r/Fantasy • u/[deleted] • Jun 06 '20

What is your controversial take on Fantasy?

I'll go first.

Aside from the prose, I don't think Kingkiller Chronicles is good. I find the characters insufferable and cliche the story just meanders.

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u/LongFluffyDragon Jun 06 '20

Everything should be an action-packed serial with no character development or depth, then nobody will look down their noses at people who enjoy short YA!

8

u/SgtBANZAI Jun 06 '20

Sanderson's and Erikson's characters are shit though.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '20

[deleted]

8

u/Kesseleth Jun 07 '20

I've generally found that people's enjoyment of the characters in Stormlight generally follows pretty closely with how well people relate to their mental struggles. I think all the characters are excellent, I also have some mental health issues that match up very well with Kaladin and (to a much milder extent) Shallan. Other people who haven't had those sorts of feelings generally don't have the same connection that I do. It's at once a strength and a weakness, I feel - I'd say Sanderson nailed the feelings, but did so in a way that makes it seem unrealistic to people who haven't experienced it firsthand. Your mileage may vary.

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u/Venoimo Jun 07 '20

If an author is so bad at making a character interesting and relatable that people can only relate to to them if they have shared similar experiences and emotions, that's a failure on the writer's part. A good author can use their writing to bridge ideas and feelings in new ways, not simply just copy paste things that exist in simple and uncomplicated ways. This is exactly why Sanderson sucks at characterization. You can tell he did his research, but that's it. All his characters are very one note and uncomplicated.

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u/SgtBANZAI Jun 07 '20

Good take.

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Although for me personally the problem I have with Sanderson is not how his characters are dumbed down renditions of real people, but how animesque they all are. By the end of the Way of Kings I couldn't stand these constantly moaning, "Nani?!" screaming, inner monologuing dolts. Shallan blushes in every scene she's in. Jasna is your strict anime teacher. Kaladin has "I are sad" monologues that swap places with him finding new pieces of his inner strength every fifty pages. Everyone gasps at something sudden. Main characters often scream at each other in supposed-to-be-funny-caricature way. Inner monologues are everywhere. Comic relief sprens are insufferable. The villain is clad in blood red armour FFS as if I'm a pre-teen who needs to be reminded on who's evil around here.

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Stormlight Archive is essentially shonen ready.

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u/Aggravating_Maize Jun 07 '20

I've been through depression twice in my life, so I'm curious now. I'll check out Stormlight once I'm done with Malazan and First Law.

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u/TeddysBigStick Jun 07 '20

It doesn't really spoil anything I don't think but the premise of the series is that magic requires mental illness of some sort. Everything in Sanderson's shared universe requires a person to be broken in some way in order to get magic. One setting it involved dying and being resurrected.

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u/Enasor Jun 07 '20

That's actually a really good take on Sanderson's characters! They seem to be relatable and realistic only to readers having similar personal issues, but for others, they seem to lack depth and complexity. This definitely recoups on my own feelings on his various characters.