Elitist Book Reviews

This is easily the most difficult review I have had the opportunity write.  I start it off much the same I way wrote the review for the previous WoT book.  It's difficult to write a review solely on A MEMORY OF LIGHT, without considering all that has come before.  Opening the cover of this book, and reading those first words, all the way to finishing the last words and closing the book, has been been an inevitability hurtling (sometimes crawling) at me for 17 years or so.

Drafting reviews for this book has been a frustrating experience. \ It would wobble back and forth between reviewing the series, and reviewing the characters.  Neither of those things are up for criticism anymore which, in my opinion, is the largest failing of our review of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT.  I can't review the characters.  They have nearly as much of a history of existence as I do.  I can't review the series.  Those books have already been reviewed and the plot analyzed that some could get degrees on the subject.  Plus, and let's be honest, at this point in the series you'll read the book (or not) regardless of what we say.  I can't review Brandon's writing.  Number one, it isn't all his writing.  Number two, his writing stands on its own now.  Brandon can take a weekend, vomit some words into a manuscript, send it to Tor, have it be published, and it will still be awe-inspiringly professional.  This is Jordan's finale, not some weekend project.  Brandon took his care with this.  It isn't just professional, it's carefully crafted.

So, in my mind, there is only one thing left to review.  Only one topic left to discuss.  Its role as a finale to the biggest fantasy series of our time.  This is not going to be an impartial review based on story-structure, pacing, characters, plot, and content.  The book itself is going to be polarizing, and that's simply unavoidable.  With it being the end, there will be emotions running high, and many will love it.  Many will hate it.  And the reasons for both will be myriad, some more concrete than others. In fact, calling this a review may be a tad misleading.  There's too much baggage (good and bad) to review it the way I would another book.  So instead I'll do what I think all reviewers should do with the book.  Talk about how it felt.  How I experienced the end of the series.  If you've been paying attention, you can see I've already been doing that.  This, here, is just pointing it out for those of you who are slow to catch on.

Reading this book carried a weight with it.  Even the most mundane moments in the book were a fairly emotional experience.  And then there were the moments that hit me right in the feels.  Of those, there were more than just a few.  As a reader of the series I felt the end of an era rushing towards me, just as the characters felt the end of an Age roaring at them.  The writing here is good, but the emotional "meta" carries it into something more.  The characters don't think they will ever see each other again, same as we know we will never see them again.

It's actually funny.  Steve and I would lambaste this series for hours together, through post after post on forums, or even in our reviews here.  Over 20 years the series has been going, sometimes with huge gaps between books, with us wanting the next book, and the conclusion sooner.  We just wanted it to end so we could call it a day (twenty+ years) and move on.  We wanted the series to be finished, and that had become priority number one.  Now that it's over, and hopefully avoiding too much melodrama, I wish I had enjoyed the moment a bit more.  The Wheel of Time series is over, and these characters, for better or worse, that have been such a part of my, our, literary life are done. Frustrations aside, the series shaped much of fantasy writing today, and instilled a love for the epic fantasy genre in me, and to countless readers around the world.  To have that story finally come to an end is bittersweet.

Now obviously no one comes to EBR to read a review that's written like this, all about feels and such.  So in the interest of giving people what they want, as well as actively trying to avoid the length of the last two WOT reviews we did, here are a few of the more critical thoughts I had on the book.

Finishing up TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, I realized it was a checklist book.  Business.  Getting things done to set this book up properly.  Still, as I mentioned way back then, the checklist eventually seemed small when all was said and done.  This book, though a finale, has a similar checklist feel to it.  There are so many plots and threads to a story of this magnitude that needed an end, and a lot of that didn't get resolved until the end.  Some of the resolutions being superb, and others...just okay. When I say "okay" don't think I mean disappointing, just that some were better (or much better) than others.  Yes, it might have something of a checklist feel to it, but it's a checklist I gladly put marks to. These are all of the things we have been waiting for literally years to see resolved.  And frankly, it was a lot of fun to start a segment of reading and realize, "Yes!  Here it comes!"

