[Werthead]

Quote

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One's prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unravelling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight. Perrin Aybara is hunted by spectres from his past. To prevail, he must find a way to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever. Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost. The end draws near. It's time to roll the dice.

Tentative US cover (which may or may not be the final thing, presumably with the big black banner removed).

[Cause]

!If Rand is not in this book I will be pissed!

[End of Disc One]

Cause, on 23 April 2010 - 07:16 PM, said:

!If Rand is not in this book I will be pissed!

Word. So many people say that Mat has the best chapters, but I think Rand's are by far the best. Surely he'll at least be in the book some. Sanderson seemed to be making an effort to have ToM take place after TGS, instead of along it side like he could have.

[Werthead]

There is a timeline overlap, but not as extensive as some people have made out. I think we rewind a bit and catch up on Mat and Perrin whilst Rand was going mental at the end of TGS, then the timelines converge and we get a bit of Rand after that point, but not a vast amount.

Spoiler

IIRC, the structure of the story calls for a 'grand reunion' where all the factions and characters meet up with one another, and the Last Battle really kicks off around then. My guess is that this meeting will probably happen in Caemlyn (Rand may decide Tar Valon is still too politically sensitive for him to visit), and we'll get a bit more stuff with Rand then, probably with him making the decision on whether to back up Lan's army in the Blight or to proceed with allowing it to be destroyed as a decoy whilst he Travels to Shayol Ghul (based on Rand's epiphany at the end of TGS, my guess is they decide to go after Lan). The logical place for this meeting is the end of ToM, after Mat and Thom have rescued Moiraine, after Perrin has brought Galad and the Whitecloaks on board, after Mazrim Taim has been brought to heel (or killed) and after the Seanchan finally sort themselves out.

Sanderson has already said that Jordan got Elayne where she needed to be for the Last Battle at the end of KoD, so my guess is that we get only a little bit of Elayne in ToM.

On that basis, it sounds like the big storyline of ToM will centre on Mat and the Tower of Ghenjei, with Perrin and his rejoining Rand a major subplot, and the fate of the Black Tower as the other main storyline. That makes sense since it makes the Tower of Ghenjei and the Black Tower the 'two towers' of this particular book.

This post has been edited by Werthead: 23 April 2010 - 10:05 PM

[Illuyankas]

Middle paragraph (it's more of a sentence, really) of spoiler = BESTEST NEWS YET

[Mischiefs' Folly]

When I first started the series I was not the biggest fan of Matt. As the series progressed he grew on me till, soon enough, he was one of my favorite characters. Well, he was while Jordan was writing it. Since Sanderson has taken over, all of the scenes with Matt are forced and unnatural. Thats not to say I don't like Sanderson as writer because I do. I thought he did a great job with Tuon, Perrin, and even Rand as he spiraled into his madness, but...

Point really is I don't know if I could get through half a book of Matt written the way it was in the gathering storm.

[Use Of Weapons]

I'd agree with that. Though, on a reread, it's more that the situation is forced and unnecessary than that Mat is badly written. But he's certainly different, and I hope Sanderson has done some work to make his voice more natural.

[Terez]

I think that scan Jason posted was purposefully a horrible scan. Here's a better one I did from my own program:



There are several errors on here, but the two that stick out the most are:

1. The triangle should be upside-down.

2. There's only one white-haired man. Should be two. Of course, Farstrider might die before they go, but in that case, who is the other guy? He looks to be the same age as Mat, so it's not Olver.

This post has been edited by Terez: 27 April 2010 - 06:08 PM

[Illuyankas]

The biggest error is the choice of artist.

[Terez]

There's that. But we can't blame 'The Gatering Storm' on him, alas.

[Tarcanus]

Illuyankas, on 27 April 2010 - 06:27 PM, said:

The biggest error is the choice of artist.

By now, the terrible artwork is par for the course with the WoT. I find it hard to believe that anyone expects otherwise this many years into the series.

Personally, I find it easier to accept that the artwork will be less than great and enjoy the fact that each cover's artwork matches each others'. Not like Malazan where suddenly the covers were switched to the UK ones here in the US. That ruined my collection's continuity. Now WoT, there's a series where I can count on equally crappy art on EVERY book, without a changeup 3/4 through the series.

[Terez]

The real cover:

[BridgeBurner]

Heh, that's better. They took off the red headband from Mat too, and gave him his hat. And the Ashandarei is black now.

I guess that's Thom drawing the foxhead.