This criticism of Brandon I agree with. The last 3 books, and ESPECIALLY AMoL, had WAY too much nerd-service and fan-service. Too many references (Androl used gateways in a decidedly Portal-like fashion, no? I'm surprised he didn't call them Apertures). Way too many silly cameos, and the one that everybody but me seems to have eaten up, the Androl/Perava odd couple arc.

Way too much cheese and contemporary humor brought into what was previously a rather traditional and solemn story. RJ used humor, but he used humor appropriate to the setting, less recognizable as a reddit meme.