Wheel of Time: A Memory of Light (Part 1)

Yes, the 14th and final book was out since January 2013. I didn't buy one myself because I was waiting for its price to fall. Evidently, Ban's brother couldn't wait. So, after he was done with it, he lent it to me.

Was I happy with it? In terms of tying the loose ends, yes but not in terms of how it did so. Too short. There was a few things that were revealed that was out of the blue. There was no build up to it i.e. no showing of how it was done. To paraphrase someone's comment, it was like watching a movie, took a toilet break at an inopportune time, came back and missed the pivotal moment.

Oh and if you hate spoiler, please don't read the back of the book for sypnosis. There was a major spoiler there and I was miffed about it.

Anyway, here are my thoughts with respect to certain parts of the book. So SPOILER ahead!










(1) The abrupt manner of the collapse of challenge to Elayne's throne is reminiscent of the way Masema was killed. Dealt with in about 6 pages. I guessed that's ok because who cares about them when Camelyn was under attack by Trollocs.

(2) Lol Rand has a flair for theatrics, in his conversation with Moridin in the latter's dreamshard :)

"No," Rand said. "Not this time. I'm done with you. I have a greater battle to fight."
"Don't try to - "
Sunlight exploded through the clouds above. There was often no sunlight in the World of Dreams, but now it bathed the area around Rand.
......
Rand strode forward, lifting his arms out to the sides. Grass sprouted in waves, red blossoms burst from the ground like a blush upon the land. The storm stilled, the dark clouds burned away by light.
"Tell your master!" Rand commanded. "Tell him this fight is not like the others. Tell him I've tired of minions, that I'm finished with his petty movement of pawns. Tell him that I'm coming for HIM!"
"This is wrong," Moridin said, visibly shaken. "This isn't..." He looked at Rand for a moment, standing beneath the blazing sun, then vanished.

(3) Hahaha good one here. Fans had been speculating about whereabout of Demandred i.e. which nation he was controlling as he claimed to be preparing his army. One theory was that he was masquerading as King of Murandy, as that was the only monarch whose allegiance not accounted for. This part was Rand parodying the fans, I supposed :)

Rand stepped over to the shorter, wider man and looked down into his eyes. Roedran stuttered for a moment, then started wiping his brow with a handkerchief. Rand continued to stare at him.
"What is it?" Roedran demanded. "You're the Dragon Reborn, so they say. I do not know that I'd have let you - "
"Stop," Rand said, raising a finger.
Roedran quieted immediately.
"Light burn me," Rand siad. "You're not him, are you?"
"Who?" Roedran asked.
Rand turned away from him, waving his hand to make Narishma and the others stand down. They did so reluctantly. "I thought for certain ..." Rand said, shaking his head. "Where are you?"

(4) I like Perrin's idea of getting the Aiel as the enforcers of the Dragon Peace. Hopefully this is good enough to prevent the steep decline of the Aiel as shown to Aviendha in her third visit to Rhuidean.

(5) It was heartwarming when Rand saw Moiraine again, especially when death was all one could assume for her previously.

Rand. His face had grown pale. He stumbled away from the able, as if all else had been forgotten, and pushed his way to Moiraine. He hesitantly reached out and touched her face. "By my mother's grave, Rand whispered, then fell to his knees before her. "How?"

(6) Yet another thing that Aes Sedai of current Age discovered or, rather, cleverly thought of that those of Age of Legends didn't. This time was using gateway placed horizontally in the sky to get a good view of battles below. Genius.

(7) Out of the blue, Rand knew Taim was a Darkfriend. How? It wasn't explained. *grumble*

(8) Ooooh I love the ingenius ways Androl made use of gateways to fight Taim and gang e.g. gateway to take in their fire but exited right behind them, gateway right underneath foe/friend to make them fall to death/safety. Way to go!

(9) This Rand sure had humour :)

She tightened her grip on his arm. "You have grown so much, but you are still just a youth, are you not?"
Rand immediately seized control of his emotions, and did not lash back at her. The surest way to be thought of as a youth was to act like one. He stood straight-backed, and spoke softly. "I have lived for four centuries," he said. "Perhaps I am still a youth, in that all of us are, compared to the timeless age of the Wheel itself. That said, I am one of the oldest people in existence."
Moiraine smiled. "Very nice. Does that work on the others?"
He hesitated. Then, oddly, he found himself grinning. "It worked pretty well on Cadsuane."

(10) Hahaha this is possibly the most enjoyable conversation in the entire series. This is between Rand and Mat:

"Thanks a bundle for this," Mat muttered to Rand. "You're such a bloody good friend."
"It's good to see you too," Rand said, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"Here we go," Mat said with a sigh. "You've pulled me into trouble again. You always do this."
"I do?"
"Yes. In Rhuidean and the Waste, in the Stone of Tear...back in the Two Rivers. You do realize that I went south, instead of coming to your little party with Egwene in Merrilor, to escape?"
"You think you could stay away from me?" Rand asked, smiling. "You really think it would let you?"
"I could bloody try. No offense, Rand, but you're going to go mad and all. I figured I'd give you one less friend nearby to kill. You know, save you some trouble. What did you do to your hand, by the way?"
"What did you do to your eye?"
"A little accident with a corkscrew and thirteen angry innkeepers. The hand?"
"Lost it capturing one of the Forsaken."
"Capturing?" Mat said. "You're growing soft."
Rand snorted. "Tell me you've done better."
"I killed a gholam," Mat said.
"I freed Illian from Sammael."
"I married the Empress of the Seanchan."
"Mat," Rand said, "are you really trying to get into a bragging contest with the Dragon Reborn?" He paused for a moment. "Besides, I cleansed saidin, I win."
"Ah, that's not really worth much," Mat said.
"Not worth much? It's the single most important event to happen since the Breaking."
"Bah. You and your Asha'man are already crazy," Mat said, "so what does it matter?"
......
He followed, but stopped beside rand. "Seems you have a bit of the Dark One's luck yourself," he muttered to Rand. "I can't believe that worked."
"Honestly?" Rand said softly. "I can't either. Thank you for the good word."
"Sure," Mat said. "By the way, I saved Moiraine. Chew on that as you try to decide while of the two of us is winning."
Mat followed Tuon, and behind him rose the laughter of the Dragon Reborn.

(11) The subtle Compulsion on the 4 great generals was very well done. Possibly the best work done by Graendel so far in this Age.

(12) As discussed amongst Elayne, the overall commander, and the 4 great generals, the key battle was the one in Andor. They hoped to win there and then to help the other 3 battlefronts. However, due to inexplicable reason, Rand sent the Seanchan army to the battlefront in Kandor and that turned out to be fortuitous because Egwene was being routed by unexpected reinforcement on the enemy side. Did the author...errr...I mean Pattern tell him to do so? :P

(13) Perrin nearly killed a Forsaken. What stopped him? Simply because the Forsaken was a woman. Omg, really? Hadn't they all learn to discard such notion by now? Sheesh.

(14) It's a little bit disappointing that, apparently, none of the Windfinders were in involved in combat. Moreover, eventhough their task of handling Bowl of the Winds was very important, there was no build-up, description etc whatsoever to illustrate the point. They were like, "It's because we use the Bowl, you don't suffer the great effects of the Father of Storms." Sure, towards the end, there was some sort of example but it was too little, too late to be convincing.