đŽ Towers of Midnight 18 April 2023
đ¨ SPOILER ALERT đ¨
As the penultimate book in the Wheel of Time series, Towers of Midnight felt very much like a build up book. So much happened but so many pieces were also put in place for the final book - A Memory of LightA Memory of Light
đ¤ī¸ A Memory of Light
30 April 2023
There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.
A Memory of Light is, in itself, a vast and epic tal.... Following Rand's emergence from Dragonmount as a grounded and centred hero ready for the last battle, he goes about repairing many of the relationships that he had come close to destroying in the weeks and months prior to his retreat. He also sets up the meeting with Egwene and the White Tower at the Field of Merrilor which will be one of the key settings of Tarmon Gai'don and the final book.
One of the core storylines of Towers of Midnight is that of Perrin a bit before the final events in The Gathering StormThe Gathering Storm
đŠī¸ The Gathering Storm
9 April 2023
đ¨ SPOILER ALERT đ¨
This is the 12th book in the Wheel of Time and following the same trend of Knife of Dreams, there was more action and progression of stor.... Perrin has a lot of action with the Children of Light and Galad Damodred - Elayne and Rand's half brother (definitely some mental gymnastics needed every time this fact is highlighted). There is a fair amount of conflict build up between Perrin's armies and the Children of Light set against the backdrop of a "stale" and dying Ghealdan. Perrin agrees to be judged by Morgase (who has finally been revealed as the abdicated Queen of Andor) for killing two Children of Light many years before. Morgase judges him as guilty but concedes that the deaths happened between two mercenary bands therefore are not bound by the laws of Andor. She instead gives Galad the right to pass sentence and at Perrin's request, they agree that this unknown sentence will be carried out after Tarmon Gai'don.
This all happens while Perrin is discovering in Tel'aran'rhiod that Slayer has returned and is killing wolves while also keeping a weird, purple shield in place around Perrin and Galad's armies that is preventing any gateways being made by the Asha'man that are with Perrin unless they move beyond the boundary of the dome. This turns out to be a dream spike that Graendal has ordered Slayer/Luc to keep in place in the to trap the armies there for an attack by Trollocs and Myrddraal.
Perrin become stronger and stronger in the world of dreams with Hopper's training and begins to understand that the wolf within him is not something to be controlled, but rather something to make peace with. He manages to capture and move the dream spike away from his armies. He moves it all the way to Tar Valon, with Slayer chasing him. A fight between Slayer and Perrin ensues, Hopper is killed, and Perrin destroys the dream spike. This interferes with Egwene's story line while she is hunting down Mesaana in Tel'aran'rhiod but fortunately, she manages to come out on top although Gawyn nearly dies in the real world during this time, protecting her from assassins left behind from the Seanchan attack on the Tower.
Just for timeline clarity, it's all around this time when Tam al'Thor gets called by Cadsuane to intervene with Rand. Perrin actually sees the events of Rand on Dragonmount from Tel'aran'rhiod and on Rand conquering himself there, the wolves in Tel'aran'rhiod all howl in excitement for the Last Hunt has begun.
Back in the real world, after Hopper's death, Perrin crafts a power wrought hammer - Mah'allenheir - with the help of one of the Asha'man - Neald. This hammer was for a king and Perrin had accepted his destiny as one. Perrin's army goes onto surprise the Trolloc army that Graendal sends against the Children of Light. Initially, there is much anxiety by Berelain and Galad in different parts of the battlefield thinking that Perrin has in fact come to fight the Children of Light. Instead, Perrin and his armies are the reason that the Children of Light are not utterly destroyed.
Two other core threads of Towers of Midnight that are worth mentioning are Androl's and Aviendha's.
Androl Genhald first appears in Winter's Heart Private or Broken Links
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apparently although I do not remember that đ
Androl is an Asha'man in the deteriorating Black Tower and becomes a more obvious supporting character in Towers of Midnight along with Pevara Tazanovni who is of the Red Ajah and who went to the Black Tower to find Asha'man to bond. Both characters are setup for A Memory of LightA Memory of Light
đ¤ī¸ A Memory of Light
30 April 2023
There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.
A Memory of Light is, in itself, a vast and epic tal... to play a more central role.
Aviendha on the other hand is off in the Three-Fold Land revisiting Rhuidean. She has a relatively small part in Towers of Midnight but her experiences are pretty critical to the events in Wheel of Time as a whole. During her journey, she meets Nakomi who is a mysterious character who's nature is explained more in supplementary materials of the Wheel of Time series. However, in Towers of Midnight, she provides Aviendha with food for thought about what it means to be Aiel. This precedes Aviendha's final journey into Rhuidean. Aviendha passes through the glass pillars and completes the revelations that all Wise Ones have gone through. However, she is disappointed to realise that this journey will become irrelevant in years to come now that the knowledge of the Aiel's history as a people is widely known. She has an epiphany to attempt using her talent of understanding ter'angreal on the glass pillars and is overwhelmed by the power and living nature of the structures. As she backs away, she enters the glass pillars for a second time in this journey which has never been done before to her knowledge. The ter'angreal reveals shocking scenes of the future of the Aiel; the breaking down of ji'etoh in generations to come; and the deep and painful knowledge that this descent into a cultural genocide would begin with her own children born of Rand al'Thor. She leaves Rhuidean uncertain of the meaning or whether or not the visions were destined to come to pass but with a determination to attempt preventing them from happening.
The highlight and conclusion of this book is Mat and Thom's rescue of Moraine from the Tower of Ghenjei where she has been kept unconscious with a ter'angreal so that the Finn can feed off of her. Mat loses his eye during the venture and Noal dies in a courageous defence to allow Mat, Thom, and Moraine to escape. Noal actually turns out to be Jain Farstrider - a famous adventurer and explorer mentioned throughout the series. The book concludes with scenes all over the world of Mat, Perrin, Rand, Olver, and Lan in what we expect to be the final days before the Last Battle.