A Memory of Light - Review

A Memory of Light (Book 14) is a masterpiece and it’s a fitting conclusion to this epic series. This book was packed with remarkable action, jaw-dropping surprises, emotional moments, several poetic call-backs to previous events throughout the series and an ending that left me speechless. I’ve never read a book with this much action/warfare and never cried more than reading this. The Wheel of Time is a very long series and there are some lower quality books throughout, but it was all worth it just to get to this masterpiece of a book. It was such an amazing experience.

On a side note, Robert Jordan was such a master of foreshadowing but his blessing was also a curse because he set up so many mysteries and questions and waited until the last books to answer them, that it felt impossible to cover them all, but also because he couldn’t answer them all in time because of his unfortunate passing. It’s not Brandon Sanderson’s fault, but I was looking forward to some more answers for the many lingering questions throughout the series and this book didn’t provide them. But that’s was Reddit and other fan sites are for, so a lot of theories and interesting speculation filled in most of the gaps for me. It was still a very satisfying ending overall and Sanderson did an amazing job in wrapping up this series.

This review will contain light spoilers (some general info about the plot but no specific details) and it will be covered in 4 sections: Characters, Plot, Pacing & Final Thoughts/Rating.

Image: Rand, Mat, & Perrin at the Last Battle.


[Characters]:

The main characters of this book are Rand, Egwene, Mat, Perrin, Elayne, and Lan. Rand, Perrin, Mat and Lan were fantastic in this book and I enjoyed all their character arcs. Rand’s character arc from start to finish was excellent and it comes full circle from the start of the series in The Eye of the World. Rand has the most fascinating character arc I’ve ever read in the Fantasy genre so far. Mat and Perrin played huge roles and I enjoyed where both their arcs ultimately ended up as well. This book gave me everything I’ve been wishing for from Lan ever since his amazing backstory in the 1st book of the series. He has the most page time in this book and he has some epic moments. Lan might be my favorite character ever but it’s a toss-up between him, Jon Snow and Jaime Lannister. Elayne was good but I wasn’t a big fan of Egwene and she was especially irritating for the first half of this book when they were planning on the Field of Merrilor. She now thinks way too highly of herself and has become a bit snobby. She had a great role and story in the book but ever since becoming Amyrlin, she hasn’t been that likeable to me. She’s definitely better in the latter half of the book though and she redeems most of her actions/attitude from earlier on in the book.

A lot of the secondary and tertiary characters like Tam, Gawyn, Galad, Min, Siuan, Birgitte, Olver, Androl, and Logain really shined in this book as well. Demandred, Graendal, Slayer, and Moridin were great villains in this book and The Dark One himself was very menacing and his physical appearance was not what I was expecting, but his scenes were awesome nonetheless. My only gripe was that Nynaeve and Moiraine didn’t have much to do in this book. Moiraine is now weak in the power but Nynaeve is one of the strongest characters in the series so she seemed like such a waste in this book and Sanderson definitely could have come up with something better than what her role in this final book was.

The character development and the end of several character’s arcs were written beautifully. I especially loved the central theme of men and women needing to work together in order to win the Last Battle because this world from the beginning of the series had very split divisions based on gender, from the Village Council and Women’s Circle in the Two Rivers, the Wise Ones and Clan Chiefs within the Aiel, and male and female channelers in general. I used to complain about this and I thought it was bad writing at the time but after reading this book, I realized what Robert Jordan was building towards. He created this division on purpose in order to have the alliances at the end of this series become really meaningful, and it’s brilliant. Not just men and women working together, but characters from all different nations, cultures and races putting aside their differences was such a beautiful message because of all the tensions and conflict throughout the series that never seemed like it was ever going to be mended.

Favorite Characters – Lan, Rand, Mat, Perrin, & Min.



Image: The valley of Thakan’dar.


[Plot]:

The first 100 or so pages is about all the nations meeting together on the Field of Merrilor to come to an agreement on the Dragon’s Peace treaty, and then to discuss tactics and strategies in a war council for the Last Battle. The war is then broken up into 4 battlefronts and with each of the remaining 4 Great Captains to head each of them: Elayne and the Andorans with Davram Bashere at Caemlyn, Lan and the Borderlanders with Agelmar Jagad at Tarwin’s Gap, Egwene and the White Tower Aes Sedai with Gareth Bryne at Kandor, and Rand, Moiraine, Nynaeve, the Aiel and Rodel Ituralde at Shayol Ghul. While this is happening, there are also some important sub-plots going on such as Perrin and Gaul confronting Slayer in Tel’aran’rhiod, Mat going back to Tuon and the Seanchan, Faile and Olver retrieving the Horn of Valere for Mat and Androl and Pevara trying to mend the Black Tower and rescue Logain from Mazrim Taim and his cronies.

