White Sand Volume 1 Reactions

[Lightning]

I too was disappointed in this book.  Here are some reasons (in order of importance to me):

1. Price.  I felt like I got very little for a LOT of money.

2. Artwork.  As others have said, it was difficult to differentiate between some of the characters.  In the first few chapters, everything was white, so it was difficult to see any beauty in the world.  Not a fan of the style overall.

3. Timing.  This was especially true of the last few chapters.  They would jump from one scene to another, which was very confusing.

4. Lack of motivation.  There were some scenes in the book that I felt I understood only because I had previously read the prose version.

[Oversleep]

I liked it. (I am with @Quiver - Khriss entrance was just faboluous. It suits the character)

It was an interesting read and I'm waiting for next volumes. I liked the art (from artistic point of view - execution is not so well, read below).

Cons:
Although, there are some problems. For example, until Kenton lifted himself on three ribbons in the diem, I had no idea what Sand Mastery looks like (apart from Mastrells flying on tornadoes). I mean, during the battle... did I... did I just learn something, in a graphic novel, from description and not from the art? Are you kidding?! "Put the walls before them!"... Walls? What walls? They're using sand walls? Cool!
*looks really hard for sand walls*
*finds nothing*

Also, no idea how they're using the sand offensively. Shooting it or what? They're punching holes straight through enemies, yet I don't know what is actually happening. All I see is glowing and splashes of sand... and that's it.

I also join the choir of people complaining that they can't distinguish between Sand Masters. I mean, couldn't they at least color-code them clearly with their sashes? When Kenton woke up from dehydration, I couldn't differentiate between people he talked to.

[Jofwu]

I finally opened my copy and read it through this weekend. For context, I've read everything in the Cosmere except for what's in AU. So basically all of the major novels. I haven't read White Sand Prose.

I was a little disappointed. I'd probably give it 4/5 stars if I let my Cosmere-love take part in the vote. But more objectively I'd give it maybe 2.5 or 3 stars.

ART

I actually liked the art style for the most part. I thought it was visually appealing. Even the barren settings were fun to look at. But I've got two main art complaints. First, the art FREQUENTLY doesn't seem to describe what's happening very well. Biggest example of this was Kenton's surprised comment about the Kerztian ambushers not wearing armor and having bald heads. I flipped back to the battle- any other page with Kerztians- and found that (a) they NEVER wear armor and (b) some of them have bald heads. What's the deal? There are other situations like this as well, and it even carries over into more subtle (but still important) issues. For example, I often found that facial expressions didn't match the dialogue.

My other art complaint is that too many characters (particularly the Sand Masters) are very indistinct. I usually had to determine who I was looking at based on dialogue, which is annoying in a graphic novel.

DIALOGUE/STORYTELLING

I think the weakest part about the volume was the dialogue. First, I'd say there were some minor issues with awkward dialogue. Hard to say if this is Brandon's fault or Rik's (?), though I'd guess the latter. Characters often said things that seemed uncharacteristic or out of place. Take the case where Kenton snaps at Khriss, for example, after they were ambushed. Where the heck did that come from? I saw zero indication (prior to that moment) that he was frustrated or upset.

And this really carries on to much bigger problems. The flow often felt confusing and disjointed to me, particularly with characterization. For example, I got the sense that Kenton is a really serious guy over the course of the first two chapters. And then when he starts guiding Khriss and her crew he makes that awkward "Magic!" comment with a goofy grin on his face as he uses his powers behind her back. It completely threw off what I knew about him.

This doesn't just happen with characters. The magic had me totally confused, for example. There's all this talk about what they can do with their magic, but all we ever see is them flying around in tornadoes. Well, that and fighting... but the fighting just looks like they're throwing generic magical power around. And while I can tell part of it is SUPPOSED to be a mystery, I'm entirely lost on why Kenton randomly lost his powers... And then randomly became super-powered out of nowhere.  Made no sense, especially given his lack of personal confusion. I felt like I missed something.

CONCLUSION

I frequently felt like I was relying on my general understanding of Sanderson's style to get through the book. There's a lot of time with awkward bits of jarring narration to help you along. I felt like these were somehow overdone AND not enough at the same time. Probably because the art itself was just showing what happened rather than ADDING to the story. I felt like I was able to look past some of the bumpy parts and see what it would feel like as a typical Sanderson novel, and that helped. I think if I came into this with no Sanderson background, I would have finished volume 1 with a lot of confusion and little motivation to pick up volume 2.

Edit...

First, one thing I forgot to mention was that I'm not particularly well-read in the world of comics and graphic novels. I feel that part of my discomfort and confusion is likely due to that inexperience.

Second, I started to read again from the start today and I find myself enjoying the second time much more. I still notice a lot of awkward points. Characterization that feels out of place, awkward transitions, etc. But I guess having the whole story in mind makes it easier to gloss over these without getting hung up.

