1. Authors name - Katherine Kerr
2. Series Title - The Deverry Cycle
3. Current Books in order in the series:

Act One - The Deverry Books

1. Daggerspell
2. Darkspell
3. Dawnspell (The Bristling Wood)
4. Dragonspell (The Dragon Revenant)

Act Two - The Westlands

1. A Time of Exile
2. A Time of Omens
3. A Time of War (Days of Blood and Fire) 
4. A Time of Justice (Days of Air and Darkness)

Act Three - The Dragon Mage

1. The Red Wyvern
2. The Black Raven
3. The Fire Dragon

Act Four - The Silver Wyrm

1. The Gold Falcon
2. The Spirit Stone
3. The Shadow Isle
4. The Silver Mage

4. Target Audience - adult
5. New book release date - N/A

Why can't Egwene be dressed down once successfully? I don't get how I'm supposed to be invested in her if she's unstoppably amazing at everything, almost always wins, and doesn't seem to flinch when she doesn't. And no one has ever been able to score any kind of win against her. Even when she's stuck as a damn novice she's still successfully dressing down Aes Sedai without any effort!

Very vague spoilers:

I think the problem with Egwene is that she had her low-point (mentally and emotionally) very early in the series when she was damane in book 2.  From that point onwards her arc is pretty much a climb up.  Even her Novice time doesn't dent her self-confidence an inch.  Many of the other characters have the knocks to their confidence much later (e.g. Rand from LoC-tGS, Perrin from aPoD-ToM, Nynaeve from tFoH-KoD).

I think there's also the possibility that Elayne and Nynaeve expected the Seafolk to be decent human beings, i.e. they thought if they went to them and said that they'd found a ter'angreal which could take back the weather from the Dark One's control and save thousands of lives by doing so, that the Seafolk would want to help.  If I was in there position I would have been quite taken aback that this was something that people would bargain over anyway.

 

 

INTERVIEW: Feb 1st, 2013

AMOL Signing Report - Deslya (Paraphrased)

QUESTION

So what were some of the holes that you filled in with that creative freedom?

BRANDON SANDERSON

I tried to avoid talking about this much before because I don't want you to focus on what's Brandon and what's RJ, but now that it's all out, I do have a little more freedom. One thing is that early when I went to Charleston, I felt RJ was always adding characters, so I didn't want to add too many. I wanted to show something happening at the Black Tower, so Androl became my character that I took and expanded on from minor to main character. Androl himself and his relationship with Pevara was me. I felt the series needed it, and I’ve always wanted an Asha'man to play with, so to speak.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes, there were some. For example, Pevara's fate isn't mentioned in the notes, which is why I felt all right co-opting her for the Black Tower storyline, which was mostly mine.

The above suggests to me that the double bond was BS as I'm not sure what other characters would have been slated to show us it.  If RJ was going to explore a double bond I think he would have done so already with Rand, Elayne, and Aviendha.

 

 

In fan-fiction, a writer will often include a character not already present in canon who will have an important role in the story, perhaps far more important than you would reasonably expect, either from the character's ascribed abilities and personality, or from the character's "late" entrance into the (canon) story. Androl was this character for Sanderson. Many of his actions should have been undertaken by a character already present in the canon, it didn't make sense for Androl to do them, e.g: stealing the seals from Taim; almost single-handedly saving Elayne's army with the gateway-into-Dragonmount trick.

The Dragonmount trick was the bit that jarred most for me...it just made Androl seem a bit like a 'Gary Stu' character to use the fanfiction terminology.  It stood out a lot when we have major characters like Moiraine, Nynaeve, and Min, not really having much in the way of 'awesome moments' to have Androl have so many and such prominent ones.  I also felt it was a shame that he was used so much as there were several interesting Asha'man characters of varying prominence (e.g. Narishma, Logain, Grady, Neald, etc.) who we hardly saw at all.  It would have been nice for them to have more screen time given this was our last chance to see them.  

Furthermore, I think Androl is one of the elements from the final book that we know would have been different if RJ had written the story; he would have used existing characters rather than developed Androl who had previously been nothing more than a name.  

I find Androl frustrating because he was one of the best written characters in the last three books, and I found his arc genuinely interesting to read.  The relationship with Pevara was well developed as well.  But at the same time, Androl took the story in directions that broke my immersion in the story because I felt like they were not things that would happen in the WoT world as RJ had created it.

