Reading ONE STAR Reviews | The Stormlight Archive

[@RainAndRay]

My all time favorite negative WoK review was from a guy who absolutely couldn't get over the crab based life forms and gave up because Sanderson was "obsessed with crustaceans"

[@2ToRamble]

😂😂

[@inbalfishler6972]

Jeff McBane, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.

[@Mimiccry]

​@westvirginiaglutenfreepepp7006😭🤣🤣

[@angrychickengod3831]

I loved the instant irony of that second review using the wrong form of 'past' in the same sentence saying that Stormlight is badly written

[@Okillydokilly69]

And objectively , as someone who is new to stormlight and the cosmere , Brandon Sanderson is a great writer . I only got into him because of the fantastic job he did in finishing The Wheel Of Time .

[@Aussieshepherdowner]

i love how they think "szeth" is a weird name he can't pronounce a sz

[@liul]

Oh, I think that, for the reviewer 8, the main character they are referring as superman might be Szeth. Which wouldn't make any sense except for the fact that the reviewer skipped pages while reading Way of kings. I'd bet they just read the chapter about the death of the king and assumed the assassin was the main character and was too powerful to be interesting.

[@2ToRamble]

That makes sense 🤔. You’re probably right

[@josephrobinson3550]

‘Jeff-son-son-Brad wore white on the day he was to kill a king’

[@steve_macc]

😂😂😂

[@lenox4751]

Truthless of idaho

[@barliechoy]

I love many fantasy books and I seem to be fine about people criticising Wheel of Time books, we all know they have flaws. However, I don't deal with criticism or even indifference to Stormlight. I think that means I have issues and need to get a therapist.

[@2ToRamble]

😂😂 relatable

[@laurensteingold6979]

Nope you’re fine, it’s anyone who doesn’t get the brilliance of the stormlight archive that has issues

[@justinsantilli719]

I’ll give you guys credit, I bet you had to scroll a bunch to find these.

[@ctom42]

Just randomly found this video in my recommendations, fun concept and I enjoyed your discussions about both the book and these terrible reviews. I do have one issue I need to disagree with you on and that your agreement that RoW had technobabble. That term by definition means technical jargon that is nonsense and is just made to sound good. All of the science talk in RoW was logically consistent, well explained, and is something readers can follow and understand. It's not star trek or Dr. Who just making up terms that mean nothing, it's a fantasy science with it's own consistent rules and principals that can be understood and extrapolated from. Sure it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hardly incomprehensible technobabble.

[@drewbunton1156]

I will say, the first 600 pages of so of WoK, there really isn’t a whole lot going on. But what makes the book so fucking good is that even though their isn’t some huge villain or build up for a long time, the book is still so damn enticing.

[@2ToRamble]

Great way of putting it, dont entirely agree - but wow is the book special

[@alien777]

Sanderson writing is young adult.

[@DobyWan]

You guys bicker like a married couple. Its great.

[@KaydianBladebreaker]

Kinda glad you cut the video before the knives came out 😀

[@Osyrous]

Hm this is a plesant find. Your intro sequence was so wholesome. Taishar manetherin.

[@Osyrous]

Subbed

[@2ToRamble]

Thank you 🤠

[@TimVanNieuwland]

I will give stormlight a 5/5 star rating any day of the week (as a whole (as of now), maybe 4,5/5, but leaning more to 5/5), but I do understand some of the criticism given here (to a much lessor extend). The books are very easy to read, this is not a bad thing, as the barrier to entry stays low and Sanderson does a good job exploring some "heavier" material in a digestable way, but I do feel like he is holding your hand while reading (in that he is not making it hard to understand what is actually happening on the page). It is also not grimdark. There were times in earlier books when I feared for some characters, but later on I started to learn that certain characters would not die yet so made it feel a little saver, though not to much so, there were times when some characters could have dead of and didn't in the end when I think it could have been good points in time to do so. Finally, it does sometimes hint at YA stuff, I think for most of the series it stays away from the bad side of YA, but it has its moments where it really does flirt with YA themes. For me non of this detracts from the readign experience, but it seems that for some people it does detracts from the experience.

[@gamgam7979]

2nd review for sure did not get past page 10 edit: funniest part is pretty much as soon as the gavilar reveal happens in the prologue, it switches to "the king" instead of "the shardbearer", so SImeon really had nothing to say

[@mattpen]

I will somewhat give credit to those reviewers who say it doesn’t feel like there is peril. Knowing that there are later books and just the way it’s written, I never felt the POV characters were going to be killed off. They had other stakes, characters etc., but I can see it.

[@TheSkyfolk]

That's kind of a genre thing though, no? POV characters in fantasy novels don't usually die, and when they do you can often see it coming a mile off.

