The year was 2020. The hospital room was dark save for the muted light of a kindle. The newborn slept peacefully while the nurse bustled around till she paused near the mother. She whispered, clearly impressed, “Aah dear, right out of a C-Section and you are reading. You are doing great, new mom!” The new mom in question was me, and the book I was reading was The Eye of the World. While most of the before and after of my hospital stay is blurry, I vividly recall what kept me sane was the reveal that Rand was the Dragon Reborn. Come to think of it, while Rand was slowly but surely turning crazy, he kept me sane-ish through the following years.
I don’t even remember what made me pick this series in the first place. For most of Eye of the World I was unimpressed. “The Fellowship of the Ring rip-off”, I told myself. Then the last 20% of the book happened and I was hooked. The Great Hunt followed the same ambivalence from me until the action at the end. By this time, lazywiz had gifted me hard copies of the full series, so I kept reading. Rand interested me even when most of the book he spent off-page.
The next best thing to happen: I started the Wheel Weaves Podcast. By The Fires of Heaven, I was a fan. Now I could make some sense of who was who and what was what, and what all I had obviously missed connecting. This pattern is very, very complicated and a bit of help was much appreciated.
The year now is 2026. Another dark hospital room and this time in my hand is A Memory of Light. I am no longer “new mom”, but a mom of two. The Pattern weaves as the Pattern wills, and it is in this final turning of the Wheel across a cup of coffee, I realise that someone I have walked past all these years and/or talked to, depending on the day, could have clarified a lot of the confusion – him having read and re-read the series and all. Now, when we finally don’t really run into each other, and when I am done with this last book, I have someone who will know what I mean when I say ta’veren.
Which is good, because even though I don’t plan to start a podcast, I do have a lot to say about A Memory of Light. Fair warning, this is probably going to be a long post. Then again, if you came here after reading WoT, of one thing I’m certain: you don’t mind the word count. If there ever was a book that made me want to jot down notes, this is it. Had I really jotted things down, this list would definitely be twice as long.
This is where SPOILERS start. So stay ONLY if you want to really talk about A Memory of Light or just really really like reading what I write.
Things That Made My Heart Soar
• I loved Lan’s scenes. Each and every fight scene, death wish scene, sending Nynaeve some emotion in his head scene. I would typically put the book down after a Lan scene as a forced chapter break to process the emotional upheaval within. If anyone ever doubts why Byronic heroes are worth fangirling over, Lan is your answer.
• Mat was AWESOME!!!! And the whole Last Battle was the best thing ever. And I won’t say more or I will have to say too much.
• Olver blew the horn and it probably signifies every fantasy lover has a chance at their own adventure; a fact that makes me as warm and fuzzy as Olver was at Noal’s return.
• Androl and Pevara favourite WoT couple. that surprised me -or not, if you think about the other couple dynamics.
• Callandor three-power solution was cool. Again, as a basic WoT reader, I did not figure this one out, and I am glad my Podcast didn’t predict this one for me.
• Graendal messing with the Great Captains’ minds was a fantastic twist. I did not see that coming till way too late. Also given Rodel Ituralde is the only surviving captain, I declare him the best of the lot! Finally the forsaken did something scary and consequential. Good for them!
• Tam al’Thor is now up there in my “best fathers” list with Atticus Finch. I now get why every time I try to read anything online about WoT, all roads lead to Tam fans.
Things That Hurt in the Best (and Worst) Ways
• Siuan and Bryne: That’s when it started to get real and serious. As soon as they started to talk about happily ever afters, I did yell, “Noooo….”.
• Gawyn was stupid and if there is a good way to die that’s Egwene. And Gawyn was stupid.
Things That Left Me Frustrated / Wavering
• Why did we spend so much time with Slayer?
• Padan Fain, too little too late. It’s as if Brandon Sanderson wanted to avoid him…
• I wonder why we needed Moiraine and Cadsuane as mentor figures. Instead of Cadsuane, we could have had a Wise One do the same thing. Which reminds me, wise ones needed more actual screen time in AMoL. The Shayol Ghul fight was gut-wrenching but didn’t leave room for them to go mother (read bully) Rand for old times’ sake.
• I thought Mat would die. I am all for love, and if you ever bother reading a single thing on this site, you know how true this is. Yet there is no way he can have a happily ever after with the Seanchan.
• Forsaken finally did something (but honestly, why so late?)
• I really like the hopeful end. Even heroes – especially heroes – deserve a smile and off-to-the-sunset farewell, but the three girls should have mourned more convincingly. Anyone (even I) could have guessed Rand didn’t actually die the way they acted.
Things To Take Away
• Not everything you want to end, you really want to end.
• Note to Self: Learn to embrace the Void (that’s categorically the single most useful tool in this series, apart from dead peoples memories which I do not want in my head, so I’ll stick to embracing the Void).
If you knew me these past few years, and I cared enough about you to share that I am reading a 14 book series, you would also hear me complain that I wish I was at the end. For no other reason than my TBR pile is now in a very unhealthy state. There are epics, and then there is The Wheel of Time. As soon as I read those final sentences and there was no epilogue to get through or a prologue to look forward to, I was certain I didn’t want to let go. Luckily I have New Spring to go back to (which I had skipped in my eagerness to get through the main storyline).
Am I glad that there are no real endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time.
But it was an ending.
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