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Gigantic first “chapter” here we come!

The end of this book caught me completely off guard - I thought there would be another chapter or two and some climactic event after Egwene was captured, but nope 😂

Mat and Perrin both having encounters with the dead. Hints that saidar is weakening or broken. Rand almost entirely absent, but the Seanchan are making a treat with… someone? Maybe Masema. Murders in Egwene’s camp and intrigue in Caemlyn.

All lined up nicely for the finale!

So Habor feels like a place from a different world 😂

There should be a WoT drinking game for when a new cadre of minor characters is introduced, put into positions of influence and then revealed to be a Darkfriend.

Also more hints that saidar is “not working” or weakening in some way.

“Halima” is not being very subtle yet somehow is above suspicion from Egwene and Siaun.

That won’t last long if “she” is stupid enough to try giving Egwene a headache in the presence of Rand or an Asha’man who can see saidin though 🤣

Nicola is 100% going to be a big problem at some point.

It’s as if saidar is failing? That sounds like it could be a problem 🤣

Elenia’s first chapter is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma; I assume we’re not supposed what is happening and that all shall be revealed.

I assume a Forsaken is involved.

Elayne may not be able to channel during labour? I wonder if that will be a factor 🙄

Something wonderful or something terrible. Same words as Annoura. I think Annoura is a Darkfriend and also suspect Vandene killed her own sister. We’ll see 🤔

So Sareitha is all for Mellar, eh? He’s a Darkfriend so does that mean she is too, and Adeleas’ murderer as well? The plot thickens.

Hard to keep track of this stuff between books.

The traditional mammoth length first chapter sets the stage nicely.

Yet another army thrown into the mix in Arad Doman, and Caemlyn under siege.

Exciting times!

This book gives a fairly detailed and interesting account of the early history of Europe and it’s interactions with Asia, and occasionally China and Africa.

Then somewhere around the Renaissance it starts to speed up, becoming less detailed and more of a conventional retelling of the age of empires and WW1.

Rand clears the taint from saidin using the statues with Nynaeve.

Various forsaken, including reincarnated Lanfear, try to stop him but fail. Arangar, posing as Dashiva, killed.

One of Cadsuane’s party, Elza, is a darkfriend.

Mat flees Ebou Dar with Egeanin, kidnapping Tuon at the same time.

Mistress Anan used to be Aes Sedai, or linked to the Tower in some way it seems. Joline’s reaction to the a’dam was odd.

It is all coming to a head, it seems.

Was Verin about to poison Cadsuane?!

Taim is ordering asha’man to hunt Rand? The bastard.

Luc is the wolf killer and a super natural dream world assassin? Not super surprising.

How many will we THREE kill, Lews?

Interesting, unless I’m completely missing something.

Mat has just stormed into the room with Tylin, Suroth and Tuon, meeting the two Seanchan for the first time.

I realise now that the prophecy about the Daughter of the Nine Moons might be more about a forced marriage than a love story.

We shall see…

Very Rome and Persia/Arabia focused so far, surprisingly little of China and central Asia.

Daughter of the Nine Moons, eh? I wonder if that will be relevant later..? 🤣

Oh hey, a Mat chapter! What are the chances?!

Nice to have some of the disparate members of Team Rand meet backup again and re-sync. And other things 🤣

Nynaeve has clearly “stolen” Alivia to help use the giant sar’angreal. Maybe not clearly, but that’s the suspicion.

People from Nynaeve’s visions in the arches turning up in real life? I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Faile is an annoying character, but her band of idiots really are something else.

The tradition of gigantic first chapters continues!

We’ve got Checkov’s steam boat at the academy, among other things.

Things wrap up quickly, but it’s quite satisfying. A version of Liff is saved and another type of consciousness is added to the Human-portiid-octopus-corvid culture.

I cannot decide whether it is sadder for the colony to have lived and died and then been re-simulated or for it to have never existed at all.

I was mostly correct, it is an Inner Light situation but with a twist.

Incredibly sad.

I suspect Miranda / the Nod lifeform can absorb the colonists somehow and allow them to live again in some sense, although they are big on consent now and the simulated Imiri cannot really give it.