Didn't say he should. - Edit 2
Before modification by darius_sedai at 29/09/2012 09:11:16 PM
He had no time to learn every little detail. Hell RJ had assistants to help him! Harriet might have been better served to hire a ghost writer and take 3-5 years to carefully study the notes and mimic RJ’s style. But fans were too impatient for that. B-Sand said from the very beginning that he will write as himself and not mimic RJ.
A ghost writer wouldn't have worked either. Too much work had already been done. Perhaps for outrigger novels where there are not extensive notes and partially written scenes that would be a good solution.
Bsand claimed to be a fan with extensive series knowledge, which it is clear he does not. He has done a credible job of getting the books out and as a fan I am thankful for the speed in which they have been published. That doesn't mean I don't have the right to criticize the man for the choices he made. I don't love how he split the timeline up as it is too confusing to keep track of which storyline a are where in the timeline. I don't think he paid enough attention to some key details such as various language nuances ... Aviendha using the term soldiers and other such errors are jarring. And I think he missed the spirit of certain key characters such as Mat.
With that said, is Bsand responsible for fans not loving his writing of WOT? I don't think the blame is 100% his ... Team Jordan and Tor own a significant part of the blame too ... But as the author Brandon is going to take the brunt of the critique ... I am no aspiring author jealous of his achievement, I have plenty of respect for what he has achieved outside of WOT, but with the heightened visibility this project brings him the more he will face this sort of thing. So don't give me a load of "LEAVE BRANDON ALONE" nonsense ... He deserves what he gets for taking on a project like this. Hell RJ himself took a heap of fan critique over the years!