[subjectsigma]

> even though his characters are quite robotic and video-gamey

This is what made early Sanderson so great for me though. I’m constantly inundated by media through which the author demands a soapbox. This can be anything from politics to just the author’s personal preferences.

Mistborn 1-3 was a fairly simple and satisfying plot with likeable (if somewhat predictable) characters and fun world building. Perfect set of books to just pick up and enjoy. Not Shakespeare, but it didn’t have to be.

By the time I got through all the Stormlight books I felt like I had been locked in a room and forced to listen to Sanderson drone on and on in a self-serving tone about his personal power fantasies. The story was more complex, but it also had 100+ pages of fluff nobody except Sanderson cared about. I truly believe that once he got really famous his editors stopped saying “no” to anything, no matter how small.

His short stories are the same way. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is good because it’s short and sweet. It sticks to a classic formula and focuses on imaginative settings, which is what Sanderson is good at. Tress was boring because it tried to be smart and kind of flopped.

[scuff3d]

Talk about an unpopular opinion. Nightmare Painter is well liked, but Tress is far and away the fan favorite.

[subjectsigma]

If others enjoyed it that’s great, but I personally couldn’t finish it.