The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time, Book 12) (edition 2009)

So this was the first book of the Wheel of Time series written after Robert Jordan's death. Brandon Sanderson was selected by Jordan's widow and Tor Publishing to complete the epic series based on the notes and conversations left behind. I have an intense personal interest in this series, as my husband was one of Jordan's assistants, and he and my close friend Maria were part of "Team Jordan" who assisted Sanderson in carrying out the vision. Though this was originally to be the final book (and called "A Memory of Light", the decision was made to break it into 3 parts -- a final trilogy, so to speak.

I'd read some of Sanderson's other works (from the Mistborn and from the Alcatraz series) and was hopeful that the change in authorship would work. Though there were some times when the language was more of a 30-something fantasy writer rather than the older man with a bit more life experience, I felt it was a job well done. The styles integrated well. I was appreciative of the foreword, which was one of the most moving things I've ever read.

And the fact that the book is dedicated to my husband, and to my dear friend Maria, will always endear it and the two authors to me. ( )

This is one of the rare books in the Wheel of Time that actually moves FAST... well, as fast as it should go for a WoT book. What happens in this book is that Rand al'Thor basically SNAPS into a mental breakdown and goes insane (his breakdown actually took like, 6 books, but this is the insane part coming now). After the Domination Band (a collar thing that gives the person controlling collared person complete control of collaree) got slapped on his neck by Semirahage, he completely breaks off any trust that he had before, and he's focused on "restraining his anger," and how "did he not see it? People didn't respond to anger and demands. They responded better to calmness and questions" or some things like that. Matrim "Mat" Cauthon, meanwhile spends a night in Hinderstap, where the villagers turn into insane murderers at night... That came as well as expected... but he lived. Egwene al'Vere tries to set Ajahs (groups of witches, the "good" kind, that are dedicated to a kind of philosophy. Like the White Ajah rely on logic and distance themselves from their emotions. Browns find as much knowledge as the can and distance themselves from "earthly" distractions) together again. She succeeds. *SPOILERS* The ending has Rand finally showing his emotions... after nearly destroying the world, but he had a revelation. That people were "reborn" to correct their mistakes, and to love again.

The ending I'll admit, the way I put it was cheesy, but if you read it, it's so moving. Brandon Sanderson did a fantastic job on continuing the series. This is the best book in a loooooong while, and it shows Rand's insanity VERY well. You never knew how far he went till THAT happened. Meanwhile, on Egwene's end, Sanderson made several moments where Egwene REALLY grew up, and all of it was awesome. It also showed how scary Rand had become, completely emotionless, ruthless, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone. All the chapters with Mat in there was extremely funny... ("Hello. Welcome to Hinderstap. We will murder you in the night and eat your BLOODY face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Baily makes them fresh daily." XD) yeah, Mat's one of my favorite characters (still kind of like Rand and Perring though). It shows Rand's point of view when he almost KILLED his beloved (adopted) father. All in all, this book is the best, longest book I have ever read. (And yes, it beat Harry Potter :) ( )

When writing the last book in The Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, the late Robert Jordan insisted that the book would be one giant volume, joking that this would be the case, even if “TOR has to develop a new binding system for it”. When he became terminally ill with cardiac amyloidosis, he decided to leave detailed notes and recordings of what the end of the series should be like in order for someone to be able to finish the series eventually, even if he could not. Brandon Sanderson, the man that Jordan's widow and TOR Books chose to finish the series, looked at the notes and promptly decided to split the book into three parts.

There had been some discussion of naming the three books A Memory of Light, Parts I, II, and III, with them all subtitled differently. This was eventually dropped as a plan, and the books were given their own titles with only the final book given the original title. Those parts became the books The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and the still-to-be-published A Memory of Light. This review will be about The Gathering Storm.

This book is the final part of the story arc begun in Lord of Chaos. Rand, after all of the loss, guilt, horrors, pressures, and so forth, combined with the one-time taint on saidin caused by the Dark One, finally snaps. As will be later seen in Towers of Midnight, the Dark One almost succeeds in driving Rand to such despair that he comes close to using a powerful artifact to destroy all of creation, thus releasing the Dark One from his prison. Rand's hopelessness with the futility of living, dying, and being reborn into a never-ending cycle of battles against what amounts to a god of Evil, is the real main plot point.

Rand's triumph over this trap is the actual climax of the novel. It really is heartwarming and quite a lovely and touching scene when he wins, and reaches his full potential. Nevertheless, it makes very little sense. Rand becomes a sort of “super-Rand”, and it is really awesome, but that end result comes in the next book, so I will worry about that then. Rand's story in this volume is really more of a spiritual/psychological battle.

