Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Portable Staplefrog
May 21, 2007

I tried to start the first Lightbringer book a while ago and lost interest early on. Is there a certain point when it gets good or is it just not for me?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

Portable Staplefrog posted:

I tried to start the first Lightbringer a while ago and lost interest early on. Is there a certain point when it gets good or is it just not for me?

Yeah after about half-way things really pick up and the plot goes from kinda boring to interesting. Second book is way better than the first overall too. It's worth carrying on if you like epic fantasy.

Dravs
Mar 8, 2011

You've done well, kiddo.

Cicero posted:

PSA: Noted Sandersonlike Brent Weeks released The Broken Eye yesterday (book 3 of Lightbringer). Haven't finished it yet but the first two were good.

Haven't heard of these. Is the Night Angel trilogy any good as well?

The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007

Dravs posted:

Haven't heard of these. Is the Night Angel trilogy any good as well?

I enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy when I read it, but I would probably not recommend it unless you've got absolutely nothing else to read instead. For what it's worth, I have only a vague recollection of what happened in the first book and only slight flashes of things that happened in the second and third. I read the first Black Prism book too and bought the second a few years later and had forgotten almost everything about the plot, to the point where even Wikipedia couldn't catch me up. Perhaps that says more about me than about Weeks or his writing, though.

mallamp
Nov 25, 2009

Dravs posted:

Haven't heard of these. Is the Night Angel trilogy any good as well?
Compared to Sanderson it too has conservative values and conservative genre cliches.
It's videogame fantasy, but not the worst of its kind. At least it's not boring.

General Emergency
Apr 2, 2009

Can we talk?
What is "videogame fantasy"?

inthesto
May 12, 2010

Pro is an amazing name!
Just picked up both Stormlight Archive books two weeks ago and chewed through them in no time. Love the series and I'm thinking of picking up other Cosmere books, but I have to say that I'm really not a fan of the obvious setup for a love triangle between Adolin, Shallan, and Kaladin. It's even worse than usual considering how transparently it's a parallel to Gavilar, Navani, and Dalinar, which probably means that Adolin is going to bite it or Shallan is going to outright pick Kaladin eventually.

mewse
May 2, 2006

inthesto posted:

Just picked up both Stormlight Archive books two weeks ago and chewed through them in no time. Love the series and I'm thinking of picking up other Cosmere books, but I have to say that I'm really not a fan of the obvious setup for a love triangle between Adolin, Shallan, and Kaladin. It's even worse than usual considering how transparently it's a parallel to Gavilar, Navani, and Dalinar, which probably means that Adolin is going to bite it or Shallan is going to outright pick Kaladin eventually.

If it works for Archie Andrews comics, it will work in a fantasy novel

e: I don't think we're required to use spoiler tags, everyone is assumed to have read the novels

mewse fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Sep 1, 2014

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

Greg Jackson posted:

e: I don't think we're required to use spoiler tags, everyone is assumed to have read the novels

According to the rules you are required to spoiler WoR for at least 3 more days so it has been exactly 6 months since release. It's probably polite to do it for far longer since this is technically a multi-series thread. Some people coming here for Mistborn discussion probably shouldn't have Stormlight ruined for them or vice versa.

mewse
May 2, 2006

Xachariah posted:

According to the rules you are required to spoiler WoR for at least 3 more days so it has been exactly 6 months since release. It's probably polite to do it for far longer since this is technically a multi-series thread. Some people coming here for Mistborn discussion probably shouldn't have Stormlight ruined for them or vice versa.

Whoops, ok. I'm new to this subforum.

mallamp
Nov 25, 2009

General Emergency posted:

What is "videogame fantasy"?
Plot is about as deep and as ADD as videogames

SavTargaryen
Sep 11, 2011

mallamp posted:

Plot is about as deep and as ADD as videogames

Video game fantasy is probably the perfect way to summarize the Way of Shadows series and I'm surprised I've never heard it before. The Lightbringer ones are a little better, though they're still fairly immature - I enjoyed them a lot, but I wouldn't say they're high literature by any stretch.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice

inthesto posted:

Just picked up both Stormlight Archive books two weeks ago and chewed through them in no time. Love the series and I'm thinking of picking up other Cosmere books, but I have to say that I'm really not a fan of the obvious setup for a love triangle between Adolin, Shallan, and Kaladin. It's even worse than usual considering how transparently it's a parallel to Gavilar, Navani, and Dalinar, which probably means that Adolin is going to bite it or Shallan is going to outright pick Kaladin eventually.

