THE GATHERING STORM: Initial Thoughts (caution!!! May be SPOILERS!)

[Talysia]

Hmm, Now that you mention it, I'm not sure. The way I read it, I thought she had letters for various people, but I wasn't clear on how or when she was to deliver them, if at all. Given what we know about her by the end of the book, it's possible that she made up the story about being kept waiting, but without a POV... Maybe we'll get one in retrospect in ToM. I hope so - Verin was one of my favourite characters.

I'm also curious about what the letter to Mat said. I couldn't make up my mind if it was something to do with the Horn's location, or something connected to the Tower of Ghenjei - or perhaps it was a warning to stay away from certain individuals, if she couldn't make it back. I think it's unlikely to be the second of those, though.

Like you, though, I'm really looking forward to the confrontation with the Finns.

 

[IlliferThePenniless]

So what do three things do we think Moraine wished for while locked up? I've always thought she'd end up with with whatever strength Lanfear behind when she became Cyndane... aside from that I don't really have any ideas.

Anybody else have any thoughts?

 

[Talysia]

That's a good question. I'm not sure what she'd wish for - being so devoted to the Dragon Reborn's cause, I'd've thought she might wish for some help or guidance for Rand in her absence, but are the effects of the Finns' wishes limited to just the individual who asks, or would they extend to the real world?

I also wondered about how long she'd been a prisoner, and whether time moves the same in Finnland as it does elsewhere. I'm guessing that a year has passed since Moiraine fell through the doorway and was presumed dead, and if so, how did she survive so long? I can't remember exactly how bargaining with the Finns works, though. Was she a guest, or has she not stated all of her wishes yet, and thus can't be killed or expelled from their realm?

 

[JagLover]

The best book for me since the early books.

Not only is the narrative finally getting somewhere, but much of the annoying, repetitive, writing has gone.

Jordan was a great writer in the early days of this series, but became sadly bogged down in introducing us to every Aes Sedai in the land, all of whom seemed to spend their time bitching, smoothing their skirts, sniffing, folding their arms under their Breasts, glaring....

What he needed was a good editor. Following his sad death what we have got is another writer who can continue with the main themes and discard the filler. One who has moreover written the women in this book far better than Jordon managed for a long time.

 

[Clansman]

Jaglover, I just finished last night, and I agree. Sanderson did yeoman's service to this series, and the ending looks to be almost as strong as the beginning, and but for the severely sagging middle, this series would rank much higher in quality and importance.

SPOILER:

I found the development of Rand to be the most significant since Dumai's Wells. The reintroduction of Tam to Rand's life I hope remains. I also appreciated his comments to the women surrounding Rand throughout this book (Min excepted), that manipulating him only caused problems and made Rand's personal crisis worse. Cadsuane became a little more real in this book, a little more personal, which was a nice change.

There was still some sniffing, glaring, folding arms under the boobs, and smoothing of skirts, but not near as much. I began to think that was all the women in this series did.

I did not like the Mat chapters. I don't think Sanderson quite grasped how to write Mat. I found him a bit too clownish.

The Egwene chapters soared, and were the best parts of the book. The Verin revelation was a minor stunner, and the so-obviously foreshadowed reunification of the White Tower made sense.

 

[JagLover]

Both the Egwene and Rand chapters were brilliant.

Rand has been in limbo really for the last few books and it was good to have genuine character progression again.

While Egwene's storyline was great.

Both Mat and Perin did little more than tread water. Let us hope that they are as good as Egwene's scenes next book when, presumably, they will be far more key to the plot.

 

[Althain's Warden]

Hi All,
Not been on the chrons for a couple
of months as i can no longer get here whilst at work That said, i'm glad it was this book that pulled me back to the chrons !

As a fan of the series that had been saddened by its slow (and often painful) decline from books 7 -11 i am over joyed at this new book !!!!

As stated by other members above i was a little dissapointed by Matt's chapters but Egwene's and Rand's were brilliant.

the women around Rand improved although more is needed, it seemed odd that they were still as Bullish when actually talking to him and yet then conceded to his view somewhat when in their own head or talking to each other ?!

Other than that i was really really really REALLY pleased
Glad to be back amongst fellow chrons !

