Doma reads Wheel of Time (NO SPOILERS ALLOWED)

Definitely don't want gentling clarified. Thank you for asking.

It's pretty clear that neither Rand nor Perrin does know what the Eye of the World is, though.

Yep, that's about my beef with the Tuatha'an right there. Though, reading further, Elyas is a really, really unpleasant traveling partner without them keeping him in line. :p

edited 7th Mar '13 5:37:57 PM by DomaDoma

Well if Perrin and Rand obviously don't know, then I guess it's just "We are here to herd you around your destiny, so don't ask questions, we're Aes Sedai and we know what's best for you."

Because Aes Sedai apparently have some contract that requires them to be Mysterious. (not a spoiler, I'm being facetious.)

edited 7th Mar '13 6:35:26 PM by ArcadesSabboth

Moiraine and Lan, I could put up with a bit of Mysterious from. But the ones obfuscating about the Eye of the World are Thom and Elyas. Maddening.

Big segment today. This stuff is almost as compulsive reading as YA fiction, without the regret. Only took me so long because someone stole my copy from the break room. Possibly for a second time!

Reactions, Eye of the World, Chapters 28-38

• So, apparently, Rand didn't get his coin back after all. Oh well.
• If Moiraine's been prevaricating, she's very good at it. So... why make Nynaeve more suspicious than she already is with her curt, vague answers to everything?
• We still don't know what Ajah she's in. Not that we know more than the Red and the Black thus far, and she probably isn't in either.
• Can't sleep - ravens will eat me.
• Yeah, Perrin, you better be beating yourself up about your plan to mercy-kill Egwene without asking her.
• Artur Hawkwing's statue's eye sounds like a good candidate for the Eye of the World, being at the center of a worldwide empire and getting some loving camera shots. But I hope not, because:
  • It would make Elyas not expositing what the Eye of the World is three times as forced.
  • "You might as well try to starve a stone as blind a... stone" is a pretty weak turn of phrase.
• In any case, I just love it every time I get an extended world history lesson. This shit's fascinating.
• Okay. Did not expect to get into trouble with the Whitecloaks so soon.
• So the dagger isn't causing Mat to make dream-deals with the Dark One, good to hear. It's more like the One Ring lite.
• Rand. Something's off about Four Kings, you say? Well, how about that EVERYONE THERE IS A TOTAL ASSHOLE TO WOMEN? Perrin wouldn't have stood for that shit long enough for Gode to show up, I can tell you.
• The readers who haven't caught on that Rand can touch saidin by the time he's saved by a freak burst of lightning must be calling foul.
• Though, given how very aggressive the Dark One is - seriously, every dead person goes to hell? And avowed servants of Satan are a relatively common thing? - divine intervention by the Light might not be too far out of the way.
• Aaand - okay, I'm jumping the chapter order a little here - in comes ta'veren, which is basically this universe's version of Victorian Providence. It's just what happens in nearly every fantasy novel with better justification, but I will take what I can get. And I suppose it explains how three vaguely and momentously important guys and two women with the makings of legendary Aes Sedai come to have grown up in the same podunk village.
• So yeah, basically confirmed that Thom isn't dead. Jordan isn't going to get our hopes up like that for no reason.
• The politics of Caemlyn are exactly my cuppa. I was hoping we'd get some intrigue in our epic fantasy.
• I don't even care that the Ogier are a clear ripoff of the Ents. Quickbeam is joining the party. That is the greatest thing ever.
• I love that Perrin put together the shot-while-trying-to-escape plan so easily. If Rand had that power... well, he'd know he can touch saidin, which might not be the healthiest thing for him, so it may be just as well.
• So, we've got Thom's arrest warrant, and Logain, and the Whitecloaks, and the main quest, all wrapped up in this powder keg called Caemlyn. Cannot wait to see how it goes off.

edited 10th Mar '13 10:29:21 AM by DomaDoma

I think Ogier are more comparable to typical fantasy elves (nature/tree-loving hippies living in Hidden Elf Villages) and not really anything like ents. They're just as "hasty" as humans, as Treebeard would say. And their purpose in life doesn't seem to involve being the guardians of all forests in the world.

Also, I can't recall but my recollection is they're fuzzy and look sort of like bears.

edited 10th Mar '13 11:28:49 AM by ArcadesSabboth

They say that humans are hasty - that word, mind you; they take around a year to convene; they're all about their groves. Also they built all the oldest cities and keep all the oldest histories, so they're like elves in that respect, but as for Loial, Loial is a very sober, meticulous person by human standards, but Ogier reckon him a hothead. He's Quickbeam as an Enting.

