Wheel of Time replacement author announced, and you wouldn't believe who it is!

[direstraits]

It's me.

Just kidding.

It's a chap named Brandon Sanderson, and it's official. Check it out in Dragonmount here and read his interview here.

Sanderson was chosen by Jordan's wife and editor Harriet after reading his novel Mistborn. Sanderson was also the author of Elantris, and it was heralded as one of the best first novels the fantasy genre has ever seen, with glowing blurbs from people like Orson Scott Card. It seemed like they went to town promoting that one, and seeing that Card himself is no slouch, I thought maybe he may be on to something promoting this Sanderson chap.

So I bought Elantris, and read it. My opinion? The story was promising and pretty interesting, although it not not treading on new grounds by any means. Only the main characters were passably interesting, the rest were simply forgotten as soon as you closed the book.

But what really got my goat was his writing. It was memorably unimpressive - this isn't Gene Wolfe (I doubt anyone is), or Le Guin or GKK or even Jordan. Say what you will about Jordan, but if there is one thing Jordan can do it is his writing. He's long-winded, he's goes in circles, his plotting can be poor but he is technically quite good. So at the back of my head I kept thinking if Card had somehow lowered his standards when he gave the blurb as he did, or I was simply nuts. I go to bookstores only once a week, dammit, so I'm completely rational!

I haven't read Mistborn, but the Sanderson I read would have to work pretty hard to step up to the plate.

Having said all that, I'm looking forward to Memory of Light, and I hope Sanderson succeeds, and succeeds admirably. I think MOL will be interesting, and Sanderson, being an avid fan himself and aware of the criticisms lobbed at the series as a whole, will want to set the pace of the book to a comfortable level where things move along. No more extended sweat tent scenes here, I'd imagine. I think Sanderson will also inject his enthusiasm as well, which would freshen up a long standby series with much needed vigour and excitement.

So, congrats, Brandon Sanderson!

Trivia: I actually first heard about Sanderson here. And what you probably didn't know was he actually *joined* this board, and posted a couple of times, and mentioned his just-published Elantris. I didn't talk to him, but if I did, I would probably print out the sequence of posts, frame it up, and sell it on Ebay.

"Authentic forum posts from newly announced Wheel of Time author!"

ds

 

[The waveguide]

Never heard, never read. But will put it on my TBR.

Now you made me curious, though. What was his username?

If I ever get a prize (the Turing Prize, the Nobel Prize, or an Olimpic medal - should I mention that I am a memeber of the B&R ? )

 

[Litany]

It was memorably unimpressive - this isn't Gene Wolfe (I doubt anyone is), or Le Guin or GKK or even Jordan.

Hmmm. I don't like any of them, so I might give Elantris a go.

 

[direstraits]

Hmmm. I don't like any of them, so I might give Elantris a go.

And you should, given an opportunity. You might find that you like it, after all. Once you read it come back and we can chit chat about it.

Waveguide - I can't remember, but do a quick search for Elantris and you might find him.

ds

 

[tyche]

Interesting. I'm surprised that this has happened so quickly, but I suppose RJ and Harriet had a Plan B for quite a while. As a fan I was so grateful that RJ and his family chose to continue his blog even while ill. It meant alot to hear from him first-hand how he going. He kept writing 'until they nailed shut his coffin' just as he said he would in his author notes.

I haven't read any of Sandersons books, I may after MOL if I'm interested by his style.

 

[Mathius]

Alright, so I read this, and went out and bought "Mistborn" It's supposed to be a trilogy, but he only has two books published so far. I went to the library to get "Well of Ascencion", the second book.

Sanderson is a fantastic author, his books have a very very unique magic system, and the geography reminds me of John Marco (which I use as a complement).

But the more I read about him as a person, the less I like him. He seems to be as arrogant as RJ himself was, so Harriet ought to get along with him just fine.

But from reading his web site, I just don't really care for him, or some of his answers and explanations.

For example, if you read his FAQ, one question asks whether his own work will suffer while he attempts to write RJ's last book.

His answer is that he has his next 4 books already written (2 for Tor 2 for Scholastic) and they will be RELEASED one every year.

Talk about crap! I have to wait to read a book he's already written? What makes him think I want to wait that badly that I'll buy it now? I just finished the second book of the Mistborn trilogy tonight. I want to finish the rest of the trilogy NOW. But he isn't releasing it until Sept. '08, because "TOR wanted tor push it back so they could release a republishing of Mistborn1 in paperback".

Talk about beyond frustrating for a reader. And to think that his next 4! books are written, but he's making us wait? For no other reason than what? He wants to do it his own way?

Mathius