How much does the series tone change in the last 3 books?

[Butt punch]

I mean when Brandon Sanderson takes over? I'm 49 pages away from the end of Knife of Dreams and I put off finishing it a little bit because I'm unsure of the next three books. Sometimes when an author takes over for another author it can be pretty bad - I mean all authors are different.

 

Does it change very much or does he try and keep it as close as he can to the original tone? 

[Elgee]

It changes a lot. Some people love that, others hate it.

[Sabio]

Pretty much what Elgee said, honestly I think its pretty good considering how hard it would be to pick up a series like WOT and try to continue the story.  There are some things I think BS did better than RJ and some things imo got worse.  For instance I find BS didn't get so overly descriptive which RJ always fell into but many will agree he didn't do a very good job with Mat.  I didn't really notice a huge difference that would of prevented me from enjoying the books.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Sabio

[Guest Dtg1990]

I thought it changed completely.  Brandon sped up the pace of the plot quite a bit which was good, but I hated his technique of chapters consisting of ALL dialogue. You lose the internal dialogue and the setting, smell, and feeling of where the characters are at that moment.   Also, the last book introduced what I found to be a completely useless character and made this one a POV main character, while leaving numerous plots hanging. Mat became a completely different person. My favorite character was gone forever after RJ died. 

 

However I am grateful Brandon finished the series.

[Lethira]

I did not start reading until after RJ passed, I read a lot of the reviews on BS additions to the series.  I love both, I did find it useful to take a couple of weeks break between Knife and TGS so I could get RJs voice 'out of my head'.  I would say, form your own opinion. 

 

It's worth making sure you read the introduction BS wrote to TGS, whether or not you enjoy his work, you can see how much he loved the series and revered RJ.  

 

 

[Fievelgoespostal]

I didnt start the series until after Sanderson finished AMOL.    I honestly didnt notice a real difference.   Looking back I can see some differences, and I may notice a ton more once I get there in my re-read.

 

The biggest thing I noticed was the tone shift. The entire series we hear about the Last Battle approaching and it is presented as some abstract thing.  Starting with The Gathering Storm the Last Battle goes from abstract to a present and tangible period of time. The Prologues to The Gathering Storm and A Memory of Light perfectly capture the atmosphere that is tangible throughout the last 3 books 

[Butt punch]

I did go ahead and start A Gathering Storm and I did enjoy the prologue. I was pleasantly surprised - I mean both authors are obviously very different. But I do appreciate that Brandon Sanderson worked really hard on these last three books.

 

I also appreciate everyone giving me their opinions on how the 2 authors handled the books. 

[jsbrads]

I think Sanderson only flubbed part of the first book he wrote. When he first tried to write Mat, it sounded a lot like his fun/silly Librarian books.

After that book it was much better.