The more I read Sanderson, the more I miss RJ's subtlety that Sanderson just utterly, completely lacks. He's a fine writer; he's doing a great job keeping up with characters, interweaving plotlines, and keeping the story moving forward. But what he is not fine at is giving us information: RJ was a master of telling us what was REALLY going on without actually saying it. He wrote for the intelligent reader, and left it to us to piece together the motives and actions of the players. We had to play the Game of Houses, and it adds fun, appeal, and depth to the story.

After reading Graendal's POV, I felt like I was reading a Dan Brown novel. Every last detail about the scene that anyone had questioned was directly addressed. Graendal had thoughts that were not realistic--they only existed to provide us with direct information (i.e. the rats and ravens have to report to the DO; that the TP acts differently, etc.).

I've noticed this throughout TGS, and it's an issue that has been steadily building. I can't really blame BS too much, but I wish he would spend a bit more effort not treating us like high-school readers. I'm really not looking forward to the scene where Graendal is doing dishes and thinks, "The rag she used to wipe the silver goblet reminded her of the cloth Asmodean wore around his neck when she killed him, after having waited for fifteen minutes in the storage room and using a tweeter to track his position."