Welcome to Gaia! ::

RIP Robert Jordan......

Though I am glad he left enough to have his wife and cousin finish out the series!!!!

I would have been tormented if it would not have been finished.

And...David Eddings rocks....Belgariad, Mallorean as well as the Elenium and Tamuli....

check out Terry Brooks Shannarra series too.

I have read them all at least twice I have them all and I was super depressed when i found out that he dies before finishing the last book



Tor announces that the final novel in bestselling Robert Jordan's legendary Wheel of Time® fantasy series will be completed by author Brandon Sanderson

New York, NY: Friday, December 7, 2007

Tor Books announced today that novelist Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to finish the final novel in Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time fantasy series. Robert Jordan, one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, died September 16th after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis.

The new novel, A Memory of Light, will be the twelfth and final book in the beloved fantasy series which has sold over 14 million copies in North America and over 30 million copies worldwide. The last four books in the series were all #1 New York Times bestsellers, and for over a decade fans have been eagerly awaiting the final novel that would bring the epic story to its conclusion.

Harriet Popham Rigney, Jordan's beloved wife and editor, said of her decision to have Sanderson complete the last book in The Wheel of Time series: "I have chosen Brandon Sanderson to complete Robert Jordan's great work, and I am absolutely delighted that he accepted. I will of course be editing this book as I have all of the other books of The Wheel of Time."

President and Publisher of Tor Books, Tom Doherty, also expressed his happiness with Harriet's decision, saying: "I am delighted that Harriet has chosen Brandon to complete Robert Jordan's magnificent and timeless epic."

It is the perfect match for Sanderson, who gratefully acknowledges the role Jordan played as an inspiration to him as a writer. In the tribute piece "Goodbye Mr. Jordan," posted on his blog, Sanderson writes to Jordan: "Personally, I feel indebted to you. You showed me what it was to have vision and scope in a fantasy series--you showed me what could be done. I still believe that without your success, many younger authors like myself would never have had a chance at publishing their dreams. You go quietly, but leave us trembling."

Like Jordan, Sanderson was an avid reader and writer from an early age. His debut novel, Elantris, was an unagented gem discovered after Sanderson, then a college student writing during his late night shift at a local hotel, approached Tor editor Moshe Feder at a fantasy convention. Several months later, after reading the manuscript and deciding he had to have it, Feder tried to find the author, who had since moved. Using the internet, he tracked down Sanderson through a campus directory--and the rest is history.

Sanderson has since gone on to establish a loyal fan base as the author of three critically acclaimed fantasy novels: Elantris, Mistborn, and The Well of Ascension, as well as a YA novel, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. Publishing trade magazines Publishers Weekly and Library Journal gave Elantris starred reviews and it was the winner of the Romantic Times Award for best epic fantasy. The Washington Post also praised Sanderson for his creation of "a fascinating world" in Mistborn.

Sanderson will have large shoes to fill in his role bringing A Memory of Light to publication but will work very closely with Jordan's longtime editor, Harriet Rigney, to be sure that the writing stays true to Jordan's voice. Jordan himself worked on the novel almost daily for the last few months of his life and according to Harriet: "Some scenes were completed by Robert Jordan, and some exist in draft form; he left copious notes and hours of audio recordings."

Jordan had known the ending of the series for a long time and, according to a blog posting by his cousin, Wilson W. Grooms, Jr., on the popular Jordan fan site www.dragonmount.com, Jordan had a few months ago revealed secret details about the end of the series to close members of his family which he had never discussed before. Grooms wrote: "During a recent family sit around, he [Jordan] became the Gleeman and told the bones of it ALL to Harriet and me. You read that right, I did say ALL. Don't ask, ain't telling. Two and a half hours of story telling by the Creator himself went by in the twinkling of an eye."

Sanderson knows that fans are very anxious to read the last novel in The Wheel of Time series and says, "I'm both extremely excited and daunted by this opportunity. There is only one man who could have done this book the way it deserved to be written, and we lost him in September. However, I promise to do my very best to remain true to Mr. Jordan's vision and produce the book we have all been waiting to read."

At a recent Toastmaster's address at the World Fantasy Con this past November, author Guy Gavriel Kay saluted Jordan's enduring legacy, stating that his "impact on the place of fantasy in the culture is colossal."

Jordan has also often been referred to as Tolkien's heir and in an article about The Wheel of Time series, The New York Times lauded Jordan for his extraordinary story-telling ability: "The books' battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the ambiguities in these novels--the evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events--bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades, just as the experience of the First World War and its aftermath gave its imprint to Tolkien's work."

John Clute said of Jordan's magnum opus, "when complete, the sequence will almost certainly constitute one of the major epic narratives of modern fantasy."

Now Brandon Sanderson has signed on to complete A Memory of Light, with scheduled delivery of the manuscript in December 2008 and a planned publication date of Fall 2009. "The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time?"

For more information about Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson, please contact Tor Publicity Director Elena Stokes at: torpublicity@tor.com

Please Note: Content in the Press Room has been cleared for reprint use by accredited media, booksellers, and librarians. Please include credit and copyright notices where indicated, most notably with author photographs.

So I'm waiting until Robert Jordan drops dead (or finishes the series, whichever is first!), and then I'll start reading his books back to back with no waiting.

way to go he did die before finishing the last book now they have a new author and it will be out in fall 2009

Eye of the World is first, The Great Hunt is second, and The Dragon Reborn is third. That should be enough to get you started.

Whoever told you that is referring to (what I believe to be) the most foolish act that was ever done to this series: for whatever reason, Jordan decided to split Eye of the World into two different volumes (From the Two Rivers, and To the Blight, respectively). They're still the same book, just more digestible.

I think it was--frankly--wrong of TOR (as I'm sure the publisher's behind it) to do that because not only did it create this sort of confusion, but opened up the Wheel of Time series to essentially mindless masses who will be less daunted by a two roughly four-hundred page volumes than by one whopping eight-hundred-and-thirty-two page monster of a first novel.

But that's probably just Die-Hard-Fan-Leavy-Kun talking....
-LD

Winter's Heart--by far my favorite. The ending is explosive.
-LD

Wow, reading the books again is such an eye-opener to everything I've forgotten... I don't think I fully understood before that not a lot of people believe the Dragon Reborn will be fighting FOR them in the Last Battle.. I guess all the legends about the Dragon playing a part in the Breaking of the World stops them from even beginning to imagine he won't be on the side of the Shadow. (I'm quite bad at presenting my ideas properly sorry) I also find it hard to understand why nearly all of the Aes Sedai would not think twice about gentling the Dragon Reborn - Rand - when they especially should know his importance for the World's future... Or maybe it's just that they want to control him, that's probably more likely.

Also a question: I've been wondering for a long time, and I read different things about it that pose more questions than answer. Anyway, when the Last Battle is fought in the books we are reading, will it really be the LAST battle between The Dragon Reborn and the Dark One? Seeing as time in this world is cyclic... Some things I read make it seem that this is the very last battle and will free the world from the shadow forever... and then I get the impression that it is just one of many 'last' battles that will go until the end of time.

I think I may have posed that question in a much longer way than was needed... sweatdrop

Also, is it possible for people to start writing here again? I know it had been awhile between the last post and mine, but it's a tad difficult to have a discussion on your own... >.<

I'm on book three, but I can't read the forum for possible spoilers.