[@deadfromhell1235]

yes but that is why the stakes are not if they will live or die...

[@profedelasmontanas9023]

*elokar and teft did not enter the chat

[@ZaneTrain92]

Every single book I read, I thought Dalinar was going to die at some point lol

[@Prene16]

Yeah I ve read other books of Sanderson's and in several of them POV characters die. not saying the same is going to happen. I DO NOT want that to happen, but I don't feel safe while reading.

[@nikacomedawn]

Maybe the morality is simplistic because Sanderson is saying you shouldn't commit war crimes. Clearly, more advanced readers know that war crimes are good, actually. (Sarcasm)

[@owenlemon8660]

lol you’re proving their point tho, that’s an easy statement to make where there’s sm other topics to explore that aren’t that basic

[@profedelasmontanas9023]

“Doesn’t own a dictionary…” I think you mean a thesaurus haha

[@xhazlas2572]

'' It`s not boring''... I mean, those Eshonai backstory chapters....

[@storyboard3184]

Were not boring

[@travisbrown2149]

I think I skipped about a third of them lol

[@juliabryan8083]

(Sigh).....can't argue with you there

[@ZaneTrain92]

I Love this series but tbf, there are definitely some boring parts.

[@Boogalyhu]

They grew on me during a reread.

[@bubsyoutube]

You guys are awesome. Keep it up

[@LeonC0704]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Austin's face when Richard is saying how gullible he was with the Marie pronunciation was just poetic

[@krislimpus]

That second review he thinks Shardbearer is the equivalent of foe 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@brendandangelo715]

I read through a bunch of these a while ago. My favorite one was by a guy who couldn't get over the idea of a "safehand" and complained about how the cultures made no sense. His argument was that hands were not sexy and shouldn't have to be covered. Sir, people once went crazy over ankles. Culture determines a whole lot of what is seen as appropriate.

[@Seanythecool1]

I love stormlight so much, these reviews pain me

[@TNTspaz]

I feel like most of these come from r/books r/fantasy. They sound like those subreddits verbatim. There is a prevailing opinion in there that no one should like the books either due to Brandon Sanderson personal beliefs (it's reddit, what do you expect) or because it's not a challenging enough read for them. People get on a super high horse about "technical" fantasy. Basically Scifi Fantasy if we are being honest. Something like Dune to just give an example. Which they also now hate due to it becoming mainstream. They normally backing themselves up by using Sanderson own words to sound less insane. The big one is about how he isn't a "good writer" . Either conflating his words or taking them out of context. Due to how self critical Brandon is. They also get really upset about the writing advice he gives because of it. Thinking he is ruining a generation of authors. The big one people get upset about is his advice for magic systems. (ironically one of the things Brandon gets praised the most for) When he did those "good and bad writing advice" videos. Basically created a civil war on reddit.

[@schuylersmith8168]

Admired the bookshelf in the back while watching. Noted the Memory Sorrow and Thorn books. Imagine the horror in my voice when I audibly said "No..." as he reached for To Green Angel Tower at 9:39

[@juancamilocalvache451]

"I understand you just like Grim Dark" That's literally the best thing he can response

[@loganrasmussen9862]

I think Kalidens' motivation is don't let anyone kill his people. Him led him to the Honor Chasm.

[@grantstratton2239]

I thought the "3rd-grade morality" quote was kind of funny. There's a saying that "all good advice is obvious". A really, really good person is going to be pretty uncomplicated. Us tying ourselves into knots trying to justify the bad things we do is what makes morality seem complicated.

[@Exlegion19]

Anyone who claims Superman is a boring character needs their Accelerated Reader card revoked.

[@fcold9402]

Delenar had a specific stated goal said over and over .."unite them".

[@Henry-jp3mc]

I agree with that first review 100 percent.

[@adenrowe97]

the shear amount of cuts to the Vader clip killed me throughout the whole video. the commitment to the bit

[@MrKlarc19]

How do you not like the Name of the Wind? My only complaint is how long we have been waiting for the next one.

[@tithannisk7470]

Chad is the only one that made what I consider an honest review : "This is how the book is. It wasn't what I wanted." That's fair. But the characters that are flat and lack goals or motivations ? That's BS. You may not relate to any character, you may not like them, you may not like their motivations, but saying there's none because you didn't like does that are presented to you is utterly stupid.

[@EwokyBalboa]

In addition, relating to Chad's review, in RoW I was getting a little tired of kaladin STILL sliding deeper into depression 4 books in...I still like the books, but I definitely would have preferred an earlier upturn in his mental state.

