Wheel of time FINAL BOOK!

[alhoon]

Keep reading...Androl is a tricky ba###rd

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Yeah, he sure is...

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Lava from Dragonmount. Now that's awesome.

I'm glad to see them using gateways in new and creative ways finally. Totally changes battle plans. But there's one major one I wish they'd thought of:

There's much made of protecting the "dragons" and moving them about and such. Why bother? Station them somewhere safe and secret, like in Tear or Mayene. Then open a gateway onto the battlefield wherever you want them. Fire at Trollocs. When the Trollocs break and run, close the gateway and reopen it behind them or on their flank. Fire again. If the enemy gets close enough to channel at the cannons and endanger them, snap the gateway shut. Instant "troop movements." Same can be done for archers and channellers. Androl already sort of saw this when he

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snagged the Trolloc arrows out of the sky and dropped them on other Trollocs

But no one followed it to the natural conclusion.


Overall, I'm enjoying the book a lot. I agree there was a lot of battle, but ... it's the last battle. I'd feel shortchanged if there wasn't. But yeah, sometimes telling instead of showing would have been better.

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We didn't need to see each of the great generals make Graendal-influenced mistakes. Just show one or two and tell about the rest.

The other thing that I can't decide if it's cool or cheesy, is how everyone gets their moment to shine. And usually in exactly the "perfect" way. And everything hinges on each one.

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I'm looking at Faile and the Horn here. And the final straw was Nynaeve getting to do her part by healing. Of course.

It's cool and all, but a little too convenient.

[alhoon]

About the placement of Dragons in safe place... keep reading.

The other thing that I can't decide if it's cool or cheesy, is how everyone gets their moment to shine. And usually in exactly the "perfect" way. And everything hinges on each one.

I've been following some of those people for a decade. Other readers have been following some of those for longer. I'd feel cheated if they didn't get their moment to shine.

Not to mention that at least IMO, there are a couple that die without their moment (I mean a moment of shine in the final battle). A couple more survive the final battle but they never got their moment to shine in the last battle.
The evil ones mostly DON'T have their moment to shine. We have a couple of Forsaken riding it in the sidelines.
Perhaps it's a spoiler but...

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The Dark one IMO was way more pathetic than I thought he will be

Anyway, while yes most get their moment to shine in the non-decisive battles that actually do little other than cull the number of Trollocs and men, my oppinion is, that in the last battle I would like to see more "moments of shine" to the heroes I've been following for so many years.
NOTE: That doesn't mean that there are few people that get their moment BTW. That means that like 70% IMO get their moment to shine while I wanted to see 100%.
Many of the Asha'man Rand had with him since book 6 are barely mentioned. Sure, one of them re-discovered how to make magic weapons, but that was in an earlier book.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Well, I'm done.



It was good. It was fitting. But I'm going to say something I never in a million years thought I'd say: It should have been a little longer. Seriously, the end felt very rushed. I could have used another couple hundred pages. (I actually felt the same at the end of ToM, too. The tower of genjei stuff was very rushed) I suppose they could have chopped them out of Crossroads of Twilight to compensate and no one would have noticed.

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The most emotional part for me was Egwene's final scene. It's amazing how far she'd come from the beginning of the series. She's probably the biggest damn hero of the series for me, even moreso than Rand. And the Amyrlin taking out the M'Hael was so perfect I couldn't even criticize it for being too convenient.

I actually liked the Rand parts quite a bit. It never really made sense to me that the Dark One was a physical entity, as they'd always described him. This philosophical battle (while not breaking any real philosophical ground) was really the most satisfying way to deal with it. Yeah, the Dark One was kind of pathetic, but maybe that's the point. All these darkfriends were pledging themselves to something that ultimately isn't some mastermind, just darkness and discord incarnate. And the bit with Moridin and Callandor was genius. I did call that there would be a cheat to Rand's death, and it is a big time cheat, but I don't really mind it that much, since by all accounts, it's what RJ always envisioned for the end of the series.

I still don't love all the convenient coincidences. The worst is Olver. Really? The little brat has a major part to play too? sigh... I'd rather if Faile blew the horn herself. I know, I know, I've been reading these books for something like 17 years myself, and I have my own faves too who got cheers from me when they did their parts (go Birgitte!) but some (like Nynaeve's healing skills being important) were too much for me. And frankly, I couldn't tell one Asha'man from another most of the time, so I didn't miss any of them getting their moment.

I'm glad they took my advice on the dragons and gateways. But they should have done it sooner.

I see what you mean about some of the Forsaken getting underused, but frankly, I've never gotten much character from most of them. We rarely get to see them doing stuff, mostly just meeting up and posturing at each other, without revealing their schemes. Then just before their capture or death or "death", their plans are revealed and we get a smidgen of character when it's too late to care much. There are a few exceptions, mostly the women. But I need a wikipedia page to keep most of the men straight in my head. For all that the good guys seem scared of them, they rarely are effectual, and are some of the most cardboard characters in the series, IMHO. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In a strong Good v. Evil story like this, it's OK to have some one-dimensional bad guys.