When I first started reading the series I always thought the last book would be called Tarmon Gai'don, and it very well could have been.  This entry weighs in at 909 pages, and the last 500+ of those pages are the war, with multiple battle scenes being depicted even before that.  It would be very easy to get tired of the constant battles, but it doesn't happen.  Brandon transitions quickly enough, and injects enough character and heart into the war events to make it a personal affair.  Sometimes it borders on the wordy side, but we knew that was to be expected, and one scene never overstays its welcome. There are also moments where the "Pattern" just makes everything super convenient--but again, we all knew that was to be expected. Killing Trollocs does become a little old though. It just seems like we are past the point of that being interesting. Especially when multiple characters make short work of multiple Fades.  The book does bounce around a lot during all of this, and it does get difficult to remember exactly which army is doing what (there are 4 battles going on simultaneously across the continent, and multiple armies in each).  If you've read R. Scott Bakker's THE THOUSANDFOLD THOUGHT, it has that same way of jumping around, just with more detail and longer scenes. The action sweeps forward and carries the reader with it, so we don't get caught slogging through nit-picky descriptions of army maneuvers to keep the clarity.  That would have been a boring book.  Still I can see this as something that will detract from the experience for some readers.  Especially those who read slower, knowing that you still have hundreds of pages of similar action going on.

Similar in structure to the above, are the series' trademark feuds.  It is the exact same experience as the actual battles, but on a smaller scale.  There are a number of feuds.  They are interspersed throughout the book, and make up a large portion of the content. Some will like this, some won't.

Speaking of trademarks.  The Wheel of Time is renowned, loved, and hated, for character immortality.  It's not likely someone will die, and if they do, well barring balefire, they come back. Constantly.  This changes a bit with the last book.  You know if someone dies, as far as we care and can be concerned they are dead.  So deaths had a lot more oomph to them, and there are obviously a lot more deaths here than in previous books.  A ton more.  Some will be surprises.  Some are actually main characters.  But, I personally, still don't feel there was enough.  I don't necessarily want to see the world burn, but for all the descriptions about how horrible and trying and difficult of an experience it is for the characters, I wanted to see more characters fail/fall, so the successes meant more. It's a similar complaint I have about the The Lord of the Rings.

The Lord of the Rings.  In THE EYE OF THE WORLD, it is very obvious that Jordan wasn't just inspired by it, but he modeled some of his story after it.  That emulation dissipated as the series went on, but if TEOTW is Jordan's THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, AMOL is his THE RETURN OF THE KING.  So much so in places that I actually stopped reading and sat thinking about the similarities.  In fact, this has to be my largest complaint of the book itself.  In writing this, I originally pointed out the similarities--there was over a dozen of them that were incredibly strong, with many more that are more subtle--but in the interest of potential spoiler prevention I edited them out.  Let's just say it was way more than I liked.

Now, as to how it felt as a conclusion.  I'm completely satisfied.  The ending didn't drag on forever. Actually, it almost had an abrupt feel.  I expected a lot, A LOT, of falling action in WoT form.  But the ending snuck up and the book was closed before I knew it.  There are still questions hanging after the end, but the story, the plots we have been chasing, and the conflict we have observed, were completed.  No one I know thought it could be done.  It was too big.  Too much needed to happen for one book.  But somehow Brandon did it, and he did a fantastic job of it.  When I finished the book, I even sent Brandon a text, essentially letting him know I had joined the masses of Brandon worshippers for a minute (just one, though).

Because I think it is fun, I put some in the last WoT review, and because it's from these moments that the origins of this website were stirred, I want to include a little bit of Steve and I texting about the book as we read through it.
***
S:  So far it's not too bad.  Kinda explainy, but that's WoT for you.  I like the "holy crap, the end is here" feel so far.  You get far yet?  I assume so, you read faster than I do.
N:  Yeah.  Finished it today...
S:  What did you think?  No Spoilers!
N:  I actually quite liked it.  I liked the resolution.  I didn't expect that.
S:  Huh...  That's not the reaction I expected from you.
***
N:  Writing the review right now.
S:  Right on.  Thanks.  I'm halfway through.  Surprisingly entertaining.
***
There is no reason to include the content rating.  Swearing is done in WoT-verse language, and with (sometimes) hilarious effect in Elayne's case.  Sex is non existent in detail, and only referenced in passing.  There is a ton of violence.  An entire book of warfare worth of violence to be exact.  But it isn't graphic.  Hmm.  I guess I just included the content rating.  I guess a little bit of Jordan rubbed off on me, here at the end, and I just kept writing.

Thank you Robert Jordan for beginning something that created so many wonderful beginnings.  I may have moved on from adoration since I started your books, but now you hold my respect.  Tai Shar Malkier.

