Love Mistborn but please stop repeating basic information

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

I now understand why Mr. Sanderson is repeating the information I originally asked in this thread.  For those that might have the same question please read the complete thread as many good points were brought up.

 

 

My Original post:

 

Mr. Sanderson, You write a phenomenal yarn and I love your books!  I have already read Steelheart, the Rithmatist and the first two books of Mistborn.  I ask you please to stop repeating how the magic works for every book.  It seems that you rehash the way everything works that already happened in two books again for the third.  I am seriously hoping this isn't going to be the case for the Storm Light Archive.  Your writing style is great but its annoying and takes me out of the story when its explained how the magic works yet once again. I am hoping your newer Mistborn series Alloy of Law and preceding books will not have this issues also.  

Edited January 14, 2015 by mistwannbeborn

[Bort he/him]

The problem with this is that Brandon uses such unique magic systems, that for someone who has just picked up one of his books, they will have no idea what in damnation is going on, so having it explained in the third book in a series may seem excessive to you, but anyone who hasn't read any of the other Mistborn books will be looking at it thinking 'Wha..? Flying? With horseshoes???' and that would put people off reading his books.

 

Giving a brief description in each of his books as to how it works is a better approach I think, as it really doesn't take much reading to get past it, and doesn't leave new readers in the dark. And yes, I know you could use the argument that people should start with book one, and I agree, but it isn't always possible.

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

I understand that is the premise behind why he does it but most authors don't repeat earlier books to get their reader up to speed.  I for one like that approach much better.  Why would one want to start a book midstream?  For the couple that do I think its unfair to the loyal reader to repeat whats already been learned for those few and its enough to take you out of the story in disgust as if I just forgot everything.  Like I said I love his stories just don't like that the first 1/3 of all the books in this series rehashes everything for those that didn't read the other books.

 

Does his do this in the stormlight archive also?

[johnytopinka]

Now imagine when you wait a year between reading the books (or 4, in Stormlight's case). Some detail will probably slip from your mind.

 

I for one appreciate the reminders.

Edited January 14, 2015 by johnytopinka

[vineyarddawg]

I appreciate the sentiment of being bored by the "remedial review" in some books, but I agree with others in the thread already who have said that it's basically unavoidable. If you don't explain the magic system at least somewhat in every book, then your editor will kill you, then add an explanation in about the magic system post-mortem.  

 

(Sorry if that's a little too morbid for morbid humor.)

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Mr. Sanderson, You write a phenomenal yarn and I love your books!  I have already read Steelheart, the Rithmatist and the first two books of Mistborn.  I ask you please to stop insulting our intelligence by repeating how the magic works for every book.  It seems that you rehash the way everything works that already happened in two books again for the third.  I am seriously hoping this isn't going to be the case for the Storm Light Archive as if it is I don't know if I will read them.  Your writing style is great but its annoying and takes me out of the story when its explained how the magic works yet once again (Three times is too much)  I am hoping your newer Mistborn series Alloy of Law and preceding books will not have this issues also.  Keep up the great writing but please stop insulting our intelligence.....

 

I feel the same way you do, in regards that it annoyed me when I was retold the info in WoA, and then moreso when he did it again in HoA. I, like you from the sounds of it, read the trilogy back-to-back-to-back. This made his re-telling very tiring, as it felt like a waste of my time, and a waste of space in the book. Keep in mind, though, that the books were not originally released all at once. I know that the new teen releases of the books were all at once, and given you've read Rithmatist and Steelheart I have a feeling those are the versions you're reading. Re-telling information is a technique I've seen many authors use when years pass between releases. It may seem like a waste when reading them immediately after each other, but it allows the readers to not have to reread the previous books to remember the details. It is understandable on Sanderson's part, and your frustration is also understandable.

