Prologue Through to the End of Chapter 10

[Clouded]

Is anyone else bothered by Elayne and Rand's apparent inability to use the Warder bond? Multiple times Elayne asks where Rand is, and they seem unable to get a sense what each other are thinking. It seems that in order to convey thoughts, BS uses conversation instead of narration, which results in mix ups like this.

[RememberIngtar]

Sigh... There are a lot of things im happy with, even ecstatic, but so much that is stupid. Particularly the battle plans. You've got the entire WT, the Kin, the Wise Ones, the Seafolk... and they send, what, 4 channeler's to Tarwins Gap?  And the idea of focusing on Caemlyn is ludicrous as well. How about forming a mega-circle with as many sa'angreals as possible and dropping a power hammer on the Waygate? Or the entire city? Instead you divert the biggest set of your forces to hide in the woods 250 miles away? How long would it take the trollocs to cover that distance? At least a week right? So you're sitting there idle when you could have them fighting somewhere else and then travel back later? Its silly. Or if nothing else, lure them out of the city and destroy them with channelers 5 miles out in the open plains. Its kinda driving me nuts, because you have all these great captains and they are making terrible plans. Iteralde continues to rule however.

 

While I agree with the concerns over Elayne's appointment, the travel distance/trolloc chase, the apparent reluctance to send channelers into battle, I DO believe any concern over the battle plan is misguided.

 

Any study of battle, war, massed armed conflict would explain that you want to defend on as few fronts as possible. In this case, our heroes already have four fronts - which is theoretically almost impossible to defend. If you must have multiple fronts you must at least have them all coming from the same direction. In this case, you have three from the north and one from the south. It makes perfectly logical sense to send the bulk of your forces to the south to eliminate that threat while having three harrying/defending/retreating forces holding the other three fronts. Once you have dealt with the southern threat you can re-distribute forces and have all your forces at least heading in one direction.

 

Really the Caemlyn dilemma is a microcosm of Rand's continuing worry over the Seanchan - another southern threat when you want the front to be in the north.

[csarmi]

The problem is that we have travelling. There IS no north or south.

[Agitel]

The problem is that we have travelling. There IS no north or south.

 

The trollocs don't have traveling. With the trolloc threat at Caemlyn eliminated they're forced to have to come from one direction, and there becomes a series of northern fronts.

 

My main surprise is that more channelers weren't distributed to Tarwin's Gap. That just seems foolish.

 

And Egwene's probably one of the most intelligent characters in the series. She has limited formal education in the White Tower, but she's always been eager and quick to learn and adapt. I did find some of her conversations that helped her win over Aes Sedai in tGS to feel quite silly, though... especially with regards to the Whites. As for Elayne being chosen, keep in mind that blood/position sometimes trumps experience in a world of monarchies (though it's always important to note that she's received a high level of education in relevant areas and has been groomed to lead since birth). Ghealdan, Andor, and Cairhien are all par of her queendom, now.

[Thorgan]

Not really enjoying the book all that much so far.

 

Why should I care about all these battles? In the end it will all be decided at Shayol Ghul.

And why is Rand delaying anyway? It still looks like he's gonna go in there with a strike force. And he already has all the knowledge he'll get about sealing boar he can get.

 

And Taim has a seal? That wasn't that unexpected but it's stupid for him to carry it around with him.

 

Is anyone else bothered by Elayne and Rand's apparent inability to use the Warder bond? Multiple times Elayne asks where Rand is, and they seem unable to get a sense what each other are thinking. It seems that in order to convey thoughts, BS uses conversation instead of narration, which results in mix ups like this.

It's also very strange that he introduces a new plot device like this in the last book.

[rbtwinky]

Loving the book so far!  I'm struggling more with how Sanderson is portraying the characters than the plot details.

 

The reunion between Rand and Aviendha was terrible!  After a book worth of sexual tension between the two of them (The Shadow Rising?), their second romantic encounter is "Hi.  I'm ready to be with you now.  Let's go to your tent."  Come on!  Sanderson missed out on an opportunity to show some of the old Rand and some vulnerability here.  Yes, he is mega-confident, hundreds-of-years-old Rand now.  But isn't he really still that same boy from the Two Rivers when it comes to women?  At least romantic interludes with women that aren't Min?  It would have been such a stronger choice to have Rand show some insecurity here.

 

The section with Lan fighting with Rand's army and deciding to retreat instead of holding the Gap was fine and all, but did anyone else feel like Lan didn't bother to show up for this scene/conversation?  Where was stoic, emotion-less, self-sacrificing Lan?  This "be happy that everyone's dying" Lan who flinches at a meager comment from a king that is under his command at the time I just can't reconcile with the Lan we've known all along.  The Lan who has stood by renegade Moiraine through countless subversions and has fallen for Nynaeve.  I just don't see that Lan in this boisterous, gregarious fellow.

 

I completely loved Moiraine's entrance scene.  (As an aside, this scene would have been so much more fun if we hadn't witnessed her rescue   It could have been told in flashback or something.)  Anyway, Sanderson got Moiraine spot-on.  She waltzes into the room right when everything is falling apart and runs the show without subverting anyone's authority.  Not only does she save the whole coalition from disaster, she also interprets the Karatheon Cycle just by looking around the room.  All with quiet assurance and confidence.  Yay!  I love having Moiraine back.  Not sure what she's been up to since then...

 

And where is Mat through all of this?!  Why is he not leading armies in the Last Battle?  I suppose it will make sense later, but right now it feels almost like we're being denied what has been coming just because we figured out that's where the story was leading.  It feels like Mat is completely missing his entire purpose for existence!

 

And other what abouts... What about finding the song?  What about the Sea Folk?  What about the freaking Seanchan?  How are the Towers of Midnight going to come into play at all?  There's an awful lot still to wrap up!

[TOMTEFAR]

I have a huge problem with one part that you have not brought upp here yet.

 

It's how Egwene acts during the meeting where Moiraine shows up. I find it totaly out of character. She argues agains breaking the seals a lot during the last book. But she has no real reasons for it. When Moiraine shows up and forces Egwene to reflect on her dreams and the prophecy she is stupified. One woudl have thought that she would have gotten this part herself.

 

But that isn't even the worst part of it. THe worst part is that Egwene is the Amerlyn and se resorts to being a crybaby asking Moiraine to convince Rand not to breake the seals. It's just so out of character that the amerlyn should do that. Specially since it is Moiraine that she turn to and to Egwene Moiraine should just be another Aes Sedai.

 

I almost put the book down reading this part. This scene could have been so much better and deserved to be so much better. Egwene could have had a valid reason for not breaking the seals and Moiraine could have had an answere from the finns or something that indicated that the seals must be broken. As of now that plot just seems ridiculus and stupid and realy anoying.