Thank you Brandon Sanderson for closing the Third Age and bringing the Dragon's Peace to fruition.

Sometimes it is difficult to review a novel. In fact, this isn't even the original review we had written for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. There are so many variables that come into play that we have to take an accounting of, that we wonder where we should even begin. ToM, obviously, is one of these types of novels. There is the matter of the book itself; the story, the characters and the progression in the novel have to be considered. But then so does the rest of the series in one as large as The Wheel of Time. And to be objective when you all know we like our fantasy in the non-Jordan fashion. Yeah. It's all sorts of difficult to put a review of this type of novel together in a way that makes sense to you lovely readers.

ToM has all the markings of a Wheel of Time novel. For us, that means that it is very frustrating, punctuated by points of awesomeness. Many of you that know us have come to realize that we aren't real fond of the WoT as a whole. We feel the first chunk of the series is OK, but we also feel that the latter half is mostly absurd.

When Brandon Sanderson stepped on-board in THE GATHERING STORM, we noticed a distinct change in the narration style of that novel within the scope of the series. ToM follows that voice, and in fact is much more "Brandon" than "Jordan". It is mostly free of the garrulous exposition, and repetitive descriptions that plagued the other bloated novels of the series. Don't get us wrong, we love good description, and require it to give our thumbs up to a book, but not at the expense of plot progress. ToM doesn't have this issue. It doesn't have time for it.

Enough about our history on the WoT series. What about the novel itself? Here is essentially how our text messages to each other went while reading:

Nick: Steve, I've got good news and bad news.
Steve: Bad news first.
N: ToM is about Perrin.
S: You're not funny. What's the real bad news.
N: ToM is about Perrin....and Elayne.
S: I'm taking your birthday present back to the store.
N: Good news is that Jamiroquai has a new album out in the UK.
S: ...I know about Jamiroquai...I told YOU that in the first place. What does that have to do with ToM?
N: Nothing. I'm just reminding you, so that there was some good news. Remember, ToM is about Perrin.
S: Crap.
***later***
S: Oh hey, look. Our cameos.
N: I'm a drunk!
S: Yeah, so is your cameo.
N: Well yours is dead.
***later***
N: How far are you now?
S: zzzzzzzz...wha? huh? Sorry, Perrin was lamenting how he is a poor leader again. I must have fallen asleep.
***later***
N: Isn't Rand great in this book?
S: This is the guy we've been waiting for for, like, 15 years. Awesometastic.
N: Too bad he shows up in the book about as much as Lindsey Lohan shows up in the news sober.
***later***
S: The White Tower storyline... Seriously? WTF?
N: Yeah. I just dyed my hair black, put on skinny jeans, and started wearing trendy bracelets and band t-shirts.
N: ...you there?
S: Sorry, my wife had to talk me out of burning my Jordan collection. That emo idea sounds pretty good though.

We realize we said it before but we reiterate, ToM = periods of extreme frustration interspersed with moments of complete greatness. This isn't a dig on this book in particular or on Brandon's writing of it. That's the Jordan way, after all, and we have seen it time and time again in his books. And it leads us into our next points and the multi-faceted reason it can be so frustrating.

Number one. We have seen all of this before. Perrin whines about being a leader and a lord? Check. Perrin worries about losing himself to the wolves? Check. Elayne acts hypocritical and spoiled? Check. People don't communicate, leading to unnecessary problems and forced conflict? Check. These are all things that have been part of the character arcs since extremely early on.

To the point of repetition. Now we have to see Perrin really learning the wolf dream? Nifty, except he progresses the same way as when Egwene learned to be a dreamer. And when she trained everyone else, and we had to watch. Again, this should have been done novels ago. Oh wait, but we get to see Nyneave's trial to become Aes Sedai. And thematically it is the same as all the other tests we have seen. Remember when we had to watch all the Accepted tests that were extremely repetitive? Yeah. Same thing.

Number two. So much of the book is filled with all the mundane (Perrin/Elayne), and not enough of the amazing(Taim/Logain/Rand/Min). For example. We get loads, and loads, of Perrin chatting with Faile, usually about how much he sucks. Despite all the blatant evidence to the contrary, when everything he tries ends in the most spectacular success. Though we are inclined to agree with you Perrin. You haven't been cool, fun, or interesting to read since The Shadows Rising. Please go die at the Last Battle already. Take your annoying wife with you.

