Wheel of time book 12B (again no spoilers)

[alhoon]

Yes, I know 99% would think they'll wait for the paperback. Hah! I thought that too. Good luck to the others, I'm weak willed. Book 12A ended in a good-ish position but I had to see the rest of the story.


Now, first thing first. No, it doesn't seem like another book.
It's actually a bit of rush start. To those waiting to buy it: Refresh your memories about book 12A. It's immediate continue. The prologue won't refresh your memory, actually it doesn't feel much like a prologue. Perhaps Brandon threw together things that could be spread in other chapters of book 12A or book 12B, but it does a lousy job of bringing you up to the situation.

So, unfortunately people, the guy meant it: Book 12 is one book in 3 parts, not 3. It's better if you read it immediately after book 12A IMO. I find myself actually running through parts of 12A to check things so I can refresh my memory from 2 weeks ago.

Also, Brandon's style to have say chapter X+5 chronologically before chapter X creates some confusion. Especially when chapter X+5 is in book 12B and X is in book 12A. To be sincere, that inconsistencies of timeframe and the confusion aren't to my liking. Brandon is IMO about as good an author as Jordan was... except of this.

Oh, and there's still that habbit of a force of 100K men + horses (many of them civilians) on the road, setting up camp in one place for the night, instead of them being spread to something like 10 square miles.

aside from these: The book is also good so far. I'm in the beginning. Page 120.
PS. there's a new prophecy mentioned. Big spoiler if it turns up true. Not sure if they interpreted it right though.

[alhoon]

I found a single thing so far that should have been edited.

Errors found:
- Graendal exclaims "Light!" when she's agitated.
- "He should be in the Healer's tent! Someone fetch an Asha'man!" (Aes Sedai were also at hand) OhKay, I understand that generals would have come to rely to Asha'man since they've been fighting with them for months, while Aes Sedai weren't in the thick of it, but ... they're men that can channel...
- Someone should have informed Jordan and Brandon about what a cannon could and could not do.

[alhoon]

Did you like the battle of Dumani Wells, the battle of Shadar Logoth etc?

Then read book 12B. Learn how a Great Captain gets the title. It also has political backstabbing and all, but it gets down and dirty.
It's good to have a book of the quality of the first books.
Books 12A and 12B (especially book 12B) bring back a lot of what has been pushed to the side and just mentioned in passing in the late books.
For example, Forsaken seem to inspire awe and terror, portal stones are used, skimming is also used a couple of times, Myrdraal lead fists of trollocs and lay waste, wise ones make use of their dreaming abilities, Carhienin and their Great game...
Ahh... the nostalgia.

EDIT: I'm around page 600 now. Awesome book.
I still find though that Brandon's handling of large armies as they were small groups breaks believability and immersion.

An army of 100K, including a great many civilians marching on a road? That would mean realistically that the units of soldiers and groups of civilians at the back of the army would be hours away from the front. You couldn't move and place them on a field within minutes as if playing a strategy game. Not to mention that said field should be at least 5 miles wide.
Passing through a single gateway within an hour?!? That's impossible even for highly trained elite paraders, without carrying supplies.
If they were running through the gateway, so that 50 would pass over a single second, it would take 5 1/2 hours for such an army to Travel. Oh, and the gateway should be large enough to allow that, something like 10 meters across or something.
Speaking of supplies, a gathering of 100K+ people, as many are through books 12A and 12B would consume everything that was to be hunt or bought from nearby villages within days. There was a reason kings prepared and stocked up food for months before starting a march.


EDIT2: I'm pretty sure I found who Demandred is! If not, then that person must be Demandred's right hand at least.
EDIT3:I was wrong.

[alhoon]

I'm nearly to the end of one of the best books in the line (12B).
One of the things that make it so good is that many things that were wrong in the world are getting fixed. Sure, there's much work to be done, but the theme of the book seems to be "slow recovery".
I won't give spoilers about the numerous things (small, big and OMG!sized) that get fixed but it certainly gives a feeling of ... rightness. I enjoy basking in the light-hearted pages following a big victory, as the size of the victory slowly sinks to my mind.

[Morte Rouge]

After this book, I have a pretty darn... out there theory on who Demandred is. I might be wrong. And knowing me, probably am.

Alhoon, who were you thinking it was?

[alhoon]

Demandred?
I thought it was Mazrim Taim until I read that Jordan has said, in numerous occasions, that no it's NOT MTaim and that Demandred's alias hasn't been revealed by book 8-9. So it's someone from book 10+ IF he has been shown at all yet.
A mention of something like "15 Tairen lords passed by to say hi to Rand. Lords X,Y and Z smiled while Lords A,B,C and Lord I'm-Demandred-in-disguise laughed at his joke before they turned back to their conversation" doesn't really count and according to Jordan even that much of an appearence hasn't happened yet.


Who you think it is? If it's a spoiler put it in a spoiler tag:

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like this

Or put it in the other thread I have for discussing the books with spoilers.

[Morte Rouge]

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I had this sudden idea the other day that the voice of Lews Therin in Rand's head may be Demandred, and now that he's removed from Rand he might somehow become his own person. I thought of it because of a quote I read somewhere (forget where) that Demandred wanted to be like Therin.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Well, I finally got to read this one. I'd been holding out for paperback, but after reading Dance with Dragons from the library, I realized I could get Towers of Midnight there too.

Overall, I liked it, though Gathering Storm was a bit better. Things are still moving toward the end game, though a few things seemed oddly delayed to the next book, probably to give everyone something to do in the final one.

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Specifically, it seemed odd for Perrin to defeat Slayer, but not kill him. After all the tedious buildup of his wolf-dream training and epiphany (my least favorite part of this book) it would have seemed to be dramatically satisfying to end it there. But no, Slayer lives to the next book, where Perrin will probably have to defeat him again, hopefully not in a boring retread of his story from this book. Also, Mesaana is a vegetable, but if the Forsaken can't Heal that somehow, I'm the Dragon Reborn. Expect her back next book.

At times, it seemed a bit like Rand has become the Deus ex Machina. He even realizes it himself after

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saving Ituralde and the Saldeans

. What's the point of setting up a quandary like

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How to feed people when all the food keeps spoiling

when Rand can show up all Jesus-like, wave his hand and say "Your problem doesn't exist anymore..."

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All the grain you didn't check is fine."

. Ta-da!

So with Rand becoming this powerful, it's time for the story to end. Though after Aviendha's vision, I'm not sure it's going to be the "happy ending" I'd expected.

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Unless she can avert the future of the Aiel, the ending will be as bleak as Martin's.

I'm also surprised to see Elayne's pregnancy still so early on. She's got to have those kids before the end of the series, no?

Only, what, 13 months or so before we find out?

[alhoon]

I don't hold many hopes for the future of the Aiel. Since book 3 it's "he will break us!"
The same with the ocean faring people, forget their name. They will too, be forced to change their way of life. There's a reason the whole world were dreading the coming of the Dragon Reborn. Too many sacrifices to have a future.

As for Rand beind Deux ex Machina, that was actually supposed to happen, isn't it? He's there to defeat the Dark One, so he has to be powerful and he has to appear and save people.