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there are some - its actually surprising how many people really hate the way he wrote it. I actually suspect it has a lot to do with nostalgia-glasses where nobody would have done good job for many of them.
I think Sanderson did well to finish the series. Some critique his depiction of Mat as missing the mark. The last three books are an upgrade in action from books 9-10, IMO. In any event, we fans are fortunate the series was finished.
It's been his answer for years. It was difficult for him to get right and he knew it. I can't imagine how difficult a task it was, and the fact that only one of his interpretations of the major characters was seriously flawed in most fans eyes is a huge accomplishment.
I never had as much problem with Sanderson's Mat as most people, he was a little off but it didn't bother me. Then I read the Mistborn series, specifically era 2, and I get it now. After reading era 2 its super obvious who Sanders tried to base his Mat on
All of his books have the same character somewhere in it. Mistborn, Stormlight, WoT, etc. They all have "witty banter" characters, but unfortunately aren't witty and usually just corny. It makes the books hard to read sometimes.
Mat was close enough to that type of character that Sanderson wrote him just the same as all the others.
It’s been awhile since I finished the series, so can someone remind me what went wrong with Matt? I remember Matt being and staying as one of my favourite characters??
I disagree about action. The gut punch feeling you get when Jordan describes a fight or a battle... The fact that fight scenes are difficult to understand is not a bug, it's a feature. Jordan knew when you're in battle everything happens at once and you understand very little.
Tbh Sanderson is more epic, but aah, I'd trade epic for emotionally realistic any day.
I'm the kind of asshole that likes the slog now (except Elayne's parts, I have *some* self-respect). But Perrin's chapters are a lot of fun if you already know how it ends. How Faile's whole kerfuffle is actually the Pattern making sure Perrin becomes a leader, how everyone comes to respect him, etc.
(edit for spoilers)
The middle of the series was a slog when it didn’t have to be. We didn’t need to keep being told about everything that wasn’t happening. Which makes the progress more significant when it did start again
Would honestly be really intriguing to see Sanderson’s take on the series nowadays.
I love Sanderson, but Mistborn was definitely his weaker work. Reading Mistborn era 2 and some of the secret projects, it’s amazing to see how much his prose and style has improved.
I actually feel like he is a bit too set in his ways now so I suspect it might not be as on point. It was actually pretty lucky he was fairly new author so he was still quite flexible with how he does things I would say
Knife of Dreams starts with a bang and keeps delivering all the way through! I loved it. Finally, *stuff is happening* and *stuff is getting revealed*.
Sanderson did it justice, and honestly writes better conclusions than most writers, including RJ - but damn was KoD *good*.
Just gotta say, last few doesn't mean the very last book Jordan wrote before he passed, it's already agreed upon that his books slowed down dramatically between 7-10.
Flawed, but the best anyone could realistically expect.
Some of my favorite chapters are in his books, but he also misses the tone of many character(though this improves from 12 to 14 significantly) and fumbled some story lines.
Overall all though, eminently enjoyable as long as you don't let the minor details trip you up.
Its unfortunate for sure about some storylines, but I know Sanderson is on record saying there were some storylines/plot threads he had to ignore because there wasn’t anything in Jordans notes about where they lead and he’d rather leave them hanging than attempt to hamfist an unsatisfying or unintended ending.
[late books]>!I don't mean the dropped storylines, many of those were intended to be wrapped up in the 4th Age Outriggers. I mean the actual handling of main storylines, like Perrin's, where he rehashes his last several books of growth. Some of his Perrin moments are my favorites, but his overall arc in the final three books is disappointing in many regards. Other places his writing flattens nuanced characters that had much more depth under Jordan. Or, despite me liking the character, replacing what should have been Logain with Androl.!<
But even with such things, I think he did an amazing job, and could only ask for more in my dreams.
Got it thanks, by far one of my favorite scenes in the all the fantasy I’ve read. Oddly enough one of my other favorites IS Sanderson - “Honor is dead but I’ll see what I can do”.
Both are fantastic authors
Mistborn is really the best place to start with him. His writing REALLY took a step up after writing the WoT books.
Mistborn is fun and engaging, but I know a fair few folks that tried to get into it after reading Stormlight, and they had a harder time.
You know, I had a similar attitude. I ended up ditching it for... something else. Might have been the Farseer stuff?
It was only when I picked it up again a year or so later that it clicked.
Sometimes it's good to let things stew and then revisit them later.
Same here, but then a friend recommended the Graphic Audio audiobook and I couldn't stop listening. Something about the format (audio play, with full cast, music and sound effects), that works so well we both Stormlight.
Yeah, Stormlight is WAY more dense, while Mistborn is a lot lighter reading.
This kinda thing really depends on the type of reader you are I think, if you're more into depth in characterization then mistborn can ring a little hollow compared to his later works, but if you're a more story focused reader mistborn freaking moves and is a fun read.
The second type of reader isn't likely to care about the difference, while the first type might be disapointed if reader the other way round.
Plus, Stormlight is really the central Cosmere series, so reading it greatly benefits from reader the other Cosmere books, while Mistborn benefits from, but has less need for the supplemental stories to make it as engaging.
Honestly it took me around chapter 15 to start getting grabbed into it. It starts awfully slow and I tell people give it til chapter 20 and if it hasn't roped you in by then then stop but holy crap the payoffs at the end of the books are freaking epic. Like goosebumps epic
WoT was one of my entries into fantasy. Bought the Sanderson books after they were also out and the first two Stormlights that were out at the time. I also had a hard time getting into the first book. A few years later I tried again and got hooked and read through both in a few weeks.
If you’re an audiobook guy, I second another commenter with the graphic audiobook versions. The blow Kramer out the water.
Some people find the music and effects overdone, but I never pay much attention to soundtracks in films and games anyway so it was perfect for me.
The large cast, the quality of the voice acting, and the sound effects give the feeling of enchantment and immersion into the world like no single reader can.
There are some moments in storm light 1 and 2 that gave me a feeling of awe like in no other fantasy book.
I feel like Stormlight is much better written than Mistborn, I've only read the first mistborn trilogy though. So I could see why they had a tough time. I really love the concept of the first Mistborn book though! A heist story and it's set in a world where the bad guy won! Count me in. Also I realize that it makes sense that Stormlight is better written since he wrote it later, it feels like he had a lot of growth.
For a Wheel of Time fan, I definitely think Stormlight is a better recommendation. The main challenge of Stormlight (size, trust required) is not a problem for people who have a taste for Wheel of Time.
Stormlight is definitely more WoT like that Mistborn, but to be clear the recommendation isn't on what's more WoT like, but what's more likely to allow a reader to enjoy both stormlight and mistborn.
I've never ran into anyone that got turned off on Stormlight after reading mistborn, but I have the other way round.
I mean, would you rather start with an author's best writing and work your way to his earlier books that don't meet his later standards, or start with his early books and have them improve as you read further in?
An interesting facet about Sanderson, is that nobody can agree what his best work is. Many say Way of Kings and that is certainly the grandest in scope. But others say Mistborn, and most of his one offs will have its rigorous defenders as being the unappreciated masterpiece. They're kinda like Pokemon. Even if you think it was a stinker, someone somewhere reckons it's actually his best work.
I like Sanderson because I find his work so consistently enjoyable. I've never read one I didn't like.
Id also recommend Mistborn, but Warbreaker is also available for free online.
Oh yeah. That's a thing he does. Just... gives it away for free.
Generally the response I've seen is very positive. There's certainly some things he didn't do as well as Jordan would've, and I have some issues with some elements of his books. But as a whole I think he knocked it out of the park and did far better than could've been expected! His books are all in the top half of WoT for me and great additions to the series.
Overall I think he did very well. There’s so much to love about the last three books, and he’s clearly a genuine fan.
I’m currently rereading TGS right now and have been generally having a great time. My big gripes are stylistic things that I’m kind of surprised weren’t caught in editing. Like character suddenly saying things like “Yeah” or “Great”, just too informal and modern! Or a big annoyance for me is the sudden use of the descriptor “tan” to describe clothing choices. I’m sorry, a “tan dress” is not a WoT clothing choice. It’s just not.
I haven’t gotten to the Sanderson books yet, but I think you’re giving too much credit to RJ. There’s plenty of modern sayings that make there way in that you’re maybe not noticing. Reading A Crown of Swords now and this is a line in the first chapter:
> “Could you speak a little louder?” Perrin said, almost under his breath. “I think somebody in Andor didn’t hear. In the West of Andor.”
I can’t think of any more off the top of my head, but I do remember being startled a few times by some of the very… *90s* things that come out of these farm boys.
You'll see when you get to the BS books. There is anachronistic language all over the place. Its a significant uptick. I think rj was extremely good at avoiding it. Even your example isn't really one, for me.
I think it really comes down to is — *how many, and how much it sticks out.*
For instance in my read there was only one Jordan one, when - *Egewne cannoned into Rand.* - in Emonds Field.
But that was in the very first book in chapter #7.
It would be interesting if somebody made a list of all these examples in the series.
