Like I said, the people I heard from don't really complain about the woke shit* but rather about cheap copouts to several previously established story threads, and a clear lack of urgency in a story that's (if I understood correctly) is set in the days before a pivotal scheduled event;
I feel like the deadline is handled with proper urgency
several characters being suddenly very self-aware of their psychological issues (described as "watching an Instagram reel full of mental health influencers"), and a bizarre turn to modern speech and concepts. Characters talking in ways and with terminology that don't fit the setting. One character, they said, even went "I'm the world's first therapist".
but this shit is annoying as fuck. Every character has to morally grand stand on reddit-esque psychology bullshit and it gets old, very quickly.
*They did say that the LGBTQ+ representation did feel very performative, like "see, here it is! praise me for it!". But they didn't say it with the full-throated disgust it warrants.
Its so forced and awkward in its presentation. I'll compare it to a gay relationship in The Age of Madness trilogy.
Wind and Truth:
>autistic character
>suddenly gay out of no where
>wants to fuck a crab man
>everyone is incredibly supportive
>they kiss and
everyone claps
Age of Madness:
>characters have underlying feelings
>its slightly alluded to
>they make their way to a brothel
>MC catches two of his best friends
>they're literally buttfucking
>he's disgusted and stops talking to both of them
>but is also turned on by it
>disgusted with himself
>is forced to let the fags back into his life because they're useful in other ways
You can clearly see how one is grounded in reality and the other is fanciful leftist bullshit.
I love BranSan's modern vibe, actually engaging with people and talking on podcasts and shit, but it also makes the "carry coins to push off of midair" shit reek of speedrunning inspiration. It's great in the sense that you don't have to go "uhhr acshtually it's magic dont gotta explain shit", and to actually see in-world abuse of systems, but it's still kinda one-note. You know, like going to a lecture on "How to write magic" from Rowling, who did it fucking once and would bomb if she tried it again.
I really appreciate Sando's use of "hard magic" systems. Having laws that keep your magic bound makes it less of a plothole later on. The opposite of Brando would be something like Brent Weeks in the Night Angel trilogy, where he just uses "magic" to tie up all the loose ends at the end of the book. Total bullshit. Hated it.
That being said, Abercrombie has magic in his world, but never gets anywhere close to making it make sense. In fact, every time he "explains" more about the magic in the world, it just raises infinitely more questions than answers. Even the Magi in that book barely understand how magic works, and if they
do know, they certainly aren't going to share.
.
