#while this is very much an egwene and perrin book mat really steals the show here i am sorry

[sosei]

I just realized I never posted about finishing The Dragon Reborn.

It's a solid book, and its the first in the series to not at all center on Rand, with him having only a few sections where we see his PoV at all.

it(Huh, I hadn't realized how much of an Egwene book this was until I looked at this breakdown just now). wrt

One effect of this is that Rand's throught process so much more of an enigma. Because not only do we not see his PoV, he leaves the group for an extended period of time and the few glimpses we get of him he is positively unhinged with paranoia and sleep deprivation. So badly so that its clear even in his own PoVs that he isn't thinking straight.

The other major effect of this shift in focus is that Mat not only gets his first PoV scene in the series, but he almost universally becomes a reader favorite almost immediately. Cool shit and probability bending around him to frankly absurd degrees aside, there is just something with how post TDR Mat is written that makes him a major departure from everyone else. There are just these layers of frankly impressive writing that gives all of his scenes such a unique vibe. They somehow feel more light-hearted than the rest of the book, despite dealing with as dark, if not darker subject matter than the rest of the characters. I think that partially owes to Mat's Ta'veren* gimmick (which he is only just discovering in this book) being that the laws of probability are warped beyond recognition around him. Allowing certain perilous situations to play out in an almost more slapstick way.

But the Big Thing that makes Mat interesting to read (for me at least) is the massive disconnect between what he says and thinks, and what he does. Unlike the other boys, he has absolutely no qualms against lying if the situation calls for it. The thing is, those lies extend to himself. He will loudly insist that he's no hero from the stories and that only a fool helps someone for nothing in return, with his internal narration very much agreeing with the sentiment. Only to immediately turn around and give a hefty sum of money to a refugee on the street so she can feed her children.

Mat insists not just to the people around him, or even to himself, but to the audience that he is just out for himself and that he'll never do something that would inconvenience him.

But what does he actually do? He travels across half a goddamn continent and breaks into a fortress because he overheard that someone was going to try and assassinate someone he knows.

Mat puts a lot of work into his prankster/scoundrel act, to a point where in-universe a lot of people don't think he is particularly reliable. But there isn't a motherfucker on the planet who is more likely to be right where you need him when you need him that Matrim Cauthon.

Which is going to make for a very interesting post later down the line when that idea begins to contrast with Perrin.

[sixth-light]

Non-book-spoiler (or any spoiler) thoughts about Wheel of Time: I liked it a lot! So far it’s keeping a brisk pace, there’s enough exposition to keep track of what’s happening but not too much, the aesthetics of the show are gorgeous, and the cast are all very good as well as very well-cast. Plus people actually, you know, like each other, which is always my number one metric for whether I’m going to like a story. You do have to be in for a (at this stage) very LoTR-but-with-more-ladies epic fantasy show pastiche, but if that sounds like something you could enjoy, I think this is worth checking out. (Warnings wise: lots of violence, mostly heat-of-battle but one instance of implied torture, tasteful nudity.) 

Book spoiler territory (as well as a couple of show spoilers) below the cut:

My overall takeaway is that the people making this show like the books, understand what has made the books popular, and are trying to make their own visual interpretation of the books. They’re not afraid to make some very major changes but with one glaring exception (PERRIN) they are appropriate and logical changes for a compressed plotline and introducing key characters/worldbuilding notes in a structured way. I really liked one thing they did in episode three which was clearly structured to give book readers a real shock/surprise, while also being comprehensible and equally surprising for show-only viewers, while in retrospect directly adapting a canonical plot beat. That’s hard! 

The cast are all excellent and their acting and the script nail the characters even when the dialogue is new - there’s a lot of scenes where I knew that nobody had said or done that in the books, but if Rand or Egwene or whoever had done that or had that conversation...I believe that’s how it would have played out. The Moiraine-vs-the-Whitecloaks scene - SUCH a good demonstration of how the first oath works! I also really enjoy that instead of the boys all constantly complaining about the incomprehensibility of women, they talk to them! They don’t always come away understanding each other, but conversations are in fact happening. And some of the landmark scenes that are adapted fairly directly (e.g. Nynaeve sneaking up on Land and Moiraine, Egwene learning she can channel) are just great. I am so deep in the Lan/Nynaeve shipping hole already, and also the Egwene fangirl hole. SHE’S GOING TO BE THE AMYRLIN SEAT YOU GUYS. IT’S GOING TO BE SO GOOD.  

My main niggles are that they’ve made the Whitecloaks much more overtly violent and dangerous to Aes Sedai than they are in the books and I am...uncertain how this will play out longterm...and, of course, the Perrin Thing. Look, I don’t mind him being married, I love Laila being a blacksmith - it’s part and parcel of a concerted worldbuilding attempt to depict ~actual~ gender equality - but Perrin goes through it emotionally enough in the first two books without adding unintentional fridging to his list of Secrets To Be Sad And Self-Loathing About. And it is, unambiguously, fridging. They’re going to have to do a lot of work to pull that right. Thom’s first scene is also weird and OOC - Book!Thom would never steal from someone he’s never met to make...what point? That obviously skint people owe him money for busking? That was weird. His whole role and demeanour as an entertainer, someone deliberately trying to bring colour and joy into people’s lives, is gone. His other scenes were much better, though.  

