Midnight Reviews

[Kathana Trevalaer]

If you are getting TGS tonight, you may post your reviews (or a link to your site where you posted it) here. No timezone restrictions.

[kcf]

Ooo, I get to be first.

It's midnight now, so I can finally post the review.

My review of TGS.

[Dylanfanatic]

I haven't visited here in ages, but since my earlier comments were linked to on the Twitter feed, here's the link to the full review.

[slangards]

Hi, new here (but not to WoT). Figured this is the best place to put a link to my review. I tried to keep it spoiler free.

http://slangards.i.ph/blogs/slangards/2009/10/27/book-review-the-gathering-storm/

Hope you all like the book as much as I did.

[theblacksmith]

theblacksmith
tthomas6520@live.com

[wite wo1f]

This is not a midnight review however, I figured I could still post it right?

Quick note this review contains major spoilers.

I really enjoyed this book, thought it was one of the better ones of the series. I thought that Brandon moves a bit faster in his pacing than RJ but was mostly still written in the same style. In terms of the characters, I thought most of them were spot on. However, I thought that Nynaeve was different than she has been, more mature. That was in my opinion an improvement.

The other character that was written differently was Rand. In previous books his was the POV that I enjoyed reading the most. However, in this book he completely changes emotionally. It does make sense because of the events in the story but after those events I just did not like his character.

Moving on from characters, I think that this was probably the best book in the series in terms of plot progression. I thought that the Seanchan attack on the tower and the reunification of the Tower was very well written. The other major plot that is somewhat resolved has to do with Rand. Despite his spending most of the book basically emotionless at the very end he finally laughs like Cadsuane wants him to. This was extremely cruel of Brandon because now there is the interminable wait for the next book to see what comes of that. The ending was the strongest part of the book.

There was one thing that really annoyed me though. i can understand why they are not in the book considering the book was already some 700 pages, but there was basically no mention of Taim, or Elayne.  Granted Elayne's major part in the plot was finished up in the last book, but still some mention would have been nice. As for Taim though, I really wish that he was in there in some way, at this point we have no idea of what he or the Red sisters are doing. This part confuses me because now we don't know what the implications of that will be. I would have thought it would be in this book.

This was acutally the first book I have bought in harcover, usually I just buy paperback because of the price. However, I was not disappointed at all and would encoruage all of my friends (that is if any of them actually read books)to get this book. I am waiting eagerly for the next two.

[Dr. Love]

I'm still reading the book.

First, the first half of the book has been really, really good.

Now that I'm in the last half of the book ... I hate to say this, but it is becoming very cringe inducing. Especially the sections with Mat around the time he meets Verin. What kind of dialogue is this? I had to set the book down after Mat used the word "saidared".

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

That is horrible. The characters and the story deserve better than the dialogue in this section. What a travesty. This book started out so good that I thought I could forgive what behavior/dialogue that seemed incongruous with the characters. But Mat's sections are getting to be a real mockery of what his character is.

I needed to get that off my chest.

[blackjon]

I'm still reading the book.

First, the first half of the book has been really, really good.

Now that I'm in the last half of the book ... I hate to say this, but it is becoming very cringe inducing. Especially the sections with Mat around the time he meets Verin. What kind of dialogue is this? I had to set the book down after Mat used the word "saidared".

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

That is horrible. The characters and the story deserve better than the dialogue in this section. What a travesty. This book started out so good that I thought I could forgive what behavior/dialogue that seemed incongruous with the characters. But Mat's sections are getting to be a real mockery of what his character is.

I needed to get that off my chest.

personally i thought that was Mat trying to be flippant as usual and trying to annoy the Aes Sedai as he does so well...

[Luckers]

Admittedly I found Mat's dialogue contrived in this book. The use of 'saidared' was the worst example, but it was consistant--the worst part I suspect was that Brandon used modern forms of humour in Mat's banter--adjusting words for humour has never had a place in the Wheel.

