Laurien Achaur
Aes Sedai
Greetings, all! A few people suggested I keep updates going of my first trip through the books. I figured I'd do just that here; it keeps me reading consistently and feeds the veteran readers' nostalgia, so why not? This thread will be sort of a stream-of-consciousness as I make my way through Eye of the World for the first time. Anything I put as a question is something I'm expecting to have answered as I read unless I specifically say I'm confused about something, so don't feel like you need to address those. Unless you want to comment, of course.
So! Here I go with "Earlier" (the prologue to the prologue, it looks like):
- Love the scenery right off the bat. Warm, late spring, green...Very evocative.
- Ohhhh, they're babies! Baby Egwene! "She was going to be the best water-carrier ever." Such a nine-year-old aspiration
- Egwene, questioning the status quo. "Why did you have to keep doing something just because it had always been done that way?" Wise beyond her years, this kid.
- Oof. Creepy ravens. (This makes me sad; I've played so much Assassin's Creed Valhalla this year that ravens are always good in my head. Guess I'll need to adjust.)
- ...Go away, Kenley.
- Don't worry, Egwene; you'll get The Look down eventually.
- Need to adjust my mental pronunciation of "Aynal," because the first way I tried it was...probably not what RJ was going for
- The sheep-shearing being a community thing, even a day for celebrating despite it being hard work, makes me wistful. We don't have much of a modern-day equivalent for this, do we?
- They shifted the breakbone fever thing from Berowyn to Egwene in the show. I understand why. Makes for an interesting backstory point for Egwene since we don't really see her sisters in the show.
- Haha, Kenley! Nice catch, Mistress Ayellin.
- Egwene's loyalty to her mom's baking is adorable.
- "Make me fly, Perrin!" Well, now I just love him more
- Nice little burn to Adora. Egwene with the sass ftw!
- Loise not budging with Dag Coplin is a pretty significant illustration of the power women have in the WoT world, I think.
- I love getting to see apprentice Nynaeve and the old Wisdom. There isn't really any context given for who she took over from in the show.
- And there's the first braid-tug
- I love how Egwene can already read Nynaeve well enough to know when not to push and why she's acting the way she is.
- Oof. Egwene trying to comfort Elisa and not knowing she's taking a bad tack until it's too late.
- Why is she looking for Perrin and Mat so determinedly, anyway?
- Baby Rand! Lanky and all feet and I am having a hard time picturing it
- Why would people have been pairing Egwene off with Rand already when they're all still so little?
- Mat, you uppity, competitive little...
- Even as kids, there's a stark contrast between Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene and the rest of the Two Rivers kids. They think differently, have different expectations, and don't seem to want to settle for things as they are.
- Egwene watches and listens to Rand through that whole exchange and decides she still hasn't learned anything? Well, she is nine.
- Ahh, her father is the Mayor. Might explain why Egwene wants to be the best at even just water-carrying.
- At this point, Mat's mother seems pretty steady. I'm anticipating a shift there, based on the show.
- All the one-upping between Mat and Dav
- Why is Buie so against Tam talking about the Dragon? He says it isn't "decent," which is an interesting way to put it.
- I wonder what compelled Tam to tell this story in particular.
- So the Forsaken are Aes Sedai who turned to the Dark One. I'm guessing they're going to be a ton of trouble later.
- I feel there's something significant about Tam talking about Lews Therin Telamon before the Breaking and ending the story there, with the Dark One being defeated, especially when Egwene and probably the other kids know that the Dragon destroyed everything.
- I love Perrin's question here. "Master al'Thor, what does 'the Dragon' mean? If somebody's called the Lion, it means he's supposed to be like a lion. But what's a dragon?" They don't know. A dragon is something mythical and unknown to all of them, obviously. What reason do they have to believe the story, then? Guess they'll find out someday...
- Those ravens... Interesting that Egwene is the only one who seems to notice them.
