What I really feel about Sanderson's writing is that it reads like a first draft. It needs ton of editing and a good chunk of the lenght could be cut. And personally I feel like a lot of the information is forced down ones throat rather than presented like small, shattered treats to discover. For example he will straight out tell the reader what is happening in the scene like it would be part of a script for a screen. I DO not need to be told the characters are planning to go to a ball if it has been mentioned in a previous scene and they are dressing up in ballgowns!
This is surprisingly clarifying to me as a writer. Unpublished so far, I’ve had such a hard time figuring out what a 1st draft should be. Thank you for that.
I find Brandon Sanderson distinctly "sexless". Not that I literally need erotic content in every book I read, but I need to believe characters are realistic, with some level of carnal desires and deeply-held beliefs. Things about them that are so deep down that it takes a whole book to come to recognize. I read the first book of Mistborn and started the second, and it just started to feel way too sanitized for me. I'd def read it to like a class of middle schoolers or something, I guess?
Man thank you for saying out loud whats been on my mind. I absolutely hated this book. Incredibly boring, lackluster characters, no complexity or nuance. No emotional connection to anything in the book. It baffles my mind how this book is so highly rated. Gosh what a waste of time
You're right about this book not feeling like fantasy. It was what I call "white anime", specifically shounen manga. He appeals to the Marvel Comics crowd and he's too tame. But that was expected since he teaches at a Mormon university.
Thanks. When I first got into fantasy I tried Brandon Sanderson. So many positive youtube reviews. I felt gaslit by the community, it was like I was reading different books. YA, poor prose, too much hand holding, simple characters. I really didn't care for it. I then read the Dandelion Dynasty, a real fantasy series. No comparison.
@philipcarlson2625 I thought Fantasy wasn't for me because I felt so dumb after reading *hearing* 5 chapters and feeling NOTHING. I picked up Games of Thrones last week and wow...I feel so rejuvenated and can't wait for my time of day to read. I don't understand the hype with Sanderson
Thanks. I was really feeling alone on this one. I read a lot. I do like fantasy, but not just fantasy. And for me, if this is your favorite book, I have to assume its because you are crazy young, like 13 or something and read only this genre. Or maybe you read it at a formative time in your life and have nostalgia for it. I have tried to read this 5 times. I'm failing right now. I want to finish it but I don't know if I can make it. I'm just trying to get deep enough into the book the see what everyone is talking about. I'm 650 pages in and I feel like everyone is exactly where they started. And the language is so dull. It's colorless. I just don't understand. At one point, you called it quite readable. I get what you mean, but for me it's almost intolerable. I can understand what I'm reading (most of the time when its not some silly fantasy word he invented), but man is it hard to keep going. I think your choice of word "repressed" is the perfect word for this. It's not intriguing, not as clever as it thinks it is, not funny nor sad. I can't feel anything. It does not challenge me. And I don't see how any adult could feel engaged with this. It makes me feel nothing. It drives me into a state of complete indifference when I started with curiosity.
I read this book when I was 15-ish and liked it. I even bought the sequel at a launch for a pretty high shipping cost when it came out and spent a whole school week reading it in my free time. Then I tried to re-read I about a year later and bounced off of it. Didn't know why at the time, I think I chalked up my inability to get into it to the cringeworthy lack of cursing in the book. At the time I was also reading GoT, Joe Abercrombie, Kingkiller and the like. Last year I was re-reading all of my favorite fantasies (and some new ones). I had just finished reading the entirety of Hobbs' Fitz trilogies and decided to re-read WoK for nostalgia's sake. It was just terrible. I couldn't get past the first three chapters. The characters were incredibly flat and archetypal, the sense of grandeur the world had for me when I first read it was gone and I really felt like I was reading through a World of Warcraft campaign or something. One example of the inferior writing style - the little missives at the start of each chapter, meant to drop some kind of esoteric lore, were so... functional rather than interesting. Comparing them to the same concept in the Lightbringer series, where they were full of character and became embedded with so much more meaning when the mysteries behind them were unraveled. I definitely agree that I don't want to see more Sanderson-style authors crop up. I hope that fantasy's wildly popular mainstreaming (since it hit TV and film in a really major way) won't lead it into the same rut that sci-fi writing has been in for a generation.
@@rashid8646 You know, I finally finished this book and the best thing I can say is that at least Brandon Sanderson seems like a very kind man, and he has gotten many people into reading where they might not have picked up a book otherwise. I'm a fan of all the authors you just mentioned. Hobb, Abercrombie, Martin, Rothfuss etc. So glad you discovered them. When I was younger I also loved comics like Fantastic 4, X-Men, Batman etc. And I still enjoy many classics from the likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, the Hernandez Bros. Etc. And I grew up reading popular genre defining series like Harry Potter, Tolkien, and such. Many books from many expansive nerdy mythos like video game novels and Star Wars etc. I've expanded what I read to include things well outside of traditional fantasy. And my advice is always to tell people to read widely. Literary fiction, alnernate history, plays, science fiction, nonfiction, noir, erotica, etc. Try bits of everything. Invariably, when we return to old once beloved works after some time and many other books, we'll do so looking through different eyes. But sometimes things don't change. I've outgrown some of my childhood favorites or edgy things I liked as a teen, but I also still love returning to many of them if they hold up. Something about Sanderson just doesn't work. It's not that it's too kid friendly. It's not that it's not dark enough. There's a bizarrely lifeless quality to it that doesnt feel intentional on the part of the author. Not even when he's writing a pov that is a character steeped in depression. His writing just doesn't convince me. It doesn't make me feel what the characters are feeling. It doesn't make me root for them or even rally me to turn against them if they're in the wrong. And that's what good fiction must do. You've got to feel something by proxy. You've got to feel challenged and carried away. The author has to ensnare you through the magic of their language, through promises fulfillled and broken, through careful handling and even more careful misdirection. This was the second Sanderson story I tried, and he hasn't managed this for me. But I'm glad he delighted you at least for a time in your life, and that you are reading widely.
It's nice to see a review that coincides with my own opinion. I think you covered most of my issues with the novel. I also started with Mistborn as I already had the series purchased previously on my Kindle, so I figured I'd burn through them first before getting into Stormlight. And I really did not like Mistborn, I felt each book was actually worse than the last. BUT, I graded Mistborn on a curve. It was Sanderson's first novel. It's a YA novel series. Etc. Now, that still doesn't excuse the poor narrative experience I felt reading the series, after all Harry Potter is a first time novelist series and essentially a book geared towards children. And yet, it has good prose for its genre and a great sense of adventure and overall themes. Still, I was told that Stormlight Archive is SO much better. And how Sanderson basically "levels up" with Way of Kings. I figured I'd take the plunge even though the page count worried me. 1,000 pages for the first novel is a series? Who does he think he is?! Suffice to say, all the issues in Mistborn are pretty much all present in Way of Kings. The only benefit is that WoK actually has more world building than Mistborn, which had very little world building. Now, I went into WoK with the expectation that the prose would be very basic. I'd read Mistborn. I'd been told this by others. And Sanderson himself has described his "simplistic" and "basic" prose style as being a "clear window" into his world. Fine. But, that means I'm going to be paying far more attention to the actual story and characters since there is little enjoyment to be had in the actual prose. And you hit the nail on the head, this is not a difficult book to read. I feel that anyone saying that has either not read a lot or have not read much fiction that isn't fairly grounded. I feel the reason others claim the book is "difficult" to initially read is because Sanderson creates world that are NOT grounded or similar to our own real world. The weather, topography, flora, fauna, and societal structure are all VERY much different than anything on Earth or general human history. As a result, you cannot exactly ground yourself going in on much since it's all fairly alien. Still, this is just fiction 101 when it comes to building a fantastical world. Everything will be explained to you in the novel in due course and then explained 1,000 more times in case you didn't get it the first hundred times. If you have zero patience waiting to understand what a "spren" is, then sure this might be a "difficult" read. But anyone capable of sitting down and reading will find the book a very easy read. And so, with that out of the way we get to the story...which is basic, predictable, and overwritten. You know what's going to happen the majority of the time extremely early-on, but you have to read 700 pages before the predictable thing happens. Did anyone honestly think Dalinar was insane? Dalinar is a prime example because he's such a simple character. He's honorable and that's his only character trait. He's honorable and acts honorable and does honorable things. Did I mention how honorable he is? And so what is his major conflict for 1,000 goddamn pages? Whether he's insane and should abdicate his position or whether he should stay and try and trust his visions. Absolutely riveting stuff... Now, I'm not one to agree that a character needs to change or "have an arc" to be engaging or properly written, you can have a magnificent story about a character that does not change. However, you still need to make it possible for us to believe they may change or to challenge their beliefs. Ned Stark in ASOIAF is somewhat similar to Dalinar in being a man whose all about honor. Yet, Ned Stark is so engaging because his honor, and what is even supposed to be the honorable thing, is routinely put into question. It's gripping and engaging as you debate whether Ned Stark is doing the right thing has he navigates extremely complex and high-stakes scenarios while trying to maintain his concept of honor and morality. Dalinar, meanwhile, is not presented with any such challenges. He has his visions and that's really the only thing we are meant to focus on, which we as a reader know cannot be insane ravings of an addled mind. He never really has to put his honor into any difficult challenge. He's never really explored in any meaningful way, he just gets to look tough and bothered and tormented when in reality he's a static, boring, and threadbare character with not much going on under the helmet. And that goes for every character in the book. They are thin character traits masquerading as characters in a meandering story that doesn't really go anywhere and only serves to string you along until the next book where things may really start to happen. Sorry, but I'm not reading 1,000+ pages for you to tell me that the story doesn't actually start until the next 1,000+ pages. Let's not even get into those "repressed" elements you touched on. The lack of real romance, sex, meaningful women, etc. What's funny is for such an ALIEN and STRANGE fantasy world, sexuality and gender are as basic as the 1950's and before.
For me the main problem was that the writing felt very self indulgent. It’s one of those books that is overly long, not because the story needs it to be, but because the author’s ego seems to get in the way. Like the author believes he’s brilliant enough that he refuses to edit his own brilliant words. (Also, Shallan’s dialogues were the cringiest of cringy 😕 you can feel Sanderson trying SO hard to sound “wise”)
@@justjuanreader it drove me crazy! because the part where Shallan is studying at the ancient library (I don’t remember the name of the place) was indeed the most interesting! But her interactions were so awkward... I couldn’t handle the attempt at flirtation with that one character (whose name I also don’t remember) 🙈
I’m a huge Sanderson fantasy fan (I don’t much like his non-fantasy stuff) but I can totally understand a lot of your points. I think they’re actually things that a lot of fans will admit are true. I love the way of Kings and consider it a tough read, but not because of the prose, more because of the commitment you have to make to see it through to the end. The pacing can also be tough with all the viewpoint characters and the constant starting and stopping of momentum, though when I say tough it’s practically YA compared to a lot of what’s out there. And, admittedly, there’s some pretty terrible spots. Shallan’s introduction for me is the first of a few spots that immediately made me want to jump ship. Any scenes that are written to be particularly witty also come off kind of cringe most of the time. But I’ve come to the realization after thoroughly enjoying the series as a whole that what I enjoy most isn’t the prose or the dialogue, but the actual story that’s being told. Sanderson books always have a really well thought out ending that read more like a screenplay in some ways. A lot of people consider the Cosmere the MCU of fantasy, and I think it goes beyond the shared universe. They’re basically popcorn films but in book form. On the one hand, it means you’re probably not going to read anything that’s particularly poetic. On the other, you’ve got some really amazing scenes that, despite some of your earlier points, I would certainly call epic. The final scene of Way of Kings involving Kaladin, then Dalinar’s speech about “what is a life worth”. Granted, everything is subjective and it might not hit the same for everyone, but these really got me. I would also disagree about the characters not getting development, but to be honest I haven’t read most of the fantasy authors you talked about (though Hobb is on my short list, will get to those soon). TLDR: i think Sanderson is more popular due to the overarching stories rather than the sentences on the page. Some of the prose/dialogue is really bad, but the overall story being told is usually masterful in my opinion. Anyways great video, I love to see different opinions :)
It’s difficult to describe without analogies and metaphors but here is a few: The character building is equivalent to characters in your average popular anime, rather than an Emmy/Oscar winning performance in a Christopher Nolan film. The World building was in depth, I must say, but the prose was lacking the “glue” to make it stick. Discovering the magic system felt more like grinding a video game to unlock the next set of powers. It is far far FAR from what a REAL literature can provide. There was no Art to it. It was a methodically designed story, that is good enough to keep you turning the page, but required no effort from the reader whatsoever to grasp the themes that were hardly present. Sanderson is an author I would recommend to someone who doesn’t like reading. Because odds are if they don’t like reading, it’s because they don’t have the patience or imagination to appreciate real literature. This book took no risks. It had no revelatory feel. It was an amazing story, written by someone that just wanted to finish their assignment as fast as they could. Brandon has a good outline, a good method, but his delivery is awful. This book is the rebel moon of fantasy. (Horribly written Netflix movie with loads of cgi, and contrived character work) .
I am going through Sanderson crisis. I like his books (not all) but get annoyed when lots of people call him the biggest since Tolkien or someone like that. He is a craftsman, very prolific craftsman too with a good contact with his fandom.
Subscribed. Thanks for the honest review, I felt the same way but only got two chapters in, hated almost every scene. As an aspiring writer who's watched almost all of his lectures its unfortunate to see that he takes a sort of "Do as I say not as I do" approach
I think you are probably right about this book given I have read mistborn 1 and found it unimpressive, but I think you need to articulate your thoughts a little better. I know you said its a rant, but rants do little in the long run. If I were doing a review, I would have peeled the book apart by showing how other books do specific dramatic elements better, using quotes for comparison to make the audience fully understand the problems. But doing that would require too much time possibly.
@@FirstCommandmentRigorist The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is to this day my personal treasured favorite. Really beautiful, exquisite, thought-provoking, mysterious fantasy filled with awe and the uncanny. Very much the opposite of Sanderson.
I don't really like this series but I've never personally read anyone say they are hard to read...I also wish you had some examples of issues instead of just vague things like "it's like super hero movies" "it's tacky" I don't understand why booktube people can't ever take notes or provide examples of anything.
I think it's just because books are so long and quotes are relatively nebulous depending on your edition. Perhaps not though because we have UA-camrs that do this kind of thing for tv shows and video games. It is annoying
I remember seeing Sanderson once say that he knew the beginning of the book was bad, and that it shouldn't have two prologues and that a lot of people will straight up skip them or not read his book because of it. But then he also said that he knew he could get away with it due to his fanbase, so did it anyway. I find that pretty telling for his writing style in general.
He never said it like that I believe. As far as I can recall he said that he knew that early on he was presenting the reader with things too alien for us that he knew we needed to be explained to us, he risked a lot of readers would drop the book because of this, but it was a purposeful decision. I would like to see the real quote because I don't believe he said it was because of the fandom, though I could be wrong.
@@oscarchavezavellan2738 I tried looking for the exact quote, but he has so much content online it is difficult to fine one specific thing he said. He was talking specifically about the beginning of books and his prologues, and said that if he wasn't an established writer he wouldn't be able to get away with what he did. I believe it was during one of his lectures about writing. I don't think you are entirely wrong, since I am sure the intention was to put a ton of information in up front so they can get through it quickly, and have a good grasp on the world, then get to the good stuff. However, he straight up said that most people can't get away with it, but he could because he was an established writer and his fans would put up with a lot more of it.
@@Lilitha11 I do remember when he talked about this too, and he probably said something about his fanbase, but it doesn't come across to me as "I know this is a bad writing decision, but my fans are going to swallow anything I give to them" more like "I can take risks because I'm a stablished author", which is something that's true, being successful gives more room to take risks. And fair I have heard some criticisms about the multiple beginnings and it is annoying to get presented with a character and then the next chapter is about someone completely different, but the chapters themselves are pretty good and fullfil their purpose as teaser (prelude), plot set up (prologue) and character set up (chapter 1). Maybe I'm being apologetic because I like his works and I do think he writes good stories, I guess it depends on taste and people.
@@oscarchavezavellan2738 I tried looking for it again but can't find it. It was probably more along the lines of it being 'slow' and that his fans are more patient since they know him and will give him more leeway before dropping the book, rather than saying it is bad. I don't think he would purposely put out something he thought was bad. However, in the context of the discussion, 'slow' is something to be avoided, and he admitted it should be avoided by most writers. I am also fairly sure he specifically said he knew some people would not read it or the book because of it.
