What would happen if KoW was terrible?

[Bearer of all agonies]

What would happen if KoW, book five of the Stormlight Archive, was terrible? What if it turned out to be the worst book everyone has ever read; an absolute train wreck. What would you do? 
Would you pretend that it didn’t exist? Would you stop reading Stormlight, maybe even all the cosmere? Would you shrug it off, saying the next books will be great? 
What would you do?

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

Edited January 2, 2021 by Bearer of all agonies

[Lunu’anaki]

I think that would depend entirely on why it was bad... If it was just bad writing or whatever... I'd ignore it and keep going, I'm way too 'Invested' in the Cosmere at this point  

I'd be sad though.

[+Invocation]

I'd shrug and look at it as wow, it took him this long to have a bad book? and then read more cosmere when it releases.

[Aspiring Writer]

36 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I'd shrug and look at it as wow, it took him this long to have a bad book? and then read more cosmere when it releases.

Um, Calamity exists.

 

2 hours ago, Bearer of all agonies said:

What would happen if KoW, book five of the Stormlight Archive, was terrible? What if it turned out to be the worst book everyone has ever read; an absolute train wreck. What would you do? 
Would you pretend that it didn’t exist? Would you stop reading Stormlight, maybe even all the cosmere? Would you shrug it off, saying the next books will be great? 
What would you do?

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

My soul would be shredded multiple times over. Then I'd make a video on why it's bad. Then I'd still continue reading both SA and Cosmere, one bad apple isn't enough to deter my investment, and he is likely to recover on the next book.

[Eri]

3 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Um, Calamity exists.

Calamity is an OK book at least. It's not his best, but not bad either. The climax is unexpected but hey, it's not Cosmere, let our guy experiment!

As for the topic: I really, really doubt KoW would be objectively bad (pacing, writing etc or something outright offensive or unhealthy). Brandon does a lot of revisions, his craft is very good and practiced, and he's got alpha- and beta-readers. So I can't really imagine this happening.

Subjectively bad… it depends. There are a few things that I'd find bad:

• whole book spent by the narration on validating Kaladin for everything he does - unlikely, he already had his book. And while he is Brandon's fav character (ok, maybe Hoid is. But Kal's scenes are his favorites) and it very much shows, it's not as bad as many other authors would do. And I expect Kaladin to be put on pedestal a lot, he is the main character of the series and I am aware what I'm getting into when opening the book.
• Kaladin solving too many problems that could be more satiafyingly solved by others (I still feel sad for Teft not being the one to… ok, not spoilers, but improve what the ardents did in early part of the book) - I'd sigh and whine on this to my husband and not comment on it on Reddit, because I hate getting -100 karma for one comment even if it's respectful and on-topic. But still, a low dose of it is expected.
• Navani dying - I'd whine on the Internet and hope she's a Cognitive Shadow now and kicks Gavilar's (who I believe to be a CS now)… can I say "ass" on this forum? But yep, this would be pretty dissappointing. Probably the worst thing I can imagine really being in the book.
• Boring climax (revoliving about Kaladin, not about magic and infodumps and team Shallan-Jasnah-Navani) - I'd be frustrated and probably finally write that fanfic about Kal going evil. and then go dissect the illustrations and epigraphs and interludes for more lore.
• Not enough new Cosmere lore in general - well, this happens. Mistborn Era 3 will be next, so I'd wait.
• Shallan dying - it depends if she would got more interesting or more boring before. Shallan fluctuates for me. I'd probably make some popcorn and go see Tumblr rage about her death. Many people would be more angry than me.
• Pattern dying - no, that wouldn't be frustrating. In context of RoW it would be dark-humor-kind-of-funny. And here also probably many people would be angrier than me, so I'd relax by reading their rants.
• Adolin bonding Maya as her Radiant (I don't like this idea, especially after RoW. I really like them both as characters, but nope) - I'd complain with my husband, I think he agrees with me here.
• Too much Szeth PoVs without enough lore - I might skim them. I'm not sure why but Szeth is kinda boring to me. No, wait, he's got Nightblood now. Her* dialogue is great and makes his chapters non-boring. Go girl, destroy evil!

