Every time I look at Sandersons blog though, I can see that he gets these books in the same way i did. I had remarked earlier about how he agreed with one of my keys to being a WOT fan. And now I see another point of agreement. The person who first told me about the series recommended I read it years ago, before Path of Daggers came out. I never got around to it till right before the release of the 11th book Knife of Dreams. When I spoke to him after I started reading, he told me how its starting to get too much for him. Too long, and the pace has started to slack off. I loved the series all the way through(though I would have to say if books 7,8,9 and 10 were 2 books instead of 4 it would probably be even stronger). We have very similar reading tastes, so we tried to break it down. What we came up with is almost exactly what Mr. Sanderson talks about in his post on Crown of Swords:

I object to complaints about pacing.  I thing the pacing across the series has been even, and I certainly didn’t find this book to be any slower than previous volumes.  However, perhaps that’s because I’m able to read these all through without any wait in-between.  One thing that is happening is that as the series grows longer, the viewpoints per character grow less and less frequent.  There are enough main characters with important plots that we can’t spend an entire book focusing on just two or three of them like we did during the early books.

These books are so detailed, that it becomes difficult to enjoy that detail if your struggling to remember specific plot points while your reading. If the whole story is fresh it works better, and the details become something one savours.

I think this is the jump readers need to make to really enjoy this series.  They can’t get so attached to Rand, Mat, Egwene, and Perrin that they aren’t willing to experience the powerful characterizations of other people in the world.  Those who can’t make this jump tend to complain about the series loosing focus.  Those who do make the jump get a story with more complexity and depth than you find in some of the other fantasy series, which stick to the more traditional plot structures and characterizations.

Brandon Sanderson Blog: WOT Read Through: THE SHADOW RISING

As a huge wheel of time fan who hasnt had a chance to read Brandon Sanderson yet(The books are in the mail) this entry makes me so happy. This nails what Ive always thought is the dividing line between people who think WOT is the best thing ever, versus people who cant stand it.

It was the first set of Fantasy/SciFi books that I read, and I’ve never gotten as immersed in a book as I was in this story. Not 1 book, but 12 enormous books(11 in the main series and 1 prequel).

Unfortunately Robert Jordan passed away in the middle of writing the final book in the main series. His widow, who was also his editor for all the books, selected Brandon Sanderson to finish the last book. Sanderson is going to be writing some of his thoughts about the series of books as he runs through the entire series in preparation. He just posted his first set of impressions on The Eye of the World. He talks about foreshadowing:

I know how difficult it is to foreshadow across an entire series, and am frankly astounded by how well Mr. Jordan laid the groundwork for his future books.  Min’s prophesies are one great example, but equally potent is Mr. Jordan’s use of mythology and story as a means of preparing the reader for events such as the Great Hunt, future interactions with the Aiel (and the People’s relationship with them), and the coming of the Seanchan.

If you havent read these books its impossible to realise just how difficult and incredible a job this foreshadowing is. This is a massive story, the scope of which Ive never come close to seeing anywhere else. Its 3.1 Million words. compare that to the average length of a novel which is around 100,000 words.

He talks about 2 kinds of foreshadowing above, Prophecy and Myth. Theres another thing RJ did, which delighted rereaders in particular. A throwaway line, will wind up alluding to significant events, character arcs in the future. One that comes to mind is Mat telling Rands father how he is interested in war. Theres another line by Moiraine about Egwene becoming the Amyrlin Seat.

Robert Jordan really was an incredible author.

Something that makes me happy reading this and all of Sandersons post on the Wheel of time, is just how much he gets the series. Based on my first few sampling of his blog, I’m encouraged, that he will give this series the finish it deserves. I have also ordered the first book of his Mistborn series, which I understand is darker, but will hopefully give me more reason to be excited about A Memory of Light.

Finally and most importantly we have been promised the identity of Asmodeans killer. I cant wait for 2009.