I’ve tried reading the Way of Kings multiple times now. Couldn’t get to it at first because the prose didn’t grip me, but I kept on trying, and only until recently did I finally get to the part I like: Kaladin’s storyline. Goddamn, the climax of part one when he finally decided to protect the Bridgemen gave me chills.
But then, I hit another speed bump again: the other POV characters.
Here’s my experience. The first prologue was okay, not good, not bad. It set the tone quite well, though. Then we got to the second prologue, this one a bit more interesting since we got to see some magic and action. I love the celebration vibe as well. Kind of remind me of the Hobbit’s parties. Then we finally got to my favorite part, Kaladin’s storyline. Brandon Sanderson cleverly introduced him from a minor character’s POV, making him appear very badass. I love badass character, so that’s a huge plus. Then we got to see his other traits, and they all resonated with me. That’s when I really started to get into the story like never before in my previous attempts.
But then we got to Shallan. Man, oh, man. My interest dropped a bit because I wanted to get to Kaladin’s part. But it’s not that big a deal since we’re only at the introductory phase, it seemed, so I kept on.
Then we continued shuffling between these two storylines. I found out Kaladin was a slave and depressed, which bummed me out a bit, but it also made me sympathize with him. Now I was looking forward to seeing him getting out of this misery. I only started to find interest in Shallan’s storyline when I finally understood her real motive. She came here on a dangerous mission, and that’s very exciting. Though the back and forth was still jarring. It’s like you’re talking to someone at a party and getting to the good part only to be forced to talk to someone else. You might find them interesting as well, but you still want to get back to the first one. But I kept reading.
Like I said earlier, the climax of part 1 was when I finally understood what the hype was all about. It was so good. And I was optimistic to go on. But then I met another huge speed bump. *Another POV!? I wanna get back to Kaladin and Shallan! Why did you do this to me!?* I was devastated, but I still kept going anyway, thinking maybe this was only a prelude to something important later on in the story. I finished the section and moved on. *Wait, hold on. Another POV? Again!?* The only good thing about this one is that it’s connected to Shallan’s story a bit, but I didn’t care. Got it? I wanted to see how Kaladin would rise up against his fate! Although Shallan’s story was interesting but not as much as Kaladin’s.
That’s when I stopped reading.
This experience got me thinking: “Isn’t it better if all these storylines got divided into different books? Or at the very least, compiled into one book but told one at a time?”
I find this same problem with multiple POVs stories in general. When I read a story with multiple viewpoints, I start to pick a favorite after a while. And when that happens, other storylines start to feel like a distraction. I feel tempted to only read Kaladin’s part but am afraid I might lose something. Or maybe I should read one storyline at a time like I want to. Have any of you guys tried this? Have you had the same experience?
by Ok_Meeting_2184
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I too don’t like multiple POV’s but I just quickly read the storylines I’m not fully interested in.
There is this one book I recently finished where it’s only one POV but you get chapters where what happened to the protagonist in the past is being told. For me, those parts could have been removed. The story is mainly set in the present time of the protagonist, you just get a sample of his history.
I prefer when it’s only one POV and the story is framed as if being told to you by that person (meaning the main story happened in the past).
I have a bit of trouble keeping track of all the different ones sometimes (often more than one character is so similar I mix them up), but don’t object in general.
These are challenging books to read. Vargas Llosa’s The Time of the Hero is a nightmare to read. He can switch POVs many times within a chapter and you have to be paying CLOSE attention to figure WHO did he switch to which you need to infer from context. Sometimes he pulls it off masterfully like in The Feast of the Goat and sometimes he pisses me off like in The Green House.
There’s this movie called vantage Point I think your going to love. It’s the same 3 minutes from different perspectives until it fills a feature length amount of time.
It is not a deal-breaker for me. But the multiple POV had better be bringing something to the table, a Rashomon effect, a vital subplot and the writer needs to be good enough at characterisation to make them interesting. But too often it is not used with intent and it detracts from the book rather than elevating it.
I have no problem at all with DNFing books at all, and one of the quickest ways for me to drop your audiobook is if there are multiple POVs and different people narrating. As soon as the credits tell me that multiple people are reading the book, POOF, back to the library it goes.
