RJ's A Memory of Light split into three volumes; The Gathering Storm in November

[Magus]

Just noticed this recently, and although I'm not too surprised, I'm a bit miffed that I'll have to be buying three more books instead of just one, but what with the length and all being talked about by Brandon Sanderson I was fully expecting to buy at least two. But three seems pretty odd, especially since it puts the book total at 14 instead of 13.

In any case, the title to look for at the bookstores will be The Gathering Storm (which even Sanderson says is a generic title, and pretty misnomerish since I'm pretty sure the Storm hath pretty much gathered and is ready to break freakin' loose or should be, anyway), and in keeping with Wheel of Time tradition, the cover art appears to be quite hideous, possibly the most hideous thus far, if it Wikipedia is telling the truth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gathering_Storm_(book)

I mean, that cover art is pretty ghastly right there. If it weren't for past (http://www.eigenspace.net/wot/fohf.html) covers (http://www.eigenspace.net/wot/locf.html) backing up its authenticity I would've said it was fairly terrible fanart.

So, anyway. Mad over the split? Think it'll help maintain the integrity of the full novel? Will Wheel of Time ever get finished ever?

EDIT: Actually I guess if you count New Spring in it's actually 15 but who counts New Spring?

[Mike McC]

Oi, yeah, Lord of Chaos's cover art is terrible, like some 15-year old's attempt at making a romance novel cover.

Yeah, I was expecting a two-book split, but three books is pretty.. wow.

[EVILNess]

I'm not really angry because of the sheer length of the books. With each book being estimated at being around 250,000-300,000 words or more that means that if it were two books it would be too large for the regular paper back, each of the two volumes clocking in at 450,000 words or more.

Consider that Lord of Chaos, the longest WoT book by pages, has 389,264 words and with the majority of his books clocking in at around 300,000 words or less I think its okay to split it up as they did. Besides Lord of Chaos was so big it fell apart by the time i was done reading it.

[Magus]

"Besides Lord of Chaos was so big it fell apart by the time i was done reading it."

Probably from the sheer impossible contrast between the horrible cover on the outside and the incredibly awesome finale on the inside, which caused some sort of temporal friction forcing the bindings apart.

And also, yeah, it was pretty thick.

Still. I think two volumes would've covered it. Also the ones that started clocking in at 300,000 or less were the later ones--all the ones leading up to Lord of Chaos were almost as long as it if I remember correctly. I think it was with number 8 or 9 they started getting progressively less weightier until Crossroads of Twilight was like 700 pages wth size 14 font or something (also I didn't like it as much as 1-8 or 11).

But yeah, what it really comes down to is if all three books are really enjoyable. If they're as enjoyable as all the other ones I liked I won't mind buying three of them. But if The Gathering Storm feels incomplete or something I'll be pretty mad. Hopefully the split them up properly so they all have finales of sorts, not just the last one.

[Gillen the Red Mage]

Ugh, all I know is that it's going to be for ever before they get released; because I'm assuming they're not all coming out at once? Still, I agree; the bottom line is that they're enjoyable, but do you think Sanderson can pull that off the same way Robert Jordan does? I'm not sure he can; of course, I hope to god he can, but I've never read any of his stuff. At his best, Jordan wrote with the same problem Stephen King had: diarrhea of the mouth. Yes, we KNOW his coat is red. Yes, yes, as red as the fire burning in the distance. Ah, twenty minutes later, it's STILL red. Point taken. Well noted. But he still has the ability to make ANY situation epic as hell, whether anyone thinks it's corny or not.