The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars 
I was tempted to give this one 5 stars, but there were still a few things that held me back. I think I was most excited to finally get closure on most of the annoying side plots that just seemed to drag on needlessly, and to see some positive movement in the main plotlines.  

The parts that kept this from being a 5 for me were most anything dealing with Rand. His character has just been getting frustratingly darker and darker, leaving you feeling pretty hopeless and depressed. They did finally move toward redemption for his character, but it remains to be seen where they go from there.  

Mat's story arc seemed unnecessary, at best, but we shall see what his next step is and whether the major character reveal (my favorite part of this book) has something do with the reasoning behind that arc. 

As far as Sanderson's style in taking over for Jordan, I think it was a very good choice. It seemed to me that having a new writer helped bring some new life to many of the characters and stories. I actually found myself enjoying certain characters more than I had previously and even laughing out loud at some of the more light-hearted moments.  

All in all, I am very excited to see where the next 2 books go as they move toward the resolution. View all my reviews >>

Blockade

So I haven't been posting much of late, as I'm sure all of my loyal readers (do I have those?) have noticed.  I seem to be struggling with a serious case of writer's block.   I'm not sure why, but every time I sit down to try to write something, I just wind up staring at a blank page, plodding out a couple half-hearted sentences, deleting them and logging off in frustration.  It's not that I don't have any ideas to post about, I just seem utterly unable to communicate them.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with the chaos of having newborn twins with their 3-year-old brothers running rampant about the house...