/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17592581]

Why does this shit feel so sterile and soulless?

Is it because he's a Mormon?

[Anonymous No.17592612]

almost all fantasy being written nowadays is sterile and soulless, anon

except mine, I've gotten some good reviews so I'm happy :)

[Anonymous No.17592682]

>>17592612
What's the key to writing a fantasy book with soul?

Personally I think it's the characters. Too much focus is put on magic systems and world building. Frankly if your characters aren't endearing, I don't care.

[Anonymous No.17592807]

no sex

[Anonymous No.17593161]

It was a Japanese Anime in a book.

[Anonymous No.17593233]

This book is so bad I ripped it up

[Anonymous No.17593535]

>>17592581
Yeah I tried that one and holy shit is it unreadable. I think i suffered through something like 50 pages and all I remember is anime-like fights, ridiculous sounding made-up names, and the feeling this had been written by a teenager.

[Anonymous No.17593546]

>>17593233
fatty still got your money

[Anonymous No.17593563]

>>17592581
Jeff Wheeler produces some kino books. They're YA, but they have some soul and he's Mormon.

[Anonymous No.17593760]

>>17593546
sure but I have spend a long time telling people on /lit/ it is unreadable tripe, so surely I have also taken away sales greater than my single one

[Anonymous No.17594091]

>>17592581
I enjoy it I’m on book 3. I think the religious overtones and symbology are most likely going over your head.

[Anonymous No.17594109]

>>17592581
no sex
making magic technical
obsession with explaining everything
trying too hard to make the setting original

[Anonymous No.17594148]

>>17592581
Honestly the writing is really bad, the setting is "unique" but the idea of history repeating itself has been done to death, the magic system is incoherent and sounds like some anime power fantasy shit, and most of the character "flaws" feel so fucking shallow. The "humor" in the book with Wit and Shallan is so fucking bad it hurts. Does anyone have book recommendations that follow characters like Kaladin that are better written and less mopey? I'm looking for a character with strong moral convictions that is stuck working within an immoral system, being forced to bend some of his own morals to ensure his own survival

[Anonymous No.17594843]

>>17593233
the right side of the pic looks like gandolf in his hat from the thumbnail

[Anonymous No.17594880]

>>17594091
>I think the religious overtones and symbology are most likely going over your head.
why would i give a fuck about this if his characters are terrible?

[Anonymous No.17594889]

>>17594880
autism. if you're writing or reading fantasy you don't do it for relating to human characters, you do it because it pushes your autism buttons.

[Anonymous No.17594890]

[Anonymous No.17594915]

>>17594889
this is why most fantasy will never measure up to Tolkien and the appeal that those books had. It was autism, but it had soul.

Is it too much to ask for authors to contain their power levels and write good books that non-autists can enjoy.

[Anonymous No.17594931]

>>17592581
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.17594939]

>>17594915
we won't have another tolkien because pastoralism is dead. farming has been pretty much entirely shunted over to corporations. agrarian society has gone the way of the dodo, you can't have tolkiens without it.

[Anonymous No.17594948]

>>17594890
>this is what they read on the outside

[Anonymous No.17594956]

>tolkien makes languages and tries creating a new mythology
Soulful
>Sanderson creates a massive sprawling universe in god awful prose where everything is so over explained that his magic systems are just science. Horrible YA tier characters to boot
Soulless

At the end of the day Sanderson writes for reddit faggots and small children, because he doesn't actually take his own worksbseriously and doesn't have a literature background.

[Anonymous No.17594964]

>>17593233
very based

[Anonymous No.17594966]

>>17594948

[Anonymous No.17594975]

>>17594956
This. Tolkien wasn't interested in writing 1000 page long fantasy novels for money. He cared about the world he had been building for most of his life.

[Anonymous No.17594981]

>>17594091
Book 3 is where the series goes down the shitter.

[Anonymous No.17595000]

>>17594956
>Sanderson creates a massive sprawling universe in god awful prose where everything is so over explained that his magic systems are just science.
It's not science though. An actually scientific magic could be really cool. Rather Sanderson's magic is just very basic. It's only a few very simple powers and that's it. It's incredibly boring.

[Anonymous No.17595002]

Sanderson approaches fantasy like it's fast food cooking, he tries to get it out as quickly and cheaply as possible without too many complaints

I kinda like the Mistborn trilogy but The Stormlight books are way too bloated and bland

[Anonymous No.17595012]

>>17595000
I suppose I was giving him too much credit then huh. I think the only time I've ever seen scientific magic is Full Metal Alchemist which was interesting.

