Sning - Cool Character or Exposition Plot Device?

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, part of me thinks Sning is super cool. The other part of me thinks it's a cheap plot device Anthony uses to do his patented infodump expositions! More later... If you have opinions on the matter, don't feel like you have to wait for me to post about it.

[[deleted user]]

This plot moves at a Sning's pace, and without the magical demon ring there is really no way it could move forward at all. Every difficult situation Norton finds himself in requires Sning to get out of it, and often it becomes tedious since, as a reader, I've already figured out what Sning is trying to communicate before dumb-dumb Norton has, yet I have to endure his stupid questions so that it seems like the protagonist has a part in working things out. So while I think Sning is a cool thing, I'm not a huge fan of how often it is used.

[Christopher]

YESSSSSS!!!! I so fucking agree! It's like a soap opera drama. I feel like nothing is really at stake for the characters or Anthony as the writer. It's like he already knows how he will solve every issue, so we are four steps ahead of the character, and it feels like, two steps ahead of Anthony. I like how Sning brings the worldmaking into the materiality of how Norton experiences the world - but, you're exactly right, it ends up serving for exposition - and for drama we don't need.