Blood and Ashes: A Wheel of Time Spoilercast

The night is darkest before the dawn, and boy is it getting dark! Rand and Cadsuane keep running into each other in Bandar Eban, which is tricky when one lives under the threat of murder on sight. Nynaeve is kicking ass though, going on what feels like a bottled episode to track down the missing king. Rand gains some information on Graendal's whereabouts, but at a high cost. Mat ogles Aludra&...

Welcome back folks, to this, a real episode of 2 halves. In the first half, Mat and his crew encounter their strangest unravelling of the pattern yet. We'll leave it at that. In the 2nd half we join our two sulkiest boys: Rand and Gawyn. Rand is all up in his head as he rides into Bandar Eban and meets with his first captured member of the Merchant Council, and Gawyn has some meetings. First...

Ok, whoah. I hope you've all had a good day because this episode contains some of the darkest times for our boy, Rand! But we also get into some great callbacks, so there is always that! Perrin dips his toes back in the wolf dream while Faile has a small secret ceremony for the women who had to kill the brotherless who had helped them in Malden. Then it's time for sad things. Semirhage m...

Welcome back, friends! We're already coming up to the midway point of The Gathering Storm, and BOY, is that storm gathering! Just as Egwene thinks she's making progress in the White Tower, she has a massive confrontation with Elaida that changes the game somewhat. Cadsuane has an epiphany about how to get to Semirhage. Perrin decides to go back to practice in the Wolf Dream. Meanwhile Le...

Weclome back, gang! We're coming in hot, but not as hot as Adrin, right?  Aviendha is struggling to see what the Wise Ones are punishing her for, and a man turns into lava. Sort of. Egwene is finding more success in her attempt to get through to the sisters of the divided White Tower. Gawyn catches wind of Egwene's treatment in the Tower and decides to make a move. Cadsuane has Sorilea t...

Who's hungry? Because, wow, is there a lot of table setting happening in this stretch of chapters! Rand is setting up stuff in Arad Doman while Cadsuane and Nynaeve are frustrated by Semirhage's ability to resist their questioning. Rodel Ituralde comes face to face with General Turan, leader of the Seanchan army that chased him into Arad Doan and fell for his trap. Egwene helps save Lean...

It's a brand new day and a brand new book. Also, a brand new author! There are ominous signs of the last battle in the Borderlands and people are starting to see the writing on the wall. Rand sends a message to Ebou Dar, Tylee and Mishima meet their first Trollocs, Graendal is privy to some dressing down of Demandred and Mesaana at the hands of Moridin, Rodel Ituralde pulls the trigger on the...

Here we are, team! The Knife of Dreams grand finale! Karede finally catches up with tuon and her military mastermind abductor, thom Merrilin, LOL, and tuon herself finally says "I bloody do". Elayne crushes her opponent for the throne, almost literally and the royal houses of Andor fall in line. And Suroth finally gets her just desserts. Let us know what you thought of the book and the p...

Oh boy, things continue to wrap up for our main characters! We'll keep this brief: Perrin and his forces attack Malden while Faile tries to escape Galina's trap. Stuff happens! Fighting, deaths, tears. We then switch to Elaine who sets in motion her completely foolhardy plan to capture the Black Ajah sisters in Caemlyn, but gets kidnapped herself. More deaths, more tears but the Sea Folk...

Welcome back, folks, strap in for a big one! Mat and the Band continue to impress Tuon as she slowly begins to realise just who she has tied herself to. Rand and his entourage take a trip to meet who they think is the Daughter of the Nine Moons, and boy, do things escalate quickly. Many important beans are spilled as a result! And we also check in with Perrin and Faile, both of whom have set their...

Welcome back, friends!  There's action at the rebel Aes Sedai camp as Romanda, of all people, pieces together the "Halima" situation after an impactful visit from Merise and Narishma. Then Egwene is completely bossing the White Tower from within, setting in motion all sorts of plans, resisting and confounding the Aes Sedai and winning over all the novices. Elaida on the other hand h...

Well folks, we've reached the point where Knife of Dreams shifts gears on us! Loial gets married, but there is little time for celebration as the estate in Tear is attacked by 100,000 trollocs and all hell breaks loose. After the battle they get word from the Seanchan that The Daughter of the Nine Moons is ready to meet Rand, and they start preparing. Nynaeve tricks Lan into fulfilling his de...

