May 07, 2010

Raising an Eyebrow for Mistborn


As I like to listen to audiobooks while I work, a friend recommended the Mistborn series for me. I'm about halfway through the second book, and the story is very interesting. However, as a work of literature, its getting difficult to listen to. With sentences like "they did not associate with her lest they be found guilty by association" and "pain blossomed like a sunrise" I'm impressed that someone published these books at all. Seriously, it bad. Particularly irksome is that the phrase " raised an eyebrow" appears at least five times per page. Even the dog can "raise a canine eyebrow". Curse you, Brandon Sanderson, for not using a better editor for your unique and interesting story!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Thank you. I google searched "Raised an eyebrow Sanderson" and found your post. I simply cannot understand how this phrase was allowed to become so overused in the novels. It's RIDICULOUS. Well, it doesn't actually bother me too much, but it shows carelessness I think. At the very least it raises an eyebrow in suspicion of the editor's sanity.

jothezette said...

Ha ha! I'm glad I'm not the only one. :)

Anonymous said...

You're not the only one! I'm actually surprised there aren't tons of hits on a google search about Sanderson's eyebrow fetish.
I'm also listening to the audiobooks. It's plain madness that either the author or his editor didn't catch the overuse. I think they must have decided to leave them in? Maybe they don't seem so bad on paper, and reading aloud accentuates the overuse.

Anonymous said...

They don't seem so bad on paper, but yes, on audiobook they are extremely annoying(the anonymous person said with a raised eyebrow)

Unknown said...

Haha I searched for the same keywords.
I'm french and reading this series in french and I can tell you on paper it is very very bad!

Unknown said...

rofl - I just read mistborn and the Way of Kings stories and thought the exact same thing. Why in the world can everyone in Sanderson's world raise an eyebrow? Even the friggin' dog.