On the flipside, the changes to Mat’s backstory make both his flaws and his virtues clearer and more meaningful from the get-go (he’s a bit of a nonentity for the first three books) and Barney Harris is very good, I am genuinely upset already that he’s leaving after this season. 

TL;DR I’m really upbeat about this? This could be really good? Fuck it’s definitely going to get cancelled after three seasons isn’t it

[adamreadsthewheeloftime]

Winter’s Heart- The Whole Book

Plot Summary:  Seaine and Saerin, who are actually two different people, root out a Black sister. Elayne and Aviendha become magical BFFs. Perrin finds out that Falie has been Taken, starts honing his very particular set of skills. Rand professes his love for Elayne, Aviendha and Min; Nynaeve is less than cool with the idea. Then Rand sleeps with Elayne while the other two get to experience it through the bond, which is understandably awkward. Then they all going on an adventure and leave Elayne and Aviendha behind; because there’s only so much awkwardness a reborn hero can take. Moridin orders the Forsaken to prevent Rand from cleansing the Source, thus ensuring that it will definitely happen. Mat meets Tuon, who correctly ascertains that he is a slut. Then he finds out who she is, and kidnaps her, ‘cause romance. Rand fights renegade Ashaman in Far Madding, a city that is protected by a giant plot device that blocks the One Power. Cadsuance and Nynaeve counter it with their own mini-plot devices, busting Rand and Lan out of jail. Rand uses the Choeden Kal to cleanse the source, creating a conduit of Saidar through which he channels Saidin, and using the diametrically opposed evil force concentrated in Shadar Logoth to... you know what, I still don’t really get what happens here. Anyway, everyone in the world attacks them, Cadsuane and the others hold them off with magical machine guns, and it all works out.

Always thought this was one of the better books. For one thing, Rand’s quest to cleanse the source gives the book a self-contained structure that makes it a satisfying read. Even though everyone else is just advancing their stories, Rand’s story has a beginning, middle and end that make sense, and it frames everything else nicely. It’s also Rand’s biggest accomplishment before he becomes enlightened later on, which is nice. From here on out, Rand is pretty much Grumpy Cat until Dragonmount. I love the whole story about rooting out Darkfriends in the tower, even though many of those Aes Sedai are pretty much interchangeable when I read it. Not Pevara; she’s the boss. But Yukiri? Seaine? I couldn’t tell you if they appear anywhere else in the series, and I’ve read it at least a dozen times. I think Saerin is the head of the Greens, the one who ends up helping choose to raise Egwene and heal the Tower? I could probably google the answer...

Am I the only one who starts to worry about Elayne being bonded in weird ways to too many people? I mean, we know that bonding a woman Warder has some side effects, and the whole thing with Aviendha seems pretty heavy, and now she and Min and Aviendha and Rand are all connected with a bond that Elayne basically invented. Seriously, those kinds of things should have FDA approval before you go laying them on the Dragon Reborn.

It’s worth pointing out that all of those people who keep telling Perrin to kill Masema, they are all correct. Everything would have been so much simpler, and maybe Aram could do something interesting with his alternate lifestyle choice. Instead, we have to wait until Faile loses her chill three books from now.

Okay, so, the Guardian of Far Madding. I’ve got some issues. First of all, if it blocks the One Power, then why does it have a really precise mechanism for locating anyone who channels the One Power, a mechanism that they apparently watch like hawks all of the time? I mean, shouldn’t this be something that literally never registers a hit? They sure as heck seemed surprised when Cadsuane did her little trick for them; didn’t they just find Rand and Lan because someone was channeling in the city? I think I’m missing something.

 Also, considering how important the One Power is in Randland, shouldn’t the Guardian be considered more important? Like, why not invade Far Madding, kill the twenty or so soldiers there and steal the damned thing? Throw it in a wagon, and bust it out when the Seanchan are using their damane on you. Or drop it into the White Tower, and then take the city without needing to fight sisters. I’m pretty sure Mat would have thought of this in about five minutes...

Fain keeps showing up and being all mysterious, making you think that his part in the climax of the series is going to be mind-blowing. Spoiler alert:  :(

I expected the cleansing of the source to be more... elegant. I mean, the actual mechanism for cleansing; something brilliantly simple but obvious in hindsight. Instead, Rand just uses Shadar Logoth to kind of scrape away the evil. But whatever, that’s a nerd complaint. The scene itself is pretty epic, everyone running around and magic-ing. Poor Eben.

Anyway, one of the better entries, and lots of great moments. On to Crossroads, which I have promised myself I will not just skim. :)