Interview with Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson

[Sexiestmaninuniverse]

I think Brandon is good enought to finish the series, I for one, actually like Mat more than before. :D

[RagnarEiswind]

"I don't want dinner, I want to know who killed Asmodean!" :-D

Yeah me too. I am still at Crossroads... :-D

[ChrisCapel1998]

Sanderson is incompetent at best. He didn't learn a single thing from the thousands of pages of Jordan's writing. His dialogue is laughable and contains all the silly fantasy tropes that Jordan managed to avoid. Mat in particular is excruciating to read. Way to ruin that brilliant character.

Not that it's easy to follow in RJ's footsteps, but come on man. At least try to mimic his style. I don't want your crappy take on Jordan's masterpiece. Just try to write like him. Plain and simple.

[RayWilliamJohnsonNot]

I'm crying. I truly wish RJ made it to the last series ;(

[Avandesora]

1:04 - 1:31 best response ever!

[tipoomaster]

I wish RJ could have made it to the end, but Sanderson is going a very good job especially considering the weight of the whole series. Hard to believe it will end in just one more book!

[suppernoddypo2k7]

Robert Jordan's TWoT is based on War & Peace and Jordan also had a certain je ne sais quoi about his writing that Brandon sadly lacks.

[flatronl1915SLG]

the gathering storm is amazing, brandon sanderson is great, and I look forward to the last book

[darkph33r69]

I should nevr have watched this, because i just learned taht Asmodean died :(

im onleh on book 5 xD

[nhIris77]

LMAO he looks quite different to his cover sleeve picture! I think he's kept with the style pretty well and I've been reading the Wheel of Time forever. Yes, he lacks somewhat Jordan's subtlety and personally I think he's made Mat downright cartoonish, but he can't be Robert Jordan after all.And at the end of the day, he can't muck up the ending too badly when Jordan had it all planned out already. I'm glad to just be able to finish reading the series, even if it isn't as perfect.

[starvinmcmarvin]

Just finished ToM, very good.

[Psyshimmer]

I found Sanderson stayed true to the theme of Jordan's writing, but he messed up some characters pretty terribly. Siuan is one that doesn't seem to have the same bite in her that Jordan wrote of, Bryne seems.. completely different. I can't even put my finger on it.

Some are raging about how awfully he messed up the ending so far. Yes, perhaps he hasn't done as stellar a job as Jordan did, but I'm happy enough just to be able to finish the series, myself.

[Ashwgun]

arrrggghh who did kill Asmodean?!

[justintraviscarlson]

@Ashwgun Part of the recently published wikileaks documents included top secret Tor Books archives which confirm that, yes, it was BELA who killed Asmodean. The correct answer is BELA. And when you look back it starts to seem obvious. Clearly, Tam al'Thor, growing alarmed at Asmodean's proximity to Rand, trained Bela to attack and kill the Forsaken.

[justintraviscarlson]

@Ashwgun Part of the recently published wikileaks documents included top secret Tor Books archives which confirm that, yes, it was BELA who killed Asmodean. The correct answer is BELA. And when you look back it starts to seem obvious. Clearly, Tam al'Thor, growing alarmed at Asmodean's proximity to Rand, trained Bela to attack and kill the Forsaken.

[Ashwgun]

@justintraviscarlson LOL, that would be epic, we should see a flashback of that!

[kennysaunder88]

Ahh man im on book 5 and just heard "I want to know who killed Asmodean". So now I know he dies and i was just introduced.

[bellosardo84]

i think that the gathering storm lacks on writings and plot..it's like he was in a hurry to finish and he wrote the entire book fast..

[darknessrising999]

Just finshed the gathering storm and i must say i thought it was amazing. Before this book to be honestly i never heard of Brandon Sanderson. When Robert Jordon died i never thought the series would be finshed. A friend of mine told me the gathering storm was released a so i went out and bought it right away. I'm glad i did because Sanderson did a hell of a job and i can't wait for the last two books in the series.

[Luffy327]

@darknessrising999 I think you're flat out wrong for a very simple reason. Robert Jordan was a physicist. Brandon Sanderson has a degree in creative writing. For those of you who have never taken a difficult physics class it is damn hard and the profession itself is much harder. I'd rather read the notes themselves than Sanderson's work. He will never be able to fill robert jordan's shoes because he is not as talented or as intelligent. This is a glorified fanfiction. Not part of the series.

[darknessrising999]

Well we can agree to disagree. I didn't say that he did or has written it better then Robert Jordan would have all i said he did a great job with it given the circumstances. Robert Jordan will always be my favorite author but me like many others wanted to read the end to this series. This book is part of the series and not fanfiction like it or not that is the way it is.

[UnderclassHero1027]

@Luffy327

I'm gunna have to disagree with you. I've been reading these books since I was 11 years old. I grew up with teh Wheel of Time, and reading the last book, I found it very difficult to tell the difference between Sanderson's and Jordan's writing.

Harriet's right; Sanderson's style is darker. And I found it very appropriate. It really worked!

[Luffy327]

@darknessrising999 well it wasn't amazing. Not by a longshot. It felt like I was reading naruto all about characters not being able to feel anymore and going insane and being melodramatic instead of character interaction. I heard NBC was going to make a series out of eye of the world a while ago. They probably won't now but the gathering storm would make a fine soap opera.

Brandon Sanderson did a shitty job. I'm not going to describe the ways how with a 500 character limit.

[dorkf1sh]

I have high hopes for the work Brandon is doing on this also. My only concern, and it's not huge but nevertheless, is that Brandon is big on describing his works as having great magic "systems", and from that follows the story. I've never approached the WoT experience as being a great "magic system" but rather as a fascinating and self-consistant world on which Jordan painted an epic drama. I hope Brandon doesn't lose that feel for the sake of gaming the "magic system".

[mahram]

Thanks for posting this!

[Gawaine687]

well i wish harriet had actually read some of sanderson's books first before deciding, especially with the magnitude of the ending of this powerful series. but she understood Robert Jordan best and the story only second to Jordan, so i'll trust her judgement and wish Brandon the best of luck on finishing this powerful and great fantasy series!

[saskewoo]

Didn't Harriet say that she asked to be sent one of his books? Right before she said that Brandon Sanderson was "a bit darker" (around 0:40).

[alphaknave]

@saskewoo that's what she said

i havent read any of sanderson's books, but i dont see how you could get much darker than WoT

[saskewoo]

@alphaknave

I've only read Sanderson's Elantris and the Mistborn Trilogy, and I have to admit that imo it's not really darker thatn WoT, but maybe she was referring to his other books...

But have you read A Song of Ice and Fire? That's definitely how you can get darker than WoT!!

[alphaknave]

@saskewoo No, I haven't read A Song of Fire and Ice, but was planning on it after The Wheel of Time is over and done with. Thanks for the suggestion!

[AzizSikdar1995]

@Gawaine687 he's done a pretty good job, and she read his Mistborn which she enjoyed she said AFTER reading the list of possible candidates to write the WOT...it's impossible to emulate Robert Jordan, but Sanderson is amazing! I found his style much simpler, whether that's a good thing or bad thing is matter of opinion.

[Aviendha118]

@Gawaine687 start at 0:35 --SHE DID READ HIS BOOKS at least one of them.