A Memory of Light, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it is still November, and I am still busy with NaNoWriMo, so we are still revisiting the books I love the most this last year (or indeed ANY year).

A Memory of Light which was published by TOR Books on January 8, 2013, is the final installment in the epic fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan wrote the first eleven volumes in the series, nearly completing the final volume which was so huge it had to be divided into 3 books.  Unfortunately Robert Jordan passed away before the last book made it out of draft form, and after Jordan's death, Brandon Sanderson, who is famous in his own right for the epic Mistborn series, stepped in and finished the colossal undertaking, writing the final three volumes.

The Blurb:

Since 1990, when Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time® burst on the world with  its first book, The Eye of the World, readers have been anticipating the final scenes of this extraordinary saga, which has sold over forty million copies in over thirty languages.

When Robert Jordan died in 2007, all feared that these concluding scenes would never be written. But working from notes and partials left by Jordan, established fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson stepped in to complete the masterwork. With The Gathering Storm (Book 12) and Towers of Midnight (Book 13) behind him, both of which were # 1 New York Times hardcover bestsellers, Sanderson now re-creates the vision that Robert Jordan left behind.

Edited by Jordan’s widow, who edited all of Jordan’s books, A Memory of Light will delight, enthrall, and deeply satisfy all of Jordan’s legions of readers.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass.

What was, what will be, and what is,

may yet fall under the Shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

My Review:

I confess, I had my copy on pre order for a l-o-o-ong time, just waiting and drooling for this final installment, so on January 8th I hit the ground running with this book.

First off, if you haven't read the first thirteen books in the series this book will make little sense to you as it is the culmination of many, many storylines. This book is no less complicated than the thirteen books that have preceded it, so I will not be giving you a plot summary.  Instead I am going to give you my impressions and say only that some of my dearly loved characters who should have lived, die, and some who should die, do not.

Each and every one of the main characters have matured and become the sort of leaders we knew they would have to be if they were to succeed at Tarmon Gai'don, the final battle with Shai'tan, who is the personification of evil. I liked that particular twist, and feel vindicated for having stayed with the series even when it went so far afield in The Path of Daggers. Most of the many threads are brought together in this volume although  some  threads are never resolved.

Rand, Mat, and Perrin each fight the battle from a different front, and their stories and unique skills are each central to the final resolution. Logain and Olver both play crucial parts in the last battle. Many minor characters have major parts to play in determining the outcome of Tarmon Gai'don.  The strong roles played by Elayne, Egwene, Nynaeve, Moraine and the other Aes Sedai in this final battle are clear and integral to the success of Rand's bid to win this battle.  Love, loss, sorrow and the immense will to survive are part and parcel of the tapestry Sanderson has woven from Jordan's notes in this very fitting end to a monumental series.

The final battle is nothing less than epic. This encounter between Rand and Shai'tan begins with a contest of morality tales, which in the end determines Rand's course of action.

I shed tears many times, but most especially at the deaths of two important characters in particular, believing they could have accomplished so much had they lived. Yet that is what makes this book and indeed this series so fantastic - the reader CARES about the characters, and this loss makes the outcome more poignant and meaningful.

I liked the way Demandred is finally exposed and introduced into Tarmon Gai'don, and I really enjoyed the plot twist in regard to Taim, now known as M'Hael, and the way he is ultimately dealt with. All of the Forsaken are dealt with in ways both creative and fitting.

In the end, the final resolution is satisfying, and was well worth the journey. There is a large contingent of people who are upset that the epub edition won't be released until April 9, 2013, but this was a choice made by Robert Jordan's widow. I don't buy too many hard copies of books, being a fan of the Kindle, but I did make an exception for this book.   For me, some books need to be in hard copy form and the Wheel of Time Series is one of them, as are the Harry Potter books.

Amazon's reviews are rife with trolls and nay-sayers who couldn't wait to emerge from the woodwork and have their say. Apparently very few of these people purchased the book, much less read it. That is the price of success and these days it's almost an honor to have so many haters just spoiling to knock you down. But their strident caws and self-important rants should have no effect on the true fans of this series. In my humble opinion this work is a masterpiece and is a triumphant finish to the series.

I love Brandon Sanderson's handling of this series finale, and feel I more than got my money's worth from this book, as I will definitely read it again and again; it's that good. If you love this series, you will love the way it ends!