[Anonymous No.17595053]

>>17592581
Any fantasy novel that's over 1000 pages long is doomed to be trash.

[Anonymous No.17595085]

> S A N D E R S O N
> C O S M E R E
> R A D I A N T
> S H A R D S
> S P R E N
> W I N D S P R E N
> H O N N OR S P R E N
> C R E A T I O N S P R E N
> ...
> D E A T H S P R E N
> S H A R D P L A T E
> S H A R D B L A D E
> S T O R M L I G H T
> V O I D L I G H T
> T O W E R L I G H T
> W A R L I G H T
> P A T T E R N
> S H A L L A N
> L I F T
> K A L A D I N
> D A L I N A R
> B O N D S M I T H
> L A S H I N G
> G E M S T O N E S
> H E A L I N G
> F A B R I A L S
> I M M O R T A L W O R D S
> O A T H S
> D I A G R A M
> S A D E A S
> S A F E H A N D

[Anonymous No.17595103]

CUMSPREN

[Anonymous No.17595108]

>>17594890
this isn't too bad imo. the other ones you post are much worse.

[Anonymous No.17595110]

>>17595108
>this isn't too bad imo.

[Anonymous No.17595156]

>>17595110
this is why his books are bad.

[Anonymous No.17595168]

>>17595156
*isn't

[Anonymous No.17595207]

>>17595168
>>17595156
>Fucking up.
>Twice.
Give up, low IQ shitter.

[Anonymous No.17595225]

>>17595207
I agree with you that sanderson sucks. I just don't think that page is him at his worst.

[Anonymous No.17595432]

Mormons are incapable of producing worthy art

[Anonymous No.17595456]

>>17595108
>this isn't too bad imo
genre-shitters, ladies and ge'men

[Anonymous No.17595457]

>>17595002
>Sanderson approaches fantasy like it's fast food
well, you are what you eat

[Anonymous No.17595667]

>>17595457
>>17595002
but seriously, why does he not care about his world and not rushing through it.

didn't he say he spent like 10 years working on stormlight?

[Anonymous No.17595684]

>>17594956
Sanderson has been writing since he was a teen but you’re correct in that he’s always just been into fantasy. He writes some good shit for his favorite genre and is pretty successful. He also put all his lectures online for free and they were very helpful despite being for a genre I don’t care about. Overall I respect the guy and think that he does well for what he shoots for, which is not super deep and meaningful lit.

[Anonymous No.17595698]

>>17594880
It’s not about great literature. It’s about diving into an imaginative world and being a child again. It’s gay as fuck but I enjoy it from time to time.

[Anonymous No.17595763]

>>17595698
porque no los dos? Do autists just not know how to write or something?

[Anonymous No.17595832]

>>17595763
He writes better then all of you midwits and I’m convinced you’re just mad about it. Plus you haven’t read anough of his stuff to even judge

[Anonymous No.17595836]

>>17592612
anon at least give us a hint on what book could be

[Anonymous No.17595846]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595873]

If you think this book is anything other than dreck I advise you return to your containment general where yes-men will talk you down.

[Anonymous No.17595885]

>>17592682
I fall into the trap of worldbuilding but it's really an insidious trap and a very big danger of soullessness. I like history books but most people don't, and history avoids being made boring by having a particular narrator (Hence why ASOIAF history doesn't interest me worth shit).

[Anonymous No.17595897]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595901]

>>17595698
What a fucking joke. If I want to "experience" being a kid again with fantasy ill just go play a video game with friends. Imagine wasting hours and hours reading subpar fantasy shit when you could have read something worth your time.

[Anonymous No.17595905]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595907]

>>17595684
>He writes some good shit
>>17594890
>>17594966

[Anonymous No.17595912]

>>17595667
Because he isn't interested for writing as an artistic medium. He isn't like Tolkien who worked on his craft his entire life with languages and translation of older myths. He just said

>THE COSMERE IS THIS MASSIVE EPIC COOOOL UNIVERSE BUT YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE VOIDLIGHT
and sold it to kids

[Anonymous No.17595917]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595933]

>>17595667
>didn't he say he spent like 10 years working on stormlight?
Is this true? Because it certainly doesn't look like that's the case in the books.

[Anonymous No.17595944]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595963]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595970]

>>17593563
>>17594091
>>17595108
>>17595684
>>17595698
>>17595832

[Anonymous No.17595978]

>>17595933
i think it was on the left leaf of the hardcover where he said it was like 10-15 years in development before he got it where it is now.

