My Review of The Gathering Storm: Chapters 41-50 & Epilogue
By Angela Roberts
OK! The fifth and final installment of my review of The Gathering Storm is here! It has been quite a ride and quite some time, but I finally finished the book not long ago. As I said in my first review, I’ll talk briefly about these final chapters and then try to sum up my feelings about the book as a whole. So, let’s get started!
First thing I could possibly say is that the ending is fantastic! It was dramatic, it was moving, and it worked. I liked how more than one thread was tied up in these final chapters and yet some were still left open for the next books. Not only that, but we weren’t left with a pervasive feeling of gloom like it actually looked like we would be. The characters are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether or not that means that the next book will challenge them in new and more devastating ways is unknown, but for now, there’s a little hope.
Some major events happened in these ten chapters, and thankfully they were not all in a manner that was too predictable. It was unfortunate that the Seanchan invasion was only given one more chapter, but it was a long one. In any case, the later developments with Egwene’s plotline more than made up for it. Rand’s descent into madness and awakening were given equal weight with Egwene’s ascension, which was wonderful, although it perhaps gave the novel two endings, which was worrisome, so it was nice how the author managed to tie those endings together with the epilogue. It’s too bad that Egwene couldn’t see Rand as the source of the light on Dragonmount (although who knows what she would have done). Two particular high points: the Ajah heads’ machinations, and Cadsuane’s plot. Both were well-written, and both will have interesting consequences, hopefully, for the next novel. I loved that Egwene chooses Silviana as her Keeper; it was a great move sure to engender some great drama as her storyline progresses. Cadsuane’s misguided attempts to manipulate Rand are brilliant, and it’s great how the author has her fulfilling her prophesied role in a manner that neither she nor Rand think it was supposed to happen. She may have gotten him to a point where he learns the great life lesson that he’s supposed to learn, but it’s only by the utter failure of her plans that this is accomplished. Brilliant!
Now, the novel. Whatever I might say in criticism, I liked the novel. It may not have held my attention strongly all the way through, but it was enjoyable. And it left me wanting more, which any novel should. That said, there were items that could have been improved, and structural elements that were either disappointing or irritating. First point: The novel was clearly centered on two plotlines; Rand’s madness, and Egwene’s ascension. Everything else in the novel was digression or “updates”. Or it was straight exposition. Structurally, the novel spent far too much time on getting started, then rushed through the climax. You can tell that the novel was divided after the fact. Once the decision had been made to divide up the novel, the editors and Sanderson should have gone through the text and cut it to make it a more balanced book. A considerable amount of time is spent on establishing the ominous mood of the novel when less would have made it less annoying. You could probably build a drinking game based on the amount of times someone says that there’s a storm coming. Some characters, like Rodel Ituralde, are given considerable weight, only to vanish for the rest of the novel. Some plots are tied up rather quickly; two of the Forsaken get eliminated in this book, one in an appropriately dramatic way, the other offstage. Offstage. It says something about the number of loose threads in this series when one of the saga’s major villains is dealt with in less than a chapter as just one of a long list of events to load up on the main character’s back. Quite a bit is done offstage, either to purposely hide information from the reader or just to speed up the climax.
In any case, one can only hope that these problems get fixed in the next part of the trilogy. It’s been fun working on these reviews. Thank you for reading!