New Author fit to take on the challenge?

[brujah]

I'm on book 11. I havent read the series in quite sometime. And knowing that Jordan wasnt gonna be completing the series led me to not pick them up many times. But alas I have and Im loving it all over again. Just wondering though, without any spoilers, do you guys think the new author is up for the task? If so why.

[Rufae]

Yes, because Brandon was (and still is) a longtime fan of the series. He's been reading it since Eye of the World first came out and has tremendous respect for the vision that Jordan was building. His writing style is also very similar to that of Jordan's. Read MIstorn or Way of Kings if you get a chance. And judging from Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight, he has done a great job of keeping things as close as possible to the way Jordan would have done it.

 

Jordan also left MANY notes and outlines to help the one who would finish his story. He knew this would happen and prepared for it.

 

I can't think of anyone else I would rather have doing it.

[Red2111]

he's more than up for the task, tGS & ToM have been wonderful. some of the characters will feel off in tGS, but Snaderson corrects those problem in ToM imo. for me, its hard to determin which are Sanderson written and which are Jordan written, Sanderson kept true to the Jordan style of writing.

 

in fact, some of my fav scenes fro the enire series are from tGS, so that alone says alot.

 

 

if you still have any doubts about Sanderson, i suggest pickign up a book or two of his and reading them to get a feel for his writing style. while alot of us readers were waiting for tGS to come out, thats what we did and theres no regrets abotu it because his other books are great as well.

 

Mistborn is liked alot by others on this site, its a trilogy by Sanderson and he's workign on a 2nd trilogy to follow along with it. personally i didn't enjoy it because i couldnt' get attached to the main character Vin. but i thoroughly enjoyed Elantris, so much so i've read it twice. its currently a stand alone, but he has a sequel planned for it.

[Niniel]

I know there are lots of people that don´t agree with me but I think Sanderson have done a great job. There are of course things that could have been made better or in another way but I love both tGS and ToM.

[Turin Turambar]

I add my endorsement to Sanderson as qualified to finish the series. His respect for RJ is evident. He has worked very hard to get the final volumes to us fans as quickly as possible while trying to ensure RJ's vision is completed.

[Suttree]

Yes, because Brandon was (and still is) a longtime fan of the series. He's been reading it since Eye of the World first came out and has tremendous respect for the vision that Jordan was building. His writing style is also very similar to that of Jordan's. Read MIstorn or Way of Kings if you get a chance. And judging from Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight, he has done a great job of keeping things as close as possible to the way Jordan would have done it.

 

Jordan also left MANY notes and outlines to help the one who would finish his story. He knew this would happen and prepared for it.

 

I can't think of anyone else I would rather have doing it.

 

I agree with most of what Sam said except for the part about their writing styles. Sanderson is much less polished and refined. His style is extremely blunt and straight forward. He bludgeons with a hammer and holds your hand when subtle hints would do just fine. BS himself said he would not try to imitate RJ's voice and style which is good but it can be quite jarring at times.

 

The main drawback I see for TGS and Tom is that they were both very rushed through the writing and editing process. Some people seem willing to give this a pass because of all the action and plot lines being resolved. To me where it hurts the most is in future rereads. I don't think they will stand the test of time like RJ's work has. Thankfully with aMoL they are taking there time and I hope we will see the quality of the book show a significant improvement.

 

Having said the above we should all be very grateful BS has stepped up to finish the series. He has done an admirable job under very difficult circumstances.

[brujah]

Both comforting and reassuring. Someone said something about Sanderson(sp) having Jordan's old notes. I wasn't aware of that. Does anyone know if Jordan actually let anyone know or actually wrote down how he wanted the series to end? Another of my main concerns is that will the series end as Jordan intended. I'm not a writer, although I wrote my own book, but I had to write it in a simple outline of major events. The end would have to be perfect for any of it to truely count to me. Im only on book 11, BTW. No spoilers pls.

[Rufae]

Brandon said that the last 10% (300,000 words x 10% = 30,000 words) of the book is completely written by Jordan. So, yeah, the ending will be 100% Jordan. The Epilogue will be based off notes detailing the futures of the characters involved..

 

Yeah, RJ left copiouis notes even to the point of detailing each chapter until the end. Sanderson went in and put flesh on the skeleton.

[brujah]

Splendid. Best news I've heard regarding the series. I often wondered about that, considering he knew he was ill. Its not like he left suddenly and unexpectedly. I guess I should have figured to an extent that he would pass the rest of the stories main points on. Thank you.

