aMoL full book discussion

[Shaidar]

Very disappointed. 2/5

 

Positive: Demandred's Sharan army (which I had called). That was really cool.

 

The garden scene with Rand/Mat was excellent too. Of course it was pure Sanderson.

 

Negative: Where to even start? Why is Demandred an idiot willing to fight 3 blademasters in a row? Why doesn't Demandred, with 72 linked channelers and the world's second most powerful sa'angreal, not destroy the Light's armies in the space of a couple of minutes? All the old rules of channeling strength are overturned, presumably because at that point RJ/BS realized that the OP was ridiculously overpowered. Then there was Lan's strange speech about gender equality in battle, which was completely out of character both as regards himself and that world more generally.

 

There are many more, I had a list of them somewhere which I wrote soon after finishing AMoL. Regrettably, I can't seem to find it right now.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Shaidar

[Southpaw]

I had this strong epiphany-like moment after finishing the book related to the last paragraph of the book (apologies if i don't get it quite right):

It was not the end. There are no endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.

I had this wave of emotion wash over me as it occurred that this isn't the end of this story, this isn't the last book we will read in the story of the Wheel of Time. There are other Rands, Mats, and Perrins being reborn in other new books and new stories. The events we read will see rebirth in other new forms as new books are written and we continue to read. It was like I saw all of the past and future books stretch out before me, blending together into one epic that is the turning of the Wheel. TWoT is in a way a rebirth of The Lord of the Rings, and in turn we will see other books that will be born in the same spirit.

Let the Wheel of Time continue to turn!

 

What you said here was perfect. There are no endings and there never will be. It is just AN ending to a story that is a part of the wheel. They live on and even the ones who died will return once reborn. They were like good friends. They will continue to be great friends.

[name_here]

Negative: Where to even start? Why is Demandred an idiot willing to fight 3 blademasters in a row? Why doesn't Demandred, with 72 linked channelers and the world's second most powerful sa'angreal, not destroy the Light's armies in the space of a couple of minutes? All the old rules of channeling strength are overturned, presumably because at that point RJ/BS realized that the OP was ridiculously overpowered.

 

1. Demandred is the best swordsman in the world, and his central flaw is overwhelming pride in his own abilities, especially regarding fighting. He fights three blademasters in a row because he is entirely convinced no one can beat him in a one-on-one swordfight, and, well, he's right. No one did better than a draw. If he'd been the type of person who wouldn't let a desire to prove his personal superiority drive him to make a risky decision, he wouldn't have joined the Shadow in the first place.

 

2. I'm pretty sure both his Sa'Angreal and Egwene's were among the Nine Rods Of Domination mentioned way back in the prologue to the first book. Egwene and M'hael are evenly matched when they've got them. They're powerful, but not stronger than the combined might of the White Tower. His full circle is the biggest concentration of power on either side, but the total strength is actually lower than if they fought as individuals.

 

3. I wouldn't say any of the rules were broken. Channelers aren't weaker, it's just that both sides have them and the tactical implications get involved. I mean, firstly, both sides have a lot of non-channelers, somewhere in the millions. Enough that totally wiping them out with the One Power isn't actually possible even discounting their own channelers. Secondly, except for the Foresaken when using the True Power, anyone who channels gives their location away to enemy channelers. This means that simply having them go all-out and kill as many targets as possible would let the opposing side ambush them and rapidly exhausts them. So they wind up being used as reserves or to spearhead an attack, because neither side wants to be the first one to commit them. Now, the White Tower army did in fact lean very heavily on the Aes Sedai, which worked pretty well up to the exact moment when they were lured into overextending themselves and Demandred took to the field. And he personally just blasted particularly stubborn concentrations of defenders or knots of engaged channelers, because he thought Rand was waiting in the wings for a chance to strike. I'm pretty sure that he was deliberately not told about the fighting at Shayol Ghul so he'd stay in the field.

[Topomouse]

I just read your post and found myself agreing with point 1 and 3 while musing abount number 2. I was personally under the impression that M'hael was able to use only a part of Sakarnen power since he was only borrowing it from Demandred, that would make it al least more powerful that Vora's Sa'angreal, but i could be wrong.

Anyway your post inspired me to search the internet and i actually found out that the Nine Rods of Dominion were actually people: http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Nine_Rods_of_Dominion

[name_here]

Well, Demandred said that he'd set Sakarnen so it would backfire on anyone who tried to use it against him, not that it was weaker. There has been no prior evidence that his claim is even possible, but M'hael did not feel like trying to call his bluff.

[DocHoliday]

Am I the only person who felt the characters were just a little....wrong? Almost like charachitures(sp?)

Matt cussed just a tad to much.

Perrin was a little too sullen.

Moiraine was more dramatic than I remember.

Not to say it was bad. I love BS writing. But I could clearly discern where RJ ended and BS began.

[Gamma Fiend]

Am I the only person who felt the characters were just a little....wrong? Almost like charachitures(sp?)

Matt cussed just a tad to much.

Perrin was a little too sullen.

Moiraine was more dramatic than I remember.

Not to say it was bad. I love BS writing. But I could clearly discern where RJ ended and BS began.

look at Sanderson's blogs on the Wheel of Time retrospectives and he discusses the challenges of getting the characters just right, and how he thinks he mostly failed in TGS and a little in ToM. He says Mat was by far the hardest to capture personality-wise, and Perrin's character provided the biggest challenges in terms of growth and realization. I think these blogs of his are fascinating and add a lot of depth and insight into the last three books.

I couldn't even begin to fathom the task at picking up epic, multi-decade fantasy series that is so monumental and had basically set the standard for the genre and finishing it to the full potential and and proper conclusion it deserves according to the author's wishes.

Cosmere books aside, Brandon Sanderson deserves endless kudos and congratulations for what he accomplished in finishing the Wheel of Time. And then take into consideration his own level of skill and literary accomplishments.... needless to say I think we're set for our generation.

[DocHoliday]

I've never read the blogs (if that wasn't obvious).<br />But I'm in the same boat as you in regards to the task Brandon was handed.<br /><br />All things aside, o think it's just my fandom gripeing about the characters. I grew up with the series and practically worshipped the books for years. So to see itfinished a little off kilter just catches my goat.<br /><br />BS got pitched a mean knuckle ball, and he got a nice line drive off of it. I just wanted a homer.

[name_here]

The characters definitely felt different, but I generally approved. Mat has been deliberately exaggerating his behavior in an effort to avoid becoming husbandly. Perrin was, uh, kind of always like that. Moiraine has always been good at self-control and a highly dramatic tone was quite suitable for returning from death by walking in on a meeting about the end of the world and ordering around kings. She acts differently later.

[el_warko]

Enjoyed it only gripes were that I thought that the Flame of Tar Valon was a terrible name for the weave, especially given that it's polar opposite, balefire is so cool.  Also that the last battle went on way too long.  At times I found myself pulled out of the action as it seemed like half the point was to tie off loose ends, which admittedly it kind of had to be give the number of maned characters floating about.