In an attempt recently to articulate the difference between what Brandon Sanderson did to WoT, and what Kevin J Anderson did to Dune, I recalled someone here (Wert or DomA, probably) comparing the latter to digging up and raping Frank Herbert's corpse (actually, that might have been me, as I am the most likely of the three of us to have sunk to such an analogy. Heh: anal-ogy. See what I did there? ). Well, I have come up with the comparable Sanderson act to complete the analogy.

In Robin Hobb's Assassin's Quest, (Spoilers), the psychic King Verity, facing the end of a self-sacrificing, all-consuming task to save his kingdom from invaders, with his body prematurely aged and debilitated, possesses his nephew, Fitz, in order to have one last night of marital relations with his queen & wife, to both give him the emotional boost & mental revitalization to clear the final hurdle in his mission, and to beget an heir to continue the royal line (and not incidentally, cut his jerkwad half-brother out of the succession). So even though it's kind of gross and icky, and dude-you-more-or-less-banged-your-uncle's-wife-and-that-"cousin"-is-actually-your-son, it was done out of good intentions, and an unselfish love of both of the other two people who screwed in that deal, literally speaking. That's why you can overlook the flawed characterization, anachronistic terminology, aberrant dialogue, botched chronology, and oh-my-gosh-how-does-your-wife-stand-it-knowing-you'll-never-love-anyone-the-way-you-obviously-love-Androl of the trilogy that should have been RJ's masterpiece, while throwing "House Corrino" across the room and vowing never to touch another book by the same authorial combo.

Though both acts (Verity & B-Sand) are kind of creepy violations, and failures of a trust, the difference between them and their comparisons (necrophilia & Herbert/Anderson), one was performed with all due respect, affection and consent of a spouse, while the other is an abomination against man and nature.

Thank you.