WOT First Reads: Book Review: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (AKA buckets of awesome)

THE GATHERING STORM is the first book in the Wheel Of Time series since the 5^th book THE FIRES OF HEAVEN to really knock me over. I have liked the volumes in between, mostly (see TPOD and COT as ones I didn’t), but none of those really had the impact the first few, and now the 12^th have had on me.

The main benefit here is one of plot threads tying up. So many of the main plotlines that have been running through books 6-11 are wrapped up, or abandoned for useless in TGS that I nearly clapped every time one did that. Basically this novel is a cleaning of the house for the series. Sweep the front walk clean of debris so that the soldiers have no obstacles when they head off to war.

Beyond that, this book kicks the action into high gear, and everything you have come to love about the series flies right to the forefront. Certain characters go from being awesome to being flat out amazing. Egwene, for example, finishes the transformation she began way back when she was raised as the rebel Aes Sedai’s Amyrlin. By novels end she becomes something of a legend, and her chapters and scenes in the last 200 pages are likely to be remembered as some of the most stunning of the series. Rand spend most of the book kind of annoying me, as he not only hasn’t changed in books and books from being a jerk, but he also gets even worse here. However, this character progression is also one that ties up/comes to a head and Rand’s plotline FINALLY makes sense to me so in the end I can’t complain, but I am actually excited to see what Rand can do now! Cadsuane is another character that goes through a series of chapters where I can’t stand her, but her progression is one that has a point too. The Aes Sedai in general get paintyed better here methinks. Not as many pepper the scenes and for the most part they are much easier to read IMHO. Verin Sedai’s plot thread here is probably one of the most impressive in the book aside from Egwene and Rand. The aftermath of Semirhage’s capture is dealt with for a number of chapters and finished in a way that I wasn’t expecting at all. The deal with Siunae and Bryne is finally tackled and comes to bear fruit we’ve been waiting books for. Perrin and Mat are only in the book for a chapter or three each…but I’ve heard tell their stories get dealt with in TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT which I have to assume will bring everyone up to date for the final volume if I am not mistaken. Basically though, this book belongs to Rand and Egwene, and aptly so as I don’t think all the characters could have been done this sort of justice in one book, so good on the powers that be for splitting it with ToM.

So, plot points tie up and some in such satisfying ways that I can’t even explain their awesomeness. It’s hard to sing the praises of this book without spoiling too much for anyone who hasn’t read it. Sufficed to say Sanderson really does begin the rescue of this series from the chasm of plodding boredom that it started to descend into. The writing is succinct, enjoyable and the pace moves along at a great clip. In fact, I don’t think that at any point I had to slog. Most chapters had a point to the overall arc, and if they didn’t then they moved along fast enough to not have to worry to much. Is it overlong? A tad maybe, but I honestly can’t really see much of what could be removed. I think the only part that I felt lacked some purpose was Rand’s attempt to save the folk of Arad Doman from the Seanchan AND themselves. In the long run it really only served to deal with one of the Forsaken, and add to the tension that Rand’s personality really begins to alienate his friends and the people around him.

The action sequence at the end of the book is, for lack of a better word, glorious. Honestly, if I was there and witnessed it, that is how I would describe it. It is a pull-no-punches, head smacking, saidar-wielding, Raken blasting night of chaos. Which is then followed by a set piece involving Egwene and a bridge into Tar Valon that was, for me at least, one of the most beautifully descriptive passages in the series evoking quite stunning imagery.

The final chapter (before the epilogue) made everything I’ve endured as to a certain story thread up until this point worthwhile. It is quiet, telling, and deftly handled by Sanderson.

THE GATHERING STORM is worth the wait, and is the book I think a fair number of WHEEL OF TIME fans were waiting for. I don’t want to say it is perfect, but like I said above I enjoyed this book on level with the first few books in the series and my state of wonder and enjoyment with this series is rekindled with it.

Bring on TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT…and Scott will finally be caught up with everyone else.

The Way Of Kings (The Stormlight Archive Vol. 1) - Brandon Sanderson - Review

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.