(I kinda pictured more of a lemur look, myself.)

RJ did love to spend time describing the history, culture and politics of his nations. Glad you enjoy that - I know some people find the books very slow because of it. There's the official Wo T Encyclopaedia for more background information if you're interested, though you'll probably want to finish a few more books first, as it contains spoilers. Sanderson and Harriet are going to write an updated edition at some point - exciting!

edited 10th Mar '13 2:09:30 PM by Yuanchosaan

In case you're wondering, Moiraine is in the Blue Ajah. (spoilered in case you really don't want to know, even though it's hardly a major plot point)

Ogier kind of embody both elf and dwarf stereotypes- they're dedicated to preserving nature, but they're also great stonemasons.

edited 10th Mar '13 2:58:21 PM by JimmyTMalice

And in case you're interested, the admitted Ajahs (not including the Black) are Red, Green, Blue, White, Yellow, Grey, and Brown.

Looked up who on earth Harriet is, and now I have to wonder why Jordan didn't just go by James Oliver Rigney, Jr. The name has a very writes-for-Analog sound to it.

And yeah, I consider those to be minor enough plot points that I totally did peek. But you keep spoilering, just in case.

Okay. It's a good thing that last map was there, or I wouldn't have been able to moderate my book intake at all.

Anyway, I realize I should probably start summarizing the segments I review. This series is so long, especially when you factor in publication dates, that most of you have probably forgotten half the story by the time you finish. Patchy memory seems to be an issue with this crowd.

So.

In Eye of the World, Chapters 39-45, the Caemlyn politics look to come to a head. What with eternal winter looming, most people in Caemlyn are blaming the Queen of Andor and her Aes Sedai advisor for the situation, because that's what people do to the guy in charge. Civil war seems like it's coming any day now.

In the midst of this, Logain is brought to the castle. Rand, trying to get a good view without a probable Darkfriend chasing him down, ends up falling inside the castle walls where Elayne, the crown princess, finds him and gets a mad crush, but he is discovered by the crown prince and princess' half-brother - Galad, there we go - who immediately yanks him way in over his head into the royal court. Elaida - a creepy mofo - immediately sees that he's a particularly troublesome ta'veren and he learns that he's an Aielman, though he's still not quite believing it as of this writing.

Oh also Logain seems curiously unbeaten and heaven knows where he is in the palace during Rand's audience with the queen, but for all the fascinating stuff going on in Caemlyn, we'll have to wait to find out what happens for probably another book, because the party reunifies, Moiraine catches Mat about ten minutes from being Patient Zero in turning the world into Shadar Logoth - so, great idea stealing the dagger, really - and it's revealed that said dagger will eventually curse Mat again, and oh by the way has caused Trollocs to surround the city of Caemlyn, and meanwhile the Dark One is on the verge of blinding the Eye of the World (which turns out to be the eye of the Great Snake) and breaking out of Shayol Ghul, so they have to use incredibly tainted magical shortcuts to get to Fal Dara, the nearest Waygate to the Eye of the World. It transpires that the Ways are how the various Dark creatures have been getting around without the Borderlands folk murdering their asses. We end where they narrowly escape the pants-shitting Black Wind that has haunted the Ways for about a thousand years back into the relatively sane world.

Also, apparently the Dark One thinks that either Rand, Mat or Perrin is the Dragon Reborn and for whatever reason can't make up his mind. Clarity at last!

Reactions:

