The gathering storm - tildebooks

English language

ISBN:: 978-1-84149-232-2

(1 review)

The Gathering Storm is a fantasy novel by American writers Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the twelfth book in the series The Wheel of Time. It was incomplete when Jordan died on September 16, 2007, from cardiac amyloidosis. His widow Harriet McDougal and his publisher Tom Doherty chose Sanderson to continue the book. Jordan originally intended to finish the series in a single volume titled A Memory of Light. However, when Sanderson began writing the book, it became clear that a single volume would be too large to print. The expected final book was split into three volumes: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. The books would be published a year apart with the first volume, The Gathering Storm, published on October 27, 2009; a week earlier than originally announced. Upon its release, it immediately rose to the No. 1 position on The New York …

The Gathering Storm is a fantasy novel by American writers Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the twelfth book in the series The Wheel of Time. It was incomplete when Jordan died on September 16, 2007, from cardiac amyloidosis. His widow Harriet McDougal and his publisher Tom Doherty chose Sanderson to continue the book. Jordan originally intended to finish the series in a single volume titled A Memory of Light. However, when Sanderson began writing the book, it became clear that a single volume would be too large to print. The expected final book was split into three volumes: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. The books would be published a year apart with the first volume, The Gathering Storm, published on October 27, 2009; a week earlier than originally announced. Upon its release, it immediately rose to the No. 1 position on The New York Times hardcover fiction Best Seller list, making it the fifth consecutive Wheel of Time book to achieve this feat. The three books comprise what can be considered Jordan's final vision of the series. In the foreword, Sanderson states that they can be thought of as "the three volumes of A Memory of Light or as the final three books of The Wheel of Time. Both are correct." He also comments on the differing writing style, suggesting that it could be compared to different film directors directing the same script. The Gathering Storm consists of a prologue, 50 chapters, and an epilogue.

5 editions

MironLiest reviewed The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #12)

Brandon Sanderson takes over

4 stars

This is the first book where Brandon Sanderson took over from Robert Jordan after his death. I was originally expecting the style to be more polished and to the point, but Sanderson manages to copy Jordan's style flawlessly, including many distinguishing characteristics of the previous books. It reads like a creative journey: at first, Sanderson shyly imitates the style, then he seems to mock certain aspects of it, then he has made it his own. The last 150 pages or so are just marvelous, with many long-running threads being resolved and central figures at last preparing for their roles in the final battle.

Jordan had already claimed that one final volume would follow after his own final one, the 11th, but after reading his notes, Sanderson stated that he would not be able to fit everything into less than three books. One can't shake the feeling that this is already …

This is the first book where Brandon Sanderson took over from Robert Jordan after his death. I was originally expecting the style to be more polished and to the point, but Sanderson manages to copy Jordan's style flawlessly, including many distinguishing characteristics of the previous books. It reads like a creative journey: at first, Sanderson shyly imitates the style, then he seems to mock certain aspects of it, then he has made it his own. The last 150 pages or so are just marvelous, with many long-running threads being resolved and central figures at last preparing for their roles in the final battle.

Jordan had already claimed that one final volume would follow after his own final one, the 11th, but after reading his notes, Sanderson stated that he would not be able to fit everything into less than three books. One can't shake the feeling that this is already a very compressed form of what would have happened, with Sanderson doing his best to tie everything up for the final act while carefully transforming the characters into the necessary setup.

After a few books that had no apparent direction and the exciting but still aimless eleventh volume this is finally starting to work towards the grand finale, and I for one am certainly looking forward to the last two books!