Brandon Sanderson is one of those names in the fantasy arena that we heard a fair bit of buzz about just after he released his debut novel ELANTRIS. Then more buzz as he released his first trilogy MISTBORN to a whack of good reviews and kudos. Though it can be argued that the mainstream audience of casual fantasy readers didn’t have a clue who the man was prior to him being chosen to pen the remaining three books in the popular WHEEL OF TIME series. Chosen by Robert Jordan himself (and his widow Harriet) to finish the series that Jordan knew he wouldn’t finish due to his terminal illness, Sanderson had gotten some pretty high praise just by being that choice. I only ever got five books into the WOT series, so I can’t weigh in on Sanderson’s addition to the series with the 13th volume, THE GATHERING STORM, released last year to fairly decent reviews. I believe Chris read it, so he could weigh in.

At any rate the man has been given a daunting job to do, finishing a series that has polarized fantasy fans and casual readers alike for nearly twenty years. I have enjoyed his writing since I first picked up a hardcover ELANTRIS in 2005 and took a chance on a new author, and I was blown away by the cleverness he showed (with ELANTRIS) and the promise as a worldbuilder and magic systems (with MISTBORN). Somewhere after he accepted the WOT gig from TOR, they commissioned him to begin his own epic high fantasy series (One that’s been gestating in his head for like ten years), and he actually found time to write the first one, THE WAY OF KINGS.

The first book in a proposed ten book series called THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE is a monstrous 1001 pages hardcover. To call this a doorstopper is being generous. It is a behemoth, and is filled with maps and drawings the calibre of which I’ve not seen in any other book. In short, the book is bloody gorgeous inside and out (the cover art is done by the splendid Michael Whelan, who Sanderson says always did the best art in the 80’s covers). I knew I wanted to read this book, and when I came upon it in the bookstore I snapped it up immediately and started in on it the next day.

Oh my gods this is a stunning book. It was odd to me to be so entirely involved in a book this large from the get-go and not stopping. I read it every last chance I got. I recall the first time I read Steven Erikson’s Malazan series and how I was pretty enthralled by their scope and story...but most of the books had portions that slowed a bit for me, or were tougher to get through. That, surprisingly, didn’t happen with THE WAY OF KINGS. I was tucking my nose inside it everyday and by the midway point I found that I preferred to sit down and read a few chapters than do anything else. It became one of those volumes where it’s 3AM and you keep saying to yourself “Okay, one more chapter” and then something happens and you have to keep going. Thus losing precious sleep, but I wasn't complaining.

The characters are well fleshed out, and you care about each of them in their own way. What’s reall remarkable, however, is that Sanderson seamlessly integrates the plots of POV characters Kaladin, Dalinar and Adolin whose story is the war side of Roshar and the fighting of a vengeance pact on the shattered plains (which are...exactly what they sound like and let me tell you battles have NEVER been done so interestingly and brilliantly) attempting to revenge for something that happens in the prologue, and the POV plotlines of Shallan and Jasnah which follows a much different historical mystery study of Roshar and the great thing is that all these storylines are each compelling on their own, but as they sit as disparate parts of the world Sanderson creates they are also unified by relations, and even as a whole to what is transpiring. It’s like seeing all the pieces on a chess board arranged, and though you can’t tell who is going to win, it is unendingly interesting to watch the players make expert moves that you can tell are leading to something very big.

I think we are in for a significant treat with the rest of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE. Roshar is incredibly realized and vivid, with its highstorms and adaptable plantlife, its various kingdoms and human lives, not to mention the huge historical backstory that is thousands of years old, but never feels like too much to handle. Sanderson has a deft hand at giving us that which we require to push forward but it never feels like he overwhelms us. He knows exactly how human beings interact and how things like love, honour, and betrayal can build from nothing to a crescendo. How the human spirit is at once a gloomy thing as well as a splendid thing. I won’t say too much about specific plot points, but sufficed to say that the last 400 pages or so of this book the pace went from fast to bloody lightning burning through my hands. The ending was a triumph that I can even explain properly in words, and left me completely salivating for the next in the series. I was sad there wasn’t any more to read, and decided that I read it too fast. I found myself wishing I could be at the beginning all over again.

This is Sanderson’s most accomplished work to date, and has all the trappings of catapulting him into the stratosphere of new fantasy authors. I actually went out on a limb when I finished it and called it the BEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ. Weeks later, as I sit writing this review, that is still true. Hands down the best.

I stand in awe of this man’s skill.

If I get you to read one book in 2010, please let it be this one. I can’t recommend it highly enough.