Brandon Sanderson

[Gormenghast]

The name-dropping annoys me quite a bit.

"Szeth’s use of Stormlight was unfamiliar to the guards, but they knew a Shardblade when they saw one."

...Huh?

[Sharpes]

Hmm, this Lashing stuff is going to take a while to get used to. I get so confused and disorientated where the character is. :(

[End of Disc One]

I think lashing is pretty intriguing and like with all of Sanderson's magic systems, I find myself imagining what it would be like to use it.

I'm thrilled by the setup in the first three chapters, especially the prelude. I always love huge stories with lots of worldbuilding and it looks like this will satisfy.

[Tas]

Sanderson creates some of the best magic systems in fantasy. When I first started to read Mistborn I was worried that it was going to go down the path of The Runelords series by David Farland (I only read the first 4 books, because it was the end of the original story arc and because the series was absolutely ruined by that point), where there is a really interesting magic system, but the author's implementation (and rules around the system) of the system was crap.

The main storyline in Mistborn was interesting and Sanderson threw in enough twists to keep the story interesting. Fight scenes were also really enjoyable.

The few issues I have - I loved reading the Kielser chapters, no other character was as enjoyable to read, both Vin and Elend constantly second guessed themselves which got old fast, the sieges were boring, I wish more time was devoted to Spook - he turns into a very interesting character, and finally I do not like the intros to each Chapter in book 3, I think there should have been a better way to deliver that information. I also hope that his dialog and prose will get stronger (I think if he gives himself more time to complete a book this might resolve itself anyhow).

Elantris was a really strong first book. There is a lot to like about this book and parts of it I think are actually better than in Mistborn.

I am currently reading Warbreaker - my impressions at this point are great magic system, foreshadowing is much improved, there are several great characters in this book, dialog still needs improvement.

[Calibandar]

Hmm, based on those excerpts it looks like another Sanderson book that I should give a miss, and with that I should probably include that this author just isn't for me. He strikes me as wholly unenexceptional, and I agree with Kuenjato's complaints about the writing, which I had with Mistborn and Warbreaker as well.

[cseresz]

The first three chapters of The Way of Kings are up on Tor's website. I don't have time to read them yet but I figured I'd let you all know.

Motto: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (BS teaches creative writing.)

It's weak, uninteresting, emotionless. (Anyway, no new fields in epic fantasy. The genre is dead.)

[AutumnEvenings]

Motto: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (BS teaches creative writing.)

There really aren't very many authors who can make an actual living by booksales. Most published authors have 2nd jobs, especially at the beginning of their career.

I've only read the Mistborn books (will read Warbreaker once my husband is finished with it), but I liked them fine. Probably in my Top Ten fantasy series (but I'm not as into SFF as most of the boarders are). I like that he finishes what he begins. I think he's got some original ideas, mainly to do with the magic. I like that he uses female protaganists who are somewhat believable. No, his characterization and dialogue aren't on par with, say, Shakespeare, but I'm ok with that.

I also (going back to earlier in the thread) think there's a big difference between "first book I wrote" and "first book that got published". Mainly (one hopes, anyway) a competent editor. Writes can learn a lot from their editors. So I wouldn't count his unpublished-but-written books pre-2005 (when Elantris was published) as "books he should have been improving on and honing his skill while writing", really. I think he has talent and needs some polishing, and I bet he gets that through his WOT experience and in his next series.

I'm pulling for him. :)

[Grogsmash]

Motto: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (BS teaches creative writing.)

What a cheap and silly attack.

[russjass]

Motto: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

This is not even true, for any teacher of anyone over the age of sixteen. Should be "Those who can, do. Those who can well, research. Those who can best, teach"

[The Evil Hat]

Motto: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (BS teaches creative writing.)

It's weak, uninteresting, emotionless. (Anyway, no new fields in epic fantasy. The genre is dead.)

