[Andorion]

33 chapters done. Stuff happens!!!!

Rand imitates a shuttlecock! Mat adopts a kid! Egwene gets better! Nynaeve finds a way to cure Stilled people!

Aaand the Aes Sedai reaction to Nynaeve's epochal, historic, act: "Meh, we can do better. Now go clean pots, you insolent accepted!" At this point it is my considered opinion that the Dark One could take every bloody single Aes Sedai there is into Shayol Ghul, deep fry them and serve them to the Trollocs with sauce and relish, and the world would be a vastly better place.

Rand is trying to get Mat into Salidar to extricate Elayne and I think this is going to turn into a clusterfuck but frankly anything is better that that pit of misery which Salidar has becaome. Meanwhile Dark Ajah have penetrated both the towers, Morgase is selling Andor to Pedron niall, Padan Fain is weaving his own dark webs and Loial is about to receive a rather bad shock.

Everything is pointing to the shit hitting the fan. I am bloody sure there is a Seanchan invasion either happenning or about to happen. The Whitecloaks are on edge. The weather bowl is very tantalising and will probably be a major plot point. Mats march will probably trigger large scale hostilities. Sammael is cornered in Illian. Rand clearly has a plan. Now if only everybody would kindly shut up especially RJ and his endless descriptions of female clothing, and let said shit hit said fan, then I will be a happy puppy.

[D'iversify]

Andorion, on 08 October 2014 - 05:08 PM, said:

Now if only everybody would kindly shut up especially RJ and his endless descriptions of female clothing.

Diaphanous blouse stole thing in colours

[Andorion]

It actually happned! In quite possibly my favourite WoT sequence so far, Egwene discovers an alternative to travelling, she actually gets elevated to the Amyrlin Seat, (this had my jaw on the floor) Nynaeve literally kicks Mats ass, and now things are moving at last. For the first time since i began the series, I stayed up late to read, finally went to bed at 2 AM.

So 41 chapters in, its quite clear the Aes Sedai wanted a nice compliant figurehead, but thats not going to happen. One intersting aspect to this situation is that it had been made very clear from the beginning that interms of raw power Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne were above most if not all Aes Sedai. What they lacked was skill and authority. Now authority is coming in dollops, and thanks to Moghedien the skill front may also be changing.

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 09 October 2014 - 01:58 AM, said:

Yep I think it's quite cool that Rand had Asmo and the girls have Mog.

The stuff with Logian being healed was pretty badass.

Another one of Min's visions turn out to be totaly accurate. To think the Aes Sedai let the single most effective one of the new discoveries go. I mean they should just start writing down her visions. Pinpoint accuracy so far. Whcih also means the Seanchan make a blazing comeback.

[acesn8s]

Andorion, on 09 October 2014 - 01:13 AM, said:

So 41 chapters in, its quite clear the Aes Sedai wanted a nice compliant figurehead, but thats not going to happen. One intersting aspect to this situation is that it had been made very clear from the beginning that interms of raw power Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne were above most if not all Aes Sedai. What they lacked was skill and authority. Now authority is coming in dollops, and thanks to Moghedien the skill front may also be changing.

I think earlier in the book there is a Verin point of view which showed how Aes Sedai determined authority. Strength in the power > Time as a Novice > Time as an Accepted > Time as an Aes Sedai.

[Andorion]

Finished Lord of Chaos. Huh.... that escalated quickly.

So the White Tower Aes Sedai kidnap Rand, na dthen everything blows up. Another grand battle and this time RJ does better justice to this. Still a bit hazy on the overall picture but battle description improved greatly. The Asha'man or whatever attack was extreme and reminded me very strongly of Letherii and Tiste Edur mage battles in MT. What is missing from the battle though, when I compare it to Malazan battles is depth of feeling. The emotional investment I had when reading the Wickans charging the Ramp in DG, or the Bonehunters taking on the Kchain Nahruk in DoD is just not there. I care about maybe 2/3 characters and thats it really. Mainly I was intersted in how Perrin was handling the situation. Again because RJ still balksat accurate strategic and tactical descriptions you don;t get the cerebral pleasure of reding the battle as could be gotten from say the Letherii vs tribal battles in RG. But having said that the general idea of mayhem and description was well conveyed.

The Aes Sedai, both sets that is, mess up royally and now their relation with the Dragon Reborn is irredeemably gone. What this has done is make sure that th eprincipal powers of the continent are so tightly enmenshed in conflict that external threats like the Seanchan and the actual Big Bad the Dark One and the Forsaken get a free hand. I was so sure this book would end with Rand moving on Illian but now he has to lool to the White Tower I guess.

One recurring theme that came close to maturity is Rand's internal conflict with Lewis Therin and this is clearly important. If you are going to have a madman yammering away at least put him to work.

