The Errorgance of some people

[Friendshipspren]

Hey guys , now I know the value of criticism. I know that we all can't see eye to eye on everything but every now and then you stumble on somethings that are so ridiculously arrogant and errorgant that... Well I found this review on the final empire and I just..Huh you know what just read it and find out what I mean by clicking on the link.

Try not to fantasize about punching this guy/gal , I challenge you

I found this review and I'm astounded at how someone could possibly misunderstand a book to such a great extent . I mean seriously it's clear the person hasn't even read the book halfway . Then you have ppl I the comments dissing stormlight too.

I thought I would share it so that we could all be united in cringing and blinking at the presumptuous and Errorgant assumptions and stupid misunderstandings. Maybe we can bash our heads too . 

That girl/boy said that the plot was a  classic case of good vs evil.  I mean she just completely ignored kelsiers grey actions . Half the reason Marsh exists is to point that out. He ignored and elend as well.

But ok that was an understandable mistake but then she says hey Mr. Great author how come those ppl live in ash and don't have lung cancer ? Where are the dead seas ? It began to chafe at me and then he basically says and get this ,  that the author tries his best to make us believe Alendi and tlr are actually different ppl from the beginning !!!!! Seriously , who would ever think that. I and I'm sure all of us were sure Alendi was tlr , that the power had corrupted him. 

It just proves he/she didn't even read it until Vin finds alendis journal , forget the ending. She barely even mentions the magic systems .

God she/he was so arrogant and presumptuous. She doesn't even understand Vin , I mean seriously ???

I left a very angry review pointing out it was obvious he hadn't even read half of the book and that all the plot holes are explained in detail in the third book.  

She just hid the comment.

I mean just wow. Don't go around writing negative reviews unless you have actually finished reading a book. Also don't even bother thinking of reading a book if you are already obviously biased against it 

[Karger]

1 hour ago, PrinceGenocide said:

Try not to fantasize about punching this guy/gal , I challenge you

Reads first paragraph.  Seems relatively reasonable.

Second paragraph is actually somewhat insightful.

Starts at the third.  WHAT?

This guy does not get Kelsier at all!   He does not at all get how painful and difficult his quips are or how causally Kelsier takes combat as if it is a game or...

Or even Vin!  He can literally read her mind and he still actually is fooled by the persona she presents as a self defense mechanism.!

He does not get the supporting cast.  He thinks telegraphing character growth is a bad thing?  What?

Did you not notice the deliberate inclusion of Elend as a counterpoint to the other nobles?  The repeated mentions of how ash effects daily life?

ERRRG.

[Aluminum]

Also no mention of how kelisier is like 40

[Truthless of Shinovar]

Hehehe, I wonder how mad s/he would be if s/he found out about the Shard....

 

[The Awakened Salad]

Let me first say that I love TFE, but I’m going to play devil’s avocado here.

I understand where the author of that review is coming from. TFE is not a perfect book, and not everyone’s going to enjoy it. They have the right to express that opinion, and while some of their problems are resolved in later books, they are under no obligation to continue reading the series, especially if they didn’t like the first book.

There are flaws in every book. Loving a book isn’t about it having no flaws, it’s about being able to enjoy the good things about it while accepting the flaws (for me, anyway). The author of that review probably just found the flaws too grievous for them to overlook. 

Saying that someone’s point of view is wrong because they didn’t “get” the novel or because they didn’t read the book “right” isn’t very constructive to a good discussion. People are free to interpret books in their own way, and come to different conclusions because of their interpretation. 

The tone of the review was harsh, yes, but that goes for most negative reviews. Expressing frustration at a novel is valid (though I do admit that they crossed the line when they started to insult Brandon and Robert Jordan. I think criticism of books is fine, criticism of authors as people is not).

Also I don’t want to tell anyone what to do, but leaving angry comments on reviews doesn’t lead to anything constructive, and usually reflects badly on the whole community. 

I understand the frustration when reading a harsh review of a book I love. Storms, when I first read a bad review of Mistborn, I was livid. It felt like it was insulting me because I loved Mistborn. But reading negative reviews of books I love (or positive reviews of books I hate) has allowed me to see things from a new perspective, and has actually helped me to identify why I love the books that I do so much. 