What I liked most of Rand's story, and indeed, what Perrin and Mat go through to an extent, is seeing them finally coming to terms with just who they are, and why they fight. As a guy who served in the US Army in Iraq, such issues are very timely for me. Why do you do what you do in situations of war? How can you do what is right and maintain your soul, and your morality?

The second storyline deals with Nynaeve's, Min's, and Cadsuane's desperate attempts to help prevent and perhaps mitigate Rand's growing insanity. They fail very nearly, but it should be noted that Nynaeve did function far better and more effectively as an Aes Sedai adviser than anyone else other than Moiraine herself.

What do I think of this book? Well, it's hard to say. Another big storyline was that of Egwene in the White Tower trying to bring down Elaida. I loved that part, AND I hated it. Mostly because the philosophical ideas trouble me too much. Egwene is a wonderful, though a tad too author-preferred for my tastes, character. She has many, MANY good points. She is also greatly troubling. I am a philosophical person, and can't ignore such points.

At issue for me is her sense of morality. Throughout the series, Egwene seems to be genuinely shocked at the attitudes of the Aiel in regards to the rest of the world vs. the Aiel, and how they (to her) seemingly judge morality/life by how it affects them. Only the Aiel matter to the Wise Ones, and this upsets Egwene. She has a point, except that she is as bad or worse in this regard.

Essentially,she goes beyond "situational morality" to an even more insidious and negative idea of what I'll call "institutional morality". At heart, ANYTHING that the Aes Sedai do is right if it serves the White Tower. If they do evil, that's sad, but not as sad as if they hurt the Tower's prestige. While Rand, Mat, Perrin, or Nynaeve, Elayne, Aviendha, among others, may do bad acts, in pursuit of noble ends; they still feel bad about it and view it as a "necessary evil". Egwene views it as morally good if the end helps the Tower. If other people do the same acts, she'll condemn them, but support them if they serve the Tower. I hated this attitude that has hurt people in real life, and told my fellow Soldiers I would report them if they did certain acts near me. I didn't care about how it affected the unit if it was evil. I decided that evil hurt the unit more than anything else. If I can not stand it in real life, I can't stand it in fiction.

That severe criticism aside, Egwene was quite an interesting character in this book. She takes command of the Aes Sedai when they are in distress, she stands up to Elaida. In short, she goes ahead and actually displays the strength and skills for areas other than being beaten, that we are always told she has from the other characters mooning over her. This book, she really does show that she deserves the praise that she's always gotten. And that alone makes the book worth reading. I still, obviously have my critiques of the character, as seen above, but she rose inestimably in my opinion.

A final note. A certain event, that Rand is shown as being almost evil for doing, I had to quibble with. Rand was justified, being that the folks were basically dead anyways, and this is war, NOT bioethics. The issue for me was that Rand just didn't care. That, in my opinion, is what made him insane, not the action,itself.

Such a great novel. I have no doubt that Jordan would have done as well, or better than, Sanderson, had he lived. The notes he left behind are said to have been quite detailed. For that, I thank the man, and I thank Sanderson and Jordan's wife, Harriet, for finishing the series. If Jordan did know Christ, as he claimed to, then he is probably happy from his celestial vantage point at how his vision is being faithfully executed.

Highly Recommended. ( )

I actually got to a point in this book where I couldn't put it down. That is something that hasn't happened in awhile with a Wheel of Time book. This installment did a very good job of refreshing my memory of plot lines from several books ago. The last couple of books have just left you floundering to try to remember who so and so is and what was the back story on this one. But this book did a good job of giving enough information for me to recall most everything and therefore enjoy the book much more. I can't wait for the next one! ( )

Sanderson proves that he has what it takes to clean up and zip up this epic and well-loved story. He's even improved his Mat.. though Aviendha still needs work. ( )

Finally got back to this series. Wow. Brandon did a great job with the raw materials Jordan left. ( )

When Robert Jordan passed away in 2007 from a rare blood disease, fantasy fans everywhere hung their heads and cried. The genre had lost a modern legend, a man who brought the Tolkien-esque world of The Wheel of Time to life and reinvigorated the epic fantasy genre. Not only was Jordan gone, but his beloved series remained unfinished.

