What characters does Brandon Sanderson write the best?

[Valley of Death]

I have read much on these forums about how many people think brandon has messed up with writing cadusuane. But who do you think he writes the best?

 

I think he writes Egwene the best

 

Who do you think?

 

Also, sorry if this has been discussed previously I started this series a few months ago and on my second re-read and only a couple weeks new to this forum.

[Ala Rubra]

Rand, Perrin, and Nynaeve. Although I haven't seen enough of post VoG Rand to be sure of that.

[bobarose]

yeah eggy has gotten more interesting since his arrival.perrins story line is great to read lately.

[Suttree]

I think Perrin which is not surprising given that is his favorite character. On the flip side it is a shame how his bias seems to have impacted certain characters such as Cadsuane however.

 

Regardless it is astonishing how wildly the quality of characterization fluctuates from chapter to chapter in TGS and ToM.

[Maleshub]

Perrin by a mile. There were some hiccups with Rand and Egwene and issues with Mat and Aviendha (he uses "honor" in her PoV's more than he uses "tempest" in others).

[jsbrads]

I actually liked Mat and that includes noticing how many times he made mistakes with mat, I still recognize mat and enjoy reading his arc. mistakes include the back story pages, the smiling, marriage and royalty protesting (it won't get funny if you do it more times)

Even when rand was going mad, I recognized him, but now his arc is so discontinous and unrelatable that I am alienated from the character.

Never liked Faile, she ruined the Perrin arc completely, by far the worst character, poisoning perrin's story. The only time his story is readable is when she has nothing to do with the story.

Nynaeve is actually better than under RJ, but a dyslexic, English as a second language, four year old could have probably improved her character, by just showing that she cares for her people instead of constantly showing how much she dislikes everybody else.

Egwene... well done.

Elayne, eh.

Avienda, interesting case, becasue her character never developed before the last book. She almost makes a man wish she would talk more she is so bottled up.

[Naggash]

Just in case you're interested, I must say that the translators made a good job.

Unfortunately I haven't enjoyed RJ's writting yet, since I'm spanish and I only read tGS and ToM in english (I couldn't wait for them to be translated), so when reading these two books I'm unable to feel any difference from before.

But what I can actually say is that I find the translation accurate (when the translationn was released I bought it too; as much as I like reading it in english, I can't help but fail at grasping it all in a foreign language), failing only in translating things such as balefire (which doesn't exist at all in spanish), balescream, Kinslayer, dreamweaver...you see what I mean, there are certain thing that in spanish just doesn't exist as words. That doesn't mean that I won't buy the whole series in english as soon as I can, there's nothing like reading it in original version.

And they did quite a good job in translating this last two books so that they would match almost perfectly the way the others were translated from Jordan's writting. There're still things you notice to "feel" strange, most of them at the beggining of tGS, but still you can almost forget that they're written by another man. So a good job translating indeed.

[1Brotherbill]

Yeah, I would have to say that Perrin is by far his best one.

 

Egwene also has become more interesting as well.

 

But I would have to say that Rand has gotten the best makeover. After starting out as the superior member of the group coming out of the Two Rivers. I think Jordan was kind of stuck with Rand. It seemed that he didn't know how to make him more detailed.

[David Selig]

Rand. His development in TGS was fantastic.

 

Perrin is still boring, just less so than in the last Jordan books (which isn't saying much ;))

[Naggash]

Rand. His development in TGS was fantastic.

 

Perrin is still boring, just less so than in the last Jordan books (which isn't saying much ;))

Hum...I also find Perrin boring, but only on the re-reads. When I read something new about Perrin I like it a lot, but he overthinks so much and so slowly everything that, for me, though in a first read it proves so brilliant, it gets horribly boring on re-read.

[Luckers]

I liked his handling of Dark Rand, and, much like everyone else I think he did a good job with Egwene and Perrin.

[Elan Tedronai]

Sanderson has thrashed all the characters.

