(no subject)

[vivien]

WOW. What a good episode. So, I am a little slow. Jen guessed Molly was a ghost a few minutes before the reveal, but the only thing I had noticed was that the car had no airbags when it crashed, and I thought that rather odd.

Aside from that, I was really impressed by the way this story was told. I adored Sam explaining the "why" behind the whole mythos of ghosts and why they linger. I really liked Dean as well, but what is new here? Not much. :P


Two more chapters to go. I swear, I used to actually read quickly.

So here's the thing I have noticed about the book. It is incredibly derivative of Tolkien. I mean, by the time Padan Fain is revealed as the not quite human creature dogging the fellowship - I mean, the group - all the way to Fal Dara, I almost rolled my eyes. But then Lan's story was told, and I was just fiiiine again. While the Tolkien elements are strong - and usually that makes me grumpy and ready to put down a book forever - the Aes Sedai element counters with originality, and the characters are compelling. I want to find out what happens to all of them, so I am willing to forgive the Tolkien lifting. After all, is you want to lift elements of fantasy, you might as well lift from the best.

I even dreamed a Wheel of Time dream featuring Lan, Moiraine, and Nynaeve (as I see them from their Mways icons). I think they were on the run, and they were hiding at an out of the way office building which was, of course, overrun by Darkfriends. Whee!

Comments

[genarti]

Jordan lifts from everybody, but there's a lot of Tolkien-stealing, yeah. (As other have said, less so than a lot of high fantasy books. But nonetheless, yeah. There are some very strong elements that show that... we will go with the polite version and say Tolkien was clearly a strong influence on Jordan's writing.)

Less so in later books, though, I think. As the series develops into its own creature, and becomes more embroiled in its own plots and less in the Generic Fantasy Epic structure. Though it's always a mix of the two, of course.

[vivien]

Yes, that's exactly what I can see just from the first (and knowing a little about what comes after). There are enough very original takes on the high fantasy rift in his writing to make me be patient.

I finally finished EotW, and I have to say - nicely done. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending, because things happened I would never expected (ie Green Man's death, aiee!). So now I settle into The Great Hunt.

Also, Lan is a big, stoic weenie. I loff him. :-P

[genarti]

*snickers madly*

He really is.

And yes, the ending of EotW surprised me pleasantly too with all the unexpected twists, and so did later events. It's one thing Jordan is very good about.