It’s amazing what Brandon Sanderson did. All the characters that had previously been annoying and infuriating were, in fact, still, annoying and infuriating. He nailed all the characters absolutely spot on and if I hadn’t known this book was written by someone else than Robert Jordan, I would never have guessed! The best part is that all the story-lines are finally moving forward and going somewhere, instead of feeling dragged out.

I never realised what kind of dark atmosphere surrounded the entire story of The Gathering Storm, until I had read the final chapter of the book. Rand al’Thor on the absolute peak of his insanity demanding answers from the world itself, nearly causing another breaking of the world. The impact of those final pages hit me with a sledge hammer, especially with the Seanchan prophecy on the final page! The moment itself was only slightly spoiled by the screaming child sitting next to me in the train…

At the end of time,
when the many become one.
The last storm shall gather its angry winds
to destroy a land already dying.
And at its center,
the blind man shall stand
upon his own grave.
There he shall see again,
and weep for what has been wrought.

The divided White Tower is reunited under the new Amyrlin Egwene al’Vere, and so the many have become one again.

Only a short distance away, the Dragon Reborn, Rand al’Thor stands on Dragonmount where he died as Lews Therin in the Age of Legends and at the peak of his insanity finally shakes of his madness, and so the blind man stands on his own grave and shall see again. In my opinion Tuon was wrong, Rand doesn’t go physically blind. His madness blinded his thoughts and prevented him from understanding.

The part where Rand realizes he will no longer hear the voice of Lews Therin in his mind solves Min’s viewing: I saw you and another man. I couldn’t make out either face, but I knew one was you. You touched, and seemed to merge into one another, and….one of you dies, and one doesn’t.

I’m also very curious to see if my assumption of the meaning of one the Karaethon Cycle’s prophecies, “He shall hold a blade of light in his hands, and the three shall be one.”, is correct as well. We know this prophecy is about Callandor. We also know that if Rand wants to wield Callandor, he needs to form a circle with two female channelers. I’m guessing Rand will finally see sense and will form a circle with Elayne and Aviendha to use Callandor at the Last Battle.

I wanted to write more, but I’m already having difficulties enough to make this a somewhat comprehensible post. Perhaps I shall leave it at this! However, in conclusion I’d like to add that this book is exactly what I had come to expect from The Wheel of Time! The thirteenth installment, Towers of Midnight, can’t come quick enough!

I had read a number of reviews and the opinions were rather mixed. People loved it and people hated it. I loved the previous two DVDs as well, so I felt confident I would love this film as well. After watching the DVD, I’m quite happy to say I haven’t been disappointed! I loved every minute of it!

Moist von Lipwig and Adore Belle Dearheart have been casted perfectly! They’re an absolute joy to watch and I think they match the characters of the book really, really closely!

A number of people seemed to think that Charles Dance was not casted well as Lord Vetinari. Despite one glaring issue, his hair colour, I think he played his role perfectly. They could have at least taken the time to dye his hair black, but other than this he’s everything that I came to expect from Lord Vetinari: a stern, immovable tyrant, going about his own business in his own way… no matter what.

Ian Bonar as Stanley, the pinhead geek turning into a stamp collector, is simpy fantastic as well.

There’s only one thing I really didn’t like about Going Postal though. I felt disappointed about the golems. I had always imagined them to be taller and more sculpted to the image of muscled men. Although there are mentions of the golems patching themselves up so often that their shapes are indistinguishable. I had still expected more of a robocopesque shaped golem.

In short: I simply loved almost all of it. As far as I’m concerned they can make a new film based on Discworld as soon as possible! Preferably with the plot of Making Money which I think is on of the best, perhaps even the very best, book of the entire series and, incidentally, also about Moist von Lipwig.

This film is rated 10/10 as far as I’m concerned!

The Dragon Keeper picks up the story of Bingtown and the Rain Wilds again. In The Tawny Man there were plenty of hints about the stunted little dragons that had been hatched and this book starts with the hatching of the scrawny, stunted, little dragons and continues telling their tale. After having finished the book, I am left with a feeling of disappointment. I haven’t really formed a bond with any of the main characters. For me personally, Hobb didn’t succeed in creating a new character that could take the role of the hero, such as Fitz.

And yet, the last few pages of The Dragon Keeper made me a little more excited about the story. Did Sedric’s actions cause the death of one of the dragons? Will the other dragons suspect? What will their keepers do when they find out? How will things go for Sedric? Will he be able to gather the fortune he so desires, or will he meet a more dreadful fate? All questions that sparked in me when I turned the last page. At the same time I also felt the disappointment of having my excitement sparked into life on the last few pages out of the near six hundred.

Oh well, let’s hope Dragon Haven will continue where The Dragon Keeper has deserted me!