[@Thornsawawa]

​@@EwokyBalboa sorry for late reply, but kaladins situation is realistic. you wouldnt just quickly get better, especially since he is STILL FIGHTING by RoW. thats like saying veil should have disappeared in book 3 or something because shallan is no longer undergoing trauma, except she is because kaladins PTSD comes from watching friends die and battle. mental health is often a losing battle, and i can relate to that. if kaladin had suddenly started to feel better after the time skip or something i would have felt dissapointed and cheated. mental health is a big part of the books and a part of kaladins character. both depression and PTSD are hard to live with and heal from. im so glad he seems to finally have realised he needs help by the end of RoW, and hopefully will get it in WaT (wit/hoid is NOT a verified therapist guys)

[@EwokyBalboa]

@Thornsawawa reading comprehension: I didn't say immediately get better, I said i would have preferred an earlier upturn rather than downward for 4 long books. I don't care how "realistic" it might be, I'm reading a fantasy book for a bit of escapism.

[@Thornsawawa]

@@EwokyBalboa realism is important when it comes to things inside the mind of a person. Would it be nice reading if the characters acted unrealistically, had bad conversations? You obviously don’t understand but it is important to me that the characters don’t just magically overcome whatever problem shows itself.

[@EwokyBalboa]

@@Thornsawawa you're completely missing my point. Anyway, it's my opinion. You can have yours

[@anniepentapls9294]

you guys are so funny keep it up!

[@2ToRamble]

Thankyou!

[@darranmcmurray6212]

I love your videos. I have something to contribute, I think when Dalinar was to "unite them" I think it really reffered to the three realms, not the people of roshar. I would love to see how people feel about this. Ive binged the first three books and I'm about to start 4th but I think that's what hit me the hardest because.... He did it!!!

[@2ToRamble]

Hell yea! I (austin) think it is in some way referring to both (the people and the realms) - and that hit even harder for me thinking that was the case

[@PoliticalPluralist]

I can understand someone being put off by way of kings during the pre stormlight, pre taking charge of the bridges Kaladin scenes. Shallan isn't carrying the book for most people and Kaladin isn't being fun and if you are looking for a fun Fantasy book that isn't it during that period of the book. But even so the Book isn't a one regardless even if it isn't for you. Personally I have a burning hatred of flashbacks bordering on the unhealthy. Which is my major grip with the storm light archive but every book is at least a 4 out of 5.

[@mikep4957]

I couldn't get into WoK to save my life. I completely agree with these 1 star reviews.

[@charlesdotwin]

Ill be honest. I thought Way of Kings was lame for like the first 2/3s. Took me about 5 years to read cause i kept putting it down and having to restart when i came back to it. I only stuck with it cause of all the good praise Id seen for the books and series. I trust when reviews are that strong that a book will at least be worth it for a fun read, even if it doesn't end up being a favorite. Stormlight Archives is one of my favorite series. Glad I stuck with it.

[@TheEnder515]

I'm listening to these one star reviews and I'm thinking to myself; "Did... did we read the same book?" The characters of Stormlight are a lot of things, but without goals or yearning? Without character development? Certainly not!

[@Ciervorelajado]

The "actions scenes sound like someone describing cutscenes from a videogame" is pretty accurate tho. Something I don´t like about Sanderson is that he sometimes tell you where "the camera" is. I always get the impression that he takes more inspiration from blockbuster movies and videogames than from other writers.

[@CryoJnik]

Part of it is his refusal to go into what people call Purple Prose, which is when the writing gets all, for lack of a better term, extra.

[@PageTurnersbooktube523]

I wish I could regret the name of the wind, but it was too forgetful to remember, so how can I hate something I don't remember lol

[@2ToRamble]

Richard would approve of this comment lol

[@furiousscotsman2916]

I really liked it.

[@ArtSnob101]

I dont inow the way of kings is pretty freaking slow in the 1st half and because he cuts from different perspectives once it feels like a plot is finally getting interesting it can definitely kill the will to want to keep reading, on top of that the interlude chapters removed me from tye stories i wanted to focus on more and it can feel like excessive world building. I soldiered through and was very happy and by the time i got to the 2nd book i sorta knew how the layout of his storm light books would be so the interludes werent as jarring for me and i actually knew enough about the world to be more interested in them but that 1st book was rough for me up until maybe 2/3s of the way through. (Luckily for me i was doing a 30 hour road trip and i had to stick with it ) lol

[@thewingedserpent5823]

"originality" is the most tired and chewed up criticism in existance any whenever someone hingers their critique on that point i've learned to just ignore it.

[@overlordsnow14]

Loved this series, also have you read prince of thorns? On a second note, i skipped almost every chapter from dorians perspective my first time reading way of shadows and fell in love so much i read the series, in full with his chapters, atleast 8 times so far

[@2ToRamble]

We havent yet - Rich DNF’ed it because of the first chapter but we may have to give it another go

[@deelak2329]

I thought the whole Stormlight Archive is so overhyped and overblown. Mistborn era one is better in like every way even though the scope is smaller.

