The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time

Brandon Sanderson has accomplished the impossible. He took over a good series that used to be great and brought it back to its prior greatness. The action is fast paced, the storyline is constantly moving and building, the subplots get resolved, and the main characters develop and grow. The decisions reached are logical and reasonable. There is not a single page in the entire book that did not contribute to the story. Other reviewers have explained the central plot lines so I won't repeat them. What I will say to all those who had become frustrated with the later WOT books...give this book a chance and you will not be disappointed.

As hard as it is to believe, it was WORTH the four year wait. I, as all WOT fans were, was devastated upon hearing of Robert Jordan's passing. And as much as it shames me to admit it, a PART of that grief was the thought that this marvelous series may never be finished, or that it would be finished imperfectly. Boy was I wrong. I agree with some other reviewers about Brandon Sanderson's writing. It is noticeably different from Jordan's, but only occasionally was it different enough to distract me. Some dialogue here, some exposition there that just didn't have Jordan's VOICE. I also agree that he seemed to struggle the most with Matt, but I felt he had a little trouble grasping Jordan's treatment of the women in the story also. So, those are the critiques... and the ONLY critiques. This is quite possibly my favorite book in the series. I know many loyal readers felt that after book 5 or 6, the story grew too slow and cumbersome. I tend to disagree; while books 7-10 in particular may not have been action-packed, I enjoyed all of them, and felt they all added something significant to the story. Sure, it got slow at times, and sure, he probably could have trimmed it down. But the hours of reading pleasure they gave me, I wouldn't trade. But I'm rambling now. If the series had been slowing, then "Gathering Storm" was a sledgehammer between the eyes telling you to WAKE up. I think the most impressive part of the novel for me was the sense of MENACE that I felt through most of it. It was almost a palpable feeling... an "air of darkness" if you will. Jordan and Sanderson seem to have lulled us into a false sense of security, only to remind us (violently) that the Last Battle is just around the corner, and just how TENUOUS the victory of the Light is. And although it lowers my eyes to admit it, I found myself crying at one particular point. The emotions were so powerful. A moment I have been waiting for (and worrying about) since The Eye of the World. In closing; for those who have never read the WoT series... start at the beginning. By the time you've caught up, the series will probably be well and truly finished. For those who have loved every book, you will CERTAINLY love this one. And for those who gave up on the series, I think you will want to pick up where you left off, and get yourselves ready to be DRAGGED back in to Robert Jordan's world. We all know that, as masterfully as Brandon Sanderson has done, the series just won't be the same without Jordan's hand to complete it. But Harriet chose wisely, and I believe Robert Jordan would agree. I am sure he is busily reading The Gathering Storm wherever he is, and enjoying it as much as we all are.

As I sat down and opened the book to the map page, I was surprised at the well of emotions I felt. I gazed upon the map of the world where I have spent so many enjoyable, frustrating, mind boggled hours and tears filled my eyes. I felt like I was reacquainting myself with an old, much loved friend. Like so many others, I began reading the Wheel of Time series almost 2 decades ago. And, again, like so many others, my heart broke upon hearing the news of Robert Jordan's passing. He created such a vivid, real world, unlike anything I had encountered before or since. When I heard the torch had been passed to Mr. Sanderson, I was elated the story would be brought to conclusion, if a bit worried at how well the vision would be upheld. I would be dishonest if I said the transition between authors was seamless, but I did seriously love the book, largely because of some of the differences in style. I like the way the characters seem to have matured. There is added depth to the characterizations, a deeper PoV, that I really enjoyed, especially with Rand, Egwene and Nynaeve. As was mentioned in another review, the women are portrayed a little more realistically, with less hair pulling and sniffing. I liked it. I also had no problem with Mat, unlike others. He has always been my favorite character and I look forward to his story. It seems the next installment will focus on the Tower of Ghenjei and Moraine, in which Mat should figure prominently. I purposely did not reread the series prior to The Gathering Storm, which I think made the transition to Mr. Sanderson less jarring than it may have been had I recently been immersed in RJ's vision. Nonetheless, there were a few moments where the story let up enough for me to realize a different bard had taken up the song. The detail was not as prominent in this book, and when there were descriptions, they were not as rich. As one who has traveled this world for years, though, my memories took over and were able to interject the appropriate detail. WOW, did this book move the story along. It's as if the first 10 books were the slow ascent, filled with anticipation and anxiety, clicking and clacking the car to the top of the coaster. Knife of Dreams was the turn as you approach the 1st hill, just barely able to see what lies ahead. The Gathering Storm is the beginning of the rapid race to the end. The end is near and the story has been entrusted to a capable hand. I plan to enjoy the ride...

