The "OMG I just finished!" Thread

[BananaOnDrugs]

So...I just finished my reread of the book. I didn't want to post before as I probably missed some big stuff. Anyway I still don't see em and here my questions go:

  I distinctly remember an interview which said this turning of the wheel was unique, that Padan Fain was unique. Well nothing unique happened with it. Fain got butchered like a trolloc. The DO got back to starting position. And hey if he's been doing this since Creation why doesn't he just tell Moridin not to touch Callandor? Can't be that hard.

 Found Androl to be an awesome character but it was just too much. Made everything related to him lose value somehow.

 Regarding the battle of Merrilor. While I understand that it's quite possible to kind of do something like that. With luck. It's just a little bit more luck than Mat has. I mean it would be really hard to do if he was facing a 5 year old commander and with Demandred it's  a no no. Light most of the time the battle sounded like he was just facing 1/2 odds. And tactics...use the 2938523958 trollocs you have in reserve to do what you were doing with the Sharans and gateway the Sharans behind enemy lines. 
 

 Liked the Egwene part. While Demandred dieing like that was cool he probably should have seen it coming. And AHA to whoever was saying Galad/Gawyn being better than Lan. He should have died though. Same for Talmanes. 
 

 The bluff at the meeting was kind of weak. Thank the Creator for him being taveren even if ti didn't work. Would have enjoyed more Nyneave.
 

 On the other hand Perrin was awesome. Mat too. Rand/Mat meeting was probably the best thing in the book. Really expected more of it as it was the FINAL BOOK. Still it was a nice ending and I'm glad I read the whole thing.

EDIT:HOW DARE THEY KILL BELA.

Edited January 12, 2013 by BananaOnDrugs

[Bornhald]

 

Things I liked:

• Demandred: Man, this book made me hate Demandred! The way he screwed everything up, killing Gawyn, nearly killing Galad (he did live, right?), nearly killing Lan, showing up at a terrible time with Sharan forces, being so flaming annoying as he walked around the battlefield calling for Lews Therin when eve​ryone knew he was at Shayol Ghul — Ugh! I loved how I actually hated him.
• Olver and Noal
• Talmanes: Great character.
• Great Captain Corruption: Forcing the three worldly battlefronts to become one, back at Merrilor, thus giving Mat something to do for the book, was very well thought out.
• Thom killing the Black sister: Classic, funny, and very satisfying.
• Tam teaching Rand to let go
• Rand's battle with the Dark One: RJ said he just wanted to write a good story*, but this encounter really taught an amazing lesson. To take all the bad, evil, and everything that isn't strictly happy away from people would make them inhuman. These conflicting forces are part of us. Never getting angry, not being upset, and having no obstacles or conflicts would be terrible. It'd be so weird to never get annoyed at anyone. Of course, this makes it possible for people to do terrible, terrible things, but that is the inevitable cost. The price of being human. If we want to truly exist, we must pay this price and be responsible for ourselves. I found that whole commentary within the battle absolutely beautiful.

 

Things I didn't like:

• Literally every single loose end: That's how I am; I don't like loose ends. I'll save the questions about them for that other, more appropriate thread.
• Rand changing bodies: I don't know how it happened. Is that a loose end, too? I decided not to include it in the above item. Anyway, even if I knew exactly how it happened, I wouldn't be satisfied. Rand's physical identity is taken away from him. The fact that RJ went into great detail about people's physical identities in the books (which I loved) makes the body change that much harder and unexpected.
• Lack of detail about the Sharans: I know there was a lot to write about, and they don't matter that much, which is why they weren't written about in detail, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It isn't very WoT to not explain them to death.
• Lack of Fain/Mordeth/Mashadar: The fact that Fain just would not go away throughout the series led me to believe that he would be a bigger part of the Last Battle.
• Mat's personality: Sanderson overdid it. I remember Mat being more serious (even in tGS and ToM), but maybe that's my faulty memory.
• Rand not letting anyone but his three women know he lived: Really? Not even Tam and Nynaeve? Why? Then Cadsuane figures it out and his reaction to that is "lolohwell", which made me even more upset. Okay, he worries a little about her knowing, but not as much as seems reasonable.
• Bela dying: Bela should have at least taken someone with her. Imagine Moghedien is walking through the battlefield after the fight, then Bela runs up behind her, smacks her to the ground and stomps on her face.

