Which of Brandon Sanderson's WOT books is your favorite?

[Darksmoon]

I voted for TGS.  Rand and Egwene were both great in it.

[Darksmoon]

I agree that the whole Rand/Mat reunion was wierd.  They simply acted odd towards one another and it did not fit in with the relationship they had previously established. 

[clutzyninja]

The reunion's didn't bother me.  I think the characters felt as awkward as you say the scene was.  Rand and Mat had become completely different people since the last time they saw each other, and I was left with the impression that they were both going through the paces, trying to remember for themselves what they were like when they were still buddies.  Haven't you ever seen a friend you haven't seen in years, only to find the reunion awkward and not feeling as you remember?  That's what I got from it.

[Tommar]

TGS was by far the best IMO. After years, the book was close enough to RJ's work to give me hope, hope that lasted until AMOL came out.

 

TOM, it was a bit off and too much time spent on Androl, which could have been used to clear up plots.

 

AMOL fealt like a fanfic connect the dot project. At least we know how the plot points should end. I agree with book cover, it is AN ending.

[avernite]

TGS.

 

Felt much more like a last battle vibe. It ended on a note I could agree with (why do we fight? Well, this!), after a whole book of Rand's slow descent into madness. This was what it was all about: Rand being ready to fight because he had a reason to, rather than because the prophecies said so. All the rest is epilogue (at times epic epilogue, at times less, but epilogue all the same IMO. Thus Moiraine also seeming somewhat underwhelming as the woman 'dead and gone')

[Rob Hammers]

So close, but I went with TOM because of the Tower of Ghenjei, Perrin's smithing of Mah'alleinir and Rand's meeting with the Borderlanders in Chapter 51, A Testing.  TGS was a better book overall and Rand's epiphany in Veins of Gold amazed.  I also loved the Egwene's arc coming to a close with a reunited tower, but ToM even with all its faults had higher highs to me.  AMOL ended the story to my satisfaction, but it was clearly the least successful.  I've read it would have benefited from more edits, and I agree.  Had we gotten this book in July or at Christmas, then it would have been the best of all three.  It just needed some refining with more focus on the individual characters and slightly less "battle porn".

[DrZippy]

AMOL fealt like a fanfic connect the dot project. At least we know how the plot points should end. I agree with book cover, it is AN ending.

That is exactly how I think of AMOL.

 

For the first time after finishing AMOL, I picked up a book in the series (Dragon Reborn) to read to and from a wedding.  Rand's doubt, the introduction of Mat as a PoV, Perrin meeting Gaul and Faile, Rand accepting that he is the Dragon... all of the scenes I normally enjoyed were clouded because of how the series ended in AMOL.  That book sits on my desk, where I plopped it after I finished it, because I can't stand to touch it long enough to put it next to the rest of the series on my bookshelf.

 

Having now reread an earlier book in the series after finishing AMOL, I can now say for sure that I would rather have had the series left unfinished at WH than with it's current ending.

 

Sorry for going off-topic, but I needed to share these thoughts.

[The_Wanderer]

Ranking them 1-3.

 

1. A Memory of Light - Sanderson seems to have finally hit his stride writing ALL of the characters.  It was an ending... not perfect, but as good as I could have hoped for all things considered.  Final Battle was epic, major character deaths were included, it was an all around fast paced exciting book.  The Last Battle was as epic as I expected it to be.

2. The Gathering Storm - Rand and Egwene were great in this book (perhaps more so than in any other WoT book, too), but his writing of Mat needed some serious work. He mostly rectified his writing of Mat in AMOL.  Sanderson basically proved he was the best possible person, besides Robert Jordan, to finish this series.

3. The Towers of Midnight - The lead into the final book was great, but this book largely felt like it was designed to wrap up all of the plots not Rand and Egwene related, when it wasn't preparing everyone for the final book.

[Carnacarn]

For me it's ToM, because it has my favorite scene of the entire series- Maradon. Love the series but Rand's rescue of his forces was to his first entry into the last battle. Rand vs the forces of the DO, not manipulated/sought out by the Forsaken. It's also his only direct confrontation with the DO's forces during the LB.

[Arran]

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing, but I had to go with Towers of Midnight. All three books have their strengths and weaknesses, 'Veins of Gold' and 'The Last Battle' being the two main stand-out high points for me, but ToM got my vote mainly due to the events in the Tower of Ghenjei. Absolutely incredible!

 

I know that one particular section is RJ, but it's still my favourite part of the three books.

[Suttree]

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing...

 

Curious as to what you mean by that? You do realize how much of a massive lift in sales it has given to his own career correct?

[Finnssss22]

 

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing...

 

Curious as to what you mean by that? You do realize how much of a massive lift in sales it has given to his own career correct?

 

 

 

Are you implying that BS only said yes to Harriet for the money?

[Suttree]

 

 

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing...

 

Curious as to what you mean by that? You do realize how much of a massive lift in sales it has given to his own career correct?

 

 

 

Are you implying that BS only said yes to Harriet for the money?

 

Not in the slightest. I'm questioning his assertion that it was more of a "burden than a blessing".

[Finnssss22]

 

 

 

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing...

 

Curious as to what you mean by that? You do realize how much of a massive lift in sales it has given to his own career correct?

 

 

 

Are you implying that BS only said yes to Harriet for the money?

 

Not in the slightest. I'm questioning his assertion that it was more of a "burden than a blessing".

 

 

I'm sorry, were you not defining his wording of a "blessing" as more sales/money/career boost?

 

BS has been highly criticized in his completion of a series, that, no one except RJ himself could have completed perfectly or as close to perfect as possible.

 

The blessing or honour to me, was that he was asked to complete it.

The burden was that he could never complete it as RJ would have or lived up to the expectations of every single fan.

 

I could be wrong here but I don't believe Arran was thinking from a monetary PoV in his post.

[Rhienne]

Regardless of whether it was what Arran was referring to, or whether it played any part in BS's decision, its still something good that has come out of completing the WoT for him,

[Suttree]

 

 

 

 

This was a really tough call, I do like all three of the books and I think Brandon did an amazing job with what seemed more like a burden than a blessing...

 

Curious as to what you mean by that? You do realize how much of a massive lift in sales it has given to his own career correct?

 

 

 

Are you implying that BS only said yes to Harriet for the money?

 

Not in the slightest. I'm questioning his assertion that it was more of a "burden than a blessing".

 

 

I'm sorry, were you not defining his wording of a "blessing" as more sales/money/career boost?

 

BS has been highly criticized in his completion of a series, that, no one except RJ himself could have completed perfectly or as close to perfect as possible.

 

We all know Brandon was a WoT fan before coming on board and thought it was an honor to finish the series. As Rhienne said that doesn't change any of the other positives that come out of the situation however. The career boost angle is certainly one of the blessings not only for him but Tor who has him billed as their next big "star".

 

For the second part, look Brandon is a professional author and people analyze art. Are you seriously suggesting that any writer puts a work of art out there and expects it not to be critiqued? To say it's a burden is fairly absurd. Also as has been stated by numerous people ad nauseum at this point, the issues critics have has nothing to do with Brandon not doing as good a job as RJ was capable of(in fact BS was handled with kid gloves by the fandom for a very long time). It's did he do as good a job as Brandon is capable of? He is being judged on his own merits, his strengths/weaknesses are different than those of RJ. Now that he has a huge increase in exposure from involvement in the WoT it will be interesting to see how his own Stormlight Archive plays out. He has the spotlight; the question now is what he does with it over a series of significant length.

[BFG]

Can we move the quality discussion to the appropriate thread, any posts in this thread after this post will be deleted.

 

Cheers