I'm with you, Tialin. Brandon used to reference modern psychology often in his early books, which irked me to no end, but either I'm getting used to it or he has scaled back a bit. Phrases like "deal with. . ." and referring to love affairs as "relationships" are two examples, plus some Psych 101 soul-searching from time to time. I made a note about Rand turning into Alan Alda much too suddenly for my taste on p. 199 of Towers. Ew.

 

The knife issue didn't bother me. Too much precision in describing details can get tedious, even though this may be a valid omission. Let's just assume that there were multiple bronze knives, at least two.

 

I think this typo (p. 783) is a new one! I don't have it on my list, anyway.

Agree! Pop Psych 101 gets old EXTREMELY rapidly in a character.

Rand went from The Shining through Alan Alda into Christ entirely too quickly for me! But then, we need to wrap up this book soon, unless we all plan to live as long as the Kin. It is nice to have someone a little closer to the original nice guy Rand back again. He was getting much, much too scary and even worse, just plain rude to obnoxious in tGS. (A little Cadsuane part of me coming through!) I was amazed that Bael and Rhuarc didn't turn against him after some of his obnoxious behavior towards them. He almost didn't deserve the level of loyalty he had from the Aiel.

I apologize if someone caught this already. I've read through the posts and didn't see it if so.

In the Tower of Ghenjei scenes there are several issues.

On page 781-784 Thom uses the bronze knife to open a portal into the Tower (and must redraw it when it is too small - funny!)

Here is one of the spots where the modern language drives me insane. Thom is very well-spoken and rarely uses colloquial speech. Mat might, but I CANNOT see even him saying "Guess so." This sort of deviation from the style Robert Jordan used throws the character voices off so far it jolts me right out of the mood of the scene.

I adore Brandon both as a writer and a great guy, and I am loathe to criticize His Awesomeness, as he has done an absolutely amazing job with these books so far. I know Brandon does not want to merely imitate RJ's style, and I'm fine with that, but nevertheless, the characters have always spoken in a certain way through however many books they appear in, and that should be maintained as much as possible. There are MANY places where characters, Thom, the Aes Sedai and the Wise Ones in particular, speak entirely too informally. They just wouldn't say things like "Don't know", using incomplete sentences and too many contractions. Ah, but I digress...

Returning to the main issue here, we then specifically see that Thom re-sheathes the bronze knife, and they enter the Tower. They decide to see if the still-open portal works both ways, and Noal goes back out through it as a test. He comes back through after a noticeable delay, and explains that "it sealed me out. I had to draw another triangle to get back in." Nowhere in the book have I found any mention of them each having a bronze knife. So what did he use to draw the triangle? Birgitte told Olver that it must be a bronze knife used to make the sign of the triangle and wavy line, anywhere on the side of the Tower.

They packed along a veritable laundry list of items, including fireworks, torches, musical instruments, and iron implements of various kinds, but so far as I can tell, only one bronze knife, and Thom did not hand it to Noal before he went back out. Oops?

Page 783 par 6: a typo I am sure has been mentioned previously "This place doesn't makes sense."

Wow, good catches! I had post-its with me for a while, then despite me good intentions, I got caught up in READING again instead of checking and fell behind. Third times a charm....

O.K., Peter, here we go. I've only checked this thread, but these are all new.

US ed., counting all partial paragraphs

 

p. 46.2 often did plump foreign (I read the word plump as a verb and it confused me the first three times)

 

90.4 lighting should be lightning

 

94.9 the winter felt worn away (maybe it's just me, but felt reads as a verb and could be clarified with felt on it or its felt or something)

 

125.14 but it('s) what I'm doing

 

202.15 (probably should clarify which beatings Egwene refers to: from Wise Ones or Aes Sedai)

 

210.12 the remaining seals upon the (on sounds better than upon, which is used again in the same sentence)

 

211.2 I think removing both instances of the word right in the sentence beginning "But she generally did see. . ." reads much better.

 

248.7 I would (have) liked

 

268.4 Ituralde turned (and) looked

 

305.2 anything specific but (should be except, I think) the number

 

382.7 Your body and your child (children)

 

383.13 What are we do to with you

 

388.12 to tell you that that

 

398.8 Perrin grew caught up (sounds wrong. . .became?)

 

403.4 No longer be a symbol (It's no longer a symbol?)

 

408.8 No, (I) guess that

 

417.5 Byar said, nudging. . . (Byar said what?)

 

430.2 There, she sat quietly. (misplaced comma)

 

434.14 in relative secret (secrecy?)

 

512.13 sparking should probably be sparkling

 

574.11 position he('d) been

 

583.10 Failure needed (need) always be

 

604.8 Here's the rifling/riffling thing again. Has this been changed in some modern dictionary to reflect common pronunciation?

 

662.9 Caemlyn is already is buzzing

 

662.15 in an inn (at sounds better)

 

669.9 Galad said (,) bowing with an

 

675.8 fountains flowed now, and though

 

728.4 When the Aiel had destroyed (better without the had)

 

739.8 left you to prison (unless this is intended to sound archaic)

 

762.10 Elayne started, the(n) stepped closer

 

784.13 set up a little too high up to

 

788.9 the flute form his lips

 

827.5 didn't you once tell me once

 

827.8 Isn't going to happen (intended?)

 

829.7 rifled/riffled (my dictionary says it's riffled)

 

852.5 Until after Malkier fell (Yes, I caught one in the glossary! Can't believe it. . .)

 

Do I win a prize?

 

I managed to enjoy this book immensely despite taking notes. It's only because I care.

P 530 "Now, you're sure you can't create gateways at all? Not even to other points nearby, inside the effected area?" Pretty sure that should be "affected", though people argue endlessly over usage.

Not only that, but the Keeper actually wears a narrow stole in the color of the Ajah from which she was raised, a constant reminder to all who see her.

Kind of nit-picky, but page 378 Gawyn thinks of Silviana as a Red, instead of as the Keeper.

 

I can see how it might be an annoying inconsistency between speech patterns but the Keeper retains her Ajah when she is raised so it is correct. Not to mention that (I think! Its been several months since I read tGS.) Gawyn was absent when Silviana was raised so in his POV he might still think of her as a Red and not really as the Keeper. Plus, Egwene notes several times that he still hasn't accepted her as Amyrlin so it seems right at this point that he wouldn't accept her chosen Keeper either.

I believe that Moghedien was referring to Nynaeve contributing nothing because she was blocked, not because she held the a'dam. Doubtless sul'dam could add their channeling to the involuntary ring of the a'dam if they wished to do so.

Also, if there was a way to overcome that weakness, you'd think Moghedien would have mentioned it here:

 

"You brainless fool," Moghedien sobbed, shaking Nynaeve's skirt with both hands as if wanting to shake Nynaeve. "It does not matter how brave you are. We are linked, but you contribute nothing the way you are. Not a shred. It is my strength, and your madness. They are here in the flesh, not dreaming! They are using things you have never dreamed of! They will destroy us if we stay!"

 

I believe Moghedion meant the one-sided link of the a'dam. Nynaeve, acting as a sul'dam, contributed nothing of her own strength to the circle.

I'm not so sure that's true. The a'dam functions as a link with the sul'dam in control; the sul'dam usually do not contribute because they have not actually started channeling, but there is nothing to say that they cannot.