Mythcreants TSiaSoS World-Building Post

[epistler]

At last! https://mythcreants.com/blog/building-a-sea-of-stars-how-paolini-undercooked-his-setting/

Comments

[ultimate_cheetah]

I remember thinking "Wow, this is actually pretty good. Maybe it's time to eat my words."

Me too. I was like "Hey, something interesting happened. I want to see what happens after that."

It was only when I read on and started paying more attention that I realised I'd been had and that in reality all the same mistakes were still there and that his writing hadn't "matured" in the slightest.

Exactly. I noticed I was still bored and having a hard time getting through it.

He used a different style in the Space Brick, but different doesn't necessarily mean better, even if it does manage to distract people for a while.

He abandoned the sort of psuedo-fantasy style for a more modern writing style. Didn't really fix the prose issues, though. You're right.

[epistler]

He abandoned the sort of psuedo-fantasy style for a more modern writing style. Didn't really fix the prose issues, though. You're right.

Basically he just went from bad epic fantasy style prose to bad space opera prose, and that was about it.

[ultimate_cheetah]

At least the bad prose space opera didn't have so much meaningless description that I forgot what I was reading.

[epistler]

Still way too much description during scenes that are supposed to be tense and exciting, though.

[ultimate_cheetah]

And ceaseless narrating of everything she did in every scene.

[epistler]

He still has no clue what to put in vs what to leave out.

[ultimate_cheetah]

And I doubt that's going to be fixed in the To Sleep prequel that's coming out next year. (Confirmed on a recent livestream.)

[epistler]

Oh noooooo. Do we have a title yet, or any other details?

[ultimate_cheetah]

I can't find any.

But may I also point out, there's no To Sleep fans brigading the Mythcreants post, like there were Eragon fans. IDK if that speaks to the overall maturity of the fans, or if there are just less.

[epistler]

I suspect it's that To Toss in a Bin of Garbage just doesn't have that many fans, and certainly few or none who are particularly passionate about it. For all the attempted hype and palling around with Jennifer Hale and whatnot, the reaction seems to have been somewhere between naked contempt and indifference.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Yeah. The only things I've heard about it are on Goodreads, and in the Inheritance Cycle fandom. It doesn't appear to be reaching much new readers.

[epistler]

I haven't seen it on display in a single bookshop since it came out, let alone occupying a spot on the bestseller shelves. It's not in Kmart, Target or Big W either. I think that's pretty telling.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Were the Inheritance Cycle books on display and in those stores. Also, what's Big W? Is it Walmart?

[epistler]

Were the Inheritance Cycle books on display and in those stores.

Nope.

Also, what's Big W? Is it Walmart?

We don't have WalMart! It's a franchise similar to Target - sells clothes, homewares and electronics. The one I went to had a garden section too! So pretty similar to WalMart, really.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Yes. Most of the people who've been reading it are Inheritance Cycle fans, and they haven't been super excited about it. Most people are more begging for book five.

[epistler]

If he doesn't come out with that thing, and soon, he's gonna be in trouble.

[ultimate_cheetah]

I think the worst has already happened. The majority of people have moved on.

[epistler]

Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them were prepared to go scurrying right back like the proverbial abused girlfriend.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Makes sense. A new book in a series you like is always exciting.

[epistler]

And as Hollywood long ago figured out, nostalgia makes fools of us all. Hence why 99% of what they're doing right now is shamelessly cashing in on stuff that was popular in the 90s.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Like what? (I don't know what was popular in the 90's.

[epistler]

I should have said the 80s and 90s, really. Hence why franchises like Ghostbusters and The Matrix are suddenly making a comeback, and we're getting 80s themed nostalgia material like Stranger Things. Hell, people have even started listening to the Backstreet Boys again, and they're probably the most quintessential early 90s boy band ever!