As long as the story is good and characters are interesting I have no problem with multiple viewpoints. I had trouble with way of kings too. Now it’s probably my favorite Sanderson book. I still roll my eyes at almost everything Shallan does and skip her chapters upon rereads. If you’re looking for a singular viewpoint in the fantasy genre maybe try The Dresden Files or Name of the Wind.
Thanks for letting us know.
Well, some of the greatest books and series ever written are multiple POV. Like ASOIAF and War & Peace.
When done well it’s very very effective – As I Lay Dying was the first book I read that used it to blow me away – but I agree that it’s easy for it to become an obstacle
I’m fine with a few, but any more than 2 characters who aren’t related in their actions, and I rapidly start to not be able to care about them at all.
Four+ character POVs traveling in a group, or working together on the same issue is fine, but the more often things bounce between separate people dealing with separate issues, the harder it is to become invested in the narrative.
There are some exceptions I’ve greatly enjoyed. The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, or Hyperion by Dan Simmons are both amazing novels with multiple loosely connected character narratives.
While there’s something to be said for Rashoman-style books that examine multiple viewpoints, most multiple POV books are simply a product of lazy writing that leads to unnecessary bloat.
A good example of this is the Hobbit. The story is about Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is in essentially every scene and if Bilbo isn’t there, we don’t directly experience the scene.
But we still understand there’s a lot going on outside of what Bilbo sees. He spends a chapter two or separated from the Dwarves and Gandalf with Gollum – there’s an entire exciting chase/fight scene we never get to see because of it. Likewise, Gandalf just disappears 2/3rds of the way through the book to go off with his Council buddies and fight Sauron. We don’t see it and we don’t hear much about it.
While it may seem like such information is important, it really isn’t. It’s merely a distraction from the story at hand – which is a story about Bilbo, his adventures and his personal growth. Excluding material irrelevant to that story is a positive, not a negative.
I’ve read both Panzer Leader and the Diary of Anne Frank. Putting both in the same book, alternating between one and the other every chapter doesn’t make for a better book. It just makes for a muddled mess despite the fact that they’re both about World War II experiences.
I outright prefer stories with multiple povs. I love bouncing between different stories with different stakes. Yeah, sometimes there’s too big of a gap between my favorite pov character and my least favorite, which makes it frustrating because I don’t want to read about the character I don’t like, but usually, everyone is sufficiently interesting to me(or no one is and/or something else about the book doesn’t appeal to me, but then I just stop reading).
In the case of the way of kings, I’m the one guy who actually liked Shallan’s storyline more than Kalandin’s(he was good too still). Dalinar was a little rough at the beginning, but it got better, and it was very fun the whole book when I re-read it. Adolin was always fun.
It’s the downside of multiple POVs…there’s always the possibility the reader will get attached to one character and find their chapters way more interesting than the others. It’s one of the issues I have with the Blade Itself…Glokta is just so much more interesting than the other two guys (whose names I can’t even remember), so it’s always a drag when the narrative shifts away from him.
But I feel like there’s not a ton of third person POV books out there anymore that don’t have multiple POVs. But if an author is juggling multiple viewpoint characters, it’s for a reason. All of the plot threads should be coming together by the end of the story. Not sure what you hope to achieve by reading the narrative out of order—you could try skimming the POV scenes you don’t find interesting, but I don’t think you’ll get the complete story if you only read your favorite character’s POV chapters.
Nah, samesies. I want to inhabit one POV character for the duration. Maybe with like a few exceptions but multiple protagonists turn me right off.
Stay away from Malazan then. 453 POV Characters… (although, only about 150 have over 4000 words worth of POV)
Don’t Read Turtledove then! All of his books are multiple POV!
Disagree, when multpile POV is done well it can lead to some of the best writing that is available. Stuff like Dark Tower, ASOIAF, Stormlight etc.
I actually have loved each and every POV in stormlight. You’ll find that if you stick with the series, these POV’s end up connecting to each other directly, and each one bolsters the storytelling of the other. It’s really quite masterfully done