JEB
Legend
I'll keep an eye out, thanks!
What are you reading in 2024?
- Thread starter Nellisir
- Start date
Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
OK, finished this: quite the epic, nearly 900 pages and with a small font! It is a crazy ride, way better than most RPG tie-in fiction I have read.
Seems to be a great set-up for a game, looking forward to more.
Retros_x
Adventurer
I've finished The Will of The Many, unfortunately it doesn't end so good as I anticipated. The magic system made me wonder if it would've been better left as a scifi-novel, but was also in the end not as important as the first third suggested. I think the biggest strength are the characters and the plot - although the plot leads to nowhere. There is no finished character arc, almost no conclusion. The main characters has almost 0 development. He is super passive for the whole story, only reacting and being forced to act by other characters. I was really hoping that he stands up for himself in the end, but - no. It was definitely planned from the beginning as the start of a series but IMO you can still write books in a series that have their own conclusions while bringing the overarching story forward. Harry Potter is my very simple but famous example for that. This book feels like the author just cut his much bigger story at a fitting point. Left me very unsatisfied, although I am looking forward to the next entry.
The twist in the ending is also... surprising, but its such an out of nowhere twist, I doubt any reader had a chance to see it coming - which is not a good twist IMO. The worldbuilding also feels very artifical and its a very plot-driven story.
This all sounds very negative - I still had a lot of fun, I just had too high expectations I guess, it IS after all a booktok hype with all that comes with it: Focus on a flashy plot and world.
edit: another funny thing that didnt bothered me too much, but it was an interesting observation: The author really needed to establish a lot in the first third of the book. Several factions, plot threads and concepts need to be introduced before the main plot can even start in act two. Thankfully he wanted to show and not tell. Unfortunately that means in a book with one first person narrative that the protagonist stumbles from one situation in the next one to show the reader all of that stuff, some of these situations pretty climactic and important. It has a slapstick vibe what happens to the poor guy before the real plot even starts.
Also there are a LOT of scene transitions with fade to black because the protagonists falls unconcsious and ofc wakes up in a new scenario. This paired with the unelegant exposition enhances the artificial feel of the book. The story feels not very organic and really dominated by the plot (THIS needs to happen so THAT can happen). Very Sanderson like in that regard.
The prose in general I liked a bit more than the early Sanderson I've read but unfortunately some of the visual description were a bit lacking in clarity. There were multiple things and scenes I couldn't really visualize because the descriptions in the book were a bit too arcane and confusing. This is something Sanderson does a lot better, he has a lot of "visual clarity" in his descriptions.
The twist in the ending is also... surprising, but its such an out of nowhere twist, I doubt any reader had a chance to see it coming - which is not a good twist IMO. The worldbuilding also feels very artifical and its a very plot-driven story.
This all sounds very negative - I still had a lot of fun, I just had too high expectations I guess, it IS after all a booktok hype with all that comes with it: Focus on a flashy plot and world.
edit: another funny thing that didnt bothered me too much, but it was an interesting observation: The author really needed to establish a lot in the first third of the book. Several factions, plot threads and concepts need to be introduced before the main plot can even start in act two. Thankfully he wanted to show and not tell. Unfortunately that means in a book with one first person narrative that the protagonist stumbles from one situation in the next one to show the reader all of that stuff, some of these situations pretty climactic and important. It has a slapstick vibe what happens to the poor guy before the real plot even starts.
Also there are a LOT of scene transitions with fade to black because the protagonists falls unconcsious and ofc wakes up in a new scenario. This paired with the unelegant exposition enhances the artificial feel of the book. The story feels not very organic and really dominated by the plot (THIS needs to happen so THAT can happen). Very Sanderson like in that regard.
The prose in general I liked a bit more than the early Sanderson I've read but unfortunately some of the visual description were a bit lacking in clarity. There were multiple things and scenes I couldn't really visualize because the descriptions in the book were a bit too arcane and confusing. This is something Sanderson does a lot better, he has a lot of "visual clarity" in his descriptions.
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TwoSix
I DM your 2nd favorite game
I really enjoyed the book. Most of what I read these days is web serials, though; I don't even notice when books just abruptly end anymore.
Retros_x
Adventurer
I can understand that it doesn't bother one that is used to serials - but serials are getting published in a continuation. You normally don't have to wait for long periods of time for the next part of the story. Readers who read this book at release got left hanging in the middle of the plot for two years I think? Fortunately for me I only have to wait for a few months probably, the release of the second book is expected in early 2025.
This is most of the reason I prefer to read something like a trilogy when it's all available, and at least a large part--call it maybe a plurality--of why I'm not a big fan of ongoing series fiction.
TwoSix
I DM your 2nd favorite game
I'm probably just wired different.
I read the first book last month, and while I'm glad the 2nd book is coming soon, it wouldn't really bother me to wait. I generally just find beginnings far more interesting and important to my satisfaction than endings.
I'm often happy to read book one of what turns out to be an indefinite ongoing series--they're often the most engaging books, the ones where things actually change in ways that actually matter.I'm probably just wired different.
I generally just find beginnings far more interesting and important to my satisfaction than endings.
Retros_x
Adventurer
Understandable. In cases like The Will of the Many, it is definitely very unsatisfying. But I think you can write ongoing series where its fine to read single volumes - if these volumes have finished story to offer. Again, Harry Potter my best example, because many people know it. You can read a single HP book and have a finished story - while also having a continuation with the struggle against Voldemort. But The Will of The Many is not a finished story at all. It feels like the first act of a big book. Like I am forced to give my book away and wait now until I am allowed to read the next act. I don't like that at all.
TwoSix
I DM your 2nd favorite game
I'm a fan of Arc 2. In the first Arc, the setting gets established, big threats get foreshadowed, and the protagonist(s) and main supporting characters and their relationships get introduced, and the call to adventure/push into the wider world happens.
Arc 2 is when the characters finally get their mettle tested by the bigger challenges, and the foreshadowed threats really come out to play. Sometimes this happens in book 1, sometimes it happens in Books 3-4, depending on the structure and length of the books.
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