Edited November 22, 2016 by jofwu

[Iredomi]

I haven't read it and will probably wait until more volumes are out but how do people feel about the whole it not going to be a prose novel now we have this?

[StormingTexan]

3 hours ago, Iredomi said:

I haven't read it and will probably wait until more volumes are out but how do people feel about the whole it not going to be a prose novel now we have this?

I feel fine because I've read the prose version.

I will say as it stands now it's for sure not a book I'd recommend someone not already a rabid fan to start with but I don't think it's much rougher than Elantris. I do think it's perfect for a graphic novel although I'm a little on the fence about the execution. Hoping future books will change this. 

[Jofwu]

3 hours ago, Iredomi said:

I haven't read it and will probably wait until more volumes are out but how do people feel about the whole it not going to be a prose novel now we have this?

Totally fine by me. I think it's cool to have some variety.

[vividox]

6 hours ago, Iredomi said:

I haven't read it and will probably wait until more volumes are out but how do people feel about the whole it not going to be a prose novel now we have this?

Extremely disappointed.

I mean, I'm glad we got something rather than nothing, and I'm glad Brandon can spend more time on Stormlight and the rest of the Cosmere, but this is simply not up to par with Brandon's novels.

[Left]

8 hours ago, Iredomi said:

I haven't read it and will probably wait until more volumes are out but how do people feel about the whole it not going to be a prose novel now we have this?

I'm happy because it means that we get the story and Brandon can focus on other projects. I like graphic novels, and while the first volume had issues as a graphic novel and as a story/book, I think that it will work better as the next two volumes come out. I've honestly been rather irritated with Brandon because it feels to me like he's been getting sidetracked away from Stormlight a Lot and I wish he could focus on just getting it done. White Sand as a graphic novel gives me an extra story, and keeps Brandon from going back and redoing White Sand. 

I think that much of the dissapointment from the shard towards White Sand GN is because of a lack of experience with the medium coupled with poor expectations. I know that I've gone into a couple of Brandon's other works with a mindset expecting a Mistborn or Stormlight, and being very dissapointed at first. After starting over and going through the book again I almost always like it more the second time because I have a better understanding of what exactly the book is. Steelheart was not a new Mistborn, it's a very different kind of book. Shadows for Silence is very different from Legion. Wheel of Time is about as far from Alcatraz as you can get. 

It's all about expectations. 

Sorry about going off on a total tanget

[Jofwu]

7 minutes ago, Ookla the Left said:

I think that much of the dissapointment from the shard towards White Sand GN is because of a lack of experience with the medium coupled with poor expectations.

I think that's a big part of it for many of us. I hear with a GN you have to read once to get the story and characters down and then a second time to properly experience. And I've definitely enjoyed it more with each read. At this point, my biggest frustration is that it doesn't feel like a complete story. But it's not. That's my own fault for feeling like it should be. It's not book 1 of a trilogy. It's volume 1 of a single story.

There are some issues, which I'd put into two categories: quality and storytelling

There's a good number of obvious quality issues. Like Jon and Cynder having their speach bubbles swapped on occaision, or the Kerztian warriors never wearing armor when they're apparently supposed to. It's really embarassing that these issues slipped through. That said, these are easier to ignore and read over on subsequent reads.

Then there's the storytelling issues. I think most of this comes from the translation from a prose novel to a graphic novel. There's a number of issues that make the story itself difficult or awkward to follow. The kinds of things that still feel jarring even when you have read the thing 3 times and know to expect them. So take Kenton's sand mastery disappearing to nothing and then coming back with a huge multiplier. I expect this is supposed to be a bit of a mystery in Brandon's novel... You know how he likes to tease at mysteries in the magic. But it didn't work in the graphic novel. Something is missing, and you're left wondering if you've missed something. Another example, for me, would be the way all sand masters look identical, which makes the narrative feel dry since I can't connect with the speaker very well (for the first 2 chapters). And there are at least 2 or 3 times that Kenton seems to say something completely out of character... or at least, the character that has been portrayed to me. I've asked for a copy of White Sand prose just because I think it will help me read over the storytelling issues with more ease.

Fingers crossed that the experience with volume 1 helps these guys do better on the next 2. I expect it will. If the next 2 volumes are the same as the first, I'll still buy them for the sake of getting a Sanderson story. However, I definitely won't recommend them to others unless the quality and storytelling improve somewhat.

[BeskarKomrk]

30 minutes ago, jofwu said:

So take Kenton's sand mastery disappearing to nothing and then coming back with a huge multiplier. I expect this is supposed to be a bit of a mystery in Brandon's novel... You know how he likes to tease at mysteries in the magic. But it didn't work in the graphic novel. Something is missing, and you're left wondering if you've missed something

I dunno, this kind of things is pretty common in regular comics too. I just accepted it and thought, I bet this will get resolved sometime later.

[Jofwu]

6 minutes ago, BeskarKomrk said:

I dunno, this kind of things is pretty common in regular comics too. I just accepted it and thought, I bet this will get resolved sometime later.