What an insightful point. After all, Sanderson started to teach because he wrote, not the other way around. He was a writer before he was a teacher, and I believe he was a published one, too. Besides, I guess that, say, China Mieville can't write either, because he now teaches a class (about a quarter of the way down), too.

[The Evil Hat]

Damn it, double post.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Brandon teaches one day per week, one semester per year. The job pays peanuts; he would make much more using that time for writing, but he teaches the class as a way to give back to the community. Which it does quite well; the class is limited to 20 students, but it's held in a 70-seat room because of all the people auditing or just sitting in. At the beginning of the semester there are still so many people some are sitting on the floor.

[Garlan the Gallant]

I simply don't get all the hate here. I love Sanderson's writing. Granted, its not part of the Martinesque grim, gritty, and grey type fantasy but I enjoy it wholeheartedly. I love his magic systems and I, unlike some people, do not have a problem with the dialogue. I enjoyed each one of his books and I think the first three chapters of the Way of Kings bodes very well. Mine is already pre-ordered and it can not come soon enough. For me, Sanderson is great. He's not my favorite author, but hes up there with my top ones.

[Calibandar]

I guess my feeling on Sanderon comes down to several things, in part it's the way he names his characters, there is this simplicity to them that to me is indicative of the way he does the rest of his worldbuilding. Then there's his characters, which come across as total stock characters, so flat. He just feels wholly unexpecptional when you read him, the perfect example of a midlist author, except that he writes very fast and has therefore loads of output, plus hes'been chosen to be connected to Wheel of Time, which clearly increases his stature, plus the fact that he does write big books, which epic Fantasy fans like. It's just that content wise, he feels standard and unintriguing. Like every one of his characters in one series has been transferred to a new series and it makes no difference.

[Migey]

Like every one of his characters in one series has been transferred to a new series and it makes no difference.

I must agree with that sentence. I like Brandon Sanderson quite alot, but his characters just dont feel like different people. Kelsier, Raoden, and Lightsong just seemed like the same guy to me, exept with different upbringings and magic. Kaladin just looks like a continuation of this tiring theme. Likeiwse, Shallan looks just like another Vin/Sarene/Siri/Vivenna.

Some of his characters are good - i must say i adore Vasher (although that might be something to do with his absolutely awesome name)and Marsh and Sazed were two other chars i enjoyed (why oh why didnt thier fight last longer) but the majority of them just follow the same old theme.

Despite the repetitiveness of his characters, his magic, his imagination, and the better-then-average plotlines keep me interested in his books. His fight scenes are also amazing. Incredibly detailed, but not the monotonous decription of every swing of a sword, and its chemical composition, that some authors try to bore you to death with. They also leave me imagining what it would be like to use that magic.

[Liadin]

For some reason I always found Sanderson's fight scenes very dull. They seemed a bit mechanical, like something I would write. Maybe it was because he tended to fully dramatize fights between the main characters and random Mooks, and so the outcome was never in question.

[kuenjato]

For some reason I always found Sanderson's fight scenes very dull. They seemed a bit mechanical, like something I would write. Maybe it was because he tended to fully dramatize fights between the main characters and random Mooks, and so the outcome was never in question.

Honestly, I was bored by about half-way through that first fight scene in Way of Kings. Very mechanical, like you said, and it doesn't help that he just drops in chunks of exposition to explain the video-game-esque dynamics. The hook of that chapter--assassination--was pretty good, but the execution left me yawning and eventually skimming.

Still, I'm not surprised Tor optioned this. Sanderson has his legion of fans (some are already proclaiming him a "genius" 0_o) and the simplicity of ideas and prose makes this fairly ideal for a young audience. If I was still a young lad and just getting into the genre, I'd probably dig this sort of stuff. But being past thirty, and after reading authors like Bakker, Abercrombie, Lynch etc. (to list some of the latest-greatest of the last few years)--this stuff really seems limp and pedestrian, in comparison.

[fionwe1987]

But being past thirty, and after reading authors like Bakker, Abercrombie, Lynch etc. (to list some of the latest-greatest of the last few years)--this stuff really seems limp and pedestrian, in comparison.

