“The Towers of Midnight” – Nothing More Than Fan-Fic?

As some of you may know, I have taken a hiatus from writing so that I can spend all of my extra time finishing the Wheel of Time series. My wife and I obtained the 14th (and last) book, “A Memory of Light” last month and I had stopped reading the series midway through book 7 last year. I had a lot of catching up to do.

Yesterday, I finished reading “The Towers of Midnight,” the 13th book and, while I was excited to know that the end is in sight, I find myself kind of shrugging my shoulders and saying, “Meh.” That excitement has dimmed significantly and I blame Brandon Sanderson.

When Robert Jordan died in 2007, leaving the Wheel of Time unfinished, it was reported that he only had one more book to go to finish the series. That would have made it 12 books long (twice as many as was originally planned – yes friends, Wheel of Time was a planned 6 book series). Jordan’s widow hand-picked Sanderson, an unknown author, to write the last book.

In an introduction to book 12, “The Gathering Storm,” Sanderson states that he has been a long-time fan of the series and that he wasn’t planning on copying Jordan’s style in writing the remaining books (yes, books. Sanderson felt that the series needed to be extended an extra 2 books), but would write his own way, sticking to the atmosphere of the originals – and he does – sort of.

However, after reading “Towers,” I feel that it has become nothing more than poorly edited fan-fic and I almost don’t want to read the final volume. The characters have become flat two-dimensional versions of themselves, almost caricatures. The linear story-telling of Jordan has been thrown out the window in favor of some kind of poorly paced, jump around the world, forward and backward through a week of time format. There are so many scenes that are unnecessary and could have been cut from the final draft. The book is riddled with proofing and continuity errors.

“Towers” is 850 pages of unnecessary fluff. Looking back at “Storm,” I really think that with some hard editing, the two books could have been combined into one, and probably would have if Jordan wrote it. There are a few key moments in “Towers” that had to happen, but everything else could have been slashed. Repeated scenes of Lan gathering followers as he travels the Borderlands, Perrin’s training in the World of Dreams and Rodel Ituralde defending Maradon are a few examples of things that could have been streamlined or cut completely.

Granted, Jordan created a world with hundreds of named characters and was able to juggle them very well. His books stick with a group of characters for a number of chapters, leave the reader with a cliffhanger and then move to another group. In “Towers,” Sanderson changes between characters every chapter, most changing characters within chapters. It makes for a jaggedly paced book that doesn’t allow the reader to maintain a connection the the characters. I suppose an argument can made that by the time you’re at book 13 you already have a connection, but wouldn’t you want to maintain it? It doesn’t make sense to me.

Perrin forging Mah’alleinir, a key moment that needs to be there.

This pacing could have one thing good going for it, but Sanderson didn’t follow through. By changing between characters so quickly, he had an opportunity to create some great tension, but he blew it by setting the scenes with Rand al’Thor about a week ahead of all the others. The ta’veren nature of the three main characters, Rand, Mat and Perrin, has developed into them having the ability to know where the others guys are and what they’re doing. Finding out 200 plus pages ahead of time that Mat will be in Caemlyn and that Perrin will be meeting up with Whitecloaks destroyed any tension that could have been created and I found myself waiting for those things to happen. I don’t know if this was an oversight or a poor attempt at foreshadowing, but either way, it was a mistake.

Last, proofreading. I don’t think I’ve read a book with so many typos, missing words or just wrong words. The one that bothered me the most was constantly referring to Rand’s “hands.” He lost his left hand two books ago. He no longer has “hands.” I swear, if “Memory” mentions Mat’s “eyes” even once, I’m gonna scream.

Overall, I think Sanderson was a poor choice to finish these books. He was an unproven author at the time (writing 13 unpublished books doesn’t count). I have read other books by him, and the only ones that I liked were the Mistborn books. All of his other books I can rip apart with ease. I almost want to go back and read Mistborn again, just to see if maybe I was blinded by the unique magic system he invented for it, but for now I think I’ll just leave it alone.