I'm undecided on all the Light deaths. They brought such pain, but would I really rather have everyone live? I don't know...

 

[sandfand]

I can say that I agree with many others. I feel like there should have been so much more involving Moiraine. I absorbed every moment she was on-page, but there could have been so much more.

 

That said, I do very much understand that Mr Sanderson had a monumental task and only so much space to squeeze it into. Take Padan Fain's death, for example. That was VERY abrupt and fast. Suiane's death as well - very abrupt and fast. Had this book been split into 2, I feel confident that we would have so much more content and back-story. And we would also be waiting 3+ years for another release. Not to mention, putting Mr Sanderson's life on hold for another 3 years. He is writing other series, and I am definitely a fan of those as well.

 

I had wished for more and I will feel incomplete for a long time, but I do certainly understand how it can turn out the way it did.

 

I have spent a large portion of my life with this world, I feel like part of myself has been lost. My 4th age has now begun, and there's nothing to do but pick my head up and put one foot in front of another. Just like the people of Caemlyn. HOPE.

 

p.s. I totally knew it was gonna end with Loial's book, I knew it I knew it I knew it!!!

[metalisticpain]

Just finished last night.

 

Happy Gawyn died. He annoyed me but he stayed true to his character in the books (dieing because hes a retard with no brains and all passion)

So sad Bela died!

Sad Egwene died! I thought she wouldnt die due to need of a huge amyrlin legacy. Now thats very threatened. They may not remember her after 100 years.

Happy Logain confronted himself right at the end with the refugees.

 

Disliked the black tower resolution, very anti climatic? Did like Rands last orders and Androl.

Not sure on Androl and Pevaras mind talk.

 

Happy Nyneave lives and can continue to be awesome.

Was kinda happy Fain went out the way he did tbh. It felt right.

 

Overall - i love the ebb and flow of the books. They were winning, then not, then winning and then not.

:) Going to miss this series.

[metalisticpain]

Doublepost

Edited January 12, 2013 by metalisticpain

[Guest logan Kingsford]

 

Uploaded with http://imageshack.us'>ImageShack.us

[makaveli422]

I loved it. It was satisfying for me and didn't explain everything which I think is a good thing. Plenty of people died and Rand lived. The body swap wasn't something I liked before I read the book but after..... it turned out ok.

 

I was disappointed with Demandred coming out of Shara. And the fact that he came off like a cheesy video game villain. "Face me Lews Therin"! over and over with random flashes of balefire thrown in just seemed... dumb. The only thing that saved Demandred for me was Lan coming and being his bad ass self. When he told Dem you didn't listen, I came here to kill you, that was pure awesome!

 

So other than Demandred I was very pleased with the book. Thank you Brandon, Harriet, and Team Jordan for making this happen.

[Suttree]

I distinctly remember an interview which said this turning of the wheel was unique, that Padan Fain was unique

You are misremembering and piecing two different quotes together. In fact RJ said that there was nothing unique about this turning. His thoughts on the matter mirrored Herid Fel's almost to a t. As for Fain he called him a wildcard, but there very well may have been others in the past.

[probe907]

Finished reading last night. The book was a satisfying finale to the series, but it suffered from the same problem the last two books had - Sanderson's pedestrian errand-list plot-development style. Don't get me wrong, I think Sanderson has done a reasonable job finishing the series - particularly given the amount of foreshadowing and prophecies Jordan left to him - but since so many events just had to happen, I got the impression that Sanderson just inserted those events the way you put groceries in your shopping bag. The effect was uninspiring.

