#Robert Sanderson

[formlines]

Sun 

Robert Sanderson

[wot-tidbits]

[tialovestelevision]

Why The Show Is Better

I like the Wheel of Time show better than the books.

This isn’t because I dislike the books. I love them. Wheel of Time was a constant companion to me through some very hard times. Part of what got me through Hurricane Katrina was knowing I’d be able to pick up a copy of Knife of Dreams in a few months, and I read the entire series more than once. Given its length, that is commitment. That is love.

But Wheel of Time has... issues. The pacing is the most talked-about one - even before Crossroads of Twilight spent 704 pages on reactions shots, the progress of the plot had slowed to a subglacial pace. Jordan got far too invested in showing us every single detail of the admittedly amazing world he had built at the expense of the actual story that world existed to tell, and that hurts the books far more than I could describe.

But it’s not the worst thing about the books.

Jordan can’t write women. I say this in spite of some of the women in the books - Moiraine, Elayne, Min, Siuan, Nynaeve, and especially Egwene - being some of my favorite characters in literary history, and there is no contradiction there. When those characters are being people, they are wonderful and fun and engaging and just an absolute joy to read about. But when Jordan tries to write them as women, with the fact that they are women foremost in his mind, they immediately recede to being two-dimensional caricatures. Nynaeve becomes a braid-tugging annoyance elemental, Min a parody of the Not Like Other Girls trope, Elayne a boy-obsessed floozy. All of these things exist in contradiction to their portrayal when they are shown as people.

This feeds into a larger issue - Jordan can’t write interactions between genders. He’s already coming in from a very gender essentialist position, which... I’m trans. That’s a losing place to start with me. But it gets worse from there, with every single member of gender A thinking of every single member of gender B as an incomprehensible cipher whose behavior is beyond mere mortal understanding. The one pair of people who are an exception to this - Lan and Moiraine - are probably the most interesting different-sex pair to watch interact because their dynamic is defined by who they are as people instead of Man No Understand Woman Woman No Understand Man. I love Lan and Moiraine.

Throw in the twin facts that Jordan is just not great at writing romance generally and that the books treat queerness as something to grow out of, and every single romantic relationship in the books is plagued by these issues. In scenes dealing with romance, when characters should be at their most open, they are instead their least themselves. The best romance in the series, Nynaeve/Lan, works because it happens mostly offscreen and they manage to have chemistry despite the issues in the writing when they manage to spend time together on page.

Characters whose role in the series is defined by their romantic relationship to a more significant character - and these are almost all women - get it the worst. Faile, in particular, is just difficult to read about.

Contrast this with the show. The show is perhaps a bit too briskly paced, but it’s way closer to ideal pacing than the books are. Its women are just people. Its men are just people. They interact, love, hate, and have sex like people instead of a set of mutually indecipherable ciphers. Many of the best scenes are romantic, or are intimate in ways that don’t need romance. Moiraine and Siuan being all the way queer and in love makes their relationship hit so much harder than it does in the books. Lan and Nynaeve are an utter, absolute, complete joy to watch. Rand and Egwene are immense fun, and their going separate ways has so much more in terms of stakes than it did in the books.

That’s not to say the show doesn’t have problems. I’d love to have seen more of the Two Rivers (every genre show needs its own Short Treks). “Perrin has a wife oops she’s in a fridge now” was a hamfisted way to start his “hammer or axe” arc. While I get why they skipped certain stuff, I desperately wanted to see Whitebridge and Caemlyn, to see the Green Man and Aginor and Balthamel.

But the show is better than the books.

[youaremysunshine-court]

BLOOD AND ASHES THIS IS SO GOOD, FOR THE LOVE OF SOMEONE (THE DRAGON REBORN) WATCH IT

[readerbell]

Maybe it’s the Brit in me but there’s a lot of Americanisms in Brandon Sanderson’s writing (obvs why shouldn’t there be) that gives Mistborn a colloquial air that takes me out of the fantasy world I’m reading lmao. It’s a problem with me obviously as my brain has clearly decided to associate all fantasy with the English voice in my head. I know GRRM and Robert Jordan are American, but they write with enough of an English voice that their writings fit into my preconceived fantasy notions. It was why listening to the audiobook for The Eye of the World was such a jarring experience lol. Hearing Michael Kramer say the word ‘lad’ in his American accent? A girl was in confusion. Anyway, even with the short, clipped sentences I’m still gripped by The Final Empire.

[prettydollshai]

Wheel of Time

I only watched the show for these two. Nynaeve the wisdom and Lan mandragoran are soulmates! It's so rare for a fantasy show to have a black and asian romance in a high budget show, give this ship some respect! Nynaeve is a cool character who is always there for her friends and one of the strongest Aes Sedai and Lan was a former prince and highly capable fighter. I haven't read the books but these two better end up together.

