Yes, most of all because of its promised finale that sounds terribly exciting, and for the return of the minor characters whose absences marred TGS a little (the focus of Rand/Egwene was great, but it felt a bit too narrow focussed at times. It was more apparent with Egwene whose storyline felt a little rushed here and there, for the minor players who felt on the wayside like Pevara's group, the envoys, Alviarin and Mesaana)



That's pretty much a personal opinion, though Perrin isn't well liked by many, who will probably share it. "Iconic moments" aren't quite the same for everyone.

Personally I found Perrin's later storyline interesting, despite the fact it fact it had three of my least favourite characters (Sevanna/Therava and Masema) and slowed down so much to accomodate the timeline problems (in hindsight, either Perrin left Rand too early, or Jordan should have considered a Mat/Perrin and a Rand/Elayne/Egwene book, and as a result of the split included too much redundant chapters (about a third of the Perrin chapters in WH/COT/KOD ended up being more or less static recaps, conversations with Berelain to bring all the past stuff again, doubled up with a recap Faile scene as well etc. and too few new chapters following those recaps... the whole thing would have been much better in a single book, beginning with Faile's capture and ending with her rescue. The storyline was both too complex (for the sheer amount of players and details to keep track of from one book to the next) and not elaborate (ie: eventful) enough to be split over three books.

Anyway... my favourite part of Perrin's storyline is the events in TSR... the disappearance/killing of the wolves by Isam, Perrin becoming a leader, his issues with Faile, Perrin and Verin, Bornhald and Perrin, the wolfbrother issue, the axe & hammer etc. and it's all these threads that I expect TOM to bring to a close.

I expect for Perrin (and Mat) the same kind of "epiphany" about himself that Egwene and Rand got in TGS. I'm also pretty sure by the end of TOM, he will have his army of wolves. I look forward especially to more Slayer/Perrin stuff, and the "hidden threat" (no doubt a Forsaken) stuff.

My minor worry is that perhaps too many events will center on the WC vs. Perrin, and I don't really enjoy that much reading about Borhnald and Byar in particular. I was pretty happy when the WC stuff occurred only in the prologues and the rest of the book was WC-free.

I have a minor interest in the Morgase/Galad stuff. I find Galad more boring than Gawyn, personally (if not by much). As for the importance of Morgase in WOT, it's one of the few minor storylines that always puzzled me. I never quite saw the point of keeping her "on screen" so much (she could well have disappeared mysteriously from Caemlyn in TFOH and reappeared mysteriously only with Balwer, Gill, Lini in Ghealdan etc.) and hopefully TOM will make the purpose of "building her up" clearer... if there's one.



Why "if it happens"? TGS was not even out that Brandon began hammering the fact TOM would have climaxes for the individual storylines as well as a grand climax reuniting the main characters for the "event" that truly launches TG. Over and over he repeated variations on this since. There's really no reason for this to have changed.

My only worry is that this may all end on too much cliffhangers. I really doubt Brandon could be so cruel as to end the book with a pre-big battle reunion and keep the start of TG proper for AMOL, I very much think he'll bring us to the end of the battle, but we'll see. My fear is more than he won't show us the aftermath in TOM and a few POVs will end with the fate of characters uncertain etc.

One year of "X surely died" and "Of course not, Jordan never kills anyone".... grrrrrreat.



I have no big worry about Mat (especially since most of the RJ Mat stuff is in this book). He's a character I started to like fairly late in the game (he annoyed me most of all in TDR and in a lesser fashion in TSR), and the two main things that turned things around about him were the Band and the Elayne and Mat interactions. Elayne was at her funniest around Mat, and it was also a lot of fun to have him involved with Birgitte, and with Thom and Juilin again. And then there was Noal, and the gholam which tie Elayne and Mat... Like for Perrin, I expect TOM will wrap pretty much all the "Ebou Dar stuff" for Mat (Tuon aside). I can hardly wait for the moment Elayne will learn Mat married the Seanchan heir (too many know this for it to remain secret for long in Caemlyn. Someone will make a slip), and for Mat to see Elayne's pregnant with Rand's kids. Two characters who need to keep their "embarrassing" ties secret. That should be priceless. Setalle's reunion with Elayne should be quite fun too. I can't wait for the crack Setalle is gonna make about her, and AS, being pregnant with no father in sight. Those who think those two will get along just fine around their passion for ter'angreal might want to remember how they disliked one another, and that Setalle Anan knows all too much about pregnancies.

