The Gathering Storm is different, but not in a bad way. It feels like a Wheel of Time book once you get into it, albeit with writing that flows a little quicker. The characters are the same, the story plays out as expected. It’s definitely Wheel of Time. It’s just a little different.

Things happen. Gathering Storm sees long-expected events to completion, and for once focuses more on Rand and Egwene, who had often taken a back seat to other characters’ escapades in previous books. Egwene’s assault on the White Tower makes progress, and Rand goes through a lot of important character development. Matt and Perrin make short appearances, as do many of the other regulars.

Confrontations abound, and the dynamic scenes keep the pages turning. A few subtle clues hint at what’s to come in the next two books, and true to it’s roots, the story builds up speed until it reaches the brilliant finale and ends on a high note.

I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’ll leave it at this: The Gathering Storm is one of the better Wheel of Time novels, and Sanderson has done an amazing job. I honestly can’t wait until Towers of Midnight is released next year.

For I am the crowd and I am the ball
I am the triumph and the blame
I am the turf, the pies, the All
Always and ever, I am the Game.
It matters not who won or lost
Nothing is the score you made
Fame is a petal that curls in the frost
But I will remember how you played.

In Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel, football (not the American kind) comes to the disc. The wizards of Unseen University discover that a large percentage of their funding, in the form of a trust, will soon dry up should they fail to meet their benefactor’s stipulation that they compete in the game “foot-the-ball” occasionally.

The wizards, of course, are apprehensive about joining in such a violent street game, but they quickly change their minds when told that they would have to give up having nine meals a day if the funding were cut.

With the unexpected approval of Lord Vetinari, the wizards seek to clean-up and modernize the game…and to learn how to play it for themselves. The results, as is usual with Pratchett, result in the ensuing of hilarity. Throw in an Übervaldian Orc as their coach, the Director of Postmortem Communications (don’t say “necromancer!”) and the usual oddities, and you’ve got yourself a Discworld novel.

Unseen Academicals is up to Pratchett’s usual standards: more fun than a barrel of monkeys…but don’t call the Librarian one. Ever.

Three lucky Fantasy Folder readers will receive, by random drawing, Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn. Here’s how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post. It can be anything; why you want the books, a funny experience you had related to one of the series, whatever you want. Be creative. (Haikus are encouraged!)
2. Please make sure that you leave a valid email address when you comment. We will need it to contact you if you win, as we will need to ask for a shipping address.
3. If you retweet this post on Twitter and leave the perma-link to your tweet in your comment, you will be entered twice into the drawing, giving you an extra chance.

RT @fantasyfolder Win a Copy of “The Eye of the World” and “Mistborn” http://su.pr/6hlB54

You can only enter the contest once. This contest is only open to residents of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as Tor cannot ship the books elsewhere.

The drawing will be held on October 20, 2009, and the winners will be announced after we forward the shipping addresses to Tor.

Entries are now closed, at 12:00 AM October 21, 2009. Winners will be picked shortly with the help of Random.org.

Yes, our narrator has changed. Sanderson’s writing is more focused on plot, and his style seems to put more weight on making things happen rather than world building. As we are in the concluding books in our story, this is especially welcome to the reader. Quite simply? Things happen. They happen fast. This book concludes things that have been plaguing me from the very beginning. The story moves forward in a fashion that satisfies and rewards invested readers. Our narrator has changed, and so the pace in which we hear the story has changed. But he serves this final part of the story exceedingly well and the characters speak true.

This latest review is quite encouraging. “Eleyan Sedai,” the reviewer and head of TarValon.net, is obviously a serious fan of the Wheel of Time series, so the review’s praise for Brandon Sanderson helps ease any doubts I still have about the upcoming book.

It’s going to be epic.

The Gathering Storm will be released on October 27, 2009.

The wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University are renowned for many things—wisdom, magic, and their love of teatime—but athletics is most assuredly not on the list. And so when Lord Ventinari, the city’s benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive an erstwhile tradition and once again put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff, the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary.

Scott Westerfeld’s much-awaited novel Leviathan has been released. It is an alternate history set at the dawn of World War I, but with a bit of a focus on sci-fi/fantasy dirigibles, both steampunk-style and “organic.”

Tor has posted a two-minute video interview with Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson, two people very important people behind the new Wheel of Time book, on YouTube.

Warner Brothers is currently in talks with John Williams. If his schedule allows, he very well return after his absence since the third Potter film.

“The question is will John Williams come back? I’m a huge fan of John Williams he did three of the scores and I think he is amazing. He came up with some of the themes that have carried on. We have talked to John Williams and a lot of it will depend on his schedule for [Harry Potter] seven part two. If we can make work , and that’s a big if, for his schedule and ours then yes,” said producer David Heyman.

The thirteenth book in the Wheel of Time epic will be called Towers of Midnight. The publication date is estimated to be around late 2010, roughly one year after the upcoming The Gathering Storm. The fourteenth and final book will be called A Memory of Light, as the late Robert Jordan originally intended.

For those still confused, there has been a lot happening in the Wheel of Time realm this year. Because of the abundance of material and notes, the twelfth book morphed into three books.

WoT 13 title: “Towers of Midnight” [Dragonmount]

The Tolkien Trust’a British charitable trust representing the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) “sued to stop the further production of films based on the author’s work, and sought payment of at least $220 million based on the three Lord of the Rings films directed by Peter Jackson and released by New Line (a division of Warner Brothers). Their claim was that, under a 1969 contract, the trust and the other Tolkien heirs are entitled to 7.5% of gross receipts from films and related products.”

This is good news for LOTR fans everywhere. The two Hobbit films will continue as planned.

The folks at Kryptonsite have posted the preview trailer (which aired at Comic-Con) for the series on YouTube.

Some highlights:

• The new level cap will be 85, though it will be much harder to achieve those new five levels.
• Two new playable races, Goblins (horde) and Worgen (Alliance). A quest line follows the Goblins’ move from neutrality to Horde alignment.
• New character class combination such as Human Hunter, Night Elf Mage, Dwarf Mage, and Dwarf Shaman.
• There won’t be a new continent, but Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor will be revamped. “A cataclysmic event caused by Deathwing and Azshara will change the face of Azeroth as we know it. Most of the new content for Cataclysm will take the form of a revamped Azeroth, taking advantage of newer additions to WoW such as phasing and daily quests.” This will involve some major changes, such as the flooding of the Thousand Needles, the splitting of The Barrens into two zones, the return of Gnomeregan, and the destruction of Durotar and Orgrimmar. (A new Orc city will be built over the course of the story.)
• Flying mounts will work in Azeroth.
• Previously unreachable dungeons and zones will be made available.
• “Thrall will hand over the leadership of the Horde to Garrosh Hellscream [...] Without Thrall to keep Garrosh in check, he declares open war on the Alliance.”

Edit: Blizzard confirmed the details in a speech at BlizzCon.