 

Made mat unfunny as hell. aviendha seems like a stranger. Talmanes oh poor guy. The less said about egwene the better. I think galad and gawyn are the only characters that seem remotely consistent with jordan

[Kahsm]

I much preferred Brandon's Talmanes. He actually has life and is not just a caricature of a card board cut out figure... and that's a lot of bland. On my reread the Talmanes who dogs Egwene's army was dull and lifeless... a loyal hound just following orders. I never noticed it the first time, but seeing Brandon's take on his relationship with Mat later on, I kind of expected more between him and Egwene on the reread and was disappointed. It's understandable, given his position and her's, but I expected more life and personality from RJ's version and was disappointed.

[baalsmistress]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

[Maleshub]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

 

Every writer is criticized! That's comes with the territory. RJ's style was criticized; why not Brandon's?

[Conan]

I think BS does a great job with the entire project. It can't be easy writing someone elses vision. I have noticed a huge pick up in the pace of the story as a whole since Brandon took over and I can't help but feel that RJ would have had ten more books to finish. I'm on my forth read through doing it with auido and books 8 9 & 10 are so slow nothing happens between 8 & 10 I accidentally skipped crossroads of twilight and didn't realize it for like six hours it was crazy but the whole thing picks up in tGS.

[Suttree]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

 

It would be very unfair to Brandon to not critique his work and hold him accountable. I for one respect him too much to not convey my thoughts on how rough parts of TGS and ToM were. Both of those books had major issues that have been acknowledged by Team Jordan. To pretend they don't exist is doing him and the series a disservice.

[Byzantine279]

I'm the kind who really didn't notice the flaws in Mat's characterization, something about me causes me to simply accept it all and simply tune the chracter in my head to match, and I'm good at it.

[yoniy0]

I think he did a good job with Egwene

I thought the same thing after TGS, but later reports and ToM made me rethink that. It's hard to say which parts were written by RJ, and what level of polish he left them in. Reading some scenes from ToM gave me the impression that Brandon doesn't really have the same interpretation of her character as me.

[Mr Ares]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

Sanderson doing a fantastic job is not an objective judgement, it is a matter of opinion, and an opinion that a lot of people disagree with. So the following statement is just a valid as your own: "Sanderson has done a terrible job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and praise his work." Further, no author is above criticism. Offering criticism does not mean that you do not appreciate an authors hard work, or think that he, on the whole, did a good job. It simply means that you don't try to pretend his failings don't exist.

[Kahsm]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

 

It would be very unfair to Brandon to not critique his work and hold him accountable. I for one respect him too much to not convey my thoughts on how rough parts of TGS and ToM were. Both of those books had major issues that have been acknowledged by Team Jordan. To pretend they don't exist is doing him and the series a disservice.

 

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

Sanderson doing a fantastic job is not an objective judgement, it is a matter of opinion, and an opinion that a lot of people disagree with. So the following statement is just a valid as your own: "Sanderson has done a terrible job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and praise his work." Further, no author is above criticism. Offering criticism does not mean that you do not appreciate an authors hard work, or think that he, on the whole, did a good job. It simply means that you don't try to pretend his failings don't exist.

 

 

There's a difference between respectful criticism and consistent lambasting at every opportunity and a dedication to convincing others who enjoyed it how crappy it really was.

[Suttree]

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

 

It would be very unfair to Brandon to not critique his work and hold him accountable. I for one respect him too much to not convey my thoughts on how rough parts of TGS and ToM were. Both of those books had major issues that have been acknowledged by Team Jordan. To pretend they don't exist is doing him and the series a disservice.

 

Sanderson has done a fantastic job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and criticise his work.

Sanderson doing a fantastic job is not an objective judgement, it is a matter of opinion, and an opinion that a lot of people disagree with. So the following statement is just a valid as your own: "Sanderson has done a terrible job with the whole of the saga that he wrote. I really don't get how determined some people are to try and praise his work." Further, no author is above criticism. Offering criticism does not mean that you do not appreciate an authors hard work, or think that he, on the whole, did a good job. It simply means that you don't try to pretend his failings don't exist.

 

 

There's a difference between respectful criticism and consistent lambasting at every opportunity and a dedication to convincing others who enjoyed it how crappy it really was.

 

 

I'll give you this Kael. You consistently have the peevish angle dialed in your posts.

[baalsmistress]

The level of criticism directed at his work on this board is not consistant with being respectful to him. It is rare to see an opinion that he has done a good job, and very common to see long diatribes seeking to pull apart anything he has written.

