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What's your least favorite Cosmere novel  

75 members have voted

  1. 1. What's your least favorite Cosmere novel?

    • Elantris
    • Emperor's Soul
    • Mistborn
    • The Well of Ascension
    • The Hero of Ages
    • The Alloy of Law
    • The Way of Kings
    • Words of Radiance
    • Warbreaker
    • Cosmere Short Stories


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First, I have to say that I love all of Brandon's books. Some are clearly stronger than others and I can criticize aspects of each one, but if I have to pick I will...

 

I almost went with the Well of Ascension (the Vin/Zane story seems way too forced for me, and I feel like nothing happens for quite a while), even when the Mistborn trilogy is what I always recommend to new Sanderson readers. I also almost went with The Hero of Ages, mostly because of the existential religious crisis of my favorite character. But in the end I chose Elantris. 

 

Elantris seems too clunky a lot of the times and has an air of "I'm not exactly sure how to end this/pull all the pieces together". It seems as if the shardpool came out of nowhere, and according to Brandon in his Annotations for Elantris, it did:

 The pool, actually, simply grew out of my need to find a way to put Raoden on the slopes of the mountains near the ending of the book

It's funny how something originally used just to get Raoden to the top of the mountain is now so important Cosmere-wide. My other gripe is that AonDor seems like a really inefficient magic system, even if drawing Aons is very artistic and beautiful. When Raoden has to fight with this magic system, all I could think was, "drawing Aons quick and precise enough seems almost impossible in the context of any form of combat". Thus I couldn't believe it. 

 

Now, don't get me wrong. I loved Elantris, and I really loved re-visiting Sel with the Emperor's Soul (where another Dor-based magic is also slow to use, but at least wasn't forced into sudden combat, because it would never work either). In the end, I just feel like it's Brandon's weakest. 

Edited by Titan Arum
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I'll say short stories because they're too short and reveal too little of a world. (But I do enjoy The Emperor's Soul after reread.)

For novels, perhaps Warbreaker and Alloy of Law. For no reason, I just couldn't get into the story very quicky. I think my first read-through was too forced. Maybe I just need to reread them =)

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When it comes to the short stories, my least favorite is Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. Not only because the Hellish Investiture we've seen in the story seems absolutely useless in normal everyday life (unlike every other manifestation of Investiture we've seen), but also because one of the villains has the same name as one of my all-time favorite authors, Chesterton (How could you, Brandon?! *sobs*).

 

Nonetheless, I am very forgiving when it comes to short stories. A bad short story is at least just a minor distraction, and Shadows was actually pretty well-written despite my irrational complaints about it.

 

In the end, I voted Elantris as my least favorite Cosmere novel. I'm sure the upcoming new edition will bring improvements that will make me like it a bit more (especially if it will finally get an Ars Arcanum! :D), but I fear my problem with it isn't just the unpolished prose. Frankly, I think Elantris would have been a better story if the parts concerning Sarene (including her coming to Kae in the first place) was removed, with Kiin being given a more active part in the story and replacing Sarene as the Teoish viewpoint character.

 

I dunno, I guess given how Kiin was already part of Raoden's circle of friends, how important his family is to the story, and how interesting his own backstory is, I just felt that he could have been a much better viewpoint character. Removing Sarene would have let Brandon write a tighter, more focused story. Also, there would have been no icky love triangles. :P

Edited by skaa
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Elantris. Extremely questionable twists (at least to me), a magic system that just doesn't stand up to the rest of the things Brandon's done with the cosmere, and characters I just didn't like. 'cept Hrathen, but everyone loves that guy anyways. Warbreaker is my second-least favorite, though it's more because the book just doesn't feel like an entire book, and the ending was meh. The rest of Warbreaker is very pleasant, and I love Awakening.

Edited by Moogle
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Elantris aside, my next least favourite is Warbreaker (sorry Quiv). A lot of it I think I found awkward rather than funny, and while I enjoy it and it's a really good book, it isn't a book that completely sucks me in.

 

You're dead to me.

 

Okay, seriously... I'm with Titan. I very, very nearly said Well of Ascension, because Zane just doesn't work for me. I have to agree with everyone else who said that the spark between him and Vin just wasn't there, and considering how important that is for that particularly sub-plot...

I also, frankly, found him a bit more of a cliché than I was expecting, especially after having finished The Final Empire. The bastard son, ill-treated, hidden from the rest of his family, with all of the superpowers, and who is brooding, and dark, and intoxicating to the heroine, and complex...

 

It just didn't work for me. He didn't contribute enough to the book.

 

 

Buuut... I have to say Way of Kings.

Now, let me make it clear; I love the Dalinar and Shallan sections of the book. I love Roshar, and most of the time, I read that book because I wanted to learn more about the characters and the world they inhabit.

But by Celestia, I did not like Kaladin.

 

I mean... I should like him. Butu I just didn't. Honestly, I still don't all that much. My feelings for Kal are very mixed and muddled up, and something that could probably be a topic on their own, so I'll just stick with what bothered me in WoK about him:

Too much of the storyline was focused on him, but he never did anything.

 

Now, I'll prface by saying I have grown a certain appreciation for him. His inability to act is sympathetic and makes sense, given his position in the army as a slave. His depression and downward spiral reflects that- and from what I've read on this forum, is a fairly accurate picture of real-life depression. And I applaud Brandon for including such a portrait in his books.