In addition to all the Perrin crap, we get so much Elayne nonsense that we both were tempted to keep an AED handy in case our heart stopped of stress while reading her sections. Elayne, Elayne, Elayne. You need to die. Now. Twice--it's possible in Rand-land. Much like Perrin, Brandon's Elayne's segments are actually spot-on as far as "voice". The problem is that the character's, as Jordan created them, are bad. They just suck as characters, and are impossible to like. In the full series, we can think of no character as hypocritical as Elayne. She is who she is, and we hate her. Quote: "We can't afford to be short-sighted right now." Right, Elayne. We can't. So how about you put on your big-girl panties and think about the last battle instead of selfishly seeing what you can take. Right now, Elayne is acting exactly like those idiots that go looting during riots and disasters. "I'm going to expand all my borders, and squish Perrin for being rebellious! I'll take more and more kingdoms! What? Tarmon-what-cha-callit has started?"

Number three. With all this mundane tom-foolery filling up the book, the pacing feels off. The REALLY important things, take about half of a chapter to resolve and come together so cleanly and easily that any climactic feel they could have had, was completely lost. This right here is the single greatest failing in ToM.

There are numerous plot threads resolved in ToM--more than a few,in fact--which was very refreshing. The problem is that they were either wrapped up in a very unsatisfying way, or they were largely irrelevant. In fact, one of the plot threads ends in one of the most blatant maid and butler scenes in recent SFF history. You'll know it when you see it, and it involves, of course, Perrin amidst a scene brimming with repetition. There is also a major event that rivals Winter's Heart in magnitude but it is handled in a paragraph or two, and with a shrug of shoulders. Nynaeve does something really cool, and it takes her absolutely no effort or time to figure it out. It was like pulling a rabbit out of a hat and yelling TA-DAH!

Everything is robbed of intensity when it all comes together so cleanly and seemingly without effort.

Let's talk about a few of the other characters that had lesser parts in the book.

Rand. This is the Rand that we have been waiting for. A character worth reading about. He has a full range of emotions that are used to great effect. Every time he shows up, he is utterly incredible. He owns up to his mistakes the way a general/leader/king/warrior/farmer/messiah should. How we wish that we could have had more of Rand, and less of everything else. With Rand, as it stands, this novel was redeemed by a large amount. Again though, why can't he just communicate? It would solve so many problems. His justification, now, is that there isn't time. But so much time would be saved if he would just take some of it to communicate, and talk.

Mat doesn't feel as "off" as the last novel. There are parts where he is funny again, and parts where he genuinely warms the heart. There are also a couple sections where he feels a tad forced. Maybe a knee-jerk reaction to TGS where he didn't seem like himself at all. But it was a major improvement and a very welcome addition to ToM. We were pleased with most of Mat's presence here. The problem is that his portion of the novel (and something that fans have been clamoring for, for years) is resolved so quickly and cleanly (well mostly) and we are left with more of Perrin sulking.

And, finally, Lan feels wrong. All wrong. He comes across as a petty whiner. Luckily he's hardly in the novel.

Speaking of hardly being in the novel. There are some extremely important things and people that should have been here, but were AWOL. Things that need more time than a final novel in a series. We can't really talk about what's not in the book without heavy spoilers, but when you finish the book we guarantee you will agree.

Ok...Here comes something new for EBR.

***Spoiler Alert***

Yes, we are breaking our rule here. Reader's find out this information in the prologue, and it is obviously expected, and a huge gripe of ours. So here we go.

Graendal? Really? "To get to Rand, I'll go after Perrin! I'll bring the D.O. his head! It will RUIN Rand! HA!" Really? Hi Graendal. Welcome to the plot of The Wheel of Time. Look around you and maybe you'll see that this isn't a new idea. You must have watched Spider-Man 3 in your cave between books. The very fact that Graendal is even ABLE to say these things ruins some of the awesome from TGS. It's like ToM pulled an Alien 3 on us. Thankfully she is resolved also.

Again, a lot is resolved. A lot of answers are given. This is really what ToM has going for it. A very large chunk of plot threads are tied off. Yeah, lots of them feel extraneous, but there are a few big ones finished up. Yeah...a lot is tied off. Finally. You see, ToM is a checklist novel. It's taking care of all the stuff that has been stagnant for the past...uh...forever. If these last three novels are looked at as one full piece of work, ToM is the, usually, boring middle section of the novel. It just is. Now, that said it has more movement in it than we are used to from a WoT book. A LOT MORE. It moves at breakneck speed compared to many of the others, but the repetition and unimportance of so much of what is moving makes it much less awesome. It was good, but not awesome.