@@Lilitha11 Yeah, as I already said I don't think what he said speaks badly about his writing there's plenty of authors that take risks after they have developed a solid fanbase, doing stuff that they wouldn't do if they were just starting, so yeah I just don't see your point on the first comment. I would get the criticism that the beginning is bad, but that has nothing to do with author saying he decided to start the book a certain way because he could take the possible pushback of some readers.
I wouldn't say the prose is conversational. Sure, the language used is pretty common and easy and accessible. That's a good thing, in my opinion. Simple language provides clarity. What I do have a problem with, though, isn't the language itself, but the narrator's voice. It's just... dull. I know this is Brandon's stylistic choice-a so-called pane-glass prose or something like that, where the narrator is invisible-but instead of diving right into the story without the narrator present, I just feel constantly bothered by it, instead. Reading his book is like listening to an emotionless robot telling me a story. It just doesn't sound human. It lacks life and energy and vitality. And I mean that literally. When reading a book that resonates with you, it's like you're connected so deeply to another human being, but his book doesn't do that for me. I love him as a person, love his contribution to the writing community, and deeply admire his work ethic. His works are just not for me, that's all.
Warren from Life is Strange? I get it but no Math is a complicated system. They exist in the same space maybe. But if art is faith and believing in God, then math is the religion, a system that creates hierarchy and societal norms, etc and crucifies anyone that is different or believes God in a different way
Despite the fact I'm a fan of the man myself, I can agree Sanderson can't name things for shit. It especially bothered me in Mistborn where one third of the names were very English sounding, one third French, one third fantasy gobbledygook and there was never an explanation.
Every time I see one of this critics it's really always the same points I cannot relate to. Every point you mention just boils down to that this book - and even the series - are not standalone. They open the door to the cosmere - which is why the magic system needs to be somewhat simple so that it can be connected with the other stories. Same is true for the worldbuilding and length of his books. Now while you claim his prose is juvenile, tacky, simple or just straight up bad (while repeating these 4 over and over for the first 10 minutes of your video), I cannot see how that is a problem at all. It makes the book easy and fast to read while also making sure that the important parts (especially foreshadowing and bits of information to people, magic, the world etc.) are not lost in his writing style. I agree totally that his books do not inspire awe or wondern in the sense of his magic systems (with exception of shadesmar imo) - claiming only fantastical fantasy with complex and sophisticated pose is good fantasy is just straight up wrong. Genres are getting more diverse by the day and I feel like the DnD / Anime / MtG type of nerds seem to really enjoy his style and storys. The same is true for superhero stories, just because you never watched them or liked them doesn't make them bad or less Fantasy. Finally I wanted to say something about the Harry Potter comparison you did. The magic in Harry Potter throughout every book makes absolutely no sense what so ever. While I wouldn't call Sandersons magic system super hard magic - it is definetly a very different type of magic system in comparison to the soft magic of Harry Potter or LotR. That is probably where you get the feeling of scientific or mathematic magic from and it is something people enjoy too. And yes hard magic can be awe-inspiring too (ATLA) - because again these are different types of fantasy and different intents behind them. That doesn't make one or the other better or worse - just different.
Thank you so much for this. Fantasy is going the way of Marvel and Branderson is spearheading this process. If you can imagine it, the books further into the series make Way of Kings seem like Shakespeare.
I'm both aghast and also happy to hear this. Aghast because Way of Kings is already such a mediocre book - at best - that I struggle to imagine how such a "highly rated" author can make it worse (but then I remember how bad his writing was in his earlier books, like Mistborn, and I know the answer). And happy because I'd like nothing more than for BrandoSando fans to finally drop his overrated ass
@@niedude You know I try not to go searching to confirm my opinion but I had to with Brandon's work. It had glowing reviews left and right and its the only fantasy book that I hear people I know IRL (I don't have a lot of reader friends) talk about and how much they loved it. I just finished reading the first two chapters of TWOK and it's, literally garbage. It is infuriating to read. How does one teach a writing class and actually give pretty solid advice on writing then turn around and do exactly the opposite of what he teaches. It is insane to me. I agree with the video at the 4 minute mark, low quality, low effort writing that should be a movie or maybe a comic book, not a book. To me I don't even consider Brandon an artist, he's creative and great at world building (well so I've been told) but nothing about his writing is art to me it feels so soulless and bland.
@@devinkipp4344 keep reading the book and youll realize he's also terrible at world building The guy works like an AI generating shallow concepts from an excel spreadsheet. His world's are bland and lifeless and unoriginal
@@niedude Funnily enough I compared him to an AI after reading what I did but that's an insult to current AIs. He's like the first chat bot talking in circles and repeating himself. You got an suggestions for something to read? Finishing the book I'm on now and though I'd pick up WOK but no way in hell I'd ever finish it.
@@devinkipp4344 have you read patrick rothfuss? I discovered him after having a terrible experience with Brandon Sanderson and desperately wanting to find something to wash my palate. He quickly became my favourite modern fantasy writer
I never read another Sanderson series, but The Way of Kings is one of my favorite books ever. It has some genuine philosophical depth, fantastic characters, amazing world building. He is no Ursula K Le Guin or J.R.R. Tolkien. He doesn't have the same ethereal qualitu that Tamora Pierce can conjure. But I love how unified the science and the magic in the book feel. The magic really feels a part of the world. I do think however that more criticism of his writing might do him some good. But he is not destroying fantasy.
If you think way of kings has philosophical depth, you simply need to read more bro. The book is written from a POV of emotionally immature adolescents.
@@austinquick6285 I have read plenty. And continue to read. You can disagree, but I keep what I find. If I have found any depth to the Stormlight Archive, it is mine to keep. The right of any audience to any art.
@@keaganwheeler-mccann8565 could you please discuss some of this philosophical depth that you find in the book? I ask because I cannot find any and maybe I am missing something.
@@JohnAndrewMacDonald It explores pretty well whether or not you can be honorable in a corrupt society. It is sort of a thought experiment. Can all these people who are seriously broken and messed up in the head, become better people, and will they be able to make the world better even when faced with the possibility of total annihilation. It explores right action and morality in warfare. Can armed conflict be right? I think it handles different kinds of trauma reasably ok, and to some extent helped me to work through my own. I think it is good art, it got me asking important questions of what is actually right in our world. I am not saying it is the most philosophically rich fiction series ever. But there are a lot of interesting places it can take you. At the very least it got me rereading Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Kierkagaard. Because Sanderson built a really fun sandbox for those themes.
@@austinquick6285 Also I'd like to address the emotionally immature adolescant thing. Some of the best stories that contain wisdom in the world have vharacters that due to their selfishness, ignorance, or flaws fall short, or make mistakes, and end up having to face them. Kaladin does grow a lot, Shallan grows a lot, Dalinar grows a lot, Szeth grows. Will he stick the landing? Not sure. That will play a big part in how these characters are remembered.
I dislike most modern epic fantasy because they focus on all the wrong things imo. Way too many fight scenes and action scenes, overexplaining boring magic systems, shallow characters, lame dialogue, bland world building, bad prose, don’t like them at all. I know grimdark isn’t for everyone, but it’s one of the only modern genres of fantasy that actually has great complex characters without focusing too much on any of the things I listed above. I also like classic epic fantasy from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as well.
I have attempted more than once with Fantasy and found vary little I like. I found Lord of the rings boring and didn't make the hundred page mark with wheel of time. I did worse with Game of Thrones and The Blade itslf. The only fantasy I can claimed to like his Stephen King's The Stand uncut and The Dark Tower which sadly I have not had the time to finish. I also enjoyed Conan and am right now loving Swan Song.
@@stephennootens916 If you enjoy Stephen King and Robert Mccammon, I would also recommend Clive Barker, Joe Hill, Peter Straub and Gerald Brom. If you enjoy Conan, I would recommend checking some stuff out from the sword & sorcery genre. Manifest Delusions, Elric of Melnibone, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, Chronicles of Amber and Vampire Hunter D are good places to start. If you don’t mind middle grade or ya fiction, maybe give stuff like The Demonata, Lockwood and Co and The Wardstone Chronicles a try. They combine weird horror and dark fantasy elements like King and Mccammon do, just for younger audiences.
In one of his interviews, Mr Sanderson talked about how the magic systems in his stories need to be thought through and explained to the readers, in order for them to make sense and to make clear the limits of magic (i.e. what you can and can't do with it). That is not what magic is.....AT ALL. Magic is supposed to be fantastical and it is a plot device for the author to make things happen in a way he wants, without it being illogical (if something just is done via magic, people will be way more likely to not question it). So, he has got it all wrong. Magic is not a science; it's a plot device and/or something that instills a sense of wonder. This is why you DON'T explain magic. Because you can't! Magic does not exist, it can NEVER make sense, even if you make up some rules for it.
@@theghosted I know, it's not that deep. Sanderson's stories in general aren't deep. They may be complicated - especially the magic systems are - but there is nothing profound or deep about them. All of them are stories written for a younger audience. If you want something complex and profound, I recommend the Dune series.
Did you stop to think that it is just a diferent style? Not everything is for everyone, a lot of people like the magic to be explained, there is not a right or wrong way to do it
Let’s say a group of characters are cornered by their enemies, and have a wizard. What’s more interesting? The wizard doing a magic and making every enemy disappear, or summoning something to kill the enemies? Or the wizard having to think about something clever to do with his magic, and making the use of magic be more interesting and less just a plot device to make the story go forward? That is why many people like Sandersons magic systems, it feels less cheap than just “and then he magicked everyone away with a wave of his hand”.
I actually liked it, I like the mystery of Roshar and why thing are as they are, what the hell is Stormlight, Voidbringers, Sprens, Shadesmar etc. and I think Brandon has the ability to explain these subjects but not feeding it too much to us readers in order for us to know more and in the climax he takes all that we know of the magic system so far and uses it to deliver such an epic battle between good and bad and ugly. The difference between Brandon's way of writing and Rowling's or Tolkein's (haven't read Robin Hobb yet so cannot compare with her) is that Brandon likes to explain to the very core how his magic system works what's its limits? When can you use it? Which people can use it? Why can you use it? Why doesn't it work sometimes? What sides effects does it have? Whereas with other stories you just have that mysterious ability and that's all you need to know, that's why his books can be weapons for how long they are like this comment that I'm writing. 😅 Brandon Sanderson's way of writing is probably for everyone's taste, his premise is very slow and that's okay, I don't disagree.
Dude, you said exactly the same things I thought about it. I kind of tried to like Sanderson's books but I just don't. I've been writing a book for about 20 years and I hope the result is nothing like it
I dislike Sanderson's fabricated stories, because they lack a spark of wonder and amazement, which makes them boring, no matter how complicated he tries to make them.
Sanderson does write Superhero/Videogame books, which also include many elements of fantasy. The Stormlight Archives even has “leveling up.” I keep waiting for dialogue going: “Ding!” “Gratz!” On the other hand, I don’t think it ruins fantasy to be writing a different flavor of it, any more than I think Grimdark or Urban Fantasy or Steampunk are ruining things. Fads will come and go, and there will likely be good and bad stuff within them all. It’s a shame you limit yourself to spoiler free videos, because it limits you to conclusory statements. If you were willing to talk about the contents of the book, you might provide some interesting/entertaining support for your opinions. As it is, there are things on which I sort of agree with you, and others where I’m not quite sure what you mean. For example, I’m not quite sure in what way you think the characters are terrible.
That’s fair! Much appreciated! If I ever pluck up the courage to make a proper review for this book, I will definitely take this feedback into account.
I almost died laughing when you started critiquing the character names looool, great video, agree with you on this one. Almost felt like I was crazy for not liking it
I listened to the audiobook for about 11 hours and when I realized there were 34 hours left, I quit. The friend who recommended it said it gets really good...in the last 2 or 300 pages. If it gets good in the last 200 pages, it should be 2 or 300 pages long!
When we get this whole world building infodump about how Shallon's society is set up where it's patriarchal, but only women read books, I'm like, okay this makes no sense, but whatever. AND THEN he puts in this scene where she goes into a bookstore and she wants to buy all these textbooks and the man behind the counter tries to get her to buy a romance novel instead, it was like... 1. Why is a person who doesn't read running a bookstore? 2. Why is a person who doesn't read trying to convince someone not to spend a shit ton of money on textbooks? The only people who would ever be interested in reading are women, right? So aren't they the market? 3. Why would a person who doesn't read think they could recommend a book to someone in the first place?? Also Kaladin's sorry is just...so boring. So boring. I can make it through long books. I made it through all four Otherland books in 3 weeks, and that's 120 or so hours of content. The length is not the issue. The story is the issue. (Otherland is like, fine. I wouldn't recommend it because of the time commitment, but the characters were interesting and I wanted to know what happened to them... Some interesting ideas as well. Fairly lackluster ending from left field which was not well set up.)
Uhh.. Hate to break it to you but its called epic fantasy for a reason. There cannot be "epic" without some sort of lead up to an epic climax. If youre not a fan of the genre just say that
@@AlanGonzalez-ev6ur Uhh.. hate to break it to you, but the intro to a book shouldn't be three times longer than the "good part." If you're burning your reader out during the "intro" to the point that they don't even care about the characters, a bunch of people are going to quit reading before they get to the epic climax. I am not a fan of this book, and I did say that.
Personally I enjoyed all the build up and character/world building. Just my opinion but I can definitely see where you are coming from - I think the “good part” would not have been nearly as satisfying without the (seemingly) needless buildup. It would have just been epic events that no one cares about
@@sarahhirsch8919Most of it isn’t an intro. Most of it is rising action. In a typical book, the rising action, which leads up to the climax, is at least double the rest of the book. Considering that the climax alone is like 100 pages, I think it’s fair. It’s your opinion whether you like the book or not, but it certainly has an excuse for being long.
I agree with you on a lot of this, although I did really enjoy this book. I read the second one in the series and thought it was “meh”. Then I tried Oathbringer, got through about half and just slogged through the rest of it. It was painful to finish.
I am having the same exact experience with third. I don’t want to left it unfinished, but have a couple books more in the pipeline. Is the ending decent at least?
@@Ciervorelajadoevery Sanderson book is better in the back third. I dropped reading Stormlight 4 for over a year, I came back to it and read the last 600 pages in a week because they were so much better.
@@Stradequit Oathbringer wasn’t for me. I finished and dropped the series. I tried also Abercrombie but I guess that new fantasy authors are just not my cup of tea, so I started digging in sci-fi and I’m enjoy a ton of amazing new stuff
Great video. I have not read Sanderson so I make this comment assuming what you say is true and add that a problem with him now being so big is that there is little chance that an editor would be able to give him this corrections. so he probably would not improve. someone said his writing is basically equivalent of McDonalds
As a non English speaker who reads English fantasy I find Sanderson easy to access. In a world where streaming has taken over homes if he makes a lot of people I think it’s a win. I don’t think that is bad taste and that is “tacky” thing to say.
@@ghostchick5275 I believe any book is better than sitting in front of a tv. But that is just me and that is my opinion. My opinions are sometimes “tacky”.
I don't really dislike Sanderson, but agree with your points. I dropped Mistborn on first book. Read The Way of Kings but didn't find the courage to continue with other books of the saga. I always thought that Sanderson would be an excellent game designer, by the way
Okay, I loved this book, but I totally agree on what you said about the magic system. There really wasn’t any sense of wonder or mystery that usually accompanies magic in fantasy, and so it felt a little boring knowing exactly how everything worked instead of being able to use your imagination to think about it.
I'm so glad I'm not the only who feels like this! The world building isn't that bad in my opinion, but the characters, magic, and prose... Oof. I started writing a high fantasy novel as a young teen and took it very seriously. I'm still working on editing it and getting it traditionally published. I would read mostly ASOIAF to learn (which I think is peak fantasy and prose, especially the later books). At around fifteen I tried giving Brandon Sanderson a try, and unironically ended up feeling very encouraged by the fact that I felt I could "match his prose". I was *fifteen* . Even then I knew it just didn't cut it. It sounded bad in my head, clumsy and unedited. When it comes to characters, I felt he really struggled writing the female ones (which he has confessed in a blog, saying he struggles to "make them more than love interests" (in the 21st century? Seriously??)), and all ended up feeling like tropes. And the magic might be personal preference... But I can't stand magic that's so "hard". It feels like maths, no magic. No mystery, no beauty... No true fantasy.
I've read MOST off the other authors you believe WOK fans should read while "defending the good name of good taste in fantasy" and I've enjoyed them. But I still enjoyed WOK more than all of them ^^' Naturally, I disagree with a lot of your points. But there are also a lot of points I AGREE with. Most fans of WOK would. They're the exact reasons we like the book. Superhero: It's sci-fi fantasy. Not classical fantasy. No genre should follow one formula. Magic: Many people don't like whimsical magic. They want it to "make sense". Prose: It's not juvenile, but it is simple. It's entertainment. Not everyone wants to spend free time reading government files. Length: I don't normally say this, but this time, it elevated the book (note that it wasn't repetitive due to constant build-up) Epic: Too many such scenes even in the first half of WOK alone can be correctly labelled with that description. Characters: Likeable or not, are written well. Have nuances, motives, ups and downs, flaws, are a partial result of their personal histories but are not defined by them, impact the story, etc. Regardless of genre, the construction of characters in storytelling and everything that's needed for it is met in this book.
