Amazing review. We have different views on a lot of things, but your recall of imagery and parts of the prophecy is really impressive. I have read the series three times and don't recall most of that stuff. I agree with you wholeheartedly about Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve NOT being true Aes Sedai. Egwene has a really idiotic passage in this where she says the Oaths don't really matter right after cornering Sheriam because of the Oaths and then right before she has Aes Sedai assure Bryne's army that Rand hasn't sworn fealty to the Tower. Why would the army care what Aes Sedai say? Because they've taken the OATHS! I also agree that Rand immediately going to attack Sammuel right after getting up from being nearly killed is crazy. Like Jordan HAD to quick get that in before the end of the book. I don't agree about Elayne and Nynaeve, though I do share much of your general sentiment towards them. Elayne forced Nynaeve to apologize; she never would have otherwise, and in fact, she barely did still. Elayne MIGHT have tried to work more with Matt, or sooner, but Nynaeve, who knows Matt better, swore it was a bad idea and that Matt would mess everything up. Elayne had two great character moments when she gave the medallion back to Matt AND when she gave Matt a heartfelt apology after he saved her at the end. I think because of being the future Queen of Andor, Elayne HAS to demand respect from everyone and hold herself above everything, but despite that, she still is willing to admit when she is wrong and appreciate what people have done for her. Of all the haughty women in the series, I have always given Elayne close to a pass because she IS the future Queen. She has a reason to act arrogant. I agree that her twice saying they had found the Bowl, when they had not, was super annoying, but I think it was more for saving face in front of the other women and NOT to spite Matt. Again, I refer to the above as to why Elayne feels she always needs to be respected and look competent. Lastly, the scene where Rand and Min admit their love for each other and Min watches the Maidens bathe Rand might be my favorite scene in the entire series up to this point. It is SO refreshing to see a man and a woman actually act like they care for each other. I disagree with this notion that Min has somehow diminished herself. She wouldn't wear one of those feather dresses if she was paid to. She is exactly where she should be. Rand needs her. I doubt very highly Rand would have made it anywhere close to Tarmon Gaidan without her.
I really want to! I get way more people asking for a return than I would’ve expected so it does make me want to post again I’ve just been genuinely too busy to do what I usually do for my reviews. I’ve only read 3 books since my last upload… Trust though that if I do get more free time I’ll be back! Glad you’re enjoying the WoT reviews 😁
Imo lan should have stayed dead (he did die, rand brough him back). Either that or someone else shoild have gotten to demandred. I still think lan sheathing the sword is the best way to do it, but a wild card idea i had recently was galad, using a quarterstaff to call back to matt and he and gawyn
You are spot on the Elayne chapters are torture I just finished it a few weeks ago and this book was a total snoozefest. I also like Balmer what his agenda will truly be. The Dark hound stuff sounded interesting and then ended up going nowhere for the rest of the book.
Your opinion of this book is the closest I have heard to my own!a lot of people like to crap on this book, even WoT fans, as being one of the lesser books in the series… but The sense of immersion and adventure was something I had never experienced before from a book at the time I first read it. I also did not have many of the same problems others seemed to have with it (pacing, overly descriptive, copies Fellowship too much, etc). I love the way Jordan describes things, it made me feel like I was able to curl up into this world with very little effort. I am excited to watch your other WoT reviews :)
I think a lot about how untrustworthy the ae sedai are in compared to channellers in other cultures. The seafolk and aeil don’t need oaths to trust their women who can channel. Both cultures also have women who channel refer to or look up to women who can’t channel, which is something the ae sedai would NEVER do. It’s completely beneath them. Also, the black ajah can’t comfortably take orders from non-channellers either and it’s 10% bc they’re ae sedai, not bc they’re dark friends. To your point about ae sedai being conniving, I think their huge egos get in the way of them actually being successful in their schemes. Aleida does try to control the dragon reborn, but cannot fathom the black tower actually being a threat until after 50 of her women are essentially enslaved. Verrin and Moraine seem cunning enough when to have humility or when not to underestimate others. Catsuane is just a force to be reckoned with too lol.
I like Mat more and more with each book, he’s the perfect person to deal with all the different personalities different groups of women have. To handle ae sedai and suldame hiding in the same room? His story line is unpredictable and unbelievable in an entertaining way, not as predictable as Rands taveran work. I do wish bathe suldame’s acceptance arc was more flushed out. Rena and sita were introduced in book 2, so to see their arc shown in passing was disappointing since it was built up for so long and also has huge implications for the future as the sanchen have already collared so many women in the West lands by this point. I still loved to see that rena and sita accepted that damane are no different than them and was shocked by sita forcing herself to channel so she can be taught. If egweynes arch didn’t drag on, this would’ve been a great opportunity for her to be involved. I also hated how much Perrin sacrificed for his wife. I get him being crazy enough to risk his life, but to give the sanchen 200 damane? There should have been a secret plan to free them immediately after. I don’t know why the wise ones and ae sedai would back such a. Selfish plan. Even the ashaman are better off with the white tower than the sanchen.
Whoa making that connection between Davram Basheer and Perrin. Gotta wonder if Jordan wanted to kill Perrin off. It probably would've been a better arc than Egwene senselessly dying.
