WARNING! UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES IN THIS THEAD!  

If you don't want the plot or story spoiled, stop reading now!

Welcome to the Wheel of Time thread.  This massive series has spanned 14 novels and it certainly had it ups and downs.  With the release of Memory of Light the series has now come to an end and I thought now would be a good time to have a discussion about the series.  

To get the thread started, I think the first thing to discuss is what people thought of the last book.  Did you like it?  Did it play out like you thought it would?  Were there any surprises for you?  

Personally, I really liked the last novel.  I thought the characters were a lot more engaging than they had previously been, especially during the tail end of Robert Jordans time with the series.  I liked the amount of action as well, the whole book was pretty much one big battle. 

I didn't really like the strategy involved in the battles.  It seemed kind of dumbed down...

I also was surprised at how Rand actually didn't really battle any of the remaining forsaken, leaving that to others.  I thought for sure that would be a task left for him.  I also did not see Egwene dying...  Also, the way demondred actually died was awesome.

The whole opposite weave of balefire thing seemed to come out of nowhere though.  It might have been nice to see that be a little bit more developed.  Egwene did a minor weave on impulse once, and then used a massive weave later to battle balefire... and it made crystals...

I also did not like the Rand switching bodies at the end.  I think it would have been a more powerful ending if he had actually died.  

Honestly I was already expecting that sort of ending because both Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan end books and series like that, not to mention it was already suggested that the final battle happened countless times before, so Shai'tan couldn't be killed. So the last book sort of satisfied me. But... I did not like those who were killed. I really wanted to see Perrin and Mat to go instead. Their very presence always remind me of the BS the whole ta'veren business was from the beginning - walking deus ex machinas.

Anyways... ah man. The Wheel of Time. World's finest example of Alan Wake's words that a story can become like a living being and sometimes can out of control. Look how the first book lasted for months, the seventh two weeks and the tenth happened before the ninth. This should have been ten books at most... the way it prolonged itself and got lost on sideplots really detracted from the story.

Yeah, they really should have killed some more of the main characters.  Egwene's death was out of nowhere, but it did elevate the story.  I think Matt certainly should have died, but Perrin should have lived, but his wife should have actually died.  

yeah, Robert Jordan really let the story get away from him.  I think he lost a lot of his readers as well...

Also, the padan fain part at the end was so tacked on. I think that subplot just didn't have any point, at all, but it needed to be resolved....

Tried to get into this series since a lot of my friends love it but I just couldn't. Read the first two books and fell off entirely. All in all, I haven't enjoyed High Fantasy for many years.

On the last novel in particular:

• On the whole, I was very impressed. I enjoyed it a great deal.
• Logain's moment where he stops to help the children instead of recovering the sa'angreal nearly brought a tear to my eye.
• Lan's battle with Demandred was great. Gawyn and Galad's battles, on the other hand, were pointless.
• I was actually a little sad about Demandred. He and Ishamael are the only two Forsaken I've ever sympathised with. And he never got his showdown with Lews Therin.
• WHY THE HELL did we hear literally nothing about Demandred in Shara? Could he not have replaced 500 pages of Elayne bickering with the Kin or 3000 pages of Perrin pining for Faile with some of that?
• It would have been cool if Ishamael had realised that the Dark One was misleading him the whole time, allied with Rand and turned on him. But hey, that's a different story.
• The Flame of Tar Valon came out of literally nowhere and I don't see why Egwene needed to die for it
• Rand's rebirth makes little to no sense, but hey, I'm just glad he's alive. So is he going to go all Jain Farstrider and wander the world now, ignoring all of his friends and his three lovers?
• Mat really came into his own in this novel. Major respect.
• Mazrim being a leading Darkfriend was so obvious it was kind of sad. I was hoping for it to be subverted.
• I don't really see why Moiraine was so essential to the victory. She didn't really do anything. She kind of helped break up the tension between Egwene and Rand and then just acted as a pool of saidar for a few seconds, which any female channeler could have done.
• Seriously why was Alanna even in this series? She has done nothing of any significance ever.
• Perrin didn't make me want to punch him in the face, which is a huge improvement. I silently cheered when he snapped Lanfear's neck.

On the Dark One:

• I think this got a little bit muddled.
• Rand says a couple of books earlier that the Pattern is balanced, and that the Dark One needs to be killed to restore that balance.
• But then he sees that the Dark One is the balance. So I suppose he was just completely wrong the first time?
• But then why is there a bubble of protection and light around Rand that unspoils food?
• I posted this on reddit, and the most satisfying answer I saw was that the Dark One does provide balance to the world when he is securely imprisoned, but when the Bore was open, or the seals weak, he had far too much corrupting influence over the world. That influence needed to be reduced, but not eliminated.

You haven't read nearly long enough for it to start getting good. Most of the early books is Rand, Mat and Perrin whining and moaning about their power and how they can't handle it. They get over that by about halfway through the series.

It was nicely ironic in a way. Padan Fain had been built up as this enormous and terrible power, and he is just killed off with no struggle. He had never really been of any relevance.

I would be inclined to agree with you. But I don't think he should have died.

He should have stayed in the Rand body and gained the powers that he managed to gain. He is essentially the avatar of the Creator in the mortal world.