The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm

by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
783 pages
Book 12 of The Wheel of Time series
by Robert Jordan

Important Notes:

• The first part of this review is spoiler free. The spoiler section is at the very end and is clearly labeled.
• For details on Sanderson's book signing that I helped out with, scroll down to just before the spoiler section.
  
  

*** About the Book ***

The Wheel of Time (WoT) series revolves around the clash between good and evil, the conflicting forces of prophecy, fate, and free will, and the very human reactions of the characters to the larger forces around them. At it's heart, the series is about around a young man who prophecy says will destroy the world in order to save it; but that prophecy doesn't say he will win in the end, only that he will fight.


*** About the Authors ***

Robert Jordan, often referred to as the JRR Tolkien of our time, published the THE EYE OF THE WORLD in 1990. This was the first installment in the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time (WoT), and additional books followed every one to two years afterward. In 2006, while working on the 12th book in the series, Jordan was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that required chemotherapy to treat. That treatment was unsuccessful and Jordan passed away in 2007. He left behind thousands upon thousands of pages of notes about the WoT series, included dictated notes on how the series was to end. After his death, his widow (who was also his editor) chose up-and-coming fantasy author and long-time WoT fan Brandon Sanderson to complete the series. Sanderson's plan was to adapt his writing style to fit the WoT, and also to complete the series in three final books.


*** My Thoughts ***

In the time leading up to the release of this book I was both excited and leery. I've been reading this series since the mid-90s ... could Sanderson really complete it in a satisfying way? Would I be able to tell the difference between what Sanderson wrote and what Jordan wrote? And most importantly, would the book be any good?! I'm both relieved and excited to say that the book was completely fantastic - I should not have been worried!

It took me just over a week to read this book, and that is only because I didn't want to rush through it. There were times I'd put it down after only one chapter because I wanted to savor what I was reading and not have it end too soon. The next book is scheduled for release in Nov. 2010 and I don't know how I'm going to wait that long ...

If you are a fan of fantasy I highly recommend this series to you. The books are best read one after the other, so go pick up THE EYE OF THE WORLD and get reading - you won't regret it! If reading this massive series is a bit daunting, the audio books are completely fantastic and a great way to get through the books at a faster pace - I highly recommend those as well.

I passed my copy on to my sister who will then pass it to our dad. He's the one that got us reading this series way back when. Once I get it back it will sit on my shelf until next fall when I will reread it just before the next book comes out - yay!


*** Meeting the Author ***

If you are a regular reader of my blog you probably already saw me gush over the fact that I was chosen to help out at Sanderson's signing event at my local bookstore. I wrote a recap of the event which was posted at Dragonmount.com. It includes lots of pictures and videos, but I'll give you a sample of a few of them here. To view the rest - and hear about my amazing evening - please check out the recap post at Dragonmount.

Harriet McDougal, Brandon Sanderson, and Storm Leaders Mike, Matt, me, and Susan

Here are videos of the event beginning with a reading by Harriet McDougal (Jordan's widow), continuing with Sanderson's Q&A, and concluding with the goofiness in the line waiting to get books signed. The video is set up as a playlist so it will continue running until all the videos are concluded.

That's all for now, other than the spoilers I mentioned earlier. To avoid the spoilers, stop reading at this point.

*** Spoiler-ish Thoughts ***

Fair warning: Do not read this section if you do not want any plot spoilers!!! Proceed at your own risk ... and ONLY if you have read this book already!!!

Consider yourself warned ...

• I was a bit leery while reading the prequel and the first chapter. I couldn't quite get into the story, and I was afraid that the entire book would feel that way. But chapter two was much better and hooked me for good. The writing seemed to improved steadily from that point on.
  
• I've heard complaints about the way Mat's character was written. I agree that he didn't sound quite like himself, but I found him to be hilarious regardless. Yes, his humor should be a bit more subtle, but it really wasn't bad.
• The Rand/Semirhage/Min thing = woah
• Egwene in the tower battling the Seanchan - I actually teared up at the sheer awesomeness of it all. You GO girl!
• I loved seeing Hurin again, but that poor guy got a raw deal.
• The whole Verin plotline was The.Most.Awesome.Thing.Ever. I've loved her from the beginning and her plot ... well ... all I can say is that that her plotline is AWESOME.

I completely loved this book and would prefer to drop everything and read it again right now. Alas, I'll have to wait for a little while at least ...

*** end spoilers *****




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