The Wheel of Time grinds to a halt, fourteen books later.
Brandon Sanderson did okay finishing the series, but not great. The two authors do have different styles, although it's hard to point definitively at some passage or turn of phrase and say with certainty, "This was written by Jordan, and this by Sanderson."
The last volume reads as though it were rushed into publication. There are errors in continuity that should have been caught in the second, third, or final draft.
Example, in chapter 17:
A character (no spoilers!) is brought before a ruler, hands bound. After a couple pages of dialogue, he "extends a hand" with no mention of bonds removed.
Another case has a character kneeling before a ruler, then a couple paragraphs later the text describes the act of kneeling again. No mention of the character rising.
Minor things, but annoying when repeated. The all-caps formatting toward the end of the book got to be annoying also.
The deepest difference I found was in the battle scenes. They seemed...awkward, flat somehow. Descriptors were changed from previous books, sometimes jarringly. Some endings seemed facile.
I can see what Jordan envisioned, but it's like a half-finished painting from the Old Masters: one where I presumed, myself, to take brush in hand and attempt to complete it. The seams are visible and the flow just isn't there.
The last volume reads as though it were rushed into publication. There are errors in continuity that should have been caught in the second, third, or final draft.
Example, in chapter 17:
A character (no spoilers!) is brought before a ruler, hands bound. After a couple pages of dialogue, he "extends a hand" with no mention of bonds removed.
Another case has a character kneeling before a ruler, then a couple paragraphs later the text describes the act of kneeling again. No mention of the character rising.
Minor things, but annoying when repeated. The all-caps formatting toward the end of the book got to be annoying also.
The deepest difference I found was in the battle scenes. They seemed...awkward, flat somehow. Descriptors were changed from previous books, sometimes jarringly. Some endings seemed facile.
I can see what Jordan envisioned, but it's like a half-finished painting from the Old Masters: one where I presumed, myself, to take brush in hand and attempt to complete it. The seams are visible and the flow just isn't there.