As much as I wanted to breeze through this book to find out how it ended, I forced myself to take my time and enjoy it, as I'd only have one chance to read the ending to WOT for the first time. I started reading the series as a teenager (mid/late 90s) and have re-read it many times. Like everyone else, I was deeply saddened by RJ died, but I am glad that Harriet made the decision to finish the series. I was unfamiliar with Brandon Sanderson until the announcement that he was going to finish WOT, and I think Harriet chose well. I don't know if I would have ever come across BS's work if it weren't for the WOT connection, and I've now read and enjoyed all his books (except Way of Kings, which didn't quite do it for me on the first read...though I like his other books so much that I will give it another chance). While there are some differences in language and in the way some characters are written in the WOT books that BS has written, none of that detracts from the story for me. Perhaps it isn't perfect, but when reading the last three WOT books, I get just as absorbed into the world as I do in the first three books. I wish RJ was still around to finish the story himself, but I think BS did a phenomenal job and I'm happy with it.
As for the book itself, OMG! So many awesome moments! LOVED the Rand/DO showdown! I don't know what I expected, but I was NOT expecting the mental battle between them - very cool. Demandred showing up with the Sharan army was probably one of the best mental pictures that I've envisioned in the entire series. Best. Forsaken. Ever. I LOVED that he was seemingly the most competent of the Forsaken, but he was A COMPLETE RAVING LUNATIC! I couldn't get enough of his battlefield rants to LTT, and I'd love to read the story of his rise to power in Shara. Lan's entire fight with him, culminating in Sheathing the Sword, definitely makes the short list for one of the best moments in the series. I threw my book across the room when I thought Lan was dead, and literally cheered when he stood up holding D's head. While I thought Padan Fain was going to play a larger role in the ending, I LOVED it when Mat stood up and killed him. (I did not throw the book when I thought Mat was dead - because at that point, so many characters that I thought were dead had ended up alive that I didn't believe it). Mellar trying to steal Elayne's babies - horrifying thought, and the only time in the book when I was concerned that the DO would actually win. Birgitte losing all her memories was heartbreaking and her death was HARSH. I wasn't convinced that she was still linked to the Horn, so I was really happy when she showed up with the Heroes. OLVER's plight had me scared of Trollocs again after many books in which Trollocs on their own aren't a threat to the main characters. I cheered again when Noal showed up to rescue him. In my mind, Perrin and Faile adopt Olver and he lives happily ever after. Egwene's death was pretty incredible. Gawyn's - meh. Rhuarc falling victim to Graendal's Compulsion was tragic.
I didn't mind the number of deaths, or the fact that some of the deaths occurred 'off-screen' or seemed anticlimactic. All of that made the battle more believable to me, because in a final showdown of good versus evil, there HAS to be casualties, and not all deaths in battle are heroic. If anything, I was surprised that so many of the main characters survived. I thought Lan would die for sure, and I didn't think that all three ta'veren would make it (I thought it would be Perrin that would die). If Mat survived, I expected Tuon to die, leaving Mat to be the Seanchan Emperor, which he would HATE (amusing), but would provide a good resolution to the damane issue, as Mat would free them. I also thought Moiraine and Thom would both die, since Moiraine was basically there on borrowed time anyway. All in all, it was less of a bloodbath than I expected. I also like that it was open-ended, so we can make up our own resolutions for all the characters. Sure, there are some unanswered questions, but imagine how long and incoherent the book would have been if every single question was answered!
The "OMG I just finished!" Thread
in Wheel of Time Books
Posted
As much as I wanted to breeze through this book to find out how it ended, I forced myself to take my time and enjoy it, as I'd only have one chance to read the ending to WOT for the first time. I started reading the series as a teenager (mid/late 90s) and have re-read it many times. Like everyone else, I was deeply saddened by RJ died, but I am glad that Harriet made the decision to finish the series. I was unfamiliar with Brandon Sanderson until the announcement that he was going to finish WOT, and I think Harriet chose well. I don't know if I would have ever come across BS's work if it weren't for the WOT connection, and I've now read and enjoyed all his books (except Way of Kings, which didn't quite do it for me on the first read...though I like his other books so much that I will give it another chance). While there are some differences in language and in the way some characters are written in the WOT books that BS has written, none of that detracts from the story for me. Perhaps it isn't perfect, but when reading the last three WOT books, I get just as absorbed into the world as I do in the first three books. I wish RJ was still around to finish the story himself, but I think BS did a phenomenal job and I'm happy with it.
As for the book itself, OMG! So many awesome moments! LOVED the Rand/DO showdown! I don't know what I expected, but I was NOT expecting the mental battle between them - very cool. Demandred showing up with the Sharan army was probably one of the best mental pictures that I've envisioned in the entire series. Best. Forsaken. Ever. I LOVED that he was seemingly the most competent of the Forsaken, but he was A COMPLETE RAVING LUNATIC! I couldn't get enough of his battlefield rants to LTT, and I'd love to read the story of his rise to power in Shara. Lan's entire fight with him, culminating in Sheathing the Sword, definitely makes the short list for one of the best moments in the series. I threw my book across the room when I thought Lan was dead, and literally cheered when he stood up holding D's head. While I thought Padan Fain was going to play a larger role in the ending, I LOVED it when Mat stood up and killed him. (I did not throw the book when I thought Mat was dead - because at that point, so many characters that I thought were dead had ended up alive that I didn't believe it). Mellar trying to steal Elayne's babies - horrifying thought, and the only time in the book when I was concerned that the DO would actually win. Birgitte losing all her memories was heartbreaking and her death was HARSH. I wasn't convinced that she was still linked to the Horn, so I was really happy when she showed up with the Heroes. OLVER's plight had me scared of Trollocs again after many books in which Trollocs on their own aren't a threat to the main characters. I cheered again when Noal showed up to rescue him. In my mind, Perrin and Faile adopt Olver and he lives happily ever after. Egwene's death was pretty incredible. Gawyn's - meh. Rhuarc falling victim to Graendal's Compulsion was tragic.
I didn't mind the number of deaths, or the fact that some of the deaths occurred 'off-screen' or seemed anticlimactic. All of that made the battle more believable to me, because in a final showdown of good versus evil, there HAS to be casualties, and not all deaths in battle are heroic. If anything, I was surprised that so many of the main characters survived. I thought Lan would die for sure, and I didn't think that all three ta'veren would make it (I thought it would be Perrin that would die). If Mat survived, I expected Tuon to die, leaving Mat to be the Seanchan Emperor, which he would HATE (amusing), but would provide a good resolution to the damane issue, as Mat would free them. I also thought Moiraine and Thom would both die, since Moiraine was basically there on borrowed time anyway. All in all, it was less of a bloodbath than I expected. I also like that it was open-ended, so we can make up our own resolutions for all the characters. Sure, there are some unanswered questions, but imagine how long and incoherent the book would have been if every single question was answered!
All in all, I loved it.