****** Prelude to the actual review and doesn't need to be read before the body of the review ********* :

I'm about a third of the way through this book and I've got to say that while there are some wonderful moments, Sanderson is carrying on Jordan's tradition of beating a subject or plot point not only to death but till it falls apart and starts to stink!

I am heartily sick to death of Perrin's self flagellation and flat refusal to accept ANY reality...after 10,000 pages don't you think we can please, please stop going over and over and over the same ground! Just give the character a cat o' nine tails and let him actually beat his back bloody and get it over with. When I got into the first section of this repeated crap I considered heaving the book across the room, but as it weighs a ton and might knock out a wall I desisted. I finally got through that scene and here I am only a bit later and Perrin is whining about "not being a Lord", "not being a leader", "not wanting the Wolf Banner up"...we've been over this a thousand times!

Okay...rant over, for a while, but I really, really, hope this thing pulls itself together and STOPS GOING OVER WHAT'S BEEN COVERED AD NAUSEUM!



**** REVIEW ****

Well, here we go. This is the 13th book in the Wheel of Time, that's book THIRTEEN...not counting New Spring of course as it's book "0" a prequel. If you've read my reviews of the previous volumes you know that I've become quite dissatisfied with this situation. BUT more about that later. If (as I've said) you have read my previous reviews you will recognize that my rating here is actually a step up (from the last few volumes). While still unable to say I truly "like" the book it is a step forward. And about time as unless the ax falls and more volumes are announced (an eventuality that wouldn't actually surprise me) this is the next to the last volume.

First...the good. Mr Sanderson is an excellent writer and it occasionally shows. There are some wonderful moments in this book. I found some passages very moving and what was exceptionally good was that at least a few are moving in more than one way. First they are genuinely emotional scenes and second they move the story along. The advancement of this story has been exceptionally slow up to now. So there were some moments of actual enjoyment for me here.

Second...the neutral. As mentioned Mr. Sanderson is a good writer and he manages to capture the story, the characters, and the types that Mr. Jordan has established. These things will hit different people different ways, some will find a lot of positive others a lot of negative. The idiotic battle of the sexes is still here as are the attitudes of each of the characters and groups. The fatalistic are still fatalistic the annoying are still annoying and so on. You will easily recognize what you may have come to like and dislike in the series. All the customs etc. are still with us...Rand accepts his "'toh" at one point and so on.

Third...the bad. The frustratingly bad things are still here to. The long repetitive passages are still here. The re-re-retelling of the same details from every possible point of view still takes place (an event that happened and was discussed ad nausem 500 hundred pages ago is related to a new group (the Aes Sedai, the Aeil, somebody) and it gets discussed again...maybe another 50 pages, who knows. There are also long pointless conversations, by that I refer to the ones that don't have any effect on the story nor tell us anything new. I know it can be argued that they "reinforce characters and character types" but it's been 10,000 pages, don't you think the character types might have been established by now?

There are those who love these books just the way they are and for you I'm happy. I know a couple of people who agree with you. They would be happy to read what the characters had for each meal, what their clothes were made of, and how they slept each night. To you anything that stretches out the experience is great. But, it doesn't improve the "novel", the overall story. It (in my opinion) has turned this series (from about volume 7 A Crown of Swords on) into a soap-opera. This volume is 864 pages, 328,000 words, in audio about 30 hours of listening. I truly believe that in the hands of a good editor the entire series (including the one to come) could be cut down to from 7 to 10 volumes total, and probably closer to 7.

I loved the first 5 books in this series and feel almost the same about the 6th. I believe that it was on the way to becoming one of the greatest High Fantasy Epics in print, but that fell by the wayside long ago. What happened? Why did the story suddenly become a lumbering crippled behemoth of a soap-opera stumbling forward at a glacial pace? Did someone suddenly realize that each book was a best seller and the more volumes that were in the series the more money would be made? Did the editors suddenly stop editing because the books were so popular that they were no longer allowed to edit the writer? Did the story simply start to wander as all possible details began to work their way in about each character and group's thoughts and actions?

I suppose we'll never know. Some of you will totally disagree with me and "feel" this is wonderful and love every second, every word of it. Others like me will be frustrated and disappointed about what could have been. I'm not kidding when I say I'm happy for you who love the way this series is going. To the rest of us...well it is what it is. The blurb on this book says, "the Last Battle has started", well, not so you'll notice. I do plan to get the last volume from the library when it's published, I want to see how it "comes out". But, I think I'll always mourn what this series might have been.

Might have been, could have been, the old refrain.