• Fal Dari, Fal Dara, Fal Dari, Fal Dara-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
• Egwene is shaping up to be quite the annoying little green-eyed monster. She's also stringing Rand and Perrin along quite shamelessly. God, but let this love triangle be resolved at the earliest opportunity so we can get back to the eager greenhorn we know and accept.
• I really don't get why Elayne immediately gets a huge crush on Rand. He's still a pretty unremarkable schmo at this point, regardless of what Ba'alzamon and the Wheel seem to think.
• Morgase sounds a lot like Morgause. Other than that, she seems fine, but I remain on standby for a little side-eye.
• So the Aes Sedai are using the false Dragons and/or male Aes Sedai in general, that's pretty much confirmed. I feel like an idiot for not making a note of this back when Ba'alzamon first mentioned it, but in fairness I had no idea what the Amyrlin Seat was at the time. Heck, I guess I still don't know, but inter-Ajah council of Tar Valon seems like a fair guess. The Red Ajah must be in the thick of this, of course. Hmm, yes, elucidation would be most welcome.
• I thought the Dark One was a little too lively for this stage of the game. Burn me if I wasn't right.
• Okay, how did I miss that Mat was infected not by gold-lust, but by the same paranoia that took out Aridhol in the first place? Very obvious in retrospect.
• Hmm, perhaps the Whitecloaks are breeding/feeding their very own Mashadar. Interesting thought.
• Perrin, nobody who knows you cares that you have wolf empathy - at least Rand and Mat certainly don't - so seriously, get out of your cagey mope.
• But yeah, Perrin, thank you for cutting the Egwene-harpies-Rand conversation short.
• Tam fought in the Aiel Wars, whatever they were. More on Tam and more on Aielmen STAT, please.
• Loial continues to be completely awesome.
• So, given what happened to the Ways, in what sense is saidin pure under the taint? If its workers go mad and its works turn into the gorram Black Wind, what's the pure part? Probably there isn't one, really.
• The next book is called The Great Hunt, so presumably they will be going to Illian instead of, I don't know, Tar Valon where the Fades can't go and Egwene won't die and Mat will stop impendingly cursing the world with paranoia... jeesh.
• Here's hoping that when Rand wrests the Eye of the World, however that works, the eternal winter thing stops happening.
• Shouldn't the Spine of the World logically be the Great Snake's spine? I know it isn't, though.
• Say, speaking of, which came out first, Eye of the World or Forgotten Realms? (You can answer that, obviously.)

Forgotten Realms.

Oh, and the main reason I haven't said as much as I could have is not because I forget what happened 13 books ago (I have all the books within reaching distance from where I'm sitting), but rather because while I find your thoughts & predictions interesting, I find it difficult to say stuff without spoiling anything.

Forgotten Realms came way before.

The Black Wind terrified me when I first read the book. Still does, really. The thing is creepier than Mashadar by far.

Going to spoiler this just in case, but it's simply a description of what the taint feels like: it's described as being a sort of disgusting film or oil slick stuck to the surface of the pure saidin.

Sorry, guys - finished this on Thursday, but I've had a few busy days.

Reactions to Eye of the World, Chapters 46-End

• So, yeah, it's exactly what it appears to be. In the very first book, they stop Satan from breaking out of hell to take over the world. How do you top that?
• The threat the Dark One was posing did keep places like Tar Valon and Caemlyn from breathing, though. Glad they can now breathe.
• Obviously the Dark One isn't dead-dead, mind you. And Rand naming him twice is thus certain to go just swimmingly for him.
• So if naming the Dark One has such immediately horrible consequences for you, how do people learn his name in the first place? Is writing it down okay, maybe? The Two Rivers folk do seem to be a very literate breed of peasant.
• I'll be honest. I totally forgot about Padan Fain and that weird reference to Bela being the Chosen Horse. Good way to spring those on me, Jordan.
• By refusing gentling, Rand is just on this side of being one of those infuriatingly reckless young anime heroes that couldn't care less about dooming the world as long as they satisfy their own emotions, but yeah, hermitdom, that works.
• But I don't get why Moiraine reacts the way she does to it.
  • Firstly, she thinks the Pattern isn't done with him yet. Lady, he just prevented Satan from breaking out of hell, using the only reserve of pure saidin in the world. That's a lifetime achievement for just about anyone. How come you know there are thirteen books to go?
  • Then, she thinks he's the Dragon Reborn based on his conversation with Egwene about running away. I really don't know what indicators she's going by. But I think it would help if I knew what the prophecies say.
• Fal Dara, despite getting that song stuck in my head every time I hear the name, is a pretty badass place.
• Lan's backstory is just breathtaking. I mean, literally. What do you say to that?
• Ha ha, I totally misread the part where he had a sword from the cradle.
• Nynaeve going from denying her crush on Lan to having the both of them engaged in a deep mutual love that Lan's honor must deny, though... huh?
• So I gather they are going to Tar Valon before they deliver the Horn. Well, good.
• Fascinating. Apparently the only association people in the Third Age have with the word "Dragon" is Lews Therin and the prophecies about his rebirth, but Lews Therin had, as his standard, a dragon as we know them. Would very much like to hear more.
• The Blight made me gag a bit just from the description. Granted I have a hair-trigger gag reflex when it comes to spoiled food, but dayum, sir.
• Oh and at the back of the book we have a big ol' list of things Jordan deems it okay to know at the beginning of the book. Ha ha, derp.
  • He doesn't consider worldbuilding a spoiler - for the most part; those worldbuilding items that are spoilers, he seems to omit entirely.
  • But I question the entry on Aiel Maidens. Now we know roughly who Rand's mother was, with absolutely no indication to this in text.
  • If a Maiden is pregnant, she gets to take a break from war, and her child is guaranteed to be well-cared-for by strangers? I bet Maiden pregnancy happens a lot.
  • Overall, being somebody who has to be taught magic seems like a much better deal than being a natural. Poor Rand.
• Oh, also, Rand is going off by himself after naming the Dark One twice. Come to think of it, this could get ugly.

