That's terrible, but I can still see one way out of disaster:
Chapter one is a kind of epilogue to TGS. It's not a meeting with Egwene, it's Rand getting back to reality, and reflecting what he now has to do and how his new worldview will, concretely, be reflected in the way he will fight the Shadow etc. It ends with his decision to start his "tour" with a long overdue chat with someone... (we may not even be told who yet! The other option is to end the chapter with a short Egwene POV in her study, as a novice tells her the Dragon Reborn wishes an audience with her).
I'd be fine with this, except Jason seemed to imply that the long overdue talk is the start of the book, not the set up for the talk (he didn't say "getting ready to talk", for example). I'm perfectly willing, even hoping, to be wrong on this, though.
It's quite possible then something unpredictable, or exciting, comes out of the meeting of Rand and Egwene. In chapter 1.... that sounds most, most unlikely something momentous could take place between Rand and Egwene.
I see one way for a detailed discussion to be placed in the first chapter. This is my logic chain:
1) Rand and Egwene both have "in-house" mess clearing to do. Rand's followers are in a deep panic, and have a tough time believing he'll be a good leader. Rand also has his failures and mishandling of leadership issues from the last book to deal with. There is Arad Doman, Ituralde and most importantly, the Borderlanders and of course the Seanchan. Egwene has the Aes Sedai, severely weakened by the Seanchan attack and the BA reveal. She has Mesaana to bug her, the possibility that the Seanchan have Traveling, and the AS missing in the BT to deal with.
2) Both have had very recent revelations about themselves closely related to them being among Tinkers or seeing something related to them. Rand's revelation in DM might include some realization about the Tinkers.
3) Both decide that it is now up to them to collect their friends and forces, and soon ready for a push to TG, and also deal with the Seanchan.
4) Rand decides to seek Rhuidean, where a lot of Tinkers are gathered. He will meet Avi there, of course, but that's beside the point.
5) Egwene will focus on the AS and Mesaana.
6) They decide that once they're on a stable footing, Egwene will help Elayne in Andor, along with Mat, to collect her armies.
7) Rand will deal with the Tinkers, find Perrin and "Masema's men", then come to Caemlyn to be with Egwene, and the plan will be to lead a massive assault against the Seanchan.
This really fits the issue of leadership, since its been made very clear these two are going to be the real "leaders" of the Light. While Rand has lead Perrin and Mat, Egwene has led Nynaeve and Elayne. But that old male-female division has to change, hence this new decision to work together.
9) They part ways, and we're left with a tantalizing idea that a huge Seanchan face off is to come.
Now we go through the other storylines imagining that we'll see a convergence focused on the Seanchan.
But the whole BT issue and Mat's rescue of Moiraine will intervene. Egwene will face pressure to do something about the sisters in the BT, and Logain will come with a plan for attacking it. Learning of Taim, Egwene will genuinely fear having an enemy at her back, so she'll agree for a BT push.
Meanwhile, the BT Darkfriends, the Black Ajah, Foresaken and huge hordes of Trollocs will attack Caemlyn, just when Mat is gone. Rand will arrive in the confusion of the attack, and be severely wounded. Egwene and Logain will come just in time to avert complete disaster, but Caemlyn will be razed, Andor's armies almost destroyed, the Black Tower completely in Darkfriend hands.
Meanwhile, Perrin and Galad will be forced to confront a newly belligerent Seanchan. They'll make a push northward soon, and Perrin with his huge refugee train and wolf issues will be the only one available to stop their advance. We'll see lots of action there, and probably one very major engagement. By this time (near the end of the book), I expect Nynaeve to have moved from Tear either to go help Perrin or to go to Lan. The Senahchan will now have Traveling, and Perrin will be severely defeated, barely managing to collect a few refugees and a small remnant of his army to retreat to the "safety" of Caemlyn, only to find it razed to the ground. Mat too will arrive with Moiraine at the same time. These three may well be the major climax scenes Jason reported happen back to back.
ToM will then end with our expectations upset. The first major leadership decision of the Egwene-Rand duo will not even lift off the ground. Caemlyn will be destroyed, the Black Tower a center of operations for Dreadlords, and the Seanchan an even more menacing threat to the South. Plus, Rand wounded, and possibly "dead", with Alivia and Egwene likely the only one's in the know about the truth that he lives (I think Egwene meeting a dying Rand in Caemlyn is almost certain. Her test in the Ring, while not of the future, seemed strongly prophetic to me).
In this kind of a scenario, an Egwene-Rand meeting in the beginning could work. It would raise the suspense, and add a lot of surprise to the ending.
What say?
