Unpopular Brandon Sanderson Opinions

[MattLeon]

On 3/25/2019 at 4:42 PM, Lightblood said:

Odium is pretty cool

Parshmen should win the war for the world (but odium loses if possible)

Odium will escape Braize

Ha! And what an escape it was!

[Szeth_Pancakes]

On 6/24/2021 at 6:46 AM, Bejardin1250 said:

I think to the vast majority of readers the twist of the slugs was not seen (I didn’t see it I never paid attention to the stupid slug that Spensa irrationally kept, didn’t even notice she made the trip until a second read)

My problem is not that Brandon is writing  books to cool off, it’s that he is publishing them. That takes months of his time that he could be using to write Cosmere, but once he publishes it it requires revisions, beta readers, contracts, and a whole lot of stuff from team Dragonsteel.

I get why they do it, it’s a shame to waste a written book, but it’s annoying since I’m already waiting 30 years for era 4 (oh storms that sounds horrible to write out) and I don’t want to wait more than I have to

1. But Doomslug! Doomslug is not stupid! Doomslug best slug!

2. Remember the outline. Brandon has to write Cosmere books in a certain order, and he needs to take an 18-month break from Stormlight each book, for sanity reasons. So Skyward, the Reckoners, and Alcatraz are all projects that he uses to occupy that time. Plus, he can’t just write cosmere - the way he works, he has to take breaks and do something different with his time sometimes.

[+Oltux72]

On 30.8.2020 at 8:47 PM, Frustration said:

Mistborn has a stupid premise, people eat metal for super powers, if anyone but Brandon did that it would be one of the dumbest things ever.

People make coffee out of beans that have passed the digestive tract of a civet cat. So I am unsure whether I can agree.

[TheCollector]

I love how there was an entire conversation about whether or not BS is a household name, and about how he has to work on other books and how it takes him so long to get cosmere books, and then Brandon just announces that he wrote 5 storming books in his free time a year later, 3 of which were cosmere.

Then proceeds to get the most funded kickstarter ever.

 

In under a week

[clowncarcrash]

On 3/11/2022 at 8:45 AM, TheCollector said:

I love how there was an entire conversation about whether or not BS is a household name, and about how he has to work on other books and how it takes him so long to get cosmere books, and then Brandon just announces that he wrote 5 storming books in his free time a year later, 3 of which were cosmere.

Then proceeds to get the most funded kickstarter ever.

 

In under a week

Eh, there's no denying he's super succesful, but I still don't think he's a household name. I think you need to have a hit adaptation to really become a household name. The only exception I can think of is Rowling and maybe Stephanie Meyer? 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

I know one! thinking that Moash should probably have some kind of extended redemption arc.

[Eluvianii]

A few pages back (I just caught up on about 2 years of thread) some people were comparing Jasnah to Aes Sedai, which I was surprised about, because I deeply dislike Aes Sedai behavior, but I really like what we have of Jasnah so far, insensitive/self-important personality included. I wouldn't call her one of my favorite characters, but more like one I'm convinced will become one of my favorites once she becomes a main character in the back half.

 

Now, this is apparently an unpopular opinion so I'll take this chance to say it. I'm extremely happy with the amount of Radiants we're getting in SA and I hope those numbers exponentially grow in the future. We're supposed to fill a storming army with those, why are we complaining about Radiant status (or lack thereof) undermining someone's character? It doesn't, not in this world. It's just an entry ticket into the army that also happens to be a really good device for character development. But Radiant characters are not interesting because of their powers, and "normal" characters don't need to prove they can be interesting without them. A boring character will be a boring character, spren or not.

I don't think even the argument about broken people applies here. We're seeing Windrunners in the hundreds already, and the only reason there aren't more is simply lack of spren willing to bond. I think the selection of PoVs we've had so far gives the wrong impression that a person needs to have gone through hell to achieve Radiancy, but if only those select few could bond, humanity would have gone extinct during the first Desolation. There's plenty of things that can break a person to a lesser degree, is there anyone who doesn't have a single crack on their spiritweb? We just see the ones who have faced the most hardship at the forefront because they make for more interesting characters.