For example, we knew for a long time that Mat, Thom and Noal would free Moiraine. That finally happened but very late in the game, and in the most direct way imaginable. The Tower of Ghenjei sequence was like a D&D dungeon. They go in, they free Moiraine, and of course Noal dies and later returns with the Heroes of the Horn. Then Moiraine does nothing in the last book and Mat ends up missing the bulk of the series' events by galivanting about with the circus and so on. Pedestrian.

 

Another example of pedestrian plot development involves the main theme of the classic Christian problem of evil. Why does the good God allow evil things to happen? Vaguely speaking, one can claim that evil occurs because of free will - if no evil exists, people can't really make moral choices, and if they can't choose good, they are not people but automatons. Rand eventually figures that out and just closes the Bore, letting the wheel turn again and so on. Fine - but very predictable and direct. That said, the problem of evil/ free will theme is always enjoyable.

In contrast, the Cleansing of Saidin back around book 9 had caught me unprepared. Then when I re-read the series, I found lots of foreshadowing. That was fun. With the last battle and the Tower of Ghenjei, I knew more or less exactly what would happen. Can't blame Sanderson for that, but perhaps he should have thrown in a few surprises.

 

One of the other major themes in the book was that of the land and the ordinary people doing their part in the Last Battle. In consequence, MoL features countless snippets of PoVs from tertiary characters. The idea was to give us the feeling of a whole world - but in effect, what happened instead was that a lot of major characters got very little time on stage, and some major plots were resolved off-hand - the most egregious example being the Shadar Logoth/ Padan Fain plot, which fizzled in about 4 pages.

 

Between attrition and recycling, the Forsaken were a sorry shadow of their former glory. Of the five Forsaken present at the Last Battle, two were recycle-jobs, one was totally broken, and one was a greenhorn. That forced Demandred to do the heavy lifting, and he was a lot of fun, but also incredibly dumb. At the point when everybody in the world knew that Rand was fighting the Dark One, Demandred kept thinking Rand is pretending to be Mat or something. Worse, Demandred kept botching his duels. He didn't finish off Gawyn. And afterwards, incredibly, he not only failed to kill Galad - he didn't even pick up the foxhead medalion! Which allowed Lan to kill him. Never mind that Demandred could simply have ordered his goons to kill both Galad and Lan. But nooo. I understand the Forsaken are arrogant and crazy, but Demandred comes off as a moron to boot :/.

Graendal's compulsion shenanegans were fun. Moghedien's role was laughable.

Turning Taim into a Forsaken was a great idea, but poorly realized, since it came too late into the series.

Lanfear, who is one of the most interesting characters in the series, was underused. It would have been really fun to see one of the forsaken - and why not Lanfear? - turn to the light, perhaps burning herself out in the process. But noo, she was killed in the dullest way imaginable.

Shaidar Haran could have been a major boss, but instead he was just thrown away.

Slayer was sort of interesting, but again, the most obvious thing happened - Perrin (who, annoyingly, became another superman because of the World of Dreams) had an epiphany and just went and killed Slayer and that was that.

 

Of the good guys, I think we could have used a few more epic sacrifices. Egwene's rampage was probably the highlight of the book. Gawyn's sneaking was also good. Egg and Gawyn were the only majors to die. Birgitte's death was a cop-out, since it actually benefited Birgitte - how lame. Elayne, tragically, was immune due to her kids, and so we had to suffer her to the end :( . Lan should have died in the aftermath of his duel. Maybe also Faile (too bad the Shaido didn't kill her, she's insufferable, Berelain is ten times better). Moiraine or Nynaeve? Even Matt. Because to win a Last Battle, you gotta break some eggs.

For that matter, the way Rand survived, and people's reactions to his apparent demise, were incredibly anti-climactic.