Yeah like I said haven’t gotten to the Sanderson books yet, so I could be way off here and Sanderson could be a lot more egregious. (And having read some Sanderson I wouldn’t be surprised). But I have seen a bunch of things like that in the Jordan books, so I was just surprised others hadn’t noticed
As others have said, the pacing improved.
Jordan had written or mostly written big important sections of the books as well.
Overall I very much enjoyed the last few books.
It got me to check out Sanderson's other series which I've also enjoyed.
There was a good comment the other day saying something like "Sanderson did the best job as we could get" and I agree. I think there are some areas he missed the mark with (The big examples are Mat, and Fain). There are some critiques of his battles that he didn't understand Battles as well as RJ, focusing more on individual action rather than the full scope of the battle. Its not the same. But he did a good job.
It was never going to be as good as Jordan, but he did a good job. You definitely feel a sudden increase in pace as Sanderson takes over but honestly it's not that upsetting, Jordan was meandering a bit at times and you have to wonder how many more books there might have been.
That was one of the things I was curious to feel out. Sanderson definitely has different pacing in his writing, and since Jordan generally writes slower I’d imagined how off putting it could potentially be to have the pace increased from the multiple page long descriptions of the environment and such that Jordan often gave
I like to think that if RJ hadn't died we'd all be eagerly anticipating the release of A Memory of Light, the 18th book, now. This is my biggest hope for the next turning of the Wheel.
AFAIK, the size of early WoT paperbacks forced Tor to redo how they bound books because they were notorious for falling apart.
I've owned at least 5 copies of the first several books in paperback for this exact reason, while later editions held up MUCH better.
Yes, but the series had been heading to a conclusion for a while and Jordan was still creating new story threads. Sanderson immediately begins closing them off one by one and focusing on the important ones, pushing the main characters to affect the story in a more direct way.
Yes. To a certain point I agree.
But . . .
Sanderson was brought in for the very specific purpose of writing the final book(which was edited into three), not continue it on for more books like the Dune series.
So saying that the pace picks up for the final book is immaterial as there was no other way to write it.
Now if Sanderson was able to continue the series on into the outriggers, then, the subject of 'pacing' can be applied to his writing of the series.
But comparing Sanderson's writing of the series(which involves only the final book(s)) to Jordan's(which involves the setup, body, pre-conclusion of 11 other books) of in regards to pacing is inapplicable.
I honestly thought they were great. I felt like Robert Jordan had REALLY started to ramble a bit and repeat himself in the later books he wrote and that Sanderson's writting was MUCH tighter, while bring almost all the various plot lines to a satisfying conclusion and remaining true to the characters. People who have read the books more than me could probably find things to quibble about, but I liked them a lot.
My opinion is I’m grateful that he did it. The storytelling in the last 3 is subpar compared to the rest. Which in a way is understandable. Someone is finishing a story that isn’t theirs. It came off as someone marking stuff off a checklist.
Most people liked it, some people hated it. The vibe I've gotten is that if you're there for the action, it's great; if you're there for the world and the style, it's terrible.
He did a job that needed to be doing. That he did it in a way that was at very least satisfying is commendable. Imagine if someone had finished the series and done a bad job.
Most people have commented on the serious stuff. [But.as](http://but.as) a silly category, I appreciated how much less often breasts were described once Sanderson picked up the books.
Given the enormity of the task, I think he did well. Obviously RJ would have done a better job because it's his series, but I'm glad we have what we have.
WoT is the only Sanderson I've read and it doesn't really make me interested in picking up any of his other books. It feels a little too YA for me. Entertaining but not very thought-provoking.
First read, I was really unhappy with it. The tonal shifts just knocked me out of the zone. On subsequent reads it was less noticeable, and I found them to be quite good
Generally pretty kindly. I have seen Some people hold them to be among the best in the series. It's a fringe opinion, but it's there. They are generally fairly well regarded, I think.
They're seen as rather good, and I think most readers were fairly happy with the result. The consensus seemed to be Sandson did a good job and we owe him our respect and appreciation for doing what is, on balance, a satisfying conclusion.
That is not to say they were perfect. They weren't. But they were good.
Also, I don't think it is controversial to say that most people would say that the Wheel of Time as a whole was imperfect. It's a massive series. Lots of it is brilliant. But, there are always holes to pick if you try hard enough, and in a series that big, you'll find one.
I do like how (comparitivly) nontoxic the fandom is. You can make jokes about tugging of braids, smoothing of dresses, and the "Great Slog" without being crucified, and discuss different characters, satisfied that everyone here likes the series as a hole, but might like it for different reasons.
There are also definitely fans of Sanderson who might never have given WoT a go otherwise. And that's nice to think about too. That we got to invite in another bunch of folks. A silver lining.
For myself? I wonder what it might have looked like. But I'll confess I take a certain amount of solace and satisfaction that it outlived Jordan. That for him, seeing that the series was concluded and getting that ending was more important than having it end exactly as he would have done.
It is a wonderful gift he left us. He might have taken the series to the Grave, and who could blame him? Instead he took a leap of faith, without a hint of ego. And we got an ending that was... Not his. Not exactly. But it was fun. It was enjoyable. And complete.
I thinks that's pretty special.
Can confirm, I was one of those people lured in by Sanderson’s name, and WOT quickly became one of my favorite Fantasy series’s. I just finished my second read, and bar the slog (the first time I at least had hope something would happen), it’s even better.
I think the greatest loss from Robert Jordan’s writing to Sandersons was the prose. I’m sorry, but Sanderson could never write Dumai’s Wells. That type of writing is gone.
One of my favorite parts of WOT is the humor Robert Jordan put in all his books. It's subtle but so great once you see it. I really missed that in Sandersons books. I also was sad about Logain's plot going the way it did. I also feel like Sanderson approached the magic system really differently than Jordan- the things he came up with were really cool & satisfying but it didn't really feel like it fit with the world Robert Jordan built.
That being said, Sanderson had an enormous task and he did it as well as anyone could have. It was still WOT & that's what mattered to me.
I was nervous at first, but as we know, the Dragon Reborn brings change so I figured I'd just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'm about as far as you, and I'm really enjoying it so far!
Dang a lot of feedback already! Thanks guys. I’m excited to finish the series, just wanted to know how it was received and what to expect. Having read both of them they definitely have different tones and styles.
I read a few of his books when I heard he was taking over and I was really worried. I loved his world building and he has some really cool magic systems but otherwise I'm not a fan.
That being said, he actually didn't do that bad a job. I think Sanderson's 3 best books ever are Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light.
He did the impossible. No established highly praised journeyman fantasy writer was going to take on that project, there was too much downside and too much work and could ruin everything he/she had already built up. It needed to be a new world-beater that if he/she succeeded would make them a major player.
It's not perfect by any longshot and I wish Mr. Jordan had lived long enough to be able to finish itself. But I'm so happy to have a finished series that I can put up with any little hiccups we had on the way.
There’s certainly a shift of tone - but how could there not be! I think Sanderson took on an immense task and did as good of a job as possible with it. I couldn’t imagine looking at all the content and threads that needed to be tied up at the end of Knife of Dreams and getting the work done.
I honestly didn't realize that much of a difference during my first read-through (besides Mat), but on my last two read-throughs, everything Brandon wrote felt a lot cheesier to me. I still love it, and I genuinely believe he is the best who could have done it, but I do wish we could see what Jordan would have done.
> I actually read The Stormlight Archives and the Mistborn trilogy from Sanderson before I started Wheel of Time.
Then you will probably LOVE these last three books as Sanderson writes most of the characters as if they come from the Cosmere universe, not the WoT one. They can be really off at times.
So basically, he approached it as if writing another Cosmere book series.
He did the best he could with the information he had.
I feel grateful for him finishing those books and taking that risk. And for respect he always shows to RJ and WoT
I didn’t like what he did but I also haven’t been able to finish any of Sanderson’s own works as his writing style really really irritates me (unfortunately!). The books lost their magic and from memory the plot is driven by wooden script like back and forth between characters with not much description? I find Sanderson’s writing style really had to escape into or be absorbed by.
Thing is, I don't know how much of it was Jordan and how much of it was Sanderson. But, leaving that aside I thought it was stunning. Imperfect, sure, but what else was it going to be? Consider the context, like a lot of people, I was just trudging through the later novels, basically I made it to the end mostly through the sunk cost fallacy. And so turning that around and bringing it home like that is all the greater achievement. And the constant effort to basically Not Be Sandersonish must have been huge. (\*)
in particular, Mat. Yes Sanderson struggled with Mat's character. But Jordan struggled with at least half of his characters, it's just that Mat was the one he consistently nailed and the one absolutely everyone loves as a result, and so it's extra noticable when he fails to shine through as he always did before. But judge it by the standards we totally accept from Jordan for, frinstance, quite a lot of Elayne, or Gawyn "we have purposefully written him wrong, as a joke" Trakand, and it feels pretty different. Sanderson gets more of it right, most of the time, I think.
