Quality Discussion Thread

[Faber]

I agree that the tone jarred, and the pace felt rushed, and the battle would have been Jordan's masterpiece, but we ought to remember that we do actually have an ending now. Thanks to Sanderson, we now know what Jordan intended (whether Egwene finished the book or not).

I won't criticise Sanderson too much unless I knew exactly what he had to work with before starting the final book- three books.

Now there's a thought. Instead of three books doomed to be complained about until the Last Battle itself, we could have had Jordan's story in notes and some incomplete scenes, perhaps with extra comments by Harriet and others who actually KNEW the original author. That was my main problem with Sanderson. I'd rather pay for 10 per cent of a book with at least an outline of the plot than what I did pay for after years of waiting.

[szilard]

 

Instead of three books doomed to be complained about until the Last Battle itself, we could have had Jordan's story in notes and some incomplete scenes, perhaps with extra comments by Harriet and others who actually KNEW the original author. That was my main problem with Sanderson. I'd rather pay for 10 per cent of a book with at least an outline of the plot than what I did pay for after years of waiting.

 

No comments by Harriet (she was just a beta reader, not an editor) or anybody else.

 

There is only one problem with this idea: MONEY. (I will not go into the details but everybody knows what i'm talking about.)

 

I agree with this comment from another thread (and I disagree with the last sentence):

 

Brandon is a fan. He's not the original author of the books. So yes, what he writes is essentially fan fiction when he's filling in gaps in RJ's outline; there's no way to argue around that. Brandon's fan ideas have worked their way into the book, and there's nothing inherently better about his ideas than other fans' ideas, and there is also nothing inherently better about one person's ideas than a melding of several people's ideas. In fact, I'd argue it's the opposite on both points. And Brandon's ideas have already been influenced by fan ideas; you can't avoid that either. There's no telling whether Jason's arguments to Brandon were actually representative of RJ's vision, but I don't see any reason why anyone would assume otherwise. Brandon was obviously convinced by those arguments. The flaw here is that Jason mentioned it at all.

 

[Faber]

@szilard

 

Good post. I understand why it doesn't financially or editorially make sense, but I can still express my opinion. (I don't mean to be confrontational; I can't think of a better way to phrase that point without writing an essay.)

 

Still, I would like to know how much was done before Brandon took over. I don't think it would be damaging to publish the parts that are solely Jordan's. If they are many, then it shows that we did indeed read what was mostly Jordan's vision. If they are fewer, then it shows how well Brandon did do to finish the series for a number of (myself included) uncompromising fans. Even so, I would find it interesting just to know, were it only in an interview. If it has already, then I would be grateful if someone posted a link to it here.

 

In the end, the series will remain a masterpiece in my mind.

[Suttree]

Well to put it in perspective there were only 200 pages(including scenes, snippets, plot notes) total from Jordan. The three last books had around 2,500 pages and Brandon created over 50% from scratch without guidance. It's why they needed an actual author and couldn't use a ghost writer. There was far less material than most fans originally seemed to think.

[shortkut]

How many pages were bullet point outlines describing what needs to happen? You can fit a lot onto one page if it is a list, even more if it has columns

[Suttree]

Unless there are interviews I'm unaware of, all we know about the notes has been provided here in thread. There is no breakdown on how much was finished scenes although it had to have been a decent portion given what we know was RJ in the books. Again Brandon created over 50% from scratch with no guidance. Also keep in mind those bullets were often "we'll I'm going to do this or this" and sometimes those things were contradictory. Finally there was no overarching outline. That was put together by Harriet and Brandon after RJ's death.

[Rhienne]

Finally there was no overarching outline. That was put together by Harriet and Brandon after RJ's death.

Don't know much about it, but did RJ give a general outline for our he wanted the series to finish in his 'fireside chat'?

[Suttree]

For the ending yes.

[Maleshub]

FINALLY! I have finished the book. I bought the ebook on 10 April. And it is wonderful that we now have "closure." The story was epic. The book was the worst in the WoT series.  