Jason's review... Looks like DomA was right (Review is now removed)
25/09/2010 05:40:18 AM
- 3412 Views
Re: Jason's review (spoilerish thoughts from me, so BEWARE!). Looks like DomA was right
25/09/2010 06:00:46 AM
- 1237 Views
Everyone seems to think Rand will talk to Egwene, but a male channeler also makes sense
25/09/2010 10:44:18 PM
- 982 Views
No Elayne hopefully, but again it looks like Egwene has everything fall in her lap
25/09/2010 08:10:54 AM
- 1153 Views
No Elayne hopefully, but again it looks like Egwene has everything fall in her lap
25/09/2010 08:11:37 AM
- 878 Views
Perrin will probably gather the wolves...
25/09/2010 09:57:06 AM
- 1061 Views
this "we like it because it's family" stuff is worrisome
25/09/2010 10:18:22 AM
- 1030 Views
After his COT review, a less then gushing review isn't great
25/09/2010 11:42:39 AM
- 976 Views
But he is specifically trying to avoid being overly fanboyish BECAUSE of that CoT review. *NM*
27/09/2010 04:19:21 PM
- 495 Views
Damn, his COT review was infinitely more enthusiastic. What could it all mean? *NM*
25/09/2010 01:06:00 PM
- 510 Views
But his CoT review was also more enthusiastic than his KoD and TGS reviews *NM*
25/09/2010 01:07:15 PM
- 516 Views
Hmm, interesting point. Could a guilty conscience be setting in? *NM*
25/09/2010 01:26:30 PM
- 472 Views
I'm guessing Olver will sacrifice his Snakes and Foxes game his father made for him *NM*
25/09/2010 06:09:10 PM
- 648 Views
I haven't read the review but...
25/09/2010 07:22:48 PM
- 1493 Views
That's not what I meant...
25/09/2010 08:25:42 PM
- 1090 Views
It's odd, I didn't see any reference to Rand descending from DM in his review.
25/09/2010 08:39:33 PM
- 923 Views
It was the very last line...
25/09/2010 08:55:49 PM
- 1031 Views
Re: It was the very last line...
25/09/2010 09:03:14 PM
- 915 Views
Re: It was the very last line...
25/09/2010 10:09:58 PM
- 1160 Views
I blame JordanCon too.
26/09/2010 02:17:50 AM
- 1052 Views
Regarding the WOTFAQ, Tam,
26/09/2010 10:04:40 PM
- 969 Views
Re: That's not what I meant...
25/09/2010 09:49:17 PM
- 1196 Views
Some thoughts on a potential meeting...
26/09/2010 05:11:06 AM
- 1110 Views
Regarding Brandon's messing up of the timelines...
25/09/2010 11:34:06 PM
- 1058 Views
To me it's two different things
26/09/2010 01:48:13 AM
- 1147 Views
I remember the timeline was discussed much at TL prior to TGS release.
26/09/2010 03:04:24 AM
- 980 Views
Re: I remember the timeline was discussed much at TL prior to TGS release.
26/09/2010 08:31:00 PM
- 1069 Views
KOD and TOM show where TGS could have been 'fixed'
26/09/2010 10:27:04 AM
- 951 Views
The review is back up...
27/09/2010 01:59:50 AM
- 931 Views
It wasn't quite identical... It was missing the line about Rand walking down from DM
27/09/2010 06:42:47 AM
- 929 Views
The line about Rand wasn't there when I read the review Saturday morning either. *NM*
27/09/2010 01:57:00 PM
- 422 Views
It was...
27/09/2010 04:22:24 PM
- 782 Views
I must have missed it then. It does fit with Tor's not releasing Chapter 1 early. *NM*
27/09/2010 05:06:36 PM
- 431 Views
What do you mean?
27/09/2010 11:33:15 PM
- 839 Views
I read somewhere that they'd release two different chapters this time. Could well be wrong though. *NM*
28/09/2010 02:15:28 AM
- 450 Views
Olver
27/09/2010 11:34:40 AM
- 1078 Views
doubt he'll die. Jason's review is too much of a spoiler if he actually dies *NM*
27/09/2010 11:46:16 AM
- 473 Views
One problem with the idea of a Rand-Egwene meeting in Chapter 1 beyond timeline issues
27/09/2010 10:29:15 PM
- 862 Views
Not true...
28/09/2010 01:00:40 AM
- 851 Views
Good call. I assumed, and still do, that the two events are one in the same.
28/09/2010 01:10:13 AM
- 926 Views
Not true indeed... and....
28/09/2010 02:24:00 AM
- 1087 Views