Brandon Sanderson?

[chongjasmine]

I am a wheel of time fan, and I am currently reading book 8 of the wheel of time series. I really enjoy the world of wheel of time, but recently, I discovered that the original author of the wheel of time series had passed away, and that this guy, Brandon sanderson is taking over his job.

I have two questions.

Is Brandon Sanderson doing a good job of writing the wheel of time?
Do you recommend me to read his books outside the wheel of time, and which so, which book do you recommend that I read?

Thanks for the information.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I haven't read the Wheel of time, but I have read Sanderson's first two books in the Mistborn series; I found them enjoyable enough, particularly the first one.

 

[soulsinging]

I quit reading Wheel of Time around book 6, but followed some of its development from a distance. From what I hear, Robert Jordan really started to lose the plot of Wheel of Time in books 9-11 and Sanderson has done a really good job of bringing it back together and wrapping it up.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Brandon Sanderson is a huge Wheel of Time fan, and an excellent author in his own right.

He was the first choice of the Jordan estate to finish the books, and he jumped at the chance. It's probably the best possible decision, he can write and he loves the series so gives it the respect it deserves.

Like so many others although I loved the series I did feel as if Jordan was dragging his feet toward the end and it was feeling stretched.

Sanderson has really brought it back to where it should have been, hopefully he will maintain that in the last book, so the simple answer to the question is yes, he is doing a good job of writing the WoT, he will not let you down.

If you want to read anything of his other material it is worth a look, I have enjoyed everything I have read so far.

As a final note, strange as it may seem, the end of the last book will probably be Robert Jordan again, as he had written the conclusion before his death - at least that's how I understand it.

 

[Clansman]

Brandon Sanderson at his best, and on his own, is in The Way of Kings, the first book of The Stormlight Archive, a massive, 10-12 book series that will take the next 15 years to complete. His other stuff, as I understand it, is good, but TWoK is DAMN good.

He has rescued WoT from the ignominious end it was facing at the hand of Jordan. s.gal, you are in the middle of the worst books (8-10 was definitely the trouble spot for Jordan), and while Jordan came some way back to form with Knife of Dreams (book 11), the series really shed weight and superfluous stories when Sanderson took the reigns with book 12, The Gathering Storm, where he winds up several story lines that had been dragged out for 6 or 7 books. The story really starts to move fast again, as it did in the first six books, though my main criticism is that he does not do Mat Cauthon well in TGS. By Towers of Midnight (book 13), Sanderson figured out how to write Mat Cauthon. Sanderson will be finished writing the final draft of last book, A Memory of Light (14), in January, and it will likely be released in the fall of 2012.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

In a nutshell, I completely agree with what P-Man and Clansman have said. Clansman's evaluation of books 8-11 and beyond is right on the mark.

As a final note, strange as it may seem, the end of the last book will probably be Robert Jordan again, as he had written the conclusion before his death - at least that's how I understand it.

I believe that is true. Sanderson, I think, has stated something to that effect on his website.

 

[chongjasmine]

Thanks for all your feedbacks and comments.

 

[Tecdavid]

I'm glad to hear Sanderson has made a good job of things so far. Im a fan of the series, and I was a little worried the presense of a new author would complicate things.

 

[Moggle]

Brandon Sanderson at his best, and on his own, is in The Way of Kings, the first book of The Stormlight Archive, a massive, 10-12 book series that will take the next 15 years to complete. His other stuff, as I understand it, is good, but TWoK is DAMN good.

He has rescued WoT from the ignominious end it was facing at the hand of Jordan. s.gal, you are in the middle of the worst books (8-10 was definitely the trouble spot for Jordan), and while Jordan came some way back to form with Knife of Dreams (book 11), the series really shed weight and superfluous stories when Sanderson took the reigns with book 12, The Gathering Storm, where he winds up several story lines that had been dragged out for 6 or 7 books. The story really starts to move fast again, as it did in the first six books, though my main criticism is that he does not do Mat Cauthon well in TGS. By Towers of Midnight (book 13), Sanderson figured out how to write Mat Cauthon. Sanderson will be finished writing the final draft of last book, A Memory of Light (14), in January, and it will likely be released in the fall of 2012.

You are only partially correct. The Gathering Storm was excellent, but Towers of Midnight was very reminiscent of Jordan at his worst. Not suprising since Brandon is working off of Jordan's notes. I expected a race to the finish with only two books left, but I was left with more feet dragging. I don't like the idea that the beginning stages or initial outbreak of Tarmon Gai'don doesn't begin until the last book.

Op, I recommend you read Elantris.

 

[myboy]

Like so many others although I loved the series I did feel as if Jordan was dragging his feet toward the end and it was feeling stretched.

 

[Kierkegaurdian]

Sanderson is doing a fantastic job finishing the series. The characters are true to the way Jordan wrote them, and the action is as good, if not better. Sanderson can really write action / battle sequences. I will say, though, that they weren't very well edited. There were more typos than I was used to, for one thing. That isn't really a deal breaker though; I am just glad to have the series be finished by someone who knows what he is doing.

 

[Kierkegaurdian]

You are only partially correct. The Gathering Storm was excellent, but Towers of Midnight was very reminiscent of Jordan at his worst. Not suprising since Brandon is working off of Jordan's notes. I expected a race to the finish with only two books left, but I was left with more feet dragging. I don't like the idea that the beginning stages or initial outbreak of Tarmon Gai'don doesn't begin until the last book.

