Arative
Vyemm Raider
- 2,993
- 4,612
Brandon has said it at various book signings that in order to access investure power you soul has to have cracks in it. It's not specifically spelled out in the books though.
I've read it over at the 17thshard
All things Brandon Sanderson
- Thread starter Arative
- Start date
I've read it over at the 17thshard
Furry
WoW Office
- 19,483
- 24,577
This continues to be such a slog. I like nothing about Venli and I feel like I'm listening to the retarded spurge talking about his dungeons and dragons when nivani tediously explains magic systems page after page. The only bright light to look forward to is adolin being a retarded fop that whines about his clothes. I feel like this book has become a spren, and nothing will change no matter what happens.
- 1
Furry
WoW Office
- 19,483
- 24,577
Finally finished this pile of shit.
First 100,000 pages of PTSD and depression were boring as fuck, but there was a big of interesting stuff at the end. That said, way to little and I really didn't care about most of the characters or their resolutions. I laughed when the quest for kaladin following this book is to go cure a herald of his PTSD... in 10 days. Yea okay.
- 1
- 7,891
- 7,704
I'm not that far in, maybe 20%. I'm not as overly critical as you guys to this point. I feel like what he's doing so far in the book is try to explain Cosmere stuff and bridge things together, let us understand why so many World hopping characters are on Roshar.
In the preface he mentions that he's writing it in 5 book arc's, so all this Kaladin and Shallan stuff should turn into something and wrap up in the next book.
In the preface he mentions that he's writing it in 5 book arc's, so all this Kaladin and Shallan stuff should turn into something and wrap up in the next book.
Ritley
Karazhan Raider
- 15,711
- 34,225
When you’re rehashing the same bullshit at 80% in is when the overly critical part starts to set in
- 1
- 1
Szeth
Trakanon Raider
- 2,195
- 994
Yeah, I enjoyed the entire book and burned through it pretty quick. I think the complaints are... valid. However, given the scope of what he's doing here he wouldn't have had any chance of finishing it within 5 books and actually have the reader know wtf was going on. So an "info dump" book was inevitable.
Malkav
French Madman
- 2,686
- 1,583
You only say that because you are in the book.
Really need to get back to this...Haven't touched it in two weeks since dropping it on another fucking Venli flashback.... WoW/FFXIV/Cyberpunk didn't help either.
- 1
Ritley
Karazhan Raider
- 15,711
- 34,225
Totally disagree. There were some info dumps in there that didn’t need to be dumps if he instead devoted the book to that information instead of the same damn character struggles as the last 4k pages.
- 2
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
- 17,324
- 4,839
I don't know how you address the damage done to these soldiers in a meaningful way without it seeming to drag on forever. He tells you a lot about how horrible the battles were and how bad life was before the Oath Pact even, but I think the words don't really do it justice. Actually imagining a society like this, it's horrifying. The slavery and castes and rampant poverty and rapes and honor killings and then the wars and just endless butchery, it's fucked up. More fucked up that it's all done in the name of honor. Having a guy go through all that then just shake it off and become the Chadrunner doesn't make much sense.
I get that people are impatient with it though. I just don't know what the answer is.
I get that people are impatient with it though. I just don't know what the answer is.
Furry
WoW Office
- 19,483
- 24,577
I totally could get it if some chars are working through struggles and what not. When most of the characters are working through the same struggle and constantly failing while circle jerking each other about said struggle, it gets immensely tedious.
A variety of chars plz. It's more entertaining and vastly more realistic. Malazan portrays the soldier role much better.
Valorath
Trakanon Raider
- 921
- 1,476
This right here. Malazan and Black Company both do soldiers significantly better than other fiction that I've read. I haven't read Rhythms yet, but in the first three Stormlight books it feels like Sanderson tries to replicate or do his own version of the soldiers' PoV and interactions that he's seen in other work, and it just comes out flat or too cliché.
That said, and despite the general consensus on this new one here, I am looking forward to reading it. It's gonna be a Christmas gift, so I've got a weekish before I will start it.
- 1
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
- 17,324
- 4,839
Until recently I'd never really heard Sanderson speak about his books or his characters. Checking out some of his Youtube stuff it's quickly apparent that he's doing a bit. Like he wrote Steris intentionally with autism, Kaladin with depression, Shallan with whatever the fuck that is, I guess Dabbid is retarded, etc.I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing to include those aspects but there's a line I think. If it becomes "so and so is the depressed character, so and so is the autist" it becomes pretty one note and cliche.
tbh I find the way he wrote Lirin to be way worse.The depression stuff I can understand and sympathize with. And I give Sanderson a lot of leeway since he's made it clear that his intent is to write a gigantor 10 book epic fantasy series that will contain like 80 million words, so it's not as if there's content we're missing out on while we explore mental issues of these dudes. But Lirin's whole schtick is fucking retarded.
Furry
WoW Office
- 19,483
- 24,577
Lirin was definitely written completely retarded. The wierdest part about it is his ethics took a hard 180 from previous books with a one line handwave explination for why. I think it helps me mentally see what's wrong with Sandersons characters. He will make hard shifts to their ethos just so he can take them through a development path that he lays out for the character. I think at times these shifts feel very unearned and jarring in the setup phase of the character, and it leads to a 'here we go again' feeling at times, and a WTF feeling at other times.
I much prefer characters with consistent, earned progression (or regression).
- 1
zzeris
King Turd of Shit Hill
- 18,851
- 73,539
Sanderson writes very fun books with interesting magic and battles. He doesn't do character progression well at all. He really is piss poor at epic writing but outside of Erickson, who is? When you look at how well he does the smaller novels, it's almost like a different author...until you read character interactions. He must be a huge manga fan with DBZ at the top.
Honestly, I think we've raised our expectations too high based on finding an author that writes faster than a sloth.
Honestly, I think we've raised our expectations too high based on finding an author that writes faster than a sloth.
- 3
Furry
WoW Office
- 19,483
- 24,577
His shorter stuff is really fun. A character driven book like this one flopped really hard for me. I find his worlds really interesting, but his characters flat and boring on a deeper look. My issues with Ericksons writing are the exact opposite. His characters and interactions are A+, while his world and stories are a total jumbled mess at times that's hard to feel invested in. In essence, I read Sanderson for the world, and Erickson for the characters.
If I were a mad scientist I'd merge the two and end up with an A+ author that actually writes books (fuck you RR martin).
- 3
zzeris
King Turd of Shit Hill
- 18,851
- 73,539
I like his jumbled worlds. It's a huge draw for me even with the flaws. I love 19th century fiction because the world still feel huge and undiscovered. I don't want to know how everything works, just the majority of it. I agree with all of your post and I doubt we ever see that author. Probably too much to ask for really. We all have flaws.
Ritley
Karazhan Raider
- 15,711
- 34,225
That’s a pretty good way of summarizing it. Sanderson creates great worlds, great and well defined magic systems (“hard” magic systems, I really dislike the “soft” systems as they always end up acting as plot armor), and an interesting overall plot. The downside is the characters lack depth that some authors are able to achieve (like Erikson).
Like you said Erikson is the opposite. The magic system is somewhere in the middle of hard vs soft, and the plot lines are meandering all over the place. But he has some of the most badass characters in books, even the ones that you are distanced from that don’t have their own POV like Rake.
What made Sanderson’s style work previously IMO is that while his characters weren’t necessarily the greatest, he never really spent whole books on solely character development like this. The primary focus of the books had been advancing the plot to the conclusion, and building on the world he created. Obviously there still had to be character focus and development, but never even close to the extent of the last two SA books.
Last edited: