And we're finally here. We've reached book fourteen (of an originally planned six) and the end of the epic saga of The Wheel of Time. The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don, has arrived. There is no more time for posturing or positioning. The fate of time itself rests in the balance.

Towers of Midnight is our final “breather” instalment. As the Last Battle begins, our characters get one final chance to wrap up their business and get everything ready for the climax. But as they do, we must deal with the narrative snarl Jordan left Sanderson to clear up.

And so we come the the final push. Part 4 of The Wheel of Time. The Final Battle, Tarmon Gai’don approaches. And, along with everything else, a new author to take up the mantle of the fallen.

A beautifully written book that gives little away at the start yet lays the perfect amount of breadcrumbs to keep you reading. But depending on your taste for literary fiction, I can’t say it would be everyone’s cup of tea.

With “Knife of Dreams” not only do we wrap up Part 3 of The Wheel of Time, we find a welcome return for form for Robert Jordan’s final novel.

As I said in my review of Winter's Heart, I was ready for Crossroads of Twilight to be one of the worst entries in the series. But I have to admit that it's not nearly as bad as I remembered.

In my last post, I talked about the series entering The Slump, the section of The Wheel of Time where everything drags for a few books. But then, of course, Winter's Heart comes along and perks things right back up again.

The Path of Daggers isn't the worst entry in The Wheel of Time series, but it lacks the drive and excitement of the ones we've had up to now. Instead, it feels like Jordan is getting the characters in place for what is coming next. 

A Crown of Thorns has a lot to live up to, coming as it does after the literally explosive finale to Lord of Chaos. We have a lot of momentum going, and this next instalment does not disappoint.

I always love Alan Moore’s work, and with Neonomicon he demonstrates he truly understands what Cosmic Horror is supposed to be. In a word, horrifying. 

This was another book that I couldn't really fault. It has an interesting story, and was rooted in a folklore I'm not familiar with. It had a strong sense of heritage and culture outside of my own. Yet, I simply couldn't get lost in it as much as I would have thought I would. 

By the time I got to the end of this book, I was really enjoying myself. Honestly, the final couple of chapters were hard to put down. But that isn’t able to cover up the fact that the first half felt rushed, oddly structured, and kind of redundant.

I was excited for this book. I absolutely loved Red Sister and had been wanting to get my hand on the second book in the series. However, as much as I still enjoyed it, it couldn’t shake the feel of being Part Two of a trilogy. 

With Sword of Fire, Kerr manages to hit all the same notes I loved about the Deverry books, but it’s missing that uniqueness of the original series.

With all the... well, everything... that is going on in my life right now, I feel a little comfort reading is in order. In that vein, expect a few Pratchett’s to appear on here. Especially the earlier books which, I feel, are his best.

After The Night Circus jumped straight up until my favourite books, and lingered on my mind for days after reading, I was very excited for Morgenstern’s follow up. This is a story about stories, and it is intricate and woven around itself. But as beautifully written as it is, I will say I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did her debut.

Book six done, and we’re almost halfway through the series. In the last book, The Fires of Heaven, it felt to me as if Jordan was taking a breath before setting up the next round of story arcs. Now, with Lord of Chaos, things start to get moving again.

We’re done with book five, and we’re really getting into the initial upward curve of the series. However, while The Fires of Heaven keeps up the pace and doesn’t have any significant issues, unlike The Shadow Rising I don’t think there are any significant stand out series highlight moments here. Until the end, that is.