I think that’s why I grew to love Egwene. In COT and the few books leading up to it, she actually started to have some actual agency in her plots, whereas so often the women seem to be there to bitch out the men who are doing the real action. The blind spots annoyed me too, but I was willing to accept her sudden skill at manipulation just because it gave her some real cunning and competence, which felt like such a breakthrough for WOT (especially post-Moiraine). The biggest exception for me was her love of Gawyn, which like you, I never got. I never did grow to like Gawyn, and the Gawyn/Egwene relationship was basically, “Ok, these two love each other now. Don’t ask why.”

Elayne never recovered for me. I spent most of the rest of the series just thinking she’s the worst. Nynaeve did recover for me some. I loved her early on, but turned on her because of how pissy she always was written to be. I’m sincerely glad you still like her at this point though, because I always wanted to.

I should have written more about Asmodean, because I loved his dynamic with Rand too. Jordan dragged so many things out longer than I thought he should have, which makes it all the more of a shame to me that he nipped the Asmodean story when it felt like it still had a lot of room to grow and breathe. I think generally, Jordan plowed through a lot of Forsaken in the first five books, then almost seemed to regret it, bringing some back a couple and slowing down on killing the rest. So it felt to me in these books like they were mostly just milling around, killing time with some pretty pointless plots.

You probably like Jordan’s writing more than I did by the end, which is fine, so maybe you’ll have more misgivings about the transition to Sanderson. But I can say that for me, Sanderson’s three books ended up being my favorite three of the series because there were so many big payoffs, and some of my frustrations with Jordan (the pacing, the Angry Women) were either gone or at least lessened.

Anyway, I had read Books 1-6 as a kid, and was disappointed to return to take in the now-complete series late last year to discover that, by most readers’ accounts and popular consensus, Books 7-11 were supposedly the worst of the bunch. But, fortunately, I’ve been pleasantly surprised, for the most part. With books 7-9, I think my lowered expectations were a small blessing in disguise. Every book in the series has been really enjoyable. The later volumes are kinda slow, with some needless tangents, sure — but really, by book 7 a WOT reader should be kind of used to that. For the most part, I actually enjoy Jordan’s unhurried pace and the tremendous level of immersion that comes with it. There are other flaws to the series, but nothing unique to just books 7 onwards — Jordan’s failings are pretty consistent throughout the whole series, and almost every book has some highs and lows.

That said, COT has admittedly been the first book in the series to flat-out try my patience, and I do understand the poor reviews it received. I didn’t *hate* it, and it has some minor merits, but man. The Elayne subplot that began in WH and continued at length here has just been brutal, turning Elayne into my least favorite character. She was never a favorite, but putting her in a terribly dull subplot — in which nothing is even happening, despite the weirdly large number of chapters devoted to it — has driven her to the bottom of the list. And I, too, could totally do without her pregnancy.

Like many, I was disappointed and frustrated by the fact that the big Cleansing in WH functions as little more than an afterthought in COT. It just seems like it should have had a much broader and more interesting impact on various characters and events, but we barely get anything. I think one of the Asha’man is grinning a lot suddenly, but that’s about as pronounced a reaction as we get. It certainly doesn’t seem to have done Rand himself much good, which is a shame, because the dude’s just kind of getting on my nerves at this point. I’d like to see him shape up and return to form a bit.

I’ve been dying to see Logain and Rand come face to face and interact, but when that finally happens here, it’s kinda just … “okay … that happened, now.” Perrin’s still just spinning his wheels, and I agree that the “ghost town” thing is one of the silliest and most out-of-place feeling tangents in the series to this point. At least it doesn’t seem like very much time will be devoted to it.

I’m also not nearly as taken with Egwene or her subplot as David, so that certainly didn’t help where COT is concerned. Egwene is my least favorite character other than Elayne. I think David makes some interesting points about Egwene and a good case for her throughout this blog, but … I don’t know what it is about Egwene. I’ve never quite “bought” her, somehow. Her whole election as Amyrlin always seemed forced to me. Her attraction to Gawyn seemed forced, and kind of inexplicable. Her abilities as a manipulator seem too advanced, and at the same time, she’ll have these frustrating, gaping blind spots as well (Halima). I did think she was starting to shine in ACOS, but the whole siege has just been so slow-going since then, and some of the big manipulation reveals have been anticlimactic, somehow, for me personally. Still, I’ll take her over Elayne, at this stage, for sure. What I really lament, though, is the relegation of Nynaeve — previously my favorite female character — to being practically a minor character in these last few volumes. While I understand David’s frustration with the “Angry Woman” trope, Nynaeve always struck me as funny and lovable, somehow. But since Lan showed up again, she’s just kind of no longer as major a player. I’d even take more Aviendha — I didn’t like her at first, but much like with Mat in the early volumes, when she finally got a little POV time, she really came to life in a great way. But she’s just kind of Elayne’s sidekick, these days, without anything of real interest to do.

