Finished The Gathering Storm. I can't imagine how Jordan anticipated fitting this
and two more into a single volume, but I am glad it was split up and I suspect Jordan would have come to the same conclusion as well. I fear it suffers from the "1 of 3" syndrome (a la The Matrix Trilogy, Song of Ice and Fire, etc.) in that it loses some impact because it is not truly complete, but it does have some awesomeness all its own that manages to distract, for the moment, that you won't be able to finish reading this "last book" for years yet.
I do see Sanderson in how the characters were written and how pivotal moments are spotlighted in dramatic floodlight. Holy crap but does Sanderson know
drama *jazz hands*. <_< But I also see Jordan in the intricate plot lines, in things coming together after 11 goddamn long books of threading to prove that he really did need at least a large chunk of that meandering waffle he created. Then again, that is also something Sanderson did with Mistborn. To be honest, separating the two is difficult: Jordan had a fetish for foreign cultures, Sanderson has one for drama and religion, but the two really are matched in what they write and why they write it. It helps, of course, that Jordan is why Sanderson does what he does.
**I am too lazy to separate them out, so be wary of spoilers below.**
This is definitely the book leading up to the climax, the Big Battle against the Dark One. You can see it in the darkness creeping into just about every character, in the way they justify actions, speech, relationships, etc.
Death is lighter than a feather, duty is heavier than a mountain is sort of the catch phrase of this book. Rand uses it as a mantra (to his detriment, unfortunately). Egwene pushes aside her love of Gawyn and friendships in order to see the Tower healed. The two of them are the focal point, but you can see it in Verin when she makes her final choice; in Nynaeve and Lan when they do what they feel must be done in sending him to the Borderlands; in Perrin who gives up everything in search of Faile and begins the hard road of getting it back no matter what it takes; in Faile who does what she feels she must for Perrin; in Siuan for being, well, Blue. You don't see it as much in Elayne in part because she is a very peripheral character here, but also in part, I think, because what she does is so
mundane next to the magnitude of what every other character is entangled in. In fact, she seems to be the only one not in the middle of preparing for Tarmon Gai'don. Curious.
** End of maybe spoilers. **
I think Jordan and Sanderson balance one another out fairly well. I'm interested to see how the last two go. And goddamnit, if Sanderson starts taking as long as GRRM, I'm going to be pissed.
I hope they stick to their proposed release schedule, though I also hope (of course) that they don't have to push out sub-par novels to do so.
