Non-Spoiler Review
of
A Memory of Light
Christmas of 1993, my mother
gave The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt. She knew how much I
loved fantasy, thanks to my uncle getting me to read Lord of the
Rings, and was recommend this book by a Waldenbooks employee. I was
hooked. It was a great adventure. Little did I know it would morph it
a massive, 14 book series with more characters than War and Peace.
That it would take me 19 years, more than half my life, to reach the
ending. I filled the years between books reading theories and making
my own, hunting for meaning in visions and prophecy, and greatly
anticipating how this massive piece of fiction would come to the end.
I had my theories on what
would happen at Shayul Ghul: Rand would kill the Dark One, Fain would
replace it and become the new Dark One, and the prison would be made
whole and the cycle would repeat, because there are no endings to the
Wheel of Time. Rand would die, but Nynaeve, who it was repeatedly
said would not be satisfied till she brought some back to life who
was three days dead, would do the impossible and bring Rand back to
life. Alivia would help fake his death and Rand and Min would sneak
off somewhere to live there lives in peace, with visits from Aveindha
and Elayne when they could get away from their duties.
When AMoL came out, I
devoured it in one, 10 hour marathon. It was an exhausting, emotional
read. I have read most of the later WoT books in one sitting and none
drained me the way AMoL did. The Last Battle was upon us, the stakes
have never been higher, and the Shadow has never been more
terrifying. Every character feels to be in real jeopardy, even
characters I thought for sure had a bullet proof chance of making it
to the end. This book is grim and unrelenting. At times, it was hard
to read as terrible things happened to characters I had come to like,
love, and respect.
Brandon Sanderson had a near
impossible task before him, taking Robert Jordan's notes, half
finished scenes, and ending, and weaving them all together. This
process wasn't always perfect (Mat in TGS), and even in ToM there
were always lines of dialogue, particular words used, that just
didn't quite feel right. Sanderson's voice only occasionally took me
out of the narrative. He did an amazing job, and AMoL is the best of
the three he coauthored. All the characters felt right to me.
My only complaint is the
pacing. It is unrelenting. You rarely had moments to breathe, and
what little islands of calm where found in the first third of the
book. The hardest part for me to get through, was a chapter that is
190 pages long in my hardback edition. Hard to read, but I think that
was the point. The characters don't get a break from the horrors and
neither do you. Honorable mentions for Gawyn for continuing to be the
world greatest tool.
What I liked most in this
book was Rand's confrontation of with the Dark One. It builds on all
the themes and philosophies of this series and any fan of the series
will not be disappointed by how it plays out. The ending is great,
fits the series perfectly. The personal moments between characters,
most who hadn't seen each other in books, were beautifully written. I
only wish there was a few more of these scenes and a few less of the
battle scenes to make room. Other highlights are Mat/Tuon (as
always), Egwene (I'm sorry I ever called you Egghead), Lan,
Lanfear/Cyndane, and Demandred.
For 19 years I read the
Wheel of Time and it was a hell of a ride. I wish Mr. Jordan was
still with us, to know that his great work was worth all the time and
energy he put into it and all the time and energy his fans dedicated
to it. Thank you, Harriet for giving this task to Brandon, I don't
think anyone could have finished this work the way he did. Thank you,
Brandon and Team Jordan, for finishing it with love and care.
Please leave any thoughts,
comments, or criticisms below.
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