Just Finished Reading The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Robert Jordan, author of the extensive and expansive The Wheel of Time fantasy series, was working on his very lengthy concluding book when, in 2007, he passed away.  Fellow fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson was enlisted to finish the series, with the aid of Jordan's outlines and notes.  He decided to break that last super-long book that Jordan had envisioned into three volumes...I just finished reading the first of these, titled The Gathering Storm...the 12th book in the series.  I was very pleased with the result...

Brandon Sanderson had a monumental task before him, which was to stay true to Robert Jordan's vision and intentions for the series ending while reconciling the many subplots and characters that the original author had introduced and then just left hanging.  While staying true to the main characters with their distinct personalities (a strength of Jordan's writing), Sanderson managed the seemingly impossible task of significantly advancing the story (a  weakness of Jordan). In this book, the focus is on two main characters, Rand al'Thor and Egwene al'Vere.  Rand, generally known to most others living in his fantasy world as "The Dragon Reborn", struggles with his emotions, his mounting distrust of others, his belief that he is imprisoned by prophecy and fated to die, and the feeling that he is going insane.  Egwene has her own struggle to unite the White Tower of the Aes Sedai under her leadership.  First, she has to endure beatings and imprisonment while her access to channeling has been blocked...all under the direction of the false leader Elaida.  Egwene also knows of an impending attack on the White Tower by an imposing enemy called the Seanchan, but her warnings to Elaida fall on deaf ears.  With both Rand and Egwene, the suspense builds throughout the book until each undergoes a climactic ordeal, and the book concludes with a sense of resolution for both...

I expect the action to dramatically pick up in the next book of this series.  The characters Mat (my favorite in the series), Perrin, and Elayne also have very important parts to play, and I expect more coverage of their own stories to get greater focus.  I'm sad that Robert Jordan died, and that he didn't have the opportunity to finish The Wheel of Time as he would have liked.  But Brandon Sanderson has stepped in to provide some hope for us readers who have already put in so much time going through these books...