 

 

 

mb, on 03 Oct 2013 - 12:16 AM, said:

 

mb, on 10 Sept 2013 - 9:23 PM, said:

with what weave (or weave combination) did Rand destroy the male Choedan Kal?

And from what material/materials were both Choedan Kal made?

 

other questions::

For what reason/reasons did Rand banish Cadsuane?

And for what reason/reasons did he un-banish her?  His Dragonmount experience seems to be the main cause.

 

 

Because from his pov he didn't trust her, she had a lot of power over his subordinates, and wasn't respectful.  She was difficult for him to deal with, it was easier to banish her.  He un-banished her because he realized that she was 'on his side' and he needed people around that weren't kowtowing to him all the time.

I think there was also a specific event that pushed him over the edge regarding her - the fact that the dominion band had been in Cadsuane's care when Semirhage got her hands on it, and Rand blamed Cadsuane for that.

 

I think BS definitely had some influence on how Rand turned out because I think there are some quotes suggesting that Harriet and team Jordan were a bit concerned about the Jesus-like direction he went in ToM.  I think this was more in relation to his powers than his personality though, i.e. many of the things that Rand seemed to have suddenly developed a miraculous ability for (like growing things, seeing darkfriends, etc.) were actually tricks.  In my opinion, I think the overall direction for Rand's character would have been determined by RJ.  

wait so how boringly unstoppable and god mode sue-y does Rand get in Towers? because he's teetering on the edge of being overpowered all the time. But at least he's normally too stupid to not make a mistake every 9 seconds so it evens out.

 

Without spoiling anything it is kind of an odd book regarding Rand.  He has gone through a big character transformation/epiphany moment at the end of tGS but then he has very little POV time in ToM and it is right at the end - just a little bit of the epilogue.  Not really a plot spoiler but more of a minor character development spoiler:

 

 

On the contrary, it's only channelers - specifically AS - that are treated so poorly. Nynaeve wasn't "abused", the windfinders were merely being very forceful in their teaching, standard practice among the athan meire. Although i think they were a little harsh on her, it wasn't unjustified IMO

I am fairly certain that somewhere in the books it is stated that any shorebound teacher (of channeling, or anything else) is treated as being equivalent to a deckhand.

I think BS definitely had some influence on how Rand turned out because I think there are some quotes suggesting that Harriet and team Jordan were a bit concerned about the Jesus-like direction he went in ToM.  I think this was more in relation to his powers than his personality though, i.e. many of the things that Rand seemed to have suddenly developed a miraculous ability for (like growing things, seeing darkfriends, etc.) were actually tricks.  In my opinion, I think the overall direction for Rand's character would have been determined by RJ.  

 

I think another reason why Rand didn't want to have a proper discussion with Egwene when he went to her at the White Tower was because he would have been extremely uncomfortable in that situation.  He is shielded, brought before the Hall of the Tower, in Egwene's seat of power, and Egwene wants to send him to Yellow Sisters to be checked over.  I think Egwene at some point thinks about if they can keep him there are guide him.  Rand seems very zen in this scene, but in AMoL we see that a lot of the Zen!Rand behaviour is actually a front.  He still has many of the same insecurities and fears that he always did, they are just better under control.  He is not completely trusting of the Aes Sedai (unsurprisingly given that the majority of his experiences with them have been unpleasant - kidnap, manipulation, lack of respect, a desire to guide him, etc.), and within the White Tower I get the impression that he would be expected to defer to Egwene (e.g. he bows to her while she does not show him any similar sign of respect).  I don't think the White Tower presents particularly favourable conditions for a meeting.

Then why go at all? This has to be the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard. He was so insecure about the White Tower that instead of having a polite conversation, he went into their stronghold and riled them up? 

 

That's a bit rude.  

I think Rand went there to get Egwene to gather the armies for him, and to get her to come to Merrilor where they could then decide/debate/fight about how to proceed.  I merely pointed out that I didn't think Rand would have felt comfortable staying there any longer than absolutely necessary.  Perhaps he didn't think his childhood friend would have had him shielded.  I don't think Egwene would have felt comfortable if she had gone to Rand and been shielded.