I'm actually not a fan of the "Only certain people get powers" trope in general. Not like it should disappear but I feel there aren't enough stories out there where magic is an everyone can do it if they practice kind of deal. 

 

Also, regarding the posts above this one, yeah, Brandon is definitely really far from being a household name. We're fantasy fans, so of course we see his name pop up on a daily basis, but fantasy fans are a really small part of the population. Irl no matter how hard I look, I haven't met a single person who has even heard his name before.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Eluvianii

[Use the Falchion]

On 3/17/2022 at 7:31 PM, Eluvianii said:

Irl no matter how hard I look, I haven't met a single person who has even heard his name before.

I certainly agree with Brandon not being a household name (yet), but I've met quite a few people IRL who have heard of his name. Some were from part-time jobs, while others were in social circles I'm in and consider friends. However, I didn't discover that they knew about Sanderson until I brought him up in most cases. (One friend has read the Mistborn trilogy and Stormlight and that's it, while the other has only read Skyward and Starsight.) Another one of my friends was finally convinced to read Sanderson this year not because of me, but because several of her coworkers raved about him, so hearing it from two completely disconnected sources really convinced her. My sister has a few friends who have read Sanderson coincidentally (they recognized the books on her shelf - gifted by me - when they visited her house), and I've met them to talk about him for a few minutes. All of this to say that, like many things in life, experiences vary from person to person. 

 

Now time for today's unpopular opinion:

Janci Patterson should be allowed to write a YA Mistborn book or trilogy. Janci has talked about wanting to write one as a dream project but hasn't asked Brandon (who admittedly would probably refuse at this point in time), but I think this could work out for everyone. Janci's work in the Cytoverse has been pretty stinking well-received from what I've seen, to the point that there are people who have liked Janci's work better than most of Brandon's work on the series.* Her style also matches very well with Brandon's meaning that it wouldn't be too far of a leap for many to go from one series to another. Brandon has also made some slight comments about how if a Mistborn movie is made, that his publishers and/or the studio would want a new book to go with the movie, not unlike how A Dance With Dragons came out a little after the first season of Game of Thrones aired; but the publishers apparently want to market Mistborn 8 as "another story set in the Mistborn world" instead of "the eighth installment in this series." I think Janci writing a book or a trilogy in this world would actually be a great compromise. The publishers get a spin-off under Brandon's name, Janci can reach a larger audience to market her other books thus furthering her own career, fans get more Mistborn novels, and Sanderson can keep his Era theming for the books he writes so as to not really mess up his plans. Heck, I can imagine this being quite the hype-machine if they decided to pull a Skyward Flight and release them in the months leading up to Mistborn 8 and possibly the new movie (depending on when it's released). 

This would of course be a ton of work, and I'm not sure either side would feel fully comfortable with it. Still, I think this would be a situation where they'd have to risk it for the biscuit, and the payoff in terms of sales, exposure, and overall promotion would be worth it. 

 

Brent Weeks would probably be a great co-writer or guest writer for a separate Cosmere novella, and I'd love to see Brian McCellan write a Stormlight novella someday.** (I could totally see him rocking a short story or novella about Young Dalinar pre-OB flashbacks. Like, his first real taste of the Thrill and first few true battles...yeah, Brian would rock that.) 

 

*Again, experiences vary from person to person. I've read posts about how some people like it better than Cytonic and Starsight, while others couldn't get into Sunreach or ReDawn at all because it wasn't written by Brandon and/or Janci's style and characterization didn't match and/or because it was YA. Janci working with her own characters could negate some of these feelings for fans, and the fact that it would be Cosmere would mean that other fans who don't care for Brandon's non-Cosmere works may pay attention to this one. 

