Laurien's Journey Through The Dragon Reborn

Laurien Achaur

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Alright, everyone, you know the drill by now! I'll try to be better at keeping up here during this read than I was for the last one. :laugh:

Prologue: Fortress of the Light

- Light, I can't help but hate the Whitecloaks. I don't even have Geofram Bornhald to slightly appreciate anymore. Their refusal to dig any deeper for the actual truth and to see the different possibilities in a situation is utterly infuriating. Byar says he just knows things are Perrin's fault, and Niall just takes his word! How completely petty the man is.
- No surprise that Carridin is "Bors" from the previous book. His attitude matched.

Chapter 1: Waiting

- So we're back to being woolheaded about the wolves and Moiraine, Perrin? Come on...
- I was wondering if the Dark One could see what the ravens saw or if the ravens had to report, too. At least the answer is a relief!
- I recognize some of the dialogue between Leya and Perrin as being ported over to the conversation between him and Ila in the show. Nice to see it was retained in some fashion; it's a good moment.
- I love the description of the camp, and the fact that it's a tactically sound place to be.

Chapter 2: Saidin

- I'm very curious about what - or who - compels all these woman to seek Moiraine, and what news they all end up bringing.
- At first, I thought Min's ability was kind of neat. While I still think it's interesting, I feel for her, especially when I think of how much more death she's probably going to end up reading in people the close it comes to the Last Battle. What a burden.
- I also feel for Rand. Now he has all these followers looking at him in a completely different light. At least Perrin wants to remain his friend, and Min doesn't see him any differently. Along with Moiraine and Lan and Loial, at least he has a handful of people who have known him long enough to not look at him so differently. I'd want to go off by myself all the time, too.
 

Viktara Fen

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I really enjoyed the camp description as well. Imagining what a long, tense season they spent there really helped to convey a sense of both the passage of time and the uncertainty. I got the sense that Moiraine really didn't know what steps to take next, either, and I imagine that was awkward, considering how she generally presented herself as the one with all the answers up to that point.

And yeah, poor Min. I feel for her. I feel for Rand, too, in all of this. Here he's been thrust fully into this new role and he has people basically worshiping him, even one (Masema) who completely hated him before, just for how he looked. It has to be beyond surreal.
 

Laurien Achaur

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Chapter 3: News from the Plain

- Somehow I thought Rand's little earthquake might've been contained to his hidey-hole. But nope. Yeesh.
- Why would Moiraine think it was anything but an accident? Maybe she's thinking of the madness twisting him to do what Lews Therin did and fears he might touch on his Kinslayer aspect, but it still wouldn't be on purpose.
- Min: "Just because fate has chosen something for you instead of you choosing it for yourself doesn't mean it has to be bad." If ever there was something the boys need to hear and take to heart, it's that.
- Perrin is seeming especially dense when it comes to what Min has to say. I thought he was the thoughtful one...
- He also needs to learn to never say never.
- I never really thought about the origin of Lan's cloak, but I'm assuming the Warder cloaks are of Aes Sedai make, all things considered.
- I'm snickering at Uno trying so hard to watch his mouth around Moiraine :giggle
- The Tuatha'an Darkfriend must be among the wagons Leya travels with, considering the deaths of the young men who seem so similar to Rand. Maybe the Darkfriend is Leya.
- Okay, I already am not looking forward to an encounter with a Soulless. I seem to remember that being what Mordeth is/was...though I could be wrong, of course.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Mordeth is not a Soulless, though I seem to remember that you will meet some in this book :look:

And yeah, Whitecloaks are not generally liked anywhere, even in Amadicia. Unfortunately, you are going to see more of them too ;)
 

Toral Delvar

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Byar says he just knows things are Perrin's fault, and Niall just takes his word! How completely petty the man is.
I think I mentioned when you were reading book one that this is a very common theme throughout the books - people thinking they know something they don't and acting on it. The Whitecloaks are particularly bad, but the Aes Sedai aren't much better
 

Laurien Achaur

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Mordeth is not a Soulless, though I seem to remember that you will meet some in this book :look:

And yeah, Whitecloaks are not generally liked anywhere, even in Amadicia. Unfortunately, you are going to see more of them too ;)
Yeah, I figured the Whitecloaks would probably be a plague until the end.
I think I mentioned when you were reading book one that this is a very common theme throughout the books - people thinking they know something they don't and acting on it. The Whitecloaks are particularly bad, but the Aes Sedai aren't much better
Yes. I've come to the conclusion I'll have as much to be infuriated by as I will to cheer about throughout the rest of the series :\
 
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Laurien Achaur

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Chapter 4: Shadows Sleeping

- Geez. Ba'alzamon is one tenacious bastard. Interesting that he's coming to Perrin at the moment and not Rand - from the perspective of this chapter, at least.
- Oh hell no. Lanfear can just eff right off and leave Perrin alone, thank you very much.
- Is it still a dream, or a vision of the Ways as they were? It could be both...
- I wonder if each person Perrin is seeing is a Forsaken. If so, I wonder who the others are besides Ishamael and Lanfear.
- If Callandor is meant for Rand and not Perrin, I wonder if he's seeing it in his dream as a sign of where they're headed next, maybe so that he'll be able to help encourage Rand on that path.
- Why is Perrin trying to deny the wolves again? I thought he was getting past that in the last book. :(
 

Viktara Fen

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I feel like the idea that the harder you fight the inevitable/the Pattern/Destiny/etc., the harder it is for you is really a theme throughout. Given the theme of how one successfully embraces saidar (surrender to it to successfully learn to control it to your benefit), I feel like this repetition is not by accident. As one of my English teachers in high school used to say, "Once is coincidence, twice is interesting, three times is a symbol or a theme."
 

