Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson has again pointed to Game of Thrones as a cautionary example of how epic fantasy can go wrong at scale, discussing the issue in conversations with fellow author Joe Abercrombie shared on YouTube. Sanderson argues that while the epic format's breadth is what made the series successful, allowing deep immersion in a huge world, that same scale creates real dangers, including writer burnout and a tendency for stories to drift away from their core characters as authors get distracted by expansive side plots.

In the discussions, Sanderson also highlighted a more technical pitfall: the inclusion of detailed maps, which raise reader expectations of geographical realism and can create plot holes, citing confusion in later Game of Thrones seasons over how characters moved between locations. He noted his own struggle with epic-scale fatigue, needing a break around the tenth draft pass of his work, and compared the challenge to George R.R. Martin's prolonged writing of The Winds of Winter, the long-delayed sixth book of A Song of Ice and Fire. The topic carries added weight for Sanderson, who is currently adapting his own Cosmere universe for screen, writing a Mistborn film and a Stormlight Archive TV pilot under a deal with Apple.