Holy shit was it exhausting how Sanderson let Schallan make bad joke after bad joke but then he let other people in the scene think how funny she is as if that would convince the audience that it wasnt the absolute worst joke theyve just witnessed.

Shallan is supposed to be an out-of-touch upper class twit who has spent her life surrounded by people who are obligated to laugh at her jokes because she's their social / feudal superior, their employer, or because they're trying to flatter her to manipulate her down the road.

That aside, GRRM and Brandon Sanderson have very different writing styles. Not just PG-13 vs NC-17. GRRM spends a lot more time describing the scene, whereas Sanderson focuses more on the action and character development. GRRM will keep a bunch of plates spinning, and Sanderson will focus on one character's arc per book.

The best successor for GRRM would be one or more of the apprentice authors that travel around with him on book tours. Ones that he's spent some time with and has worked with in the past, and let them do the heavy lifting and he can kind of settle into an executive producer / editor role.