Laurien Achaur

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Oooo, I like that.
 

Viktara Fen

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By that measure, I think even repetition, both of specific things and of general patterns and sequences, is an overall theme of the series. You can look at the way the Wheel turns from Age to Age, and even through cycles of Ages, as a macrocosmic look at the idea and individuals' repetitions of behaviors and patterns as the microcosmic look, perhaps.
 

Alisen al'Harld

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There's several interesting people and places you'll meet in the next couple chapters that were what really sold some characters and the setting more fully for me. I'm looking forward to your reactions and interpretations of them as they happen!
 

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Woof. Okay. So I have been reading for the past month while simultaneously pounding away at my schoolwork (a feature-length script that I have now finished, thank God). And I have actually just finished The Dragon Reborn. So! Some thoughts, if I can gather them from the midst of everything else my brain has been full of:

- I saw a lot of people noting that TDR doesn't have very much of Rand in it for being all about Rand. That's definitely true in a physical sense, but in a more indirect sense, he's actually all over the place in this book. He's ta'veren; he's pulling his friends toward him all the time and motivating their actions without them even realizing it. They all end up in Tear, following plans that contain varying levels of foolhardiness, and all wind up witnessing (in some form another) Rand's coming into being as The Dragon Reborn.

- I find it very curious that Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne are coming into their own as channelers largely through instinct, without guidance from other Aes Sedai. It seems to speak to their power and the fact that they might be tapping into it a level not seen since the Age of Legends. Egwene really starting to take hold of her power as a Dreamer feels like it happens as a whirlwind - not that it's a bad thing in the least.

- Bain and Chiad seem like they're going to be fun. It was also cool to finally meet Aviendha, Gaul, Rhuarc, and more of the Aiel. I can't wait to deal more with them.

- I'm not at all sure what to make of Faile yet. My first instinct is not to like her; she seems quite childish, though that's par for the course. I've felt that about the main characters most of the time up until now, too.

- Mat's luck-bending is also a curiosity. Is it a side effect from having the dagger for so long? A consequence of being ta'veren? Something entirely unique? I'm intrigued and eager to find out more. The fact that he's lucky seems much more pointed up all of a sudden; he says several times that he's always been lucky and alludes to a long-standing love of dice, but it feels as though it was never really emphasized until now.

- Nynaeve is still a vexing character for me. Though I did cheer when she punched Liandrin and, later, Amico. Liandrin's monologuing definitely needed that interruption. :laugh:

- Perrin is also still vexing, though I'm glad he started recognizing how lonely he feels without the wolves and began to embrace the wolf dream. At least Faile was a catalyst for that!

- Balefire is terrifying. I'm curious to know how Moiraine learned it and what compelled her to do so...and how Egwene knew to do it instinctively.

Those are all my thoughts for now. If anyone wants to know any more of my thoughts about other specific parts of the book, just let me know here. On to The Shadow Rising, and hopefully I'll be able to get back on track doing play by play stuff in the next thread!
 

Aduiavas Ida

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- I'm not at all sure what to make of Faile yet. My first instinct is not to like her; she seems quite childish, though that's par for the course. I've felt that about the main characters most of the time up until now, too.

- Nynaeve is still a vexing character for me. Though I did cheer when she punched Liandrin and, later, Amico. Liandrin's monologuing definitely needed that interruption. :laugh:

- Mat's luck-bending is also a curiosity. Is it a side effect from having the dagger for so long? A consequence of being ta'veren? Something entirely unique? I'm intrigued and eager to find out more. The fact that he's lucky seems much more pointed up all of a sudden; he says several times that he's always been lucky and alludes to a long-standing love of dice, but it feels as though it was never really emphasized until now.

This is all pretty much exactly how I feel about it as well. Faile is an interesting character, I both like and dislike her on and off throughout the story...
Mat's luck I think is a combination of the dagger and being ta'veren.
 

Alisen al'Harld

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You're meeting some great characters and starting to see threads that lead you on all sorts of chases. TDR was the beginning of my finding Mat to be the most believable of the young characters, which still holds all the way up to the end of Winter's Heart. The things that come up early in the book such as the slow changes in names and pronunciations (Mikel to Michael, for example) are strong reasons why I adore RJ's world he has created. Characters like Perrin continue to grow, but at times are also unmoving stones in the currents of a raging river as the world moves forward.
 
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