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The Book Thread
- Thread starter Matt79
- Start date
Flem274*
123/5
picked up words of radiance again and i find it such a struggle. it confuses me since fantasy and historical fiction are my preferred genres, i loved the mistborn series and i thought way of kings was decent.
there is a bit of 'tell, don't show' but i'm not a huge prose snob and i respect what he's doing with analysing his characters from every angle and building their relationships, i just don't care. kaladin with a steady job is a nice guy but pretty dull, shallan is a character archetype very difficult to pull off. i know people like her in real life and it's hard to write them believably or sympathetically in a story. ellen from pillars of the earth is the best version of this i have read, and she benefits from not quite fitting the archetype and being a lot older so more believable.
dalinar is interesting and feels right, but the rest...meh. i'm not immersed, i know i'm reading a book.
i'll try with part two but man i hope it gets easier. sanderson is a great face of the genre and a chill dude so i want to like the book.
how does oathbringer compare to the previous two entries?
there is a bit of 'tell, don't show' but i'm not a huge prose snob and i respect what he's doing with analysing his characters from every angle and building their relationships, i just don't care. kaladin with a steady job is a nice guy but pretty dull, shallan is a character archetype very difficult to pull off. i know people like her in real life and it's hard to write them believably or sympathetically in a story. ellen from pillars of the earth is the best version of this i have read, and she benefits from not quite fitting the archetype and being a lot older so more believable.
dalinar is interesting and feels right, but the rest...meh. i'm not immersed, i know i'm reading a book.
i'll try with part two but man i hope it gets easier. sanderson is a great face of the genre and a chill dude so i want to like the book.
how does oathbringer compare to the previous two entries?
Athlai
Not Terrible
Oathbringer is a more Dalinar centric book and due to that alone you will probably prefer it. It also starts to enter the more “true epic fantasy” areas.
That said if you don’t connect with Kalidan and Shallan, I’m not sure you’ll ever really get too deep into the series. It’s just so character/psychology centric.
Edit: not to say you couldn’t like a character/psychology centric book, but Shallan and Kalidan are like 1/2 to 2/3 of these books thus far.
That said if you don’t connect with Kalidan and Shallan, I’m not sure you’ll ever really get too deep into the series. It’s just so character/psychology centric.
Edit: not to say you couldn’t like a character/psychology centric book, but Shallan and Kalidan are like 1/2 to 2/3 of these books thus far.
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Just read through the entire thread; some wonderful books listed here. Some that are definitely on my list, some I've yet to read.
I'm going to list favorites that I didn't see listed here previously:
Fiction:
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (really surprised not to see that here)
Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham (read as a teenager; never forgotten)
Complicity – Iain Banks
Gentlemen and Players – Joanne Harris
Nonfiction/Memoir:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
Teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda (maybe this should be in my nonfiction favorites?)
The River Why, David James Duncan
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Travels with Charlie, John Steinbeck
The Bible According to Mark Twain, Mark Twain
I'm going to list favorites that I didn't see listed here previously:
Fiction:
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (really surprised not to see that here)
Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham (read as a teenager; never forgotten)
Complicity – Iain Banks
Gentlemen and Players – Joanne Harris
Nonfiction/Memoir:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
Teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda (maybe this should be in my nonfiction favorites?)
The River Why, David James Duncan
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Travels with Charlie, John Steinbeck
The Bible According to Mark Twain, Mark Twain
Flem274*
123/5
yeah im pretty good at following books or series for characters given some of the books and series i've stayed with just for it.
there's something about those two in this book that just isn't working, and i liked both in the first but i think kaladin in particular (who is the only boring one - shallan is just hard to pull off) needs to be in an interesting situation to work for me. the horror of the bridge runs will help any storyline.
Red_Ink_Squid
Well-known member
Well nobody's perfect. Life of Pi is a decent read to be fair to it.he’s a bot
honestbharani
Well-known member
Maybe PEWS knows him.