 

I couldn't put down the book after starting the long chapter. It was such a nice and enthralling reading. But so many things were forced. My first stop in the reading was up to chapter 7. I couldn't stand the book at that point; but it got much better, then hit a few potholes. A bumpy ride! I thought that they tried to answer too many questions with the last book; some of them of lesser relevance.

[jedman67]

There were some fantastic scenes in the book. There were some terrible ones as well - i felt that MOST of Mat's POV's were awesome, i think he was the only character essentially rewritten by BS that i actually enjoyed.

Fortuana's "Let's give everybody new names!" POV's were awful, IMO. Did no one explain "Hey, I appreciate the honor, but in my homeland, its considered embarrassing to change your name, like you've become a new person and have to hide who you used to be. I was born Matrim Cauthon and I will die as Matrim Cauthon. SFTU!" or stuff like that.

 

Min becoming the Seanchan Doomspeaker or whatever: I did not like how it was presented, and i felt that it served no purpose. I feel that it should have been cut completely.

Moridin's giving new names to the Forsaken, and his whole POV with the dreamshard really felt awful. I would have preferred the dreamshard to remain a mystery than for it to be explained like that., honestly the best way for the Prologue to have ended would be for Talmanes to die in battle. A myrdraal wounjd has no business being Healable, even by the most talented AS in the world.

Elayne's reaction to Caemlyn's burning felt all wrong to me. She should have suffered the loss of the city and her people, instead she just shrugged it off - it made the loss of the city lose all emotional weight. 

Birgette's death felt very lacking; it was hard not to cry when Noal sacrificed himself in the ToG to save Mat and Moiraine; he died a hero and was appropriately mourned by the greatest bard-turned-gleeman of the generation. Noal's death carried the weight of the book and the price Mat paid to save the world (besides his eye). Birgettes death was just...empty. 

The Adventures of Androl and Pevara should be the title of Michael Bay's next movie. It was not worth inclusion in the Wheel of Time, except for the freeing Logain part. The whole Telepathic Warder business just did not feel like WOT.

The Battle of Wills - Rand and the DO was pretty epic, but again, I felt that it was too rushed and should have been fleshed out a bit better and edited better.

 

The story was great, epic and sweeping, but i feel that it should have spent another six months in edit and rewrite. It was too rushed, too fast, and everything tied up neatly except for a few 'mysteries'. I honestly feel that BS could and should have done better - TGS and TOM were very good books, very well written - not the best, but certainly not the worst. 

[sleepinghour]

Interesting revelation from Brandon's Reddit Q&A:

 

Q: When you were working on AMoL, I know Mr. Jordan had the fates of most, if not all of the characters written down. Were there any characters where you got to decide the fate of, either in AMoL or the previous two books?

Brandon: Yes, there were some. For example Pevara's fate isn't mentioned in the notes, which is why I felt all right co-opting her for the Black Tower storyline, which was mostly mine. Siuan's fate wasn't mentioned in the notes, save for the rescue of Egwene from the White Tower. Harriet made the decision on how her story was to play out.

 

The fact that RJ didn't leave many notes even on a major character like Siuan, and that Harriet was apparently the one who decided to kill her off, is very telling as to how much of the story was created by other people than RJ. It also suggests fans have perhaps underestimated how much of an influence Harriet had on the story. So it might not be fair to blame all creative decisions we didn't like on Brandon.

 

I personally feel Siuan's fate was a very disappointing ending to her storyline, and that it was a bad idea to kill off major characters if RJ hadn't left anything in the notes to even suggest it. We never will be able to read AMoL exactly as RJ intended it to be, but why not stick as close to RJ's vision as possible, at least? Otherwise AMoL increasingly becomes no more than Brandon's and Harriet's personal WoT fanfic.

[Suttree]

Interesting revelation from Brandon's Reddit Q&A:

 

Q: When you were working on AMoL, I know Mr. Jordan had the fates of most, if not all of the characters written down. Were there any characters where you got to decide the fate of, either in AMoL or the previous two books?

 

Brandon: Yes, there were some. For example Pevara's fate isn't mentioned in the notes, which is why I felt all right co-opting her for the Black Tower storyline, which was mostly mine. Siuan's fate wasn't mentioned in the notes, save for the rescue of Egwene from the White Tower. Harriet made the decision on how her story was to play out.