[@chicagodino]

I enjoyed the 2nd era just as much. The connection and relationship between the characters is much better.

[@ElijahDawkins-yb1uc]

I'm too busy envying your bookshelves to pay attention to the reviews.

[@michaelfeeney6108]

I need Sanderson to cut out the words fortunately and unfortunately. He often uses them when it makes no sense to do so. And there’s this in a Lift interlude of WOR: “Fortunately, she'd guessed right, unfortunately.” My head partially exploded. I no longer have a full head.

[@danielfranya4138]

Man you guys crack me up 😂

[@user-sl4sx6dp4c]

it was so obvious kaladin wasnt going to kill himself though, i feel like sanderson would never go there considering how vanilla it is

[@AndrewHawk-n6u]

Am I the only one who went and looked up what "nonce" meant from the 4th review and immediately said "please choose a different word bro!" lmao

[@Lian68109]

When reading any of the Stormlight Archive books I personally need a dictionary to understand half the words he uses.

[@FullaEels]

I'm convinced with some of these 1 star reviews, the person cannot infact, read, or, they can't read between the lines

[@woodwest11]

The only review that is legit is 6 but I am one of the few that loves rhythm of war navani journey in that book was amazing to me

[@groveri2]

i'm gonna genuinely be that person but for review 7 the repetitive descriptions i love bc i keep on forgeting what certain spren look like and stuff.

[@korysimmons12]

Chad- The Assassin in White.

[@macmay3042]

Wait... did I just find another human being who hates Name of the Wind? I thought I was literally the only person on the planet.

[@2ToRamble]

We have a video coming out soon where we rant about it 😮‍💨

[@macmay3042]

@@2ToRamble I got about 85% of the way through the book and just DNFed. That's the longest I've ever stuck with a book before quitting.

[@2ToRamble]

@@macmay3042 Which part made you quit, or was a slow, constant bore that made you eventually just stop?

[@macmay3042]

@@2ToRamble I honestly can't quite remember exactly what it was, this was years ago... I think I had gotten up to the scene where... like early on you see some kind of fable about a guy who escapes a jail by just magic-wishing his way out and then towards the end of the book you meet a guy and it turns out it was him and he walks Kvothe through it? And something about that made me decide, nah. Basically my main reason for quitting was, the book is 100% about Kvothe, this is the Kvothe story, there are no other main characters but him. And he's just the Holden Caufield of fantasy. He's horrible. Everything that's ever gone wrong in his life (with one admittedly notable exception) was 100% his fault and no one else's. If he wasn't an utter douche his life would be perfect, and he has no character arc. He has been a douche his whole life, he remains an absolute douche, he will be a douche until the day he dies, nothing significant will ever change. Watching a selfish, arrogant, brain-dead, hyper-privileged jerk whine because he never quite gets as much punishment as he deserves for being just utterly horrible to everyone and never once feeling a moment of regret for anything was not my idea of a good time. I found myself wishing we knew more about these random demon people because I was hoping desperately that they might possibly show up and just kill him so I didn't have to hear him whine anymore.

[@macmay3042]

@@2ToRamble Like ffs, here's this school I just got into. I need to remain on a scholarship for 7 years or my life is completely over. What should I do on day 1? I know. I'll set Dumbledore on fire because he dared to not immediately believe me when I told him I already know all magic, but gave me a fair opportunity to show him. Oh no, now one of the headmasters of the school that I need in order to not be homeless hates me, for reasons 100% beyond my control, oh I deserve so much pity because my life is so horrible and I did nothing wrong to deserve this.

[@alexiavya722]

naw I completely agree with the first review. I think the point of what they are saying is that we state a goal but we wonder away and do 8 chapters of other things before we finally either make progress or resolve the issue. The first book just really struggled in comparison with what came after.

[@Tadicuslegion78]

I have tried reading The Way of Kings twice now....still have no clue WTF is going on. And I'm a guy who's read the Silmarillion Twice so you can't say I can't follow complex narratives.

[@noanime5912]

It has a really slow start, IMO just take your time but don't give up :)

[@deadfromhell1235]

I am confused on what you don't understand, the plot is rather simple :D

[@theNoxie]

Interesting, I started reading Brandon this year. Started with Mistborn and now on book 4 of SA. Sure some stuff were confusing like the first prologue, makes more sense after book 3. But other than that I dont really see what's confusing. Kaladin's story is pretty straight forward honestly. What specifically is hard to grasp? The further you get into it the more you understand about the world and how it works - but I find that to be one of the best things about the series, uncovering the mysteries of the world it takes place in.

