Finished AMOL last week. VERY mixed feelings about the book. Some bits were great, some bits were meh, some were disappointing. Other bits were just plain bad writing as far as I'm concerned. Some of my issues:

 

The book often crossed the line between mysterious/vague and just plain unfinished/pointless (Nakomi!)

 

Not enough Forsaken!

 

Not enough focus on the deaths of side characters.

 

What was the point of Fain and whatever he turned into? Seriously, he appears with zombie army kills a few things then dies so easily in a very un-epic manner.

 

Rand just goes off by himself, leaving his three "wives" and letting everyone else think he's dead... I'd rather he'd died. This just made him seem like a massive jerk with no idea what love really is.

 

No explanation for body swap?

 

Wow, I feel like I could have written this post myself.  I agree with you on every point.  To me, Fain's death felt like "Oops, here we are at the end of the book and we forgot to do anything with Fain -- I guess we'll have him appear at Shayol Ghul and then spend a short paragraph on Mat killing him."

 

Having said that, I am very grateful to Harriet, Brandon, Maria, and Alan for getting the series finished (and to Robert Jordan for leaving them the necessary notes and for giving them permission to finish it).  While I am not completely happy with the ending, the fact is that I probably wouldn't have been completely happy with the ending even if RJ had lived to finish the series.  But I am very grateful to have the ending, rather than leaving the series unfinished.

Yeah, I knew that no matter how awesome the last book was, I would still find a few things disappointing because I've just invested so much time and love in the series. And ANY ending would have been better than none, so I'm also really grateful that the final three books happened. But I'm actually kind of wishing that AMOL was split up into multiple books again, just so some parts of the story could have been written in more detail. 

Finished AMOL last week. VERY mixed feelings about the book. Some bits were great, some bits were meh, some were disappointing. Other bits were just plain bad writing as far as I'm concerned. Some of my issues:

The book often crossed the line between mysterious/vague and just plain unfinished/pointless (Nakomi!)

Not enough Forsaken!

Not enough focus on the deaths of side characters.

What was the point of Fain and whatever he turned into? Seriously, he appears with zombie army kills a few things then dies so easily in a very un-epic manner.

Rand just goes off by himself, leaving his three "wives" and letting everyone else think he's dead... I'd rather he'd died. This just made him seem like a massive jerk with no idea what love really is.

No explanation for body swap?

I remember noting a few similarities. I think there's mountains called the "Spine" right? And we have the SPine of the World in WoT. These are right near Eragon's village and considered bad luck, the Mountains of Mist in WoT are right next to Rand's village and are considered a bit odd. Can't think of anything else atm.

In the KoD epilogue Pevara and the other Reds going to bond Ashaman use a gateway to the BT. Now I know Tarna was present when Beonin demonstrated the weave for Elaida, but Elaida gave the order for it not to be shown to any sister without her approval. And Pevara doesn't show any surprise at the use of a gateway or any wonder. So I'm just wondering what's happened here?

 

The whole mission to the Black Tower is pretty much the Red Ajah leadership saying "Bite Me" to Elaida. Given that, I doubt Tarna is much concerned with following Elaida's orders.

 

-- dwn

Yeah I did think that but still Pevara's lack of reaction seems really weird to me. Everyone else we've seen using gateways for the first time (and even those who have used them lots) usually has a moment of wonder. I'd have at least expected Pevara to wonder where Tarna got the weave. Oh well it's not important I guess.

In the KoD epilogue Pevara and the other Reds going to bond Ashaman use a gateway to the BT. Now I know Tarna was present when Beonin demonstrated the weave for Elaida, but Elaida gave the order for it not to be shown to any sister without her approval. And Pevara doesn't show any surprise at the use of a gateway or any wonder. So I'm just wondering what's happened here?

I´m readin ToM (yay, first time!) and I keep noticing every bloody character is using the curse Blast... ?? I can´t recall anyone saying that word, it was more Light, or bloody ashes or fish guts and now Blast is tossed around. Is it new for ToM...? I don´t like it...

I hated this, think it happened in TGS too. it's just something Brandon does. Think maybe he doesn't like using "bloody" too much *shrug*.

Two Rivers consists of 4 villages currently upgraded into small towns, they are hardly a major power.