 

The fact that RJ didn't leave many notes even on a major character like Siuan, and that Harriet was apparently the one who decided to kill her off, is very telling as to how much of the story was created by other people than RJ. It also suggests fans have perhaps underestimated how much of an influence Harriet had on the story. So it might not be fair to blame all creative decisions we didn't like on Brandon.

 

Oh there is blame to go around for certain and it has been interesting to watch Team Jordan change the narrative as the years have gone on opening up about just how little RJ actually had planned out. Bottom line RJ would not recognize AMoL and I've heard numerous things that indicate the process was far from smooth. Just wish they had been more clear from the start how little there was to actually work off(outside of the ending).

[sleepinghour]

I think what gets me about Siuan and Bryne is that when they met (after Siuan's stilling, not their pre-series meetings), Bryne mused that he had no wife/heirs and the house of Bryne would end with him.

 

He would fight no more wars, but it was too late for House Bryne. There had been too many wars, too many battles. He was the last of the blood. No wife, no son, no daughter. The line ended with him. All things had to end; the Wheel of Time turned.

 

Bryne mentioning this only a few paragraphs after thinking about how Siuan had affected him seemed to me another of those ironic foreshadowings that the opposite was about to happen: they would marry and continue the line. People who are confident or resigned that X will happen (they will never marry a noble, never fight in another war, never survive the Last Battle) are always proven wrong. We'll never know what RJ would have done, but this feels more plausible to me and would have been more satisfying than their quick, wholly unremarkable deaths.

[Sanity's_Theif]

Maybe not having been able to let books settle in over the years is making my opinion different, but in all honesty, I liked the last 3 books more than some of Jordan's original 11 like CoT, CoS, PoD, tSR and WH, none of those books really captivated me too much and I felt like dropping the series, at least in these last 3 I didn't feel like that.

 

Jordan is a better quality writer, I don't think there's any doubt of that, but I'm damn glad with the ending

 

Gonna have to re-read the series though

 

I will say that I wish Sanderson would've looked for fan community input while writing the books, I know I would've

[Suttree]

Maybe not having been able to let books settle in over the years is making my opinion different, but in all honesty, I liked the last 3 books more than some of Jordan's original 11 like CoT, CoS, PoD, tSR and WH, none of those books really captivated me too much and I felt like dropping the series, at least in these last 3 I didn't feel like that.

TSR?!?! That is almost universally hailed as the best book in the series.

[Sanity's_Theif]

 

Maybe not having been able to let books settle in over the years is making my opinion different, but in all honesty, I liked the last 3 books more than some of Jordan's original 11 like CoT, CoS, PoD, tSR and WH, none of those books really captivated me too much and I felt like dropping the series, at least in these last 3 I didn't feel like that.

TSR?!?! That is almost universally hailed as the best book in the series.

 

BEST!? Wow, it was the first book in the series that legitimately bored me, I thought, "wow, the first 3 were so great, I guess it's to be expected the series would hit a low point at some point" I don't get the love for it at all, I found nothing about it memorable, I didn't think it was as bad as CoT but I think it was close to just as bad as CoS for example

 

I didn't care for FoH either, I lump that with tSR for the books that underwhelmed me

 

my top favorites are(in order): LoC, ToM, tGH, tGS, AMoL, tDR, tEotW, KoD

 

the rest underwhelmed me quite a bit

[Suttree]

 

 

Maybe not having been able to let books settle in over the years is making my opinion different, but in all honesty, I liked the last 3 books more than some of Jordan's original 11 like CoT, CoS, PoD, tSR and WH, none of those books really captivated me too much and I felt like dropping the series, at least in these last 3 I didn't feel like that.

TSR?!?! That is almost universally hailed as the best book in the series.

