I saw this on facebook and thought I would share. Very funny.

We actually recorded this almost 3 weeks ago, but almost at the end Marco had the power go out at his place, and we couldn’t get the last few mins done over the next 2 weeks. Finally decided lets cut it and post it(not like it isnt long enough as our first 60 min plus podcast) and we’ll cover whats left later.

So what do we cover? We decided to break the review into 2 parts. The first is going to give you our thoughts on various characters and how their story arcs progressed(Rand, Egwene) or didnt(Perrin, Mat), and  in one notable case finally progressed but the progress didnt do anything to make the character less of an ass.

We discuss Rand, Egwene, Verin, The Rebel Aes Sedai, Siuan and Gareth Bryne, Mat and his group, Perrin and his group, Aviendha, Cadsuane, Nynaeve, Rands generals. We also discuss absent characters like Elayne, Lan, and Padan Fain.

It should be obvious but we spoil The Gathering Storm in every possible way we could think of, so please dont listen if you havent read.

Anyway drop us a comment, really love reading those.

Here goes:

Like many many others I was a little apprehensive about this book coming out.  I’m a huge Robert Jordan fan and I like Brandon Sanderson quite a bit too, but was a little uneasy with how the styles would mix. I am glad to say that my fears were unfounded. Sanderson mentions at the start of the book how he isn’t going to try and imitate RJ, but rather tell the story of RJs characters in his own voice. He succeeds. Despite some quibbles this was an extremely satisfying volume of the Wheel of Time.

Click through for a fuller plot review that includes spoilers for The Gathering Storm

The book has 2 main storylines and a number of minor ones. Let’s tackle the main ones first.

Rand al’Thor dominates this book. Even though he is the Dragon Reborn and everything in the story comes back to him he hasnt had so much screen time since Lord of Chaos where we saw him starting down the road that reaches its conclusion here. It started with Aes Sedai trying to manipulate him in the aftermath of Moirraines death and reaches its culmination when Semhirage uses the Male A’dam to capture him. Rands “hardening” reaches such an insane pitch in this book that for large chunks of the book he is unlikeable. In earlier books when he would do something kind of nasty, his thoughts during his own POV’s would redeem him. This time his thoughts just make him scarier. There are 2 scenes in particular which bring this out for me, and it’s not a surprise that they both occur with Nynaeve. The first scene is when Nynaeve and Rand have a talk after she sniffs out the torturers apprentice who had been compelled by Graendal. He questions why everyone thinks he is stupid and doesn’t realize what he is turning into, he knows and has decided that’s the only way he is going to win, and he is willing to pay the price. The other scene is the way he kills Graendal. Brilliantly coldblooded. And there is no way Rand al’Thor does that, no matter what the provocation, before Semhirage tries to takes him prisoner.

The scene with Tam at the end had a different feel to me. There was a degree of desperation there, not just cold bloodedness. It was the alcoholic/drug addict hitting rock bottom. He has only two choices here, either completely give up on his humanity or bring it back, which he does in a wonderfully written final chapter.

The other major plotline was Egwene’s fight in the White Tower. She is such an awesome character. I have always like Egwene (except in the Path of Daggers, and it wasnt her I disliked so much as reading about the rest of the Rebel Aes Sedai). The way she takes Elaida apart, gets the sitters to listen to her, reunites the Tower and kicks all kinds of Seanchan ass, she is now the character I’d like to read most after Mat.

The minor storyline of Verin was super satisfying as well. Shes always been one of the best Aes Sedai characters and she comes through big time in this book as well. I am glad the hidden Ajah thing is over once and for all. That was a theory that was very tempting though it made no sense. The dedication of Verin is astounding. 70 years in the Black Ajah intent on Double crossing them at the end. That takes something. So not only is she this brilliantly distracted character, she is bad ass enough to take on the Back by herself.

Sheriam being Black and her quick execution was a lot less satisfying.

I thought Gawyn was still a moron, but at least now he is a slightly more curious moron.

The Perrin sections seemed solid but unspectacular.

Elaida I am 99% convinced now has been touched by Fain/Mashdar. Theres something similar in the way she is acting now and Mat was acting when he had the dagger.

Speaking of Fain… Where the hell is he? I think he was last seen in Winters Heart.

Cadsuane got a little annoying in this book, so did the Wise Ones.

No Sea Folk POV’s … Thank the light

The only minor quibble I had with the book was Mats character. I didn’t have a huge problem with it the way people complaining on tor.com and dragonmount.com did. But it was definitely off. The way I see it though the Mat chapters weren’t strictly necessary, but I would imagine that if he didn’t appear in the book the howls would be a lot more strident. And I think the quality of this book more than earns Brandon Sanderson the patience to see what he can do with Mat when he actually has something more substantial to do(Get to the Finns already!!!).

As much as I enjoyed this book I am not quite sure where I would rank it in the Wheel of Time. The Shadow Rising and Lord of Chaos were definitely superior. Path of Daggers and Crossroads of Twilight were definitely inferior. Woo hoo!! Reread!

First off let me get the negatives out of the way.

One or two phrases were clearly Sanderson and imo didn’t fit into the WoT milieu. ‘Backfired’…seriously? The second thing was the “Voice” of Mat. I didn’t like it. His interactions with Talmanes were reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy and not what I had come to expect of the characters.

And that ladies and gentlemen were the only things from a prose pov that I didn’t like.

The cover art is truly horrible, but we all knew that already.

