Anyone who tries to expand on a masterpiece isn't going to please everyone. Look at Star Wars... the man who created the whole effing thing, George Lucas, is getting blasted for the new trilogy. People would blast Puzo and FFC if they did another movie as well, simply because it's not up to their standards... look at GF III for crying out loud.

Winegardner, I hear, is a pretty good writer, and I don't think he's ruined his career writing GFR either. IMO, he was handed a turd in the first place and did his best to turn it into meatloaf. Not many writers can do that.

And don't blast someone for trying to put their stamp on things. Why else would there be reason to write the book if you're just going to do things that people tell you to do?

I'm about 200 pages in and it's gotten pretty good. Not nearly as bad as some people say it is.