** ...and now my Dream Novella of Young Dalinar and Young Navani is turning into a split POV novella co-written by Brian and Janci, where Brian writes all of Dalinar's action scenes and battle mindset up until he meets Navani. Then Janci takes over for Navani's mindset and some of the political machinations there. Brandon comes in to smooth over the story and characterization, and then to write the climax of the novella, and we can call it a day. The problem with this is that I can't really see Brandon allowing someone else to write Dalinar for him willingly. But things can change...

[Iredomi]

This is kind of a response to concerns about Brandon not writing enough, other writers being involved in the Cosmere and him becoming a household name. And the whole idea of being against YA. 

 

Firstly I truly think it was a mistake that he told us his plan broadly, I get and love his transparency in most things; authors that turn writing into this mystical thing annoy me. But yeah he should have just not told us his plans cos now we have frankly a huge checklist of Cosmere stuff that may or may not happen. His series working in isolation is actually something I'm super thankful now. We might not get many of the stories he's planned and I think we should be fine with that. 

Other people writing in the Cosmere makes me go no no no no at first but it could work. I'm worried that his books will either overshadow or be overshadowed by other authors in his own world... Still not sure either way on that. At this moment in time I probably wouldn't read them. 

Does Brandon need more money? Does he need more people reading him than already are? The idea of adaptations for his work leaves me cold especially a Cosmere cinematic universe. Mcu is one of the worst things to happen to film and the death of the middle budget film is really bad for creative expression in that field. I don't want something like that happening with Brandon's work which are self contained and satisfying stories that have the flexibility afforded to them by being literature rather than relying on actors availability and all that. Mcu can't ever be the best version of itself because it has to compromise too much and uses that as a crutch "next time we'll tell a story with stakes and tension and repercussions I swear". Of course à Cosmere cu probably wouldn't have to be like that but I think it's kind of a waste of time and money when the books are there. Maybe too cynical about that. 

His YA books are unreadable because he thinks YA is about condescending to the reader when in fact ALL and I mean all of his work could be sold YA. So when he writes YA he just ends up talking down to the reader. Steelheart for example is super bad for this and is one of the worst books I've ever read. I agree with the point about him writing the ya books and not publishing them I don't think we would lose anything from that. 

 

This got a lot spicier than I meant it to. And this is all my probably wrongheaded opinion obviously. 

 

Another very tangential thing but fits the thread topic: people not including the shorter stories in their Cosmere ranked YouTube videos just prove to me they don't care or appreciate some of Sanderson's best written works. 

 

 

 

[Orlion Blight]

On 3/17/2022 at 1:56 AM, clowncarcrash said:

Eh, there's no denying he's super succesful, but I still don't think he's a household name. I think you need to have a hit adaptation to really become a household name. The only exception I can think of is Rowling and maybe Stephanie Meyer? 

"Household name" can be tricky to define. If we stay in SFF book circles, it's easy to say that Brandon is a household name. If we go outside that, not so much.

Anecdotal example: amongst my group of friends and acquaintances, everyone knows about George R R Martin, J R R Tolkien and Stephen King. Only three know about Brandon Sanderson and that's because I introduced to them to him. Only one of those might be remotely interested in the Kickstarter. 

In other words, there's a very strong case that Brandon isn't a household name that does not contradict what he has achieved. 

Also, as far as him being slow with Cosmere, he's acknowledged that himself and a worldwide pandemic shutting the world down giving him time to write some unplanned Cosmere novels does not negate that or even change the current projected timeline of his main series Cosmere. 

That later point is just me being a stickler, it's not a complaint against Brandon. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Orlion Blight

[CameronUluvara]

Navani wallows is self-pity all the time, and I hate her because she refused to respect Dalinar's religious beliefs and completely violated his boundaries. I can't understand why he's with her, he deserves someone who respects his beliefs and doesn't insult his intelligence.

[AerionBFII]

13 hours ago, CameronUluvara said:

Navani wallows is self-pity all the time, and I hate her because she refused to respect Dalinar's religious beliefs and completely violated his boundaries. I can't understand why he's with her, he deserves someone who respects his beliefs and doesn't insult his intelligence.