I’m sorry if this came out sounding harsh. That wasn’t my intention at all, I just wanted to provide another point of view.

[+ILuvHats]

@Ookla the Silent I agree generally. Everyone should respect others’ opinions even if they differ from their own. However, the exception for me is when the reviewer states their views as facts. There are some things that can be objectively criticized, but a lot that can’t. So it’s always infuriating whenever someone states that a book is objectively horrible and irredeemable, especially when you love that book. I can respect your opinion as long as you admit it as such, and admit that even if you can’t see what’s good about the book the author is apparently doing something right considering it’s been generally well received. But if they present their criticisms as a fact, it always feels like they’re implying that you’re stupid if you disagree with them. So though you shouldn’t verbally assault such people, I don’t think there is any reason to respect their opinion when they obviously don’t respect yours. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Ooklidean Geometry

[Friendshipspren]

3 hours ago, Ookla the Silent said:

Let me first say that I love TFE, but I’m going to play devil’s avocado here.

I understand where the author of that review is coming from. TFE is not a perfect book, and not everyone’s going to enjoy it. They have the right to express that opinion, and while some of their problems are resolved in later books, they are under no obligation to continue reading the series, especially if they didn’t like the first book.

There are flaws in every book. Loving a book isn’t about it having no flaws, it’s about being able to enjoy the good things about it while accepting the flaws (for me, anyway). The author of that review probably just found the flaws too grievous for them to overlook. 

Saying that someone’s point of view is wrong because they didn’t “get” the novel or because they didn’t read the book “right” isn’t very constructive to a good discussion. People are free to interpret books in their own way, and come to different conclusions because of their interpretation. 

The tone of the review was harsh, yes, but that goes for most negative reviews. Expressing frustration at a novel is valid (though I do admit that they crossed the line when they started to insult Brandon and Robert Jordan. I think criticism of books is fine, criticism of authors as people is not).

Also I don’t want to tell anyone what to do, but leaving angry comments on reviews doesn’t lead to anything constructive, and usually reflects badly on the whole community. 

I understand the frustration when reading a harsh review of a book I love. Storms, when I first read a bad review of Mistborn, I was livid. It felt like it was insulting me because I loved Mistborn. But reading negative reviews of books I love (or positive reviews of books I hate) has allowed me to see things from a new perspective, and has actually helped me to identify why I love the books that I do so much. 

I’m sorry if this came out sounding harsh. That wasn’t my intention at all, I just wanted to provide another point of view.

I get u dude. I read a lot of negative reviews on a lot of books i love. Sometimes it points me towards a lot of stuff like plotholes or other subtle things I  missed .

For example , I love the  twilight saga. I read all these ghastly reviews on it and I realize most of them are true. Those reviews pointed me towards so many plotholes and other things like how Bella is a total b****$. I still like the books, even tho it does look ridiculous now.

I even said I can understand ppl saying TFE is a generic good vs bad plot. It technically is if you exclude the two hard to see subtle deviations. 

Mistborn was basically designed keeping video game players in mind so I understand a lot of the time ppl might think it's too simple. 

What angers me is that it's clear the person hasn't read the book at all. Atleast not completely, for one example , his convinction that Alendi is tlr shows that.  Yet he acts as if he has and goes on to say it was terrible in every way possible. 

I mean fine say the plot was too generic and that u stopped reading it halfway and  move on . But he/she didn't do that .

Ok fine atleast go look up the chapter or book summaries on some blog or the plot summary on Wikipedia. Did he do that ? No.

Instead he writes that completely wrong review without mentioning he stopped halfway. I mean , Not one single point In it is true. Its not even hyperbole , not one point. 

There's a line bw an angry comment and construcive criticism . While i might have toed it , I'm sure I simply criticized his sloppy review constructively rather than simply lambast him as an idiot ( which he/she actually is , seeing that the review is still there unaltered while my comment countering it has been hidden. )

Also there's while we can ,should and do tolerate a diverse range of viewpoints. There are some that can't be tolerated.

Like you have freedom of speech , doesn't mean you can go to some guy who you don't know and say " you are a failure and a dissappointment and it's a unalterable fact cause I think so ". 