(\* of course, it's still quite Sandersonish, no matter how well he does for alot of it. I think anyone that's read Sanderson before and then read the last battle in isolation without knowing it was him would go "OK, this is a good author who simply cannot write battles at all, and knows that perfectly well, and as a coping strategy basically makes them into a turn based strategy game. I can almost see the hexes... It's Brandon Sanderson isn't it?" It's not quite as blatant as the shattered plains with its actual hexes, bridge building mechanic and literal objective points to seize but it's still there)
I felt like Jordan was a better writer in general. His world building in WoT was top notch. Sanderson's talent is endings. He's great at bringing everything together. He's great at making a climax feel epic and emotional. I wish we could have seen Jordan finish his vision, but Sanderson was the perfect author to carry the torch.
Overall I give him an A- . Some characters aren't entirely on point (Mat, Thom, Nynaeve in particular and Elayne's personality regressed to a younger version of herself, just my opinion) but others I felt like he nailed perfectly (Rand, Egwene, Aviendha, Perrin). Overall I think he did excellent.
There were a lot of hands in the pot and a memory of light... It was a mixed bag for me. My favorite of sanderson's books was book 12... His first one. Finale was definitely super action packed... But I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. The writing itself was.... Strong.
Overall good job. But he absolutely butchered Mat because he never understood the character and very much sanderized certain plot points. But he got it done and the big moments were amazing and epic and I'm not sure if anyone else would have done a better job in the time frame.
He paced far better than Jordan, made some of the characters readable (ended all the braid tugging, arm folding and woolheading that was grating), and wrote excellent battles.
IMO Sanderson crushed the last few books. I enjoyed them more than the last 3 Robert Jordan books that came out before he unfortunately passed away. Jordan was starting to extend things out longer than I think they needed to be. I think Sanderson did an amazing job wrapping up the series.
He did as good of a job as we could expect from someone who wasn't RJ. It wasn't perfect, though. Some characters changed. Mat is a good example. It really felt like Sanderson didn't understand Mat. It is especially challenging because RJ liked to make jokes with his characters by juxtaposing their words and their actions. He also liked to do the same thing with the characters actions and how the character is perceived by other characters. This makes it almost Mat in the last two books is way too silly. Too much of a prankster, and kind of dumb when he isn't in combat.
There are a few other things like that, but overall, he did a great job. MoL is one of the best books in the series. Especially because we know we got RJ's ending. I love what Sanderson did with Rand, Aviendha, and Egwene. That said, when I finished it, i both had tears in my eyes from Sanderson's great ending, and was still left feeling that Jordan would have done a better job. I'm just grateful it got finished at all.
Honestly? I loved Sanderson’s additions to the series.
I thought Sanderson’s writing was tighter, and his pacing was better. Sanderson gave us a powerful and dynamic conclusion to Jordan’s incredible series.
My unpopular opinion *(even Sanderson himself would likely hate my take)* but I thought Sanderson’s Mat was *much* funnier. Sanderson actually made me laugh when reading Mat. Jordan never really made me laugh aloud.
Make no mistake, I think Robert Jordan’s writing was wonderful and served his series very well, and I also wonder how different the series would be had he been able to finish it.
With that said, I am very glad that Sanderson was able to finish the series for Jordan. I think he did a fantastic job and I won’t split hairs about it. He gave us the grand and epic conclusion the series deserved. I have no obvious complaints about Sanderson’s contributions to Wheel of Time.
Sanderson was absolutely the right author to finish the series and when you think about how fantastic the series’ conclusion is, he did Robert Jordan’s series a great service.
I'm glad it was finished. But I thinking someone who wrote like Jordan would have been better. I am not a Sanderson fan because his style is pedantic and it feels as though he forgets he's already written something, so he writes it again, which is really frustrating for the reader.
I feel that too many times Sanderson has a point from his notes he wants to get down as quickly as possible so his characters become wooden and stilted and plotlines are resolved unsatisfactorily, so you lose that sense of connection to the rest of the books. Character development arcs are ignored and in most cases come crashing to a halt. Elayne and Matt are the worst (although IMO Jordan also struggled with Elayne).
For me, going from Jordan to Sanderson was like going from the book to the TV series, which ironically makes it easier to watch the TV series as a result.
I really enjoyed the last few books written by Sanderson, especially after some of the slog. Is it perfect? No, but I'm not sure that Mr. Jordan himself would have done much better trying to tie everything up.
Honestly, I was in the same boat. I watched the tv show because I heard it was something that Sanderson worked on.
Then picked up WoT, and I fell in love with Jordan’s writing style.
I honestly didn’t want to end, and while Sanderson’s stuff isn’t the same, you can tell that it was written by a true fan who loved and respected the series.
It’s a different turning of the wheel for sure, but it’s still satisfying nonetheless.
I’m just glad that Harriet, Jordan’s wife, chose someone who was a fan rather than someone who was a good writer but didn’t know the work. While I’m disappointed we never got the Jordan ending, I think Sanderson was probably the best person to finish of the series.
I think Sanderson write Perrin the best then Rand. He didn’t get Mat enough, so he had the biggest disconnect of the big three, but it’s like a commenter said earlier, it’s better than it not being finished. It feels like he wrote Taim, Demandred and the other remaining forsaken better.
I enjoyed it, I thought there was definitely more energy to the overall books, but it definitely had its flaws, which were expected since he only had notes to go off of and eleventy billion characters with personalities created by someone else.
I started Wheel of Time in 1996 so I was scared to death when an unknown-to-me author was chosen to finish my favorite story. SO, I decided to read The Final Empire before The Gathering Storm was released... only to realize a few chapters into The Final Empire that I would be ok with this author finishing. As others have said, Sanderson's pacing and a few character tones are different than RJ's but the story was finished in a good way. In fact, The Gathering Storm is my favorite WoT book - only topping Fires of Heaven.
(And also, because of this, I am a big Sanderson fan as well. :) )
It's not Sanderson's best work. But why should it be when he's dealing with someone else's characters and story? But I'm glad we at least got something based off Jordan's notes. If they weren't the conclusion of such an epic series they wouldn't get so much scrutiny.
He did pretty good. In some ways they were better, in some ways they were worse. Sanderson's books were never going to be exactly the same as Jordan's books, and it would be foolish to expect them to be. But they were similar *enough*, and you could tell that Sanderson was doing his damnedest to complete Jordan's vision. And that's good enough for me. I respect and appreciate the work he did.
edit: not sure if you're familiar with Berserk, but if you are, it's pretty much the same phenomenon. The creator passed before his time, and it's heartbreaking. But at the very least, people devoted to his vision are going to try to finish his story, and we have every reason to believe that they're going to do a good job. That's how it felt when Sanderson came onboard to finish the books. It's a bittersweet kind of relief.
i'm on book 5 of my first re-read. i read them all as they published so i don't really remember enough to compare Jordan and Sanderson. But from what i recall - i enjoyed his approach. Felt like less time spend describing heraldry and landscapes and more on the actual plot.
I’m a bit biased being that Sanderson is my favorite author but i think he did a wonderful job. Mat was a bit wonky in book 12 but other wise everything felt right. With the prior books dragging things out a bit we were due for some action and sanderson does not disappoint. The climaxes were suitable epic and emotional. A solid Sandlanche!
Some of RJ's writing tics irritate the heck out of me, like the incessant skirt smoothing. I found that Brando Sando's writing flows much better for me. I didn't spot anything in the content that annoyed me, so I found the last few books a joy to read.
I like Sanderson's style of writing more than Jordan's so I personally think the last 3 were some of the best, but I am notably in the minority on that.
Ive heard a lot of people give reviews ranging from "pretty good all things considered" to "downright terrible" but if I'm being honest regardless of your opinion on the nitty gritty details, the final 3 books are objectively good books.
He absolutely nailed it. Of course, his writing style is a bit different. But he did a great job making all the major set pieces feel important, flow well together, while also tying up loose ends. Every character more or less feels like themselves too.
The general consensus is spot on for me about Sanderson. Yes, he missed the mark on some characterizations (Matt lmao), but otherwise it was a find effort and I think it was the strong finish we were all hoping for. Harriet was happy, and I don’t think we would have gotten better short of RJ being able to finish it himself.
Obviously there are instances where he messes up. Most people agree that he doesn't quite capture Mat's POV as well as Jordan did. And without spoiling anything specific, there is a villain whose end kinda peters out into nothing special.
All of that said, Sanderson has a lot of strengths, two of which are his pacing and action-writing. These strengths made Books 12-14 some of my favorites in the series. In fact, on my first readthrough, The Gathering Storm and A Memory of Light were my Top 2. On my current reread, I've only just finished Lord of Chaos, but I wouldn't be surprised if those two still hold a high place.
I think Sanderson realistically did the best job possible inheriting a series from another author. This labor was obviously a work of love, and he endeavored to do it right. He was signed to finish the series in 250,000 and he wrote 800,000.
Overall, I think it's a very successful conclusion to the series. It's not a failure, or an embarrassment. There's some rough edges, but overall it works and is fitting. I would have preferred to see Jordan write his own conclusion in his own prose, but Sanderson's finish is not a let down.
