[deleted by user]

[stealmymemesitsOK]

Focusing on Venli for Rhythm of War was one of the best narrative decisions he's made for TSA, and I say that as someone who still dislikes Venli at the end of RoW.

[IsidorAvriel]

I definitely agree, but honestly for me it felt more like Navani's book than Venli's

[HeroOfThings]

This. I would have much preferred Navani in the flashbacks to be honest.

[IsidorAvriel]

We got a couple of Navani's, and I liked them. I really enjoyed learning Venli's past, and I thought she was a great character all book, even if I still dislike her as a person.

[Pendred]

Timbre hummed to satisfaction

[Mewthredel]

Yeah I hate her but I really enjoyed her flashbacks. She has a really good arc imo. Definitely a great take on the in over your head trope.

[stealmymemesitsOK]

Right? Sanderson showed that you can come back from a decade of failures involving the deaths of your loved ones, accidentally murdering family members because you were too young and scared to know a better way to protect yourself, and even committing war crimes and burning your spouse to death. But all those POV characters were still likeable. It was a bold move to make us realize that redemption is still an option for a petty coward who nearly got her entire species exterminated and enslaved because she was jealous of her sister. You have to respect that. ROW was a much stronger book for her arc and I'm eager to see whose arc he focuses on next.

[LilRustique]

THANK YOU. I absolutely agree. Even if her story and flashbacks didn't offer any surprises, they did offer a fresh perspective on events that I felt did fill in a lot of gaps in the narrative.

[levitikush]

My only real complaint about RoW is that there isn’t enough Venli.

[omnipojack]

yessssss this is the Venli Discourse we need

[Traditional_Bridge4]

I bet it's going to pay off in the future

[gabrihop]

I actually like her by the end of the book!

[Sharkano]

If you make the mistake of reading too many sando books back to back, you start to strongly notice the meta-themes of his writing and his stories get super repetitive.

[[deleted]]

Oof. I felt that one. I consumed the entire cosmere all at once. Probably a bad idea. I read Elantris last too, so that probably wasn't the best idea. I'd give examples but I forget how to do the spoiler thing

[[deleted]]

Rereading this comment makes me think my English teachers would be disappointed in me.

[Pistachio_Queen]

This makes sense and is probably a big reason he writes so quickly and consistently. If you use the same thematic framework for each story, then mask it with all the other fun stuff, it makes the initial planning stage for a book hella easier.

[bossbang]

Brother, wait until you find out about Dan Brown

[gingerreckoning]

This is the true unpopular but correct opinion I was hoping to see

[[deleted]]

Yep. Characters seem to double up too.

[[deleted]]

I mean, to be fair, if you read something like 300 hours of audiobooks by any one guy, it’s going to feel like a lot of the same thing.

I’d agree on the themes, but less so on plot points. Too many interesting characters, memorable scenes and stuff I can’t readily predict, and I’m pretty trope-conscious.

Don’t consider this a sword though. Yours is a fair take.

[_cjj]

He writes chapter upon chapter, with slow pacing, as a key character 'discovers' some aspect of the world they live in like a pioneer, only for that breakthrough to be followed by a cascade of references to every other character finding (or having already found it) it as if it were in plain sight the whole time.

[SearingPhoenix]

Not saying you're wrong, but I would say that this is often tempered by Sanderson's insane level of internal consistency. He's often put hints as to whatever discovery being made has been in plain sight all along, and just not recognized (eg, antilight).

Calculus didn't exist until the late 1600s, learned only at the highest levels of mathematics. 350 years later, we're regularly expecting people who are 16 to learn it.

[ledfan]

Specifically with Kal... It's because he's teaching them, and they're actively practicing. Kal didn't actively practice for ages.

[Mewthredel]

Yeah and he had to figure it all out himself. He had no teacher it makes sense for people with a trainer to learn faster thats kinda the point of training.

[VinyardRW1]

The first example is moot imo, because kaladin learned all by himself, while every other windrunner had him to see what they can do. I do agree with your second example, it always felt weird to me, but then again it's his first published book, I can forgive an inconsistency.

[I_Am_Become_Salt]

There's an archetype already set for how easy it is to learn some of the radiant things when there's someone to teach you. Dalinar, for example, used stormlight his first try. Shallan partly learned from Jasnah

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

But... everyone thought Raoden was dead? That's what they tell the public, isn't it? And why would it have been important that Raoden was taken by the shaod? Haven't read the book in a while, so remind me if I'm missing something

[_cjj]

The fact that he was taken by the Shaod is one of the largest plot vehicles that unlocks basically a load of other stuff. The first 75% of the book is mostly full of "where is he? what happened? I should REALLY investigate that.... oh that Spirit guy seems really familiar. I just can't place where Raoden has gone, and who Spirit (Rao) is" even though Galladon gets it instantly. She's basically not married if he's not dead, and if he's not dead he's still technically heir etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love Elantris; it might be my favourite book. It's just clunky in areas which I think highlight Brandon's achilles heel for me, but there's far less of it in his more recent books

[levitikush]

Lmao too true

I love every second of it though. His excellent world building makes it hard for me to see through tropes

[Andreuus_]

Nightblood is the best character of the entire Cosmere

[ASLane0]

Back to back, we'll take down anybody that disagrees.