[Anonymous No.17595981]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17595996]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17596011]

>>17594148
try this. Something about it really spoke to me about a very pragmatic guy, something I would imagine augustus being like

[Anonymous No.17596019]

>>17596011
Btw if anyone has some recs similar to this, very appreciated.

[Anonymous No.17596020]

>>17595901
Or you could not play video games and read fantasy every now and then.

[Anonymous No.17596023]

is mistborn any good?

[Anonymous No.17596043]

>>17596023
the first one is decent

i'd give it a 7/10. it's the only sanderson book i was able to stomach.

[Anonymous No.17596050]

>>17592581
Its really dry, and boring. The most interesting character was Kaladin, but it kinda got to the point where I felt that author was a masochist. I don't give a shit about the Shallan romance, or the fucking legendary blades. Also whats up with the fucking Avengers line up in the last (?) book.

[Anonymous No.17596241]

>>17592581
Yes. Also, because it's YA larping as being adult fantasy (check out any of his actual YA series if you want to read something truly awful), and because it's got a bunch of romance subplots tacked on and he has absolutely no conception of what it might mean for something to be romantic. He's gotten a lot better at it since his early days, but it's still some of the cringiest shit I've read. At least it's maybe slightly better than Twilight these days. That said, his cosmere novels are still some of the best YA novels written in the past, I don't know, 20 years?

[Anonymous No.17596314]

>>17594890
I can at least appreciate the lack of adverbs in the dialogue tags. Pulp usually exploits this. This guy may be boring/cringe, but you can tell at least he took a few writer's workshops.

[Anonymous No.17596331]

>>17594890
How would one rewrite this passage to not be bad? Someone please post a non-cringe example of an autistic girl having a conversation with a stick.

[Anonymous No.17596353]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17596521]

>>17596331
don't have the stick talk. have it kinda give her vibes. have her talk to it once, then give up and try to find a way to do what she needs to in her head.

[Anonymous No.17596555]

>>17595901
Genre trash is easily above vidya.

[Anonymous No.17596560]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17596567]

>>17592581
R3dd17 t13r

[Anonymous No.17596584]

Sanderson is the Hideo Kojima of modern fantasy. Make of that statement what you will

[Anonymous No.17596736]

>>17593760
>he thinks there's any significant number of people who purchase books on /lit/
Pissing into a sea of piss, but "literature" thanks you for your meaningless sacrifice.

[Anonymous No.17596745]

>>17594956
>his magic systems are just science
Literally the best part of his "systems", be more filtered.
>MUH DEUS EX MACHINA AND BELIEVING IN YOURSELF!

[Anonymous No.17596751]

>>17594890
this really isn't that bad and in the context of "pattern" as a character its fine. it's kinda inventive. book 3 is still shit tho

[Anonymous No.17596773]

>>17595832
Now this is bait children, take note of the many emotionally charged responses and various bits of backpedaling in follow-up posts. Quite excellent, 5 stars.

[Anonymous No.17596774]

>>17592581
Honestly I think I'll give this a shot anyway. You guys on /lit/ don't seem to like Fantasy in general and as such I've lost any respect for your opinions on it since it's just bashed here.

[Anonymous No.17596788]

>>17596774
i regularly post on /sffg/ and love fantasy, but it's the worst kind of fantasy imaginable.

[Anonymous No.17596799]

>>17596788
>but it's the worst kind of fantasy imaginable.
Some high tier exaggeration there

[Anonymous No.17596852]

>>17596774
/lit/ doesn't like reading in general, every thread is nothing but bitching

[Anonymous No.17597181]

https://faq.brandonsanderson.com/knowledge-base/why-do-you-think-mormonism-is-correct/

[Anonymous No.17597195]

>>17595832

Thanks for this

[Anonymous No.17597257]

>>17597195
nigger

[Anonymous No.17597281]

>>17594890
>>17594966
if you say the word over and over again it makes the funny

[Anonymous No.17597318]

>>17594843
based

[Anonymous No.17597437]

>>17592682
Needing likeable characters is for plebs and mongoloids. S O V L is derived purely from returning the reader to the mindset of the pre-modern man.

[Anonymous No.17597742]

>>17596773
When the people you're 'baiting' have a good time laughing at you, and all the responses are people copy pasting 4 words and having a chuckle, its pretty shit bait. It doesn't do anything but make the people you're baiting feel good, not even waste their time like with something that requires an actual thought response other than "lol".

