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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Wheel of Time: Reading Order (New Spring and The Eye of the World Spoilers)
« on: July 01, 2010, 06:54:12 PM »@Hobbun: I am not criticizing Brandon. All I am saying is that his style of writing is the polar opposite of Robert Jordan. You can see the difference in the first part of the prologue. The book was done well. He did a poor job with Matt. It wasn't awful, but poor. It is the kind of thing that I think alot of people would get wrong. Matt is tricky to write. How to make him matt without making him a dope.
Brandon is a darker writer than Robert and a more straight to the point writer. His writing style is closer to what you often see in a modern thriller. Robert Jordan keeps a slower pace and is more flowery. He is closer to a leisurely Tolkein style, but if Jordan wrote the Lord of the Rings with would be 8 books instead of 3 due to all the details.
Another example. Did you see the Suvudu Death Matches where different fantasy characters fought each other? Patrick Rothfuss's character Qvothe fought George RR Martins character Jaime. They each did a write up of their scene. When you read each of their stories you will think that they nailed their characters but the other guys characters don't have quite the correct voice . That being said, it is not fair to expect Brandon to copy another authors style. I don't think Robert Jordan could copy Brandon's style.
I thought he did fine with Mat. Seemed perfectly in character to me. That was what surprised me most about the reactions to TGS, people feeling that Mat was out of character.
I suppose it goes back to that interview Peter posted the link to, in which Brandon said people come into the story with their own ideas on how the character is supposed to be, after reading them for 11 books. I felt Mat was one of the most spot-on in terms of characterization in TGS; the only one I really felt was off, and not by near enough to make me upset, was Siuan Sanche, and some bits of Gareth Bryne. I loved their scenes, but I felt the characters were off a bit.
Also, Brandon isn't trying to write like Jordan. He's said he feels that if he attempted to copy Jordan's style, it would come across as parody. What he is trying to do is write like the Wheel of Time.