It's all housekeeping.

In THE TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, Brandon Sanderson is tasked with cleaning up a huge number of loose ends that should have been taken care of forever ago. His no-nonsense narrative helps overcome this portion of the story that feels like a laundry list. Brandon is working with the deck that was given to him, and he is doing amazing. Are there problems in this novel? Heavens yes. Does it have some awesome stuff? Oh yeah. Battles are great as usual. Rand is amazing. The secondary characters are better than the main characters in many cases. It is a Wheel of Time novel. There is going to be lots of frustrations, and lots of different stuff that will appeal to a variety of fans.

We have spent a lot of time, more than usual, on the characters and our reactions to them. Perhaps the fact we have such a violent reaction to them is that Brandon is doing a great job of writing them. As usual B's writing is top-notch. He is our friend, but we definitely don't pander to him. There are things we wish he would do differently, but what he does, he does in an incredible fashion. In a time in the industry when the gritty, dark, and gray are ruling supreme, Brandon writes Black and White and fantasy that is reminiscent of the good old days, and it is good. We can't stress enough how much we liked most of how ToM was written (with the previous items mentioned excluded from the list). The "When" of the novel is cloudy sometimes, but it is mostly free of confusion in that regard. The PoV's, transitions, etc., are all crystal clear. Kudos B.

Did we like ToM? Yes. The more we reflected on the book though, we realized how so many important things that should have been on the checklist were left off, and how minor the checklist seemed afterward. We liked this book, but juuuuuuuuust barely.

Recommended Age: There's no real age rec. for WoT.
Language: Nope.
Violence: Yes. Action has always been handled pretty well in this series, and ToM is no exception.
Sex: Nope

THE GATHERING STORM. We know that you have all been waiting for us to write this review. You know what this book is, and you likely had some sort of strong feeling when you found out that Brandon Sanderson would be completing the late Robert Jordan's epic series. Some of you felt as though demon's had taken over Tor and killed Santa, and some of you felt a profound sense of relief just knowing the series would be finished.

Truthfully, we weren't in either camp. Oh we were glad when we heard our buddy Brandon was finishing the series--we tend to consider him a great writer--but we wondered if anyone stood a chance at making this series enjoyable again.

Before you get your panties all twisted up, let us explain. This IS going to be a rather long review, so go to the bathroom before continuing.

For us, part of the difficulty in reviewing THE GATHERING STORM was treating it as a separate novel, and not letting our feelings for the prior eleven novels (and a novella) get in the way. It shouldn't be much of a secret that we don't care for The Wheel of Time--specifically, anything past LORD OF CHAOS. Yeah, that's half the series ago. We both grew up in the fantasy genre reading Jordan's series--Steve started the WoT back in 1993, and considers it the series that really got him into fantasy. Nick started even earlier. But with book seven began a long list of problems--most of which consist of "Nothing Happens." So when we read THE GATHERING STORM (TGS), we had to wonder if our feelings were real and geared towards TGS, or if they were nothing more than a reaction to the series itself.

In some ways, we can't--and won't--keep them separate. So, we are going to endeavor to give you our honest PoV. We liked some of the novel. We disliked some of it. You want details? Of course you do...especially if you are a "Jordan Fan."

Characters:
TGS mainly follows Rand and Egwene, and honestly, their portions feel pretty spot-on. We don't know which parts of the story Brandon wrote as opposed to the sections Jordan wrote/dictated. Frankly we don't care.

What we will say is that Egwene was easily one of our least favorite characters from the very VERY beginning of the series. However, her sections in TGS were the highlight of the novel, and we found ourselves coming to the realization that Egwene was no longer a carbon-copy of all the other female characters. She grew into someone stronger. In the scope of this one novel, Egwene goes from being one of the worst characters in the series (In our opinions, mind you. All you Egwene lovers keep your pitchforks stowed away.) to one of the best.

As for Rand? He actually manages to interest us. Rand, out of necessity, has been a fairly flat character over the last few novels. We see him falling further into madness, and for the most part it is well done. Not to mention, Rand actually LEARNS stuff in this book. No more "Yay! I solved it on accident!" Thank-freaking-goodness. The main issue we had with Rand deals with a certain part of the novel where you think Jordan and Sanderson are going to change the "danger" aspect of the series...and then they don't. In what should have been a heart-wrenching scene with Rand and Min that turned our stomach, instead we ended up feeling cheated. If you've read the book, you know the scene. If not, you'll know it when you get there.