 

 

 Well, Nynaeve had been basically the leader of a sizeable village for years and has had to deal the mayor and the Village Council and with problems within the women circle, so she should've been experienced in negotiating. And Elayne was trained for Queen her whole life, and obviously negotiating is an important skill to have. Obviously they aren't supposed to be top experts on this like the Sea Folk leader, but still being so completely outmanoeuvred was very implausible to me. Especially considering that one of the Sea Folk gave away how precious the Bowl was for them before the negotiations started and that Elayne and Nynaeve had no idea only the Sea Folk had the knowledge to operate it successfully.

Nynaeve doesn't negotiate with the Village Council or Women's Circle.  She loses her temper with them and bullies them into doing what she wants, a method which would not prove effective with the Sea Folk.  R.e. Elayne, she probably has a slightly better chance, but being taught to rule and taught to be a trader are very different things.  Andoran's are fairly straight forward and not particularly expert at Daes Dae'mar.  Elayne will have a reasonable grasp of trade, but she is only eighteen and has spent some of that time at the White Tower learning about things other then ruling.  Elayne will have been learning about many things as well as trading, and I doubt the Andorans have much experience with the Sea Folk given they are a land locked nation.

I think another reason why Rand didn't want to have a proper discussion with Egwene when he went to her at the White Tower was because he would have been extremely uncomfortable in that situation.  He is shielded, brought before the Hall of the Tower, in Egwene's seat of power, and Egwene wants to send him to Yellow Sisters to be checked over.  I think Egwene at some point thinks about if they can keep him there are guide him.  Rand seems very zen in this scene, but in AMoL we see that a lot of the Zen!Rand behaviour is actually a front.  He still has many of the same insecurities and fears that he always did, they are just better under control.  He is not completely trusting of the Aes Sedai (unsurprisingly given that the majority of his experiences with them have been unpleasant - kidnap, manipulation, lack of respect, a desire to guide him, etc.), and within the White Tower I get the impression that he would be expected to defer to Egwene (e.g. he bows to her while she does not show him any similar sign of respect).  I don't think the White Tower presents particularly favourable conditions for a meeting.

I think another reason why Rand didn't want to have a proper discussion with Egwene when he went to her at the White Tower was because he would have been extremely uncomfortable in that situation.  He is shielded, brought before the Hall of the Tower, in Egwene's seat of power, and Egwene wants to send him to Yellow Sisters to be checked over.  I think Egwene at some point thinks about if they can keep him there are guide him.  Rand seems very zen in this scene, but in AMoL we see that a lot of the Zen!Rand behaviour is actually a front.  He still has many of the same insecurities and fears that he always did, they are just better under control.  He is not completely trusting of the Aes Sedai (unsurprisingly given that the majority of his experiences with them have been unpleasant - kidnap, manipulation, lack of respect, a desire to guide him, etc.), and within the White Tower I get the impression that he would be expected to defer to Egwene (e.g. he bows to her while she does not show him any similar sign of respect).  I don't think the White Tower presents particularly favourable conditions for a meeting.

I guess that the Seafolk were convincing enough in their position of refusing to help without getting something out of it that Nynaeve and Elayne believed them and gave them whatever they wanted.  I have a hard time blaming Elayne and Nynaeve too much for the bargain because neither of them has any experience negotiating/trading/bargaining and they are both very young women dealing with women with many years more experience than them.  Nynaeve and Elayne are trying to do the right thing - they know they need to use the Bowl of the Winds to save the world from the Dark One's control of the weather, they know they need help to use the Bowl of the Winds, and they are led to believe by the Seafolk negotiators that the Atha'an Miere couldn't care less about the weather and will only help them use the Bowl if it benefits them specifically in some way.  Based on the obnoxious behaviour of the Windfinders throughout most of the series, I have no problem believing they were very convincing in this.

Additionally, we see how quickly Merilille is subdued by the Windfinders and Sail Mistresses.  This is an experienced Cairhienin Grey Sister - i.e. one of the best negotiators in the world and probably well versed in the cunning required to play daes dae'mar and she cannot hold her own with them.  Elayne is an eighteen year old princess and Nynaeve a twenty four year old village healer who is going through somewhat of an internal crisis in her ability (or lack thereof) to lead.  They really didn't stand a chance.

 

 

In the beginning, Andor nobles and Caemlyn residents seemed to think that "Doilin Mellar" fathered Elayne's babies.  Do they still think that or have recent events change their mind?  If the later, who do they now think fathered her babies?

