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Genuine Fake
Oct 2, 2004

Tunicate posted:

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.

This. For Investment to become part of you it needs these "cracks" to "get in"

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Victorkm
Nov 25, 2001

Tunicate posted:

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

Now you only need 5 cards in your graveyard instead of seven!

Sagnid
Jul 8, 2009

HidaO-Win posted:

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?

Perhaps his body goes through withdrawals during the weeping from the lack of stormlight.

That or as others posted, he just needs to seek professional help.

Sagnid
Jul 8, 2009

Victorkm posted:

Now you only need 5 cards in your graveyard instead of seven!

I always felt they had enough graveyard play with dredge, threshold seems unneeded.

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

Sagnid posted:

Perhaps his body goes through withdrawals during the weeping from the lack of stormlight.

That or as others posted, he just needs to seek professional help.

I figured it was a little of both. That Stormlight helps him keep the depression, born of his lovely life so far, at bay but becomes stronger in "Winter" because of his Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Considering all the crap Kaladin's endured if he manages to get through the depression, guy's going to/got to have a will of steel. :unsmith:

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007
I know it's kinda silly, but I actually really like that Sanderson is paying attention to stuff like that as part of Kaladin's character. What was, once, sort of an annoying trait, is now actually a thing I can understand and even notice the progress toward/away from depression of.

Jove
Jun 18, 2004

He doesn't come to us...we go to him...BOW DOWN, SLAVE.
Dad humor aside, you can't tell me this poo poo ain't funny.

quote:

"It's amazing," Dalinar said, his voice so soft she could barely hear it over the pattering rain. "It is wonderful." He looked up at her, and there were--shockingly--tears in his eyes. "You're one of them."

"Maybe, kind of?" Shallan said, feeling awkward.

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

Jove posted:

Dad humor aside, you can't tell me this poo poo ain't funny.

The seriousness of it is somewhat diluted by Shallan being Shallan. :shobon:

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

The 2015 Writing Excuses Retreat thing now has open registration

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-2015-out-of-excuses-writing-workshop-and-retreat-registration-13091479969

It's on a cruise ship this time!

Mortanis
Dec 28, 2005

It's your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.
College Slice
They announced it to us at the retreat last week, and it sounds pretty stellar. Normally alumni are barred from returning, but it's fairly open this time. If you're a fan of writing, it's crazy worth it (same price as the retreat I just got back from, so it's basically like a free cruise). If you're going just to geek on Sanderson, don't bother. The man is aloof as hell until he breaks out his Magic: the Gathering cards.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

Mortanis posted:

They announced it to us at the retreat last week, and it sounds pretty stellar. Normally alumni are barred from returning, but it's fairly open this time. If you're a fan of writing, it's crazy worth it (same price as the retreat I just got back from, so it's basically like a free cruise). If you're going just to geek on Sanderson, don't bother. The man is aloof as hell until he breaks out his Magic: the Gathering cards.

I'm curious what you ended up writing.

Damo
Nov 8, 2002

The second-generation Pontiac Sunbird, introduced by the automaker for the 1982 model year as the J2000, was built to be an inexpensive and fuel-efficient front-wheel-drive commuter car capable of seating five.

Offensive Clock
That quote reminded me how awesome Dalinar is.

Man the next book needs to come out. I laugh at TV show people who complain about having to wait a year between seasons. Try reading series novels and knowing you are going to be like 25 years older before it finishes.

Drunk Tomato
Apr 23, 2010

If God wanted us sober,
He'd knock the glass over.

Mortanis posted:

They announced it to us at the retreat last week, and it sounds pretty stellar. Normally alumni are barred from returning, but it's fairly open this time. If you're a fan of writing, it's crazy worth it (same price as the retreat I just got back from, so it's basically like a free cruise). If you're going just to geek on Sanderson, don't bother. The man is aloof as hell until he breaks out his Magic: the Gathering cards.

Ugh. I'm considering this but SEA -> FL tickets add an extra $500 bucks or so.

omnibobb
Dec 3, 2005
Title text'd
How was he aloof?

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

omnibobb posted:

How was he aloof?

He's kind of an anti-social nerdy guy at heart. Not in a bad "I hate you all" way, just think of the kid that would rather be reading (writing in his case) books than hanging out with others.

I mean he seems to genuinely enjoy signings and such, but even then you can tell he feels a bit awkward being around so many people. He's actually a lot better now than he was back when I got Gathering Storm/Towers of Midnight signed.

Not knocking on him - I would be no different.

Dalael
Oct 14, 2014
Hello. Yep, I still think Atlantis is Bolivia, yep, I'm still a giant idiot, yep, I'm still a huge racist. Some things never change!
I had started reading The wheel of time, but never made it as far as his books.

I did however read the first of Stormlight Archive and loved every single part of it. Currently waiting for the second to become paperback.

I may try and read some more of his work..

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Dalael posted:

I had started reading The wheel of time, but never made it as far as his books.

I did however read the first of Stormlight Archive and loved every single part of it. Currently waiting for the second to become paperback.

I may try and read some more of his work..

Aside from the second Stormlight book, his other stuff is quite a bit shorter. So you can read something like the first Mistborn in a few days and decide if you want to spend more time/money on his other stuff.

TOOT BOOT
May 25, 2010

Not sure I'd recommend Mistborn too much at this point given the number of people I've seen in other threads saying they gave up on Sanderson after reading Mistborn.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

Read Warbreaker.

http://brandonsanderson.com/books/warbreaker/warbreaker/

It is online for free.

Lobsterpillar
Feb 4, 2014

Dalael posted:

I had started reading The wheel of time, but never made it as far as his books.

