Why I love Soft Sci Fi
After writing a blog post on why I hated hard sci fi and then tearing 2312 a new asshole, today I will explain why I love soft sci fi while praising Mistborn.
I have to credit author Brandon Sanderson as one of my greatest inspirations for writing. He along with RA Salvatore are among my favorite authors. But before I bring up Legend of Drizzt again, I’ll continue to the point of this post.
Soft Sci Fi bring with it all sorts of incredible scientific phenomenon along with rich stories and exceptional characters. Its brother lacks the second and third, abandoning them for the sake of explaining science more extensively than Tolkien described rolling hills.
Mistborn exemplifies everything that 2312 lacks. Exceptional story telling, and equally fantastic characters that fill its pages from cover to cover. Notable mention goes to Vin, the Female Protagonist. One of my favorite heroes in ficiton and quite frankly one of the best constructed female characters I have ever read about. she is the standard that I hold each and every one of my female characters to. The standard rags to riches story for her gets thrown out the window almost immediately in standard Sanderson fashion.
The story of Mistborn which started as 3 novels and has now become at least 6 but probably 9 or more, has plot twists that you won’t expect no matter how genre savvy you might be. the science has not been abandoned either as Sanderson emplys one of his famous magical systems (or rather three, but I cannot mention them all without spoiling the series,) And is filled with some of the most unique takes on mythological monsters. The Kandra is a rather interesting take on shapeshifting spirits. the Koloss, a rather out of the box take on Orcs that focuses far more on their brutal nature and makes them more than just standard mooks. But my favorite of the monsters in Mistborn would have to be the Steel Inquisitors which take the idea of multiple monsters and manages to create something completely new.
