What characters does Brandon Sanderson write the best?

[Orderofolde]

I believe he has done a very good job with Rand and with the characters we haven't really seen before. He wrote some powerful scenes with Egwene making her come across as a lot older than she is. He has a good way of proving that younger people can be responsible and do great things.

[yoniy0]

I believe he has done a very good job with Rand and with the characters we haven't really seen before. He wrote some powerful scenes with Egwene making her come across as a lot older than she is.

I forgot to say, I agree that he's done a good job with Rand and Perrin. I can't tell with Gawyn; never had an understanding of what made that one tick. Galad seemed reasonable enough, as did Tuon. I liked Aviendha in TGS. Regarding Egwene, that's what I was saying before; a great deal of her arc in TGS was actually written by RJ, we now know. And I'd swear most of her ToM PoV's were not, at least not nearly to the same level.

 

While we're on this topic, I find it funny the way some just sweep away with the criticism saying that folks have confused RJ's work for Brandon's (and therefore implying bias). In actuality, I'm fairly certain nothing RJ wrote was completely ready; surely he hasn't signed off on anything as finalized. That ought to be part of what we're seeing, even in scenes that were his alone (if any exist). The deal with chapter names is very similar; even if Harriet always chose them, does anyone think that RJ's input was ignored? That they never talked about it, or that he never asked for a change? The fact is that a whole bunch of people, myself included, note a distinct difference. Is it all just imagination?

[Terez]

Harriet said that RJ never took an interest in chapter names. I think the reason for the difference is simple; she has always tried to draw the chapter names from the most poetic elements of the chapters themselves, and there is simply less poetry in TGS and TOM to work with.

[Apples First]

I forgot to say, I agree that he's done a good job with Rand and Perrin. I can't tell with Gawyn; never had an understanding of what made that one tick. Galad seemed reasonable enough, as did Tuon. I liked Aviendha in TGS. Regarding Egwene, that's what I was saying before; a great deal of her arc in TGS was actually written by RJ, we now know. And I'd swear most of her ToM PoV's were not, at least not nearly to the same level.

 

While we're on this topic, I find it funny the way some just sweep away with the criticism saying that folks have confused RJ's work for Brandon's (and therefore implying bias). In actuality, I'm fairly certain nothing RJ wrote was completely ready; surely he hasn't signed off on anything as finalized. That ought to be part of what we're seeing, even in scenes that were his alone (if any exist). The deal with chapter names is very similar; even if Harriet always chose them, does anyone think that RJ's input was ignored? That they never talked about it, or that he never asked for a change? The fact is that a whole bunch of people, myself included, note a distinct difference. Is it all just imagination?

 

Rand: Nooooooo! He's REAL!

 

LTT: Illyeeennaaa!

...

 

 

Sorry, I just had to.

[NetSlider]

Nynaeve and Perrin, IMO. Rand is good as well, but ever since BS started writing I actually begun to like Nyn and Perrin a lot more (or maybe they just finally "grew up"). As far as Egwene, I know that I started to hate her A LOT; it might be just the plot line, but if one of the goals of the author is to awaken emotional response towards a character, BS def did a good job on that front.

[CaveManNinja]

The only character I don't like switched is Lan.. As for the rest, I have enjoyed them all!

[Randommer]

Nynaeve and Perrin, IMO. Rand is good as well, but ever since BS started writing I actually begun to like Nyn and Perrin a lot more (or maybe they just finally "grew up"). As far as Egwene, I know that I started to hate her A LOT; it might be just the plot line, but if one of the goals of the author is to awaken emotional response towards a character, BS def did a good job on that front.

Hmm. A lot of people seem to think BS writes Rand well, at least in TGS, and wow do I not agree. Rand was always my favourite character; as an amateur writer, I find the whole direly unstable main character thing very interesting. So I suppose I'm way more critical than most of Sanderson's Rand. I agree that the character had some great, terrifying moments in TGS, but he also suddenly developed a whole lot of traits he hadn't had before, such as the open-book thing that annoys me most about the way BS writes WoT characters.

 

But yeah; agreed that he did a very good job with Perrin. And I'd definitely add Elayne, Min, Faile, Galad, Gawyn, Morgase and Siuan to that list. Those are the characters which I wouldn't be able to tell apart from RJ's books. I like his Nynaeve, and I like-to-dislike his Egwene, but I do think there are slight differences in how BS writes them, compared to RJ.

