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A Memory of Light To Be Released January 8, 2013 228

First time accepted submitter Hotawa Hawk-eye writes "Tor Books has announced that the release date for the final volume in the Wheel of Time series of books, A Memory Of Light, will be January 8, 2013. [Barring a Mayan apocalypse, of course.] The fantasy series, started by Robert Jordan and continued by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death, will span 15 books and over 10,000 pages."
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A Memory of Light To Be Released January 8, 2013

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  • Praying for (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, 2012 @05:52PM (#39067221)

    the Mayan apocalypse..

    • Re:Praying for (Score:5, Informative)

      by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:26PM (#39067577) Homepage

      the Mayan apocalypse..

      Hey, come on. The last book was pretty good. Sanderson kicked up the pace, didn't devote three entire pages to a description of the trim on a dress (and then two more pages on the fabric).

      I'm actually happily anticipating the book. Of course, it's good that this particular adventure will end. Enough IS enough.

      • by geekoid ( 135745 )

        yeah.. I don't care if Sanderson wrote the epic to end all epic; getting through the other books is an exercise in stupidity.

        they are all great 350page novels stretched to 1200 page.
        He needs an editor that learned their chops under Ben Bova.

        • Re:Praying for (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Digital Vomit ( 891734 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @07:04PM (#39067999) Homepage Journal

          I am *so* glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. The first couple of books were great, but then they really started to drag on and on with all kinds of meaningless details on what people were wearing or what they were thinking which did exactly nothing to advance the story or make the characters interesting. It got so bad that, by the ninth book, I discovered that I could just quickly skim the first and last sentence of every paragraph and literally not miss anything important.

          I abandoned the series halfway through Winter's Heart. I just couldn't force myself to read through that garbage anymore. Such a shame. The series stared out with such great promise.

          Now, if you want a *solid* fantasy series from start to finish (that's not quite so heavy), check out The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman. Fantastic series with great character development and interesting situations.

          • I will put this here so I remember to look up The Death Gate Cycle later.

            I agree, this series has been dragging on forever.

          • The Death Gate Cycle is great and all, but it is trivial compared to WoT.

          • Death Gate Cycle is my favourite.

          • Re:Praying for (Score:5, Insightful)

            by LihTox ( 754597 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:21PM (#39070539)

            Practically every Robert Jordan fan I've ever encountered online thinks this; they just continued reading in spite of the pace of the later books, because they were hooked and wanted to know how the bloody thing ends. :)

            • I have had the same experience, and I can't work that out. People who like WoT don't defend attacks on the series with, 'No way, you are totally wrong, it is the best series ever!". They respond with, "Yeah it gets pretty awful in places, I sure hope this new guy can pick up the story". I feel kind of bad for the fans that they seem to be resigned to such a second rate story.

              I read the first book, and it was the most horrible piece of shit that I have had the misfortune to read in years. The pacing was b
    • by neoshroom ( 324937 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @07:38PM (#39068407)
      There will be a Mayan Apocalypse. The Mayan Apocalypse is not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning...
  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @05:55PM (#39067257)

    After Sanderson took over the books have tremendously improved, almost back to the initial volumes.

    • by Dyinobal ( 1427207 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:09PM (#39067431)
      Sanderson is one of those terrible authors who can't seem to not write a best seller. I'd be jealous if I wasn't enjoying his books so much.
      • by Rostin ( 691447 )
        I know what you mean. I remember that after reading the preface of the first of the WOT books he wrote, I didn't know whether I was going to be able to continue. I held my nose until the literary equivalent of olfactory fatigue set in, and now I'm actually looking forward to the final installment.
    • by demonbug ( 309515 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:34PM (#39067669) Journal

      After Sanderson took over the books have tremendously improved, almost back to the initial volumes.

      I both agree and disagree. Sanderson certainly brought back the pacing from the early books, which is nice (since that means the series will finish). And he has a great respect for the series and is a good writer in his own right, so I really don't think there is anyone better they could have picked to finish it up.

      On the other hand, Sanderson is not as good technically, lacks most of the subtlety, and tends to use lots of neologisms that just don't fit. It will be nice to finally get it finished (hell, I've been reading the series since circa 1993 or 1994), but it is a pity that Jordan didn't manage to finish off the series in his lifetime.