Maybe I'm not observant, but I didn't really notice any switches between RJ and BS parts. Not sure what you mean about calling channellers Aes Sedai. Some channellers are Aes Sedai, some aren't. Some are Wise Ones, Kinswomen, Asha'man, windfinders, damane, Ayyad, etc... When they meant Aes Sedai, they said Aes Sedai, when they meant all the rest, they said channellers, no?

In the end, I'm happy, though it's bittersweet to know that's all there is to this world I've lived in and returned to for so long. I love this series, warts and all, and would recommend it to most readers. It's not my favorite series ever, but it's up there.

[alhoon]

I ALSO had the feeling that it needed a couple of hundred more pages, so we could say a proper goodbye. 200 pages that could have easily been shaved from inside the book, with the countless "important but not decisive" battles.

The last part was written by Jordan, while he knew he was dying. I can understand if it has a feel of "rushed" in it. He was literally, on clock to die, leaving the series he labored for nearly 20 years unfinished.

About channelers:
Check Jordan's descriptions and how people talk. The word "channeler" is never, ever mentioned. It doesn't exist in Jordan's world. It's "Wilder" or "Aes Sedai" or "Damane" or "Kinswoman" or "Asha'man". Noboody ever called them channelers... till Brandon took control of the series.

Anyway, now that it's over:

About Rand, Mat and Perrin

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I loved the feeling of freedom he gets at last. The world is NOT on his shoulders, been there, done that. He has a ton of gold and nothing to do. And for once, no darkfriends or trollocs on his back. He can sit in a cottage and watch the sunset and sunrise till he gets gray. I bet he will grow bored after a while, but he deserves a couple of months of vacations, before he buy a plot of land to herd sheep, living under Perrin's rule.
About Mat, I kinda had a feeling since book 3, that Mat would be immune to the touch of Mashadar again, and that would be Mashadar's downfall.

About others:

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Egwene's death was awesome. I wouldn't call it "convenient" that she fueled the flame of Tar Valon to take out Mazrim Taim, I find it just epic. Yes, Olver's part was convenient. I don't mind it though. Someone had to blew that horn. Whether it was faile or Olver, I don't care.
My only peeve? We learned why it's called the Flame of Tar Valon... but nobody else knows, nor will know till it's time for the Flame of Tar Valon (i.e the Amyrlin) to re-invent and cast the spell again.
With all the anti-balefire agenta of the tower, sisters stilled for knowing the weave etc, there's no suprise that research on the OPPOSITE of Balefire is non-existant and taboo.

I didn't like (nor I was supposed to like) the random way Siuan died. All this planning, set up, work, all the dangers she faced... and she dies by a random explosion. As I said, we weren't supposed to like it. It was a sharp reminder that every person that dies, has a history. The random doughboy that died by a shell's sharpnel in 1917 somewhere in Belgium? He had a story too, friends that loved him and since it was WW1, he had probably danced and evaded death a couple of times already, just to die from a random piece of sharpnel in the face. And he was a real person.
In Greece, the most honored monument is that of the "unknown soldier", the hero that dies and nobody learns his/her name, those that don't have wikipedia articles.

Forsaken: I kinda disagree. Yes, they were a bit one dimensional as you said serving their purpose. But we knew that and the heroes knew that too. Since book 6, Rand&Co have noticed that the Forsaken although knowledgable and powerful aren't anything as awesome as the stories made them to be. After the Aes Sedai stole Traveling and invert from them, they were more or less on equal footing.
A Forsaken is more or less a powerful channeler that knows a couple more tricks that matter in battle. Sure, they had all the "knowledge of the age of Legends" to guide them. Like that awesomely useful weave that there's a "knock" in your house before a gateway opens. Very useful in battle situations.
Yes, powerful and knowledgable. But not a match for 7 good, battle hardened Aes Sedai linked. Even 3 linked would be a difficult challenge (Enough to give them Experience in D&D terms )

Shaido:
Yes, the Shaido. Those guys that were so important between books 5-10. Where the heck were they? Ohhh right, a forsaken spread them over the continent like peanut butter and Perrin defeated the majority of them. So... that was it? No redemption for the Shaido? I would expect them to come in the darkest hour and fight for the Light.

Gawyn: Meh. You were never ment to be a hero kid. Just... a spoiled kid that couldn't stomach that would be a sidenote in history. "The man that delayed demandred's routing of the pike squares for 3 minutes".

Nynayve & Moraine: So... sidekicks to Rand and useful for about 30 seconds. Crucial seconds, but 30 seconds. After ALL this build up, Nynayve did jack-#### in the last battle other than wait for Rand to trick Moridin and give him access to Saidar. And Moraine got back from the dead for the exact same reason.
Nynayve, the person who healed the Ashaman of their madness, without teaching anyone how to do it before heading for near-certain death, was patching up Alanna in the last battle. That was it.

Ayel with red veils: Awesome fellows. I wish we had those earlier. It always seemed to me stupid to send Male channelers up to the blight for the lulz. The Ashaman and the Chinese-like fellows had the best compromise: Use them and have them under watch, till they get mad. Then kill them before they grow dangerous.

My favorite series. I'll miss them.

So, how did the whole load of combat seemed to you? It was as if the book was a huge Dumani Wells.

Also, remember book 11 and book 12B where Rand kills about 100K-150K Trollocs? If he hadn't the armies of light could well have lost.