I feel that “Towers of Midnight” is the worst book in the Wheel of Time series so far, especially since it had so much potential to be great. “Memory of Light,” the final volume, is calling to me, and at this point I’m only going to read so that I can say, “I read the whole series.”

Jordan wasn’t a perfect writer and I had problems with some of his books in this series, but Sanderson has killed Wheel of Time for me. I shall look back at the first 11 volumes with fondness, for they entertained me greatly, but the final three books have made me say, “Wait a minute,” far too often and that’s a bad thing for a reader to say.

Another Brilliant* Idea

*probably not, but too bad

So, I was thinking the other day. A dangerous past-time, to be sure, but one that occasionally produces positive results. I was thinking about all the skills that go into writing and the things a writer can do in order to remain “in practice.”

I came to the conclusion that not only must a writer be good at writing, one must also be good at drinking.

Wait.

No.

One must also be good at reading.

That’s it!

I shall now prove that I am a good reader with pictorial evidence. (I’ll probably also prove something about my personality as well, see if you can figure it out.)

The Tolkien shelf and under it, CD cases with old copies of Dungeon Magazine.

The Sci-Fi shelf on top and 3rd Edition D&D books on the bottom. Note, many of my shelves have books stacked two rows deep.

History and fantasy hardcovers.

Witchcraft, Stephen King, Harry Potter and religion.

Kind of a “catch-all” over here. Over-sized on top, literature type stuff in the middle and mostly Anne Rice and Dean Koontz on the bottom.

Fantasy paperbacks on the top stacked two deep, some of my wargames in the middle and the bottom is the Wheel of Time shelf. Note the space at the end reserved for the last book.

The “I don’t know where to put these and I don’t really care” book shelf, neatly stuffed into a corner so I can’t reach it. The bottom shelf is all Star Wars novels.

Some more of my fantasy paperbacks that don’t really hold a special place in my heart, college textbooks and books that were required reading for a few college courses.

Top to bottom: Reference, Terry Brooks, hard to classify hard covers, and 1st Edition Advanced D&D and sheet music.

And last, another “catch-all” book shelf but mostly Reader’s Digest compilations.

So, evidence that I read (or at the very least, own a lot of books.) I also have about 70 books on my Kindle, but that’s harder to show. Over the years, I have either lost, loaned out, donated or sold a number of books. I estimate that if I had all of those still with me, there might have been five more pictures in this post.

What are you drinking?

All you have are 26 letters and 12 notes.

The other day I was trying to read while listening to JS Bach’s Cello Suites. I say “trying” because the music kept grabbing my attention. Eventually, I closed the book and my eyes, letting the sounds of the cello drift me away.

Usually, closing my eyes while classical music is playing lulls me to sleep, but this day, my mind wandered and I began thinking about why I enjoy doing what I do – reading and writing & playing and listening to music. The answer was so simple, that I have to share.

Music and writing are comprised of simple building blocks.

26 letters and 12 notes.

And look at what those simple blocks have wrought! Everything from the complexity of a Mozart Symphony to simple punk of The Ramones and the heaviness of James Joyce to the children’s stories of Maurice Sendak and everything in between.

I find it amazing that stringing letters together form words, which form sentences, which form paragraphs, which form chapters, which form books. Or song lyrics, poetry, essays, memoirs, novels, short stories, plays – and all the different forms they can take.

12 notes of music can be combined in so many different ways (we’re talking Western music here) – stringing them together one note at a time, or piling one on top of the other to form chords, played at different speeds, different instruments playing different things but combining into a whole. And it gives us music of all different feelings – jazz, blues, rock, reggae, dance, hip-hop, classical.

Human history is full of creative people who have taken these 26 letters and 12 notes and done amazing things with them. Some of them have used those blocks to create something so new, it has never been seen or heard before. Others have taken old ideas and breathed new life into them, creating something that seems new, but it enjoyable just the same.

Think of these blocks as you read the words of Hemingway, Shakespeare or Tolkien – or when you listen to Beethoven, Muddy Waters or Queen. They are using the same simple tools that are available to you.