Logain's glory was another anti-climax. In the end Logain did nothing particularly interesting.

The Androl plotline was the best written one, though it could have been cut out with little to no consequence. Androl's link to Thevara was an excellent idea and worked wonderfully. Apparently Androl is Sanderson's "own" character. That's fair. The main problem I have with Androl is that he comes off as some kind of a superhero on par with the Ta'Veren and the girls. And that's incongruent with earlier developments. Moreover, the Black Tower arc never reached its promised apex. The Battle for the Black Tower was minor at best, as was the role of the Ashaman at Taimor Gai'dan.

Min "dominated" her scenes. She was always my favorite from Rand's harem, could have used a lot more of her in the series. The problem with Min is prophecy overload. I suppose that's why she had to stay out of stage most of the time.

The Aiel and the Seanchan were a bit underused. One could really see that at the very end of the Last Battle, when Sanderson felt compelled to write a few paragraphs about the Seanchan's beasts of war.

 

So in the end everything works out as anticipated. I think we could have used 100-200 pages of mop-up at the end. "And so Perrin became King of Manetheren, Rand's kids grew up to become this or that, Egwene's Column became a pilgrimage site, and the Wheel turned and so on." Perhaps with an epilogue in which characters from the Fifth Age reminsice of the Fourth Age, or something like that. After 20 years, a few million words, and thousands of pages, the available ending feels too abrupt.

 

There is more to be said, but in other threads. In sum, MoL is a satisfying, though imperfect, conclusion to the series. As we all know, Jordan dropped the ball somewhere around book 7. He should have contracted the Faile/Perrin/Shaido, Mat/Circus/Tuon, and Elayne/Andor plots, and completed the series in 11-12 books. Then he might have finished the job on time, and the end product would have been better. That said, the Wheel of TIme remains a solid work of stunning scope. I like it better than LotR, though LotR has the advantage of being much shorter (and hense more readable). So here's a toast to the Memory of Mr. Jordan! And a tip of the hat to Mr. Sanderson.

----

Oh yeah, and Bela should have lived. Her death was definitely Mr Sanderson having morbid fun at our expense. But that's not a big deal. At least Gawyn got whacked, man was he annoying.

Edited January 13, 2013 by probe907

[Prettyfox]

I was satisfied with the majority of the book... but very massively disappointed with the ending of the book. While the ending wasn't quite as awful as it could have been.. it leaves so much open. I was hoping for more of a background behind the world... how the Aiel turned how... how the dragon's peace lasted... and hell, it makes me angry that Rand takes on the body of Moridin, but then just leaves... why does he have to leave exactly?

 

The ending made me feel like there is a need for something more.

[Agitel]

I just finished. I enjoyed it. When I finished, I felt this sense of release.

 

I was going to read everyone's reactions right off, but I think it's best if I just digest everything a little. I don't want to potentially let other people's thoughts bring me down right now. Maybe later.

[Thiadon]

Finished a few hours back, and.... wow. What a masterful ending to an amazing story. Still hard to believe it's an ending, but what an ending it was.

 

I thought the way all the various threads were woven together was simply brilliant. Great tension and pacing (the Demandred duels, wondering where Fain was all the way until the end, the resolution of "the three become one") all of it, just brilliant.

 

While I'm happy to have finally read the ending, I'm sad that this is the last Wheel of Time book. I'm also mildly frustrated with Team Jordan for basically ruining fantasy for me from now on by moving the bar so high. 

 

Also curious if we'll ever get some insight into what happens after.

[Terror405]

Hopefully the Encyclopaedia will give us a couple of lines of closure on the main characters and what happens after.

[I Love Semirhage]

Finished a few hours ago, wanted to give it some time to sink in. I'm currently addled with a cold, so if some words in here get mixed up, sorry, having trouble thinking straight. On the plus side, it meant I read the final Wheel Of Time book while genuinely sniffing quite a lot.

