by aaron on November 23, 2010
It’s almost as if I can’t stop blogging about books. Another fantasy series that I’ve been in the middle of (and have been for years) is the “Wheel of Time” series that was started by Robert Jordan and is now being completed by Brandon Sanderson.
Earlier this month the penultimate book was released, “The Towers of Midnight” and it is kicking butt and taking names. I’m about 3/4ths of the way through the book and it hasn’t let me down yet. After 12 books you’d imagine that there are a lot of threads that need to be tied up and those threads are starting to be tied. Everyone is getting into place for the final showdown in the next book but there are lots of things still going on so it doesn’t seem to be artificially getting the characters to where they need to be. It’s going to be sad when the series is over but it really looks like it’s in good hands with Sanderson writing some of it and working in the Wheel of Time sandbox.
by aaron on November 23, 2010
I always love the start of a new fantasy series. There are new characters, new worlds and if the book is good a sense of potential for the overall series.
That is why I was so excited to have Brandon Sanderson’s new book “The Way of Kings” come out a few months ago. Its book 1 of the “Stormlight Archive” and he is off to a really good start. The series is supposed to last 5 books.
Although the first half of the book was a little slow (understandable since he was laying a lot of groundwork) the second half really picked up the pace and made for a good ending. There were some things that I expected to happen, like Kalidan and Dalinar getting together, but the end result was a bit of a swerve. That made for a nice change of pace in addition to some of the other swerves that happened with the main characters.
Sanderson also does a good job of giving some more texture to the world by having interludes and points of view from, at this point, minor characters that are in different parts of the world. It makes it feel like there is more going on there.
If you are a fan of the fantasy genre, I highly suggest that you give “The Way of Kings” a try. I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed. If you aren’t usually a fan of the genre, download the sample chapters and see if Sanderson’s writing style is something that you’d like.