A Memory of Light [FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION] Part 3

[Stubby]

Feel free to pick apart the threads in a new pattern.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Just wanted to tag onto the last couple of posts in the last thread that I thought dreamspikes were fucking stupid. Dreamshards, too. And while I'm at it, Dreadbane. RJ always had interesting Old Tongue names for things, and while BS couldn't (RJ made them up as he went along - there was no Tolkien-esque master grammar), he could've chosen names that sounded less stupid.

Even aside from the name, the whole concept of a dreamspike is stupid. How do they work? Why are they able to affect the real world?

Oh and something else that bothered me, and this particular one from Jordan and Sanderson. In TEOTW, the Shienarans say "Peace" all the time. Afterwards, I don't think we ever hear it from another Borderlander. It stuck out to me on my reread because I thought the idea was so cool, as explained by Lan in TEOTW.

[fionwe1987]

Even aside from the name, the whole concept of a dreamspike is stupid. How do they work? Why are they able to affect the real world?

Ummm... because Traveling is tied intimately with the World of Dreams?

[Shryke]

I liked Dreamshards. They were a restriction on Travelling that was unique and had it's own interesting quirks and all that.

[Opisthokont]

Oh and something else that bothered me, and this particular one from Jordan and Sanderson. In TEOTW, the Shienarans say "Peace" all the time. Afterwards, I don't think we ever hear it from another Borderlander. It stuck out to me on my reread because I thought the idea was so cool, as explained by Lan in TEOTW.

I'm pretty sure I read the longer form "May peace favour your sword" a couple of times in A Memory of Light.

[Reposado]

i must have just missed this, but what happened to sharad haran, or whatever the superfade was called? he seemed to not do much in amol. did i i miss something?

[Shryke]

i must have just missed this, but what happened to sharad haran, or whatever the superfade was called? he seemed to not do much in amol. did i i miss something?

He gave birth to the black ... thing at the end.

When Rand enters Thrakandar, his husk is on the ground and Moridin comments on it.

[Reposado]

He gave birth to the black ... thing at the end.

When Rand enters Thrakandar, his husk is on the ground and Moridin comments on it.

ah right, i remember that now.

for some reason i didn't make the connection the husk meant he was no more

[Frey Pie]

A lot of people seem to have missed out on the Shaidar Haran husk. Perhaps BS should have had Rand and the ladies beat it first and then disolve in smokiness to the Dark. Would have given the ladies something more to do

[Brendan Moody]

I've been reading through the old thread where the split of A Memory of Light into three parts was first discussed. Interesting to see how upset some people were at the time, and rather ironic that the only thing that gave others comfort was the belief the notes were so detailed everything that happened would come from Jordan, and that all those pages would be used to wrap up the various plotlines completely.

[Rhom]

I'm still okay with it. I can't picture a book where Rand has his revelation on Dragonmount in the first third of the book and the. Beats the Dark One later in the same book.

[Brendan Moody]

By the time of that thread a split into two had already been announced, so only the bitterest of the bitter were picturing that. Most people felt-- and given the final product I think justifiably so-- that two books were necessary but three was pushing it. As I understand, one of the biggest reasons for going to three rather than two was that separating the Rand and Egwene stories, with a little Mat and Perrin filler. was the only way to have a book ready for publication in 2009, which Tom Doherty felt was vital. (I'm sure the added profit from two rather than three books was a consideration too, but let's not go down that road.) I think expecting Sanderson to deliver a book in that timeframe was ridiculous and should never have been attempted.

[Maithanet]

I'm still okay with it. I can't picture a book where Rand has his revelation on Dragonmount in the first third of the book and the. Beats the Dark One later in the same book.

