He started believing his own bullshit about how productive he is. He wrote this novel in-between other books in a month and he's rather proud of the fact - except it totally reads like something written in a month. Yeah, most of his books read like tie-in novelizations of nonexistent tabletop RPGs, but this one reads like a rushed, sloppy one.
The Way of Kings is his only book that he both slowed down and took his time to get right and that he wrote after he began to get a grasp on what characterization and dialogue are. It's the only one I'd actually recommend to anyone.
I would have to agree that The Way of Kings is his best effort so far. There were parts of the Mistborn trilogy that were also pretty good, but it was uneven. Everything else I've read by him has left me unimpressed.
Thought I'd pop by and comment on this one. Mostly because it brings up some things I think might be interesting to discuss.
First of all, I agree with you about the "RPG rulebook" style feel that most of Sanderson's stuff has (the ones that I've read anyway). I always feel like there's a character sheet lurking just beneath the pages, detailing which abilities/quirks each character has.
But what I'm not sure of is... well, what exactly you're saying is wrong, or better yet, how it could be better in other areas. For instance:
Waxillium's best bud, Wayne, is a wisecracking sidekick out of Central Casting. They exchange quips and insults and Wayne has a thing for his lucky hat, and he has a useful Allomancy power of his own, and he's always being crude and outrageous and funny and cliched. They might verbally spar with each other, but they got each other's backs, man! Bros 4evah!I know it's a bit cliche, but you don't seem to be criticizing just the fact that it's cliche. Is there another downside to this type of character?
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The problem with cliched characters is that they lack depth and smack of lazy writing. Wayne isn't even a character sheet, he's a template with a few customizations. All of the characters in this book were pretty superficial, and I'm starting to notice that all of Sanderson's characters are the same. Waxillium is Elend is Raoden is Kaladin. Marasi is exactly like Princess Sarene, from Elantris (complete with the constant blushing!), and both of them are pretty much the same as Shallan, from The Way of Kings. Sanderson has a very limited repertoire when it comes to characterization; he can't think outside of a character sheet
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The Way of Kings is his only book that he both slowed down and took his time to get right and that he wrote after he began to get a grasp on what characterization and dialogue are. It's the only one I'd actually recommend to anyone.
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First of all, I agree with you about the "RPG rulebook" style feel that most of Sanderson's stuff has (the ones that I've read anyway). I always feel like there's a character sheet lurking just beneath the pages, detailing which abilities/quirks each character has.
But what I'm not sure of is... well, what exactly you're saying is wrong, or better yet, how it could be better in other areas. For instance:
Waxillium's best bud, Wayne, is a wisecracking sidekick out of Central Casting. They exchange quips and insults and Wayne has a thing for his lucky hat, and he has a useful Allomancy power of his own, and he's always being crude and outrageous and funny and cliched. They might verbally spar with each other, but they got each other's backs, man! Bros 4evah!I know it's a bit cliche, but you don't seem to be criticizing just the fact that it's cliche. Is there another downside to this type of character? ( ... )
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