Midnight Reviews

[Ereinion]

I'm a bit less forgiving of his fan-fic moments--constantly having a character reference events in his past is not someone with the full backing of the Jordan estate should be doing.

I honestly didn't notice any more of this than in previous books, not that I kept count. It certainly wasn't enough to draw me out of the story, and nowhere near the amazing skill that Terry Goodkind has developed(I'm currently reading book 8 of SoT, aka Reader's Digest version of books 1-7 + an entire culture of retards that TG has created for the sole purpose of spouting more Ayn Rand).

And, specifically in reference to what Kivam was saying, he seemed to be desperately seeking to give out information about topics the fans have been discussing in detail. The characters have long soliloquies in which they dismiss succinctly each side of an argument before reaching a conclusion. It distracted me, and again felt a bit amatuerish, as if BS was concerned about looking like he knew what he was talking about. He doesn't need to dismiss fans arguments, he just needs to show what is the case.

As Kivam said, 'show, not tell'. In full, he needs to calm down, and just write the story. These problems seem to be based in pandering to the fans--he needs to let go what the fans think and not try so hard (he doesn't actually have this problem in his own work, in my opinion).

I'm inclined to agree here. The one moment that stuck out to me was the fulfilling of the Siuan and Gareth sticking together viewing. I don't think Jordan would have added the dialogue that they had about fulfilling the prophecy, rather let us figure out that the prophecy had been fulfilled.

I hate that I'm focusing a bit too much on the negative though, as there were so many things that he got right. I thought that he nailed both Rand and Egwene's story lines. I couldn't have been happier with how they both progressed.

As for Mat, I am a little worried about ToM from what we saw in TGS. Personally I think BS should write Lightsong(Warbreaker) and then once he's done replace all instances of the word Lightsong with Mat and add in a few Matish curses. The two aren't exactly the same, but I think Lightsong is much closer to Jordan's Mat than is Brandon's Mat.

[Shard]

I think it was in character actually for Suian to comment on the predictions of Min coming true since she was obessesed with what Min could see while she had her in the Tower and she was Amrlyn.

[Jonn]

I'm inclined to agree here. The one moment that stuck out to me was the fulfilling of the Siuan and Gareth sticking together viewing. I don't think Jordan would have added the dialogue that they had about fulfilling the prophecy, rather let us figure out that the prophecy had been fulfilled.

Yeah, RJ in hindsight was a great deal more subtle about such things. I doubt Siuan would actually explain the ENTIRE prophecy to Bryne with him sitting there calmly as she spouts a bunch of crazy talk about a person he barely knows or can reference having the power to foresee the future. Normally Siuan would be cryptic as an Aes Sedai is wont to be and say something to the effect of "She was right, you know Gareth..." And he'd be like "Who?"
And whatever she would say after, it would never be that clear to Bryne anyway so she'd normally just say she'd explain later, they have Egwene to rescue still and they don't have time to go on about visions from a woman he doesn't really know.

A very positive thing I can mention was Verin's meeting with Egwene. It started with a very suspenseful tone and it maintained that tone. I was very proud of Verin, if that sounds weird...it's true. It was almost tender. She came full circle with Egwene, finally trusting her with her treasure, to fight on for her. Verin really did shine here and I loved the abruptness, the brevity, yet the sense of sweet fulfillment and Verin really explained what the Brown Ajah really was. I was thrilled.

In a similar way I was pleased with how quickly and abruptly Sheriam and Elaida were dispatched. Finally! lol

If I could criticize RJ a bit, I do think he was guilty of meandering with the Aes Sedai, sending mixed messages with them in regards to their status in the world. With the sequences in this book, I think I feel more secure in my regard for them. Sanderson did a very good job of arranging that change in this volume. There wasn't a Tower sequence where I wasn't enthralled, and I found to my surprise that I've been waiting to feel this way about Aes Sedai again since probably the Shadow Rising.