A Memory of Light

There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.

And oh what an ending it was.

Battle is joined throughout the world, with Trollocs pouring into the borderlands and through the Ways into Caemlyn. Taim shows his true colors. Rand tries to forge a Dragon's Peace, a legacy of
something other than death and destruction.

And then. The Last Battle. A single chapter longer than many entire books. And what a chapter. The Shadow fields seemingly insurmountable armies, including hordes of channelers led by Demandred himself. Mat, the Son of Battles, Prince of the Ravens, is called upon to do what he does best.

“Yes, I'm alive," Mat said. "I'm usually pretty good at staying alive. I've

show more

only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts.”

And even once that Last Battle is concluded, Rand fights his own private dual with the Dark One, only to realize that despite all his lofty dreams, without Evil, there is no way to choose to do Good.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

And so ends this cycle of the Wheel of Time. Give it a few years and I'm sure I'll read it again. It's worth it. show less

As the ending of a series draws nearer, I always get worried if the end will do the series justice. Rarely have I felt this more than with this book, as I have come to admire the series. Even though it starts with a few rough patches, the later books of the series have captured me like few others. How could any book do this justice, provide closure?

As it turns out, it can be done. It has been done. This book serves as an example on how to end your epic fantasy series. It has it all: Epic scenes that actually played out in my minds eye like few other books have managed it. Heartwrenching moments that actually had me in tears. Sanderson finished 12 years of fantasy history, and he nailed it.

It has taken me 18 Months to read this series. I show more feel sad that it has come to an end. I will miss Rand and all the others. I will miss hearing the voices of Michael Kramer and Kate Reading while commuting. I will move on to other audiobooks. But it may sound like cliché, but this book will stay with me for a long time. show less

In this final volume of Robert Jordan's 4,410,036 - word epic fantasy published over twenty-three years, Brandon Sanderson and the Jordan team have crafted an overall satisfying conclusion and, also. something rather unique: an entire novel that is a 909-page, 353,906-word battle scene. I found this admirable while, at times, feeling it was a bit much. Still, with so many storylines and character arcs to complete (those of heroes and villains, nobles and common folk, those with powers and those without), Sanderson can only be commending. He juggles them all with a skill equal to the gleeman Thom Merrilin. The work is a true achievement.

...Not that I don't have my nitpicks. I'll mention them, but they do not lessen my admiration for the show more work. Without spoilers, however, I can only generalize. My nitpicks include:
--the deaths of a few major characters lacked, for me, sufficient emotion;
--the Last Battle's chief antagonist (excluding "the Dark One") is the Forsaken Demandred, and I felt he lacked sufficient depth to his character [Note: however, in a cut chapter from this work entitled "River of Souls" (published in Shawn Speakman's anthology "Unfettered"), this lack is somewhat ameliorated, and I recommend it];
-- the denouement in depicting Rand's final acts, I found trite (even inappropriately self-serving and uncharacteristic of the hero as depicted in this work and the last).

To balance such harsh criticism, even if but nitpicks (truly), the book had, for me, two particularly marvelous scenes:
--the swordfight between Demandred and Lan Mandragoran, and
--the gleeman Thom Merrilin sitting on the slopes of Shyul Ghul, protecting the path to the mountain's entrance, and striving to find the right word he needed to describe the epic battle occurring below him.

As a last word, while I purchased each of the novels as they were published and, after reading the first five, then purposefully delayed (due to work and family obligations) my reading of the entire fourteen-volume series until this year (2022-JAN 2023), I am glad I have read it. As a very minor writer myself, I can think of no higher praise from a reader. show less

Just found this old review – oops…

I can't believe it's over. I've said it all before, but there's no better place to say it again: I first read The Eye of the World while working at a pharmacy, my first job, and saw the chunkster on the limited paperback rack. It was 1991. This series has outlived that job, that pharmacy (and its owner), I hesitate to say how many other jobs, AND its own author and cover artist. Twenty–four years later, I don't even know how to handle having read the last chapter of this behemoth.

Another thing I will have said before (if I ever finish and post reviews of the other books comprising the finale): it was often fairly obvious to me where Brandon Sanderson had to take on full authorship of a section show more or chapter. Say what you will about Robert Jordan – and there is plenty to say – in my opinion he was a fine writer, skilled at exposition and description (maybe a little too skilled at that latter), and at dialogue; when things got a bit clunky I suspected Sanderson. (Sorry, BS fans; I haven't joined those ranks yet.)