This book is a genuinely great contribution; if you like any other book in the Wheel of Time series, you'll like this one. It's the 12th book in the ongoing saga; Jordan unfortunately and sadly died in 2007, before completing the last chunk of the series, and Brandon Sanderson (author of several excellent but less-well-known fantasy novels) was hired to finish it up based on Jordan's notes, outlines, and completed sections. Those kinds of handovers seldom go well, and to add to that uncertainty, the quality of the series has been somewhat of a sine wave, with definite peaks and definite valleys. So, despite a marked increase in quality in the book immediately prior to this one (Knife of Dreams, which came out in 2005), Jordan's death and the series' checkered history gave real reason to fear that the handover of this series would not go well. So far as this volume goes, at least, the handover has succeeded. There's a real spark and fire here; if you're a fan of the earlier books, and you haven't gotten completely jaded to the entire Wheel of Time series by now, you *will* love this one as well. Promise. Because of the nature of the coauthorship (Jordan wrote some sections of this book before he died, and the rest was completed from outlines and notes), it's hard to know precisely how much we're seeing here of Brandon Sanderson's work and how much of Jordan's, and there were one or two moments where I as a reader wondered whose voice I was reading, and one or two points where I felt Sanderson had stumbled slightly in his presentation of a character or handling of internal monologue. (After several re-reads, the issue seems to be that a few of Sanderon's turns of phrase seem more stylistically "modern" than what Jordan had used to date). But I could count those problem points on the fingers of one hand, and this is an 800-page book. The riveting action and powerfully compelling characters that made the series great are all still here, and overall Sanderson's work is excellent, especially considering how badly some similar series handovers have failed in the past. Perhaps most impressive (and necessarily similarly controversial), Sanderson manages to show these characters continuing to develop and change as individuals -- something absolutely necessary if continuing the series was going to be at all worthwhile, but also inevitably controversial, as it's impossible to do anything more than guess at how closely Sanderson's character changes parallel or follow what Jordan's would have been. Still, apart from one or two hiccups, I think most readers will feel they're reading about the same characters as before (and different readers may well pick different hiccups; some readers may prefer Sanderson's hiccups to Jordan's -- even where the differences are noticeable, Sanderson hasn't made *bad* choices, just *different* ones). Sanderson states in a brief introduction that he'd like for readers to think of these novels as film scenes shot by a s

We fans of the WoT, who have been reading this series for nearly 20 years, have been waiting, and waiting and waiting for The Gathering Storm. Robert Jordan created an epic tapestry of characters and plotlines; so many of us felt that this tapestry was unwinding over the last couple of books and perhaps even the remarkable Mr. Jordan would find it impossible to weave them back together. But Brandon Sanderson (and I'll admit I've been a big fan since Elantris) has done a truly amazing job in The Gathering Storm. Mr. Sanderson has, in many ways, adopted the language, prose and style of Mr. Jordan, while simultaneously improving areas where the characters, dialogue and prose felt stilted and unclear. Flesh was added to core characters like Rand, Nynaeve, Suian, Egwene and others, taking them off the page in a way that has been lacking for many WoT novels. It's too early in the reviews to give away spoilers, but take heart -- all those disparate plotlines are starting to make their way to Tarmon Gaidon where all questions will be undoubtedly, and satisfactorily, answered. The WoT is not only in good hands, it is in the right hands.