Oh, and warning . . . I've been reading Wheel of Time for so long now that I basically have no way of knowing whether or not I'm giving a spoiler or not. Reader beware.
So, Towers of Midnight.
The hard thing about commenting on Towers of Midnight is the sheer bulk of material that precedes it. Its nearly impossible to detach it from the rest of series and look at it as its own work . . . and you really wouldn't want to. Another problem is that not only are we comparing a new book to the 12 that precede it, but we're also comparing a new author to Robert Jordan. So, I'll try and give you a quick run through of my feelings about the book, and then go back through and look at a few things in more detail.
The first question I probably need to answer is how does Towers of Midnight rank against the rest of the series? I guess that would depend on which books you personally liked the best. For me, Towers of Midnight was probably on par with The Gathering Storm, The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos, and nearly as good as the first four books of the series. It was definitely better than books seven through ten . . . and the jury is still out about how I feel about Knife of Dreams.
Second question: how did Brandon Sanderson do? And its a mixed answer . . . Sanderson is a great author, and I think that The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight alone would have secured him a place as one of the great fantasy authors of the . . . what century are we in now? But we can't look at the two books alone, we have to compare them to the eleven books that Robert Jordan left us. In Towers of Midnight, I think Sanderson writes both more and less like Robert Jordan than he did in the Gathering Storm. Allow me to explain: I came away from the Gathering Storm stunned by the story, but a little disappointed with some of the characters; especially (you guessed it) Mat. Towers of Midnight had the reverse effect on me. Sanderson nailed each of the characters (yes, including Mat) and even managed to make me like Perrin again. However, the arc of the story didn't feel like a Jordan book--it was definitely a Sanderson. There was a lot of jumping between POV's, even in the middle of a chapter, which was something Jordan largely avoided. It also felt like Sanderson embellished things that Jordan would have skipped over, and skipped over things Jordan would have embellished. Let me repeat: amazing writing, but different than Jordan. And what more could you expect, honestly?
The thing I liked the most about Towers of Midnight was that it pushed the plot forward, resolving dozens of questions and story arcs, and bringing in a whole new crop of questions. The thing I disliked the most about Towers of Midnight was that a lot of the question-resolutions felt rushed . . . very rushed. For example, I was expecting the whole Mat and the Tower of Ghenjei story arc to consume at least a third of the book. Instead, it took up barely an entire chapter . . . I wanted more. Instead of feeling like a traditional fantasy quest, it felt more like a quick midnight run to Wal Mart . . . only cooler, I guess. The whole Bell-founder and Dragons story arc felt very hurried as well. Mat has been trying to get these canons made ever since Winter's Heart . . . and we've basically known he was going to do it since, um . . . The Dragon Reborn. And yet, after several books of build up, he gets the whole project done in a little over two chapters. And Rand meeting Egwene felt rushed as well. Again, feel free to disagree with me, but thats how it seemed.
Now for some more nitty-gritty things. I thought that Sanderson handled the One Power very well in The Gathering Storm, keeping it true to Robert Jordan's description of the Power, and writing some very cool scenes with it (e.g. Egwene defending the White Tower from the Seanchan). In Towers of Midnight, he seems to have deviated a bit more from Jordan's use of the Power. For example, the scene where Graendal somehow puts herself into the mind of a dove seemed a bit out of place in a Wheel of Time book. I can't exactly put my thumb on why, except that we've never seen anything remotely like that in any of the other books. Compared to some of the other uses the Forsaken have put the One Power to over the course of the series, this seemed . . . simplistic? Contrived? I'm not sure, but it definitely seemed out of place.
Another moment that felt different was when Rand walks down from Dragonmount and magically heals the farmer's apple orchard. Now, I didn't mind this scene as much, because it was from a simple farmer's point of view, so I suppose the One Power really would seem all mystical and stuff . . . its just that during the rest of the series (except maybe the first few chapters of Eye of the World) we only see the One Power used either through the eyes of men and women who can control it, or through the eyes of people who are well aquainted with Aes Sedai and what-not. So having an entire orchard suddenly bloom to life with no description of what weaves were used, or which parts of the Power, or even just how freaking difficult it was to do seemed . . . different.
Now, lest you think I hated the book, let me tell you what I liked:
Perhaps what I liked best about Towers of Midnight was the fact that the war has finally begun. I mean really, if you think about it, we haven't seen a large scale human vs. Trolloc battle since the fourth book, The Shadow Rising. Yeah, they've appeared every once and a while (Fires of Heaven and, um . . . Knife of Dreams?) but not like they did in the first three books. I've missed them. For the bulk of the series, we've just only seen men fighting men, and that sparingly (Battle of Cairhien, Dumai's Wells, Rand vs. the Seanchan, anything else?). The whole scene in the prologue where the border towers are over run was incredibly compelling. The Battle of Maradon had me giggling with excitement. It was awesome . . . and it gave me great hope for what we'll find in A Memory of Light.
Sanderson saved Mat's character in Towers of Midnight. I think the whole problem with Mat in The Gathering Storm was his humor. I didn't mind that he was suddenly a writer, or that he was comfortable helping Aes Sedai like Verin. It was just his jokes that bugged me. It was like I wasn't reading Mat, but Kelsier from Mistborn, and it really interrupted the story for me each time he whipped out another quick pun. Well, Towers of Midnight solved all of that. Mat was back in true form, mouthing off to the Queen of Andor, joking around with his men and just generally griping about everything. Oh, and when they're in the Tower of Ghenjei, he's the definitely the old Mat we know and love, taunting the snakes and foxes just like he used to.
Luckily, Mat isn't the only great character. The Gathering Storm took Rand by the scruff of his neck and dragged him through the gutter . . . repeatedly. When we finally see Rand again inTowers of Midnight, he has metamorphosed into a new man, becoming at once the old Rand from the first four (maybe five) books and fully (finally) the Dragon Reborn, Lew Therin Telamon. He was awesome (and a little freaky) through the entire book, staring the Amyrlin Seat down and single handedly wiping out an entire army of Trollocs. Bring on the Last Battle.
Okay, I think I've said about everything that can be said for Towers of Midnight, except one last thing: Perrin. Perrin was beyond awesome, and was hands-down the best part of Towers of Midnight. Now, I should admit that for most of the series Perrin was my favorite character, so I'm a little biased. I loved his chapters in the first four books more than any others, but basically since the end of Lord of Chaos, he hasn't done much of anything. His story arc seemed to wander just as much as he did, dragging us through what, like three books of looking for his wife? The final battle between his army and the Shaido was cool, but it took FOREVER to get there. Through all of that, I (and many others) started to wonder just what the heck Perrin was there for. Rand was obviously the Dragon Reborn, and Mat had a clear purpose: be an awesome general and develop gun powder. We could at least see where those two were headed. But Perrin . . . Perrin just kind of meandered. But not anymore. I won't say how or what, but just take my word for it . . . he has once again been crowned Best Character Ever.
In summary, Towers of Midnight felt less like a Jordan than The Gathering Storm, and much more like a Sanderson. Despite this, I wouldn't hesitate in saying that its one of the best books of the series (top six, maybe?) and well worth the read
Bring on the Last Battle.
Please.
No really, we've waited long enough.