I agree, but I do think that two books would have been pretty doable. Book 1 could have included the two plotlines of Perrin/Galad and Mat vs the Ghloam. Then everything left (Tower of Ghenji, Egwene vs Mesaana, Perrin vs Slayer pt 1 would have been in the first half of Memory of Light. Really, this could have been accomplished pretty easily by shortening the battles in book 3 and deleting the Perrin/Mat filler in book 1. In addition, the Black Tower plotline would have been stronger if the action wasn't split between ToM and AMoL. That would also have the benefit of making AMoL have a lot more variety in the action scenes, instead of just hacking down innumerable Trollocs for hundreds of pages.

[Analu]

Finally finished it. Very pleased with the ending and the book.

May go back and read thru all the MOL threads, but probably will decide not to and just let myself be satisfied with the ending of a long journey for me and not read thru all the nitpicks.

[Myrddin]

May go back and read thru all the MOL threads, but probably will decide not to and just let myself be satisfied with the ending of a long journey for me and not read thru all the nitpicks.

That might be wise. :)

I was disappointed with the abrupt ending too, but some are more disappointed than others. And the people who are the most disappointed also take the most time to share their thoughts.

[Analu]

That might be wise. :)

I was disappointed with the abrupt ending too, but some are more disappointed than others. And the people who are the most disappointed also take the most time to share their thoughts.

I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised that seems to be the general opinion on here. I thought the pacing was awesome (like the book version of watching "Black Hawk Down") and he tied things up as best as he could. Ah well. I'm happy with the book.

[Isalie]

Don't know if it was because I listened to it as an audio book rather than read it, but I kind of disliked the entire book, the only thing that really moved me was Ituralde trying to fight Graendal's compulsion. The rest just felt so flat, I'm not trying to put any blame on Sanderson here, but the steady flow of slaughtering trollocs without taking any character casualties and contrived tieing up of plots did not do it for me.

Am glad it's over though, just wish it could have come a decade earlier while I still might have enjoyed it. Should probably peek in at dragonmount rather than go on about it here...

[Frog Eater]

I liked the book for the most part. I have started to post in here several times to post my nitpick, or two, but have kept refraining from doing so. I am glad Rand, Mat and Perrin lived at the end. Sorry Elaine and Avienda did.

I would have been more happy with an ending where Rand and Min go off to wherever to live happily ever after, where Mat and Tuon head back to Seanchan to recapture her crystal throne, and Perrin and Faile head to the Two Rivers to live out their days.

So I guess a few more pages to show me where the characters were headed would have made me happier than I was at the end of the book.

[Shryke]

Don't know if it was because I listened to it as an audio book rather than read it, but I kind of disliked the entire book, the only thing that really moved me was Ituralde trying to fight Graendal's compulsion. The rest just felt so flat, I'm not trying to put any blame on Sanderson here, but the steady flow of slaughtering trollocs without taking any character casualties and contrived tieing up of plots did not do it for me

It's not just the audio book.

The book drags in alot of places because of endless mind-numbing trolloc slaughter.

[Alytha]

Finished the book and finally caught up with the threads here.

Personally, I don't mind if some plotlines were dropped, because, as I've only read each book once, I don't actually remember them ;)

Didn't mind most of the 800pages of Trolloc slaughter, as the p-o-v's switch fast enough that even the boring ones don't get too tedious. That said, Perrin's endless and futile hunting of Slayer was pretty damn boring. As was Tam. I quite liked Pevara and Androl though. They were very human and much more sensible than the average WOT character.

In terms of emotional satisfaction at the end, I'm not quite decided. On the one hand, I'm happy that most of the core characters got their happy ending and found love. On the other, a few more deaths might have been more satisfying. I mean, of the characters we started out with, in Eye of the World, only Egwene and Bela (you bastard!!!) die, although pretty much all the others are on the brink of death but miraculously saved. Why not Egwene? Why save the two guys who have made their peace with the fact that they're going to meet an unpleasantly sticky end?

Of the 3 Sanderson books, Gathering Storm was by far the best, IMHO.

(for those who got the audiobook, how the hell do you pronounce "Seanchan" and "Lanfear"?)