The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, Book 12) Hardcover – October 27, 2009

Yes Sanderson is different than Jordan, and in some ways that's a good thing. The story was slipping out of Jordan's hands like Saidar for Elaine during her pregnancy. Sanderson exerts control of the story and gets things done. Tarmon Gai'don starts to feel imminent rather than just being a misty figure on a distant horizon that never gets any closer.

Egwene's battle for the white tower continues, and she is incredible in this book. She makes one of the most quotable statements of the series as her confrontation with Elaine hits critical mass: “I’d name you Darkfriend as well, but I suspect the Dark One would perhaps be embarassed to associate with you”.

Rand's battle with madness and despair continues. He's on the verge of losing the last battle before it even begins in earnest. It wasn't as powerful a moment for me as some, but many readers were deeply moved by the process of working through that.

Verin, a character I paid little attention to throughout the series, has an amazing moment of her own raising herself to the status of a critical player.

Perrin and Matt are almost an afterthought in this book, and if there was any time spent on Elayne I've already forgotten it. Aviendha is set up for important personal growth that is yet to come.

This book is filled with great moments and the story moves. It is the first time since book six that I thoroughly enjoyed myself almost the entire time.

Well done Sanderson and RIP Jordan. Thank you for making it possible for your story to be finished.

***“The end is near," … "The Wheel has groaned its final rotation, the clock has lost its spring, the serpent heaves its final gasps.”***

This is the first book that was written after Robert Jordan’s death by Brandon Sanderson. I got so emotional when I read the opening words in the Foreword.

***I have not tried to imitate Mr. Jordan’s style. Instead, I’ve adapted my style to be appropriate to The Wheel of Time. My main goal was to stay true to the souls of the characters. The plot is, in large part, Robert Jordan’s, though many of the words are mine…
But this is a big project, and it will take time to complete. I beg your patience as we spend these next few years perfecting this story. We hold in our hands the ending of the greatest fantasy epic of our time, and I intend to see it done right. I intend to remain true to Mr. Jordan’s wishes and notes. My artistic integrity, and love for the books, will not let me do anything less. In the end, I let the words herein stand as the best argument for what we are doing. This is not my book. It is Robert Jordan’s book, and to a lesser extent, it is your book.***

I’m just going to give props to Sanderson for taking over such a massive epic fantasy. It couldn’t have been easy and yet I think that he did a fantastic job with this book. Yes there are some differences in the writing styles and a few of the characters change a smidge more than expected but overall it is amazing how well he did.

The Best Parts:

♔ - The better pacing of the story. I don’t know if this is because we are coming to an end and so all the foundations that RJ set down and the arcs he built up are finally starting to tie together or if Sanderson’s style of writing has led to it but the pacing of this huge book is fantastic. I’ve been reading this series for a year now just a few chapters a day and this was the first time that it was actually really hard to put the book down after 2-3 chapters.

♕ - Verrin just WOW. Look I’ve gone back and forth on Verrin and her goals in this series. Which team is she playing for? What is that woman up to? Can we trust her or is this just another Aes Sedea Plot? Do I like her, do I hate her??? Well I’m just going to say that whatever I was thinking what was actually ture was SO MUCH BETTER.

♖ - I’m going to give huge props to Egwene. She is really proving to be a very competent Amerlyn and I’m really interested in what she is going to do after this book. She could be the greatest Amerlyn in history if she keeps this up.

♗ - Min is always one of my favorite characters and I really like to believe that she and Rand are the true soulmate match and he is just going to sperm donor it up for Elayne and Avienda they are a cuter couple together than with Rand. I think this book shows just how much Min gets Rand and how she is the one that is going to support him through this huge undertaking. But Rand in most of this book was bleak and we find out why.

***“I continue to wonder,' he said, glancing down at Min, 'why you all assume that I am too dense to see what you find so obvious. Yes, Nynaeve. Yes, this hardness will destroy me. I know.' ...
You all claim that I have grown too hard, that I will inevitably shatter and break if I continue on. But you assume that there needs to be something left of me to continue on. ...
That's the key, Nynaeve. I see it now. I will not live through this, and so I don't need to worry about what might happen to me after the Last Battle. I don't need to hold back, don't need to salvage anything of this beaten up soul of mine.”***

♘ - The meeting with the Seanchen. Look I didn’t think that it would go well but Rand meeting Tuon….well I’ve been waiting for it for so long and now it has happened and I’m not sure where all the chips are going to fall. I semi-see both sides BUT the Seanchen collar and subjugate those who have the one power and I don’t see that being something that Rand will ever tolerate.

♙ - I loved all the different crazy happening with pockets of power. It is just amazing all the different ways the dark one is touching the land and how it is affecting different people in different places. The Town that Matt went to for instance well that is a huge disturbance and a very cool idea.

♚ - Last but not least Terminator Rand is dead. Look he has been pretty moody and bleak for the last few books and I get why but it was so nice to finally FINALLY have some resolution with that voice in his head. I’m glad that we got that out of the way. It has been an emotion trip with Lews Therin in Rand’s head but we definitely got some great resolution on that story arc and I’m really happy with it.

The Worst Parts: (they aren’t really bad they are just different)

BS did a great job with this but there are going to be a few things that are different that you notice.

1 – Robert Jordan’s humor was more situational and Brandon Sanderson’s is more banter/wit type. I liked this change since I appreciate the banter/wit more than situational comedy. Still it is noticeably different especially in Mat’s character and Telmanus. Not really good or bad just different.

2 – I think that RJ’s villains are a bit more subtle and Sanderson’s are more in your face. Elida is a prime example. She was a bit cruel before but in this she was flat out cray-cray

3- The flow of the story is a bit different. I like the change up and faster speed of things but you can definitely tell that someone else is driving the car now.

Overall:

This world/story have been amazing and I’m really glad we are wrapping everything up and going into the last battle. It is time and I do think looking at the last 2 books I read that it was probably worth some of the slow meandering of books 8-10 to get to 11-14. But I’ll know better if that is true at the very end.

I hate to speak ill of the dead, but Brandon Sanderson taking this over is the best thing that could have happened. This book redeems all the suffering through 600 pages of descriptions of women's clothing and 200 pages of action in the last few. This book has as much action as *4* of the previous books combined.
Thank The Light we have appeared to end the Faile gets kidnapped threads too. Worth 5 stars just for that alone! Also to RJ traditionalists delight, you will still find descriptions of clothing with special emphasis on degree of cleavage exposed, the women still manage to spank each other more often than at an S&M dungeon party, and they still have to be topless for various reasons LOL
Two favorite characters also make a comeback of sorts - can't wait for the next book.