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Towers of Midnight

Towers of Midnight

Epic FantasyFantasy
Pages
1264
Published
2010
Language
English

Synopsis

The penultimate Wheel of Time volume — the second of Sanderson's three completion books — runs parallel in time to The Gathering Storm, focusing primarily on Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon. Perrin, with his wife Faile recovered, must forge an alliance of unlikely parties to face the Last Battle, while Mat leads an audacious rescue into the Tower of Ghenjei. Egwene, now fully established as Amyrlin, works to rebuild the White Tower's alliances and confront a new threat from within. Towers of Midnight is widely considered the most Wheel of Time-paced of the three completion books, with the character dynamics and plotline convergences that Jordan's readers had been awaiting across multiple volumes.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkTenseAdventurousAtmosphericEmotional
Chosen OneMultiple POVsQuestSacrificeBetrayalFound Family

Genres

Epic Fantasy Fantasy High Fantasy Adventure

Authors

R
Robert Jordan

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007) wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan and became best known for the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. He served two tours as a U.S. Army helicopter gunner in Vietnam, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star, then took a degree in physics from The Citadel and worked as a nuclear engineer for the Navy. A fall and a long convalescence in the late 1970s turned him toward writing full time. Before fantasy...

B
Brandon Sanderson

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1975, Brandon Sanderson spent his early twenties working graveyard shifts at a hotel — writing novels at the front desk between guest check-ins. By the time his debut, Elantris, was published by Tor Books in 2005, he had completed thirteen novels in the drawer. His subsequent Mistborn trilogy and the ongoing Stormlight Archive series established him as the primary architect of the Cosmere, an interconnected fictional universe in which most of his fantasy series share...

Characters

Perrin AybaraProtagonist

Wolfbrother lord who must accept his ta'veren nature and lead an unlikely alliance as the Last Battle approaches.

Matrim CauthonProtagonist

Trickster general who leads a rescue into the Tower of Ghenjei to fulfill an oath made long ago.

Egwene al'VereSupporting

Now Amyrlin in fact as well as name, working to unite Aes Sedai and prepare for Tarmon Gai'don.

Nynaeve al'MearaSupporting

Working with Rand and preparing for the Last Battle while taking her place as a full Aes Sedai.

Rand al'ThorSupporting

The Dragon Reborn, having emerged from his crisis in The Gathering Storm transformed and approaching the Last Battle with new clarity.

All characters in Towers of Midnight

Frequently asked questions

  • Does Towers of Midnight take place at the same time as The Gathering Storm?

    Largely yes. The two books run parallel in time, following different groups of characters. Sanderson structured them this way to keep the Wheel of Time's traditional multi-strand narrative intact rather than forcing all storylines into a single chronological order.

  • Whose storylines does this book focus on?

    Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon take the primary spotlight, with Perrin's storyline receiving its most extended treatment in the series and Mat leading his most anticipated rescue mission.

  • What is the Tower of Ghenjei and why does Mat go there?

    The Tower of Ghenjei is an other-worldly prison where Mat's friends Moiraine and Thom are captive. Mat carries an oath to rescue them, and the mission drives one of the book's major plotlines.

  • Is Towers of Midnight a good starting point for the series?

    No — it is book 13 of a 14-book series. The entire series should be read in order beginning with The Eye of the World.

  • How long is Towers of Midnight?

    The US hardcover runs approximately 843 pages — the shortest of the three Sanderson completion volumes.

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