A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. The wind is completely out of me, I'm gasping for breath, and I feel surprised and hurt. Part of this is due to the fact that a series I've been following since I was in middle school is now over, part of it is because it didn't resolve anything for me. But anyways, I need to through my usual spiel of this being part of a series. This is the fourteenth and final book in the Wheel of Time series. Start at the beginning if you wish to tackle this mammoth collection of words, do not start at this book.

The Last Battle is here. Everyone who can fight is and they are holding back the forces of the Dark Lord. Rand, meanwhile, has gone to face the Dark One, confident in his ability to destroy him forever. Elayne, Egwene, Mat, Perrin and others all have their own duties and battles to fight. Something must remain if Rand wins his battle, and they have to keep people alive.

I don't know what happened to my beloved characters in this book. Sanderson was doing so well with them (excepting Mat) that it seemed odd he would switch them up at a time like this. They were all shells of their former selves. Perrin was probably the best overall. He at least had interesting things to do and they were believable based on the previous actions of his in the series. Mat, well he's still a gambler, still the comedian, but it's forced and like the previous two books, just not in line with his character as Jordan created him. Egwene was ok, I was disappointed with where the book took her plot-line but at least she's as strong as she's ever been. Aviendha and Min had minimal roles, so I'm still not sure if I'm pleased with their performance or not.

This book was mostly battles. Sure, they were well done descriptions of battles, but it wasn't what I expected a nine-hundred page book to be dominated by. Some unfinished business was resolved, but a lot of it was still open. And the ending? Well, let's just say that it felt incomplete and wrong to me. But I won't give away any more than that. Compared to the other two books that Sanderson co-authored this one lagged a bit in pace because of all those battles. I think a lot of it was extraneous and could have been cut out to provide more time for the important resolution of the series type of writing. We were so eagerly waiting for the end of this series, that it is easy to see why a lot of people would be disappointed by a lot of things. But I do think that a lot of that disappointment could have been avoided by better paying attention to Jordan's tone of the original books. That was something that just wasn't in this one.

I'm probably going to go bury myself in another book just to escape the release of emotions this one gave me. I'm sorry it's over and I almost wish I wouldn't have read the last book so I could still have my own ending in my head. But at least I have some sort of ending.

A Memory of Light
Copyright 2012
909 pages

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

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan

I almost feel like it's blasphemy saying this, but I would probably rate this the best book out of the Wheel of Time series so far.  And Jordan didn't write it.  Well, not entirely anyway.  This being the twelfth book in the Wheel of Time series, a lot has happened, and if this is your first visit, you need to go to the beginning.  But anyways, back to my horrible words of this being the best book.  Jordan was a master at creating worlds, but Sanderson appears to be the master at breathing life into them.

Faile is saved but Perrin now has to determine what his next course of action will be.  The end battle is coming near and he is growing into someone he doesn't want to be.  Meanwhile, Mat has many obligations but first he has to get his army to Andor, which is proving difficult with so many Seanchan around.  Rand is harder than ever and securing kingdoms is becoming easier for him, but at a great price.  And he is still troubled by every turn by the Forsaken.  Egwene is still a captive of the White Tower, but she is using it to her advantage, desperate to bring all the Aes Sedai together before it is too late.

Egwene is turning out to be a fantastic character.  She does a lot of things they you just think in your head "you go girl" and she has a resolve that won't be broken.  Nynaeve was quite a bit better in this book too.  Actually, all of the characters were.  You could tell they weren't written by the same author, but it was like Sanderson took the essence of what Jordan was going for and really developed the characters to their full potential.  Yes, they still have flaws, but they grow within the book and they are like real people, instead of cardboard cutouts with repetitive mannerisms. 

The same goes with the storyline.  It is developed.  There is still a lot of detail, but Sanderson handles all the multiple plots and characters with ease but still gets a lot accomplished.  And the pacing is much better as a result.  I think that there still are a lot of mysteries there that could be resolved and haven't been yet, but that's very small compared to what Sanderson was able to accomplish in this one.  He, like Jordan, brings in a lot of characters that we don't necessarily care about, but he also doesn't give enormous lengths of pages to them either.  This story is really focused on the main characters for once, and that helps.  The tone is much closer to what it was in the first book, rather than what the series had turned into.  And while you can tell it is a different voice, it is not disturbing or unwelcome.

I'm very excited to read the next two books in the series (haven't up to this point and decided to reread everything before tackling them).  I know the adventure is almost at a close, but I have to know what happens!

The Gathering Storm
Copyright 2009
783 pages