But there was a ray of hope. Jordan kept extensive notes detailing the final volume of his series, A Memory of Light, in hopes that someone would complete the series for his fans. After Jordan's death, his wife Harriet and publishing company TOR selected Brandon Sanderson to complete the series. Since A Memory of Light quickly became incredibly massive, the volume was broken up into three books: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light.

Nearly 20 years after the series' first novel, The Eye of the World was released, The Gathering Storm hit shelves - four years after the previous instalment, Knife of Dreams. While fans were hungry for new adventures, many (myself included) were skeptical of Sanderson's involvement. He was handpicked for the job, so surely he was worthy of it - but something in the back of my head warned me that it simply wouldn't be the same without Jordan.

It wasn't - but yet, it still was...

The Gathering Storm, in my opinion, is actually better than the previous three or four Wheel of Time novels. Instead of agonizing filler and focusing on tedious side-plots, The Gathering Storm finally advances the overarching plot in a meaningful way (even though the characters comment far too many times that the Last Battle is coming - it's only been coming for the last five books or so...).

The twelfth instalment of Jordan's popular epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time focuses mostly on rebel Amyrlin Seat Egwene, her captivity in the White Tower, and the plot line involving the battle between two factions of Aes Sedai. While other characters, such as Rand, Matt, and Perrin, make appearances and have some advancement, other plot lines and characters are pretty much left out completely (Elayne, the White Cloaks). I would assume that these plot lines will come into play more in the final two books, but I would have liked to see what was going on with everyone since it's been four years since I last checked in.

While Jordan didn't pen every single word in The Gathering Storm, his spirit is still present in every sentence. As Sanderson explains in his foreword, Jordan left detailed notes about the end of his series and even wrote certain scenes. While Sanderson does an exquisite job of integrating Jordan's already-written scenes and vision with his own scenes and writing style, a long-time, very observant Jordan reader can tell that the style is just a little off from previous books. But if you haven't touch any Wheel of Time books since Knife of Dreams came out in 2005, then it isn't very noticeable.

While some purists will always have trouble with The Gathering Storm and subsequent novels due to Sanderson, he does a wonderful job stepping into Jordan's shoes and helps pump new life into the series.

With the end in sight, I can't wait to pick up Towers of Midnight (2010) and A Memory of Light (2011) and see how everything finally comes together -heck, I've been reading this series for over 10 years. The Wheel of Time is still one of the most epic fantasy series ever written and still keeps me flipping pages. ( )

Well done, Sanderson. Well done. You've brought back the page-turner to the Wheel of Time series. The middle books of the series were tough to slog through, but Gathering Storm was engaging and moved right along. I'm happy with Sanderson's pacing of the story and decision to write three "final" books rather than cram everything into one. ( )

The Gathering Storm picks right up where Knife of Dreams left off. Due to the death of the origional author, Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson was tapped by Jordan's estate to finish off this massive series. The Gathering Storm is the 12th installement, with another two books slated to be released.

The responsibility of being the Dragon Reborn is weighing more heavily on Rand then ever in this installment. He just grows harder and harder, to the dismay of everyone around him. Rand struggles to keep the voice of Lewis Therin in check, while trying to make peace with all the realms before the last battle. Matt provides a fine counter point as a comic relief, but his sections in the novel are all to brief. Egwene’s battle for the White Tower against the tyrant Elaida pays off as more and more of the White Tower Aes Sedai recognize Elaida’s unfitness to rule. And the Daughter of the Nine Moons finally claims the throne of the Seachan, becoming Empress and making her move against the White Tower. The wheel of time turns and the Last Battle is finally at hand.

fantastic read! sanderson did a good job of continuing where robert jordan left off. this book felt a lot more concise than jordan's previous ones, especially the middle books of the series where readers were introduced to a barrage of characters for whom we could care less. the book focused more on rand and egwene and their stories moved forward slowly (albeit a LOT faster than jordan's pacing) but surely towards the end - the last battle. i loved mat's parts of the story even if it felt like mat's adventures weren't an essential part of anything (save for his meeting with verin). i chuckled and laughed at his lines especially how he told verin she probably saidared his portrait.

the gathering storm reminded me why i loved the wheel of time series in the first place. can't wait for the next book. ( )

