Are Sarah J. Maas and Robert Jordan opposites?

Are Sarah J. Maas and Robert Jordan opposites?

In some ways, yes, I think so. I have been thinking about this since finishing the first three books of ACOTAR and now working my way through The Wheel of Time.

DISCLAIMER: I do not support the creation of chimeras of any kind, literary or otherwise.

[Miko_Wildflower]

"I don't know what that means but whatever you're thinking I need you to stop"
💀

[HestiaVesta]

Fuse them together and you get 2 people
One who is GLORIOUS at world building and relationship development
Another who is an utter NIGHTMARE at both those things

[crimeman]

Her name was Ursula K Le Guin. The absolute GOAT

[grizwaldhum]

SJM also has a tendency to deflate detention in her plot. Like in book 3 it was all "we must get the oraboris mirror thingy but it will be super dangerous and getting it will be a last resort" at the battle later "tee hee by the way i got that oraboris thing and im going to vaguely describe getting it in a cut scene".

[oliviacalderone]

My favorite bad world building quirk is that they have flushing toilets but still use swords

[marianadelagarza]

I haven’t read Robert Jordan yet, but I had to share my biggest ACOTAR world building pet peeve which is that Lucien has a last name. I was caught up before book 3 came out and had a lot of time to think about these books, and thought that fae not having surnames was a purposeful and cool little world building decision. I spent a non-zero amount of time thinking about why this would be the case and how differently fae society would be structured as opposed to human society to not need surnames. Or do they prefer name-son or name-daughter? Or maybe descriptors like the ones that evolved into surnames in our own human history like Cooper to describe a profession or Hill to perhaps describe where they live? Nope! He gets a random ass last name and no one else does (as of book 3, I didn’t read past that one) and all that world building I did for sjmass in my head is gone.

[linusah]

Never have i ever thought S.J.M wrote characters with complicated relationship that surpassed wattpad. But she does focus more on them... and I think Amarantha is the best character she's ever written.

[RICHIEV]

One thing I will add to Robert Jordan and his characters. He had excellent Character Development.
The character I am thinking of specifically is Egwene. She went from one of my least favorite characters: Stubborn, Bossy, leaps before she looks; To my favorite character, for whom all those annoying characteristics at first became what made her great.

Each of the young characters changed from an innocent teen to a great leader, while still keeping the characteristics that made them who they were.

[WhereThouDwells]

I Respectfully disagree about SJM's characters and relationships 😅 pretty easy to break them down as paper thin and just not very good. But to each their own.

[Biawog]

Robin Hobb. Amazing world building and character driven books

[midnight]

Well, I'll grant you that Sarah J. Maas writes... interesting female characters and relationships. If your definition of interesting is "f*cking in mid-air over a crowded city or in a tent on the battle field while soldiers around you are agonizingly succumbing to their battle wounds".

Oh and if you count hung dudes with wings as an interesting depiction of a fae.

[vee]

“Fuse them together! A literary chimera!”
Shou Tucker: *heavy breathing* 💀

[constantreader_md]

When they say “great female characters” it usually means I can’t relate to any of them as a girl cause they are some type of girl bosses one way or another that show everybody else what they are capable of and take charge of their sexuality and etc. I always related to the female characters that suffered a lot, were afraid, incompetent, weak, internally angry and felt broken and felt unsure. But I’m shamed for this usually.

[hermean]

I think this would work better if it was specifically about *romantic* relationships. RJ's romances are definitely wooden and forced, no question. However, Wheel of Time does have a large number of mentor-mentee relationships, and I can't think of a series that explores this better. It's much more nuanced than the typical approaches of either having them be Gandalf, and put on an increasingly high pedestal, or be Dumbledore, and completely torn down.

[GobSmackedCryptid]

“A literary chimera” and “I don’t know what you’re thinking but I need you to stop.” Hade dieing.

[UnconventionalArtproject]

The problem with smooshing them together is that there's three outcomes
1) The good stuff would overtake the bad stuff
2) The bad stuff overtakes the good stuff
3) or the bad and good stuff level eachother to become average stuff

[dionbosma]

Try Robin Hobb her characters and relationship are strong her world building makes senses because she does a lot of research and you will have plenty to read.

[peehurasotra]

i can't even finish the video, this comparison is crazy

[hakasims]

There’s no way you just said Sarah J. Maas writes complex relationships and great female characters.

[rellaenthia]

I'm so glad you're talking about RJ and the Wheel of Time ❤ there's so much love for that world and characters in me! #TeamNynaeve