Welcome back, friends! In this episode we finalise what I feel is the setup for Knife of Dreams and we are poised for action! Elayne is under siege, literally and figuratively. She is swamped with responsibilities while being completely molly coddled. And then her sister has to leave! At least Aviendha has figured out a cool new skill, but she leaves for Arad Doman with the rest of the Aiel in And...

Here we go again, gang! Another episode with a great mix of characters and action! On the road from Jurador, Valan Luca's travelling show encounters a whole ghsot village, and Mat finally triggers the conversation about the Finns with Thom. Mat and Thom take Tuon and Selucia on a double date to a dive bar and all... hell... breaks loose. Perrin and his new Seanchan allies manage to scoop up t...

We're back after a big ol' break and we're right back into it! The whole episode focuses on Mat and his courtship of Tuon. He buys her a gift, seems to take 1 step forward and 2 steps back in every interaction with her. At the same time the Aes Sedai and sul'dam give him multiple headaches and he needs to manage all this while avoiding Seanchan detection. In other news, Domona...

We're back and Knife of Dreams is wasting no time getting into it! Siuan gets her orders from Egwene and passes them along to the rebels. All but one, rebel, that is. Beonin makes her way to Elaida and lets us all down, bigtime. The surviving forsaken convene in Tel'aran'rhiod and take new orders from Moridin. Perrin meets with the Seanchan and they establish a working relationship....

It's a new day, a new episode and a new book! And Knife of Dreams kicks things off with a BANG! Galad makes some big moves in the Whitecloaks organisation. Rodel Ituralde starts his raids on the Seanchan in Tarabon, putting his grand plan in action. Suroth gets annoyed and takes Rodel Ituralde's bait. Pevara formally gets assigned the job of approaching the Black Tower about bonding Asha...

And just like that we're at the finish line! Moiraine and her Malkieri escort encounter some bandits and would be assassins on the way to Chachin, but deal with them accordingly. In Chachin Lan is eager to get away from the infuriating woman and makes his way to the palace. He's confronted by his past as a future he is not remotely interested in is laid out before him. Meanwhile Moiraine...

It's time to hit the road! Moiraine is making preparations to leave the city, despite a direct order from the Amyrlin to stay in the White Tower. Meanwhile Lan and Bukama arrive in Canluum and re-connect with old aquaintances. Some news and a bit of swordplay set the Malkieri to Chachin. Then, surprise visits from Cadsuane and Siuan! On the way to Chachin, the fresh faced Aes Sedai and the Ki...

We're back in the White Tower and the girls, (Moiraine and Siuan in this book) are busy poring over the lists of names captured by the Accepted in the Camps around Tar Valon. They decide to make their own short lists for their own use later... Meanwhile Tamra seems to be reaching out to trsuted Sisters to begin the search for the Dragon Reborn in earnest. All the while they are also preparing...

We're diving into the prequel and our experiences are... different! We park Rand's journey to pick up with young Lan and Moiraine. Lan encounters some Aiel after Laman has been killed already, while Moiraine and Siuan witness the Foretelling from Gitara Moroso annoucing the birth of The Dragon Reborn on the slopes of Dragonmount. They are immediately made part of the effort to identify a...

And there it is! The end of the slog! Or is it? Does the slog even exist!? Tune in and find out! While we do spend most of our time talking about the slog there are still some significant events in these chapters. Mat has to deal with a renegade sul'dam and Tuon's willfulness at the same time, and Egwene makes a last minute change to her secrett plan for the White Tower and... things don...

We're getting to the pointy end and things are starting to wrap up! Perrin's army is at each other's throats and they are hungry. Then Perrin and his crew have to navigate a haunted town to buy some wheat. Back at camp Perrin pushes himself futher than he's comfortable when interrogating some captured Shaido, and makes a big choice. Finally, and old friend with more options ret...

Can you believe it? We've been doing this for 100 episodes!? Well, I can. So let's keep rolling! We have quite a bit of variety in this episode:  Egwene and some prophetic dreams plus an Aes Sedai murder.  Alviarin returns to the White Tower and has to face Elaida, Mesaana and Shaidar Haran. Pevara and Tarna Feir do their best to redeem the Red Ajah by considering plans Elaida would desp...

We're back and we have moved on from the Andoran politics! We join Egwene as she assesses her options for the siege of Tar Valon. Gareth Bryne advises attack, but Egwene wants to avoid Aes Sedai on Aes Sedai fighting at all costs.  In the meantime there are various political under currents demanding she address negotiations with the White and Black Towers, as well as the small issue of the ma...