A New Thread for the Jordan/Sanderson comparison

[solarz]

 

 

I agree here. Something about the last battle felt underwhelming. It's not that it was bad or poorly written it just didn't have something that Jordan's did, he had a way of making you feel like you were there. Although, I thought whoever wrote the Maradon battles with Ituralde was pretty good.  IMHO... my favorite battle is lifting the Shaido seize of Cairhien... particularly Mat's sections.

 

 

Yes, that's one of my favorite battle scenes too. When Jordan was good, he was very good.

 

Ironically, the Maradon battle was more memorable than the Last Battle for me.

 

Let's put it this way, although I enjoyed the last 3 books, it didn't make me want to seek out Sanderson's own books and read them.

 

 

His own stuff is fairly good. Mistborn is a fun series. I've heard good things about Stormlight Archives, but I'm going to wait until the series is done before jumping in.

 

As for the LB... it felt more like I was reading the news summarizing it than really feeling the battles. As much as I didn't want the series to be extended further they could have paced it across another book, IMO. The losses came quick and there wasn't really time to feel their impact before the story moved on. I know, "such is war", but with the rather minimal epilogue the character deaths didn't really hit me like they sometimes did in other books.

 

 

Yes, well put! The quick succession of character deaths made each death have little impact. Some of them are rather gratuitous. When for 13 books no POV character has died, it seems rather anticlimatic to see them killed off in quick succession.

 

Honestly, instead of one large battle, it would have made more sense to detail a series of smaller battles. I would have preferred to see each of the great cities coming under siege, and the forces of the Light having to stretch their resources thin, fighting desperate, defensive battles. The character deaths could have come with their own meanings. Some would have died when the city fell, others sacrificing themselves to ensure victory.

 

In particular, Egwene's death made little sense. I didn't like her Deus Ex anti-balefire. She should have died taking down Demandred with her, instead of just Taim. (Hell, Taim *should* have been Demandred instead of that Shara BS.)

[Graendals favourite]

They had done their part by the Pattern, as far as the Pattern was concerned they could die. Before the Pattern needed them, or it would have some doing achieving the same weaving. Remember, the Pattern is ambivalent to human fate, as long as it can weave what it means to.

 

 

Anyway, death is not so terrible, as vitnessed by Egwene there. Clearly, she had done her part, and was pretty satisfied. Whatever comes after. The after death Egwene was not grieving her part.

[dexterryu]

 

 

 

I agree here. Something about the last battle felt underwhelming. It's not that it was bad or poorly written it just didn't have something that Jordan's did, he had a way of making you feel like you were there. Although, I thought whoever wrote the Maradon battles with Ituralde was pretty good.  IMHO... my favorite battle is lifting the Shaido seize of Cairhien... particularly Mat's sections.

 

 

Yes, that's one of my favorite battle scenes too. When Jordan was good, he was very good.

 

Ironically, the Maradon battle was more memorable than the Last Battle for me.

 

Let's put it this way, although I enjoyed the last 3 books, it didn't make me want to seek out Sanderson's own books and read them.

 

 

His own stuff is fairly good. Mistborn is a fun series. I've heard good things about Stormlight Archives, but I'm going to wait until the series is done before jumping in.

 

As for the LB... it felt more like I was reading the news summarizing it than really feeling the battles. As much as I didn't want the series to be extended further they could have paced it across another book, IMO. The losses came quick and there wasn't really time to feel their impact before the story moved on. I know, "such is war", but with the rather minimal epilogue the character deaths didn't really hit me like they sometimes did in other books.

 

 

Yes, well put! The quick succession of character deaths made each death have little impact. Some of them are rather gratuitous. When for 13 books no POV character has died, it seems rather anticlimatic to see them killed off in quick succession.

 

Honestly, instead of one large battle, it would have made more sense to detail a series of smaller battles. I would have preferred to see each of the great cities coming under siege, and the forces of the Light having to stretch their resources thin, fighting desperate, defensive battles. The character deaths could have come with their own meanings. Some would have died when the city fell, others sacrificing themselves to ensure victory.

 

In particular, Egwene's death made little sense. I didn't like her Deus Ex anti-balefire. She should have died taking down Demandred with her, instead of just Taim. (Hell, Taim *should* have been Demandred instead of that Shara BS.)