[Anonymous No.17597750]

>>17597195
same vein

[Anonymous No.17598709]

>>17596788
I genuinely enjoy the books of his that I’ve read. If anyone wants to see what Brandon Sanderson can do just read ‘Emperors Soul’. It’s very short and will give you an idea for his style.

[Anonymous No.17599465]

>>17595832
Oh no no no no no Sanderbros, we got too cocky!

[Anonymous No.17599538]

Thinly veiled Bakker shitpost.

[Anonymous No.17599633]

>>17599538
does it trouble you?

[Anonymous No.17600566]

>>17592581
It's blatant Mormon propaganda. The plot, end of the world etc., come from his religion.

[Anonymous No.17600848]

>>17600566
uhm, based?

[Anonymous No.17600964]

>>17600566
The Mormon structure of doctrine makes the most sense. I’m going to say, based.

[Anonymous No.17601271]

>>17600566
Does it trouble you?

[Anonymous No.17601642]

>>17594109
>obsession with explaining everything
This is my biggest gripe about a lot of fantasy, thousands of pages and the story still isn't done, it's infuriating

[Anonymous No.17602051]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17602145]

>>17596584
Sanderson has no characters I want to fuck as hard as Raiden.

[Anonymous No.17602157]

>>17593233
Based

[Anonymous No.17603669]

>>17601642
This

[Anonymous No.17603797]

>>17595432
Some of Orson Scott Card's older books are good, but his newer ones are pretty lame.

[Anonymous No.17604143]

is it too much to ask for fantasy that has good prose, or at least good wordplay? Jack Vance is the only fantasy writer I've read with interesting vocabulary or imagery. Even Tolkein's prose is only just barely tolerable.

[Anonymous No.17604158]

>>17604143
There are some. Guy Gavriel Kay is a fairly obvious choice. Mervyn Peakeis is also quite good. And, yes, unironically Bakker.

[Anonymous No.17604982]

>>17595832
>you midwits
What's wrong with this part? I don't get the other two grammatical mistakes, but what's wrong here?

[Anonymous No.17604990]

>>17604982
>>17604982
>don't get
I didn't meant to put don't there; I DO get those two parts.

[Anonymous No.17605269]

>>17604982
Just highlighting the fact that he called other people midwits when he typed out and posted two of the dumbest typos I've ever seen in the same post.

[Anonymous No.17605299]

>>17592682
Saying something about humanity. Not just trying to wow the reader with magic, weird settings and fighting

[Anonymous No.17605630]

>>17594148
Books of Babel or whatever the title series (first book is titled Senlin Ascends), by some Isaiah Ashcraft iirc.
Last part should release sometime this year

[Anonymous No.17605665]

>>17594890
I am Groot?

[Anonymous No.17606297]

>>17594956
>everything is so over explained that his magic systems are just science
God no, his magic system are so shallow that it's a fucking trading card game. Sanderson's brain was burned out by Magic the Gathering and that's what he writes now.

[Anonymous No.17606441]

>>17605299
There it is. Actually saying something with your book is absolutely the most effective thing you can do since it forces the disparate elements of setting, characters, and plot together into something coherent that can resonate with the reader more than raw flashy imagery can.

>>17597742
>all the responses are people copy pasting 4 words and having a chuckle, its pretty shit bait.
The key word here is "all the responses." As long as you're replying to the baitman, he has won. It doesn't matter if you're laughing at him or with him. He has won.

>>17604143
Wolfe.

[Anonymous No.17606647]

>>17592612
congrats anon! Link it if it's free

[Anonymous No.17606653]

Because he's trying to construct a novel like it's a video game.

[Anonymous No.17606657]

>>17594890
SHALLANSHITTERS BTFO STICKCHADS WIN AGAIN
this is good writing btw. one of the few good shallan moments in the early books. I hated her but she and adolin carried rhythm of war hard.

[Anonymous No.17606664]

[Anonymous No.17607974]

>>17606664
Shut up, soi

[Anonymous No.17608345]

Real men know fantasy starts and ends with Deltora.

[Anonymous No.17609107]

>>17592581
I still haven't continued this series. The best way I can describe it is it's really geeky and nerdy in the worst way. The magic system is supposed to be based off videogames, but it doesn't feel like it's done in an interesting way. Like are we supposed to be impressed by a big boss fight that randomly spawns in the middle of the story? I think every time something happens and the sentence, "He was angry, so anger-spren started dancing around him" happens I felt like closing the book, since it made me feel like I was reading manga and not something you'd otherwise expect from the fantasy genre. It's just really nerdy and dumb, and I'm usually okay with that kind of thing when it comes to fantasy.