[@valliyarnl]

I agree with Zymos (other than the boring) but I gave it 4 stars not 1 😂

[@therealdemen247]

On the sunk cost fallacy, I have a story about the Dresden Files where I wish I didn't like them so much, so I could hate read them. It just got too horny for me when the vampire lady started showing up. I really enjoyed those books but I just could not push through how horny our first person narrator was. If the books weren't in a first person perspective I might have gotten through it. But there was no hiding from the horny.

[@itaykerensm1629]

A book I read from start to finish while hating every moment was ship of destiny by Robin Hob, i loved the fitz books and mad ship and ship of magic were amazing, but that book is pure pain and took me 3 damn years to finish.

[@Thornsawawa]

ship of destiny is the last book in the live ship traders right? i do admit that robin hobb has a tendency to treat her characters like they are some young teenagers oc just there to be tortured xD i didnt really mind the book, tho now that i think of it i do prefer the other two. specifically i like whatever book it is where the main character girl goes on her little adventure. i do like seeing the snobby little brat that was malta whatever-her-last-name-is become an actually bearable character tho.

[@dpart3106]

Steve wore white on the day he was to kill a king

[@monkut]

For me there was just too much hype for WoK. If the reviews weren't so skewed and I came into it thinking it was a 3 star book, I think I would have enjoyed it more. For people giving it 5 stars I'd really like to know how they rate other fantasy novels.

[@TheSkyfolk]

Every single review of every single piece of media is subjective based on the the taste of the reader/viewer. There's no such thing as an objective review of a piece of art, unless the review says things like "The book has characters, and those characters experience events." With that in mind, shouldn't you curate the reviews you pay attention to down to the ones who share your perspective and tastes on other books? Because just raw dogging a bunch of aggregated book reviews won't tell you anything about how YOU will feel about the book going in.

[@teresa6525]

I also found that WoK drags on the first time you read it. But for me, this was mainly due to the fact that some things were difficult to understand when they were first mentioned. At first, I had no idea what to imagine by Spren. But when I read it a second time and also read the following books, it went much better, because you understand a lot of things and the characters much better. There was a passage where Elhokar talks about figures he sees in the mirror and I forgot about it the first time I read it because it didn't seem important to me, but the second time I had to stop at that point because I realized that this was not Elhokar's paranoia, but a very important piece of information about him.

[@jonsadenwasser4246]

Oh I know exactly what Richie was about to say 😆😆

[@MorgottofLeyendell]

I love Sanderson books, he doesn't have the greatest prose, his story structure can be a bit repetitive, there are a few moments where the dialogue can be a bit tedious and unnatural. I'll still buy all his books, why? Because Sanderson is good at what he does.

[@tamerahmet4645]

A way of Kings and words of radiance were 3.5/4 stars for me. Oathbringer I DNF'd at 550 pages. Literally 550 pages of BORING. The first two books had really good moments but also really Brandon Sanderson stale moments. Mistborn trilogy was way better. I gave the starlight archive a fair chance. His books just seem too contrived. The only work of his I enjoyed was the Mistborn trilogy because it had a pretty cool magic system. One of my favourite characters was Sveth - the assassin in white - and he barely had any chapters. Snorefest when kaladin was able to defeat him after a few weeks of training with his radiant powers.

[@DisneyBatchman]

Y/A has to be far BETTER written than adult fiction. Adults have trained themselves to pay attention. Kids have a notoriously bad attention span. Comparing something to Y/A should be considered a compliment.

[@niedude]

lol this is the most insane cope I've heard It isn't even true, either. If you think adults have better attention spans than children by default when reading *books* then you clearly never worked with children.

[@wolfdarkflame]

Really surprised no one mentioned the dialogue in the stormlight archive because I think it’s the weakest part of it. So many characters feel like they’re just reading off of a script, and his attempts at “humor” are really bad. Still like the series though!

[@variancereviews5265]

Hot take for Stormlight. As of book 2 where I've paused for now, Stormlight is the least epic of the epic fantasies.

