- B-Sand's writing: Things were a little off, and all too often the characters used idioms and expressions that are too characteristic of a 20th-21st century RW person. They are minor and of the sort that would be forgivable in an original work...except we have 11 books of examples of how people in WoT actually talk. In the first chapter I was annoyed at how often Cadsuane used the word "one" as a pronoun, but that seemed to have faded. I found the references to Rand as the Dragon to be the most glaring example of aberrant writing through the book. He was ALWAYS the Dragon Reborn or the Lord Dragon, and only simply called or referred to as "the Dragon" when discussing his role or philosophical ramifications or the like. If B-Sand (IMO, tGS was not bad enough to drop his abbreviation down to BS) was trying to show that people are now seeing Rand as becoming absorbed into the role and subsumed into the Dragon persona he was creating, it was handled poorly.
All in all, I had some minor issues (clearly far more dialogue than Jordan likes using, and also some overdone (albeit funny) humour with Mat, but I think Brandon did a great job, and did the story justice. It definitely stands as one of the best books of the series, if not the best (I'll give it time before making that call).
- "Veins of Gold": Why? That's a lame title of the chapter, especially since it did not have anything to do with what happened and was not actually used, IIRC.
Explained in my final response - it refers to Love. Rand's three (Elayne, Aviendha and Min) become one (Ilyena), and he merges with LTT and gets his emotions back after realising that life is not a mission to complete, but a story to live, and that the best part of it is love (described in an earlier book as "veins of gold" through the Warder bond).
- I undertand why RJ wanted to keep aMoL in one volume: this has the same unsatisfying feel of George RR Martin's Feast for Crows - it's not a book, it's half of a book.
I didn't really mind, tbh (aside from the obvious wish for the story to keep going on). Knowing that Perrin and Mat will receive more attention in ToM makes their lack of appearances acceptable, and Egwene & Rand definitely each had a full plot arc.
- "The Death of Tuon": I laughed my ass off when I came across this title. I can just imagine the speculation and spoiler anguish when people saw this on the list of chapters! With all that crap about new names among the Seanchan, I guessed the meaning, but there must have been some pretty horrified or delighted reactions to the title, and more chagrin upon reading it.
Yeah, this was a little cheap, but also somewhat fitting are forboding. I think that the Tuon who was open to reason is gone now - it will be VERY hard to get that truce with the Seanchan.
- I like the Bloodknives. It makes sense that after 1,000 years of utilizing and manufacturing a ter'angreal to be your greatest weapon, a military organization would have been looking at other ways of using ter'angreal.
Definitely. I suspect there may be more hiding in the tower, and we might even see one take out Egwene...
- Egwene was a little better in this book, but she won exactly as I predicted: through no real accomplishment of her own, but through outside circumstances giftwrapping a situation for her. Not that this should be any surprise, as that is how most of her success in the series has come, but those who might call this book a spectacular triumph for her as a character would be wrong.
I disagree. Think about it. The Seanchan were the worst nightmare she had ever experienced, arguably worse than the DO himself. She knew the risks, and stayed to fight. The lucky part was that Adelorna was there to verify her bravery and steadfastness. Not to mention that she was the only AS who stood up to Elaida out of a couple of hundred of much older women. Compare her with the great figures of real-world history - she saw a problem (the WT breaking apart), she formulated a solution (one which was bloodless and much wiser than anyone else could), carried out that solution (single-handedly at some times) and underwent great personal sacrifice to see a greater aim achieved.
She also gained an empathy for Rand during her time in the cell, something that no one aside from Min has actually displayed - this is crucial if she is to make peace with Rand.
- Regarding the Mat chapters, he feels the most changed in this book to me, but that isn't necessarily bad. B-Sand seems to have a better handle on writing wiseassery and backtalk. Talmanes characterization was a little too heavy-handed, which made it feel out of character, but it was not too bad or distracting.
Agree - Talmanes was overly done imo. I really liked the Zombie Village though, has to be one of the more varied curses I've heard of. Mat was also a little bit more zany than required, though the constant thoughts of Tuon were somewhat endearing. ToM will be great, with him finally reaching Ghenjei, and seeing what Verin's orders are.
- The Verin thing was rather appalling, I felt. It was a spectacular finish to her character, but the deus totally jumped all the way ex the machina and crapped all over the plot. "Oh by the way, here's a complete list of everything you need. The end."
Disagree - there was very little information given that helped Egwene at all, aside from pointing out Sheriam. Either way, Egwene would have found most of them using the Oath Rod - a method she had intended to try before speaking with Verin.
- Rand's breakthrough was pretty cool. I'm glad he did it himself, and didn't need anyone to lead him through it.
Yeah, I was a bit wary of it, but I'm glad it came from within, and also dealt with LTT is a pretty beat way (some readers will be very smug now that LTT's nature has been clarified though).
Did anyone else notice the title "A Crack in the Stone" (Aviendha's chapter) and think that maybe she & Min & Elayne might be the answer to Rand's problem (that history could be repeated if it meant another chance to save love). This, btw, was the reason for the title of this chapter, as Rand previously described the sensation of love through the Warder bond as "veins of gold".
Thoughts
- 28/10/2009 01:23:15 AM
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Some more thoughts...
- 28/10/2009 02:58:17 AM
1324 Views
Re: Some more thoughts...
- 28/10/2009 04:49:45 AM
937 Views
I think you may find the Bloodknives are still out and about...
- 31/10/2009 06:29:23 PM
706 Views
Re: I think you may find the Bloodknives are still out and about...
- 18/11/2009 09:37:04 PM
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Crosses fingers that they kill a few of the bigger d-bags in the Tower
- 08/12/2009 04:44:41 AM
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Re: Thoughts
- 28/10/2009 05:49:31 PM
905 Views
Didn't he say something like "Saidared," too? *NM*
- 31/10/2009 12:35:26 PM
746 Views
Please help me here. What does "Saidared" mean? *NM*
- 15/11/2009 04:10:20 PM
661 Views
Past tense verb of "use saidar on," or something silly like that *NM*
- 15/11/2009 07:03:46 PM
417 Views
Mat should be commended on finally starting to enrich the language back to AoL standards.
- 23/11/2009 07:52:59 AM
711 Views
Did you miss Tylee's second appearance, at Tuon's court?
- 31/10/2009 06:33:12 PM
752 Views
The trolloc attack
- 03/11/2009 04:38:38 PM
812 Views
Seanchan == Egwene's #1 fear
- 15/11/2009 07:35:37 PM
723 Views