Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time, #13; A Memory of Light, #2) was partially written by Robert Jordan before his death in 2007. Brandon Sanderson was chosen to take over and he has done a masterful job. Memory of Light was supposed to be just one final book, but so much remained to be told, that they split it into 3.

My review of The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time # 12; A Memory of Light #1)

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The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One's prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unravelling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight.
The Sun has begun to set on the Third Age.
Perrin Aybara is now hunted by spectres from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, and unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in Tel'aran'rhiod and find a way - at long last - to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever.
Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways - the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn - have confused him, taunted him and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men's lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost.
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Avid readers of the Wheel of Time series have followed these characters and their stories through 13 books now over 11 years (the first book, Eye of the World, was published in January 1990). I've been reading them since 2005 or so, and my sole attempt to reread them, got me stuck halfway through book 5. They are very heavy books and for most people it's a love or hate relationship.

The Wheel of Time series is coming to an end and there's much left still to be told. Towers of Midnight is like it's predecessor The Gathering Storm a massive book. Towers of Midnight follows more or less all the main characters (unlike tGS that only followed a handful). It took me a while to get back into it and still it was quite a mouthful. There are so many story lines, and so much going on, and just trying to remember what had happened in the prior books or the significance of the appearance of a character was at points a struggle.

However, it was extremely interesting to read and I loved it. A lot of the characters and their stories have been tied back together and it's all now moving (mostly) in the right direction. In many ways, it has been so nice to finally see some solutions and conclusions to some of the characters' long long journeys. They have all grown to the task of preparing their world to the final battle between good and evil, and it's been such a pleasure, particularly in this book, to follow them.

I'm still very happy with Brandon Sanderson, he's done an amazing job, taking over this series, and again, like with book 12, I must admit I actually prefer his style of writing over Jordan's. It's every bit as engaging and fantastic, but it is less heavy and thus easier to read.

The final book, A Memory of Light, should arrive sometime in March 2012, and once again I eagerly await it.Towers of Midnight leaves several things hanging and I want to see how it goes!

861 pages / published in 2010
Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2011