My biggest complaint regarding The Gathering Storm was that one did not get the feeling that one was any closer to Tarmon Gai'don than we were at the end of Knife of Dreams. It was evident even before the book was released that splitting A Memory of Light into three installment would affect the plot. Needless to say, I was expecting more of The Gathering Storm in terms of moving the story forward toward the Last Battle. True, the pace did pick up late in the book, yet I felt that the first 2/3 of the novel or so contained more filler than killer material. In my opinion, eleven previous WoT volumes were enough of a build-up, and I felt that The Gathering Storm should at least have allowed us to witness the beginning of Tarmon Gai'don. In light of that, I felt then -- as I do now -- that splitting A Memory of Light into two volumes would likely have allowed Team Jordan to knock the ball out of the park.
Which now brings us to Towers of Midnight, the middle of book of a novel turned into a trilogy. Would it raise the stakes and start to fulfill the series' immense potential? Although it suffers from the very same shortcomings as The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, though plagued by a sluggish beginning and a slow pace for a sizable chunk of the book, moves the plot forward like no other WoT installment to date. Which bodes well for the final volume, A Memory of Light.
As I mentioned in the update which sent Twitter and the SFF Blogosphere abuzz with so much crap, stylistically, Towers of Midnight is quite different from its predecessor. Brandon Sanderson explained that he didn't try to imitate Robert Jordan's style in The Gathering Storm. Instead he tried to adapt his own writing style to The Wheel of Time. Which, in the end, worked well for certain scenes and characters, and not so much in other instances.
On the other hand, Towers of Midnight is written in Brandon Sanderson's own narrative voice. Which, unfortunately, doesn't always work all that well. Hence, for better or worse, Towers of Midnight reads more like The Way of Kings or The Hero of Ages than The Gathering Storm. This change of narrative voice will not be a problem for many readers, but for some it will be off-putting. While it didn't affect my overall reading experience, I have to wonder why Team Jordan felt that such a change in style was warranted this late in the game.
As far as the structure of the novel goes, however, Towers of Midnight reads much like its predecessor. Too much, truth to tell. Once again, there are some cool and very important scenes we've been waiting for years to see them happen. But in order to get to the good stuff, one is once more required to sift through a lot of extraneous plotlines or scenes that don't always have that much of an impact or influence on the principal story arcs of the series. For example, a pointless conversation between Faile and a crook of a quartermaster lasts about as long as the resolution of the eagerly anticipated Mesaana storyline. Are you kidding me???
As was the case with The Gathering Storm, Sanderson needs to create a better momentum, for too often the culmination and resolution of storylines fail to live up to the build-up behind them. The build-up for certain scenes has been going on for two decades, after all. Essentially, this robs those important scenes of the impact they so deserve. Sanderson must also be careful with the more emotional scenes, another shortcoming that plagued a number of key scenes in The Gathering Storm. The Egwene/Gawyn storyline is a case in point. Though it's been hinted at forever, everything surrounding that plotline turns out to be a failure to launch, with absolutely no emotional impact. Having said that, I must admit that Sanderson did surprise me a few times in Towers of Midnight, so that's a good thing!
Too often, I felt that Sanderson has a tendency to take the easy way out, especially with Egwene's dealings with White Tower politics. Too often does everything falls right into place too easily, which seems contrived and stretches the limits of realism and credibility.
I've always felt that Brandon Sanderson can't quite manage shades of grey all that well. This is especially flagrant when the narrative turns to politicking, which has never been the author's strong suit.
So yes, the pace certainly is an issue during the first 2/3 of the novel. For the better part of that portion, Towers of Midnight is essentially Perrin's book as the narrative focuses on Perrin and Galad's plotlines. Though they have an important role to play in the Last Battle, too much airtime was devoted to them and the secondary storylines attached to them. On the other hand, the last third of the book moves at a crisp pace -- too fast for my taste at times -- and definitely shows signs of greatness. Which, in the end, results in a decidedly uneven book. Had Sanderson managed to maintain the quality and the momentum of the last 250-300 pages throughout, Towers of Midnight would have been as great as the first six WoT volumes. And that's saying something!
Interspersed through the book are scenes focusing on Rodel Ituralde's POV, which offer our first glimpses of the Last Battle as the invasion of the Borderlands begins. They offer a nice counterpoint to the more boring Perrin and co. sequences. The same thing goes for scenes involving Mat and Elayne.
As was the case with The Gathering Storm, the characterization is more than a little uneven. At times brilliant, it can also be clumsy in some instances. I felt that Sanderson had a better grasp on Rand this time around. He had no problem with Perrin and Galad, who are black-or-white kind of characters. Since many of the scenes Mat appears in in Towers of Midnight were written by Jordan prior to his death, it's hard to say how much of the narrative focusing on him was actually written by Brandon Sanderson. In any event, everyone should be happy to learn that Mat is not off the way he was in The Gathering Storm. Sanderson doesn't try so hard to be funny all the time, so Mat is no longer an issue for me. It may not be the original Mat, but it works for me. Egwene, on the other hand, can be an issue. I felt Sanderson got her right in the last volume, but in Towers of Midnight she goes from high school drama queen to a cool, manipulative leader, and you never know who you'll get. The same thing can be said of Elayne, who sometimes sounds more and more like Naynaeve, and not because she is pregnant.
