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

[Tazren Talamar]

She clung to the Power she'd held. She had pulled in too much. She knew that if she released her grip, she would hleave herself burned out, unable to channel another drop. The Power surged through her in this last moment.

There it is. Had it just been her weave that undid her, that would've been fine ... that passage above runs against everything established about sa'angreal previously. I know it's a minor detail ... but minor details like that really, totally break my immersion.

 

[Toral Delvar]

Well, we know that Eldrene destroyed herself by pulling too much of the Power, though I don't think we are told she had a ''sa'angreal'' given how many shadowspawn she destroyed, it seems unlikely she didn't. However, she destroyed herself rather than being burned out. And with the Choedan Kal, Verin claims Logain would have needed all his strength just to keep from being burned out, but that could just be Verin being Verin.

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

It is possible the 'buffer' exists only when a person is being reasonable with their ability to channel. Egwene had been on the ragged edge of exhaustion for days (if not weeks or months), and had gone insane with grief from the death of her Warder (and I can't imagine seeing so many friends die did any good for her psychiatric stability either) the only thing holding her together was the knowledge that she had one last task. That completed, her brain couldn't handle it anymore and she lost all control.

 

[Hammar O'Justice]

there was also a Pylar, and of course Serinia in chapter one. I think that is it

Read page 900 again.

 

[Hammar O'Justice]

I know that people assume he's the source of all evil. As I've explained in my previouse post - THAT's the great lie of the father of lies. We, as readers, have information the characters don't have, but that information is, in fact, still valid. The idea that the DO is not the source of evil is a fact, given to us by Robert Jordan himself. The Big White Book, page 41:

No. The BWB is explicitly presented, and has been confirmed elsewhere by Team Jordan (or Jordan himself, long ago), to have been written in-character. It is subject to the Unreliable Narrator rule and cannot be trusted.

 

[Hammar O'Justice]

Things I liked:

1) Rand realizing that slaying the Dark One was nonsense.
2) The entire sequence of Lan vs Demandred
3) Min becoming a Truthspeaker (this was telegraphed in Tuon's very first scene IIRC; I don't have my books handy but I believe her first scene has her going on about the Omens).
4) FINALLY, this may be the first book since Lord of Chaos in which multiple Forsaken are effective at their tasks. Graendal, Moghedien, and Demandred seemed shockingly competent.
5) Mat.
6) The Epilogue.
7) Confirmation on my looney theory of 15 years that Mat wasn't bound the Horn anymore.
8) The final fate of Graendal.

Things I disliked:

1) I haven't Googled but I thought for SURE RJ confirmed way back a long time ago that all the Forsaken besides Semirhage were hiding out in Randland Proper and Shara was out of it.
2) I don't for one second believe the people of Shara would fight side by side with Shadowspawn and have no defections, particularly among the Ayyad. The BWB (which is admittedly not reliable by its own words) explicitly calls out the Ayyad as the ruling political class. If the WoT world has any consistent theme it is that the political classes look out for their own interests and values. A unified Sharan force with no *attempted* defections does not seem right to me.
3) Padan Fain. All that, for this? If Perrin had killed him in the Two Rivers, would any element of the story be materially different in any way? None that I can think of.
4) The absence of an interactive digital map in my book showing me realtime movements of the battle front at Merrilor.
5) The notion that gateway surveillance was never used in the AoL seems outrageous.
6) The forced time-dilation at the Bore. As written, it seemed clear that Rand and Nynaeve's presence along with the Shayol Ghul strike force would have made the battle at Merrilor an easy victory for the Light. It felt like RJ/BS had to cook up a reason why Rand couldn't be there during the battle.
7) Moridin did nothing, and Shaidar Haran was a complete waste.

 

[Analiese Sinclaer]

So wait, I am dying here! I haven't gotten far enough in the book because of school. So all of the great captains are darkfriends!?! Please, please, put me out of my misery, or at least give me chapters or pages so I can real quick look it up!!! Pretty please?

 

[Aulrick Vendour]

Did the writer happen to be Harrid Fel?

 

[Ariadne Davion]

So wait, I am dying here! I haven't gotten far enough in the book because of school. So all of the great captains are darkfriends!?! Please, please, put me out of my misery, or at least give me chapters or pages so I can real quick look it up!!! Pretty please?

Keep reading. It gets .. worse! >.> or better?

 

[Analiese Sinclaer]

*wails*

 

[Aulrick Vendour]

Don't worry, it doesn't take a lot of time to figure out.

 

[Tazren Talamar]

A thing that I missed:

Setalle Anan being healed from her burn out. To see if that's possible or not.

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

Setalle was Healed form her burn out?

