Through The Dimensional Rift

Okay, some more in-depth comments/random thoughts on Knife of Dreams.

So, yeah, some real progress in this book, what? Mat and Tuon are now married, and it didn't seem completely implausible. And Perrin has finally rescued Faile et al. from the Shaido. Elayne has managed to win the Andor primaries, and is now more or less Queen, and we've solved the murder of Adeleas. Egwene's plot is still unresolved, but she seems to have been doing well at subverting the White Tower from within. I knew that the Tower in Exile would be glad they'd appointed a Wise One-trained Amyrlin Seat. Oh, and somebody figured out that there was a woman running around channeling saidin, and we've finally, I believe, done for the group of Black Ajah the girls started hunting back in, what the third book? Not to mention that we're finally on the trail of rescuing bloody Moiraine from the bloody Tower of Ghenjei! About time!

There are way too many Aes Sedai characters. This is one of the reasons I started doing my character lists in the first place, to try to keep track of them. And then we actually get a viewpoint chapter from Beonin, who is not somebody I would've remembered, except as "possibly an Aes Sedai". I can't remember, when did the prologues start getting so beastly long? It used to be that the prologue was the only place you'd get weird POV characters--Forsaken, etc.--but now that they're scattered all over the book anyway, why bother having such a long prologue? Just split it into six chapters and be done with it.

For a while it almost looked like the three ta'veren would get back together before Tarmon Gai'don. I mean, weren't they all in Altara? But then Rand gated off again, and it looks like he's off to Arad Doman to meet up with Rodel Ituralde and his big Seanchan trap, and then to the Borderlands to meet up with Lan and his Malkieri army and invade the Blight or something. We'll see what Tuon can do as Seanchan Empress, if she can deal with the society-shaking impact of the knowledge that sul'dam are actually marath'damane. I also wonder if Rand will have to kneel to the real Crystal Throne, or just to Tuon herself.

Is Noal Charin actually Jain Farstrider, or just his brother? At least somebody noticed the similarity, but he denies everything... Also, is Mazrim Taim(who was almost Lord Not Appearing In This Book)actually Demandred("Lord of Chaos", anyone?), or just a Dreadlord preparing to come out of the closet?

I still find a certain irony in the Red Ajah turning from "gentle all men who can channel" to "bond men who can channel as warders, or vice versa". Maybe we won't have to eliminate them after all. Especially once they can actually become convinced that saidin has been cleansed. Too late for Rand, or so Semirhage claims...but do we believe her? And isn't it nice that Rand's being the most powerful male channeler ever has been subverted by his growing lack of control of his own channeling? At least Min and Aviendha may have a chance to get to know each other.

Let's see, Mat still has to lose an eye, right? And somehow save the world in doing so. Is this related to Moiraine's rescue?

The Black Ajah icon for Chapter 16 is probably just for Careane, who turns out to be Adeleas's murderer, right? Darn, I thought it was going to be an important clue. Love the new "Fox & Snakes" icon.

I've actually started on the prologue in my Wiki. Why not, eh? Maybe I'll start on all the books and do them in parallel. And all the George R.R. Martin books, and the Harry Potter books... Yeah, I'll never get them all done, but I'm having fun trying.