Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan

Towers of Midnight is the thirteenth book in the Wheel of Time series, and the 2nd written by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan's death. If you haven't read the series up until this point, I highly suggest you start at the beginning as you will be hopelessly lost otherwise. For those who have stuck with the series, you've already noticed with the last book, that Sanderson has taken over the Wheel of Time, but he hasn't changed the core of it.

Rand has learned a valuable lesson, and one that will serve him well as he attempts to bring armies together to defeat the evil that is rising in the North. He has a good backing; Perrin, having resolved some of his past issues is starting to learn more about the wolf that is a part of him and Mat, who is a joker by nature but very serious when it comes to the people he cares about, and Elayne, who is ruling from the throne of Andor. Egwene, the new Amrilyn of the Aes Sedai is not necessarily an ally, but someone who understands Rand and the importance of the tasks he will have to face.

I think that Sanderson has done a great job of taking over the characters. Except for one. I'm not sure I like the way he writes Mat. While he's still funny as ever, he seems more of a caricature of himself. A little more light-hearted than the character Jordan made him out to be. I just haven't really resigned myself to this new, not as dark, Mat. Rand and Perrin though, they are much improved and even though I know it was part of the storyline for Rand to be better, I just thought the way Sanderson handled it was well done. The same with the women in the book too. They are more believable and not as prone to fits of temper that seem out of character.

I don't think that this book was quite as good as the twelfth. It still moves the story along quite nicely and has plenty of action, but the characters were maybe a little less of themselves. I also wasn't that fond of the storyline for the Arad Doman General fighting in the Borderlands. I understand all that was going on, and as a background it is important to the story, but I don't think the amount of time that was spent describing it was needed. That time could have been put to better use describing the main characters and their actions. But luckily that seemed to be the only unneeded detail. The rest of it was tying up previous plotlines or setting up for the final book.

I'm eager to see what happens but a little apprehensive on the last book. There are still so many questions to be answered. And it's still a little sad that Jordan is gone and wasn't here to witness the end of his series.

Towers of Midnight
Copyright 2010
861 pages