Live Blogs The Liveblog of Time: The Eye of the World

Eegah2012-04-03 17:54:37

Rand introduces the group to Loial, and he spends some time being his awesome self. Soon Moiraine comes down with Mat; she’s made a stopgap measure, but he’ll still die if the dagger is removed and needs to get to stronger Aes Sedai quickly before it starts affecting him again. His apology is very well done, and with the dagger’s influence over for now, can he please start being Rescued for real?

Then something I’m very thankful for, especially as I’m now in the middle of reviewing Lost on Youtube: everyone sits down to compare notes. And after a Crowning Moment Of Funny where Rand stuns everyone with his story of meeting the royal family, the Eye of the World inevitably comes up, and Moiraine actually seems afraid of what it could mean, which is apparently stopping time, though there’s still no specifics on what the hell the title of the damn book actually is. That’s really getting annoying now.

Moiraine is a bit pissed at not being told about the dreams until now, but says they can’t go to Tar Valon anymore, but to the Eye itself (WHATEVER IT IS) in the Blight. So the good bulk of this book’s plot was pointless; thanks, guys. And the only way to get there in time is for Loial to go to the area’s Ogier grove, which the palace currently stands on, and find a spot that will somehow get them there in days. But he says it will kill them, and we’ll have to wait until the next chapter to find out why.

After so many infodumps throughout the book, it’s pretty neat to get a chapter like this, where we don’t really learn any new information, but what we do know is laid out and refined. It would have been nice to know about this quasi-teleportation system before now (unless it was in there somewhere and I missed it among the ton of other backstory, which is entirely possible) but the rest fits very nicely, and even has a nice nod to the coincidences of their being provided the perfect solution to their problems, which hasn’t worn out its welcome yet, though I am keeping an eye on it.

Comments

Sabbo Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 3rd 2012 at 7:18:02 PM

I doubt the Ways were mentioned before this chapter, as they only relate to the Ogier, male Aes Sedai, the Stedding, and the great cities (Caemlyn, Tar Valon, Manetheren, and a number of others.)

71.93.175.114 Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 12:53:11 AM

Yeah, the Ways weren't mentioned, but there's a pretty important reason on why they shouldn't be using them.

And now you know why Mat's been in Scrappy territory so far. And don't worry. When Mat gets his BAM Fness on, it is ON. He IS my all-time favorite fictional character for a reason, you know. ;)

-Kiryn

Arilou Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 1:15:26 AM

Remember that there's more than a dozen books left: A lot of stuff that gets introduced now is "really" for later books.

Sabbo Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 4:32:59 AM

Ah, I just realized something. You know how you (Eegah) are getting super-curious about what the Eye of the World actually is? Well I just thought it'd be a good idea to let you know how relevant each of the titles are. Don't read if you don't want to know... not that it's really spoilering anything.

• Eye of the World: An actual thing found near the end of the book.
• The Great Hunt: You've probably already heard about this, but it has most of its relevance in this book (and some in the book after, too). It will likely also be relevant in the last book.
• The Dragon Reborn: An actual person, of course. Relevant in every book.
• The Shadow Rising: Figurative. Mostly ignorable.
• The Fires of Heaven: Figurative. Even more ignorable than the previous title.
• Lord of Chaos: Literal and figurative. Relevant in every book.
• A Crown of Swords: Literal, mostly. The crown only even gets named at the end of the book.
• The Path of Daggers: Figurative and semi-literal. The latter is in many of the books, and might feature in the last book to a degree.
• Winter's Heart: Figurative. The whole book takes place during a terrible winter, however.
• Crossroads of Twilight: Figurative. Ignorable.
• Knife of Dreams: Figurative, I think. Since I can't remember too well, it is likely rather ignorable.
• The Gathering Storm: Figurative, yet relevant.
• Towers of Midnight: Literal, I think. I don't remember too well exactly which towers this refers to, however. >_>
• A Memory of Light: No idea; this book will be released near the start of 2013.
• New Spring: Figurative. It's just a prologue; you don't really need to worry about the title.

montagohalcyon Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 11:16:21 AM

I think, might be wrong, that Knife of Dreams refers to the process of breaching the Tower of Ghenjei, which we find out needs to be entered in that book.

Literally, the Towers of Midnight are an actual place in a land the name of which would potentially be spoilery (where Tuon's from), but other than hearing of a rebellion there they don't come into the plot.

Figuratively it could be referring to the Tower of Ghenjei again, especially given what happens to a character there. Or, it could refer to the embattled White Tower. Or, the sinister goings-on at Taim's academy.

71.93.175.114 Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 8:22:03 PM

No, "Knife of Dreams" refers to a quote in the beginning of that book, but I suppose it could figuratively, or alternatively, or whatever, refer to the Tower of Ghenjei. Anyway, that quote is from a book that Mat will come to like a lot, and goes like this: "The sweetness of victory and the bitterness of defeat are alike a knife of dreams."

(And despite that it seems to be something of an unpopular opinion in the fandom, but I actually really liked "Knife of Dreams", damn it! It's the book that I've reread the most out of the entire series (well...the Mat sections, at least, haha).)

-Kiryn

montagohalcyon Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 4th 2012 at 8:31:38 PM

That was my favorite beginning-of-the-novel quote. I don't know how I forgot it. :(