A Memory of Light

Executive Summary: How do you end a book series that has spanned 15 volumes (including the prequel), nearly 12,000 pages and over 4 million words, where the author died before finishing? Quite well in my opinion. I loved this book start to finish, and feel rewarded for sticking with it through some of the middle books.Audiobook: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are fantastic again. They've made my reread quite enjoyable.Full ReviewThe Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.It's hard to review the final book of a series, especially one as long and as old as as the Wheel of Time without including some personal history and talking about the series as a whole. Many folks have been at it the whole 23 years. Many others for at least 10. This is a series where I came late to the party. I first heard about/was recommended this series by a good friend of mine back in college in the early 2000s. I wasn't much of a reader in those days, with priorities on other things. I mostly forgot it for the next 10 years or so. It wasn't until I heard about [a:Robert Jordan 6252 Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1175475715p2/6252.jpg]'s death and that [a:Brandon Sanderson 38550 Brandon Sanderson http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201547425p2/38550.jpg] was going to complete the series that it was on my radar again. I wasn't familiar with Mr. Sanderson, but it reminded me that I wanted to read this series.I still wasn't much of a reader. I always was reading something, but the time I spent was few and far between. It took me about a year and a half to read all the books through [b:The Gathering Storm 1166599 The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1) Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312064325s/1166599.jpg 1920889]. I didn't have long to wait for [b:Towers of Midnight 8253920 Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time, #13; A Memory of Light, #2) Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358109459s/8253920.jpg 7338128] by the time I was caught up. The only real waiting I had to do was 14 months or so between that book and this one.So I can't tell you what's it was like to wait one decade or two. I can't tell you what it was like to see Mr. Jordan die and dread the notion that a series you loved would never be complete. I had a nearly similar experience with [a:Stephen King 3389 Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] and the Dark Tower, but thankfully he finished that series and has gone on to continue writing.This series is largely responsible for getting me back into reading more. Some friends on mine started reading it not long after I did, and I enjoyed talking about it with them. One of them hit the middle books and gave up, the other pressed on, but hasn't read this one yet.The middle books of this series are why I stopped recommending this series to people/warned people who asked me about it. It's not a perfect series from start to end. But I love these characters. I love the world Mr. Jordan created. I wanted to know what would become of them, my friends.I read this book far faster than I would have when I started this journey maybe 4 years ago, and a large part of that is thanks to this series.Endings are always a tough thing. Especially for long series where the audience has invested a large amount of their time. Not everyone will be happy. I've read some complaints that not everything was resolved, or that their are lingering questions that spoiled it for them. Personally, I loved the ending, but I won't say anymore than that here.I close with the words Mr. Jordan did:This wind, it was not the ending. There are no endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.