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clearly the timeline is wonky, but it's easy enough to keep track of darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 04/12/2010 05:32:34 PM
Write and publish a book that was 5-6 in. thick? The spine would be wider than my hand!! Or make the print itty-bitty...

Or I suppose it would have made you happier if he'd cut content?

I did not find the structure difficult to work with in the slightest. It may have helped that I finished tGS and went straight into ToM, but, honestly, there was really only one time I had to stop and think about the timeline to get oriented.


Given that the timeline is an incredible mess that does not make the slightest bit of sense, that is an impressive feat!


Given that we know what the end of the timeline looks like from the very beginning of the book it made it rather simple to keep in mind where each story arc was in relation to the others.

The main problems with the timeline are that there are several instances where BSand seemed to skip ahead. Things like Mat early in the book being much closer to Egwene/Rand timeline than he should have been, and Perrin still being at the end of TGS in one chapter then seemingly only days later has caught up to the rest of the story lines by the end of TOM. But even those issues are easy enough to shrug off.

My bigger problems are with BSands lack of feel for many characters. He still doesn't get Mat, Graendal and Moridin were a mess and Faile may as well be a different character! I think he missed a little with Elayne too, not as noticeable as some of the others, but personally I found her a character a little flat in this book.

I also thought the pacing of the book was a bigger problem than the timeline. It felt very rushed to me. Perrin needing to master the wolf dream in a matter of weeks felt contrived rather than suspenseful, Elayne and Mat having one quick meeting before she essentially agreed to build the Dragons, even Moiraine's rescue felt rushed.

I'm not sure I agree with how DomA would have cut the books as that could have made TGS and TOM very hard to follow and quite possibly too slow moving overall ... I think we would all have been very disappointed in TGS if it had ended for all story lines at the same point, but with little in the way of resolutions. No one wanted another volume of AS Tower division or Rand still going insane so IMO best to wrap them up and get those plot lines moving forward again.

Egwene and Rand clearly had the most left to accomplish at the start of TGS and would have needed more attention than the others anyway you look at it, Elayne had already claimed her throne, Perrin had destroyed the Shaido and Masema, and Mat was already pointed toward Genji and Elayne to build the Dragons ... there wasn't much story to tell around any of them by the start of TGS, not until Rand and Egwene had wrapped up a few things on their ends. I'd be willing to bet that they chose to split the books on story line because many of the things Elayne/Perrin/Mat were up to needed to happen after Rand's epiphany and Egwene's unification of the Tower.

If you get right down to it Elayne essentially did nothing in this book except grab Cairhien and build Dragons, Perrin was on his own self realization journey but didn't really accomplish a lot in the book. Mat killed the Gholam and rescued Moiraine. None of these plot lines was necessary to TGS and could have happened at any point in the timeline. Did it make TOM weaker? Probably, but IMO it also made TGS a stronger book.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
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What was the purpose of Graendal?! - 25/11/2010 03:54:29 PM 1512 Views
BS wanted to put her behind a "complicated" plot - 25/11/2010 04:11:01 PM 779 Views
Yes, it's BSand's fault. RJ couldn't have EVER planned it all out himself right? Yes mm hmm - 25/11/2010 04:19:02 PM 713 Views
read DomA's review. BullShit ruined the series. *NM* - 25/11/2010 04:31:56 PM 358 Views
Links or it didn't happen. - 25/11/2010 04:53:24 PM 667 Views
oh but, bookwyrm, now they have such a nice easy scapegoat!! *NM* - 26/11/2010 01:35:53 AM 301 Views
And DomA is such infallible authority on the all things WoT why? *NM* - 25/11/2010 06:00:42 PM 333 Views
I'd say that DomA is one of the most thoughtful posters here. He researches his comments and gives - 25/11/2010 06:47:58 PM 698 Views
You got me wrong - 25/11/2010 07:11:43 PM 813 Views
That doesn't mean he has any actual evidence as to BS tampering with RJ's notes - 26/11/2010 01:33:08 AM 607 Views
Re: That doesn't mean he has any actual evidence as to BS tampering with RJ's notes - 26/11/2010 03:47:38 PM 633 Views
Okay, what would you have had him do? - 27/11/2010 01:54:19 AM 536 Views
Interesting question. - 27/11/2010 02:58:55 AM 696 Views
Re: Interesting question. - 27/11/2010 07:56:38 PM 674 Views
Re: Interesting question. - 27/11/2010 11:52:53 PM 534 Views
Sorry, Dominic, but I strongly disagree. - 28/11/2010 05:30:28 AM 547 Views
Re: Okay, what would you have had him do? - 27/11/2010 06:02:22 PM 489 Views
clearly the timeline is wonky, but it's easy enough to keep track of - 04/12/2010 05:32:34 PM 687 Views
A minor aside - 26/11/2010 02:49:03 PM 519 Views
oops minor omission, i meant the last 3 books were meant to be one big tome *NM* - 26/11/2010 04:40:53 PM 281 Views
Meh, even that is pretty ridiculous - 26/11/2010 06:32:20 PM 495 Views
Well - 26/11/2010 03:01:46 PM 540 Views
Lots - 25/11/2010 04:38:52 PM 751 Views
Re: Lots - 25/11/2010 04:53:38 PM 605 Views
What is the point of anything then? - 25/11/2010 05:01:15 PM 742 Views
Re: What is the point of anything then? - 25/11/2010 05:07:30 PM 624 Views
Re: What is the point of anything then? - 25/11/2010 05:11:15 PM 659 Views
I don't agree with "deus ex machina style" - 25/11/2010 05:58:19 PM 727 Views
Re: I don't agree with "deus ex machina style" - 25/11/2010 06:22:31 PM 655 Views
Re: I don't agree with "deus ex machina style" - 25/11/2010 06:34:57 PM 602 Views
Re: I don't agree with "deus ex machina style" - 25/11/2010 08:43:38 PM 607 Views
Re: I don't agree with "deus ex machina style" - 25/11/2010 08:47:10 PM 596 Views
I imagine it is both. - 25/11/2010 11:37:21 PM 619 Views
No, it wasn't obvious. - 26/11/2010 03:25:09 AM 524 Views
Well, it was after I read it. - 26/11/2010 02:03:20 PM 586 Views
Yes, she was useless to this storyline. - 25/11/2010 11:40:57 PM 663 Views
If it hadn't been Graendal, it WOULD have been rather contrived... - 26/11/2010 01:35:12 AM 501 Views
Well, we were under the impression that Moridin alone had access to the True Power. - 26/11/2010 02:36:31 AM 722 Views
I was under the impression other Forsaken had access as well, something pointed out by their POVs .. - 27/11/2010 09:09:17 AM 524 Views
No, only Moridin - 27/11/2010 06:43:17 PM 495 Views
Please. - 26/11/2010 03:16:36 AM 620 Views
Hmm? - 26/11/2010 06:56:01 AM 548 Views
NM *NM* - 26/11/2010 07:29:40 AM 326 Views

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