Fans of the Wheel of Time series should absolutely love this one! Stuff happens! The end is definitely coming soon, both within the story and literally with only two more books to go.

If you've never read this series but you love high fantasy, go find book one, "The Eye of the World," and get started ASAP.

If you enjoy complex storylines, strong characters, and places so detailed you feel like you're there, even if it's only make-believe, you will probably also enjoy this series. Magic is in here as are otherworldly creatures, so if you can suspend your belief for a while, pick up book one and get lost inside. ( )

So much has happened. The creator of the series died after writing 11 books. A new author was chosen to write finale. The last book sprawled into a trilogy of its own. With so much anticipation, could this book possibly live up to the expectations of this decade and a half long fanboy?

Absolutely yes.

This was the most compelling read since The Fires of Heaven—maybe even since The Dragon Reborn. The pacing's back to speed, with little shawl-shifting to be found. Sanderson excelled in an impossible situation. I had never heard of the guy before he was chosen for this role, but I'm thoroughly impressed. His Mistborn Saga (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages) is now on my agenda.

Egwene's plot line has advanced masterfully—with plenty of surprising moments. Mat & Perrin have remained pretty static—although Mat's mysterious letter has certainly set up something interesting for the next volume. Hints about Moraine abound. Most important was the development of Rand himself. At times I wasn't sure whether he would rise to hero or shrink to depot.

The ending was very satisfying—even without a grand battle climax like the rest of the books. There was enough action throughout the 700+ pages to reward the reader. The last chapter left me excited for the next book. I can hardly wait. ( )

Publication of The Gathering Storm, the 12th book in Robert Jordan's epic (in many senses of the word) fantasy series The Wheel of Time, was long overdue. The last volume, Knife of Dreams, was published all the way back in 2005, before the author's untimely death in 2007. I have to take a moment to reflect on the series, because since the first book was published (1990), my investment has slowly moved from "hey, this is a neat story, let's see where it goes" to "DAMMIT, I read all the others, I have to see this through to the end! Please promise me there will someday be an end?" A fantasy-reading endurance test, if you will. I am happy to report that The Gathering Storm is an improvement over some of the later installments of the series, particularly in terms of pacing and action. I do believe that Brandon Sanderson is absolutely the right author to continue and conclude the series (based on what is reputedly a large body of unfinished work left by Jordan). Sanderson's skill at big-picture plotting is vital to the task of bringing a giant mess of characters, motivations, and events to some kind of coherent endpoint. And if he can actually do it in the next two years/two volumes, well, I salute him.

The Gathering Storm, as its name suggests, sets the stage for the Last Battle between Rand Al'Thor (the Dragon Reborn) and the Dark One. Despite being rather heavy on the storm imagery, and omitting or reducing some viewpoints (Elayne, for example) that have been prominent in previous installments, the action moves along quickly and several large plot points are resolved. Mat is relegated to a comic relief role, Perrin hardly appears, and, PS, The Last Battle is coming! I don't have the energy to summarize the details here, but the reader spends a lot of time with Egwene, who is trying to restore the White Tower to unity, and Rand, who is (as usual) struggling with his sanity and becoming more and more of a pain in the ass à la Harry Potter in The Order of the Phoenix. There is a lot of moping and staring people down. As is customary after I take a multi-year break from this series, if I had a nickel for every minor character I had to look up (particularly various Aes Sedai), I'd have at least $2.00 right now. However, there's no way that I'm going back and re-reading every freakin' book again, because this is my Year of Not Re-Reading. Also it would take forever. I was satisfied with the character development and plot movement in this volume, although the urge to smack Rand upside the head was often very strong, and the ending seemed appropriate to the trajectory of the plotlines, leaving me optimistic about the next (and penultimate) volume. Bring it on! ( )

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