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Writing Style

#1 User is offline   veni_vici 

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Posted 05 February 2008 - 02:55 AM

Did anyone else find Ericson's writing very lethargic and jumpy? He can't go more than five paragraphs before jumping to a new p.o.v. Now I'm not against switching to other characters (GRRM does this very well) but having to read about the same events from the p.o.v. of five different characters in a single chapter really slows the story down. Not to mention he would always skip over interesting events that I actually wanted to read about, and give a brief overview of what happened instead.
Oh and the characters acted pretty randomly at times too. (The love affair between Paran and Tattersail... WTF. Where did that come from???)
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#2 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 05 February 2008 - 06:50 AM

Have you read the rest of Eriksons books? People who start with GotM are often a sceptic on the whole series at first, but trust me it grows on you.

It's true, there's rarely a POV that covers more than a 5-10 pages. But there's a reason for this, a hell of a lot of things happen. As for switching to strange POVs and not showing important events... well, that's the whole point. Eriksons charcters are very realistic and unlike reading the Sword of Truth, the charcters aren't always in the center of things.

Things are rarely what they seem, and especially the events of GotM are things that will come up again and again in the upcoming books. Again, it's a convoluted story, you'll have to wait to at least MT before you realise how well thought out the series is.
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#3 User is offline   Battalion 

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Posted 05 February 2008 - 12:30 PM

I have to agree with the Paran Tattersail thing. I thought it was random, and still do on every re-read.
As for the point of view switches, thats one of the things i like most about his writing. I enjoy reading the same thing from serveral people's viewpoint.
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#4 User is offline   The Tyrant Lizard 

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Posted 05 February 2008 - 12:54 PM

Paran likes fat birds. What's wrong with that?

I can't fault Erikson's writing at all. In my opinion he's the best there is.
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#5 User is offline   silkyp 

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 02:37 AM

I dunno, I actually find it suits my reading style well. I feel like he is able to keep the pace of the novel random and tailored to what is going on at that point by switching your p.o.v. to who he feels has to most pertinent information for you at that time.
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#6 User is offline   Wampyry 

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Posted 14 February 2008 - 04:00 PM

Veni Vici, I repeat what APtorian stated, you have to read more of SE's books
before an understanding of his style is obtained. If you read through MOI, I can almost guarantee three things:
1. There is a reason for the romance between Tattersail & Paran
2. Many of your questions will be answered
3. You will become a SE fan
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#7 User is offline   Tarcanus 

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Posted 15 February 2008 - 05:33 AM

I agree with the above poster, but would add that if you're skeptical, now, you should skip Deadhouse Gates and go straight to Memories of Ice. I know many people get bogged down in Deadhouse because of the mix of slow elements of plot.
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#8 User is offline   Nequam 

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 03:46 AM

Tarcanus;259331 said:

I agree with the above poster, but would add that if you're skeptical, now, you should skip Deadhouse Gates and go straight to Memories of Ice. I know many people get bogged down in Deadhouse because of the mix of slow elements of plot.


Actually that's what I ended up doing. Not because I thought DG had too much of a mix of slow elements of plot, but just because I wanted to know what happend on Genabackis now, and not later. I'm glad I did it still.
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#9 User is offline   veni_vici 

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Posted 19 February 2008 - 06:23 PM

Thanks for the input. I admit that I was a little disappointed when I finished reading GOTM because I had heard Erikson was an Anthropologist, as am I. Its always nice to reads the works of someone else in your field. (Esspecially when its not a fifty page dissertation on the effects of chewing gum on the Dani of New Guinea) But I'll give him a little more faith and continue reading the series.
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#10 User is offline   lewy 

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Posted 20 February 2008 - 12:27 AM

Erikson is brilliant. He would never succeed without his own writing style. With that, he is more than just "one in the crowd". It is what makes him the perhaps best writer of epic fantasy ever. Never mind good ol' Tolkien, but Erikson is just way out of his league!
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#11 User is offline   Salt-Man Z 

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 11:15 PM

Nequam said:

Tarcanus said:

I agree with the above poster, but would add that if you're skeptical, now, you should skip Deadhouse Gates and go straight to Memories of Ice. I know many people get bogged down in Deadhouse because of the mix of slow elements of plot

Actually that's what I ended up doing. Not because I thought DG had too much of a mix of slow elements of plot, but just because I wanted to know what happend on Genabackis now, and not later. I'm glad I did it still.


I'm glad I didn't, because one of the aspects of DG that clinches it as my favorite MBotF book (of the first 6) is the revelation at the end about what's really going down on Genabackis. That got me psyched up for MoI.

(I have wondered about how reading them in a different order would work, say: GotM, MoI, MT or DG, HoC.)
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#12 User is offline   Nequam 

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Posted 25 February 2008 - 11:39 PM

Well, I actually read them in a very queer(not homosexual) order. But I'm not going to go into to detail(GotM was not first for me :D). I'll just say: I am very happy I did it, and if given the chance I would do it again.
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#13 User is offline   Mykar Blackheart 

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Posted 16 October 2016 - 08:49 PM

View Postveni_vici, on 05 February 2008 - 02:55 AM, said:

Did anyone else find Ericson's writing very lethargic and jumpy? He can't go more than five paragraphs before jumping to a new p.o.v. Now I'm not against switching to other characters (GRRM does this very well) but having to read about the same events from the p.o.v. of five different characters in a single chapter really slows the story down. Not to mention he would always skip over interesting events that I actually wanted to read about, and give a brief overview of what happened instead.
Oh and the characters acted pretty randomly at times too. (The love affair between Paran and Tattersail... WTF. Where did that come from???)




