Update!! I finished Crown of Swords last night!!
Not a WHOLE lot happened, but some very good scenes. I'm so glad I did that update yesterday as opposed to waiting for today. Great book btw.
-Mat finally convinces the Aes Sedai to leave Ebou Dar. Although he did it in a fashion I didn't expect. He basically told everyone how it was and ORDERED them to leave. I got to read about Birgitte explaining the gholem to him. That they were specifically made to fight channelers. There are six in total. 3 male and 3 female and the Power is useless against them. I think they are so cool! Why wait this long to put them in the series?!? I can't wait to see them in a full on battle.
Okay, anyways, Mat leaves the palace to go find Olver before they leave and he finds that the Seanchan are attacking. He witnesses them burning ships and collared female channelers destroying the city as people run away. In an alley he is attacked and a big brick wall falls on top of him. Mat's final thoughts are that they dice stopped spinning in his head and that his luck had ran out. I'm fairly confident that this isn't the end of Mat. It BETTER not be. I've come to suspect any death that RJ writes that doesn't include balefire or beheading...lol.
-Rand, even though he's weakened, decides to take the Asha'man to Illian to kill Sammael. This was a great scene of Rand chasing Sammael through the city after setting off all the wards that had been set to warn of Rand's coming. Rand chases the Forsaken to Shadar Logoth....and it's NIGHT there! When the mashadar is at it's strongest. He battles Trollocs and Fades while eluding Sammael's lightning strikes. At one point he sees Liah, the Maiden who dissapeared last time they were in Shadar Logoth, kill some Trollocs. Apparently, she has lost her mind a little bit but recovers when she sees Rand's face and hears his voice. Yet she runs away anyway. This was confusing to me, and even more confusing when Rand spots Liah later when he's trying to ambush Sammael. She has been grabbed by the mashadar and Rand balefire's her to save her the pain. He also balefires in the direction where Sammael was. The Forsaken is gone and Rand is not sure wether he killed him or not. But how did Liah survive all this time?? Why didn't she respond when they searched for her the day she ran off??
Also, earlier when Rand was running from the lightning strikes, he almost falls through a rotted floor and is saved by ANOTHER mystery man. Love these mystery men! Seeing mashadar heading for them they both unleash balefire at the fog. When they do this they accidently(?) cross the streams of balefire (Ghostbusters reference!!!!) and it appears Rand got very close to tearing the Pattern of where they were. I never thought of the consequences of crossing balefire streams. Very interesting, yet it's too bad Rand doesn't heed Cadsuane's words. I feel like he might get balefire-happy and cause something terrible to happen. The mystery man runs away after hinting to Rand where he can find Sammael. Only then does Rand realize that the man channeled without Rand sensing it. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the mystery man was Moridin/Ishamael and Rand couldn't sense his weaves because he was drawing from the True Power of the Dark One. But then, why the heck would Ishy help Rand?? Man there are layers and more damn layers with this book. I love it!!
This was a great book in the series, though Fires of Heaven still remains my favorite. I don't feel that the series has been going downhill. I feel the books have kept a steady stream of entertainment even if some of the plot lines go on too long. I can imagine what it must have been like to wait years for the next book in the series only to be confronted with more questions than answers, and another few years for the next book. By the way, I'm no stranger to this. LOL I know I joke about how you must hate me for not having to wait for the books, but believe me I've been there. It was AGONY waiting for Stephen King's The Dark Tower series to conclude. Same with Mistborn. I feel very fortunate to be able to read WOT straight through and be caught up with everyone else in anticipation for Memory of Light. I got my hardcover of Path of Daggers and I'm ready to go!! Thanks for the response guys!! Take care!!
-Joe