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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 1570 Views
Sounds like my kind of Sanderson book! - 19/11/2012 01:48:56 AM 752 Views
De gustibus... - 19/11/2012 02:28:10 AM 927 Views
Better than average? Now I'm really excited *NM* - 19/11/2012 08:48:31 PM 399 Views
Such a low threshold for excitement *NM* - 19/11/2012 11:43:51 PM 416 Views
The more Brandon's career evolves... - 19/11/2012 04:35:26 AM 898 Views
Speed kills - 19/11/2012 04:38:27 PM 833 Views
I agree with both of you - 19/11/2012 05:27:30 PM 887 Views
You wouldn't put Erikson in that category? - 20/11/2012 06:03:05 AM 878 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 815 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 837 Views
True - 21/11/2012 02:56:08 AM 811 Views
Indeed - 21/11/2012 03:58:05 AM 832 Views
It is difficult to find a fit word for it, it seems - 22/11/2012 04:24:01 AM 1033 Views
Re: Speed kills - 19/11/2012 08:59:14 PM 933 Views
With Martin it's what I call "Robert Jordan Syndrome" - 20/11/2012 02:31:22 AM 1669 Views
Re: With Martin it's what I call "Robert Jordan Syndrome" - 20/11/2012 04:12:03 PM 1027 Views
I don't think it's very accurate to call Dance with Dragons a "CoT". - 20/11/2012 07:53:59 PM 781 Views
I sure think it is. - 20/11/2012 08:12:41 PM 900 Views
Hilarious... *NM* - 21/11/2012 12:07:40 AM 428 Views
Pretty spot on. *NM* - 22/11/2012 02:26:06 AM 687 Views
It isn't. - 02/12/2012 11:26:09 AM 953 Views
Dear Sanderson - 19/11/2012 04:49:28 PM 778 Views
I think some of the tendency can be blamed on aMoL - 05/12/2012 07:23:45 PM 832 Views

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