Joe Abercrombie Should Be Bigger Than Brandon Sanderson!? 😳

Thank you to ‪@Bookborn‬ for joining the collab! What is our worst take?
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0:00 - Intro
0:14 - Bookborn's unpopular opinion
1:02 - Abercrombie should be bigger than Sanderson
5:13 - The Broken Earth trilogy does not deserve a Hugo Award
6:58 - Red Rising is Meh
9:10 - Books can be no plot and just fun
10:38 - I actually love a good love triangle
13:10 - Cosmere should not focus on getting connected
15:24 - There's only one 5 star book in The Wheel of Time
17:40 - It is better to see the movie before reading the book
19:08 - Jade Legacy is the worst book in the trilogy
Music by Damien Sebe - Goodmorning, My Love - thmatc.co/?l=A052F6D6
Music by Mark Generous - Orange And Pomegranate - thmatc.co/?l=13F71691

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video! Which booktuber should I invite next?

[@user-mu5sl4vh7m]

Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews!

[@arlissbunny]

Allen from The Library of Allenxandria?

[@Jeanette_Medina]

Allen Philip Chase Elliott Brooks Two to Ramble

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

The "kinda" sign might be the greatest innovation in the history of this illustrious video series!

[@libraryofaviking]

😂😂

[@samm8190]

Alright. I just found the next guest for unpopular opinions!!!

[@Bookborn]

Why thank you Philip 🤣

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

@@Bookborn My pleasure! 😊

[@MrChria5k]

Agree!!

[@TysonPJ]

After Stormlight 5, Sanderson needs to release a coffee table book explaining all cosmere connections to that point. Much like the Wheel of Time did.

[@ambbb4691]

Agree, Abercrombie is way better and I like Sanderson.

[@masterknife8423]

Absolutely!!. Abercrombie's sense of humour and gritty writing style is what I love about his books

[@6ixpoint5ive]

It's so funny that Library of a Viking says he doesn't like Murderbot, Discworld, and Hitchhikers bc they don't have themes when I'd argue the themes are incredibly deep, psychological, social political, and emotional. Like, yes there's a lot of comedy in those books, but its the themes and depth of the characters, ideas, and thought provoking questions about life, society, and the universe that make them such incredible books haha I think Viking, it's time to admit you just really likes grimdark and grimdark related things, which is totally fair, to each their own! :) But the aforementioned books are *filled to the brim* with themes and depth - just cause something is fun and cozy doesn't mean it can't also punch you in the gut with its subtext and thought provoking ideas ;)

[@libraryofaviking]

Hiya! I did not say that those books do not have themes so apologies if it came across like that. I stated that if a publisher calls a book 'fun' then I rarely enjoy them and gave examples. It was not my intention to class any of those books as lacking themes! I do agree that I usually enjoy books that have a more serious tone!

[@some5794]

This was so much fun!!! It felt the most organic collab I’ve seen between KZbinrs

[@laurablakeauthor]

The Wheel of Time question made me laugh out loud. Thank you to whomever submitted that.

[@josiahpeterson1694]

it was me hehe

[@arlissbunny]

Sanderson is bigger for many, many reasons and only some of them have anything to do with prose. Writing is a business first and foremost. (As with all of the arts, that’s just reality.) Sanderson is a better businessman than almost any other fantasy author in history (who isn’t JKR) and he writes to the market. Grimdark has been a big trend but not bigger than hope. Sanderson also avoids sex and the part of the market that specifically avoids books with explicit sex scenes is much bigger than BookTube (or Reddit) would willingly recognize. Additionally, Sanderson starts fans into the fan pipeline at an early age and continues to support middle grade and YA readers. The quality of prose is by necessity a matter of personal opinion but objectively Sanderson is better at the business of being a writer than Abercrombie. For those who still cling to the idea that “bigger” means better, let’s take a brief tour outside of the fantasy market: Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Jim Patterson, Colleen Hoover, Stephen King. Got it? And I’m not even touching the big romantasy or romance writers like SJM. Recent months have provided fantasy readers absolute proof that writing is a business. Nothing else could possibly explain Fourth Wing.

