I suppose that the series will be finished even if the publisher has to hire a ghostwriter.  Inevitably, such a turn will mean that the flavor of the series' ending won't be quite the same as it would have been coming from the original author.  Even if it's all based on Robert Jordan's own notes & ideas.

That's why no one else picked up the Peanuts comic strip after Charles Schultz passed away -- the strip is now 100% reruns of old original strips by Schultz himself.

I've yet to read a book with a big-name author's byline at the top, and an unknown author's byline at the bottom which actually read as it would have read had it actually been written by the big-name author.  Such arrangements ordinarily mean that the big-time author (or his estate / heirs) is simply paid for the use of his name, while the unknown author actually wrote the story.  But who knows (?) -- the big-name writer might even have read a couple of the chapters & offered some pointers.

My introduction to Robert Jordan's writing came at a gas station / convenience store, where I happened to notice a fat paperback edition of the The Eye of the World on the shelf.  Right next to the candy bars & the Red Hot Beef Jerky.  Wanting a good fantasy book, I picked that one up -- decided that it looked interesting enough to buy -- and started reading it in a motel room, IIRC.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first three of the series.  After that, the story seemed to start to wander about increasingly aimlessly -- so I lost interest.

It will be interesting to see what the publisher / ghostwriter are able to do with the ending.  It was a truly original fantasy world.

BTW - this is semi-OT to the OT in this thread, but I believe that George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series has gotten WAY off track...........I've dropped it after reading some of the reviews of the latest book, A Feast for Crows.  I didn't want to spend the money on the book.

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