I 100% agree with this. I also feel like he didn’t really explain most of his points. He essentially just said that it’s tacky and bad over and over. I agree with some of them, but the characters definitely aren’t bad, many of the scenes are definitely epic, the magic system makes sense, and that’s why so many people love it. Also, he says there is very little violence when there are multiple scenes involving Dalinar slaughtering hundreds of Parshendi. That just doesn’t make sense lol.
Some constructive criticism: You repeat yourself a lot without making an argument. I have learned is that you find the book tacky and other authors not tacky. But why is the book tacky? Give the watcher examples from the actual book - if you only repeat how juvenile something is for a 20 minute video without being able to construct a strong argument, your review comes across as juvenile as well ;)
This video is not a review, it’s a rant, which are longer, less structured, not edited really, they’re usually rambly and off the cuff. If you want proper reviews, you are welcome to watch some of my actual review videos which I try my best to structure and plan ahead.
My goodness, I wanted to pause after every sentence and agree with it. Even the analogies were near the same as me. Instead of instant coffee though I would compare the Sanderson prose to bottom shelf cheap wine served in an expensive crystal glass and goes down like flavored water. As for the nearest comparison I would have to choose Dan Brown if Dan Brown did not have interesting premise. His characters are predictable and have motivations chosen from the subreddit 'I am 12 and this is deep'. I could go on and on but this is enough for one comment.
That is not my point. Stakes can vary. HP has, in my opinion, a distinct and quirky authorial voice, simple but effective rhythmic storytelling, whereas Sanderson (in this and Mistborn) has none of the above. In my opinion he has some good ideas and decent plots, but not much else, and that’s not enough.
The US has a strong tradition of what I call “American style prose,” which can be characterized as simple, straightforward, direct, and unconcerned with pomp & circumstance. It’s a style meant to speak to the common man, explicit in its rejection of the Old World European prose characterized as elegant, refined, sophisticated, and pretentious. It is not the language of kings and queens, it’s the language of men and women who rose up to reject kings and queens - and Brandon Sanderson is a master of this style. This style is not just limited to our writing either, it permeates our music, film, TV, food, and nearly every aspect of American culture. Ironically, the style of prose you seem to prize would be what most American readers consider tacky and in poor taste.
Just leaving here a little list of writers that should have more recognition than Sanderson: Beautiful and efficient prose - Ursula Le guin Great worldbuilding - China Miéville Fascinating characters - Robin Hobb, Tad Williams Effective atmosphere - Michael Moorcock, Gene Wolfe Actual good battle fantasy - Charles R Saunders, Glen Cook, Fritz Leiber Mindbloweness - M. John Harrison
Just want to add a couple of my favorites that get forgotten a lot Melissa Scott: very odd historical fantasy with great worldbuilding, not every one of her books is fantastic, but she improves with every book. The points series is my favorite, but start with the second book and maybe go back to the first one later when you are invested, there’s a leap in quality between them. Laurie J Marks: very weird philosophical fantasy, but very good. Tanya Huff: for fun and the occasional surprise ugly cry (not the grove series, it was her first, she didn’t hit her groove until she wrote The Fire’s Stone which is a really fun standalone in a world she still hasn’t gone back to). Her titles are bad, I think they are dictated by the publisher or something, but the books are good. I love the quarters books and the space marine books.
His world building is basically just him throwing ideas at the wall and jumbling them all together with no logical connective tissue to tie it to the narrative, compare that to GRRM and Tolkien where the worldbuilding is completely consequential in every possible way.
a lot of Sandserson fans are very very Reddit mindset and they are horribly hiveminded on things (sort of redundant to say the same thing twice but for those who didn't know what I meant by the first) For a guy who has made lecture level videos on magic systems, I've always had a niggling little problem in my head on how superficial they are. For instance there is only 1 magic system that is somewhat unique and it's one that he's never going to expand upon because I don't think he's got the ability to write well (6th of Dusk) Everything else is fundamentally identical to each other 'consumable source that allows person to manipulate physics in ways that are still in line with physics' It's got a very faux-intelligent (Ackchyually!!!!) to it in that nothing is special. I'll admit I enjoy most of Sanderson's books BUT...lately it's gotten very bad and very obvious so much so that I've been reassessing my views on him. And the reason I've enjoyed Sandersons writing up to now has been their interpersonal relationships, but I've noticed that it's just heavily based on 'feels' than actual development.
I’ve grown to despise hard magic systems, and I lay the blame at the feet of anime. It’s become so popular (and don’t get me wrong. I love some anime like Fullmetal alchemist) and they’re all the same overly explained power/magic systems with tons of rules that just get dumped on the viewer/reader, hyper specific use cases that almost always, and in some big light show display. It’s thoroughly annoying, and treats the reader like an idiot. there is no life, or wonder or mystery to it. At every point you know exactly what every character is capable of magic wise because they give no room for imagination. The magic in Say king killer chronicles or Tad Williams, memory Sorrow thorn series has a better balance of a real, tangible magic system that feels like magic without completely diluting What magic is supposed to be
Sanderson fans are so overly defensive about his works and its immensely hard to find honest reviews trashing on his books😂. Tht being said i love you so much for this video
I have another comparison to make with this book. It was similar to Bollywood, when they need to tell something important they sing and dance, in this book to tell the story they fight, battle, duel out of place, without reason, uncalled for. My reaction to any fighting scene was the same to a Bollywood dancing, mild disbelief and wondering wtf is going on? The "battels" felt just as realistic as dancing and singing in the middle of the street.
I read the Mistborn series and I liked the first book. I liked it mainly because the magic system was very different, and that was cool. The second book, I liked much less, and the last book, even less than that. After reading them, my thought was, "Yeah. It was a pretty good series." But I could never bring myself to read anything else by him. I just wasn't interested. Thinking about it, I realized that his books were very simple, and his writing is very weak IMO. I keep seeing people gush over his writing, and it makes me sad. I feel like there's a thing where a lot of people read a book and say they like it, and nobody wants to say, "Nah. It's not that great." I think the same thing when I see people talk about how good The Wheel of Time, or A Song or Fire and Ice. They're good books, but not great. They have lots of problems, but everybody loves them. I'm glad to see somebody speaks up against weak writing.
I listened to the whole video so I'd have all of the context. I am a Sanderson fan and I do disagree with a majority of your points. My main issue with your rant/review is that you mention how juvenile, whitewashed, tacky, and bad it is, but you don't go into any details or examples of why you feel that way. I'd love to hear or read why you feel the way you do. It is nice to see different points of view for popular books because it shows others what we can learn and opens our eyes to more that is out there.
People are making the mistake of thinking stormlight is pure high fantasy. Its not. Its a blend of Science Fiction and fantasy. Hence the focus on world building, plot and magic systems over character dev and beautiful prose and abstractness.
I agree. I read the first and second era of Mistborn (enjoyed the first, cringed the second) and I am currently at third book of Stormlight Archive (around page 400). It is making me want to end it but just to see it end. You have pointed every single issue I have with the story.
Wait.... This has a superhero feel to it, feels more techno-oriented and doesn't feel like traditional fantasy? You just sold me on this book. I didn't know any fantasy author was doing something like this. Thanks.
@@ClimbingThing33 I will. It's my kind of storytelling. Plus I have read the big SciFi tomes of Peter F Hamilton, so I can handle big books. I just learned that the next Stormlight book will be the longest yet. Really excited for that😁
I don't think it's a mystery that Brandon lacks sophisticated prose, even among fans. His strength is seen with his plots, I think. Bottom line, he's a storyteller at heart, not a poet....those who continue to read his books know what they're getting into and can expect a good tale.
not true he just sucks anyone with critical thinking knows that he sucks if you are a fan of him you are 12 years old at max go read better fantasy books only then will you have my respect
One more point is that he tried too hard to make it seem different from other fantasy novels. One example is the safehand thing. The explanation given is that what if a girl is flat chested, doesn't it looks same as a skinny guy, what if she went around topless? Dude, for girls breasts are obviously sexuals organs so modesty prompts the covering up like, how could Sanderson not know this? Is he a martian? So much time was wasted on the safehand, freehand bs. Also, the point you said about the book feeling repressed is gold! I enjoyed your review, try to include more examples so that we know which scenes you're talking about. Just a suggestion.
Totally agree. I don’t get the massive hype around Sanderson AT ALL. IMO it’s garbage compared to other authors who are totally and sadly overlooked in the genre.
I tried so hard to get into this book. Just couldn't do it. The chapters are so short and disjointed it feels like whip lash bouncing back and forth. I don't want any main characters to die, but once I realized none of them are ever going to. The book just lost all suspense and drama. A bland forgettable story.
100% AGREED. The fact that it's so hard to find negative reviews should have been a red flag to me, but I ignored it because of the hype...and wow, what a disappointment.
This book is YA trash. World building is bad. Characters are straight out of a teen movie. Fantastical elements are just trash. Prose is 💩 and the geography just doesn't make sense. Modern fantasy trash
@@devinkipp4344 "No no, you just don't get it; Captain America: Civil War is *totally* the bestest, most awesomest _poignant_ political commentary ever created!"
This is two years old now, but I completely agree. What is good is not popular and what is popular is not good. My problem is the world building. It is the worst world I have ever come across. It makes no logical sense and is lazy and not thought out. I live in Florida and have been through many hurricanes including one that wrecked my house. It took a year to rebuild. There is no way any civilization could survive on this planet as described. Just shutting your little wooden medieval door on the storm isn’t going to save you. How are there cows and horses? Who is rounding them up and where are they putting them during storms? How do they eat when the grass is said to retract when walked on? Come on man! The trees pull in their leaves for storms. That’s cute, except the freaking trees themselves would snap like matchsticks and there would be no trees. There wouldn’t be regular animals. They would all have shells and carapaces and the people would be wearing those as clothes. How are there cotton and silk? How? It’s all so stupid and not thought through logically.
Thankyou. I needed this.As someone who agrees with you on basically every point, and as someone who enjoys classic literature, Do you have any recommendations within the fantasy genre? I felt like reading sanderson was just annoying because of the POVs of the characters lacking emotional maturity basically. I literally felt like I was reading a drama about high school teens. There was no depth, or intellect required to grasp the concept, and the whole time I’m reading, I’m wondering why the hell certain characters are even struggling with decisions. The same feeling you get when you watch a B rated Horror movie that’s overly predictable with the characters making dumb decisions. And learning obvious lessons. IVE ALREADY GROWN UP, I don’t need to witness 5 different characters doing it. Basically, Sanderson novels are not targeted toward the passionate book reader, but for the person who may pick up a few books a year. Someone who hasn’t read or felt what real literature can be capable of.
Looks to me that you just don’t like hard magic systems. Your opinion is as valid as anyone else’s but i think you go way to far on some things, like saying that it is ‘ruining fantasy’ or classifying everyone that likes sanderson’s style as having ‘bad taste’, implying they ‘don’t read’ anything else and that they’re the ‘seccluded geeks that like superheroes’… Idk, but to me it seems a spiteful review tbh
No, I do like hard magic systems, that was not the issue here. My issue was the author spent all his time and energy building that system and everything ended up feeling devoid of magic, not interesting. Never a sense of wonder with this one… It’s just not good enough in my opinion.
@@justjuanreader again, your opinion is valid, though i do not share it, but the other issues still stand It’s even funny that the books themselves have comments from the likes Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss, whom you do recommend, praising the series
@@justjuanreader And yet these systems ARE ones many find interesting. A lot of people don't like whimsical magic. To some it's a wonder. But to others it's random abandon that gives rise to convenience. And in WOK, the system is no less wondrous nor less interesting for being hard. It is still full of surprises discovering the clever ways it can be used as time goes on. And because it's hard, it's believable despite readers not having thought of those uses when they first learned of those systems ages ago.
My guy, I agree with absolutely everything. The spoonfeeding so idiots can read and feel smart and proud of themselves. And if you say that you think its stupid and juvenile, you're "pretentious".
In simple terms: There are 2 diff. ways to this even by Brandon Sanderson himself. What you are talk about is called: hard magic systems and not his creations but he is just the master of it (how his magic worked in Mistborn or here). His English is his own choice that it can be easy to read. Not that he couldn't be more "hard" or his skills are not there. The "soft" magic system (Hobbs) are also there, not "destroyed". What is now the BEST of epic fantasy even by most of the best read Brando fans?? And most of the booktubers out there? Malazan Book of the Fallen. How is the "epicness" there and the magic? Or the English? Nobody dare to say that this book is better.
Excelente reseña Juan! Y tan necesaria, no porque sea "negativa" no, sino porque es saludable que siga existiendo el contraste de opiniones. Al respecto, me disculpo de antemano por escribir tan largo comentario (pero tu reseña no era corta precisamente, broma jejej); del autor he leído la primera era de los Nacidos de la Bruma y este y, aunque reconozco que disfruté de la lectura de todos esos libros, estoy de acuerdo en casi todos los puntos que planteas, y de hecho, creo que he llegado hasta aquí con Sanderson (al menos por ahora). Los libros, malos malísimos no me parecen, pero son ligeros y de lectura muy ágil y accesible (vamos, pensados principalmente para un público juvenil, aunque esto no es excusa, ahí está el Hobbit de Tolkien que es un libro infantil y me parece tremendamente superior a cualquiera de estos). Mi problema con Sanderson creo que pasa justamente porque ya dejé de ser ese público (principal) al cual van dirigidos sus libros, que quieren una historia entretenida sin quebraderos de cabeza y que no buscaban una prosa bellamente escrita; Sanderson es "funcional", te entrega todo "masticadito" digámoslo así, "esta es la historia y vamos al grano, que tengo que terminar 3 libros más esta tarde" jejej, hombre lo que tampoco me parece mal, cada uno verá cómo se gana el dinero, pero que no me salga después con su rollo del "Cosmere" y que todas sus historias estan entrelazadas (que a lo mejor sí), pero faltaría eso, que para ver la "película completa, tengo que leerme 35 libros del mismo señor, no, lo que ud. quiere es vender libros jejej, pero sí me molesta un poco cuando lo ponen al lado de grandes del género como Tolkien, Martin, Le Guin, Salvatore, Erikson, Hobb, etc., donde sí hay calidad literaria y sí puedes hallar una bella prosa en todos ellos (con diálogos memorables y reflexiones profundas incluso, y con textos que van desde las 80 a más de 1000 páginas, qué la extensión de un texto no es seguro de calidad de nada, pero hay autores que lo olvidan al parecer jejej). Otro aspecto que pienso que no acabó nunca de convencerme de Sanderson fueron sus sistemas de magia "súperelaborados" e "hiperexplicados", que sí, que entretenidos e interesantes de leer (en el momento, después se te olvidan jejej), pero la verdad es que no creo que la magia en una historia de fantasía deba estar ultra justificada al punto de casi parecer "ciencia", no, es un mundo de fantasía, la magia es magia precisamente por algo, es mística, existe sólo en ese mundo ficticio "por algo", no sabes muy bien por qué o cómo funciona y eso está bien, pero bueno, por lo visto hay muchos que buscaban o esperaban desde hace un tiempo todo lo contrario, y creo que es también por eso que en general alaban tanto a Sanderson, porque en cierto sentido "renueva" un poco el género. En fin, que la gente siga leyendo lo que le apetezca, que sigamos debatiendo y contrastando opiniones y sigamos todos disfrutando de la lectura que es un acto tan bello. Saludos Juan desde Latam! Y gracias por tus reseñas, son de calidad y, aunque no siempre puedo verlas, las disfruto mucho cuando lo hago :)
If you are a prospective reader, you can safely ignore this video. It doesn't even try to be fair. The creator has the right to his opinion, but even his examples are objectively poor. It's ridiculous to the point that I wasn't sure if he was intentionally being deceptive to try and be clever.
He literally said it was his opinion. What I wonder is why his negative opinion bothers you so much. This is exactly why people feel like they can't criticize Brian K. Sanderson. Because he has a cult full of people like you who attack anyone that does.
What world building? He barely described the world in Mistborn. What did People eat? How did the society really work? What was inside Luthadel? Only noble castles and ashes falling from the sky? What else? What colour where the houses, what kind of businesses where there? Where there any animals? Nothing explained.
