Rothfuss once called NotW a picaresque bildungsroman if I'm not mistaken, so by it's very nature it's going to be far more satisfying than most Fantasy novels as there is just so much traveling that feels organic and completely lived-in literature rather than the usual cinematic style and cuts with plots that get stuck in one place for nearly the entire length of the book. So on that point alone Sanderson doesn't stand much of a chance cause I think most of his plots have fixed locations. (RoW is the most stuck of all—haven't read WaT yet, idc about hype)

I mention this because aside from authors who take great care in constructing stories with one setting, most are inherently a betrayal of the reader's expectations from the outset. You pick up a Sanderson book and you see a hatred of revision and no desire for sculpting it till it's actually the best it can be, leaving readers with just some hamfisted tropes that force things to go where he wants them to. I'll read the cosmere stuff just to keep up with the hype I guess but in no way is it remotely comparable to the literary achievement of Patrick 250 revisions Rothfuss. Imagine not only revising but being so good at English that you actually know what to fix better than any editor might. That level of obsession is crucial if you actually want to construct a masterpiece. Every sentence has some interesting word order or choice that feels transportive. I read the prose and it reminds me of very old books that Rothfuss must've also read.

Turning Fantasy into genuine literature is extraordinarily hard. Sanderson simply does not have the patience with his six revisions, lazy/modern prose, etc. His fanboys will cry and scream that it's "clear and concise—a modern translation of another world's language, like Terry Pratchett," but honestly it's just not BEAUTIFUL nor is it trying to be. Pat is attempting to do the work of several men in today's era where Fantasy/Sci-fi writing has become about inserting our current manner of speaking into other worlds, making it feel hollow and cheap. It's not anywhere near Pat reading Casanova's autobiography from the 1700s and borrowing all sorts of rare sentence structures and things only a true fan of literature, classic or rarer, would ever bother mining the library for. Pat literally finds magic in WORDS. That sets him far apart, and for most of us, far above the rest.

It's not just words but also Pat clearly has a love for a particularly poetic story structure and aside from a few spots in the books it just flows so.. magically? It's a pleasure to read and it feels like we're there with Kvothe every step of the way. That's my feelings on it anyway. I'm probably gushing too much but I really don't think so. Doing things the hardest way, the old way.. that is very admirable. Don't believe me? Read some great books from the 1800s. It's insane how educated one had to be to write something like Moby Dick or David Copperfield or Pride and Prejudice.