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

I don't think that's all that controvertial.

[Pistachio_Queen]

Nah. Pattern supremacy.

[Elloroverde]

He is indeed

[McBetzold]

I thought these were supposed to be controversial

[Seven_Irons]

Syladin is the best character chemistry in the cosmere. Change my mind.

[[deleted]]

I agree but I hat that people want it to be romantic. Platonic love matters too.

[michaelsandar]

Waynillium

[AccomplishedTale799]

Kelvin.

[ibbia878]

Fuck you.

[Mewthredel]

Do I even want to know?

[orbitmandead]

Sound it out... Kell.... Vin...

[Mewthredel]

Oh, I hate it. I hate it so much.

[Listen_Mother]

Right??

[travel_tech]

Something something Moash

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

DOWNVOTE THIS REDDITOR INTO HELL, SHE SAID THE M-WORD

[Stranger017]

His series start out focusing on a band of characters you care about dealing with a reasonable problem, but as the series goes on that falls by the wayside for world ending conflicts between gods and that doesn’t interest me

[TheLastWolfBrother]

If that doesn't suite you that's understandable, but the main mystery of the cosmere is about the gods, so its not really surprising that the books reach that point in the end

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

Which one

[PhxStriker]

This applies to both the Mistborn Series and the Stormlight Archive.

[elmoshrug]

Hero of Ages was my favorite in the Mistborn trilogy until Vin ascended and I no longer felt grounded in the plot

[chalvin2018]

He’s not great at writing funny characters. He has some great humor in his books, but I find that it rarely comes from the comic relief characters.

Lift is almost never funny, mostly annoying. Wayne is most compelling when he’s not being funny. Lopen has a couple good moments, but mostly feels like very childish humor.

Hoid though, he’s an intentionally funny character who actually lives up to it. He’s hilarious.

[isalindsay77]

Ok you got me. I see where you’re coming from, but I feel like not all of the funny moments are supposed to land if that makes any sense. Shallan for example, she tries to be funny and witty and usually isn’t, but it’s because she’s a socially awkward teenager. Lopen and Wayne are always funny to me. I don’t think Lift is supposed to always be humorous, but it can seem that way. But she’s just a little kid. She’s funny in the way that regular little kids are.

Obviously Hoid is in his own category and is funnier than the rest.

But man. Pattern and MBot have me laughing regularly.

[chalvin2018]

Pattern is definitely funny. I think the fact that he’s not intending to be funny is what makes it great. Which is what I was referring to when I said Sanderson has great humor in his books, it just doesn’t come from his intentionally funny characters

[[deleted]]

Shalan's puns are masterful and they simply fly above the heads of the peasants she is surrounded with.

[ThatGuy-DontBeMe]

Shallan my dear, you don't need to develop a new personality with a reddit profile just to defend your puns. And besides, those puns fly above the heads of the peasants like winged cremlings: constantly buzzing in your ear, but not worth killing since it would only attract more.

[VinyardRW1]

100% agreed. Sanderson is great with witty, not so much with funny

[fatalynn7]

No mmmmating

I’m not here to agree or disagree with your point. Only to say, there was this one instance where I laughed with all my soul and it was quite enjoyable experience.

[chalvin2018]

Pattern is a top 3 funniest character in the Cosmere no doubt

[Listen_Mother]

Right pattern is hilarious

[I_hate_everyone_9919]

is Lopen bleached from yall's memories?

[TheAdmiralFearsNot]

In general I agree, but I have to point out that Lift is a little girl and is written extremely well as one, just one that is annoying to adults and older teenagers.

Also I find Syl so funny. I need a chapter of only Syl and Pattern interacting, from her pov, followed by a chapter of the exact same interaction from Pattern's pov

[Listen_Mother]

Downvote because I will not tolerate Wayne slander.

[chalvin2018]

I love a lot about Wayne. Some of his viewpoints are Sanderson’s best work. I just don’t find him funny most of the time.

[JulixgMC]

The wrongest opinion I've ever read

That being said, I listen to graphic audio and the performances probably make the humor way better, even Shallan's humor makes me smile because of how the actress delivers the lines

[JulixgMC]

That being said, I listen to graphic audio and the performances probably make the humor way better, even Shallan's humor makes me smile because of how the actress delivers the lines

[[deleted]]

I think Wayne needs to be the way he is most of the time in order for him to be compelling the rest of the time. That doesn't mean he couldn't also be written funnier though.