Yeah that's what I never understood. At the start of the series we're told again and again how small and backwater-ish the Two Rivers are then suddenly it's like rawr we're Manetheren, fear us! I get they've had refugees bulk up there numbers and everything, but still. Mind you I think RJ had a strange idea of the word "small". To me a small village would consist of less than a hundred people, and there'd probably be only one inn between all the villages.

Personally I'd have been really annoyed if Perrin had taken the Western part of Andor. We get told of how Ishara took a small piece of land while everyone else fought for the whole of Hawkwing's empire, and so managed to keep it and slowly expand it. I've always liked this story and to have Perrin undo her work would disappoint me terribly. And I think Perrin's a prat...

What was Min's viewing concerning Moiraine again? Was it that Rand would fail without the help of a dead woman or something similar? And has it ever been confirmed that Moiraine is definitely the subject of this viewing?

I think it was called Bending the Light or something...something with "light". Or I could be imagining it...

Illianer accent makes me think of a Scottish-Welsh amalgam

Welsh! Yes! That's it! I can just imagine Domon as a Welshman.

i disagree with illianers being dutch.

 

i thought it was irish/scottish who said they "do be" things..

 

if you listen tot he audio books... bayle domon sounds decidedly scottish/irish

I thought they sounded like pirates...

Speaking as someone with Dutch relatives, I can't imagine the way they talk in a Dutch accent. Or any accent except pirate.

I've got a bit of a silly theory. Was Nicola aware that Elayne and Birgitte were bonded? I ask because of the way Areina follows her everywhere and the other day I read something about Areina's expression mirroring Nicola's, which made me think of how Birgitte and Elayne mirror each other. Maybe Nicola got the idea to bond Areina from Elayne? Areina does like to pretend she's Birgitte after all. Which means Areina might mad-Warder-revenge-kill whoever killed Nicola. I did say it was silly...

Welcome to the forum and the series! I'd advise you to read at least the first 3 main books first, myself. Also, be careful on this site to avoid spoilers! Even thread titles can sometimes give stuff away. Maybe bookmark your thread.

I think he only sees Semirhage at a distance and then gets his arm blasted off, so I don't think we can blame him his memory of her is a bit hazy. I would have imagined Semirhage as Tuon would have dressed quite differently from Tuon on the run, plus she would have probably been bald, whereas the real Tuon was growing her hair.

So can someone give me the chapter where it's all explained?

As readers we should begin suspecting it as soon as TSR, when it's made clear that the WO channel all their lives without ever gaining that look.

The part about their life expectancies is spelled out by Nynaeve in WH10, but again we should suspect it earlier, when we learn for ourselves the ages the Kin live to. WO tend to live shorter lives because the waste is such a harsh place.

So we don't actually see someone work it all out? Weird I could have sworn I remembered that happening.

I've been doing a reread and I somehow seemed to have missed the revelation that the Oath Rod causes agelessness. I've gone from Elayne pondering the mystery of the Kin to everyone knowing. So can someone give me the chapter where it's all explained?

Unless it wasn't really Nicola... I just find the whole thing so silly I really hope there's some greater eplanation.

Erm I believe that's the one Egwene did something to in TAR?

Well I don't recall any mention of grey in her hair, and most people go grey in their 40s (people I know at any rate, althought maybe that says something about my effect on people) so she's probably under 40. Plus she's never been married. I know this is WoT where woman aren't given a wed by date like in our past, but still this is Cairhien and marriage is a powerful tool in politics so I don't think she'd have left it too too late.

Well that was 20 years ago. Not sure how old Caraline is but I get the impression she's mid 30s? So she would have been quite young at that point. I know you do get young monarchs, but maybe she just lacked ambition when she was that young.

Eh I don't think they were ever what I'd call friends really. I mean I never got the impresion that they spoke that much before they ran away from the Two Rivers.

Nakomi.

 

And who is Nakomi? =)

Or possibly what is Nakomi? Basically, we don't know yet. There's a thread somewhere packed full of theories about her though.

Well not everyone has access to channelers who will march and fight to order.

Didn't notice those other things, just the name. Very well done to all those who caught it!

Although Moiraine didn't die, the bond between her and Lan still snapped. There's several theories on why this happened, not sure a definite answer has been found yet though.