The Wheel Turns...
I just discovered that they have decided to move ahead with finishing the final book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I had the impression initially that his wife, Harriet, was going to do most of it, but today Howard Tayler mentioned that they'd tapped Brandon Sanderson. I confirmed this at Robert Jordan's old blog, where it's made clear that he will be working with Harriet. Who's really in charge isn't exactly specified. *shrugs*
By an odd coincidence, I just ran across this post on the series over at Uncertain Principles. I have to admit that I don't really get some of his criticisms. One of the things I liked about the series was the strong female characters. Characterizing most of the relationships as "toxic" puzzles me as well. They just seem like various types of relationships that exist in the real world to me. As for the ranting about how stupid men are, uh, I have to wonder if he's ever listened to females discussing males. The general consensus is that, while males are useful in certain respects, by and large they're pretty helpless in others, particularly anything requiring finesse or awareness. Not every male, and maybe not every female, but the sentiment is pretty common, if not universal.
As for the latter books not being as good, that, unfortunately, is true. I suspect that Robert Jordan's illness was already starting to make itself felt. My impression was that they were just too short, that if there'd been a bit more length they would have been okay. I don't think the quality was any less, myself, and I know others will argue that point. I just think that he didn't have the stamina to really keep everything going. I think that he also wasn't as focused. In the last two books, when he finally started tying up some of the loose ends instead of creating a zillion more, it was much much better.
So, there will be a Book 12. Howard Tayler thinks the newly tapped author is a good one (and I remember being intrigued by the book that he linked to, but it was in hardback at the time), so hopefully it will be a good one. *crosses fingers*touches rabbit foot*knocks on wood*
2 comments:
Characterizing most of the relationships as "toxic" puzzles me as well. They just seem like various types of relationships that exist in the real world to me.
They represent a really limited subset of real-world relationships. I do know people whose relationships are like those between characters in the books, but they're nowhere near a majority. I would've liked to see more relationships that were, well, relationships, and not a constant stupid power struggle.
Hmmm. I can see Lan and Nynaeve's relationship as a power struggle in certain respects, but I don't think either would be happy with it any other way. I can't think of any others where "power struggle" comes to mind as the first impression.
For what it's worth, all of the relationships in the book are healthier than that of my parents, so maybe I just don't have a good model to compare to. *shrugs*
Post a Comment