It's impossible to start anywhere other than with Mat. Or should I say Matrim Cauthon? Since that is how even he referred to himself, on plenty of occasions. He also sauntered when he should have walked, and did plenty of other things that are all certainly part of Mat's repertoire, but with too high a frequency, and at times that simply weren't quite right. The way he acted, the way he thought, the way he spoke, none of it quite matched him, and all felt like Sanderson had read a file on him, then chosen to write a caricature based on a few of his most prominent traits rather than the actual character. I'm sure similar problems can be found with others, but as Mat is my favorite character I found it particularly noticeable and galling with him.

Rand, too, seemed a bit like a caricature, responding with unnaturally strong emotions to the littlest thing. I joke would get uproarious laughter, a stray word anger, and so on. Hadn't he become nearly imperturbable in the previous book? Where did that go all of a sudden? Not to mention his behavior around Moiraine, and Moiraine herself. Considering how important saving her was, how long awaited, I was expecting her to play a major role in the book. Instead she turned up, spoke a few prophecies, and then spoke with Rand a few more times and that was that. Even the scene where she and Lan saw each other again was skipped over, although mentioned as apparently being unremarkable, another odd thing.

Another major issue is Egwene. How did she suddenly know how to heal the balefire cracks? How did she make the crystals grow in her fight with Taim? It all reeks of the same "channeling" Rand was known for in the first 3 books, when he did things without any understanding of them in the least. In Rand's case, it made some modicum of sense. He was the Dragon Reborn, one chosen specifically for this and guided by the Pattern. Unless Egwene turned into a ta'veren without the book ever mentioning it, she should not have had such protections, yet she did. Not to mention that her sa'angreal seemed much more powerful than it ever had in the start of the series. It was unrealistic and sloppy. I would be willing to accept her finding a counter to balefire if only there had been a buildup to it, not her merely remembering the same thought twice throughout the book, and then magic--magic, not the science that is channeling--springing up to save her.

Other things stand out as well. Rand and Moridin's body switch, and the lack of surprise from Aviendha, Elayne, and Min. Did they all know about it, and if so why did they do such a poor job of pretending to grieve, and Rand seem to surprised? If they didn't, how did Alivia know to prepare his gear and they to keep silent? What of the Asha'man supposedly freed from Taim's yoke in the Black Tower? According to this book, Taim hadn't Turned very many yet, and the majority of the Tower remained loyal to the Light, yet they seemed strangely absent from the battles. Or Demandred's circle of 72, which was clearly mentioned in the beginning of the fight, but then forgotten in favor of his sa'angreal.

The list of questions and inconsistencies goes on and on. I enjoyed Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, and to a lesser extent even Warbreaker, but this makes me question his abilities as a writer, or the influence of Harriet and Tor and the role that played. Because regardless of who is responsible, the book feels as though written by someone who only gave a cursory glance to the character and plot notes, and then wrote caricatures and inconsistencies into the storyline without any regard for the damage. It feels no more canon than fanfiction, and while, as with most fanfiction, reading it was enjoyable at the time, I am finding it more and more to be a difficult pill to swallow.

Perhaps I'm being overly critical, perhaps I'm focusing too much on the negative. But Sanderson does not seem to have that ability to show events rather than describe them. The Mat depicted here is not only a shadow of his former self, but he never strikes me as a military mastermind. People proclaim him as one, sure, and marvel at his brilliance, but we only hear about it and see little of it. It reminds me of anime, in a way, where a character almost always explains mid-battle the significance of a particular attack or sentence. We do not see it as significant, we are only told that it is, and should accept and marvel because of it. But I can't do that, not when I remember how genuinely impressive I found Mat in the battle of Cairhein, and at the end of KoD, and that feeling extends to many other segments of the book. Only Perrin, Lan, and Androl emerged from this as better characters in my eyes, and the latter in particular is a character that simply doesn't fit with the usual Wheel of Time characters, instead being a clear representation of Sanderson's style.

So in a way, sad though it is for the series to be over, I'm glad too. The series can finally find peace now, much like one who is old and sick and has suffered terribly in recent years, and become an unrecognizable husk of one's former self.


EDIT: wanted to add, before I forgot, that I absolutely loved Elayne's thoughts on the Dragons mirroring those of Richard Gatling. She's nearly as naive as Rand was in thinking he could, or should, kill the Dark One.