@@MrAelin Hard sci-fi cares a lot about how the physics work, and Sanderson cares a lot about how his magic systems (i.e., fictional or yet unknown physics) work.
While I had a more positive experience with this book than you did, I agree with many of your points. I wasn't completely put off by the time I finished, but to me it was overlong for the payoffs, rife with some very clunky prose, lacking in subtlety that would have made the characters better realized-way too reliant on dimensionless expository dialogue. Some of Sanderson's ideas can be quite cool, and after finishing I was tempted to pick up the next book to see where things might go, but when I caught wind of people claiming the later books in the series had pacing issues COMPARED to The Way of Kings I lost much interest in continuing... The Way of Kings already felt like a circuitous slog in parts, and I would have thought that issue would be ameliorated in later books that didn't bear the weight of so much introductory worldbuilding; that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe I'll continue some day, because there were things I did like about the book, but until then I've got so many books to read that for me pack more substance into a shorter page count. Some other thoughts: Sanderson's chosen method of character development is to have them think in circles around the same dynamics again, and again, and again. Admittedly, this sometimes works for me, and I am genuinely heartened to see how positively people have related to Kaladin's struggle with depression. I've since read Assassin's Apprentice and am in the middle of Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb though and the difference in nuance in character work feels like night and day. Hobb's characters do brush up against similar dynamics often, but those dynamics maintain their intrigue for two main reasons: the subtlety and depth with which they're presented, requiring more inference from the reader that makes me feel a much deeper relationship with the characters, and the way Hobb expertly twists and turns character relationships, casting familiar dynamics in new, unexpected lights and maintaining conflict and tension-not the conflict of sword swinging and bloodletting (well, not always) but tension arising from the deep interpersonal lives of people, the tension that arises between people in the natural course of living, enhanced by the so far beautifully experiential magic of Hobb's world. I really feel as though I've lived with these characters, and gotten to know them just as I would someone in my own life; Hobb's characterization feels that true to reality, and I could gush about her writing for quite a while. Even action-oriented fantasy that's more analogous to Sanderson's work like Joe Abercrombie's The First Law series, which I've also begun reading in the months since I finished The Way of Kings, has wonderful character work by comparison in my opinion, as well as far more efficient and evocative prose, more thematic focus, and a greater sense of wonder to it, not to mention a far better sense of humor. So while I don't by any means hate Sanderson's work, and I do credit his Mistborn books with whetting my appetite for more fantasy a little over a year ago (I'd not been reading in the genre too much for a while), I'm a tad baffled at how highly lauded his work is after reading some more in the genre. It's not a bad introduction to more contemporary fantasy, at least it wasn't for me, and if people like it I disagree that it's indicative of bad taste by default, but even to a relative newcomer like myself-a lover of Tolkien who hadn't read much beyond that up until a year ago-it's evident Sanderson's work is far from the best fantasy has to offer. After reading Rothfuss and Jemisin and Le Guin and Abercrombie and Hobb and seeing just how much can be done in this genre, and with fewer words, I'm left feeling lukewarm at best by The Way of Kings.
Totally agree with the sentiment that Sanderson’s style has led to more juvenile fantasy, particularly the nerdy “science-like” magic systems. I see it a lot with the LitRPG genre, which conceptually sounds like something that should be interesting. I mean… video games that are books! Sign me up. But all those books are sooooo crunchy with the exact numbers of the gaming/magic systems in the same way Brandon’s systems are. And there is a SUBSTANTIAL audience of readers looking for that. That saddens me because that’s the trend of writing right now and it’s not a type of writing style I’m much a fan of.
Yeah, if this is modern fantasy, then fantasy is in a sorry state. I decided to check out what this whole modern fantasy fad is all about so I picked up mistborn. What a complete waste of my time. There’s nothing magical about the magic in these books. The “world” just has an alternate physics system, but why should I be interested in that? The physics of the real world is interesting enough. What’s interesting about a character burning an element in their stomach to unlock an ability on their video game skill tree? That’s just so random. Thematically, why does this world have this “magic” system as opposed to one of the many others devised by Sanderson in his other novels? What’s the meaning behind it?
I like this review and appreciate your opinions, however, I’m gonna have to disagree. My personal philosophy on reading and literature is to read to enjoy, I don’t analyse the text, think deep about things, I just read along and enjoy the ride. I think that maybe that was why I liked this book, because it is a fun story to read, with cool characters. I know some people don’t like Shallan but her humour is like mine so I love her. Dalinar is a hidden gem! Just my thoughts
One doesn't have to analyze his writing to know it's grating, repetitive, robot-like with no nuance. Sanderson treats his readers as if they're stupid by constantly explaining, over explaining, preaching, and repeating throughout the books. I guess if you enjoy that, more power to you.
I thought it was just me because people put Sanderson on a godlike pedestal. I read about 100 pages from the named book, and I could not for the life of me continue reading for the same reasons you mention here. It's fantasy being dumbed down, and I think he is doing it on purpose because he is knowledgeable in the science of writing. I get the impression that you are a reader but not a writer, although you are very good with words. The way you express your opinions in this video really gets across. I wonder if you've ever thought of being a writer yourself? I'm a fantasy writer (also a writer of non-fiction), but I can't express myself verbally as well as you do. That could be the answer: You can express yourself verbally, and I can express myself in writing. I'm still curious about why you are not writing (or perhaps you are).
i was trying to find some good book after years waiting for “the doors of stone” from patrick rothfuss, i blind bought this one after so many ppl saying it was good and etc… damn this book is so bad hahaha i mean i just started reading first 100 pages and i already feel like it’s so poor writing, the “projection” magic and etc feels so bad and idk… after reading rothfuss this feels like lacking soooo much… the writing is so simple and weird… i swear bro, bad pick by me…
I’m coming back to this after the onslaught of negative video reviews Brandon Sanderson is getting for Wind and Truth 😅 you were ahead of your time. It’s not shocking that book 5 has amazing ratings 4.5 on goodreads. Only the superfans are reading the book..still that’s 20-30k people who like the book that much 😅
He's an atrocious writer. In one of the books a character "sets his jaw" every time he speaks. I read "set his jaw" at least two hundred times, as if he literally copied and pasted it. I don't understand why any editor gives the nod to him.
I think my big problem with Brandon Sanderson's worldbuilding is that it almost makes too much sense. He clearly puts so much thought into adding worldbuilding elements and histories that all fit together super neatly, but it's almost too neat. For example, in Way of Kings, it seems that basically everything is directly tied to the high storms-the way cities are built, the way plants have evolved, etc etc. However, reality rarely makes so much sense. Even though evolution of life and culture on earth obviously is affected by geographic and climate patterns, it's not like the relationship between climate and plants or cities is readily obvious all the time. I associate palm trees with warm weather and beaches, but unless I Googled it, I wouldn't know why palm is best suited for this environment. Likewise, I associate bright domed roofs with Arabian Deserts and the Middle East, but I have no idea why mosques and other common structures in this region tend to have domed roofs. Brandon Sanderson just doesn't seem to get that, for a world to feel truly immersive, some things can't be so easily explained. There can be an explanation in existence, but it shouldn't be so obvious to everyone. When such a clear line can be drawn between the high storms and (almost) every other piece of worldbuilding, it just makes the world seem kind of hollow. I get the high storms are really cataclysmic, the kind of thing that would have a huge impact on everything, but I don't always want to be able to understand that impact.
Excellent series. But I have to disagree with team Carbos. Nothing is better than the Lord of the rings. Its charm, its depth, its characterizations, to me make it the finest fantasy series ever written. In my opinion, only Game of Thrones comes close.
Sanderson fans want to consume things that are popular that they can post about on social media or make "notice me" reviews on goodreads where it's almost like a virtue signal to like something popular. Then it becomes a snowball effect. It's a real shame. People just don't have the reading comprehension or attention span for more advanced material. These are marketed toward the widest audience. Also, the female audience is huge, which controls the fantasy genre on the publishing level.
Don't insult us, women. I can't stand Sanderson.I love Rothfuss, Hobb. It's usually men I've seen that love, love, LOVE Sanderson and yet those men insult Rothfuss. Clearly some people just have bad taste.
Finally a review that I agree with. It's astonishing how popular Stormlight is and people consider it the "PINNACLE" of modern fantasy when in reality at it's best is a juvenile attempt at telling an epic story that's get lost in it's own world building. Sanderson seems less like a author who wants to tell a meaningful story he honestly just wants to create a magical fantasy world but fails miserably at that as well by over explaining his own magic to the point of it feeling more like science and less magic.
The worst part is that he creates the exact same type of world every time-a desolate world where the dark lord won-and he thinks this repetition makes him an untouchable genius. I think he's just incapable of coming up with anything else, so he hides behind his worldbuilding to make you think he put any thought into anything worthwhile.
@@justjuanreader you didnt read any of his books. I am not a brainless fanatic, i love his books but i obviously know they are not perfect, nothing Is perfect. But your comment is clearly a clue that you just read the first book of Mistborn, and maybe some of the way of kings.
I will never read Sanderson - i know he is not my taste. Have you read any Guy Gavriel Kay? I feel like he'd be right up your alley in terms of magnificent prose. Not to mention aggression, complexity, sexuality. Tigana was great, to me. & a great place to start.
@@justjuanreader awesome, hope you enjoy! I am either going to read Sailing to Sarantium or Lions of Al-Rassan this summer, haven't yet decided! I've only read Tigana by GGK so far but i plan to go through all his classic/most highly rated novels. Tigana was masterfully written.
I agree with you, and I truly honestly can't see how people think it is the greatest book ever written. I just finished it, every review said the ending was amazing, and I really disagree lol.
Oh god, you literally took the words out of my mouth. I thought I was the only person who found these books very mediocre and actually kind of bad, lol. People should drop this ASAP and just go pick up the Earthsea Trio logy instead.
I’m wondering, did you go into it knowing it was sci-fi fantasy instead of classical fantasy? I probably would have felt similarly to you in a lot of ways if I went into it expecting typical magical fantasy instead!
Oh I did expect a classic fantasy story, if I knew it was scifi fantasy I'd have not read it cuz I don't like that genre unfortunately :/ Wish I knew that sooner.
Thank you thank you THANK YOUUUUU I just hope that Sanderson's overratedness and his very, very racially "complicated" stories will eventually collapse like a Jenga tower. But I feel like his core fans (who can be safely simplified as just white male redditors) will always stay with him no matter what. And I wouldn't even be upset at this if he wasn't the most "successful" fantasy author of today. Where he goes, the "fantasy meta" will follow because publishers and editors will follow the money. And he's GETTING money. He's already big enough that he is publishing 1000+ page books that really only have 200/3'00 pages of content without any editor or publisher saying no, but now he's trying to self publish? And people actually pay him so much he gets the biggest, most successful kickstarter campaign ever. Why? He can already get anything he likes published!! The man writes books from excel spreadsheets. No characterization, shallow and senseless worldbuilding. His morals are blasé mormonism, so scared to offend and blaspheme that characters don't act human and emotions come out as artificial (or actual nonexistent, most of the time). His plots are also 1 for 1 taken from mormonism stories or tropes, the finaly of Mistborn book 3 is literally from the Book of Mormon.
@@jamalnelson2793 I think I used the wrong term. In truth I think his take on race is overly simplistic, and that what is complicated is my thoughts on his overuse of that plot device and its recurrently poor execution. I can't really explain why without going into spoilers. So, Spoilers for the Mistborn trilogy below: One big issue I have is in the Mistborn trilogy. We're told the word homogenized over the thousands of years of the Lord Ruler's rule, and that only one group - The Terris - managed to cling to its unique cultural identity, and they're the only ones that are inherently racialized. They have a different skin colour and facial features that sets them apart, which separates them physically and "ethnically" from the rest of the humans on this world as the nobles and the skaa bear so little physical differences that you can dress one as the other and no one notices. The Terris are also the most persecuted group of people in the entire story, by far. They're subject to a thousand years of rape, slavery, and genocidal "breeding programs". All throughout the first book, the Terris are perhaps the most overhanded of all the reasons the readers are given to hate the Lord Ruler, and definitely one of the biggest factors to argue for his "irredeemability". So of course, the plot twist at the end of book 1 is that the Lord Ruler is a Terrisman himself. Meaning that all that narrative weight behind this guy being some kind of super hitler mixed with satan that hates minorities and will rule through authoritarianism? Turns out he's also a part of that minority, and the weight of this reveal is NEVER properly handled in the book at all. The only part that is important to this reveal is the knowledge that the Lord Ruler's power comes from the combination of Feruchemy and Allomancy. We get maybe passing mention of how awful it is that a terrisman is responsible for the genocide of the Terris people, but that's it. Imagine if someone had their bad guy be magic satanic hitler. Imagine if, through the entirety of the first book, we hear accounts of how Magic Satanic Hitler is persecuting and killing off jews, and queer and disabled people. Now imagine if at the end of book 1, Magic Satanic Hitler is defeated with the knowledge that he too was actually jew, queer, and disabled. You don't think this is tone deaf? And I'm not even going to get started on his use of chattel slavery on his two biggest books, and how they are given much more thought and world importance than the majority of his very shallow worldbuilding. It's just very suspicious and unpleasant, to say the absolute least
Can't say that I would agree to 100% of what you said, but I think there were some things that needed to be said and I'm glad that at least one review like this exists :)
What I really feel about Sanderson's writing is that it reads like a first draft. It needs ton of editing and a good chunk of the lenght could be cut. And personally I feel like a lot of the information is forced down ones throat rather than presented like small, shattered treats to discover. For example he will straight out tell the reader what is happening in the scene like it would be part of a script for a screen. I DO not need to be told the characters are planning to go to a ball if it has been mentioned in a previous scene and they are dressing up in ballgowns!
This is surprisingly clarifying to me as a writer. Unpublished so far, I’ve had such a hard time figuring out what a 1st draft should be. Thank you for that.
Point on! It’s there, but two drafts away.
I find Brandon Sanderson distinctly "sexless". Not that I literally need erotic content in every book I read, but I need to believe characters are realistic, with some level of carnal desires and deeply-held beliefs. Things about them that are so deep down that it takes a whole book to come to recognize. I read the first book of Mistborn and started the second, and it just started to feel way too sanitized for me. I'd def read it to like a class of middle schoolers or something, I guess?
Lol you should read Warbreaker
It has some very interesting content
Man thank you for saying out loud whats been on my mind. I absolutely hated this book. Incredibly boring, lackluster characters, no complexity or nuance. No emotional connection to anything in the book. It baffles my mind how this book is so highly rated. Gosh what a waste of time
I managed to slog my way through the first two Stormlight novels. The third one finally stopped me dead in my tracks. Never went back to the series.
I say this and I get attacked by his fans
Are there Sanderson books that you really like ?
@@AnonforYeshua77777mistborns pretty good
You're right about this book not feeling like fantasy. It was what I call "white anime", specifically shounen manga. He appeals to the Marvel Comics crowd and he's too tame. But that was expected since he teaches at a Mormon university.
Oh my gosh. This is a spot on analysis
White Anime.
I think you hit the nail with that descriptor. Yes. It feels like "white anime". Like Avatar the Last Airbender.
Thanks. When I first got into fantasy I tried Brandon Sanderson. So many positive youtube reviews. I felt gaslit by the community, it was like I was reading different books. YA, poor prose, too much hand holding, simple characters. I really didn't care for it. I then read the Dandelion Dynasty, a real fantasy series. No comparison.
@philipcarlson2625 I thought Fantasy wasn't for me because I felt so dumb after reading *hearing* 5 chapters and feeling NOTHING. I picked up Games of Thrones last week and wow...I feel so rejuvenated and can't wait for my time of day to read. I don't understand the hype with Sanderson
Thanks. I was really feeling alone on this one. I read a lot. I do like fantasy, but not just fantasy. And for me, if this is your favorite book, I have to assume its because you are crazy young, like 13 or something and read only this genre. Or maybe you read it at a formative time in your life and have nostalgia for it. I have tried to read this 5 times. I'm failing right now. I want to finish it but I don't know if I can make it. I'm just trying to get deep enough into the book the see what everyone is talking about. I'm 650 pages in and I feel like everyone is exactly where they started. And the language is so dull. It's colorless. I just don't understand. At one point, you called it quite readable. I get what you mean, but for me it's almost intolerable. I can understand what I'm reading (most of the time when its not some silly fantasy word he invented), but man is it hard to keep going. I think your choice of word "repressed" is the perfect word for this. It's not intriguing, not as clever as it thinks it is, not funny nor sad. I can't feel anything. It does not challenge me. And I don't see how any adult could feel engaged with this. It makes me feel nothing. It drives me into a state of complete indifference when I started with curiosity.
Colorless. Absolutely right!