[@lkay398]

Yea but... that's kinda the point right? That we SHOULD enjoy writers who are "better", and not just content creators and business people. Yes, the industry IS a business, but SHOULD it be?

[@arlissbunny]

Maybe the inverse is true. Maybe artists of all kinds should be learning more about business. Teaching consumers what should be based upon quality means educating the public. It’s an impossible ask. Teaching artists to think about being better business people is at least possible.

[@lkay398]

@@arlissbunny that is likely true yes. It’s easier to change authors minds about the business than millions of people about the art.

[@Talking_Story]

These are so fun keep em coming!

[@dinocollins720]

Another fantastic video!!! Thank you!!!

[@KristinKravesBooks]

I don't mind when a love triangle is done well but I think that is hard to do! It is usually so obvious who the main character is going to end up with and it feels like a waste of time. And I agree- I often want them to end up with the best friend instead of the broody one, but it rarely happens!

[@theknavishroadbyn.r.gravel9757]

Sanderson is a good writer but there are a lot of other writers that are at his level with a lot less fame. Erikson and Abercrombie are much better where Abnett and Salvatore could be put in the same league.

[@ZachDavis79]

I love this series of videos. The reactions are amusing, and I love the collaboration with other booktubers. Despite watching tons of booktube videos I've never come across Bookborn before, but I liked her opinions and loved the "Kinda" sign.

[@Zivilin]

My biggest complaint about love triangles in media is that they're mainly used to cause angst/drama just for that which i absolutely *hate*. 😒

[@safinan8008]

Hi 👋 always like ur videos!! 🎉happy weekend reading to you!! 😊

[@mdc3227]

Abercrombie is the superior writer to me. None of his books have any filler, he doesn't waste words, nor does he spend hundreds of pages waxing on exposition and internal dialogue. I love Sanderson, but I feel his characters aren't as interesting or complex as Abercrombie. Shallan for example, is insufferably written, because he really struggles with female characters. Abercrombie on the other hand, doesn't waste the readers time, and as a result his books feel better paced, with more believable characters and continuity between books. I can chew through TFL and it's sequel trilogy, and come away with a huge grin every single time. I can't do that with TSA as it's so uneven with large swathes of the books not having any impact on the narrative. I have NEVER felt the urge to skip anything in Abercrombies books. I wouldn't even say Sanderson is in my top 3. That belongs to Abercrombie, Steven Erikson and Scott Lynch/Patrick Rothfuss.

[@caspianrobins7756]

I barely made it through the Blade Itself because nothing happened, the characters were blah, and the world wasn't great either. I never continued. So, while Sanderson isn't the best author ever, he is (in my mind) far superior to Abercrombie. Granted, I never continued in First Law, so I could be completely wrong.

[@noname3609]

@@caspianrobins7756 The Blade itself is a character driven plot kind of story but the plot gets much better with books 2 and 3. :) I think his standalone The Heroes also beat at least 2 stormlight books,it's just that good :D

[@davidsun2960]

Why are people willing to look past the slog in Wheel of Time…? I was horrified to finish Crossroads of Twilight and realize the plot had not really progressed at all after like 800 pages. The “slog” is kind of a fatal flaw in the quality of the story in my opinion. I have trouble recommending the series to anyone.

[@djsuth7727]

Agreed. The most overrated fantasy series ever, in my opinion.

[@derraldlosey1118]

Same could be asked of Lord of the Rings. Particularly in Return of the King and it’s massive amount of falling action. Some people just don’t care.

[@WillSaabye-ey5vy]

Thanks so much this is great!!

[@aliciasorenson3807]

Loved the Hunger Games call out!🙌

[@Jed_Herne]

Really enjoyed this video! Sanderson and Abercrombie are my top two fave authors (and they constantly shift places depending on who I read last).