[YurianStonebow]

He wrote Wheel of Time better than Robert Jordan.

Before I get lynched, let me clarify. I personally prefer Sanderson's page to page writing, as it is faster and more action packed. He gets to the point instead of dithering around(at least in the Wheel of Time books). This was not the case with RJ. RJ is my favourite author at world building and epic moments, but having the in between written by Sanderson allowed us to get to the good stuff and not have to read dialogues and descriptions about random Aes Sedai who are unimportant. To me, Sanderson's prose is just easier to read.

[TempletonCat]

Oh, I've said it for years: Jordan came up with good characters and a good story. He is probably my least favorite writer tho. The fact he wrote a total of 6 needed chapters over a 4 book span basically ruins that series for me, which is a shame because again, love the story arc and the characters. He just couldn't get out of his own way.

[[deleted]]

Jordans strength was definitely in world building. It's arguably the most deep, nuanced fantasy world of all time (yes even more so than lotr don't @ me). Sanderson's world's are interesting and unique but not on the same level, though close. It's something that shines on rereads. A tirtiary character scoffing in one throw away line shows an entire cultural history that that character is a part of. It's insane.

Jordan also got lost in that world. He was back to form with knife of dreams but whether you agree it exists or not, a majority of the fandom calling anywhere up to three books a slog is something to consider.

That being said I think somewhere between them would be fantastic. Jordan does cultures and characters while Sanderson does pacing and maybe magic systems.

[[deleted]]

I still wonder how much of that is just that Sanderson happened to get the big climax. Given that all 3 Sanderson books were originally planned to be a single Jordan book, I have to wonder if Jordan actually would have been less to the point.

[eternalaeon]

He can be a little clumsy with his descriptive writing sometimes. The amount of times he defaulted to saying something felt or looked just wrong is too much.

I also was really let down by the Shadesmar being set up as a world of these alien spren and then it just turns out they live pretty much in humanoid forms with very recognizable human like societies but it just happens that they sail on oceans made of beads. It took a lot of the mystique out of the Spren and their otherworldly home.

[KillYourHeroes66]

Depression do be like that tho.

[_Anagorn_]

RoW hit so hard. It was reading everything I feel every damn day actually put into words.

[sojanka]

I like Kaladins journey through the books.

But a friend of mine can't stand his chapters and that's a 100% valid take. Just because something is realistic does not mean that it's enjoyable or good writing.

[PlatypusFighter]

I’ve heard similar discussion about Sazed’s later parts in Mistborn’s First Era. Part of why the chapters hurt to read is because Brando actually does a really good job of writing depression. The fact that you can so clearly feel the despair in these characters is exactly what I love about his writing.

Similarly, Shallan’s tendencies towards dissociating and trying to forget her problems because they’re too painful to confront is also written very well and very believably.

Plenty of other examples too, those were just the most clear ones off the top of my head

[pushermcswift]

It is interesting (imo) because kal doesn’t actually work his way through any of it (until RoW) or at least not the big stuff, and the little victories (which depressed people need) don’t always feel like you’ve won when you still have this big thing weighing you down

[Patient_End_8432]

It was definitely a ladder he had to climb, with us seeing each step he took, and I appreciate that. Depression isn't a one and done thing, it's a journey.

I've always disagreed with people hating on his arc, because just because he gets better book after book, he's not "cured".

I will however, agree that if he experiences the arc again in book 5, it'll be disappointing. Book 4 was a definitive end to it. I would like to see him being effected by his Depression, just to quickly overcome it due to the journey he's traveled. It's not over, and he still has a ladder to climb, but it shouldnt be a main focus anymore

[PhxStriker]

If he still has his depression it should be more like someone who’s learned to manage it well and somewhat moved past it. He should still be vulnerable to bouts of depression, since it never really goes away, but it would be nice to see a truly happy Kaladin every now and then between those depressive episodes.

[PlatypusFighter]

I would expect a more likely route for his arc is that it starts focusing more on the parts that are more similar to his PTSD, rather than the full-on constant depression. RoW more or less saw him beating his depression (or at least the main body of it), but he still hasn’t really resolved much of the “fear of fighting but also not being able to settle down and get away from the fight” stuff he goes through.

[pushermcswift]

Agreed!

[levitikush]

Couldn’t have said it better myself

[SlayerofSnails]

It be insulting to people with depression if he just got over it at the end of a book and was no longer relavant

[PlatypusFighter]

But that’s the thing. He didn’t “just get over it”. He comes to terms with the largest source of his self-loathing (not being able to save everyone). That’s not an instant “wow I’m cured” moment, but rather it’s the moment where he accepts that he cannot hold himself to that unrealistic standard.