I did like the introduction of Mat and Tuon’s strange dynamic in COT, though I too could do without any more of Valan Luca or his stupid traveling circus. To be honest, I didn’t even actually mind it back in book 5 — it didn’t bother me the way it did a lot of readers — but, it also wasn’t an aspect of the story I expected to still be at large five books later, when so many other far more interesting contextual elements have been left wayside. Speaking of which, who knows what most of the Forsaken are even playing at, at this point. Not that all that much of what any of them have done has ever made a great deal of sense. My favorite Forsaken was Asmodean — the dynamic between him and Rand was one of the most interesting and amusing in the whole series — and Jordan killed him off after just one book. One problem I’m having with WOT at this stage is that while we have no shortage of villains in the fringes, what any of them are doing is either unclear, or somewhat nonsensical, which lessens their gravity as a potential threat. Why doesn’t Halima just kill Egwene, again? I guess there’s some reason, but if so, I’ve lost track of what it is. I’m not sure what she’s trying to accomplish. And the logic — first explicitly seen in COT — that the Forsaken now have to help keep Rand alive for Tarmon Gai’don “so that the Dark One can defeat him there” — just seems blatantly stupid. Am I missing something? Yeah, you could do that … or, uh, you could kill him now, and then the Last Battle will be a walk in the park. Megh.

Still, for all my complaints here, I vent with love. WOT is a blast, despite the frustrations. And the failings of COT notwithstanding, I’m looking forward to Knife of Dreams, which I’ve heard is much better.

I don’t know how I feel about pressing on into Sanderson territory after that, though. I really don’t think it’ll be as enjoyable without Jordan at the helm. For all his quirks, Jordan had a very unique personality and well-rounded life experience, which is an integral part of the fabric of what makes WOT so enjoyable (even through a disappointing volume like COT). Jordan has flaws, but he also has soul. Sanderson seems like a nerdy D&D kid who got a chance to do some high-level fan fiction. But, what can you do. I’m going to give him a chance when I get there and keep an open mind, since many readers claim that his books are reasonably good.

Yeah, I think literally every Perrin chapter has to have him say or think that all he cares about is getting Faile back. Which makes sense for his perspective, but it gets old and makes him a pretty horrible leader.

I don’t really think Romanda and Lelaine will be Black Ajah, especially now, but it was a fun thought. Already in Book 11, it’s seeming clearer that they’re really just selfish about their own ambitions. I think that’s been one of the more interesting things Jordan has done, dating back to the reveal that Elaida wasn’t a black sister despite the red herring hints in the early books that she would be. Almost all of the Aes Sedai often seem so inscrutable and shady, usually without even being darkfriends, that there’s been a lot more doubt about who’s actually Black Ajah. A character like Lelaine probably isn’t actually evil, but she’s still trending toward an antagonistic role. More shades of gray is usually good.

I still have around half of Book 11 to go, but the idea of Jordan trying to wrap up everything in one more book after it sounds insane. Though I guess if he knew he was dying, maybe he was just desperate to try to finish the series on his own.

It also bothered me how the cleansing of Saidin isn’t mentioned really in this book, it was such an epic thing, and it was supposed to have big implications, but nothing came of it.

I never thought of that Romanda and Lelaine being black ajah reading the book the first time through. That’s an interesting theory though, I like it.

I felt the same way about Egwene’s capture, but it definitely does pick up, and if she is your favorite character now, I think she will only more firmly cement herself as your number one.

The storylines do seem like they could take another 5 books to solve, and I think it really isn’t until Sanderson’s books that they start to fall into piece, but it also really makes me wonder how Robert Jordan was going to do it all in one book (he promised until his death that there were only going to be 12, no matter how big the last one would have to be). Rand of course still having the farthest to come, but also the most intriguing transformation. I think the puzzle pieces will fit better than you think (I know they did better than I thought they would).

Like I keep pushing, in the last 3 books, everything becomes clear.