Timewaster's Guide Archive

I was re-reading Warbreaker, and I just realized what it is I like so much about Brandon Sanderson's work.  I don't know if it is a belief he personally holds, but his work sure makes it look like he believes in the inherent goodness of mankind.

Even The Lord Ruler was doing what he saw as good.  (Granted, his perceptions were quite twisted by Ruin, but the point remains.)  Even Susebron who is initially made out to be a tyrant turns out to be a good man.  Then there's Vasher (great anti-hero material there) who you can't decide if he's good or bad until nearly the end of the book when it turns out even he is trying to do good.  Even Denth has a good man trapped deep inside him, he's just lost his way.  (Granted most of these perceptions are from Warbreaker, but it's the one I'm reading, now).  To move on to other books, look at Hrathen who represents the bad guys.  He did what was right in the end.

I've always believed in the inherent goodness in man, and it brightens my day to read good fiction from an author that apparently believes the same.  Especially since I paradoxically like dark subject matter.  I love the dark feel to his books (which is probably my biggest regret with Warbreaker.  The world is too bright and shiny.)

My problem isn't with the "frailties" of the women, or the "stupid things they do"  (Lord knows the men do enough stupid stuff for that to not matter.  No, my problem with the women in the WoT books is that they are so completely unreasonable.  If I knew women that acted like them in real life, I would go out of my way to avoid them every time I could.  (And I'm not referring to being opinionated or strong-willed.  I've been surrounded by women like that my entire life.  My grandmother opened the first cardiac unit in the state of Louisiana, and now the biggest cardiac unit in the state is named after her.  With that kind of example to look up to, strong-willed and opinionated is not a problem I have with women.)  No, my problem is that in their opinions they are right and everyone else is wrong.  End of story.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  They are (almost without exception) all completely unreasonable.

I think Warbreaker is probably his best book, so far.  Granted, I LIKE the Mistborn books better, but Warbreaker is better written.  I would imagine it will probably be more successful commercially than Mistborn.

I do really enjoy the WoT with its many female main characters and POVs, but I get the impression Sanderson is going a little overboard with all of his female protagonists and main characters.

Really?  You like the female characters of WoT?  I can't call them on here what I call them in my head for fear of getting banned, let's just say I call them the Witches, because they are NOT nice (or reasonable) people.  I like the WoT series DESPITE the female characters, not because of them.

Now Brandon is great at his female characters.  I don't really care if they are male or female, as long as the character is compelling.  He seems to have no problem writing compelling characters, regardless of gender (as opposed to say Tolkien who wrote absolutely HORRIBLE female characters).