10 Reasons Why I Think Brandon Sanderson is the Better Writer

[fikkie77]

People you're al extremely biased! Most of you have been reading WOT for over 10 years, if not 20. I started much later (5 years ago).

Though I have to admit I started reading the books in Dutch (switched to English later on), which might be a factor, I had trouble to get into the story of TEOTW. It looked very much like the start of The Lord of the Rings: in a quiet corner of the world a peaceful folk are visited by a strange sorceror (sorceress). Everything changes and a great danger looms and they have to flee. I know the story of WOT changed much from LOTR, but you have to chew through a huge part where it doesn't seem that different from what you already know. It doesn't seem unique. I'm very glad I read on and was able to enjoy the greatness of WOT.

But when I decided to read Mistborn I was really stunned. Sanderson immediately pulled my in. No quiet start, but immediate oppression. No dangerous journey, but revolution at the place where the main characters live and work. And Sanderson is better able to keep his story in control. Jordan wasn't: he wanted to tell us so much (and he was right to do so), that book after book wasn't enough to even come nearer to the end. Sanderson wanted to write a trilogy and that's what it became. More books will follow, but they will tell a different story.

 

Sanderson and Jordan are very different writers. Jordan was the perfectionist, Sanderson is the one with more talent. And a lack of humour? Start reading Alloy of Law and you'll be proven wrong.

But if you've been reading for decades, remember just that you're biased before you react.

[Luckers]

People you're al extremely biased! Most of you have been reading WOT for over 10 years, if not 20. I started much later (5 years ago).

Though I have to admit I started reading the books in Dutch (switched to English later on), which might be a factor, I had trouble to get into the story of TEOTW. It looked very much like the start of The Lord of the Rings: in a quiet corner of the world a peaceful folk are visited by a strange sorceror (sorceress). Everything changes and a great danger looms and they have to flee. I know the story of WOT changed much from LOTR, but you have to chew through a huge part where it doesn't seem that different from what you already know. It doesn't seem unique. I'm very glad I read on and was able to enjoy the greatness of WOT.

But when I decided to read Mistborn I was really stunned. Sanderson immediately pulled my in. No quiet start, but immediate oppression. No dangerous journey, but revolution at the place where the main characters live and work. And Sanderson is better able to keep his story in control. Jordan wasn't: he wanted to tell us so much (and he was right to do so), that book after book wasn't enough to even come nearer to the end. Sanderson wanted to write a trilogy and that's what it became. More books will follow, but they will tell a different story.

 

Sanderson and Jordan are very different writers. Jordan was the perfectionist, Sanderson is the one with more talent. And a lack of humour? Start reading Alloy of Law and you'll be proven wrong.

But if you've been reading for decades, remember just that you're biased before you react.

 

Brandon has a great deal of talent, he just needs to learn the technique to express that talent. I say that bearing in mind that I am apparently biased.

 

With time he may well equal or even exceed Jordan, but before he can do that he needs to step back and take a look at the work that he is producing, because in recent years he has stopped growing as a writer, and is perhaps indeed devolving. If Alloy of Law proves anything, it proves that.

[Sephie913]

I started much later (5 years ago).

Though I have to admit I started reading the books in Dutch (switched to English later on), which might be a factor, I had trouble to get into the story of TEOTW. It looked very much like the start of The Lord of the Rings: in a quiet corner of the world a peaceful folk are visited by a strange sorceror (sorceress). Everything changes and a great danger looms and they have to flee. I know the story of WOT changed much from LOTR, but you have to chew through a huge part where it doesn't seem that different from what you already know. It doesn't seem unique. I'm very glad I read on and was able to enjoy the greatness of WOT.

 

Valid. RJ even stated that he intended the 1st hundred pages to feel a little like Tolkien. Then they reach a fork in the road, and WoT goes the other way, and stays off in a different direction.