On the other hand, Sanderson did say human-Parshendi hybrids was possible :toot:

egg tats
Apr 3, 2010

api call girl posted:

On the other hand, Sanderson did say human-Parshendi hybrids was possible :toot:

actually he said they exist, and they are the horneaters!

I'm really excited about whatever rock ends up becoming.

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade

senae posted:

actually he said they exist, and they are the horneaters!

I'm really excited about whatever rock ends up becoming.

and Herdazians; they have rocky fingernails

stramit
Dec 9, 2004
Ask me about making games instead of gains.
Autopiloted onto the black bars :S yay I guess. I really don't know why he is so forthcoming with this kind of information... It's probably the worst thing he does.

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade

Strumpy posted:

Autopiloted onto the black bars :S yay I guess. I really don't know why he is so forthcoming with this kind of information... It's probably the worst thing he does.

Because its background information that isn't going to affect anything major, and would be clunky to write it unto the text.

socialsecurity
Aug 30, 2003





Rumda posted:

Because its background information that isn't going to affect anything major, and would be clunky to write it unto the text.

I love these books and all but clunky world building info dumps is like what Sanderson lives for.

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade

socialsecurity posted:

I love these books and all but clunky world building info dumps is like what Sanderson lives for.

So if the Q&A dribbles allow him to indulge his vice while improving his books then we as fans should support it.

mallamp
Nov 25, 2009

Sucks for fans who don't spend most of their lives on internet though. I'd rather buy "World of Stormlight Archives" or something like that than have to hunt for the info online.

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


Rumda posted:

and Herdazians; they have rocky fingernails

So is this maybe why Lopen is growing a new arm, instead of Lopen being the first bridge 4 soldier to become a 'squire' or whatever? I liked the idea of all of the Bridge 4 guys being glowing badasses.

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade

Arrath posted:

So is this maybe why Lopen is growing a new arm, instead of Lopen being the first bridge 4 soldier to become a 'squire' or whatever? I liked the idea of all of the Bridge 4 guys being glowing badasses.

Na that's most likely pure Stormlight healing

TheMadMilkman
Dec 10, 2007

Way of Kings is free on the iTunes/iBook store right now.

Lobsterpillar
Feb 4, 2014

TheMadMilkman posted:

Way of Kings is free on the iTunes/iBook store right now.

Unfortunately it looks to me like its just a sample :(. Or perhaps its region specific, I know we get a ton of stuff on NZ itunes that is more expensive than on itunes in the USA.

enigma105
Mar 16, 2004

His record...it's over 9-7!!!

Lobsterpillar posted:

Unfortunately it looks to me like its just a sample :(. Or perhaps its region specific, I know we get a ton of stuff on NZ itunes that is more expensive than on itunes in the USA.

It's US only

ShadowGlass
Nov 13, 2012

enigma105 posted:

It's US only

Yep, it's a promotion for iOS 8 (but you can download it on any US iTunes account): http://brandonsanderson.com/the-way-of-kings-free-on-itunes/

Illuyankas
Oct 22, 2010

An expanded version of that first chapter from the third Stormlight book was released on Tor. Apparently twice as long, but also containing more Kaladin complaining. Surprising.

Xaris
Jul 25, 2006

Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
Laugh and cry

Illuyankas posted:

but also containing more Kaladin complaining. Surprising.
God damnit. I had hoped we were over that with the end of WOR. Kaladin moping and complaining was easily the worst part of WOR

Thyrork
Apr 21, 2010

"COME PLAY MECHS M'LANCER."

Or at least use Retrograde Mini's to make cool mechs and fantasy stuff.

