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For those of you who do not know Towers of Midnight is the penultimate book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga. This book is the second of the three part ending completed as a mixture of work between the sections Robert Jordan penned prior to his death and the sections Brandon Sanderson wrote or completed based on Jordan's notes and dictations to ensure the completion of the series.
For readers who have not read the previous books in the series do NOT start with this book. To start here, so close to the end, virtually destroys the impact of almost every major moment in the series.
For readers who have read the prior books in the series this is a no-brainer must have. Sanderson continues to write well for the female characters, a notable weakness in Jordan's writing, and has found a way to weave his literary voice into Jordan's so that they mingle in a complementary way; a difficult feat.
Much of this book revolves around Perrin and, of course, setting up the last book. The most notable area of a different writer is a slight change in Mat's voice. Jordan was so often photographed wearing a wide-brimmed black hat that I had for some time wondered if Mat was the character who had the largest piece of Jordan's personality and the subtle changes in his sections feel like a confirmation of this.
Overall the book is seething with tension, primarily because we are allowed a few important glimpses to the villainous plots of the Forsaken and we spend the book on the verge of watching them unfold. My only major complaint with it is that in order to split the books from a single volume, at well over 1,000,000 words, into a trilogy of books required some manipulation of chronology. As an explanation, all of Rand's story line takes place after the events of the last book, yet the bulk of Perrin's story takes place far further back trying to catch you up to the "present" in that sense. I think this is simply the result of splitting what Jordan had anticipated to be one impossibly large single volume in to three separate pieces. Concessions had to be made, and they were- in the form of a disjointed timeline. Also it is constantly mentioned that only two years have passed since the start of the The Eye of The World. While it is an important reminder it is probably mentioned far too often, even in a book of thise size.
One of the biggest questions in the series is answered, though it is done indirectly. This particular mystery was one Jordan was never going to reveal as he thought he had enough clues in place for the savvy reader to deduce, but years of being bombarded with the question by fans had resulted in him leaving behind more specific clues to solve the mystery if you have not done so already. Harriet, Jordan's widow and long time editor had the primary choice of the placement of these clues, but that being said it is a mystery no longer.
At this point I am expecting a massive epilogue to the series, one that probably dwarfs the multitude of endings that Tolkien provided at the end of The Lord of The Rings, but I have full faith in the work Jordan started and the work Sanderson did to complete it that the final installment will bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.
I rate this book a 3.11 out of 3.14.
As a special feature I will be doing an entire series review for IGT starting in January. I will be including spoiler laden reviews as book refreshers for readers. I will review one book each month starting with the prequel novel New Spring. Assuming Sanderson meets his current anticipated timeline of release this review should end with the final installment of the series expected to be released in March of 2012. I look forward to reliving this journey with you all. - DWH
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