I agree where the Paran + Tattersail relationship is concerned; its the reason I don't normally enjoy romance in novels. It just doesn't feel real.

And I wish we as the readers were at the center of every epic fight; but this series seems to stray away from norms like that. Its something that I have come to accept.

With regards to switching POVs. It got annoying at first, but I really like it when big fights or serious things are happening (its just interesting to see the same conflict from different people's perspectives). That aside, I do prefer the way GRRM does POVs, it feels a bit "smoother".

With all that said, I still have high hopes for the series. (just started DG)
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#14 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 16 October 2016 - 09:17 PM

Tats & Paran make perfect sense. She's an experienced soldier-mage getting laid with a nice young handsome guy after suffering a tragedy. He's a young affable doofus who falls in puppy love with the older woman who (first?) shows him some physical affection. It's not everyone's story, obviously, but it's common enough, and so real it's stupid.
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#15 User is offline   melonsparks 

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Posted 26 October 2016 - 09:42 PM

I love Erikson's writing, even in GotM which a lot of people say is his weakest (written so long before the others).

He is great at making an oppressive atmosphere of war and danger and arcane mystery, throws in a lot of random humor in an effective way, and has so many extremely cinematic moments that evoke images that stick with you for a long time.

I like how the POV's jump around a lot, makes it more like a fast-moving TV show, and actually makes things flow very nicely since the chapters themselves tend to be fairly long.
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#16 User is offline   frozenfish 

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Posted 28 October 2016 - 05:48 PM

So I just got to Darujhistan in GotM (25%). I really like Erickson's writing so far. I like the shifting POV's within the chapter and didn't find myself getting lost as events unfolded. The humor has also been very surprising (wasn't expecting there to be any). I keep waiting for the shoe to drop where everything gets confusing and I will stop enjoying this book. But so far when I'm not reading, I'm thinking of this book and can't wait to get back to it. I am living in the moment as i read this book and am not at this point trying to figure out everything that is happening before reading on.
Spoiler


I like GRRM's writing style also, but sometimes I would get bored/annoyed with being stuck with one character for so long.

This post has been edited by frozenfish: 28 October 2016 - 05:48 PM

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#17 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 21 November 2016 - 06:47 AM

View Postfrozenfish, on 28 October 2016 - 05:48 PM, said:

So I just got to Darujhistan in GotM (25%). I really like Erickson's writing so far. I like the shifting POV's within the chapter and didn't find myself getting lost as events unfolded. The humor has also been very surprising (wasn't expecting there to be any). I keep waiting for the shoe to drop where everything gets confusing and I will stop enjoying this book. But so far when I'm not reading, I'm thinking of this book and can't wait to get back to it. I am living in the moment as i read this book and am not at this point trying to figure out everything that is happening before reading on.
Spoiler


I like GRRM's writing style also, but sometimes I would get bored/annoyed with being stuck with one character for so long.


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#18 User is offline   Kanese S's 

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Posted 09 March 2017 - 07:51 AM

View Postveni_vici, on 05 February 2008 - 02:55 AM, said:

Did anyone else find Ericson's writing very lethargic and jumpy? He can't go more than five paragraphs before jumping to a new p.o.v. Now I'm not against switching to other characters (GRRM does this very well) but having to read about the same events from the p.o.v. of five different characters in a single chapter really slows the story down. Not to mention he would always skip over interesting events that I actually wanted to read about, and give a brief overview of what happened instead.
Oh and the characters acted pretty randomly at times too. (The love affair between Paran and Tattersail... WTF. Where did that come from???)


They both just nearly died. Puts you in a strange frame of mind.

You get different POVs because no characters are omniscient or unbiased, and all see the world differently.
Laseen did nothing wrong.

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#19 User is offline   Kanese S's 

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Posted 09 March 2017 - 08:04 AM

View Postveni_vici, on 19 February 2008 - 06:23 PM, said:

Thanks for the input. I admit that I was a little disappointed when I finished reading GOTM because I had heard Erikson was an Anthropologist, as am I. Its always nice to reads the works of someone else in your field. (Esspecially when its not a fifty page dissertation on the effects of chewing gum on the Dani of New Guinea) But I'll give him a little more faith and continue reading the series.

I think if you soldier on, you'll be happy you did. GotM mostly takes place in one region. The world gets a lot bigger from there.


View Postdeath rattle, on 16 October 2016 - 09:17 PM, said:

Tats & Paran make perfect sense. She's an experienced soldier-mage getting laid with a nice young handsome guy after suffering a tragedy. He's a young affable doofus who falls in puppy love with the older woman who (first?) shows him some physical affection. It's not everyone's story, obviously, but it's common enough, and so real it's stupid.

Exactly.

Makes sense to anyone who's even seen The Graduate. While not always this dramatic, it happens.
Laseen did nothing wrong.

I demand Telorast & Curdle plushies.
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