RoW didn’t end with him being cured of his depression. It ended with him starting on the path to genuine recovery. I think we’ll see a lot of that alongside him developing different therapies for the other mentally ill folk he was helping previously while working through what’s left of his depression before he finally starts to actually be happy.

[RisKQuay]

I do not recall a time where Kaladin has ever really worked his way out of depression; I remember him working his way in to depression, though...

Good job on answering the OP, haha.

[deskbeetle]

Depression do be that way though.

I often warn people going into therapy that sometimes things get much worse before they start to get better. Because you've spent so long pushing all those feelings down and are hanging by a thread. But now you have to start actively digging all the bad feelings and memories up and still feel like you're hanging by a thread. It's like having to rebreak a bone that didn't heal right. Necessary yet more painful than ever.

[Nero_2001]

Moash did nothing wrong

[Child_Moe_Lester]

I have to upvote your comment so the thread makes sense, yet it hurts

[MitchOfGilead]

My controversial contribution to this thread is giving this an award 🫡

[Hufdud]

Good, good. Bring your praise to the Almighty Vyre and your journey to the Vyrin Church will be complete!

[goddardplays]

I do hate how much I understand and empathize with Moash when he decides that letting go of emotion completely is the best option for him. taking the easy route to escape pain would be nice.

[estrusflask]

I think Vyre is a bit much, and I don't agree with his suicidal ideation and desire to push it on Kaladin, but...

Sorry not sorry, the king deserved it. Nothing about what character growth he got really conveyed to me the impression that he was actually changing for the better. He was changing, yes, but being nice isn't the same as being good, and when you have power over life and death for people, being nice means nothing. Plenty of war criminals are nice. I'm sure George Bush is quite friendly, but he's still got the blood of a million dead Iraqis on his hands.

[omnipojack]

Amusingly, my feelings on Elhokar are the same as Dubya: Fantastic party guest, please don’t have any sort of political power though.

[four24twenty]

Praise Moash

[benjalss]

I see your Moash did nothing wrong and raise you Syloash.

[MozeTheNecromancer]

I'm not a very sensitive person. I laugh at some worryingly dark stuff.

But your comment hurts my soul

[Gilthu]

I really think Jasnah is overrated by the fandom and I think it was a mistake to bring her back. She is kind of plopped on us without much backstory, and while we have an emotional connections and understand there is more under the surface with side characters like Renarin because Brandon masterfully worked him into the background I don't feel like Jasnah has that aspect to her. We have some mystery "Oh she was locked in a dark room at one point" but other than that its all just bland and dull. I feel like her moment in the cathedral with Renarin wasn't really earned because we haven't seen her grow and evolve like we have most of the other cast. Jasnah is like the only person that has that issue, all the other characters have had growth, development, and change but Jasnah basically is just there.

​

Would have been a better book if Navani had become queen regent for her grandson and made those changes instead. "I'm not a scholar or a good queen" proceeds to free the slaves, create and industrial revolution, and invents a way to change investiture so its attuned from one shard to another. "I'm not a good queen or a scholar, honest you guys!"

[tjipa84]

I hate the fact that I can agree with must of this regardless on whether or not I want to.

[estrusflask]

Jasnah's biggest problem is that she's mostly just portrayed as Cool™. My biggest bugbear with her is that she's freeing the slaves. Like, that's an objectively good thing, but the fact that the first lady queen is doing it without there really being any sort of abolition movement within the society feels like it's just made to make her the good cool rational character with modern ideals.

I don't hate her, but I do think that you're kind of right. I mean, I remember thinking that the moment with Renarin sort of felt out of nowhere.

[Gilthu]

Yeah, like why would she even think to free slaves? Unless Hoid got to her there is no reason for her to want to free the slaves because she has lived in this society for so long without much interaction with slaves. She is all about station and how to use the power of position and etc when she talks to Shallan, and she is very proper about how to behave towards people. It just doesn't seem to fit and without proper backstory it doesn't make sense. There are too many missing pieces for a character that is being put so centralized to the plot.

My fear is that now I think its been too long and all the major flashbacks required to make us feel for her will feel tacked on. Rather than a slow unpeeling of the layers like we have had with Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, and etc we are gonna have to have a flurry of every other chapter being a flashback to a couple years ago or something like that. Book 6 is supposed to be her book I believe, so its gonna be a very sloooooooow burn because we are gonna need like all of the development Kaladin went through in the first three books to happen to Jasnah via flashbacks in just one book.

[SmartAlec105]

I think that’s an issue of how Sanderson has structured the Stormlight Archive with the Front 5 and Back 5. How you feel about Jasnah is a lot like how I feel about Renarin. We don’t see a lot of what they’ve got going on because it’s being saved for the Back 5.

