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

[Bao the Wyld]

I really enjoyed the book with the exception how Padain Fain showed up and then died a few chapters later anti-climatically. I guess some of the stuff they did with the gateways bothered me a bit since you had to be strong in the power to make a gateway so I assumed it took a lot of effort to make one. To have all these gateways being used throughout the battle while the Aes Sedai were saying they couldn't channel to lift a feather didn't make much sense to me.

 

[Natalya Laragan]

The book was so filled with action that I noticed I needed to take breathers away from it every few pages at some point. Of course, it's the last book of the series and it's supposed to be intense, but still. The battle scenes weren't the main purpose for me to read this series, and I just can't enjoy the battles as much as some other things. I know it's a moot point to complain, as it's about the Last Battle anyway, but yea.

Things I liked:
Everybody's interactions with Tuon. Also, Tuon's PoVs, which show how so very different her way of seeing world is from anybody else. Great contrasts there. Mat's hilarious in a badass way.
Olver's storyline.
Androl and Pevara annoyed the heck out of me in the beginning, but it got better and better.
Egwene's storyline was also good, and the writing awesome in that part. I suspected from the first mention of the bloodknives that it's byebye Gawyn, but didn't think where that'd take Egwene. The only downside of that storyline was in my own mind. Once I realized where it all is going to end, I thought of 'blaze of glory' and this started playing in my head. It made reading a little ridiculous.
Demandred and the Sharans was quite a surprise. And Lan's charge against him epic.
Also, Lanfear!
Haha Moggy, you got what you deserved. (I hope.)

Things I didn't like

Padan Fain's storyline. Also, the text read 'they both died', and I thought this meant Mat too. Earlier Hawkwing had said Rand keeps Mat alive (or something along those lines) - so did Mat die again here or what the heck happened?

Bela's death.
Some too short/clipped descriptions. RJ was verbose sometimes, but Sanderson seems to be a little too opposite in some cases. I need to reread for examples.
Some things could've been a little more remarkable. Siuan's death, Egwene's and Gawyn's wedding, Basheres' final charge I didn't even notice until I read it from here. I understand the book is already 900+ pages, but a few pages more here and there wouldn't have made a difference.
I cannot like Logain.

The book also didn't quite incite emotion in me. Of course, it's so action packed that there's not much room for emotion. I didn't even shed a single tear. Maybe on a reread...

 

[Kerna Shedrian]

I liked Siuan's death, I liked that she chose. It reminded me of a quote from Vandene earlier in the series that she said to Moiraine, "You Blues. Always so ready to save the world that you lose yourselves."

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

Padan Fain's storyline. Also, the text read 'they both died', and I thought this meant Mat too. Earlier Hawkwing had said Rand keeps Mat alive (or something along those lines) - so did Mat die again here or what the heck happened?

It meant that both Mordeth and Padan Fain died.

I guess some of the stuff they did with the gateways bothered me a bit since you had to be strong in the power to make a gateway so I assumed it took a lot of effort to make one. To have all these gateways being used throughout the battle while the Aes Sedai were saying they couldn't channel to lift a feather didn't make much sense to me.

It does take a decent amount of Power to create a Gateway, but we've seen a somewhat strong Aes Sedai create multiple gateways in a short period of time before, so I don't think it's too much to assume that they could create multiple gateways on the field of battle, especially if they were linked. If you're referring to Androl, his ability to create giant gateways is a Talent.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

A horse is never "just a horse". Bela was there for so much and went through so much with various characters. I think it's just mean to have killed her.

Jeffan, I'm with you. I never bought into the Caemlyn "death" as the event that disconnected Mat from the Horn. It doesn't stand up to logic. The logical event is Mat's actual, momentary, death in Rhuidean.

I'm disappointed that we didnt' see the interaction between Hawkwing and Tuon. Also, that nobody pointed out that Berelain's rights would probably outweigh Tuon's claim. And the Seanchan are still collaring people? ARGH!

