23 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: The Best Books of 2024 Winners!
Wind and Truth won best fantasy? I haven't been paying attention to book reddit I guess, but I thought it was an inexplicable and massive downgrade from the first 4 books. Like a first draft with all the writing errors and messy plot structures that comes with. I honestly assumed y'all would feel the same. Fuck, I thought this subreddit hated Sanderson.
Tainted Cup is good, though. I'm about halfway through now. As a mystery, I feel like it's missing that whodunit energy of giving me a chance to put the pieces together for myself, but it's still very enjoyable, and though the worldbuilding isn't doing anything bold, it's at least comfortably unique in its niche. I enjoy the snappy dialogue and the way it deals with the human-level politics of an empire that has to keep running efficiently or everyone dies. No one is ever that shocked or intrigued when the main characters let them in on the conspiracy plot. They usually immediately start complaining about being told, because now they have to do something about it. It's fun.
Comment by ArcaneChronomancer at 20/01/2025 at 02:07 UTC
24 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This was a popularity contest right? So Sanderson has a big advantage. And presumably the other votes were split.
Comment by Express_Bath at 20/01/2025 at 16:22 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah, I do enjoy Sanderson books as "entertainment books", I usually enjoy the story if the prose and dialogue is not quite there. But Wind of Truth really was a downgrade, and an example of what happens when an author goes big and their editors seem afraid to actually edit. I swear a minimum of 10% of the book could have been cut down.
I am gonna check Tainted Cup though !
Comment by Pointing_Monkey at 20/01/2025 at 10:48 UTC*
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Are you really that surprised? His fandom is almost on the level a cult. I swear he could write a book completely condemning their very choices in life, and they'd call it fantastic.
Go to any recommendation thread and you're sure to see Mistborn recommended. It could be a post along these lines:
I'm looking for a book which is not remotely fantasy, in fact I want it to have outright distain for fantasy as a genre, it must be written by a woman of colour, has lots of lesbian sex, swearing, smoking, completely condemn the Mormon religion, with such high end beautifully flowery prose, that Oscar Wilde would blush himself back to life. Any recommendations?
And sure as hell, you'll see at least one reply for Mistborn or Stormlight Archive. Pretty much:
I didn't read your post, but can I recommend Mistborn.
A while back, someone posted asking for recommendations for magical realism books. And sure enough, someone replied with Mistborn, because it has a hard magic system. In some quarters it's actually become a meme.