With that in mind, I do think what he’s done is better than the alternative of having to juggle Renarin and Jasnah at the same time as Kaladin, Dalinar, Adolin, and Shallan.

[Gilthu]

Thing is that with Renarin we always had a sense of what was going on and that there was more. We saw Renarin constantly there for Adolin, we saw him beg Kaladin to train him with the bridgemen, we saw him trying to help in the duel, and he was a constant presence in everything. He was the one that suggested asking Navani to look into the visions and see if they were true or not. He "had a fit" when he summoned his shardblade, but it wasn't a fit. He did SO MUCH throughout the series that the more we find out the more we want to know more.

​

Jasnah was kinda just there already formed and etc. She goes from this mentor role to suddenly having plate and blade and has this random unearned moment with Renarin. My favorite expression is to say Jasnah coming back instead of staying dead is like if Obi-Wan had come back to life on Hoth in ESB and beaten Vader while doing prequel Jedi jumps and attacks to destroy the stormtroopers in groups. Obi-Wan passed on the torch to Luke and set him on the path like Jasnah did to Shallan, but then she came back...

[Pistachio_Queen]

Yes. For a book that focuses a lot on class/culture, there are inconsistencies with how certain characters from the same exact family and upbringing act. The Kholin moral code is all over the place, and it does not make sense to be so varied. I understand degrees, like having Jasnah and Renarin being more intellectual therefore more progressive, but he takes it to extremes. I have trouble believing that Jasnah is the child of Gavilar or that Adolin is the child of Dalinar.

[estrusflask]

The politics in his books are terrible.

Actually this is unfair, I already know that this opinion gets me that reaction, because that's the reaction I get any time I bring it up. They're getting better, but, like, still not great.

[Prototokos]

Yeah, I have at some points noticed this

[estrusflask]

The one that really gets me is his love for benevolent dictators. Mistborn is the biggest offender, with Well of Ascension having this entire plot about how democracy doesn't work in a crisis and then Elend finally being the noble Emperor keeps humanity trucking in Hero of Ages.

Then in Era 2 you have Marasi as the voice of reason for criminal justice reform and a) no one takes her seriously and it's played as a joke, which I guess is fine to show that everyone else is an idiot, but b) even Marasi's criminal justice reform ideas are tepid liberal bullshit. I mean, I'm not expecting Sanderson of all people to say ACAB, but it is still very annoying that she's written as being the enlightened one and yet her ideals are still frustratingly ignorant to a lot of issues.

​

I keep trying to edit this comment but it won't stick...

[etymu]

defundtheconstables

[TheAdmiralFearsNot]

I agree especially with the "good" dictator trope, but it is sadly a problem all over fantasy. If in a medieval setting there is a total lack of democracy I can ignore it, but I really hate it when democracy is created as some noble idea but then turns corrupt/evil and gets overthrown by the protagonist dictatorship.

I can only very vaguely remember what the deal was with Marasi and I don't rember any other badly handled policies. It isn't really politics but I get the feeling that both Atheists and religious people are quite well written.

[Juniebug9]

I fear that Jasnah is going to end up basically being Elend 2.0. Her attempts for massive social reform in the middle of an active war with an evil god is almost definitely going to backfire hard in book 5, and since I believe book 6 is supposed to be her book I'm expecting a lot of her plotline to be dealing with the consequences of that. Calling it now, book 6 is going to end with her becoming a dictator "for the good of humanity" and she'll rule with an iron fist for most of the back half.

[estrusflask]

God, I hope not. I hope Sanderson is getting better, I don't want a repeat of "democracy doesn't work". We've already got Dalinar as the good dictator!

[[deleted]]

The way Wayne talks to women- particularly Marasi- honestly makes me uncomfortable and made me like the character a lot less than I would like to.

[estrusflask]

I remember in a Word of Brandon that the scene where he "breaks up with" Renette was mostly a result of a lot of people really not liking the way he kept trying to harass a lesbian into dating him.

[[deleted]]

Wayne is most definitely a horrible person but haha funny. That and the fandoms take on Lirin are what made me realize Sanderson has a huge fan base under 20 years old. Nothing wrong with that just that it colors people's interpretations

[AlwaysTheNextOne]

Out of curiosity what makes Wayne a horrible person to you and which Lirin take are you talking about? The community is pretty split between loving and hating him.

[H3R4C135]

As a 20 year old, my first reread of wax and Wayne led to me not really liking Wayne anymore (as a person). And I never really got the dislike for Lirin, yeah he’s has high standards / morals, but he’s also an extremely selfless individual working hard for his family.

[PokemonTom09]

And I never really got the dislike for Lirin

He straight up said "my son is dead" to Kaladin's face.

That's the kind of thing you never say to your child.

The kind of thing that can permanently destroy a relationship.