[Clayden69]

Yes, because Brandon was (and still is) a longtime fan of the series. He's been reading it since Eye of the World first came out and has tremendous respect for the vision that Jordan was building. His writing style is also very similar to that of Jordan's. Read MIstorn or Way of Kings if you get a chance. And judging from Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight, he has done a great job of keeping things as close as possible to the way Jordan would have done it.

 

Jordan also left MANY notes and outlines to help the one who would finish his story. He knew this would happen and prepared for it.

 

I can't think of anyone else I would rather have doing it.

 

I agree with most of what Sam said except for the part about their writing styles. Sanderson is much less polished and refined. His style is extremely blunt and straight forward. He bludgeons with a hammer and holds your hand when subtle hints would do just fine. BS himself said he would not try to imitate RJ's voice and style which is good but it can be quite jarring at times.

 

The main drawback I see for TGS and Tom is that they were both very rushed through the writing and editing process. Some people seem willing to give this a pass because of all the action and plot lines being resolved. To me where it hurts the most is in future rereads. I don't think they will stand the test of time like RJ's work has. Thankfully with aMoL they are taking there time and I hope we will see the quality of the book show a significant improvement.

 

Having said the above we should all be very grateful BS has stepped up to finish the series. He has done an admirable job under very difficult circumstances.

 

 

Agree 100% with Suttree. I am reading Mistborn trilogy now and I have found there styles to be completely different. Where RJ is subtle BS is not. Quite simply BS isn't the wordsmith that RJ was, but then there are not many authors who are. Don't get me wrong these are NOT criticisms of BS, while I found his style to b different I still love his work!! Its fast-paced full of action and goes brilliantly on my bookshelf alongside WoT due to the contrasting styles.

 

For me the only author who would have stood a chance of completing WoT to the same standard as RJ is many years dead, a certain JRR Tolkien. Though I havent read any Brooks, Bakker or Eddings and these are 3 authors that a friend, and fellow WoT and fantasy nut, suggested to me as alternatives.

 

And I would like to 2nd Suttrees thanks to BS for completing RJs work. Not just completing RJs work but being willing to put the time, effort and necessary passion into project. Not alot of other authors would have been willing to set their own work aside and put the dedication into the project that BS has.

[Basel Gill]

For me the only author who would have stood a chance of completing WoT to the same standard as RJ is many years dead, a certain JRR Tolkien.

 

I don't think I would care to see WoT as written by Tolkein. LotR was an epic story, but JRRT was quite old-fashioned at times. Someone on a forum I used to frequent many years ago, which is now defunct, once referred to him as "prissy". I think if this happened, JRRT wouldn't be able to let the narrative flow freely without having to periodically break for a song that takes up a page and a half. There were times when reading LoTR that I felt caught between a fantasy epic and a Broadway musical.

[Turin Turambar]

I don't think Tolkien would be right to complete WoT either, although I am a great fan of his, obviously. I think his style is too different. I always found the bits of music lent depth to the story. Just a question, Have you read Silmarillion? I always thought it much better than LotR. but that is off topic.

[Ryalt]

Although I love the continuation of the books, there were a couple points where I just had to put it down and tell myself "It's not Robert Jordan writing this right now." And I appreciate every effort BS has done, but yeah.

 

 

My specific example is the character of Mat. I LOVED how RJ wrote him, and in the new book, he almost seems like a different person.

 

 

Different ways of storytelling, plain and simple. Personally I prefer the manner of which RJ wrote, as someone said above, he was a superior wordsmith. But the story/plot is still there, and it's always amazing and fun to see it's progression and movement forward.

[Red2111]

yeah i wouldn't want Tolkien or a writer like Tolkien taking over WoT. lotR's and even the Hobbit boered me beyond being able to read them. i struggled through the Hobbit but couldn't even get the strength up to do so for LotR's.

 

 

the main reason i wouldn't want a Tolkienesque writer doing WoT, is because with Tolkien, the focus is mainly on World Building. at this point in WoT, RJ's completed all the world building and now all you need to plot progression, character building and tieing up loose ends.

 

 

the only other author i can think of off the top of my head that i'd want completing WoT aside from BS, is GRRM. the only down sides to GRRM is the descriptivenesses in adult situations, the type of characters, the handling of characters and ofcourse how long it takes him to complete a book. likely if it was GRRM completing the series, we still wouldn't have tGS out yet