Overall: this is a very good book, but in no way is it a standalone. That's unique among the fantasy books I like that are first in a series. But hell to the yeah, I'd read thirteen more books set in this world.

edited 17th Mar '13 8:17:06 PM by DomaDoma

Eegah, who's doing the review in the liveblog section of this site, had similar thoughts when he reached this bit.

.

And yeah, you'll come to like those glossaries. I always tried not to read them until I had finished any given book (in fear of spoiling the book in question), but they do help clarify information within the book.

Well, I'd apparently rather read more than wait to post at a good stopping place - I've passed two by in this chunk - so that means good things for Jordan's writing, in any event. Here, have slightly more proper paragraph format.

In The Great Hunt, Prologue-Chapter 8.5, we open with a big Darkfriend get-together, attended by a very perceptive Whitecloak Questioner who apparently calls himself Bors at Darkfriend get-togethers. We learn that the Dark One did indeed survive, with fourth-degree burns, and like an evil Jehovah's Witness, he's still predicting the imminent apocalypse in the hopes that it'll keep his followers active. Except, you know, they're going to help with the apocalypse thing. There are several identifiable Darkfriends attending, whose identities we will presumably learn in time, so I'll just list them here:

• A trampily-dressed Illianer
• Two Aes Sedai (and one of them is going to be Liandrin, I mean, come on)
• A member of the Sea Folk
• A Tinker
• A noblewoman of Arad Doman
• Someone who is either androgynous or very good at disguise

The whole room has been set on alert for our Chosen Three, so that should be fun.

(How does a Whitecloak become a Darkfriend, anyway? Honestly, I don't get the appeal for most people, but a Whitecloak especially would be hazarding life and limb immediately, and Darkfriends seem to be in it for the material rewards, so it seems weird to me that a Whitecloak would go out on that limb.)

Meanwhile, back at the Rand, he's been training with Lan instead of going off and being a hermit because he's reluctant to leave it all behind. There are some weird things with the wind becoming solid around him and this feeling that he's being watched and laughed at - I blame his naming the Dark One back in book one - but anyway, the Amyrlin Seat (the single ruler of Tar Valon, as it happens) has come for him, and he decides it's time he left. Alas, the doors are ordered barred, and - funny thing - we later learn that wasn't an official order.

Over the course of attempting to find a secret way out from Loial, Rand decides to burn bridges with all his friends so they don't follow him or find out what he is. (There are also indications that the dagger is beginning to affect Mat again.) As of yet, they still haven't forgiven him (except Loial, because Loial is mellow), and they probably won't until he manages to spit out that he can channel. Egwene, who already knows and is having refreshingly little of his shit, tries first to hide him in the dungeons - with a psychotic Padan Fain, whom she trusts for some reason even though he's creepy as shit and corrupting all the guards - and then decides it had better be the women's apartment.

Cut to Moiraine's point of view, which somehow doesn't reveal much about her in internal dialogue. I daresay, based on the evidence of this book so far, that anybody whose point-of-view reaction is described in terms of their outward expression is a person to be watched, and Moiraine is of that number. But we learn that she's in a conspiracy with the Amyrlin to fulfill the Dragon prophecy, against all Aes Sedai law. Apparently, in this world, prophecies can be derailed by premature deaths and the like, so this is an entirely reasonable quest. Also, that there's a lot of anti-Blue sentiment in the White Tower lately, though what Blues other than Moiraine and Siuan stand for (and hence, what the other Ajahs believe they're going against), I'm sure I don't know.

