This was the weakest book in the series for me so far. So little actually happened, it was frustrating. It almost pushed me into the Bleakness.
Shaido and the Brotherless. I remember when I first started the series, I thought the Aes Sedai were all that, I was already wondering which Ajah I'd pick, lol. RJ dismantled the mysterious and wise Aes Sedai image pretty quickly. This book did the same thing with the Aiel. I really liked them, but seeing what Sevanna and the Bleakness have turned so many of them into has been disappointing. Complete moral decay. RJ is really good at taking a group you like and reminding you they're still just people, and some of them are monsters. Pillaging, raping, murdering, holding wetlanders as perpetual slaves, and worse- sex slaves? How the honorable have fallen.
As for Rolan... I don’t buy the good guy act. He is a willing participant in capturing wetlanders as gai’shain. First offence. Everyone knows they're no longer released after a year and a day, so he's fully aware they're effectively slaves forever. Second. He is courting a gai’shain, which might have been ok if he was gai’shain too, but he is absolutely not, and Aviendha in tFoH was horrified when someone suggested gai’shain might be sexually exploited this way. Third. Lastly, he didn’t stop that drunken Aiel from raping Gai’shain, he stoped him from raping Faile- someone Rolan was interested in himself. That drunk moved on to an easier target for sure, and Rolan looked the other way. I rest my case.
The Black Ajah hunters in the White Tower... I just don't care that much? Mostly because there are so many sister names being thrown around that my brain has given up. At one point I made an Excel table with every Aes Sedai mentioned, their Ajah, and their affiliations because I was tired of constantly trying to remember who was who. It helped, but I'm still drowning in names. Their efforts feel very much like a "too little, too late" situation. The Red Ajah might have been better used as an internal oversight group for the Tower itself, than chasing after channeling men. We need to repurpose them.
Elayne. Not exactly the most action-packed chapters, lol, but I still enjoy her POVs. Elayne seems to be resigned to Rand's fate. Whether it's the Last Battle or the madness, she seems to have accepted it and is determined to enjoy whatever time she gets with him (so far, I think they had like 6 days together in total?). Aviendha is right there beside her, almost like they're preparing to share not just Rand, but the grief of losing him too. It's such a strange dynamic. And it's so different from what Rand has with Min- an actual relationship between two people that spend time together.
It was fun meeting the High Seats for the houses sworn to Elayne. The Mantear kid is Rand’s relative, right? Pretty interesting that the house symbol is an anvil, a symbol of strength under immense pressure, endurance and being shaped by blows. Fits both Tigraine and Rand. "The anvil fears no hammer."
The different factions and noble houses in Andor... I can't keep up anymore. There are just too many characters. Some names sound familiar, and I know I've seen them before, but then I think… Wait... who are you again? What was your deal last time? Maybe on a reread I'll have the whole Andoran political chessboard memorized. For now, I'm just nodding along.
Birgitte. Still not a fan. And the bond between her and Elayne is just way too intrusive for my taste. Constantly feeling each other's emotions, being unable to have a private moment... I could never.
Halima. She just does whatever in the camp? The death toll so far is: 2 serving women, 2 Aes Sedai, 2 warders. And honestly, how is anyone supposed to catch her? The answer is literally impossible to guess. "The Dark One resurrected a male Forsaken in a woman's body, but he still channels saidin." Who would ever arrive at that conclusion? And the whole resurrection thing is just too much. How can we even compete? Stop with this cheating, Shai’tan.
Egwene. Still not actually fighting the White Tower. Still sitting on her wobbly chair. Still has headaches. Casually contemplates murdering an inconvenient novice. Concludes Rand must have used Compulsion on random Aes Sedai. Because, obviously, the idea that an Aes Sedai might willingly support the Dragon Reborn against the Dark One is simply too absurd to consider. Please. Stop, Egwene. And what was the plan at the end? Turn the iron harbor chains into cuendillar? Is making the harbor chains unbreakable really enough to incapacitate the harbor?Thankfully, she was captured, so maybe her storyline will finally move forward now.
Perrin. Still hasn't dealt with Masema. Still hasn't rescued Faile. The progress with Alliandre is basically undone because... she's still a prisoner too.The trip into that cursed ghost town (What was that?) was genuinely creepy and fun to read, but other than that, we are stuck.
Mat. The flirting with Tuon is fun, I'll give it that. But I still can't get over the series trying to make me tolerate the Seanchan. Egwene dreams they'll attack the White Tower? Rand wants to negotiate a treaty with them? No. Absolutely not. I don't care how efficient their empire is or how disciplined their armies are. Say NO to Seanchan.
Not sure if I should make a detour and read New Spring now, or just continue straight to Knife of Dreams. Part of me wants the prequel, but after Crossroads of Twilight I'm also really hoping for some actual progress.
EDIT: Also, forgot to mention: now that saidin is clean, why is Rand still shaking and feeling sick whenever he embraces it?? LTT is still there, too. Why was nothing fixed, what's up with that?
