a memory of light

It is now over: I have finished reading the last volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light. When considering that I started reading the first volume in Ithaca in the summer of 1990, while visiting George Casella, there is something momentous (and bittersweet) in reading the last page and acknowledging it is now over. For good. As many other WoT fans, I grew attached toJ some of the characters, despite the repetitions, the often immature psychology, and attitudes that varied from one volume to the next… It is thus a wee sad to see them vanish with the last page (or, worse, die within the last volume for three of them). Even though 14 volumes plus a prequel is more than enough. Of course, this feeling is nothing compared with what the second author, Brandon Sanderson, must feel! As he mentions on his blog, he had read the very final scene in 2007, soon after Robert Jordan’s death, when he was asked to complete the series…

I will not get into details about this last volume as I do not want to post spoilers. And because Leigh Butler did a much better job! (Warning: many many spoilers!) Let me mention however that the book stands to the previous volumes written by Sanderson, at the very least, and certainly above some of the weakest volumes written by Jordan. The battle that occupies a large part of the book has enough shifts and surprises to make it bearable, even though there are too many “happy endings” in my taste. Including the very final scene. Maybe not so surprisingly the two major characters in this volume are Perrin and Matt (thanks to the nice trick about the great captains). They have certainly grown in stature and depth from the first volume, even though they are not free from the occasional relapse. The roles of Rand, Nynaeve and Moiraine are somewhat anticlimactic as they seem to be doing nothing! (Of course, they only seem!) The forces facing each other sound very disproportionate and it is hard to understand why the dark side does not make use of those superior forces from the beginning. (The same question applies to the whole series, somehow!) I must also acknowledge being a bit disappointed by the (homely) final chapter. (Nothing terrible like the very final chapter of Harry Potter of course!) I can understand Jordan’s motivations in writing it and it somehow makes sense. Still, not the ending I would have liked to read for this superlative epic! Nonetheless, I think Sanderson did a magnificent job in merging the notes of Robert Jordan into a coherent and enjoyable ending. That it took three rather than one volume is more a testimony to the complexity of the universe Jordan created than a nuisance (now that the series is over!). May he always find water and shade!