Brandon Sanderson?

[X'Nedra]

The last couple of books of WoT by Sanderson were really enjoyable, and as the others have said - we finally get a bit of pace back into the story. I snoozed most of my way through 8 - 11 but felt re-engaged once he took over. I'm looking forward to the final book which is coming out Jan 2013 (as Sanderson announced on FB a few weeks ago).

I loved Warbreaker (except for the abrupt ending). I really enjoyed the characters, and I thought it was a great storyline. I do feel it's one that could have been longer or made into 2 or 3 books as it seems there was so much more that could have been done with it.

Elantris is what I'm reading now... It's taking a while to warm up but I have faith it will be a good one once I get into it.

The Mistborn series was enjoyable too, and I do love the 4th book in the series. I assume he is going to do more of the Mistborn stories as he kind of set it up for more at the end there.

Way of Kings is another great one, but I'm ever so slightly annoyed that I allowed myself to be sucked into a series - I'm not good at playing the waiting game! lol I don't know how he's going to drag it on for 10 books though - I reckon 4 or 5 would round it out nicely.

 

[Grunkins]

I enjoyed Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy. I couldn't finish Elantris or The Way of Kings. He had a real YA feel to his writing, a little too much Carebear Stare.

 

[AndrewT]

I will never read or re-read anything by Robert Jordan. Books 1-6 were really awesome back in 94 and still are pretty good. But book 7 started going downhill and book 8 was such a drag that I tossed it after about 100 pages. He introduces way too many new characters and spends lots of time talking about the clothes they are wearing and how many goblets of wine they sip. Then they have lots of little petty junior high school arguments and spend time pouting and stalking off saying "I'll never talk to you again", etc. Rubbish. I was like what the heck, is this really the same author that wrote "The Eye of the World" which RULED. And book 4, which was the best imho where Rand visits Aiel land and "sees through the eyes of his ancestors" - way cool stuff. What happened? I say don't waste your time with anything past book 6. Especially if, like me, you like Mat and dislike Perrin and that henpecker wife of his.

 

[AndrewT]

I enjoyed Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy. I couldn't finish Elantris or The Way of Kings. He had a real YA feel to his writing, a little too much Carebear Stare.

What do you mean by YA? I have not read anything by Sanderson yet but I will be starting Mistborn before long.

 

[Grunkins]

What do you mean by YA? I have not read anything by Sanderson yet but I will be starting Mistborn before long.

It feels like everything he writes is geared toward 15 year olds.

 

[Coragem]

I enjoyed Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy. I couldn't finish Elantris or The Way of Kings. He had a real YA feel to his writing, a little too much Carebear Stare.

It feels like everything he writes is geared toward 15 year olds.

Grunkins, I keep finding myself in total agreement with your posts lately.

Sanderson isn't a "bad" writer by any means, although it would IMO be a bad thing if ALL sci-fi and fantasy writers were writing with a YA tone.

As things are, it's fine if some of us sometimes want "YA feel" fantasy (a nice cuddly comfort blanket that it is) but it's also good that we have our "grittier" (ahem, Teresa) and more intellectually engaging stuff too.

Coragem.

 

[Red 13]

Well i read alot of adult fantasy books but i still really enjoy Sanderson's stories. I wouldn't necessarily say its geared towards 15 year olds but it can be read by 15 and above (i'm 28 myself), it depends what you're looking for at the time. I enjoy his books for the great action, good plots and fun characters. Plus its not because a book is YA that it can't be deep. I mean look at Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, thats way deeper than most adult fantasy books i've read.

 

[Moggle]

It feels like everything he writes is geared toward 15 year olds.

This is what holds my back his writing, imo. He's one of the better fantasy writers out there, but he could be great if he'd only be willing to push past his boundaries and be a little edgier. With that said, there's still plenty of death and violence in his novels, they're just the PG-13 variety.

 

[Michael01]

15 year olds? Maybe. But I loved Elantris, myself, and I can't wait to get my hands on the last three books of The Wheel of Time.

 

[chongjasmine]

I recently borrowed the way of kings from the library and I find myself loving the story by the third chaptetrs.

The prolo and prelude didn't engage me. The first chapter was boring to me.

But Kaladin interested me with the second and third chapters.

I find myself ordering the book,and now I am putting aside my library version of way of kings, to read other books while I wait for my actual copy to come.

 

[Aaron Stone]

Way of Kings was an amazing book, extremely long but didn't bore me a bit. By far his best. That said, the Mistborn trilogy was really great, especially the first one. The Alloy of Law was also a very fun read.

He's going to write another Mistborn trilogy, set in modern times, or so he says on his website, and then one set in the future.

Elantris was great, as was Warbreaker - really great characters.

 

[Michael01]

I agree that about halfway through, Wheel of Time started to drag, but I, personally, still could not put it down. Found myself completely glued to every page all the way through Knife of Dreams. Maybe that's partly because I wanted it to finally get somewhere (and sometimes I did find it a little annoying), but I'm inclined to say that it's also because I love reading about certain characters and find them thoroughly engaging.

Yeah, I even like Perrin, but his wife isn't nearly as interesting as Tuon.

 

[Clansman]

I agree that about halfway through, Wheel of Time started to drag, but I, personally, still could not put it down. Found myself completely glued to every page all the way through Knife of Dreams. Maybe that's partly because I wanted it to finally get somewhere (and sometimes I did find it a little annoying), but I'm inclined to say that it's also because I love reading about certain characters and find them thoroughly engaging.

