thepunktheory
Written on Jun 11, 2023
So, we’ve successfully made it to the Wheel of Time books where Brandon Sanderson had to take over. As you know from my previous reviews, I had definitely fallen out of love with Robert Jordan’s writing. In fact, had I not been able to switch to audiobooks and listen while doing literally anything else, I probably would not have finished the series. However, I had been told that things would get significantly better once Sanderson entered the game. So, I kept slogging through the books, holding out hope that at some point I’d get back to being as excited as I was about the first couple of novels. Because despite all my complaints, the story is absolutely fascinating, and I wanted to know how it would all end. But I just couldn’t cope with back-to-back filler books that do nothing but world-building, moving the story along at a glacial pace while being almost 1,000 pages long.
Long story short, I was beyond excited to finally be able to pick up the first Sanderson book in the series. What can I say? It’s a difference like day and night. Robert Jordan was a great writer, the first couple of Wheel of Time books prove that. But he certainly got lost along the way. Sanderson managed to get us back on track. Just about everything about this novel was so much more enjoyable than in the previous ones. Remember how I kept complaining about pretty much all the characters? Over the course of a few novels that had all turned supremely annoying, aggravating, and quite simply bratty.
Somehow Sanderson managed to turn that around too. He manages to still write within character for everybody but now you don’t want to constantly smack them over the head! I cannot pinpoint what exactly it is that he does differently. It’s not primarily the language, because he did an amazing job keeping with Robert Jordan’s writing style and voice. Maybe it is that he gives us a better insight into the characters and their reasoning? I’m not sure.
But where before I just kept rolling my eyes and only wished for the chapters to be over, I now found myself having a grand old time! I think Mat might have been one of the characters that I had started to dislike the most. So many things he said or thought just plain pissed me off. Sanderson keeps Mat’s essence and his mischievous streak, but he made the character so much less annoying, I honestly wouldn’t have thought it possible. Instead of sighing at every other sentence in Mat’s chapters, I was laughing and chuckling at his exploits. And let me tell you, that alone is an amazing feat to accomplish.
It’s not just that the characters are better written now, the story is also finally moving along. While it felt like nothing happened in the last three books (especially when considering how long those were), now everything is in motion. So many things are happening in this book! I want to note though, that it doesn’t feel rushed, or out of place. Quite frankly, reading this novel, it feels like this is exactly what the story should be like. We are finally starting to get somewhere!