 

Also, could someone explain to me the issues with Cadsuane's character in TGS and ToM? To me she seemed exactly the same lol.

[Suttree]

Also, could someone explain to me the issues with Cadsuane's character in TGS and ToM? To me she seemed exactly the same lol.

 

Luckers had a solid quote touching on this some time back...

 

Actually, I personally feel it has very little to do with bias, and more to do with his writing methodology. His style is all about slapping down words on a page and getting on to the next thing, and as a result both his character and plot work is blunt, simplistic and unpolished, relying on fan and plot gratification to pull the weight of the narative.

 

The end product is that characters under Brandon invariably are informed by a blunt assessment of their motivations, thus resulting in a deeply literal portrayal. Cadsuane, rather than being the exception, is merely an example in which this is made particularily noticeable due to the degree of negativity in Brandon's assessment of her. Other examples would include Berelain and her wierd niave 'me + Perrin + sex = treaty with the Dragon', or Olver and his nearly sociopathic understanding of his relationship with Mat, but it is present in pretty much every scene, and every character.

 

When you add this to Brandon's tendency to compromise secondary character to make primrary characters look good during confrontational scenes--and yes, its pretty shoddy writing.

 

Highlighted the relevant parts. It was such deeply literal portrayal that it bordered on caricature. In no way did she resemble the woman RJ describes in those released notes.

[yoniy0]

Really? Min and Elayne?? Well, this just goes to show you, different people read the WoT differently. But by God, Elayne?!?

[Luckers]

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.

 

Your defining 'being respectful to Brandon' as 'praising Brandon'. Those are two very distinct things.

[Terez]

Really? Min and Elayne?? Well, this just goes to show you, different people read the WoT differently. But by God, Elayne?!?

 

Agreed, Elayne was way different. Her conversation with Gawyn was just weird.

[Luckers]

Really? Min and Elayne?? Well, this just goes to show you, different people read the WoT differently. But by God, Elayne?!?

 

Agreed, Elayne was way different. Her conversation with Gawyn was just weird.

 

QFT

[David Selig]

I thought Brandon did pretty well with Elayne overall, but there ere some clear problems. In ToM she didn't think about Aviendha even once, which is just wrong given how close they became in the previous books. And it's not like Sanderson has forgotten about their connection, since in Aviendha's PoV chapters she thinks of Elayne all the time.

[damandred]

On topic i think the character BS had the most success with is Nynaeve i like his better than Jordan' and I liked RJ' very much. Been surprised though reading peoples opinions of his his failings no ones mentioned MAT for me the most stand out in the two books.

[Suttree]

Been surprised though reading peoples opinions of his his failings no ones mentioned MAT for me the most stand out in the two books.

 

Think it was just beaten to death so much upon release of TGS. People have kind of moved on...

[damandred]

Been surprised though reading peoples opinions of his his failings no ones mentioned MAT for me the most stand out in the two books.

 

Think it was just beaten to death so much upon release of TGS. People have kind of moved on...

 

Fair enough

[Terez]

I think it probably didn't come up because of the thread title. We're only bringing up the ones we think he didn't do so great with to argue with other people's choices.

[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.

 

Your defining 'being respectful to Brandon' as 'praising Brandon'. Those are two very distinct things.

 

Actually, no I'm not.

[Randommer]

Really? Min and Elayne?? Well, this just goes to show you, different people read the WoT differently. But by God, Elayne?!?

 

Agreed, Elayne was way different. Her conversation with Gawyn was just weird.

Oh yeah, that was very odd. But tbh I read that more as...iffy scene-writing rather than the characters being off. Everything just progressed way too fast in that conversation. BS has this hang-up about avoiding melodrama, and sometimes he goes too far the other way. But maybe Elayne's debatable; I totally didn't notice that she never thought of Avi in ToM. Still, I don't think her character was that different.

[NetSlider]

I listen to audiobooks and i have to say that out of all of tgem mat stands out the most and i mean REALLY the most. If anyone has a chance to listen to the books try to experiment with different characters (its actually a lot of fun). But yeah, mat thing really is a dead horse at this point (though TOM was a lot better than TGS).

as far as rand goes, i think he is pretty good considering how he was suposed to change.

 

[Maleshub]

Really? Min and Elayne?? Well, this just goes to show you, different people read the WoT differently. But by God, Elayne?!?

 

Agreed, Elayne was way different. Her conversation with Gawyn was just weird.

