AETHER was the best of the patch of three you read. During that period, I was trying to force myself to write shorter books (ala 500 pages) because I thought the beastly lengths of some of my novels (DRAGONSTEEEL 1100, ELANTRIS 1200, WHITE SAND 1000) was keeping me from getting published.
What I learned was I just wasn't good at the shorter format. What happened was that instead of just writing a shorter book, I ended up short-changing something vital (Characters for MISTBORN, world elements and plotting for FINAL EMPIRE) in my attempt to slim-down. AETHER came in the middle of the patch there, and it actually turned out longer than the other two, and worked all right. (The female character was weak, ending needs a lot of work, but it's not a lost cause like the other two.)
New writers be aware (my agent tried to warn me of this): don't try and write in a way that you're just not good at. You can try to adapt to the market a bit, choosing one idea instead of another because you know the first is more marketable. However, if you force your writing too much, it will suffer.