Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

[KyleAW]

Hi All,

First thread here and I'm really interested in other peoples perceptions on the change of writing after the Robert Jordan passed away and his torch was passed to Brandon Sanderson. Did you keenly feel the change? Were you upset at the change of style or did you not notice?

I thought it was a really interesting change, some of the dialogue became stronger in my opinion (not that they were by any means bad under Jordan) but I felt the descriptive work at times were lacking in Brandon's books?

Thoughts?

 

[ratsy]

Hi there. I am a huge fan of Sanderson, and I had read the first five Jordan books years ago. When Sanderson took it over I decided to read the whole series mainly because I wanted to read his books. I found that I actually really enjoyed Jordan's writing but the descriptive work he used did get a little draggy, and overdone, so I appreciated Sanderson's take on it more.

The transition was quite seamless, and I think that Sanderson did that on purpose. I think he changed his style a little bit to help this.

 

[KyleAW]

You know what, I found the transition easy too, it felt a tiny bit different but no more than normally going from one book to another. I reread the story far too many times and always felt that Jordan slowed too much from the 7thish book to the 11th. Probably an issue with the style as much as the volume of characters that he was juggling!

 

[chongjasmine]

I feel that the transition is good.
I hardly notice the difference between the two authors, except in the case of Mat.

 

[SilentRoamer]

Ok let me preface this by first saying I think Sanderson did a stand up job. He kept the fans updated and I am forever grateful we got an end to the series.

The complaint I have is Sandersons treatment of the One Power. Before Sanderson I felt the power levels were very controlled, very precise. I remember Brandon just sort of powering people up or down and a few of the conflicts just not ending properly or how I would expect.

I really liked Androl as a character however and he was Sandersons sole creation. His Talent was pretty interesting.

 

[chongjasmine]

I like Androl, too.

 

[Cathbad]

When Jordan was writing it, I loved the story, but hated the overly descriptive writing style. Sanderson, I think, has a better writing style and, although I too think he compensated, his writing was better; though it felt like the energy level within the story had dropped a notch.

 

[The Big Peat]

I feel that the transition is good.
I hardly notice the difference between the two authors, except in the case of Mat.

More or less the exact words that sprang to mind when I saw this thread. Mat was my favourite character when Jordan wrote them; with Sanderson, I skipped his chapters. Sanderson seemed to think he was comic relief.

Maybe I'd have noticed more things if I'd been looking for differences but in a way, I was deliberately trying not to as it felt unfair.