I read this book when I was 15-ish and liked it. I even bought the sequel at a launch for a pretty high shipping cost when it came out and spent a whole school week reading it in my free time. Then I tried to re-read I about a year later and bounced off of it. Didn't know why at the time, I think I chalked up my inability to get into it to the cringeworthy lack of cursing in the book. At the time I was also reading GoT, Joe Abercrombie, Kingkiller and the like.
Last year I was re-reading all of my favorite fantasies (and some new ones). I had just finished reading the entirety of Hobbs' Fitz trilogies and decided to re-read WoK for nostalgia's sake. It was just terrible. I couldn't get past the first three chapters. The characters were incredibly flat and archetypal, the sense of grandeur the world had for me when I first read it was gone and I really felt like I was reading through a World of Warcraft campaign or something. One example of the inferior writing style - the little missives at the start of each chapter, meant to drop some kind of esoteric lore, were so... functional rather than interesting. Comparing them to the same concept in the Lightbringer series, where they were full of character and became embedded with so much more meaning when the mysteries behind them were unraveled.
I definitely agree that I don't want to see more Sanderson-style authors crop up. I hope that fantasy's wildly popular mainstreaming (since it hit TV and film in a really major way) won't lead it into the same rut that sci-fi writing has been in for a generation.
@@rashid8646 You know, I finally finished this book and the best thing I can say is that at least Brandon Sanderson seems like a very kind man, and he has gotten many people into reading where they might not have picked up a book otherwise. I'm a fan of all the authors you just mentioned. Hobb, Abercrombie, Martin, Rothfuss etc. So glad you discovered them. When I was younger I also loved comics like Fantastic 4, X-Men, Batman etc. And I still enjoy many classics from the likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, the Hernandez Bros. Etc. And I grew up reading popular genre defining series like Harry Potter, Tolkien, and such. Many books from many expansive nerdy mythos like video game novels and Star Wars etc.
I've expanded what I read to include things well outside of traditional fantasy. And my advice is always to tell people to read widely. Literary fiction, alnernate history, plays, science fiction, nonfiction, noir, erotica, etc. Try bits of everything. Invariably, when we return to old once beloved works after some time and many other books, we'll do so looking through different eyes. But sometimes things don't change. I've outgrown some of my childhood favorites or edgy things I liked as a teen, but I also still love returning to many of them if they hold up.
Something about Sanderson just doesn't work. It's not that it's too kid friendly. It's not that it's not dark enough. There's a bizarrely lifeless quality to it that doesnt feel intentional on the part of the author. Not even when he's writing a pov that is a character steeped in depression. His writing just doesn't convince me. It doesn't make me feel what the characters are feeling. It doesn't make me root for them or even rally me to turn against them if they're in the wrong. And that's what good fiction must do. You've got to feel something by proxy. You've got to feel challenged and carried away. The author has to ensnare you through the magic of their language, through promises fulfillled and broken, through careful handling and even more careful misdirection. This was the second Sanderson story I tried, and he hasn't managed this for me. But I'm glad he delighted you at least for a time in your life, and that you are reading widely.
I disagree! I’m 22 and read plenty of fantasy and this is my favorite series of all time. It’s just taste man
@@julianmeza8061 I don't like the book. At all. And I'm not gonna try to change your mind. But I'm genuinely curious. What are you comparing it to?
It's nice to see a review that coincides with my own opinion. I think you covered most of my issues with the novel. I also started with Mistborn as I already had the series purchased previously on my Kindle, so I figured I'd burn through them first before getting into Stormlight. And I really did not like Mistborn, I felt each book was actually worse than the last. BUT, I graded Mistborn on a curve. It was Sanderson's first novel. It's a YA novel series. Etc. Now, that still doesn't excuse the poor narrative experience I felt reading the series, after all Harry Potter is a first time novelist series and essentially a book geared towards children. And yet, it has good prose for its genre and a great sense of adventure and overall themes. Still, I was told that Stormlight Archive is SO much better. And how Sanderson basically "levels up" with Way of Kings.
I figured I'd take the plunge even though the page count worried me. 1,000 pages for the first novel is a series? Who does he think he is?! Suffice to say, all the issues in Mistborn are pretty much all present in Way of Kings. The only benefit is that WoK actually has more world building than Mistborn, which had very little world building. Now, I went into WoK with the expectation that the prose would be very basic. I'd read Mistborn. I'd been told this by others. And Sanderson himself has described his "simplistic" and "basic" prose style as being a "clear window" into his world. Fine. But, that means I'm going to be paying far more attention to the actual story and characters since there is little enjoyment to be had in the actual prose.
And you hit the nail on the head, this is not a difficult book to read. I feel that anyone saying that has either not read a lot or have not read much fiction that isn't fairly grounded. I feel the reason others claim the book is "difficult" to initially read is because Sanderson creates world that are NOT grounded or similar to our own real world. The weather, topography, flora, fauna, and societal structure are all VERY much different than anything on Earth or general human history. As a result, you cannot exactly ground yourself going in on much since it's all fairly alien. Still, this is just fiction 101 when it comes to building a fantastical world. Everything will be explained to you in the novel in due course and then explained 1,000 more times in case you didn't get it the first hundred times. If you have zero patience waiting to understand what a "spren" is, then sure this might be a "difficult" read. But anyone capable of sitting down and reading will find the book a very easy read.
And so, with that out of the way we get to the story...which is basic, predictable, and overwritten. You know what's going to happen the majority of the time extremely early-on, but you have to read 700 pages before the predictable thing happens. Did anyone honestly think Dalinar was insane? Dalinar is a prime example because he's such a simple character. He's honorable and that's his only character trait. He's honorable and acts honorable and does honorable things. Did I mention how honorable he is? And so what is his major conflict for 1,000 goddamn pages? Whether he's insane and should abdicate his position or whether he should stay and try and trust his visions. Absolutely riveting stuff...
Now, I'm not one to agree that a character needs to change or "have an arc" to be engaging or properly written, you can have a magnificent story about a character that does not change. However, you still need to make it possible for us to believe they may change or to challenge their beliefs. Ned Stark in ASOIAF is somewhat similar to Dalinar in being a man whose all about honor. Yet, Ned Stark is so engaging because his honor, and what is even supposed to be the honorable thing, is routinely put into question. It's gripping and engaging as you debate whether Ned Stark is doing the right thing has he navigates extremely complex and high-stakes scenarios while trying to maintain his concept of honor and morality. Dalinar, meanwhile, is not presented with any such challenges. He has his visions and that's really the only thing we are meant to focus on, which we as a reader know cannot be insane ravings of an addled mind. He never really has to put his honor into any difficult challenge. He's never really explored in any meaningful way, he just gets to look tough and bothered and tormented when in reality he's a static, boring, and threadbare character with not much going on under the helmet.
And that goes for every character in the book. They are thin character traits masquerading as characters in a meandering story that doesn't really go anywhere and only serves to string you along until the next book where things may really start to happen. Sorry, but I'm not reading 1,000+ pages for you to tell me that the story doesn't actually start until the next 1,000+ pages. Let's not even get into those "repressed" elements you touched on. The lack of real romance, sex, meaningful women, etc. What's funny is for such an ALIEN and STRANGE fantasy world, sexuality and gender are as basic as the 1950's and before.
For me the main problem was that the writing felt very self indulgent. It’s one of those books that is overly long, not because the story needs it to be, but because the author’s ego seems to get in the way. Like the author believes he’s brilliant enough that he refuses to edit his own brilliant words. (Also, Shallan’s dialogues were the cringiest of cringy 😕 you can feel Sanderson trying SO hard to sound “wise”)
Rules and overly long descriptions do not equal world building! I don’t get why modern fantasy authors seem to believe so...
Could not agree more! And yes, Shallan’s parts of the story (even though they were the most interesting for me), were filled with cringy dialogue!
@@justjuanreader it drove me crazy! because the part where Shallan is studying at the ancient library (I don’t remember the name of the place) was indeed the most interesting! But her interactions were so awkward... I couldn’t handle the attempt at flirtation with that one character (whose name I also don’t remember) 🙈
Completely agree
The name of his editors are printed in most of his books. Lol
I’m a huge Sanderson fantasy fan (I don’t much like his non-fantasy stuff) but I can totally understand a lot of your points. I think they’re actually things that a lot of fans will admit are true. I love the way of Kings and consider it a tough read, but not because of the prose, more because of the commitment you have to make to see it through to the end. The pacing can also be tough with all the viewpoint characters and the constant starting and stopping of momentum, though when I say tough it’s practically YA compared to a lot of what’s out there. And, admittedly, there’s some pretty terrible spots. Shallan’s introduction for me is the first of a few spots that immediately made me want to jump ship. Any scenes that are written to be particularly witty also come off kind of cringe most of the time.
But I’ve come to the realization after thoroughly enjoying the series as a whole that what I enjoy most isn’t the prose or the dialogue, but the actual story that’s being told. Sanderson books always have a really well thought out ending that read more like a screenplay in some ways. A lot of people consider the Cosmere the MCU of fantasy, and I think it goes beyond the shared universe. They’re basically popcorn films but in book form. On the one hand, it means you’re probably not going to read anything that’s particularly poetic. On the other, you’ve got some really amazing scenes that, despite some of your earlier points, I would certainly call epic. The final scene of Way of Kings involving Kaladin, then Dalinar’s speech about “what is a life worth”. Granted, everything is subjective and it might not hit the same for everyone, but these really got me. I would also disagree about the characters not getting development, but to be honest I haven’t read most of the fantasy authors you talked about (though Hobb is on my short list, will get to those soon).
TLDR: i think Sanderson is more popular due to the overarching stories rather than the sentences on the page. Some of the prose/dialogue is really bad, but the overall story being told is usually masterful in my opinion. Anyways great video, I love to see different opinions :)
It’s difficult to describe without analogies and metaphors but here is a few:
The character building is equivalent to characters in your average popular anime, rather than an Emmy/Oscar winning performance in a Christopher Nolan film.
The World building was in depth, I must say, but the prose was lacking the “glue” to make it stick.
Discovering the magic system felt more like grinding a video game to unlock the next set of powers.
It is far far FAR from what a REAL literature can provide. There was no Art to it. It was a methodically designed story, that is good enough to keep you turning the page, but required no effort from the reader whatsoever to grasp the themes that were hardly present.
Sanderson is an author I would recommend to someone who doesn’t like reading. Because odds are if they don’t like reading, it’s because they don’t have the patience or imagination to appreciate real literature.
This book took no risks. It had no revelatory feel. It was an amazing story, written by someone that just wanted to finish their assignment as fast as they could.
Brandon has a good outline, a good method, but his delivery is awful. This book is the rebel moon of fantasy. (Horribly written Netflix movie with loads of cgi, and contrived character work) .
Write by numbers. Sanderson writes like the ideas are modular - file the serial numbers off and republish.
This is such a great point, well said.
I am going through Sanderson crisis. I like his books (not all) but get annoyed when lots of people call him the biggest since Tolkien or someone like that. He is a craftsman, very prolific craftsman too with a good contact with his fandom.
Completely agree. I also find him extremely likable, seems like a genuinely good, kind person. Wish his work resonated with me
Subscribed. Thanks for the honest review, I felt the same way but only got two chapters in, hated almost every scene. As an aspiring writer who's watched almost all of his lectures its unfortunate to see that he takes a sort of "Do as I say not as I do" approach
As an aspiring writer, would you like someone to condemn your work after only reading 2 chapters? That doesn’t seem like giving it a real chance.
@badasshippo7838 people can condemn my work after one sentence. That's the nature of the beast.
I think you are probably right about this book given I have read mistborn 1 and found it unimpressive, but I think you need to articulate your thoughts a little better. I know you said its a rant, but rants do little in the long run. If I were doing a review, I would have peeled the book apart by showing how other books do specific dramatic elements better, using quotes for comparison to make the audience fully understand the problems. But doing that would require too much time possibly.
Looking forward to your reviews. Thank you.
@@justjuanreader Just curious, what do you think is your favorite fantasy novel, I might give it a try.
@@FirstCommandmentRigorist The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is to this day my personal treasured favorite. Really beautiful, exquisite, thought-provoking, mysterious fantasy filled with awe and the uncanny. Very much the opposite of Sanderson.
I don't really like this series but I've never personally read anyone say they are hard to read...I also wish you had some examples of issues instead of just vague things like "it's like super hero movies" "it's tacky" I don't understand why booktube people can't ever take notes or provide examples of anything.
I think it's just because books are so long and quotes are relatively nebulous depending on your edition. Perhaps not though because we have UA-camrs that do this kind of thing for tv shows and video games. It is annoying
I remember seeing Sanderson once say that he knew the beginning of the book was bad, and that it shouldn't have two prologues and that a lot of people will straight up skip them or not read his book because of it. But then he also said that he knew he could get away with it due to his fanbase, so did it anyway. I find that pretty telling for his writing style in general.
He never said it like that I believe. As far as I can recall he said that he knew that early on he was presenting the reader with things too alien for us that he knew we needed to be explained to us, he risked a lot of readers would drop the book because of this, but it was a purposeful decision. I would like to see the real quote because I don't believe he said it was because of the fandom, though I could be wrong.
@@oscarchavezavellan2738 I tried looking for the exact quote, but he has so much content online it is difficult to fine one specific thing he said. He was talking specifically about the beginning of books and his prologues, and said that if he wasn't an established writer he wouldn't be able to get away with what he did.
I believe it was during one of his lectures about writing. I don't think you are entirely wrong, since I am sure the intention was to put a ton of information in up front so they can get through it quickly, and have a good grasp on the world, then get to the good stuff. However, he straight up said that most people can't get away with it, but he could because he was an established writer and his fans would put up with a lot more of it.
@@Lilitha11 I do remember when he talked about this too, and he probably said something about his fanbase, but it doesn't come across to me as "I know this is a bad writing decision, but my fans are going to swallow anything I give to them" more like "I can take risks because I'm a stablished author", which is something that's true, being successful gives more room to take risks. And fair I have heard some criticisms about the multiple beginnings and it is annoying to get presented with a character and then the next chapter is about someone completely different, but the chapters themselves are pretty good and fullfil their purpose as teaser (prelude), plot set up (prologue) and character set up (chapter 1). Maybe I'm being apologetic because I like his works and I do think he writes good stories, I guess it depends on taste and people.
@@oscarchavezavellan2738 I tried looking for it again but can't find it. It was probably more along the lines of it being 'slow' and that his fans are more patient since they know him and will give him more leeway before dropping the book, rather than saying it is bad. I don't think he would purposely put out something he thought was bad.
However, in the context of the discussion, 'slow' is something to be avoided, and he admitted it should be avoided by most writers. I am also fairly sure he specifically said he knew some people would not read it or the book because of it.
@@Lilitha11 Yeah, as I already said I don't think what he said speaks badly about his writing there's plenty of authors that take risks after they have developed a solid fanbase, doing stuff that they wouldn't do if they were just starting, so yeah I just don't see your point on the first comment. I would get the criticism that the beginning is bad, but that has nothing to do with author saying he decided to start the book a certain way because he could take the possible pushback of some readers.
I wouldn't say the prose is conversational. Sure, the language used is pretty common and easy and accessible. That's a good thing, in my opinion. Simple language provides clarity. What I do have a problem with, though, isn't the language itself, but the narrator's voice. It's just... dull. I know this is Brandon's stylistic choice-a so-called pane-glass prose or something like that, where the narrator is invisible-but instead of diving right into the story without the narrator present, I just feel constantly bothered by it, instead. Reading his book is like listening to an emotionless robot telling me a story. It just doesn't sound human. It lacks life and energy and vitality. And I mean that literally. When reading a book that resonates with you, it's like you're connected so deeply to another human being, but his book doesn't do that for me. I love him as a person, love his contribution to the writing community, and deeply admire his work ethic. His works are just not for me, that's all.
Books and writing is an art not math
Math is art as well
and this book was mediocre art
@@obvv7714 Maybe in your opinion , which frankly I don't care about :)
@@obvv7714 no, just like art, books are subjective. There is no right or wrong.
Warren from Life is Strange? I get it but no Math is a complicated system. They exist in the same space maybe. But if art is faith and believing in God, then math is the religion, a system that creates hierarchy and societal norms, etc and crucifies anyone that is different or believes God in a different way
Despite the fact I'm a fan of the man myself, I can agree Sanderson can't name things for shit.
It especially bothered me in Mistborn where one third of the names were very English sounding, one third French, one third fantasy gobbledygook and there was never an explanation.
Every time I see one of this critics it's really always the same points I cannot relate to. Every point you mention just boils down to that this book - and even the series - are not standalone. They open the door to the cosmere - which is why the magic system needs to be somewhat simple so that it can be connected with the other stories. Same is true for the worldbuilding and length of his books.
