B. Sanderson did a fine job of finishing the series. His writing was refreshingly economical, the action moved more certainly. I noticed a couple of weak spots but they were minor. Jordan had some trouble taming his enormous vision. The depth of the story is quite impressive. Yet Jordon plodded on about details that could have been written more expeditiously. He took the writing rule of "show don't tell" to a whole new level. There were rare times that Jordon used summary and they were always climactic moments where summary was the wrong thing to do. It was frustrating to have summary of Rand doing something major, after wading through 100's of pages of extensive detail about minor characters and important yet still minor settings. If Jordan had more time, some more revisioning would have weeded out some of this. I began reading the series 20 years ago, could not finish it as the books came out b/c I forgot so much of the story line and characters. So I reread the entire series recently which was quite a chore but worth it. Reading everything back to back made it clear the story line was entirely intact from one book to the next, which is better than most series authors accomplish. I'm really glad Sanderson was able to step in and finish this series rather than have it incomplete. It takes a competent writer with a strong understanding of the original writers vision to be able to do the justice that Sanderson did in concluding the story. There are some things I would have liked to see done a little different, like the absolute last chapter. I'd have liked to see more of that rather than the summary we had. Still, Sanderson concluded the plot points fairly well and did a great job of writing the actions, and kept the story moving along at an engaging pace. I have questions about minor things that were not made clear. It seems there is room for more with the way the story ended. I loved it. I love Jordan's vision and am grateful Sanderson was able to complete it.
A New Thread for the Jordan/Sanderson comparison
in Wheel of Time Books
Posted
B. Sanderson did a fine job of finishing the series. His writing was refreshingly economical, the action moved more certainly. I noticed a couple of weak spots but they were minor. Jordan had some trouble taming his enormous vision. The depth of the story is quite impressive. Yet Jordon plodded on about details that could have been written more expeditiously. He took the writing rule of "show don't tell" to a whole new level. There were rare times that Jordon used summary and they were always climactic moments where summary was the wrong thing to do. It was frustrating to have summary of Rand doing something major, after wading through 100's of pages of extensive detail about minor characters and important yet still minor settings. If Jordan had more time, some more revisioning would have weeded out some of this. I began reading the series 20 years ago, could not finish it as the books came out b/c I forgot so much of the story line and characters. So I reread the entire series recently which was quite a chore but worth it. Reading everything back to back made it clear the story line was entirely intact from one book to the next, which is better than most series authors accomplish. I'm really glad Sanderson was able to step in and finish this series rather than have it incomplete. It takes a competent writer with a strong understanding of the original writers vision to be able to do the justice that Sanderson did in concluding the story. There are some things I would have liked to see done a little different, like the absolute last chapter. I'd have liked to see more of that rather than the summary we had. Still, Sanderson concluded the plot points fairly well and did a great job of writing the actions, and kept the story moving along at an engaging pace. I have questions about minor things that were not made clear. It seems there is room for more with the way the story ended. I loved it. I love Jordan's vision and am grateful Sanderson was able to complete it.