The Last Battle lives up to hype and magnificence it promised. The immense amounts of action and warfare taking place in the 4 battlefronts were phenomenal. I loved the storylines for all the 4 separate battlefronts but Rand’s battlefront at Shayol Ghul was my absolute favorite, for obvious reasons. This is the most action-packed book in the series (and the most action-packed book I’ve read in general) and the amount of intricate and detailed strategies/tactics were so fun to read. Each battlefront had its own unique obstacles and they had to overcome impossible odds.

The battle scenes take up most of the book, but that’s what makes it so good because it isn’t just a quick 50-page battle. It transports the reader into a very long, relentless, and grueling battle with its ebbs and flows where the Shadow gains the upper hand for a while, then the forces of the Light have to wrestle the advantage back, and vice versa. This is what makes the Last Battle so unique and memorable when comparing this to any climactic battle or big action sequence of any other book series. There was an intriguing mystery surrounding the Great Captains, and the subtle hints and slow reveals were executed brilliantly. There were some great surprises I didn’t see coming as well and very beautifully written emotional scenes. There were big battles, 1-on-1 duels, armies against trollocs, and channelers against channelers. There were heroic sacrifices, mass casualties, betrayals, twists, turns, and much more than I ever expected.

Regarding all of the sub-plots. The Black Tower storyline with Androl, Pevara, Taim and Logain was my favorite of them. There were some cool and creative things done with the Gateways in this storyline and I enjoyed the dynamic with Androl and Pevara where they can sense each other’s thoughts since both bonded each other, and their witty banter between each other was fun. It was also beautiful that 2 of the most opposite people in this world, which are an Asha’man and an Aes Sedai (a male channeler and a Red Ajah, no less), can slowly start to understand each other and care for one another. I also enjoyed the roles Androl, Pevara, Taim, and Logain had later on during the Last Battle itself. The reason this was my favorite storyline of all the sub-plots is because it felt like the heart and soul of this series and this world in general because it reinforces the need for men and women to work together and forget their past divisions. It also reiterates another key theme in this book which is fighting to live instead of fighting to die, which is what Rand’s original purpose of the Asha’man was for (and it was pretty much Rand and Lan’s mindset for the bulk of the series).

I enjoyed Perrin’s sub-plot as well since he played a big role in a much different way from all the other main characters in the series, and I enjoyed his with confrontation with Slayer and some other people he runs into in Tel’aran’rhiod. I also liked Faile and Olver’s brief adventures in getting the Horn of Valere and their travels through a certain dark location (which I won’t say because it’s a spoiler). Mat’s Seanchan storyline was great as well and it was fun seeing him as the Prince of the Ravens and everything else that royal title entails for him in this book. I was also satisfied with his overall role in the Last Battle as well.

The ending (the final chapters and epilogue) was brilliant. There were definitely a lot of tears shed but there was also some great twists I wasn’t expecting. It was also very open-ended and it left the reader with many questions, but I think that’s the fun part about it. You can theorize and speculate about what comes after and make your own head-canon. I won’t spoil anything, but this ending was similar to the movie Batman: The Dark Knight Rises and I loved that movie so I considered this ending very poetic and beautiful as a lot of the prophecies, Min’s viewings, and some of Egwene’s dreams come to fruition in these last scenes. It all comes full circle.

Image: Rand wielding Callandor within the Pit of Doom.


[Pacing]:

The book was in full-throttle from the start and it never stopped since. It was non-stop action and I loved every second of it. There were honestly no slow moments for me throughout this book, which is saying something for a Wheel of Time book. This is probably the most fast-paced book I’ve ever read and it was so rewarding since The Slog (Books 8-10) were pretty grueling at times to get through.

[Final Thoughts & Rating]:

This was such a glorious book and a fitting conclusion that caps off such an amazing journey through the 14 books of this series (15 including New Spring). Out of the 24 books I’ve read so far in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genre, I’ve read only 1 book which I consider to be a masterpiece (10/10), which is A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice & Fire #3). It has been my top ranked book for so long…..but A Memory of Light has now overtaken its spot. I needed a few days to reflect on this series, look up theories/easter eggs, and just decompress for a bit. I don’t know if I’ll ever read a book that was so satisfying and rewarding as A Memory of Light, but I’m glad I started this series back in June, and I definitely plan on re-reading it at some point in the future.

Rating: 10/10

My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...


*My Rating System*

5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible

 

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