I have a slight suspicion that, instead of slaying a dragon, Fitz will end up freeing him and in doing so allow dragons to prosper once more in the world. This is assuming that Tintaglia and Icefyre become consorts to ensure the survival of dragonkind. From the small bits and pieces I’ve read so far, this is what Tintaglia seeks to achieve and could be the reason why she is so set on discovering more hints and clues about the black dragon through the Skill dreams of Fitz and Prince Dutiful.

Let’s not forget about the Fool, who prophesied his own death during this expedition. Fitz intends to leave him behind and so hopes to prevent the Fool’s death. Will it work? I doubt it! The Fool will probably end up with Fitz in the moment supreme and Fitz will still have to face his decision: loyalty to the Farseers and slay Icefyre or fulfil the Fool’s prophesy and free the black dragon instead.

Did I mention yet that I love these books?!

I wrote about my suspicions that the Fool is Amber from The Liveship Traders and that she had carved Fitz’s likeness on the liveship Paragon. I’m about halfway through the sequel to Fool’s Errand, Golden Fool, and Jek has just arrived at Buckkeep. Fitz overheard the conversation, well I say overheard, but in fact he was spying on them. Of course he got rather upset by discovering the depth of the Fool’s hidden secrets.

In only a few pages all of my suspicions were confirmed, so I’ll have to take back what I said about not having seen it confirmed anywhere. I can’t wait to find out how the rest of the story will develop and how Bingtown and Tintaglia will fit into the story!

Once I had finished Ship of Destiny, the last book in The Liveship Traders, I started to realise something. This is a major spoiler if you’ve not read any of the books yet, so be warned. I was starting to consider that Amber was showing a lot of similarities to the Fool from the Farseer Trilogy. With the power of hindsight I berated myself that I should have picked up on that earlier, especially when she found the wooden crown in Igrot’s hidden treasure and said it was precious to her. For those of you who don’t remember, the crown played an important part in the vision that Fitz and the Fool shared on the Elderling road when they were searching for King Verity.

In Fool’s Errand there are subtle, and some blatantly obvious, clues that the Fool and Amber are indeed the same person. Aside from various little references to Bingtown and being on a ship, one of the most glaring facts is that the Fool indeed has the crown with him. Another one is that the Fool’s horse is called Malta. This certainly is a reference to Malta Vestrit, who became an Elderling Queen at the end of Ship of Destiny.

While reading through this book, and mulling things over a little, do these facts mean that Amber re-carved the face of the liveship Paragon to reflect FitzChivalry’s image? As far as I’m aware it’s never been specifically mentioned anywhere, except that Amber carved Paragon’s face in the liking of someone she once loved. In the last book of the Farseer Trilogy it becomes a fact that the Fool is actually a woman and has always been in love with Fitz. A fact that is largely realized and then ignored by Fitz. The Fool is constantly referred to as a male by Fitz, so I’m a little unclear whether Fitz knows this fact and ignores it or if he denies the truth to himself.

I simply love how these books make me puzzle over little facts and refer to earlier events in the time line of the different series. Robin Hobb truly is a remarkable storyteller and I wish I had the same talent for writing! I’m also oddly grateful to my brother who randomly showed up with a battered book in his hands telling me he had picked it up for a couple of cents and thought I might like it. The battered book, Assassin’s Apprentice, turned out to be the first part in a very large and interesting series.

At first, when I started reading Ship of Magic, I was surprised to find the book vastly different from any of the books about Fitz Farseer. I was a little disappointed when I realized the vast difference between the life of an Assassin in the previous trilogy and the life aboard a ship in this new book. I had no solid grounds for my disappointment and so I kept on reading. After all, I found the beginning of Assassin’s Apprentice a little dubious as well!

I’m about three quarters of the way though the book now and still I have no clear idea where the story is going. There are many different story-lines following different characters that are somehow related to each other. It tells about their lives and the adventures and hardships they are having.

So where do the Serpents and Dragons come in then?

Serpents are playing a large part in the story so far. They are mostly seen through the character’s eyes as dreadful sea monsters who attack their ships and devour their crews. However, occasionally there are (dreadfully short) paragraphs where the story shifts to the view of a group of Serpents. They appear to be chasing a memory that most of the Serpents have forgotten, but some of them still remember.

I’m guessing the storyline of the Serpents is the underlying part that will make all the other story-lines come together. Also a paragraph clearly hints that the memory of the Serpents is of times long past, when they were soaring through the sky on wings, instead of slithering through the oceans. I wish I could find the passage to quote it, but the reference of the Serpent remembering a time where the Lack was the Plenty and the Plenty was the Lack is clearly another way of saying that once they were creature of the Lack (air) while now they are living in the Plenty (ocean).

I can’t wait to find out at which point the Dragons will come into the story and whether my assumption about the Serpents is correct. I just hope I don’t need to wait until the last book of the trilogy, as was the case with The Farseer books. For now, I will conclude that I can agree to George R.R. Martin’s acclaim to Ship of Magic: “Even better than the Assassin books. I didn’t think that was possible.”