[coderintherye]

>Anyone reading War and Peace will need at the very least a list of characters

Indeed, I almost gave up on it for that reason. Great story but does the character really need 6+ different ways to refer to them. "Too Like the Lightning" and its sequels are also great but Ada Palmer suffers from same of the same desires to refer to characters in far too many different ways to keep up with. That said, I also scored poorly on the face blindness test so maybe it's a cognitive inability keep up with too many names on my part.

[geoffpado]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one with that problem with the Terra Ignota series. I describe them to people as "my least favorite favorite books" since they're quite good, but infuriating to read.

Brandon Sanderson is another who has started to dip into this well and it's annoying there, too. Do I really have to remember that this character is named this amongst this group of people and named another thing amongst another group of people? Often, it's never even really explicitly stated that these two characters are the same and you end up having to refer to some wiki that probably has spoilers just because you find yourself wondering "am I supposed to know who this is?"

[ajmurmann]

I think it's quite excusable in Russian novels, since that seems to be the natural way people address(ed?) each other in different contexts in Russian culture. A fantasy novel has little excuse though.

[simplulo]

I'm the author of the posted article, and I am currently reading Brian Sanderson's latest Stormlight novel and suffering from character/name overload (doesn't help that I read the previous book years ago).

I also spent many years in Russia, where I noticed that they have few names (just a dozen or so common ones for each sex) but a gazillion variations, depending on context (e.g. family, friends, work). My theory is that under Stalin, you didn't want to stick out, and a boring name like Natalya Ivanovna was less likely to be noticed and remembered. Your trusted friends could have some unique nickname for you, like Natulya. But I never read War & Peace--it sounds like the naming practice predates Stalin. My Russian daughter is currently reading the book, so I'll have to discuss it with her.

[jfengel]

I'm looking at you, Tolkien.