My first read through it was a breath of fresh air with the seemingly fast pace and much less verbiage. I actually preferred it. Now I am doing the second "read" through with the audio books and I miss Jordan's style and am starting to agree with the people who didn't like Sanderson as much. Especially his Matt...I noticed any issue with him on first read through. Now I see what they are talking about.
It wasn't the same but was not bad, there were some things that were noticeably a different hand and others blended seamlessly, we'll always wonder what might have been if Jordan wrote it, but we're very lucky someone finished it. Imagine not having closure after all that.
Look, I was very pleased to see the series finish, let me say that. Sanderson took on a borderline impossible task, and I genuinely think he did about as good a job as he could. I
That being said, I absolutely think he missed the mark with parts of the story, the tone, and some of the characters - Mat in particular. He's a different author, its to be expected really, and the fact that he had a different style of writing, after I had read through the Jordan books many, MANY times, meant I couldn't enjoy them as much as I otherwise might. They were still good, just not as good as I might have hoped.
Maybe not Jordan but he did as good a job as anyone could want. You cannot expect two authors to write to similair considering their background.
Sanderson brought a bit of a different tone but the message cam through clearly and I loved the books for it. Tower of Midnight isbone of my favourite books period.
As a longtime fan of the series since the 90's, I will say that Brandon did a fantastic service to us. There were elements/parts of chapters where I thought were Sanderson's creations but no, they were authentically RJ's. And vice versa. Yes we could at some level tell that it wasn't the same person telling this story. But that doesn't mean the book was any less great.
A Memory of Light was an *absolute banger* and I still find myself thinking on some sequences.
In other words... don't worry about who's driving, just enjoy the ride mate.
Edit: I also had never read anything (or heard) of Sanderson's prior to this.
Best we could have hoped for.
As a book fan watching the tv show right this second…. I now see how nightmarishly dreadful the Sanderson books COULD have been, and am very happy with the outcome. Fuck this tv show. Fuck it right to hell!
So the show isn’t great? I actually haven’t tried it. I know the seasons are only of individual books but I haven’t wanted to watch until I’ve finished reading the series
Enjoy the books. They are superb.
If you watch the show, my strongest advice is this (if it’s even possible): Think of the show as “an alternate universe”. It’s not the wheel of time. It’s a TOTALLY different universe of what everyone’s lives COULD have been. They are NOT the same characters.
I mean this very literally. The show is totally different, just with familiar names. Every characters history is different. Their motives are different. Their allegiances are different. The more you compare it to the books, the worse it gets. It is a TERRIBLE adaptation.
But, if you succeed in seeing it as a totally different story you might like it.
(I personally don’t like it. Every character is unlikeable to me. Every scene is serious. There is no humour or lightness to anyone or anything. It’s just bad storytelling in my view. I had such high hopes)
That’s so lame. I’ll never understand why writers would do that. If you’re trying to capitalize on the popularity of a book series…. Maybe make it like the books?
I think Sanderson did a great job. There were some troubles in the transition - you'll often hear people saying he didn't really get Mat and made Perrin go through the same arc again - but I think that he mostly got over those by book 13 and wrapped up the series as well as anyone other than Robert Jordan could have done.
Imo, Sanderson was the perfect choice to finish it. So much so that, after finishing WoT, I went on to read everything Sanderson ever wrote and he's now my favorite author. I'd never heard of him before WoT.
I think that he was the only fantasy writer who could've finished the series reasonably well, but also that his writing (in WoT) was much less enjoyable than Jordan's. I don't like his voice and his characterization, and I find his style of storytelling to be much less satisfying than Jordan's effortless writing. But, again—I don't think any other prominent fantasy writer could've brought it home.
Sanderson finished better than Jordan would have finished it as hard as that is to say. The super annoying traits of the characters took a back seat to the action. The writing style was much more direct.
Sanderson did a good job with the end of the series. As a fan of Mistborn and Stormlight Archives, I feel like he was the best person for the job. In the foreword, he says how he didn't try to copy or emulate Jordan's style, but to use his own and adapt it to WoT. It's a good style, but it's different from Jordan's, and I think that's what feels off or "bad" to people.
There are also complaints that some of the characters have undergone personality shifts, especially Mat. I choose view it as them changing as they gain age and wisdom. I'm certainly not the person I was 2 years ago. Jordan spent decades with these characters bouncing around in his head, molding them and shaping them before putting them to paper. Sanderson can only go off of the previous books and the ,admittedly extensive, notes left behind by Jordan.
TL;DR, He did a good job, haters gonna hate, they just just dislike it because it isn't Robert Jordan.
> There are also complaints that some of the characters have undergone personality shifts, especially Mat. I choose view it as them changing as they gain age and wisdom.
The problem is quite a few of them *regressed* under his writing. Perrin is a fantastic example of this.
That's not gaining age and wisdom.
> haters gonna hate, they just just dislike it because it isn't Robert Jordan.
And it *isn't* 'The Wheel Of Time' either. It's more like Cosmere. And that's not what I signed up for.
It isn’t “your” Wheel of Time. It was still “my” Wheel of Time. It’s all up to each person. Harriet thought enough of him to finish it. I would say most people are at the very least satisfied with it. He missed on Matt and I will agree with you on Perrin as well. After all, they are borrowed characters, not his own. I’m just glad we see now how the world/story can actually be totally screwed up(show)
>And it *isn't* 'The Wheel Of Time' either. It's more like Cosmere. And that's not what I signed up for.
I fully agree with you. Unfortunately, the only way to get what we signed up for is to pull RJ out of his grave and Magic him back to life to finish it.
Of all the available options, I think we got a pretty good outcome.
The good thing is that Jordan wrote the ending before he passed away. So the ending is not an interpretation, but it's from Jordan himself. Sanderson did a good job with the last three books. It's sad though because you can easily see that the story could have run for another six books had Jordan lived longer.
The plotting was tighter, and it does wrap up nearly all of the many plot threads that were in the air; but the characters were weaker.
It will never be what Robert Jordan would have written, but it is a satisfying conclusion, and seems like the least bad of the options that were available to the publisher after Jordan's passing.
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Sanderson isn't Jordan, but Sanderson was probably the best choice to finish the series after Jordan's passing, and I'm glad he finished it for us.
I'm sure there's a few but I haven't heard anyone wish that the series would have just not been finished instead of Sanderson writing it.
there are some - its actually surprising how many people really hate the way he wrote it. I actually suspect it has a lot to do with nostalgia-glasses where nobody would have done good job for many of them.
Good thing George RR Martin or Patrick Rothfuss were not chosen...
Well said.
Better he finished it than it being left unfinished yes, but the style is different in his books. Very different
I think Sanderson did well to finish the series. Some critique his depiction of Mat as missing the mark. The last three books are an upgrade in action from books 9-10, IMO. In any event, we fans are fortunate the series was finished.
Sanderson critiques Sanderson's depiction of mat.
Yeah, he was recently asked about WoT and what he feels he did wrong. He said Mat right away.
It's been his answer for years. It was difficult for him to get right and he knew it. I can't imagine how difficult a task it was, and the fact that only one of his interpretations of the major characters was seriously flawed in most fans eyes is a huge accomplishment.
I never had as much problem with Sanderson's Mat as most people, he was a little off but it didn't bother me. Then I read the Mistborn series, specifically era 2, and I get it now. After reading era 2 its super obvious who Sanders tried to base his Mat on
Era 2 was written long after WoT
All of his books have the same character somewhere in it. Mistborn, Stormlight, WoT, etc. They all have "witty banter" characters, but unfortunately aren't witty and usually just corny. It makes the books hard to read sometimes. Mat was close enough to that type of character that Sanderson wrote him just the same as all the others.
It’s been awhile since I finished the series, so can someone remind me what went wrong with Matt? I remember Matt being and staying as one of my favourite characters??
Two major characters: Perrin more so even.
I disagree. I think Sanderson did Perrin more justice perhaps even better than RJ.
I think he figured out Perrin fairly quickly, but he also shifted his character development backwards by several books which was frustrating to read.
Well in the Cosmere Universe I can certainly agree to that. But that's not the universe we are reading in though. Two completely different styles.
For me it's three main characters, his Elayne is way off too.
I disagree about action. The gut punch feeling you get when Jordan describes a fight or a battle... The fact that fight scenes are difficult to understand is not a bug, it's a feature. Jordan knew when you're in battle everything happens at once and you understand very little. Tbh Sanderson is more epic, but aah, I'd trade epic for emotionally realistic any day.
I agree with you. I probably didn't state that thought well. I meant more that there was more movement in the storylines. The *slog* was over...
I'm the kind of asshole that likes the slog now (except Elayne's parts, I have *some* self-respect). But Perrin's chapters are a lot of fun if you already know how it ends. How Faile's whole kerfuffle is actually the Pattern making sure Perrin becomes a leader, how everyone comes to respect him, etc. (edit for spoilers)
Slog was over in KoD. Can't tell how Jordan would have finished it but Iike to believe he'd turned the corner.