 

As for Alloy of Law, you should definitley expect him to re-tell info, as it is a new trilogy quadology. Brandon does not expect you to have read the Era 1 trilogy already. Surprisingly though, it felt like he re-told the information less in Alloy of Law than it did in WoA/HoA. As for Stormlight Archive, the only repetition between WoK and WoR occured when characters who had never been exposed to the knowledge were being exposed to it for the first time. And honestly, given the sheer "size" of the series so far, I felt I needed the refresher, and it was only book 2! There is just so much to the world, you will never remember it all with one pass, so reminders are welcome.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is to not take it personally, Brandon isn't trying to insult you. He's merely doing it for a different portion of his audience (which is larger than your second post here suggests). One trick to avoid it is to do what many Bernard Cromwell readers do - skip those paragraphs. You miss nothing, and the pace of the book doesn't slow as a result.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Twenty@20 he/him]

I understand that is the premise behind why he does it but most authors don't repeat earlier books to get their reader up to speed.  I for one like that approach much better.  Why would one want to start a book midstream?  For the couple that do I think its unfair to the loyal reader to repeat whats already been learned for those few and its enough to take you out of the story in disgust as if I just forgot everything.  Like I said I love his stories just don't like that the first 1/3 of all the books in this series rehashes everything for those that didn't read the other books.

 

Does his do this in the stormlight archive also?

Now I am curious how will you react to Stormlight. Fans who have read the Stormlight books know the magic there is much more expansive with very little exposition of how it all works.

 

Edit: Upvoted you. Dont think too poorly about us for the negative votes. Welcome to the forums.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Twenty@20

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

Thanks Guys didn't think of it in that light...  Question as I am new to this forum I notice I now have a -1 next to my name.  I guess its not preferred to ask a question that is a negative toward a series?  I was asking for input not trying to make others mad.  I appreciate everyone's feedback as I didn't think of the long periods of time between writing the novels.

 

Thanks again guys!

[Bort he/him]

There you go. You can get rid of your -1.

 

Just be careful what you ask around here... Too much criticism of Lord (Saint, God, Shard, Whatever) Sanderson and you're likely to get the whitespines out.

 

Seriously though, try to get over it. There are good literary reasons for doing what he did, and using this as a reason to avoid Brandon's other books means you are going to miss out on awesomeness.

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

I'll Keep that in mind and I don't see myself not indulging in more of Sandersons work.  

 

I would miss so much more as it seems he gets better with each book he writes.

 

I'm looking forward to reading Firefight and then starting The Stormlight books.  Thanks for the insight!

Edited January 14, 2015 by mistwannbeborn

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Thanks Guys didn't think of it in that light... Question as I am new to this forum I notice I now have a -1 next to my name. I guess its not preferred to ask a question that is a negative toward a series? I was asking for input not trying to make others mad. I appreciate everyone's feedback as I didn't think of the long periods of time between writing the novels.

 

Thanks again guys!

 

The reputation system is a means for members to show pleasure/displeasure towards other members. It's a bit of a broken system due to the fact that upvotes are dolled out often for no real reason other than "that made me laugh," but we treat downvotes as incredibly harsh, rude, and sometimes personal attacks against each other. Don't take your Reputation seriously, as it does not matter whatsoever. Often times others will upvote you simply to offset that fact that another member downvoted you. It's truly not a big deal what so ever. We have had some members leave the site because of the fact that some members downvote you for having an unpopular opinion. I find the system silly, personally. But it is what it is, and allows us to show appreciation to others who we feel do a good job.

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

Thanks Cosmerenaut and great name!

 

And Twenty@20 I am looking forward to that series of books although I am at least a month or two away from starting them.  Need to finish book 3 Mistborn, then Firefight....

Edited January 15, 2015 by firstRainbowRose
Please do not double post

[Oudeis he/him]

So... you're saying that you won't read an entire book because there will be five or six paragraphs of redundant information? Is just skipping those paragraphs an option?

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

Oudeis, No I was saying originally I didn't understand why he was doing it and it was taking me out of the experience of the book.  Love the stories too much not to keep on going for a few redundant passages...

[Stormcage Cotto]

To quote. 

 

Anyway if you haven't read book two, you missed out on some very important events. Those include: a trip into spoilers sludge that tastes faintly of spoilers ... a lengthy discussion of belly button lint ... By not reading book two, you also just forced a large number of people to waste an entire minute reading that recap. I hope you're satisfied.

 

Brandon also wrote a lengthy, though enjoyable segment about why he has to do the recaps and the plans for the second Mistborn Trilogy in chapter 5 of book four of Alcatraz

[Iredomi]

you just convinced me to read Alcatraz finally. thank you

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

Agreed now I want to try the Alcatraz series. Thanks for adding that to this thread as I didn't know Brandon already explained why he recaps everything.

 

Stormcage your "quote" is the best!! To quote. Lol

Edited January 15, 2015 by firstRainbowRose
Please use the edit button instead of double posting

[Stormcage Cotto]

Just to be clear that's not an exact quote as it completely recapped book two so I cut most of it out. But yes! Read it. My favorite books of his besides WoR.

