Tried twice with "The Way of Kings". Couldn't get into it. Should I just give up?

goddessofgliese

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I loved Brandon Sanderson's Elantris and Mistborn. I've read both twice and would have no problem reading them all over again. But The Way of Kings just bored me to death. I tried twice. I plugged through it but finally gave up at 40% the first round, and 20% the second round. The pacing is agonizingly slow and the characters are boring. It seems that Sanderson spent so many words on world building that the plot and characters took a sideline.

Should I just give up for good?
 
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blacbird

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There are plenty of other books to read. Sometimes even a good writer or a well-liked book doesn't resonate with a particular reader. As a personal example, I just can't read Orson Scott Card with enjoyment (and that has nothing to do with his well-known social views). His books, several of which I've tried, just seem flat and lifeless to me. But a lot of people put his work high on the list of favorite SF.

caw
 

Brightdreamer

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If you've tried twice and it just isn't grabbing you, you are under no obligation to continue. No book will appeal to all readers, nor should it. I, personally, found it a very rewarding and interesting world to explore with great mind's-eye candy, but then I like me a good, immersive epic.

So, yes, you may give up and move on to another book. Your license to read speculative fiction will not be revoked. If anyone asks, go ahead and tell them Brightdreamer said you could quit; I'll own the blame.
 

Morri

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I really enjoyed it, but I lost interest in Mistborn. I also couldn't get past the first few pages of Game of Thrones despite liking the first season of the show. So don't waste your time reading things you don't like! There's so many other books to discover.
 

GruffGoat

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With epic stories, like The Way of Kings, sometimes you have to give it time. If I'd given up on Wheel of Time after Eye of the World (which bored me throughout) I probably never would have started writing. I wouldn't have discovered Sanderson. I probably wouldn't be the avid reader I am today.

I recommend The Way of Kings. It's a slow burn, but I was cheering out loud near the end.
 

Roxxsmom

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Nope. No obligation at all, unless you're taking a class and it's assigned reading or something. Reading is something we mostly do for pleasure, and while it's probably good to push oneself outside of one's comfort zone sometimes, if you've tried a book a couple of times and you can't get into it, there are plenty of other things out there to read.

There are plenty of classic novels, and also books on those SFF "Must Read" lists, that I've tried and just couldn't get into at all. And many of my favorites never make those lists at all.
 

rwm4768

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There's no need to read something you aren't enjoying. There are plenty of other books out there.
 

Mary Love

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Funny, I read (and ended up enjoying, in the end,) Way of Kings, but Mistborn I could not get into. I really tried, reading a few hundred pages in, but nah, bored to death. Sanderson isn't for everybody, but I hear he's usually worth it in the end. :Shrug:
 

Thomas Vail

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Books are like food. Everyone has their own tastes, and just because you like a few things on a particular 'menu' doesn't mean that you're going to enjoy everything. I love The Hobbit but I've never finished the first book of Lord of the Rings​. C'est la vie.
 

rwm4768

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I probably struggled with The Way of Kings more than I've struggled with any other Sanderson book. It was quite long, and the pacing early on was slow. I trusted Sanderson, though, and the longer I read, the more invested I became in the story, world, and characters. The action sequences toward the end were some of Sanderson's best, and some of the best I've ever read in any book.

Words of Radiance is one of my favorite books ever. Over 1,000 pages, and I was never bored.
 

Ehlionney

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I really enjoyed it, but I lost interest in Mistborn. I also couldn't get past the first few pages of Game of Thrones despite liking the first season of the show. So don't waste your time reading things you don't like! There's so many other books to discover.

I loved Mistborn and Way of Kings, but hated Elantris. I put down ASOIAF after a few chapters the first time I read it, years later watched a few episodes of the show and went back to the books, read them all in a week, and then hated the show. Everyone's tastes are different lol
 

Ehlionney

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With epic stories, like The Way of Kings, sometimes you have to give it time. If I'd given up on Wheel of Time after Eye of the World (which bored me throughout) I probably never would have started writing. I wouldn't have discovered Sanderson. I probably wouldn't be the avid reader I am today.

I recommend The Way of Kings. It's a slow burn, but I was cheering out loud near the end.

THIS!!! I got hooked on reading by Anne McCaffrey after Pern was recommended to me by my 5th grade teacher, but I never considered writing until I got sucked into the Wheel of Time fan community. I caught the tail of NWT, wrote on Silklantern for pretty much its entire lifespan, and then stuck with Portalstones off and on as a lurker until 2011 I think? Seriously, if it hadn't been for the Wheel of Time fan community I wouldn't be a writer.
 

