Brandon Sanderson

[Maithanet]

Well, after reading The Gathering Storm I actually had the urge to go back and re-read the entire series. That's something I haven't done since reading The Path of Daggers. So I would say he's a decent writer.

Though I think once I do get to Path, I will do a lot of skimming.

If you're not sure you have time for a full reread, I'd recommend Leigh Butler's Reread Blog on Tor's website. She's clever and points out plenty of things I didn't initially notice. And reading that takes infinitely less time than rereading the whole series. She's up through book 7, and I'm enjoying it more than I would have a full reread.

[The Evil Hat]

I LOVED Mistborn, one of my favorite books. That being said, none of his other stuff comes close in my opinion. The Gathering Storm was quite excellent as well, but you can't really compare it to most of his other works due to the circumstances.

[Liadin]

This quote reminds me of the situation in Acacia, which I found fucking appalling.

I've decimated your entire family and destroyed everything you've loved - let's fuck!

Like, what the hell? Can someone tell me if this is the case with Hero of Ages, or not?

My impression is that you're complaining about the situation, not the quality of the writing (which of course is open to criticism).

It's not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Elend's father was evil (quasi Tywin-Tyrion relationship, although not nearly as intense or well-written, but that was more or less the dynamic), and Vin killed him in battle, when he was trying to take over and destroy the city that Elend ruled.

The brother was a secret bastard half-brother that I don't believe Elend had even met. He was kinda sociopathic too.

And the former fiance, yeah also evil (noticing a pattern here?), and Vin killed him in the midst of stopping an assassination attempt against Elend in which the fiance was taking part. (Plus it was an arranged thing, he wasn't in love with the girl.)

The god of course refers to the fact that the immortal Big Bad had set himself up as a god.

So I think you're reading the quote wrong--Sanderson isn't really saying it's a good idea to decimate your lover's family, Elend was attempting irony.

That said I can't comment on HoA because I quit halfway through.

[AverageGuy]

I liked Mistborn. I wasn't a huge fan of Elantris, but I didn't dislike it. Mistborn was fun, fairly original, and overall a stronger followup. Haven't checked out Warbreaker yet, but The Gathering Storm is the next book on my read pile. He is a young writer, and I think he still has plenty of potential.

[Shryke]

I thought it'd be more cost effective if I carried the discussion into here, concerning Migey's quote from BS...

This quote reminds me of the situation in Acacia, which I found fucking appalling.

I've decimated your entire family and destroyed everything you've loved - let's fuck!

Like, what the hell? Can someone tell me if this is the case with Hero of Ages, or not?

I've read a couple of his books and had differing ideas. The Gathering Storm I enjoyed a hell of a lot, but Elantris I found dreadfully dull and uninteresting. But I've heard great things about Mistborn and his other works, so I'm curious.

He's joking with his wife.

The situation makes sense if you actually read the books.

[Hooplehead]

I read the first 2 Mistborns, then took a break to read Prince of Nothing, mostly because I couldn't find Hero of Ages at the store. After reading PoN, I'm now reading HoA on my new Kindle. The change in writing style is drastic to say the least. Bakker's writing is so dense, that now I feel like I'm speed-reading through HoA. I'm really enjoying Mistborn, though, and very curious to see how it all works out. But definitely a different animal than Bakker.

[Arbor Gold]

I've read all three books in the Mistborn series, and I am happy I continued with it as I was ready to be finished after The Well of Ascension. The characters had become dull and annoying, and I wasn't very interested in seeing where the story went. A friend of mine urged me to read The Hero of Ages, and I am very glad I did. Vin and Elend were still annoying, but other characters came forward and held my attention through a very satisfying climax and conclusion.

Sanderson is unbelievably PG with respect to sex and cursing, but kind of gruesome when it comes to battles and creepy creatures. I think I would have liked a little more edginess in the books, but that's just a personal preference and didn't get in the way of my enjoyment...just something I noticed, Sanderson really buys into the idea that graphic violence is ok as long as it doesn't have any naughty words.

[kcf]

Sanderson is unbelievably PG with respect to sex and cursing, but kind of gruesome when it comes to battles and creepy creatures. I think I would have liked a little more edginess in the books, but that's just a personal preference and didn't get in the way of my enjoyment...just something I noticed, Sanderson really buys into the idea that graphic violence is ok as long as it doesn't have any naughty words.