I've never got this impression from Navani to be fair, I really liked her. She was the one who he turned to about the visions and helped him confirm he wasn't going mad and she was very patient with not asking questions. I felt like this was one of the romances Brandon got spot on but everybody is entitled to their opinion.

Kaladin is my favourite stormlight character so I can't be to hard on her for the self pity party haha but she seems far better at getting over it and doing something productive.

----
My biggest complaint about Brandon is that his humour doesn't always land for me. There are generally funny moments in his books but particularly Shallans puns and the whole boots scenario, But I can't abide Lift. She gets on my nerves something fierce and I know she is only going to get more prominent. I found Wayne irritating at first but the character really grew on me and the solid development of the character really balanced it out. 

[CameronUluvara]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:21 AM, AerionBFII said:

I've never got this impression from Navani to be fair, I really liked her. She was the one who he turned to about the visions and helped him confirm he wasn't going mad and she was very patient with not asking questions. I felt like this was one of the romances Brandon got spot on but everybody is entitled to their opinion.

It got better after Way of Kings, but still...it was manipulative, the way she intentionally started rumors about them, and backed him into corners making him feel like he owed her. Kind of gives me Percabeth vibes, but worse. Imagine it the other way around, if the guy was constantly laughing at and making fun of the girl for 'not being smart.'  How would you react to that dynamic?

On 4/7/2022 at 9:21 AM, AerionBFII said:

My biggest complaint about Brandon is that his humour doesn't always land for me. There are generally funny moments in his books but particularly Shallans puns and the whole boots scenario

I'll admit sometimes it takes me five readings to find the pun.

[Quivil]

On 4/7/2022 at 10:21 AM, AerionBFII said:

My biggest complaint about Brandon is that his humour doesn't always land for me. There are generally funny moments in his books but particularly Shallans puns and the whole boots scenario

On 4/9/2022 at 8:45 PM, CameronUluvara said:

I'll admit sometimes it takes me five readings to find the pun.

... I think I grew up around too many puns...

---

Elantris was my first Brandon Sanderson book and will forever be my favorite Cosmere novel.

[Lego Mistborn]

I don't know if this is unpopular exactly, but Brandon does not approve of it I don't think.

Brandon needs to include in his last will and testament a list of people who gain the rights to the Cosmere upon his death(more than just Isaac Stewart).

Edited April 15, 2022 by Ta'veren Kaladin

[Frustration]

4 minutes ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

I don't know if this is unpopular exactly, but Brandon does not approve of it I don't think.

Brandon needs to include in his last will and testament a list of people who gain the rights to the Cosmere upon his death(more than just Isaac Stewart).

He's mentioned Brian McCellan in the past.

[Use the Falchion]

13 hours ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

I don't know if this is unpopular exactly, but Brandon does not approve of it I don't think.

Brandon needs to include in his last will and testament a list of people who gain the rights to the Cosmere upon his death(more than just Isaac Stewart).

It's certainly not unpopular at all. Many people I've seen around the interwebs HATE the idea of other people writing in Bradon's worlds. There was a very small but still noticeable section of readers who dislike the Skyward novellas because Janci wrote them and/or couldn't get into them because Janci wrote them. This would be increased by an order of magnitude for anyone who's not Isaac writing in the Cosmere.

But I think having other, very qualified writers in the Cosmere at specific points in time allows for Brandon's legacy to be secured earlier just in case the unthinkable happens, and it gives Brandon a little more leeway to do what he wants with the Cosmere by offering up the co-written stuff as a compromise for publishers. 

 

13 hours ago, Frustration said:

He's mentioned Brian McCellan in the past.

Brian and Brandon talk about this in Brian's Page Break podcast episode featuring Brandon. Apparently, Brandon has since switched over to Isaac being his successor, but it might have been said just to make Brian a little more comfortable at the moment. 

[Mason Wheeler]

6 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

in case the unthinkable happens

That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

It is indeed quite thinkable.  You thought about it when writing this.  Heck, it's particularly thinkable for Brandon; his career got a massive jumpstart when he was chosen to finish up The Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan died.  (And it'll really rust your metals when you consider just how much larger in scope and ambition the Cosmere is compared to The Wheel of Time!)