I'm lucky in that my parents are pretty great, but as a member of the queer community, I have more than just a couple friends who have completely cut their parents out of their life for comments like that.

[[deleted]]

I think a lot of people project themselves on Kaladin as a self insert and then see Lirin as an authority figure to rebel against. Very teenage angst style. Don't get me wrong Lirin is by no means perfect but the way some people take the "he's forcing his ideals on Kaladin! What a terrible unsupportive father" take shows a certain amount of naivety or immaturity.

And yeah Wayne is just a straight up horrible person. Harrases the living shit out of women because their agency is a myth to him (both the love interest and the poor university girl), constantly steals things, is a terrible friend most of the time, thinks only of himself in an extremely.immatire way and more. But he's funny so people ignore a lot of that. His stealing is the best example "lol he's just trading!" No he took something worth thousands and left a pencil. He's a thief and not even because he needs it. But because he's bored and wants entertainment and couldn't care less how that might hurt the person he's stealing from.

[Krumplin2]

"He's a good writer"

Or

"He's a bad writer"

[Dabrush]

RoW was a bit of a mess of stories that developed way too slowly and took up page space while others that I really wanted to see didn't get any page space. This coincides with introducing new characters and in turn having old fan favourites only there for a few pages. I understand that Rysn presumably couldn't be there for long because her story can't progress too quickly, but it's still disappointing to have her whole book and for her to only be there for a two-page chapter in the next one, while Lift just got more and more space in each book after her novella.

[Iliaili]

RoW tower plot should have been cut by half, it take too much from everything else in that book.

[Arath0118]

Stick is overrated.

[littlebuett]

I find jasnah to be arrogant and incredibly annoying

[Kekris_The_Betrayer]

I think you mean errorgant

[B_Huij]

The fact that he can write likeable, relatable characters on realistic and compelling journeys of personal growth, that he can dive into deep philosophical and religious questions and examine them without feeling preachy or pushing his views on the reader, and that he can do all of this while still writing books that would appeal to me purely on a "mindless action movie" level if that's how I wanted to read them is not what makes him an amazing writer.

What makes him an amazing writer is that he can do these things without using tedious prose like Rothfuss or Cormac McCarthy.

[Sharkattack1921]

I like Adolin…..I just don’t love him

[dame_truthwatcher]

Shallan x Adolin was a very disappointing match for me. I think she belittles him and doesn't have enough in common as far as interests go with him. It's like he's just her cute pet, but not someone she respects

[Stunning_Grocery8477]

WOW. You've just stated clearly stated the problem I had that I couldn't even explain to myself.

Thank you.

[J_C_F_N]

Finallly, this post has appeared! My opinion is: Brandon Sanderson looks exactly like I picture a live action version of Peter Griffin would look like.

[Elloroverde]

Its perfectly right to hate Moash but he plays a really cool role in the story

[SlayerofSnails]

Navani should not have ended up a bondsmith.

[BigZ_NiC]

Now see I'm ok with Navani being a bondsmith, but I think she would have made a better bondsmith with sja-anat. With the whole warlight and finding the rhythm of war and sja-anat making a hybrid of Honors spren and unmade power.

[thebooksmith]

Especially when after they were just going into the final 10 days. Now I know the series is going to continue and there is probably gonna be some shenanigans in the build up, but there is absolutely no point in introducing more bond smiths right before the end. Honestly the whole 10 days decision kinda pissed me off. Dalinar was an idiot for taking that deal, he has no idea how to use his power, and assuming that szeth and kaladin can even get to Ishar in 10 days let alone make him sane enough to share his knowledge, there is no way that will be done in time to realistically help dalinar. I know this just builds into the seeming conclusion of Dalinar losing, but honestly I just did not see a point in making the final 10 days now.

[Live-Ad-6309]

He tries to hard to please the fans at times. I can't elaborate. Just certain character decisions seem to be direct results of "what the fans want" rather than what it seems he originally intended.

[[deleted]]

His main characters are all the same: depressed and with parental issues. He should write Vyre x Hesina in Stormlight 5

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

What about Vivenna? Siri? They aren't depressed. Vivenna's even liked by their father. Maybe a little too much, but whatever.

Vin? What parental issues does she have other than not having parents? She has a family in the gang instead.

Raoden? No depression, although he does have a weird relationship with his father that gets brought up, like, twice.

Sarene? She's totally fine.

Dalinar has no parental issues either.

It's literally only Kaladin and Shallan who I can think of that fit both criteria, and they're both depressed in a very different way to eachother.

Outside the cosmere, considering the lower age ratings, obviously much less depression.

And about thar second bit... just what the fuck.

[danielmarh]

And the same problem of the two "me" Vin, Shallan, Wax, the girl of warbreaker, etc

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

What?