 

[hedgeknight]

Howdy folks - been away from these boards for several months. Been away from Jordan's series for much, much longer. Gave it up after book 7.
But now that Sanderson has seemingly resurrected this series (R.I.P. Mr. Jordan), I would like to read the final three books.
However, how much have I missed in books 8-11? How can I make this up without wasting hours of my life reading through it all? Are there cliff notes? LOL!

 

[Rothgar]

Finished the book earlier this week, and enjoyed it much more than the last several installments. Things happened. I admit however, that I was hoping the story would move more than it did.

My favorite parts- The Prophet story was finally wrapped up. The White Tower story is finally finished. I thought the scene with Verin was handled very well, and I really enjoyed the part with Egwene defending the White Tower.

I was hoping the Black Tower would be included more in the story with Rand. He tells everyone that Sadin is cleansed and everyone shouldn't be afraid of men who channel, but then he only has a couple of them around at a time. I also didn't buy into his personal crisis story, but we'll see what comes of it.

 

[C Of K]

I also didn't buy into his personal crisis story, but we'll see what comes of it.

Neither did I. You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to make Rand into an interesting character. But after twelve books, what is left besides having him face the DO? At the end of Knife of Dreams Rand announces that the last battle is coming. ...SPOILER ALERT... Before the end of the Gathering Storm he tells the maidens to prepare to leave for Shayol Ghul. Of course, they don't go. Sanderson did an admirable job considering the state of this series, but failing to deliver on a promise like that, especially right after Jordan had done something similar, is a bit annoying. Of course, I knew there would be two other books, so they obviously couldn't go. That being the case, going to Shayol Ghul should never have been brought up.

 

[Talysia]

Howdy folks - been away from these boards for several months. Been away from Jordan's series for much, much longer. Gave it up after book 7.
But now that Sanderson has seemingly resurrected this series (R.I.P. Mr. Jordan), I would like to read the final three books.
However, how much have I missed in books 8-11? How can I make this up without wasting hours of my life reading through it all? Are there cliff notes? LOL!

Welcome back to you, and to Althain's Warden, too!

I don't know whether there are any shorter versions or entire book summaries, but there are chapter summaries at the encyclopedia WoT (http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/). Hope that helps.

 

[hedgeknight]

That's exactly what I wanted! Thanks Talysia!

 

[Talysia]

Happy to help. I used the same site myself to catch up with the storylines before tGS came out.

 

[bunnypeaches]

Overall I was really pleased with it. I thought Mat's POV was written very differently from the previous ones, he seemed almost a parody of himself. Like he was trying to be too funny, when Mat doesn't have to try, he just IS funny. That disappointed me a little bit, because if any character had to be ruined, I didn't want it to be Mat. (Because I love him). But hopefully that was just a blip and it'll sort itself out in the next installment. Also I would have liked to see some progress toward rescuing Moiraine, because I'm sure that's going to be amazing. But hopefully he's just saving that for the next book and we'll have a very Mat-orientated book 13!
I loved Verin's revelations about the Black Ajah and generally quite pleased with how the White Tower situation was resolved. Egwene really impressed me in this book too, and there was finally some action in that bit of the story, not just sitting about with endless discussions and Aes Sedai politics. Still haven't been able to figure out who/where Mesaana is after all that happened, although maybe I'm just slow. Very pleased about Elaida being made damane as well, if anyone deserved it, she did! Oh, and I thought Silviana for Egwene's Keeper was a nice touch, and made perfect sense to me, as she was one of Egwene's first converts.
I actually liked Rand's descent into madness, how at the end it wasn't even Lews Therin in his head, he literally was just talking to himself. And the end was totally woth it, he needed to hit rock bottom to be able to sort himself out again I think.
Would have liked a chapter at the end, telling how Tuon (sorry, Fortuona) took the semi-defeat at the White Tower. And I'm so curious generally as to how the Seanchan invasion is going to pan out. Clearly they're not all going to pack up and leave again, so how are they going to work out having damane and Aes Sedai running about? Because I can't see the Seanchan letting all their damane run free, and it's even less likely that all the Aes Sedai will end up collared, or what would be the point in most of the female characters?
Oh, and all the way through I've hated Cadsuane, so I was kind of glad to see her finally put in her place (if I were Rand I'd have probably stilled her the first time she tried to tell me about manners, when she's one of the rudest characters in the whole book!) but I also ended up feeling a bit sorry for her.
I also hoped to hear more from Perrin and Mat, and especially Lan. I want to know how his march through the Borderlands was going. Especially after reading New Spring a while back, I have a bit of a soft spot for Lan. I don't normally like prequels but I thought that gave some good background info.
I'm sure I'll think of more to say later, but this has been quite a rambling post anyway so I'll leave it for now. Hope it hasn't been too jumbled together, but I just kept thinking of more and more things to say!