Sure, and some of that might be my unfamiliarity as well.

But I'd still argue there's something wrong with it. In both cases, I didn't feel like Kenton was as confused or freaked out as he should be. I mean, he's had his power since he was a young boy and then it's just gone? And he pretty much just accepts that over the course of two days? Then it comes back and he hardly even questions it? I felt like that moment deserved at least a panel or two of him showing some pure confusion. And maybe have him fall out of his first tornado-thingy, or something like that, to show his inexperience with multiple ribbons?

The lack of attention on his emotions in those situations made me feel like I missed something. Because he should be way more confused and concerned than I was, and I didn't feel like that was the case.

[BeskarKomrk]

@jofwu that's totally fair. I assume there's more of it in the internal narration in the prose (which I haven't read). I wasn't really a huge fan of the character art in the graphic novel, especially the facial expressions. I though the environments looked good, but didn't get much feeling from the characters.

[Farnsworth]

The plot was wonderful, but th illustrations and dialogue are confusing. I think that while Sanderson did a fine job, the people who made it into a comic screwed up big time.

[The Allomantic Metalhead]

I had my doubts when I first heard about it, but when I got it, I really enjoyed it. It definitely wasn't perfect, and it was kinda weird, but I like it. Can't wait for #2!

On 6/29/2016 at 2:43 PM, DSC01 said:

Did anyone notice what appears to be modern machinery on the first page of Chapter 2? I wonder what's up with that.

Taldain Darksiders are more technologically advanced than Lightsiders.

[Mutantspicy]

I liked the story and the format.  I feel the first edition was too short though.  However, I have some confusion as to Taldain's place in the cosmere. Mostly surrounding Khriss, as she's never left Darkside until now but we know from other cosmere stories she is a world hopper and writes the Ars Arcanum.  Does this story take place way before mistborn and stormlight?  Also this would seem indicate there will eventually be a perpendicularity discovered?  Like I said I not sure I understand the timeline of this story. 

Edited December 19, 2017 by Mutantspicy

[StormingTexan]

1 hour ago, Mutantspicy said:

I liked the story and the format.  I feel the first edition was too short though.  However, I have some confusion as to Taldain's place in the cosmere. Mostly surrounding Khriss, as she's never left Darkside until now but we know from other cosmere stories she is a world hopper and writes the Ars Arcanum.  Does this story take place way before mistborn and stormlight?  Also this would seem indicate there will eventually be a perpendicularity discovered?  Like I said I not sure I understand the timeline of this story. 

Yes White Sands takes place before all the other published books in the Cosmere Timeline. 

[Mutantspicy]

5 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

Yes White Sands takes place before all the other published books in the Cosmere Timeline. 

Thank you.  Yeah after doing some more reading in the coppermind that became apparent to me. 

[animalia]

Is anyone else hoping that the delay in the release date will be used to improve Volume 2 and make it better than volume 1 was?

[Landis963]

On 12/25/2017 at 2:07 PM, animalia said:

Is anyone else hoping that the delay in the release date will be used to improve Volume 2 and make it better than volume 1 was?

Yes.  To put it mildly.  

[ghajan monk]

I just read White Sand Volume 1 and I did enjoy it. I think the art could have been better and the graphic novel a bit longer, but I know this is just one third of the story.  As for the plot this was mostly the introduction, Khriss was not quite what I expected but I am looking forward to how she becomes the author of the Ars Arcanum.

Autonomy hating her own magic system is surprising, though I wonder if that is exactly true or whether Autonomy is spreading false information to create a balance of power so that the sand master's do not become dictators infringing on the autonomy of those without power.

I have not read the prose version so I might be wrong about this but is there some significance to Kenton finding six spheres instead of five?

[Landis963]

On 1/27/2018 at 11:14 AM, ghajan monk said:

I just read White Sand Volume 1 and I did enjoy it. I think the art could have been better and the graphic novel a bit longer, but I know this is just one third of the story.  As for the plot this was mostly the introduction, Khriss was not quite what I expected but I am looking forward to how she becomes the author of the Ars Arcanum.

Autonomy hating her own magic system is surprising, though I wonder if that is exactly true or whether Autonomy is spreading false information to create a balance of power so that the sand master's do not become dictators infringing on the autonomy of those without power.

I have not read the prose version so I might be wrong about this but is there some significance to Kenton finding six spheres instead of five?

I don't think this is Autonomy hating on sand mastery, per se.  I think this is more the Kerztians misinterpreting Autonomy's directives to achieve more autonomy for themselves (which she's fine with because it's the sort of behavior her Intent likes to encourage) and the people of Lossand getting tired enough of the diem's arrogance that they look the other way.  

[Stampede]

I got to reading Vol 1 at the end of Decemeber. I think a lot is lost making it into a graphic novel, I miss Brandon's beautiful writing. I didn't particularly enjoy the art or how the book ended either. It's a bit pricey too.