 

I will say that in my 1st read through, I loved the prologue, and then almost didn't make it to Winternight. 62 pages, I believe, that I couldn't stand. Then torllocs break down the door, and the rest is history. But in a second read through, I actually find that 1st 60 to be some of my favorite foreshadowing and nostalgia. Knowing what they go through and who they become makes you pity them, in these scenes.

 

Sanderson and Jordan are very different writers. Jordan was the perfectionist, Sanderson is the one with more talent. And a lack of humour? Start reading Alloy of Law and you'll be proven wrong.

But if you've been reading for decades, remember just that you're biased before you react.

 

 

I think that statement requires another decade to prove or disprove. Brandon is, in some ways, more prolific. As for more talented, I think that will always be a matter of opinion.

[RandA lThor]

Just something, another connection to LotR is that Loial or his friend when they were travelling was going under the name of Master Underhill.

[Elan Tedronai]

the only thing against jordan's magic series is

 

lack of death amongst major characters. Ineffectual baddies is the kryptonite of the series.

[bigdoug1971]

I'm reading the Mistborn books now out of boredom and waiting for AMOL. They're pretty good books. I can think of a lot of other books that are way better.....A song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, and the Shannarrah books all come to mind right off the top of my head as way better than the Mistborn Trilogy.

 

I don't see how anyone can say Sanderson is better than Jordan. He's just fleshing out notes and storylines that were already written for him. Not only that, not a word of it is printed until it's been approved by Jordan's staff too.

 

While I'll agree with the pacing you pointed out, Jordan's books are a Saga, not a trilogy. And I know it's not RJ's fault here at the end, but because of the Wheel of Time, I will never read another series by anyone that isn't finished before I start it. I'm in the same trap with A song of Ice and Fire right now, and that's the final series I ever read unless it's done before I start the first book. I love the Wheel of Time, but 20 years of waiting for the end of the story??? I'm 41 years old. That's half my life and we still don't have the ending of the story!

[Kahsm]

I'm reading the Mistborn books now out of boredom and waiting for AMOL. They're pretty good books. I can think of a lot of other books that are way better.....A song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, and the Shannarrah books all come to mind right off the top of my head as way better than the Mistborn Trilogy.

 

If you like LotR and Terry Brooks' stuff more than BS' then I think that's just a matter of you preferring the classic fantasy. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's not really an author comparison. Brandon just simply does not write that type of fantasy novel. And I personally thank god for that.

 

I tend to be of the "different authors are different" mindset. Though I think my ideal author would be somewhere in the middle of BS and RJ... with a little Robin Hobb sprinkled in here and there for class. Not too much though, she can probably drag an otherwise well paced story out pretty quickly.

[XXX]

The Way of Kings is IMO a much superior book compared to the Eye of the World.

 

Jordan grew greedy and stretched the books in the middle. We will see how BS goes but he seems to be the guy who will not do such a thing as he is much more creative and does not need to hang his coat on just one book series.

[OptimusPrime]

People you're al extremely biased! Most of you have been reading WOT for over 10 years, if not 20. I started much later (5 years ago).

Though I have to admit I started reading the books in Dutch (switched to English later on), which might be a factor, I had trouble to get into the story of TEOTW. It looked very much like the start of The Lord of the Rings: in a quiet corner of the world a peaceful folk are visited by a strange sorceror (sorceress). Everything changes and a great danger looms and they have to flee. I know the story of WOT changed much from LOTR, but you have to chew through a huge part where it doesn't seem that different from what you already know. It doesn't seem unique. I'm very glad I read on and was able to enjoy the greatness of WOT.

But when I decided to read Mistborn I was really stunned. Sanderson immediately pulled my in. No quiet start, but immediate oppression. No dangerous journey, but revolution at the place where the main characters live and work. And Sanderson is better able to keep his story in control. Jordan wasn't: he wanted to tell us so much (and he was right to do so), that book after book wasn't enough to even come nearer to the end. Sanderson wanted to write a trilogy and that's what it became. More books will follow, but they will tell a different story.

 

Sanderson and Jordan are very different writers. Jordan was the perfectionist, Sanderson is the one with more talent. And a lack of humour? Start reading Alloy of Law and you'll be proven wrong.