So, one might ask, how was it?

Um.

I don't know how to answer that, entirely.

Twenty–four years. It would have had to be mind–blowing to live up to that kind of lead–in.

I wouldn't say it was mind–blowing. There was still too much meandering off into random characters' brains; I'm sorry, but after all those thousands of pages and thousands of characters I object to new characters still being introduced in the final book. There was, as mentioned, an unevenness to the writing, where Sanderson's writing filled in gaps, like patches mending tears in not–quite matching cloth. There was a coolness to the handling of a few of the main characters that was difficult to take; I've spent a long time with these characters, known them longer than I've known most actual humans in my life today, and for their personalities to shift, even slightly, was disturbing.

The biggest disappointment to me was not really in how it all ended – that was a little confusing, but how could it not be? – but in how it all ended for certain characters. Again, I've known these folks for over twenty years, more than half my life. For some of them – not "NPC's" but POV characters, characters who have had scores if not hundreds of pages devoted to them – to die not with a bang OR a whimper but just sort of a "poof" offstage and almost unremarked … that hurt. I mean, yes, there are so damned many characters in this saga that to spend time on every death would mean the series would have to outlive (or wear out) young Mr. Sanderson in his turn – but Siuan and Gareth?, for two?? They deserved better, especially the former. The latter got to go out fighting, but the former… poof. There was no grieving for them, not for their compatriots – it felt like they were unremarked; and not for me – I was too angry. And rushed. After a billion and a half pages, suddenly events began to hasten toward the end about halfway through … in spurts, at least. Then they'd go back to a more leisurely pace for a while. Then hurtle onward again. I don't know.

Writing this, I thought about going back and adjusting my rating. Fresh from the last pages I gave it the full five stars, but putting some of my thoughts on "paper" had me thinking I ought to bump it down. But … no. After all, awful as the film of The Return of the King was, it deserved the Oscars it won as representative of an at times magnificent (and at times downright execrable) movie trilogy; whatever its faults, Memory of Light was the grand finale. And it was kind of grand. show less

A lot of people start this series thinking it's going to be another white-guy-savior-chosen-one story and one of the things i loved about this series is how it shows that EVERYONE must do their part. Yes Rand has an important part to play- but so does everyone, and in the end I guarantee the people who really save the day are not going to be the people you expect.It took me two years of reading a chapter a day (give or take) to finish this whole series and the last 200 pages of A Memory of Light made it all worthwhile. What an incredible ride.

In A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson provides the 14th and final book(!) in the Wheel of Time series that began 20 years ago. It weighs in at a whopping 900+ pages, which became about the norm as this series went on. He does a good job, as the Last Battle rages on multiple fronts and The Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor, takes on the Dark One for all the marbles. As with most of the series, in my mind this final entry would have benefited from slimming down, but it is entertaining and the resolution is a satisfying one - no small feat. I'm sure Sanderson had some trepidation about winding up this popular series which has such avid fans. It makes me think of J.K. Rowling wrapping up the Harry Potter series, except here Sanderson was show more finishing someone else's series, which opened him up to the possibility of even more criticism for not providing the quality of the original. I think he'll likely get accolades, not criticism, as he as done another fine writing job after completing the finale's two predecessor volumes.

Sanderson was picked to complete the series by Jordan's wife (and editor) Harriet McDougal after Jordan's death in 2007. My understanding is there were notes and outlines. I have to say, to my mind the writing got sharper and better when Sanderson took over. This is a huge world that Jordan built, with lots of memorable characters and subplots. That allowed Sanderson to hit the ground running in this book, with no need for more world-building, and lots of action from start to finish. There are enormous battle scenes on four main fronts, while Rand eventually takes on the Dark One in the cave at Shayol Ghul. Sanderson skillfully takes the reader through the strategic planning, the view from from the soldier's point of view, and the view of those in charge, including Elayne, Queen of Andor, and Egwene, the Amyrlin Seat who heads the White Tower where women train in "channeling", that is, drawing on power called saidin (men draw on saidar) to create fire bombs, lightning, destructive winds, etc. There are many moments of heroism and sacrifice, as well as foolishness and betrayal, as the humans battle Trollocs, Myrdaals, and other fanciful creatures, not to mention other humans who have chosen to follow the Dark One. For those who have followed the series, unsurprisingly, all the favorite characters are in jeopardy, and there are some who don't make it.