Now while you claim his prose is juvenile, tacky, simple or just straight up bad (while repeating these 4 over and over for the first 10 minutes of your video), I cannot see how that is a problem at all. It makes the book easy and fast to read while also making sure that the important parts (especially foreshadowing and bits of information to people, magic, the world etc.) are not lost in his writing style.
I agree totally that his books do not inspire awe or wondern in the sense of his magic systems (with exception of shadesmar imo) - claiming only fantastical fantasy with complex and sophisticated pose is good fantasy is just straight up wrong. Genres are getting more diverse by the day and I feel like the DnD / Anime / MtG type of nerds seem to really enjoy his style and storys. The same is true for superhero stories, just because you never watched them or liked them doesn't make them bad or less Fantasy.
Finally I wanted to say something about the Harry Potter comparison you did. The magic in Harry Potter throughout every book makes absolutely no sense what so ever. While I wouldn't call Sandersons magic system super hard magic - it is definetly a very different type of magic system in comparison to the soft magic of Harry Potter or LotR. That is probably where you get the feeling of scientific or mathematic magic from and it is something people enjoy too. And yes hard magic can be awe-inspiring too (ATLA) - because again these are different types of fantasy and different intents behind them. That doesn't make one or the other better or worse - just different.
Thank you so much for this. Fantasy is going the way of Marvel and Branderson is spearheading this process. If you can imagine it, the books further into the series make Way of Kings seem like Shakespeare.
I'm both aghast and also happy to hear this. Aghast because Way of Kings is already such a mediocre book - at best - that I struggle to imagine how such a "highly rated" author can make it worse (but then I remember how bad his writing was in his earlier books, like Mistborn, and I know the answer).
And happy because I'd like nothing more than for BrandoSando fans to finally drop his overrated ass
@@niedude You know I try not to go searching to confirm my opinion but I had to with Brandon's work. It had glowing reviews left and right and its the only fantasy book that I hear people I know IRL (I don't have a lot of reader friends) talk about and how much they loved it. I just finished reading the first two chapters of TWOK and it's, literally garbage. It is infuriating to read. How does one teach a writing class and actually give pretty solid advice on writing then turn around and do exactly the opposite of what he teaches. It is insane to me.
I agree with the video at the 4 minute mark, low quality, low effort writing that should be a movie or maybe a comic book, not a book. To me I don't even consider Brandon an artist, he's creative and great at world building (well so I've been told) but nothing about his writing is art to me it feels so soulless and bland.
@@devinkipp4344 keep reading the book and youll realize he's also terrible at world building
The guy works like an AI generating shallow concepts from an excel spreadsheet. His world's are bland and lifeless and unoriginal
@@niedude Funnily enough I compared him to an AI after reading what I did but that's an insult to current AIs. He's like the first chat bot talking in circles and repeating himself.
You got an suggestions for something to read? Finishing the book I'm on now and though I'd pick up WOK but no way in hell I'd ever finish it.
@@devinkipp4344 have you read patrick rothfuss? I discovered him after having a terrible experience with Brandon Sanderson and desperately wanting to find something to wash my palate. He quickly became my favourite modern fantasy writer
I never read another Sanderson series, but The Way of Kings is one of my favorite books ever.
It has some genuine philosophical depth, fantastic characters, amazing world building.
He is no Ursula K Le Guin or J.R.R. Tolkien.
He doesn't have the same ethereal qualitu that Tamora Pierce can conjure.
But I love how unified the science and the magic in the book feel. The magic really feels a part of the world.
I do think however that more criticism of his writing might do him some good.
But he is not destroying fantasy.
If you think way of kings has philosophical depth, you simply need to read more bro. The book is written from a POV of emotionally immature adolescents.
@@austinquick6285 I have read plenty. And continue to read.
You can disagree, but I keep what I find. If I have found any depth to the Stormlight Archive, it is mine to keep.
The right of any audience to any art.
@@keaganwheeler-mccann8565 could you please discuss some of this philosophical depth that you find in the book? I ask because I cannot find any and maybe I am missing something.
@@JohnAndrewMacDonald
It explores pretty well whether or not you can be honorable in a corrupt society.
It is sort of a thought experiment. Can all these people who are seriously broken and messed up in the head, become better people, and will they be able to make the world better even when faced with the possibility of total annihilation.
It explores right action and morality in warfare. Can armed conflict be right?
I think it handles different kinds of trauma reasably ok, and to some extent helped me to work through my own.
I think it is good art, it got me asking important questions of what is actually right in our world.
I am not saying it is the most philosophically rich fiction series ever. But there are a lot of interesting places it can take you.
At the very least it got me rereading Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Kierkagaard. Because Sanderson built a really fun sandbox for those themes.
@@austinquick6285 Also I'd like to address the emotionally immature adolescant thing.
Some of the best stories that contain wisdom in the world have vharacters that due to their selfishness, ignorance, or flaws fall short, or make mistakes, and end up having to face them.
Kaladin does grow a lot, Shallan grows a lot, Dalinar grows a lot, Szeth grows.
Will he stick the landing? Not sure. That will play a big part in how these characters are remembered.
I dislike most modern epic fantasy because they focus on all the wrong things imo. Way too many fight scenes and action scenes, overexplaining boring magic systems, shallow characters, lame dialogue, bland world building, bad prose, don’t like them at all.
I know grimdark isn’t for everyone, but it’s one of the only modern genres of fantasy that actually has great complex characters without focusing too much on any of the things I listed above. I also like classic epic fantasy from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as well.
I have attempted more than once with Fantasy and found vary little I like. I found Lord of the rings boring and didn't make the hundred page mark with wheel of time. I did worse with Game of Thrones and The Blade itslf. The only fantasy I can claimed to like his Stephen King's The Stand uncut and The Dark Tower which sadly I have not had the time to finish. I also enjoyed Conan and am right now loving Swan Song.
@@stephennootens916 If you enjoy Stephen King and Robert Mccammon, I would also recommend Clive Barker, Joe Hill, Peter Straub and Gerald Brom.
If you enjoy Conan, I would recommend checking some stuff out from the sword & sorcery genre. Manifest Delusions, Elric of Melnibone, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, Chronicles of Amber and Vampire Hunter D are good places to start.
If you don’t mind middle grade or ya fiction, maybe give stuff like The Demonata, Lockwood and Co and The Wardstone Chronicles a try. They combine weird horror and dark fantasy elements like King and Mccammon do, just for younger audiences.
Could you name some authors to avoid in this regard ?
In one of his interviews, Mr Sanderson talked about how the magic systems in his stories need to be thought through and explained to the readers, in order for them to make sense and to make clear the limits of magic (i.e. what you can and can't do with it). That is not what magic is.....AT ALL. Magic is supposed to be fantastical and it is a plot device for the author to make things happen in a way he wants, without it being illogical (if something just is done via magic, people will be way more likely to not question it). So, he has got it all wrong. Magic is not a science; it's a plot device and/or something that instills a sense of wonder. This is why you DON'T explain magic. Because you can't! Magic does not exist, it can NEVER make sense, even if you make up some rules for it.
I promise its not this deep. You can just ignore his stories and move on with yourself if you don't like someones interpretation of magic.
@@theghosted I know, it's not that deep. Sanderson's stories in general aren't deep. They may be complicated - especially the magic systems are - but there is nothing profound or deep about them. All of them are stories written for a younger audience. If you want something complex and profound, I recommend the Dune series.
Did you stop to think that it is just a diferent style? Not everything is for everyone, a lot of people like the magic to be explained, there is not a right or wrong way to do it
Let’s say a group of characters are cornered by their enemies, and have a wizard. What’s more interesting? The wizard doing a magic and making every enemy disappear, or summoning something to kill the enemies? Or the wizard having to think about something clever to do with his magic, and making the use of magic be more interesting and less just a plot device to make the story go forward? That is why many people like Sandersons magic systems, it feels less cheap than just “and then he magicked everyone away with a wave of his hand”.
I actually liked it, I like the mystery of Roshar and why thing are as they are, what the hell is Stormlight, Voidbringers, Sprens, Shadesmar etc. and I think Brandon has the ability to explain these subjects but not feeding it too much to us readers in order for us to know more and in the climax he takes all that we know of the magic system so far and uses it to deliver such an epic battle between good and bad and ugly.
The difference between Brandon's way of writing and Rowling's or Tolkein's (haven't read Robin Hobb yet so cannot compare with her) is that Brandon likes to explain to the very core how his magic system works what's its limits? When can you use it? Which people can use it? Why can you use it? Why doesn't it work sometimes? What sides effects does it have? Whereas with other stories you just have that mysterious ability and that's all you need to know, that's why his books can be weapons for how long they are like this comment that I'm writing. 😅
Brandon Sanderson's way of writing is probably for everyone's taste, his premise is very slow and that's okay, I don't disagree.
Voidbringers. Lord kill me now lol. Is this World of Warcraft?
Dude, you said exactly the same things I thought about it. I kind of tried to like Sanderson's books but I just don't. I've been writing a book for about 20 years and I hope the result is nothing like it
I'm left wondering: is the book tacky?
So nice to listen to someone who shares some of my feelings about this book. I started WofR and got 200 pages deep before I threw in the towel.
I dislike Sanderson's fabricated stories, because they lack a spark of wonder and amazement, which makes them boring, no matter how complicated he tries to make them.
Completely true
Sanderson does write Superhero/Videogame books, which also include many elements of fantasy. The Stormlight Archives even has “leveling up.” I keep waiting for dialogue going: “Ding!” “Gratz!” On the other hand, I don’t think it ruins fantasy to be writing a different flavor of it, any more than I think Grimdark or Urban Fantasy or Steampunk are ruining things. Fads will come and go, and there will likely be good and bad stuff within them all.
It’s a shame you limit yourself to spoiler free videos, because it limits you to conclusory statements. If you were willing to talk about the contents of the book, you might provide some interesting/entertaining support for your opinions. As it is, there are things on which I sort of agree with you, and others where I’m not quite sure what you mean. For example, I’m not quite sure in what way you think the characters are terrible.
That’s fair! Much appreciated!
If I ever pluck up the courage to make a proper review for this book, I will definitely take this feedback into account.
I think the characters aren’t that interesting and everything feels very flat
I almost died laughing when you started critiquing the character names looool, great video, agree with you on this one. Almost felt like I was crazy for not liking it
I listened to the audiobook for about 11 hours and when I realized there were 34 hours left, I quit. The friend who recommended it said it gets really good...in the last 2 or 300 pages. If it gets good in the last 200 pages, it should be 2 or 300 pages long!
When we get this whole world building infodump about how Shallon's society is set up where it's patriarchal, but only women read books, I'm like, okay this makes no sense, but whatever. AND THEN he puts in this scene where she goes into a bookstore and she wants to buy all these textbooks and the man behind the counter tries to get her to buy a romance novel instead, it was like... 1. Why is a person who doesn't read running a bookstore? 2. Why is a person who doesn't read trying to convince someone not to spend a shit ton of money on textbooks? The only people who would ever be interested in reading are women, right? So aren't they the market? 3. Why would a person who doesn't read think they could recommend a book to someone in the first place??
Also Kaladin's sorry is just...so boring. So boring.
I can make it through long books. I made it through all four Otherland books in 3 weeks, and that's 120 or so hours of content. The length is not the issue. The story is the issue. (Otherland is like, fine. I wouldn't recommend it because of the time commitment, but the characters were interesting and I wanted to know what happened to them... Some interesting ideas as well. Fairly lackluster ending from left field which was not well set up.)
Uhh.. Hate to break it to you but its called epic fantasy for a reason. There cannot be "epic" without some sort of lead up to an epic climax. If youre not a fan of the genre just say that
@@AlanGonzalez-ev6ur Uhh.. hate to break it to you, but the intro to a book shouldn't be three times longer than the "good part." If you're burning your reader out during the "intro" to the point that they don't even care about the characters, a bunch of people are going to quit reading before they get to the epic climax. I am not a fan of this book, and I did say that.
Personally I enjoyed all the build up and character/world building. Just my opinion but I can definitely see where you are coming from - I think the “good part” would not have been nearly as satisfying without the (seemingly) needless buildup. It would have just been epic events that no one cares about
@@sarahhirsch8919Most of it isn’t an intro. Most of it is rising action. In a typical book, the rising action, which leads up to the climax, is at least double the rest of the book. Considering that the climax alone is like 100 pages, I think it’s fair. It’s your opinion whether you like the book or not, but it certainly has an excuse for being long.
I agree with you on a lot of this, although I did really enjoy this book. I read the second one in the series and thought it was “meh”. Then I tried Oathbringer, got through about half and just slogged through the rest of it. It was painful to finish.
Thanks for letting me know, Gina! I will probably not be continuing on with this trend of fantasy.
I am having the same exact experience with third. I don’t want to left it unfinished, but have a couple books more in the pipeline. Is the ending decent at least?
@@Ciervorelajadoevery Sanderson book is better in the back third. I dropped reading Stormlight 4 for over a year, I came back to it and read the last 600 pages in a week because they were so much better.
@@Stradequit Oathbringer wasn’t for me. I finished and dropped the series. I tried also Abercrombie but I guess that new fantasy authors are just not my cup of tea, so I started digging in sci-fi and I’m enjoy a ton of amazing new stuff
Thank you, YT algo, for bringing me this absolute gem of personal validation
Great video. I have not read Sanderson so I make this comment assuming what you say is true and add that a problem with him now being so big is that there is little chance that an editor would be able to give him this corrections. so he probably would not improve. someone said his writing is basically equivalent of McDonalds
As a non English speaker who reads English fantasy I find Sanderson easy to access. In a world where streaming has taken over homes if he makes a lot of people I think it’s a win. I don’t think that is bad taste and that is “tacky” thing to say.
Intelligent television is better than poorly-written books.
@@ghostchick5275 I believe any book is better than sitting in front of a tv. But that is just me and that is my opinion. My opinions are sometimes “tacky”.
I don't really dislike Sanderson, but agree with your points. I dropped Mistborn on first book. Read The Way of Kings but didn't find the courage to continue with other books of the saga. I always thought that Sanderson would be an excellent game designer, by the way
Okay, I loved this book, but I totally agree on what you said about the magic system. There really wasn’t any sense of wonder or mystery that usually accompanies magic in fantasy, and so it felt a little boring knowing exactly how everything worked instead of being able to use your imagination to think about it.
I'm so glad I'm not the only who feels like this! The world building isn't that bad in my opinion, but the characters, magic, and prose... Oof. I started writing a high fantasy novel as a young teen and took it very seriously. I'm still working on editing it and getting it traditionally published. I would read mostly ASOIAF to learn (which I think is peak fantasy and prose, especially the later books). At around fifteen I tried giving Brandon Sanderson a try, and unironically ended up feeling very encouraged by the fact that I felt I could "match his prose". I was *fifteen* . Even then I knew it just didn't cut it. It sounded bad in my head, clumsy and unedited.
When it comes to characters, I felt he really struggled writing the female ones (which he has confessed in a blog, saying he struggles to "make them more than love interests" (in the 21st century? Seriously??)), and all ended up feeling like tropes.
And the magic might be personal preference... But I can't stand magic that's so "hard". It feels like maths, no magic. No mystery, no beauty... No true fantasy.
I've read MOST off the other authors you believe WOK fans should read while "defending the good name of good taste in fantasy" and I've enjoyed them. But I still enjoyed WOK more than all of them ^^' Naturally, I disagree with a lot of your points. But there are also a lot of points I AGREE with. Most fans of WOK would. They're the exact reasons we like the book.
Superhero: It's sci-fi fantasy. Not classical fantasy. No genre should follow one formula.
Magic: Many people don't like whimsical magic. They want it to "make sense".
Prose: It's not juvenile, but it is simple. It's entertainment. Not everyone wants to spend free time reading government files.
Length: I don't normally say this, but this time, it elevated the book (note that it wasn't repetitive due to constant build-up)
Epic: Too many such scenes even in the first half of WOK alone can be correctly labelled with that description.
Characters: Likeable or not, are written well. Have nuances, motives, ups and downs, flaws, are a partial result of their personal histories but are not defined by them, impact the story, etc. Regardless of genre, the construction of characters in storytelling and everything that's needed for it is met in this book.
I 100% agree with this. I also feel like he didn’t really explain most of his points. He essentially just said that it’s tacky and bad over and over. I agree with some of them, but the characters definitely aren’t bad, many of the scenes are definitely epic, the magic system makes sense, and that’s why so many people love it. Also, he says there is very little violence when there are multiple scenes involving Dalinar slaughtering hundreds of Parshendi. That just doesn’t make sense lol.