To keep on hammering at an old point I think this book showcased quite well the basic weakness of the Aes Sedai. They have beens o used to dealing with others from a position of strength, real life diplomacy is a bit of a lost art to them. Their old prejudices against men, a superiority complex the size of Dragonmount and bloody endless factional politicking simply keep them frombeing useful or relevant. i am not sure where RJ is going with this. Will the Aes Sedai be wiped out totally, or would they be reformed? it would take a lot to wipe out the institutiona arrogance they have accumulated.

I really really enjoyed Perrin's sections His straighforwardness was refreshing.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 09 October 2014 - 01:58 AM, said:

Yep I think it's quite cool that Rand had Asmo and the girls have Mog.

The stuff with Logian being healed was pretty badass.

Yeah, i remember those moments as being fistpump-worthy when i read them the first time.

acesn8s, on 09 October 2014 - 12:06 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 October 2014 - 01:13 AM, said:

So 41 chapters in, its quite clear the Aes Sedai wanted a nice compliant figurehead, but thats not going to happen. One intersting aspect to this situation is that it had been made very clear from the beginning that interms of raw power Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne were above most if not all Aes Sedai. What they lacked was skill and authority. Now authority is coming in dollops, and thanks to Moghedien the skill front may also be changing.

I think earlier in the book there is a Verin point of view which showed how Aes Sedai determined authority. Strength in the power > Time as a Novice > Time as an Accepted > Time as an Aes Sedai.

Plus iirc there's a whole thing within each Ajah as well which was touched on in one of the earlier books. Things like higher skill in Healing could place a White over another sister who has more power but less skill.

Andorion, on 09 October 2014 - 05:05 PM, said:

Finished Lord of Chaos. Huh.... that escalated quickly.

Mandatory....

Quote

So the White Tower Aes Sedai kidnap Rand, na dthen everything blows up. Another grand battle and this time RJ does better justice to this. Still a bit hazy on the overall picture but battle description improved greatly. The Asha'man or whatever attack was extreme and reminded me very strongly of Letherii and Tiste Edur mage battles in MT. What is missing from the battle though, when I compare it to Malazan battles is depth of feeling. The emotional investment I had when reading the Wickans charging the Ramp in DG, or the Bonehunters taking on the Kchain Nahruk in DoD is just not there. I care about maybe 2/3 characters and thats it really. Mainly I was intersted in how Perrin was handling the situation. Again because RJ still balksat accurate strategic and tactical descriptions you don;t get the cerebral pleasure of reding the battle as could be gotten from say the Letherii vs tribal battles in RG. But having said that the general idea of mayhem and description was well conveyed.

It's one of my faves in the series up to that point despite the lack of detail. The entire situation, a massive Aiel army surrounding a wagon-train of Aes Sedai and Warders, and then all these little groups try to break through because if they can't the world is truly fucked, and then in the midst of it Rand busts loose, still three sisters, AND THEN the Ashaman show up for the first time and we get Mazrim Taim shouting "Asha'man, KILL." and it's awesome.

There is a lack of tactical detail, but as a massive battle, and especially the first massive battle where Power weilders are seriously engaged, it was pretty great, esp that ending.



Be interesting to read how you view the next few books.

[acesn8s]

It's funny how the Ashaman force shows up just as Rand breaks free...

Andorion, you've got your finger on the pulse of a lot of the issues. Have you figured out who killed Asmodean yet?

[Andorion]

acesn8s, on 09 October 2014 - 08:35 PM, said:

It's funny how the Ashaman force shows up just as Rand breaks free...

Andorion, you've got your finger on the pulse of a lot of the issues. Have you figured out who killed Asmodean yet?

Dammit.....I am expecting a betrayal from Taim, or some kind of deception anytime now. The Ashaman are under his command and they answer to him. Clearly Rand does not command much loyalty there.As for Asmodean, well Taim could have killed him, maybe? I would have to go back and see who was where at that time.

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 09 October 2014 - 11:48 PM, said:

What do you think about the relifed Forsaken?

From what I understand the Dark Lord can resurrct anybody at all, unless they were taken out by balefire. So lets see: Aginor and Balthamel went down in book 1, neither by Balefire, Ishamael and Bel'al in book 3, Bel'al by balefire, Ishamael by Callandor, Rahvin in book 5 by balefire. There is no clue how Asmodean died. I still hold that Lanfear did not die.

So aginor, balthamel and Ishamael could have been resurrected, also maybe Asmodean. Since both the resurrected could talk, and Balthamel could not, and there was not even a remark about this, its probably Aginor and Ishamael. Strangely we see only Arangar, the chap who got resurrected into a female body in the book, not Osangar. This resurrection thing could be potentially very annoying though.