      Oh, if anyone wants the Cliff-notes version rather than going back to read all 10,000 pages before the final book comes out, here [tor.com] is a fairly voluminous re-read that might actually have a chance to be completed before Memory comes out now that it has been pushed back.

      • by tnk1 ( 899206 )

        It is almost a testament to how the books started to drag that he literally died before he could finish it. While admittedly he died younger than he should have, if a series takes almost two decades to finish, without stopping, it's probably been going a little too long.

      • by Auroch ( 1403671 )

        it is a pity that Jordan didn't manage to finish off the series in his lifetime.

        Assuming he would have chosen to finish it. Considering the poor choices he made in books, oh ... 5 to 9 (or whatever ... half the series!), I'm glad someone like sanderson (who knows how to write a solid story with good twists and pacing) is wrapping it up.

    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      "almost back to the initial volumes."

      that's a pretty low bar.

  • Finally (Score:5, Funny)

    by cforciea ( 1926392 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @05:56PM (#39067285)
    We can finally get an official count on the number of times somebody tugs on a braid or smooths a skirt in the series.
    • Re:Finally (Score:4, Informative)

      by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:10PM (#39067445) Homepage

      In all fairness, there's been a helluva lot less of that since Brandon Sanderson took over. In fact, I think the series has much improved overall since he took all those loose threads and have been tying them down, it may have taken him 3 books and almost a million words - 25% of the total length of the series - but he's done it. I was more than suspecting that Robert Jordan would never get around to doing it or would do so poorly, since the only thing he seems to know is to start new subplots and side arcs while milking the fans and if he hadn't fallen ill and died I suspect it would have continued. Sucks for him of course, but I suspect the series didn't get any worse for wear - in fact possibly quite a lot better.

      • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )
        I agree completely. The series started with so much promise, but Jordan continued to open plot-line after plot-line while rarely resolving anything. By the time I realized that I was so invested in the series I had to continue ans there were elements of excellence, and I wanted to know how things ended.

        All told though it should be a huge improvement over Goodkind. That series started well, and had a couple of amazing books. However the last several books got so repetitive as to be annoying. It seemed
  • Year of the Dragon (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ShakaUVM ( 157947 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @05:56PM (#39067291) Homepage Journal

    As the Tor announcement stated, it will take place at the end of the Year of the Dragon. Cool beans.

    I got to get dinner with Sanderson and Harriet Jordan on the Gathering Storm book tour. They're both very good people, and are the right people to be finishing this series.

    I have no idea how Sanderson could possibly wrap up all the loose threads in just one more book, but if anyone can do it, he can.

    • by Bradmont ( 513167 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:04PM (#39067383) Homepage
      Wrapping up loose ends at the end of a series? I thought that fad was euthenized by Lost.
    • by steelfood ( 895457 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @08:25PM (#39069067)

      I have no idea how Sanderson could possibly wrap up all the loose threads in just one more book

      Easy: Bring them all together.

      It has already started to happen in the previous book. Everyone and everything is coming together. And once that happens, he only needs to write one final scene.

      The problem towards the middle was that everybody was going off on their own. And for whatever reason, Jordan had to keep track of everybody and describe every step of everybody's journey. He couldn't just focus on just the one, two, or three main characters. Instead, the middle books were juggling something like seven or eight characters. It's impossible to make significant advances in a story with so many lines, which is why the middle books were so slow and sucked so badly compared to the first few books (when they were all together) and now the last few (when they're coming back together).

      I wonder who edited these books. Much of this is just poor editing. A good editor will not only do the usual grammar check, but also cut out the unnecessary parts that do not advance the story or develop the character. In Jordan's case, entire character lines needed to be cut. The main character (or arguably three) were the only ones relevant, and the things that happened to everybody else should've been left to inner stories after the fact.

      • > And for whatever reason, Jordan had to keep track of everybody and describe every step of everybody's journey.

        That is what make the series so awesome! Cutting character lines would harm it greatly, though it could use some trimming in repetitive description, and recapping stuff we already knew.

      • Instead, the middle books were juggling something like seven or eight characters. It's impossible to make significant advances in a story with so many lines...

