giveuptheghost

I was thinking about this recently, specifically with regard to Hero Who Unites Societal Outcasts and Gives Them Hope Again in Raoden and Kaladin. I also think he has a strong tendency to write varied male characters, but way less varied female characters. His *principle* female characters tend to be very intelligent and often witty and they are regarded as unusual for it- implying that the majority of women in his various settings are decidedly not that way. Furthermore, female characters providing significant aid in areas other than intelligence are rare. There are exceptions of course and he is getting better about this, imo. But within what I have read- Elantris, first Mistborn trilogy, and Stormlight- it is something I noticed. I don't object to the genius girls, of course... *is a bit of a Jasnah stan* ...but since this thread is about repeated trends in his stories...

I went back in forth on Elend throughout the books. I didn't like him becoming such a powerful Mistborn all of a sudden. I mean, I understand why it happens that way and whatnot, but I'd have preferred if Elend had remained a 'normal' human and left Vin as the only Mistborn in the group-- I mean, honestly, Elend being a Mistborn didn't add much to his story aside from a bonus of 'oh Elend is so good and pure and true and now he is a mega-Mistborn on top of it'. I felt like there was more time spent with other characters telling us that Elend Venture was this great person than us actually seeing Elend himself being that great. I don't think he was a bad guy by any stretch and he did grow up and into his role as king. But I just don't think he was as good as the others made him out to be and would have preferred to either see them (especially Vin) acknowledge his flaws instead of defending him as such a great man whenever someone did point anything bad out. I didn't particularly like the development of his relationship with Vin, for that matter. But from what I've seen thus far (in the original Mistborn trilogy and the first 3 Stormlight books), writing romances is just not Brandon's strong suit. Elend and Vin weren't bad together or anything, but they just didn't really grow and develop as a romance very organically, in my opinion. Since I am not 100% on the spoiler rules of these forums, I'm putting the below part behind tags just in case, but it pertains to Elend compared with a Stormlight character. I don't think anything I say in here is that spoilery, but just in case you haven't ready Stormlight yet and don't want to read anything related to it...

I just finished reading this trilogy (was avoiding this forum until I was done), and then since I saw this, I thought I'd throw my actor options out-- sorry if these have already been recommended, but I am not reading through 27 pages of this, so some thoughts: Vin - Maisie Williams Kelsier - Gale Harold Sazed - Jeffrey Wright Elend - Colin Morgan And I'd second Charlie Heaton as Spook

I was disappointed in the apparent resolution of Adolin and Sadeas's murder. I am not a huge fan of the interludes, for the most part. I do want to point out that a character dying does not mean they don't continue to be important to the narrative. Dalinar is likely to play a role in Renarin's flashbacks, for example. There can come a point where they serve the narrative better in death though. That said, O have never felt that I didn't get enough Dalinar and am genuinely surprised that his word count is so much less than the other mains.

Sexual assaults are alluded to pretty blatantly in the beginning chapters of Mistborn, so I don't know that Brandon would steer clear of it. I also think for someone as controlling as Jasnah, it could trigger a lot of self-blame and that could be tied into her not trusting her own mind. Not saying I really think it will go that way. I am more inclined to agree with it being an entirely internal thing, but I don't think sexual assault should be ruled out as a possibility. It's a delicate topic, but an important one. I think it is important to consider how common it is and how many people have to overcome that sort of thing in their lives. And Jasnah is definitely a strong and facinating character by the time we meet her in these stories and knowing that she came through it all could be very inspiring for people. I just dislike when people write off those types of stories with the attitude that it is just done for drama, or worse, when they feel it "ruins" the character.

I like Shallan, Jasnah, and Wit the best. Adolin has really grown on me. Lopen and Rock deserve an honorable mention as well. I haven't read Edgedancer. I haven't really decided where to go next in terms of Sanderson books. I never read Wheel of Time, so I was avoiding the ones he took over in that series for the time being.

I've been on a bit of a fantasy kick of late and had never read any Brandon Sanderson, but I picked up the Way of Kings on a whim and read it, Word of Radiance, and just finished Oathbringer and I absolutely love it all. Of course, now I have to wait patiently for another fantasy novel in a series, but hopefully Sanderson is a touch more reliable than GRRM or Rothfuss... I haven't checked out anything of his other than the Stormlight Archive thus far, but I expect that will change in due course.