The Dragon Reborn...

I know that after Robert Jordan passed away in 2007, I was saddened. I had been reading the Wheel Of Time series for years, since my mid-twenties. I was also starting to feel that perhaps Jordan was a little burned out.... as I don't recall reading Knife of Dreams. I am feeling inspired again after reading The Gathering Storm. (I actually read both Knife of Dreams and Gathering Storm, one after the other) Sanderson does a wonderful job of filling Jordan's shoes and presenting the story. There is a very good flow, and in some ways Sanderson sets up the events more clearly, so there is a better feel of what is happening with each character. The writing style is slightly different, nothing I can point to directly, and say 'This, this, and this is different', but he does a wonderful job. There was only one false note that just felt wrong to me, which I won't describe in detail because it is a spoiler. But it just felt unfinished and abrupt, somehow.

I do wish I had a cheat sheet to figure out which of the Forsaken are dead, which are alive, and who is where, but that is something I've wished for a long time. That's my one problem with this series, is that the same characters crop up ten books later, when you've forgotten who they were and what they did. I think that is one thing that Sanderson actually handles better than Jordan did. Because he reminds you 'ok this person was from this time, and did this', whereas Jordan would just plunk them in and it wasn't until you were rereading that you'd say 'Oh! He did that too!'.

I'll be interested to see what Sanderson does with the next two books, to finish off the series. But so far, apart from that one false note, he has done wonderfully. And it cannot be an easy thing, to take up the reins on such a popular series.