Oh yeah, that was very odd. But tbh I read that more as...iffy scene-writing rather than the characters being off. Everything just progressed way too fast in that conversation. BS has this hang-up about avoiding melodrama, and sometimes he goes too far the other way. But maybe Elayne's debatable; I totally didn't notice that she never thought of Avi in ToM. Still, I don't think her character was that different.

 

My favorite Elayne scene is her boat ride with Gawyn. She read her brother quite well; and knew the key to his personality; allowing her to put some sense into his dense head.

 

Maybe it was seeing Gawyn finally put in place clouding my judgement; but Elayne didn't come across as strange in that scene.

[Luckers]

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.

 

Your defining 'being respectful to Brandon' as 'praising Brandon'. Those are two very distinct things.

 

Actually, no I'm not.

 

Oh? Okay, lets look at what you said...

 

Firstly, to be clear, your claim is: 'The level of criticism directed at his work on this board is not consistant with being respectful to him.'

 

My judgement of your claim is that you are 'defining 'being respectful to Brandon' as 'praising Brandon'.'

 

You state this judgement is wrong, therefore let us consider your following statements.

 

1. 1 "It is rare to see an opinion that he has done a good job."

 

What has this to do with being respectful, unless you percieve respect as praise?

 

1.2 " 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."

 

What does negative criticism have to do with respect? A diatribe is an impassioned speech--in what what does a negative impassioned speech about his work suggest that the speaker or writer lacks respect for the author? Again, I only see that your point was that anything but praising the author is a form of disrespect.

 

 

 

Sorry Mistress, it is entirely plausible to be brutally critical of an authors work without disrespecting him. I myself have been VERY critical of Brandon's work on the Wheel--more to his face than in public, by a significant degree, though as anyone will tell you my public position has not been shy on this matter--but that in no way means that I do not respect Brandon. I respect him massively--in fact I personally feel that the fact that I have been willing to be honest with him shows very clearly the depth of my respect--If I thought him just a hack I would have simply settled down and put up with whatever we got. I do not. I feel that he is a very capable writer with great potential that he--in a very great part due to the push for swift release--has not yet met.

 

That I hold him to this standard and judge his work negatively is not a sign of disrespect Mistress. Quite the opposite.

[safwd]

I think Brandon wrote Perrin but i also like how he wrote Rand and Egwene. I actually started to not hate Egwene.

Mat was a bit different but i am fine with the changes, i still enjoyed his character and i think he got better as Brandon got more comfortable with him. It is fairly apparent (to my eyes) that Mat was RJs favorite character, he was not Brandon's so doubtful the same care would be put in to him.

 

And there are indeed some on here that are disrespectful of Brandon, to come on and point out things you didnt like is fine, but just a page back someone said that he butchered Everyone. This is just not true.

 

And i am glad that i am not a Lit major so i dont have to see all this "poor writing" that Brandon was doing. I am just glad i can enjoy a book and not pick it to death.

I for one dont see a big difference between "Blood and Bloody Ashes" and "Bloody Ashes", and that seems to rile quite a few people up.

 

I love RJs writing but there were times i wanted to just skip ahead because i didnt care what color some girls (who i am probably never going to see again) dress is. It is a fairly wide spead opinion (which i dont agree with) that a number of the mid books were horrible. I think they were good (just not as good) but most who stop reading stop around book 7.

These are my favorite books and it kills me when i recommend them to someone and they give up early because RJ is too "Wordy". I try to sell them on the fact that he is an artist and is painting you a picture with words but it doesnt fly.

 

And i certainly dont miss reading how Elayne is "Lifting her chin" at everyone. I still dont like Elayne but i dont dislike her as much. Either RJ hated her as a character or he just wrote her not that well.

[Luckers]

And i am glad that i am not a Lit major so i dont have to see all this "poor writing" that Brandon was doing.

 

I'm not a lit major. I've never studied literature in my life, and have no intention of doing so. Personally, I find proper literature over polished and boring--though if that's your bag, I've no problem with it.

 

That being said there is a vast difference between not over polishing something, and a work which is under polished, and it does not take a degree to detect that difference.

[yoniy0]

Also, what makes you think that those characters that many people dislike are badly written? On the contrary, I think any character that incites intense emotion in so many readers is very well written indeed. Regardless of the fact that I personally do like Elayne, and always have (in contrast, Egwene and Nynaeve grew on me with the years). Either way, I never thought any of them was just meh, which is the important bit.