Rand was certainly the whiniest he's been in this series, but just when reading his chapters started to become a chore, I was plesantly drawn back too his lighter side (it was nice to see the old him poking through, I was missing it). If there was more focus on Rand than I think I wouldn't have been able to carry on through the whole 766 pages, but those heavy pieces were wonderfully interspersed with Egwene and Mat and, to a lesser extent, Aviendha and Nynaeve and Min and Cadsuane.
Several pieces had me laughing (like the spanking of a Forsaken). Others had me sitting 'til quite late with their intensity (I couldn't leave until I found Egwene was safe after the tower attack). And a few of my suspicions came true (like who's a darkfriend). Many of the earlier plots are finally starting to come to a head. Not all the loose ends have been gathered yet and I was still left with questions, but that's to be expected with two more books to follow.
Wonderfully done and harks back to the feel of the earlier novels. Am definitely eager to for the next book to come out. ( )

At first I was concerend about a new author finishing Robert Jordan's epic masterpiece. I've been reading these books for over 15 years and having a change in voice at this last stage could have ruined the series. Branden Sanderson's writing however managed to rise to the challenge and although I found it a little slow going at first (much like the last 3-4 volumes of The Wheel of Time series), the last 10 chapters or so had me on the edge of my seat desperate for more glimpses of my favourite characters. I think one of the pitfalls of the last few volumes has been the sheer number of characters now in focus with storylines following them all. Nynaeve, Elayne, Min & Rand, Matt, Perrin, Siuan, Egwene, and Aviendha for example are all in the middle of action, but not the same action and so sometimes you don't get to see as much of them as you would like. However with only two more volumes to go the pace is definitely drawing to a crescendo and I can't wait to see how it all concludes! ( )

2009

After such a long wait, so long in fact that the author actually died, I finally picked up this book. Imagine my surprise to discover that this last book is actually just the first of three books that will finish the story.

Thankfully, Jordan, left enough notes for the author to complete the story of Rand, the sheep herder, who became the Dragon Reborn. I like how Rand grew in this novel and the ending sets up the next one nicely. There are still many plot lines that need to be resolved.

Of course I will read the next two. ( )

I’ve been reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.) for almost 20 years. I had dedicated considerable time to the series having read close to 8000 pages when Jordan passed away in 2007. Like the rest of his fans, I was crushed and dismayed that the series would never be brought to a conclusion.

A few years ago, I heard that Brandon Sanderson had been approached to pick up where Jordan had left off and complete the series. I wasn’t familiar with his writing, but many forum posts implied he was a good choice, so I waited patiently for him to finish the book. It was worth the wait.

In the foreword, Sanderson tells that Jordan left very detailed notes and had actually completed some of the book. Keeping in mind this was to be the completion of the series, the book grew to the point where it was simply too large to release as one volume so it was decided to break it into three. The Gathering Storm is therefore the first volume of the final book of the Wheel of Time.

I enjoyed Jordan’s writing, but in a series this long, there’s bound to be ups and downs. I remember completing entire 700+ page volumes and thinking the story hadn’t advanced much. In this book, there’s quite a bit of action and you can tell the epic is coming to a close as story lines come together and all the “threads of the pattern” begin to fall in place. I’m not sure if it’s Sanderson’s writing or the fact that the story is so engrossing at this point, but I feel this is one of the finest books in the entire series.

I don’t want to include any spoilers but I do want to make a comment about Rand’s character. The Dragon Reborn (really the single most important character in the series) has been in the background for the last few books. He’s finally featured again and the character goes through several major changes in this volume. Others may have seen this from past story lines, but it just clicked for me that Rand is a Christ allegory and that is fully cemented in one chapter when he accepts his coming death to save the world. The frequent use of the number three and other trinity references just reinforces the motif. I haven’t quite decided where the chapter “Veins of Gold” left this however. ( )

It has been a long ride with this series. Jordan had finally started reining himself for several books before he died and Sanderson appears to be moving us to the finale. He does as good a job of telling as one could expect. As many others, I have my favorite threads and characters, e.g. Matt, Tom, Aviendha, Egwene, and others I really wouldn't miss if they weren't there, e.g. the Windfinders, the Seanchan, and about a third of the Aes Sedai (there are too many thumbnails with names). I look forward to reading the wrap up and then some day rereading the first 4 or 5 books when this universe wasn't quite so cluttered. ( )

Sanderson is a marvelous choice to finish this series. I was slow to read the book after I bought it. I was afraid that it might ruin the story for me, if it did not follow the spirit as well as the environment of the story, but my fears were put to rest.
I am really looking forward to the next two books.

