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Re: Speed kills DomA Send a noteboard - 19/11/2012 08:59:14 PM
I think your points are quite accurate, and you highlight exactly *why* Sanderson's works are often "almost" novels. Works written with Sanderson's speed will, by necessity, be lacking the finished and polished appearance of a carefully written novel. Of course, taking one's time doesn't ensure that a book is good - A Misery of Words Dance with Dragons is proof enough of that - but Sanderson's works would almost certainly be improved as a result.

I still find him a fun writer, but I think he does have the ability to be a much better writer because he has interesting ideas that, if improved from a stylistic standpoint, could make really good books. As it is, they're "almost" good.


Exactly.

He's got a bit the Dumas/feuilletoniste syndrome. Not that their styles compare, but Dumas wrote with a bit the 19th century equivalent of Brandon's prose: good schoolboy language, written too fast to be polished or truly interesting, and not enough revisions (in Dumas's case it was none at all - and no editing, but that doesn't work anymore these days). Characters have similar flaws too. From time to time they'll come up with some really good ones, but a lot of time they're fairly generic, or relying too much on a few fun flashes, or are way to single-purposeful. But the flair for fun story is there, the storytelling craftmanship is developping over the years.

I've nothing against entertainment literature, but when even a non native speaker can spot semantic or grammatical mistakes, that gets in the way of good entertainment.

Martin's problem in ADWD, IMO, remains that he didn't have a good story to tell about those events covered. When his plans for an ellipse didn't work he plowed to come up with something, but it's laborious, somewhat overwritten, with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.
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Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul - 18/11/2012 08:43:13 PM 1579 Views
Sounds like my kind of Sanderson book! - 19/11/2012 01:48:56 AM 763 Views
De gustibus... - 19/11/2012 02:28:10 AM 937 Views
Better than average? Now I'm really excited *NM* - 19/11/2012 08:48:31 PM 404 Views
Such a low threshold for excitement *NM* - 19/11/2012 11:43:51 PM 421 Views
The more Brandon's career evolves... - 19/11/2012 04:35:26 AM 909 Views
Speed kills - 19/11/2012 04:38:27 PM 844 Views
I agree with both of you - 19/11/2012 05:27:30 PM 896 Views
You wouldn't put Erikson in that category? - 20/11/2012 06:03:05 AM 889 Views
Although there are uneven moments, I think his work accomplishes a shade more than the other two - 20/11/2012 06:11:34 AM 824 Views
Re: Although there are uneven moments, I think his work accomplishes a shade more than the other two - 20/11/2012 03:12:45 PM 847 Views
True - 21/11/2012 02:56:08 AM 821 Views
Indeed - 21/11/2012 03:58:05 AM 840 Views
It is difficult to find a fit word for it, it seems - 22/11/2012 04:24:01 AM 1044 Views
Re: Speed kills - 19/11/2012 08:59:14 PM 943 Views
With Martin it's what I call "Robert Jordan Syndrome" - 20/11/2012 02:31:22 AM 1679 Views
Re: With Martin it's what I call "Robert Jordan Syndrome" - 20/11/2012 04:12:03 PM 1038 Views
I don't think it's very accurate to call Dance with Dragons a "CoT". - 20/11/2012 07:53:59 PM 789 Views
I sure think it is. - 20/11/2012 08:12:41 PM 908 Views
Hilarious... *NM* - 21/11/2012 12:07:40 AM 433 Views
Pretty spot on. *NM* - 22/11/2012 02:26:06 AM 694 Views
It isn't. - 02/12/2012 11:26:09 AM 962 Views
Dear Sanderson - 19/11/2012 04:49:28 PM 788 Views
I think some of the tendency can be blamed on aMoL - 05/12/2012 07:23:45 PM 843 Views

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