How does Brandon Sanderson do in emulating Rober Jordan

[Barid Bel Medar]

Yes, lets get back on topic.

 

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[Yosarian]

Eh. I can't really go into too much detail without giving spoilers for the last two books, and the thread starter specifically requested that we not do that in this thread since he hasn't read them yet.

 

I will say that one thing that I know bothered a lot of people about Mat, the spelling and grammer of "the letter" didn't seem inconsistant to me; we've never actually seen Mat write, and while he's incredibly smart, as far as we know he doesn't have that much formal education. I also think that the way he handled the whole "tower of Ghenjei" thing was both awesome, and consistant with his ablities and his personality in previous books. Other things, like his interactions with Birgitte, also felt right to me.

[Sid]

I will say that one thing that I know bothered a lot of people about Mat, the spelling and grammer of "the letter" didn't seem inconsistant to me; we've never actually seen Mat write, and while he's incredibly smart, as far as we know he doesn't have that much formal education. I also think that the way he handled the whole "tower of Ghenjei" thing was both awesome, and consistant with his ablities and his personality in previous books. Other things, like his interactions with Birgitte, also felt right to me.

 

Well, we have seen Mat write before, which is where the ill-conceived letter from ToM is likely based. He actually wrote it on screen, squirming while Tylin was watching him like a bird of prey, and yet he was able to manage to sound completely coherent, though blunt, and not misspell anything.

 

It's been stated by Brandon that much of the Ghenjei sequence was stuff that Jordan had written in at least some form. It's obviously not up to Jordan's standards of polish all the way through, and incomplete enough that it required input from Brandon, but the sections had a much heavier Jordan-established foundation than most or all of the other Mat chapters TGS-ToM.

[Suttree]

I will say that one thing that I know bothered a lot of people about Mat, the spelling and grammer of "the letter" didn't seem inconsistant to me; we've never actually seen Mat write, and while he's incredibly smart, as far as we know he doesn't have that much formal education. I also think that the way he handled the whole "tower of Ghenjei" thing was both awesome, and consistant with his ablities and his personality in previous books. Other things, like his interactions with Birgitte, also felt right to me.

 

Well, we have seen Mat write before, which is where the ill-conceived letter from ToM is likely based. He actually wrote it on screen, squirming while Tylin was watching him like a bird of prey, and yet he was able to manage to sound completely coherent, though blunt, and not misspell anything.

 

It's been stated by Brandon that much of the Ghenjei sequence was stuff that Jordan had written in at least some form. It's obviously not up to Jordan's standards of polish all the way through, and incomplete enough that it required input from Brandon, but the sections had a much heavier Jordan-established foundation than most or all of the other Mat chapters TGS-ToM.

 

Sid beat me two it. We have seen a letter from Mat and it looked nothing like the one to Elayne. Further the ToG sequence was RJ.

[Yosarian]

Well, we have seen Mat write before, which is where the ill-conceived letter from ToM is likely based. He actually wrote it on screen, squirming while Tylin was watching him like a bird of prey, and yet he was able to manage to sound completely coherent, though blunt, and not misspell anything.

 

Yeah, I suppose that is true. I think the intent is different, though.

 

He obviously could have just done a second draft of the letter and eliminated all that mess, but he didn't care to bother. Why? Because while everyone else was thinking about it in terms of a formal letter petitioning the Queen, he was really thinking in terms of writing a casual letter to a friend. And not just any friend, either; it's to that friend who owes you a bunch of favors and who now really needs to get their behind over here and help you plow your field today. He's never had any respect for royalty or nobility; as another commentator mentioned, Mat has always kind of been an "American cowboy" kind of character in a lot of ways. He's probably the only person in the book who would write a letter like that to a queen, because on a very deep level he knows that they're not any better then he is, and he won't talk to them like they are.

[Guest Rand Kenobi]

My biggest issue is BS's dialogue. He ends most statements with things like rand said, or egwene said. It makes the conversations choppy and feels like thehe's a break in the story every time it happens. RJ ended things with dialogue ("dududu..."rand said apologetically"...dududu...") it seems to flow better. I can only think of one time (possibly in tDR) when RJ ended something with "perrin said.

[Sightblinder'sMinder]

I'm about 1/4 way through The Gathering Storm, and I've got to say, the transition works pretty nicely, I think. He doesn't spend nearly as much time describing the world (which is ok, since Jordan already spent 11 books laying it out), and gets straight to the meat of it. I think The Gathering Storm probably would've had to have been split into two parts if Jordan had written it, not to mention ToM and AMoL (even though he claimed he was only going to write one last book after KoD... He probably would've ended up with 6 books, instead of 3).

 

The only complaint I ever had about Jordan's writing was that he tended to digress in between dialog. Someone would ask a question, and then he'd spend a page describing the scenery, before someone would respond. So, by the time we'd get an answer, I'd forgotten what they were talking about in the first place. Sanderson doesn't seem to be doing that (as much). Perhaps his dialog isn't quite as polished as Jordan's was, as Rand Kenobi mentioned above, but it is more succinct.

[Asmodeanisdemandread]

 

The only complaint I ever had about Jordan's writing was that he tended to digress in between dialog. Someone would ask a question, and then he'd spend a page describing the scenery, before someone would respond. So, by the time we'd get an answer, I'd forgotten what they were talking about in the first place. Sanderson doesn't seem to be doing that (as much). Perhaps his dialog isn't quite as polished as Jordan's was, as Rand Kenobi mentioned above, but it is more succinct.

