Okay, so this Wheel of Time review is basically the least timely review of anything ever (technically, my Minecraft review was more behind the times), but I’m doing it anyway. The last three books of Wheel of Time are all readily available in paperback now, and have been for a long time. But the final chapter in the Wheel of Time cycle will come about this November with the release of The Wheel of Time Companion, a final capstone on a series that started 25 years ago, in the ancient days known as 1990.

The Last Three Books Of Wheel Of Time: Read Them

Warning: Minor Wheel Of Time Spoilers Throughout

Are you like me? Did you read most of Wheel of Time back in the ‘90s and early aughts, when you were in middle school, high school, college, adulthood, whatever it was? Did you get increasingly frustrated as Robert Jordan’s writing got worse and the pace got slower and slower? Yea, you and everyone else who brought these books to the top of the New York Times bestseller list for years. I’m sure you heard, in the heady days of the Brandon Sanderson releases, that the last three were different.

I never believed it. And I thought that, after all these years, I would have forgotten too much, lost any investment in the characters, forgot which Ajah was which and who was who. Well, that last part is true enough, but man—it’s worth reading the last three books, the ones Brandon Sanderson wrote after Jordan passed away.

The Obvious Reason: They’re Good Fantasy Books

Short version: The last three books of Wheel of Time are really good fantasy books, way better than anything after, say, The Path of Daggers, or maybe even earlier. The series still has some of the issues it always had: An absolutely immense number of characters, many of whom are somewhat one note; weird stances on women; an immense canvas of nations and factions. But the characters and the nations, at least, are one of the good things about Wheel of Time. It has unparalleled scope among fantasy series.

The last three books should definitely be read as a set. A Memory of Light is, spoiler alert, in large part devoted to The Last Battle, and the other two with setting everything up for that. They came out over the course of four years, but you should read them all together. You’ll get the most out of it that way.

And trust me, even though some plot elements that have been with us for a very long time are dealt with abruptly, even though some plots don’t get proper closure or end unsatisfyingly, there is so much to like. My favorite of the three, once I remembered who everybody was, is actually The Gathering Storm, the last scene of which is in this writer’s opinion probably the best and most important in the entire series. It’s worth reading for that alone. And of course there are the more mundane aspects: You’ll finally learn the end of this story, 25 years in the making.

But that’s not the only reason to read the last three books of Wheel of Time.

The Less Obvious Reason: They Redeem The Series

Wheel of Time gets a bad rap these days. The age of Lord of The Rings is long past, and the age of Game of Thrones is upon us. This is the era of dark, realistic, gritty fantasy, with lots of sex and politics and scheming. Don’t get me wrong, I love Game of Thrones (the books, anyway). Don’t we all? Didn’t we all “grow up” and move on from Wheel to Thrones as the years went by?

Reading the last three books of Wheel of Time will remind you of something, though. My hazy memory had turned Wheel of Time into a series about characters pulling their braids, taking baths, cursing at the dice rolling in their head, et cetera, et cetera. And yea, Wheel is different from Thrones (although a very clear, very obvious influence on it, to a degree which I had forgotten). It’s much less gritty. There is far more magic in it, and the conflict is much more directly one of good against evil. It has more characters than you could possibly imagine, but it’s not as character-driven as Game of Thrones (but then, neither is Lord of the Rings). It plays out on an even larger scale. Sometimes it hits the wall of its own ridiculousness, but its sheer scope and ambition shines through. And also the Aes Sedai and the One Power are really awesome.

And that’s what I took from the last three books. It didn’t just finish the story; it gave me closure. It redeemed a series that, in younger days, I had invested in immensely, a series that had been distorted in my mind by the last few books and the passage of the years.

The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass. This is the age of Thrones, and nothing will change that. For me, memories of Wheel of Time had become legend, and not a pleasant one. But rereading the books changed all that. Now they feel like myth, the many rosy parts of the most epic fantasy series outshining its flaws. And even that myth will be forgotten before a series like Wheel of Time comes again.