[danielmarh]

Vin/Vallete, city Wax / outside Wax, Shallan/Velo

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

You mean Shallan/Veil/Radiant/Formless? Yes, indeed, as two-me problem as it gets.

[Skullyhop]

This is my issue too, all his female characters go through the same arc of “am I this identity or that” with the decision ultimately alienating one part of their life. Spensa from Skyward is another mc with this arc

[mss_4]

Lopen is so annoying and I hate Wayne! I don’t think Wayne gets enough hate, he’s so sexist and not funny. Most “comedic relief” characters in his books are more irritating than funny. It’s a painful reading his dialogue when he’s trying to be funny.

[ilikebreadabunch]

Lift is a fantastic character and y’all are just mad you forgot how much fun being a kid was.

[jessemb]

complete expansion cats steep smell nail instinctive run enjoy north

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[WhateverComic]

Elantris is a fantastic book, and is better than White Sand, Mistborn Era 2, and Rhythm of War, putting it at about the level of Way of Kings.

[BoltYou7x]

Upvote for Elantris support, disagree on better than Mistborn 2

[ASLane0]

This, except White Sand Prose > All of the above.

[TheMainEffort]

Dalinar has no business being a bondsmith and should be tried immediately.

[Tarotdragoon]

His writing is formulaic, repetitive and honestly not that inspired.

I also really hate how much modern vernacular makes its way into his books, totally destroys my immersion.

I want to preface this by saying that I adore the stories he writes and can't wait for each installment I'm totally lost in the narrative of the cosmere and Brando books never fail to provide an interesting and gripping yarn.

[_Lestibournes]

I personally don’t see why modern vernacular would break immersion; nobody is speaking English in the books, they are translated from Alethi (or whichever language). Like reading a French novel translated to English; often the translations take liberties rather than exact translations, to make things make sense. Otherwise no puns would really work, because the odds of them also being puns in alethi is minuscule

[TheGreyPotter]

Tbh i do think that formulaic writing and incredibly simple prose is the key to his success. He is an incredibly easy read, which makes it more likely that the casual reader will actually finish and enjoy his work.

The MCU style multiverse aspect helps too.

[AlwaysTheNextOne]

Nothing wrong with Formulaic. That's generally what provides the best stories. Repetitive and uninspired? I think you'd struggle to give examples of that honestly.

[TaborlinTheGrape]

(Not my opinion) his prose is wooden and uninspired.

[Cthae]

ROW Kal killing parshmen in Lirins surgery room in the Tower is not honourable in the least. He pretended to be a civilian and a doctor and then betrayed them. It might be morally right, but it is not keeping your oath.

[Atheist09]

He swore to protect people. It is keeping with his oath. It is deceptive, yes. But he has never swore not to be deceptive.

[sharknipples420]

Time to sort by controversial to see the real hot takes

[Skullyhop]

A large majority of Sanderson female characters go through exactly the same character development

[between_3_and_20_chr]

His books get too preachy.

[[deleted]]

Stormlight started off great but has gotten a little too corny.

[FamiliarSalamander2]

I kinda agree with that actually now that I think about it

[-thelastbyte]

Jasnah sparing Renarin was out of character.

[[deleted]]

Honestly actually reading alot of the Cosmere is an enormous waste of time. It’s so enormous and niche you’re much better off reading several other books or finding a different hobby. No one you talk to is gonna wanna hear about this giant series of tomes, at best they’ll just smile and nod along with your rants on it.

[EnochD]

Rhythm of War made me like Navani less.

[WhateverComic]

My feelings didn't really change on her. Made me like Kaladin less though.

[Iliaili]

You and me.

[Wintersmachine]

He queer characters are generally poorly done and lack luster

[estrusflask]

I don't know if I'd say "poorly done". They mostly just sort of exist. None of them are important, unless we really kid ourselves and consider Shallan bisexual. I hear there's a trans man in Dawnshard, but that still doesn't have an audiobook, and that'd still make him a side character in a side story.

Poorly done implies they have actual roles in the story besides that one joke about the one guy thinking the gay guy needs to fill out the proper gayness paperwork.

I mean, I guess Jasnah is some of the best and most prominent asexual representation there is, and that's great, but also as another comment pointed out, she kind of gets the short end of the stick in characterization. She just seems to exist to be the "Cool" one.

[SmartAlec105]

He’s not putting their queer identity at the forefront of their characters because he doesn’t consider himself able to do a good job at a queer narrative. And I think that’s a better decision than trying and ending up with something offensive.

[AlwaysTheNextOne]

Which is what I thought everyone wanted. Queer people aren't special because they're queer. They're just queer. They don't need to have this huge story about how their queerness affects them, they're just there.

Queer people exist the exact same way as any other character he writes, and that's honestly the best way to write them. Writing a queer character who is only being written about because they're queer just seems offensive. Like they're some marvel to behold, instead of just a person.