Yeah, I even like Perrin, but his wife isn't nearly as interesting as Tuon.

But Sanderson didn't write those books of the Wheel of Time. He wrote The Gathering Storm, The Towers of Midnight, and The Memory of Light (forthcoming). Everything prior to Knife of Dreams was written by Jordan, who must take responsibility for the drag in the series.

 

[Michael01]

I know that Robert Jordan wrote those books. I believe I was following a part of the discussion in this thread where people were saying that Robert Jordan's books became tedious to read after, I think, A Crown of Swords. I have not read the last three yet. I am looking forward to Sanderson's treatment of it, since I also - as stated earlier - thoroughly enjoyed Elantris.

EDIT: In fact, I was responding to this:

I will never read or re-read anything by Robert Jordan. Books 1-6 were really awesome back in 94 and still are pretty good. But book 7 started going downhill and book 8 was such a drag that I tossed it after about 100 pages. He introduces way too many new characters and spends lots of time talking about the clothes they are wearing and how many goblets of wine they sip. Then they have lots of little petty junior high school arguments and spend time pouting and stalking off saying "I'll never talk to you again", etc. Rubbish. I was like what the heck, is this really the same author that wrote "The Eye of the World" which RULED. And book 4, which was the best imho where Rand visits Aiel land and "sees through the eyes of his ancestors" - way cool stuff. What happened? I say don't waste your time with anything past book 6. Especially if, like me, you like Mat and dislike Perrin and that henpecker wife of his.

Guess I should have quoted Andrew to begin with. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I have not read the last three yet. I am looking forward to Sanderson's treatment of it, since I also - as stated earlier - thoroughly enjoyed Elantris.

The last three books are bringing Wheel of Time back to its roots, as if we are reading the earlier books again. Things are actually happening, story arcs at last being wrapped up.

Even though I like Faile, I can sympathise with those who think her story arc dragged on way too long.

I think Brandon Sanderson has done a brilliant job of returning life to Wheel of Time and can't wait for A Memory of Light. Like I said in the other thread, it should be quite reminiscent of Eye of the World imo - can't say more without spoilers.

 

[Michael01]

Very nice. Yes, that's the impression I've been getting from you guys. And Faile's story arc is probably the one that had me thinking, "I really wish he'd get on with this." Tuon I want more of, though.

Unfortunately, I will have to wait until summer before I can read The Gathering Storm. Too much work to do for school at the moment. In fact, tomorrow I probably will not get online until around 7:30, since I'll be working on school projects most of the day.

 

[AndrewT]

I will never read or re-read anything by Robert Jordan. Books 1-6 were really awesome back in 94 and still are pretty good. But book 7 started going downhill and book 8 was such a drag that I tossed it after about 100 pages. He introduces way too many new characters and spends lots of time talking about the clothes they are wearing and how many goblets of wine they sip. Then they have lots of little petty junior high school arguments and spend time pouting and stalking off saying "I'll never talk to you again", etc. Rubbish. I was like what the heck, is this really the same author that wrote "The Eye of the World" which RULED. And book 4, which was the best imho where Rand visits Aiel land and "sees through the eyes of his ancestors" - way cool stuff. What happened? I say don't waste your time with anything past book 6. Especially if, like me, you like Mat and dislike Perrin and that henpecker wife of his.

My apologies to RJ fans if this sounded a bit opinionated. I really enjoyed the first six books which I could read again if I didn't have so much other material to read. I was amazed at how he tied myths and relics from our own world into his and often wondered if it was a future earth setting because of these arcane references to items, persons, and religious events from our own world. But I was sad at what happened starting approximately with book 7 and found myself wondering what caused the change where he is losing his sense of the large picture and being caught up with trivia.

 

[JQP]

Robert Jordan really started to lose the plot of Wheel of Time in books 9-11 and Sanderson has done a really good job of bringing it back together and wrapping it up.

If that's true, the guy deserves a medal. A peace prize, even. I put WoT down after I forget how many books, maybe three or so. I can only have an author remind me of what makes a character so uniquely herself so many times before I start feeling like my intelligence is being insulted. Jordan's work had many problems, but that was what really stuck in my craw. That, and having no basis at all for any understanding of what any given culture he was describing was really supposed to be like. Maybe it's refreshing to some people, how he avoided relating back to real-world cultures, but I found it rootless and incomprehensible. Then there's the fact that nothing ever went anywhere.

Okay, sorry, rant over. Oh, and some context: I find almost every fantasy novel I read to be drek, so your mileage will almost certainly vary.

LOTR, Martin's ASoIaF

Those are the two series I can recommend without embarrassment (though Martin was showing signs of shark-jumping by book 4, IMO).

 

[Michael01]

My apologies to RJ fans if this sounded a bit opinionated. I really enjoyed the first six books which I could read again if I didn't have so much other material to read.

No worries. I was adding my two cents, but Clansman thought I meant that Sanderson wrote those books.

 

[Christopher Lee]

My apologies to RJ fans if this sounded a bit opinionated. I really enjoyed the first six books which I could read again if I didn't have so much other material to read. I was amazed at how he tied myths and relics from our own world into his and often wondered if it was a future earth setting because of these arcane references to items, persons, and religious events from our own world. But I was sad at what happened starting approximately with book 7 and found myself wondering what caused the change where he is losing his sense of the large picture and being caught up with trivia.

Lol, opinionated or not, I found this funny.