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Brandon Sanderson / Re: The Gathering Storm - First Impressions *SPOILERS*
« on: October 30, 2009, 07:44:05 AM »
[applause] Bravo! Very well done! [more applause]
I feel sort of hungover from reading this book, but in a good way. Overall, I rank this book up with The Shadow Rising on my favorites to re-read list.
To me, this was a very meaningful book, just on content alone. It is also more of a turning point, I think, with characters and storylines lining up and pointing to the Last Battle.
Yes, there were certainly some passages that felt a little odd to me, but not in a bad way. Once very near the beginning of the book, though at first I thought it was just getting back into it, upon re-read it does seem odd or off, but since it was a new character I didn't mind at all and thought it was refreshing to see regular people. Mat was a bit much in some places, to me he was in character but a little too much in some places, though that might have to do with character growth, being married, etc. "Saidared it" did not seem like Jordan thing, but to me it seemed very much like a Mat thing. It was also a LOL moment for me, which led to a bathroom break I desperately needed at the time anyway though that was a struggle with my foot asleep from sitting in the same position too long.
Like every book of this series, I wanted to strangle certain characters for being the way they are. I mean, really, almost every character in the book is stubborn the point of personality disorder, but that made it all the more true to the series for me.
Egwene was one of the best parts of the book I think, not suprised but very satisfied to see her defending the Tower against the Seanchan for one thing, I was beginning to worry she'd be in a cell and miss the fight. As I felt she had been through the last few books, she combines the strength of character she started with, plus what she learned from Moiraine, the Aiel Wise Ones, Siuan, etc. while at the same time seeming to lose her self-doubt.
Min was also a stand out for me, her internal dialogue, understanding of why everyone is wrong to try to handle and control Rand instead of just trying to help him and her studies to try to help understand some of the prophecies to help him. Nynaeve saying "I wish Moiraine was here" was fantastic, as was her at least understanding Rand's POV as was him actually explaining something in the first place.
Cadsuane irritated the hell out of me, as usual, and I want to not blame her for Semirhage, but at the same time, who does she think she is to forbid anything? Her character, not Brandon's portrayal of her, is one that just makes my teeth grind. It's like, she sometimes gets it but then still goes about everything the wrong way. I loved her spanking Sermirhage and making her eat off the floor though, that was one of many unexpected and very rewarding scenes in this book.
Rand finally understanding that not using balefire only benches the Forsaken was one of the FINALLY moments for me, and this book had so many of those. Others have expressed suprise at how dark Rand seemed to be at times, I was not suprised at all and enjoyed it. Rand's scenes with Rodele Ituralde were great, really great on a few different levels for me, as was his meeting with Tuon.
One stupid thing: at one point Min calls Rand 'looby' and I think that's supposed to be 'farmboy' and a line editing error. It threw me, as misuse of saidin and saidar in passed books threw me off.
I did miss some of (I don't know exactly what to call it) the gradiose,dramatic syntax mastery of Robert Jordan. You know, like "on a day of fire and blood and the one power" kind of thing, maybe it's still to recent since my reading and I'm not done with my first re-read yet. It seemed to me the closest I came to finding/feeling those moments came from Egwene's speech near the end, instead of finding it in the narrative. Sorry, I don't have the right vocabulary to express what I want to say here and that's pretty ironic, considering what I'm trying to talk about.
I could go on and on and on, but will wrap it up by saying this book made me laugh, cry and grind my teeth by turns. I think everyone who worked on this book should be congratulated and proud. I'd call it a triumph for Brandon Sanderson and a long awaited reward for fans, especially fans that have been reading for so, so long. It's the beginning of the end of the Wheel of Time and it feels like it.
I first started the series in 1991 when my then boyfriend stumbled on The Great Hunt in a bookstore. It was not long before the release of The Dragon Reborn, but we had a hard time finding the The Eye of the World. I read a few chapters of the The Great Hunt and refused to read more until I got the first book of the series. Anyway, not to be cruel or insensitive, but after The Shadow Rising/Fires of Heaven, I started thinking how much I hoped and prayed the author would live long enough to finish the series. Long, long before his illness of course, but reading the author blurb about writing until they nailed his coffin shut just fed my paranoia. I worried when hurricanes threatened the Charleston area, things like that. Well, we all know what happened and I still hate it for his family and his fans. That said, now my fear is my own death before this series is finished. It's up there right behind watching my son grow up and have his own family as things I hope to see before I die.
