View original post
I mean, he's smart enough to not do this by accident - if he wanted people to speak in a "medieval" fashion, he'd make them do so. I'd hazard a guess that by having them use modern colloquialisms, he wants to reduce the gap between the reader and his characters - illustrate that everything is "modern" in its own time, and that the mindset of people in a medieval or pseudo-medieval society will in at least some regards be quite similar to that of 21st century readers. Fantasy often tries to increase the gap between readers and characters, to enhance the escapism or just because readers find it somehow more convincing when the characters speak in "medieval" ways, whatever that may be. But it seems like a fine idea to me to do the opposite to make his characters seem more real, and his world more original - not just some generic fantasy universe at an easily determined "tech level" that just happens to correspond to some particular period of real world history for the reader's convenience.
I mean, he's smart enough to not do this by accident - if he wanted people to speak in a "medieval" fashion, he'd make them do so. I'd hazard a guess that by having them use modern colloquialisms, he wants to reduce the gap between the reader and his characters - illustrate that everything is "modern" in its own time, and that the mindset of people in a medieval or pseudo-medieval society will in at least some regards be quite similar to that of 21st century readers. Fantasy often tries to increase the gap between readers and characters, to enhance the escapism or just because readers find it somehow more convincing when the characters speak in "medieval" ways, whatever that may be. But it seems like a fine idea to me to do the opposite to make his characters seem more real, and his world more original - not just some generic fantasy universe at an easily determined "tech level" that just happens to correspond to some particular period of real world history for the reader's convenience.
It may be deliberate, but it is still bad because barring a few words like "yeah", the rest of the writing is closer to traditional middle ages fantasy. Its very jarring.
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
- 07/03/2014 05:07:43 AM
1438 Views
I'm still not done, but I have a few complaints, such as...
- 08/03/2014 10:32:31 PM
735 Views
"Yeah" the writing was no "upgrade"...
- 08/03/2014 11:26:59 PM
740 Views
There was something Kaladin said...
- 09/03/2014 12:00:15 AM
764 Views
His biggest weakness is definitely the colloquialisms, no doubt.
- 10/03/2014 08:38:19 PM
657 Views
Without actually having read any of his non-WoT books, I'd argue it's probably a deliberate choice.
- 10/03/2014 09:02:06 PM
682 Views