Just bought "The Way of Kings" [Brandon Sanderson] - Should I read it?

[Junnier]

When I read the title for this thread, I thought "Of course you bloody well should -- why wouldn't you?" However, learning that the series isn't near completion, I'm more hesitant to say yes. Personally, I wouldn't have even purchased the book yet; I'd have just put it on my wishlist and waited for a sequel or two!

At the moment, there are three series' that I've been waiting on conclusions to for over five years -- two by the same author! As such, I've really stopped picking up new series' unless they're completed, near completion or seem like they'll be okay, but nothing that I'll be dying to sink my teeth into. I don't like feeling let down by authors, especially when I consider myself quite privileged to even see what they've written.

[Gazella]

It's only $2.99? I thought it's $9.99. I've added it to my wish list. Just need to decrease my TBR pile a bit before getting it.

[khazaddum]

I read all the Mistborn trilogy, and as much as I liked the story, Sanderson's use of language is not of my liking.
I read many good reviews about TWoK and bought it for $2.99 from Amazon, but upon reading the first few pages I was equally put down by his "prose".

I intend to read it, later, but right now I'm enjoying Malazan.

Yes, read it! From my experience with Mistborn, once you get into the story you forget about Sanderson's ocassional mannerisms and use of modern colloquial language. I was just not in the mood the first time.
Let's give it to him: He can tell a story.

[Angst]

The first book of the series was very good. Good stories, interesting characters. The second book is more of the same. But. The problem with book two is that Brandon starts to ramp things up to epic size. Events begin to happen on an epic scale, and characters begin to exhibit godlike abilities. Characters always lose their humanity when they become gods. All of a sudden, one man fighting against overwhelming odds becomes a god doing impossible things on a scale that affects all of humanity. I prefer the man to the god in the same way I prefer the first book to the second.

[AdrianM]

It's all about the journey.

I'll probably be in my mid sixties by the time the last Stormlight Archive book arrives but even if I were likely to be dead, why wouldn't I read these books? Reading them is pure fun (and re-reading tWoK before I started on WoR was even more fun the second time around) and I'm damn well sad when I turn the last page. Why do people want to see the end when the trip getting there is so enjoyable?!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

Why do people want to see the end when the trip getting there is so enjoyable?!

Because some people don't want to be left hanging for 20 years, with the author possibly dying on them. Also, I can understand that someone isn't going to start reading a series that will be taking 20 years if he's already 73 himself.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

Why do people want to see the end when the trip getting there is so enjoyable?!

Simple. Because the end of one trip means I get to start another. In a different vehicle, on a new road, through a new countryside, with new travel companions, new obstacles, new skills/arts, and a new exciting destination. And because I love endings just as much as the journey.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Because some people don't want to be left hanging for 20 years, with the author possibly dying on them. Also, I can understand that someone isn't going to start reading a series that will be taking 20 years if he's already 73 himself.

Who's 73? I'm confused as to who you're referring to?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Gazella

Who's 73? I'm confused as to who you're referring to?

The "someone" is the reader, who might pass on a planned 20 year long series if s/he is 73 already.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

The "someone" is the reader, who might pass on a planned 20 year long series if s/he is 73 already.

Ah ok. I just read your post again. Makes sense now.

[DrNefario]

If the books are reasonably complete in themselves, I don't really mind if there's a larger incomplete story behind it all. There's always something else going to happen next.

I haven't yet read Way of Kings, so I don't know how much that applies, but for instance Mistborn: The Final Empire is a perfectly reasonable standalone and also the first book of a series.

Then again, I'm quite happy to space things out and defer the end of a series myself, even if it is complete. It's only when there are whole books of treading water that I get fed up.

[eschwartz]

I have a massive TBR already, full of complete series' -- why wouldn't I finish those first, before beginning something new that furthermore will take a couple decades to complete? Besides, I still have to read most of his books that he DID finish! (I'm gonna read them, really! I just haven't had a chance yet!)

[taosaur]

I don't worry too much about endings. In series especially, they're rarely the most satisfying part of the story. Usually they're adequate, and only rarely do they add something substantial to the story. Two of the biggest exceptions that leap to mind are Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. For me, intense scenes and images from the middle of a book tend to be more memorable than the endings. Also, the stories of what happened to individual characters and who they became or discovered themselves to be: those are memorable, but in modern stories they rarely end with a "happily ever after," so much as a "relatively safe and calm for now."

[ametzler]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I don't worry too much about endings. In series especially, they're rarely the most satisfying part of the story. Usually they're adequate, and only rarely do they add something substantial to the story. [...]

It depends on the type of series, i.e. how well the parts stand on their own, or how important the series-spanning story arc really is. The more important it is the more important is completion of the series for me. Compare e.g Vorkosigan with LotR.

There is also the GRR syndrome: Once a series takes off the author's pecuniary and artistic motivations are at odds. At one hand the money is too good, otoh he/she wants to write a good book. Also the editor's influence weakens, and the publisher does not want closure either.

Harry Potter imho is another partial failure. At some point of the series impetus was lost, but the 8 novels were already locked in, so we got 8 increasingly bloated novels instead of 5 good ones.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ametzler

At some point of the series impetus was lost, but the 8 novels were already locked in, so we got 8 increasingly bloated novels instead of 5 good ones.

Psst! That's seven. Seven Harry Potter novels.