Is his books worth checking out or is it all hype?
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I keep hearing he's the moder JRR Tolkien
Is his books worth checking out or is it all hype?
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No.
He's the Stephen King of fantasy. Honestly even GRRM is closer to Tolkien.
That’s a bit disrespectful to Stephen King. Stephen King was absolutely massive during his time and the movie adaptations of his work will ensure he isn’t forgotten. While 75% of what he wrote is utter shite we should give him some respect. Definitely part of the American canon. Sanderson, on the other hand, has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I have no idea why his readership is so big. I’ve read that his finishing of a Wheel of Time was quite controversial so it cannot be from that. I think the genre is just so bereft of any quality that mediocrity comes to be celebrated.
If you read a big fantasy series for the same characters doing action shlock over and over then he gets the job done.
His writing is functional, in my opinion his only glaring flaw is only developing characters at designated character development chapters. All the characters read like they're all dealing with their own problems too much to barely look at each other or figure each other out.
Stephen King is literally only known because of his movie adaptations and because he got in on the ground floor of the airport novel movement. Also Sanderson is way bigger than you're giving him credit for even if he hasn't really gotten a huge movie adaptation treatment outside of the shitty Wheel of Time show.
The circumstances between King and Sanderson are different but the fundamental comparison is still pretty apt.
>Stephen King is literally only known because of his movie adaptations and because he got in on the ground floor of the airport novel movement.
That’s not true. He wrote for a generation in which they still read but their tastes started to become more juvenile and unrefined, a critical juncture. He filled that role. Certainly, the multiple adaptations of his work helped his rise to prominence but to say his popularity is down to the ‘airport novel movement’ is false. He was genuinely a widely read author during his time in his own right whose readership wasn’t just fantasy nerds, though he did have a successful fantasy series too.
>Also Sanderson is way bigger than you're giving him credit for even if he hasn't really gotten a huge movie adaptation treatment outside of the shitty Wheel of Time show.
No he isn’t. I don’t think you realise how famous Stephen King was in his day. Only fantasy readers know about Sanderson. Reading is no longer a pastime most people partake in and therefore authors are left serving niches with little overlap. This cannot be said for Stephen King. He had a universal appeal. Also, Sanderson is highly unlikely to find success in adaptations.
>The circumstances between King and Sanderson are different but the fundamental comparison is still pretty apt.
It’s not apt at all. One guy was ‘that author’ every piece of media would reference for two decades. The books kids would swarm to when they were forced to read. There were entire episodes in sitcoms like Friends or Cheers dedicated to him. That would never happen with Sanderson.
>>Also Sanderson is way bigger than you're giving him credit for even if he hasn't really gotten a huge movie adaptation treatment outside of the shitty Wheel of Time show.
>No he isn’t. I don’t think you realise how famous Stephen King was in his day. Only fantasy readers know about Sanderson. Reading is no longer a pastime most people partake in and therefore authors are left serving niches with little overlap. This cannot be said for Stephen King. He had a universal appeal. Also, Sanderson is highly unlikely to find success in adaptations.
Definitely bigger than you give him credit for.
Those are popularity among niche hobby numbers. Very weird to me that zoomies aren‘t aware of King having almost universal name recognition in the US at the turn of the millennium (which was still probably after his peak) and are unable to conceptualize what that would mean if put to a similar quantitative test.
>Those are popularity among niche hobby numbers.
$42 mil in a month is a bit beyond
niche hobby numbers"
He writes the slop of Fantasy. It’s not good, at best mediocre while maintaining a passable facade. While he doesn’t write all that well he writes a lot, and that’s why he keeps winning. Despite people shitting on him here GRRM is actually an example of a good fantasy author. Compare Brando and Gerg and you’ll see it’s night and day. But for the love of God. Don’t compare either to Tolkien
Yeah I agree. GRRM has all the right qualities to be a good fantasy author despite some of his moronic statements.
He has some great qualities which are not redeemed by the bad. Those moronic statements perfectly illustrate why his life's work has come to nothing.
>moronic statements
Is this about the tax policy bit?
