Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time, #13)

by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

[HekArtemis]

Like The Gathering Storm, I still really like this installment of WoT, it is just so much better than the other books. Or maybe it's more that it's so much less insufferable. The women aren't anywhere near what they were like in the other books. I don't know if it's that all the women in the series suddenly went through massive character growth in between one book and another, or if it's just that Sanderson writes the women better than Jordan did. I suspect the latter, but I might be wrong.

The thing about these last few books is that they can make you suddenly like characters that you couldn't stand throughout the series. Like Galad, he was so ugh through the whole series and thankfully you barely see him in the books - then suddenly, near the end, he grows up a lot and becomes an enjoyable character. Even Faile is less unlikable - not totally likable, but less unlikable at least. And we finally get some meetings and reunions that we've been waiting 10+ books for. Mat with the acorns and badger, for example, was just wonderful. This is not to say that it's all perfect, Egwene gets a bit stupid with her need to argue with Rand. Not that she shouldn't argue with him a little bit I suppose, but it's more her reasons and methods - like most Aes Sedai it seems to come down to the idea that she is Aes Sedai therefore he should obey her. And she just acts like a child about it. So, it's like she went through this great growth arc and then backtracked again. Still, in most cases, the characters are a million times better in this book than in the first 10 or so books.

One more book to go.