[Anonymous No.17609190]

>>17593233
autism

[Anonymous No.17609379]

>>17606657
>this is good writing btw

[Anonymous No.17609399]

>>17606657
>this is good writing btw
You need to be 18 to post here.

[Anonymous No.17610773]

>>17609379
>>17609399
it's not bad writing

[Anonymous No.17611177]

>>17610773
You're right, it's terrible.

[Anonymous No.17611386]

>>17608345
>here, let’s make books about a land in the middle of a nightmare world chock full of demonic monsters and market it to seven year olds
genius, just like animorphs

[Anonymous No.17611397]

>>17594091
>symbology

[Anonymous No.17611428]

>>17595832
>then
>anough
>you midwits

[Anonymous No.17611496]

>>17596852
hello sir, welcome to 4chan

[Anonymous No.17611596]

What non-Tolkien fantasy is worth reading?

[Anonymous No.17611597]

>>17611596
Bakker

[Anonymous No.17611598]

>>17611596
narnia
book of the new sun
asoiaf

[Anonymous No.17611602]

>>17611598
>narnia
You need to be 18 to post here.

[Anonymous No.17611603]

>>17611596
My book (coming out in Fall 2022)

[Anonymous No.17611612]

>>17611596

[Anonymous No.17611783]

>>17611602
Yikes.

[Anonymous No.17611787]

>>17596774
Trash fiction gets bashed. Wanna fight about it? Most books are trash, but genre fiction like fantasy and sci fi have higher concentrations of garbage than books as a whole. So when 98% of a group is shitty compared to the 95% of another group being shitty, naturally the 98% shitty group receives more attention because compared to the 95% shit group, it is worse.

[Anonymous No.17611883]

>>17592581
It's kino though. There's a reason most writers and readers consider Sanderson the second coming of Tolkein; he's revolutionized the magic system in fantasy, and he had phenomenal worldbuilding. People here only hate him to ve contrarian

[Anonymous No.17611911]

>>17611883
>kino
>second coming of Tolkein
>revolutionized the magic system in fantasy
>phenomenal worldbuilding

[Anonymous No.17611938]

>>17611883
Poor quality bait.

[Anonymous No.17611962]

>>17611911
Just assume its bait

[Anonymous No.17612013]

>>17611911
>>revolutionized the magic system in fantasy
He did tho. He gave the genre hard rules for magic that every new writer follows
>>phenomenal worldbuilding
Yes, the cosmerse is more detailed than middle earth

[Anonymous No.17612177]

>>17611596
bakker unironically

[Anonymous No.17612195]

>>17612013
>hard rules for magic
always inferior

[Anonymous No.17612294]

>>17612195
Based.
Hard magic is SHIT and is proxy science for people who couldn't hack it in school and want to feel good about themselves. The educated love soft magic.

[Anonymous No.17612367]

[Anonymous No.17612436]

>>17612013
>Yes, the cosmerse is more detailed than middle earth
Yes, I remembered that time when Sanderson didn't make all of his characters speak the same language.

[Anonymous No.17612708]

>>17612013
>Yes, the cosmerse is more detailed than middle earth
Absolutely retarded.

[Anonymous No.17612781]

>>17611386
>animorphs
This book made me cry at the end.

[Anonymous No.17612796]

>>17594890
This isn't terrible to be honest, but I can see why people consider it to be more in line with dime-store fantasy and less like the greats. I could see a dialogue exchange like this in a Terry Pratchett book.

[Anonymous No.17613523]

>>17611386
Animorphs was way better than Deltora Qeust though.

[Anonymous No.17613601]

>>17612796
you haven't seen the other bad pages from him.

[Anonymous No.17613818]

>>17612796
Terry Pratchett is a humor author, his work is supposed to have terrible, cringey moments like this.

[Anonymous No.17613836]

Most fiction is souless because the people who consoom and fund the fiction process are themselves souless. Low culture vs high culture

[Anonymous No.17613987]

>>17611596
William Morris
George Macdonald

[Anonymous No.17614137]

>>17613601
Why doesn’t someone who has his books post pics of his greatest moments. I’m not going to buy his book just to find them.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0BfUDyvdTSE