The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

There may be an embargo on reviews of The Gathering Storm, the 12th volume of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, but that hasn’t stopped a few approved (read: glowingly positive, written by people close to Tor/Jordan) reviews and general impressions from popping up around the web.

Though I haven’t read far enough in the series to read The Gathering Storm, nor does it seem like I’ll receive a review copy (I guess I’m not part of the ‘hip’ crowd?), I’m still closely following the release with a fair bit of anticipation. Hey, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype! To that end, I thought it would be fun to gather together some of those early impressions here, for you guys to whet your appetite with!

Of course, I’ll stay far away from spoilers, though those are floating around the web as well, if you’re google-savvy enough.

The first reviews to break came from camps closely associated with Tor, and also holding a clear bias towards the novel succeeding. Still, these guys are mega-fans of the series, so while it’s always prudent to take what they say with a grain of salt (one of them is known for fellating Crossroads of Twilight, almost unanimously known to be the worst volume of the series, in an early review several years ago), it’s still worth seeing the novel through the eyes of the average fanboy, rather than the jaded eyes of Internet pundits.
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