        While it could certainly be argued that sometimes Jordan did this...less well than might have been desirable, it's not impossible. The most familiar counterexample from the world of epic fantasy is probably George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. A Game of Thrones) has eight viewpoint characters, and GRRM is up to sixteen viewpoint characters in the series' most recent instalment (not counting two additional minor characters in the prologue and epilogue). The difficulty is in making all of t

  • by JoshuaZ ( 1134087 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:01PM (#39067339) Homepage
    This is great. Now we can get Sanderson back on his own stuff. More Mistborn! And maybe the sequel to Way of Kings. Sanderson is one of the best fantasy writers alive today. It will be good for him to go back to his own, very original stuff. His own works are much more groundbreaking than Jordan's. So for example, in the Mistborn books he's been far more willing to play around with the tech level of "fantasy" universes. His most recent book in that universe, "Allow of Law" is excellent and essentially amounts to a demonstration that contrary to common belief, fantasy worlds can have guns and not suck.
    • by billtom ( 126004 )

      Don't count on it. George R. R. Martin is going to die before he finishes Song of Fire and Ice. So Sanderson has job security there.

      • Don't count on it. George R. R. Martin is going to die before he finishes Song of Fire and Ice. So Sanderson has job security there.

        Sanderson doesn't seem like a good fit to finish A Song of Ice And Fire. I haven't read all of Sanderson's books, but my impression is that GRRM's series is far too risque for Sanderson to handle well. I haven't read any Wheel of Time either, though, so my impression could be way off base.

  • Doorstops (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ZahrGnosis ( 66741 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:08PM (#39067427) Homepage

    Robert Jordan's books redefined the level of crazy that I will accept from an author. They're fantastic writing, a wonderful, deep, involved storyline, but come ON, the length is way too self-indulgent and unnecessary. The story is nowhere near as complicated (or worthy) as, say, FOUR Lord of the Rings trilogies, but it's substantially longer. The sadness is that it is comparably well written -- length notwithstanding.

    I'm currently using four of the books as monitor stands (I actually won't go so far as to use them as doorstops).

    More importantly, though, this has changed the way I'll read connected books or watch TV shows. I fear the abandoned story line too much now, and I blame Robert Jordan. "Heroes", the TV show, was a similar letdown... I waited until "Lost" was finished, for fear of it falling into the same pit as "Heroes", and nearly did the same thing with "Battlestar Galactica".

    Is there a name for this? Can we call it the "Robert Jordan" effect? -- the situation where you get too involved with an author or storyline and they just go on forever or (no disrespect) die?

    And the expanding-storyline theme is amazing. Eight Harry Potter Movies? Really? Five Twilight movies? I love a good trilogy, and (other than the quality of the prequels) appreciate that the Star Wars trilogies are built so that you can watch the original without needing the rest to complete the story. Many authors have interwoven stories and worlds... How many books did Terry Pratchett write? Many of which made reference to one another, but at least they each had an individual story arc. The Ender's Game series is similar... Terry Brooks' series can be read in myriad configurations of trilogies and tetralogies.

    ugh... the Jordan series is fantastic in many ways and I'm very glad to see it completed -- I hope the finale lives up to the series -- but please noone ever do this again, or at least give good warning so that we can avoid going down the path until it's complete.

    • Re:Doorstops (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dripdry ( 1062282 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:13PM (#39067465) Journal

      I hate to say this, but George R R Martin is a fat, old, unhealthy man with 8-12 years of writing still to finish his particular series.

      • I haven't started the "Song of Ice and Fire" series yet as a result of this and the Jordan Effect (as coined by grandparent poster). Which is too bad because I hear it's phenomenal.
      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Hey_bob ( 6104 )

        While GRRM isn't my bitch.. I certainly hope Sanderson picks up where GRRM left off. If for no other reason than to finish the series in a timely manner.

        Perhaps we need to kickstart a "Lets make Sanderson our bitch, to finish up GRRMs work" thinger?

      • by tnk1 ( 899206 )

        Yes. And since he has now become involved in a TV series... which is now quite faithfully rehashing the first few books... he may well redefine the effect as the Martin Effect.

        That said, it is a damn good series, if you can handle what is essentially a fantasy soap opera, with gigantic cast of characters, multiple parallel storylines, and everything.

    • this was what turned me off to the series, and I'm an avid sci-fi/fantasy reader. It just was tooooo much. It was like one of those people that takes 20 minutes to tell a story that could be told well in 5 min. Tangent must have been his favorite word, or maybe he was payed by the letter? Kick backs from paper companies? I don't know the answer, but he makes a Stephen King novel seem like a magazine short story. Anyway, it's a shame because they seem well regarded, but the more books he released the mo
    • by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:29PM (#39067615) Homepage

      Not to worry, with a 5 digit UID it's unlikely you'd live long enough to have another author Jordan a series like that.

    • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      And the expanding-storyline theme is amazing. Eight Harry Potter Movies? Really?

      I know, right? There were only seven books!

    • ...but please noone ever do this again, or at least give good warning so that we can avoid going down the path until it's complete.

      Someone did do it, the right way. Steven Erikson and the Malazan Book of Fallen. Epic, big (10 very large books) and very well written, and yes, even complete. It can be done. You just need the right writer.

    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      "They're fantastic writing, "
      no, it isn't

      "a wonderful, deep, involved storyline,"
      not, it isn't .. unless you mean predictable and dry.

      "but it's substantially longer. "
      no, the story isn't. Is poor writing and needles detail means more words, but the whole story could have been done in 5 400 page novels.

      I'm glad you enjoy the book. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but just because someone enjoys something, doesn't mean it's good.
      Fro Example: I like Escape from New York. I watch it every couple of years. It's is

    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      You make it sound like getting to the end is a chore and the end is the reward. Perhaps you should enjoy the journey more and obsess less about the destination? I didn't exactly need a crystal ball to know Lord Voldemort was going to be defeated knowing the age bracket they aimed for, whether it's in three movies or in eight. The kind of movies where the bad guys more or less win is reserved for movies like "Man on Fire" or "Sin City". If you were sitting there waiting for the final epic battle of good vs e

      • Huh. I enjoyed the splitting up. I felt it gave characters who normally wouldn't be investigated their own chance to shine in a way that they just can't when they're always playing second fiddle to the godlike protagonist.

        Having read the thing cover-to-cover at least three times, I'm probably not the most objective judge about how hard the plotlines are to follow, but I don't remember ever having a problem except when I took a year or two break between books. It's definitely not something you can pick up ag

      • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

        If you look at LotR ... In Jordan's style the whole fellowship would have been split up and he'd tell Frodo and Sam's story, Merry and Pippin's story, Gandalf's story, Aragon's story...

        I think you might wanna go back and read those books again.

      • by pluther ( 647209 )

        In Jordan's style the whole fellowship would have been split up and he'd tell Frodo and Sam's story, Merry and Pippin's story, Gandalf's story, Aragon's story, Legolas' story, Gimli's story and Boromir's story as separate plot lines with side arcs for Elrond, Arwen, Eowyn and then some.

        That actually sounds like it would be pretty awesome.

        Maybe I'll have to check this series out...

        • And the stories of the each one of the 13 dwarves, and Tom, and Beorn, and at least 3 of the eagles, and Smeagol, and Bard, and...

          Which is why WoT is so good.

    • TvTropes refers to this as the ChrisCarterEffect.

    • I fear the abandoned story line too much now, and I blame Robert Jordan. "Heroes", the TV show, was a similar letdown... I waited until "Lost" was finished, for fear of it falling into the same pit as "Heroes", and nearly did the same thing with "Battlestar Galactica".

      BSG... so an ending is required, but it can be a stupid ending? (I loved, loved, loved the series, but the ending really blew.)

      ugh... the Jordan series is fantastic in many ways and I'm very glad to see it completed -- I hope the finale lives up to the series -- but please noone ever do this again, or at least give good warning so that we can avoid going down the path until it's complete.

      I know what you mean. I do wish that authors in mid-series would make it a point to put notes about the ending in a safe deposit box to ensure fans aren't left hanging should they die prematurely. I'm glad Frank Herbert left "Dune 7" notes behind, for example.

    • I started reading David Gerrold's The War Against the Chtorr [wikipedia.org] series in 1985. The last published volume, the 4th in what is now expected to be a series of 7, was published in 1993. It ends with a cliffhanger where all of the main characters are seemingly doomed. The Wheel of Time has whizzed by in comparison.

  • by CanHasDIY ( 1672858 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:15PM (#39067479) Homepage Journal
    First it was supposed to be one book; then Tor realized they could go the Harry Pothead/Twitlight direction and 'enhance their revenue' by splitting it into three. OK, whatever.

    Then, they push the publish date of the second book back to coincide with the Christmas holiday (because, you know, the people who haven't read the other 11 books at this point are TOTALLY going to buy this one for Christmas anyway!), even though Sanderson had the book finished and edited by the end of July. Oh yea, and no eBook; 'fuck you, Jordan fans!' Well, shit. Whatever.