:awesomelon:
Slippery Tilde
I like it, no harm in having a nice batch of different personalises to chew on. :haw:

mewse
May 2, 2006

I hope the new novel has emo kaladin moping about shallan for the entire thing

TheMadMilkman
Dec 10, 2007

Xaris posted:

God damnit. I had hoped we were over that with the end of WOR. Kaladin moping and complaining was easily the worst part of WOR

To be fair, this is an appropriate time to mope. In WOR there were plenty of instances where it was annoying, but this one I totally get.

I also presume that Kal just suffers from some form of depression.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
Yeah, if anything it's probably realistic for Kal to keep going through these cycles of depression. I'm definitely getting a manic-depressive vibe for him, and it's not like you magically get better from mental illness.

HidaO-Win
Jun 5, 2013

"And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"
I think Brandon confirmed Kaladin suffers from a version of Seasonal Affective Disorder. He does mention in the books that he used to get very depressed during the weeping I think and only his brother can cheer him up.

Don't they also mention that spren can only bond to people who are on some level broken or have a bit of their soul missing?

omnibobb
Dec 3, 2005
Title text'd
Yeah. He's mentioned several times to get depressed during the Weeping and (very small book 3 chapter spoiler) it's referenced quit a bit in the spoiler chapter

Genuine Fake
Oct 2, 2004

HidaO-Win posted:

Don't they also mention that spren can only bond to people who are on some level broken or have a bit of their soul missing?

I don't know about spren, but I know that's the reason the nobles on Scadriel would beat their children to try to get them to snap.

That seems to be one of those things that crosses over between magic systems though, so I bet you are right.

Thyrork
Apr 21, 2010

"COME PLAY MECHS M'LANCER."

Or at least use Retrograde Mini's to make cool mechs and fantasy stuff.

:awesomelon:
Slippery Tilde
I believe its also mentioned elsewhere that Harmony has worked that "flaw" out of Allomancy, no idea bout Feruchemy, but i assume it didn't have that problem to begin with.

SikorskyOvich
Oct 2, 2014

Thyrork posted:

I believe its also mentioned elsewhere that Harmony has worked that "flaw" out of Allomancy, no idea bout Feruchemy, but i assume it didn't have that problem to begin with.

Yeah I believe you're right about Feruchemy.
But, I didn't think that was a flaw with Allomancy. I thought it was intended to control who would be able to have the power: sort of a way to make sure those who could use it would have been tested.

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.
Maybe, but it seems unnecessarily cruel. Why force someone to snap to use their powers? Especially since people without powers are being beaten just to check if they have them.

It's an unneeded gateway, more so when the powers become diluted like we see in Alloy of Law. It's pretty lovely for a Nicrosil misting or someone with no powers to be beaten for little to no gain. Having your powers unlocked from the beginning is better.

Grundulum
Feb 28, 2006

Fezz posted:

Maybe, but it seems unnecessarily cruel. Why force someone to snap to use their powers? Especially since people without powers are being beaten just to check if they have them.

It's an unneeded gateway, more so when the powers become diluted like we see in Alloy of Law. It's pretty lovely for a Nicrosil misting or someone with no powers to be beaten for little to no gain. Having your powers unlocked from the beginning is better.

This came up in the web serial Worm also. There's one darkly amusing scene where some adults are attempting to figure out which torture would best cause a teenager to snap and gain access to his powers. While said teenager is in the room with them.

Having broken people will tend to increase conflict, which is certainly good from a narrative standpoint (no author wants to write about boring people). It also may still serve a story purpose -- maybe the shards of Adonalsium want the conflict because they gain something out of the interaction?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

Fezz posted:

Maybe, but it seems unnecessarily cruel. Why force someone to snap to use their powers? Especially since people without powers are being beaten just to check if they have them.

It's an unneeded gateway, more so when the powers become diluted like we see in Alloy of Law. It's pretty lovely for a Nicrosil misting or someone with no powers to be beaten for little to no gain. Having your powers unlocked from the beginning is better.

It's basically that you need a crack in your soul to be able to shove some foreign power in.

Sazed didn't remove that, he just made the threshold easier to achieve.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply