Finally we're once again getting some action, or at least it feels as if the book is finally moving way more towards its purpose. Less world building in this chapter and more impressions.
Starting a new chapter commentary is rough, inevitably I find some quote or bit of information from the previous chapter that I forgot to add...but then I have to decide if I want to mention it or not. If I mentioned everything I wrote down, all my observations, the entries would be far too long, and the review is already taking far more time than it should. So instead of going with the quote I missed from the last chapter, we will instead continue moving forward.
The change in Perrin, which I previously spoke of in the last chapter is more evident in this chapter. Rand even used 'resigned' to describe the look on Perrin's face. This attitude which seems to come out of - not nowhere, but almost. However, I do like that Perrin was the one who broke the ice with Loial and we even learn a little more about Loial, because naturally, now that the Edmond's Field group is all back together again, everyone is reluctant to talk, but as all friends do, they eventually break the ice.
Straightaway a couple things struck me about this chapter. Perrin, who we last saw being tortured then rescued, but still pretty much himself is now morose, hanging his head at everything and and more non-talkative then normal (and as I write this I realize many of my impressions come from the coming chapter, but it starts here). Also - Mat seems to have gone downhill rather quickly, that or Rand just didn't notice, and we've already talked about reasons that Rand may not have noticed. Still - for me when Moraine opened that door and Mat's lying there - it somehow was still abrupt.
Rand fell into the castle, knocking his head pretty hard, woke up and met a couple VERY IMPORTANT people, in fact, many very important people are introduced in this chapter. More than the slow, one or two characters who will pop up later that the reader has been introduced to so far. Definitely far more than I realized upon first read. However, I'm jumping ahead of myself.
Mat's slowly getting worse, but Rand doesn't realize yet the extent of Mat's illness. It seemed obvious to me, the reader, so by extension, Rand should have realized the same conclusion I had come to. That stupid dagger was causing all the paranoia, the weakness, etc., the conclusion I came to was drawn from things Rand himself had observed. But hey - I'm just the reader. And Rand was just an inexperienced kid in a big city for the first time. Of course he's going to go off and explore.
Is it me, or is it only the bad guys that happily take items; jewelry, clothes, weapons, etc. and then wear them around in front of the person and then later it comes back to bite them? Kind of like what Byar did to Perrin and Perrin's ax?