What will you do with them?

The Dragon Reborn – The Wheel of Time Book 3

There are no beginnings or endings to the Wheel of Time…

The book cover sans text

In the third book of The Wheel of Time, the you-know-what really hits the fan. Despite that, I find it to be one of my least favorite books of the series. I feel that it’s full of some serious flaws. Before I get to those, though, let’s discuss what makes it good. Be warned, there will be spoilers if you haven’t read these books.

Since the end of the first book, we know that Rand al’Thor is the Dragon Reborn. It is not until the end of the third book however, that Rand finally admits it to himself. He is scared, and rightfully so, about what being the Dragon means. It is said that he will break the world with his coming, but he must come and survive to face the Dark One in the Last Battle. Most everyone wants him dead – good and bad guys alike. This book is important to the series because Rand fulfills the first big prophecy – taking Callandor, the Sword That Is Not A Sword, the Sword That Cannot Be Touched. Only the Dragon can take the Sword from the fortress called the Stone of Tear (yes, there are strong comparisons to be made with the Sword in the Stone of Arthurian legend).

These guys will Mess. You. Up.

This book also gives us our first real good look at the Aiel, the “savages” who live beyond the Spine of the World in the Aiel Waste. Only hinted at in the first two books, the Aiel are painted as a people to be feared, almost borderline evil. By the end of the third book, the Aiel have been introduced and a few things are learned about them and their culture.

The Aiel are fierce warriors and if they don their black veils, they intend to kill and you stand little chance of surviving. The Aiel aren’t evil, just mislabeled and misunderstood by almost all who live in the “Wetlands,” as the Aiel call the lands to the east of the Spine of the World. I think like most readers of this series, the Aiel are my favorite characters and I’ll talk about them in greater detail when I review the next book, “The Shadow Rising,” where we learn so much more about them.

Another new aspect introduced in this book is that Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are shown to be capable of learning how to do things with the One Power thought lost to memory and the ages. Being able to channel multiple threads at once and being able to “tie” them so that the effects last. Egwene is also shown to be a Dreamer, someone who can enter the World of Dreams unaided. The World of Dreams plays an important part in the series. Perrin can also enter the World of Dreams at will through his affinity with wolves, who say that part of them live there all the time.

Now, the things I don’t like about this book. First, despite the title and the fact the Rand fulfills an important prophecy, he is hardly in the the book at all. Only a couple of chapters are devoted to him. The rest of the book splits it’s time three ways – the group of Perrin, Loial, Moraine and Lan (later adding Faile/Zarine), the group of Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve, and the group of Mat and Thom. Jordan uses all this time away from Rand to explore these characters in greater depth. We learn about Mat and how the Pattern is affecting his luck (in most cases for the good), we learn how the girls are growing as potential Aes Sedai and poor Perrin has so many conflicts dropped on his shoulders – from struggling with his ability to talk to wolves, struggling with whether he wants to wield an axe or be a blacksmith to his not understanding his feelings towards Faile – that we can do nothing but feel sorry for the guy. I think spending so much time away from Rand takes away from the importance of his acceptance at the end of the book, though.

Another thing that bothers me is that Jordan begins to overuse phrases and details. Everyone seems to be “knuckling” something, from foreheads to backs to mustaches. I like details in the books that I read and try my best to use detail when I’m writing fiction, but Jordan goes into heavy detail over things that don’t seem to matter – how people are dressed, how the inns the characters stay at are laid out, what food they’re eating (though not near as bad as George Martin in the Song of Ice and Fire books) and even what the villages and towns look like. Jordan gets detail heavy at times and for me, it bogs down the narrative. In some cases, it feels as if he’s bashing details on my head – “I get it! Tear is muddy! Quit telling me all about it!” It’s almost as if he doesn’t trust his readers to remember things. Give us more credit, please.