Let's talk about Mat. It's pretty safe to say that he is most people's favorite character--we include ourselves in this group. We are going to be blunt here. Mat's sections are poor. It's not that they are just "off," which they are, it's that they feel like filler. Remember when you used to skim other sections just to get back to Mat? Why did we find ourselves skimming the Mat sections to get to other PoVs--namely Egwene's. In fact, the one section of Mat's--where he is coming up with fake back-stories--feels a lot like he was getting ready for an RPG session. It just feels pointless. It really is disappointing. Seriously, just leave him out of the book. It's been done before. It would have been better than the meaningless sections included in TGS. Perrin managed to stay off screen just fine, why not Mat? Don't include him if there is no cause to. It just ends up serving as needless filler and taints our view on the character...and really, Mat was the only reason Nick was even still reading the series.

Other characters? Well, this is really a mixed bag. For many of them, the tone is off. We'll include Elaida here--who went from being slightly unstable to almost laughably bonkers (laughably in a bad way). Cadsuane seems like a waste of a character, and we wish Rand would have executed her. Sheriam? It's no secret that she is losing it due to the strain of being Black Ajah. And yet she goes completely out of character at the end of the novel--it felt rushed. Siuan's sections are painful to read at the beginning due to the insistence that she throw in random sailing/fishing references EVERY SENTENCE. At the end, it isn't as strong, and her character begins to "feel" right. Gawyn is terrible. His dialogue is so forced, and we really don't get to see the full potential of his conflicted loyalties as we should. Really every other character felt solid (from Nynaeve, to Min, to Perrin, to Silviana), and the problems with the other characters can mostly be overlooked since their sections are relatively short. There was only one character (besides Mat) that was beyond infuriating.

Verin.

Seriously? WTF (What The...err Frak)? Her character is turned into a magic bullet so we could get the plot moving? How convenient. Gee, it's a good thing she came along to reveal herself (Not THAT way. Get your heads out of the gutter). Now, the WoT has made a career of using coincidence and convenience to solve issues and further the plot. Generally, you could over-look it and say, "It's the Pattern!" The section with Verin is beyond that. There may as well have been an annotation saying, "This section was included for the sole purpose of redirecting a meandering plot and forcing the story towards the end without having to get into much detail." If this was the intention of the character all along, then it should have been a big deal early on in the series.

All in all, the main differences here from prior novels are the characters being extremely introspective. In addition, the conversations they have are extremely blunt and to the point. Was this an addition of Brandon's? The introspection very strongly suggests him, but we hesitate to point a finger. And you know what, maybe it was a good thing. It certainly freshened up the series for us.

Whew. Onward!

The Story Itself:
It's pretty good, especially the last 150 pages. The beginning was typically slow with a ton of set-up. In this case, it isn't a problem. Remember, this is essentially the first third of a huge novel. We need a little set-up that doesn't go all CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT on us. TGS does the set-up well, while introducing plot elements (or furthering previously introduced elements) that will be crucial to 'The End', but won't take too long to wrap up.

We can't really say a lot here--the whole non-spoiler thing--but we will say that epiphanies come like crazy throughout the story. Most of them are good. The final "battle" scene came up a bit short...but maybe that just has to do with us expecting Steven Erikson-like battles at the end of a book. Brandon had to end this novel somewhere, and TGS ending was aptly picked. There should be some serious and immediate consequences--something that has lacked in prior novels of the series.

One thing we did notice: TGS gave us the first REAL feeling that the series was coming to an end, and if felt GOOD. In any other series, this could have been the final book. It really feels like Jordan and Sanderson are seriously wrapping up plot threads. Once again, this is a good thing. A really good thing. We have the movement that we have been lacking for five novels, and a goal in sight. This is what made the novel for us.

There is one thing that bothers us, and it has been a problem for the entire series. At one point in TGS, an Aes Sedai says, "What does it matter, we are going to win anyway right?" This is the same impression that we have had for a while. There is no danger. We don't worry about any of the main characters. We know the good guys are going to win, and at this point we figure it will be all neatly tied with a pink (maybe yellow) bow. We don't even really care who gets killed during the last battle, since no one stays dead in this series. We are praying that this doesn't happen. Please, let it end messily.

