Sanderson is done with WoT part 2

[Shryke]

Well, it's both. Both plotlines run for 3+ books, and are clearly secondary to the main storyline (tarmon gaidon and the war with the shadow). That is an awful lot of time to spend on a secondary plotline, and a lot of people were understandably frustrated. In addition, some of these books (namely 8 and 10) didn't even have many developments for the primary plotline, which could at least make these secondary stories more bearable. This frustration is doubled when you are left anticipating a book for a year, only to find that the "progress" in the book is actually only amongst these secondary plotlines, and that they weren't even resolved. Several boarders make the excuse that Crossroads of Twilight as being not that bad on the reread, but after the morass of books 8-9, it was exactly what the fans wanted not to happen - more rehashing of the events of book nine, and drudgery through these seemingly interminable stories. Most fans couldn't help but wonder why Robert Jordan didn't just get on with it and write the book that everyone wanted to read.

I don't buy this at all. The Perrin storyline especially is clearly a very important part of his development.

[Slurktan]

I disagree with the notion that Mat is as much of a leader as Perrin is. Sure his soldiers love but does anyone else think of him as anything other than a smart general. Perrin is shown to be as much a leader as Rand if not more.

[Opisthokont]

Afaik it's true - the eBook will be released in April. Pirating will be rather difficult, as the book will not be released in January. You could pirate the audiobook I guess, or you could hope some very diligent fan goes about and scans the ~1000 pages manually then uploads them :).

Scanned and OCRd ebooks in all common formats were available as torrents less than a week after the hardcover of Towers of Midnight was published. They are still listed on TPB if you want to check the upload dates.

I doubt it will take longer than that for the last book.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Woo!

Well, that should make all professional writers very happy.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Scanned and OCRd ebooks in all common formats were available as torrents less than a week after the hardcover of Towers of Midnight was published. They are still listed on TPB if you want to check the upload dates.

I doubt it will take longer than that for the last book.

On IRC channels,it was available a day after the official release,TPB was late :P

[Tempra]

On IRC channels,it was available a day after the official release,TPB was late :P

People still use IRC? That seems so 1995.

[instantdeath999]

I'm reading WOT for the first time, and I personally didn't even find COT that painful (still a little painful, particularly the Elayne sections). Knowing I can just pick up the next one really eases the pain.

FWIW AP, Path of Daggers is a lot of fans' least favorite book, beating even CoT for many. It does drag in many places.

It's definitely up there, but I personally really liked Rand's campaign against the Seanchan.

[Castel]

People still use IRC? That seems so 1995.

*looks at his IRC channel*

*leaves thread slowly*

[Opisthokont]

*looks at his IRC channel*

*leaves thread slowly*

The sad thing is that even though IRC is horribly outdated, and was pretty poorly designed to begin with, the things that people use for chatting these days (Twitter, Facebook etc) are even worse.

[Poobah]

Woo!

Well, that should make all professional writers very happy.

Well that's gonna be a problem when you start doing retarded shit like sell your prologue or put a £25 rrp on your books. Seriously. I love books, I love the physicality of them, I love holding them, I love having them, but even I'm going to stop buying them soon; at least hardbacks anyway, though paperbacks are getting steadily more overpriced too. Oh and I totally pirated the AMoL prologue 'cause fuck that noise.

[awesome possum]

I disagree with the notion that Mat is as much of a leader as Perrin is. Sure his soldiers love but does anyone else think of him as anything other than a smart general. Perrin is shown to be as much a leader as Rand if not more.

I agree. It's even mentioned time after time that people follow Mat not because he's a great leader but because of his luck. Soldiers believe they can't lose (not that they won't but that they can't) with Mat leading them. It's nothing he really does to inspire them. It's really no different than deciding to follow a certain side because they have guns and the other has sticks.

Perrin, despite his best attempts not to seem so, is a leader. Though from what I recall he becomes a pretty shitty leader during the whole Faile drama (Plotline of Doom is perfect), people still follow him because he's a powerful leader and not simply because they want to win and he gives them the best chance.

[instantdeath999]

I also believe people tend to follow Mat due to how "everyman" he is. He's not pretentious, he's not demanding, he's the type who's willing to drink with his soldiers and play games with them (and take all their money, of course). All in all, a likable dude that also has a near-perfect record in battle (but hasn't he only been in like one battle so far? Wish Jordan would have concentrated a bit more on that area of Mat's plotline.)

