Let the Dragon ride again

"The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time."

I posted before, when Robert Jordan died. Here's the followup to that post. The above phrase is apt, because Harriet (RJ's Widow) has chosen an author to finish "A Memory of Light"

His name's Brandon Sanderson, and he just hit the $64 million jackpot. Interestingly, he lives in Provo and teaches at BYU. That makes him practically a neighbor! Talk about overnight fame and fortune. When you get called up to write for Robert Jordan, you are an instant best seller. In fact, my dad tried to get me a hardback of one of his books, and there are none available.

"What was, what will be, and what is may yet fall under the Shadow" - I love Jordan's books. I love his writing. I am scared to death that this will in some way diminish the series. Yes, I know the notes are extensive, and some of it is even narrated by Jordan, but there is no one who writes with his style, and depth.

Brandon Sanderson has several books out. The first, Elantris, is a standalone, which I enjoyed. A little obvious in plot, and I have to admit to a secret love here, because many of the charactar's personalities rung a bell in my head. In Elantris, I found myself comparing his characters to Eddings. Yes, Eddings. Hey. We all like junk food. We all have secret vices. Eddings is just that - fantasy junk food. Delicious, fun, with absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever.

Sanderson's current books are the Mistborn trilogy (two books out right now.) I finally found the first in paperback. It's apparently not available in hardback, though I wonder if they'll print some more now that he's so in demand. I did not enjoy these so much. There's another author, David Farland, that I've read, and couldn't get past the first two books in his Runelords series. They read like an RPG manual. Ugh. More plot, more action, less "points narrative"! So when I saw, on the cover of the second Mistborn book...a quote from David Farland, endorsing the series, I just about decided not to read them at all. And yep, I can see why Farland would like them. It's an original idea, Sanderson's form of "magic", but Oh, my goodness, it's BORING.

This that and the other thing:

I am very, very disappointed. A Memory of Light will reveal who killed Asmodean. I wish that it were not so. The mystery, and the clues, and the fact that RJ thought it was "obvious" all go toward his persona; his sheer genius. I wish they would leave it hanging, just like he did. And no, I don't have a clue who it might have been, but the mystery is the point, isn't it? We know RJ never intended to close every plotline. This is one that should remain open.

Also, there will be no distinction between what RJ actually wrote and what BS (argh! the initials are even bad!) wrote. I want to know. I want to know exactly what RJ wrote with his own head and hands, and what is written posthumously. Even if he quit writing int he middle of a sentence; in the middle of a word.

The one thing that makes me hopeful is that Harriet was Jim's editor for every single WOT book. I'm hoping by now she is an expert on his style and vision, and can help Mr. Sanderson carry out the job to the closest tolerances.

Nolan's First time Skiing 2008

Here's Nolan on his first day skiing in 2008...gotta have at least one crash!