Sadly, I feel that you can add Lan to the list of characters that Sanderson has trouble with. As I mentioned in my update a while back, my eyes actually watered when I discovered what Nynaeve had done to him in Knife of Dreams. This had been foreshadowed since The Eye of the World, after all. But now that the end game of that plotline is within reach, I'm not feeling it at all. . . Even by bringing back characters from New Spring, Lan seems to be played by a different actor. . .
Hence, the first 2/3 of Towers of Midnight, as was the case with its predecessor, can be a little underwhelming. And yet, buckle up, for the last third will keep you on the edge of your seat and begging for more!
Not surprisingly, the cover art gave away the fact that there would be a rescue attempt to somehow get Moiraine out of the Tower of Ghenjei. Though it felt a little too rushed for my taste, there is no denying that it should satisfy all WoT fans who have been waiting for years to witness this. But there is a lot more transpiring. The fate of the thrones of both Andor and Cairhien is revealed. Rand's final plan is also revealed, and factions for and against him are massing prior to his departure for Shayol Ghul. Revelations about the Black Tower, the remaining Forsaken, the Borderland monarchs, Aludra's plans, and the Shadowspan's schemes now that the Last Battle has begun are made. Add to that what is now one of my all-time WoT favorite scenes, second only to that of Rand in Rhuidean in The Shadow Rising, and which also occurs in Rhuidean. There can be no mistaking: You'll know the one I refer to as soon as you read it. If Brandon Sanderson wrote that one based on Jordan's notes, let me tell you that Robert Jordan couldn't have written it any better. As far as I'm concerned, it was pure awesome!
The last third of Towers of Midnight moves the plot forward like no other book in the series, and it ends the novel with a definite bang. The stage is set for an epic and rousing finale that should leave no one indifferent! Splitting A Memory of Light into two volumes would probably have resulted in an all killer, no filler installment. Unfortunately, three volumes mean that you are forced to wade through a lot of extraneous scenes and plotlines to get to the juicy stuff. It does break the rhythm of the novel, no question, but the ending is well worth it.
All in all, though it suffers from a number of shortcomings, Towers of Midnight should please every single WoT fan out there. Even the hard-to-please readers like me! Overall, the positive more than outweighs the negative. Indeed, the last 300 pages or so will make you forget the sluggishness of the first 2/3 of the book. Yes, the ending is that good!
Roll on A Memory of Light!
The final verdict: 8/10
For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe
Which now brings us to Towers of Midnight, the middle of book of a novel turned into a trilogy. Would it raise the stakes and start to fulfill the series' immense potential? Although it suffers from the very same shortcomings as The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, though plagued by a sluggish beginning and a slow pace for a sizable chunk of the book, moves the plot forward like no other WoT installment to date. Which bodes well for the final volume, A Memory of Light.
As I mentioned in the update which sent Twitter and the SFF Blogosphere abuzz with so much crap, stylistically, Towers of Midnight is quite different from its predecessor. Brandon Sanderson explained that he didn't try to imitate Robert Jordan's style in The Gathering Storm. Instead he tried to adapt his own writing style to The Wheel of Time. Which, in the end, worked well for certain scenes and characters, and not so much in other instances.
On the other hand, Towers of Midnight is written in Brandon Sanderson's own narrative voice. Which, unfortunately, doesn't always work all that well. Hence, for better or worse, Towers of Midnight reads more like The Way of Kings or The Hero of Ages than The Gathering Storm. This change of narrative voice will not be a problem for many readers, but for some it will be off-putting. While it didn't affect my overall reading experience, I have to wonder why Team Jordan felt that such a change in style was warranted this late in the game.
As far as the structure of the novel goes, however, Towers of Midnight reads much like its predecessor. Too much, truth to tell. Once again, there are some cool and very important scenes we've been waiting for years to see them happen. But in order to get to the good stuff, one is once more required to sift through a lot of extraneous plotlines or scenes that don't always have that much of an impact or influence on the principal story arcs of the series. For example, a pointless conversation between Faile and a crook of a quartermaster lasts about as long as the resolution of the eagerly anticipated Mesaana storyline. Are you kidding me???
As was the case with The Gathering Storm, Sanderson needs to create a better momentum, for too often the culmination and resolution of storylines fail to live up to the build-up behind them. The build-up for certain scenes has been going on for two decades, after all. Essentially, this robs those important scenes of the impact they so deserve. Sanderson must also be careful with the more emotional scenes, another shortcoming that plagued a number of key scenes in The Gathering Storm. The Egwene/Gawyn storyline is a case in point. Though it's been hinted at forever, everything surrounding that plotline turns out to be a failure to launch, with absolutely no emotional impact. Having said that, I must admit that Sanderson did surprise me a few times in Towers of Midnight, so that's a good thing!