This book brought back my interest in the series ( )

Brandon Sanderson does an excellent job of picking up where Robert Jordan left off. He made the author transition so seamless that I really have no idea which parts were written by Jordan and by Sanderson. This book also has a good ending that does not leave you completely hanging to see what the result of the action will be. I found that sort of cliff hanger intensely annoying in a few of Jordan's last books in the series. All in all, Sanderson has picked up the reigns nicely and I eagerly await the last two volumes in the series. ( )

Sanderson did a good job of adding elements that Jordan used and displayed a good understanding of the series. His writing is more polished though and Jordan's home spun language was fun. ( )

This entry in the Wheel of Time series felt like a return to form. Perhaps not in the stylistic sense, as Brandon Sanderson is authoring the conclusion to Robert Jordan's work. Sanderson did, however, manage to evoke the same excitement I felt as reader in this book as I did when I first started with The Eye of the World.

Various storylines are reaching their conclusions, which definitely interested me as a reader.

POV - still shifting POV found in the rest of the series. Probably fewer pages(chapters may be better word) focusing on one character in a row, which probably contributed to faster pacing.

One thing that has bothered me throughout the series (and is still present here) is the female characters' (Nynaeve, Egwene, Cadsuane, + others) responses to male characters (mostly Rand). I suppose most of this could be partially explained as their culture and a reaction to the breaking of the world by male channelers of the past. That doesn't make it less annoying though.

Overall, annoyances can be overlooked in favor of entertainment (and anticipation for final two books) derived from this book. ( )

Very good follow-up to the serie by Mr. Sanderson. A lot of good progress for most of the main characters and more specifically Rand and Egwene. ( )

At one point our hero, Rand Al’Thor, the Dragon reborn, stands on a mountain top, on the edge of a sheer cliff and ponders the meaning of existence. It’s not the deepest thing you’ll ever read, it’s not going to lead to your philosophy books, or wow you about the author’s intellect. But it’s cool. And it’s unexpected.

When this series was hot, there was some devout enthusiasm and insane speculation justifying the website name wotmanian.com (which now points to dragonmount.com). I was never part of that, and fantasy as a genre never really caught on with me. But, yet the series means a great deal to me for the simple reason that it's what got me reading. Before WOT I didn't read books, afterward I kept a reading log and read what seemed to me to be voraciously, albeit slowly. Almost 20 years and 12 books later it has come to be what I guess is a comfort read.

If you don't know, the series has faded after suffering several poor books (books 7-10) and the death of the author, Robert Jordan. There are still devout fans, but it's not something anyone jumps up and down recommending without mentioning some reservations. It was nice that Book 11 was better, and it was nice that Brandon Sanderson, who is finishing the series, seems to be generally liked, so I suspect there was some hope and anticipation about this book - although I'm not part of that conversation, so I'm not sure.

Yeah, I loved it. It has almost every flaw of all the earlier Jordan books. Characters are painfully simplified - which is kind of necessary for our memory because there are so many - literary hundreds. They do stupid things. Silly stuff happens that doesn't really make any sense and demands some suspension of disbelief even with this fantasy world. I mean despite the immense complexity of the story line and foreshadowing, this is still genre. That all this is the same is really a credit to Sanderson. There were times I thought I could tell which parts he wrote and which parts Jordan wrote, but the flow never broke - it still felt like a WOT book. So, Kudos to Sanderson.

I loved it because Sanderson kept the pacing - which is tough to describe. Jordan takes his time. He doesn’t skip parts, but portrays every step along the way, and you hear at least one character’s thoughts about each and every thing that happens or is said, and then you see every other character’s reaction. And somehow this is all interesting. A very small amount of happening can take a lot pages, but there is also a sense of completeness, which I enjoy. Then, when something actually does happen of significance, the pace leaps forward, with several things happening in each sentence. Jordan's sort of winds the book up straining every piece into place, then throws in monkey wrench and everything comes apart in unpredictable ways.

And I loved it because things do happen. What killed books 7-10 was that nothing got concluded. In a sense they were really one book, each winding things up a little bit tighter, but with nothing in sight to release. Jordan got carried away.

And I loved it because of Rand’s amateur philosophizing – a new and nice twist.

This is fun if you like this stuff, and are willing to read a lot of volumes to get here. ( )

On re-read 20-Jul-2010
Still loved it second time around
On first read: 15-Feb-2010
I’m not sure if it’s the injection of a new writing style, or if I’ve just been yearning to come back to RandLand but THE GATHERING STORM made me fall in love with these characters all over again. I’m feeling very optimistic about the remaining two novels now! ( )

The story recovers its fast-paced style it had in the early novels. One can see things start to fall into place and they may not all be good for Rand. ( )