Some constructive criticism: You repeat yourself a lot without making an argument. I have learned is that you find the book tacky and other authors not tacky. But why is the book tacky? Give the watcher examples from the actual book - if you only repeat how juvenile something is for a 20 minute video without being able to construct a strong argument, your review comes across as juvenile as well ;)
This video is not a review, it’s a rant, which are longer, less structured, not edited really, they’re usually rambly and off the cuff. If you want proper reviews, you are welcome to watch some of my actual review videos which I try my best to structure and plan ahead.
My goodness, I wanted to pause after every sentence and agree with it. Even the analogies were near the same as me. Instead of instant coffee though I would compare the Sanderson prose to bottom shelf cheap wine served in an expensive crystal glass and goes down like flavored water.
As for the nearest comparison I would have to choose Dan Brown if Dan Brown did not have interesting premise. His characters are predictable and have motivations chosen from the subreddit 'I am 12 and this is deep'. I could go on and on but this is enough for one comment.
Thank you!!! You decide to speak with the language of TRUTH!
I don’t see why you condemn the way of kings for not having stakes but praise Harry Potter, when there are less stakes in that
That is not my point. Stakes can vary. HP has, in my opinion, a distinct and quirky authorial voice, simple but effective rhythmic storytelling, whereas Sanderson (in this and Mistborn) has none of the above. In my opinion he has some good ideas and decent plots, but not much else, and that’s not enough.
The US has a strong tradition of what I call “American style prose,” which can be characterized as simple, straightforward, direct, and unconcerned with pomp & circumstance. It’s a style meant to speak to the common man, explicit in its rejection of the Old World European prose characterized as elegant, refined, sophisticated, and pretentious. It is not the language of kings and queens, it’s the language of men and women who rose up to reject kings and queens - and Brandon Sanderson is a master of this style. This style is not just limited to our writing either, it permeates our music, film, TV, food, and nearly every aspect of American culture.
Ironically, the style of prose you seem to prize would be what most American readers consider tacky and in poor taste.
You have such a genuinely, naturally funny way of telling things, I enjoyed this review greatly 😂
😅😊❤️
Just leaving here a little list of writers that should have more recognition than Sanderson:
Beautiful and efficient prose - Ursula Le guin
Great worldbuilding - China Miéville
Fascinating characters - Robin Hobb, Tad Williams
Effective atmosphere - Michael Moorcock, Gene Wolfe
Actual good battle fantasy - Charles R Saunders, Glen Cook, Fritz Leiber
Mindbloweness - M. John Harrison
Great recs, gotta save this comment. Thanks
China Miéville's prose is absolutely beautiful and has wild ideas. He's a must.
Just want to add a couple of my favorites that get forgotten a lot
Melissa Scott: very odd historical fantasy with great worldbuilding, not every one of her books is fantastic, but she improves with every book. The points series is my favorite, but start with the second book and maybe go back to the first one later when you are invested, there’s a leap in quality between them.
Laurie J Marks: very weird philosophical fantasy, but very good.
Tanya Huff: for fun and the occasional surprise ugly cry (not the grove series, it was her first, she didn’t hit her groove until she wrote The Fire’s Stone which is a really fun standalone in a world she still hasn’t gone back to). Her titles are bad, I think they are dictated by the publisher or something, but the books are good. I love the quarters books and the space marine books.
His world building is basically just him throwing ideas at the wall and jumbling them all together with no logical connective tissue to tie it to the narrative, compare that to GRRM and Tolkien where the worldbuilding is completely consequential in every possible way.
It was the fake swearing that did it for me
“Storming” or “storms” it felt too corny
I think many people like his books, because they like him. Sympathy bonus right here
a lot of Sandserson fans are very very Reddit mindset and they are horribly hiveminded on things (sort of redundant to say the same thing twice but for those who didn't know what I meant by the first)
For a guy who has made lecture level videos on magic systems, I've always had a niggling little problem in my head on how superficial they are. For instance there is only 1 magic system that is somewhat unique and it's one that he's never going to expand upon because I don't think he's got the ability to write well (6th of Dusk) Everything else is fundamentally identical to each other 'consumable source that allows person to manipulate physics in ways that are still in line with physics'
It's got a very faux-intelligent (Ackchyually!!!!) to it in that nothing is special.
I'll admit I enjoy most of Sanderson's books BUT...lately it's gotten very bad and very obvious so much so that I've been reassessing my views on him.
And the reason I've enjoyed Sandersons writing up to now has been their interpersonal relationships, but I've noticed that it's just heavily based on 'feels' than actual development.
The parrots in Sixth of the Dusk are literally using Allomancy. Great level video on magic to not even recognize that.
I’ve grown to despise hard magic systems, and I lay the blame at the feet of anime. It’s become so popular (and don’t get me wrong. I love some anime like Fullmetal alchemist) and they’re all the same overly explained power/magic systems with tons of rules that just get dumped on the viewer/reader, hyper specific use cases that almost always, and in some big light show display. It’s thoroughly annoying, and treats the reader like an idiot. there is no life, or wonder or mystery to it. At every point you know exactly what every character is capable of magic wise because they give no room for imagination. The magic in Say king killer chronicles or Tad Williams, memory Sorrow thorn series has a better balance of a real, tangible magic system that feels like magic without completely diluting What magic is supposed to be
i think this hard magic systems works for Anime but not for books
Sanderson fans are so overly defensive about his works and its immensely hard to find honest reviews trashing on his books😂. Tht being said i love you so much for this video
I have another comparison to make with this book. It was similar to Bollywood, when they need to tell something important they sing and dance, in this book to tell the story they fight, battle, duel out of place, without reason, uncalled for. My reaction to any fighting scene was the same to a Bollywood dancing, mild disbelief and wondering wtf is going on? The "battels" felt just as realistic as dancing and singing in the middle of the street.
what are you top fantasy books of all time? and what do you think of joe abercrombie?
I read the Mistborn series and I liked the first book. I liked it mainly because the magic system was very different, and that was cool. The second book, I liked much less, and the last book, even less than that. After reading them, my thought was, "Yeah. It was a pretty good series." But I could never bring myself to read anything else by him. I just wasn't interested. Thinking about it, I realized that his books were very simple, and his writing is very weak IMO. I keep seeing people gush over his writing, and it makes me sad. I feel like there's a thing where a lot of people read a book and say they like it, and nobody wants to say, "Nah. It's not that great." I think the same thing when I see people talk about how good The Wheel of Time, or A Song or Fire and Ice. They're good books, but not great. They have lots of problems, but everybody loves them.
I'm glad to see somebody speaks up against weak writing.
I listened to the whole video so I'd have all of the context. I am a Sanderson fan and I do disagree with a majority of your points.
My main issue with your rant/review is that you mention how juvenile, whitewashed, tacky, and bad it is, but you don't go into any details or examples of why you feel that way. I'd love to hear or read why you feel the way you do.
It is nice to see different points of view for popular books because it shows others what we can learn and opens our eyes to more that is out there.
People are making the mistake of thinking stormlight is pure high fantasy. Its not. Its a blend of Science Fiction and fantasy. Hence the focus on world building, plot and magic systems over character dev and beautiful prose and abstractness.
All fantasy books have world building, plot and magic systems.
"Beautiful prose" :D
@@SamElliottsStachewhat does that mean lol. He said it didn’t focus on beautiful prose
I agree. I read the first and second era of Mistborn (enjoyed the first, cringed the second) and I am currently at third book of Stormlight Archive (around page 400). It is making me want to end it but just to see it end. You have pointed every single issue I have with the story.
Wait.... This has a superhero feel to it, feels more techno-oriented and doesn't feel like traditional fantasy? You just sold me on this book. I didn't know any fantasy author was doing something like this. Thanks.
😂
Out of curiosity, have you started it yet ,and, if so, are you enjoying it?
@@ClimbingThing33 I started the Way of Kings. So far so good. Seems more epic than the Mistborn series.
@@nilsar4357 That!s awesome! I really hope you enjoy it, even though it’s so long.
@@ClimbingThing33 I will. It's my kind of storytelling. Plus I have read the big SciFi tomes of Peter F Hamilton, so I can handle big books.
I just learned that the next Stormlight book will be the longest yet. Really excited for that😁
I don't think it's a mystery that Brandon lacks sophisticated prose, even among fans. His strength is seen with his plots, I think. Bottom line, he's a storyteller at heart, not a poet....those who continue to read his books know what they're getting into and can expect a good tale.
The problem is that plot driven stories only work if the conflict is really interesting/suspensful and that is not the case with Mistborn 1 at least.
@@FirstCommandmentRigorist Well that's your opinion, if you had any idea where the Atium really was since Book 1 then you are a fucking genius.
not true he just sucks
anyone with critical thinking knows that he sucks
if you are a fan of him you are 12 years old at max go read better fantasy books
only then will you have my respect
One more point is that he tried too hard to make it seem different from other fantasy novels. One example is the safehand thing. The explanation given is that what if a girl is flat chested, doesn't it looks same as a skinny guy, what if she went around topless? Dude, for girls breasts are obviously sexuals organs so modesty prompts the covering up like, how could Sanderson not know this? Is he a martian? So much time was wasted on the safehand, freehand bs. Also, the point you said about the book feeling repressed is gold!
I enjoyed your review, try to include more examples so that we know which scenes you're talking about. Just a suggestion.
Totally agree. I don’t get the massive hype around Sanderson AT ALL. IMO it’s garbage compared to other authors who are totally and sadly overlooked in the genre.
What would you recommend?
I tried so hard to get into this book. Just couldn't do it. The chapters are so short and disjointed it feels like whip lash bouncing back and forth. I don't want any main characters to die, but once I realized none of them are ever going to. The book just lost all suspense and drama. A bland forgettable story.
100% AGREED. The fact that it's so hard to find negative reviews should have been a red flag to me, but I ignored it because of the hype...and wow, what a disappointment.
Eh, I think that just means that you’re in the minority of people who don’t like this book 🤷♂️
This book is YA trash. World building is bad. Characters are straight out of a teen movie. Fantastical elements are just trash. Prose is 💩 and the geography just doesn't make sense. Modern fantasy trash
@@finnmyers7137 Or that it's over hyped. See it in video games all the time, movies too.
@@devinkipp4344 "No no, you just don't get it; Captain America: Civil War is *totally* the bestest, most awesomest _poignant_ political commentary ever created!"
This is two years old now, but I completely agree.
What is good is not popular and what is popular is not good.
My problem is the world building. It is the worst world I have ever come across. It makes no logical sense and is lazy and not thought out. I live in Florida and have been through many hurricanes including one that wrecked my house. It took a year to rebuild. There is no way any civilization could survive on this planet as described. Just shutting your little wooden medieval door on the storm isn’t going to save you. How are there cows and horses? Who is rounding them up and where are they putting them during storms? How do they eat when the grass is said to retract when walked on? Come on man! The trees pull in their leaves for storms. That’s cute, except the freaking trees themselves would snap like matchsticks and there would be no trees. There wouldn’t be regular animals. They would all have shells and carapaces and the people would be wearing those as clothes. How are there cotton and silk? How? It’s all so stupid and not thought through logically.
Thankyou. I needed this.As someone who agrees with you on basically every point, and as someone who enjoys classic literature, Do you have any recommendations within the fantasy genre? I felt like reading sanderson was just annoying because of the POVs of the characters lacking emotional maturity basically. I literally felt like I was reading a drama about high school teens. There was no depth, or intellect required to grasp the concept, and the whole time I’m reading, I’m wondering why the hell certain characters are even struggling with decisions. The same feeling you get when you watch a B rated Horror movie that’s overly predictable with the characters making dumb decisions. And learning obvious lessons. IVE ALREADY GROWN UP, I don’t need to witness 5 different characters doing it. Basically, Sanderson novels are not targeted toward the passionate book reader, but for the person who may pick up a few books a year. Someone who hasn’t read or felt what real literature can be capable of.
The fact that you had to cut the video for fear of a rabid Fandom says so much! I got 1 chapter in and put it down
Looks to me that you just don’t like hard magic systems. Your opinion is as valid as anyone else’s but i think you go way to far on some things, like saying that it is ‘ruining fantasy’ or classifying everyone that likes sanderson’s style as having ‘bad taste’, implying they ‘don’t read’ anything else and that they’re the ‘seccluded geeks that like superheroes’…
Idk, but to me it seems a spiteful review tbh
No, I do like hard magic systems, that was not the issue here. My issue was the author spent all his time and energy building that system and everything ended up feeling devoid of magic, not interesting. Never a sense of wonder with this one… It’s just not good enough in my opinion.
@@justjuanreader again, your opinion is valid, though i do not share it, but the other issues still stand
It’s even funny that the books themselves have comments from the likes Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss, whom you do recommend, praising the series
@@justjuanreader true, you are our messiah
sanderson is trash
@@justjuanreader And yet these systems ARE ones many find interesting. A lot of people don't like whimsical magic. To some it's a wonder. But to others it's random abandon that gives rise to convenience. And in WOK, the system is no less wondrous nor less interesting for being hard. It is still full of surprises discovering the clever ways it can be used as time goes on. And because it's hard, it's believable despite readers not having thought of those uses when they first learned of those systems ages ago.
My guy, I agree with absolutely everything. The spoonfeeding so idiots can read and feel smart and proud of themselves. And if you say that you think its stupid and juvenile, you're "pretentious".
In simple terms: There are 2 diff. ways to this even by Brandon Sanderson himself. What you are talk about is called: hard magic systems and not his creations but he is just the master of it (how his magic worked in Mistborn or here). His English is his own choice that it can be easy to read. Not that he couldn't be more "hard" or his skills are not there. The "soft" magic system (Hobbs) are also there, not "destroyed". What is now the BEST of epic fantasy even by most of the best read Brando fans?? And most of the booktubers out there? Malazan Book of the Fallen. How is the "epicness" there and the magic? Or the English? Nobody dare to say that this book is better.
Excelente reseña Juan! Y tan necesaria, no porque sea "negativa" no, sino porque es saludable que siga existiendo el contraste de opiniones.
Al respecto, me disculpo de antemano por escribir tan largo comentario (pero tu reseña no era corta precisamente, broma jejej); del autor he leído la primera era de los Nacidos de la Bruma y este y, aunque reconozco que disfruté de la lectura de todos esos libros, estoy de acuerdo en casi todos los puntos que planteas, y de hecho, creo que he llegado hasta aquí con Sanderson (al menos por ahora).
Los libros, malos malísimos no me parecen, pero son ligeros y de lectura muy ágil y accesible (vamos, pensados principalmente para un público juvenil, aunque esto no es excusa, ahí está el Hobbit de Tolkien que es un libro infantil y me parece tremendamente superior a cualquiera de estos).
Mi problema con Sanderson creo que pasa justamente porque ya dejé de ser ese público (principal) al cual van dirigidos sus libros, que quieren una historia entretenida sin quebraderos de cabeza y que no buscaban una prosa bellamente escrita; Sanderson es "funcional", te entrega todo "masticadito" digámoslo así, "esta es la historia y vamos al grano, que tengo que terminar 3 libros más esta tarde" jejej, hombre lo que tampoco me parece mal, cada uno verá cómo se gana el dinero, pero que no me salga después con su rollo del "Cosmere" y que todas sus historias estan entrelazadas (que a lo mejor sí), pero faltaría eso, que para ver la "película completa, tengo que leerme 35 libros del mismo señor, no, lo que ud. quiere es vender libros jejej, pero sí me molesta un poco cuando lo ponen al lado de grandes del género como Tolkien, Martin, Le Guin, Salvatore, Erikson, Hobb, etc., donde sí hay calidad literaria y sí puedes hallar una bella prosa en todos ellos (con diálogos memorables y reflexiones profundas incluso, y con textos que van desde las 80 a más de 1000 páginas, qué la extensión de un texto no es seguro de calidad de nada, pero hay autores que lo olvidan al parecer jejej).
Otro aspecto que pienso que no acabó nunca de convencerme de Sanderson fueron sus sistemas de magia "súperelaborados" e "hiperexplicados", que sí, que entretenidos e interesantes de leer (en el momento, después se te olvidan jejej), pero la verdad es que no creo que la magia en una historia de fantasía deba estar ultra justificada al punto de casi parecer "ciencia", no, es un mundo de fantasía, la magia es magia precisamente por algo, es mística, existe sólo en ese mundo ficticio "por algo", no sabes muy bien por qué o cómo funciona y eso está bien, pero bueno, por lo visto hay muchos que buscaban o esperaban desde hace un tiempo todo lo contrario, y creo que es también por eso que en general alaban tanto a Sanderson, porque en cierto sentido "renueva" un poco el género.