[@pjlights164]

good one! Love Bookborn.

[@mariodominguez3366]

Really nice and fun video. Bookborn is a genius

[@rebeccaroy3751]

Rhythm of War is a very cosmere connected book but I absolutely loved it without having read anything but the previous Stormlight books. I have since read the rest of the cosmere but I don't think it's been necessary to have cosmere knowledge to love each of the individual series on their own. I was also meh on Mistborn Era 2.

[@Alicia-606]

Nothing against Sanderson, but Abercrombie is #1!

[@nancywolf1467]

lol I’m obviously not a typical fantasy reader. I agree with most of these!! And it’s FUNNY that your first one … everything that you defended one of the authors with was marketing and volume and business sense … I liked the “kinda” card. 😆

[@josiahpeterson1694]

I'm glad my WoT response made it on here 😂

[@RowanAldridge]

Johan: Abercrombie KZbin subtitles: uhhh... abber crumpy

[@pedrobriceno926]

Eh I think if you understand the cosmere a little better your enjoyment of those books increases. Mainly because I had no idea who a couple of the characters were in Stormlight and it was lost to me I was confused and had to look it up. Then I understood how important it is. Not having some grasp on the cosmere and reading one series is like watching the Marvel movies but only being like “oh I just watch the Avengers movies and nothing else”. So much gets lost to you and you can fully enjoy it with more context. Same applies with Sanderson.

[@5kastubh5]

Let's put it this way... I enjoy Abercrombie more but for me to give him chance i had to start reading Sanderson first

[@lukasa6374]

Wow, i gave the great hunt a 2/5 and was just considering whether i should pick the series back up and give it another chance. Guess not if thats the one book youd give a 5

[@SerenitySong6]

Aside from the first Mistborn book, I've only ever read the Stormlight Archive. It is very doable as I really enjoy the books, with pretty much zero Cosmere knowledge. That being said, it is made abundantly clear while reading the books that I am missing a ton of context. Not the most enjoyable feeling. If it ever becomes so interconnected I can't really understand the story without wider knowledge of the Cosmere, I think I'll just drop it.

[@sanjithechef]

Two of my favourites book nerds!

[@crazyforbooksandcoffee]

Love the kinda sign 😂

[@kendrarichardson8811]

I loved The Alloy of Law and read it in less than 2 days. I did NOT like The Lost Metal and I do think that is partially because of the convergence. I have only read Mistborn and Elantris/Emperor’s Soul and I felt like this last book made Era 1 almost seem irrelevant so I totally agree with that take!

[@jwed8576]

Agree that AMOL is a great book but certainly not worthy of 5 stars. But I think 5 star WOT books would be THG, TSR, TFOH, TGS and TOM

[@CombativeRoboGuy]

Berserk has a “love triangle” described exactly as they described it. Someone in there is incredibly manipulative, but this is very intentional and saying more would be spoilers for that series so all I will say is that this is the only triangle which I could say is phenomenal.

[@livineshkumar335]

The hot take about the Broken Earth is mine and I will explain why I think it doesn't deserve the huge nomination here. The main reason that I feel that it did not deserve its nomination is because of the "good things" that people say about how it handles oppression and discrimination and the political allegory based on them, in The Broken Earth trilogy, the only people oppressed are the Orogenes and there is a legitimate in-world reason, however wrong, for their oppression. The entire setting of the Broken Earth is that Earth is alive and hates the humans that lives on it and humans are always on the brink of extinction. There are multiple cataclysmic world ending events that has occurred and humanity had to suffer a lot and struggle to not go extinct. It is a place where the entire villages are just one misstep away from complete destruction. And there comes Orogenes who cannot control their powers even a bit and all it takes to set them off is for them to get surprised, or hurt themselves or have a nightmare, and then they will destroy the entire village. For a world that always lives in the brink of extinction, there is no way they can afford to be kind to people who does not have an important and required skill but otherwise harmless, so it is impossible for them to accept and not discriminate against people who can destroy their village as easily as moving a finger, and given that they don't have any control over their power, I would say that the people are justified in discriminating against them. The people in the Broken Earth trilogy discriminate against Orogenes because of their very high potential of killing an entire village, that is no way comparable to the real life discrimination that happens mainly due to a persons race or religion or birth country or language, where the oppressed are not a danger to their society and the Earth is not a place where one misstep will always result in death. Few other points that I feel are against the nominations are: I don't like the world building decisions that was made, where the entire list of cataclysmic events or season where added as a list at the end of the book instead of being added into the story. I didn't like how most of the characters arc and felt they were badly done. Second person POV was overdone and it felt jarring every time I read it.

