Discussion:
a Memory of Light - my thoughts!
(too old to reply)
Contro
2013-01-20 22:23:48 UTC
Permalink
Thought I'd reply with a crosspost for this, because I know the groups
are a lot thinner on the ground nowadays!
Hello!
I've read aMoL, and while it was the last book, and was momentous, I do
feel that there isn't that much to say really. Oddly.
I did really enjoy it. I know some people were disappointed, and I
heard talk of people thinking it wasn't the book that Jordan would have
wrote. I don't know about that, as I'm sure Sanderson based it on his
notes, and it was always known that Jordan had known the ending of the
series right from the start.
I think Sanderson did a good job of sorting out the series. Yes, the
final book felt a bit rushed, but that's because Jordan had lost control
of his story, and that's why we had such rubbish books from aPoD onwards
until Sanderson took over.
Sanderson has always took the series by the scruff of the neck, and
sorted the loose plot threads out, such as killing off Masema in the
prologue of the first of his books. I liked how he also got rid of all
this sniffing and hair pulling that the women did, and I like to think
his little joke about this was having Nanaeve's (sp?) hair being
shortened during an attack, or whatever it was. It made me laugh.
I think all the WoT books he wrote were great, and he did a really good
job of making them fun to read again. Yes, I think we were left with no
real surprises, but he pulled it together; I think if Jordan was still
on board, he'd either have got bored and just stopped writing, or we'd
still have another 6 books to go after his equivalent of these 3.
So for aMoL, well I did think it felt rushed, but as I say, I think it
had to be as otherwise we'd still be here for ages, and for no real
point. I thought Demandred was great - he was a true baddie, and I
enjoyed the fact that he dealt with many challenges, and even would have
bettered Lan had Lan not had nothing to lose.
It did mean though that Demandred stood out a mile compared to all the
other Forsaken, and baddies, because they were all useless and impotent
after how Jordan dealt with the. But this was the last book, so it
deserved a good baddie. After all, Rand was just too weak to do
anything special with his sword, and the kind of fight he was doing was
more a battle of wills. I loved the way Moridin, Moiraine and Nanaeve
allowed Rand to carry out and extreme strike on the DO, which was
totally unexpected. I think that was probably the bit that Jordan knew
he'd do at the end. Perhaps the only bit, thinking on.
The whole Padam Fain was a bit of a rush job. But it was too late in
the day to make that anything better.
Perrin's chapters were enjoyable, despite him not being a good character
in my opinion. I liked the way he almost had his own final battle going
ahead, and it was a good one. Also the way he interacted with 2 other
Forsaken as well, so there was a lot going on. And his power and how
strong he was with it was really good.
Mat was great. I genuinely LOLed many times, and I just think it was
all great.
At one point I'm sure the book said the whole story had started just two
years before...did anyone else pick up on that, and is that really the
case?! I'm sure I must have misunderstood that part.
So what else? Well, Taim was okay, but nothing special I guess. The
whole Egwene thing I liked, as she wasn't my favourite character, but I
liked her threads. All characters came across well, to be honest, and I
liked all the stories threads. Lan's was a bit boring at first, but got
good at the end.
So overall, I was happy with the whole thing, and think Sanderson did
the series proud, and managed to get it together and finish it in a
trilogy. I really think we'd still be waiting for many more books if
Jordan was still about, and they'd all be rubbish.
Well done, Sanderson. I think you did Jordan proud.
--
Contro.
TB
2013-03-07 21:27:56 UTC
Permalink
I know what you mean about Mat, but I did like him in the last book.
The zombie one was a bit odd, as the whole thread was a bit weird if you
ask me.
The way Mat used Hinderstap was just fucking genius, though.
With the Dark One firmly back in jail, are Hinderstap's problems over?
Chucky @ Work
2013-03-08 07:14:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by TB
I know what you mean about Mat, but I did like him in the last book.
The zombie one was a bit odd, as the whole thread was a bit weird if you
ask me.
The way Mat used Hinderstap was just fucking genius, though.
With the Dark One firmly back in jail, are Hinderstap's problems over?
Given that the whole thing seemed to be a weirdly persistent and
ongoing bubble of evil, I'd like to hope so. I'd say everything
reverted to normal.

Whether that means a whole mess of them ended up dead in that gorge,
of course, is another matter. Large populations had been
more-or-less-instantaneously killed by bubbles of evil in the past, so
I guess this would be no exception. Just a little less instantaneous.



- ***@w
--
13 of 12, the CMM Collective
CHOW:
http://stchucky.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/chow-a-dance-with-dragons/
Give a hoot, read my book:
http://stchucky.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/arsebook-my-rear-in-status-2011/
Contro
2013-03-09 16:13:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by TB
I know what you mean about Mat, but I did like him in the last book.
The zombie one was a bit odd, as the whole thread was a bit weird if you
ask me.
The way Mat used Hinderstap was just fucking genius, though.
With the Dark One firmly back in jail, are Hinderstap's problems over?
I would think so, because it was his touch on the world that was causing
these issues.
--
Contro.
TB
2013-03-08 07:20:48 UTC
Permalink
After the cleansing of the taint, it was only a matter of months (if
that) before the last book. The past couple of books have only covered
days, weeks at the most.
It's ironic that reading them felt 10 times longer than the time that
actually elapsed in the books themselves
Actually, given that the books covered about 2 years and the series
has been around for approximately 20, it has *literally* been ten
times longer.
Why did it take Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson so long to write
this series?

Why did it take 9 books to go from Perin marrying Faile (late in The
Shadow Rising) to their 1st anniversary (Towers of Midnight)?
Chucky @ Work
2013-03-08 10:49:34 UTC
Permalink
Post by TB
After the cleansing of the taint, it was only a matter of months (if
that) before the last book. The past couple of books have only covered
days, weeks at the most.
It's ironic that reading them felt 10 times longer than the time that
actually elapsed in the books themselves
Actually, given that the books covered about 2 years and the series
has been around for approximately 20, it has *literally* been ten
times longer.
Why did it take Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson so long to write
this series?
Why did it take 9 books to go from Perin marrying Faile (late in The
Shadow Rising) to their 1st anniversary (Towers of Midnight)?
Okay, these are just weird questions.

Actually it didn't take Sanderson long to write any of the books. He's
been rattling them out regular as clockwork.

They took Jordan so long, because first he was world-building, then he
was crafting, then he seemed to lose interest, then he was caught up
in other things, then he was mortally ill.



- ***@w
--
13 of 12, the CMM Collective
CHOW:
http://stchucky.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/chow-a-dance-with-dragons/
Give a hoot, read my book:
http://stchucky.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/arsebook-my-rear-in-status-2011/
Contro
2013-03-09 16:16:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chucky @ Work
Post by TB
After the cleansing of the taint, it was only a matter of months (if
that) before the last book. The past couple of books have only covered
days, weeks at the most.
It's ironic that reading them felt 10 times longer than the time that
actually elapsed in the books themselves
Actually, given that the books covered about 2 years and the series
has been around for approximately 20, it has *literally* been ten
times longer.
Why did it take Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson so long to write
this series?
Why did it take 9 books to go from Perin marrying Faile (late in The
Shadow Rising) to their 1st anniversary (Towers of Midnight)?
Okay, these are just weird questions.
Actually it didn't take Sanderson long to write any of the books. He's
been rattling them out regular as clockwork.
They took Jordan so long, because first he was world-building, then he
was crafting, then he seemed to lose interest, then he was caught up
in other things, then he was mortally ill.
You did miss the "lost control of his world" step, which I think goes
before the "lose interest" step
--
Contro.
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