En fin, que la gente siga leyendo lo que le apetezca, que sigamos debatiendo y contrastando opiniones y sigamos todos disfrutando de la lectura que es un acto tan bello. Saludos Juan desde Latam! Y gracias por tus reseñas, son de calidad y, aunque no siempre puedo verlas, las disfruto mucho cuando lo hago :)
If you are a prospective reader, you can safely ignore this video. It doesn't even try to be fair. The creator has the right to his opinion, but even his examples are objectively poor. It's ridiculous to the point that I wasn't sure if he was intentionally being deceptive to try and be clever.
He literally said it was his opinion. What I wonder is why his negative opinion bothers you so much. This is exactly why people feel like they can't criticize Brian K. Sanderson. Because he has a cult full of people like you who attack anyone that does.
I agree and it dismays me a lot that this kind of writing is so popular.
It sounds like Sanderson might be approaching fantasy worldbuilding more like hard sci-fi…
What world building? He barely described the world in Mistborn. What did People eat? How did the society really work? What was inside Luthadel? Only noble castles and ashes falling from the sky? What else? What colour where the houses, what kind of businesses where there? Where there any animals? Nothing explained.
@@MrAelin Hard sci-fi cares a lot about how the physics work, and Sanderson cares a lot about how his magic systems (i.e., fictional or yet unknown physics) work.
While I had a more positive experience with this book than you did, I agree with many of your points. I wasn't completely put off by the time I finished, but to me it was overlong for the payoffs, rife with some very clunky prose, lacking in subtlety that would have made the characters better realized-way too reliant on dimensionless expository dialogue. Some of Sanderson's ideas can be quite cool, and after finishing I was tempted to pick up the next book to see where things might go, but when I caught wind of people claiming the later books in the series had pacing issues COMPARED to The Way of Kings I lost much interest in continuing... The Way of Kings already felt like a circuitous slog in parts, and I would have thought that issue would be ameliorated in later books that didn't bear the weight of so much introductory worldbuilding; that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe I'll continue some day, because there were things I did like about the book, but until then I've got so many books to read that for me pack more substance into a shorter page count.
Some other thoughts:
Sanderson's chosen method of character development is to have them think in circles around the same dynamics again, and again, and again. Admittedly, this sometimes works for me, and I am genuinely heartened to see how positively people have related to Kaladin's struggle with depression. I've since read Assassin's Apprentice and am in the middle of Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb though and the difference in nuance in character work feels like night and day. Hobb's characters do brush up against similar dynamics often, but those dynamics maintain their intrigue for two main reasons: the subtlety and depth with which they're presented, requiring more inference from the reader that makes me feel a much deeper relationship with the characters, and the way Hobb expertly twists and turns character relationships, casting familiar dynamics in new, unexpected lights and maintaining conflict and tension-not the conflict of sword swinging and bloodletting (well, not always) but tension arising from the deep interpersonal lives of people, the tension that arises between people in the natural course of living, enhanced by the so far beautifully experiential magic of Hobb's world. I really feel as though I've lived with these characters, and gotten to know them just as I would someone in my own life; Hobb's characterization feels that true to reality, and I could gush about her writing for quite a while.
Even action-oriented fantasy that's more analogous to Sanderson's work like Joe Abercrombie's The First Law series, which I've also begun reading in the months since I finished The Way of Kings, has wonderful character work by comparison in my opinion, as well as far more efficient and evocative prose, more thematic focus, and a greater sense of wonder to it, not to mention a far better sense of humor. So while I don't by any means hate Sanderson's work, and I do credit his Mistborn books with whetting my appetite for more fantasy a little over a year ago (I'd not been reading in the genre too much for a while), I'm a tad baffled at how highly lauded his work is after reading some more in the genre. It's not a bad introduction to more contemporary fantasy, at least it wasn't for me, and if people like it I disagree that it's indicative of bad taste by default, but even to a relative newcomer like myself-a lover of Tolkien who hadn't read much beyond that up until a year ago-it's evident Sanderson's work is far from the best fantasy has to offer. After reading Rothfuss and Jemisin and Le Guin and Abercrombie and Hobb and seeing just how much can be done in this genre, and with fewer words, I'm left feeling lukewarm at best by The Way of Kings.
Such an enriching analysis! Thank you so much, very thoughtful comment
Totally agree with the sentiment that Sanderson’s style has led to more juvenile fantasy, particularly the nerdy “science-like” magic systems.
I see it a lot with the LitRPG genre, which conceptually sounds like something that should be interesting. I mean… video games that are books! Sign me up. But all those books are sooooo crunchy with the exact numbers of the gaming/magic systems in the same way Brandon’s systems are. And there is a SUBSTANTIAL audience of readers looking for that. That saddens me because that’s the trend of writing right now and it’s not a type of writing style I’m much a fan of.
Sad indeed!
Damn didn't expect to see you here XD.
I read 4 Sanderson books....most overrated author everrrrr (my bro and gf love the author...i can't stand it)
Yeah, if this is modern fantasy, then fantasy is in a sorry state. I decided to check out what this whole modern fantasy fad is all about so I picked up mistborn. What a complete waste of my time.
There’s nothing magical about the magic in these books. The “world” just has an alternate physics system, but why should I be interested in that? The physics of the real world is interesting enough.
What’s interesting about a character burning an element in their stomach to unlock an ability on their video game skill tree? That’s just so random. Thematically, why does this world have this “magic” system as opposed to one of the many others devised by Sanderson in his other novels? What’s the meaning behind it?
Preach! 100% agreed, sanderson is for people with no taste!
I like this review and appreciate your opinions, however, I’m gonna have to disagree. My personal philosophy on reading and literature is to read to enjoy, I don’t analyse the text, think deep about things, I just read along and enjoy the ride. I think that maybe that was why I liked this book, because it is a fun story to read, with cool characters. I know some people don’t like Shallan but her humour is like mine so I love her. Dalinar is a hidden gem! Just my thoughts
One doesn't have to analyze his writing to know it's grating, repetitive, robot-like with no nuance. Sanderson treats his readers as if they're stupid by constantly explaining, over explaining, preaching, and repeating throughout the books. I guess if you enjoy that, more power to you.
I thought it was just me because people put Sanderson on a godlike pedestal. I read about 100 pages from the named book, and I could not for the life of me continue reading for the same reasons you mention here. It's fantasy being dumbed down, and I think he is doing it on purpose because he is knowledgeable in the science of writing.
I get the impression that you are a reader but not a writer, although you are very good with words. The way you express your opinions in this video really gets across. I wonder if you've ever thought of being a writer yourself? I'm a fantasy writer (also a writer of non-fiction), but I can't express myself verbally as well as you do. That could be the answer: You can express yourself verbally, and I can express myself in writing. I'm still curious about why you are not writing (or perhaps you are).
I find Sanderson doesn't write magic. He writes codified systems that people call magic for some reason.
This is accurate
If The Way of Kings is a bad fantasy book, I’m scared/confused by what would be considered a good one… What is your favorite fantasy book/series?
I get the feeling he is a Cormac McCarthy fan
@ I could see it 😆
i was trying to find some good book after years waiting for “the doors of stone” from patrick rothfuss, i blind bought this one after so many ppl saying it was good and etc… damn this book is so bad hahaha i mean i just started reading first 100 pages and i already feel like it’s so poor writing, the “projection” magic and etc feels so bad and idk… after reading rothfuss this feels like lacking soooo much… the writing is so simple and weird… i swear bro, bad pick by me…
I’m coming back to this after the onslaught of negative video reviews Brandon Sanderson is getting for Wind and Truth 😅 you were ahead of your time. It’s not shocking that book 5 has amazing ratings 4.5 on goodreads. Only the superfans are reading the book..still that’s 20-30k people who like the book that much 😅
He's an atrocious writer. In one of the books a character "sets his jaw" every time he speaks. I read "set his jaw" at least two hundred times, as if he literally copied and pasted it.
I don't understand why any editor gives the nod to him.
I think my big problem with Brandon Sanderson's worldbuilding is that it almost makes too much sense. He clearly puts so much thought into adding worldbuilding elements and histories that all fit together super neatly, but it's almost too neat.
For example, in Way of Kings, it seems that basically everything is directly tied to the high storms-the way cities are built, the way plants have evolved, etc etc. However, reality rarely makes so much sense. Even though evolution of life and culture on earth obviously is affected by geographic and climate patterns, it's not like the relationship between climate and plants or cities is readily obvious all the time. I associate palm trees with warm weather and beaches, but unless I Googled it, I wouldn't know why palm is best suited for this environment. Likewise, I associate bright domed roofs with Arabian Deserts and the Middle East, but I have no idea why mosques and other common structures in this region tend to have domed roofs.
Brandon Sanderson just doesn't seem to get that, for a world to feel truly immersive, some things can't be so easily explained. There can be an explanation in existence, but it shouldn't be so obvious to everyone. When such a clear line can be drawn between the high storms and (almost) every other piece of worldbuilding, it just makes the world seem kind of hollow. I get the high storms are really cataclysmic, the kind of thing that would have a huge impact on everything, but I don't always want to be able to understand that impact.
@@TeamCarbos sanderon sucks
if you are a fan of him you are 12 years old go get a life and read some good fantasy books
What are your thoughts on Malazan Book of the Fallen?
Better than LotR. Greatest series ever made.
Excellent series. But I have to disagree with team Carbos. Nothing is better than the Lord of the rings. Its charm, its depth, its characterizations, to me make it the finest fantasy series ever written. In my opinion, only Game of Thrones comes close.
@@wadoman699 malazan is clearly better than lotr, nostalgia merchant is crazy.
@@cesarkarim3352 no, nothing is better than LOTR, not because it is perfect, but because it is the work that marked the entire genre
@@angeld3085 I agree that lotr is the greatest but the best fantasy series is without a doubt malazan.
Sanderson fans want to consume things that are popular that they can post about on social media or make "notice me" reviews on goodreads where it's almost like a virtue signal to like something popular. Then it becomes a snowball effect. It's a real shame. People just don't have the reading comprehension or attention span for more advanced material. These are marketed toward the widest audience. Also, the female audience is huge, which controls the fantasy genre on the publishing level.
🙌🏻
Don't insult us, women. I can't stand Sanderson.I love Rothfuss, Hobb. It's usually men I've seen that love, love, LOVE Sanderson and yet those men insult Rothfuss. Clearly some people just have bad taste.
@@juliall255 Rothfuss is overrated
@@cesarkarim3352 is exhibit A
@@juliall255 No, he isn't, he is good but there are much better authors like steven erikson, martin, joe abercrombie, etc.
Finally a review that I agree with. It's astonishing how popular Stormlight is and people consider it the "PINNACLE" of modern fantasy when in reality at it's best is a juvenile attempt at telling an epic story that's get lost in it's own world building. Sanderson seems less like a author who wants to tell a meaningful story he honestly just wants to create a magical fantasy world but fails miserably at that as well by over explaining his own magic to the point of it feeling more like science and less magic.
I know! It’s ridiculous!
The worst part is that he creates the exact same type of world every time-a desolate world where the dark lord won-and he thinks this repetition makes him an untouchable genius.
I think he's just incapable of coming up with anything else, so he hides behind his worldbuilding to make you think he put any thought into anything worthwhile.
@@justjuanreader you didnt read any of his books. I am not a brainless fanatic, i love his books but i obviously know they are not perfect, nothing Is perfect. But your comment is clearly a clue that you just read the first book of Mistborn, and maybe some of the way of kings.
@@finncripp1473 I wish you were right!! My mind would have suffered a bit less! But no.
I have read 6 of his books and they're the most overhyped fantasy books ever, all were average.
I will never read Sanderson - i know he is not my taste. Have you read any Guy Gavriel Kay? I feel like he'd be right up your alley in terms of magnificent prose. Not to mention aggression, complexity, sexuality. Tigana was great, to me. & a great place to start.
I am reading my first Kay this year! It’s going to be “Sailing to Sarantium”. Any other recommendations? 🙏🏻
@@justjuanreader awesome, hope you enjoy! I am either going to read Sailing to Sarantium or Lions of Al-Rassan this summer, haven't yet decided! I've only read Tigana by GGK so far but i plan to go through all his classic/most highly rated novels. Tigana was masterfully written.
I agree with you, and I truly honestly can't see how people think it is the greatest book ever written. I just finished it, every review said the ending was amazing, and I really disagree lol.
The most accurate review video of Sanderson I've ever watched. Subscribed.
Oh god, you literally took the words out of my mouth. I thought I was the only person who found these books very mediocre and actually kind of bad, lol.
People should drop this ASAP and just go pick up the Earthsea Trio logy instead.
I need to pick Earthsea up now!!!! ☝🏻
I’m wondering, did you go into it knowing it was sci-fi fantasy instead of classical fantasy? I probably would have felt similarly to you in a lot of ways if I went into it expecting typical magical fantasy instead!
Oh I did expect a classic fantasy story, if I knew it was scifi fantasy I'd have not read it cuz I don't like that genre unfortunately :/
Wish I knew that sooner.
Even if that were the case, That’s not the issue.
Thank you thank you THANK YOUUUUU
I just hope that Sanderson's overratedness and his very, very racially "complicated" stories will eventually collapse like a Jenga tower. But I feel like his core fans (who can be safely simplified as just white male redditors) will always stay with him no matter what.
And I wouldn't even be upset at this if he wasn't the most "successful" fantasy author of today. Where he goes, the "fantasy meta" will follow because publishers and editors will follow the money. And he's GETTING money. He's already big enough that he is publishing 1000+ page books that really only have 200/3'00 pages of content without any editor or publisher saying no, but now he's trying to self publish? And people actually pay him so much he gets the biggest, most successful kickstarter campaign ever. Why? He can already get anything he likes published!!
The man writes books from excel spreadsheets. No characterization, shallow and senseless worldbuilding. His morals are blasé mormonism, so scared to offend and blaspheme that characters don't act human and emotions come out as artificial (or actual nonexistent, most of the time). His plots are also 1 for 1 taken from mormonism stories or tropes, the finaly of Mistborn book 3 is literally from the Book of Mormon.
his fans are the types of kids who were the teachers pet in high school and are afraid to cuss even tho they are in their 20's now 😂😭
"the man writes books from excel spreadsheets"
LMFAOOOO this shit had me dying of laughter hahaha its so true
"Racially complicated stories" what makes his stories racially complicated?
@@jamalnelson2793 I think I used the wrong term. In truth I think his take on race is overly simplistic, and that what is complicated is my thoughts on his overuse of that plot device and its recurrently poor execution.
I can't really explain why without going into spoilers. So, Spoilers for the Mistborn trilogy below:
One big issue I have is in the Mistborn trilogy. We're told the word homogenized over the thousands of years of the Lord Ruler's rule, and that only one group - The Terris - managed to cling to its unique cultural identity, and they're the only ones that are inherently racialized. They have a different skin colour and facial features that sets them apart, which separates them physically and "ethnically" from the rest of the humans on this world as the nobles and the skaa bear so little physical differences that you can dress one as the other and no one notices.
The Terris are also the most persecuted group of people in the entire story, by far. They're subject to a thousand years of rape, slavery, and genocidal "breeding programs". All throughout the first book, the Terris are perhaps the most overhanded of all the reasons the readers are given to hate the Lord Ruler, and definitely one of the biggest factors to argue for his "irredeemability".
So of course, the plot twist at the end of book 1 is that the Lord Ruler is a Terrisman himself. Meaning that all that narrative weight behind this guy being some kind of super hitler mixed with satan that hates minorities and will rule through authoritarianism? Turns out he's also a part of that minority, and the weight of this reveal is NEVER properly handled in the book at all. The only part that is important to this reveal is the knowledge that the Lord Ruler's power comes from the combination of Feruchemy and Allomancy. We get maybe passing mention of how awful it is that a terrisman is responsible for the genocide of the Terris people, but that's it.
Imagine if someone had their bad guy be magic satanic hitler. Imagine if, through the entirety of the first book, we hear accounts of how Magic Satanic Hitler is persecuting and killing off jews, and queer and disabled people. Now imagine if at the end of book 1, Magic Satanic Hitler is defeated with the knowledge that he too was actually jew, queer, and disabled. You don't think this is tone deaf?
And I'm not even going to get started on his use of chattel slavery on his two biggest books, and how they are given much more thought and world importance than the majority of his very shallow worldbuilding.
It's just very suspicious and unpleasant, to say the absolute least
It seems like nobody hates this book !? & I was like are we reading the same book ?! Bcs this shit is awful.
Anyways, I really appreciate your review
true, sanderson's books are shit
if anyone is a fan of him they are 12 years old at max they should go get a life and read better fantasy books
Can't say that I would agree to 100% of what you said, but I think there were some things that needed to be said and I'm glad that at least one review like this exists :)