- Admin
- #21
Oh, and I loved Thom's Point of view and how he kept killing Aes Sedai who were trying to sneak up on him
Things you liked, or didn't [WHOLE BOOK SPOILERS]
- Thread starter Aulrick Vendour
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- #22
My initial reaction?
I am actually a little disappointed. I think my hopes and expectations for this book was way to high, and to see so many of the theories we have discussed actually come true made me feel like I knew what was happening. This is probably a bit unfair, and I may feel better about the book when I read it again, but that is still my feeling after reading the whole thing in 15 hours
Things I didn't like:
The whole Shayol Ghul part was a bit anti-climatic, Nynaeve and Moiraine was a bit wasted in the process...
Padan Fain was completely pointless and a big disappointment.
It also felt a bit strange to me that Demandred didn't know that Rand would be at Shayol Ghul....
Elayne. When she was appointed commander of all the forces, I was actually a bit enraged... She has a high opinion of herself, and I would have liked to see her taken down a few notches... Sadly, that didn't happen
Things I liked:
Moiraine or at least in the first part in the book, when she comes in at the Field of Merrilor and makes everyone see sense. After that, she is kinda wasted.
OLVER
The great Captain issue.
I am actually a little disappointed. I think my hopes and expectations for this book was way to high, and to see so many of the theories we have discussed actually come true made me feel like I knew what was happening. This is probably a bit unfair, and I may feel better about the book when I read it again, but that is still my feeling after reading the whole thing in 15 hours
Things I didn't like:
The whole Shayol Ghul part was a bit anti-climatic, Nynaeve and Moiraine was a bit wasted in the process...
Padan Fain was completely pointless and a big disappointment.
It also felt a bit strange to me that Demandred didn't know that Rand would be at Shayol Ghul....
Elayne. When she was appointed commander of all the forces, I was actually a bit enraged... She has a high opinion of herself, and I would have liked to see her taken down a few notches... Sadly, that didn't happen
Things I liked:
Moiraine
or at least in the first part in the book, when she comes in at the Field of Merrilor and makes everyone see sense. After that, she is kinda wasted. OLVER
The great Captain issue.
Kerna Shedrian
Aes Sedai
Nynaeve wasn't wasted. Noone else could have done what she did in there. She couldn't Heal Alanna so she healed Alanna, at least enough to get her conscious to release the bond, saving Rand from going mad. Moiraine, yeah I agree, I wanted her to be more epic.
- Admin
- #24
Rand had been wondering who he wanted at Shayol Ghul with him and Nynaeve. Once Moiraine came back, it was always going to be her, he was the only other Aes Sedai he really trusted
Kerna Shedrian
Aes Sedai
She still could have been more epic!
- Admin
- #26
There is a limit to how epic you can be while watching Rand and Moridin hug each other
Kerna Shedrian
Aes Sedai
*snorts* Thank God it was only hours for them and not the days it was for others outside :P
- Moderator
- #28
She could have, at least, SAID something... Commented on what Nynaeve was doing, helped... Anything. Now it was like she wasn't there at all, before she ran out into Thom's arms... He also was a bit wasted... He could at least have got to kill someone a little important...
Aulrick Vendour
Gaidin
- Thread starter
- #29
I dunno. I thought that part where Moridin picks up Callandor was EPIC! How excited he was, just to realize - to his horror - that it was, in fact, a trap :P
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And what a perfect trap it was!
I've just finished my first read through and I'm not sure I have my head wrapped around it all yet. I agree with the folk that have said they would have liked to see a bit more of a wrap up/epilogue. Once the battle is over the book pretty much ends. Much like the Gunslinger series while I am not 100% happy with the ending it is a very fitting ending for the WoT. My lists below are by no means complete. As mentioned, I'm still trying to process everything I read.
Things I likes:
-Mat and Rand's conversation when Rand shows up to talk to Tuon. (pricelss)
-Lan (who I've always been a fan of) taking out Demandred
-Tam lighting the pyre
-Androl and Pevara
-Thom composing a ballad and flipping knives into the backs of unsuspecting Black Ajah without missing a beat
-Cadsuane being bullied into the Amyrlin Seat
-Bashere's wife appreciating Mat yelling at him
Things I dislikes:
-Not seeing Hawkwing's encounter with Tuon!
-Egwene dying
-Rand no longer being able to channel (As Lanfear explains to Perrin, channeling is tied to the soul and it is still Rand's soul in Moridin's body)
-Even though I was dreading it I hate that the only deaths were among what I refer to as "major secondary" characters (other than Egwene)
-Padan Fain was wasted. Almost (for a few seconds) I thought maybe Rand was going to destroy the DO and that what Fain was becoming would somehow be imprisoned to fester and become the DO that would be discovered when the appropriate Age arrived again.
