading her army, and waving a sword. :( Bad taste, imo.


Oh, but that's been foreshadowed for a looooooong time, since the first books iirc. There was some point, where Elayne told Egwene (I think) about an ancient queen, Modrellein I think, whose army was suffering a defeat, and when all hope seemed gone, she rode into enemy lines alone, and the soliders, who couldn't bear the thought of letting their queen be killed, charged after her to save her, and then won the battle. Elayne then goes on to say that that's the kind of courage expected from an Andoran queen.

I've been expecting this ever since.
 

Caliden Al'Waes

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To be fair, even at the time Elayne herself commented about how silly it was and how she didn't know if she'd even be able to swing the thing. But a queens gotta do what a queens gotta do!
And I agree with Tazren, I wasn't surprised. If anything, it was an amusing little section in a time when a bit of levity was needed.
 

Taika Vinh

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Sorry, bad choice of words. I remember the foreshadowing. Still, in my opinion the sword wielding was unnecessary, it would have had the same effect if she had actually channeled. What stroke me as worse, though, was the commanding earlier (Chapter 10 The Use of Dragons, from page 237 on), making battle field decisions and shouting orders (and at least once the sword was mentioned there too) when there were better commanders, like Tam or Birgitte there.
 

Caliden Al'Waes

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Wasn't Tam with Perrin's army though? And Birgitte had died by that point. The whole thing was she needed to show them that 1.) she wasn't dead and 2.) that all hope wasn't lost.
My soldiers think I'm dead." Elayne said. "Our lines are breaking, our men dying. They have to see me to know that there is still hope. They won't know what this mist means. If they have ever needed their queen, this is the moment."

then on page 824 near the bottom she talks about waving the sword and holding the sword
"although light only knew what she would do with it if she had to swing it."
and then the next page,
"The one power was fare more refined a weapon. she would use that if she had to, but she would rather fight for the moment."

then later when Brigette asks her what she was doing,
"How would you feel if you saw your queen trying to kill a trolloc with a sword as you ran away."
 

Toral Delvar

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The more I think about it, the more I don't like Demandred's super-bladesmaster status
 

Toral Delvar

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With 11 clans numbering hundreds of thousands of elite warriors the part played by them seems pretty irrelevant with the exception of a few characters.
I need to finish my re-read to see how many survived, to see if it could be considered a "remnant of a remnant" I know at least 7 of the clan chiefs died
Gay characters have been in the series for many years. What do you think "pillow friends" are?
Pillow friends aren't gay as such, just engage in homosexual activity. Most leave it behind once they are raised. I suppose the mention of gay male characters could seem tokenism, but the offhand mention was in line with the way gay females have previously been described
 

Keelinnea Isyne

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Anybody else wonder whether Nynaeve would discover a way to heal the channelers who had been turned? I didn't necessarily expect this to be part of the book, but it was one of the future things I was wondering about at the end.

I dont remember ever reading that it couldnt be healed for sure. I do know that one of the Forsaken, Graendal I believe, said that Nynaeve had discovered how to heal/delve sicknesses of the brain that wasnt even known in the AoL. So I would hope this would mean she might be able to heal that. She figured out how to heal the madness from the taint, so unless RJ said no way, no how can it be healed I will want to believe she could discover a way.
 

Taika Vinh

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Sorry, bad choice of words. I remember the foreshadowing. Still, in my opinion the sword wielding was unnecessary, it would have had the same effect if she had actually channeled. What stroke me as worse, though, was the commanding earlier (Chapter 10 The Use of Dragons, from page 237 on), making battle field decisions and shouting orders (and at least once the sword was mentioned there too) when there were better commanders, like Tam or Birgitte there.
^Caliden, I was talking about earlier. Birgitte was well alive, and Tam discussed with Elayne about the Two Rivers long bows' range.

And still, in the place you mentioned, I'd think channeling would have served as well as swinging the sword. It would have shown that she wasn't dead and hope wasn't lost. And she wouldn't have to take unnecessary risks. Channeling was something she was good at, and like she confessed herself, fighting with a sword wasn't. But it's a matter of taste. I found it out of character for Elayne - especially the first place I mentioned. (Page 237 onwards) Anyway, it's not important, just a matter of taste.
 

Isarma Maracanda

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I dont remember ever reading that it couldnt be healed for sure. I do know that one of the Forsaken, Graendal I believe, said that Nynaeve had discovered how to heal/delve sicknesses of the brain that wasnt even known in the AoL. So I would hope this would mean she might be able to heal that. She figured out how to heal the madness from the taint, so unless RJ said no way, no how can it be healed I will want to believe she could discover a way.
Unfortunately, RJ once said in a Q&A that it cannot healed, because the former personality has been completely erased :cry

Edit: inaccurate memories actually -> it could be healed by someone else, I found the link to it (in our Library :D )
http://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Question_of_the_Week#Week_15
 
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Megana Vallentin

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To be fair, even at the time Elayne herself commented about how silly it was and how she didn't know if she'd even be able to swing the thing. But a queens gotta do what a queens gotta do!

I loved that scene! Especially Elayne's internal commentary as she was aware of how ridiculous she looked, but what else could she do? And the poor Trolloc being so startled as well. :laugh:
 

Keelinnea Isyne

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Unfortunately, RJ once said in a Q&A that it cannot healed, because the former personality has been completely erased :cry

Edit: inaccurate memories actually -> it could be healed by someone else, I found the link to it (in our Library :D )
http://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Question_of_the_Week#Week_15

Thats great! There were several I would have hated to be left like that, with them probably not realizing what was wrong with them. To me, they didnt seem to know that their views had changed to the Dark side and it would have been sad to leave them turned and alive.
 
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Indeed. I wouldn't mind it so much, except the DO is unnecessery for this choice.
The Big White Book describes this in detail. The DO DOESN'T, in fact, CREATE the evil in people. He just enhances it. This is the Father of Lies's great lie. Rand spared his life under the false assumption that without the DO, choice would not be possible. That is a lie.
It's the other way around. By enhancing the negative emotions, the DO diverts people's choice towards evil, to the point that he can deny it completely from channelers.
Father of Lies indeed.
THAT is his victory - making the Dragon think that it is a necessery evil, thus preventing his own destruction.

But isn't the DO described as a huge force in the universe? He's not really a being - he is described as evil itself, or the manifestation of all evil. Destroying him is akin to destroying evil in its totality. At least that's how I read the passages where Rand really got to know the DO.
 
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