Feedback on my review of TGS

[Nmb1klove]

Well...the thing is

TGS WAS supposed to be one of the better books. Previous, RJ could spend two pages just expalining how the room rand entered was looking and so on. This was supposed to be one of the greater books.

 

 

BUT, He did a good job. And you did a good review.

 

Could anyone tell me that i DONT have to wait a year for the next one? Please? :'(

[Mr Ares]

Could anyone tell me that i DONT have to wait a year for the next one? Please? :'(

Sure, I can tell you that. You don't have to wait a year until the next one. It's a lie, but if it's a lie that makes you happy, that's all right. If you want something to fill the hours before Towers of Midnight is released, have you thought about taking up self harm?

[Sentinel78]

Could anyone tell me that i DONT have to wait a year for the next one? Please?

 

I can tell you the next WoT book is probably going to come out before Dance of Dragons is ever released by George RR Martin.

[Nmb1klove]

Evil genies...

 

Well some part of my mind thought that it wouldnt take a year for it to come...

 

Dont know what to do now tho... Unemployed, No money, Winters comming...Perhaps Read Winters Heart?

[Dunderdan]

I think your review was good.

 

I was worried about the difference in narrator style and character animation the RJ>BS swap would bring. I found BS, in his own work, being a bit more direct, open, than RJ who was a master at concealment/foreshadowing (perhaps the difference is rather that RJ was able to juggle a lot more simultaneously). But in the end, that worry was put to shame, partly because BS did a good job imitating the WoT style and partly because of the multitude of exciting events bringing us closer to the final unwrapping of this story. RJs ground work proved to be a reliable foundation for BS to stand upon and BS proved his ability to deliver.

 

Im not worried anymore about sections/descriptions/dialogues in the final books being a bit different from the RJ style; although there'll be more of it in tToM/aMoL, it wont change the feel that it IS part of the WoT saga. And thats all Ive ever hoped for. Cheers.

 

Oh, and about that worry of yours about not looking like a sell out or a TOR promotor. At this point (approaching the WoT grande finale), Id be more worried if you didnt use your special connections to help making the ending as good as it can be. You could be on their pay roll as much as you want, at the end of the day, what Id judge you from would be the discrepancies between your input given to them/us and my personal experience when reading the last books. So just stay true to what you really think.

 

[Crael123]

what was the rafo on asmodean?

[Crael123]

 

 

I do seem similarities to the Dune series though.  The six original books written by Frank Herbert were epic.  When he died and his son took up the word processor, the books his son wrote just didn't feel the same.  They were not of the same caliber as the original.  I feel the same way with TGS.  A good book where the first eleven were great.

 

 

no no no.... the post herbert dune books were epic failures. that is not a good comparison at all. but i see where u are coming from

[Aramun al Thor]

Jason, I'm glad for your review. It prepared me for the book. Thanks.

 

So I just read the book and found it was good, but certainly not epic. I have to agree with SmokeandMirrors, though. In terms of prose the book is dissapointing. Although Brandon Sanderson does bring the story forward and quickens the pace, (Thanks for that) I cannot help wishing that he had tried to write it with more finesse. It was hard for me to continue reading TGS, because of the lowered standard. I felt he had changed the language of the Wheel of Time books, and so caused the story to lose it's charm. The modern phrases and character perceptions made feel I wasn't in Randland, but reading a different book.

 

The way the characters thoughts were presented, where they were constantly rethinking a situation that was obvious, added melodrama to the story that could have been avoided. However, the story was fluid and exciting, and that's commendable.

 

I know Brandon said he wasn't rying to copy Jordan's voice. But that doesn't excuse for writing at such a reduced level, where it is glaringly obvious where one writer stopped and another continued.

 

Hopefully the next book is better. I am grateful for what he is doing.

 

 

[accelerate]

Jason,

 

I agree with your review in that you liked it, and I liked it. And that Brandon was given an almost impossible task to live up to RJ, but he did an admirable job. This was the first book since Lord of Chaos that I literally could not put down. There were so many great moments that Sanderson pulled off beautifully.