Being human, Brandon will eventually die, just like you and me.  And it could be sooner than we think.  He has approximately the same chance of randomly dying tomorrow in a car accident as you and I have: very small, but not zero.  We all hope it will be a long, long way in the future, and that he'll have plenty of time to finish up all his work first, but it's quite possible that that won't be the case.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

on the matter of Brandon's successor I can see him gathering a group of writers and preparing them, such as Issac Stewart, Janci Patterson, Stephen Bohls, etc.

[Use the Falchion]

2 hours ago, Mason Wheeler said:

That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

I'm quite aware of what the word means and how to use it. It can mean "unable to be thought of" as well as "being contrary to what is reasonable, desirable, or probable." I chose "desirable." Subbing it out in the sentence, "...just in case the 'undesirable' happens..." or "just in case 'what is contrary to is desirable' happens..." makes sense, but it's far more...indelicate. It gives the sentence a potential selfishness as an undertone, and doesn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation, at least to me it doesn't. 

"Unthinkable" and "unimaginable" aren't always used in the most literal of senses, but also when talking about something that can be and has been seen as in poor taste to talk about. Yes, I've thought about Brandon's death and what that means for the Cosmere, but I'm still going to try and be respectful about how to address it when I can be. 

But if you want to really call me out for what seems to be a pretty silly thing when you clearly understood the point of my message, go ahead. 

 

 

[clowncarcrash]

On 3/20/2022 at 6:36 AM, Orlion Blight said:

"Household name" can be tricky to define. If we stay in SFF book circles, it's easy to say that Brandon is a household name. If we go outside that, not so much.

Anecdotal example: amongst my group of friends and acquaintances, everyone knows about George R R Martin, J R R Tolkien and Stephen King. Only three know about Brandon Sanderson and that's because I introduced to them to him. Only one of those might be remotely interested in the Kickstarter. 

In other words, there's a very strong case that Brandon isn't a household name that does not contradict what he has achieved. 

Also, as far as him being slow with Cosmere, he's acknowledged that himself and a worldwide pandemic shutting the world down giving him time to write some unplanned Cosmere novels does not negate that or even change the current projected timeline of his main series Cosmere. 

That later point is just me being a stickler, it's not a complaint against Brandon. 

Household name and SFF book circles seem pretty mutually exclusive to me.

Household means the general public. Like grab 100 people off the street, they’ll know who George RR Martin, Tolkien, Rowling, Stephen King, Nicholas Sparks, Danielle Steel are etc. 

[Mason Wheeler]

Then again, he did just run the biggest Kickstarter of all time.  A whole lot of people who had never heard of him last year know about him (and the Cosmere) now just because of all of the buzz around this.

[KaladinWorldsinger]

My unpopular opinion: The cosmere is too big too be coherent or satisfying. He has too many planets and and each of those planets have too many magic systems. He has forgotten his own rule, that is ' go deeper not wider' or quality over quantity. 

If he stuck with 10 or 12 shards and then deeper with the limited worlds he had. It would be faaar more satisfying.

Right now when I read the cosmere I am torn between a desire for Brandon to go write about the six shards we know nothing and also wanting him to flesh his already written works out a lot more. I still can't believe that stormlight archive is one of the biggest books i have read and i have no idea what has happened in the last 2 thousand years. Western Roshar has some of the most interesting cultures Brandon has written and we still haven't seen them. 

Imagine an alternate universe where the cosmere was only 6-7 planets. Three main ones Roshar, scadrial and sel. Three minor ones being taldain, Nalthis and threnody. They cover 10 shards. Let's add the aether planet because that is supposed to be important to the broader cosmere story.

And then the main cosmere story is the heavy interplay of these planets and their cultures and their magic systems. Their cultures can be a lot more fun because the individual history of these planets can now be fleshed out more. I want a book set during a desolation on Roshar, I want to know more about pre ascension scadrial, I wanna know a hell lot more about the damn manywar on Nalthis. But none of these are important to the broader cosmere story so now I don't want Brandon to waste time on them. It's frustrating.

