The Gathering Storm is the twelfth volume in Robert Jordan’s sprawling The Wheel of Time series. Jordan unfortunately and sadly died in 2007, before completing the last chunk of the series, and Brandon Sanderson (author of several excellent but less-well-known fantasy novels) was hired to finish this and the following two books that round off the series based on Jordan's notes, outlines, and completed sections.

In theory, it should have led to disaster: typically one writer finishing a series begun by another is an ill-advised idea that only leads to very bad books. So far as this volume goes, at least, the handover has succeeded. There's a real spark and fire here; if you're a fan of the earlier books, and you haven't gotten completely jaded to the entire The Wheel of Time series by now, you will love this one as well. Promise. Whilst there are a few moments in The Gathering Storm where you think, "I don't think Robert Jordan would have done things quite like that," there's never a moment where you think, "He definitely wouldn't have done that at all!".

This is quite possibly my favourite book in the series. Like many loyal readers. I felt that after book 5 or 6 the story grew too slow and cumbersome; while books 7-10 in particular may not have been action-packed, I enjoyed all of them, and felt they all added something significant to the story. Sure, it got slow at times, and sure, he probably could have trimmed it down. But the hours of reading pleasure they gave me, I wouldn't trade. However, if the series had been slowing, then The Gathering Storm was a sledgehammer between the eyes telling you to wake up. The action is fast paced, the storyline is constantly moving and building, the subplots get resolved, and the main characters develop and grow. The decisions reached are logical and reasonable. There is not a single page in the entire book that does not contribute to the story. All in all, I am pretty thrilled, and hope that the next couple books continue as strongly as this one. ( )

A worthy successor to the previous 11 books in the series with seamless writing between the 2 authors. ( )

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from The Gathering Storm. I like the Wheel of Time series. I like Brandon Sanderson. However, I tend to be somewhat wary of these "posthumous collaborations," because usually they're only a step or two above fanfic (if that).

In the case of The Gathering Storm, mt worries were unfounded. This is a truly excellent continuation of the series. I think it's actually better than some of the middle of the series novels where Jordan let the plot lag a bit too much. The plot doesn't lag here, and Rand's character actually develops.

My only complaint, is a general complaint with the series: there are too damn many major characters. This means that many of the characters from the past who were interesting seem to either be given less time in the novel (Mat doesn't show up until halfway through) or disappear altogether (Elayne for instance doesn't get anything more than a few mentions). Even so, this is a good book.

Truly epic! Mr. Sanderson did an amazing job taking over this series after Mr. Jordan's death. I can't wait for the final two books to see how this fantasic story ends! ( )

Long-awaited - especially as I let Mike read it first - this is the first posthumous instalment of the Wheel of Time, and as a result very exciting. And in fact it turns out to be pretty exciting in content too. Sanderson does a very good job of capturing Jordan's style - if you didn't know you'd hardly notice the hand of another author on the reins. I think this one does well in not trying to tell us what people are doing when they're not doing much: Elayne is noticeably almost entirely absent. Egwene and Rand both play pretty starring roles though. One struggling for the white tower, the other ceasing to struggle to remain human. Rand's parts of the story are very dark in places, but done well. I definitely enjoyed this, but dread to think that there are still two more to come, and probably a year at least to wait between each of them. ( )