It's a pity they didn't split it into two books instead of three. Three books split by clusters or chronologically was going to be flawed in one of the ways discussed. Two books could have been split with it ending after Perrin destroyed the Dreamspike and the Shadowspawn.
So by that point in time you'd have had Rand, Egwene, Perrin's arc's completed, Avi's visions taking place when all those arcs are held up/in despair. Leaving only Perrin's talks with Elayne, Elayne's 'exciting' antics in Cairhien and Mat's ToG visit pushed to AMOL of the main arcs. Along with some of Lan and the Epilogue. And of those only the Moraine one missing would have disappointed fans. Sure TGS would have had 500 odd of the 750 odd pages of TOM and required more pages and/or a smaller font, but it would have resolved the problems of chronology - which for me is not the out of order, it's the lack of despair in TOM it caused - whilst still giving fans plenty of resolution.
Of course we would have had an extra 9-12 months to wait for the book in that case, so it wouldn't have been perfect. It would have been the best option though IMO. TGS would have had the Light set back then ready, then AMOL the Last Battle. A neat division, rather then an arbitrary one (TGS could just have easily been Rand and Perrin or Rand and Mat, with TOM Egwene and Perrin or Egwene and Mat).
So by that point in time you'd have had Rand, Egwene, Perrin's arc's completed, Avi's visions taking place when all those arcs are held up/in despair. Leaving only Perrin's talks with Elayne, Elayne's 'exciting' antics in Cairhien and Mat's ToG visit pushed to AMOL of the main arcs. Along with some of Lan and the Epilogue. And of those only the Moraine one missing would have disappointed fans. Sure TGS would have had 500 odd of the 750 odd pages of TOM and required more pages and/or a smaller font, but it would have resolved the problems of chronology - which for me is not the out of order, it's the lack of despair in TOM it caused - whilst still giving fans plenty of resolution.
Of course we would have had an extra 9-12 months to wait for the book in that case, so it wouldn't have been perfect. It would have been the best option though IMO. TGS would have had the Light set back then ready, then AMOL the Last Battle. A neat division, rather then an arbitrary one (TGS could just have easily been Rand and Perrin or Rand and Mat, with TOM Egwene and Perrin or Egwene and Mat).
This message last edited by ajfurst on 01/12/2010 at 01:46:19 AM
/tGS: These are damned good books.
27/11/2010 02:22:05 AM
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meh. ToM sucked for me. after tGS, I had become a bit hopeful, but now I see ...
27/11/2010 03:39:49 AM
- 831 Views
Disagree strongly on the time line issue - TOM showed what a mistake splitting by 'clusters' was IMO
27/11/2010 07:24:55 AM
- 806 Views
Re: Disagree strongly on the time line issue - TOM showed what a mistake splitting by 'clusters' was
27/11/2010 05:59:47 PM
- 703 Views
Splitting it this way was the only realistic choice
29/11/2010 01:58:52 PM
- 672 Views
Disagree - plus COT lacked almost anything full stop
30/11/2010 12:03:24 AM
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It will be better than CoT, sure, but still not good enough to appease most fans
30/11/2010 06:20:38 PM
- 832 Views
In any case you can see why RJ wanted one book
01/12/2010 01:41:56 AM
- 705 Views
BS style
27/11/2010 07:25:38 AM
- 891 Views
That's the thing! If it was in its normal, Jordan paced writing, ...
27/11/2010 08:52:05 AM
- 757 Views
Re: That's the thing! If it was in its normal, Jordan paced writing, ...
27/11/2010 11:57:22 PM
- 741 Views
Sin?! What, Jordan is a god now? Some flawless divine figure of fantasy writing? Puh-leaze!
28/11/2010 04:29:54 AM
- 643 Views
And you know how RJ would've outlined the books from where?
28/11/2010 05:07:31 AM
- 751 Views
Re: And you know how RJ would've outlined the books from where?
29/11/2010 08:16:12 AM
- 674 Views
My only problems are Mats sudden drop in literacy and the timeline. *NM*
27/11/2010 11:51:25 AM
- 346 Views
Not so much
27/11/2010 09:52:23 PM
- 860 Views
Have some question
28/11/2010 05:38:42 AM
- 754 Views
Re: Have some question
28/11/2010 05:54:10 PM
- 701 Views
Re: Have some question
28/11/2010 06:19:30 PM
- 679 Views
Re: Have some question
28/11/2010 06:50:40 PM
- 655 Views
Exactly my feeling on TGS, but I do think ToM inferior to it (though still good).
28/11/2010 02:55:53 PM
- 984 Views
Re: Exactly my feeling on TGS, but I do think ToM inferior to it (though still good).
28/11/2010 03:04:57 PM
- 640 Views
Right, it's good, but could be better (or it could be better, but is still good).
28/11/2010 03:12:15 PM
- 703 Views
Re: Exactly my feeling on TGS, but I do think ToM inferior to it (though still good).
29/11/2010 12:55:40 AM
- 744 Views
Radically different perspectives, it seems; I bet you don't even like leggy blondes.
29/11/2010 01:11:16 PM
- 713 Views

"Reading" TGS &ToM in audio format and just weeks apart made them work better together. *NM*
29/11/2010 07:48:51 PM
- 416 Views
I agree. Also, chopping up the timelines was the best decision given the circumstances.
01/12/2010 02:02:07 PM
- 711 Views
Re: I agree. Also, chopping up the timelines was the best decision given the circumstances.
01/12/2010 02:31:46 PM
- 660 Views
Re: I agree. Also, chopping up the timelines was the best decision given the circumstances.
01/12/2010 08:17:57 PM
- 737 Views