Gollancz top 25 list

[mycoltbug]

So over on Gollancz you can vote for what they deem to be some of the best in fantasy that they have published. I found it interesting that they put the Final Empire up instead of The Way of Kings. So I wanted to poll and see what the other sharders thought. I like the FE but felt tWoK was much better written and shows Brandon's progress as a writer over the years. The reason I bring this up because a couple people posted that they would vote for tWoK but not FE.

[Truthless he/him]

I love TSA, but it's way too early for me to say if I'll end up liking it better than TFA. Mistborn is great for everything, y'know, how it introduces Allomancy and develops it and how the characters develop and interact and the gradual revelation of the real threat and how Vin and Elend's sacrifices ultimately save the world. It's a safe bet I'll love how the Stormlight Archives turn out too, but there's no way to know fors ure. TWoK has more questions than answers - it's in a funny place as the first book in an epic fantasy series. We'll just have to see.

So yeah, I voted for Mistborn.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

TFA was great, but Wok is AMAZING.

[ZeldaDad he/him]

TFA was absolutely wonderful, however I currently hail WoK as my favorite book ever so....

[Chaos he/him]

For me, there's no question: Mistborn takes the cake.

I'm going to say some startling things to you, but initially, I didn't like Way of Kings at first. It's taken me another readthrough to fully appreciate it. The characters and the whole battle in Part Four was amazing. But I guess I was expecting...

...more avalanche at the end, whereas Part Five was really an extended epilogue. I also strongly did not appreciate the twist about the parshmen. I didn't see it coming at all, and I felt cheated. Though nowadays I respect it more, I guess.

You know what I don't forgive? How the revelation was handled. Here's how it went: 1. Jasnah reveals the parshmen are Voidbringers. 2. Scene break! 3. We open the next Shallan viewpoint with her saying, "You're right, it's the only possible explanation!" Meanwhile, the skeptic who didn't see it coming is raising an eyebrow and saying, "that's such crap." Instead of making me open my eyes with wonder, it made me angry.

And let's face it, no matter how awesome Kaladin's ending is, Way of Kings needed that a twisty reveal. With that gone, I was left disheartened.

So, feel free to eviscerate me for that blasphemy. I like the book a lot better now, but I'm still a touch frustrated. The book is undoubtedly better written, that's for certain.

It could come down to reader demands. I liked the tightness of Mistborn. That book stands much better as an individual volume, I think. I also liked the high magic level of Mistborn. We see plenty of hints of the magic in Way of Kings, which is nice. That was unavoidable, but I still like Mistborn much better. I probably just like that type of book more.

It's a symptom of Stormlight Archive not being about tight plotting--it's about total fantasy immersion. I have complete confidence that Stormlight Archive will become Brandon's best series, but for me, no single volume can compare with Mistborn. MB1 is my favorite of Brandon's books. Sue me, I like the Brandon Avalanche a lot. He's said that he is toning down the Avalanche intentionally. While I understand this, Mistborn still stands as the high mark for endings, in no small part because of such an awesome Avalanche.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

I can't really judge the whole series by one book, which is what WoK is. So I went with TFE, since it represents the whole series, which has given me enough brain crack to last me a lifetime.