Wheel of Time Book #12: The Gathering Storm (Possible Spoilers)

[aduidarnenye]

This came out this past Tuesday. I picked it up Wednesday and was finished Thursday evening (I had spent a couple days sick on the chestefrield). First WoT book I've read straight through in two days.

I feel kinda bad but I think Sanderson is doing a better job of pacing than Jordan did. I rather think that if Martin were to tragically die before ASoIaF is finished I won't mind too much if we get a new author as good as Sanderson.

I really liked the Rand bits and usually I think he's boring and emo. Egwene was pretty cool too. And Verin! Wow, Verin was totally awesome.

Anyone else finish it yet?

[Penthesilea]

Wow, this actually got published? What was the one before this? The Heart of Winter or something?

[aduidarnenye]

The last was 'Knife of Dreams' and it was published in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember. It's been a long time since a new book has been published.

This was supposed to be the last book but it got split into three books after Jordan died. Next is supposedly going to be published November 2010 and the last November 2010. Next is 'Towers of Midnight' and the last is 'A Memory of Light' (which was supposed to be the title of book 12 if it were the last novel).

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

How many pages is it? Last few were up to 900 weren't they?

[aduidarnenye]

My version is 766 pages plus glossary. Shorter than previous books I believe, but it is excellent.

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

I like how you mentioned he kept the pacing better than Jordan, I just waited for appendices on fansites to pop up for WH and KoD to stay caught up, shit was getting really heady to keep up with

[Ghost_Wheel22]

I really wanted to pick this up but I dread having to go back and rereading books 6-12 because trying to remember bullshit rambling spanning 6000 pages from five years ago is awesome. Might do it when the last book comes out in a few years.

Fuck you Jordan.

[Keria]

I've been rereading and as far as I can tell nothing even fucking happened in book 10. So yeah this has to be better

[GRT]

does it actually start to read like the characters are being given proper progress/closure? if so i might check it out

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

I really wanted to pick this up but I dread having to go back and rereading books 6-12 because trying to remember bullshit rambling spanning 6000 pages from five years ago is awesome. Might do it when the last book comes out in a few years.

Fuck you Jordan.

Wheel of Time Summary

[Shuvo]

I just finished the book, was up till 7am last night reading it, had to take the day off. Robert Jordan was planning on finishing it in this one book, so I don't really think it's fair to say Sanderson is doing a better job at pacing. And don't forget, RJ wrote about 1/2 of this book too, as well as various chapters from the next 2 (including the final chapter).

Of course, RJ would probably have ended up splitting it up into another 3 books anyway, their were way too many open plot threads to finish it all properly in one book.

My favourite scenes were:

Spoiler: show

Verin Sedai talking with Egwene about the darkfriends
Semirhage capturing Rand
Rand taking out Graendal, and his line afterwards. "To defeat someone smarter then you, let them think you're playing the same game then punch them in the face."
And Rand talking to Tam + on dragonmount had me shivering.

[Ksandra]

I loved books 1-5 then it went downhill fast and I think I stopped at 10 which was 900 pages of nothing. I still want to complete the series. But as others stated there is way too much info going on. So I told myself I'd wait until the last book finally comes out and just plow through them all so I don't get lost lol.

[Shuvo]

I loved books 1-5 then it went downhill fast and I think I stopped at 10 which was 900 pages of nothing. I still want to complete the series. But as others stated there is way too much info going on. So I told myself I'd wait until the last book finally comes out and just plow through them all so I don't get lost lol.

Book 10 sucked, but book 11 and 12 are both very excellent, 12 I think being my favourite now.

[Baelorn]

I didn't know this was out yet. Fuck. Going to have to pick it up.

I did a reread about 6 months ago and just skipped CoT. KoD was great though so I think all the boring setup in CoT was worth it(but it isn't a book to read twice lol).

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

Just wikipedia the book summaries all you're missing from 5-11 is descriptions of cities, forests, clothes, and buildings.

[spd]

re-reading the entire series before i get into this, i want it all fresh, but i'm glad sanderson is doing a good job, was a huge worry that it just wouldn't be wot anymore, though i agree with you all about books 7-10 he introduces so many aiel, it's just names names names names names, very tough going, can't wait to read this now

[aduidarnenye]

I downloaded the entire series in audiobook and listened to them at work. It took about 8 weeks to listen to the whole series 1 to 11, but it's much easier than reading the whole series because I kept skipping boring bits, like anything to do with Perrin or random Darkfriends.

[shukudai]

I thought it was very good, a little bit forced in some parts, and that's he's trying to get all this stuff in to close it in 3 actual books. I'm no specialist on pacing, but this was muuuuch faster, i'm not sure if it's good or bad, but for sure it was a fantastic read, I liked Sanderson's Mistborn series as well.

As for waiting a long time, I think it's will ever a decade people are waiting for The Capital's Tower, if that ever happens, while the author writes other books instead :D

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

I cheated and just read the wiki. Some really interesting developments it seems, as well as some obvious stuff that were dragged on for 3+ books. Hopefully they can stay on pace with one book a year so we can have this resolved finally @.@

[aduidarnenye]

Sanderson didn't really hit the mark with Mat, Talmanes, and Dobraine. Avhienda felt a bit off too.

There are some really awesome scenes with Egwene. I was glad they finally tied up that whole White Tower nonsense.