 

BEST!? Wow, it was the first book in the series that legitimately bored me, I thought, "wow, the first 3 were so great, I guess it's to be expected the series would hit a low point at some point" I don't get the love for it at all, I found nothing about it memorable, I didn't think it was as bad as CoT but I think it was close to just as bad as CoS for example

Perhaps it would be better for the conversation if you broke down what you disliked so much? The trolloc attack on Tear? Perrin's defense of the 2Rs? Us getting to peek at the AoL and see the history of the Aiel? TSR has some of the highest quality prose and best pacing in the entire series. There is more than enough action to go around so not sure what was boring?

 

Further while the story slowed down during the tPoD-WH stretch(yes Jordan could have used a more stringent editor) the quality of writing never suffered as it did under Sanderson. One did not see the numerous issues, mistakes and lack of polish that showed up in ToM(Team Jordan even changed Brandon's writing process because polish was such an issue after how poorly ToM turned out) and AMoL.

[Sanity's_Theif]

 

 

 

Maybe not having been able to let books settle in over the years is making my opinion different, but in all honesty, I liked the last 3 books more than some of Jordan's original 11 like CoT, CoS, PoD, tSR and WH, none of those books really captivated me too much and I felt like dropping the series, at least in these last 3 I didn't feel like that.

TSR?!?! That is almost universally hailed as the best book in the series.

 

BEST!? Wow, it was the first book in the series that legitimately bored me, I thought, "wow, the first 3 were so great, I guess it's to be expected the series would hit a low point at some point" I don't get the love for it at all, I found nothing about it memorable, I didn't think it was as bad as CoT but I think it was close to just as bad as CoS for example

Perhaps it would be better for the conversation if you broke down what you disliked so much? The trolloc attack on Tear? Perrin's defense of the 2Rs? Us getting to peek at the AoL and see the history of the Aiel? TSR has some of the highest quality prose and best pacing in the entire series. There is more than enough action to go around so not sure what was boring?

 

Further while the story slowed down during the tPoD-WH stretch(yes Jordan could have used a more stringent editor) the quality of writing never suffered as it did under Sanderson. One did not see the numerous issues, mistakes and lack of polish that showed up in ToM(Team Jordan even changed Brandon's writing process because polish was such an issue after how poorly ToM turned out) and AMoL.

 

 

I'm doing schoolwork at the moment and I'll get into more detail later, but basically all of the scenes you described I disliked, especially the history of the Aiel, I wanted to drop the series right there, I was hoping that sequence would be over so many times, and then BAM, another step into history, it was extremely frustrating and boring to read, found not 1 thing exciting about it, I'd much rather it had been a small condensed story, not a sequence of POVs from characters I don't give a damn about and who are no longer relevant.

 

Perrin's 2R's adventure came off as unnecesarry to me, I mean I can see how it was needed now, but I really didn't want him to go back there, it just seemed like taking a step back in the story, and the scenes there just seemed to drag for me

 

I couldn't find much of anything about it exciting, there were a few parts I liked, but it's probably the book I put down the most often

 

And the quality of writing only matters so much to me when almost absolutely nothing is happening to progress the plot, I felt like ripping my hair out reading chapter after chapter finding nothing of significant importance going on to move the plot, I wanted the damn story told, not another sequence of politics and Elayne taking a bath, I started to skim read some parts because it got so frustrating and I wanted to give up on the series, but I heard KoD was good so I just plowed through books 7-10 as fast as I could, I still read all of them but it was a task, I'd only ever do it for WoT because by Lord of Chaos(the book I consider the best) I was hooked and wanted to know the end

[Suttree]

And the quality of writing only matters so much to me when almost absolutely nothing is happening to progress the plot, I felt like ripping my hair out reading chapter after chapter finding nothing of significant importance going on to move the plot, I wanted the damn story told, not another sequence of politics and Elayne taking a bath, I started to skim read some parts because it got so frustrating and I wanted to give up on the series, but I heard KoD was good so I just plowed through books 7-10 as fast as I could, I still read all of them but it was a task, I'd only ever do it for WoT because by Lord of Chaos(the book I consider the best) I was hooked and wanted to know the end

 

None of that applies to TSR.

 

As for the scenes, shocker about the Aiel and 2Rs but you didn't care for the attack on the Stone either? What could have been boring about that? It was pretty key for Rand's development as well and the scene with the child was very powerful.

