Would someone mind summing up Elayne's part of KoD for me?

[Arkelias]

Its not that I dislike Rand so much as I find his chapters frustrating.  I want him to make the right decisions and to have something good happen to him once in a while, but in every book it feels like things just go more and more wrong for him.  The one big payoff moment was the cleansing, and the aftermath I was expecting where people heralded his great achievement were...lacking.

 

Personally, I resent Cadsuane because she's squatting on Moraine's place.  There is only one Aes Sedai that Rand can and should trust, and I get the feeling she'll be returning in the next book.  Rand respected her and genuinely seemed to care for her too.

 

She was imperious at times, but also fair and she had something that no other Aes Sedai save Verin seems to have heard of.  Manners.  She didn't treat Rand like an idiot, more like a younger brother in need of guidance.

 

I also don't like the lesson that Cadsuane is teaching Rand.  It seems to be men need to cowtow to arrogant and pushy women, and since he's getting uppity and doing horrible things like thinking for himself she needs to break him back to harness.

 

If someone treated me the way she treats Rand she'd be shielded and in a cell before she could blink no matter what she was 'supposed to teach me'.  Too often in the WoT we fall back on prophecy or one of Min's viewing to get Rand to put himself in a humiliating position.  I'm tired of watching him eat crow and suck at everything he attempts.

 

Can we get an entire book where things just work for him?  Just one?

 

 

EDIT: I posted this before I saw Rand Skywalker's post.  Guess we think alike about Moraine!

 

[Jaric Mar Tedronai]

i sincerely hope moraine comes back and we get a catfight with her and cadsuane over whos gonna advise him. moraine wins, cadsuane does something stupid and therein is said "lesson." cadsuane is exposed as black ajah, severed for failing to stay close to rand, and given to the myddrall.

 

hell he could lose the last battle and id still be happy as long as she gets taken down. after all, she makes him promise to hold his temper, etc, yet still threatens to 'warm his bottom' and b.s. like that. whats really going on?

[Bob T Dwarf]

What's going on is that Jordan totally missed the mark in how he wrote Cadsuane.

 

She's supposed to be "the tough maiden aunt."

 

What he wrote is a harridan with no redeeming qualities who expects to scornfully bully everyone around her and yet be treated with respect.

[Arkelias]

I wouldn't say no redeeming qualities.  Sure she's a complete harridan who browbeats and bullies people instead of using tools like logic and reason. However, I think Jordan gave her a 'formidable bosom'.  Isn't she like four hundred years old too?  That would make her a cougar, which is sort of a redeeming quality...

 

...ok that was in bad taste but it made me laugh.

[Mr Ares]

If we believed for a minute that Elayne might not get the throne most readers would be much more interested in her storyline.

Gaping hole right there. There is no real doubt the good guys are going to win TG. No real tension. It's not the destination that's important, it's the journey. It's not that they'll win, it's how they get there, how they do it, the triumphs and setbacks along the way, the cost of victory. These are the things that matter. If people lack investment in Elayne's storyline, it has nothing to do with the certainty of her victory.

 

Martin kills characters off by the score.

Not really. Martin's reputation for slaughter is exaggerated. In terms of total named characters or on screen deaths, sure, he has a fair few. So does RJ. But GRRM has a few major good guys killed off, while RJ didn't. That's the difference. A mere handful. If we look at characters RJ has killed, we can find examples, good guys and bad. But Liah and Niall are not as huge as some of Martin's. But so what? Number of character deaths does in no way equal quality, if it did Steven Erikson would be the greatest writer of fantasy ever. He's killed off more than Martin, of that I'm sure.

 

Now, I think one of the reasons AFFC was less well received than the other three books, is that GRRM actually *did* do this, with the chapters on the Iron Born and the Dornish.

That certainly seems to be one of the reasons people disliked it. Personally I didn’t have a problem with these chapters. Brienne’s story, though, was rather dull. Another reason people often give is the slowing of the pace, which was in part unavoidable (this was a book that had to transition from the political conflict that had dominated the story to that point, to the conflict with the Others, and Dany’s invasion, and deal with the aftermath of the War of the Five Kings.

 

Contrast this with Moiraine. She treated Rand with dignity, although (mistakenly) believing that she know best. However, Moiraine went though a terrific character development arc (that included humbling herself) in how she learned to effectively influence Rand.

Moiraine failed, and died. Cadsuane is succeeding.

[Amayahoshi]

Personally, I like Elayne and have never understood why people disliked her so much. Nor CoT - I liked it! Of course we know she will get the throne - just like it is fairly certain what will happen at TG, if not in the details, the end result perhaps.

 

That said, thought I would mirror Mr Ares sentiments regards the journey being the important part not necessarily the destination.

 

 

[Seven of Nine]

Its not that I dislike Rand so much as I find his chapters frustrating.  I want him to make the right decisions and to have something good happen to him once in a while, but in every book it feels like things just go more and more wrong for him.  The one big payoff moment was the cleansing, and the aftermath I was expecting where people heralded his great achievement were...lacking.

But that's the sad thing about Rand cleansing the taint. He did have to worry about it, but he's also got a lunatic in his head already aside from the taint. The cleansing didn't remove LTT. Nor that possible third voice in his head (Moridin?).

 

About Elayne--I like her but I find her chapters some of the least compelling to read. And I could have screamed to have to get through the petty cat fights she and Nynaeve would have. I agree with the others that the process that Elayne has to go through to get to be queen is important. It couldn't be Rand who gave it to her, and she needed to show her queenly abilities by taking the contested kingdom.

 

I hate Faile, and I cringe having to read through her chapters (and skip them now on read throughs), but I see how they are forging Perrin into what he needs to be for later on. We have to go though point B to get from A to C or we won't find the character development believable.

 

I find it curious that Elayne's pregnancy challenges with the slippery power sound familiar to some of Rand's challenges with the power since his bail fire crossed Moridin's.

 

Hmmmm . . . so Rand's preggers, too?  :D