 

But I also agree with a lot of the criticism too. TGS was a great book, but it had its flaws. Too much internal monologue. Not enough subtlety. Some of the characters did feel a bit off, but not so much that it threw me out of the book (I knew about fans' complaints about Mat before I read the book, but frankly, it wasn't anywhere close to as bad as I was led to believe).

 

But I also believe that the next two books will be noticeably better (not to say this book was bad... it was actually very good). We should remember that Brandon is taking over someone else's creation (and a fully-realized, complex creation at that), so there is going to be a steep learning & adjusting curve. And we must remember that Brandon is still a very, very young writer, and he's still honing his craft. I almost wish he had been given this task later in his career, for I do believe that WoT was put into the right hands.

[EsseQuamVideri7]

Jason, I'm glad for your review. It prepared me for the book. Thanks.

 

I also felt I was prepared for this book by your review, Jason, and that your review was fairly accurate. Having read your review before TGS came out I didn't mind waiting to read TGS (I just finished it the other day) because I was finishing Sanderson's Mistborn Series. Your review allowed me to lower my expectations a little which, undoubtedly, allowed me to enjoy TGS more than I would have otherwise.

 

So I just read the book and found it was good, but certainly not epic. I have to agree with SmokeandMirrors, though. In terms of prose the book is dissapointing. Although Brandon Sanderson does bring the story forward and quickens the pace, (Thanks for that) I cannot help wishing that he had tried to write it with more finesse. It was hard for me to continue reading TGS, because of the lowered standard. I felt he had changed the language of the Wheel of Time books, and so caused the story to lose it's charm. The modern phrases and character perceptions made feel I wasn't in Randland, but reading a different book.

 

As much as I agree with most of what you wrote in your book review I could not agree more with the above statement from Aramun (who was also quoting SmokeinMirrors). In the first quarter of the book I would not have been surprised to see a character say "cool" or use the word "dude". (Okay maybe not "dude") For me the change in dialogue, or language, was disappointing. I think that Brandon could have taken more time getting the language right. In fact, many times I found myself taking what Brandon had written for a character's dialogue and changing it to speech more closely resembling their usage in previous books. There were times I was actually surprised that Harriet allowed some of the 'updated' language. I especially found this with characters of noble blood. (Gawyn comes to mind).

 

But I did find as I read further into the series my disappointment lessened. Is that because I grew used to it, or that I got caught up in story, or was it Branden doing a better job? I think only through a re-read, or two, will I find the answer to that.

 

The way the characters thoughts were presented, where they were constantly rethinking a situation that was obvious, added melodrama to the story that could have been avoided. However, the story was fluid and exciting, and that's commendable.

 

I did not have the same issue with how character's thoughts were presented in TGS. I think that Branden's own work is very character driven. Much of what is going on in his works is through a character's internal/external dialogue. My personal opinion is that this style fits in very well with that of Mr. Jordan's. Were there some issues? Of course there were. But honestly characters did not always act as I imagined under Mr. Jordan's guidance either.

 

I know that Branden has stated he is not trying to copy Jordan's style, which is fine, but that does not mean I don't miss the wonderful way in which Mr. Jordan conveyed powerful imagery through words. How he could represent a person's mood not just by what they were saying but by their subtle physical actions.

 

We know these characters, maybe more-so than any other characters from any other book series, because of the time we've been with them and the detail in which they have been presented to us. Part of the reason TGS worked for me was because the character's foundations were solid. Eleven books solid. I have heard people complain about Jordan's work. dfchang says it well here: (read his post as he was not criticizing Mr. Jordan's style)

 

Remember how one of the biggest criticisms of Jordan's writing was all the extraneous scenes of braid-tugging, bathing, sniffing, etc, etc that people felt added nothing to the story?

 

Well, I for one, loved every minute, every paragraph, every sentence, every word that Jordan wrote in this series. In my mind there could never be too much information given about a character's immediate surrounding, about their present state of mind, about the intricate reasons for their actions, or what they were thinking another person was thinking. There were never too many characters, or too many point of views. Most of what is out there in the fantasy realm is fast food, ready to be written directly into a screenplay. Jordan's work was so epic, so detailed, that I would have been happy with 20 books. His work was a nine-course meal, with dessert!