Likes
- Annoura being selfless for Berelain and Galad. Totally touching, even though I don't care much about any of those characters.
- Gay characters in the series. Finally.
- Mat and Rand's outdoing each other. Definitely one of the funniest moments in the entire series.
- Egwene just being the best Amyrlin ever.
- Shara making an appearance, and an amazing one at that.
- Rand seeing Moiraine and kneeling before her.
- Androl, and to a lesser extent Pevara. That man is the best thing to happen to the series in a long time. Complete badass with his gateways.
- The Dark One becoming a true character.
- Moridin's story. I found my heart breaking for him and the fact that his punishment for failing was to be reborn.
- Perrin in Tel'Aran'Rhiod. I mean, holy friggin' balls. He was amazing. Especially in the battle with Graendal.

Dislikes
- Logain, throughout the entire book. He was just an asshole.
- How so many things that would have made great scenes were just mentioned in passing. Gawyn and Egwene's marriage. Gareth Bryne dying. I mean, what the balls. Those things are IMPORTANT.
- Bela dying. I mean, really. You couldn't let me have Bela making it from the start of the journey to the end?
- Elayne being made commander of forces of the Light. I mean, what the hell? She has no experience. You know who should have gotten that job from the start? Mat.

It also felt a bit strange to me that Demandred didn't know that Rand would be at Shayol Ghul....

Days passed on the battlefield at Merrilor, and only hours passed at Shayol Ghul. The Dark One had zero warning that Rand was at Shayol Ghul until he stepped into the cavern, because of the dagger that Elayne had given him. So even if The Dark One wanted Demandred to know, he didn't have any time. I doubt that he would inform Demandred anyway, because he had his own role to play as the General of the Shadow's forces, and if he found out that Rand was at Shayol Ghul, he would have immediately Traveled there and messed up The Dark One's plans.

2. Shaidar Haran's death: I don't really know what exactly I'd change with this, except that his end was so... Disappointing. The Hand of the Dark, not like anything they've seen, and he simply ended. No fight, no nothing. Rand came to find him dead, with a lame explanation he was "no longer needed"... What does that even mean?! Why wasn't he needed? He could have fought Rand too.

Shaidar Haran was The Dark One's avatar. The Dark One didn't need to battle Rand in a sword-fight because Moridin was there to do that. He had to focus all of his attentions on Rand in the way that they eventually did battle it out.

 

[Toral Delvar]

Mat was away when Elayne was given control.
I do wonder, if Hessalam hadn't done her compulsion to mess with the four leaders, what would have happened? It could be that by taking them out and having Mat in complete control this actually benefited the Light, though the large numbers they lost before it was discovered make this less likely

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

I think Mat should have been found. :P I don't know. It just would have made more sense, I guess. But you're right that the option wasn't available to them at the time. I'm just glad that he did, eventually, take command of the Light's forces.

 

[Tazren Talamar]

Setalle was Healed form her burn out?

No no. I meant that it was a scene I would've wanted :P

I also totally agree with you on important scenes just being mentioned in passing. I understand why this happened; the book is already 900 pages of almost pure action. Even upon event upon event. Things had to be cut. Still ... it's sad.

I don't think a lot of people would've accepted Mat as the commander of the Forces of Light at the start. From the perspective of most regents, Mat has about as much experience as Elayne, and Elayne, at least, has been raised to be a queen and lead people, if not actually being a general. I was surprised at it, but ... meh. She handled it as she should've; just acted as a leader and delegated stuff to people who had expertise. And even if that were not the case, they couldn't have found Mat. They needed a commander right then and there.

By the time Mat was available and wanted to, things were already so messed up that he was the only option.

 

[Aulrick Vendour]

I disagree. I think it was AWESOME! The other leaders would have never accepted Mat to lead the forces. The great captains were awesome, and it was a brilliant way to introduce Mat into the equation.

As for Shaidar Haran - I understood the story point of why he ended like that. I'm just saying I expected more. If the story would say it was still needed for something, then that would have made sense for us too.

 

[Belgareth Kiarc]

I am satisfied. There are enough things I liked to balance out those I didn't so I'm more than happy. Particular liked Mat. Pretty much my favourite character throughout the series.

And for tv.net references I believe I also read at one point during the battle that one of the groups formed two wedges. One lead by Lan (maybe?) and the other Deoan. I assume this is our very own?

 

[Kyyri Moran]

- Bela dying. I mean, really. You couldn't let me have Bela making it from the start of the journey to the end?

I found this horrible! When Bela died, it was probably the first time I went "Oh, no!"

I loved Mat in this book. He was so bloody brilliant. And his exchange with Rand in the gardens when Rand went to see Tuon had me laughing hysterically. My kids thought I was going mad.

I didn't really like the fact that so many things were mentioned that I thought could have been included in more detail, like Egwene and Gawyn's marriage. That, to me, would be important. I felt like it was just thrown in there.

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

You know, something else that kind of bothered me were all of the new characters who were introduced because of the fundraiser. I really do get that it was for a good cause, but it seemed like with every page there was a new random character that gets mentioned one time, but you're not sure whether or not they're actually a character or a one-off, so you're a bit confused by it. It was annoying.