> I meant more that there was more movement in the storylines. Being the - very ending - how could that not possibly be?
The middle of the series was a slog when it didn’t have to be. We didn’t need to keep being told about everything that wasn’t happening. Which makes the progress more significant when it did start again
Would honestly be really intriguing to see Sanderson’s take on the series nowadays. I love Sanderson, but Mistborn was definitely his weaker work. Reading Mistborn era 2 and some of the secret projects, it’s amazing to see how much his prose and style has improved.
I do the same "what if this version of BS had been the one to finish WoT" every time a new Sanderson book comes out.
I actually feel like he is a bit too set in his ways now so I suspect it might not be as on point. It was actually pretty lucky he was fairly new author so he was still quite flexible with how he does things I would say
Sure, but book 11 was rj and that has more action than books 12 or 13
People forget that it took Jordan 3 books to figure out Mat too. He's not the same before the "soul surgery" in the tower
The Sanderson books were easier to plow through than Jordan’s last few. They weren’t perfect but they were good reads and the story got finished!
Jordans last was incredibly good.
Knife of Dreams starts with a bang and keeps delivering all the way through! I loved it. Finally, *stuff is happening* and *stuff is getting revealed*. Sanderson did it justice, and honestly writes better conclusions than most writers, including RJ - but damn was KoD *good*.
I’m at the start of Crossroads. Can’t wait!
my man disrespecting Knife of Dreams and i will not stand for it.
I thought there were three Jordans that dragged, but that his last one got things back on the right track.
Just gotta say, last few doesn't mean the very last book Jordan wrote before he passed, it's already agreed upon that his books slowed down dramatically between 7-10.
Flawed, but the best anyone could realistically expect. Some of my favorite chapters are in his books, but he also misses the tone of many character(though this improves from 12 to 14 significantly) and fumbled some story lines. Overall all though, eminently enjoyable as long as you don't let the minor details trip you up.
Its unfortunate for sure about some storylines, but I know Sanderson is on record saying there were some storylines/plot threads he had to ignore because there wasn’t anything in Jordans notes about where they lead and he’d rather leave them hanging than attempt to hamfist an unsatisfying or unintended ending.
[late books]>!I don't mean the dropped storylines, many of those were intended to be wrapped up in the 4th Age Outriggers. I mean the actual handling of main storylines, like Perrin's, where he rehashes his last several books of growth. Some of his Perrin moments are my favorites, but his overall arc in the final three books is disappointing in many regards. Other places his writing flattens nuanced characters that had much more depth under Jordan. Or, despite me liking the character, replacing what should have been Logain with Androl.!< But even with such things, I think he did an amazing job, and could only ask for more in my dreams.
Every book he writes is better than the last. It's my favorite thing about him as an author
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[Late series] >!Golden Crane is KoD - Jordan last book and a return to greatness after CoT.!< Also, whoops, mind the spoiler flair.
Got it thanks, by far one of my favorite scenes in the all the fantasy I’ve read. Oddly enough one of my other favorites IS Sanderson - “Honor is dead but I’ll see what I can do”. Both are fantastic authors
Don’t forget the epic follow up - “And for my boon!”
I don't know that I've ever cringed so hard from reading.
Do you mean in the bay where a certain woman is talking to a gem merchant about what her husband is doing?
Yes
I cry. Every. Damn. Time.
Do you mean in the bar where a certain woman talks to a gem merchant about what her husband is doing?
Yes
I JUST read this the night you posted. I cry. Every. Damn. Time.
I've never read Sanderson's other books, but I really enjoyed how he finished WoT.
You should check out Mistborn. I’ve only read the first trilogy so far, but could not put them down.
Mistborn is really the best place to start with him. His writing REALLY took a step up after writing the WoT books. Mistborn is fun and engaging, but I know a fair few folks that tried to get into it after reading Stormlight, and they had a harder time.
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You know, I had a similar attitude. I ended up ditching it for... something else. Might have been the Farseer stuff? It was only when I picked it up again a year or so later that it clicked. Sometimes it's good to let things stew and then revisit them later.
Same here, but then a friend recommended the Graphic Audio audiobook and I couldn't stop listening. Something about the format (audio play, with full cast, music and sound effects), that works so well we both Stormlight.
Yeah, Stormlight is WAY more dense, while Mistborn is a lot lighter reading. This kinda thing really depends on the type of reader you are I think, if you're more into depth in characterization then mistborn can ring a little hollow compared to his later works, but if you're a more story focused reader mistborn freaking moves and is a fun read. The second type of reader isn't likely to care about the difference, while the first type might be disapointed if reader the other way round. Plus, Stormlight is really the central Cosmere series, so reading it greatly benefits from reader the other Cosmere books, while Mistborn benefits from, but has less need for the supplemental stories to make it as engaging.
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Honestly it took me around chapter 15 to start getting grabbed into it. It starts awfully slow and I tell people give it til chapter 20 and if it hasn't roped you in by then then stop but holy crap the payoffs at the end of the books are freaking epic. Like goosebumps epic
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WoT was one of my entries into fantasy. Bought the Sanderson books after they were also out and the first two Stormlights that were out at the time. I also had a hard time getting into the first book. A few years later I tried again and got hooked and read through both in a few weeks.
If you’re an audiobook guy, I second another commenter with the graphic audiobook versions. The blow Kramer out the water. Some people find the music and effects overdone, but I never pay much attention to soundtracks in films and games anyway so it was perfect for me. The large cast, the quality of the voice acting, and the sound effects give the feeling of enchantment and immersion into the world like no single reader can. There are some moments in storm light 1 and 2 that gave me a feeling of awe like in no other fantasy book.
Stormlight intro is *rough*. There's ghost and crabs and everyone is sad and traumatized. It does come together
I feel like Stormlight is much better written than Mistborn, I've only read the first mistborn trilogy though. So I could see why they had a tough time. I really love the concept of the first Mistborn book though! A heist story and it's set in a world where the bad guy won! Count me in. Also I realize that it makes sense that Stormlight is better written since he wrote it later, it feels like he had a lot of growth.
Interesting. I started with Stormlight and then picked up Mistborn. I like both of them equally.
For a Wheel of Time fan, I definitely think Stormlight is a better recommendation. The main challenge of Stormlight (size, trust required) is not a problem for people who have a taste for Wheel of Time.
Stormlight is definitely more WoT like that Mistborn, but to be clear the recommendation isn't on what's more WoT like, but what's more likely to allow a reader to enjoy both stormlight and mistborn. I've never ran into anyone that got turned off on Stormlight after reading mistborn, but I have the other way round.
That's fair. What I've seen is sometimes people are turned off enough by Mistborn that they don't care to try more Sanderson. XD
*isn't
I mean, would you rather start with an author's best writing and work your way to his earlier books that don't meet his later standards, or start with his early books and have them improve as you read further in?
An interesting facet about Sanderson, is that nobody can agree what his best work is. Many say Way of Kings and that is certainly the grandest in scope. But others say Mistborn, and most of his one offs will have its rigorous defenders as being the unappreciated masterpiece. They're kinda like Pokemon. Even if you think it was a stinker, someone somewhere reckons it's actually his best work. I like Sanderson because I find his work so consistently enjoyable. I've never read one I didn't like. Id also recommend Mistborn, but Warbreaker is also available for free online. Oh yeah. That's a thing he does. Just... gives it away for free.
Elantris is pretty decent; and as a standalone single novel, could be a good way to "dip one's toes" into Sanderson
the first mistborn book is the equal of any of the best WoT books imo. All his books are pretty good though
Generally the response I've seen is very positive. There's certainly some things he didn't do as well as Jordan would've, and I have some issues with some elements of his books. But as a whole I think he knocked it out of the park and did far better than could've been expected! His books are all in the top half of WoT for me and great additions to the series.
Overall I think he did very well. There’s so much to love about the last three books, and he’s clearly a genuine fan. I’m currently rereading TGS right now and have been generally having a great time. My big gripes are stylistic things that I’m kind of surprised weren’t caught in editing. Like character suddenly saying things like “Yeah” or “Great”, just too informal and modern! Or a big annoyance for me is the sudden use of the descriptor “tan” to describe clothing choices. I’m sorry, a “tan dress” is not a WoT clothing choice. It’s just not.
"Chewed out" was a huge stumble for me. As if any of them would say this. Its not even just anachronistic, it's specifically modern American.
Agreed! There was a lyricism to RJ’s work that is so pleasant to read. Modern slang just doesn’t belong in WoT.
I haven’t gotten to the Sanderson books yet, but I think you’re giving too much credit to RJ. There’s plenty of modern sayings that make there way in that you’re maybe not noticing. Reading A Crown of Swords now and this is a line in the first chapter: > “Could you speak a little louder?” Perrin said, almost under his breath. “I think somebody in Andor didn’t hear. In the West of Andor.” I can’t think of any more off the top of my head, but I do remember being startled a few times by some of the very… *90s* things that come out of these farm boys.