I can understand Bakker and (by reputation, at least) Abercrombie being placed above Sanderson in the "maturity" scale, but why Lynch? If anything, his work seems totally breezy. His prose and dialogue may be better, but that's all I can think of that would put Lynch above Sanderson. His books certainly lack the atmosphere and tension Sanderson's novels have, and his characterization seemed utterly juvenile to me.

[kuenjato]

I can understand Bakker and (by reputation, at least) Abercrombie being placed above Sanderson in the "maturity" scale, but why Lynch? If anything, his work seems totally breezy. His prose and dialogue may be better, but that's all I can think of that would put Lynch above Sanderson. His books certainly lack the atmosphere and tension Sanderson's novels have, and his characterization seemed utterly juvenile to me.

Judging from what I've read of Sanderson (not much, really) and Lynch, I feel the latter has a much stronger voice/writing style than the former. While I disliked certain elements of RSoRS (the unlikely PC pirates; structural issues), Lies was one of the stronger first-author entries for the '00's. Not that it wasn't without flaws, but I was interested enough after the prologue to continue reading -- something I couldn't say after reading the prelude and prologue for Way of Kings.

Different strokes, as they say...

I should mention that I am a bit of a prose-snob. Originality is nice and all but if the writing doesn't sound exemplary, then I'm liable to pass it on by. Which is why, for example, I'll probably check out Wise Man's Fear from the library after its release, for though I find Rothfuss's work overrated in the extreme and rather lacking in originality, his prose is crafted enough for me to at least give the sequel a shot.

Let’s check out some examples, while I’m in a comparing mood.

“Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stumbled to a stop before the body of a dying thunderclast. The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions from its chest broken and cracked. The monstrosity was vaguely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long limbs that sprouted from granite shoulders. The eyes were deep red spots on the arrowhead face, as if created by a fire burning deep within the stone. They faded.

Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver. The beast’s hand was as long as a man was tall. He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

Of course, dying rarely was.”

These are the first lines from Way of Kings. Now, let’s check out the opening lines from The Judging Eye:

“A horn pealed long and lonely beneath the forest canopies. A human horn.

For a moment all was quiet. Limbs arched across the imperious heights, and great trunks bullied the hollows beneath. Shorn saplings thatched the intervening spaces. Starlings burst into the squinting sky.

They came, flickering across bands of sunlight and shadow.

Running with rutting fury, howling with rutting fury, through the lashing undergrowth, into the tabernacle deep. They swarmed over pitched slopes, kicking up leaves and humus. They parted about the trunks, chopping at the bark with rust-pitted blades. They sniffed the sky with slender noses. When they grimaced, their blank and beautiful faces were clenched like crumpled silk, becoming the expressions of ancient and inbred men.”

Now, to my ear, the latter passage has precision, power and a poetic touch, with just the right amount of words applied to create visuals far beyond what their order suggests. The other is a ‘what you see is what you get,’ and about typical from what I would expect from a mid-list author, like Fiest or Brooks or Eddings. Glancing at it technically, Bakker employs one passive verb; Sanderson uses six. Sanderson does have an interesting hook with the whole "dying" bit, but the execution afterward is clumsy and reads like outline exposition rather than being integrated in a stylistic manner.

(I should note that I compare these two mostly because TJE is one of the only fantasy books I currently have in my apartment; the rest are all boxed up. I have A Feast for Crows, but have to run off and do something now – I might make a comparison between GRRM and Sanderson later, though it might seem redundant by this point.)

[Liadin]

Meh, that Bakker excerpt just strikes me as pretentious. What's the point of stringing together a bunch of words that sound nice together if there's no clarity to it? I can't picture that. It sounds to me like he's trying too hard to be literary and falling far short.

I agree about Sanderson though; the quality of his prose is below average for a published author, although that particular excerpt is better than a lot of the Mistborn trilogy. ("Skeletal in shape" is rather unfortunate.)