If you follow the fantasy book world, then I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. "Brandon Sanderson Is Your God" by Jason Kehe. That infamous Wired article that was published yesterday. Even though I linked it, I'm begging you not to click it as it is nothing but pot-stirring click bait. If you want to see what the article says without giving them clicks, make sure to check out Daniel Greene's video on YouTube. He does a fabulous job at not only reading the article in its entirety for you, but he inserts his excellent commentary. Brandon, himself, also posted his response to the article on Reddit.
In true Brandon Sanderson fashion, he handles the article with the upmost respect stating he does not feel it's a hit article and asks that fans remember that Jason is a person and that he "bears him no ill will." As much as I would love to tear into this article and Kehe, I will not out of respect for Brandon. But I do want to throw out a couple of my thoughts regarding this article, especially as I plan on reviewing a lot of Cosmere (his interconnected multiverse) novels this year.
I respectfully disagree with Brandon over whether or not this is a hit article. Kehe goes to great lengths to not only insult how Brandon dresses, salts his food (as well as Brandon's son), and the decor choices for his house, he complains about how he is boring and "unquotable." He makes off-handed comments about how boring Brandon is in front of his wife. He acts like it's absolutely unheard of that a small company, like Dragonsteel, is composed of primarily family. And how dare he host a writing group that serves pop (yes, I'm from the Midwest. Fight me on that one lol) and apple crisp. Gasp! At one point, he finds out that Brandon does not really feel pain and so he keeps poking at it with a sharp stick, despite Brandon asking him not to print it. Kehe also all but outright insults his fans by saying that nobody addresses Brandon's bad writing when asking people at Dragonsteel 2022 (he is literally at a Brandon Sanderson convention with thousands of Brandon Sanderson fans) and basically poked fun at them for buying memorabilia, cosplaying, and making their own swords.
Speaking of thinking Brandon is a bad writer, he keeps saying it, but then claims to have read 17 ("Or maybe it's 20. Exactitude is pointless here.") of his books? Okay... Love or hate Brandon Sanderson as you will. His writing does have its share of critics, and most of those criticisms are justified, as many fans would agree, me included. His prose is simplistic, but to make his writing more accessible, that can also be a strength, especially, in the fantasy genre. He does not really write romance well--his books have no spice (shocker, I know). His worldbuilding is so exact makes it difficult to envision the story further than what's on the page. His endings are too formulaic. And many more. All stances I can respect and, at times, agree with.
But what really gets me is how he keeps pointing out and circling back to how Brandon is Mormon. By the end, he even implies that Brandon is living out his fantasy religion on Earth as God in life. Say what you will about Mormonism and the Church of Latter-Day Saints. I know I have thoughts and there is a lot that I definitely don't agree with. However, I do not agree with personally attacking someone based on their faith. And this guy was weirdly fixated on it. Until Brandon does or says something himself that is harmful, it's not fair to hate on him based on where he goes to church. People don't put all Catholics or all Muslims into blanket categories based on their faith despite not agreeing with all doctrines/ideals, therefore, he shouldn't be either.
To be honest, even after reading it twice, I could not even tell you what the actual thesis or intent of the article was intended to be. It is so scattered and disorganized that it blows me away that it was even published due to this fact alone, let alone due to the flat out bullying that goes on throughout it. One minute he is making fun of Brandon salting his food, then he's saying he is a bad writer, then he is talking about crying in Brandon's basement (oh yeah... that was weird). Overall, the tone of this article is just plain mean. He comes off as someone looking for dirt and when he couldn't find any, he decides to just attack Brandon as a person. He took very personal topics for Brandon and made a mockery of them.
If this article was supposed to be a critique of Brandon's writing, it failed. If this article was trying to do anything, it failed. Because this article really didn't discuss anything at all. It was all just a really weird rant about a bunch of random stuff that took FIVE MONTHS to write. The guy just came off as jealous and bitter. I know I said that I would respect Brandon's wishes to not rip too much into the article. But I am just not that big of a person and I had thoughts. Trust me when I say that this is the toned-down version of what I wanted to write.
Did you see the article? What did you think about it? How about Brandon's response? Let me know down below!
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