It doesn't mean you have the right to go around spreading malicious ( an completely false ) rumors about someone .

Which is exactly what this person is doing. 

Am I taking this personally ? Yes

Should I take it personally ? No

But Does that make what i said untrue ?? 

Edited December 7, 2019 by PrinceGenocide
A little polishing

[The Awakened Salad]

@Ooklidean Geometry @PrinceGenocide

I get both of your points. It's infuriating when people parade their opinion as fact, and this is common in reviews of all kinds. I personally don't think the reviewer was purposefully trying to do that, but the tone does suggest it. As for the accuracy or inaccuracy of the review, I know how it feels to read a review where I completely disagree with all of the points the reviewer is making, but the reviewer still has the right to make them. It is their review, after all. 

I just don't think antagonising reviewers is the best course of action. I've seen it happen a lot over on Goodreads, and it never ends well. 

Edited December 8, 2019 by Ookla the Silent

[+ILuvHats]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Silent said:

I just don't think antagonising reviewers is the best course of action. I've seen it happen a lot over on Goodreads, and it never ends well

Definitely agreed. Violence feeds violence. I really do agree with you, and even in the situation I mentioned it’s better not to escalate the situation, though civilly pointing out some of their errors is fine IMO. I was just trying to play devil’s advocate to your devil’s advocate, and point out a caveat you hadn’t explored in your original post. 

[Snorkel]

"he instead comes off as the sort of character Joss Whedon would write on an off day"

I think the author is describing himself here!

[AonEne]

On 12/6/2019 at 10:30 PM, The Awakened Salad said:

I’m going to play devil’s avocado here. 

I’m not here to get into the review (though I was wincing at several points in it, I will say...), I’m just here to ask if this was intentional or a typo. I can’t ignore it either way. I mean...”devil’s avocado”. You just can’t not grin.  

[Kidpen]

Important clarification here, are you sure "(yes, you did just guess the plot twist)." is referring to Elendi being TLR? Because I honestly can't imagine that's so. I don't know exactly what they meant, but I would be surprised if they literally just went based on the 'reveal' part way through the book, especially if they didn't change it after it was pointed out to them.

Also, just so we're clear, this was posted back in 2014.

[The Awakened Salad]

44 minutes ago, AonEne said:

I’m not here to get into the review (though I was wincing at several points in it, I will say...), I’m just here to ask if this was intentional or a typo. I can’t ignore it either way. I mean...”devil’s avocado”. You just can’t not grin.  

No, that was intentional (Finally, someone noticed it!). I used it to try and lighten the tone a bit and let people know that I wasn't trying to attack anyone (I hope it worked?). Also I just think it's funny . I didn't come up with it, but I have no idea where I got it from. 

[AonEne]

2 minutes ago, The Awakened Salad said:

No, that was intentional (Finally, someone noticed it!). I used it to try and lighten the tone a bit and let people know that I wasn't trying to attack anyone (I hope it worked?). Also I just think it's funny . I didn't come up with it, but I have no idea where I got it from. 

Well, it lightened my mood! Definitely helpful after that review, which I didn’t even finish.  

[Showman]

Honestly, my first thought after I started reading was that the person loved the book and was writing a bad review for no reason. (School assignment? Pretty well written imo, minus the content)

I honestly don't disagree with their "thesis" that mistborn fits better in YA, but that's a compliment. I've read YA books with much worse language or violence that I definitely did not appreciate, and I kinda hated them. Mistborn has much less of that than an average writer would include imo.

It definitely bothers me that the "essay" didn't support the "thesis". The essay was pure hating on it, the title was clickbait to make it seem innocent.

What a terrible thing that was.

[Mæster Olórin]

Look they had been done with the site for 2 years when you wrote this. I don’t think there is any reason to sweat the vestigial website

[Fezzik]

You know what else you shouldn't sweat after two years?

[AonEne]

On 7/14/2021 at 3:41 PM, Mæster Olórin said:

Look they had been done with the site for 2 years when you wrote this. I don’t think there is any reason to sweat the vestigial website

...what? 

I'm not sure if this thread is worth opening up again, it's pretty old and doesn't really have new content, so I would recommend that unless you have something really new to add, you don't post on threads that are years old.