[Werthead]

Aptorian, on May 3 2009, 06:58 PM, said:

I prefer the ones with the plain backgrounds and just different colored wheel symbol on them...Not that I think I'll ever get around to reading more of them. The 4th was the last stop for me. This series really doesn't deserve to still be so successful in this day and age.

That'll still be the paperback. The hardcover designs are similar, but are differently coloured and have a slightly different background each time (New Spring's was green with a mosaic, whilst KoD was dark emerald with a sort of marble look to it and CoT had red and black clouds of some kind on it).

[End of Disc One]

Werthead, on May 3 2009, 12:20 PM, said:

Now that's more like it:

Hm, it doesn't say A Memory of Light anywhere on there.

[Stradivarius]

isnt that just thus book cover? never seen those types of book covers in the uk.

pity they arnt doing hardback
always like hard back books better some how

[Werthead]

Quote

Hm, it doesn't say A Memory of Light anywhere on there.

At the recent JordanCon the consensus between Tom Doherty, Harriet and Brandon seemed to be that 'A Memory of Light' would no longer appear on the books themselves, though it will be used in some pre-publicity. The idea is that each of the three books will have a separate title, and the title of the final book will be 'A Memory of Light', as RJ intended.

Quote

isnt that just thus book cover? never seen those types of book covers in the uk.

pity they arnt doing hardback
always like hard back books better some how

That's the UK hardback cover. The 'no hardback' thing was apparently an error by the Dutch website that first broke the news a few months back.

[Astra]

Werthead thanks for good news.
Amazon.co.uk is lagging behind.

The Gathering Storm: The Majestic Conclusion to the International Bestselling Wheel of Time Series (Hardcover) by Robert Jordan (Author), Brandon Sanderson (Contributor)

They also have American leather bound edition 40 pounds more expensive than you can pay for the same book on amazon.COM including delivery(the difference is not due to $ vs. £).

[Nether]

Oh sheesh! I gotta wait for 3 years to see the end of the series!? Bugger.

Don't get me wrong, I can see the point in splitting the book in more than one part. Robert Jordan left a huge amount of threads to sow back together, and I bet Sanderson has had lots of trouble doing just that. I was a fan of the series in the beginning, but my enthusiasm has since faded because the series just keeps running on and on and on and on, with no end in sight.

That cover art simply screamed mock-up. Glad that it wasn't the final cover, though knowing the previous covers I'd say where in for another crappy cover on Gathering Storm as well. In the end however I couldn't care less since I only read the books by renting them from the library. I'm not paying a cent for a series that has been needlessly stretched out like this and this way I won't have a cadre of ugly books adorning my bookshelf.

[Yellow]

I get slightly irked by Sanderson taking such a back-seat when it comes to credit for this work. Yeah, it's based very (probably painfully) close on Jordan's outlines, notes and whatnot, but Sanderson has done a lot of work on this. He should not be referred to as "contributor" - the guy just wrote a massive book(s). They should be more equally billed.

[Mushroom]

Why do I think of conservative christians reacting to gay marriage when I see that title..?


Anyways, I gave up at book 9 or 10, the

Spoiler

after they cleansed Saidin on.

I'd probably need to re-read the last book or two to catch up, No intention of of doing so really.

[Illuyankas]

You can skip 10 completely (what happens?

Spoiler

People react to the cleansing from 9 and Egwene gets captured by the White Tower AND THAT IS IT FOR THE WHOLE BOOK

) but 11 actually ends plot threads and contains events which you might like, so try that one at least.

[Abyss]

Y'know, its always possible that Sanderson absolutely NAILS it and we get three awesome books. I mean, by all indications he's a good author and it's not like RJ was exactly churning out consistently Malazan-level goodness towards the end there. It's pure speculation on my part but it seemed that the only reason his last book was so well received was because it was a quantum improvement over the previous three or so.

I'm saddened that RJ didn't get to finish his life's work, so to speak, but whatever the background, this could (we will hope) turn into an awesome finish for a series that has been both amazing and just plain dire.


- Abyss, awaits.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 07 May 2009 - 05:57 PM

[Wry]

I agree, and i'm cautiously optimistic about the last three.

I mean if you asked me what the series needed while i was lost in a thousand pages of dress descriptions, well i'd say a fresh perspective- someone with a bit of passion. That may be what we got.


Fingers crossed

This post has been edited by Wry: 07 May 2009 - 09:01 PM

[masan's saddle]

I read the series from start to finish in one hit after picking up all the books in second hand bookshops and charity shops. The underlying feeling I got was, barring the the odd decent moment, the series deteriorated rapidly after books 5/6. Ok this may have been due to overfamiliarity/burnout, but ( Ithink it was Lord of Chaos) if I had to read about " pulling braids " or " Staring Aes Sedai Eyes " one more time I would have screamed. I persevered like most people and look forward to Sanderson's efforts, hoping he can add something new whilst essentially not diluting the backstory too much.

Saying that though, i'm not getting thrilled by the prospect of a reread

[Macros]

Any bets on whether tugging of braids, crossing of arms below breasts and admiring of well turned calves are maintained as womanly behavior patterns?

