A MEMORY OF LIGHT – a spoiler-filled review
This review is absolutely filled with spoilers, because otherwise there’s really no way to talk about the book. And as the final book in a 14-volume series, every single thing that happens practically spoils something else that happened previously.
So. Seriously. If you want to read THE WHEEL OF TIME from beginning to end unspoiled, stop reading this review right now. Go read one of my free ebooks.
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A MEMORY OF LIGHT was definitely the climatic ending such a huge series needed. Seriously, I think the last third of the book was a 250 page long battle scene – the Last Battle, indeed. I’ve written before about how a story absolutely must have an ending that provides emotional resolution, an ending that does not leave the reader feeling cheated, and Jordan and Sanderson delivered that in spades.
It was a satisfying conclusion to the series, and I was happy with the ending. Here are some of the parts I thought provided some of the more satisfying emotional resolutions.
Perrin at last letting himself go and settling with Slayer, and defeating Slayer while simultaneously in human and wolf form.
Demandred, for a character who remained absent for most of the series, proved a satisfying villain by converting the entire Sharan nation to the worship of the Dark One, mowing down both of the Trakand brothers, slapping around Mazrim Taim like an uppity child, and almost killing Logain. Which made his defeat at the hands of Lan all the more awesome, especially since it was a callback to Lan telling Rand about “sheathing the sword” at the beginning of the series.
If there was ever a normal human who could defeat one of the Forsaken, it was indeed Lan.
Nynaeve using her conventional healing skills – so often derided by the Aes Sedai – to keep Alanna alive long enough to release her bond with Rand.
Mat Cauthon taking command of the armies of Light after the great captains are subverted, and outwitting Demandred himself on multiple occasions.
Logain saving the children – “the Black Tower protects” – and Androl and Pevara saving the day on multiple occasions made for a satisfying conclusion to the Black Tower arc. The giant lava hose was pretty cool, too. The Black Tower protects, indeed.
Olver blowing the Horn of Valere to summon the dead heroes to the Last Battle – which also simultaneously included Birgitte and Elayne settling with the Darkfriend Mellar. That was a brilliant twist, since everyone expected Mat to blow the Horn for the Last Battle.
Egwene’s final duel with Mazrim Taim, and her creation of the Flame of Tar Valon to counter Taim’s balefire.
Mat & Perrin defeating Fain outside the entrance to Shayol Ghul.
The final fates of each of the surviving Forsaken were pretty apropos, too.
And that fact that Callandor proved not to be a trap for Rand but for the Dark One, who then got resealed his his prison with his own power.
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In the end, would I say this massive 14 book series was worth it? If you were a new reader, would I say the Wheel of Time is worth your time?
Yes. It was a satisfying story from beginning to end, and while it was of course not perfect, nothing is. And, more, it was an epic fantasy that actually ends. Ending an epic fantasy satisfactorily is really, really hard to do. Stephen King tried and failed pretty badly with his DARK TOWER series, and George R.R. Martin’s SONG OF ICE AND FIRE will probably be finished by a ghost screenwriter at HBO.
So, in the end, the Wheel of Time was quite an achievement, and now that the story is complete, I would indeed recommend it.
-JM