allow ’s start with a plunderer - gratuitous review , shall we ? A Memory of Light is an implausibly fitting goal to Robert Jordan ’s sprawl , immersive and often exasperate Wheel of Time saga . It ’s both epic and weirdly perfunctory , as Brandon Sanderson — who of course of action took over for Robert Jordan when he died in 2007 — manages to juggle most of the nut that Jordan had throw away up in the air through the series first 11 books , and I guess most Wheel of Time fans who have stuck through the serial through this fourteenth volume will close up A Memory of Light feeling somewhat satisfied . in person , I think Sanderson belike gave us a better end than Jordan actually would have , although to explain more would mean talking specific — so consider this your pillager warning for the rest of the review .
Just so you bed where I support : I ’m not a huge fan of The Wheel of Time serial . Oh , I set off out as one , agog at the monumental world Robert Jordan produce in The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt ; even though it seems like he was copying a great many idea from other phantasy and sci - fi series . But since he was include so many of them , and then incorporate them together , I was more than unforced to forgive him .
Then the third and quaternary Scripture seemed to go off the rail a bit . I remember absolutely nothing happen in the sixth book , Lord of Chaos , and found the 7th ledger somewhat much the same , so I gave up on the series for many years ( Jordan ’s sexuality political sympathies — which is to say all his female part were wicked — was a orotund part of the problem ) .
But I recollect Sanderson has manage to bring out the adept in The Wheel of Time , in a way that Jordan could n’t . Admittedly , he find fault up the rein at the last book — albeit a last book so gargantuan it had to be three “ last script ” — but he brought a focal point to the serial I ’d been miss since the first two Koran . If only by virtue of have to wind thing up , Sanderson brought made every varlet seem like it was actually part of the Wheel of Time tale , instead of just character just dawdling until they could get back on track . And he brought importunity back to the serial , all of which I greatly appreciated ( He also toned down Jordan ’s distaff fictional character so that it was more like a fantasy translation of Everybody Loves Raymond [ woman are nags , homo are befuddled at women ] which is n’t great , but still good than the option . And it ’s for sure true to Jordan ’s “ style ” ) .
The matter Sanderson mostly does mighty in A Memory of Light is The Last Battle , at least the last struggle portion of The Last Battle . The war — which takes up almost the totality of he record , is appropriately massive , epic , and toppingly paced . It get across countless characters and locations , and Sanderson balances it all as both short - term and long - term narrative . It can feel a bit overlong occasionally , but if you ’ve cleave with The Wheel of Time serial publication this far , you wo n’t mind ( or even notice , likely ) . And if there ’s one part of this series you want to experience overstuffed , it ’s probably the climatic war , right ?
regrettably , one of the ( many ) problems Jordan leave for Sanderson was a overplus overpoweringly powerful principal characters . Rand , Mat and Perrin have been Characters of Mass Destruction for a while , and the side characters ( especially the witching users like the Asha’man and the Aes Sedai ) only slightly less so . How to make a fight interesting when Rand could practically annihilate an integral Trolloc army with a mentation ?
Sanderson manages a very careful reconciliation act of checks and balances : Rand ca n’t reset the crisis at the Black Tower because he make out it ’s a trap by the Forsaken , and he has to be in tip - top material body for The Last Battle . He ca n’t expose himself at war ’s many field for the same reason – Forsaken and Dreadlords will get him — although he can mask himself and help a little . As for the rest of the warfare , it ’s just a matter of numbers : for however many bad guy the Aes Sedai and the Aiel and Lan and the dragon cannons and all the other badasses kill — and military man , do they kill a gross ton ; Sanderson ca n’t drop a line about a battle with describing the cerise mist as hundreds of Trollocs are basically pulped per minute — there are always more of The Dark One ’s United States Army , meaning the good guys eventually run out of steam . Sanderson conveys this lion ’s share of the al-Qur’an remarkably well , start with he splanchnic thrills of these characters we know kick unholy ass , and then slow , inescapably get overwhelmed in a way that makes sense .
The Last Battle itself — the one between Rand and The Dark One — is more knotty . Sanderson figures out a very clever mode to keep what should be a pretty quick battle between Rand and TDO distribute out over the 500 + page of the war by claiming his engagement is in some kind of time dilation ; as the regular warfare rage for days , only minutes reach in Rand ’s fight . It ’s clever , but it does mean that at the end of the book , Rand ’s engagement with TDO amounts about 50 Page circularise out over 500 or so , with most of that being Rand and TDO represent show - and - tell ( of potential realism ) . I do n’t know how much of this was based on Jordan ’s notes , so I ’m not sure what Sanderson could have done otherwise , but compare to the epic war going on in the rest of the realm , Rand ’s The Last Battle is both abbreviated and underwhelming .