But if you've been reading for decades, remember just that you're biased before you react.

 

Brandon has a great deal of talent, he just needs to learn the technique to express that talent.

 

Exactly! Hes still new to the game, whereas RJ was more in his writing prime.

 

Me and my bro were talking about this, about where Brandon stands in terms of skill and such. I think he has the ideas, but not that technique. Yet. Take Way of Kings first chapter for example

 

(WoK SPOILERS)

 

 

To read, I thought WoKs opening was very awkward. Basically, some assassin guy has been sent to kill the king, but with the added quirk that it must be known that hes an assassin, that the king must know someone is in there trying to kill him. Its a very Matrix-esque scene, with the assassin manipulating gravity so he can fall towards or away from the enemy, run on walls, ceilings etc. The way Brandon explained all that in the thick of action made the fight seem longer, slower. A bit infodumpy. But once I had digested the scene I frikkin loved it! What actually happens is awesome. It boils down to a ridiculously nimble ninja-type trying to kill a supercharged fighter type, it really was cool. It actually is a fast paced scene. But I felt most of that AFTER reading it, which, funnily enough, was the same for me with TGS, which is now my 2nd favorite WoT book after LoC).

 

(end of Way of Kings spoilers)

 

All in all, I agree with Luckers. He has the talent, he has the ideas, HOLY CRAP he has the motivation. All he needs is more experience. And a thesaurus like Ares said.

[yourcheesehat]

read the dark tower series by stephen king.

it is fucking awesome and thats all im going to say.

[Agitel]

I don't like overall better or worse discussions. That said, I find many of criticisms in the first post to be poor judgments or matters of taste. Others have already addressed a number of the points, but I'd just like to add my comments on a couple. Jordan writes better prose. His WoT gets self-indulgent at times (imo), but the prose is definitely better. Sanderson is a much tighter author who's able to cut the fat and keep his stories more condensed and focused on the goal at hand. This likely stems from the process by which he writes his stories, which are largely laid out before hand rather than him "discovering" how his plot unfolds.

 

Both authors sometimes have problems with their endings. Sanderson has his "Brandon Avalanche" where there's just too much going on and Jordan's didn't always seem to be the best planned and tended to be pretty abrupt. The confrontation with Aginor and Balthamel came from nowhere. Be'lal? What? Jordan didn't really seem to properly set up these confrontations or have proper arcs for these conflicts. Oftentimes there would be a late-book twist without proper set-up (EotW their goal is changed very abruptly and they're brought somewhere without as much set-up as I'd like to really make it a proper arc for the book).

 

My criticisms of Jordan's may be unfair and may be limited only to the WoT; while I've ultimately read more words and books by Jordan than Sanderson due to the length of the WoT, that's all I've read so far, while I've read all of Sanderson's published works.

[fikkie77]

That was also something that bothered me in my first WOT read: why did Moiraine want to bring the boys+Egwene to Tar Valon? She knew that one of the boys was the Dragon Reborn, that the Black Ajah existed and therefore that the White Tower would be an extremely dangerous place for him.

 

Nevertheless, I remember that RJ once said that he never lets the story decide which way to go. I think it did sometimes and it did more frequently in the earlier books.

[Agitel]

That was also something that bothered me in my first WOT read: why did Moiraine want to bring the boys+Egwene to Tar Valon? She knew that one of the boys was the Dragon Reborn, that the Black Ajah existed and therefore that the White Tower would be an extremely dangerous place for him.

 

Nevertheless, I remember that RJ once said that he never lets the story decide which way to go. I think it did sometimes and it did more frequently in the earlier books.

 

I certainly think Jordan had all the major arcs and plot points set, don't get me wrong. But it strikes me as unlikely that a trilogy would expand into a fourteen book saga if he plotted and outlined the series and each book ahead of time beyond more than a minimum of notes on where he wanted to go.

[Sephie913]

@Agitel: well done. concise discussion of what might or might not be weak points or flaws. thank you.