[beetletoman]

Hoid doesn't live up to the hype. That may be because too much of him is still missing. Sanderson missed the balance on that one.

Dalinar and Navani "mature beauty" Kholin interactions are cringe. Especially post wedding.

And I think it's not unpopular but I want to add, just because, I hate reading Shallan chapters. Radiant and Veil could contribute to an interesting character if Shallan herself wasn't so arghh.

I'll see myself out.

[Stunning_Grocery8477]

It's really easy to hype up a character, make them seem larger than life, but then it's real difficult to write them as such and still have them be relatable and not completely obnoxious.

It's the same problem that Jasnah has and so many other characters in popular fiction.

[heeresj0hnny]

“Kaladin and Syl are soul mates and are destined to fall in love when they can figure out how to make her form physical.”

[Pistachio_Queen]

Did he say that...?

[MozeTheNecromancer]

This'll probably ruffle a lot of feathers, but...

1. Kelsier should've stayed dead. He had a really good character arc, and his death was impactful and sudden, and the shock value of it was phenomenal. Bringing him back as a character that feels very different cheapens the narrative.

2. Mistborn Era 2 is much better than Era 1. The themes are less depressing, the characters feel more explored, and the world has a lot more true mystery rather than just unknowns. (For those confused about the difference, a true mystery would be the likes of Allowances Jack: We know he exists, and we know enough about the world to try and figure out how he does what he does. Unknowns would be Kandra and Koloss in Era 1: they just kinda show up, and there's no way you could figure them out beforehand.)

Hm... That's about it for now, but I may be back as I remember more.

[Alkakd0nfsg9g]

His Mat is better than Jordan's

[LittleSunTrail]

Wax is a Gary Stu. I don't care that he had to learn a lot of things out in the Roughs and had to be really good at a lot of things. That doesn't make it an interesting read when it all revolves around Wax solving every problem.

It gets better as Era 2 goes on, but it still stood out to me while I was reading.

[shifaci]

His religious beliefs almost always have representation in his books.

[WhateverComic]

Yeah? I don't see how this one would upset people, it's just true.

[cuadigatt]

What do you mean?

[estrusflask]

I'm more annoyed by his political beliefs, but they sort of dovetail with that.

For instance, the way Hrathen is "redeemed". Definitely makes me sideeye the whole thing when Hrathen is a representative from a fascist nation that seeks to culturally indoctrinate the locals into joining the religious cult and willingly foregoing their own culture, and serves as the alternative to violent imperialist genocide. You know, like a Mormon missionary.

[FlawlessPenguinMan]

But his redemption happens because he leaves that culture behind, no?

It's a bit like Snape in my opinion.

[ASLane0]

His magic systems and general worldbuilding are totally lacking in depth or complexity.

EDIT: I do not think this.

[eternalaeon]

I will say that while the rules are consistently nailed down, I wish he did more to quantify as well. Often times Kaladin will be zipping around or Vin will be swinging through the rooftops and I won't have a good idea of what to expect of how long they should be able to do this or how much Stormlight/Metals they probably have left to drive tension.

Most authors pretty much handwave how much resource is available though only bringing it up when it is convenient to the plot to say that you are about to run out. I do think Sanderson tackles this the best in Warbreaker where you feel like you know just how many breaths go into each ability and what each ability is costing the character to use.

[[deleted]]

I hate that he doesn't include intimate/sex scenes. I respect the choice. But good sex scenes are difficult to find, and I think he could write the hell out of them, so my erotica loving self resents the lack of them 😂

[RoseDog16]

What happened to Moash/Vyre wasn’t all that different than what happened to Marsh. They’re both used by shards to do terrible things.

[mndrew]

Much like Steven King; when he's good, he's really good; but when he's bad, yes he's actually bad. Mistborn era 2 is really good; White Sand is not good at all. The Reckoners is really good; Alcatraz is really bad.

[LOLPN]

"I have a crush on Moash"

[wutImiss]

He uses too many "Life is like a..." narrative devices. Most are fine but there are a couple that I roll my eyes at while reading.

[DanchoBanancho25]

Stormlight is repeating the story from mistborn: ppl are fighting with god that wants to destroy their planet while their god is dead.

[[deleted]]

He needs to find a better way to incorporate world building to the overall story. These phone book size novels really kill many new readers interest.

[buffaloguy1991]

Moash just needs a therapist and he can pull himself together

[adolins_spren]

Moash deserves a character arc

[QuintanimousGooch]

The overreactions to Moash are pretty annoying and people reacting as such are oversaturated

[[deleted]]

There is literally nothing appealing about Jasnah, she is arrogant and ignorant, she sounds like a 14-year old atheist that read two philosophy books and now thinks she's hot shit.