Fricking lit is still not over the taxes meme
I remember a post about getting disillusioned with his writing, because every sentence served either plot, character development or world building and the anon could feel the artifice.
That's true, but I find myself being able to look past the artifice and get the story he's trying to share which I do find interesting and meaningful.
I feel like that's tolerable for this kind of novel scale and the kind of stories you can get from it.
This is accurate, if a little strict on Brandon
He is reddit personified
He's the modern Tolkien in that he's raising the next generation of insufferable manchildren.
>I keep hearing he's the moder JRR Tolkien
no you didn't
>he's the moder JRR Tolkien
Does anyone actually say this outside of his marketing department at Tor? Most of the actual discussion of his books seems to boil down to "they're kinda long and kinda basic"
Is this Dwight Schrute from The Office? Who is he?
I want to give him a chance because of that shit wired article but it seems he just write fantasy shlock for undiscerning fantasy fans
From what I've heard he's great at developing magic systems and worldbuilding, but his character writing and plotting is fine/functional but not extraordinary.
From what I've heard his worldbuilding and magic systems are great, but his character writing and plotting is functional/fine but not extraordinary. He is far better than the romance shlock dominating modern sci fi and fantasy
Pardon for the repetition. That said a lot of the sci fi books I read (I am more into that) are good at worldbuilding (and for hard sci fi speculative or actual science as well) but the characters are generally fine at best and the plots are best when exploring the concepts/world and not in regards to characters. The first Ringworld and Rendezvous with Rama are examples of that
he makes pseudos here seethe endlessly, so obviously yes he is worth all the hype
just from looking at the guy and knowing he's mormon i don't even want to know what kind of hellgrease he has hidden on his computer
It was nice of him to finish wheel of time so that I could experience what it would feel like to get a lobotomy. He writes the book equivalent of marvel movies. Good pacing and story structure though. Magic systems are all rules based drivel that read like someone summarizing an intro to physics book instead of anything actually interesting. Definitely not a modern Tolkien.
Stormlight Archive is decent. If you really want to read some good fantasy then get into Gene Wolfe. The Book of the New Sun shits all over most modern fantasy. Sanderson is the only serviceable in the field of fantasy in the 21st century for someone who didn't write for the previous century.
I tried reading Mistborn with the free sample they give. One chapter was enough to determine I strongly dislike it. Tried again later on and read two chapters and it was not worth it. The whole thing about Sanderson's prose being "intentionally simple" is fine in theory but it's insulting and boring to read. The praise he gets is baffling because his writing is so mechanical and bland. I really can't imagine anyone beyond a high school reading level enjoying his work seriously.
Its interesting reading all the comments from people that haven't finished a single one of his books.
I have finished all of Mistborn era 1 and I am now working my way through Stormlight Archives. I'm only on the first book though.
So far Stomrlight feels very different from Mistborn.
Mistborn was a good introduction into his writing style. At times I really liked it, at others I was just waiting for the next chapter to arrive so I could move past a specific characters viewpoint that was clearly a filler chapter.
As a long time Tabletop game master and a novice writer, I can see and feel where all his structure and guide rails are. At first it was annoying, but now I'm just invested in the setting of the Cosmere. Because everything relates back to that and a lot of newcomers don't get exposed to it at all (at least not until Hero of Ages). And that is a shame, because it is interesting.
I don't like how smug he is about people not figuring things out. I don't understand how slow those people must be, but I see 90% of the 'twists' coming.
His books are like popcorn, you shovel several chapters down and it was alright, but maybe if you keep going you might just feel satisfied.
But he is one of the most prolific fantasy authors of the current time and he is bringing many people back to reading fantasy. Which is pretty cool.
I have also watched a lot of his lectures, but its just mainly him thinking he's found the 'secret sauce' to writing fantasy. Full stop. And THAT is pretty cringe.
Despite all this, I am still enjoying it enough to try and make it through the Stormlight Archives.
Yeah, I could never understand people not being able to figure out his simple plots. I’ve been told Stormlight Archives is a hard read. It’s written at a seventh grader level at most.
I enjoy Stormlight Archive though.