Book #20 - The Gathering Storm

And now... my last book for 2009.

20. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

When I began to read The Gathering Storm, I was hopeful and excited, but I had some anxieties in the back of my mind.  Was it going to be any good at all?  Was the plot actually going to start to move toward a conclusion?  Was the new author going to be good to the characters I love like they're family?

Having finished, I now know that the answers are: Yes, yes, and yes.

( lj-cut for a whole ton of spoilers, including a question that has been puzzling the WoT fandom for going on a decade. (No, it's not Who killed Asmodean? Calm yourselves.)  )

 

Needless to say, I enjoyed this book immensely.  It makes me feel good about sticking with the series, and I feel like a lot of the various threads of the plot are starting to pay off and come back together.  I can't wait for Towers of Midnight now, (ridiculously ominous name notwithstanding) which is supposed to be coming out in late 2010.