[momowho34]

Robert there is no way. There is no way that you unintentionally created such a heartfelt and adorable depiction of a wlw (Aviendha and Elayne) cross cultural relationship and have it be unintentional. No. No I refuse. There is no way. It’s just not possible. Robert how could you. What the fuck.

[spectrum-color]

Well, I have finished the Farseer trilogy, and thus the first part of Realm of the Elderlings! I had no idea what to expect from it going in, but it was an amazing, sometimes frustrating (Fitz really is his own worst enemy) always compelling trilogy. There were some real surprises (the Elderlings are dragons created by Skill users! Forging is just a crude version of how the dragons are created!) and some heartbreaking moments (I will never emotionally recover from Fitz’s time in Regals dungeon.) I have to say I will miss Chade, and Patience, and Burrich (though I have hope Fitz will somehow see him again someday.) I look do forward to spending more time with Fitz, the Fool, maybe Queen Kettricken and her son if I’m lucky, and of course the many new characters I expect to see come into the picture. I am now starting Liveship Traders, which means taking a step back from Fitz’s journey for a while to meet some new characters. I’m gonna miss him but I’ve heard that Liveship is important so I’ll have to hold off on his next steps for now.

[an-s-sedai]

I am perpetually tickled that the Wheel of Time was created by an RJ — Robert Jordan — and is being created-for-television by another RJ: Rafe Judkins.

It’s a beautiful piece of symmetry that makes me feel like we really are in the First Age, being woven by the Pattern.

[hxans]

I set out to reread and then hopefully finish The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, beginning around October of last year. Considering I hadn't touched the books in nearly 20 years, it was quite a journey both in how much I'd remembered, and how much I'd changed since the impressionable 16-19yo I was when I first devoured the series. At least this time Crossroads if Twilight was more manageable, and I had Knife of Dreams to immediately follow, which we didn't have when I first gave up on the series.

Unfortunately m, we didn't own the last three books in the series, so when I finished Knife of Dreams, I kind of lost momentum by delving into a different series (Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books) until I could track down the others. And then my husband grabbed them to read before I could.

I'm still somewhat leery, partially on spoilers and partially on being very unfamiliar with Sanderson, that I'm not going to enjoy things... but also I want to try and complete this and do my best to leave my expectations at the door.

[the-mad-bird-diaries]

I decided to participate in #11booksilove challenge. I'm planning to post 11 books that I love. No explanation. Just book covers.

For me it’s a great opportunity to share with you books I love but read long ago. I know I’m not able to write a good review for these books now and that’s why they are never the theme of my posts. But I truly love them and in this challenge, I can just show these books to you without a long introduction.

The first hero of this challenge for me is The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. It's my favorite part of The Wheel Of Time series.

[baronfulmen]

[wot-tidbits]

[twincitiesgeek]

Amazon’s Wheel of Time Makes a Bold Beginning, but Will It Hold Up?

"My prevailing feeling is that I want more, right this minute, please and thank you."

If you know anything about the Wheel of Time book series (written primarily by Robert Jordan and finished by Brandon Sanderson following Jordan’s passing), you know that it’s one heck of a commitment. The 14 books total in the core series—not counting the prequel or companions—clock in at several hundred pages each, representing some of the original epic fantasy tomes lovingly referred to as…

[bornitereads]

The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

Wheel of Time Book 12

Reread: Jan - Feb 2022

So this is the first Sanderson Wheel of Time book (since Robert Jordan died in 2007) and as much as people discuss the differences between Jordan and Sanderson, I personally don't have a change in my enjoyment of the series. Of course the writing is different, but it's not something I consciously pay attention too or analyze. For me it's just a difference in tone and feel, but beyond these generalizations I couldn't give you specifics. And nor do I desire to. Anyways what I really enjoy about this book is Egwene, she's so good and her story here is so juicy and fun. Rand's story isn't as fun, it's sad. But the end is great. I cannot stand Aviendha in this book, she seems so dense and self-absorbed . Although maybe this is more because I have a hard time with her inter-personal relationships. She never seems to act in a reasonable manner. Despite knowing that this book was the first part of A Memory of Light originally, it does end up giving that "we have moved into the end game" feeling, which is something I enjoyed.

Info: Tor, 2009

[aureli-us]

@ wheel of time fandom y'all are great holy shit.

i post something and the WHOLE GANG shows up. i came back to like 30 notifs !!! y'all wanna be friends? WoT group chat and / or discord when y'all????