[@Spiderweb444]

Brandon writes super fast and he has written so many series and is currently eritony onr of the greatest fantasy sefies ever written with stormlight archive so he will always be >>>

[@jimwilcken7168]

Even time I see something of Bookborn, I'm reminded how similar our tastes are 5/5 stars.

[@WhosThere26]

They’re not even close. Sanderson is like a fan fiction writer that brings shonen level world building, whereas Abercrombie is an actual fantasy writer.

[@Danhibbert73]

WoT books just sort of meld together in my mind... Looking back I see a bunch of 5 stars for the first 6, then things change, 5 on the last! Also, I'd have to say that Dune movie(s) might be better first than the book...

[@shaman9]

I agreed with SO many of these unpopular opinions

[@maucho88]

Short answer: Yes Long answer: YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!! just personal tastes

[@nnanna0013]

I used to hate ebooks, until necessity forced me into them

[@jadencasto]

Kind of similar to what they were saying, but even if you personally enjoy Abercrombie’s writing more, that is not the same as arguing that he should be bigger than Sanderson. The combination of the accessibility of Sanderson’s writing, his fan engagement, and the speed at which he is able to write results in his massive success. I think the speed at which he writes is especially important; the ability to have a have a new high quality book coming out from one author at least once per year (and usually more than once) allows fans to stay engaged and remain excited about upcoming projects.

[@PageTurnersbooktube523]

Brent weeks night angel trilogy has a good love triangle

[@davidgarces39]

Haven't read Red Rising , but are the stakes higher and / or more dramatic than in Mistborn era 1? Personally, mistborn was just a bit average, but not necessarily for the stakes

[@currangill430]

Yup for sure. I didn't get past Mistborn book one lol. So does it get worse after book one?

[@davidgarces39]

@@currangill430 I wouldn't say they get worse (not too noticeably) but if you didn't enjoy the first one, I don't think you would enjoy the rest. I didn't feel satisfied witht he ending, and there is just way too much religion in the 3rd one.

[@currangill430]

@@davidgarces39 Too much religion? That tracks he is Mormon after all 😅

[@HeroOfTime331]

I personally like Sanderson’s writing a lot more. While Abercrombie writes some super interesting characters, overall, I feel more immersed in Sanderson’s worlds and love the big epic moments that he build up to.

[@noname3609]

I love both but Sanderson is goat. ❤

[@adamborst]

Also can we agree "love triangle" is an incorrect term? If 2 guys are chasing the 1 girl and she can't decide that's only 2 legs of a triangle. The 2 dudes aren't connected as far as romantic interest, only via the woman. It's likely a nitpick on my side but the term itself drives me nuts along with the actual situation.

[@lkay398]

Finally somebody said it! There is a huge difference between 2 people liking the same person, and an actual love triangle. Completely different dynamic imo.

[@Bookborn]

lol I have literally never thought of it this way 🤣It's a love... arrow?

[@MagusMarquillin]

How many authors (or publishers) have the guts to do a true triangle of limited polyamory/extended monogamy? Have you actually found any (without being "smut")? These days the same sex stuff would be fairly accepted, but I'm not sure polyamory has much acceptance as a positive role model strangely - and the author would have to find new relationship drama then _"who will she choose?"._

[@fandibus]

Sanderson is overrated in my opinion. I feel like all his books are the same. Like he has a computer program, he types in some names, and it spits out a new book. I'm seeing the same characters repeatedly across his books just with different names.