Op, I recommend you read Elantris.

SPOILERS





I think that, since the armies are basically all poised for Tarmon Gai-don at the end of Towers of Midnight, a 900+ page battle sequence will suffice. Everyone is set where they have to be for the start of the battle, which is clearly going to begin quite early into A Memory of Light.

 

[Moggle]

SPOILERS





I think that, since the armies are basically all poised for Tarmon Gai-don at the end of Towers of Midnight, a 900+ page battle sequence will suffice. Everyone is set where they have to be for the start of the battle, which is clearly going to begin quite early into A Memory of Light.

Sorry, but I don't think the next to last book of the Wheel of Time series should be spent developing Perrin's character and how he feels about being called "Lord Perrin." That kind of nonsense should not still going on. Towers could have been condensed into a hundred pages and attached to Memory of Light. That's how pointless it was as a book.

 

[Clansman]

Sorry, but I don't think the next to last book of the Wheel of Time series should be spent developing Perrin's character and how he feels about being called "Lord Perrin." That kind of nonsense should not still going on. Towers could have been condensed into a hundred pages and attached to Memory of Light. That's how pointless it was as a book.

That was Jordan's fault, and Sanderson needed a pile of room to fix it. Remember, Jordan wasted space in a lot of books 7 through 10 (that's four, big fat books that took us almost nowhere). Sanderson cleaned up all of Jordan's clutter in under two books, plus advancing the story further than Jordan did in the previous five books. I didn't like the Perrin story line either, but Sanderson couldn't leave it just hanging there. Also, Jordan wrote large parts of the Towers of Midnight, and Sanderson is trying to leave as much of Jordan's actual work as intact as possible.

Had Jordan been properly leashed by a decent editor (sorry Harriet, but you don't know what you're doing), he would have finished the series himself, likely in 10 books or so, perhaps less, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Also, WoT would be in the same ranks as LOTR, Martin's ASoIaF, Wurts' WoLaS, and Erikson's MBF. Unfortunately, it is not in such august company, due to bloating.

 

[muldoon]

I like that he's wrapping up the series, my biggest complaint is that he is a perrin fan boy. He has stated that of the 3 main Perrin is his fav. F' that goodie two shoe's torn boy act. Sanderson shafted Mat, and dealt with the rescue in the tower of Guinji (sic) as an after thought. If he gave Mat half as much page time as he wasted on perrin the book as a whole would have been better.

 

[Clansman]

Welcome here, Muldoon (great screen name, btw)! Head over to the introductions thread:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/introductions/

and say howdy. Can't say as I disagree with your sentiment, but I think Sanderson had more to clean up with Perrin and the Children of the Light than he did with Mat, thus he spent more time with him.

Incidentally, this is a family-friendly site. Try to remember to make your posts as, ummm, colourful as your first, even with the obvious deletions. Our moderators are very watchful about this sort of thing, and you can go here:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/10915-terms-of-use.html

so that you know what the Chrons code of conduct is.

Anyway, welcome to the Chrons, and hope to see you post a lot.

 

[Tansy]

I loved Elantris and The Way of kings, I also enjoyed Mistborn so yeah give him a go.

I stopped reading TWoT at book 7 but I am tempted to pick up the last few to see how it ends

 

[HighWiredSith]

I’ve been a Wheel of Time reader since the release of The Dragon Reborn and I know there are great many Jordan fans who’ve been critical of Sanderson for a number of valid reasons , the biggest it seems, begin the decision to split book 12 into three books. I don’t know that we will every fully know exactly how much of the final three books are Jordan and how much are Sanderson but so far I’ve been impressed at how well Sanderson has picked up the series.

I will take it one step further and say that in my opinion, Brandon Sanderson has saved the series. Many if not the majority of fans agree that the series had bogged down horribly over the last 3-4 books. As for me, just finished Winter’s Heart, Crossroads of Twilight, and Knife of Dreams was a real chore. Sanderson’s first entry – The Gathering Storm did a fair job of at least picking up the pace but for my money Towers of Midnight is one of the best, if not THE best book in the entire series. I can’t help but think Sanderson had a large part in bringing back the elements that seemed to be lost over the latter books in the series – the excitement and the fun. In fact, Sanderson impressed me so much that I am just about to finish Well of Ascension, book two of his Mistborn series and yes, I am a Brandon Sanderson fan.

 

[Red 13]

I only read the first four books in the WOT series but i'm planning on picking it up again soon.
As for Brandon Sanderson's books, i absolutely love them. The Mistborn series is really good and the way of kings is amazing. The only book i havn't enjoyed by him was Warbreaker.
I see that a few people on here enjoyed Elantris (as did i.) I saw on Brandon Sanderson's blog that he's planning on writing a sequel of Elantris. Cool!! Its going to take a very long time though, obviously he's got alot of other books to write first. Seriously, he's a total workaholic,lol. But thats all the better for us readers.

 

[chongjasmine]

It is heartwarming for me to read that so many of you think Brandon Sanderson does a good job with the ending of the wheel of time. I am currently re-reading the wheel of time series from book 1.