Stormlight books are getting to long (poll)

[Matias he/him]

Yes, yes they are

[mathiau he/him]

No, no they're not

[+Invocation]

Nah. The longer the better. It'd be one thing if there was a lot of stuff that could be cut, but that's not the thing here. Even the downtime has ramifications for the future in addition to providing spots where the reader can let a breath out instead of being wound up for the whole book.

Plus it's epic fantasy, long books are expected. 200 pages per book work for some things, don't get me wrong, but Stormlight is far, far beyond the point where 200 pages would work for a mainline novel of the series.

[Frustration]

9 minutes ago, Matias said:

Yes, yes they are

False, they are too short

Edited September 8, 2021 by Frustration

[Legui01010 he/him]

I really wish Stormlight 5 is as long or even longer than RoW

[Infinity Sliver]

def not long enough

[Shinwarrior]

I feel that you need an option for No, they're good where they are. Honestly, though if authors could just publish a book all once I wouldn't complain no matter the length. They are just stopping points for the author. And also for the book binders I guess. 

[Weltall]

Nah, we need Brandon to finish what RJ jokingly started. The final Stormlight book should be so big it comes with its own cart.

[+Child of Hodor]

They are too long in a way that causes him to cut important character moments. Especially in OB where we don't get Shallans' wedding, Jasnah and Navani reuniting, anything with Szeth in between the battle and him being Navani's bodyguard.  

I'm saying they aren't long enough because he cut things I would have preferred to read, but they are cut because there is so much other stuff that it's bumping up against the limit of how much they can bind with the normal binding method. To hold more they have to switch binding methods which would increase the price. 

[NameIess]

I would read them if they were 10,000 pages long. Unlike some Wheel of Time books, I have never reached the end of a Stormlight book and not wanted to read the next one immediately.

[Legui01010 he/him]

1 minute ago, Nameless said:

I would read them if they were 10,000 pages long. Unlike some Wheel of Time books, I have never reached the end of a Stormlight book and not wanted to read the next one immediately.

Yes, just yes

[Infinity Sliver]

12 minutes ago, Nameless said:

I would read them if they were 10,000 pages long. Unlike some Wheel of Time books, I have never reached the end of a Stormlight book and not wanted to read the next one immediately.

right?? and you dont forget characters that you've met

[Elegy he/him]

I don't think that Rhythm of War was too long. But it could have used its page count more efficiently. Kaladin is my favorite character ever, but there was too much of him running around, looking for the next node and punching people. Those parts didn't have much sense of progress and dragged. All the while characters like Renarin, Szeth and Dalinar were shoved to the side. So it feels like it's too short (because it doesn't find time for a lot of important characters) and too long at the same time (because it still finds time to make some developments extremely thorough).

[Legui01010 he/him]

16 minutes ago, Elegy said:

I don't think that Rhythm of War was too long. But it could have used its page count more efficiently. Kaladin is my favorite character ever, but there was too much of him running around, looking for the next node and punching people. Those parts didn't have much sense of progress and dragged. All the while characters like Renarin, Szeth and Dalinar were shoved to the side. So it feels like it's too short (because it doesn't find time for a lot of important characters) and too long at the same time (because it still finds time to make some developments extremely thorough).

Brandon has confirmed that Dalinar will be more present in Stormlight 5, due to him probably being Honor's Champion and because he has to learn how to use his abilities as a Bondsmith. And since the Skybreakers will be the focused Order on the next book, will probably get more of Szeth, maybe some more about Renarin, now that Rlain has joined the Truthwatchers.

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Legui01010

[Guest]

It is my hope that, when Stormlight 10 is released, Brandon releases a one-volume, leather-bound copy of the whole series and call it the Book of Endless Pages. So, no, they aren't too long for me. 

[Frustration]

7 minutes ago, DougTheRug said:

It is my hope that, when Stormlight 10 is released, Brandon releases a one-volume, leather-bound copy of the whole series and call it the Book of Endless Pages. So, no, they aren't too long for me. 

Yes!

 

You know that meme

this one

Spoiler

I want that to be book 10

[ThroughTheLivingSequence she/her/they/them]

Longer books mean longer reading time, which means longer period of happiness.

[Use the Falchion]

I definitely don't think they're too long. In fact, I wouldn't mind them being longer! But I do hope that future books go back to TWOK interludes where they explore the world instead of exploring the plot. I wasn't particularly a fan of how many interludes directly affected or were affected by the plot. 

[+Invocation]

23 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

I definitely don't think they're too long. In fact, I wouldn't mind them being longer! But I do hope that future books go back to TWOK interludes where they explore the world instead of exploring the plot. I wasn't particularly a fan of how many interludes directly affected or were affected by the plot. 

