Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.

For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday entry, I am going to look at a very special book that is coming out in a few months, Warrior of the Altaii, a previously unpublished piece of fantasy fiction by the late, great Robert Jordan.

Robert Jordan has to be considered one the greatest fantasy authors of all time, due to his creation of the legendary high fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time was a massive fantasy series, made up of 15 books (14 main novels and a prequel), which followed an epic battle between good and evil in a unique fantasy world. Jordan unfortunately passed away before he was able to conclude his series, however, fellow fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was brought in to complete the last three books in the series.

The Wheel of Time novels are an amazing example of the fantasy genre, and features complex heroes, terrible villains, magic, battles, intrigue and all manner of adventure. The series is one of the bestselling fantasy series of all times and has a substantial popular following. Unsurprisingly, a live action adaption for these books is in the works, as Sony and Amazon are currently developing a The Wheel of Time television series right now with Rosamund Pike cast as the lead, no doubt trying the fill the post Game of Thrones void. The Wheel of Time books were one of the first fantasy series I really got into, although it has been quite a few years since I have had the opportunity to read any books. I am hoping to do a big re-read all of The Wheel of Time books at some point in the future, although that is a pretty substantial time commitment with 15 separate books.

As you can imagine with such a popular fantasy author, there is always a clamouring to see more of their writing material. That is why I was so excited when I learned that Warrior of the Altaii was coming out. Not only is an opportunity to see some of Jordan’s earlier work, as he actually wrote this novel before he started on The Wheel of Time books, but it is also likely to be the last piece of fiction written by Robert Jordan’s that is ever published.

Warrior of the Altaii is set to be released on 9 October 2019 and should be a pretty interesting read. I believe that it is set in a different world to The Wheel of Time books and will, due to circumstances, be a standalone novel. A plot summary of the book has been released, and it definitely sounds like this will be an intriguing novel:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Draw near and listen, or else time is at an end.

But what if the knowledge that saves the Altaii will also destroy them?

This is a pretty cool plot synopsis and there are several intriguing elements within it that could lead to an amazing story. I will be interested to see the new setting that Jordan has created for this book, and it sounds like the story will be filled with a good combination of conflict, magic and politics.

Overall, I am really looking forward to Warrior of the Altaii. I honestly would have grabbed this book no matter what as I am extremely curious to see how Jordan’s earlier work compares to The Wheel of Time books. However, I do like the sound of the plot synopsis above and I will be keen to explore one of the first fantasy worlds that Jordan ever created. I imagine a lot of fantasy fans will be in the same boat as me, and I look forward to not only checking out this book, but seeing what other reviewers think about it.