 

Tolkien did the same thing and that was my only compliant with his writing. A page and a half describing the hobbits breakfast? No thank you! BUT it added to thier characters and some of RJs smaller details have come back to haunt us readers.

I like the straightforward style Sanderson uses to an extent. Don't get me wrong i have some complaints but my own writing style is more dialogue/action based than description.

Maybe that's why I don't mind it as much as most.

[Sightblinder'sMinder]

I've recently seen a lot of lists that rank the TGS and ToM ahead of Jordan's works, which is going a bit overboard, I would think. Clearly, as good as Sanderson is, he didn't imagine this world, so it's hard for me to give him too much credit. Plus, you know that if RJ had gotten to write the last 3 books in the series, they'd be his best. I mean, it is the climax after all. Everything is finally coming together, so it only makes sense that people will like them better than say, Crossroads of Twilight.

 

But, that's not to take away from Jordan. He was robbed of the chance to complete his series, which is tragic. But, I think Jordan would be happy to know how well it's turned out. He had to be worried about whoever took over for him, whether they'd be able to do the story justice. And, Sanderson definitely has. Harriet chose well (as she seems to do quite often).

[Yosarian]

I've recently seen a lot of lists that rank the TGS and ToM ahead of Jordan's works, which is going a bit overboard, I would think. Clearly, as good as Sanderson is, he didn't imagine this world, so it's hard for me to give him too much credit. Plus, you know that if RJ had gotten to write the last 3 books in the series, they'd be his best. I mean, it is the climax after all.

 

(nods) TGS and ToM are both a mix of Jordan's notes and Jordan's ideas, and Sanderson's writing. It's hard to say where one starts and the other leaves off. I ranked TGS and ToM above some of the earlier books, but they were as good as they were because of what both Jordan and Sanderson did together; saying that they were good should not be taken as an attack on Robert Jordan, just the opposite.

[Byzantine279]

I always figured Mat intentionally wrote the letter that poorly, because he assumed that was how Elayne would imagine he wrote, and he WAS trying to prove it was him, and it would get more attention than a well written letter as far as he was concerned.

[TNine]

I've recently seen a lot of lists that rank the TGS and ToM ahead of Jordan's works, which is going a bit overboard, I would think. Clearly, as good as Sanderson is, he didn't imagine this world, so it's hard for me to give him too much credit.

As someone who thinks of TGS as the best book in the series, i think it is wrong to say it is the same as rating Sanderson over Jordan. Sanderson may have written the book, but it was what was laid down by Jordan that made it so great in my eyes. It was a climax.

[BFG]

I've recently seen a lot of lists that rank the TGS and ToM ahead of Jordan's works, which is going a bit overboard, I would think. Clearly, as good as Sanderson is, he didn't imagine this world, so it's hard for me to give him too much credit. Plus, you know that if RJ had gotten to write the last 3 books in the series, they'd be his best. I mean, it is the climax after all.

 

(nods) TGS and ToM are both a mix of Jordan's notes and Jordan's ideas, and Sanderson's writing. It's hard to say where one starts and the other leaves off. I ranked TGS and ToM above some of the earlier books, but they were as good as they were because of what both Jordan and Sanderson did together; saying that they were good should not be taken as an attack on Robert Jordan, just the opposite.

 

Very well said

[Sightblinder'sMinder]

I've recently seen a lot of lists that rank the TGS and ToM ahead of Jordan's works, which is going a bit overboard, I would think. Clearly, as good as Sanderson is, he didn't imagine this world, so it's hard for me to give him too much credit.

As someone who thinks of TGS as the best book in the series, i think it is wrong to say it is the same as rating Sanderson over Jordan. Sanderson may have written the book, but it was what was laid down by Jordan that made it so great in my eyes. It was a climax.

 

 

That's true. It's not as if anyone is belittling Jordan. The larger point I was trying to make, somewhat ineloquently, was that the books would be just as good, if not better, if RJ had written them (obviously). That's all.

 

But, if I were to rank them now that I've got quite a bit of TGS under my belt, I'd probably have to rank the two authors separately (at least, I'd feel more comfortable doing it that way). I'm not some kind of fanatic who holds it against people who do honestly think Sanderson a better writer. Perhaps it's wrong to view it as a competition in the first place, but that's only natural. And, I understand the argument that TGS & ToM are just extensions of RJ's work as well, because they obviously are, but I think RJ was able to create a certain atmosphere that Sanderson hasn't quite been able to replicate (which is not to take anything away from him, because it's truly an amazing accomplishment, what he's done, needless to say. Not something I could do, that's for sure). It's definitely much more fast-paced than anything Jordan wrote (though I wonder whether that's due to necessity or style), and it certainly holds my attention, but it doesn't give me the same feel as TFoH, or EoTW, or TSR, etc. It's hard to explain exactly what that feeling is, but it is different, if only ever so slightly.

 

I'm about 3/4 of the way through TGS, and admittedly, I don't want it to end. As nice as the resolution has been, I wish the end wasn't so close in sight. I just got ToM in the mail today (along with New Spring, to tie me over until AMoL is released), and I went ahead and read the quote from Loial's book in the beginning, and it really seemed to bring everything full circle for me. I nearly got choked up. He's been working on that damn thing since EotW (if I remember correctly). So, that's probably the first time it really dawned on me that this series is going to eventually end one day.

 

One last thing I'll add is I imagine Sanderson will dedicate AMoL to Robert Jordan, of course, which will be cool. Truly a great deed the man has done for all of us. Granted, taking on The Wheel of Time has added a bit of superstardom to his career, but it's not so easy to put aside your own work for someone else's, no matter how masterful that someone else is.