Because the book is essentially a series of battles tied together with some humor and relationship relief, it can test the endurance of even those invested in the story. Rand and his father have touching moments together, some of which take us all the way back to where this started in Two Rivers, with Rand as the farm boy son of a farmer who turns out to have a mysterious past. Rand's triple romance with Queen Elayne, prophetic Min and desert tribe channeler Aviendha reaches fruition as the three band together as "first sisters". Rand's Two Rivers friend Mat Cauthon, whose adventures have taught him the military tactics needed for the Last Battle, has a wonderfully combative relationship with the Seanchan queen Tuon he "accidentally" married for reasons he can't quite sort out. For series fans, Lan and Nynaeve, Egwene and Gawyn, Perrin and Faile, and other romantic couples, all have their roles to play and hardships to endure. Among other things, Perrin, the blacksmith turned wolf pack leader, has a spectacular chase of the villainous Slayer in the dream world that spills into the real world battle royale.

The series is a vast story with plenty to enjoy along the way. There were times I (and others) got frustrated with the "bloat" in some of the mid-series books, as Jordan's fascination with every inch of the enormous world he created detracted from the story's momentum. Sanderson's arrival on the scene for the last three books brought a welcome focus. And he has done a creditable job of bringing it all to conclusion, with some philosophical observations on good and evil, conveyed through the evolution in Rand's thinking, that suit the story and give the reader food for thought as well. For those unfamiliar with the series, give the first one, Eye of the World, a try. If it catches you up, then you have a whole lot of enjoyable reading ahead of you. Those who like the Game of Thrones series, for example, might find they like this one, too. show less

Summary: Rand al'Thor has to fight The Dark One, and this time it's personal. Everyone dies.

[I may have used that exact same summary for my review of another long-anticipated final book in another much-beloved fantasy series. It's still applicable.]

Okay, sorry, I'll do a real summary: The Dragon Reborn has long been prophecied to break the world as he saves the world, and now that the eve of the Last Battle looms, that prophecy is seeming more real than ever. The armies of men gather on the Fields of Merrilor, even as a neverending storm rages above them, and the very Pattern of the world seems to be unravelling around them. An uneasy peace exists between nations, as all men and women are called to fight for the Dragon, Rand al'Thor. show more The fight for the future of the world will take place at Shayol Ghul, at the place where the Dark One touches the world most strongly, but the Shadow's resources are seemingly endless, and all of Rand's friends and allies will have their hands full trying to contain the Shadowspawn that threaten to overrun the lands of men, not to mention the darkfriend channellers and the Forsaken. They must hold long enough to give Rand time, even if they don't necessarily agree with his plans, but time itself is another thing that is unravelling as the Dark One comes ever closer to being free from his prison.

Review: Before I review A Memory of Light, I want to take a minute to discuss the series as a whole. In fact, it's pretty much impossible to talk about how I feel about this book in particular without talking about how I feel about the series as a whole, because this book isn't really a book unto itself, but rather the culmination of everything that has come before. (And that "everything" includes a lot; over 12,000 pages of story in my editions, not to mention illustrated guide, the graphic novel adaptations, etc.) So, like most fans (and I think anyone who has made it through those 12,000 pages counts as a fan), there are feelings about the series that are almost impossible to disentangle from my feelings about how that series wraps up in this book.

The Wheel of Time are the books that turned me into a fantasy fan. Sure, I was already a fantasy reader. I grew up on Narnia, and spent most of my teenage years with Anne Rice. I'd torn through all of the published Harry Potter books, I'd tackled Lord of the Rings, and I'd even read through David Eddings's 10- (or 12-) book Belgariad/Mallorean series. So I wasn't new to the genre. But if you ask me what books really made me a full-fledged, dyed-in-the-wool, eats-sleeps-breathes-swords-and-sorcery fantasy fan? I'd point to the Wheel of Time. I listened to them on audiobook my first time through, so for the better part of a year, if my earbuds were in, then Mr. Jordan's world was in my head. I'd never been so completely immersed in a series before. I remember feeling not only like I knew the characters, but that even when I wasn't reading, the story and the world was carrying on, somewhere just beyond my line of sight. I knew these books weren't for everyone, but I felt bad for the people who didn't know about this amazing other world that I could sink into at will. In short: I was hooked. All of this was happening in 2004/2005, so while I can't claim the same decades-long connection to this series as people who began reading it with the publication of The Eye of the World in 1991, I still have been anticipating this last book for a long time.