Now, on to the good stuff:

Where to start? As mentioned I thought the Prologue was brilliant, Chapter 1 terrible and Chapter 2 fantastic. From there you go on a rollercoaster ride that only stops on page 677 or so. Damn good stuff.

So here is my review:

-          Aviendha’s arc feels a little stretched out and I think the “meaningless test till you tell us to piss off” thing has been done before, but overall not too bad.

-          Take a bow Jordanson – You have made Gawyn start to redeem himself. The man can hold a sword and does so on three occasions that were cool, and he got a good talking to from my fave Great Captain which made him start to realize he was acting like a tool.

-          Siuan and Bryne are cool and heartwarming and I enjoyed their onscreen banter.

-          Ituralde is cool as well and I loved the scene with him and Turan the Seanchan general. That moment was epic and showed that some men still hold to their honour in the last days of man.

-          Perrin and Mat get token screen time, most of which are placeholders with especially the coolest part of Perrin’s story being his meeting with Galad which we only know about because Rand sees it in a vision. As mentioned Mat’s voice bothered me as did his sojourn to the ‘village of the cheese making damned’. It carried no plot and was a nod to pop culture that I could have done without. His meeting up with Verin was cool and I am itching to know wtf is in that letter!

-          I would have liked more screen time for Min, but she does kick ass in one paragraph by being sharper than an uppity Aes Sedai.  She also manages to see what all the other people that want to guide Rand fails to see.

-          I liked how Nynaeve was written. Her interior conflicts and desires were done well, as was her sleuthing in Bandar Eban. If not for her I think the Borderlands would be in deep shit. I hope they find out how close they came to being utterly fubar’ed.

-          Hey Hurin. Sucky reunion.  Hope we see you again soon.

-           Tuon’s new name sucks ass. We have Toyota Fortuners here in SA and that is all I can think off when I read about her name. Tuon Fortuna(r) – she’ll go anywhere. Except to peace with the DR. WTF? Idiot girl although kudos to withstand the greatest ta’veren since Hawking, wait…what?

-          I missed Lan and Moirraine. And Padan Fain.

-          Verin: What.The.Fuck?! I did not see that coming. Yeah I speculated once or twice that she might be Black, she could lie I thought and used Compulsion, but really…you could see from her POV that she was in Rand’s camp. Huh? Going over to the Shadow to study the DO. WHAT?! To Study…The DO. That was awesome. That is what a spy should be. How damn cool is that?! Thomas wanting to redeem himself is just as cool and to be a double agent for 70 years? And then find an AS loophole in the oath she swore to the DO…dude James Bond can suck it. What does she need Mat to do…aaaaarrrrgggghhhh….do we really have to wait a year to find out?

-          The purging of the BA was downplayed and I’m not really sure why. I would have liked to see more of Sheriam’s interrogation and execution. Oh well.

-          Cadsuane is a tool. After this book she has jumped to number 3 in my hate list just behind Aram and Elaida. Suvva is a good damane. LOL. Seriously though Cadsuane is a bully. I didn’t realize that was why I disliked her until Tam pointed it out. She is more concerned about remaining unbeaten than she is about the fate of the world. Huh? Grow up oldest living AS.

-          Speaking of which: Semirhage breaks after one spanking? I didn’t break after a spanking and I got a couple. One spank = eat off floor? That was poor imo though I did like that humiliation could break her.  If you want to see how someone could be broken through humiliation watch Battlestar Galactica. It was much better done in there.

-          Tam remains awesome. He also reminds me of my grandfather who recently passed away so yeah, teary moment with him reuniting with Rand.

-          Which brings us to Rand and Egwene. The two characters that are made of aweome.

Egwene’s: struggle to unite the Tower was epic. I loved reading every word and it’s been a long time since I enjoyed reading about AS.  Her political movements and clever playing of the AS was awesome to read. Her becoming a stronger and wiser character was cool as well. Two moments stand out – being beaten by Elaida without so much as a whimper and then her being the hammer of justice against the Seanchan was EPIC. Gave me goosebumps reading those scenes. “You will be my damane” BOOM – roasted.

The Seanchan ninjas were a letdown.

Rand: well…he is the most badass hero to walk the plane of any fantasy world. Ever. His descent to madness was terrifying and believable. Semirhage capturing him and then making him start killing Min was terrible. Beautifully written though. I was screaming in my head for Rand to stop. His coldness after that and his terrible way of looking at the world without a shred of emotion evoked deep feelings of fear and sympathy in me. I love Rand, always have, after this book – always will.

Wiping out a fortress to kill a Forsaken. Hell yes! Wanting to kill the Seanchan by himself. Awesome. His eventual redemption and return(?) to sanity – beautifully done. I liked the soft climax we were given. It wasn’t earth shattering, but it was done beautifully. Is Lews Therin gone, was he ever there? I still don’t know.

What I do know is that it is going to be difficult waiting another year for the next one. But thank you Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson for being Epic writers of a the best fantasy series ever written.

If anyone wants to check out the original:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/45319

Also there is a question towards the end of the episode about the Maidens and whats happening with them towards the end of Lord of Chaos on the march to The Wells. I’d appreciate it if we could get some audience feedback on what is going on between Nandera and Sulin at that time.

Marco and I met at the Hall of Servants Group at librarything.com and realized just how huge Wheel of Timee Geeks we were. In the run up to A Memory of Light we thought a podcast would be fun to do, so heres our first attempt.

In this episode we cover:

1. Introductions

2. A general history of how we started reading the Wheel of Time, favourite books in the series, favourite characters and so on.

3. An in depth discussion on Lews Therin Telamon and his relationships with the various forsaken.