Book Review: Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time)

Two days of hectic reading of “Towers of Midnight” – the penultimate book of the Wheel of Time series. I’m a very poor literary critic and pay little or no attention to writing styles as long as the plot moves forward without dragging. So unlike many others, I can’t make out that it’s written by Brandon Sanderson instead of Robert Jordan.

To me, the best description of this book is a deep breath. The next one is the finale and so Sanderson is forced to tie up all loose ends before the end can be unleashed. Because of this, some of the book is devoted to irritating characters like Gawyn, Elayne, and Aviendha – three horribly boring people who have so little a role to play that the first was an annoyance in “The Gathering Storm”, and the last two were not shown at all.

The plot moves forward in just three places:

The Mesaanna mystery is cleared up
Perrin and the Whitecloaks deal with each other
The Mat, tower of Genji and Moiraine storylines are completed

Granted, this is much more than what happened in the later books in the series, but given that the previous book was slow as sin, I really feel that these two could have been combined. If that had happened, I would be writing about the end of the series – now I have to wait another year for that to happen.

Nonetheless, there are many fulfilling scenes in this book though they don’t advance the plot. Rand gets a short meeting with Egwene who sees what he’s become. Cadsuane is put in her place and Perrin gets to shock Egwene. These scenes have been building for a while and it’s cathartic to finally see them work out. Mat of course remains my favorite character. Another meeting between him and Tuon would have been sweet. But it’s nice to know that they’ll have to meet at least in the last book.

I’d like to rant a bit about Egwene here who’s taken the place of  Elayne as the most irritating character in the book. She’s got too swollen a head, makes Nynaeve call her “Mother” even in private, and scores cheap victories over the other Aes Sedai who’re written to behave like children just so that the great and wise 20+  year old Egwene can outsmart them. It’s nauseating.

Even after she knows that Rand and Lews Therin are one, she has the temerity to try and think she knows better how to conduct Tarmon Gaidon…better than the man who sealed the Dark One in the first place, who has 450 years of experience behind him, is the most powerful channeler the world has known, eats the forsaken for breakfast, who’s also ta’veren, and strictly speaking is senior to her in Aes Sedai hierarchy. He’s the only living male Aes Sedai who has been formally raised to the shawl and to trump all this, he can touch the “True Power” – making all the shields in the world completely useless against him.

Seriously, this was a dude was called the Lord of the Morning. I mean what kind of fellow is called that sort of thing in the first place? Someone who knows better than the chit Egwene Al Vere, that’s who! Her delusions of grandeur are getting too much. I find myself wishing the author played a huge trick all this time and at any moment the Aes Sedai will start to laugh at her and portal her back to Emmond’s field where she can get switched.

It was nice to immerse myself in the WoT world once again. Lots of memories. And I feel the familiar loss now that the book is over.