Few times before has a book been able to delight me and make me cringe at the same time. To be fair, I'm not a fantasy aficionado. My knowledge extends to a couple of series I read when I was a younger. My wife and I completed this entire series in seven months and during this time The Wheel of Time has had some relative highs (Book 1,2, 12) but mostly lows (all the rest). I can honestly say that there are probably a half dozen good scenes (not even chapters) in this entire series. But this is a review of A Memory of LIght, so... When Sanderson took over for the late Jordan, he brought a zeal that had been noticeably absent from a stagnant series. Sandersons prose lifted more mundane characters out of the sludge and made them youthful and vivid. Matt in particular flourished, the author (and character) adopting a pseudo Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn personality that brought his chapters to life. This brings me two one of the major problems that A Memory of Light suffers from. The cast far too large as Jordan wrote it and the chapters that are a joy were few and far between. Instead of giving us more depth, we're treated to pov's of people with almost no emotional investment. One of my issues with Jordan's narrative has always been his verbose or grandiose language that never compliments the characters. People are always posturing. Sanderson did away with most of this...until book 14 which is a weighty tome filled with countless characters monologuing about honor and duty. In A Memory of Light, the pages are filled with unnecessary battle information at the expense of development, giving most of the 2nd Act a cold almost nonfiction feel that seems ripped from Wikipedia instead of supporting a narrative. I get the impression that the writer chose to focus on what was more comfortable -detailing battle tactics that are explained ad nauseum- than have a character deal with tragedy in any realistic way. Also, the point-of-views are poorly selected. A scene may have a strong emotional build....and the perspective changes...only to revisit it later...when we no longer care. As with the previous works (12,13,14) some of the strongest writing are those that involve Tam and Rand. Sanderson nails these...but again, you feel his discomfort with the subject matter (or perhaps his desire to move on) and they quickly segue to why cavalry units are sweet. In other instances, readers are told to feel one way when we're shown something completely different. It's an issue with show vs tell. For example, with the exception of a few scenes (throughout the entire series) I never got the impression that the three friends (Matt, Perrin, Rand) were actually friends. Instead, they are like three people who know each other and are forced on a road trip for years. We were told they were close...but only twice (in this book..and unsurprisingly, two strong scenes) is their shared history actually authentic. Another point is how uneven the story is. The first two acts plod along at the pace of a two legged Bella with almost no emotional development. In the last dozen or so chapters, the writer unloads everything at once...making almost none of it matter since we haven't had time to let any tragedy sink or ferment. There is also the matter of plots that are never explored or even explained. There are far too many to discuss here, but it definitely gives the impression that the author was writing with a deadline or word count in mind and just had to end it. Rushed and sloppy. Still as long as you pretend the epilogue never occurred, book 14 is a better read than most in the series. The five stars is for the series as a whole since I don't want to go back and put reviews in for the whole series. If you're wondering if you should read this I recommend just starting with the first book, "Eye of the World" as that book wraps up nicely and can work for a stand alone read if you don't feel like committing to 14 books up front.I started the audio books just after reading A Memory of Light when it first came out and now, almost two years later I'm done. I am extremely impressed with the quality of the audio books and couldn't be more pleased. It was a wonderful way to enjoy a favorite series again in a new format and to force myself to slow down and really enjoy the journey with these characters I've known since high school.
What do You think about A Memory Of Light (2013)?
Superb ending to a simply brilliant and exquisite series... Glad to have been a part of it
—Sidney
Finally...Took far too long to tell the tale though!
—Alex32men