[@ellie.elitist4501]

slams any modern fantasy

[@deadfromhell1235]

This is not hot, it's just plain wrong

[@sparksdog8111]

As someone who had to drop The Stormlight Archive, because it just wasn't for me, these reviews are definitely way too harsh. I would actually agree with those who said the plot was an area of weakness (which, I know is my own way of wording it, since those reviews were clearly written in an emotional state), except I would actually put the weakness of the plot on the pacing rather than the narrative itself. The characters, though, are where I completely jump ship with these reviews, as I quite enjoyed them (except for Shallan) and liked their more simplistic motivations (except for Shallan) and was overall very interested to see them develop over the series (except for Shallan)... Am I making my disdain for Shallan's character writing too obvious? Eh, probably not. That one review that mentioned the abundance of 'world building' over 'plot', is half right in my opinion. I would just replace 'world building' with 'characters'. I love that Sanderson put so much into these characters (except for Shallan), but I wish the story was 60% characters and 40% plot, not 90% characters, 5% plot, and 5% Shallan getting negative character development. Regardless, these reviews were more than a bit too harsh, and I'd still definitely recommend The Stormlight Archive to people (already have, actually... With an added warning about Shallan 💀) despite it not being my cup of tea. Granted, I'm also not one for stories with extra fat stored up for a cold winter's day. I prefer stories with as little (plot/character insignificant) content as possible.

[@donkey3235]

Shallan is in my opnion the best character. Dalinar is very close but words of radiance creates an incredible complexity to Shallan. You will understand if you read it

[@sparksdog8111]

​@@donkey3235 Since that original comment, I actually have finished Words of Radiance and have started on the Lift novella (the name is slipping my mind at the moment) and to some extent I can agree, she definitely gets better and I absolutely understand why so many people have fallen in love with this character. That said, she still doesn't quite work for me until the last few hours of WoR, which actually slightly worsened a complaint I had from the first couple chapters of the book. From the beginning of The Way of Kings, I was actually on her side, she seemed charming enough even while being an endlessly awkward fish-out-of-water girl, and for a while I was actually interested in her story. But...most of that took a bad turn four-hundred pages (roughly, give or take) in. For what it's worth, a decent amount of what doesn't work for me with Shallan has to due with her story. And, for better or worse, Brandon ties his characters into their own individual stories very tightly, and Shallan's never managed to grab me. The one part of Shallan's story that always kept my interest actually had little to do with her, because I really enjoy Jasnah, maybe a little too much, she's an absurdly confident ends-justify-the-means woman with a hidden soft side to her. Then, she died (I'm aware that she comes back, but for WoR she effectively died), and the only character from Shallan's story that I found truly interesting was gone. This led to an extremely lackluster middle section for Shallan's story in WoR. But enough negativity (kind of). Shallan actually did become very interesting for me towards the end of WoR, and part of this comes with a bit of a return to Jasnah's death. I don't know what it was exactly, maybe the point where she begins breaking at the very thought of being forced to remember her past, maybe it was learning that she had locked away the part of herself that was willing to kill in cold blood, maybe when she first kisses Adolin (which sounds odd, but to me it felt like a real moment of growth for her, no hesitation, no awkwardness, it felt like she had truly grown as a person and was just doing something because she wanted to, without a second thought), maybe it was her during the race against time to find Urithiru. Whatever it was specifically, she began to exhibit character traits I hadn't been allowed to see for most of the The Stormlight Archive (up to that point). In those last few hours (maybe it was closer to several, I can't quite remember), Shallan worked for me so well because she began to feel like Jasnah. Which I know was the point of her character arc, and to some extent I can see that as being a large reason why people fell in love with a character like that, it's definitely a fascinating direction to take a character in. But again, for me it came a bit too late in the story after far too much lackluster material during the build-up in my opinion. It's also probably not a good sign for my appreciation of this character when I only began to love her when she no longer seemed like the character she had been for nearly two books, and instead began to feel like a character that was killed early in book two. All that said, though, I've resumed my reading of The Stormlight Archive, and am actually interested in Shallan's character for now, at least until Jasnah comes back and by extension triggers Shallan's PTSD such that it forces her back into a place of darkness (I assume Jasnah's return will shock Shallan, and that is the only reaction I can imagine her having, hopefully I'm wrong). Also, despite my complaints, it really does make me happy that so many people love this character, I can totally see why they do, and I would never want my experience with her to be the experience everyone else has, that would just be unfortunate and a bit silly of a thing to hope for. Also, apologies for the "Why I Shallan Didn't Work For Me" essay, I get carried away sometimes.

[@deadfromhell1235]

@@sparksdog8111 While I don't dislike Shallan I actively groan every time it's switched to her perspective, Dalinar and Kaladin have such interesting character arcs and the struggles they face even more imo. And then they switch to Shallan who is like how do I get this blonde hair man to like me ooga booga, while for book 1 and most of book 2 ignoring her past, which is the only interesting thing for me lol

[@sparksdog8111]

@@deadfromhell1235 I think I would actually re-characterize my criticisms of her character to closer resemble what you are referring to, because I feel exactly the same. She just, feels like an afterthought that suffers from the length of each book, because she's supposed to be a main character but often has the amount of content customary for a supporting character.