I liked it. It wasn't perfect, but I think it was the best we could have hoped for, given a replacement author.

It wasn't like LOTR or Harry Potter, with long and detailed endings; it was tense right up until the final chapter. Which was nice, actually, though perhaps too brief an ending to such a huge work. Much as TEOTW had 100 pages of peace before the trollocs kicked down the door, perhaps this could have used that. Perhaps not. The pacing was very, very well done.

In many ways, it felt like the world itself and its various plotlines had been tied up by the end of TOM; this was just the great big battle. I noticed a streamlining in the mythology - I don't think the term Tarmon Gai'don was used once in the entire book. If anything, AMOL seemed a bit smaller than those that preceeded it, with fewer characters. A few more snapshots might have been nice of characters we had previously seen, but then I suppose we did get quite a few. Poor Sarene, being Compulsed, I always liked her.

Two characters were notably underused - Moiraine and Padan Fain. Both are integral to the very central thread of the series. I did like what they both did, but we needed more of it. I'd have liked to have seen a Moiraine and Lan scene, too, given how torn up he was at the end of TFOH. Thom was hardly in it either, but that made sense - he's not really a battle character, and it was right to give him just the one scene. Especially seeing as it was *awesome.*

It seemed so strange to be down to just four (then five) Forsaken, they felt rather lacking without Mesaana, Semirhage and Aran'gar. Demandred was worth the wait though. He was absolutely spectacular. I was surprised no one took the approach of breaking him to beat him though - pointing out that LTT was battling a much more important foe, and Demandred wasn't even a blip on his radar. Cue ensuing jealous rage, and the man could have been brought down easily. But I'm also very glad they didn't do that, it would have been too Hollywood.
 

So glad we got to see the Sharans. That took me completely by surprise; their entrance was brilliant, and a nice counter to the Seanchan. Obviously more backstory there would have been nice, but probably at the expense of the twist, so I'll happily enough forego it. The almost redemption-esque character development for Demandred and Lanfear was a superb touch, though ultimately underused.

Androl and Pervara were great, they really were. Gawyn was spot on throughout, much better than in the last two. Elayne was drastically improved as well, though it seemed a bit of a leap to hand command to someone who had repeatedly proven herslf too hormone-addled or just plain stupid to make sensible decisions. Egwene was still a wool-headed idiot at first, but got better as the book went on. Faile was an incredible improvement on everything else she's ever done, ever. Not sure about Mat not being tied to the horn anymore. Not quite certain about the body swap either. Or crippling Aviendha. The deaths, though, were just right (with one exception). Egwene, Siuan, Bryne, Rhuarc, Gawyn, Hurin, and poor Davram Bashere, all spot on. Not Bela though. Surely Bela should have survived. At least she got her crowning moment.

And now it's over, and perhaps in a few months that will have sunk in.

[Sotir Tilev]

I have finished it moments ago. I feel right. The end was fitting.

[Shimmer]

I just finished it a few minutes ago and the one word I keep repeating is: wow! It is one of the only books to have made me feel the full spectrum of my emotions and while I am still in shock that it is all over, I do feel a sense of closure. Quite simply, it was brilliant and I do hope to see a little elaboration in the encyclopaedia as to the Rand/Min/Aviendha/Elayne future.

[El Barto 227]

I think that the ending was perfect

Grendael's new body left me rolling on the floor laughing

[Jak o' the Shadows]

Done.

 

Action/Battles -were overwhelming. The whole book was a battle. Really felt that TG feel. I'm sure lots of people really enjoyed AMoL because of this. It was good, but left little room for plot and characters

 

 

 

Character reunions/Interaction - poorest book in the series for me. From Moraines reunion, which failed to stir the epicness it should have, to her just clubbing everyone at the Fields to 'get the show on the road'...the characters didn't feel right. They felt like plot devices to advance the battle. Really disappointed in this. The emotions of the reunions, the heroes triumphs, the fallen warriors...all of it should have been there with more feeling, or in a lot of cases...just there instead of missing. Conflicts are resolved with one liners. We are informed that people are dead with a one liner. The meat and potatoes of WoT was the people, and they took a back seat in this final book when they should have been forefront.

