Gathering Storm: Wheel of Time #12 [Paperback]

Just finished the book and am anxious for the next. Sanderson has fully taken up the mantle left by Jordan and crafted an masterful addition to this epic series. There are certainly instances where one may notice a different writing style or different nuances used, but that it is to be expected - after all this is a different writer. The most important thing to me, however, was how easily I recognized the continuation of Jordan's finely woven threads of storytelling, and believed to the depths of my soul that the very characters interwoven in them were the very same characters I've learned to love and loathe from the previous volumes. Where Sanderson may differ from Jordan in describing a scene, he has flawlessly adapted Jordan's style of character speech, thought and action. He has even matched the manic pace to the tale that Jordan began ramping up in the previous novel. It is a very smooth transition and Jordan's work has been very well served indeed.

Robert and Brandon worked so well together on this...the writing was seamless and the action was so intense. Just when you thought the prophecies were unshakable...the unthinkable happens! And yet the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, except for those that wrap everyone around them to reform the pattern. The gathering storm has a wonderful internal struggle that comes to a conclusion and forges a new persona beyond anything expected...you have to read this book!

Like many fans of the series I was saddened by the passing of Robert Jordan and the hardship for his family in 2007 and that he himself will never get to finish the story that he spent so much of his life working on. But he said before he died that he wanted the fans to be taken care of and his wife and editor Harriet found fantasy writer and Wheel of Time fan Brandon Sanderson to finish the series last three books.

If I was to pick one word to describe this book it would be 'dark'. Now what I mean by that is alot of not so good things are happening in the world to our characters, particularly Rand. The book focus primary on Rand trying to unit the world for the Last Battle and Egwene trying to unit the White Tower with chapters on some of the other plots here and there. The gloom and doom factors of the Dark One touch on the world are ever more apparent and there's a sense of urgency in all characters that they need to hurry up and prepare for what is coming.
All in all the book one of my favorites in the series and finishes with a powerful and moving scene that is one of the best in the series that leaves you salivating for the next installment.

As for the methodology of Sanderson's writing in the book, I felt he got the voices and mindsets of the charters for the most part. I didn't find myself reading the chapters thinking 'oh this part was definitely written by Sanderson' or 'that isn't something that this character would say', I simple got caught up in the story and enjoyed reading it. This might be different if you have read books by both authors, but for me the change was rather seamless. The one exception I might make to this is Mat's chapters. Now I really enjoyed reading his parts, and it may be because Mat was being used as comic relief in an otherwise dark book or because Sanderson is a big Mat fan but his chapters just seemed a little off. It didn't really take away from enjoying the book however, and that's the really important thing.

Sanderson did a A+ job in the very difficult task of adapting his writing style to Robert Jordan's and I'm look forward to reading Towers of Midnight when it's released in fall 2010.