 

As for quality it is important for long term enjoyment of the series. "Plot gratification" only gets one so far, if the work is mistake riddled and the writing unpolished re-readability suffers. Now fair enough if you are just looking for all action filled sword/sorcery and aren't overly concerned with the quality of writing. There is lots of good stuff out there to fit the bill. It just never has been what the WoT was about.

[Cybertrolloc]

It's not always about lit crit :)

 

tSR was a big change in tone and pacing from the first 3, and lots of things change (for the better according to my taste in books and writing and some things are technically done better which is always nice). So it's a valid point of view, but calling out the first and last 3 as technically better books and especially writing is going to get smacked down.

[Suttree]

It's not always about lit crit :)

This is a "Quality Discussion Thread", personnel enjoyment doesn't necessarily make a statement about quality after all. It's why I said:

 

Now fair enough if you are just looking for all action filled sword/sorcery and aren't overly concerned with the quality of writing. There is lots of good stuff out there to fit the bill.

[Rhienne]

As for the scenes, shocker about the Aiel and 2Rs but you didn't care for the attack on the Stone either? What could have been boring about that? It was pretty key for Rand's development as well and the scene with the child was very powerful.

 

TSR is one of my favourite books in the series, but I have to confess that I didn't enjoy the Aiel history section on my first read (on subsequent re-reads I have enjoyed it, though).  On my first read I felt it was too big of a detour and I felt frustrated by the number of times we jumped between POV's.  I was more interested in getting back to the main plot.

 

I think this perspective does come because TSR is quite different from the first three books, which are all very focused and plot-driven and could stand as novels in their own right.  Its in TSR that you realise that the scope of the series has changed, and its not going to be a quick and direct run to the finish for Rand.  While I now enjoy the world expansion and character development in TSR-LoC very much and rank them as my favourite arc of the series, at the time of my first read I was used to the momentum of tEotW-tDR and wanted to know what would happen next, rather than what had happened/what was happening elsewhere in the world.

[Sanity's_Theif]

 

And the quality of writing only matters so much to me when almost absolutely nothing is happening to progress the plot, I felt like ripping my hair out reading chapter after chapter finding nothing of significant importance going on to move the plot, I wanted the damn story told, not another sequence of politics and Elayne taking a bath, I started to skim read some parts because it got so frustrating and I wanted to give up on the series, but I heard KoD was good so I just plowed through books 7-10 as fast as I could, I still read all of them but it was a task, I'd only ever do it for WoT because by Lord of Chaos(the book I consider the best) I was hooked and wanted to know the end

 

None of that applies to TSR.

 

As for the scenes, shocker about the Aiel and 2Rs but you didn't care for the attack on the Stone either? What could have been boring about that? It was pretty key for Rand's development as well and the scene with the child was very powerful.

 

As for quality it is important for long term enjoyment of the series. "Plot gratification" only gets one so far, if the work is mistake riddled and the writing unpolished re-readability suffers. Now fair enough if you are just looking for all action filled sword/sorcery and aren't overly concerned with the quality of writing. There is lots of good stuff out there to fit the bill. It just never has been what the WoT was about.

 

I disagree to an extent, while tSR wasn't a horror show like books 7-10, it felt to me it just took way too long to make a point in the story, at the end of the day, my liking of books all comes down to whether the book can keep me reading more often, or if it has me putting it down for long periods of time, and with tSR, I put the book down A LOT, the only reason I didn't put down 7-10 as much is because I knew the series didn't get good again until KoD, but knowing that it did, I just wanted to rush through books 7-10

 

About the attack on the Stone, I didn't catch that in your quote the first time, sorry I've been more focused on the 3 projects I have to do for school, that was one of the few scenes I really like in tSR.

 

I'm definitely not looking for just action, I'm extremely picky with books, if they can't meld good writing with good action and plot progression then I won't make it past chapter 2. A lot of series people consider fantastic, I've found rather boring, it failed to hook me within the first 6 chapters and that's when I lose my patience. The thing is, I hate it when a series is all action, there's nothing more to it, WoT was the perfect balance for me up until tSR, then I noticed there seemed to be more emphasis on fluff and setting up plot points rather than just progressing with them, it wasn't so bad in tSR, but it killed me in books 7-10, the ONLY reason I stuck around after CoS was because I was hooked at LoC and wanted to know the ending. I'm going to have to re-read the series in it's entirety, but I've re-read the first few chapters of aMoL and I've found no trouble re-reading it.