The last thing that really bothers me is an event that seems to have been added as an after thought. There is one short scene of a chapter in which Mat meets and saves the life of Aludra, the ex-Illuminator. As a reward, she gives him a bunch of fireworks. Mat later uses those fireworks to blast a hole in the side of the Stone of Tear, giving him access to the fortress. This is the only instance of Aludra being in the book – I almost think that Jordan wrote Mat getting to the Stone and couldn’t think of a way to get him inside. There are a few times that the fireworks are mentioned between the time Mat acquires them and then sets them off, but it seems forced. Aludra returns much later in the series and plays a much more significant role.

The full chapter near the end of the book when Rand finally takes Callandor is confusing and a bit hard to follow. I kind of like it because it gives the reader a good sense of what Rand is going through because even he is confused and doesn’t know what he’s doing. Unlike Egwene and the other women, there is no one to teach Rand how to use the One Power because it works differently for men and women. For thousands of years, the female Aes Sedai have caught and “gentled” any man they could find who could channel, hoping the the Dragon would never be reborn. Rand, the Dragon, the man who must save the world, is totally on his own in this regard. (For now – more on that in later books).

Back when I first announced my re-read of this series, I reckoned I would need to average 40 pages a day in order to finish all 13 books before the last book is released in January. I’m happy to say that I am currently averaging 49.7 pages a day. That gives me some room to play and maybe spend some more time writing my own book - and reading book four of course.

The Great Hunt – Wheel of Time Book Two

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having just finished the second book in the Wheel of Time series, it’s easy to see that it was written on the heels of the first book. Jordan nearly finished the draft of book two as book one was being put to the presses. The remaining books took longer to write and certain inconsistencies began to creep into the narrative.

The characters have remained consistent throughout both volumes, in personality and motivations (if I recall, that changes as the series goes on). New characters have been introduced as well as a new power – the Seanchan.

In all, The Great Hunt is a good follow up to The Eye of the World, moving the plot along at a nice pace and setting up the story for what is to come.

View all my reviews

This very short review was taken from my Goodreads review page. On to book three, “The Dragon Reborn!”

The Eye of the World – Wheel of Time Book One

You may remember my announcement that I am going to read the entire Wheel of Time series before the release of book #14 this coming January. Well, I just finished book one, “The Eye of the World” fifteen minutes ago and in my announcement post I had figured I  would need to read on average 40 pages a day in order to finish all 13 books in time. It took me 19 days to read 670 pages – which is an average of just over 35 pages a day. Not too bad, but I could do better.

What I find interesting about this first book is that everything about the main characters is laid out. We know who Rand, Perrin and Mat are all destined to be. Egwene is told she has to capacity to be one of the most powerful Aes Sedai ever. The relationship between Nynaeve and Lan is set forth as the tragic thing that it is. It’s all there.

Robert Jordan has created a world with a history and cultures that almost seem like we should know them personally. He has taken myths and legends we are familiar with and turned them around, twisted them a bit and made them something new while still being recognizable to us. The story of “Artur Hawkwing Paendrag” is similar enough to the King Arthur that we can say, “Oh yeah. I get it.” The book is even riddled with one liners that a discerning eye can find, if you pay attention. On page 43, Egwene asks the gleeman to tell the story of “Lenn, and how he flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire.” Could that be a reference to John Glenn and the Eagle spacecraft that landed on the moon? I know John Glenn never went to the moon, but that’s how Jordan does it – taking bits and pieces and re-forging them into something new.

Attack at the Al’thor farm.

As in all fantasy stories and epic myths from our past, the hero (we find out at the end it is Rand Al’thor) undertakes a quest against all odds. Strangely, we don’t even know what the quest is until close to the end of the book. When the backwater village of Emond’s Field is attacked by Trollocs, Rand and his cohorts go on the run and are running for most of the book, unaware why the forces of evil want them. The one character who might have a clue, Moraine Sedai, frequently says, “The Dark One wants you. I work against the Dark One.” She even admits at one point that she isn’t even sure what is going on.

