By now, you probably know I am a sworn fan of Brandon Sanderson (which simply means I will swear at you if you say a single bad word about him). I just finished his debut novel Elantris, which I picked up at a used bookstore. It's much shorter that his other works, which is why there wasn't quite as much building toward something awesome, but it was still awesome. I imagine it would be quite daunting for a debut author and/or his publisher to put out a 1,000-page book like those in the Stormlight Archives series.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed Elantris, the plot and story line intriguing and original. I always thought that predictability in a novel was a bad thing, but Sanderson makes it work. As a reader, you have your own ideas about what you want or what you think should happen. As the story progresses, the expectation and intensity builds. You can't wait for (fill in the blank) to happen, and when it does, it's glorious.I just realized that sounded rather sexual. Well, I suppose it is a bit of a mind fuck. All good stories are.
SPOILER: For instance, in Elantris, you know Raoden is going to eventually become a full Elantrian, you just know it, and that's what keeps you reading.
I can see a parallel to Lovecraft's stories in that they build in a different direction, toward something horrible, but again, you can guess at.
Manga, on the other hand, is written as a tease (enter fanfic, basically literary masturbation). Whatever you really really want to happen, that absolutely will not happen. It may come close to happening, but it won't. And if by some miracle, it does happen, it will be immediately reneged on. And I understand. This is what keeps us reading. If not, you might as well write a novel instead. But it still sucks. I'm talking to you Yoshiki Nakamura.
J. L. Dodd
“I'm Galladon, from the sovereign realm of Duladel. I'm most recently from Elantris, land of sludge, insanity, and eternal perdition. Nice to meet you.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Elantris
“One cannot seperate truth from actions... Physically inevitable or not, truth stands above all things. It is independent of who has the best army, who can deliver the longest sermons, or even who has the most priests. It can be pushed down, but it will always surface. Truth is the one thing you can never intimidate.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Elantris
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