The Gathering Storm

Rating 3 of 5

The Gathering Storm is the twelfth book in Robert Jordans famous Wheel of Time book series. It is the first novel in the series authored by Brandon Sanderson

My reviews of the series

• The Eye of the World
• The Great Hunt
• The Dragon Reborn
• The Shadow Rising
• The Fires of Heaven
• Lord of Chaos
• A Crown of Swords
• The Path of Daggers
• Winter’s Heart
• Crossroads of Twilight
• Knife of Dreams

As these stories are rather long, rather then review the plot I’m just going to refer Wikipedia for a plot summary.

The authorship of the series moving to Sanderson is refreshing. Its maybe a little unfair but I feel that he’s a better author then Robert Jordan. I don’t know if he’s a better story creator, sometimes it feels like Sanderson makes the plot a little generic - like something I’d read in a more pulpy fantasy paper back. But his skill with writing is clearly better. I can better visualize the characters, their positions in the scenes. He’s better at filtering out the side characters and focusing on fewer characters in scene. Its easier to read and follow the story. All that being said the transition of Jordan to Sanderson is smooth. Besides the crisper writing if you didn’t tell me that the book was written by Sanderson I don’t think I would have noticed there was a different author.

The story is about Rand’s internal struggle between being “good” and “evil” and Egwene reuniting the Aes Sedai from within the tower of Tar Valon.

Its kind of a long book. At times its a little heavy handed. Rands rebirth as the true messiah feels somewhat sudden when it does happen. His trend towards darkness is gradual but his turning to the light is sudden. I’m not sure how I really feel about that. Its nice to finally have a counterpoint to the “Dark One” among the living but still the transition is a bit jarring.

Egwene’s uniting of the tower is a bit of a yawner. Lots of political positioning, logical arguments and spankings. The battle with the Seanchan is the highlight. The story of Verin is finally told - She comes out as the Black Ajah double agent. Overall I liked the twist and the Seanchan assault on the tower was an exciting scene. I found them pulling Egwene out of tower after the battle a bit anti-climantic. I know it was to setup things later but I think the story would have been better without it.

I think Verin’s book on the lore and history of the Black Ajah, foresaken and Dark One would make a fun side novella. Unfortunately I don’t think its ever been written.

Overall The Gathering Storm is a good fantasy novel. The plot of the story finally feels unblocked which after reading the last three novels is a relief. Two books to go :D