WoT

In August a friend suggested I read the Wheel of Time series.  I was looking for something to read and had never really read any fantasy books before.  He suggested I start with New Spring and go from there if I liked it.

Well needless to say I got hooked.  Seven months later and I am getting close to the end of the series.  I recently finished "The Gathering Storm" which was amazing!  There have been many moments in the series where I couldn't put the book down, but I think this was so great because a few stories came to a head.  For months and months the Rebel Aes Sedai's were camped outside of the White Tower until Egwene was taken captive.  I really enjoyed her campaign to gather support from within the tower while she was a prisoner and getting daily beatings.  But the real excitement came when the Seanchan attacked and she linked with the Novices and kicked some Seanchan ass!!

The other major event was Rand.  The poor Dragon Reborn was almost dancing with the Dark One himself, corrupting things as he walked by with his shadow of evil and death.  It's understandable with everything he has been through, especially being collared by Semmeriage the Forsaken.  A heart stopping moment occurred shortly after when he almost killed his father Tam and nearly took out the "world" with his suspicion and rage.  The best moment was when he had a life changing epiphany and realized he has another chance to do better!  What a great moment in the story.

Oddly Matrim Cauthon also has been a pleasant surprise.  He was such a bugger early on in the books and yet his storyline has become some of my favorite stuff.  Blood and bloody ashes he is hilarious!  He now has to go to see the "snakes and foxes" about Moraine, which should be awesome.  I have missed her from the story for long enough.  Her and Lan were the two characters that got me hooked in the first place.

This book was the first book written by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan died.  The transition has been really seamless as it is still Jordan's story but Sanderson's words.  If anything I find him a little less wordy which suits me just fine.  In previous books there were definately a fair number of "wtf" chapters that seemed realatively useless.  I guess if your book series has 12000 pages, you are entitled to some unnecessary words, errr..paragraphs... I mean chapters!

So now back to reading the Towers of Midnight.  The final battle is getting closer every day.  The "miasma's of evil" are getting much more frequent, but Rand is almost as ready as one can be to fight Evil itself.  I am excited to finish the book but like any good story I will miss it when it is over.