"By your leave, Mother, the trilogy is not yet done."
Adicts will already have a copy, and those who prefer stories with an ending should hold off for at least one more book. But if you are thinking about holding off because the last few books were disappointing, there is no need for such concerns - this one is pretty good.
Events of note:
The interminable "Faile is lost" arc is finished [finally!]
The interminable "Elayne has a bath" arc is finished [finally!]
The courtship of Mat and Tuon is complete, and well done (just a little bit loose at the end).
The battle of "Egwene vs. Elaida" takes off in a startling direction; and Jordan writes it very well.
Robert Jordon wrote at his blog
For those who have read the book and believe you have identified the "gasp" moment, congratulations. For those who have read the book and still don't know what the "gasp" moment is, my sympathies. I mean that in all truth. You failed to see something that really should have made you gasp. I think I am fairly hardened, but occasionally something happens that makes me mutter, "Where are you, God? Are you sleeping? Are you blind?" This is fiction, but even so, I had to pause a couple of times in writing about it. Of course, I get deeply immersed in my work so that it becomes real to me while I am writing, but I hope to pull the reader into that level of realness, too. Either I failed completely in this instance, or some of you have become way too hardened.
I think I recognized his gasp moment. If so, he failed completely. It's possible that another thing was his gasp moment. That one didn't work either. There's a very weak third possibility for a gasp moment, if that's the one, he's deluding himself.
UPDATE: reportedly from the Boston book signing
Q: [Why write the gasp moment?]A: Because Hell on Earth is about to break loose! Haven't you people
got that in your heads yet? The Shadow is winning, it's the fifteenth
round, our boy is on the ropes and the Shadow feels great and has
tremendous punching power! Three minutes to go and there's only one
chance. The Gasp Moment is their reaction to this.
So it's the first one. And he missed, big time.
Aram turns out to be a complete waste of ink.
Verin is even more Verin than ever. Whatever that means - we get no closer to finding out.
Jordan has been telling us for years that the books won't return to the Seanchan home land. Now we know why.
Mat makes a brilliant realization about the 'finn. There are still some lose bits there, but the core idea was excellent.
It's a damn shame that Min foresaw the healthy birth of Elayne's children, because she desperately needs a drastic attitude adjustment, and losing the kids might barely suffice.
I'm more impressed with the Dark One than ever. That he even got close to destroying the world with the Chosen as his instruments is most impressive. This lot couldn't organize a car wash if you spotted them varsity cheerleading, two Hooters franchises, and the statutory version of Traci Lords.
Which speaks volumes about the competance of Lews Therin and the knights who said Ni!
Question: why haven't we heard anything about Moiraine since she battled Lanfear? Answer: because the author said so.
October 12, 2005 12:43 AM
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