Finally finished!
Thanks for the glossary spoiler tip, Honey963 -- I hadn't flipped through the glossary except to note that it was shorter than some of the other glossaries have been!
IIRC, the 12th book came out last fall. So that means we only have a year to wait for the 14th book, right?
(One can hope, can't we?). The last I heard, they expected that #14 would be the final book. I wonder if they have arranged to do a few prequels too .... Maybe a Jain Farstrider book?
So the things I'm wondering:
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1. What's going to happen with Setalle? If she is offered and agrees to Healing, we will have the Aes Sedai who knows most about angreal able to work with them again (if she is who I suspect she is).
2. Can Healing repair Moiraine's loss of Power? And, is there any pertinence to the fact that both she and Suian have decreased Power?
3. Where the *heck* did Aviendhra's Rhuidean visions come from, and how will those be resolved (or, are we going to be left at the end of the series expecting that her visions are what will eventually play out?)?
4. Obviously Egwene's Dream with the Seanchan woman saving her was not her initial ascendancy to the Amyrlin Seat. How is the upcoming Seanchan attack going to twist to save the Tower (again??)??
....I think Tuon and and Rand's relationship with the Seanchan will take up a significant part of the final book. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. And, obviously, Tuon's relationship with the Power also needs to be addressed sufficiently. I wonder whether part of Aviendhra's visions at Rhuidiean might have been predicated upon Tuon's path, for now, appearing to continue to be to leash all women who can channel; if that can be changed, then would the future Aviendhra saw, come to fruition?
I still wonder what's up with the Shara. We keep hearing about them - something should be being done about contacting them to incorporate them into the Last Battle.
And, where is Logain? It seems evident that Taim is using Compulsion on his men (and on some of Elaida's Aes Sedai who came to bond warders there) - something needs to be done to address the Dark Tower, quickly.
ETA:
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I knew I should have taken the time to reread 12. I don't remember how many letters Verin wrote - I know it was mentioned in 12, but can't recall right now. I wonder if any others are outstanding, or if they have all been delivered and opened by now.
I felt like Sanderson did a passable job -- I miss Jordan's prose. But the plot worked well and there were times I forgot that I was reading Sanderson instead of RJ. I do feel like Sanderson's version of Matrim Cauthon is a little "off," though ...
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I don't recall Mat worrying about breaking hearts before.
One thing I've really appreciated about this series is the growth of the female characters. For the first few books, I felt like the women were stilted, and less complex than the men. At this point, the women are dominating the books in many ways, and they don't feel so wooden to me as characters as they did in the initial books. I think this more 'authentic' feel for the female characters began to grow around #6, gathered speed by #9, and has carried forward from that.
[/WOT]
Back to reality I guess - apples to can, and school, and all the mundane daily stuff. But I'll be thinking about this book and checking in here regularly for awhile while mulling things over.
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