Well, Sanderson is a devout Mormon, so his being PG with respect to sex and cursing is expected. The observation about graphic violence is an interesting one.

Funny, for the TGS tour I sat next to him while he signed books for 2 hours and got to hear all the questions asked him. Arizona has a big Morman population and Sanderson is not a minor celebrity in the LDS church. I'd guess at least 1/3 of the people in line were Mormon. Many complained about his use of strong language.

[Shryke]

Well, Sanderson is a devout Mormon, so his being PG with respect to sex and cursing is expected. The observation about graphic violence is an interesting one.

Funny, for the TGS tour I sat next to him while he signed books for 2 hours and got to hear all the questions asked him. Arizona has a big Morman population and Sanderson is not a minor celebrity in the LDS church. I'd guess at least 1/3 of the people in line were Mormon. Many complained about his use of strong language.

What strong language?

/sigh

[kcf]

What strong language?

/sigh

I think it was mostly in reference to TGS - it seems the made up curses in WOT are just as bad. Apparently Brandon has warned a lot of his LDS audience that the language in WOT can be strong at times.

During his signing tour he also wrote a blog about how he was doing some signings on Sundays and that he hoped it wouldn't offend his fans (the LDS church takes the sabath seriously).

[Wastrel]

Depends, in Mistborn the guy didn't really care about these guys. I'm actually not certain some of them didn't try to kill him, can't remember, but in any case there were circumstances totally excusing the heroine (like, accidents, or they were evil).

Yeah... I don't think people actually work like that:

"You murdered my father!"

"well, yeah, but he was evil"

"Oh. Evil was he? Oh well that's OK then, water under the bridge. Please, marry me."

People get rather more upset about the death of family and friends than that in real life. They even get more upset about it when they're the ones who killed them. Knowing something is right, even that it is necessary, doesn't make it easy, and doesn't take away the feelings felt toward the one who does it.

[Errant Bard]

People get rather more upset about the death of family and friends than that in real life. They even get more upset about it when they're the ones who killed them. Knowing something is right, even that it is necessary, doesn't make it easy, and doesn't take away the feelings felt toward the one who does it.

Yeah, whatever, I was just saying he didn't love them, and the heroine was definitely not portrayed as bad or actually having other choices, on the opposite of what the acacia quote seemed to imply, and so maybe it made a difference for the one who asked.

Noone claimed characterization was good in Mistborn.

[Shryke]

Yeah... I don't think people actually work like that:

"You murdered my father!"

"well, yeah, but he was evil"

"Oh. Evil was he? Oh well that's OK then, water under the bridge. Please, marry me."

People get rather more upset about the death of family and friends than that in real life. They even get more upset about it when they're the ones who killed them. Knowing something is right, even that it is necessary, doesn't make it easy, and doesn't take away the feelings felt toward the one who does it.

Only one of them was actually family and even there only perhaps in the loosest sense.

[Liadin]

Only one of them was actually family and even there only perhaps in the loosest sense.

Er, yeah, and it wasn't like he hadn't known the father was evil. And just plain nasty. But I agree, Sanderson doesn't go in for the nuances of human relationships or anything like that.

I'm laughing about the "strong language in WoT" comment. Huh? You mean like "blood and bloody ashes"? Wow. In that case I'm really surprised Sanderson is on this site.... doesn't it make it look like he's supporting a series of books where people use actual foul language? And have sex on screen? And all that other fun stuff?

The idea that violence is okay (for kids, for religious audiences, whatever) but sex and cursing are not has been around for awhile. Nonsensical, but there it is.

[The Evil Hat]

Yeah... I don't think people actually work like that:

"You murdered my father!"

"well, yeah, but he was evil"

"Oh. Evil was he? Oh well that's OK then, water under the bridge. Please, marry me."

People get rather more upset about the death of family and friends than that in real life. They even get more upset about it when they're the ones who killed them. Knowing something is right, even that it is necessary, doesn't make it easy, and doesn't take away the feelings felt toward the one who does it.

It seems more than a little silly to condemn the book for a specific aspect like this without having read it.

[Tsavong Lah]

Elend's father was trying to destroy everything that Elend had created. He was an awful man, an awful father, and really cared nothing at all for Elend. So is it really surprising that the feelings on Elend's part would not be very strong? He was also very willing to kill his own son to obtain the power he wanted.