Too often, I felt that Sanderson has a tendency to take the easy way out, especially with Egwene's dealings with White Tower politics. Too often does everything falls right into place too easily, which seems contrived and stretches the limits of realism and credibility.
I've always felt that Brandon Sanderson can't quite manage shades of grey all that well. This is especially flagrant when the narrative turns to politicking, which has never been the author's strong suit.
So yes, the pace certainly is an issue during the first 2/3 of the novel. For the better part of that portion, Towers of Midnight is essentially Perrin's book as the narrative focuses on Perrin and Galad's plotlines. Though they have an important role to play in the Last Battle, too much airtime was devoted to them and the secondary storylines attached to them. On the other hand, the last third of the book moves at a crisp pace -- too fast for my taste at times -- and definitely shows signs of greatness. Which, in the end, results in a decidedly uneven book. Had Sanderson managed to maintain the quality and the momentum of the last 250-300 pages throughout, Towers of Midnight would have been as great as the first six WoT volumes. And that's saying something!
Interspersed through the book are scenes focusing on Rodel Ituralde's POV, which offer our first glimpses of the Last Battle as the invasion of the Borderlands begins. They offer a nice counterpoint to the more boring Perrin and co. sequences. The same thing goes for scenes involving Mat and Elayne.
As was the case with The Gathering Storm, the characterization is more than a little uneven. At times brilliant, it can also be clumsy in some instances. I felt that Sanderson had a better grasp on Rand this time around. He had no problem with Perrin and Galad, who are black-or-white kind of characters. Since many of the scenes Mat appears in in Towers of Midnight were written by Jordan prior to his death, it's hard to say how much of the narrative focusing on him was actually written by Brandon Sanderson. In any event, everyone should be happy to learn that Mat is not off the way he was in The Gathering Storm. Sanderson doesn't try so hard to be funny all the time, so Mat is no longer an issue for me. It may not be the original Mat, but it works for me. Egwene, on the other hand, can be an issue. I felt Sanderson got her right in the last volume, but in Towers of Midnight she goes from high school drama queen to a cool, manipulative leader, and you never know who you'll get. The same thing can be said of Elayne, who sometimes sounds more and more like Naynaeve, and not because she is pregnant.
Sadly, I feel that you can add Lan to the list of characters that Sanderson has trouble with. As I mentioned in my update a while back, my eyes actually watered when I discovered what Nynaeve had done to him in Knife of Dreams. This had been foreshadowed since The Eye of the World, after all. But now that the end game of that plotline is within reach, I'm not feeling it at all. . . Even by bringing back characters from New Spring, Lan seems to be played by a different actor. . .
Hence, the first 2/3 of Towers of Midnight, as was the case with its predecessor, can be a little underwhelming. And yet, buckle up, for the last third will keep you on the edge of your seat and begging for more!
Not surprisingly, the cover art gave away the fact that there would be a rescue attempt to somehow get Moiraine out of the Tower of Ghenjei. Though it felt a little too rushed for my taste, there is no denying that it should satisfy all WoT fans who have been waiting for years to witness this. But there is a lot more transpiring. The fate of the thrones of both Andor and Cairhien is revealed. Rand's final plan is also revealed, and factions for and against him are massing prior to his departure for Shayol Ghul. Revelations about the Black Tower, the remaining Forsaken, the Borderland monarchs, Aludra's plans, and the Shadowspan's schemes now that the Last Battle has begun are made. Add to that what is now one of my all-time WoT favorite scenes, second only to that of Rand in Rhuidean in The Shadow Rising, and which also occurs in Rhuidean. There can be no mistaking: You'll know the one I refer to as soon as you read it. If Brandon Sanderson wrote that one based on Jordan's notes, let me tell you that Robert Jordan couldn't have written it any better. As far as I'm concerned, it was pure awesome!
The last third of Towers of Midnight moves the plot forward like no other book in the series, and it ends the novel with a definite bang. The stage is set for an epic and rousing finale that should leave no one indifferent! Splitting A Memory of Light into two volumes would probably have resulted in an all killer, no filler installment. Unfortunately, three volumes mean that you are forced to wade through a lot of extraneous scenes and plotlines to get to the juicy stuff. It does break the rhythm of the novel, no question, but the ending is well worth it.
All in all, though it suffers from a number of shortcomings, Towers of Midnight should please every single WoT fan out there. Even the hard-to-please readers like me! Overall, the positive more than outweighs the negative. Indeed, the last 300 pages or so will make you forget the sluggishness of the first 2/3 of the book. Yes, the ending is that good!
Roll on A Memory of Light!
The final verdict: 8/10
For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe
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