We also meet two other Aes Sedai of interest. There's Verin, a Brown who stumbles across the conspiracy and - apparently like all Browns - represents the ivory tower of the White Tower, making her a very endearing character. Luna Lovegood with a triple helping of Ravenclaw, you might say. And then there's Liandrin, who is just scary as hell. Now, Mashadar proves that "the world isn't divided into good people and Darkfriends", but her cruelty, her tossing out the Black Ajah among other things she clearly doesn't believe about the Shadow's influence, the fact that we don't get much of a sense of what she's thinking despite getting her POV? Yeah, if she wasn't at the big Darkfriend masquerade, I'll be very surprised.

(By the way, Liandrin coercing Lady Amalisa into agreeing that Rand, Mat and Perrin be shipped to Tar Valon in secret doesn't really go anywhere. What's up with that?)

Anyway, everything shortly goes to hell when Rand names the Dark One. Though Fain probably prepared the groundwork quite a bit himself. Trollocs and Fades invade (collectively known as Lurks - pretty useful term, that) and steal the Horn, break Fain out, and steal Mat's dagger. For some reason, they haven't used the Horn just yet. My theory is that they have to get it to Illian, and the fact that the first half of chapter nine says they're heading south does seem to confirm that. And Mat has a few months to live unless he can retrieve the dagger himself, so there we have a good reason for the entire party to get involved in the quest.

Most importantly, Rand learns that he's the Dragon Reborn. And I gotta say, it's quite the scene. I think, for the first time, I'm getting why Rand is the Chosen One. He's got real fire and humanity here. His defiance to the Amyrlin is an especially good aspect. Also, the Amyrlin, Moiraine and Verin all cast a spell on him?? Okay, then, that should be interesting. And why do they think his learning to channel is a distinct possibility? It was probably in the Karatheon Cycle, eh?

I end in the middle of chapter nine, where they leave Fal Dara, meet a man named Hurin who can track violence by smell, get shot at by a very bad shot, learn that two of the guards guarding Fain are AWOL, and give Rand a very weird lecture from Lan about how impaling himself with his chosen sword might come in useful one day. The next section apparently takes place in Illian, which I'd like to see, but then I figured I'd better post this already.

Side plots: an uncommonly open-minded Whitecloak named Bornhald is sent on a bizarre-sounding quest by a Questioner. If this Questioner is Bors, it'd be a letdown, but I can't rule it out. (Was Bornhald the same one who was the good cop to Byar's bad? You can answer that.) Nynaeve gets a Golden Crane ring from Lan, which she can use to gain favor in the Borderlands or send a call for aid - provided the distance isn't too great, and the messengers are reliable, and she can ship out a ring in the first place, which makes it a very theoretical kind of distress signal. But anyway, Lan/Nynaeve is starting to grow on me, and let the fanficcers go wild for whatever happened between Whitebridge and Caemlyn, I guess. And she's also doubting her role as Wisdom, which yeah, fair point. Rand/Egwene is finally getting some sort of basis in their individual characters - well, Egwene's, anyway - so I can finally feel for their being forced apart by destiny. The part where it's their channeling doing it doesn't hurt.

Also - I keep forgetting to bring this up, so I'll bring it up now when there's nothing to prompt it - I think Mat is descended from the last king of Manetheren and that's how he knows the battle cries. At least, he'd better reveal something that makes him special in a more positive way than that bleeding dagger.

Maybe I'll post a chapter at a time from now on. If I start losing sight of the big picture I'll stop, but I think I'm losing too many details the way I'm posting now.

Bornhald was the good cop. I don't know if you've noticed but each usually has a section of the Karaethon Cycle, or other world building trivia/saying (In universe, I don't mean the glossary) at the beginning of the book and sometimes at end.

edited 23rd Mar '13 8:32:16 PM by Jackalyn

I don't think naming the Dark One actually does anything. It's just one of those superstitions, like not naming Voldemort in Harry Potter.

Arguable. As it stands, every time it is named (except at the climax of the last book), something bad happens soon after.

I'll be honest, at the middle of Book Four (where I stopped reading) I still had no clue what Mat's deal was. He starts speaking in tongues, but what the heck does that mean?

Was it after he went through the doorway at Rhuidean? He had his head filled with memories of people from the past.

He already had the memories; the Foxes just filled in the gaps so that they all made sense.

On Whitecloak Darkfriends: I'd actually expect Darkfriends to want to join the Whitecloaks, as they're probably more likely to look for Darkfriends outside their own ranks. (I don't actually remember whether Bors was a Whitecloak or a Darkfriend first, or whether it is ever revealed.)