 

I agree that the endings in the beginning were abrupt and often enough with a lack of foreshadowing. As for not making it to WT in book one, I think that was because he split it into 3.

 

I think one way BS describes the different styles is: BS plans, RJ discovered. One of the bonuses of discovering is that you can write what you feel, which helps the prose. One of the minuses is, you never know what's going to be discovered, or how long it will take to discover it.

 

Also, I've heard about the Brandon Avalanche. What's the issue with that?

[fikkie77]

err, Rand ended up in the White Tower in book 13...

[Roxinos]

I regard one of Jordan's greatest skills is the subtle development of characters over the course of their arcs. Egwene's evolution is one of my favourites, from brat to her struggle with Nynaeve for equality, to her apprenticeship with the Wise Ones, to her gaining a sense of equality with Moiraine, to her submitting to the Wise Ones for her lies, to her time as figurehead amyrlin and turning into genuine amyrlin, to finally her guirillea war against Elaida... she grows and changes steadily, but so smoothly you don't even really feel it happening. My one sadness is that she seems to revert in TofM.

 

I was nodding along in your perspective until this.

 

Could you please explain how Egwene's evolution has been anything but jarring? Particularly when she was raised to Amyrlin. She went from Egwene the Aiel to Egwene the Amyrlin nearly instantly. As far as I see it, while she may have been raised to be a figurehead, she never thought of herself as one, and she was only "powerless" due to lack of knowledge. Her mindset and personality instantly shifted to "how do I keep the Hall from ignoring me?" and she successfully manipulated the entire Hall from the very beginning.

 

I'm just curious if you could elaborate on this. Also, how did she "revert" in ToM?

[yoniy0]

Roxinos, we have to be extra careful with Egwene, since discussing her character has been known to derail threads in the past. Namely, it becomes difficult to know when to stop and acknowledge a deadlock for what it is. I suggest that we therefore keep this question to one of the threads dealing with her specifically.

 

I do have an answer, though, so lead the way and I'll follow.

[Suttree]

Roxinos, we have to be extra careful with Egwene, since discussing her character has been known to derail threads in the past. Namely, it becomes difficult to know when to stop and acknowledge a deadlock for what it is. I suggest that we therefore keep this question to one of the threads dealing with her specifically.

 

I do have an answer, though, so lead the way and I'll follow.

 

I'm interested in what you are thinking here Yoniy0. Whay don't you move both posts over to the appreciation thread?

[yoniy0]

Okay, I'll do that tomorrow (if Luckers's reply leaves anything unsaid ), and link to that post here.

[Kahsm]

************(WoK SPOILERS)************

 

To read, I thought WoKs opening was very awkward. Basically, some assassin guy has been sent to kill the king, but with the added quirk that it must be known that hes an assassin, that the king must know someone is in there trying to kill him. Its a very Matrix-esque scene, with the assassin manipulating gravity so he can fall towards or away from the enemy, run on walls, ceilings etc. The way Brandon explained all that in the thick of action made the fight seem longer, slower. A bit infodumpy. But once I had digested the scene I frikkin loved it! What actually happens is awesome. It boils down to a ridiculously nimble ninja-type trying to kill a supercharged fighter type, it really was cool. It actually is a fast paced scene. But I felt most of that AFTER reading it, which, funnily enough, was the same for me with TGS, which is now my 2nd favorite WoT book after LoC).

 

(end of Way of Kings spoilers)

 

Yeah, the visualization of that scene is pretty damn amazing. I mean it's an extension of Mistborn "stuff" (anti-spoiler term) that I thought would make a great movie if done well, then WoK just knocks Mistborn out of the water. Brandon should write screenplays. Maybe we can all agree on that?

[Roxinos]

Roxinos, we have to be extra careful with Egwene, since discussing her character has been known to derail threads in the past. Namely, it becomes difficult to know when to stop and acknowledge a deadlock for what it is. I suggest that we therefore keep this question to one of the threads dealing with her specifically.