-I would have liked to have seen a Harry Potterish flash forward epilogue but this is probably me just being greedy because I know that I'll never know what happens to the characters beyond what I have now.
Things I likes:
-Mat and Rand's conversation when Rand shows up to talk to Tuon. (pricelss)
-Lan (who I've always been a fan of) taking out Demandred
-Tam lighting the pyre
-Androl and Pevara
-Thom composing a ballad and flipping knives into the backs of unsuspecting Black Ajah without missing a beat
-Cadsuane being bullied into the Amyrlin Seat
-Bashere's wife appreciating Mat yelling at him
Things I dislikes:
-Not seeing Hawkwing's encounter with Tuon!
-Egwene dying
-Rand no longer being able to channel (As Lanfear explains to Perrin, channeling is tied to the soul and it is still Rand's soul in Moridin's body)
-Even though I was dreading it I hate that the only deaths were among what I refer to as "major secondary" characters (other than Egwene)
-Padan Fain was wasted. Almost (for a few seconds) I thought maybe Rand was going to destroy the DO and that what Fain was becoming would somehow be imprisoned to fester and become the DO that would be discovered when the appropriate Age arrived again.
-I would have liked to have seen a Harry Potterish flash forward epilogue but this is probably me just being greedy because I know that I'll never know what happens to the characters beyond what I have now.
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There is still one thing after all of this that will absolutely have to be shoved in my face for me to realize it:
Who killed Asmodean?
Who killed Asmodean?
Somewhere in my headcanon (a term I am stealing from the AO3 fanfiction archive), this is a gift from the Creator to the Dragon who served so well - a replacement of his channelling ability with the Creator-version of the True Power. Gives him enough power to protect himself and hide without sending up a beacon every time he uses it.
Graendal
The Towers of Midnight glossary confirmed it to be Graendal.
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Thank you. I didn't read that part.
Tazren Talamar
Gaidin
RE the Dark One being the source of all evil or not, and the big white book. That book is not absolute truth. It's written from the perspective of a third age scholar. Facts regarding the nature of the DO and his affect on the world would then be speculation. Rand had much greater insight.
Things I liked
* Pevara and Androl
* Egwene's epicness
* The ending. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than I had hoped for. So many expectations ... I had feared it would be horrific. It was actually quite good.
* All the fanservice and mention of minor things that people have been wanting to see.
Things I didn't like
Really just one thing that's bothering me spontaneously afterwards (I know there were other things when reading, but this is one that sticks with me): inconsistencies. Like, how could Egwene burn herself out? She was using a sa'angreal; those are protected against that. The sa'angreal she used was very well-known to the Tower - if it had been flawed, they would've known. Likewise, how Graendal burned out people in her circle at the end, as it was described. Cirlces are likewise protected from overdrawing the One Power. There were other things as well, especially when he wrote those spectacular fight scenes. Things that bugged me, that seemed to not work quite as they should have, according to earlier books.
Things I liked
* Pevara and Androl
* Egwene's epicness
* The ending. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than I had hoped for. So many expectations ... I had feared it would be horrific. It was actually quite good.
* All the fanservice and mention of minor things that people have been wanting to see.
Things I didn't like
Really just one thing that's bothering me spontaneously afterwards (I know there were other things when reading, but this is one that sticks with me): inconsistencies. Like, how could Egwene burn herself out? She was using a sa'angreal; those are protected against that. The sa'angreal she used was very well-known to the Tower - if it had been flawed, they would've known. Likewise, how Graendal burned out people in her circle at the end, as it was described. Cirlces are likewise protected from overdrawing the One Power. There were other things as well, especially when he wrote those spectacular fight scenes. Things that bugged me, that seemed to not work quite as they should have, according to earlier books.
Bayrd the Butcher in the prologue and later with Tam is our very own Baryd the Butcher. The spelling of his name was changed to avoid confusion with Demandred's original name, Bared. The Butcher won this honor during the 10th Anni silent auction.
Bao the Wyld is Azreal (RL name.)
Kerna Shedrian
Aes Sedai
I didn't think she burnt herself out, not like the way sa'angreal are supposed to protect against anyways (which is the loss of the One Power). She unmade herself, the opposite weave to balefire. At least that's what I took from it, though that has it's own inconsistencies which I never really thought about until writing here.
- Admin
- #40
"She closed her eyes and drew in the power. More than a woman should be able to, more than was right. Far beyond safety, beyond wisdom. This Sa'angreal had no buffer to prevent this."