aw man that intro. it has been a while, hasn’t it… gninnigeb, hello again. where are you going to carry us this time?

oof. starting out with a sulphur hurricane. that certainly bodes well for everyone involved, right? right?

oh my god i’m so out of it. maybe i should have read my old entries to catch back up… right. egwene and leane are captured, everyone thinks they’re dead, she hasn’t gotten a dream message out yet? i think? oh right she did get one to siuan. okay. proceed.

aw siuan. so petty. really? you’re ruining poor gareth bloody bryne’s shoes? that’s just immature. remember you being leader of the aes sedai? that was something that happened… oh well, i guess it’s nice to relive your teens now that the responsibility is gone, eh? aw maaan i want my list i totally don’t remembered who is untrustworthy anymore… except for sheriam. i do remember her plight. IS LELAINE EVIL oh god i forgot everything why did i take such a long break o.o

Prologue - Embers falling on Dry Grass

oh my gosh it’s galad. HI honey! how long’s it been? of all the people to start with - oh. OMG TRIAL BY COMBAT let me get the popcorn real quick I LOVE trials by combat no matter which direction they go wow valda is an asshole. I guess he’s trying to make galad angry to goad him into doing something rash, but still. what a douche. GO GALAD GO AWESOOOOOME so. speaking of skyrocketing through the ranks - is galad effectively commander of the WCs now? I gotta say I like how he treats his men; giving them free choice on if they want to follow his new radical outlook of “seriously guys there’s bigger shit to do than stalk aes sedai who would be of help during the apocalypse” oh wait - he’s with the seanchan that were hunting the aiel that perrin is stalking, yes? that means they might ally with perrin. that would be amazing. but I’m guessing they’re probably going to leave for WC civil war instead soon.

oooooh it’s the Huralde guy! the little wolf is back and being badass! haven’t seen him since the last book’s prologue if I remember correctly?

and shit, it’s Liandrin. Liandrin with Suroth. IS suroth a darkfriend? that would suck - oh shit she is. well. yay.  and she has the dragonholding mcguffin too.  SEMIRHAGE! oh bloody hell... seandar in chaos? the empress dead? how could a country filled with as many rigidly honorbound and prideful people as the seanchan be reduced to chaos so quickly? or did all the rigid ones get sent overseas? or is the rigidity only something the highborn have and the common folk don’t give a shit? whatever the case, the things going on in Suroth’s brain now are fascinating. in the end, powerhungriness and greed trumps all, but the amount of effort it took before it won over the respect and worship the empress gets was kind of amazing. HOW did this culture collapse so quickly? did it at all? is it even important? what is life?

oh my goodness perrin captured galina.  it is fascinating to see perrin through someone else’s eyes.  dammit RJ, why are you making me feel sympathy for galina? it’s only a tiny little bit but it’s there, and that takes some doing. therava is terrifying. 

EGWENE! also hello nicola, so that’s where you went. right to elaida. pff. she’s gonna play a major role later on at some point, isn’t she... otherwise she wouldn’t be mentioned so often.  at least I get the cuendillar plan now. good way of blocking the harbor, I approve of this a lot. didn’t think turning it into cuendillar would have fused the chains, but good thing that it did. that’s a fine pickle they’ve got egwene in. mild forkroot and shielding at night. very smart. I hope leane turns out to be okay : ( egwene is being so badass. I love it.

this was an excellent prologue.

I wouldn't say it is disappointing at all.

just egwene being all plotty and secretive ad riding somewhere

EGWENE what ARE you doing?! where are you going? what is The Plan? can you stop pussyfooting around the issue and TELL us? 

I’m at a loss. so there’s a boat and the aes sedai that were quickest in turning iron into cuendillar, but what does that mean? what possible benfit would turning the harbor’s chain into cuendillar have to anyone at all?

so basically, she’s doing something. I guess. and

wait

what

...

THAT WAS IT?! REALLY, RJ?  You knock her out and that was IT??

most. dissapointing. finale. ever.

wtf is halima DOING? 

is sHe just killing randomly because sHe can? or is there a design to this? is sHe just getting less careful because all the happy over saidin being clean now and not technically needing the dark lord’s protection? does sHe know that the aes sedai can detect male channelling residue now? could this be an attempt to make them especially leery of ashaman?

whoa mat just almost ran into three ghosts? they seem to be a regular appearance now, although from what the so harbor people said I thought the ghosts would be visible to everyone and somehow related to people there, not three random figures mat didn’t know and tuon couldn’t see. looking forward to learning the rules to this.

aaaah a bloody traitor! dammit renna, what was that about? aside from making sure the circus people now know they’re harboring at least one aes sedai - but that’s a plot standpoint, not a reason for renna. oh well. damage done. and she’s dead now anyway.

lol mat and tuon. SUCH a weird start to a relationship. I would call stockholm syndrome dysfunctional if it wasn’t so clear that tuon apparently WANTS to be where she is and is following some plan of her own. anyway. mat m'dear, egeanin is RIGHT THERE. why didn’t you ask her about seanchan courtship rituals and just generally about their customs? your blunders really are your own fault, honey.

okay, I like the idea of flowers made of fabric, that is really really cute.

dammit RJ! you tell us tuon made a demand, mat accepted and the dice stopped but not what the demand was? you just end the chapter? so mean.