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Robert Jordan's wife was his editor. Once you understand that, you understand why his books are so poorly edited. A competent and empowered editor would surely have insisted on literally thousands of pages of cuts across the series.

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His wife was a “real editor”. She did Enders game

I'm sure she was, but her work on Jordan's novels wasn't effective. Under normal circumstances, a writer wouldn't be able to get away with releasing 5 or 6 books in a row in which almost nothing of consequence happens.

I kind of wonder if this "extra pages" was by design. I remember in elementary school WoT books were kind of a status symbol simply because they were absolutely enormous tomes of work, weighing in at 550, 600, 700 pages. Every other book that kids were reading were 250 to 300 pages. Eye of the World really catches your eye when you see someone casually thumbing through that 700 page monster.

You seem to have asserted that because she was his wife she was not competent and empowered though.

That point stands. Without speaking to her qualifications, being his wife poses a conflict of interest. She is his Wife before she is his Editor.

Any other rando editor wouldn't have to cohabitate with the resentment caused by unflinching criticism of their spouse's creative output.

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