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4.59 AVERAGE
4.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Goodbye, Wheel of Time series. It's been 23 years, 15 books (including the prequel novel), and 11,916 pages. And tonight... we've come to an end together. If you like fantasy, and haven't read this series yet, I recommend it as highly as I can recommend a series.
This has to be a two part review, one of this book in its own right, one as a capstone to the series.
As a climactic battle, it's better than most. There's no Harry Potter style deaths for the sake of shock value. The final battle is epic, the different fights are distinct, some of the twists are interesting, some are not. The book does suffer from the lack of Robert Jordan, his clear grasp on battle tactics is replaced with Sanderson's interest in specific moments.
Some nitpicks that stop this from being five stars: I did tire of Matt, previously the greatest general ever known, getting his arse handed to him time and time again. Gawyn is a dick. The difficulty the heros had dealing with Demandred's immense power raised the same old questions of "if the forsaken are so strong why didn't they attack earlier?" which I know the text has flimsy handwaved away but it still irks me. Moreso than in previous Sanderson books, the characters didn't feel like the RJ versions of themselves, especially Davrim, Logain, Egeanin, Alivia and even main characters like , Mat, Aviendha, Elayne. My girl's Nynaeve and Moiraine were so absent from the story I can't even tell if they were themselves or not. Padin Fain/Moredeth being a total non-entity, just a loose thread to tie up.
On the series as a whole, the book does close off on this one section of time and does a great job showing that this was just an ending, most of these storylines will continue on. I'd love to see what happens with the Aiel, or whether the Seanchan imperialism continues.
Some series notes. There were a lot of very high highs, and some crushingly boring lows. Specifically the multiple book storylines that filled the slog books, Faile and the Shaido, Andorian succession, but also the large portion of the earlier books that was just travel to get to the places where interesting things will happen, but thankfully that lessened as time went on.
But the highs were incredible, some of these are the best payoff's I've read in any fiction. Particularly the Aiel revelations, and the book 12 pay offs of the book 2 setups (Verrin, Egewne.)
A non exhaustive list of my favourite moments:
Flicker, flicker and the portal stones (Book 2)
Domai Wells - (Book 6)
Rand,the Glass pillars of Rhuidean, the Aiel & Tinkers - (Book 4)
Avendia and the Glass pillars of Rhuidean - (Book 13)
Egwene unites the White Tower - (Book 12)
"That dress you are wearing is green" - (Book 12)
Battle of Emond's Field - (Book 4)
Nynaeve meets the Prophet - (Book 5)
As a climactic battle, it's better than most. There's no Harry Potter style deaths for the sake of shock value. The final battle is epic, the different fights are distinct, some of the twists are interesting, some are not. The book does suffer from the lack of Robert Jordan, his clear grasp on battle tactics is replaced with Sanderson's interest in specific moments.
Some nitpicks that stop this from being five stars: I did tire of Matt, previously the greatest general ever known, getting his arse handed to him time and time again. Gawyn is a dick. The difficulty the heros had dealing with Demandred's immense power raised the same old questions of "if the forsaken are so strong why didn't they attack earlier?" which I know the text has flimsy handwaved away but it still irks me. Moreso than in previous Sanderson books, the characters didn't feel like the RJ versions of themselves, especially Davrim, Logain, Egeanin, Alivia and even main characters like , Mat, Aviendha, Elayne. My girl's Nynaeve and Moiraine were so absent from the story I can't even tell if they were themselves or not. Padin Fain/Moredeth being a total non-entity, just a loose thread to tie up.
On the series as a whole, the book does close off on this one section of time and does a great job showing that this was just an ending, most of these storylines will continue on. I'd love to see what happens with the Aiel, or whether the Seanchan imperialism continues.
Some series notes. There were a lot of very high highs, and some crushingly boring lows. Specifically the multiple book storylines that filled the slog books, Faile and the Shaido, Andorian succession, but also the large portion of the earlier books that was just travel to get to the places where interesting things will happen, but thankfully that lessened as time went on.
But the highs were incredible, some of these are the best payoff's I've read in any fiction. Particularly the Aiel revelations, and the book 12 pay offs of the book 2 setups (Verrin, Egewne.)
A non exhaustive list of my favourite moments:
Flicker, flicker and the portal stones (Book 2)
Domai Wells - (Book 6)
Rand,the Glass pillars of Rhuidean, the Aiel & Tinkers - (Book 4)
Avendia and the Glass pillars of Rhuidean - (Book 13)
Egwene unites the White Tower - (Book 12)
"That dress you are wearing is green" - (Book 12)
Battle of Emond's Field - (Book 4)
Nynaeve meets the Prophet - (Book 5)
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It had some dull points mid series but it was all worth it to get to the final books. Brandon Sanderson took a series that seemed to be flailing and finished it with multiple Good books and did the last book real, satisfying justice. This entire book was stellar from start to finish. Read the first 3-4 books of the series then if you can’t handle where it’s going mid-series, make Sure you skip ahead with some cliff notes and read the Brandon Sanderson books.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I cannot believe I actually finished all of these books. kind of in awe. sobbed so hard I almost pulled somethinf when egwene died. BELLA?!?! ugh. loved anderil and pavara, excellent choice to include them. so beautiful and hopeful
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Only downside of this book is the length… could be another 1000 pages and still be too short.