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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Jordan/Sanderson Co-op

Image from Dragonmount.com
Monday night I finished book 11 of The Wheel of Time, Knife of Dreams. (Though I think I missed why that was the title....) That means, as soon as my inter-library loan goes through, I'll get to start reading the books Brandon Sanderson took over.

For those who don't know, The Wheel of Time is an amazing epic fantasy series author Robert Jordan started in the eighties. Unfortunately, due do a blood condition, he passed away in 2007, leaving the series unfinished. However, he left extensive notes so that another author could finish the series in his stead.

In comes Brandon Sanderson. From what I understand, Sanderson initially hadn't even been a thought in  Harriet McDougal's (Jordan's wife, and the one who selected the author to finish the series) mind when Jordan passed away, but Sanderson, being a WoT fan, wrote an amazing eulogy-type blog post saluting Robert Jordan after his death, and it caught Harriet's eye. Now Sanderson is finishing the series.

Initially, there was only one book left in the series, making 12 books total. However, Sanderson has turned one book into three, and the final book comes out in January. I plan to be caught up by the time that happens!

Those who read this blog probably already know that Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author. His Mistborn series just floors me (READ IT), and he's best known for his [incredible] magic systems (again, Mistborn). I'm very eager to see how Sanderson handles the daunting task of taking over a series that not only has hundreds of thousands of fans world-wide, but has dozens of story lines and hundreds of characters. I think Sanderson will be a little less wordy than Jordan, which is a plus. (I skip description paragraphs here and there. And everything that has Perrin in it.) SUPER excited. I really, really love this series and can't wait to see how it ends!


Have you read The Wheel of Time or any of Sanderson's books? What were your thoughts?

8 comments:

  1. I'm curious to know which of the books so far is your favorite? I'm gonna have to go with #2 or #4.

    It'll be interesting to see what you think of the next two books. I think Sanderson did a great job with what was placed before him, but there is a definite difference in style and word choice that is more than a little jarring at times. And TGS and ToM are quite wordy. I think Harriet made Sanderson be more descriptive than he would have, had he been writing his own stuff.

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    1. #1, #4, and #9 are my favorites. :) I liked #7 a lot too, though it's not on my favorite lists because of how Jordan handled a certain wedding... ;)

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  2. I started the WoT series but stopped before Jordan passed so I've not read the ones by Sanderson. Jordan got so involved in so many details that, for me, the series collapsed under it's own weight. When I read a book that had so many characters and so many random scenes from people we didn't even know that there was NO plot advancement I stopped.

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  3. I never read Wheel of Time, but I loved Elantris by Sanderson, which I think was his first book. Other than the first kiss between the two MCs, which was a let down. Maybe his romance writing has improved over time :)

    Hope you love it!

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  4. I couldn't possibly skip anything in a book. Why Perrin?

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  5. Lol, Charlie has me to thank for converting her to the 13,000+ page series that is WoT. A friend got me into it a little more than ten years ago. Though some people hate having to juggle hundreds of characters and details and scenes, I for one, think it marks Jordan as a master of epic fantasy. He truly created a WORLD. His characters went through amazing metamorphoses, no place or person was inconsequential, and his prose was beautiful.

    I have to wonder how much of the series he made up as he went along, and how much he had to let the story stew before it became fully fleshed? I can't believe someone could keep so many plot lines from getting snarled.

    As for Sanderson (and I read somewhere, Charlie, that Harriet was a fan of Mistborn, and that's why she wanted him to finish the job), he was a bit stiff at first. He tried a little too hard. Come Towers of Midnight he mellowed out quite a bit. I'm super excited for the big finish! So glad I've only had to wait 12 years for it, instead of decades...

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  6. You skip Perrin? Robert forgive her, for she knows not what she does. ;-) Granted, Perrin isn't Matt, but I really liked his character, especially in the earlier books.

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