A Memory of Light Review

 

 

Let me start this post by saying I don't plan on censoring myself as I talk about the book, so in other words SPOILER ALERT. Stop reading now if you don't want to find out details of A Memory of Light.

First let me say that I am having a lot of trouble writing this post. I have been reading The Wheel of Time for twenty years and having the series end has been an odd mixture of sadness and elation. One thing I was not counting on when I picked up the book was how much reading it would remind me of the reading the other books in the series.

It took me about a week or so to read the book and every time I sat it down I was forcefully reminded of reading the other books. I am sure remembering reading TEOTW at my grandma's house, or reading TGH sitting next to my dad (both of whom have passed away) contributed to the sadness I was feeling at the end of the series. Not to mention that the characters in these books have been an active part of my imagination for twenty fricking years. I knew I was losing something as I finished the story but I was very excited to do so.

Anyway, this book was epic in its…um…epic-ness. Most of the book was fight scenes, but when you read a book that is about the last battle between good and evil at the end of the world, what else do you expect. This was a great example of the kinds of books they wrote when I was a teenager, that just don't get published any more. Overall I enjoyed the book.

Everything happened as I thought it would. The bad ass character showed their badassery and killed like a billion trollocs.

Too bad there was five billion trollocs.

Eventually the heroes get worn down by sheer numbers and then characters both big and small start dying by the boat load. Oh, and to those of you that I had this discussion with before: Rand DID use the Dark One's own power against it, ah ha!

Okay, okay Rand did not kill the Dark One, letting Fain take his place…I'll give you that one.

The end was not what I expected but looking back at the series as a whole I think it was very fitting. My one gripe being that Rand sneaks off in his new body without letting his friends or his father know he is alive. I get not advertising the fact that you lived but come on, Tam deserves to know his boy is still (kind of) alive.

The novel wasn't perfect. There were a few plot threads that never got tied up. There were a few meetings between characters I wanted to see that never happened. And why did you have to kill Bela? That poor horse got dragged all over the world, you could have let the sad thing have a rest at the end of the series, but no you have to go and kill it. I mean damn that horse didn't do anything to deserve that I-

…okay…I'm okay. But Bela? That's messed up.

Anyway, it was the Last Battle I was hoping for though Rand's role was totally not what I was expecting.

Brandon Sanderson did a great job bringing Robert Jordan's series to its conclusion. The writing reminded me a lot of Mr. Jordan. I am curious how Jordan would have handled the descriptions and the characters, in my opinion he had a great way of making characters jump off the page, but after reading this book I think Sanderson might be better at writing action scenes.

I have some thoughts on series as a whole, but I think I will save that for another post, but until then

…it was not the ending. There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.

Wheel of Time REREAD

I got an email today telling me that the last book in the Wheel of Time series is coming out in January. I can't tell you how excited I am by this. I have been on the incredible journey through Robert Jordan's world for my entire adult life. I read the first book in the series back in 1992 when I was twelve. This amazing story is told through fourteen books and nearly four million words. The scope and detail of the series is truly breath taking. It is one of the major influences on my own writing.

I have decided to do a reread of the entire series (excluding the prequel) before reading the final book. As I read I plan on posting my thoughts about the series here. Expect to see them over the next few months, these posts will be filled with spoilers, just to give you fair warning. So here is the first post on book one The Eye of the World.

 

I am ten chapters into the Eye of the World. I have to say I still love the way Jordan introduces the characters. It has been twenty years since my first reading of the books and my tastes have changed quite a bit, but now I can really appreciate the introductory chapters in a way I didn't before. Jordan does a great job of showing the character's "normal world" before tearing it apart around them. I still felt the nervous tension with the Trolloc attack and the injury to Rand's father. I knew that his father would be okay, but it still really struck home with me in a way it hadn’t in my original reading. I am guessing it might have something to do with losing my own father since my first reading.

It is interesting how different scenes are resonating with me. My own life experience has changed why I like the book, but I am still enjoying it just as much. One thing I like just as much now as I did back then is the story of Manetheren. The first time I read the book, I read that little scene about a dozen times in a row. I usually don't go for characters in a story telling a story but it really works here. It adds a sense of wonder to the story, something I think is lacking in my own writing. In my works in the planning stages I am really trying to figure out how to imbue them with a sense of wonder, because it is one of the reasons I love to read fantasy.

Lastly I found myself annoyed with Mat and Perrin for leaving home to travel half-way across the world and saying goodbye to their parents with a note. Their parents are going to be worried sick, it didn't bother me when I was twelve, but now I think it makes Mat and Perrin look a little inconsiderate.

So there's the first 148 pages of the 11,000 page story. These posts will not always be regular and I think most are going to cover more chapters, I just wanted to get a good start on my reread project. Until next time: May you always find water and shade...