 

If you want an example of what I am talking about read the Demandred Prologue in Lord of Chaos. Demandred could have just simply met Shaidar Haran and went before his Great Lord, instead we get insight into how a myrddraal's sword is made and get a sick sense of how evil the Dark One's forces are (poor mother and children). All through the eyes of a Forsaken!

 

Does the fact TGS doesn't have all the above mean I didn't like it? No. It was meat and potatoes. As stated above the story was fluid and exciting.

 

I certainly prefer it to the alternative: nothing at all!

 

I have followed this series since the beginning. I have both super-sized soft covers of the first two books on my bookshelf as proof. When I heard that Mr. Jordon had lost his battle, after a valiant struggle, (oh my money was on you James) I was ready to never know the amazing ending he had promised us so very long ago. I was ready to take what he had given and be satisfied with the trip he'd taken us on.

 

But now I see that we are going to get that ending. (Thank you for that Harriet) We are going to know what happens to Rand and crew and I commend Branden for taking on the monumental task to take us there. I think that, short of Mr. Jordan writing it, Branden is doing as good a job as could be hoped for.

 

Pretty much what Aramun says here:

 

I know Brandon said he wasn't rying to copy Jordan's voice. But that doesn't excuse for writing at such a reduced level, where it is glaringly obvious where one writer stopped and another continued.

 

Hopefully the next book is better. I am grateful for what he is doing.

 

I also hope the next book will be better and, in fact, I know it will be. Branden must have felt like he'd had Dragonmount placed on his shoulders the minute he agreed to take on this project. He needs to be commended on how he balanced his own in-progress work and writing TGS. I am pretty sure I saw his work get better as TGS moved along. I know for fact I saw him grow leaps and bounds between Alantris and the Mistborn series. So now I hope he can concentrate solely on AMoL and grow as a writer with all of us fans reaping the benefits of his growth.

 

Again Jason, your review allowed me to lower my expectations for TGS. Thanks for that. I know I enjoyed the book more-so because of it. But just so you know, Branden, this will not work for the rest of the series. My expectations are high once again. But now, so is my hope.

 

[Terez]

I thought it was a great review, and I appreciate in particular the teasers that you gave.  It's nice to have a little something extra to discuss, and I would encourage you to do the same for your future reviews, perhaps even a little more tease (if they will let you get away with it).  Also...

 

I've been thinking that Rand's mental state is 75% or more related to stress and depression rather than taint-induced madness.

 

Agreed.

[ragnareau]

As with many I would tend to agree with the 90% accurate rating.

 

The book was good, but not great.  Much of the “joy” of this book was finally seeing something happen in the story; after the long period since the last book and the even longer period since there was movement in the series.

 

As such, I find myself annoyed at some of  the criticism and praise for this book.  Yes, RJ had a firmer grasp of the characters and better prose, but BS did a good job with what he had.  And in some cases he (or RJ) saved some characters who had been absolutely ruined in the series (Nynaeve being the best example).

 

And in the end I had less occasions of “why the heck did X do that?” moments then I did from RJ in most of the recent books.  (At leasr since the end of LoC where to this day I can’t see how Rand’s next move wasn’t an attack on the WT).

 

The only place BS truly fell down was with the supporting cast, at least ones not named Suian.  This is actually to me the place where the Mat chapters fall down.  Mat, more than any other character is defined by the cast of characters around him and his obligation/dependence on him. 

 

For instance, Thom has always been a man of action whenever given cause, yet now laden with Elayne assuming the Lion Throne, the names of the AS that gentled Owyn, and Moiraine’s needs/love he is unable to do anything?  He would be actively manipulating Mat towards Caemlyn and the ToG.

 

In the end, the action makes me happy as does some of the motivational factors of the major characters.  But it still ranks substantially below many of the other books (2-6 come to mind).  And as good as some scenes were, few of them measure up to the great scenes of the past.