Book 12...and 13? A Memory of Light to be split in half due to size

[Khale]

Originally Posted by Clansman

I was always certain that A Memory of Light would be split, just not into three books. Jordan just wasted too much time in books 7 through 10, and the story didn't get moving again until book 11. Reading Sanderson's blog post on the topic reassures me, though. The guy is not blowing hot air, and this is does not appear to be a publishing tactic. It is a writing issue. Given how far this once-great series has drifted, it will take a lot of work to bring it back. Sounds like Sanderson needs a vacation! Read his blog post, and it should reassure more than anger:

Brandon Sanderson: Splitting AMOL

I am a huge WoT fan but I agree completely with your assessment of books 7 through 10 wasting too much time, with things picking up in book 11. Hopefully Sanderson reads posts like this and doesn't make the same mistake.

[bunnypeaches]

I want to read them nowwwww! NOWWWWW! I can't wait till the 5th of November, it's not fair I tell you!


But I do agree, it seems like they only split the last book into three to milk it for that last bit of money. If Robert Jordan thought he could wrap it up in one more book, this Brian Sanderson guy ought to stick to that. And I have a horrible feeling it just wont be the same.

And I'm so glad the book cover's different in the UK. I much prefer the simple three rings type cover.

[Clansman]

Originally Posted by bunnypeaches

I want to read them nowwwww! NOWWWWW! I can't wait till the 5th of November, it's not fair I tell you!


But I do agree, it seems like they only split the last book into three to milk it for that last bit of money. If Robert Jordan thought he could wrap it up in one more book, this Brian Sanderson guy ought to stick to that. And I have a horrible feeling it just wont be the same.

And I'm so glad the book cover's different in the UK. I much prefer the simple three rings type cover.

Did you not read Sanderson's blog post? Having read up to book 11, how the heck could you expect anyone, even Jordan, write a Memory of Light in one volume? I predicted that he could not before he died, as did many others. There are so many plot lines that not only remain to be tied up, some are in mid-development. It is a fact of publishing that the technology does not exist to bind books that are much over 1000 pages. They fall apart in the first reading, especially the mass market editions and readers get mad and return the books for a new copy. Publishers lose money if they do this. Therefore, you have to do smaller books, and this one, according to Sanderson, is going to be huge, because of what Jordan left undone. He's already written a massive amount of material, so the books will come out fairly fast.

Do you want a pile of half-assed junk to finish the series? That is what would come from a one-volume finish. Or do you want Jordan's legacy to be saved from the lackadaisical treatment it received for the last several books, and this series to be ended with the style and excellence with which Jordan started it?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, had this series been kept in hand, and not strayed so badly in books 7 through 10 (for example, the whole Perrin-chasing-Faile-and-the-Shaido story line could have been chopped. Completely.), then Jordan himself could have finished the series in 9 or 10 books. TOR and Tom Doherty let Jordan get the bit in his teeth, when they should have been pushing for a tighter story, less braid-pulling and fewer spankings, and more plot and character development. Alas, that is spilled milk, and has created, for epic fantasy authors like Martin, Wurts and Erikson, a great example of what NOT to do.

[Werthead]

First review of The Gathering Storm.

[Professor 0110]

Do you want a pile of half-assed junk to finish the series? That is what would come from a one-volume finish. Or do you want Jordan's legacy to be saved from the lackadaisical treatment it received for the last several books, and this series to be ended with the style and excellence with which Jordan started it?

I don't think one volume would be a "pile of half-assed junk" - nice metaphor though. I think if it dropped the superfluous plot lines and concentrated on the core story - that is the battle against the Dark One, the series would go out with a bang and Jordan's legacy would be revived - at least partly. A Memory of Light may have even become a classic.

Jordan himself stated numerous times publicly that he intended to finish the Wheel of Time with A Memory of Light - even before he was diagnosed with that sickness. If he was so rock hard; so stubborn on completing The Wheel of Time in one book, he must have felt he could wrap it all up in a single volume. Perhaps he was intending to cut the fat which has been bogging the series down for quite sometime now. Or maybe he was intending to create his own Lord of the Rings epic in order to finish.

To put it blandly, maybe Jordan was intending to follow the biological structure of sex. A good buildup and then a rushing, fast-paced climax; the pinnacle of the story. The very ending to remember.

Tolkien managed to create an epic fantasy story in a 1000 pages; a tale filled with awe-inspiring places, a titanic plot between good and evil, and interesting characters. A story that will be remembered until the end of time. Perhaps Jordan was intending to achieve the same thing once he realized he had "lost the plot" with the Wheel of Time.

[Clansman]

Prof, I appreciate your comments. However, changing the series so abruptly, imo, is not possible. If you just stop the superfluous plot lines (Perrin chasing Faile had already been wound up, btw), then "cutting the fat" so drastically can only be done ham-handedly. It's like stopping a fully-loaded freight train at top speed. It takes about two miles of track to do it. If you try and stop it too fast, it will derail.

The time for trimming was about four or five books ago. Getting the story under control is now Sanderson's job, but one that, according to the review at Dranonmount, he is doing well. Lasting and meaningful change takes time. Ask anyone who has embarked on weight loss (to carry your "trimming the fat" metaphor to its logical conclusion), there are no quick fixes, only controlling the diet and exercise, and then time. Jordan let WoT get really flabby and out of shape (or TOR didn't insist on a more rigid quality control), and Sanderson needs enough time (measured in pages) to get it back into shape.