BethS

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I loved Mistborn and Way of Kings, but hated Elantris. I put down ASOIAF after a few chapters the first time I read it, years later watched a few episodes of the show and went back to the books, read them all in a week, and then hated the show. Everyone's tastes are different lol

Timing can make such a difference, too. There've been books I tried, didn't like, came back to later, and liked a lot.

I never finished Mistborn. Same with Warbreaker. Haven't tried his other long works except for Alloy of Law, which was fun. I've read some of his shorter work and liked that, particularly The Emperor's Soul, which I thought was brilliant.
 

Laer Carroll

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You got me curious about the book. I read the sample on Amazon, as can everyone here, by following the link below and clicking Look Inside.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P2WO5E/?tag=absowrit-20

I couldn't get past the first page. The people and the situation were just too bleak for me. Ironically, the vivid writing made my decision all the quicker. Clearly his style works for me. Perhaps that's why I try to write the way he does: lean but evocative.
 

Epicus

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If you've tried twice and it just isn't grabbing you, you are under no obligation to continue. No book will appeal to all readers, nor should it. I, personally, found it a very rewarding and interesting world to explore with great mind's-eye candy, but then I like me a good, immersive epic.

So, yes, you may give up and move on to another book. Your license to read speculative fiction will not be revoked. If anyone asks, go ahead and tell them Brightdreamer said you could quit; I'll own the blame.

I have to second this. No book will appeal to all readers. This series in particular contains an immense amount of information, and portions of it, including how things are tied together can be very complex. This is Brandon's largest work (words per book) to
date. I am a huge Sanderson fan. However, much of this book will be different than previous books (magic, abilities, protagonists, antagonists, etc...) which may not appeal and I get that. I've personally read "The Way of Kings" and "Words of Radiance"
twice and loved them both, both times. As a hint..."Words of Radiance" brings a lot of sense to things that were hinted at or discussed in "The Way of Kings".
 

Kjbartolotta

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I have a lot of respect for the Sandman, he's made a great name for himself through lots of hard work and prodigious output, and sticks to writing the stories that he loves. But no, I've never read a book of his I can sit through, feel like I'm missing something but probably too late to find out.
 

Keithy

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I really like every Brandon Sanderson book I've read, except Elantris and to an extent Warbreaker.

LOTR is an acquired taste: if you're used to modern novels, it's jarring.

The Game of Thrones books are far better than the series, being far deeper.

Wheel of Time is... unique. You need to want to read it beyond the first few books.
 

Reveen

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My problem with it from what I've read that it's a lot of epic fantasy novel going on immediately and all at once, not a lot of which really grabbed my interest. It's got two prologues, a ton of names and concepts being dropped on you, and it explains it's geopolitics and mythology before it even introduces it's main characters.

I almost feel like Sanderson it deliberately trying to write a capital letter Epic Fantasy novel, rather than just writing a story that happens to be epic fantasy. That's fine and I know that appeals to a lot of people, but as a result it comes screaming right out the gate with a lot of things that leave me cold about the sub-genre.

The setting is definitely different, but it wasn't being drawn or described in a way that grabbed me, and the way Sanderson handles magic or superpower concepts (they tend to feel like video game powers IMO) I don't feel is conducive to creating a world that feels natural.

Sanderson is very good at pushing people's genre buttons so I get people are drawn to his work, but he doesn't highlight the things I personally like about the genre.
 
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Chasing the Horizon

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Meh, I tried twice to read Stephen King's Dark Tower series and never got past the first book. It was so confusing and the tone was just so... wrong for fantasy (at least for me). I felt bad because I love fantasy and Stephen King is one of my all-time favorite writers, but mixing him and fantasy was like mixing cheesecake and spaghetti. Much as I love them both, they just don't belong together.

I'm also another who simply couldn't read Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit either. Tolkien's style is absolutely awful for my tastes, even though I like other books from the same era. Though the movies showed me I actually find the characters and story itself boring, so... really no point at all in making any more attempts at reading those books.

I recall liking The Way of Kings a lot, but that certainly doesn't mean you have to. There are too many enjoyable books out there to waste time with anything you've given a fair try and just aren't enjoying, no matter how famous it is or how much you've enjoyed other books by the same writer.
 

Lissibith

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Heh. I know that feeling of being Wrong for not liking something (I've yet to find a Neil Gaiman book that I like. I've found plenty that I can appreciate from a technical standpoint, but none I'll ever go back to, and quite a few I just couldn't get into at all). You're not wrong. Like what you like. And you can probably read like... 3 more typical-length books in the time it would take you - a much better payoff, in my mind :D
 

Sirion

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The Way of Kings is a hefty book. It's hard to get into it, but once you do, you'll be glad you did.

I'll admit it took me some time to get into Brandon's writing style. I started with Mistborn TFE, and kept putting it down until I was maybe 20% through. Then, I binged. O_O