You say that, but even TWOK's interludes were largely plot-related. Ishikk was setting up the plague in the Purelake that comes up as an obstacle to Dalinar's war in later books, Balat was foreshadowing Davar/Ghostblood issues for Shallan to have to handle, and Szeth's is moving him into place for the future. Rysn's first one is setting up her plotline and puts in some backstory for Szeth, Axies introduces spren shenanigans including unique spren and the difficulties of getting some spren to show up, and Szeth's second one puts him directly on the collision course with the main plot. Baxil sets up the Nightwatcher's Old Magic for it's direct relevancy as well as getting into Herald madness, Geranid is diving deeper into spren things that started with Axies's interlude, and Szeth's third interlude is again heightening Szeth's relevancy.
The only real difference is that the arc is coming to the end, so more things are coming up due for that individual book's plot instead of setting up future plot things.

[Elegy he/him]

7 minutes ago, Invocation said:

You say that, but even TWOK's interludes were largely plot-related. Ishikk was setting up the plague in the Purelake that comes up as an obstacle to Dalinar's war in later books, Balat was foreshadowing Davar/Ghostblood issues for Shallan to have to handle, and Szeth's is moving him into place for the future. Rysn's first one is setting up her plotline and puts in some backstory for Szeth, Axies introduces spren shenanigans including unique spren and the difficulties of getting some spren to show up, and Szeth's second one puts him directly on the collision course with the main plot. Baxil sets up the Nightwatcher's Old Magic for it's direct relevancy as well as getting into Herald madness, Geranid is diving deeper into spren things that started with Axies's interlude, and Szeth's third interlude is again heightening Szeth's relevancy.
The only real difference is that the arc is coming to the end, so more things are coming up due for that individual book's plot instead of setting up future plot things.

The difference is that the POV characters now are also important for the main story of the book. And that's a huge difference. Take any interlude from ROW and make it a normal chapter, there's hardly anything or even nothing that makes it stand out. At that rate, the Renarin scene or the two Jasnah POV chapters could have been interludes as well. The interludes are mainly interludes because they are identified as such. All the while in the first two and a half books, most of the interludes would always have felt like interludes, no matter if they're called that or not.

I don't think that's bad, I think it makes sense. But there is a strong difference between the approach.

But this also makes clear that book 5 will continue that pattern. The "old" style of interludes will possibly/probably return for book 6. On the other hand,, those interludes might also be a chance to show what front five characters that aren't important for the back five are doing after the ten year time jump. Book 6 is gonna feel surreal, I believe.

[Use the Falchion]

30 minutes ago, Elegy said:

I don't think that's bad, I think it makes sense. But there is a strong difference between the approach.

Exactly. RoW's interludes were very streamlined because they were mostly characters we knew immediately discussing the plot at hand. Lift's interlude could have just been a regular chapter since we already saw her PoV in Oathbringer at the battle of Thaylen Fields. (And Edgedancer.) 

Having characters we don't know doing things that tangentially relate but aren't immediately relevant - if relevant at all - in places outside of the main locations just really helps the world feel bigger. 

 

33 minutes ago, Elegy said:

But this also makes clear that book 5 will continue that pattern.

Probably. Although depending on how much of the book the Final Ten Days take up, I can see a hybrid of the two. I can see the Interludes involving characters we haven't met at places that are immediately relevant or impacted. 

 

34 minutes ago, Elegy said:

The "old" style of interludes will possibly/probably return for book 6.

I certainly hope so...

[The Sibling she/her]

The longer the better!!

Edited January 31, 2022 by The Sibling

[Frustration]

I am so proud of this community.

[Kandrafish]

If he had to split the book into two volumes to preserve its structural integrity, and we ended up with two Rhythm of War sized books published at the same time** for Stormlight 5, that would be ideal. But... I suppose I could get behind having 3 smaller books (for the safety of all of those unfortunate people who are injured each year by having a Sanderson book fall on them), as long as they are published at the same time**.

**and this is key "published at the same time"

[Ixthos Luke/Luke]

8 minutes ago, Kandrafish said:

If he had to split the book into two volumes to preserve its structural integrity, and we ended up with two Rhythm of War sized books published at the same time** for Stormlight 5, that would be ideal. But... I suppose I could get behind having 3 smaller books (for the safety of all of those unfortunate people who are injured each year by having a Sanderson book fall on them), as long as they are published at the same time**.

**and this is key "published at the same time"

We would have:

• Knights of the Winds* (days 1 to 5)
• Knowledge of the World** (days 6 to 10)

 

* Probably not the actual title

** Also probably not the actual title