[@deadfromhell1235]

@@sparksdog8111 thank god she is bipolar so she can switch away from shallan in later books 😂

[@snowman9631]

I seriously think these people weren't paying attention, are trolling, or were reading another book and miss clicked on stormightlight. 1. The characters have extremely explicit goals. I feel there isn't that much world building in WoK for what it is, most of the book is just them in the war camps and usually with Kaladin. 2. They're mad a made up world has made up names? I don't understand. Skip the fake post 3. Again, the characters have extremely explicit goals and we see how much they care. Sanderson gives his characters soul like no one else i think. 4. Seems like they just arent a Sanderson fan AT ALL which i guess not everything is for every person. But Stormlight probably has the most unique concept for a world ever. 5. They said it all. 6. Again this just seems like a complete opposite of their own likes which cant be helped. 7. You cant take anything seriously when the person themselves says they didnt actually consume the thing they have an opinion on. 8. So it did its job? Like you care enough to see what happens next?

[@reelsimon]

I'm going to attack Mathew

[@kristen7623]

😂

[@nikacomedawn]

HE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT A TEENAGER WROTE STORMLIGHT!!! IF HE HAD JUST GIVEN IT A CHANCE! However, the first one is fair. Stormlight is fantastic, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea and that's ok. She was rather respectful and was clear about what she didn't like about it. I disagree, but at least she was respectful.

[@EsaShariff]

They actually used ‘passed’ right. ‘Past’ is about the past, ‘passed’ is something you pass.

[@matthewpena3932]

I did enjoy stormlight but man mistborn fell flat for me. Not a one star issue but it has been overhyped and would have been great if I was new to fantasy.

[@fatimaghadbawi]

Me wanting to read the books clicking on this video😭

[@2ToRamble]

Read them. Doooo it!

[@gstokker]

To be honest for me the first 2 novels of the series were solid 5/5… absolutely love them although there were issues which I’ll overlook 😂 (Shallan is the most boring character ever)… The second 2… did not like. Had a strong reaction to Oathbringer… know it’s not grimdark but it just feels like main characters don’t have consequences for actions (spoilers - someone flat out murders someone at the end of 2 and consequences? None)… and Shallan’s characters 🙈 boring and then far too competent… Rhythm of War just turned Urithuru into Roshar’s Nakatomi Tower

[@newbiesama]

How can you say you skipped chapters and missed nothing. This is impossible

[@LeonC0704]

oh man you hated that book? It's the next one on thebrokenbinding... tbh, I'm not too excited about it but I already used my skip for the year.... and they're taking FOUR months on it...

[@DisneyBatchman]

Dudes ... what the hell? Marie is not at all an uncommon name. How can you have trouble pronouncing it?!?

[@2ToRamble]

😂 we suck

[@DisneyBatchman]

@@2ToRamble 🙃

[@moonbot7613]

Not mention he spelled “Mary” as “ Marry” 😂

[@kingdonsobek]

I like the wheel of time, but I did skip some of the chapters about egweyne Elyain and Nyeneave cuz those characters were terrible. Smug, arrogant, extremely sexist, and wrong about so much stuff. I just red the chapter summaries

[@user-sl4sx6dp4c]

Kaladin is a simple character, hes super vanilla. I didnt find him interesting, he was super predictable in his actions.

[@vibangigan5336]

“Doesn’t seem to own a dictionary”……my guy your examples were stuff I wouldn’t wanna see in a 7th graders stories lol

[@teresa6525]

This person obviously didn't understand what a shardbearer is. When Sanderson writes it's an opponent, it can be anything from Sadea's spy who can't fight to best swordsman. But Shardbearer tells you exactly who you're dealing with. That would be like saying, "He keeps using the word king for Elhokar, he might as well just write nobleman or brightlord."

[@Aussieshepherdowner]

hating the Name of the Wind is unacceptable to me

[@2ToRamble]

We recently reviewed it and it was a time lol

[@leighmarsden623]

Stormlight is just a huge grind! Sanderson could shave at least 20% off the first two books - Certainly wont be reading Oathbringer ..

[@solinvictus8769]

Big mistake. In my opinion Oathbringer is the best of the storm light archive books. But also, epic fantasy is not for everyone.

[@MrNoucfeanor]

Yeah. The world building is bleh, repetative dialogue is meh, and the characters are flat. Just my opinion, of course. Cheers!

[@Hokienation90]

A lot of Tolkien's prose was also kinda.....boring. I LOVE LotR, but come on lol

[@t.tatethorpe]

Fact: If someone genuinely dislikes/hates Sanderson's writing, or thinks The Way of Kings is a bad novel "objectively," then you completely lack any concept of good writing, or you didn't read it. Subjective criticism like certain preferences in stories of fantasy elements or just disliking certain characters for their "character," then fine, because that's a matter of taste. But no sane person can objectively call The Way of Kings a bad novel. These reviewers leaving 1 star reviews must lack any semblance of joy in their lives. Whew, sorry for the rant.