 

[bunnypeaches]

P.S overally really happy with Sanderson's effort, I had a horrible feeling he'd ruin it for me, but he's done a brilliant job!

 

[Rosemary]

I was re-reading the previous book but found that I wasn't enjoying it nearly as much as the first time round. So this time, I shan't be buying the TPB but will wait another six months before the paperback comes out.

I think I've moved on in my reading and this series is starting to seem a little tame. Hopefully it won't be, as I would like the final parts to be 'the big battle'

 

[Perpetual Man]

Well it's taken me a little while, but I finshed tGS last night. Life might have slowed my reading time down, but I really enjoyed the book. Although I enjoyed individual chapters in the previous few books Spoiler for those who have not read it: Rand cleaning saidar being a magnificent one; I had felt that Knife of Dreams was a step in the right direction.

Sanderson though, seems to have done a wonderful job over all and I appreciate the fact that he was willing to pick up the reins of such a complex story.

Like so many others I felt the WoT as a whole dragged in the middle stages, was Jordan pushed following the success of the series to write more and stretch what he had? Or did he fall into a writers trap once described by Terry Pratchett, where you create characters with the sole intent of killing them, but in order to make the reader feel sympathy you invest time and effort to make them likable, and then stretch things out because you like them so much you want to put the deaths off as long as you can?

And as to unfinished storylines? I read an interview with Jordan once wheere he talked about that, and he said he fully intended for there to be storylines left unfinished or dangling, because in real life nothing is ever wrapped up into a nice tidy ball!!!

Whether Sanderson does the same remains to be seen...

 

[Clansman]

And as to unfinished storylines? I read an interview with Jordan once wheere he talked about that, and he said he fully intended for there to be storylines left unfinished or dangling, because in real life nothing is ever wrapped up into a nice tidy ball!!!

Whether Sanderson does the same remains to be seen...

Ball, schmall. This is fantasy, not the real world. Do not waste my time with superfluous story lines. If ya write 'em, resolve 'em.

In the words of the almost-immortal Stan Lee: 'nuff said.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Ball, schmall. This is fantasy, not the real world. Do not waste my time with superfluous story lines. If ya write 'em, resolve 'em.

In the words of the almost-immortal Stan Lee: 'nuff said.

Of course, there is that as well

 

[Lofwyr]

Warning...this post will be fairly spoilerific.

I had bought this sucker a month or two ago, whilst finishing up some other books. Got time to read it this holiday and cranked through it in 4 days! Damn fine read. I will agree with what has been said about Mat. The change in style there is most noticeable and makes me sad. He went from the frenetic victim (in his own mind) to something more akin to eccentric. I enjoy eccentric characters and get a good laugh, but hopefully Sanderson will tone it down somewhat in the next book.

I REALLY liked how the plot with Rand went. It was very real to me...as he's in a position literally no one can understand. Jordan had that anger in him building over the last 7 books or whatever but never really bothered to get into it. With a few simple sentences Sanderson gives us the info we need to emphatize a bit better. I can't imagine how pissed I'd be if destiny spit me out with the sole intention of killing me to save everyone else...and everyone else treats me like crap and tries endless manipulation. The ending moment of the book was well deserved. Hopefully Rand can crack some heads and get some of this same understanding out of his own people. I thought the ties and overflow with Moridin was very interesting as well. I wonder how Rand using the True Power will affect the next 2 books and that odd Moridin/Rand connection too.

SO glad that whole white tower fiasco is finally done with. And in spectacular fashion as well. The black ajah purge was a fantastically pleasant surprise too.

Wow...the end of 2010 is looking to be primed for fantastic reading. Book 13 here and (fingers very much crossed) ADWD!