But for every chapter of Kaladin talking about how bad lighteyes are (without giving much of his flashback portions away), how he's a slave, and how sad he is. And it makes sense, but... it made his chapters difficult to wade through, since it felt like minimal stuff was happening, whereas Shallan and Dalinar's chapters had a lot more momentum. 

 

Of course, going back to read those sections now, I'll probably find more stuff buried to pick up on. In my first WoR reading, for instance, I thought Kal refering to Moash as his best friend came out of no where; re-reading it, I'll probably find more references to it. Kal's story in WoK is probably realistic, and a lot more subtle than I give it credit for... but my initial impressions don't do the guy any favors.

 

(Oh, and I'm ignoring Elantris and the short stories because I haven't read them... but I have tried reading Elantris three or four times now. It's unfair to say it's the worst, since I never finished it... but it probably would be my least favorite. Still, WoK is my least favorite book that I have finished.) 

 

(Though I do find myself not being especially thrilled with Kal's arc in general, really, for spoilerific reasons, so I won't go into them here, but... yeah. Kaladin is probably my least favourite protagonist of Brandon's, actually. Of course, I also hated other characters in books at first, but they became my favorites (Sana, in ASoIaF), so he might grow on me, but right now... I'm just not feeling it.)

Edited by Quiver
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skaa, you totally get an upvote for Chesterton.  I really need to read more of his writing.  I've read quite a few of his Father Brown short stories and tiny bits and pieces of other things.  

 

I voted for Elantris.  It was the first book I read of Brandon's, followed shortly thereafter by the Mistborn trilogy.  Because I read Mistborn so soon after and was blown away by it, I definitely subscribe to the His-Writing-Just-Keeps-Getting-Better-and-Better camp.  I recently re-read Elantris and Warbreaker, which I love, and that just solidified Elantris as my least favorite.  Like everyone else, though, just because it's my least favorite doesn't mean I don't still love it. ;)

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It's interesting to read through that thread. I knew that my dislike of Mistborn -- and I still haven't read Alloy -- is a minority opinion. But it seems I'm total in the contrary to most. :) I like them all Elantris as well as Warbreaker and I'm totally sucked in with The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance.

I love Kaladin and Dalinar. I like most of the characters though my true favorite is Syl. :P

I don't like Shallan. I didn't like her in TWoK and I don't like her in WoR. She feels too exaggerated to me. The poor girl who leaves home for saving her family. I dislike her as I do Vin (Lift might join this list, I'm not sure yet, we'll have to read more about her).

Sorry for being off topic, I just had to say that. ;)

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WoA for reasons, and Warbreaker for similar reasons to what is attributed to Elantris. (don't smite me Quiver!). I, for one, liked Elantris and found it to be good, not Brandon's best, but good. WoA though was too slow paced for me (this coming from a devoted WoT fan) and Zane is personally my least favorite cosmere character. The whole book just fell flat for me.

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  • 5 weeks later...

This is like asking what kind of pizza is your least favorite. I love them all but some more. 

 

I was glad someone else was brave enough to say WoK. Kal was actually not the main character I liked the least though it was Shallan (which I did a complete 180 on after reading WoR). I wanted to skip most of her sections of the book. I felt like way too much of the book was dedicated to her trying to steal the soulcaster. Kal would be my second least favorite character although he grew on me towards the end and in WoR. I think my biggest gripe was it seemed really slooooowww. I absolutely loved the last 100 pages but that is only 10% of the book so 90% of it was not flipping my skirt. Now I am saying this as I reflect on what I thought of it when I read it the first time. If I went back and read it again I think I would feel different because I love the epicness of SA after reading WoR. 

 

All that being said WoK is not my least favorite cosmere book. It is actually Elantris. I am actually ok with forgiving the fact it was not as polished as his later books. I couldn't put my finger on exactly  what I didn't  like until I read this:

 

 

My other gripe is that AonDor seems like a really inefficient magic system, even if drawing Aons is very artistic and beautiful. When Raoden has to fight with this magic system, all I could think was, "drawing Aons quick and precise enough seems almost impossible in the context of any form of combat". Thus I couldn't believe it. 

 

 

 

Yep I think that is it. I just couldn't picture AonDor being used in combat. Plus the fact that to become skilled you need to be able to draw in the air well. Sorry just seemed lame. Not only that but we do not see it used successfully until the very end of the book. Thinking on that more that may be one of the reasons I feel the way I do about WoK. It was an extremely slow build up to get to see magic badassery. I read the Mistborn trilogy first and one of the things I loved about the books was we got to see the magic badassery early on and even got a lesson on the rules of it early. This of course develops over the books as we learn more and only gets better. The fight scenes kept me interested though even through slower parts and think that is what the difference is.  

 

The one book I would have said I would hate until I read it was Alloy of Law. I absolutely loved it. But.. I hate westerns and I hate steampunk and I usually hate spinoffs of my favorite series. Brandon made it work though in an awesome way. The evolution of the magic system and characters (Wax and Wayne are among my favorite) completely changed my preconceived misconceptions. 

 

Warbreaker is actually one of my favorites but an understandable choice for others. The characters just weren't that great. But awakening/breath is awesome! Oh and Knightblood I mean come on he's a freaking talking sword that kills people and has black smoke! I do agree with someone else the ending was meh and felt very cliffhanger'ish to me. Speaking of that Brandon please put the non-cosmere stuff on hold and write Knightblood I really wanna find out how you know who gets you know where and how you know who got you know what! 

 

I think of the short stories as bonuses Brandon blesses us just when my withdraw starts to hit and therefore wouldn't compare them to the full length novels. I thought TES was amazing the rest meh. 

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