 

It's not always about lit crit :)

 

tSR was a big change in tone and pacing from the first 3, and lots of things change (for the better according to my taste in books and writing and some things are technically done better which is always nice). So it's a valid point of view, but calling out the first and last 3 as technically better books and especially writing is going to get smacked down.

This, I very much disliked the change in tone and pacing in tSR, I found it boring to read.

 

 

As for the scenes, shocker about the Aiel and 2Rs but you didn't care for the attack on the Stone either? What could have been boring about that? It was pretty key for Rand's development as well and the scene with the child was very powerful.

 

TSR is one of my favourite books in the series, but I have to confess that I didn't enjoy the Aiel history section on my first read (on subsequent re-reads I have enjoyed it, though).  On my first read I felt it was too big of a detour and I felt frustrated by the number of times we jumped between POV's.  I was more interested in getting back to the main plot.

 

I think this perspective does come because TSR is quite different from the first three books, which are all very focused and plot-driven and could stand as novels in their own right.  Its in TSR that you realise that the scope of the series has changed, and its not going to be a quick and direct run to the finish for Rand.  While I now enjoy the world expansion and character development in TSR-LoC very much and rank them as my favourite arc of the series, at the time of my first read I was used to the momentum of tEotW-tDR and wanted to know what would happen next, rather than what had happened/what was happening elsewhere in the world.

 

You pretty much describe exactly how I feel about the Aiel history, and parts of tSR as well, LoC is actually my favorite book though, it was the first time in a while I felt like the plot was actually getting somewhere without so many interruptions, it's like watching an animated TV show with filler, sure the writing might be better in one season despite the amount of filler, but the sheer amount of filler and points I don't care about just ruin my enjoyment of it, I prefer the season with the slightly less polished writing but more plot-driven progress with less filler and interruptions.

[Suttree]

 it's like watching an animated TV show with filler, sure the writing might be better in one season despite the amount of filler, but the sheer amount of filler and points I don't care about just ruin my enjoyment of it, I prefer the season with the slightly less polished writing but more plot-driven progress with less filler and interruptions.

But spaced was not used wisely in the last three books at all. There was an appalling amount of  filler and bloat(pretty obvious why Brandon argued against the split). Brandon's "tell don't show" style and seeming inability to use literary devices like ellipsis to advance the action made for a ton of wasted space. For instance here was a poster from TL named Dom's breakdown of Gawyn's ToM storyline:

 

It's appalling how many POVs and pages Brandon has needed to write that story. Typically, we might have gotten one Gawyn shortish POV in Dorlan (typically prologue stuff) where he learned Egwene's captive, and he is thorn, and then nothing until suddenly he interrupted a Siuan/Bryne scene with a sudden arrival, his growing frustration mentioned only via observations of Siuan from then on (we didn't need a Lelaine scene making completely irrelevant and stupid inquiries about orchards in Andor (!) we just needed a reference by Siuan that Lelaine was manipulating Gawyn, until as a last resort Siuan went to him for the rescue. For the rest, we needed one confrontation with Egwene, and one conversation with Elayne or Bryne or Siuan, not three scenes of the same whining and self-pity, with each of them in turn...

 

or:

The way Brandon split the material totally undermined what RJ had in mind, with the four main stories becoming dark and bugged down together, piling up to great effect on the reader, the Shadow advancing and the Light totally stuck, in the ropes. Perrin's story and Mat's story, told after the reader knew the "knot" was split open by Rand's epiphany lost much interest and purpose. The whole thing read as "they're making time before Merrilor". That Moiraine might be needed in relation to Rand's darkness stopped working as the red herring it was intended to be (to hide the fact Mat's not coming to Merrilor either, possibly). Aviendha's vision stopped making much sense... Having the epiphany happen in TGS was bad enough (ideally the book wouldn't have been split, but the next best thing to stay closer to the intended dramatic effect was to end it on the Seanchan attack and Rand vanishing from Tear...) , but Brandon made it worse by opening TOM with the announcement of Merrilor and in a month. Again that was done to match the timelines Brandon had desynchronized, and to leave room for pretty useless (and even detrimental) Egwene episodes.

