"Totally unimpressed" would be a hyperbole but... - Edit 1
Before modification by eucatastrophe at 09/01/2013 07:03:04 PM
Yeah, the book feels somewhat underwhelming. Maybe it's natural for one to feel this way: Can one book (even at 1000+ pages) provide a satisfying ending to a series spanning 13 books* with each of those tomes at 1000+ pages?
I liked the over all ideas presented in the book. Sanderson's language has never bothered/irritated me as it does some people but there were sections where the writing felt wrong. Not a huge issue for me, but still worth mentioning. The book focused way too much on the Trollocs and the war scenes - we get it, the Trolloc invasion is horrible - when the characters should have been at the heart of the matter. It's sort of like Return of the King in which the battle of the Pelennor Fields was so dragged out. The scenes in the movie were great - and Sanderson's battle scenes are enjoyable - but they felt so exhausting. No one cares for Trolloc Wars: Randland Boogaloo (well I didn't). I wanted more character interaction.
This book felt like a summer blockbuster. This has nothing to do with high-brow literature vs. pulpy crap (as some posters have implied here) and everything to do with good storytelling. AMoL left me with a lot to be desired as far as the characters went.
I'd say it was overall a good read (especially after ToM which was atrocious) but I still liked TGS better. Books 1 to 6 stand strongest.
*can't really fault Brandon Sanderson for this; ending this series was going to be a nightmare since RJ continued to spin plot after plot as far as he did. It's strange to think that he intended to tie up threads in one book when in reality, we needed TGS, ToM and AMoL to conclude the story.
PS. Oh the only thing that really felt like utter fucking shit was Moiraine. Why even bother to bring her back? What a fucking joke. Min could have fulfilled that purpose. Any random Brown sister could have. It's even more idiotic when you think about it: She addresses world leaders, Aes Sedai, Borderlanders with her little spiel (scraps found at the start of every book) - PEOPLE WHO SHOULD KNOW THIS STUFF! The Borderlanders (who pay attention to their own secret prophecies) and the Aes Sedai anyway. If they needed a "reminder" to trudge the damn plot along, any other character would have done it. It's pathetically amusing now that one looks back: so many theories on the importance of Moiraine (whom I adore btw) - that she'd uncover secret knowledge from the Finns or have a crucial keystone in the fight against the DO. She doesn't even do anything in the Pit of Doom, LOL! Is that angreal - the one that got considerable screentime in TFoH and TGS - of hers even mentioned?
Fucking waste. She should have stayed dead; what an insult to her character.
PPS. While I loved Androl's plot it felt so out of place in this book. I think this can be attested to RJ stupidly spinning myriad plots till the nth hour. It felt like KOD/TGS/ToM material to me.
I liked the over all ideas presented in the book. Sanderson's language has never bothered/irritated me as it does some people but there were sections where the writing felt wrong. Not a huge issue for me, but still worth mentioning. The book focused way too much on the Trollocs and the war scenes - we get it, the Trolloc invasion is horrible - when the characters should have been at the heart of the matter. It's sort of like Return of the King in which the battle of the Pelennor Fields was so dragged out. The scenes in the movie were great - and Sanderson's battle scenes are enjoyable - but they felt so exhausting. No one cares for Trolloc Wars: Randland Boogaloo (well I didn't). I wanted more character interaction.
This book felt like a summer blockbuster. This has nothing to do with high-brow literature vs. pulpy crap (as some posters have implied here) and everything to do with good storytelling. AMoL left me with a lot to be desired as far as the characters went.
I'd say it was overall a good read (especially after ToM which was atrocious) but I still liked TGS better. Books 1 to 6 stand strongest.
*can't really fault Brandon Sanderson for this; ending this series was going to be a nightmare since RJ continued to spin plot after plot as far as he did. It's strange to think that he intended to tie up threads in one book when in reality, we needed TGS, ToM and AMoL to conclude the story.
PS. Oh the only thing that really felt like utter fucking shit was Moiraine. Why even bother to bring her back? What a fucking joke. Min could have fulfilled that purpose. Any random Brown sister could have. It's even more idiotic when you think about it: She addresses world leaders, Aes Sedai, Borderlanders with her little spiel (scraps found at the start of every book) - PEOPLE WHO SHOULD KNOW THIS STUFF! The Borderlanders (who pay attention to their own secret prophecies) and the Aes Sedai anyway. If they needed a "reminder" to trudge the damn plot along, any other character would have done it. It's pathetically amusing now that one looks back: so many theories on the importance of Moiraine (whom I adore btw) - that she'd uncover secret knowledge from the Finns or have a crucial keystone in the fight against the DO. She doesn't even do anything in the Pit of Doom, LOL! Is that angreal - the one that got considerable screentime in TFoH and TGS - of hers even mentioned?
Fucking waste. She should have stayed dead; what an insult to her character.
PPS. While I loved Androl's plot it felt so out of place in this book. I think this can be attested to RJ stupidly spinning myriad plots till the nth hour. It felt like KOD/TGS/ToM material to me.