Chad Vader Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 2 hours ago, Rhom said: He does write big climaxes well. The epic moments are through the roof for him and he provides a good visual. And therein lies the problem with the rest of the book, you now have to slog through 3-400 pages of unnecessary filler to get to it. In books and movies endings are always what stick with me, and largely form my opinion on the material. Hopefully it’s not too much of a drag till the conclusion but I have faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Random aside: the new Demons and Wizards album has a song about stormlight on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Behold the Cover to Rhythm of War, the Fourth Book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 22, 2020 Author Share Posted August 22, 2020 6 hours ago, Jussi said: Behold the Cover to Rhythm of War, the Fourth Book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive That is certainly a door stopper fantasy cover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 On 8/22/2020 at 1:09 AM, Jussi said: Behold the Cover to Rhythm of War, the Fourth Book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive Michael Whelan always pleases me. I guess I will have to reread all the Stormlight books before the next one is released since I have forgotten a lot of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 56 minutes ago, Gigei said: Michael Whelan always pleases me. I guess I will have to reread all the Stormlight books before the next one is released since I have forgotten a lot of stuff. Sounds like a tough ask! Maybe there's a summary out there somewhere that would be closer to one War and Peace instead of three! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 On 12/31/2019 at 9:34 AM, Ser Scot A Ellison said: Call me when Lynch, Martin, or Rothfuss finish their work. Sanderson just doesn't do anything for me. :P On 1/3/2020 at 6:29 AM, Werthead said: Lynch's fourth book is done, it's just a question of when Gollancz and then Bantam can schedule it. The Stormlight series started off well but it does feel like it's gone off the rails a bit. Brandon originally wanted Way of Kings to be the longest book in the series and the rest would be a lot shorter, but that hasn't happened and it feels like it really needs to. Oathbringer was overlong by a factor of at least two, and all the tedious scenes of characters sitting around talking about the plot could have been hacked off with nothing lost. Pulling out all the nothing-to-do-with-this-book vignettes and turning them into short stories or novellas would also make the main novels a lot shorter and improve pacing. As for timescale, on his recent update Brandon confirmed that there'll still be three years between each book and a much larger gap between #5 and #6 whilst he writes the third Mistborn series, putting completion comfortably off in the 2040s. Given our recent discussions over in the Rothfuss thread... this line of conversation in the early part of this thread didn't age well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Just now, Rhom said: Sounds like a tough ask! Maybe there's a summary out there somewhere that would be closer to one War and Peace instead of three! I mostly remember the general gist but I forgot all about the Parshendi until I real Wikipedia. So I probably forgot huge chunks of the story without even realizing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 When trying to finish Oathkeeper, I'd find myself eyes glazed, flipping through entire chapters, only stopping to make sure no one suffered an untimely death or something. I don't think I made it halfway through. I don't mind bloat in some cases - Tad Williams' writing in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was so delightful that paid attention throughout his overlong travelogues. Oathkeeper just got to me. And now it sits on my bookshelf, colossally huge compared to the rest of its neighbors. I should have waited for the matching paperback; then again, I preordered it thinking I'd love it after Words of Radiance was a bit of a slog. Never knew what I was in for. Never will, either - I don't have much interest in continuing the series unless several of you wonderful folks come out and say "Holy crap, this is actually the best novel of his career, and everything moves along speedily." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurble Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 I much preferred Words of Radiance to either TWoK or Oathbringer. Oathbringer especially to me was a slog. He's more interested in subplots that exist purely for world-building than he is in actually finishing the story. Though, to be fair in that respect, he went in intending to write a 10 book, 1000-page-each behemoth. Finishing the story or moving the plot along at a clip isn't in his goals. However, I am someone who enjoys authors that try to leave hints and bits and pieces for fans to speculate on for mysteries. Sanderson intentionally does this for his larger Cosmere universe, and trying to figure out the answers to DA MYSTERIES is always fun, perhaps more fun than actually reading the books. His Mistborn Era 2 are the only books I've thought are consistently enjoyable - mainly because they're short, action-packed adventurinos with pacing that exceeds that of the xanax'd turtle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 2 hours ago, ير بال said: His Mistborn Era 2 are the only books I've thought are consistently enjoyable - mainly because they're short, action-packed adventurinos with pacing that exceeds that of the xanax'd turtle. I never liked his original Mistborn novels much but I do like the Wax and Wayne books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 26, 2020 Author Share Posted August 26, 2020 1 hour ago, Gigei said: I never liked his original Mistborn novels much but I do like the Wax and Wayne books. I do like those. He still has only two of those, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Those are absolutely also my favorite of his work. I think they perfectly suit his style; the plot moves along so fast that there's little time for subplots or extensive inner monologue. Solid balance of humor - which almost always bombs in the Stormlight novels - and some nice dark but pulpy worldbuilding. I realized that I've not read the third book. I might just zoom through those again; they're definitely nice summertime reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Rhom said: I do like those. He still has only two of those, right? The third is Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning. The ending is a doozy. 2 hours ago, Argonath Diver said: Those are absolutely also my favorite of his work. I think they perfectly suit his style; the plot moves along so fast that there's little time for subplots or extensive inner monologue. Solid balance of humor - which almost always bombs in the Stormlight novels - and some nice dark but pulpy worldbuilding. I realized that I've not read the third book. I might just zoom through those again; they're definitely nice summertime reading. I like the characters which isn't always the case with Sanderson books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 26, 2020 Author Share Posted August 26, 2020 Not sure how I missed that one... or sadly even if I missed it. Will need to go check the shelf, but I don’t think I recall reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurble Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 The humor as Argonath points out is an advantage too - in Stormlight the 'witty' characters - Shallan and ... Wit are just cringe. Brevity being the soul of wit, Shallan's ripostes ought not be a paragraph long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poobah Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Yeah for sure, as much as I'm an outlier here in actually liking Stormlight, Sanderson's attempts at sharp-tongued witty characters are... not good. As an aside on the greater body of Sanderson work and also brevity I'd definitely recommend The Emperor's Soul, his Hugo Award winning novella. I think it's the best thing he's written by a fair margin, and demonstrates the he actually is capable of writing a short focused story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Sanderson can do humor okay when the characters aren't trying to be funny. Most of his humor is quips which are cringe inducing, but I laughed during some of his other books like Skyward and the Alcatraz books. Skyward is one of Sanderson's best books and I highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caligula_K3 Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Well, this thread has gotten me interested in trying another Sanderson book (Mistborn 2 trilogy), something I had sworn off ever doing after forcing myself through Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. But the fact that the first book in that trilogy is 392 pages in paperback instead of 1,300 does make it more tempting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 7 hours ago, Poobah said: As an aside on the greater body of Sanderson work and also brevity I'd definitely recommend The Emperor's Soul, his Hugo Award winning novella. I think it's the best thing he's written by a fair margin, and demonstrates the he actually is capable of writing a short focused story. My favourite Sanderson work is the novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.