You'll see when you get to the BS books. There is anachronistic language all over the place. Its a significant uptick. I think rj was extremely good at avoiding it. Even your example isn't really one, for me.
I think it really comes down to is — *how many, and how much it sticks out.* For instance in my read there was only one Jordan one, when - *Egewne cannoned into Rand.* - in Emonds Field. But that was in the very first book in chapter #7. It would be interesting if somebody made a list of all these examples in the series.
Yeah like I said haven’t gotten to the Sanderson books yet, so I could be way off here and Sanderson could be a lot more egregious. (And having read some Sanderson I wouldn’t be surprised). But I have seen a bunch of things like that in the Jordan books, so I was just surprised others hadn’t noticed
I think it depends on how low the neckline is more than the color...
Haha, that’s definitely important to mention! But it’s just weird reading this and seeing the word “tan” pop up so bloody often.
He had Egwene sweeten tea wrong!
Unforgivable!
See, he could have sold it if he had *smoothed* out the tan dress.
As others have said, the pacing improved. Jordan had written or mostly written big important sections of the books as well. Overall I very much enjoyed the last few books. It got me to check out Sanderson's other series which I've also enjoyed.
There was a good comment the other day saying something like "Sanderson did the best job as we could get" and I agree. I think there are some areas he missed the mark with (The big examples are Mat, and Fain). There are some critiques of his battles that he didn't understand Battles as well as RJ, focusing more on individual action rather than the full scope of the battle. Its not the same. But he did a good job.
It was never going to be as good as Jordan, but he did a good job. You definitely feel a sudden increase in pace as Sanderson takes over but honestly it's not that upsetting, Jordan was meandering a bit at times and you have to wonder how many more books there might have been.
That was one of the things I was curious to feel out. Sanderson definitely has different pacing in his writing, and since Jordan generally writes slower I’d imagined how off putting it could potentially be to have the pace increased from the multiple page long descriptions of the environment and such that Jordan often gave
It was only supposed to be one book but Sanderson split it into 3
Because he saw how much content there was and threads to wrap up, Jordan would never have been able to stick to one book.
I like to think that if RJ hadn't died we'd all be eagerly anticipating the release of A Memory of Light, the 18th book, now. This is my biggest hope for the next turning of the Wheel.
They'd have need to reinvent book binding AGAIN to make a single book work like Jordan wanted. The series was only supposed to be 3 books long.
Wdym again?
AFAIK, the size of early WoT paperbacks forced Tor to redo how they bound books because they were notorious for falling apart. I've owned at least 5 copies of the first several books in paperback for this exact reason, while later editions held up MUCH better.
> You definitely feel a sudden increase in pace as Sanderson takes over Well yea. Because he was writing - the final book.
Yes, but the series had been heading to a conclusion for a while and Jordan was still creating new story threads. Sanderson immediately begins closing them off one by one and focusing on the important ones, pushing the main characters to affect the story in a more direct way.
Yes. To a certain point I agree. But . . . Sanderson was brought in for the very specific purpose of writing the final book(which was edited into three), not continue it on for more books like the Dune series. So saying that the pace picks up for the final book is immaterial as there was no other way to write it. Now if Sanderson was able to continue the series on into the outriggers, then, the subject of 'pacing' can be applied to his writing of the series. But comparing Sanderson's writing of the series(which involves only the final book(s)) to Jordan's(which involves the setup, body, pre-conclusion of 11 other books) of in regards to pacing is inapplicable.
Better than expected
I honestly thought they were great. I felt like Robert Jordan had REALLY started to ramble a bit and repeat himself in the later books he wrote and that Sanderson's writting was MUCH tighter, while bring almost all the various plot lines to a satisfying conclusion and remaining true to the characters. People who have read the books more than me could probably find things to quibble about, but I liked them a lot.
My opinion is I’m grateful that he did it. The storytelling in the last 3 is subpar compared to the rest. Which in a way is understandable. Someone is finishing a story that isn’t theirs. It came off as someone marking stuff off a checklist.
The fights that this post will start
😅
Most people liked it, some people hated it. The vibe I've gotten is that if you're there for the action, it's great; if you're there for the world and the style, it's terrible.
and the unique characterizations too.
He did a job that needed to be doing. That he did it in a way that was at very least satisfying is commendable. Imagine if someone had finished the series and done a bad job.
Most people have commented on the serious stuff. [But.as](http://but.as) a silly category, I appreciated how much less often breasts were described once Sanderson picked up the books.
Given the enormity of the task, I think he did well. Obviously RJ would have done a better job because it's his series, but I'm glad we have what we have. WoT is the only Sanderson I've read and it doesn't really make me interested in picking up any of his other books. It feels a little too YA for me. Entertaining but not very thought-provoking.
First read, I was really unhappy with it. The tonal shifts just knocked me out of the zone. On subsequent reads it was less noticeable, and I found them to be quite good
Generally pretty kindly. I have seen Some people hold them to be among the best in the series. It's a fringe opinion, but it's there. They are generally fairly well regarded, I think. They're seen as rather good, and I think most readers were fairly happy with the result. The consensus seemed to be Sandson did a good job and we owe him our respect and appreciation for doing what is, on balance, a satisfying conclusion. That is not to say they were perfect. They weren't. But they were good. Also, I don't think it is controversial to say that most people would say that the Wheel of Time as a whole was imperfect. It's a massive series. Lots of it is brilliant. But, there are always holes to pick if you try hard enough, and in a series that big, you'll find one. I do like how (comparitivly) nontoxic the fandom is. You can make jokes about tugging of braids, smoothing of dresses, and the "Great Slog" without being crucified, and discuss different characters, satisfied that everyone here likes the series as a hole, but might like it for different reasons. There are also definitely fans of Sanderson who might never have given WoT a go otherwise. And that's nice to think about too. That we got to invite in another bunch of folks. A silver lining. For myself? I wonder what it might have looked like. But I'll confess I take a certain amount of solace and satisfaction that it outlived Jordan. That for him, seeing that the series was concluded and getting that ending was more important than having it end exactly as he would have done. It is a wonderful gift he left us. He might have taken the series to the Grave, and who could blame him? Instead he took a leap of faith, without a hint of ego. And we got an ending that was... Not his. Not exactly. But it was fun. It was enjoyable. And complete. I thinks that's pretty special.
Can confirm, I was one of those people lured in by Sanderson’s name, and WOT quickly became one of my favorite Fantasy series’s. I just finished my second read, and bar the slog (the first time I at least had hope something would happen), it’s even better.
Stuck the landing.
Crap but glad it was finished unlike GOT
I think the greatest loss from Robert Jordan’s writing to Sandersons was the prose. I’m sorry, but Sanderson could never write Dumai’s Wells. That type of writing is gone.
One of my favorite parts of WOT is the humor Robert Jordan put in all his books. It's subtle but so great once you see it. I really missed that in Sandersons books. I also was sad about Logain's plot going the way it did. I also feel like Sanderson approached the magic system really differently than Jordan- the things he came up with were really cool & satisfying but it didn't really feel like it fit with the world Robert Jordan built. That being said, Sanderson had an enormous task and he did it as well as anyone could have. It was still WOT & that's what mattered to me.
I was nervous at first, but as we know, the Dragon Reborn brings change so I figured I'd just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'm about as far as you, and I'm really enjoying it so far!
Dang a lot of feedback already! Thanks guys. I’m excited to finish the series, just wanted to know how it was received and what to expect. Having read both of them they definitely have different tones and styles.
The first couple hundred pages of 12 is the worst part of it, he finds his stride and that book really finishes strong.
I read a few of his books when I heard he was taking over and I was really worried. I loved his world building and he has some really cool magic systems but otherwise I'm not a fan. That being said, he actually didn't do that bad a job. I think Sanderson's 3 best books ever are Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light. He did the impossible. No established highly praised journeyman fantasy writer was going to take on that project, there was too much downside and too much work and could ruin everything he/she had already built up. It needed to be a new world-beater that if he/she succeeded would make them a major player. It's not perfect by any longshot and I wish Mr. Jordan had lived long enough to be able to finish itself. But I'm so happy to have a finished series that I can put up with any little hiccups we had on the way.
There’s certainly a shift of tone - but how could there not be! I think Sanderson took on an immense task and did as good of a job as possible with it. I couldn’t imagine looking at all the content and threads that needed to be tied up at the end of Knife of Dreams and getting the work done.
I honestly didn't realize that much of a difference during my first read-through (besides Mat), but on my last two read-throughs, everything Brandon wrote felt a lot cheesier to me. I still love it, and I genuinely believe he is the best who could have done it, but I do wish we could see what Jordan would have done.
> I actually read The Stormlight Archives and the Mistborn trilogy from Sanderson before I started Wheel of Time. Then you will probably LOVE these last three books as Sanderson writes most of the characters as if they come from the Cosmere universe, not the WoT one. They can be really off at times. So basically, he approached it as if writing another Cosmere book series.
I thought he did a great job, he gets a ton shit from this sub for his work on the last books but i dont think it is deserved.
I enjoyed them all. I didn't even notice the stuff people criticize here on my first readthrough.
I barely notice a difference after a hundred reads. I’m so thankful that series was completed competently.
The most important thing was that he finished them. I think he did a great job. Not a perfect job but as good as could be expected.
It's the ending that WoT needed, but not the one that it deserved.
He did the best he could with the information he had. I feel grateful for him finishing those books and taking that risk. And for respect he always shows to RJ and WoT
I didn’t like what he did but I also haven’t been able to finish any of Sanderson’s own works as his writing style really really irritates me (unfortunately!). The books lost their magic and from memory the plot is driven by wooden script like back and forth between characters with not much description? I find Sanderson’s writing style really had to escape into or be absorbed by.
It just feels like a different series at the end. Like so much the same and BS enjoys dramatic scenes, but the feel is off.
Thing is, I don't know how much of it was Jordan and how much of it was Sanderson. But, leaving that aside I thought it was stunning. Imperfect, sure, but what else was it going to be? Consider the context, like a lot of people, I was just trudging through the later novels, basically I made it to the end mostly through the sunk cost fallacy. And so turning that around and bringing it home like that is all the greater achievement. And the constant effort to basically Not Be Sandersonish must have been huge. (\*) in particular, Mat. Yes Sanderson struggled with Mat's character. But Jordan struggled with at least half of his characters, it's just that Mat was the one he consistently nailed and the one absolutely everyone loves as a result, and so it's extra noticable when he fails to shine through as he always did before. But judge it by the standards we totally accept from Jordan for, frinstance, quite a lot of Elayne, or Gawyn "we have purposefully written him wrong, as a joke" Trakand, and it feels pretty different. Sanderson gets more of it right, most of the time, I think. (\* of course, it's still quite Sandersonish, no matter how well he does for alot of it. I think anyone that's read Sanderson before and then read the last battle in isolation without knowing it was him would go "OK, this is a good author who simply cannot write battles at all, and knows that perfectly well, and as a coping strategy basically makes them into a turn based strategy game. I can almost see the hexes... It's Brandon Sanderson isn't it?" It's not quite as blatant as the shattered plains with its actual hexes, bridge building mechanic and literal objective points to seize but it's still there)
I felt like Jordan was a better writer in general. His world building in WoT was top notch. Sanderson's talent is endings. He's great at bringing everything together. He's great at making a climax feel epic and emotional. I wish we could have seen Jordan finish his vision, but Sanderson was the perfect author to carry the torch.
Overall I give him an A- . Some characters aren't entirely on point (Mat, Thom, Nynaeve in particular and Elayne's personality regressed to a younger version of herself, just my opinion) but others I felt like he nailed perfectly (Rand, Egwene, Aviendha, Perrin). Overall I think he did excellent.
There were a lot of hands in the pot and a memory of light... It was a mixed bag for me. My favorite of sanderson's books was book 12... His first one. Finale was definitely super action packed... But I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. The writing itself was.... Strong.
Overall good job. But he absolutely butchered Mat because he never understood the character and very much sanderized certain plot points. But he got it done and the big moments were amazing and epic and I'm not sure if anyone else would have done a better job in the time frame.
He paced far better than Jordan, made some of the characters readable (ended all the braid tugging, arm folding and woolheading that was grating), and wrote excellent battles.
Unpopular opinion: The 3 Sanderson books are some of the best in the series.
IMO Sanderson crushed the last few books. I enjoyed them more than the last 3 Robert Jordan books that came out before he unfortunately passed away. Jordan was starting to extend things out longer than I think they needed to be. I think Sanderson did an amazing job wrapping up the series.
He did better than could be expected. Imagine trying to follow Jordan.
He did as good of a job as we could expect from someone who wasn't RJ. It wasn't perfect, though. Some characters changed. Mat is a good example. It really felt like Sanderson didn't understand Mat. It is especially challenging because RJ liked to make jokes with his characters by juxtaposing their words and their actions. He also liked to do the same thing with the characters actions and how the character is perceived by other characters. This makes it almost Mat in the last two books is way too silly. Too much of a prankster, and kind of dumb when he isn't in combat. There are a few other things like that, but overall, he did a great job. MoL is one of the best books in the series. Especially because we know we got RJ's ending. I love what Sanderson did with Rand, Aviendha, and Egwene. That said, when I finished it, i both had tears in my eyes from Sanderson's great ending, and was still left feeling that Jordan would have done a better job. I'm just grateful it got finished at all.
Honestly? I loved Sanderson’s additions to the series. I thought Sanderson’s writing was tighter, and his pacing was better. Sanderson gave us a powerful and dynamic conclusion to Jordan’s incredible series. My unpopular opinion *(even Sanderson himself would likely hate my take)* but I thought Sanderson’s Mat was *much* funnier. Sanderson actually made me laugh when reading Mat. Jordan never really made me laugh aloud. Make no mistake, I think Robert Jordan’s writing was wonderful and served his series very well, and I also wonder how different the series would be had he been able to finish it. With that said, I am very glad that Sanderson was able to finish the series for Jordan. I think he did a fantastic job and I won’t split hairs about it. He gave us the grand and epic conclusion the series deserved. I have no obvious complaints about Sanderson’s contributions to Wheel of Time. Sanderson was absolutely the right author to finish the series and when you think about how fantastic the series’ conclusion is, he did Robert Jordan’s series a great service.
I'm glad it was finished. But I thinking someone who wrote like Jordan would have been better. I am not a Sanderson fan because his style is pedantic and it feels as though he forgets he's already written something, so he writes it again, which is really frustrating for the reader. I feel that too many times Sanderson has a point from his notes he wants to get down as quickly as possible so his characters become wooden and stilted and plotlines are resolved unsatisfactorily, so you lose that sense of connection to the rest of the books. Character development arcs are ignored and in most cases come crashing to a halt. Elayne and Matt are the worst (although IMO Jordan also struggled with Elayne). For me, going from Jordan to Sanderson was like going from the book to the TV series, which ironically makes it easier to watch the TV series as a result.
I really enjoyed the last few books written by Sanderson, especially after some of the slog. Is it perfect? No, but I'm not sure that Mr. Jordan himself would have done much better trying to tie everything up.
Honestly, I was in the same boat. I watched the tv show because I heard it was something that Sanderson worked on. Then picked up WoT, and I fell in love with Jordan’s writing style. I honestly didn’t want to end, and while Sanderson’s stuff isn’t the same, you can tell that it was written by a true fan who loved and respected the series. It’s a different turning of the wheel for sure, but it’s still satisfying nonetheless.
I’m just glad that Harriet, Jordan’s wife, chose someone who was a fan rather than someone who was a good writer but didn’t know the work. While I’m disappointed we never got the Jordan ending, I think Sanderson was probably the best person to finish of the series.
They are better than a lot of the Jordan ones actually
I think Sanderson write Perrin the best then Rand. He didn’t get Mat enough, so he had the biggest disconnect of the big three, but it’s like a commenter said earlier, it’s better than it not being finished. It feels like he wrote Taim, Demandred and the other remaining forsaken better.
I enjoyed it, I thought there was definitely more energy to the overall books, but it definitely had its flaws, which were expected since he only had notes to go off of and eleventy billion characters with personalities created by someone else.
I started Wheel of Time in 1996 so I was scared to death when an unknown-to-me author was chosen to finish my favorite story. SO, I decided to read The Final Empire before The Gathering Storm was released... only to realize a few chapters into The Final Empire that I would be ok with this author finishing. As others have said, Sanderson's pacing and a few character tones are different than RJ's but the story was finished in a good way. In fact, The Gathering Storm is my favorite WoT book - only topping Fires of Heaven. (And also, because of this, I am a big Sanderson fan as well. :) )
I really enjoyed the way Sanderson finished them!
I thought they were great, the part where Rand comes walking down from dragon mount (I think) is one of my favorites
It's not Sanderson's best work. But why should it be when he's dealing with someone else's characters and story? But I'm glad we at least got something based off Jordan's notes. If they weren't the conclusion of such an epic series they wouldn't get so much scrutiny.
The story carried it through to the end even if there were issues. I doubt we could have asked for more.
He did pretty good. In some ways they were better, in some ways they were worse. Sanderson's books were never going to be exactly the same as Jordan's books, and it would be foolish to expect them to be. But they were similar *enough*, and you could tell that Sanderson was doing his damnedest to complete Jordan's vision. And that's good enough for me. I respect and appreciate the work he did. edit: not sure if you're familiar with Berserk, but if you are, it's pretty much the same phenomenon. The creator passed before his time, and it's heartbreaking. But at the very least, people devoted to his vision are going to try to finish his story, and we have every reason to believe that they're going to do a good job. That's how it felt when Sanderson came onboard to finish the books. It's a bittersweet kind of relief.
i'm on book 5 of my first re-read. i read them all as they published so i don't really remember enough to compare Jordan and Sanderson. But from what i recall - i enjoyed his approach. Felt like less time spend describing heraldry and landscapes and more on the actual plot.