 

Is Daved Hanlon still using that alias or is he using a different name?  If the later, what name is he now using?

Up to the end of of ToM the situation is that most of the Andoran nobles and Caemlyn residents still believe Doliin Mellar is the most likely candidate to be the father of Elayne's babies.  Elayne has not publicly denied the rumours, and most people are not aware of the exact nature of events that happen in the palace in ToM.  

 

After he was arrested as Darkfriend and waiting for an execution, and later on almost killed her, I would think the rumour died out quickly, with Elayne's help.

 

RAFO in AMoL.

In the beginning, Andor nobles and Caemlyn residents seemed to think that "Doilin Mellar" fathered Elayne's babies.  Do they still think that or have recent events change their mind?  If the later, who do they now think fathered her babies?

 

Is Daved Hanlon still using that alias or is he using a different name?  If the later, what name is he now using?

Up to the end of of ToM the situation is that most of the Andoran nobles and Caemlyn residents still believe Doliin Mellar is the most likely candidate to be the father of Elayne's babies.  Elayne has not publicly denied the rumours, and most people are not aware of the exact nature of events that happen in the palace in ToM.  

I think Androl is almost completely BS's creation.  RJ had provided the name and referred to him a couple of times, but BS wanted a character that he could develop on his own, so I would imagine most of Androl's backstory and character have very little to do with RJ.

 

 

 

Something tickles the back of my mind about one of the books mentioning power forged weapons in the past having other abilities, but I can't put my finger on it.

First book when Rand has channelling sickness at an inn (after being separated) a woman attacks them with a blade that burned whatever it was stuck in

 

I thought that was something to do with her being a darkfriend rather than it being power-forged?  Like the blade being poisoned or something like that?

I go through spurts with WoT, I'll read a book and a half in two weeks, then won't read for a long time. I've started up on my most recent spurt, and I was at the end of Path of Daggers and I'm now in the prologue of Winter's Heart. My question is, when did Logain become an Asha'man? The last I remember of him was Nyneave healing him, then I think he accompanied an important character from Salidar to somewhere else, then next I know he's a commanding officer at The Black Tower. Did I forget what happened or was the jump never explained, at least not yet?

It isn't given any 'screen time' as such.  When Egwene chooses to release Logain, she hopes that he will go to the Black Tower, but doesn't no for certain.  In APoD its revealed that he did choose to go to the Black Tower and had at some point been raised to Asha'man.  I would imagine he was raised fairly quickly on arrival, having already gained good control and experience with the power.  

I'm not sure what you're referring to in terms of him accompanying an important character from Salidar to somewhere else.  He briefly tried to escape after being Healed by Nynaeve but didn't leave the village until Egwene released him.  On his journey to Salidar he was travelling with Siuan, Leane, and Min (while he was gentled).

So, let me get this straight: Egwene dies, along with her discovery of maybe the single-greatest spell EVER!  Now nobody will rediscover that weave for thousands of years, if ever!  Common!!!

Maybe someone could confirm but I have a feeling that we've had author confirmation that the weave has been witnessed and can be replicated.  Hopefully there won't be too much more need for it as the world moves into a new Age though, anyway.

 

 

Since it was a long time since Nynaeve spoken with Egwene, Egwene probably felt that Nynaeve was wasting time

Wasting time!?  I don't think that's a very fair description of what Nynaeve was doing.  Since she'd last spoken to Egwene I believe she had cleansed saidin, sent Lan to the Borderlands, assisted in fighting off the shadowspawn (and the subsequent healing of injured soldiers) in the attack on the mansion in Tear, been helping to keep Rand sane (she was the only AS he trusted), prevented him from slaughtering the Borderlanders, healing madness, and generally helping Rand.  I can't believe Egwene would actually think Nynaeve was sitting around doing nothing.  She knew Nynaeve was with Rand.

I've just re-read the scene in ToM where Gawyn saves Egwene from the Bloodknives.  I liked the scene but I don't understand why one of the Bloodknives didn't slip past Gawyn and kill Egwene?  I thought she was their ultimate target?  From the scene it seemed like they were all focused on Gawyn, but surely two of them could have kept him occupied and one could have got passed and killed Egwene?  Or were they just killing at random?

