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falron 's review for:
A Memory of Light
by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan
I don't generally do reviews for... well anything.. But this series has been monumental to me, not just in the fact that it's so long, but the fact that it helped shape me as a writer myself and has been something that has dominated my imagination for so many years. It has also, in a way, shaped me as a person, the characters giving me strength and reminding me that if you feel passionate about something, to not back down, to not give up just because it's easier.
I first started on this journey about 5 years ago when I was still in high school. I picked up "The Eye of the World" on a whim at my school library, not realizing just how huge the series was. I fell in love almost instantly with the characters and the world that Robert Jordan had created. I worked my way through the books quite quickly and managed to get a fair way into "Winter's Heart" before the end of high school exams got in the way and I just didn't have the time to read anywhere near as much as I would have liked.
After that, I lost access to the books for a while, but the series never left me. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next, where the story would go. I got lucky in my first year of uni and managed to find most of them at a second hand book sale, and finished off the series with copies I found at a second hand book store. Unfortunately, it would still be a while before I managed to find the time to pick up the first book of the series again to restart the journey. And once I did, studying would find me going at a glacial pace, and have to pause as friends recommended other books to read.
But I got here, eventually, and boy what an emotional ride it has been. Especially the last one. It's been a while since I've had this much of a cry while reading a book... actually, it's been a while since I've had a cry like this period...
This series is beautiful. It starts of with what seems like such a simple and familiar plot that you can just loose yourself in with a sense of nostalgia. The hero goes on an adventure and defeats the evil force threatening to destroy the world.
But the brilliance of this series is that it takes that notion and just fleshes it out into the resulting epic that has so many different subplots and character viewpoints that just about any one of them could be a series in their own right. It is such an amazingly planned out series with such a vibrant world that despite being so satisfied with the ending and having that feeling of accomplishment at having finally finished the series... I honestly just long for more books set in this world.
I want to know more about the Sharans, the Seanchan Empire, the Seafolk, and so much more. I want books set in the Breaking, watching as the people pick themselves back up and find their place in a world that has become so different from the one that they knew.
This book is such a satisfying (if soul-destroying at times) conclusion to this series. It was beautifully written, and even though pretty much the entire book is just war, it never feels like it was being dragged out for the sake of some more violence. It all just helped paint this image of these people who were willing to give up everything on the chance that they would win, that they would buy enough time for the world to be saved.
And the ending is oh-so satisfying, and while I am slightly disappointing there was no little flash forward... I am mostly intensely relieved. Too much can be ruined from such a beautiful ending by going forward and showing the ramifications of what had happened.
This series is amazing and has easily climbed the ranks to become my favourite series, even beating out Harry Potter (which will forever have a special place in my heart), simply due to its complexity and vibrancy. Few series have made me care this much about the characters, and the fact that through the couple of years in which I didn't have time/access to read the series that I was still so overly invested in these characters just reinforces, to me, just how powerful this series is. I doubt another series can capture my heart the way this one has (Though I have yet to read "A Song of Ice and Fire"...), and even though my collection is a mismatch of cover arts and sizes, my sentimentality will probably never allow me to replace them.
But in a way, that's a nice parallel to the characters themselves. They are a mismatched group, who, when you first meet them, seem unlikely heroes and many of whom don't appear like they would fit together. Yet, somehow, this unlikely group of people band together and, though they may be a bit more battered and worse for wear at the end, have achieved something epic.
Thank you Robert Jordan for creating this world and sharing it with us. And thank you Brandon Sanderson for allowing us to see it to the end and fight through Tarmon Gai'don together.
I first started on this journey about 5 years ago when I was still in high school. I picked up "The Eye of the World" on a whim at my school library, not realizing just how huge the series was. I fell in love almost instantly with the characters and the world that Robert Jordan had created. I worked my way through the books quite quickly and managed to get a fair way into "Winter's Heart" before the end of high school exams got in the way and I just didn't have the time to read anywhere near as much as I would have liked.
After that, I lost access to the books for a while, but the series never left me. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next, where the story would go. I got lucky in my first year of uni and managed to find most of them at a second hand book sale, and finished off the series with copies I found at a second hand book store. Unfortunately, it would still be a while before I managed to find the time to pick up the first book of the series again to restart the journey. And once I did, studying would find me going at a glacial pace, and have to pause as friends recommended other books to read.
But I got here, eventually, and boy what an emotional ride it has been. Especially the last one. It's been a while since I've had this much of a cry while reading a book... actually, it's been a while since I've had a cry like this period...
This series is beautiful. It starts of with what seems like such a simple and familiar plot that you can just loose yourself in with a sense of nostalgia. The hero goes on an adventure and defeats the evil force threatening to destroy the world.
But the brilliance of this series is that it takes that notion and just fleshes it out into the resulting epic that has so many different subplots and character viewpoints that just about any one of them could be a series in their own right. It is such an amazingly planned out series with such a vibrant world that despite being so satisfied with the ending and having that feeling of accomplishment at having finally finished the series... I honestly just long for more books set in this world.
I want to know more about the Sharans, the Seanchan Empire, the Seafolk, and so much more. I want books set in the Breaking, watching as the people pick themselves back up and find their place in a world that has become so different from the one that they knew.
This book is such a satisfying (if soul-destroying at times) conclusion to this series. It was beautifully written, and even though pretty much the entire book is just war, it never feels like it was being dragged out for the sake of some more violence. It all just helped paint this image of these people who were willing to give up everything on the chance that they would win, that they would buy enough time for the world to be saved.
And the ending is oh-so satisfying, and while I am slightly disappointing there was no little flash forward... I am mostly intensely relieved. Too much can be ruined from such a beautiful ending by going forward and showing the ramifications of what had happened.
This series is amazing and has easily climbed the ranks to become my favourite series, even beating out Harry Potter (which will forever have a special place in my heart), simply due to its complexity and vibrancy. Few series have made me care this much about the characters, and the fact that through the couple of years in which I didn't have time/access to read the series that I was still so overly invested in these characters just reinforces, to me, just how powerful this series is. I doubt another series can capture my heart the way this one has (Though I have yet to read "A Song of Ice and Fire"...), and even though my collection is a mismatch of cover arts and sizes, my sentimentality will probably never allow me to replace them.
But in a way, that's a nice parallel to the characters themselves. They are a mismatched group, who, when you first meet them, seem unlikely heroes and many of whom don't appear like they would fit together. Yet, somehow, this unlikely group of people band together and, though they may be a bit more battered and worse for wear at the end, have achieved something epic.
Thank you Robert Jordan for creating this world and sharing it with us. And thank you Brandon Sanderson for allowing us to see it to the end and fight through Tarmon Gai'don together.