Looks like he was a Whitecloak first. He internally monologues litanies about the Light before internally smacking himself with the words I serve a different master now. Also he really hates Aes Sedai.

edited 24th Mar '13 5:43:02 PM by DomaDoma

Nope. Can't do this in a trickle.

In The Great Hunt, the rest of Chapter 9 through Chapter 16:

• Illian is basically New Orleans only more capitalist. It's no Caemlyn or Tar Valon, but it's still pretty interesting.
• Bayle Domon is a BAMF, trying to keep his ship together at all costs and collecting old stuff simply because old stuff is neat. Hell yeah, I want a saber-toothed cat skull and an angreal.
• The people trying to hire him are very well-done in their intimidation. But if this segment of the book has cemented one thing, it's that Jordan can really, really do scary. And palace/assassin intrigue isn't far behind.
• Rand falling for Lanfear, though... that's where Jordan's intrigue falls flat on its face. He can not write a seductress for the life of him. I mean, she's constantly egging him on to blow the Horn and put it in her hands and win eternal glory and get closer to that juicy, juicy saidin and show them, show them all, all while being suspiciously well-informed and transparently controlling these frog-bear monster things to herd his path... but guh, she's just so pretty.
• It's not technically revealed that this is Lanfear yet, but I'm pretty sure this is dramatic tension.
• So Lanfear can blow the horn but Fain can't. Strange, as I think Fain is basically the newest model where the Forsaken are concerned. But maybe the Forsaken are all Aes Sedai? Anyway Agelmar doesn't know about any such rule.
• Why didn't Moiraine tell Rand there might be a Forsaken seductress after him? It's not as though she didn't know. (Though, ha ha, I totally forgot to mention the prophecy about Lanfear last time.) Unless this is cleared up, I will assume having to bring Verin in to the conspiracy thoroughly distracted her.
• Come to think of it, I don't think she wants the Amyrlin to know (some of) the Forsaken are loose at all. Though I have not the slightest idea why she wouldn't.
• No, wait, that was her Aes Sedai sisters she didn't want to know. Okay, I can see that, there'd be a lot of follow-up questions.
• I'm assuming Lanfear was the one who created the infinite loop of the peasant family's last moments? I have no idea why she would do such a thing, but still, chills, man.
• Do you know, I think Lanfear might actually be in with Cairhien nobility. It would explain why delivering the seal to the king of Cairhien would work for Darkfriends bringing about the end times.
• Ha, it didn't occur to me until I saw the words "Last Battle" right there in my face, but the Horn is totally Susan's horn from Narnia.
• So the Dark One's dominion over all dead people is a fairly recent thing. That would certainly explain things.
• These Aes Sedai lessons are flipping awesome. Pity I expect them to be cut short. (And they won't further involve Verin anyway, it seems.
• You know, I'm pretty indifferent to Perrin until I get in his point of view, and then it's all squees. I guess that's what you'd expect for such an introspective character, though.
• So. Where in aquafina are Moiraine and Liandrin? Are they going to the war between Tarabon and Arad Doman? I just bet they are.
• Hmm. In the likely event that Liandrin is a Darkfriend, she's still not exactly going to be bosom pals with Bors. That should be fun to watch.
• They cut down a sapling of freaking Avendesora, presented in a one-time-only peace contract (yes I went back and reread Tam's fever dream) and this rouses only like a quarter of the Aiel tribes to war. They must seriously like staying in their horrible wasteland.
• Aiel hardiness is clearly a cultural thing - Rand wasn't any hardier than anyone else in the Blight, for instance - but I can't shake the feeling that Rand is still going to know how to find water in the Wastes. Maybe Min mentioned it? I don't have Eye handy, so I couldn't tell you.
• Gah, is Rand still denying that he's an Aielman? I can see him being skeptical of the Dragon thing, but his parentage, at least, should have been added up for him.
• I like that Jordan actually explains the prevalence of wilderness in his fantasy world.
• I also like how he explains it. I never had much patience for Tolkien's elves, but dwindling from the days of glory is so much more powerful when it's happening to viewpoint characters.
• Though - I also went back and read the excerpt from the Karatheon Cycle - what's really going to happen is they'll be "torn apart like rotted cloth", and it looks like all my favorite cities have the biggest fault lines. Eep.
• Please don't end up as Westeros, world.