I’m a big fantasy fiction nut. TWOK by Sanderson has been recommended to me countless times. I really enjoyed part one, Kaladin and Shallan’s stories.
The interludes were really tough for me to even be interested in, and now in part 2 it’s just really boring me. Idk should I push through? The story telling of the first part was great and it sucked me in, part 2 is proving to be boring and tedious.
Any thoughts?
Stormlight books sag in the middle. The endings are great, like the last couple hundred pages, and Sanderson can capitalize off that momentum for the starting few hundred pages of the next book. The problem is the middle, and the problem with the first book is that you’re not riding off the cool climax of a book prior. I remember very little from the middle sections of the books because the majority of it is set-up. Honestly a lot of it, both text and content, feels redundant. The main characters are fun, though Andolin doesn’t feel like much of a character at all until some point into book 2. If you like the characters I think you should continue
I feel like that is his thing, and most people give great ratings riding that climax and tend to forget the slog in the middle. I had that feeling already with Mistborn, that’s why I don’t even bother with stormlight. The fact that you used the word climax makes me think of it being a relationship where both partners are bored, have little in common, but have great sex which makes them temporarily forget all the bad.
I think the repetitive text is what hurts so much. The prose is simple, but it repeats itself so much, and not in an endearing way like Logen Ninefingers POV in the First Law trilogy either. And I understand the books are 1000 pages too, but it feels like we spend at least 100 pages reitariting the same thing over and over. It’s worse than handholding prose; it’s like someone has you by the neck and is forcing your face exactly where they want it at all times.
And it’s definitely one of those things where most of it is superfluous stuff that you forget afterward, but it’s definitely noticeable during the read through.
I really value a book which trims its fat and maintains a strong pacing throughout. A Wizard of Earthsea has a breakneck pace and zero filler, describing an epic voyage in the span of 185 pages; meanwhile, Titus Groan takes a long time to relate the plot to you…but every scene is important and engrosses you in the depths of the characters. Even that book is shorter than Mistborn.