Sanderson's toh and other open items

Now that I've reread the Towers of Midnight and skimmed through some of the earlier volumes - all except The Great Hunt and The Path of Daggers, it occurs to me that the final book will still have to be enormous, for there are still several dangling plot threads. Reading ToM again also makes certain issues with the writing and characterization more visible.

First, the problems. Sanderson needed a good proof reader. The number of spelling mistakes, typos and punctuation errors are way higher than they should be for a published novel, especially one that has a critical fanbase.

The second problem is one of timelines. The Gathering Storm and Towers of midnight mostly cover parallel plots, except for those of Rand and Egwene, which means that the Perrin plot is way behind. That leads to some confusion – as Rand had his moment on the mount by the first chapter of ToM, but Tam leaves Perrin to go to Rand several chapters later.

The other thing is that the book has to zip from plot point to plot point, without pausing for breath. While plot advancement is absolutely vital at this point, there are sections where things drag. Elayne’s jockeying for stability in Andor and the throne of Cairhean could have been cut by several pages. Egwene confronting secret meetings of the sisters was unnecessary, except maybe to tell readers of her total MarySuedom. {Oh, how I despise Egwene}

The other thing is that there a few things off. Setalle Anan's conversation with Mat in the Boots chapter is terrible, as is Mat’s speech about boots. Then there is the fact that Setalle Anan doesn’t seem to know that Elayne is the queen of Andor, or know Elayne at all, despite being “the one who is no longer” who grabbed Elayne and Nynaeve by the ear to the Kin in aCoS. And Mat tells Moiraine that Morgase is dead, even though he met Perrin who described his adventures until they arrived at Caemlyn.

One other worry I have is the sheer number of things that can be covered in aMoL   

• The Fields of Merrilor confrontation between Egwene and Rand
• Olver, Talmanes and the battle for Caemlyn
• The Seanchan attack on Tar Valon
• The Loghain/Taim face off/ the black tower storyline
• Lan and the Malkieri in Tarwin’s Gap
• The red veiled killers
• Padan Fain and the dark prophecy
• Aviendha and the Aiel future
• Cynfear in Tel’aran’rhiod
• Dealing with Slayer
• Breaking open the seals (or whatever it is that Moiriane has to do to make Rand victorious)
• The last battle itself

Over and above this, I would like to see Rand’s reaction to Moiraine’s reappearance – and Nynaeve’s too, for that matter. I want to see the 13x13 trick and how its handled. I want to see the Mat/Tuon reunion. I want to see how the damane and adam are handled after TG. And what Avi does to prevent the destruction of the Aiel future.

Of course, it would be nice if Egs gets her butt kicked, but that would be asking for too much.