Oh man, I'd forgotten this community EXISTED. So I drop this here, unlocked.
"The Choedan Kal is not a toy, young man. You put that down at once!"
So, the pre-spoiler bit was going through my head for most of the book. And, I admit, I cheered in my head a little when Rand broke it.
And holy *crap* were there a lot of resolutions. In a good way! At least four of the plots I really hated are gone, gone forever, moohoohahahaha.
Verin stepped forward and confirmed *everyone's* looney theories, even the mutually contradictory ones.
Bye-bye, Graendal. I always kind of liked you as a villain, but I have to say that if you're going to go out, going out the way you did, showing us all *just how far* Rand has fallen, is a great way to go.
Semirhage: Oh, man, Shaidar Haran was just *fucking* with you. But my hatred of Cadsuane only gets stronger with her mad desires to torture prisoners, and her eventual decision to torture Semirhage, and the fact that we have yet another *spanking sequence*.
So: Perrin-less book. Not bad, since it minimised exposure to Epic Faile. Largely Mat-less book, although I absolutely adored the Crazytown sequence. Completely Taimandred-less[1] book, which is kinda disappointing, but, hey, Logain, Taimandred, and the Black Tower are not just a random side-project kind of thing. I suspect they'll be a big part of the next book, especially given that post-Tower resolution, they got mentioned again.
Tower resolution: FINALLY. And yes, as soon as Nicola woke Egwene up I was all "Step 1. Circle. Step 2: raid the storerooms" - and the wand Sa'angreal, last seen in what, Book *1*? Book *2*? When they Healed Mat, anyway - excellent reintroduction.
Bonus: ENTIRELY ELAYNE-LESS BOOK. No Elayne. Zero. Aviendha refers to her as a whiner, people point out to Gawyn that he's a dick and should maybe GO AWAY and talk to his sister, and that's it.
[1]: No, really, fuck you. When 100% of all in-text things scream "TAIM IS DEMANDRED, THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBILITY", and all the "no he's not!" side has is the author talking to fans outside? Let's just say that there's nobody else ever onscreen who Demandred could be, and there's nobody else *Taim* could be except an Age Of Legends Darkfriend Channeler who's *exactly as strong as Demandred*. Which is to say, until there's a printed solution *that makes sense*, Taim is Demandred and Robert Jordan was fucking with the fans. And if the explanation *doesn't* make sense, I call retcon.
So, the pre-spoiler bit was going through my head for most of the book. And, I admit, I cheered in my head a little when Rand broke it.
And holy *crap* were there a lot of resolutions. In a good way! At least four of the plots I really hated are gone, gone forever, moohoohahahaha.
Verin stepped forward and confirmed *everyone's* looney theories, even the mutually contradictory ones.
Bye-bye, Graendal. I always kind of liked you as a villain, but I have to say that if you're going to go out, going out the way you did, showing us all *just how far* Rand has fallen, is a great way to go.
Semirhage: Oh, man, Shaidar Haran was just *fucking* with you. But my hatred of Cadsuane only gets stronger with her mad desires to torture prisoners, and her eventual decision to torture Semirhage, and the fact that we have yet another *spanking sequence*.
So: Perrin-less book. Not bad, since it minimised exposure to Epic Faile. Largely Mat-less book, although I absolutely adored the Crazytown sequence. Completely Taimandred-less[1] book, which is kinda disappointing, but, hey, Logain, Taimandred, and the Black Tower are not just a random side-project kind of thing. I suspect they'll be a big part of the next book, especially given that post-Tower resolution, they got mentioned again.
Tower resolution: FINALLY. And yes, as soon as Nicola woke Egwene up I was all "Step 1. Circle. Step 2: raid the storerooms" - and the wand Sa'angreal, last seen in what, Book *1*? Book *2*? When they Healed Mat, anyway - excellent reintroduction.
Bonus: ENTIRELY ELAYNE-LESS BOOK. No Elayne. Zero. Aviendha refers to her as a whiner, people point out to Gawyn that he's a dick and should maybe GO AWAY and talk to his sister, and that's it.
[1]: No, really, fuck you. When 100% of all in-text things scream "TAIM IS DEMANDRED, THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBILITY", and all the "no he's not!" side has is the author talking to fans outside? Let's just say that there's nobody else ever onscreen who Demandred could be, and there's nobody else *Taim* could be except an Age Of Legends Darkfriend Channeler who's *exactly as strong as Demandred*. Which is to say, until there's a printed solution *that makes sense*, Taim is Demandred and Robert Jordan was fucking with the fans. And if the explanation *doesn't* make sense, I call retcon.