Writing:
This was the big concern most people had. Could Brandon fill in the spaces Jordan left open and tell a WoT story? Not only that, but could he tell wrap up the story WELL?

When this whole scenario was first announced after Jordan passed away, Steve had a nice, long chat with Brandon. Brandon was understandably nervous. He worried that he wouldn't be able to do the series justice. Steve told him, "Look, it's not like you can do any worse than what happened with the new Dune novels. I'd say you are in good shape." Yeah. That was Steve's idea of a motivational speech. There were no "Huzzahs!" to be found. But really, the principle was sound. We know Brandon, and we knew how serious he was taking this opportunity. He is a great writer, and we knew that if anyone could take a series that was--excuse the WoT reference--floundering like a silverpike on land, and use Jordan's outline to get it back on track, it was Brandon. He is a professional.

And really, all the drama and doubts amounted to nothing in the end. Brandon did fine. In some cases there were word usages that were distinctly un-Jordan. The WoT swearing was off for the entire novel. Oh well. There are worse things that could have happened (once again, see the new Dune novels for a reference on how to destroy a series). We've been reading some other reviews around the internets, and some claim that TGS reads like fan fiction, and that Brandon's writing is terrible. They are idiots. The writing is just fine (not that they really know for sure which parts Brandon wrote and which parts were Jordan's). In fact, some of the subtle (and not so subtle) changes that we did notice were welcome. It pulls WoT a little into the modern style of fantasy.

One last thing: We liked how the annoying "all men are idiots" mentality was all but removed. It was old, repetitive, and added nothing to the plot. In addition, we liked the toned-down description of meaningless objects. There was a lot of repetition in description and dialogue, but nothing too major.

The small writing problems we did see can easily be fixed. We have faith in Brandon, and so should you. These small problems will resolve themselves over the last two books.

Overall Impression:
We thought the book was pretty decent. Not great, but not bad. We'd put it on par with book 5 (coincidentally our 5th favorite--book 2 is our #1), and a far cry better than books 7 through 11.

We didn't just feel book was decent because "stuff happens," because really not a ton does happen(or what does happen is wrapped up in a few pages). Dumai's Wells, the ending wasn't. The book was decent because we have movement. Because actual plot-lines were somewhat wrapped up.

We both had the same two thoughts after finishing the book:
1) Yeah, this makes me look forward to the next novel--especially since it is only a year away.
2) It was a quick read, and now I'm ready to move right on to something else. This wasn't the book that makes me want to read it again as soon as I've finished it.

In short, it seriously felt like the series has taken (or was given) a major course correction. Some of the plot-lines were delicately guided back on course and back into focus, while others were yanked and forced. The end goal is the same in all cases--getting the meandering story back on track, and ready for the final two novels of the series. If this was indeed the preparatory goal of the novel, then it succeeded.

***

We aren't even going to bother putting our rating systems on this review. Novels in the WoT don't need it. It is one of the cleanest fantasy series in the market, and can be read by all ages.

What we are going to mention, however, is how thoroughly pissed off we are at the UK edition of the novel.

While the UK edition may have the superior cover, it is counter-acted by extremely poor binding - thinly glued instead of stitched. Orbit UK dropped the ball here. By the end of Steve's reading (a very GENTLE reading), he could already see where pages were looser. Nicks US version didn't have this problem in the least--it just had the worst cover in the history of fantasy novels (who knew that Rand looked like Freddie Mercury, and had Celene Dion as a backup singer?).

This feels like Orbit UK trying to squeeze every penny out of TGS rather than making something of quality.

The solution for you serious fans? Import the UK edition, buy the US version, then put the UK dust-jacket on the US novel.

The last thing we want to reiterate is that we feel Brandon did an excellent job. He didn't try to be Jordan, which would have been a disaster. Consider what he accomplished. Not only did Brandon finish up this WoT novel, but he also wrote his own HUGE novel, THE WAY OF KINGS in the same year. Having read THE WAY OF KINGS already (yes, it is awesome), we feel like Brandon grew up a lot while writing TGS. This has really become a win-win situation for readers. WoT readers get to see their fav. series finished up in a competent--if different--way, and Brandon's own writing ability has grown tremendously.

Relevant Links:
The Gathering Storm - US Edition
The Gathering Storm - UK Edition
Dragonmount.com - A Wheel of Time Community
brandonsanderson.com - Brandon Sanderson's Website
WoT Encyclopaedia