The "OMG I just finished!" Thread

[KrisAnton]

I was happy to see a vision of Two Rivers as a bustling great city, even if in a false vision.

[Guest Craess]

I liked 99% of this book. moat of it was amazing. However since this is not only the end of the series, but the end of this universe, I would have liked to see more definitive answers about things like, the fate of the Aiel, Rand and his 3 wives and the Dragon's Peace. 

 

 

[Stevros]

Wow, I've been reading these books over half my life, I honestly have no idea how I feel...

[madpoet]

Hey when did Mat die twice?  He thinks he is no longer bound to the horn because of when he was hanged but the heros imply it was from another death that Rand saved him from.

[Morden]

Overall it was pretty good but still a lot makes no sense.

 

Am I the only one who wondered where Shadar Haran was? he was meant to be this uber fade yet played no part(Im pretty sure I didnt see him.)

[elec1cele]

I Finished the book last night after reading almost non-stop since I got it.  OVerall I was very satisfied with the book there was one thing that really bothered me.  There is a scene where Mat thinks something of there goes Egwene with that seachan woman,  Why doesn't he recognize Leilwin?  I'm guessing it is a mistake but it kinda threw me out of the story for a bit.

[mgns]

Hey when did Mat die twice?  He thinks he is no longer bound to the horn because of when he was hanged but the heros imply it was from another death that Rand saved him from.

 

The assault on Caemlyn in tFoH. Rand balefires Rahvin and brings Aviendha, Asmodean and Mat back.

 

 

Am I the only one who wondered where Shadar Haran was? he was meant to be this uber fade yet played no part(Im pretty sure I didnt see him.)

He's shown as an empty husk on the floor. That's it.

Edited January 10, 2013 by mgns

[ravenprincess]

In my opinion the bottom of page 166 had the best line in the whole series.  I actually cheered out loud.  Beautiful book, well written.  I honestly expected the ending to be darker than it was, but I thought it went out on a wonderful note.

 

Also, I really liked the symbolism that Sanderson put in there about handing the book back to its "father".  Very subtle, but a moving tribute to Robert Jordan.

 

Well done, and thank you Brandon.

[Rufae]

Just finished it this morning. All I can say is "Wow". Surprised at the body count of some mid-high level characters, notably Egwene and Bela. Why did they have to kill off Bela the Wonder Horse!?!?!? Good action and good pacing. Would have liked to see more of a fight put up by Padan Fain but meh, it's cool. ALso, would have liked an Epilogue a little more indepth  as to where some of the characters ended up a year or two afterwards.

 

Other than that, a good book and fitting ending.

[FarShainMael]

Read it over three days.

 

I'm exhausted.

 

Will need to read it again, slowly.

 

Reactions:

 

Hmm.

YES!!

YES - er, no.

Wasn't expecting that.

Or that. 

Or that.

Or that..

Oh good.

Oh wow.

Wow again..

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

[GB]

i just finished it  over 3 days as well quite enjoyed it the book overall

 

so many different reactions at different moments :p

 

the egwene moment was AWESOME and sad at the same time :(

 

so glad nynaeve and lan survived :D

 

and the ending was superb :)

 

i nearly feared mat was dead as well

Edited January 10, 2013 by GB

[he who comes with a bong]

Took me a day and a half to read it. Over all i enjoyed the book alot. But i really had some issues that i had been waiting for since i first read the books. Some things that happend off screen i did not like at all. The buildup of certain prophecies over the years, then to have them fall flat or not even cover them, makes me a lil bit mad.

 

But hey we got to read the final book.

 

Now to go onto something else, not sure what though.

 

Nothing by Sanderson thats for damn sure.

[Torome]

It's a shame that I could not like Egwene until she died.  Now I do, but it almost doesn't matter, I actually shed a tear.

