Most of you have probably already read most of these reviews, but I'll post 'em anyway. Instead of sprinkling them in with the normal review links, for some reason I wanted to wait until I have quite a few, and just do a special post of just The Gathering Storm reviews. Since it was announced yesterday that The Gathering Storm is now the #1 fiction book in the US (the New York Times list I think?), I thought today would be a good day to post all those review links I have collected. So take a look, in case there is one you missed.
Reviews:
There is a momentum shift in the final third of the book, when Sanderson finally kicks it into high gear. But the first two-thirds of The Gathering Storm suffer from broken rhythm. I felt that there were a number of missed opportunities and a few scenes were impaired by faulty execution.
link: Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: The Gathering Storm
How was I to write a review of a work that is likely to gather high praise from most as well as some few detractors? But the truth is my dilemma is a false one. You see, the Wheel of Time series is too deeply personal to me for me to be the objective reviewer I usually try to be. The Eye of the World came off the library shelf at a time when I was feeling a void in my life, a powerful feeling of hopelessness and despair that pervaded my workaday existence. The Eye of the World and its sequels brought me characters who struggled against impossible odds, yet triumphed at each and every turn, even as their own souls were damaged by the choices they were forced to make. This series of fiction brought to me a sense of hope, a joy in wonder. So I cannot be the objective reviewer I usually seek to be. The Wheel of Time is part and parcel of my self, as much a part of my psyche as my family and social upbringing.
link: Book Review: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – Grasping for the Wind
It’s also appropriate for me to say that I’ve been one of those insane fans endlessly discussing these books on the internet. I’ve been reading The Wheel of Time since the mid-1990s and I’ve re-read the series multiple times. I think true objectivity in reviews is a fallacy, but I do believe that reviews need to be thorough and fair. So know that I’m a biased fanboy but also someone striving to write a decent, holistic view of The Gathering Storm that won’t come off feeling liked the biased praise of just another blind fan.
link: Neth Space: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
For those wanting to know if Sanderson would manage to capture the essence of the late Jordan's writing style or if his passages would integrate well with the ones Jordan had completed before his death, it will be difficult for most of the time to discern which author wrote which passage. Sanderson's interpretations of the two main characters of this story, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, and Egwene al'Vere, the rebel Amyrlin, are almost pitch-perfect. What I found interesting about Sanderson's treatment of the characters is just how well they are integrated with Jordan's earlier development of them.
link: OF Blog of the Fallen: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Gathering Storm
As I finished the last page, bleary eyed and sleepy, the only thought that came to mind was “thank you, thank you”. I have been involved with Rand, Mat, and Perrin for longer than I care to think, and finally getting the ball rolling on the end of their epic adventure let me breath a great, and much needed sigh of relief – something akin to a junky finally getting a fix, but without all the negative connotations. In short, that is exactly what The Gathering Storm sought to achieve, to get the ball rolling, to get the story moving, to bring it towards a much-anticipated culmination, and most importantly, to give fans of the Wheel of Time much needed closure. Now ware readers, for the review that follows is steeped in spoilers.
link: Review: The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson | Only The Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Another concern was that originally these last three books were supposed to be one volume, A Memory of Light, and Sanderson actually wrote the bulk of the text under the impression it was going to be probably split in two. The decision to split the book in three instead resulted in much recrimination, although at 800 pages in hardcover (and assuming the second and third come in at a similar size) and well over 300,000 words, tying it with Knife of Dreams as the longest book in the series since Lord of Chaos, it's clear this could never have been done in just two books either. One problem with this split was that since Sanderson hadn't been writing with three books in mind, The Gathering Storm would feel incomplete or unsatisfying on its own. This is not the case at all. In fact, The Gathering Storm has the most cohesive through-line in story, character and theme of any book in the series since The Shadow Rising, and possibly out of all of them.
link: The Wertzone: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
God, I’ve missed it so much. I had a very emotional reaction to this book. The question of whether Jordan substitute Brandon Sanderson is up to finishing the series has been answered. He is. Thank you, Brandon Sanderson. Not only did we enjoy your stellar Mistborn series, along with the rest of Team Jordan, you have already gone some way towards realising the dreams of likely hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Wheel of Time fans who have been dying for this series to be finished in a way that will honour Robert Jordan, arguably the best fantasy author of our time. Keep up the good work.
link: The Gathering Storm: Review by Keeping the Door
Let’s just get one thing cleared up before we start here. If it wasn’t obvious by the last eleven posts of the series re-read, I’m a bit of a Wheel of Time fanboy. There’s nothing I can do about that and I’m quite happy with it. This is a seminal series of my fantasy reading life and Robert Jordan has stuck with me over the last fifteen years when other authors failed me. So, please understand that while I may recognize flaws in the novel (and the series), I can easily gloss over them because this is a series I love dearly. Never is anything so egregious that it will hamper my enjoyment of the series.
link: Adventures in Reading: The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
There have been a number of well-written reviews for The Gathering Storm. So rather then belaboring many of the points covered elsewhere or echoing the slightly off-putting voice Sanderson employed for a one Matrim Cauthon (though the elderly aunt conversation did have me literally laugh out loud but there was something vaguely Erikson in that exchange) or even summarizing the plot up until this point I will recommend that you check one of the many fine reviews already out there. Instead I’d like to take the time to look at, and praise, the theme that runs through the entirety of novel: identity.
link: Sa souvraya niende misain ye: Identity and The Gathering Storm « King of the Nerds!!!
1 comments:
Beh, I'm a day late :P
Not that I have much to add to what the rest is saying ;)
Post a Comment