primeideal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
primeideal) wrote2023-10-26 08:21 pm
primeideal) wrote2023-10-26 08:21 pm
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The Sunlit Man, by Brandon Sanderson
This is what I was afraid "Tress" was going to be.
Tress of the Emerald Sea: Sanderson pastiche of "The Princess Bride" (the movie at least, not necessarily the book)
The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Surviving Medieval England: Sanderson pastiche of "Project Hail Mary"
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: Sanderson pastiche of "Your Name"
The Sunlit Man: Sanderson pastiche of a Brandon Sanderson book.
Guy running away from a group of people who want to kill him comes to tiny planet that has never known war because everyone is too busy running away from the sun to go pro at killing each other. A few people would like to become pros at killing each other. Unfortunately, the guy who has seized power because he loves the idea of having power proves to have all the flaws of people who love power.
The main character ("Nomad") mentions stuff like "storms" enough that we can figure he's from Roshar, the world of the Stormlight Archives. I figured it out, yay! He also frequently uses "tens" as a unit, where other people might say "dozens" or "twenty to thirty." Does he really not have a word for numbers bigger than ten? No, it's just that "ten" is the arc number from Roshar (the same way sixteen is in Mistborn), the magic-users come in ten classes, etc. Okay, fine.
He is a lot more scientifically literate than the locals, and spends a lot of time trying to figure out what's going on with their planet both in scientific and Cosmere terms. He's a decent enough person that he wants to do the right thing and protect them both from their tyrant and the planet itself, but he is also operating under some constraints because he once held a powerful weapon and it warped him, and also, he's...failed at his oaths?...so he's kind of given up on being a hero.
There is a lot of backstory involving "Auxiliary," the shardblade who he's magically bonded to, as well as the weapon he used to have, which he temporarily borrowed from Hoid (yes, again), and the people who are chasing him. All of this is hinted at in such a way that, because it was billed as "this is one for the Cosmere nerds, here's where it all comes together!" that I was spending the whole time going "okay, should I know who this is? Who was Auxiliary before he became a shardblade? Is this a name I recognize? I know who Kaladin, Dalinar, Adolin, a bunch of the main characters are, but...is Nomad someone I've met?"
The answers: Nomad is a character significantly more minor than these; the other stuff is not covered in Stormlight, so I'm not a dunce for not recognizing it. But to some extent, it feels like, it's too late, I've already formed that impression? Like, it's normal (although sometimes a cheap method) to hide/obscure characters' backstory until later on. But when you're Brandon Sanderson and juggling a gazillion intertextual Easter eggs and callbacks, it doesn't really feel fair to be like "oh haha never mind, Aux isn't someone you've met so far, don't worry about it."
The good news is, while Hoid shows up for like two chapters, he doesn't narrate.
tl;dr if you are on the fence about Sanderson (for some reason) and want to try a single-volume book to see if you like it, start with Tress. Don't start with this one.
Tress of the Emerald Sea: Sanderson pastiche of "The Princess Bride" (the movie at least, not necessarily the book)
The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Surviving Medieval England: Sanderson pastiche of "Project Hail Mary"
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: Sanderson pastiche of "Your Name"
The Sunlit Man: Sanderson pastiche of a Brandon Sanderson book.
Guy running away from a group of people who want to kill him comes to tiny planet that has never known war because everyone is too busy running away from the sun to go pro at killing each other. A few people would like to become pros at killing each other. Unfortunately, the guy who has seized power because he loves the idea of having power proves to have all the flaws of people who love power.
The main character ("Nomad") mentions stuff like "storms" enough that we can figure he's from Roshar, the world of the Stormlight Archives. I figured it out, yay! He also frequently uses "tens" as a unit, where other people might say "dozens" or "twenty to thirty." Does he really not have a word for numbers bigger than ten? No, it's just that "ten" is the arc number from Roshar (the same way sixteen is in Mistborn), the magic-users come in ten classes, etc. Okay, fine.
He is a lot more scientifically literate than the locals, and spends a lot of time trying to figure out what's going on with their planet both in scientific and Cosmere terms. He's a decent enough person that he wants to do the right thing and protect them both from their tyrant and the planet itself, but he is also operating under some constraints because he once held a powerful weapon and it warped him, and also, he's...failed at his oaths?...so he's kind of given up on being a hero.
There is a lot of backstory involving "Auxiliary," the shardblade who he's magically bonded to, as well as the weapon he used to have, which he temporarily borrowed from Hoid (yes, again), and the people who are chasing him. All of this is hinted at in such a way that, because it was billed as "this is one for the Cosmere nerds, here's where it all comes together!" that I was spending the whole time going "okay, should I know who this is? Who was Auxiliary before he became a shardblade? Is this a name I recognize? I know who Kaladin, Dalinar, Adolin, a bunch of the main characters are, but...is Nomad someone I've met?"
The answers: Nomad is a character significantly more minor than these; the other stuff is not covered in Stormlight, so I'm not a dunce for not recognizing it. But to some extent, it feels like, it's too late, I've already formed that impression? Like, it's normal (although sometimes a cheap method) to hide/obscure characters' backstory until later on. But when you're Brandon Sanderson and juggling a gazillion intertextual Easter eggs and callbacks, it doesn't really feel fair to be like "oh haha never mind, Aux isn't someone you've met so far, don't worry about it."
The good news is, while Hoid shows up for like two chapters, he doesn't narrate.
tl;dr if you are on the fence about Sanderson (for some reason) and want to try a single-volume book to see if you like it, start with Tress. Don't start with this one.