[@caradanellemcclintock8178]

I remember there was a hype around ready player one and when I read it it was badly written it was a cool concept but not fleshed out well and it had grammatical errors everywhere. People said I was being harsh. But in this case Brandon Sanderson is an experienced writer and is actually good it feels like the story didn't resonate with these people so they just said it was bad

[@Days-rh5rs]

They are literally all correct.

[@zacbranch2083]

That second review is already sending me lol. He used "passed" instead of "past", "badly" instead of "poorly", and he's out here critiquing weird names when his name is literally Simeon. Like it's not the wildest name out there, but it definitely qualifies as weird in today's age XD

[@SchwartzenSchnitzel]

Sanderson is BORING. Cardboard characters.

[@Exlegion19]

Malazan was the definition of boring.

[@nightowl1337]

Sorry, I thought this series was extremely overrated. I can not understand why this series is so popular. The only thing I can think of is that the writing is so simple that it appeals to YA and people that do not read much.

[@daymi7300]

well the reason i liked book 1 so much was how hype it would get during climaxes

[@nightowl1337]

@@daymi7300 That's fair. Maybe I expected to much coming in to read it.

[@petermuller9480]

You nailed it. It's YA at its core. The very anime-like fight scenes are a testament to that, as are the very superficial themes. It is technically well-written, but it lacks any real depth (the kind that more seasoned/mature audiences would acutally call deep). It really saddens me, that THIS is what modern audiences consider to be masterpieces.

[@Thornsawawa]

@@petermuller9480 have you actually read the whole series? lacks depth??

[@Thornsawawa]

help sorry but the opposite of what stormlight archive is is for people who dont read much. imagine throwing the brick of a book that is way of kings at a new reader xD ur crazy

[@chicagodino]

I like the series but I hope Kallidin dies in the next book or we go to another Era like the Mistborn. Chad (review 6 ) was right it’s a slog of depression and ptsd . I get it Kallidin is a sad man book after book. We as a reader hope he gets better but it seem obvious he can’t. So I hope he has a heroic exit and we can move on. I’d rather follow Rock or any of the other Bridge 4 characters than Kallidin.

[@pingpong2978]

He does get better though, that's he's whole thing he struggles with depression and no he'll probably never be completely free but that how depression is, it doesn't always go away completely but that doesn't mean you can't live a normal happy fulfilling life. Also as someone who also struggles with depression and relates to Kaladin so much you saying that it's obvious that he cant get better, hurts, like it really shouldn't but it does😂😂😂😂

[@chicagodino]

@@pingpong2978 but his whole life is about how depressed he is . I’m glad you relate to Kallidin but I can’t relate to him. I think I have a better understanding of depression but the book needs to move on. 1000’s of pages on how depressed he is depressing (pun intended) and a slog to read.

[@teresa6525]

I think Kaladin is already doing much better. He'll never heal completely, but it's in the last book that he's at his worst. But in the end, he heals. One of the main reasons that Kaladin suffers from depression is because he blames himself when someone dies. That's why his glyph didn't disappear. But in the end, he accepts that he can't save everyone and the glyph disappears. This shows that Kaladin is getting rid of a great burden and is on the road to recovery.

[@chicagodino]

@@teresa6525 so the trope of the eureka moment heals depression could have happened at the end of book one.

[@Ekko-artist523]

⁠@@chicagodino But then he wouldn’t be an interesting character, having depression over the deaths of the people he swore to protect is way more interesting than just accepting it later on, and if you give context to Kaladin being unable to move on, it’s that he was raised as a surgeon, with the ideals of his father, that there are two kinds of people, one who takes lives and one who saves lives. However, Kaladin would retort to that, thinking that there are also people who take lives to save lives, now when he goes to war and Tien dies, he trains to keep depression at bay, he trains so that the next time he wants to protect someone, he’ll be able to save them but it’s like everyone he wants to protect keeps dying and he’s one of the only ones left alive. Let’s not forget that when Kaladin became a slave he was beaten and treated less than human. However, later on he grows, he gains power, he rises to a higher rank, he’s well respected by bridge four and now the captain of Dalinar’s Honor guard, and you would assume that “Oh, everythings fine now.”. Only for Moash to kill Teft, one of Kaladin’s closest. It’s redundant, tiring, I know, yet that’s what depression is, you can’t escape it, especially if you go through that much trauma as Kaladin. I mean you can literally see it in his ideals, they’ve changed, so does his character. If you can’t relate to him then find another character to focus your attention on, there’s so much more characters in the books. We can’t control what Brandon Sanderson writes, so just look for a different author.