[@currangill430]

LOL probably just uses Chat GPT 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@PatentlyWillton]

The Fires of Heaven was the best of the 14.

[@derraldlosey1118]

Abercrombie is a better writer but his work is more niche. The most skilled authors will rarely be the most popular. WoT is fine. Decent story overall but too many ups and downs. Much like Tolkien he needed an editor.

[@IzzyZil20]

Joe Abercrombie is absolutely the better writer and deserves way more credit than Sanderson. They aren’t even in the same league lmao. Also WOT has a lot of good books, at least 7 so far (I’m on book 8)

[@aldan7812]

Goddamn Hillary is everywhere at the mo! And is always amazing.

[@Darth_Xionn]

It's really one or the other with Abercrombie/Sanderson, huh? So many fans of one can't like the other, it's strange.

[@lkay398]

Well, they are completely different writers stylistically to be fair.

[@Bookborn]

I know it cracks me up...especially since they are both two of my favorite authors 🤣

[@ML-cc7gj]

I don't like either ;).

[@currangill430]

I love Abercrombie. I don't like Sanderson at all. But I watch his lectures on writing lol. So he's got that going for him for me 😂😂

[@jimronnysrlie8601]

I agree with the Abercrombie take. I never liked Sanderson. I've tried to read Mistborn and TWOK several times, but he's not an author for me. Abercrombie is several leagues above Sanderson, without a doubt!!

[@currangill430]

Here I thought it was just me. So it you also tried reading Sanderson many times and he never clicked for you either????

[@jimronnysrlie8601]

@@currangill430 No, he never did.

[@ronaldwatson3862]

Well, I DNF'd Blade Itself by Abercrombie , twice, so what should I read by him, instead?

[@currangill430]

Try again or read Best Served Cold and come back.

[@currangill430]

I say this as someone who had to push myself three times to read Blade Itself at different times. First time hated it, second time it was fine, and third time it actually clicked with me (over covid).

[@meganega123]

Best served cold would be a pretty good standalone book. Or his Age of madness trilogy, which has a better plot than First Law imo. And for both it's not really necessary to have read all previous books

[@currangill430]

@@meganega123 Op would miss a ton of call backs if he/she started with the AoM trilogy and the significance of a certain death without reading FL. And the references. But I think Best Served Cold is a good starting point if you are not gonna start in FL but OP needs to push through the og trilogy for one its mandatory and two its fucking great. You can never have too many Abercrombie books. Another option would be to read the Shatrered Sea trilogy which isn't related to First Law but still good. It would give OP a taste of his style/prose/character work

[@ronaldwatson3862]

I think this feedback is sort of proving to me Abercrombie should NOT be bigger than Sanderson, as the silly tag suggests. If you don't like his first First Law book, there is MAYBE one or two other books to try out, it sounds like. With Sanderson, if you don't like the first book in one of his big series, I could point to at least 10 different books to try instead, depending on your interest. Also, I'm not reading three books to finally arrive at a plot. He got two tries and I didn't enjoy him either time. I wish I could see what everyone else does with Abercrombie, but I don't think I'll ever get it, which is sad, because dark fantasy and grimdark fantasy are two of my favorite genres and he's supposedly the best writer in it. Hard disagree.

[@derraldlosey1118]

Broken world series is okay for the first book and plummets from there. The plot in the first book was fine. The writing style felt fresh. But the characters are all terrible people with zero redeeming qualities. After the first book its like reading one of those anime stories where the plot wanders off into a whole new story. Note the characters stay terrible.