Athlai
Not Terrible
I couldn't get into it. I think I'll give it another try at some stage though
Pothas
Well-known member
You got to the election yet? It is so painful.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
In the campaign at the minute. Shocking stuff really.
Nothing has dispelled my notion of it being the weakest election of my life. Any decent opposition would have taken May down and likewise it shouldn't have been hard to see Corbyn and co off (as was later proven)
Spark
Global Moderator
The writing style and use of second person definitely isn't for everyone but I like that sort of thing, so
Flem274*
123/5
yea okay, the middle of WoR has grabbed me. shallan is feeling more earned than her early chapters, which is good because she's very immersive when she's not borderline the perfect human. im also a big pattern fan.
i still maintain kaladin sucks, but he's interesting when he's in an interesting situation. he is just a very dull man who has the misfortune to also be suffering depression. this is sympathetic for a real person in real life but can make some fictional characters very unsympathetic for reasons ironically outlined in sandersons latest youtube lecture. all he does is whine about how mean lighteyes are for entire chapters. kaladin in a good mental state is not someone i would find interesting, and to make it worse everyone in the bridgecrews except for rock and the parshman bloke is also boring. eshonai, who feels like a female kaladin, can also go do one.
lift should be the hero of the story. lift is great. she probably has the strongest character voice in the series to date. lift, dalinar, rock and shallan lets go.
Cruxdude
Well-known member
That brings back some memories! I was still at school and read it on the sly as it was my dad's copy and I was too young to read it. Was such a good read and scary. Should probably reread. And for people interested in horror you should checkout Salem's Lot if you haven't read it already. Loved that one too!
Flem274*
123/5
finished words of radiance a few days ago. the middle to end is strong. the book requires a great deal of trust in sanderson. could be some spoilers below. tl;dr shallan scene wow, lift is best.
im sorry but kaladin is just so boring. a sympathetic person in real life does not always translate to an interesting fictional character. kaladin needs action or another mc to interact with to be interesting. a character who just feels low, angry but muted needs to be either active in the story or descend into genuine grey morality to remain engaging. that's why latter book rand works in wot, because in tgs he's a ****in psycho and i love it.
shallan has the strongest single chapter in the book despite being a total mary sue early on. everyone who has read it knows the one im talking about. i will never understand sanderson. in the same book i almost lost faith in him as an author he pulls that out. absolutely chilling.
dalinar is my fave mc despite not having a standout scene and i warmed to adolin a lot which i did not expect. he's a dumb jock but he's a fun dumb jock and he always stays active in the story, plus at the end he's so pragmatic. many stories would have prevented his actions to draw the drama out.
wit feels like an author self insert which is interesting since sanderson has said he's hard to write, and the moiraine moment in the epilogue might show his influences too strongly.
best character overall by a distance is lift. she has such a strong voice and i love her and she should be the hero not kaladin. she gets like two chapters and is immediately in my favourites.
im sorry but kaladin is just so boring. a sympathetic person in real life does not always translate to an interesting fictional character. kaladin needs action or another mc to interact with to be interesting. a character who just feels low, angry but muted needs to be either active in the story or descend into genuine grey morality to remain engaging. that's why latter book rand works in wot, because in tgs he's a ****in psycho and i love it.
shallan has the strongest single chapter in the book despite being a total mary sue early on. everyone who has read it knows the one im talking about. i will never understand sanderson. in the same book i almost lost faith in him as an author he pulls that out. absolutely chilling.
dalinar is my fave mc despite not having a standout scene and i warmed to adolin a lot which i did not expect. he's a dumb jock but he's a fun dumb jock and he always stays active in the story, plus at the end he's so pragmatic. many stories would have prevented his actions to draw the drama out.
wit feels like an author self insert which is interesting since sanderson has said he's hard to write, and the moiraine moment in the epilogue might show his influences too strongly.
best character overall by a distance is lift. she has such a strong voice and i love her and she should be the hero not kaladin. she gets like two chapters and is immediately in my favourites.
Athlai
Not Terrible
It's pretty short. A novella. And the first chapter is her first chapter in the book.