Storm clouds brewing

I recently finished The Gathering Storm, Book 12 in The Wheel of Time fantasy series, written by the late Robert Jordan and young fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson, who finished the book following Mr. Jordan's untimely passing in 2007. The Gathering Storm is the first of the announced final three books in the series.

Are things moving faster and the story growing more compelling due to the new author or the fact that the story is drawing to a close? Probably both. In any event, the supremely entertaining The Gathering Storm jettisons obscure characters discussing obscure issues (something Mr. Jordan enjoyed for some reason) and relies almost wholly on big characters talking about big issues, and addressing them. The sins here are small (an occasional lack of detail, believe it or not, something the brevity-challenged Mr. Jordan was never guilty of)), but the rewards are plenty. An increasingly dark and morose central hero, his worried friends, satisfying culmination to a number of ongoing plotlines, it's all here. Bring on the final two books!

The Gathering Storm will be available on Kindle for $12.99 on September 28, though the earlier books in the series are on Kindle right now.