    Finally, they tell us the final book, which some people (my wife) have been waiting over a decade for, will come out in Summer 2011... no, Fall 2011... wait, make that Holiday 2011... just kidding, really it will be spring 2012... OK, Fall 2012... now Spring 20-fucking-13??? Fuck you to, Tor. Fuck you right up your greedy goatse asses.

    I swear, if Tor published anything else actually worth reading, I'd be seriously considering a boycott at this point.
    • by geekoid ( 135745 )

      And yet you will buy the book.

      So exactly WHY should they change?

    • No e-book?

      huh? [amazon.com]

    • by wbr1 ( 2538558 )

      First it was supposed to be one book; then Tor realized they could go the Harry Pothead/Twitlight direction and 'enhance their revenue' by splitting it into three. OK, whatever. Then, they push the publish date of the second book back to coincide with the Christmas holiday (because, you know, the people who haven't read the other 11 books at this point are TOTALLY going to buy this one for Christmas anyway!), even though Sanderson had the book finished and edited by the end of July. Oh yea, and no eBook; 'fuck you, Jordan fans!' Well, shit. Whatever. Finally, they tell us the final book, which some people (my wife) have been waiting over a decade for, will come out in Summer 2011... no, Fall 2011... wait, make that Holiday 2011... just kidding, really it will be spring 2012... OK, Fall 2012... now Spring 20-fucking-13??? Fuck you to, Tor. Fuck you right up your greedy goatse asses. I swear, if Tor published anything else actually worth reading, I'd be seriously considering a boycott at this point.

      Eh, I have to disagree. I do not care who the author is, to close a series off as convoluted and with as many sub-plots and arcs as the Wheel of Time in a satisfactory way would take more than one book. That is the fault of the previous author, not Sanderson. Sanderson is actually doing an excellent job of finishing the series. I started reading it with the wonder and suspension of disbelief I had early in the series, rather than the tedium of the latter half.
      Besides, if you really want to wait ages fo

    • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      First it was supposed to be one book; then Tor realized they could go the Harry Pothead/Twitlight direction and 'enhance their revenue' by splitting it into three. OK, whatever.

      Well kinda. The problem is one book doesn't cover all the lose material. Unless you want to have another book to cover that, in which case you're still left with another book. The problem is, Jordan was a verbose writer. Even the publisher knew that. I believe during his initial writing contract he asked for two books. And they put in six, might have been four. But regardless, there's not much you can do when you're up to your asshole in material, unless you want to cut something out.

      Then all you're

    • And if you want to know why he split them, sit down and he'll tell you [brandonsanderson.com]. It wasn't about the money - it was just too big.
  • by Mercano ( 826132 ) <`mercano' `at' `gmail.com'> on Thursday February 16, 2012 @06:21PM (#39067553)

    But I thought there were no beginnings or endings to the Wheel of Time?

    Sanderson's been doing a wonderful job; his stuff has probalby been the best we've seen since book five or six. (Yes, there were cool bits here in there in 7-12, but they're diamonds in a whole lot of rough.) I'm sort of sad we don't get a few more Sanderson books.

    • Read The Way of Kings. I love me some WoT, but I think The Stormlight Archives (TWoK series name) has the potential to be even better. And judging from his latest novel, Brandon Sanderson's writing made a huge jump in quality since he started on WoT.

  • " will span 15 books and over 10,000 pages."
    awesome..to bad it's only about 3000 pages worth of material...

  • ...will there be arms folded under breasts, tugging of braids, and rampant male/female miscommunications?

    • by lgw ( 121541 )

      Nah, there will be clear and well-understood male/female communications, which so violates the rules of the universe that the universe itself will be destroyed and remade. Bet on it.

  • 1st book great, 2nd book OK, 3rd book readable, 4th on... wait who the fuck is this character I forgot about 3 books ago, shit I really don't care anymore.

    • by tnk1 ( 899206 )

      I made it to book nine before I flamed out, but I have a *very* good memory and it was still touch and go for a long time before that.

  • It should be noted that Tor didn't actually consult the author about the release date [brandonsanderson.com]

  • The eBook release had better come out the same day as the hardback release, and not delayed 6 months like the last time. In reality it takes about a month to OCR and proofread.

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