So, yeah. Feelings. Now that I've got that off my chest, I will do my best to try to talk about A Memory of Light more specifically. But I think the context is important, because my primary reaction to this book was: I was satisfied. And that sounds like damning with faint praise, but it's really not; because this book is the culmination of all of this time and emotional energy, satisfying is exactly what you want it to be.

So. Is it my favorite book in the series? No. (That would be The Shadow Rising or The Fires of Heaven.) Is it even my favorite book of the three that Sanderson wrote, after Robert Jordan's death? Also no. (That would be The Gathering Storm.) But in some respects, I think that's inevitable with this book. The problem is that I don't like reading about battles. Even with maps, I just cannot visualize troop movements or understand battle strategy, no matter how well it's written. (This is also why I don't play Risk.) And this book has a LOT of battles. It starts out with multiple battles on multiple fronts, and then moves into The Last Battle, which gets its own entire chapter. Its own entire 200-page-long chapter. There are a lot of battle scenes, is what I'm saying. And at times, some of the fighting starts to feel repetitive. The hordes of Trollocs and other Shadowspan just keep coming and coming and coming, and while that's kind of the point from the characters' point of view, it's not the most enthralling thing for a reader. (This reader, at least.)

But. But! Even though this book is in some respects all about the fighting, what really made this book for me were the little bits between or during the fighting, bits of character between the troop movements. I've noted in the previous books that Sanderson has a knack for crafting these little shining nuggets of scenes that are different than you expected yet simultaneously perfect and entire unto themselves. That talent is on display here, for sure, and what makes these scenes so resonant is that they involve characters that I've known and loved for years, and just fitting them together just right. Rand and Perrin's meeting at the beginning of the book. Rand's long-awaited encounter with the Seanchan. Rand and Tam. Lan, being Lan. Loial, being Loial. Talmanes, being surprisingly awesome. Bela, still being around. Heroes emerging from unexpected places. Someone finally figuring out that they can use gateways to communicate with people in other places, after me yelling at the characters for entire books for not talking to each other despite the amazing magical powers at their disposal. Perrin and Mat, each saving the world just as much as Rand (I particularly loved Perrin's last major scene. Oh, Perrin, I'm so glad you're my favorite again after all that "Faile, Faile über alles" nonsense). Deaths, some expected and some not, that nevertheless just broke my heart. (For as much as I'm usually kidding when I say "EVERYBODY DIES" as a spoiler warning, there were times in this book when I thought I wasn't far off.) Even characters that I had less time and energy invested in wound up having some of my favorite moments (Pevara and Androl, in particular.)

Talking about the characters brings up another thing that Sanderson does well, which is integrate all of the characters and all of the points of view, and all of the many, many, many story threads that have been established in the preceeding 13 books. Despite basically everyone in the world making an appearance, Sanderson keeps things moving with short snappy sections from various points of view, tying together all the threads and all the loose ends without it feeling like a "Who's Who in the Last Battle." There were characters who didn't get as much action as I would have hoped - Moiraine, Nynaeve, and Aviendha, to start with, and Padan Fain's reappearance felt a little like an afterthought - but for the most part, Sanderson did a great job balancing (juggling?) all of the competing storylines.

And as for the ending itself... again: satisfied. I thought the outcome of Rand's battle with The Dark One was pretty predictable, but it is epic fantasy, and some of that just comes with the territory. The denouement/epilogue was somewhat shorter than I wanted (I really wished we could have seen Artur Hawkwing lay the smackdown on Tuon; she's never been my favorite, but she was even more obnoxious than usual this time around), and I can see why people have called it rushed. But it was effectively done, and in keeping with the rest of the book, and I can absolutely see why Jordan chose to end the story where he did. And the very last paragraph that echoes the familiar first words of every book, I will admit to that paragraph bringing a tear to my eye. So overall, this book: not perfect, and not necessarily my favorite, but I also can't imagine how it could have wrapped up such an enormous series any better. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I'm not even going to make a recommendation for this specific book, since it's pointless for people who haven't read the preceeding 13 books, and equally pointless for those who have. I will recommend the series as a whole, though. Objectively, it's too long, there's probably at least a book's worth of material that could have been cut from the late-middle books, but subjectively: it's wonderful, and immersive, and classic, and well worth reading if you like this sort of thing at all.

(Also, I have now used up all the parentheses in the English language. Sorry about that, everyone.) show less