** spoiler alert ** Just a quick take on the book(characters really) right after finishing it.
This was the most entertaining book in the series for me. I have devoured it in less than two weeks, which is impressive considering that I am a slow reader.
The characters are becoming increasingly fleshed out, Moiraine is as powerful as ever while Perrin and Mat are getting their bit of well deserved spotlight.
I have been craving for more Perrin and that craving has been quenched. I couldn’t be happier with his progression. He continues to be my favourite character of the series and I hope to see him grow further. It was heartwarming to see him back at being a blacksmith’s apprentice even for just a moment. His new love interest is a cute little touch, I am looking forward to seeing more of her.
Mat isn’t such a bummer as he was in The Great Hunt, proving himself useful to the whole ordeal. I enjoyed his gambling shenanigans and his big moment at the ending. He is slowly growing into a responsible young man while still being a bit of a rebel. Speaking of which, the girls do seem to be underappreciating him, most likely due to not being around to see his personal growth hence still seeing him as the trouble maker.
It is great to see the great gleeman and his wonderful mustache joining the story once again, Mat and Thom have great chemistry.
The trio. Their progression as Aes Sedai is a bit too quick for my liking. They seem to pick up on skills incredibly fast just by watching while it took years for others. It just seemed unrealistic. I thought it was a good idea to skip Egwene’s and Elayne’s training to become Accepted but Jordan overdid it with their fast learning. Other than that, the girls were very fun to read, ie. when Nynaeve was testing a Wise Woman’s knowledge on herbs and remedies and vice versa.
I kind of forgot Loial was in this book, I just remembered him as I was thinking of things to write for this review. He didn’t really have any role here other than complaining about how he shouldn’t have left his stedding.
Rand seemed to be absent throughout most of the book, although we get glimpses of him going mad bit by bit, which I personally really enjoyed. It is nice to see him go further away from this cookie cutter character he was portrayed as before.
It is nice to finally have some backstory about these Aiel folk that keep getting mentioned by people all over. Who knew they would be such an important part of the story.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that this is definitely the point where you notice Jordan’s formula. The ending of the first three books of this series always ends on a similar note, where Rand is fighting Ba’alzamon and he managed to kill him in a heartbeat. It is getting a bit repetitive in that regard, but Jordan is still great at making the last 200ish pages incredibly entertaining, therefore easy to go through very quickly.
Overall it might be my favourite book so far even though it has it’s faults.