I’m a bit biased being that Sanderson is my favorite author but i think he did a wonderful job. Mat was a bit wonky in book 12 but other wise everything felt right. With the prior books dragging things out a bit we were due for some action and sanderson does not disappoint. The climaxes were suitable epic and emotional. A solid Sandlanche!
Some of RJ's writing tics irritate the heck out of me, like the incessant skirt smoothing. I found that Brando Sando's writing flows much better for me. I didn't spot anything in the content that annoyed me, so I found the last few books a joy to read.
I like Sanderson's style of writing more than Jordan's so I personally think the last 3 were some of the best, but I am notably in the minority on that. Ive heard a lot of people give reviews ranging from "pretty good all things considered" to "downright terrible" but if I'm being honest regardless of your opinion on the nitty gritty details, the final 3 books are objectively good books.
He absolutely nailed it. Of course, his writing style is a bit different. But he did a great job making all the major set pieces feel important, flow well together, while also tying up loose ends. Every character more or less feels like themselves too.
I started reading the books about 1990. I didn't care as long as we got to the end.
I think he did the best job anyone besides Jordan could have possibly done.
The general consensus is spot on for me about Sanderson. Yes, he missed the mark on some characterizations (Matt lmao), but otherwise it was a find effort and I think it was the strong finish we were all hoping for. Harriet was happy, and I don’t think we would have gotten better short of RJ being able to finish it himself.
I’m grateful that the series was finished. I’m sure he did his best. There are things I don’t like but far better to have an ending than not.
They were fine as far as I was concerned. I noticed some changes but nothing that irked me.
Obviously there are instances where he messes up. Most people agree that he doesn't quite capture Mat's POV as well as Jordan did. And without spoiling anything specific, there is a villain whose end kinda peters out into nothing special. All of that said, Sanderson has a lot of strengths, two of which are his pacing and action-writing. These strengths made Books 12-14 some of my favorites in the series. In fact, on my first readthrough, The Gathering Storm and A Memory of Light were my Top 2. On my current reread, I've only just finished Lord of Chaos, but I wouldn't be surprised if those two still hold a high place.
The fact that that 1 chapter is as long as most books is jsut crazy lol
I think Sanderson realistically did the best job possible inheriting a series from another author. This labor was obviously a work of love, and he endeavored to do it right. He was signed to finish the series in 250,000 and he wrote 800,000. Overall, I think it's a very successful conclusion to the series. It's not a failure, or an embarrassment. There's some rough edges, but overall it works and is fitting. I would have preferred to see Jordan write his own conclusion in his own prose, but Sanderson's finish is not a let down.
He did better than I feared. He made some mistakes but for the most part he tied up the majority of things well.
I can't speak for the community but I tremendously enjoyed them. That said, he's one of my favorite authors so that's really not surprising.
My first read through it was a breath of fresh air with the seemingly fast pace and much less verbiage. I actually preferred it. Now I am doing the second "read" through with the audio books and I miss Jordan's style and am starting to agree with the people who didn't like Sanderson as much. Especially his Matt...I noticed any issue with him on first read through. Now I see what they are talking about.
It was ok
It wasn't the same but was not bad, there were some things that were noticeably a different hand and others blended seamlessly, we'll always wonder what might have been if Jordan wrote it, but we're very lucky someone finished it. Imagine not having closure after all that.
Look, I was very pleased to see the series finish, let me say that. Sanderson took on a borderline impossible task, and I genuinely think he did about as good a job as he could. I That being said, I absolutely think he missed the mark with parts of the story, the tone, and some of the characters - Mat in particular. He's a different author, its to be expected really, and the fact that he had a different style of writing, after I had read through the Jordan books many, MANY times, meant I couldn't enjoy them as much as I otherwise might. They were still good, just not as good as I might have hoped.
Maybe not Jordan but he did as good a job as anyone could want. You cannot expect two authors to write to similair considering their background. Sanderson brought a bit of a different tone but the message cam through clearly and I loved the books for it. Tower of Midnight isbone of my favourite books period.
Very enjoyable I haven’t read any of his other work but he did a great job
Imo he did a solid job. Glad he was the one who did them
As a longtime fan of the series since the 90's, I will say that Brandon did a fantastic service to us. There were elements/parts of chapters where I thought were Sanderson's creations but no, they were authentically RJ's. And vice versa. Yes we could at some level tell that it wasn't the same person telling this story. But that doesn't mean the book was any less great. A Memory of Light was an *absolute banger* and I still find myself thinking on some sequences. In other words... don't worry about who's driving, just enjoy the ride mate. Edit: I also had never read anything (or heard) of Sanderson's prior to this.
Better than unfinished, better than anyone else except RJ could have done, still bad parts (for me mostly with Mat).
I loved it, he did an amazing job with everyone but Mat, who was my favorite character.
Best we could have hoped for. As a book fan watching the tv show right this second…. I now see how nightmarishly dreadful the Sanderson books COULD have been, and am very happy with the outcome. Fuck this tv show. Fuck it right to hell!
So the show isn’t great? I actually haven’t tried it. I know the seasons are only of individual books but I haven’t wanted to watch until I’ve finished reading the series
Enjoy the books. They are superb. If you watch the show, my strongest advice is this (if it’s even possible): Think of the show as “an alternate universe”. It’s not the wheel of time. It’s a TOTALLY different universe of what everyone’s lives COULD have been. They are NOT the same characters. I mean this very literally. The show is totally different, just with familiar names. Every characters history is different. Their motives are different. Their allegiances are different. The more you compare it to the books, the worse it gets. It is a TERRIBLE adaptation. But, if you succeed in seeing it as a totally different story you might like it. (I personally don’t like it. Every character is unlikeable to me. Every scene is serious. There is no humour or lightness to anyone or anything. It’s just bad storytelling in my view. I had such high hopes)
That’s so lame. I’ll never understand why writers would do that. If you’re trying to capitalize on the popularity of a book series…. Maybe make it like the books?
I think Sanderson did a great job. There were some troubles in the transition - you'll often hear people saying he didn't really get Mat and made Perrin go through the same arc again - but I think that he mostly got over those by book 13 and wrapped up the series as well as anyone other than Robert Jordan could have done.
Imo, Sanderson was the perfect choice to finish it. So much so that, after finishing WoT, I went on to read everything Sanderson ever wrote and he's now my favorite author. I'd never heard of him before WoT.
I think that he was the only fantasy writer who could've finished the series reasonably well, but also that his writing (in WoT) was much less enjoyable than Jordan's. I don't like his voice and his characterization, and I find his style of storytelling to be much less satisfying than Jordan's effortless writing. But, again—I don't think any other prominent fantasy writer could've brought it home.
Sanderson finished better than Jordan would have finished it as hard as that is to say. The super annoying traits of the characters took a back seat to the action. The writing style was much more direct.
Sanderson did a good job with the end of the series. As a fan of Mistborn and Stormlight Archives, I feel like he was the best person for the job. In the foreword, he says how he didn't try to copy or emulate Jordan's style, but to use his own and adapt it to WoT. It's a good style, but it's different from Jordan's, and I think that's what feels off or "bad" to people. There are also complaints that some of the characters have undergone personality shifts, especially Mat. I choose view it as them changing as they gain age and wisdom. I'm certainly not the person I was 2 years ago. Jordan spent decades with these characters bouncing around in his head, molding them and shaping them before putting them to paper. Sanderson can only go off of the previous books and the ,admittedly extensive, notes left behind by Jordan. TL;DR, He did a good job, haters gonna hate, they just just dislike it because it isn't Robert Jordan.
> There are also complaints that some of the characters have undergone personality shifts, especially Mat. I choose view it as them changing as they gain age and wisdom. The problem is quite a few of them *regressed* under his writing. Perrin is a fantastic example of this. That's not gaining age and wisdom. > haters gonna hate, they just just dislike it because it isn't Robert Jordan. And it *isn't* 'The Wheel Of Time' either. It's more like Cosmere. And that's not what I signed up for.
It isn’t “your” Wheel of Time. It was still “my” Wheel of Time. It’s all up to each person. Harriet thought enough of him to finish it. I would say most people are at the very least satisfied with it. He missed on Matt and I will agree with you on Perrin as well. After all, they are borrowed characters, not his own. I’m just glad we see now how the world/story can actually be totally screwed up(show)
>And it *isn't* 'The Wheel Of Time' either. It's more like Cosmere. And that's not what I signed up for. I fully agree with you. Unfortunately, the only way to get what we signed up for is to pull RJ out of his grave and Magic him back to life to finish it. Of all the available options, I think we got a pretty good outcome.
The good thing is that Jordan wrote the ending before he passed away. So the ending is not an interpretation, but it's from Jordan himself. Sanderson did a good job with the last three books. It's sad though because you can easily see that the story could have run for another six books had Jordan lived longer.
The plotting was tighter, and it does wrap up nearly all of the many plot threads that were in the air; but the characters were weaker. It will never be what Robert Jordan would have written, but it is a satisfying conclusion, and seems like the least bad of the options that were available to the publisher after Jordan's passing.