In preparation for the final WOT book, I looked into the guy that’s going to be actually writing/finishing the final volume, Brandon Sanderson.
I haven’t read any of his stuff, but after reading descriptions of his Mistborn series - reportedly what Jordan’s widow read and what convinced her to give Sanderson the thumbs-up as Jordan’s successor - sounds like possibly the most cookie-cutter, formulaic, near-fanfic fantasy imaginable. On the other hand, his Elantris book - “the story of a fantasy world after the bad guy wins” - sounds pretty interesting.
Here’s a link to discussion of the book at SFF World. Elantris was a group read last year. Sanderson joined the discussion, and he took the criticism really well.
My opinion (from that thread):
I was quite taken with the prologue. I thought it was almost conversational, like listening to a good storyteller. That feeling lasted for a page or two and I psyched myself up to be charmed.
It didn’t work. There were too many “as ifs” and too much “seemed”. They weaken a narrative if they’re used too often, and there were too many (for my taste anyway) in the first few pages.
It would have helped if I’d had some sympathy for Raoden, but how can you be sympathetic to a prince who goes along with ghetto-izing sick people? Especially sick people whom they formerly worshipped? It’s a good question and I’d like to know the answer, but the writing defeated me.
“He could feel their eyes on him”, “a sudden chill” a stench that was “almost overwhelming”, clothing described as “looking like” rags. Maybe that’s because they are rags.
“Raoden turned with surprise.” He “scrambled away in fear”, and then a good entry for the Bulwer-Lytton contest: “He ran madly, expecting his breath to run short and a pain to stab him in the side, as usually happened when he overextended himself.” But no, he just got tired.
So was I, by that point.
It’s obvious that Mr. Sanderson put a lot of effort into Elantris and for that, he should be proud. I hope that he’ll work on developing his own style and voice, because Elantris was very ordinary and imitative (and not imitative of the good stuff).
I’ve enjoyed his books. I could hardly put Mistborn down. He’s not the greatest fantasy author ever to live, and I wouldn’t put him on the A list, but he’s pretty good. High B list, maybe.
I absolutely loved Mistborn and Well of Ascension. I don’t remember thinking his writing was terrible, but I was so sucked into the characters and the story that I probably would have forgiven it anyway.
I read Elantris after those two, and it was decent, but definitely not as good. I saw a definite pattern in the characters too, which was kind of weird. I kept feeling like he was getting the name wrong in Elantris because the character was exactly like the one I just read about in Mistborn.
I don’t remember thinking his writing was appalling or anything, but I don’t expect great prose in fantasy, either.
Well, he’s a friend of my brother’s so I’m probably biased. I’ve enjoyed his books and I’m looking forward to seeing how Mistborn ends (which is the one that I would call “the story of a fantasy world after the bad guy wins”–maybe you got your descriptions mixed up?) but I do find the writing a bit clunky at times. What he’s particularly good at is coming up with complex, original magic systems. Some of his characters could use a little work. (There was a particular scene in Elantris where he introduces a whole group of characters all at once at a dinner party, that I thought really didn’t work well.) But he’s one of those disgusting people who can sit down and write thousands of words in a day, and he’s always coming up with ideas, so hopefully his writing will continue to improve.
You can read Warbreaker online. I haven’t, just because I don’t like reading that much on the computer screen. It’s coming out in book form pretty soon.