[@davidpapp1732]

I just finished The Blade Itself by Abercrombie after glowing reviews here. After 500 pages I still don’t know what the plot is, there’s no main story, just four or five separate characters doing their own things unrelated to each other and I don’t care about any of them. That’s a lot of pages for no story to develop. And some conversations I had to reread the dialogue to figure out who is the character talking. I could easily put the book down but I wanted to give it a try. Sorry, not a good first impression of this author.

[@currangill430]

Do you at least like Glokta? If you do push on if you don't like ANYONE he's not for you. But there is more plot in books 2-3. You will definitely get more plot heavy once you get into the stand alone trilogy and his plot is actually really well written in his sequel trilogy "Age of Madness." He gets better but you HAVE to like his characters in order to enjoy First Law because it's EXTREMELY character driven vs plot.

[@syedshahrukhraza2923]

Love triangles are insufferable most of the time. Which is why I thought the love triangle in asoiaf (Jaime/Cersei/Brienne) was so brilliant. Usually an author tries to dilly dally over each of the suitors. But GRRM inverted that by openly leading on the audience to choose Brienne and calling our Cersei for the toxic influence that she is. And yet he didn’t fail to delve into Jaime and Cersei’s backstory and show us why they were so drawn to each other in the E first place.

[@Mr.NoBuddy1990]

I personally prefer Abercrombie to Sanderson.......and even I don't agree with this. Lol

[@NerdBookReview]

I read the First Law series years ago and forgot I did. Then I got into Grimdark and felt guilty I hadn't read any Abercrombie so I decided to read them again, made it halfway through The Blade Itself again before I realized it. I definitely don't find them particularly Grimdark and obviously not very memorable. Sanderson is certainly epic and puts out some good series though.

[@Morfeusm]

How did you like Sunlight Man?

[@NerdBookReview]

I haven't read it. I mostly read indie authors these days.

[@Morfeusm]

@@NerdBookReview okay makes sense.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I agree with you in the Cosmere discussion - I fear this "gloves off" approach of making everything converge will cause me to quit reading Sanderson eventually. I wanted Wax&Wayne 4, not Cosmere novel 1 when reading The Lost Metal.

[@libraryofaviking]

I have similar worries but lets see what happens!

[@ML-cc7gj]

Abercrombie or Sanderson, I don't like either but Abercrombie writes better characters, Sanderson has very original world ideas. Both pale when compared to Malazan (Erikson& Esslemont) and Scott Bakker (talk about balls to write the kind of series as The Prince of Nothing and Aspect-Emperor and especially the ending of the latter!) if we are talking of newer and darker authors. Abercrombie and Sanderson are not even on the same planet for me but that's just my personal taste.

[@currangill430]

I actually despise Scott Bakker if he's the author who did Prince of Nothing.

[@ML-cc7gj]

⁠​⁠@@currangill430 He is. Well, tastes are different, so I can understand that. And there is a lot to take in those books (the Sranc are the most horrible creatures I’ve read in fantasy but it works for me). If I had started my fantasy journey with him, I’d not have liked those books at all! I kept them on my shelf for a long time but started reading them at the right time for me. Malazan was the same. I had a false start, read the first was like meh and left it. But some years later I picked it up again and the timing was perfect.

[@currangill430]

@@ML-cc7gj I don't hate Malazan just not for me. But actually hate Prince of Nothing. It felt incredibly misogynistic to the point where I dnf-ed. Women were getting raped right and left it was worse than in Berserk and I thought THAT was over the top. I had no characters in the book that I gave a shit about. :/

[@Eluarelon]

I already disagree with both of you very hard, not about who should be the bigger name, but about the why you think Sanderson deserves it more. Marketing, Fanservice, none of this nonsense should have anything to do with the reception of an author. The only thing that should matter is the quality of the writing and narrative and that it doesn't is why we have so much mediocre (or worse) fantasy out there.

