The Gathering Storm, WoT Book 12 (Spoilers)

[Anita Blake]

Just finished up. Yup. Verin. She was such a wild card for so long, it's almost sad that her secrets had to be revealed.

I liked the ending. From about halfway through the book, I kept wondering "when are they going to clue in that his mood is the key to everything!"

Pretty crazy stuff. Some of Sanderson's style really comes through, I didn't really realize how jarring it would be to "hear" WOT with someone else's voice. Just the sentence structures, the speed, all of it was so subtly different, but then there were a few pages that seemed like they had been ripped out of RJ's notes. It was weird - I had never really thought about it before, I just kind of took RJ's style and voice for granted, but having it mixed in with someone else's wasn't bad, just took my head for a little spin.

But good stuff. Kudos to Harriet on choosing Sanderson. I've never read any of his other books, but he was a good choice, absolutely. Me happy.

[Dregs]

Okay finally finished. Once I stopped trying to tell the difference, really really good stuff.

1) There were some pretty gripping moments, which was unforseen. Absolutely cracking pace, following on nicely from KOD.
2) Verin, brilliant. Egwene's really come into her own as a character, which is good. Nice combat sequences (which I think may be Sanderson's forte)
3) I understand the closure bit for Rand, but it was a little "Psycho, psycho, completely batshit insane, AND then happy Rand"
4) Graendal? I realise that it's supposed to show Rand going a little bit Lawful Evil, but was abit quick. Also Masema's stabbing a bit rushed, but it's tying up more loose ends, which is good, and I didn't care.

My vote for Laras as Mesaana. Larasaana.