 

 

I disagree with those perspectives.  Try reading a deposition.  The dialogue had humor, tension, apprehension, and passion.  I reveled in much of it.  Especially Mat's letter to Elayne (not precisely dialogue), Egwene and Verin's last conversation, Rand's reunions with first Perrin then Mat.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue.  Please remember, fantasy is not in and of itself juvenile, but it is geared to a readership that will historically draw 12-21 year old males.  I don't need Faulkner or Hemingway in Fantasy.  I just need to laugh, cry, cringe and smile.  BS's dialogue accomplished all of that for me.

You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but just to give you a head's up that some of the passages you've highlighted are among the most heavily criticised of BS's writing.  A lot of people (myself included) felt that these scenes essentially gave us caricatures of the characters.  And the reunion between Mat and Rand felt like it came perilously close to breaching the 4th wall.

 

 

I am actually learning this now.  I honestly did not know he handled the Pevara/Androl story himself and that he interjected himself more than I suspected.  Is it true that RJ actually wrote the majority of the Ghenjei raid?  I am certainly open to discussing what was added and what was necessary or not, but I will not go so far as to stoop to the level of calling his efforts fan faction.  I find that petty, as stated supra.

TJ and BS have been very hesitant to admit exactly who wrote what, which I think is probably the right thing to do (however frustrating it may be for fans).  I seem to recall that we have had confirmation that much of the Tower of Ghenjei sequence was RJ, though.

I don't think calling it 'fan fiction' is necessarily intended as an insult.  I've used that phrase myself and certainly didn't intend it as such.  I used it to convey the idea that much of the plot of the las three books is not anything that was planned by RJ.  BS had to come up with a lot of material out of nothing, or with only very vague notes.  As a fan of the series, he is going to be subconsciously influenced on some level to write scenes how he would like them to turn out.  And given he had minimal notes to guide him on much of what happened, he didn't have many alternatives.  But that does make it very similar to fan fiction in my eyes.

 

  

In addition to the lack of screen time, Pevara bore little resemblance to the AS we knew before AMoL. I haven't seen all that many people claim it was among the best writing in AMoL

Perhaps 'best writing' wasn't the right term to use.  I meant that I had got the impression that quite a lot of people considered the Androl-Pevara arc to be very enjoyable.  I think some of this comes down to it being one of the few arcs in AMoL where we saw any kind of character development or interaction (regardless of the quality).

 

And Egwene did not have a plan, her only plan was not to break the seals at any cost. BS obviously saw that she was looking like a total douche in TOM and gave her multiple personality disorder within few pages by then saying tht maybe the seals shd be broken at a particular time.But she had not idea what that time would be.

Its a shame they didn't actually have a proper conversation about it - combining their resources (Rand's knowledge from LT, Cadsuane and Min's research on Callandor, the White Tower's libraries, knowledge of White and Brown Sisters, etc.) they could probably have had a proper discussion about it.  Instead, Rand doesn't bother to explain the reasons for his plan, and Egwene is automatically set against it without doing any research of her own to find an alternative and/or reasons for/against breaking the seals.

They obviously don't trust each other at all at this point, though.  Instead of Rand and Egwene meeting in her study, they confront each other as Amyrlin and Dragon.  Rand is shielded and Egwene's gut reaction is to want to keep him in the White Tower and have the Yellow's check him (which doesn't make a great deal of sense as she definitely knows that Nynaeve has been with him, and possibly knows that Corele is with him).

And then later when Nynaeve suggests asking Rand for help with Mesaana, Egwene cuts her off before Nynaeve can even finish her sentence.  Even if Rand hadn't been directly involved in the fight (which I don't think he should have been as it was in TAR), asking him what he knew about Mesaana would have been a good chance for them to communicate with each other.  Egwene herself has set Aes Sedai to specifically researching Mesaana's personality, which is something Rand could have helped with.

 

And Egwene did not have a plan, her only plan was not to break the seals at any cost. BS obviously saw that she was looking like a total douche in TOM and gave her multiple personality disorder within few pages by then saying tht maybe the seals shd be broken at a particular time.But she had not idea what that time would be.

I do think Egwene was very 'off' in ToM, but I think that was more down to BS's writing than to Egwene's character.  She went through an awful lot of character growth from ACoT-tGS and then she seems to be all over the place in ToM.