The scene was actually very believable and light-hearted.

[gyrehead]

How much do you guys like him?

He is definitely an author I think needs more seasoning. Sadly he was thrown into WoT undeservedly imo and so that is a barn door even if closed comes after the whole herd of horses has already run away. I find his work for the most part very immature and lacking the range that his ambition seems to call for (in his own work). Elantris I chalked up to being his first published work and a standalone. Especially as in the first Mistborn novel I saw a bit of growth in complexity in his plotting and narrative. Then the second Mistborn came out and I found it a huge decline in quality. Huge. Third book was a continuation of that decline. His foray into WoT was horrible as well though I'm not sure how much of that blame rests just on what I see as a gross mismatch of style and ability to the series and how much rests on Sanderson and the detail of Jordan's notes (there were some huge gapping holes in logic and gaps in plot connectiveness tGS that had me wondering if Sanderson simply did not understand how to fulfill a Jordan too-simple note that time didn't permit proper expansion or didn't fully grasp the scope of certain plotlines).

Warbreaker was a slight jump in quality over the last two Mistborn books but it was still a bit mediocre. Sanderson has some decent ideas, but overall I find him just a very poor storyteller. I've gotten all of his books for free so I'm not sure where I would cut off from his work. He's not as bad as Goodkind or Eldon Thompson, but his steady decline in quality when he started out, at best, in the middle, means when Tor cuts me off, I'm probably done.

The upside is he did so bad with WoT that I think I've finally moved on the last step in the stages of death. Full acceptance that the series is truly dead and remains unfinished by Jordan no matter what Tor tries to sell me.

[Shryke]

His foray into WoT was horrible as well though I'm not sure how much of that blame rests just on what I see as a gross mismatch of style and ability to the series and how much rests on Sanderson and the detail of Jordan's notes (there were some huge gapping holes in logic and gaps in plot connectiveness tGS that had me wondering if Sanderson simply did not understand how to fulfill a Jordan too-simple note that time didn't permit proper expansion or didn't fully grasp the scope of certain plotlines).

The upside is he did so bad with WoT that I think I've finally moved on the last step in the stages of death. Full acceptance that the series is truly dead and remains unfinished by Jordan no matter what Tor tries to sell me.

:shocked: ?

The hell?

[Errant Bard]

Gyrehead, could you be more specific about the reasons you think Sanderson is in decline after Mistborn: The final Empire? I did a quick search on every time you mentioned the name, but you never expanded on it. I see you qualified ASOIAF as a wreck, too, and so that seems to be original and minority opinions you hold, for this board at least, that would be interesting to see explained in more details.

(Maybe I have missed some ranting about Sanderson himself in the Wheel of Time threads, but I didn't wade in these, search was on mistborn)

[Zappster]

I do like him. I'd probably consider myself a fan. Perhaps not among the hardcore though as I've always waited to get his releases in the cheaper MMPB form, and until recently had no idea about the greater collective univerese of these books. Although this may change with the Way of Kings which I'm tempted to get the hardcover for. Recent news about the second Stormlight Archive book not being ready until at least 2012 has probably put a dampener on that though. I might just do my usual thing of waiting for the series to be fully published before jumping in, which of course will be a long long way away.

I've only read his Mistborn trilogy (do have Warbreaker preordered though) and thought that it was a pretty satisfying and entertaining read in the end, with some nice twists and turns along the way. Particularly in the final book when things were related back to what I thought were irrelevant details in the previous books. That said, my complaints would echo those that others have stated. Weak characterization (Vin and Elend annoyed me so I tended to be relieved when their chapters were over), witty banter that felt a bit too forced at times (it did work for me sometimes, but those instances tended to be the exceptions), and I had some problems with the pacing. It often felt like nothing much was happening for a vast majority of the books and then suddenly there was almost a mad rush to the end of each part of the book. I also only read the trilogy last year and so avoided most of any hype that may have been surrounding the books, so perhaps that didn't colour my perceptions as it might have done with others.

I guess I liked his ideas (such as in the worldbuilding and magic system) and the writing wasn't always up to it but was enough to keep me entertained, and didn't turn me off as it might do for others. It might be interesting to see what other writers might do with some of the ideas he has.