[TBGH]

No one should be reading here who is afraid of spoilers, but just in case:

MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

From what Brandon Sanderson has said, this book contains more of Robert Jordan's writing than the final two will.  He started by working where Jordan had left the most already done.  This means that the Rand/Egwene story lines where probably more fleshed out for him than the brief bits pertaining to Mat and Perrin.  Frankly, as nothing much new our surprising happens to Mat or Perrin in this book it's hard to review them.

As is mentioned above, Mat is perhaps a little over the top in this book.  He's always been one of the best characters at self-deluding himself (besides Nynaeve), but I think Sanderson pushed a little too hard trying to find his voice here.  Nothing egregious was done to him, but his chapters are undoubtedly the weak point in the book.  Perrin isn't even in enough to tell how well he is written.  Masema bites the dust finally, but other than that there is no movement on his plotline.

The Egwene storyline was masterful.  Many of the minor character viewpoints revolve around this storyline and none of them feel extraneous.  Siuan and Bryne finally get somewhere in their relationship just as Egwene and Gawyn reunite with unexpected tension in theirs.  There are several groups plotting (all with intelligence) and it makes sense why Egwene comes out on top.  My two favorite scenes in this book both involve Egwene.  Verin makes a surprise appearance finally explaining what the h%$@# is going on with her.  The other comes when the much anticipated Seanchan attack on the White Tower comes to pass.

Rand's chapters, on the other hand, were painful to read.  Not because they were poorly written, but because you get to watch him going further and further down the wrong road.  Towards the end of the book, he encounters a couple people from his past who remind him of how far he is from the "good guy" we all knew in the first two books of the series.  Those scenes in particular are well done and truly wrenching.  He does make progress at the very end, and I'm hopeful that in the final two volumes we won't have to watch "iron" Rand drive more and more people away from him.

Overall, a worthy addition to the series and Sanderson is proving to be as skilled a substitute as could be hoped for.

[Dr. Love]

There were a few instances where I thought "wtf is this guy doing". Like I said, the majority of the book is good, but some of it... I just can't reconcile myself. Here they are. Spoiler alert, but I assume if you're in here then you're cool with spoilers.




1.  Mat, pretty much all of it. Working on pages of backstory? Stating that there is "good material" to work with in the 4+ pages of stuff he wrote? That is not Mat. At all. In fact, the majority of Mat's scenes (and Perrin's) seemed completely useless, unless it was all supposedly a build up to meeting Verin. Which brings me to

2. Verin, pretty much all of it again. She just didn't read like herself. At all. When you put her with Mat it was even more bizarre, like a parody. I expected that type of dialogue in Lucker's sig, not in TGS (no offense, Luckers )

3. Rand's "punch a woman in the face" remark. Yes, Rand was going off the deep end ... but really? Punch a woman in the face? That's what he said?

The rest is really nit picky.

When did people start saying things like, "For Light's sake" and "bloody ashes" (I believe the term is "blood and ashes"). Actually a lot of little pieces of dialogue like that just kept breaking the immersion for me. I get that BS is different than RJ and has his own style but ... at least you could keep continuity in the world and not start sprinkling new vernacular into the story without explanation and without warning.

Overall I liked the book though the Mat and Verin parts are enough to knock it down a few books. I'd rank this one near the bottom, above A Crown of Swords, Crossroads of Twilight and Winter's Heart. Definitely not as good as the first 6. Or Knife of Dreams.

I had mixed feelings on the chapter layout. Yes it seemed fast paced, but at the same time there was no story-arc feel to it, no sense of continuity, and some things that we'd been waiting to see happened off screen, or were unfulfilling. (really? Graendal is taken out that way? REALLY?)

Oh well, at least we get the last books more quickly.

[Tyrell]

Admittedly I found Mat's dialogue contrived in this book. The use of 'saidared' was the worst example, but it was consistant--the worst part I suspect was that Brandon used modern forms of humour in Mat's banter--adjusting words for humour has never had a place in the Wheel.

I thought Saidared was pretty ok and fits with the sort of guy Mat is - he's the one who knows absolutely nothing about the One Power and really doesn't want to know. Pretty much every other POV we have is knee-deep in channeling even if they can't do it themselves.

 The word that stuck out most for me was "akimbo" used to describe how suian is standing at one point.