On that thought, I was personally a bit disappointed that Mat's foxhead amulet has become less and less significant to the plot. I've got my fingers crossed a Forsaken or something will come after him. I want to see if it will stop a fireball just once.

[awesome possum]

(but hasn't he only been in like one battle so far? Wish Jordan would have concentrated a bit more on that area of Mat's plotline.)

He was in quite a few battles in book 5 during the chaos with the Shaido. You don't see too many of them, but at one point he's trying to escape away from Rand's army and sees Talmanes/Naleseans' forces about to get cut down by the Shaido and intervenes. Then he spends the next day or so fighting battles across the countryside, often largely outnumbered. So technically it was one large battle spread out over many smaller fights. He also helps clean up Gaebril/Rahvin's White Lions.

And does a lot in the preparations for the invasion of Illian.

[instantdeath999]

Yeah, for reference I should mention that I've just started Knife of Dreams. I'm sure I'll see Mat as general again, but one of my personal wishes is to see the foxhead medallion put to a bit more use before the end. So far, it seems it's main use has been stopping Egwene/Nynaeve/Elayne from manhandling him :blushing:

Of course, it did come in handy that one time Arangar attempted to compel (?) him.

[Frey Pie]

He was in quite a few battles in book 5 during the chaos with the Shaido. You don't see too many of them, but at one point he's trying to escape away from Rand's army and sees Talmanes/Naleseans' forces about to get cut down by the Shaido and intervenes. Then he spends the next day or so fighting battles across the countryside, often largely outnumbered. So technically it was one large battle spread out over many smaller fights. He also helps clean up Gaebril/Rahvin's White Lions.

And does a lot in the preparations for the invasion of Illian.

Additionally later he sees alotta fighting against the Seanchan later on i his storyline.

As for Mat vesus Perrin i think theyre both charasmatic. Both are down to earth characters, more like the common soldier then the nobles. Perrin has to become more noble as he goes, with Faile hounding him also. Perrin seems more methodical to me, while Mat has more brilliance. I vary between which i prefer as a character. Mat spends time with the lower ranks, which Perrin also does. Mat has his battle luck though. Perrin has the Queen of Ghealen as his liege lady. Mat has swayed many high Tairen and Cairhienin lords. All in all od say their charisma is pretty even, while Mat outstrips Perrin in battle skill

[Frey Pie]

I think that Min had a viewing that Parrin had to be there for Rand twice. The first was Dumai's Wells, I'd say this is the second. My guess? It's Perrin who convinces everyone to follow Rand.

Possibly. How though? What would Perrin have to add that convinces Egwene that Rand knows what has to be done better than everyone else? Some blacksmith metaphor? Im not sure

I fully expect Rand to die in the next book. I think Egwene refuses to support his idea and so he dies. I think there will be two pockets of resistance that will hold up against the onslaught. Perhaps Egwene and Perrin, and Mat and the Seanchan. When all seems lost Rand will be reborn from TAR, everyone will come together and....not sure then

[Which Tyler]

Possibly. How though? What would Perrin have to add that convinces Egwene that Rand knows what has to be done better than everyone else? Some blacksmith metaphor? Im not sure

Just speculating, but maybe he'll have simply had enough of this bullshit, and knock their heads together.

Whilst Matt has the amulet, Perrin might actually have the balls for trying this.

[Frey Pie]

Just speculating, but maybe he'll have simply had enough of this bullshit, and knock their heads together.

Whilst Matt has the amulet, Perrin might actually have the balls for trying this.

Ha would be a good read alright!

[elmis]

Perrins storyline was important for his character growth, the problem with it was that it was just horribly boring and oversaturated with filler.

[Poobah]

If anyone has both the common sense and the balls to stand up to everyone else and say "Oh for fucks sake act like adults and allies for a fucking change, communicate and quit the posturing" it's definitely Perrin.

I also think that Perrin is by far a better leader than Mat. From what I recall Mat doesn't really do much 'leading' most of the time, and doesn't have much in the way of leadership quality given that he spends most of his time selfishly trying to get out of responsibility and run away from trouble. Mat is a great general with all his acquired memories and his natural instincts and flair for doing the unexpected not to mention his luck, but people join The Band because it's a winning outfit and the pay is good and stick for the same reasons. Mat's not as bad as Rand with this but he's still fairly hands-off with his forces when compared with Perrin - he only tends to interact with his commanders and a small inner circle of trusted and loyal men (Vanin, some of the other redarms that he takes with him) - mostly the men follow his reputation and luck, not him.

Perrin actually directly inspires his followers.