A Memory of Light (By the Cover): Time For the End

Here we go. The last Wheel of Time cover. Is it gonna be epic? Hilarious? A blend of both? Will it be accurate or will it be generic fantasy?

Well, looking at it, I’ve come to a bold conclusion: this is the best cover for a Wheel of Time book.

This cover has everything. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, even more so than ever before! It accurately depicts one of the most thrilling scenes of the book and does so in a way that excited old readers and entices new ones. It feels truly monumental, fitting for this most grand of conclusions.

The scene depicted is fairly obvious. Rand, now armed with the Sword That is Not a Sword, is delving into the Pit of Doom to confront the Dark One, gaze fixed and determined. Following behind him are the two Aes Sedai he trusted the most, Moraine and Nynaeve, each clad in the colors of their given Ajah. Behind them, the sky is beginning to darken, an eclipse swallowing the sun and clouds covering the sky. The Last Battle is finally beginning.

Rand is absolutely perfect on this cover! His pose is striking and heroic. His face is hard and set. They even refused to use his left arm, since he lost his left hand a few books back! He looks exactly how I imagined him in the books.

Moraine and Nynaeve look great, too. Nynaeve’s hair has been cut short, which we saw happen back in Towers of Midnight, and her face and posture perfectly capture the worry and determination the character is feeling. Moraine looks as gorgeous and badass as she’s been described as since The Eye of the World. My only real critique is that Moraine is too tall.

She’s so often described as short that I basically imagine her as a dwarf at this point.

Most beautiful of all is the environment. The Pit of Doom just looks so damn menacing! The rock formations seem alien, not to mention claustrophobic with how cramped they are. If you look outside, you can see the land beyond is barren as hell itself. This area truly feels empty and dead, just as the Dark One would want.

Overall, this is a remarkable cover. It’s a perfect, gorgeous way to conclude the series. I’m glad that the cover artists went out on a bang.

The question is: did the books do the same?