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Not meaning to threadshit, but I've heard so many fantasy fans rave about this guy's novels that I picked up and read the first Mistborn novel. Really struggle to make out what the fuss is about? All the characters were stock, the storyline predictable and the prose functional at best. To be honest it felt like an average comic book in novel form. The magic system was kind of cool and interesting, and the plotting fairly tight the majority of the way through, but those are the only positive takeaways I had. Altogether I felt like I was reading something written by a 16-year-old. Did I pick up the wrong one or are his others significantly better?
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Nov 15, 2015 11:59
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mewse posted:I really liked mistborn, even the first novel, but this is the second time I've heard someone having significant trouble enjoying it. It might just be that I can abide cliches without gagging? I really wonder why it's polarizing Too juvenile (notwithstanding that this is fantasy lit we're discussing) and too cliched I think about sums it up. It's a spot-on point about the 'Sanderson avalanche' as well. Throughout the novel I was mostly thinking 'yeah, this is kind of cliched and by the numbers but the guy does know how to spin a tight plot at the least', but that more or less unravelled in the last few chapters: the pacing was way off. Interesting to know that his writing does improve though, so I will add Emperor's Soul to my list. Thanks for the recommendation. Even though I found it disappointing in the end, Final Empire did show a bit of talent in world-building which I felt would have been better displayed in the hands of a more technically adept author. I definitely do like a bit of cheese fantasy as well so long as it's well done, so will give him another shot.
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Nov 15, 2015 20:46
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Hughlander posted:Thoughts on too juvenile: With respect to this novel I would say the characteristics that make it feel juvenile are: - Over-reliance on the most generic of fantasy archetype characters - Simplified relationships between characters: the relationship between Vin and Elend for instance is cliched, predictable and has no depth whatsoever - A magic system that feels like it was pulled out of a video-game (although the magic system is the coolest thing in the novel) - Clunky prose: a lot of the action sequences feel like they are being narrated by an over-excited teenager A lot of comic books have violence and graphic scenes along the lines you mentioned but are still primarily consumed by adolescents. And that is really what Final Empire reminds me of - sort of a comic book in novel form.
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Nov 15, 2015 23:32
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