I can completely understand and absolutely forgive his shortcomings with the material and book and when you get down to it, I really was not expecting much better. I expressed misgivings after taking my first stab at Mistborn and upon getting an impression of his style, fearing how incompatible it would be with WoT, and generally find myself having been proven right. The only real problem is that the finished product, for entirely reasonable and understandable causes, is inferior. The manner in which the books were split is flawed and the style of writing clashes with what is supposed to be expressed. The central ideas and themes are gone, and the characters unrecognizable, and as far as I am concerned, it is not Sanderson's fault, except in the very literal sense that he is the one whose actions produced it.

In case I have never fully expressed this... No. I'm going to save it for a separate post. Suffice it to say, if I seem to be holding negative feelings, it is simply the turn of events that has forced us to settle for ToM & tGS, a turn of events I am confident that even Brandon Sanderson would not have wished to come to pass. As it is, I am even glad for him if his efforts with WoT have led to greater publicity and remuneration than he might otherwise have enjoyed. The last few books are what they are because of the tragedy of the world we live in, and just as Sanderson does not deserve the credit for the decision to have Mat rescue Moiraine at last, neither does he deserve the blame for what has come to pass.

That being said, I will not refrain from calling a spade a spade, nor from overreacting in response to those who blather about the superiority of the substitutions.