The group is separated into three smaller groups and it is at this time that things start to take shape and secrets are kept. Rand wields the One Power for the first time, dangerous for men to do because the Dark One tainted the male half of the true source and continued use guarantees that Rand will eventually go insane. Mat becomes ever more bound to the dagger of Shadar Logoth, an evil almost as vile as the Dark One and he also begins to show a stronger ability to channel the knowledge of the long lost kingdom of Manetheren. Perrin becomes a Wolfbrother, able to talk to wolves and begins to question whether he should live a  life of violence or a life of peace. These personal conflicts stays with them throughout the entire series and it is many books later that these conflicts come out in the open.

Among the ruins of Shadar Logoth

The book is 670 pages but it goes fast. Jordan has a conversational style that allows fast reading. The pacing is fast as well, moving seemingly from one action scene to the next, but that’s not quite the case. When the group is split, Jordan writes a few chapters for one group, leaves a cliffhanger and then moves to another group. This device gives the illusion of action and fast pacing when in reality, he’s just making us anxious for more – and it works.

“The Wheel of Time” series is far from the best I have ever read. I can name others of better writing and greater substance, “Neveryön” by Samuel R Delany, “Urth of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe and “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” by Stephen R Donaldson, for example. But what keeps me coming back to it is that it’s candy compared to Delany’s, Wolfe’s and Donaldson’s sushi. Who wouldn’t choose Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups over raw fish? Candy is everyday, while sushi is for special occasions.

“The Wheel of Time” is a fun and enjoyable read and I’m going to enjoy my candy while it lasts.

Then, perhaps, I’ll have some sushi.

An Epic Undertaking

January 8, 2013 is the projected date for the publication of the 14th and final book in Robert Jordan‘s Wheel of Time fantasy saga. I own the first thirteen books (though  have only read the first twelve) and have decided to re-read the entire series in preparation for the release of book fourteen.

I’m a bit concerned with time though. It’s 220 days until the new book is published, and all the other books are huge. The shortest (that I own) is 533 pages and the longest is 843. All of my copies have a small font and small margins – the publishers wanted to squeeze as many words per page as possible.

The total page count for the copies I own, which are a mix of standard hardcover, book club hardcover and paperback, comes out to a whopping 8,790 pages (that’s 3,938,495 words!). There’s also a stand alone prequel which clocks in at a short (for Jordan) 334 pages. That brings the total to 9,124 pages (4.06 million words).

So, do I have the time to slug through this epic of modern fantasy in the time allotted? If you do the math, it looks like I just might. If I average 40 pages a day (41.5 if you add in the prequel) I’ll finish book thirteen on January 7, 2013. Just in time for book fourteen.

Wish me luck. I’m confident that I can do it and it’ll be fun for me too! I may even write a few blog posts updating my progress – you never know. You can monitor which book I’m reading with the handy-dandy Goodreads widget in the right side-bar.

Yeah, I know I went kind of picture heavy with this one, but it was a short post. All of the images are from the covers of Wheel of Time ebooks.

Fiction Friday – February 24, 2012

Today’s Fiction Friday doesn’t have it’s own page. I had an idea the other day, wrote it down, liked it – but now I don’t know what to do with it. I need your help.

Please, leave a comment as to where you think the story could go from where I stopped. I don’t usually draw blanks like this, so I’m looking for some direction. Anything will help.

Here we go:

Lightning struck the ancient linden tree yesterday. The scar still smolders, though Eldar Jared tried his best to heal the wound. The people of the village have gone about their usual tasks today, though I can see the fear hidden in the depths of their eyes. That ancient tree, rent asunder during last night’s storm, had stood in the center of the village since it’s founding during my grandfather’s grandfather’s time. It was a totem of good, the protector of the village, the reason we had not yet succumbed to the Southern Darkness.

I can see the fear in their eyes.

The villagers are a hardy group: what else can they do but go about their day? To them it would do no good to hide cowering in root cellars until the Darkness comes. Better to work and await the inevitable that way.

Elder Jared has said the linden has lost it’s glow, that we are doomed and must atone before the end. He sits before the tree now, head bowed in prayer, alone. He could not heal the tree.

