The Book Of Mormon

Firstly, I honestly can't remember the last time I went to see a production in the theatre. I'd blame covid, but according to these very pages the drought began at least a year before the virus did.

Secondly, and perhaps following from the above, I wish I had seen The Book Of Mormon sooner. This isn't because its amazing, but more because it doesn't seem to have dated well. Humour is always a transient thing, but when a show relies on edgy comedy it's subject to that edge moving... and for me the shock value just wasn't there any more. It may have been ten years ago.

And unfortunately once the laughs have gone, what's left is pretty normal. The production was alright, the acting okay, the music and singing decent. Altogether though it was all very middling.

So a victim of the passage of time, and perhaps my own high expectations, The Book Of Mormon wasn't as essential as I hoped it would be. And so Avenue Q remains top of the pile when it comes to belly aching comedy theatre - although now I'm wondering if I need to revisit that to see how well, if at all, that has aged.

Book: Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson

I only found out now that the latest publication of Oathbringer splits the novel into two, and yet I'm not surprised. It's probably the longest book I've read past War & Peace, and most certainly felt it.

It's actually quite difficult to write about this book, given I started it almost five months ago. I think there were some battles, some romance, some comedy... but it's all a bit of a blur to be honest.

That said, there was a distinct feeling of disclosure in this book - more threads were closed than opened and as a result it felt more rewarding than frustrating to read. Of particular note was the openings to the wider Cosmere, and I'm glad I'm catching up with the wider saga as things start turning there.

I did have some issue with the pacing of the book: the main set pieces were relatively brisk and therefore fell short of the payoffs that the volume implicitly promised the reader by virtue of its size.

As such, The Stormlight Archive remain my least favourite part of the Cosmere, albeit a still essential one.