Generally, it wouldn't be such a huge deal. I didn't enjoy WoR a lot, despite  it being Shallan's book. I doubt KoW can be significantly worse. And each book has parts I love and parts I… um, learned to not comment about on Reddit, and parts that are just slower and more boring than others.

 

* I once read a WoB that Nightblood is still deciding on gender and currently leans towards female, and now I like referring to her as her.

[king of nowhere]

2 hours ago, Eri said:

Calamity is an OK book at least. It's not his best, but not bad either. The climax is unexpected but hey, it's not Cosmere, let our guy experiment!

As for the topic: I really, really doubt KoW would be objectively bad (pacing, writing etc or something outright offensive or unhealthy). Brandon does a lot of revisions, his craft is very good and practiced, and he's got alpha- and beta-readers. So I can't really imagine this happening.

 

yep. it could be mediocre, but there's too many people involved in the revision process to pass a genuinely bad book.

[+Invocation]

11 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Um, Calamity exists.

Calamity was...mediocre. It wasn't bad, just a disappointing end to Reckoners as a whole. 

[Orlion Blight]

You'll have people disappointed with it for hashtag-reasons  and they'll be vocal about it and waaaay overdramatic about it. That's just the nature of longform fiction and its fandom. 

For me, the issue is if the book can be salvageable later. I was disappointed with Oathbringer for hashtag- reasons and was vocal and waaaay overdramatic about it, but after reading Rythm of War, I have a much more favorable view of it.

Of course, my main concern is The Lost Metal. If that ends up being disappointing, I might have to start riots! 

[NameIess]

I would brainwash myself into liking it. I like Brandon's other books too much to do otherwise.

[Jaywalk]

I might be disappointed, but I doubt it would turn me off Sanderson completely. I highly doubt it’ll be a bad book.

That said, I think we’re in for an emotional ride in Book 5. I think many people will lose their favorite character—Kaladin and Dalinar are both very likely to die, IMO. It’s gonna be a heavy book, which might turn some people off (not me though).

Whatever happens, I eagerly await the fruits of Brandon’s labors.

[Bearer of all agonies]

5 hours ago, Ooklara said:

and they'll be vocal about it and waaaay overdramatic about it. That's just the nature of longform fiction and its fandom

Yeah, totally. 

5 hours ago, Nameless said:

I would brainwash myself into liking it. I like Brandon's other books too much to do otherwise.

Haha. Same! I would be sooo upset that I would convince myself that I liked it.

[Ghanderflaffle]

17 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Um, Calamity exists

As I’ve said before, I enjoyed Calamity. Is it my favorite? No. I still think it’s way better than lots of YA books I’ve read.

[Aspiring Writer]

3 minutes ago, Ghanderflaffle said:

As I’ve said before, I enjoyed Calamity. Is it my favorite? No. I still think it’s way better than lots of YA books I’ve read.

Having something be better doesn't make it good.

[Use the Falchion]

If I didn't like it, I don't think anything would change. I'd still reread the series, but I just wouldn't like this book and would probably end up skimming it. I don't like Calamity that much, but I'll still reread it when I reread the Reckoners. I don't like the final Legion novella at all, but when I reread the Legion series, I'll still reread it.

If most people didn't like it, then things would be...interesting. I think many Cosmere-aware and Cosmere-Invested fans would soldier through and simply accept that the book isn't good. Some fans who aren't Cosmere aware but know Stormlight is going to be ten books long eventually may stick around to see if the series is redeemed. More casual fans may drop off; those who weren't sold on OB or RoW would most definitely drop off. But I think many fans would stick around for his other works. 

Case and point, I don't like the ending to The Legend of Korra. AT ALL. But I usually don't not recommend it, I simply state that I don't like it and advise potential viewers to form their own opinions. But that doesn't mean I don't follow ALTA news. I also don't like The Burning White by Brent Weeks, but that doesn't stop me from checking out a potential sequel series down the line or anything like that. 

Overall, I think it comes down to the type of fan the reader is. Fans of Stormlight and not Sanderson may drop the book. Fans of Sanderson and not Stormlight won't care. Fans of both Sanderson and Stormlight may simply give the book a pass. 

