My editor, bless his heart, compared THE WAY OF KINGS to DUNE and LORD OF THE RINGS in the catalogue copy that he wrote. He’s a wonderful man, but I cringe when any new book is compared to masterworks like those. DUNE and LotR have proven themselves over decades, passing the test of time. They had monumental influences on their respective genres.

No new novel has the right to claim such a comparison out of the gate. If you go into KINGS expecting the next LORD OF THE RINGS or DUNE, you will be disappointed. I am not Tolkien or Herbert. I am what I am—a largely unproven writer still in the early days of his career.

Early in my drafting process for this book, I fell into some traps by putting too much weight upon the future of this novel. I began to think that KINGS would be the book that would define my solo career, and I began to worry (with all of the recent eyes that have been watching me) that this book needed to be something incredibly jaw-dropping and earth-shattering, otherwise it would be a failure.
That’s a bad way to be thinking as you write a book, and probably an even worse way to be thinking as you start reading a book. The Wheel of Time didn’t start to really make its mark until book three or four; it was the same for Harry Potter. Series like this take time to build. Beyond that, you can’t go into a series with the mind-set that it needs to be a huge blockbuster to be successful.

I’m not sure what I want people to think about this book. I want them to read it, enjoy it, and say nice things about it. I want them to anticipate it and talk about it on blogs, waiting for the day it is released. But in the end, it’s just a book. Let’s not hype this thing to death.

This is the stereotypical epic fantasy that begins with a young, inexperienced, immature youth toiling away as a kitchen boy in a castle, daydreaming his life away. Outside of his limited range of experience, events are taking place that will turn his entire world upside down, and somehow this young boy becomes the key to preventing the end of life as he knows it.

Read more: Kitchen Boy

I'm compelled to read because it is written so well

I think he becomes less annoying, but the women, all the women, more than pick up his slack.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have begun writing the final chapter for Towers of Midnight. Expect an "It's done" post later today.

And...it is DONE! 359,000 words, 1800 pages in manuscript form. Nobody tell Tor. They asked me to try to keep it shorter. WHOOPS.

Note that I'm mostly joking about the length. Tor does prefer books shorter than 400k, but the've always let me write as long as needed.

And, just to warn you all, I WILL do my standard 10% cut on this book. So expect the final length to be around 320k or so. (TGS was 300k.)

Either way, the first draft of Towers of Midnight is done. We are now confirmed for an on-time release late October or Early November 2010.

And now...I must find some Magic cards to open as a reward.