aceluby Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I like Sanderson for what he provides. You know what you're going to get and as long as you don't expect more, his work can be entertaining. WoK is probably my favorite work of his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migey Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I still feel like Warbreaker is his most underrated work. Has less of a lot of what makes his other works annoying to some (or at the least it feels like it's more self-aware), and is no less imaginative and interesting than his best. I may be remembering it as being better than it is but I never see anyone really talk about it in Sanderson discussions, which dissapoints me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Oh I agree. Warbreaker is by far his best work. Plus I think role actually gave the sex. Or at least it's acknowledged that they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I've read Sanderson's WoT novels, Mistborn, and the two books from the Stormlight Archive. I tried to read Steelheart, but it was just Mistborn in a slightly different setting, so I stopped. I definitely appreciate his work ethic, his connection to the fandom, and his creation of imaginative magic systems. I used to listen to the Writing Excuses podcast. Quite a well done podcast, and he gave plenty of helpful advice. I am not a big fan of his prose. Everything has to be explained in detail. For example, I almost dropped WoK right as I started reading it, when he proceeded to explain everything about how Lashings work. And in WoT some character voices felt different from Jordan, to my dissatisfaction Mat mostly, because of too many explanations/descriptions through dialogue. Like others have said, his dialogue can be a bit cringe worthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gormenghast Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I tend to enjoy Sanderson and I appreciate the speed at which he turns out work, but I think he could benefit from slowing down a bit and tightening things up a little, particularly when it comes to dialogue. There's usually a few bits of dialogue per book that are cringe worthy.While it's automatic to think that, or to blame the "editor" for various things, there's no actual proof that the speed of writing of a writer does affect quality.What I mean is that for all we know more tinkering may as well bring worse results. It's one of those arguments where we don't have enough elements to judge, yet we pretend having the solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 My favorite Sanderson is still the first Mistborn book. And I think the Steampunk Mistborn comes in second. No, strike that. The best thing Sanderson ever wrote was his own result for the Vin vs Zedd cage match. THAT was pure gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesome possum Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Just found them fairly recently, and I have to agree. Took a good third of the first book for it to really start clicking for me, but once it hit third gear, I couldn't put it down. Really solid character development and worldbuilding. Same here. I was close to giving up on that first book - reading it on my kindle didn't help, where the illustrations between chapters that help explain the world were too small to see - but once it got going and I felt like I had a foothold in the world, I sped through the rest of the book and the sequel. I'd read the Mistborn books years ago but I sped through the rest of his books after that. I'm fascinated by the whole idea of the Cosmere - which is that all (or most) of his books are tied together, they all exist in the same galaxy, the magic comes from the same or close to the same sources (which is why they all appear so similar). There's even a character - the fool in the Stormlight books - who is a world hopper who has appeared in his other series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Good to see he is posting updates and has a great writing speed. Always admired Sanderson for that. On a side note: Is Stormlight #2 as good or better than Stormlight #1? I read Way of Kings last summer - it was enjoyable, but quite dull in some places (like Kaladin's time with the Bridge Crews). Is the sequel a bit faster paced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesome possum Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Good to see he is posting updates and has a great writing speed. Always admired Sanderson for that. On a side note: Is Stormlight #2 as good or better than Stormlight #1? I read Way of Kings last summer - it was enjoyable, but quite dull in some places (like Kaladin's time with the Bridge Crews). Is the sequel a bit faster paced? I thought so. It's a big book so there are some slow parts but I thought it really kicked the story into even higher gear. I was thirsting for more by the end so badly that I immediately went out and read all of his other books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Yeah, I would agree that the 2nd book has a better pace. Once the various puzzle pieces of his worldbuilding fall into place, it really picked up for me. Kind of the difference between "what the fuck is going on here"? and "oh crap, what's going to happen next?" Once he gets the skeleton put together, the flesh and blood really fell into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I enjoyed the second book way more. It seems the only people who liked the first more are the ones who think the first is a 5 star book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I enjoyed the second book way more. It seems the only people who liked the first more are the ones who think the first is a 5 star book. I'd say I was more impressed with the first book after the payoff of the second. The groundwork he laid out was a bit tedious, but the investment was worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Thanks a lot guys. I really enjoy the characters and the world. Just didn't feel like as much happened with Kaladin in WOK. Definitely going to be picking up Stormlight 2 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Thanks a lot guys. I really enjoy the characters and the world. Just didn't feel like as much happened with Kaladin in WOK. Definitely going to be picking up Stormlight 2 now. Oh yeah, if Kaladin was your favorite, I think you'll really enjoy the second book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavosTheOnion Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I love Sanderson. Much of the negative things said about him in this thread are true, but ultimately his work is great to read and there is a lot of it coming out often. He's my favorite author for that reason. The one guy you can really "follow actively", it's like a cross between books and comics. I liked Mistborn even more than Stormlight, so I guess I'm in the minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I liked Mistborn even more than Stormlight I did too until Words of Radiance came out. Also a lot of the reason I now prefer Stormlight is because I see so much potential there, and I have faith that Brandon will deliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesome possum Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I was blown away when I read that the Stormlight Archives are planned to be 10 books. Even with the planned time jump (apparently that little girl who was in a few interlude chapters will be a main character in the 6-10 part of the series) that just sounds nuts to me. And I can't wait to read them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceluby Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I liked Way of Kings WAY more than WoR. I just can't stand Shallan (forgetting her name). Her power kind of sucks and her 'wit' is AWFUL.... and she dominates the 2nd book with very little payoff. Kalladin's 'power training' scenes were also incredibly boring. I also highly enjoyed the bridge carriers sequence a lot from WoK. There is some really great character development going on there, most of it focusing on this rag tag bunch of slaves. It seemed real and fleshed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I liked Way of Kings WAY more than WoR. I just can't stand Shallan (forgetting her name). Her power kind of sucks and her 'wit' is AWFUL.... and she dominates the 2nd book with very little payoff. Kalladin's 'power training' scenes were also incredibly boring. I also highly enjoyed the bridge carriers sequence a lot from WoK. There is some really great character development going on there, most of it focusing on this rag tag bunch of slaves. It seemed real and fleshed out. I think I feel about the same way. I agree about Shallan and Kaladin. WoR had that POV from that creature which I can't remember name or race, which was interesting and heartbreaking. Dalinar has been consistently good in both books. small spoiler about Dalinar [spoiler] He is the Eddard Stark who refuses to die. [/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Are we going full WoR spoilers in this thread since it is a book 3 discussion? Just in case... [spoiler]I liked WoR quite a bit, but was really let down when Jasnah returned at the end. Her death caught me absolutely off guard and then much of the book lost emotional impact when she showed up at the end.[/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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