For those who finished KOD "spoilers"

[Humanraindelay]

WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW













Lets discuss it.

I kinda like how Matt became the Prince of Ravens and how Perrin rescued Faile but I was dissapointed the the Two Rivers men didn't have a greater role in her rescue.

I also was dissapointed in Elaynes childishness when she went after the black sisters in Caemlyn. She took a cut purses word that there was only two of them there and thought she could march on in and just arest them? She gets two sisters and there warders killed and nobody seems to care. She then stumbles into a victory and secures the throne of Andor.

My favorite part of the book though was Egwene and her inside the White Tower although I very much wanted to see her confront Elaidia though.

What are your thoughts?

 

[terracapri]

Methinx mat's character is coming out really well. but i m NOT happy with rand loosing his arm....
i guess they should just balefire semhirage ASAP so that rand can get his arm bak!!

 

[asdar]

I like Matt's chapters a lot and love the relationship with the empress. While I thought her return to power was a little simplistic I liked the story that's going on there. I'd be hard pressed to say whether I liked Matt better or Egwene.

Egwene's chapters were a gem for me. I really liked her in this kind of role where she shows the wisdom that she had even in the first book. I liked almost everything about her chapters, especially how she seems to be turning the tower.

I don't want to criticize too much but I hated Perrins chapters. I'm glad he finally rescued Faille but there was just nothing there in my opinion. Not really much with the wolves and I didn't see any forward progress except that he got her out. He was one of my favorite characters and I feel robbed by the last three books.

I like that Rand lost his hand, for the first time in 3 books I like his character again. One thing about Rands character that I liked but didn't make sense to me was his skill with a sword. If he can crack the world what matter that he can stab 5 people at once with a sword. He could just sweep 5 thousand off the land with fire.

I didn't mind Elayne so much but I take your point well. I can't see attacking any sisters with less than overwhelming power.

Overall I was a bit disapointed, but it was ok. I'm ready for it to tie up, I'll tell you that. After the first four books I could not imagine getting tired of this story, but I am tired.

 

[Foxtale]

I'm sort of wondering how he's going to finish it all... like,,, Rand has yet to make an alliance with the Seanchan, the White Tower is still split, there's yet to be a huge rescue attempt for Moraine(is that right?), not to mention the Last Battle. All in one book seems unlikely.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

I really enjoyed the desperation in this book. As the last battle approaches utter chaos seems to rule the day and I really felt that very strongly throughout KOD.

 

[Quokka]

I'd basically lost all enthusiasm for the wheel of time series but in the end KoD reminded me of just how good it could have been. I really, really struggled to get into it but then some characters started to shine through similar to what's been mentioned before, Egwene inside the tower and Mat's chapters were really enjoyable.

On the other hand Perrin fighting for Two Rivers in the Shadow Rising is still a personal favourite storyline but it's been downhill since and I never really enjoyed the abduction storyline (over what 3 books?), I was really glad that Elayne got free straight away, after Faile, Rand now Egwene being abducted I wasn't real keen on reading of an extended captivity (though I suppose with only one book to go I should have seen that coming ).

Maybe it's because I read some of the critisism but did almost every female character seem to read the same?

And some of the characters like Galad and Gawyn seem to have been all but dumped from the story?

Still, all the different players starting to physically move towards the Last battle was good, certainly made the book feel like it was actually progressing the storyline more than the last couple.

After the first 4 books I was such a huge fan of this series and like I said KoD just reminded me of how good it could have been.

One last point, somewhere down the track I think I will reread the series, I read the first 4 all in one hit since then (something like 15 years now ) its been one every few years. I wonder if reading them straight through makes them flow a whole lot better or if it will still seem like it all got lost in the middle somewhere?

 

[Frozeninja]

Have to agree with Rahl and Foxtale here. The desperation in the book was great, showed a new urgency (Hah ... RJ ... Urgency ... who would have thought) in the books. But though things happened in KoD, the next book is supposed to be the last and there are still a lot of prophecies to fulfill, and things to happen. I'm kind of worried that we're going to end up with a book that has put so much in that there isn't really anytime to savour what's happened before being thrown into the next event. KoD was a good balance, and I hope it continues like that.

I thought Mat's character was great, and whole thing between him and Tuon added a kind of good nature which balanced the despair featured throughout the rest of the book. Elayne was painfully immature at most points during the book which made it a little tempting to skip her parts at times. One of the things I found most interesting was that Rand actually lost his hand, as per one of Min's earlier visions. Now I (probably like everyone else) was expecting some metaphorical manifestation of this viewing, not for Rand to actually get his hand blown off, which came as something of a surprise.

 

[dwndrgn]

I think I agree with most of you in that Matt's and Eqwene's chapters are the best. I also liked the sense of urgency, making the reader feel as if something will happen, and soon.

Perrin's chapters did leave a bit to be desired - just kind of dull.

I like the fact that Rand loses the hand - it makes him seem more human than he has in a while.

Elayne's childishness - as stated way too often by the author, is a result of her being pregnant. Anyone who's known a pregnant woman would know that they can be all kinds of different than normal when those hormones get kicking. Which means that taking that into consideration, her actions can be considered normal.

Of course, the trying to take down two dark sisters without serious backup was a mistake. However, she did have physical backup outside and the ter'angreal that she expected to turn the balance in her favor. She was acting on an impulse without thinking it through beforehand (there's a word for that and it escapes me at the moment).

Edited to add: the word I was looking for was impetuous. Now I feel better.