Maria Dimitrova's Reviews > A Memory of Light

Fifteen books, thousands of pages and year and three months after my friends and I embarked on this epic journey it is finally over. I'm both sad and elated and suffering one of the greatest book hangovers I have even experienced. I can't let go of this world. It feels wrong that there is no more of it. So I turned to browsing the incredible wealth of art inspired by it. Like this piece:



So much happened that it's hard to summarise and I won't even try. I'll just highlight some things. And since this is the last book some are for the entire series.

I was right!(view spoiler)[ Taim and Demandred were not the same person! This was an ongoing discussion with my fellow buddy readers and I always (okay most of the time) thought that they couldn't be the same person. there was something that just didn't fit for them to be one. (hide spoiler)]

Perrin was amazing in this one! I'm so glad he didn't die in any of the previous novels (like I half wanted when he was acting like a total moron).

Mat ruled! Dammit he had the biggest character development in this series. From a TSTL, annoying little sh*t to my favourite character of them all. Yeah, yeah, you kept telling me it will happen in the beginning and I though you were all crazy. Well, you were right. Mat is the best! *swoons*

(view spoiler)[Gawyn's death. I knew it was coming. I knew he was going to kill himself in a spectacular manner for at least 3 books now. His pride and utter stupidity killed him. I can't even say I felt anything other than relief. Pure luck was what kept him alive for so long. I guess the Creator shelters and protects fools like him because the WoT world is filled with them. (hide spoiler)]

Lan finnaly started acting like he has a head on his shoulders. He even impressed me so I'm willing to think he might be a good match for Nynaeve after all.

The entire Last Battle was so engaging. From the starting conflicts to the last stand at the Field of Merrilor. It was brilliant and heartbreaking. So many died ;( A lot of them died senseless deaths and while that annoyed a part of me another appreciated it because it lent legitimacy to it. War is senseless and innocents die for stupid reasons. Trying to find logic in why someone dies in battle is a waste of time. The death that hit me the most was (view spoiler)[Bella's demise. I know she's a horse. And that maybe I should be grieving for someone else more than for one animal but damn she was with use from the start and she deserved to live through it and have endless fields of pasture as a reward! (hide spoiler)]

Elayne had her moments. But she was kept true to character and did some really stupid and reckless things that almost cost her her life and the lives of her unborn children. Seriously the Trakands have two brain cells between them al!

I was truy impressed by Galad. There was a moment when his POV broke my heart (view spoiler)[when he was thinking about how much he loves his siblings and that Elayne had never returned the affection. In this moment I kind of hated her. (hide spoiler)]

The battle between Rand and the Dark One. I can't describe the feelings it evoked. And it confirmed something I theorized for quite a while now: (view spoiler)[the word can not exist without the Dark One. He is a fundamental part of human nature and without him everything loses it's purpose. Unfortunately that means that Rand is screwed for eternity. (hide spoiler)]

Logain and his fraction - I'm in love with them. And they prove that there is a future of collaboration between the Black and White Tower!

Egwene... this is a hard one. She was incredible in the later part of the book. And yet there were times when she acted like a typical Aes Sedai and I just wanted to murder her. (view spoiler)[Which made her death all the more powerful because I had just started to root for her again. The moment when she refused to transfer the bond with the dying Gawyn to Silviana was one of those times when I could feel a physical punch to the gut. Egwene changed a lot but ultimately she was a good person and a beloved character. (hide spoiler)]

And now for the ending. I had some trouble with it. (view spoiler)[ I loved that Rand survived. I even understand why he switched bodies with Moridin. It's the only way to be left alone and to live a life of piece. But dammit, Rand, couldn't you at least tell Tam, Nynaeve, Mat and Perrin? You know the people that stood beside you and love you the most! I choose to think that he tells them at a later point when not all eyes are on them. I refuse any other possibility! (hide spoiler)]

I'm sure I missed a lot and that there is a hell of a lot more to be said. My fellow buddy readers and I, literally, wrote hundreds of pages discussing this series and it's one of my biggest regrets that I couldn't participate in the discussion for the final book (stupid RL!).

I don't know if I'll ever reread this series. It's too big and too consuming but I'm so very glad that I embarked on this journey (thank you Choko for convincing me to give it a try). An advice to all who think of reading the Wheel of Time: do it! Keep moving forward even when you feel like the series is going nowhere. In the end it will be worth it!