This video is very old so I don't know if you still check posts on it, but when Jordan was originally writing Taim he WAS Demandred. There are old videos/interviews where either he or maybe Sanderson talk about it. Basically Jordan was setting him up to be Demandred but many in the fandom guessed it so Jordan changed it.
Hey just rewatching this and did you ever figure out who Setalle Anan was before you finished the series? I can’t remember if it was ever formally revealed in the Sanderson books but someone who figured it out explained it to me and I thought it was pretty neat.
@@Smycoo yeah she was the one who was brought up a handful of times by aes sedai in the tower and in ebou dar when talking to the girls about the dangers of objects of the power
I agree with your take completely on Egwene. She might be a badass who does cool things, and is a great nuanced character by the end, part of that nuance is her being a terrible person with some of the worst possible qualities
I can definitely tell that your enthusiasm fell for this series after about book 8 or 9, I was watching your old Fire of Heaven review and you seemed so excited when explaining all your theories. But on the whole i kind of agree with your sentiment for this series: due to nothing happening in the slog, plot arcs that were more interesting and kinda necessary needed to be crammed into the last couple of books, leaving me quite a few unanswered questions that Id had from the first book such as: what is the deal with wolfbrothers and why can Mat speak the old tongue?
It’s such a shame really. I can see why people love this series. I did for the first half but the slog is just so detrimental to the enjoyment of the second half for me but it was in a way that I really haven’t seen people mention before. It’s like people overhype how bad the books are for the most part but severely understate the effect they have on the series overall. Which weirdly enough makes the slog as bad as people say but for other reasons. Mainly being how it sapped out most of the potential both with plot and characters. Or maybe it’s just me 😅
@tommitchell6314 Sorry for the late reply, I started making these reviews during my last year of uni and continued for a bit while I just worked part time. Unfortunately now that I’m working full time my evenings are pretty much completely taken up by other things that need to be done so I really don’t have time to read and then record videos. Since my last upload I’ve only gotten through the first half of dune… So sadly I have stopped for now but if I ever end up with the time to make more I definitely will!
@@Smycoo no need to apologise my friend. Life gets in the way for us all! Enjoyed the reviews you did and hopefully one day I’ll see you pop up again. Best of luck with the job!
Kinda gutted that this is the last video before memory of light, I get that a towers of midnight review wouldn't be as good, seeing as you've finished a memory of light and all your thoughts and predictions would be spoiled, but your content is such high quality I'd still watch it.
In order to be able to keep on with the series i started skipping the chapters that didn't have Rand in it. It was a necessary thing and without it i would most definetly quit wot because of the slog. But now i feel like i got used to it more than i should have and i get zero pleasure from even perrin and mat chapters. I hope brandon sanderson will change the way series made me feel about the characters.
I think you’ll find books 12-14 more enjoyable though 13 doesn’t have as much Rand because it occurs at the same time as 12 which is like half Rand POV. Can’t make any promises though but they are a lot better than the slog books.
Haha I've watched this video 5 times now and the line 'is Elayne smoking something out the back the wagons?' makes me burst out laughing everytime. You are my favourite booktuber, you honesty in the reviews is always funny and insightful, you pick up all the small details that I miss and have great predictions and theories.
Great video as usual, you mentioned that the people who lived on the sea folk Isles had all killed themselves, I thought it was Alviarin as in book 10 she comes back from one of the Isles after an unknown mission from Mesaana. My other thought was that because the Choeden Kal had been used during the cleansing and one of them was on Tremalking that they knew when it was used it would signal the last battle was coming and that the age was ending (and they may as well kill themselves?) Not sure about that last bit
Egwene and Elayne are both so stupid, I wish Bael and Bashere would just crush the Camelyn siege so I could stop reading about it, and why did the rebel Aes Sedai spend months prepping to invade tar valon and end up with literally no plan as to how to actually do anything other than sit around? As usual great review
Haha yeah both their arcs in the second half of the series are serious tedious snooze fest for me personally 🤷🏽♂️ Would help if either had redeeming qualities that appeal to me but it is what it is…
I'm pretty sure it was revealed in book 2 that suroth was a dark friend as she was working with liandran when they collared Egwene. Also, in the scene of the forsaken planning, Lanfears new body is described to be that of a short woman, maybe she took morraines body? No idea though tbh.
Book 2 was my favorite book in the first trilogy. You’re in for a treat! You seem really excited to not be reading wheel of time anymore 😂 I don’t know how you managed to read all 14 in a row, I take a break after 3 books just to not burn myself out. Great review!
The way Elayne went after Mat's ter'angreal rubbed me the wrong way as well. It really demonstrated how the Aes Sedai feel entitled to use the One Power against people whenever they want.
Been listening through all the WOT videos and really excited youre going through First Law! Are you gonna do the stand alones and age of madness too? Really love your reviews!
I’ll definitely do reviews for the stand-alones and age of madness but they won’t be straight after the first trilogy. So far the books are so good I’ll want the Abercrombie books to last a while 😂
I was also bummed that we had so much Elaine POV and almost nothing from Nynaeve’s POV. Even if she was near Rand, there is so much healing and things she could’ve been doing with the people and helping the Asha’man… etc. Nynaeve definitely had more potential for something interesting to read.
Yea you’re right I’m sure she could have had some more page time but hey by towers of midnight she still completes an amazing arc. I just wish Elayne wasn’t such a terrible replacement.