[king of nowhere]

To quote. 

 

Brandon also wrote a lengthy, though enjoyable segment about why he has to do the recaps and the plans for the second Mistborn Trilogy in chapter 5 of book four of Alcatraz

damnation ninja, I was just going to say that (EDIT: and huh, like a half dozen comments popped out in the time I took to write this). yes, alcatraz explains a lot of things on how fantay literature works, and it's also lots of laughs. even if it weren't, I'd consider it worth reading just for the part about dead dogs and mothers (you'll see it).

 

Anyway, as many others have said, it is unavoidable. sometimes people pick up books in the middle of the series, because they don't care much about it. sometimes they do it by accident: it happened when my brother started the wheel of time from book 9, thinking it was a standalone episode in a loosely connected series - because really, no one sane would try to write a single story in 9 books that big - and that's how we discovered  the wheel of time. Sometimes people pick up the book after years and need some refreshing. sometimes people haven't paid much attention as they are only superficial readers. there are many reasons why recpas are needed. they do happen in any medium with a continuity.

 

I understand about feeling insulted for it; it happens to me too, not for plot recaps but for other things. For example, by advertising that assumes I'll buy their product if just they show me a pair of boobs. I guess I'd feel insulted by continuous plot recaps too, if  I didn't see the reason for it. If it makes you feel better, you can think that those are there because other people aren't as smart as you   (it doesn't mean very much, just that you are above the very lowerst tier of people reading those books, but hey, it's supposed to make you feel better, not to be accurate). It's what I do for the aforementioned advertising.

Edited January 15, 2015 by king of nowhere

[mistwannabeborn he/him]

Don't know how you got that so fast but wow. Brandon has quite the sense of humor. Thanks again!!

[Quiver he/him]

 

As for Alloy of Law, you should definitley expect him to re-tell info, as it is a new trilogy quadology. Brandon does not expect you to have read the Era 1 trilogy already. Surprisingly though, it felt like he re-told the information less in Alloy of Law than it did in WoA/HoA. As for Stormlight Archive, the only repetition between WoK and WoR occured when characters who had never been exposed to the knowledge were being exposed to it for the first time. And honestly, given the sheer "size" of the series so far, I felt I needed the refresher, and it was only book 2! There is just so much to the world, you will never remember it all with one pass, so reminders are welcome.

Wait... what?

 

When did Alloy of Law get expended to four books? I knew about Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning from his blog, but there being a fourth book in that series isn't something I've seen before.

 

I'm not complaining; the fact that we see the Mistborn world progress and evolve is a major draw of the series for me. I'm just curious when this news was released.

[Guest]

Wait... what?

When did Alloy of Law get expended to four books? I knew about Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning from his blog, but there being a fourth book in that series isn't something I've seen before.

I'm not complaining; the fact that we see the Mistborn world progress and evolve is a major draw of the series for me. I'm just curious when this news was released.

You will find the link here under the Mistborn section. The fourth book is tentatively called The Lost Metal. Edited January 15, 2015 by inexorablePanda

[Bort he/him]

It's less a quadrilogy, and more Alloy of Law is a standalone book, set in the same era as the second trilogy.

 

At least, that was the reasoning, as Brandon said that he wrote Alloy of Law while taking a break from another book, recovering from Wheel of Time burn out I think it was.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

It's less a quadrilogy, and more Alloy of Law is a standalone book, set in the same era as the second trilogy.

 

At least, that was the reasoning, as Brandon said that he wrote Alloy of Law while taking a break from another book, recovering from Wheel of Time burn out I think it was.

 

To me, that would be like saying the Harry Potter series is only 6 books, and the first one is just set in the similar time period, in similar locations. Alloy of Law and Shadows of self have the same characters, same location, and is a continuation of the story. Mistborn: The Final Empire was also a stand-alone, remember. That was still a trilogy.

 

Regardless, though, Alloy of Law did result from a writing excercise between WoT books. From my understanding of the Shadows of Self announcement, Shadows of Self resulted for the same reasons (WoT break), and then Band of Mourning resulted from writer's block during Shadows of Self. Only Brandon...

[Bort he/him]

The Final Empire was book one of a trilogy.

 

Shadows of Self will be book one of a trilogy. Alloy of Law isn't part of any series, it is simply 'A Mistborn Novel' as it states on the front cover.