A Memory of Light
The Wheel of Time #14
By Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Well the Wheel of Time never stops turning but it has come to an ending in Robert Jordan’s world.
I completed the final book today. Yes it’s taken me a month to get through it – and unfortunately not because I was stopping to read ever word over and over (I did a lot of skimming) but because it wasn’t anywhere near as compelling as I might have liked, or expected after 20 years and 13 previous volumes.
Unfortunately Jordan passed away and the work has had to be finished by someone else. Now don’t get me wrong . I admire Brandon Sanderson greatly, I don’t admire or respect the reasons he’s publicly stated as to why he took on this project, but I do respect his work. In worlds of his own creation. Namely, and actually only, the Stormlight Archives. But that’s just me.
He did a great job, he really did, and I think it’s more a testament to the size of the work and the story threads that needed to be tied up than Sanderson’s ability as a writer, as to why I was not completely engaged in the final book. And that, if nothing else, is something I will need to watch out for in my own epic work.
Was the final book satisfying? Yes it was. A lot of threads got stitched together, some cut off abruptly (although well done for all that) and a few not answered at all (unfortunately).
The Wheel of Time is certainly a worthy edition to any fantasy collection, and despite any flaws in execution at times I think the first seven books are brilliant. It has been the single biggest influence on my own development as a writer and though I have the books to re-read again and again (and I will) I can’t help feel a grief at its conclusions that I have not felt since the news of Robert Jordan’s death itself.
