The Gathering Storm Discussion 186
Just over two years ago, fans of the Wheel of Time fantasy book series mourned the death of writer James Oliver Rigney Jr. — a.k.a. Robert Jordan. After much deliberation by Jordan's wife (who also edits the series), author Brandon Sanderson was chosen to finish the series. Sanderson familiarized himself with Jordan's notes and said that they would require three more books, which he hopes to release with about a year between them. On October 27th, the first new Wheel of Time book since Jordan's death was released, titled The Gathering Storm. Early reviews for the book seem quite positive, so here's a place to discuss it. Be warned: comments may contain spoilers.
My Opinion (Score:3, Informative)
This book is a triumph. Bought it on the first day, read it all day long. Very immersive and quite similar to Jordan's writing style...only problem is that some peoples' mannerisms changed (ie, the word 'ain't' suddenly popped into existence.)
Regardless, I recommend buying it if you have not done so already.
PS: Kinda SPOILER here...
Rand gets out of his emo whiny thing.
Re:Amazon and B&N readers give it good reviews (Score:5, Informative)
I picked up the book yesterday afternoon, and finished it just before midnight. (Yes, I actually do retain what I read. No, I don't skip anything.)
The characters are all the same people, but Sanderson's versions seem more chatty, and slightly "larger" than Jordan's... I know that's not clear, but somehow Sanderson's intervention has resulted in more detailed character development.
The book is non-stop action. Jordan's last 3 books were *almost* boring - the plot pace had slowed to a crawl. Not true in this book: if anything, it feels like falling down a water slide. Numerous plot elements are wrapped up in just this first book. A lot of those burning questions about who's dead and who's alive are answered. Unlike Jordan's previous volumes, I could actually see this one as a movie (is that good or bad?).
I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was worth the money and the time (though my 6 hours are a pittance compared to the days some of you will spend reading it). I'm already loaning it out to other Jordan fans to read.
Re:News Flash: (Score:3, Informative)
New WoT book released; nobody notices for 3 days.
Actually we were all at home reading the book. I almost skipped work so that I could sit at home and read but I refrained. And yes, it was awesome. I am now on my reread already.
Re:book-a-minute summaries (Score:5, Informative)
Hilarious! But the least you could do is cite the original source [rinkworks.com]. Well, unless your goal was uncredited plagiarism, in which case, bravo, mission accomplished!
Re:Some thoughts on the series (Score:3, Informative)
I started reading the series as a freshman in high school shortly after the third book came out. I was so impressed that I took the time to write Jordan and managed to carry on a good bit of letter writing back and forth for about a year.
Oddly enough (and I think it REALLY shows) at the time Jordan himself said he expected that he had enough 'story' for about seven books all told. I don't know what changed, or if he just lost his way, but I can say I was irritated that most of the books around 4 and later had at best half a book's worth of material in it.
I'll finish the series as I am usually running out of things to read anyhow but I didn't even realize that this latest book had come out.