I sense a lot of "comic relief" coming in the Mat-Elayne stuff. I just hope Brandon handles it better he did Mat in TGS, or that Jordan wrote some/much of it.

My only "road block" with Mat was Valan Lucca, and this is behind us. I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming Mat-Elayne storyline, as much to that as to the "wrap up" of the Finns storyline (which I expect to be more elaborate than most people think. I really don't expect a one chapter in one chapter out sort of thing). I'm extremely curious to see what Jordan had planned for Mat in Caemlyn, as there's no way he intended to make the preparations of the Band for TG more than the background element (I'll be damned if Mat spends most of the book going from Aludra to scholars to Elayne discussing cannons and bronze...).

My minor worries about this storyline is the (expected lack) of a Mat/Tuon early reunion, and the expected return of Moiraine (which I secretely hope will be in a fairly short or at least secondary role. I never liked her much, I never enjoyed much her interactions with Mat or Rand, and I'm pretty sure Sanderson will get her "voice" and attitudes wrong)



I don't see what's so "unclear" about it.

TOM will not be as focussed on Perrin and Mat as TGS was on Rand and Egwene. We know this. All the minor pre-TG storylines that didn't appear in TGS (because Brandon wanted to keep the book focussed) have been kept for TOM. This very likely mean Egwene's envoys to the BT, Logain, Taim, the BA/Alviarin, Aviendha, Lan, Loial, the Bordermen.. plenty of good stuff to look forward to.

We also know Mat's, Perrin's and Elayne's (especially) pre-TG storylines will be somewhat shorter than Rand/Egwene in TGS, because while the book is a bit longer, there's two main (Mat-Perrin) and one secondary important storyline (Elayne's) and the later part of the book picks up where Egwene and Rand were left and bridge toward the big finale/reunion. This most likely mean the last third (or perhaps fourth) of the book will be terribly exciting, with both the individual climaxes for Perrin and Mat and the return of Rand/Egwene all building up to the big ending of the book.

As for the length of the Egwnene/Rand pre-finale appearances, that's no mystery. Brandon spoke of "about the same number of chapters" Mat and Perrin had in TGS. He had written those at the time (he was writing the "clusters" from beginning to the "big event" that will now end TOM), so that's not likely to change too much. No doubt there will be events peripheral to the Rand/Egwene storyline making appearances much earlier in the book as they take place earlier than TGS's climax in the timeline (Alviarin and the build up to the vanishing of the WT BA may be one such, the envoys to the BT another for Egwene, Aviendha who left Rand early, Nynaeve and/or Cadsuane's visit to Perrin, Logain stuff, Taim etc. for Rand). If there are minor Seanchan storylines (eg: Tylee and what she was supposed to tell Tuon about Perrin), they are likely to appear through TOM as well.



I expect TOM to feel a bit like KOD. The difference won't show as much as it did with COT/KOD, but I expect TOM to be fairly fast paced, and to feel quite satisfying because it brings so many little loose threads together, including what I expect will be a surprising amount of those from TGS itself. TGS left a lot of mysteries open, because we never got to see much of what happened to Perrin, Mat, Elayne (not at all), Logain, Lan and all the minor storylines. TOM will resolve all of those not concerned with later events of TG, or the epilogue stuff. TGS brought quite a few long awaited resolutions, but TOM will surpass it in that respect. In fact, I worry a bit about the fact the book will stop at that point. After TGS, quite a few things start to emerge about the LB and how it will be fought, and I'm a little afraid TOM will give us too many additional clues. This is what I like the least about the book split. Jordan had planned for us to read it all in one go, alone, not to dissect the first and second acts for two years before getting to the third.