Vincent > Recent Status Updates

Read Chapter 12 about education and profession, advancement versus attachment. My opinion is a balance between liking change and broad orientation on the one hand, and disliking distance, careerism and indifference. I don't want to spend my whole life on one thing, but nor do I want to feel like it doesn't matter how I perform because I'm just going to change course, anyway. Thankfully, that balance seems doable.

Finished Chapter 11, about honor and the willingness to espouse a sense of morality rather than being neutral about things to avoid disagreements or limiting one another's freedom of choice.

Read Chapter 10 about financialization, liquefaction, commodification, commoditization. This book is more politically engaged than Range, and I find myself agreeing with part of this at least. It's complicated, because I don't necessarily like the focus on tradition and the indictment on people changing things in their lives (simplification for space), but I agree with the importance of solid local connections.

Well, I have just finished reading the conclusion, and according to my e-reader I'm at 69% through the book. Peculiar. Acknowledgments next.

Chapter 47 was a bit annoying. Elayne was a bit mean and entitled and the Seanchan always make my blood boil (I hope they all end up dead). The end bit with Perrin and Mat was kinda cool.

Those were a few really exciting chapters. But... Hopper...

Finished Chapter 11, about the danger of overreliance on familiar tools, whether they be literal tools such as firefighters' equipment, or more abstract tools like NASA's culture of rigid hierarchical decision-making and insistence on quantitative data.

Oh light, Michael Kramer did the most adorable voice for Olver in this chapter. "Mat! Mat!"

How about that, proper communication! Jordan would never have done that.

Nynaeve hugging Rand? Love that. Jordan would never have done that.

A bully is a bully, whether she uses the strength of her arm or other means.

Kill 'em all! :D

Cadsuane is still insufferable, but Sanderson had no choice there, given how she has been portrayed so far. At least so many of the other characters are being salvaged. Perrin is getting better, Nynaeve is getting better, Rand is getting … well, yes, better. Mat is restored a bit to an earlier state, which isn't necessarily better but I don't mind it. And Egwene's storyline is fantastic.

Alright, that last chapter was really frustrating again, but I remain hopeful.

That last chapter (16 'In the White Tower') almost felt a bit too on the nose, too satisfying, but it does make sense given the established characters. What I appreciate about this book so far is that there is so much more logic to people's motivations and behaviors. We're finally seeing some sense, some empathy, even between genders, which was all but absent in previous books. I'll take it over what came before.

That last chapter (Chapter 12) was awesome. Loving Egwene's storyline here. I'm thinking I'm going to enjoy the last three books of this series a lot more than the first 11.

Loved that second chapter. I wonder if that was Sanderson's writing or Jordan's (apparently Jordan still left certain scenes here and there). Probably Sanderson's. Either way, it was satisfying.