I feel sort of hungover from reading this book, but in a good way. Overall, I rank this book up with The Shadow Rising on my favorites to re-read list.
To me, this was a very meaningful book, just on content alone. It is also more of a turning point, I think, with characters and storylines lining up and pointing to the Last Battle.
Yes, there were certainly some passages that felt a little odd to me, but not in a bad way. Once very near the beginning of the book, though at first I thought it was just getting back into it, upon re-read it does seem odd or off, but since it was a new character I didn't mind at all and thought it was refreshing to see regular people. Mat was a bit much in some places, to me he was in character but a little too much in some places, though that might have to do with character growth, being married, etc. "Saidared it" did not seem like Jordan thing, but to me it seemed very much like a Mat thing. It was also a LOL moment for me, which led to a bathroom break I desperately needed at the time anyway though that was a struggle with my foot asleep from sitting in the same position too long.
Like every book of this series, I wanted to strangle certain characters for being the way they are. I mean, really, almost every character in the book is stubborn the point of personality disorder, but that made it all the more true to the series for me.
Egwene was one of the best parts of the book I think, not suprised but very satisfied to see her defending the Tower against the Seanchan for one thing, I was beginning to worry she'd be in a cell and miss the fight. As I felt she had been through the last few books, she combines the strength of character she started with, plus what she learned from Moiraine, the Aiel Wise Ones, Siuan, etc. while at the same time seeming to lose her self-doubt.
Min was also a stand out for me, her internal dialogue, understanding of why everyone is wrong to try to handle and control Rand instead of just trying to help him and her studies to try to help understand some of the prophecies to help him. Nynaeve saying "I wish Moiraine was here" was fantastic, as was her at least understanding Rand's POV as was him actually explaining something in the first place.
Cadsuane irritated the hell out of me, as usual, and I want to not blame her for Semirhage, but at the same time, who does she think she is to forbid anything? Her character, not Brandon's portrayal of her, is one that just makes my teeth grind. It's like, she sometimes gets it but then still goes about everything the wrong way. I loved her spanking Sermirhage and making her eat off the floor though, that was one of many unexpected and very rewarding scenes in this book.
Rand finally understanding that not using balefire only benches the Forsaken was one of the FINALLY moments for me, and this book had so many of those. Others have expressed suprise at how dark Rand seemed to be at times, I was not suprised at all and enjoyed it. Rand's scenes with Rodele Ituralde were great, really great on a few different levels for me, as was his meeting with Tuon.
One stupid thing: at one point Min calls Rand 'looby' and I think that's supposed to be 'farmboy' and a line editing error. It threw me, as misuse of saidin and saidar in passed books threw me off.
I did miss some of (I don't know exactly what to call it) the gradiose,dramatic syntax mastery of Robert Jordan. You know, like "on a day of fire and blood and the one power" kind of thing, maybe it's still to recent since my reading and I'm not done with my first re-read yet. It seemed to me the closest I came to finding/feeling those moments came from Egwene's speech near the end, instead of finding it in the narrative. Sorry, I don't have the right vocabulary to express what I want to say here and that's pretty ironic, considering what I'm trying to talk about.
I could go on and on and on, but will wrap it up by saying this book made me laugh, cry and grind my teeth by turns. I think everyone who worked on this book should be congratulated and proud. I'd call it a triumph for Brandon Sanderson and a long awaited reward for fans, especially fans that have been reading for so, so long. It's the beginning of the end of the Wheel of Time and it feels like it.
I first started the series in 1991 when my then boyfriend stumbled on The Great Hunt in a bookstore. It was not long before the release of The Dragon Reborn, but we had a hard time finding the The Eye of the World. I read a few chapters of the The Great Hunt and refused to read more until I got the first book of the series. Anyway, not to be cruel or insensitive, but after The Shadow Rising/Fires of Heaven, I started thinking how much I hoped and prayed the author would live long enough to finish the series. Long, long before his illness of course, but reading the author blurb about writing until they nailed his coffin shut just fed my paranoia. I worried when hurricanes threatened the Charleston area, things like that. Well, we all know what happened and I still hate it for his family and his fans. That said, now my fear is my own death before this series is finished. It's up there right behind watching my son grow up and have his own family as things I hope to see before I die.