 

RJ's midbook, prior to Merrilor was to pack one hell of a punch. The built up frustration lead to an explosion...The Shadow invaded the Borderlands, Rand vanished after nearly killing his father...Egwene, just released, paid for Rand's failure at Falme and got attacked by the Seanchan, Perrin was about to face a stupid trial and wouldn't be there for Rand (another red herring, but foreshadowed), Mat destroyed the gholam and left for Ghenji, the expedition made bleaker by Birgitte's last minute revelation she found no way out and died in there. Egwene reunited the Tower, destroyed the BA but Mesaana remained and would strike soon.Then the avalanche... Mat in Ghenji, Elayne rising to the Sun Throne, Rand's epiphany, Egwene defeating Mesaana, Perrin witnessing Rand and forging his Hammer, fought to save Galad and his Asha'man able to channel again left for Andor.

 

A few chapters earlier, we were heading for a wall, the Light finished as the LB started, and suddenly we landed in a wholly different book. Time had run out, Rand was fully aware of the Light's weakeness and determined to put an end to dithering. He left himself but a few days to fix what urgently needed fixing... starting by a visit to Egwene, then the Bordermen, a brief visit to AD...

But painted in his corner, Brandon needed Rand to give Egwene a whole month to do what she had the resources to do in a week. A mere week before he broke the seals. The month is another thing that ended up diluting the little that was left of the feeling of urgency and the drama. Rand feels pulled to the break the seals and move for SG and yet he goes and gives Egwene a month before Merrilor. That's a month of useless side events with Bloodknives and scenes that suddenly turned a side player RJ used sparingly into a main player (Gawyn, of course), a month of Tuon doing nothing, a month of Rand doing not much

 

 

It takes Brandon a very long time for him to convey information in places. Now keep in mind, RJ needed a much more stringent editor but his "filler" was well written and riddled with hints and foreshadowing. Any changes would take a massive rewrite. With Brandon you could quite literally cut out whole sections and not lose a single thing. RJ had too many details at times but he could convey a ton of info in a short amount of time when needed. Also important to keep in mind that the increased pace had as much to do with where we were in the story arc as anything. KoD had sped things up and pointed them towards the home stretch. Comparing the last three books to 7-10 is apples and oranges.

[cmo999]

Just a few examples of things that stood out to me:

 

• the excessive use of the word "anyway" to being a sentence.
• stalactites & stalacmites.  I understand those are the technical terms, but using scientific terminology in a world where science is still primitive takes me out of the fantasy.
• when perrin notes that slayer stitched himself up like a "master surgeon".  This is a world of healers who use herbs and being healed by the one power.  I don't ever remember surgery being described.
• The use of "so" to begin a sentence.
• RAND'S SPEECHES IN CAPITAL LETTERS.  IT LOST ITS MEANING AFTER A WHILE.

 

 

I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy the book. because I did enjoy the story and the satisfaction of knowing how it ended, but I don't think Brandon Sanderson quite understood the "timeless" writing style that Robert Jordan used.  Part of what I enjoyed most of the series was getting lost in the story.  BS used so much current language and terms that I felt constantly pulled from the fantasy.  I really wish he had taken advantage of the hardcore fans who offered to polish the stories. 

 

So I'm not totally picking on BS, I am grateful that someone did finish the series.  I'd rather have an imperfect ending than no ending at all.

 

There are several parts, throughout the series, that describe stitching people up with needle and thread.  I can't give you specific references, but I'm sure I remember reading about 'surgery' on plenty of occasions.

 

THE CAPITAL LETTERS was necessary to convey that they were not communicating on a verbal level, so it would be inappropriate to put it in quotes like normal dialogue, but had to be distinguished as a form of dialogue.