Towers Of Midnight

Finished reading Towers of Midnight, the 13th volume of the Wheel of Time books, this weekend.  Most of the book seemed to deal with getting the pieces in place for the last battle, and tying up a few loose ends in order to make it happen.  Then again, that is pretty much what the last five books have been about.  An annoying feature of this book is that most of the points of view are "behind" Rand and Egwene's timeline, as expressed in the last book, something which is not made very clear until half way through this book.  Also, and this may be a spoiler, the action indicated by the cover does not happen until nearly the end of the book, and the titular Towers of Midnight are not even in the book at all!  Still, far better than most of the books in the series, and makes one pretty excited for the last book, estimated to be out mid 2012.

From a game ideas standpoint, there are some interesting artifacts and situations which could be used in a lower magic setting.  For example having to abide by the rules of fairy land when dealing with the fae, or using teleporting gates in combat.  The One Power from Wheel of Time is massively more powerful than standard D&D magic, as magic users can pretty much do whatever they want until they become exhausted, and magic items exist to increase both their ability to "channel" the power, and their skill in doing so. 

There are also some interesting sections about dealing with the impacts of adventurers in previously underutilized portions of a kingdom, as Elyane has to deal with the Black tower being constructed in one part of Andor, and the possible secession of another portion, as the Two Rivers becomes more important.  This could be useful in a game where the heroes are starting to set up their strongholds, or try to subvert the power of the state for their own ends.

Now I am well into Citadel of the Autarch, book four of the Book of the New Sun.  Interestingly, Al, of Beyond the Black Gate has a recent post about the Book of the New Sun here.