Wheel of Time series

TDO also called him Adversary throughout the whole confrontation, so that leads me to think your speculation is pretty probably.

I was really surprised at the number of people who died, two of my favorites were killed off (Rhuarc / Birgitte), and havign Egewene killed was a surprise.

Graendal kicked ass in a way that I always wanted a Forsaken to do, very crafty and very dangerous.

Demandred. I get this feeling that RJ / Sanderson just didn't know how to fit him into the Last Battle. His insane raving/insistence that Rand should come fight him was stupid; Everything else about him was good though; Being as good a general (if not better) as Mat, being a badass swordsman, etc.

Taim. Ha, what a JOKE. Sanderson wrote him in such a different way than RJ, and he just seemed like a fool to me; He also got the lamest line I've ever read in a book (considering who he was in the story): "We're under attack!" (when Androl and the rest broke free).

It sure seemed like Sanderson nailed Mat's character in this book, very well done (aside from the Padan Fain scene).

Would be cool to see a Perrin vs. Slayer battle animated.

Rand being the Creator. Not sure, but I think Rand is now somehow connected directly to the Pattern itself due to being able to weave it during the fight with the DO. He is a mortal man, his soul will only be reborn in the last days. Only reason I think of as to why Rand is not the Creator is the scene during the battle at the Eye of the World. If I recall, there were -two- voices speaking in caps at that time, with Rand just listening in.

The book was a great read.

The only death that I really didn't like was Bela. Damn horse was all around the world! I was surprised by Egwene's death and I expected her to show back up after the scene in chapter 39 where Rand took two bodies in palm. I took that to mean that he saved Lan? Am I wrong about that? If so, what two bodies did he hold in his palm? But then I also thought we would have seen Egwene when horn sounded, if she was bound to the horn now for dying in such a heroic way.

Demandred seemed out of place to me. Raving like a lunatic for Rand. I'm pretty sure someone on his side might tell him that the guy was up fighting his boss.

Overall the last battle was pretty epic. Fain though was a waste. Perrin was pretty decent. Mat also.

Not sure what I think about Rand surviving. He was set up to be a messiah, and they should die to save the world. I think I'd rather have had him die than Egwene.

I thought that where Rand lit his pipe with a thought was the new kind of power that sought those in the Age of Legends of open the bore in the first place. Its not Saidin, Sadiar or the True power but all of them combined? Or maybe it is just what the Dragon does to seal up the Dark One, so the wheel can keep on turning.

I thought that where Rand lit his pipe with a thought was the new kind of power that sought those in the Age of Legends of open the bore in the first place. Its not Saidin, Sadiar or the True power but all of them combined? Or maybe it is just what the Dragon does to seal up the Dark One, so the wheel can keep on turning.

Click to expand...

It's been stated pretty explicitly that the power which they sensed in the DO's prison and drilled through the Bore for was the True Power. What Rand did was something else entirely, it didn't seem to involve channeling but manipulating the Pattern itself.

Good:
- Mat, he was back and I enjoyed almost all of his scenes in this book.
- Related to that, Tuon was good this book. Probably as much because she's mat-related as anything else.
- Androl was outstanding. Before and after the Black Tower got cleared he was great. Pevara worked well with him, though the whole "relationship" happened kind of fast.
- Elayne was only mildly insufferable, same for Faile.
- Just over all it was satisfying. The battles may have dragged on a bit, but it never got to be a chore or anything.
- Corrupted generals. It was a bit over-telegraphed with the dude at the Blight, but was nice and subtle with the other three. Handled really well and really made Graendal seem like a master schemer.
- Olver and the horn was great. I got choked up when he recognized Noal. Someone....someone came back for him...I..I just need a minute...
- BATTLE OGIERS!
- Warped time by the Bore was a brilliant idea. Letting the various battles play out without seeming ridiculously short, without making Rand there drag on too much. Because no one wanted a week worth of that fuckin' dream world fight.
- Egwene was actually pretty great for her last few hours of life.


Bad:
- Before that last few hours Egwene was still fucking awful. Condescending cuntery left and right. Every thought in her head is groan-worthy.
- Rands dream war with the Dark One was gay. I didn't mind once they stopped with the Duelling dream shit, but all that crap before it just felt like filler.
- Perrin's spending the entire book chasing a pretty minor character.
- Every farmer from the Two Rivers is a supernaturally amazing archer? OK...I guess and now Lan says they're also amazing horsemen? Fuck off.
- Bit hamfisted with some of the foreshadowing stuff. Too much "Well that person or thing looks weird, but it's probably nothing........OH SHIT IT'S SOMETHING!". I mean, these people aren't hyper-vigilant by now? Really?

Not sure how I felt about Lanfear at the end. I liked her sort-of redemption arc with Perrin, but it felt rushed at the end. And the way Perrin fought off her compulsion was...cheesy. "I love Faile"...blah. Liked him casually snuffer her out though and taking that hit for Rand doesn't have to.

I didn't hate the change of perspective on the Dark One like some of you, it was pretty ambivalent about it. And I did like the idea that Rand figured out he needed to add the True Power to the seals to make them really work. Not sure why, the idea just resonated with me. Like, a nice glaze of evil will keep him from being able to chip away at them.

Also glad to see from here and other places that the magic pipe at the end wasn't something obvious to other people that only I didn't quite grasp.

This is a thought I had over and over. And conversely when Egwene sacrificed herself right after learning that anti-balefire....why not try to get at least one Aes Sedai to see the weave before going Sheroshima? Get them bitches tossing around that life fire shit real fast.

But whatever, at least that cunt died big.

Yeah, you could have had a much nicer ending with about 200 more pages . DD didn't feel out of place to me, though him yelling for Rand every five minutes was a bit silly. I was just expecting more of a twist surprise with him.

Olver and Bridgette? Wasn't even thinking that, but it makes sense, based upon how she likes ugly guys, and how RJ made sure we knew how ugly this little boy was. Didn't put two and two together.

I missed Rand bringing Lan back to life. To be honest I got sick of the what if dream fight shit with Rand and the DO, and power read thru most of it. I swore he was saved by an Aes Sedai...bleh, have to re-read a bit I guess.

I had no beef with the Two Rivers folk being super archers. That's been a theme the whole series.

My biggest gripe is the Mat vs Padan Fain shit...I like others was waiting for HIM to be the new evil after Rand defeated the DO. I was really expecting that. Bummer.

I REALLY wanted more to come of Tuon meeting Arthur Hawkings. That would have just been awesome to read.

Yeah it's not something new, though it was brought to silly levels here. It was more the exchange someone had with Lan about horsemen and Lan's response implies that those same superarchers are also superhorsemen. It's just a bit too much. Every farmer from this secluded village is amazing, the Horn of Valere might as well just summon them. Doesn't ruin the story by a long shot, just made me groan.

Not seeing the Tuon/Hawkwing meeting was a letdown for sure.

And I forgot to mention Rand reuniting with Mat while meeting with Tuon was also a great scene. The two of them bickering and one upping each other as if there's nothing else going on around them. And Mat throwing out the Moraine card last.

Where the hell was Shaidar Haran?? He was at the end of Towers of Midnight, then gone...

It was the corpse on the ground with the huge blackness behind it when he was inside the pit