- Using how one wants to hear stories as a measure of getting older is interesting, and I think it's true. We get older and don't want to hear overdramatized tales from our parents anymore. We want something more complex and thought-provoking, like Egwene wanting to hear a gleeman.
Next up will be the Prologue!
So! Here I go with "Earlier" (the prologue to the prologue, it looks like):
- Love the scenery right off the bat. Warm, late spring, green...Very evocative.
- Ohhhh, they're babies! Baby Egwene! "She was going to be the best water-carrier ever." Such a nine-year-old aspiration
- Egwene, questioning the status quo. "Why did you have to keep doing something just because it had always been done that way?" Wise beyond her years, this kid.
- Oof. Creepy ravens. (This makes me sad; I've played so much Assassin's Creed Valhalla this year that ravens are always good in my head. Guess I'll need to adjust.)
- ...Go away, Kenley.
- Don't worry, Egwene; you'll get The Look down eventually.
- Need to adjust my mental pronunciation of "Aynal," because the first way I tried it was...probably not what RJ was going for
- The sheep-shearing being a community thing, even a day for celebrating despite it being hard work, makes me wistful. We don't have much of a modern-day equivalent for this, do we?
- They shifted the breakbone fever thing from Berowyn to Egwene in the show. I understand why. Makes for an interesting backstory point for Egwene since we don't really see her sisters in the show.
- Haha, Kenley! Nice catch, Mistress Ayellin.
- Egwene's loyalty to her mom's baking is adorable.
- "Make me fly, Perrin!" Well, now I just love him more
- Nice little burn to Adora. Egwene with the sass ftw!
- Loise not budging with Dag Coplin is a pretty significant illustration of the power women have in the WoT world, I think.
- I love getting to see apprentice Nynaeve and the old Wisdom. There isn't really any context given for who she took over from in the show.
- And there's the first braid-tug
- I love how Egwene can already read Nynaeve well enough to know when not to push and why she's acting the way she is.
- Oof. Egwene trying to comfort Elisa and not knowing she's taking a bad tack until it's too late.
- Why is she looking for Perrin and Mat so determinedly, anyway?
- Baby Rand! Lanky and all feet and I am having a hard time picturing it
- Why would people have been pairing Egwene off with Rand already when they're all still so little?
- Mat, you uppity, competitive little...
- Even as kids, there's a stark contrast between Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene and the rest of the Two Rivers kids. They think differently, have different expectations, and don't seem to want to settle for things as they are.
- Egwene watches and listens to Rand through that whole exchange and decides she still hasn't learned anything? Well, she is nine.
- Ahh, her father is the Mayor. Might explain why Egwene wants to be the best at even just water-carrying.
- At this point, Mat's mother seems pretty steady. I'm anticipating a shift there, based on the show.
- All the one-upping between Mat and Dav
- Why is Buie so against Tam talking about the Dragon? He says it isn't "decent," which is an interesting way to put it.
- I wonder what compelled Tam to tell this story in particular.
- So the Forsaken are Aes Sedai who turned to the Dark One. I'm guessing they're going to be a ton of trouble later.
- I feel there's something significant about Tam talking about Lews Therin Telamon before the Breaking and ending the story there, with the Dark One being defeated, especially when Egwene and probably the other kids know that the Dragon destroyed everything.
- I love Perrin's question here. "Master al'Thor, what does 'the Dragon' mean? If somebody's called the Lion, it means he's supposed to be like a lion. But what's a dragon?" They don't know. A dragon is something mythical and unknown to all of them, obviously. What reason do they have to believe the story, then? Guess they'll find out someday...
- Those ravens... Interesting that Egwene is the only one who seems to notice them.
- Using how one wants to hear stories as a measure of getting older is interesting, and I think it's true. We get older and don't want to hear overdramatized tales from our parents anymore. We want something more complex and thought-provoking, like Egwene wanting to hear a gleeman.
Next up will be the Prologue!