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Is Brandon Overhyped


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On 6/10/2019 at 11:42 AM, Toaster Retribution said:

It depends on what you want from a writer. Prose? He is not that special (which he admits to, and seems quite happy about). As a storyteller? He is stormin brilliant. And he is supergreat at interacting with his fans. So, it entirely depends on what you want from an author.

Pretty much. I'll be more specific. 

1) He writes at a level most modern published genre authors achieve. In that sense, it is perfectly valid to call him mediocre. 

2) People like him for his series. His standalones (with one exception) are not as highly regarded as his series and would probably be mostly ignored if not for their connections to the broader cosmere (take Elantris as the perfect example of this).

3) People also likes his worldbuilding. This dovetails nicely with the previous point as his worldbuilding tends to have a mystery element: characters learn and figure out more about the world as the series goes on. 

With that in mind, people like Brandon because of his series of epic scope in which an unknown world is revealed bit by bit. This allows for some fan speculation which, provided he produces volumes at a decent pace, remain an entertaining way to pass the time. 

Hence why people are more interested in him working on the next Stormlight, Mistborn or Skyward than, say, some solo work.

Of course, that's also where his weakness lies. Brandon only has two completed series, the first Mistborn and the Reckoners. Everything else is a work in progress (Legion is a series much like how the first Foundation book is s series... that is, it is more like a serialized novel). So how good is Brandon, then? You can't judge him on Stormlight or Skyward because he hasn't stuck the landing yet, and as much as he sells, his bestselling work was probably his finishing of the Wheel of Time.

Taking that all into account, it's easy to overhype Brandon. His body of work, as it currently stands, can not justify too much of it. It's important when introducing him to keep that in mind and realize that a lot of your excitement may be due to the interactions in fandom (similar to Star Wars and Harry Potter. It's more about the shared cultural experience than the merits of the actual works themselves).

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16 hours ago, Orlion the Platypus said:

People like him for his series. His standalones (with one exception) are not as highly regarded as his series and would probably be mostly ignored if not for their connections to the broader cosmere (take Elantris as the perfect example of this).

Brandon has no standalone novels, only incomplete series

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5 hours ago, DoomStick said:

Brandon has no standalone novels, only incomplete series

I am likely to agree with you. Mainly because all his "standalone" novels do feel exactly like that. "Sure, we resolved the main conflict in this book, but there is clearly some unanswered, dangerous stuff going on which will be addressed soon... after Martin finished Winds of Winter and Rothfuss finishes Doors of Stone!"

Seriously, when all is said and done, the wait for the Rithmatist sequel will be one of the longest in genre history! 

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Show me a specific example of hype and I'll call it overhyped or not. As to a general question like "is Brandon Sanderson the best fantasy author currently putting out books"... I haven't read enough books by half to make an argument for my position. If the question is even more general like "should you (random person) read Brandon Sanderson?" I would personally say yes every time, unless I know the person explicitly doesn't like things that are major features of his books.

I have read most of Brandon's books (with the exception of a few of the YA books) and I have not read a single one I didn't think was great. They're real page turners and I struggle to read them responsibly. What ever amount of hyped he ought to be, its non-zero.

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There's not too much I have to say that hasn't already been said, so I'll just say this. I am so glad that we have a fandom that mostly can talk about this stuff politely and in a way that considers all sides of the problem. Nobody on this thread has cursed and only a couple have outright said Brandon is the best as a reaction to this thread. Instead we've got discussions of his writing and people looking at angles I never would've even thought of. I love you guys.

I've also gone down the rabbit hole of reading people hating (in quite rude, badly put, no-facts-behind-them ways) Brandon Sanderson and other stuff I love, and it's the worst type of toxic - hard to get out of your head. I hope this thread helped you, @ILuvHats.

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Nah, not hyped enough if you ask me:P

Seriously though, I think we as fans have a tendency to try to force our friends into Sanderson; I know I do at least. Because of all the buildup and excitement I give them, they're sometimes disappointed when the beginning is a little bit boring. I think that Brandon is overhyped in my personal life, but for good reason. He's honestly the best writer that I've ever read, but I think I've got to help people understand that by reading him on their own, and not by me shoving it down their throats. That's my take on it at least, it's been fun to read what everybody else thinks too! 

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On 8/1/2019 at 3:52 PM, Ghanderflaffle said:

I don’t know nearly enough Sanderfans myself, so to me he is under hyped. I was the one person who went up to the Nebraskan Authors booth at the Nebraska State Fair, asked why they didn’t feature Brandon, and got offended when they hadn’t heard of them.

Nebrask??

That's where the chalklings are!!

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34 minutes ago, Ghanderflaffle said:

I am a chalkling. Want to come visit? :P

Honestly, yes. TO THE TOWER! Bring aluminum! :P

(If this conversation is going to continue, we might want to move threads so as to not derail this one anymore.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/4/2019 at 10:35 PM, The Last Post said:

Brandon has no standalone novels, only incomplete series

I really wanted to prove you wrong, but I can't :lol: Only his shorter works can be treated as stand alones currently... which is a bit sad, because standalones are getting so rare nowadays :<

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Sanderson is undoubtedly the king of High Fantasy right now. He writes quickly without loosing nuanced character development or detailed world building. His world building ability is the best out there right now. I find him brilliant in his world building, nuanced in his character development, and clever in his dialogue. That being said, I think Rothfus does write in a more poetic way that I find intoxicating, but he just can not hold a candle to Sanderson in pure talent and effort. In future generations they will teach classes on storytelling and world building revolving around Sanderson's cosmere. Is he a perfect writer? No.  Is he overrated though? No way. 

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