[D'iversify]

Andorion, on 10 October 2014 - 02:11 AM, said:

Briar King, on 09 October 2014 - 11:48 PM, said:

What do you think about the relifed Forsaken?

Since both the resurrected could talk, and Balthamel could not, and there was not even a remark about this, its probably Aginor and Ishamael.

Balthamel's inability to speak wasn't inherent but rather a result of his body being badly damaged by the ravages of time.

[Andorion]

8 chapters into Crown of Swords. I am wondering if all editors went on strike when RJ was writing. The book begins at the closing stages of the battle of Dumai's Wells and it takes 5 more chapters for Rand to just reach Cairhien. The so-called rebellion which was being hyped fromthe beginning was broken in two pages. Frankly the entire episode could have been written in one chapter and done with. But RJ has to describe everything with so much flair and detail that nothing ever seems to get done. For example when Perrin and Fayle enter their room there ar two paragraphs on the wall decorations. Why? I undestand authors need to build a textured world with great depth, but wall decorations and carpets? Really?

A disturbing trend I am noticing is that I could skip entire paragraphs of non-dialogue and not miss anything. This was not the case for the first two or three books. The writing is going down for me.

Rand is getting decidedly more distrustful and paranoid. But his character is the only one that is really changing. Perrin is as solid as ever, but the peripherals: The Aiel chiefs, the Wise Ones, their characters seem to have gotten stuck a bit.

[Slow Ben]

Well, it doesn't get any better for a few books. So, dig in, power forward, and enjoy the few good things still scattered in amongst the descriptions and braid tugging.

[Andorion]

28 chapters into Crown of Swords and things have changed for the better. Any Rand section is pretty irritating, but I am really taking a liking to Egwene PoVs. At last she is doing something useful and meaningful. The same can be said for the Elayne and Nynaeve sections though to a lesser extent. Things improve vastly when Mat is introduced. So far he has been the centrepiece of this book for me. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when the Queen of Ebou Dhar tried to seduce him.

At last we get to see some Lan and I can;t wait for him to catch up with Nynaeve. I don't understand how RJ can create a character like Lan and just leave him to stew. The more Lan the better.

Events on the Dark Side are very interesting. Clearly a plan is being hatched and the pieces are being positioned.

The Seanchan finally make their move and its an airborne invasion of Amidicia. Clearly their campaign of conquest is coming from the West and bending South so that puts Ebou Dhar in their crosshairs. Things are about to become very interesting. I wonder if Rand wil face them with his Ashaman. If he has the element of surprise, it could be devastating. As things stand I think he should go get Callandor. With that, at least there would be some more action.

[Slow Ben]

Briar King said:

1413145679[/url]' post='1154386']
Mat absolutely makes this book!

100%

[Andorion]

An example of RJ's misplaced priorities:

Nynaeve's boat has just been cut in half by Balefire. She is drowning, but then her block dissloves and she is able to channel Saidar. Lan finally arrives and rescues her and she startes to recover and understand what happened. In the middle of this RJ purs this little snippet:

Quote

Scrambling to her feet, she hurriedly pulled her necklace aright and did her best to straighten her dress and hair, but the soaking in salt water and then the rapid drying had left several stains on the silk and a number of creases that would require a knowledgeable hand with a hot iron to remove.

Who the fucking hell cares about a fucking dress at a time like this? The block is gone, Lan is here and RJ prattles on about hot irons!!

[amphibian]

I think it was meant to be a sort of "weird detail one notices when the world is in a shitfire heap and one is about to die" type of situation, but he botched the execution of it.

I agree with you about his editors failing him - which I think might be a product of his primary editor being his wife and maybe (although the timing doesn't match up neatly) due to his health not being great for a long while.

[Andorion]

amphibian, on 13 October 2014 - 05:57 AM, said:

I think it was meant to be a sort of "weird detail one notices when the world is in a shitfire heap and one is about to die" type of situation, but he botched the execution of it.

I agree with you about his editors failing him - which I think might be a product of his primary editor being his wife and maybe (although the timing doesn't match up neatly) due to his health not being great for a long while.

When exactly did he fall ill? This is book 7, and he kept on going till book 11. As for the weird detail thing, I have seen that done a lot, and this really was not a good execution of that particular device.

[Morgoth]

Andorion, on 27 September 2014 - 01:12 PM, said:

Rand has finally brought the Aiel over the Dragonwall though what he intends to do with them is leaving me a bit puzzled. And I can't wait for a Perrin PoV again.

Remember this statement when you reach Winters Heart.

[Tsundoku]

Next up is The Path of Daggers, you poor bastard. It's nothing but

Then Winter's Heart has some good stuff amid the dross, followed by Crossroads of Twilight, probably the very definition of "filler".

This post has been edited by Sombra: 13 October 2014 - 08:39 AM