[king of nowhere]

To further expand on the point of "brandon would not write a bad book, it would get stopped in the revision process", I point out this is exactly what happened with apocalypse guard. brandon set out to write a book. the book wasn't good. brandon did not publish it. that's all. worst thing to happen would be something like calamity, the end was somewhat unsatisfying but it was still a good book.

in any case, one bad book would not impact the quality of every other book brandon has written. they wouldn't magically become bad just because of a bad sequel. At worst we'll see something like the indiana jones trilogy, where the fans insist it's a trilogy despite evidence to the contrary.

I can see the meme on the internet "brandon is dead and was substituted by a lookalike".

[damixyoohyeon]

Not liking WoK would be rough since the SA books are soooo long. However, I think people are too invested in SA that a bad book isn't going to stop them reading the next ones. The only way to make Sanderson's fans stop reading SA is to kill all the characters which is a thing that is not going to happen.

[Bearer of all agonies]

47 minutes ago, damixyoohyeon said:

Not liking WoK would be rough since the SA books are soooo long. However, I think people are too invested in SA that a bad book isn't going to stop them reading the next ones. The only way to make Sanderson's fans stop reading SA is to kill all the characters which is a thing that is not going to happen.

Eh, you never know what Brando-Sando has in mind. 

[Lunu’anaki]

6 hours ago, damixyoohyeon said:

The only way to make Sanderson's fans stop reading SA is to kill all the characters which is a thing that is not going to happen.

Shhhhh, don't give him ideas!! there is a time jump AND new characters between 5 and 6 

[Frustration]

@Bearer of all agoniesagonies I can't hear you.

[Honorless]

On 1/3/2021 at 0:27 AM, Nameless said:

I would brainwash myself into liking it. I like Brandon's other books too much to do otherwise.

Probably this, haha.

I wouldn't abandon the whole series if I don't like the book, I'm invested in seeing how it all ends. Though it's possible that it makes Stormlight overall a less interesting series for me to follow, so I might put reading the next books on hold because of that, more likely I'd just be a bit apprehensive and dive in relatively soon regardless. If he messes up something massive or kicks off the hornet's nest in some manner... I might react but I'll probably still be here, if the downwards trend continues or seems symptomatic, then I'll abandon ship.

[agrabes]

What would happen with Sanderson & his fandom at large:

Most likely, Sanderson himself and his publishers/editors would try to look at the criticisms of fans and critics and try to understand where he went wrong.  He would try to pour those corrections into Mistborn Era 3.  The fandom would be disappointed, but wouldn't abandon him for one bad book even if it was a very pivotal one.  He might lose sales on some of his secondary material like the Novellas, etc.

What would happen for me personally:

I think for my own reaction, I'd need to have two extremely terrible books in a row from a certain series in order to consider dropping it.  If SA5 and SA6 are both bad, I'd strongly consider stopping reading SA.  I'd still read Mistborn or other cosmere series as long as I liked how those series were going.  Realistically, I think it would take 3 very bad books in a row for me to actually drop it.

 

What I think/hope will happen in reality:

SA5 will not be a terrible book.  But, I think it may be one of the lowest rated cosmere/SA books.  I think that Sanderson will take feedback and look at his own writing and plotting process and realize he needs to let himself breathe.  Setting an exact number of books and plot structure for various series decades in advance has limited his creative license in his own worlds.  He'll consider scrapping some of the planned cosmere series, such as the ones that provide Hoid's backstory to allow more room for Mistborn and SA to grow (or shrink) as needed for the integrity of those stories and the overall arc of the Cosmere.  Rather than multi-book arcs, he may fill in some of the gaps in the wider cosmere story with single books like Elantris or Warbreaker.  This allows him more flexibility to tell the story as he wants to tell it.

[Shard of Reading]

Thank you @Bearer of all agonies for my new recurring nightmare.

[Bearer of all agonies]

8 hours ago, Honorless said:

 I'm invested in seeing how it all ends.

You’re. . . Invested. 

33 minutes ago, Shard of Reading said:

Thank you @Bearer of all agonies for my new recurring nightmare.

You’re welcome.