[Use Of Weapons]

I hope BS does at least one sniff, crossing of arms under breasts, Aes Sedai obsession with corporal punishment, bath, dress description, and depiction of how the men don't understand the women and vice versa, per book! If I had my way, you wouldn't be able to turn around in the last three books for people sniffing or elbows. The Dark One would unleash Tarmon Gai'don, and the response of Rand would be a huge sniff, starting a nosebleed which fulfils the prophecy of 'his blood on the rocks', blowing the Dark One back into the Bore and sealing it with phlegm!

Or not. But seriously, some of those character tics need to be there to make the books _feel_ like the Wheel of Time.

[Mezla PigDog]

I hope Sanderson doesn't do an amazing job. I stopped at Book 7 or 8 and if I hear it has got interesting, I might have to start again!!

[Grimjust Bearegular]

I'm crossing my fingers as well!


Go, Sanderson, go!

[Obdigore]

Question, since Terez is gone and there won't be angry posts about how I should remember it but (spoilers for the last currently written book)

Spoiler

Dosen't almost nothing happen, except now everyone is saying 'Taiman Gaidon is right around the corner' instead of 'yea its going to come sometime'? I know Rand suddenly has super gate-killing-powers... black tower is splintering, white tower is split... nothing new about the... Seanchan? I think thats right. Am I forgetting something?

[Slum]

Obdigore, on May 8 2009, 10:09 AM, said:

Question, since Terez is gone and there won't be angry posts about how I should remember it but (spoilers for the last currently written book)

Spoiler

Dosen't almost nothing happen, except now everyone is saying 'Taiman Gaidon is right around the corner' instead of 'yea its going to come sometime'? I know Rand suddenly has super gate-killing-powers... black tower is splintering, white tower is split... nothing new about the... Seanchan? I think thats right. Am I forgetting something?

All is remember is

Spoiler

Rand loses his hand in a fight with one of the forsaken

It's like a steel trap, my brain.

[Werthead]

Obdigore, on May 8 2009, 03:09 PM, said:

Question, since Terez is gone and there won't be angry posts about how I should remember it but (spoilers for the last currently written book)

Spoiler

Dosen't almost nothing happen, except now everyone is saying 'Taiman Gaidon is right around the corner' instead of 'yea its going to come sometime'? I know Rand suddenly has super gate-killing-powers... black tower is splintering, white tower is split... nothing new about the... Seanchan? I think thats right. Am I forgetting something?

In KoD? A fair bit happens.

Spoiler

Semirhage wipes out the Imperial Family and devastates Seandar, throwing the Empire into civil war and cutting off the Westlands from Seanchan reinforcements for the Last Battle.
Rand al'Thor learns a bunch of new ultra-powerful new One Power tricks from Lews Therin and gets his hand blown off by Semirhage (who is captured by Cadsuane). He also finds out that some of the people from his academy in Cairhien have just invented the internal combustion engine. Sweet.
The Ogier are actually space aliens. Okay, maybe not, but they're from a Portal Stone world and emigrated to Earth via something called the Book of Translation. Now the Last Battle is coming so they want to leg it, but Loial wants them to stay and fight. He goes off to the Great Stump to give a rousing speech.
Mat is reunited with the Band of the Red Hand and they destroy a Seanchan army. Tuon returns to Ebou Dar, takes charge of the Seanchan forces in the Westlands and has Suroth demoted to slave status.
Mat receives a message from Moiraine that she is alive but being held prisoner by the Aelfinn and Eelfinn in the Tower of Geshundheit. He, Thom, Noal and probably Olver decide to forge an elite commando force and go rescue her, after a brief pause for Mat to invent the cannon.
Perrin finally rescues Faile after like three books whinging about her. Holy crap that was lame. He also kills Aram in the face when the latter 'unexpectedly' goes mental and attacks him, even though it was foreshadowed at least seven books ago.
The Shaido Aiel realise they've been doing nothing except to sit around and unnecessarily complicate the storyline for six books, so they do the honourable thing and sod off back to the Waste and out of the story.
Elayne spends most of the book whinging about being in charge and whinging about being pregnant. She defeats the forces besieging Caemlyn and finally becomes Queen, only for one of her supporters to tell her she's an incompetent moron, which was frankly awesome and about ten books overdue.
Egwene sets out to subvert the White Tower from inside but is disappointed at how easy it is, since Elaida's incompetence has turned the Tower against her already.
The Seanchan are quite blatantly about to attack Tar Valon, but it's unclear exactly how.
The armies of Arad Doman, without any outside help, draw the Seanchan army in Tarabon into a trap and destroy them. General Ituralde does this by getting sniper crossbowmen and archers to murder the damane with the army before they can do anything, and this works well. This makes Ituralde a better general than Rand in the space of about three pages. Impressive.
Rand's armies then converge in Arad Doman, ready to either destroy the Seanchan once and for all or to march on Tarwin's Gap for the Last Battle.
Lan raises the banner of Malkier and begins gathering forces from across the Borderlands to ride to Tarwin's Gap. Nynaeve helps him out a bit.
The rebel Aes Sedai discover that Halima is one of the Forsaken in disguise, but she manages to escape from them.
The Asha'man agree to bond Red Ajah sisters for the Last Battle and the book ends with Mazrim Taim laughing maniacally.

[Illuyankas]

@Wert: You missed out

Spoiler

Tuon finally becoming the Seanchan Empress and finishing the marriage ritual thing with Mat, making him the second-in-command of the entire remaining Seanchan force.

Oh, and Galad's the head of the Whitecloaks now.

This post has been edited by Illuyankas: 08 May 2009 - 04:12 PM