 

 

Totally agree on Egwene's death and the anti-balefire. I also agree on the battles taking place on more familiar ground vs some random battleground.

 

They had done their part by the Pattern, as far as the Pattern was concerned they could die. Before the Pattern needed them, or it would have some doing achieving the same weaving. Remember, the Pattern is ambivalent to human fate, as long as it can weave what it means to.

 

 

Anyway, death is not so terrible, as vitnessed by Egwene there. Clearly, she had done her part, and was pretty satisfied. Whatever comes after. The after death Egwene was not grieving her part.

 

The issue not that they died, it's that their deaths weren't felt by fellow characters and/or the reader. Of all the deaths in AMoL, the one that I felt hit the hardest (of all things) was Bela. Yes, a horse. She stepped up, gave her all, and succumbed to her wounds. Others were killed and everyone was like "yep, Suain's dead"... next.

[solarz]

The issue not that they died, it's that their deaths weren't felt by fellow characters and/or the reader. Of all the deaths in AMoL, the one that I felt hit the hardest (of all things) was Bela. Yes, a horse. She stepped up, gave her all, and succumbed to her wounds. Others were killed and everyone was like "yep, Suain's dead"... next.

 

 

Seriously! The one that disturbed me the most was Rhuarc's death. So meaningless, just got randomly fragged by the Forsaken, and Aviendha's reaction was basically: "Oops! Oh well..."

[dexterryu]

 

The issue not that they died, it's that their deaths weren't felt by fellow characters and/or the reader. Of all the deaths in AMoL, the one that I felt hit the hardest (of all things) was Bela. Yes, a horse. She stepped up, gave her all, and succumbed to her wounds. Others were killed and everyone was like "yep, Suain's dead"... next.

 

 

Seriously! The one that disturbed me the most was Rhuarc's death. So meaningless, just got randomly fragged by the Forsaken, and Aviendha's reaction was basically: "Oops! Oh well..."

 

 

To a certain point... such is war. During a major conflict people are going to get killed both in meaningless ways and heroic. That said, even in really brutal conflicts where soldiers are losing their brothers in arms frequently they are still felt both from the sense of losing their friends and also for their own mortality in the sense of "If it could happen to him, it could happen to me".

 

That was what was missing. Everyone just moved on too quickly when in reality it really would have started to weigh on even the most hardened people.

[Guest]

AMOL is a very, very long book. How many more pages would have needed to be written to include more of the feelings of loss by the characters when their friends and comrades died? I would guess somewhere around 10 to 12 which is not a lot of pages. 

 

 

 

Its no surprise to anyone who has followed these discussions to find out that I thoroughly enjoyed A Memory of Light as well as the descriptions and storytelling for the battles in this book. I am more than satisfied with the book to the point that I have read it three times over the years. Robert Jordan would have written a very superior story than Sanderson did, and RJ's battle scenes would have been superior in literary AND entertainment aspects.

My single biggest regret, when it comes to reading fictional series, is that RJ was unable to finish the WOT exactly as he intended for it to be done. 

[dexterryu]

AMOL is a very, very long book. How many more pages would have needed to be written to include more of the feelings of loss by the characters when their friends and comrades died? I would guess somewhere around 10 to 12 which is not a lot of pages. 

 

 

 

Its no surprise to anyone who has followed these discussions to find out that I thoroughly enjoyed A Memory of Light as well as the descriptions and storytelling for the battles in this book. I am more than satisfied with the book to the point that I have read it three times over the years. Robert Jordan would have written a very superior story than Sanderson did, and RJ's battle scenes would have been superior in literary AND entertainment aspects.

My single biggest regret, when it comes to reading fictional series, is that RJ was unable to finish the WOT exactly as he intended for it to be done. 

 

Even the battles, because they were so spread out and so much of them felt like I was reading them in the news. The majority of the battles in the previous books took place in one contained area... with the most spread out battles being with Perrin in the Two Rivers and Rand in Path of Daggers. The rest: Falme, Cairhien, Caemlyn, Maradon, all took place in a relatively contained area. The other things is that they all took place in what was pretty much a place that had some meaning/personality to it and a bit of a reason for us readers to care about what happened there.

 

Naturally, something as big as the LB should be spread out but I wish they'd have picked something other than some random battlefields. 

 

Again, don't get me wrong. I liked AMOL and am satisfied with the ending of the series. I just also see the shortcomings as well.