The Best Fantasy Art Book Covers

Sometimes the books I read are good, but not so good that I want to blog on them. That gives me the opportunity to blog on the gorgeous art that covers fantasy books! This weeks post is on that one thing that will sell me a book no matter how bad the blurb--the cover. Since Christmas we have seen some really wonderful  covers go through here...and some not so wonderful covers, but we only say nice things here, right?  All of the books I read that make it here are really wonderful reads that I enjoyed, in some cases despite the bad blurbs and dismal cover art! For me, the book is what counts, and an indie author 's resources often don't stretch to include purchasing fine art for the cover!  Some, however do, and a few of those covers on books I've seen since January are featured today's post.


The two best covers of the year so far for me are on Jeffrey Getzin's wonderful novellas, Shara and the Haunted Village, and  A Lesson for the Cyclops. The artwork for both novellas is by the amazing Carol Phillips.

Both covers really represent the stories well and the attention to detail in the artwork is amazing.  For an indie author to put his resources into such fine covers for novellas is quite unusual, and I applaud his decision to do so.

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Next on my list of eye-candy book covers is The Fire Rose, by Mercedes Lackey. This is a book published by Baen, so one would hope the art would be lovely, and it is. It has been out since the mid-nineties.

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Another book that I bought for it's cover was The Winds of Khalakovo, by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It is a debut novel and bodes well for this author. The art represents the tale beautifully, and creates just that hint of mystery that sells books to people like me!

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Another book that was intitally purchased for the cover was Magnus Opum by Aussie author Jonathan Gould. I LOVED this cover, because the stark simplicity reminded me of J.R.R. Tolkien's original artwork for his Lord of The Ring series.

The amazing simplicity of of Gould's cover hints at Magnus's story, and just as the picture by Tolkien of Bilbo on the Barrel coming to the huts of the Raftelves, it entices to you just look at it and think about the story.

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Of course, A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson gets a gold star for the cover. TOR publishing never fails us when it comes to great fantasy artwork.

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My final offering today is the cover of Tad Williams wonderful fantasy, The War of the Flowers.  I was moved to buy this book off the rack just by seeing this cover, and the book more than lived up to it. It was mysterious, and made me wonder about the tale.

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For me, good fantasy does not have to be covered with great artwork. Many times indie authors don't have the resources to invest in art for covers; I should know! But if there is a fine picture on it, even if the blurb is bad or nonexistent, I will always buy the book for its cover.

A Memory of Light, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

A Memory of Light which was published by TOR Books on January 8, 2013, is the final installment in the epic fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan wrote the first eleven volumes in the series, nearly completing the final volume which was so huge it had to be divided into 3 books.  Unfortunately Robert Jordan passed away before the last book made it out of draft form, and after Jordan's death, Brandon Sanderson, who is famous in his own right for the epic Mistborn series, stepped in and finished the colossal undertaking, writing the final three volumes.

 

The Blurb:

Since 1990, when Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time® burst on the world with its first book, The Eye of the World, readers have been anticipating the final scenes of this extraordinary saga, which has sold over forty million copies in over thirty languages.

 

When Robert Jordan died in 2007, all feared that these concluding scenes would never be written. But working from notes and partials left by Jordan, established fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson stepped in to complete the masterwork. With The Gathering Storm (Book 12) and Towers of Midnight (Book 13) behind him, both of which were # 1 New York Times hardcover bestsellers, Sanderson now re-creates the vision that Robert Jordan left behind.

 

Edited by Jordan’s widow, who edited all of Jordan’s books, A Memory of Light will delight, enthrall, and deeply satisfy all of Jordan’s legions of readers.

 

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass.
What was, what will be, and what is,
may yet fall under the Shadow.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

 

My Review:

 

I confess, I had my copy on pre order for a l-o-o-ong time, just waiting and drooling for this final installment, so on January 8th I hit the ground running with this book.

First off, if you haven't read the first thirteen books in the series this book will make little sense to you as it is the culmination of many, many storylines. This book is no less complicated than the thirteen books that have preceded it, so I will not be giving you a plot summary.  Instead I am going to give you my impressions and say only that some of my dearly loved characters who should have lived, die, and some who should die, do not.

Each and every one of the main characters have matured and become the sort of leaders we knew they would have to be if they were to succeed at Tarmon Gai'don, the final battle with Shai'tan, who is the personification of evil. I liked that particular twist, and feel vindicated for having stayed with the series even when it went so far afield in The Path of Daggers. Most of the many threads are brought together in this volume although  some  threads are never resolved. 

