Well, we are still with Egwene, but the dream world will have to wait, because now it’s time for her to take the Accepted test. Elayne has already done it, though I hope we at least get to hear about what happened to her. Unlike Nynaeve, she’s close enough to Egwene that she might talk about it. The first test is a happy future where she has a daughter with Rand, and may I point out, while leaving it is very hard, and quite a Tearjerker, she’s not nearly as emo about it as Nynaeve was about her future with Lan, which just makes that misbegotten subplot look even worse.
Then there’s a world where the Dark One has already won, and the heroes are fugitives. This one seems like it would be easy to give up, and sure enough she doesn’t have nearly as much of a problem with it, so the arches kind of whiffed there. Though it does get Sheriam to admit that thirteen channelers can brute force another one into becoming a Darkfriend…like Liandrin and the twelve who left with her.
The last test puts Egwene as the Amyrlin Seat, where she’s quickly captured by a group of Blacks. This leads to an extended Crowning Moment Of Awesome as she breaks out of their prison, takes the time to punch one in the face who she recognizes as Elaida’s friend, and kicks some more ass, until the portal shows up and she has to leave.
This was definitely an improvement on Nynaeve’s tests, thanks not only to not having any unwelcome plot points weighing it down, but giving us three very different and quite interesting settings for Egwene to make her way through. The third is especially good, as it goes on long enough and is so compelling in its own right that I was just starting to forget that she would be tested in her willingness to leave, making me feel very frustrated right along with her. So, now it’s time for the dreams, right?
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