Still , Sanderson gets a lot more right-hand than wrong , and again , I ’ve savour Sanderson ’s Wheel of Time books more than most of Jordan ’s . Sanderson ’s done aright by Jordan , his illusion series , and its many , many fans . I ’d still say the Wheel hustle much further than it needed to , but at least in A Memory of Light it comes to a full point in a decorous location .
miscellaneous MUSINGS :
• When the good guys where draw up their conflict plans , I assume everyone reading was , like me , yelling , “ Hello ? Oh , you require a general ? Then maybe you should get in touch with the gallant WHO HAS THE ENTIRETY OF MILITARY chronicle HANGING OUT IN HIS SKULL . ” By sticking Mat with the Seanchean and having the Seanchean come in later , Sanderson wangle to keep Mat out of the way in reasonable enough mode until he could save the twenty-four hour period at the remnant . It was aggravating at first , but it worked out well enough .
• As for Perrin , well , he wait for Slayer . Fights Slayer . die to kill Slayer . Sleeps through 98 % of The Last Battle . Wakes up . find Slayer again . agitate Slayer again . Kills Slayer this time . Clearly Sanderson was just try out to keep him out of the way until the destruction , i.e. “ The Superman Dilemma ” ( i.e. in Justice League , when writer render to figure out a way to keep Superman out of the fight until the very end , so the scrap does n’t terminate untimely ) . But gravely ? A nap ? That ’s pretty annoying .
• For being a main protagonist , Nyneave was pretty much a non - component throughout the book , and no , I do n’t really depend healing that random bond - cleaning lady of Rand ’s at Shayol Ghul as a major plot point . It was more like a solace dirty money . Still , the less Nyneave the better , I suppose , because she ’s the bad .
• The prologue for A Memory of Light is 60 pages long . That tot up up so much of A Wheel of Time for me .
• When I was a teenager and read this books in the ‘ 90s , I cogitate Mat was awesome . Now that I ’m in my mid-‘30s , Mat seems like a bit of an asshole to me . Like , I would n’t require to attend around him , because he ’d be constantly grumbling about how awesome his life is . I do n’t roll in the hay if it ’s an age thing , or just me . Anyone else change their level of sight on him ?
• I ’m certain some citizenry will disagree with my judgment of Jordan ’s misogyny , but I saw him at a book sign language before the days of the internet where he … permit ’s just say establish on his experiences , he believed he was accurately portraying woman in his books . Also , show through Memory of Light and see which character are more interested with who looks more crucial than who in meeting as opposed to save the world . It ’s all women , every unmarried time .
• I sense like the heroes got off too easy . fundamentally , of the main characters , only Egwene died , and she ’d operate from likable character to the Aes Sedai - est of the Aes Sedai , which is to say , calloused and manipulative and uncompassionate . After 14 Word of God , with the stakes as eminent as they were , I was really , really wait more deaths , and I ’m kind of irk we did n’t get them .
• ESPECIALLY Rand . That whole transference - into - Moridin affair was complete crap . Not only does it negate most of the sacrifice he made , it means rand finish the narration run away from all his friends ( except the three spicy chick who have all concord to have sex with him ) and family thinking he ’s dead . Again , I have no idea if this was Jordan ’s plan or not , but I think the book – and the serial publication – would have been much better if Rand had just died .
• face back over The Wheel of Time entire : Rand spent a great , great good deal of the Holy Scripture ’s pagecount being awful , insane and shockingly unlikable . And not in a playfulness Game of Thrones way . More in a “ why am I still reading about this lunatic ? ” way .
• think : If Jordan had dropped the Seanchean solely , The Wheel of Time would be a much well , tighter serial and not have lose a affair . Agree / disagree ?
• Here ’s my enceinte clutches with The Wheel of Time overall : While many thing happened ( many , many things ) very footling of it felt like advance . It felt like thing were come , but it was n’t really pushing any of the characters forward , it was just taking up prison term . I ’m not really certain how to word the difference , except I search back and believe of all the things that happen and assay and figure what really mattered to bring Rand and brother to this determination , and it honestly does n’t seem like a lot . Maybe it ’s that the stuff that happened seemed more like roundabout way to the story than the actual narrative itself .
book reviewBooksBrandon SandersonFantasyRobert JordanWheel of Time
Daily Newsletter
Get the dependable technical school , scientific discipline , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the futurity , deliver to your present tense .
You May Also Like