 

Rand, Mat, and Perrin each fight the battle from a different front, and their stories and unique skills are each central to the final resolution. Logain and Olver both play crucial parts in the last battle. Many minor characters have major parts to play in determining the outcome of Tarmon Gai'don.  The strong roles played by Elayne, Egwene, Nynaeve, Moraine and the other Aes Sedai in this final battle are clear and integral to the success of Rand's bid to win this battle.  Love, loss, sorrow and the immense will to survive are part and parcel of the tapestry Sanderson has woven from Jordan's notes in this very fitting end to a monumental series.

 

The final battle is nothing less than epic. This encounter between Rand and Shai'tan begins with a contest of morality tales, which in the end determines Rand's course of action.

 

I shed tears many times, but most especially at the deaths of two important characters in particular, believing they could have accomplished so much had they lived. Yet that is what makes this book and indeed this series so fantastic - the reader CARES about the characters, and this loss makes the outcome more poignant and meaningful.

 

I liked the way Demandred is finally exposed and introduced into Tarmon Gai'don, and I really enjoyed the plot twist in regard to Taim, now known as M'Hael, and the way he is ultimately dealt with. All of the Forsaken are dealt with in ways both creative and fitting.

 

In the end, the final resolution is satisfying, and was well worth the journey. There is a large contingent of people who are upset that the epub edition won't be released until April 9, 2013, but this was a choice made by Robert Jordan's widow. I don't buy too many hard copies of books, being a fan of the Kindle, but I did make an exception for this book.   For me, some books need to be in hard copy form and the Wheel of Time Series is one of them, as are the Harry Potter books.

Amazon's reviews are rife with trolls and nay-sayers who couldn't wait to emerge from the woodwork and have their say. Apparently very few of these people purchased the book, much less read it. That is the price of success and these days it's almost an honor to have so many haters just spoiling to knock you down. But their strident caws and self-important rants should have no effect on the true fans of this series. In my humble opinion this work is a masterpiece and is a triumphant finish to the series.
 

I love Brandon Sanderson's handling of this series finale, and feel I more than got my money's worth from this book, as I will definitely read it again and again; it's that good. If you love this series, you will love the way it ends!

Prince of Bryanae, Jeffrey Getzin

I want to thank you all for your patience over the long hiatus – summer came and vacations interfered with my work ethic, but I did manage to read some awesome books while I was gallivanting all over the continental US.  Today, we celebrate my return to blogging about my favorite subject by sharing Jeffrey Getzin’s  breathtaking epic fantasy, ‘Prince of Bryanae’.

“Discipline. It was the most important word in Willow’s vocabulary.”  This is the opening line of one of the best fantasy books I’ve read all summer, and I read a lot of them.  The story begins with Willow, an elf and Captain in the King’s Guard, and who is in the service of the royal family of Bryanae. Willow’s life has taken a sudden turn for the bad, and it's about to become even worse.  She is beset by problems she has no control over, and no matter how much discipline she applies to the situation, it keeps spiraling out of control. She’s attracted to Captain Snyde, an arrogant man she despises but whom she inexplicably desires against her own wishes. To top it off, she refuses to admit she is in love with Private Tamlevar, a good, decent man who is in love with her and whose loyalty to her is unswerving.

From moment of the opening line, the action begins, and it is nonstop up to the final page. Willow is unfairly demoted, her despised mother shows up and Vazerian, the prince she is supposed to be guarding, gets kidnapped and she is frozen in place, unable to stop it, leaving her open to accusations of cowardice.   Those are the better parts of the week. Willow’s life as she knows it over, and all the discipline she has spent her very long life developing can’t keep it from going to hell.  Terribly injured and now on the run, only discipline keeps Willow from completely breaking under the onslaught of bad luck - discipline and Private Tamlevar who has insisted on following her.

Ultimately, Willow finds herself risking her life for the country which had turned its back on her, choosing to attempt to rescue the kidnapped Prince of Vazerian, even though she no longer has any authority.  Willow’s quest to save the prince takes her to the last place she ever wanted to be, and in the process she and Tamlevar discover what really happened, both in the past and in the present and who is really behind the death and destruction of everything and everyone Willow ever loved.


I am glad to say, I suspected all along things were not as they appeared with a certain character, but the final revelations took even me by surprise. As I said before, this is a complex tale of action, reaction and the repercussions actions taken frequently have.


Add the relentless action to the emotional roller-coaster which runs through all of Willow’s and Tamlevar’s adventures and you have tale which is incredibly intense and which completely captivated me. This is most definitely a five-star adventure, the sort I am always looking for but only rarely stumble upon.

