The latest book in the Wheel of Time series is a mixed bag of success. Brandon Sanderson seems to have picked up nicely from where Robert Jordan left off, but at the same time, he seems to have inherited his weakness for dithering. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a lot of action in this book, but the actual plot advancement is limited to just two or three steps.
It makes me feel there was no need to break down “A memory of light” into three books. With the amount of filler material in this book, I think perhaps a single mammoth work would have easily taken care of the remaining events.
I won’t spoil the plot for readers here, but I can give the storylines which have important action in them. At the end of the book, only the two following characters have advanced:
- Egwene’s storyline moves forward one notch
- Rand is no closer to Tarmon Gaidon though one or two interesting things happen to him
While this rate of progress is nothing unusual for Robert Jordan (perhaps even more exciting than some of his later books), I was expecting more advancement of the storyline from Sanderson. There are some characters who are completely missing (though that can be a good thing – the last thing I want to hear about is Elayne) but the last battle is still nowhere in sight. This series has been going on for 20 years now and I would really like to wind it up…
The book started slowly. It failed to live up to the promise of the prologue which showed some people getting off their asses and actually moving towards the field of the last battle. And while the book features some very memorable scenes, I feel like a person who’s got down from a merry-go-round not far from where he got on. I’m breathless, but still in the same place more or less.
Oh well, I’m committed to the series now and can’t turn back. Two more books to go and two more years to wait. My only consolation is the promise of it all ending at the completion of that time. So there must be something that happens in those two remaining books!
I respectfully disagree.
I think this book moved many things forward, and unlike the previous books, each chapter advances the plot.
I understand the frustration you have with the bogged down plot. Most of RJ’s fans have this love-hate relationship with him. But this book, I think, was the best since book 6. That’s a compliment to Jordan and to Sanderson.
Just thought more happened in sequence here than you may have picked up. But to each his own. Can’t wait for book 12!!!!!