[@ReeceG231]

Well said 💯. And specifically on the point of "cultivating a following". I mean... The dude got to put his name on The Wheel of Time. That was both an explosive boost to his career and added momentum to every one of his projects which were coming out around the time. They shouldn't leave that metric out if the standard is "who builds a following faster"

[@6ixpoint5ive]

Sorry to break it to you but marketing, fan connection, and being as involved Brandon is absolutely vital to success in any industry. You can be the best author in the world, but if you can't market or promote yourself as a brand then you're not going to go anywhere. The same is true for film, music, tv, and all the arts - heck even youtubers. The most successful people have a healthy balanced dose of skill, talent, charisma, marketing, audience connection, and business smarts. This is the same reason why certain film directors become house hold names, while others - though arguably better - do not. Don't blame the authors, blame the human experience. We all do this, we focus on those with the biggest personalities and the biggest pull. If you don't like that, then try to change it, push Abercrombie to your friends and family, promote his works as much as you can and help him with this pull. Universal house-hold name success is a mix of a lot of things with skill and talent only being one slice of that cake. (Also Abercrombie is doing fine, he's written on big shows, he has a film adaptation coming, he's a huge success within fantasy and books. He's doing very well. This is fun a game, but lets not go ape over it. They're both successful, just in different ways)

[@lkay398]

But I think the point the question is trying to bring up is that the best works of literature often go unnoticed, and the super popular stuff is often (not saying its the case with Sanderson specifically) mediocre.@@6ixpoint5ive

[@Eluarelon]

@@6ixpoint5ive You don't need to explain to me how things work in the real world. I know that the real world completely sucks because most human beings are dumb and shallow creatures.

[@sarugard9115]

Wheel of time is definitely overrated Some of the books in this franchise are suuch a sloggy mess its terrible

[@otavioguimaraes5798]

I agree that WOT has only one 5-stars book, but it is sure not AMOL, sometimes people get so blown away by the last 100 pages that forget that the whole book until that point was basically random fights with trollocs (except for Merrilor meeting). If i had to pick one book to be the best it would be The Shadow Rising, all the main characters had some sort of major development and great scenes in this book, it has the best world building in the series with the Aiel Waste and Ruidhean chapter. It even had the best begginning with Min arriving in the White tower and the bubbles of evil showing up for the first time.

[@nightowl1337]

I really dont understand why Sanderson is so popular. I assume its because a lot of his readers are teenagers.

[@Morfeusm]

I am not a teenager and I don’t remember any other books I was having so much fun reading than his. I was very invested, couldn’t put them down and thought about them since. It’s not like I don’t read better books but they were able to entertain me on a level I never knew existed. On the other hand it took some time for me to connect with his writing. I can totally see why people don’t like his books.

[@annmoore321]

For the first one: HARD disagree! Sanderson is a much better author, since he is able to write complex humans, relationships, and emotions so well. Plus his world building is some of the best I have ever seen. Abercrombie can write distinctive characters, but they all tend to fall in the same five categories. He also is terrible at conveying a range of emotion. His themes and tone are all pretty much the same in every book he writes. In other words, he is very one note. He’s very talented at that one note, but that gets awfully boring after a while.

[@lkay398]

Most people (who aren't hardcore cosmere fans) would disagree with you about the quality of Sanderson and Abercrombies characters.

[@annmoore321]

🤷🏻‍♀️ I know. Like I said, Abercrombie’s characters are distinctive. No argument there. I just think Sanderson is better at conveying a full range human emotion/experience and is far more versatile. Consequently, he has better universal appeal.

[@lkay398]

As somebody who likes Sanderson, I have never once felt emotionally connected to the characters like I do in a Hobb Novel, or a Tad Williams novel.@@annmoore321

[@currangill430]

Sanderson's characters are so fucking wooden to me. Abercrombie's characters are leaps and bounds better than Sanderson's. Sanderson is great at writing magic systems, world building, and stuff like that but he fails miserably at dialogue, character writing (esp in Mistborn), and violence. I think I just find Sanderson very PG is the main issue I have.

[@lkay398]

To be fair, him being relatively PG is not bad per se. That's more of a personal preference thing.@@currangill430