Really Brandon? Sixth of the dusk could not have had a shard on that planet? It had to be some random adonalsium perpendicularity? You already have a lot of shards left and we don't even know the shards we know well enough! Like we knew 5 original shareholders and 3 more are dead on arrival. 2 shards are present we have not met them yet. There there are 6 more we found out recently we know nothing about.

And more infuriating for me, SP1 spoilers

Spoiler

The planet has aethers but has to be a 'different strain'? Really? We could not have the main aether planet? I don't know if you have time for this Brandon

Tldr: i think he bitten of more way more than he can chew. 

Now with all the SPs i don't see a way he can tie all the magic systems in a satisfying way. The stormlight archive magic systems have enough possible applications to last everyone a lifetime of reading.

Second opinion: Brandon is very lazy about history. The pre ascension and the desolations are so complete in the destruction of their cultures that it becomes pointless to read about them. Brandon cares too much about the present story arc, instead of history which would give his world a sense of realness

Deeper not wider, Brandon

 

[NameIess]

48 minutes ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

My unpopular opinion: The cosmere is too big too be coherent or satisfying. He has too many planets and and each of those planets have too many magic systems. He has forgotten his own rule, that is ' go deeper not wider' or quality over quantity. 

If he stuck with 10 or 12 shards and then deeper with the limited worlds he had. It would be faaar more satisfying.

Right now when I read the cosmere I am torn between a desire for Brandon to go write about the six shards we know nothing and also wanting him to flesh his already written works out a lot more. I still can't believe that stormlight archive is one of the biggest books i have read and i have no idea what has happened in the last 2 thousand years. Western Roshar has some of the most interesting cultures Brandon has written and we still haven't seen them. 

Imagine an alternate universe where the cosmere was only 6-7 planets. Three main ones Roshar, scadrial and sel. Three minor ones being taldain, Nalthis and threnody. They cover 10 shards. Let's add the aether planet because that is supposed to be important to the broader cosmere story.

And then the main cosmere story is the heavy interplay of these planets and their cultures and their magic systems. Their cultures can be a lot more fun because the individual history of these planets can now be fleshed out more. I want a book set during a desolation on Roshar, I want to know more about pre ascension scadrial, I wanna know a hell lot more about the damn manywar on Nalthis. But none of these are important to the broader cosmere story so now I don't want Brandon to waste time on them. It's frustrating.

Really Brandon? Sixth of the dusk could not have had a shard on that planet? It had to be some random adonalsium perpendicularity? You already have a lot of shards left and we don't even know the shards we know well enough! Like we knew 5 original shareholders and 3 more are dead on arrival. 2 shards are present we have not met them yet. There there are 6 more we found out recently we know nothing about.

And more infuriating for me, SP1 spoilers

  Reveal hidden contents

The planet has aethers but has to be a 'different strain'? Really? We could not have the main aether planet? I don't know if you have time for this Brandon

Tldr: i think he bitten of more way more than he can chew. 

Now with all the SPs i don't see a way he can tie all the magic systems in a satisfying way. The stormlight archive magic systems have enough possible applications to last everyone a lifetime of reading.

Second opinion: Brandon is very lazy about history. The pre ascension and the desolations are so complete in the destruction of their cultures that it becomes pointless to read about them. Brandon cares too much about the present story arc, instead of history which would give his world a sense of realness

Deeper not wider, Brandon

 

On the planets thing, I think Brandon is going to keep it to just a few planets, on the whole. The other planets will probably just have a few short stories or side projects about them. Like the SP's. I doubt that the characters or magic from any of the SPs are going to play any kind of major role in basically anything else in the Cosmere.

As for history, while I do kinda agree with you on the pre ascension, pre desolation will probably be adressed in the back half of SA.

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

Tldr: i think he bitten of more way more than he can chew. 

He's planning on doing this into his seventies/eighties so we're looking at around thirty more years, I think he'll be fine.