Cover Art by Darrell K. Sweet
Towers of Midnight, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
TOR, 864 Pages
I was a freshman in college driving home for a weekend when I first heard about The Wheel of Time. I had dabbled in sci-fi fantasy stories when I was a kid and young adult, but I had never really read a true fantasy epic. Driving along with a friend of a friend I was giving a ride to, he started telling me about this amazing series of books that were more than just your sword and dagger fantasy, but beautifully written with incredible characters living in a fully realized world. After I dropped him off, I immediately went to a bookstore to pickup the first book – and before I drove back to Austin two days later, I had already finished The Eye of the World and found myself speeding so I could get back to school and start the sequel. That was ten years ago – fast forward to a couple years ago when the literary world was rocked by the news of author Robert Jordan‘s untimely death in 2007, leaving tens of thousands of fans worldwide wondering what was to become of a literary giant’s life’s work. I was ecstatic when Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite rising starts of the fantasy world, was personally chosen by the widow of Jordan to complete the tale begun 11 books prior, but I was skeptical like a lot of fans. Could he breathe the right kind of life into a story that has fans all over the world? Well, The Gathering Storm, the first Jordan/Sanderson coauthoring effort rocked my socks off, and the penultimate book in The Wheel of Time series published last week, The Towers of Midnight, reinforced my opinion that Brandon Sanderson is going to be a MAJOR force to be reckoned with in the fantasy community for years to come.
What can I say about this book without giving away any spoilers? I can tell you that I found myself appreciating Perrin for the first time in a while. I can tell you that I admire Sanderson for his ability to keep me motivated as a reader by teasing me with as many storylines as possible while giving space for characters to grow. I can tell you that I didn’t skim the battle scenes like I am known to do. I can tell you that while I am not as sensitive to appreciating style differences between authors as most hard core fans, I felt that I was reading a Robert Jordan story, not a Brandon Sanderson story. And I can tell you that I was moved to tears – twice – and neither time was during a romantic scene.
So if you are a fan of Robert Jordan, I think you will like the Towers of Midnight. If you were a fan but fell off the bandwagon in the middle of the series, pick it back up, because these final books (in my opinion) are making up for the slower bits in the middle that people like to bitch about. If you aren’t a fan yet, start at the beginning now, because authors like Jordan don’t become New York Times bestselling authors without good cause – and if the past two books of this series are anything to go by, the final book is going to knock our socks off.
Anyone out there share the love for Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson?
Comment and tell me your favorite books and why.
