/lit/ - Literature

>>21875248
Malazan

>>21875248
>multi-million word "Epic Fantasy"
You are looking at the very worst type of fiction that there is. You would be better off forsaking reading entirely.

I just finished the second Stormlight book and I kind of wish I had read Malazan instead, after all it's finished. Stormlight can feel a little artificial, but is still a good read. If you're looking at these two, you may like Wheel of Time, it's a banger.

>>21875248
Stormlight Archive is very much "if Marvel was high fantasy" in a sense its very readable for every fantasy fan.

What’s the appeal of Sanderson?

Neither

>>21875431
sanderson makes books for people who havent read since middle school but want to say they read

>>21875248
malazan is very love or hate as it throws you in deep with the first book. it also doesn't neatly tie everything together by the end. I would say it's one of the few epic fantasy examples that doesn't shirk away from the scale of it.

>>21875248
Malazan is intellectual and ambitious and filters 90% of readers, while Sanderson writes marvel movie slop. Basically the opposing extremes of the genre.

Start with kino instead
>Crying “Glory to the God!” Athjeäri and his thanes broke ranks, crouching forward on their mounts, slowly dipping their lances. More Houses abandoned the line and pounded toward the Kianene: Wanhail, Anfirig, Werijen Greatheart, and then old Gothyelk himself, bellowing, “Heaven wills it!” Like an avalanche, House after House followed, until almost all the mail-clad might of the MiddleNorth cantered out to greet their foe. “There!” footmen on the line would cry, glimpsing the Red Lion of Saubon or the Black Stag of Gothyelk and his sons. From a trot the massive warhorses were urged to a slow gallop. Nesting thrushes took flight, burst slapping into the sky. Everything became breath and iron, the rumble of brothers before, behind, and to the side. Then, like a cloud of locusts, arrows swept among them. There was a hellish racket punctuated by screaming horses and astonished shouts. Warhorses toppled and thrashed, yanking knights to the ground, breaking backs, crushing legs. Then the madness fell away. Once again it was the pure thunder of the charge. The strange camaraderie of men bent to a single, fatal purpose. Hummocks, scrub, and the bones of the Vulgar Holy War’s dead rushed beneath. The wind bled through chain links, tousled Thunyeri braids and Tydonni crests. Bright banners slapped against the sky. The heathen, wicked and foul, drew closer, ever closer. One last storm of arrows, these ones almost horizontal to the ground, punching against shield and armour. Some were struck from their saddles. Tongue tips were bitten off in the concussion of the fall. The unhorsed arched across the turf, screamed and swatted at the sky. Wounded mounts danced in frothing circles nearby. The rest thundered on, over grasses, through patches of blooming milkwort waving in the wind. They couched their lances, twenty thousand men draped in great mail hauberks over thick felt, with coifs across their faces and helms that swept down to their cheeks, riding chargers caparisoned in mail or iron plates. The fear dissolved into drunken speed, into the momentum, became so mingled with exhilaration as to be indistinguishable from it. They were addicted to the charge, the Men of the Tusk. Everything focused into the glittering tip of a lance. The target nearer, nearer … The rumble of hooves and drums drowned their kinsmen’s song. They crashed through a thin screen of sumac … Saw eyes whiten in sudden terror. Then impact. The jarring splinter of wood as lances speared through shield, through armour. Suddenly the ground became still and solid beneath them, and the air rang with wails and shouts. Hands drew sword and axe. Everywhere figures grappled and hacked. Horses reared. Blades pitched blood into the sky. And the Kianene fell, undone by their ferocity, crumpling beneath northern hands, dying beneath pale faces and merciless blue eyes. The heathen recoiled from the slaughter—and fled

Malazan is the definition of "write if it's cool and fuck logic and reason" , but Stormlight Archive still make efftorts to make a sound and well thought world and magic system, I prefer Stormlight

>>21875533
lol, stfu
the only thing erikson cares about is big dicks. Karsa almost makes it worth the read, though. almost

>>21875793
Its the Bakker autist(s) that have put me off his work all together

>>21875793
Mary Sue garbage.

If you go with stormlight, you should read the first three mistborn novels first.

>>21875248
A friend of mine loves sanderson, i think it's ok pretty komfy but nothing crazy

>>21875793
holy reddit what a word salad

>tfw you want to get into a big fantasy series but barely have the patience to complete a stand-alone

I have yet to hear a good critic from /lit/ of sanderson.
All you will hear from them is that he write "marvel tier books" or "books for people that does not read" but you will never receive an explanation of what that means because /lit/ is full of contrarians, they're just angry that his books sell.
For OP
Stormlite is ok, good story, decent charapters (mostly), good world and the overall story, undeniably slow, is compelling

>>21876043
I've read the first two Stormlight books, and I enjoyed them but can honestly understand why lit hates Sanderson so much. His books feel a little too "controlled" as stories, to an extent that everything can start to feel kind of plastic or artificial because of the way the characters act and the plot unfolds. It's similar to Marvel in that way, though I think is still much better than that.

>>21875248
I’ve read the first two books in Stormlight and the Edgedancer novella. The plot is pretty standard so far nothing surprising yet, the battle scenes feel very anime-ish which I like. Characters are decent for the most part, it’s been pretty enjoyable overall.

All that said though I might drop the series until the 5th book comes out. The overall plot can feel very slow.

>>21876043
It's just plot and worldbuilding, written for mormon teenagers. There's not a subtext, adult theme or beautiful line of prose to be found in any of his books.

>>21875383
>you may like Wheel of Time, it's a banger
kek

malazan is actually worth reading if you're a fan of the genre. it hits the ground running with rich lore and history. instead of endless exposition, the reader is just thrust into the middle of the story and left to pick up the pieces as they go. pretty good books by all accounts.