 

I'm also happy that my favorite character-Perrin- kicked so much ass these last two books; hell, he killed Lanfear.  Demandred was awesome, an though he totally deserved punishment, I'm glad he found love.  Lan beating him was the coolest thing, I cheered!  I like how we realize that Moridin/Ishamael/Elan is really just an emo bitch, even though he seemed like a badass for 99% of the series.

 

Finally, I'm just saddened that my window into this world has closed.  I know it will continue without us seeing it, but we won't get to.  There are other worlds to explore, including our own. 

 

Thankyou Jim Rigney for letting us see it.

[Jhirrad]

I powered through to finish up yesterday around noon CST. I loved it. Was it perfect? No, but it was still great. I am so happy to have gotten to read this. And I was able to finish in time to then head off to the book signing in Chicago last night as one of the Memory Keepers and enjoy that, knowing that I've finished. It was cool. And yeah, when getting to talk with Brandon, Harriet, and Maria, I shed a few tears. Not ashamed.

[esvath]

My choice for best action scene: Perrin vs Slayer in the wolf dream.

 

How they shifted here and there, how they conjured weapons and armors, how they manipulate the laws of the wolf dream make the battle just ... OMG! :D

[Ford75]

Finished it last night! 

 

17 years after I first discovered the Wheel of Time, now it's over. The ending was satisfying!

[Ford75]

Finished it last night! 

 

17 years after I first discovered the Wheel of Time, now it's over. The ending was satisfying!

[OsaroLJ]

I have begun my reread its definitely a different experience. Its seemingly more...enjoyable?? Like the hurt and pain of the ending has given way to joy of seeing our favorite characters grow up and kick Shaitan's ass.

 

I will say this, this will be my favorite book in the series. I have never had a book illicit emotions from me like this book has.

[Darkenmal]

Best book in the series... I actually feel a hole, something that may never be filled again. Yet that is the way it should be.

 

Thank you Brandon Sanderson. Thank you Harriet McDougal. Thank you everyone who worked on the series. It was a labor of love, and you finished it for the fans.

 

I tip my hat to you.

 

 

 

There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time.

 

But it was an ending.

[GenPender]

Literally just finished it. feeling quite sad at the moment. Really wanted to like the book but didn't. Might change my mind later but at the moment feeling really down.

 

Pretty much how I feel.  Maybe my expectations were too high, but that was not at all what I was hoping for.

[Suttree]

It's really interesting to see the different reactions to this story. Astounding how diverse people's perceptions are of what they liked/didn't like. More than anything it drives home the different things people seem to look for in fantasy. If you are into fast paced, high action type books I can see people really enjoying it. Those that are looking for polished writing, plotwork and depth not so much. Wish it worked on both levels but the fact remains this was an almost impossible task. I would like to once again say thank you to Brandon for stepping up to the plate and taking a swing. He gave us the ending and for that we should all be grateful.

[snowtarg]

Hey all,

 

Just finished here as well. Though, truth be told, I skimmed more than I read because I was impatient for the end. Not sure what to think right now. I guess I'm still processing it. In a way, for me, I felt like the WoT series ended with RJ. I've had this odd detachment to the series since then, and this book didn't really change that.

 

Despite that, it felt like something important passed from my life when I put the book down. I'll miss these characters, even though, at some level, I think they've been gone for years now.

 

So, bittersweet, really.

[esvath]

I would like to once again say thank you to Brandon for stepping up to the plate and taking a swing. He gave us the ending and for that we should all be grateful.

 

Hear, hear! I am 100% agree. Thank you, Brandon.

[Kelandon]

My first reaction was, "That's it? Nothing about the future? It just ends when the battle ends?"

 

Upon further reflection, I came to two things. I now get why Robert Jordan planned to do outrigger novels focusing on Mat and the Seanchan. At the time that I first heard about this, I thought, "Um, really? Count me out." But now, after reading the ending, I get it. The major things that remain unresolved center on the Seanchan. The damane, the relationship with the Aiel, their status in the Dragon's Peace, a bunch of the major characters (not only Mat and Tuon, but also Min, Moghedien, and others). You could probably also have new-body Rand show up (briefly), and probably Perrin, Elayne, Lan, and the rest of the crew. They're basically all kings and queens, now, so they'll be dealing with the Seanchan.