You can find Prince of Bryanae at Amazon.com and at Goodreads.  Jeffrey Getzin can be found blogging at http://jeffreygetzin.com

Double Header: 'New Spring - the Novel' and 'Heather's Heart'

This week I am featuring two reviews. One is for mainstream author, the late Robert Jordan's 'New Spring - The Novel', which was recently re-released by Tor Books following in the wake of the graphic novel that was released in January based on his original offering; and the other is for indie author Douglas A Sanburn's new book 'Heather's Heart'.


First up is Robert Jordan's New Spring - The Novel (first published in January of 2004).  Because of the complexity of the Wheel of Time series, I have included links to various Wikipedia articles on the different characters described in the book, rather than going into detail here.

'New Spring - the Novel' is very much a stand alone book, but it also sets the stage for the action that commences in book one of the 'Wheel of Time' series, The Eye of the World.  In 'New Spring' we meet Moraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche as young women who are not yet fully Aes Sedai, but are in the last stages of their training, in the White Tower of Tar Valon. The two young women witness a foretelling, and though they are still not fully trained, they are sworn to secrecy and they are set on the trail to discover the whereabouts of a baby boy who is the reincarnation of last of the great male Aes Sedai, Lews Therin Telamon, known as The Dragon. He had been the most powerful, most hated, most feared man in their history; a man who'd gone mad and broken the world and also killed his entire family. Since his time, no males with the one power have been allowed to live as they all eventually went mad and had to be either severed from the ability or killed for the safety of everyone.


Jordan gives us enough background in this tale that we have an idea of the grim nature of things. The world is harsh, and the people are harsher.  The city of the Aes Sedai, Tar Valon, is besieged by an invading army and looks as if it will be defeated, taking the Tower with it.  After completing their task for the tower to the best of their abilities, Moraine and Siuan are given the final test which will earn them their shawls as full Aes Sedai.  Upon their being raised to the shawl, the two women continue their quest to find the child.


Each character in the story emerges fully fleshed, and the reader feels as if they know them. As a reader I was full engaged in the whole story, and found myself unable to put the book down for long.  The characters and the events that happen to them are as real as if they had happened to the reader.  Destiny looms large - the events that the book is the prequel to weigh heavily, but do not overpower the story, allowing this book to stand on its own. 


This book is much shorter than most Robert Jordan books, and focuses more completely on the main protagonists instead of going off on side stories as the rest of the series, especially the later books are wont to do.  If you have never read a book in the Wheel of Time series, I highly recommend this one to begin with. 

'Heather's Heart' by Douglas A. Sanburn is a modern fantasy, set in the modern day. At first glance, the cover looks like a paranormal romance, but nothing could be further from the truth.  The tale begins with one of the protagonists, the powerful sorcerer Lord Emrick Evenwood hanging by the neck in Hades as an eternal warning to anyone who would oppose the evil demon/sorcerer Baron Adrien von Klaus, the current ruler of Hades. He has been hanging there for twenty-five years.   Evenwood escapes with the help his friend who is also a demon.  When he returns to his home which has been abandoned while he was in Hades, he finds it occupied by a woman, Lillian, and her twin teen-aged children: uber-normal Artie, and Heather, who is infatuated with all that is Goth.   He comes to an arrangement with Lillian who, unbeknownst to her children, has been illegally squatting in his house rent free while trying to save up to buy a home of her own for her children.  He arranges to move into the attic apartment, while he searches for the artifact that that he originally stole from the Baron von Klaus, and who so desperately wants it back. 


As the time passes, Emrick gets to know the family, and he realizes that there are some terrible difficulties in their lives, and that they don't even know the truth behind their problems.  Despite the fact that he is in hiding from the Baron who is looking for the stolen artifact, Emrick finds himself trying to help the children and by helping them, he helps their mother.  Along the way he discovers that at least one of the children, Heather, has the ability to work magic and he finds an appropriate teacher for her.


Heather's Heart touches on real life issues facing parents and teens: bullying, abuse, siblings, and homelessness, and the aftermath of rape.  All these tough subjects are handled in such a way that the book is appropriate for readers ranging from teen to adult, but they are dealt with in a realistic and compassionate way.   The epic battle of good versus evil, the way Sanburn portrays the use of magic and the fact that everyone  has secrets that affect their actions in that battle makes this a very good novel.  I read this book in two nights, because I could not put it down.  Heather's Heart is currently available as an e-book through Amazon for the Kindle, and through GoodReads.