>>21875284
What about Homer's Odyssey?

>>21877733
lol fuckin wrecked

>>21875445
Not true, I read it because I want to read mindlessly entertaining fantasy

>>21875248
Malazan. But Gardens of the Moon is like a 5 or 6 out of 10. I'd say just listen to the audiobook when you have other shit going on like laundry or car rides and then actually give it your all starting with Deahouse Gates. I really don't like Sanderson so I don't recommend his books.

>>21877733
Now this is a based response. The people who gatekeep reading on this board are the worst. There's nothing wrong with indulging in some epic fantasy from time to time

>>21876115
>His books feel a little too "controlled" as stories
Pretty accurate. I'd say this is a product of his workflow. The man is pumping out multiple novels a year for multiple series, so it's no surprise that they're very formulaic. He found a formula that works and sticks with it to keep his output at a high level. It'll keep working until his audience gets tired of reading essentially the same story over and over again, which is what's happening with Marvel right now

>>21876022
Genuinely cannot relate to this whatsoever if I see a big fantasy or sci-fi series I immediately add it to my reading list and find out the series order so I can enjoy it the fullest.

>>21876022

I feel ya man

>>21877733
I specified multi-million word, retard. The Odyssey, LOTR, etc, are only a few hundred thousand words, which is fine.

>>21875431
He writes garbage for people who don't read but love videogames, marvel movies, and anime
But most importantly he does it very fast, so his 'readers' have an infinite supply of 'content' to 'consume'
He's the kind of writer an AI could and will eventually replace

Malazan is the better of the two, but you should read Wheel of Time instead.

There still is no perfect epic fantasy series. I think I'll just have to write it myself.

Malazan has such a great premise on paper, and should work, but it ultimately fails due to autism and being unfocused.
Stormlight is just trash. Top to bottom.
Wheel of Time is yet another series that has a good premise, solid beginning, but then just falls apart.

I notice that most fantasy writers seem to fall into one of two camps.
Either 1. They are focused on world building and gay "magic systems" so much that their story and structure suffers.
or
2. They focus so much on ">muh relatable characters" that their world building is almost nonexistent and you end up forgetting that you're reading a fantasy novel.

If there is a writer that eliminates the flaws of both camps, then that will be the greatest fantasy series ever.
LotR and ASOIAF are objectively the two that came closest to greatness, but even they aren't perfect.

>>21878475
LOTR definitely goes into multi million unless you think it's just the hobbit and trilogy

>>21877733
Snob status: RAVAGED AND BUCKBROKEN.

>>21875248
Malazan Its not even a question oathbringer is like 1400 pages of just pure filler

>>21875793
I really have no clue if these are meme books or not, the shilling and counter shilling has really put me off ever reading it.

>>21875806
>Le magic system

Literally a psyop, so long as the magic dosent just band-aid bad writing (Jon coming back to life in GOT) it dosent need a "system"

>>21876581
>>21878561
See? Just as i said
>>21878785
I'm reading oathbringer right now and holy shit if it's boring nothing happens

>>21878475
Did you knew the Odyssey and the Iliad were fragments of a bigger series of epic poems but those did not survive? We can't tell how big was this series of poems.

>>21878475
Also isn‘t fantasy

>>21879095
We know very well by cataloguing which books are missing and Iliad/Odyssey are known to form the larger part.

>>21875793
gay butt fucking

>>21875793
The sad thing is that Bakker's world is genuinely really neat and there are some rather kino moments. But I'm not reading any of them ever again because his writing style is fuckin doo doo. The last book was truly the slog of slogs and I will never in my life forget
>the smell of feces and roasting lamb

>>21875431
it's shounen

>>21875806
>>21878796
Agreed with the second poster, a magic "system" takes all of the magic out of magic. Any time someone recommends some book to me based on the magic system I know to avoid it.

>>21875248
Neither, read the Wheel of Time and then move on to another genre.

A friend of mine loves sanderson but I'm now reading oathbringer and I'm this close to blow my fucking brain out. He keep asking of the book with excitement but it doesn't really clck with me. What do i do?

>>21876043
The prose. The prose is terrible, simplistic, and overly modern. The word choice and sentence structure are made to accommodate YA readers. There’s also too much of a focus on world building nonsense, but without the compelling characters or conflict to warrant any interest in seeing it uncovered. Brando Sando is the epitome of a shitty YA novelist, and I will never touch his stuff again.

But I’ll admit, he knows how to play the industry and make a crazy amount of sales while having a consistent output. So even if he sucks, I can still respect that he’s successful. Though perhaps that says more about the tastelessness of the modern fantasy audience than it does about Sanderson’s own business strategies.

>>21877882
Don't get me wrong I'm excited by the possibilities of these long series but even when I'm in the middle of something I'm enjoying my mind begins to tell me I should hyperfixate on something else

>>21875248
there is no reason to ever read anything by sanderson

>>21875793
if you wanted to recommend something that wasnt an option why not recommend something based instead of more poopy faggots

>>21880103
audiobook at 2x speed

>>21880103
Just audiobook it while playing vidya, thats what I did anyway I cant imagine sitting and reading trough most of that trash. That book really killed my excitment for the series to be honest, theres a few good moments in it but theres just so much filler. I have rythm of war too but its been collecting dust for like 6 months.

>>21877882
Same here, I love long fantasy/sci-fi series. Do you have any recommendations? Some that I’ve already read are ASoIaF, Malazan, Second Apocalypse and Stormlight.

>>21880599
Wheel of Time, Dune?