 

I also get why Sanderson said that he didn't want to do the outriggers. We have visions of the future in the books, most obviously Aviendha's Rhuidean visions and Rand's battle with the Dark One for the shape of reality.

 

Various other random thoughts:

 

Man, I liked the way that Callandor ended up getting used. Probably my favorite prophecy/plot point in the whole book.

 

The body swap was about as well executed as it could have been. I never liked the idea that much, but I didn't hate it when it happened.

 

The total lack of resolution on Rand and his three women was probably for the best.

 

Roedran was kind of disappointing. I thought that the Band working for him would have some kind of meaning.

 

Demandred was intense. After having been missing in action for so long, he was pretty awesome. Getting all of Shara on the side of the Dark was a little... uh... hard to believe, but it worked. The girl who he got to love him was a nice touch; none of the other Forsaken quite did that (without, you know, Compulsion). Lan vs. Demandred was pretty cool, too. I wasn't that into the Gawyn or Galad fights, but I guess they worked in the broader scheme of things.

 

I also liked that we got the other sa'angreal more powerful than Callandor (finally! After Lanfear mentioned it ages ago!), and it made sense that Demandred had it and used it at the Last Battle.

 

Lanfear... oh, Lanfear. I wanted something a little more special for Lanfear. Working for the Light only so that she could be the one to save the Shadow in the end wasn't the most interesting way that she could have gone out. I was one of the ones who was hoping that she would try (and fail) to turn to the Light in the end. For all that we hear that no one has been in the Shadow so long that he cannot turn back to the Light, the only one we really got was Ingtar, and sort of Verin and Tomas. Lanfear would have been perfect for this, even though there would've had to have been some sort of caveat ("This doesn't make up for you, you know, drilling the Bore and torturing/killing lots of people and stuff").

 

The time distortion seemed sort of cheap. I guess it was necessary, but I didn't like it.

 

Ituralde is a badass and always has been.

 

I wish Nynaeve had played a little bit more of a role.

 

Olver's heroism and the Horn was maybe the second-greatest plot point in the book. Mat should've been bound to the Horn, though, despite all his protests. Hurin, too. Horn-summoned Birgitte was pretty badass.

 

I didn't really get the Leilwin plotline. It just seemed like it was going to be more than it was.

 

Cadsuane as Amyrlin was pretty hilarious.

 

I did come to like Egwene more as the series went along. I wasn't that into her death, but it was fine. It worked.

 

Someone really needed to Heal Setalle's stilling. I'm going to choose to believe that someone figures out to do that (Flinn, maybe? He lived, right?) early in the Fourth Age.

 

The explanation about making angreal was good, but what about sa'angreal? I had always assumed that the fundamental difference was the way that they were made, but we never got a resolution on that, I think. I'm also going to choose to believe that Elayne figures that out relatively early in the Fourth Age.

 

Unless I missed it, we didn't ever really get a definitive answer on Pact of the Griffin or Court of the Sun. Yes, it makes sense that the latter involves Cairhien in some way, and yes, there are reasonable speculations about the former, but... oh well. Again, this is why outrigger novels would have been good.

 

I wanted something with the Land of Madmen to happen. Anything at all. Everywhere else in the world got in on the action eventually.

 

That's everything that comes to mind about the plot, anyway. It was good. Really good. I'm glad that I got to sit and read it straight through. I'm probably going to go back and re-read bits and pieces in the next few days, and I may even do a full-series re-read eventually, but this is it for the Wheel of Time for me for the most part.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Kelandon

[Terez]

Reactions:

 

Hmm.

YES!!

YES - er, no.

 

I think I know what that was for. I even thought about you while reading.