 

 

 

Open Ended storyline/Plotholes - not a deal breaker for me. We got a TON of mysteries answered, even if they were delivered in a casual sentence or quick one liner. A few other mysteries, open ended future, it isn't bad. Leaves us wanting more which we unfortunately can't have, but the big storyline was answered

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, really sad to see the series come to a close. Really happy we did get some sort of closure, the book was good in that regard. Still think this was a poorly written book, felt farrrrrrr too rushed with too many contrived scenes built to just push the storyline forward. My personal preference is far more focus on characters, the dialogue, and their interactions. Battles are cool, but 700 pages was too much for me. Even if it was TG. Also, not enough Mat ;)

Edited January 13, 2013 by Jak o' the Shadows

[Leedsdevil]

I finished just a few minutes ago, and I am happy with it. But now I want to cry. It's over, really, really over. I am not dissappointed with AMOL, I think we should all be grateful that Harriet cared enough to find a writer who cared enough to try and do it right. Thank you both Harriet and Brandon. I will give you my thanks in person when I see you in Philly soon.

 

[James Michaels]

One of the greatest things that Tokein ever did (in my opinion) was give us a full ending of what happened when the dust settled and when everyone went home to their families and how awesome they were etc....

 

I was really hoping that Jordan had a bigger epilogue so we could enjoy the characters who we slogged through 14 books with (should have been 10 books) to a fuller extent and see them be happy and their towns grow etc.....

 

 

That is my only real big complaint. 

 

I must really compliment Sanderson on the Final Battle chapter because at the end of the chapter... I was as tired of the war as  the soldiers were.  They were holding out on the lines and I was holding out in the book saying, "holy cow this war stuff is exhausting!!"  It was well done - and it drained you emotionally with all the death.

 

I cringed at the almost forced abortion of Elaynes babies by the dreadlord... creeped me out abit.  I didn't like the gayness add in the book, because it wasn't in any of the other books so it stuck out as some type of political correctness thing which I can do without.

 

Lastly, I dind't like the philosophy of the book that you need evil to have people not be robots as if you ened a Satan to somehow tempt you. Thats like saying if it wasn't for Satan we would never be tempted to be bad - which I believe is stupid - people would still be evil without a Devil and without a Satan/Shaitan.  Free will gives people a choice to be evil - not the existence of an evil creature which somehow extends the possability of evil.

 

I thought tha was dumb - maybe it's a philosophy I don't understand (I am a free will / personal responsability kind of guy.)  So I disagreed with sealing off the dark one rather than killing him... but it's a novel so who cares right?

 

Also, I didn't like how Perrin didn't kill Graendal in the first meeting.  The guy has been around enough to know how evil Forsaken are.  You just kill em - I thought that was cheezy, but it made for a better story.

 

Lastly - I dont' understand why Tarwins Gap and other placed were not held off with gateways opening under the ocean or (finally they did the lava thing) or flat out opening a gateway to stop trollocs and tying it off.  Some holes there - but I'm a complainer.

 

:)  Love the book overall - loved the series.  Best fantasy series ever minus book 11.

 

Mike

 

 

 

[Shard]

I just finished a few moments ago. 

 

I'm glad that there were surprises, like Demandred who was totally worth the wait. Now THAT is how difficult a Forsaken should be, not like Sammael. I enjoyed the entire last battle chapter, nearly 200 pages! I was right in that the body count was being saved for the end. Was surprised at who lived and died. I'd like an Encyclopedia as well! 

 

I'm still in shock that it's done, that we've finally arrived at The End. 