A storm approaches from the south. At this time of year, storms come from the west. It is the Darkness, coming to claim the last bastion of an ancient time when the glory of the Fae ruled this land. It comes for the tree.

Dark clouds pour overhead and the rumble of thunder rolls across the surrounding forest. The Southern Darkness comes and we are lost to the silent flash of lightning.

Goodreads Challenge Update

I finished book 3 of 20 for the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. The book I finished was The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch.

Set in the town of Schongau, Bavaria in the spring of 1659, The Hangman’s Daughter tells the tale of a murder mystery. I’m not sure if the title of the book is the same as the original German because the hangman’s daughter, Magdalena Kuisl, is a minor character. [Ed note: It is the same. The original German title is die Henkerstochter] The story centers around the hangman himself, Jakob Kuisl, and the son of the town physician, Simon Fronwieser. These two team up to solve the mystery of who has been murdering some of the local orphan children.

The duo are under pressure of time. Almost immediately after the discovery of the first body, the local midwife is accused of being a witch and the murderer. Kuisl and Fronwieser are convinced of her innocence and proceed to go against the wishes of the town’s burgomasters and attempt to find out the truth.

Other mysteries crop up throughout the course of the investigation making it more difficult for them to solve the murders.

Personally, I found the story to be a bit transparent and was able to figure out the solution well before the end. What makes this book stand out is the detail and how it even came to be.

Pötzsch does a wonderful job with immersing the reader in the day-to-day life of a 17th century German town. He is generous with detail making it very easy for a reader to “see” what he describes.

The most interesting thing for me was learning what a local executioner’s job really was. The hangman was not only responsible for carrying out death sentences, but he also had the unpleasant job of being the local torturer. A deep understanding of medicine was required. Many hangmen knew more about the human body than trained doctors. As such, a hangman also earned side money dispensing herbal remedies for headaches and contraception, healed the sick and mended injuries. A knowledgeable hangman was a busy man, but he was also shunned because of his main job and frequently had to live outside the town walls.

Pötzsch was very close to this book. The author is in fact descended from the hangmen of Schongau. There are many Kuisl’s in his family tree. He was lucky in that a relative of his, Fritz Kuisl, kept extensive genealogical and historical information – enough for Pötzsch to paint an accurate picture for his book.

A short review, I know. I do recommend this novel (for novel it is – Jakob Kuisl and his family are fictional even if the details are not) for those interested in either mysteries or historical books. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars at Goodreads for the details alone.

For my next book, I’m staying in the 17th century with The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco. This book has been on my shelf for a number of years and this will be my first time reading it. I have read three other books by Eco (an Italian mathematician and professor of semiotics), The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum and The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. I have enjoyed all three and expect to enjoy this one.

How can I not when the opening line is:

I am, I believe, alone of all our race, the only man in human memory to have been shipwrecked and cast up upon a deserted ship.

2012 Weekly Recap #4

It was a little slow here at I Can’t Brain this past week so let’s just jump right to it, shall we?

On Monday, I talked a bit about the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge. I was also featured at Rivera Runs Through It with an interview about my first book love.

On Wednesday, I wrote a tribute to my father (he’s still alive and questioning the validity of some of the points I made), crediting him with being my greatest influence in both being a writer and what I’m writing. I can never give him enough thanks.

On Fiction Friday, part 4 of Easy Money went up. Next week is the finale!

Finally, Saturday saw me lamenting having to abandon my scheduled post for that day – postponing it until Monday for various reasons. Lesson learned: I’m not as think as I smart I am.

It’s Sunday morning. By this evening, I’ll be experiencing and audio assault that in my younger days I would have welcomed, but I’m dreading today. I’m taking my oldest boy to Gigantour so he can enjoy the likes of Megadeth and Motorhead. Honestly though, I’m kind of looking forward to hearing Lacuna Coil. I dig the female fronted heavy bands like Evanescence and Flyleaf.

Until next time, Write On!