Jennifer Liang, Director of Wheel of Time programing for Dragon*Con, Special Projects Manager for Dragonmount.com and the Chair of JordanCon, the only Wheel of Time fan convention, has written a short review of the upcoming Wheel of Time novel, THE GATHERING STORM.

Like Jason Denzel, I was given the opportunity to read The Gathering Storm prior to its release in October. With less than two weeks to go before the official release, I’ve decided to share a few of my impressions.

My first thought when I picked up my copy was “What do I tell Brandon if this sucks?” Luckily, I never needed to come up with an answer to that question. The Gathering Storm is a very, very good book. I hesitate to compare it to the others in the series, because I’m terrible at being objective regarding WoT books. I mean, I like these books enough to dress up like the characters on weekends. I am hardly objective about anything regarding this series. But, I do think this will be considered a strong entry to the series.

Things happen in this book. I know there is a concern among fans that this will feel like part of a book because of the decision to split the material Jordan intended to include in A Memory of Light. But so much happened in this book that I felt completely satisfied as a reader. Key events that have been foreshadowed since the first book of the series finally come to fruition. Some things happen almost exactly the way you might predict they do. Others happen in a completely surprising way. There was more than one reveal that made my jaw drop. Like Jason, I was surprised by how dark Rand’s arc became at points. And several things are set up for the next book. I think anyone who thinks they know exactly how the events of the next few books will play out will be surprised. Pleasantly so, I hope.

The difference in writing styles between Jordan and Sanderson was not jarring to me. Some passages feel more like Brandon, others feel more like Jordan. But, I found myself so caught up in the story and the characters that I didn’t care who wrote what. Brandon has achieved his goal of adapting his style to suit the story. The descriptions are lush and evocative. The attention to detail matches what we’ve come to expect when reading a Wheel of Time novel, without being a parody of Jordan’s style or mannerisms. I also found that this book triggered many emotions. I laughed out loud at several passages, and another had me yelling out loud in shock (much to the consternation of my husband, who was disrupted by my outburst). There was at least one point where I yelled “Stop being such a tool, [NameofCharacter]!” at the book.

While I think everyone will agree, we’d much rather have this story finished by the one who began it, Brandon has written an excellent and engaging novel that is a worthy addition to the series. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.