[Tehol the Only]

Actually i keep slogging because of the high expectations i have of the last few books (and because i like the series and i'd never stop in the middle of it).. i consider the finale to be the most important part in any kind of series, and i actually never considered reading Wot before reading a lot of positive reviews of BS books (well, GS and ToM at least since Moi wasn't out yet).


Finished WH

Spoiler

The only possible description of the book that comes to mind is: A bunch of islands of pure gold adrift in an ocean of verbosity.
WH holds some of the best and most awaited moments in the series and is by far the most emotional volume (and the most beliavable on the emotion side as well).
Rand's bonding, the insights on the seanchan, Mat's flight from ebou dar (and others) were just great.
Too bad it's also the most overwritten, overdescribed and plodding. Except the final chapter, that is horribly rushed, go figure. The average Aes sedai vs forsaken fight takes about 1/10th of the pages used to describe Perrin going from one tent to another.
It doesn't help that the repetitions are back... everyone in this book is auger-eyed or lantern-jawed and Nynaeve "is being Aes Sedai to the bone" about every two pages (even twice in the same page, in one of the final chapters).
But hey, in the second half of the book the plot is so strong that even those are partially redeemed. Somewhat. Kinda.
Trimmed of about 200 pages this book would be AWESOME. As it is, it's middling.
On to the infamous Crossroads of twilight... can't say i'm eager, really.

This post has been edited by Tehol the Only: 13 February 2013 - 02:57 AM

[Tehol the Only]

Finished CoT.

Ugh.

The first 500 pages were just... terrible. Awful. One of the most painful reads i've ever had.
It's not just that nothing happens(i could live with that). It's that nothing happens in an extremely detailed way. RJ surely loved his digressions, since he put them everywhere (and often with a terrible timing). A door opens? Let's put in a page-long soliloquy about the candlelight flickering on the floor before saying who's coming in!! The most ridiculous moment is

Spoiler

at the beginning of the book, when Balwer tells Perrin "we have to talk" and then ... NOTHING. Tents, lots of tents, snow, falling snow, snow mounds, snow on tents, snow on trees, snow falling on broken trees, tents near trees and so on. i was beginning to think RJ had simply forgotten he was writing a book to indulge in an orgy of overly used adjectives and satisfy his descriptive compulsion. "So, what do you want balwer?" after FIFTEEN pages of nothingness... meh

About 500 pages in

Spoiler

the group of Aes Sedai who went to scout Shadar Logoth comes back

and from then on the book is ... good. Not great, far from it, but after the horror of the first 2/3rds it was like heaven. Some nice plot-developement, character building and so on. Perrin's chapter are still bad.
The complete lack of an ending would have been really bad in another book, but in this one is just a minor flaw.
I'm just glad i passed the low point.

[Tehol the Only]

Finished KoD
Good... some things i liked, others not but finally the plot is moving more than a few inches every 100 pages. (but yes, the writing is still repetitive *sniffs and becomes an image of Aes Sedai composture*)
Perrin used to be one of the characters i liked more, now i must say i absolutely hate him.

Spoiler

At least the storyline of him chasing faile is finally finished, don't think i could stand any more of that.

LOVED the final chapters

Spoiler

, the ones with Mat freeing Tuon, her marrying him and the battle with the Seanchan

by the way... OMG battles? fully described? and after only 11 books? It took me a while to realize i WAS actually reading an authenthic non-skipped fighting scene, but when i did i was totally amazed.

I still don't understand why he held back so much for so long... he was quite good with them!! Very vivid ( it really made me feel sorry for the horses).

So... time to see what Brandon did with the series!

[Tehol the Only]

Finished TGS
THIS book was GREAT. My new Wot favorite i'd say... by far.
So many moments of awesome

Spoiler

DAT Verin chapter, dragonmount, the tower united, just too many to write them all

, and not even one spoiled by an excess (or complete lack) of description.
I bow to RJ's ability to create a huge world and a great plot with many twists and an immense scope... but i simply like BS's writing style more. Better paced, more balanced and without constant repetitions.
The only flaws imho were:
-Mat's character suffered a bit in the change of writer... he's still funny but he feels slightly "wrong" at times.
- a few plot details could have been better ... i simply cannot bring myself to like the bubbles of EVILZ (some make sense, others are ridiculous)
-at times BS's tone feels a bit too "light".. sorry, can't explain better. It happens only a couple times and it's really a minor thing.

[Tehol the Only]

Indeed he felt def overdone... as if BS put a huge banner with "I'M MAT" written on it on his head.
Ayway i've almost finished TOM (in 3 days lol) and this time Brandon nailed him for sure. (bad choice of words)
The entire book is simply great, incredibly gripping and a very fluid read.
It DOES feel a whole different series, which may be a good or a bad thing, depending on tastes and expectations... for me it was good, OH so good.
The only bad part so far was the bubble of evil in Perrin's army. I'd tear away those few pages. And scratch them. And burn them. And feed the ashes to some weird lizard, then dump the lizard in the f*ckin Mariana's trench. Then nuke it.
Or simply pretend it never happened (yes, i think i'll settle for that).