In what turned out to be a bit of a back track, I realised that I was sufficiently dissatisfied by my reading of White Sand, the graphic novel, to give the original draft prose a go. Although largely redundant (I plan to finish off the comic), I felt that I wasn't able to quite follow and engage with the story set in Taldain, and hoped that reading the prose would allow me to continue reading the adaptation with a bit more comfort. Of course, it remains to be seen whether reading a non-canon version of a story will help or hinder.
Otherwise the book was clearly a draft, and very rough around the edges, particularly as it went on. As such, it wasn't quite as rigorous as the other books in the Cosmere, in the magic system, plot or character development. Still it was fun, and as I wanted, more accessible than its comic counterpart. I appreciated the insight and context that the written word was able to provide.
There are a few "non-canon" artefacts in the Cosmere, but I don't envisage approaching those. White Sand was therefore less optional for me than its draft status implies. I don't think I can recommend its reading to even a completionist though, unless like me you found the graphic novel to be a bit labouring.
No comments:
Post a Comment