 

I do have an answer, though, so lead the way and I'll follow.

 

Fair enough, though I wasn't looking for a discussion. I just wanted to know Luckers' thoughts. Don't really care about anything else. :)

[Luckers]

That's what I like to hear. :D

 

Ummm... I'm at work atm, and we're fair busy, I may not get to reply for a day or two.

[Nasty Butler]

My beef with BS is that you can predict what is going to happen every time you start one of his books. I've read Elantris, Mistborn(minus the new one, haven't had time), and WoKs, and they are all the same. You enter a world where there used to be some great power, something is currently wrong with the world, nobody has a frickin clue how to fix it. You do not get anywhere towards finding out what the answer is until the very end of the story, and the answer is always some tiny little thing that was right in plain sight the whole story. And there is nothing but planning and politics with a few fight scenes scattered throughout.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't like BS, I love his books. They are a blast. Mistborn and Elantris was awesome. I need to reread WoK because I felt like I missed a lot with it. But I feel that Robert Jordan's characters and world was much more believable because they were described so well. Humor in BS's books has always been something that has bugged me. Humor is one of my favorite things about WoT.

[Jaedan_edhel]

People you're al extremely biased! Most of you have been reading WOT for over 10 years, if not 20. I started much later (5 years ago).

Though I have to admit I started reading the books in Dutch (switched to English later on), which might be a factor, I had trouble to get into the story of TEOTW. It looked very much like the start of The Lord of the Rings: in a quiet corner of the world a peaceful folk are visited by a strange sorceror (sorceress). Everything changes and a great danger looms and they have to flee.

 

(I'm dealing with this bit first because I'm still getting used to how the 'quote' button works) I think people have to be biased at Dragonmount because it is a Wheel of Time (and therefore Robert Jordan) appreciation group. I feel that comparing another series - even one written by the same author completing this one - is a bit like saying Star Wars is better than Star Trek on a Star Trek appreciation site (or vice versa). Although I have to say, it has started a really interesting thread.

 

However - I really admire Brandon Sanderson for taking on the very scary task of finishing Wheel of Time. I've not read any of his other novels (nor do I intend to until WoT is finished) and I have every respect for him. I feel the work on the last two are seamless enough that I'm happily ignorant of who wrote what, and hope that remains throughout Memory of Light, too.

 

The 'quiet corner of the world' start is a favourite author tool, especially in fantasy and Sci Fi, because as the characters learn about the world around them, the reader also learns from the perspective of another (albeit fictional) newbie. I feel it also has a lot more scope than 'kitchen-boy/slave/street urchin makes good' starts as the characters (IMHO) tend to be more of a stereotype when a fantasy novel starts out that way (not always, but often enough).

 

I do have one little annoyance with WoT, and I'm not sure who to blame for it - and that is that it seems necessary for all the characters to pair up (except Rand, who has far more than his fair share)! It wasn't too bad, save for Siuan and Gareth, which I feel is pointless, then Morgase and the guardsman, although it seems in character for Morgase to have a 'someone'... I didn't like Mat's resignation over being married to Tuon - I didn't feel it was very characteristic, and I can't imagine why anyone would want to pair up Moraine and Thom.

 

But to balance, two things I find especially refreshing about WoT, and that is the lack of sex and swearing. I get bored of the intimate details of characters sexual activities in fantasy novels; if I wanted to read that sort of stuff, I'd buy Mills&Boon. But we know that characters have relationships and references are all kept to a level I can smile at instead of get bored with. I also appreciate the alternatives for swearing. I'm not that bothered about it, generally, but when characters in a novel will say 'fuck' for anything from a stubbed toe to a good sword thrust through the liver, it loses impact. It's great to have something different!

[fikkie77]

I'm not saying Jordan is a bad writer. I really love WoT, but had a terrible time getting used to it. My mother loves reading fantasy, but couldn't get through and stopped after reading a quarter of EOTW. And BS is better in taking your breath right from the start. I believe he will be the better writer in the end, but that's all moot: they're both great writers!