 

[Tazren Talamar]

Whether Mat's death in Caemlyn would affect the Horn, would depend on exactly how the connection goes, wouldn't it? It seems that the Horn is somehow tied into tel'aran'rhiod, and tel'aran'rhiod is a part of the world yet apart from it. So it's not unreasonable that the connection between the Horn and the hornsounder somehow transcends the physical world, in a way that balefiring someone back to life doesn't reconnect someone to the Horn. Mat died - the metaphysical connection was cut. Mat was restored to life when his death was erased, but wherever the connection to the Horn lies, is beyond those threads in the Pattern. So they didn't care that his thread was brought back to life. For the Horn, Mat had already died.

Regarding gateways: It seemed to me that some channelers were dedicated gateway-makers. Their job was to make gateways, which was every bit as important as fighting with the OP.

 

[Hammar O'Justice]

Something that's been bothering me since I finished the book: how many Good Guys that had POVs prior to, say, Dumai's Wells, failed to survive the series? That number is really low. Too low. Unrealistically low. Yes, I just said unrealistic after a book with a character that literally flies outside of Creation while debating the Devil, but, you know.

 

[Seamus1603]

Jeffan, I'm with you. I never bought into the Caemlyn "death" as the event that disconnected Mat from the Horn. It doesn't stand up to logic. The logical event is Mat's actual, momentary, death in Rhuidean.

I think others responded on this one, but I'd say 2 factors contribute to this phenomenon: 1) There is only 1 way to be bound to the Horn: To blow it; and 2) Balefire is 'just a weave'. Because balefire is just a weave, it is subservient, specifically, to Will in T'A'R (i.e. Perrin in TOM). So, the Rules of Horn, being based in T'A'R, can certainly overrule the rules of this specific pattern. So, when Mat died in Caemlyn, his link to the Horn was severed. Balefiring Rahvin did not reinstate this link because the only way to create a link to the Horn is by blowing it. Will of T'A'R rules over weave of the pattern.

 

[Tazren Talamar]

Another thing I didn't like:

I was always a fan of the Sorilea=darkfriend-theory. Sad that this wasn't the case - or at least shown.

 

[Halosia Paage]

Bella should have come back as Noal's (jain's) horse. She died to save the horn. She was the most reliable and steady.

 

[Melaine Thayet]

This is incorrect. I had the same reaction you did and re-read it. The quote is:

Emarin: "He cannot hear what we say?"
Pevara: "No."

This is creates a double-negative: "He can hear what we say." She spoke no word that was not true, but the colloquial usage had the intended deceptive effect.

Ahh, thank you! I should have re-read it. :P

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

OH. Another thing. What's with all of the wolves being Heroes of the Horn? Like... why weren't there fifty million wolves at Falme? Can someone choose not to answer the call of the Horn?

 

[Ariadne Davion]

I think it had more to do with no one there to call them, at Falme. Perrin was still very much 'i'm not a wolf' at that stage...

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

If you're a Hero of the Horn, you're a Hero of the Horn. I don't think there are any in-betweens there, but I could be wrong.

 

[Megana Vallentin]

I read really fast, like so many of us, so maybe I missed it but...did the Tinkers NOT get their song back? Arrrrgh!

I also felt the epilogue was disappointing. Maybe I had built it up too much in my mind since it was written almost entirely by Robert Jordan himself, but it felt so short! And I was hoping for something that jumped more into the future as well, not quite so immediate (or I wanted both lol).

I agree too that so many things were only mentioned in passing. The final book split into three books and we STILL don't get to see all the details? Wow.

But beyond a few things like that, I totally loved the book.

 

[Tazren Talamar]

Ooh. A thing that I had really been looking forward to seeing resolved: The Aes Sedai and the Oath Rod. How are they going to handle that?

 

[Daerlyn Inagh]

Egwene's ruling on that is probably going to stand. "If you're in the Tower, you take the three oaths. No ifs, ands, or buts." It would have been interesting to see more discussion on it, but there wasn't a lot of mystery.

 

[Aulrick Vendour]

But didn't she say that Aes Sedai could later choose to retire to the kin and be released of the oaths?

 

[Daerlyn Inagh]

She did; I just mean there wasn't a lot of wiggle room. Aes Sedai take the oaths. No oaths, no more Aes Sedai.

 

[Paxam Leratharn]

Has Elayne taken them?