[batcaver]

Wow, just got done.  The dust is still settling but I couldn't wait to see what the general feeling of the WOT community is on this.

 

I'm having a lot of mixed feelings about the book.  There was a lot I didn't like, and a lot that I liked.  I'm not really sure I'm clear on exactly what the deal was with the body switch at the end there.  We all knew it was coming, but I must have missed the how and why. 

 

I went back and forth between the audiobook and the text, and once again I have to give major props to Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for their super performances.  It was a great help during periods of the story where the style seemed a little jarring to have their familiar voices bringing me back to the story.   Fifteen books!  That's a hell of a lot of reading and I thought they both did a great job.

 

In general, it seemed to me that the first half of the book went downhill quickly and contained the worst of the writing.  However, I thought the second half showed a marked improvement as was very enjoyable overall.  The epilogue was pretty inadequate, IMO.  To give the aftermath such short shrift didn't fit at all to me.  If what I hear is correct and Jordan wrote the whole thing, then maybe they left it so meager in an effort to keep it "pure", but I just didn't feel that it worked for a series so characteristically long winded.

 

On to the discussion threads!

[Terez]

 

I distinctly remember an interview which said this turning of the wheel was unique, that Padan Fain was unique

You are misremembering and piecing two different quotes together. In fact RJ said that there was nothing unique about this turning. His thoughts on the matter mirrored Herid Fel's almost to a t. As for Fain he called him a wildcard, but there very well may have been others in the past.

 

I apologize if this was addressed, but my computer is lagging to hell and back and so I just CTRL-F'd 'suttree' to see if you were quoted. You're right on the first point. On the second, he did say Fain was something unique to this Age, in the sense that each Third Age follows roughly the same pattern. The smaller details are different, and Mordeth/Fain is one of those details. But people read a lot (too much) into that, thinking that RJ was hinting that Fain, being unique to this Age, was therefore destined to help Rand break the Wheel. But RJ didn't even really imply that; I think he just wanted to establish that the evil of Shadar Logoth is not one of the repeating 'big players' of the Grand Cosmic Showdown.

[Rubberninja]

I finished a few days back, but I've taken some time to digest the book, and the fact that the series I've followed, community, books, audiotapes through 7 or 8 rereads since I started back in 96, has ended.

 

To think it would take over 20 years and 14 books, for rand and shai'tan to sit down around a campfire, with a sa'angr.. I mean guitar, and talk things out..

 

I laughed several times during the 48 hour period I spent on this book, with only 4 of those hours used for sleep. I simply couldn't put the book down, even if I did skip several sections here and there. (Especially the whole bit about Thom composing his saga, which felt like such a waste of time and completely out of sync with how my emotions were anticipating a build-up at that point).

 

My favorite moment might have been where the Aiel start speaking up at the initial meeting at merrilor, and Elayne goes "Welcome to the dinner table," "Try the soup"

 

My biggest let-down was where Birgitte starts pondering if she allready asked Hawkwing if anyone could be unbound from the Horn. From there on, I sat waiting for her to die so the Horn could be sounded. Maybe it was just me, but it felt too obvious that she had to die before the horn was sounded. On the plus side, I fully expected someone to rescue Olver and bring the Horn to Mat.

 

Oh and someone asked earlier about Birgitte being reborn as Elayne's daughter.. I believe the timing fits better with Melaine's birth. Considering the Dragon's Peace, I think both Gaidal and Birgitte would have to be reborn Aiel this turning, if they are to live up to their usual heroic deeds.

[deepak_dragonreborn]

Totally numb.... Overall satisfied with the book, some moments were like WOW others were like meh, but in the end it was the RIGHT ending... BIttersweet end to the greatest fanatasy fiction ever written..

I just can't believe that WOT is over...I knew this moment would come, I tried to steel myself preparing for this moment, but in the end I still feel overwhelmed and my emotions are all over the place...                                     :sad:                         
 

It really was an ending... A damn good one at that