 

If I'd read these boards before reading the books, I might very well have come to the conclusion that they were so terribly written as to be not worth reading, rather than being among the better books in the series.

[yoniy0]

The level of criticism directed at his work on this board is not consistant with being respectful to him. It is rare to see an opinion that he has done a good job, and very common to see long diatribes seeking to pull apart anything he has written.

 

If I'd read these boards before reading the books, I might very well have come to the conclusion that they were so terribly written as to be not worth reading, rather than being among the better books in the series.

That's because you're reading them now. For quite some time after Brandon took on the project, the vast majority of what was said was praise for his work, even before we got TGS. Then, if you read the reviews posted here and elsewhere (I think Jason and Leigh did one each), before and after the publication date, you'll see they contained almost exclusively positive feedback. Then when we got to read TGS, I think I wasn't the only one who had a little trouble reconciling the book with what's been said about it, but still thought it was a good book and kind of swept the bad under the carpet. Partly, that's because those aspects that were good about it are strongest after the first read, and only start to wear off when the excitement is over.

 

Then, the same was very much true with ToM, although the second time around the dissonance was much more apparent (in that I was thinking "what was Jason talking about" while I was reading it for the first time, and not only a few months later). In a way, I think many of us felt that Brandon was given a 'free-pass' when he came aboard (I'm not saying he shouldn't have, just that there was certainly a grace period), and that the lack of criticism might actually contribute to it not getting better.

 

This is perhaps why we emphasize the negative more frequently. We've already said many good things, but now we're moving on, and hoping that our criticism will reach Brandon and Harriet in some way, just as our praises have. It's not one-sided; if you ask most of us what we think of the books, we'll say that they were generally good (if nowhere near as good as polls suggest, when compared to TGH, TSR and LoC). Certainly, Brandon deserves our appreciation for taking the project in the first place, and our understanding as he tackles the inherit challenges involved, and I know most of us started out by saying exactly that.

[Suttree]

If I'd read these boards before reading the books, I might very well have come to the conclusion that they were so terribly written as to be not worth reading, rather than being among the better books in the series.

 

Therein lies the problem. You are welcome to your opinion of course but not sure why you would think everyone else must adhere to it? I often have a hard time understanding when people make that claim. I can see why the plot gratification and story advancement were enjoyable. It is very much a short term enjoyment however and neither work holds up well in subsequent re-reads(highlighted by the sea-change in opinion on various boards as time goes on). The things that happened were great, how it was written was most certainly not. Being a Lit major I have approached my rereads fairly carefully and the issues in those two works are readily apparent. The lack of polish is flat out cringe worthy at times and they quite simply do not hold up well. That is not to say that there aren't great moments in both. The quality is very uneven however, I'll often be clipping along enjoying myself only to be yanked straight out of the narrative when I hit a rough spot. Once again these things have been addressed by Team Jordan and Brandon changed his writing process as a result, so I am not sure why people think turning a blind eye helps.

 

Peter Ahlshtrom

That was the case with THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, but it's not how they're doing A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Instead, Brandon is writing a complete draft and then doing a revision or two before sending a polished draft to Team Jordan on December 31st (and that will be the first draft they see). This is more like Robert Jordan's process; he never showed anything to Harriet until it was finished. This does mean editing and revision will take longer, but rushing TOWERS caused a ton of headaches and stress, and Team Jordan and Brandon all want to avoid that this time. They have to get things RIGHT in this final book.

 

I also take exception with your claim that people pull apart "anything he has written". Both Mistborn and TWoK's are almost universally praised on these boards. We have seen what Brandon is capable of and unfortunately he has come up short in TGS and ToM. It is a fact that the writing, editing and revision process were far too rushed. Most troubling however is as Luckers has pointed out, at times Brandon doesn't even seem to try and overcome the areas he has trouble with.

 

AMoL will be the final piece upon which RJ's life's work will be judged. As Team Jordan said "they have to get things RIGHT in this final book". Once again to ignore that these problems exist would be a far larger form of disrespect. It is precisely because we want to see Brandon succeed so badly in AMoL that myself and many others feel compelled to share our thoughts.