I did however read the first of Stormlight Archive and loved every single part of it. Currently waiting for the second to become paperback.

I may try and read some more of his work..

I got it in paperback when it first came out. I don't think they even had it in hardcover. Or do you mean as a not really massive, easier to handle book (eg. split into two parts like they did with the way of kings?)

MartingaleJack
Aug 26, 2004

I'll split you open and I don't even like coconuts.
I'm a WX alumni.

Brandon is a cool guy that comes across as someone with severe anti-social tendencies that managed through great effort to overcome that part of himself.

He mainly slept through the daytime, and crept out at night to hang out with Dan or work on WoR on the couch. But when the magic cards came out, all bets were off.

One of the coolest things he did was read the first chapter of each person's novel who was in his crit grip. He let us record the readings too. I can't think of a cooler souvenir.

Mortanis
Dec 28, 2005

It's your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.
College Slice

subx posted:

He's kind of an anti-social nerdy guy at heart. Not in a bad "I hate you all" way, just think of the kid that would rather be reading (writing in his case) books than hanging out with others.

I mean he seems to genuinely enjoy signings and such, but even then you can tell he feels a bit awkward being around so many people. He's actually a lot better now than he was back when I got Gathering Storm/Towers of Midnight signed.

Not knocking on him - I would be no different.

Yeah, 100%. He's not an rear end in a top hat at all and I didn't mean to convey something like that. He just seems like he's not a fan of being in a group, and I certainly don't fault him for that. It was genuinely great to see him get excited about Magic, though.

Also, I did get to hold Firefight. Apparently only 11 people had fully read it by then. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to do more than flip through the pages before it was passed on, but it was still fun to hold months before it's published.

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

TOOT BOOT posted:

Not sure I'd recommend Mistborn too much at this point given the number of people I've seen in other threads saying they gave up on Sanderson after reading Mistborn.

I dunno I read Mistborn first and loved it. Originally I'd almost say I'd prefer it as whole over Way of Kings (although Words of Radiance was clearly better).

But I suppose the safe thing to do is read his most recent stuff since he's drastically improved as an author even over 3 years and it really shows. I'd recommend an order like:

- Rithmastic (Short)
- Emperor's Soul (Short)
- Steelheart
- Mistborn Trilogy
- Mistborn: Alloy of Steel
- Other stuff

M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
I'd actually recommend skipping steelheart. I didn't particularly enjoy it and a good ten people who I know who've also read it didn't either. I'd say Elantris was better. But if you've read Rithmatist and mistborn your hooked on Branderson. Also: Legion. Pretty cool.

TOOT BOOT
May 25, 2010

Xaris posted:

I dunno I read Mistborn first and loved it. Originally I'd almost say I'd prefer it as whole over Way of Kings (although Words of Radiance was clearly better).

I see a lot of people say 'I couldn't get into it because it felt like stealth YA' which I can totally see even though I enjoyed it.

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
Yeah I suppose.


Strange, I really like Steelheart and while yeah it's definitely different than his fantasyt work, thought it showed a lot of development on Sanderson's part and just a well (nearly) standalone book. I actually haven't read Elantris so I should probably do that.

TheMadMilkman
Dec 10, 2007

Fair warning, the first quarter of Elantris moves very slowly. It's very obviously the work of a newly-published author.

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.

Lobsterpillar posted:

I got it in paperback when it first came out. I don't think they even had it in hardcover. Or do you mean as a not really massive, easier to handle book (eg. split into two parts like they did with the way of kings?)

When/where did you buy it? Because Way of Kings definitely came out in hardcover as one volume on August 31, 2010, in the US anyway.

The Emperor's Soul is probably his best work to date. And since it's a novella it's a nice quick read.

Lobsterpillar
Feb 4, 2014

Fezz posted:

When/where did you buy it? Because Way of Kings definitely came out in hardcover as one volume on August 31, 2010, in the US anyway.

The Emperor's Soul is probably his best work to date. And since it's a novella it's a nice quick read.

in New Zealand, at Scorpio Books, about a week after it was released. They said that a hardcover wasn't (yet) available.

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.

Lobsterpillar posted:

in New Zealand, at Scorpio Books, about a week after it was released. They said that a hardcover wasn't (yet) available.

Ah, yes, an international edition. I have noticed that foreign and foreign language editions of fantasy doorstoppers tend to be released as multiple volumes.

Lobsterpillar
Feb 4, 2014

Fezz posted:

Ah, yes, an international edition. I have noticed that foreign and foreign language editions of fantasy doorstoppers tend to be released as multiple volumes.

Oh, I meant words of radiance. The way of kings split into two parts I got at a second hand book store about 6 months ago (for $5 each)

thespaceinvader
Mar 30, 2011

The slightest touch from a Gol-Shogeg will result in Instant Death!

TOOT BOOT posted:

I see a lot of people say 'I couldn't get into it because it felt like stealth YA' which I can totally see even though I enjoyed it.

Which is weird, because it's not stealth anyfuckingthing, it's actually intended to be a YA series as far as I'm aware.

Drunk Tomato
Apr 23, 2010

If God wanted us sober,
He'd knock the glass over.

thespaceinvader posted:

Which is weird, because it's not stealth anyfuckingthing, it's actually intended to be a YA series as far as I'm aware.

It wasn't originally, but it is currently being remarketed as YA where I expect it will get an even bigger following.

I mean Brandon just writes clean books, it doesn't mean they're only for children if there's not vicious incestuous gang rapes or something. The complaint that something is "stealth YA" is dumb and points to the sort of person who watches movies for boobs and blood instead of story and character.

Mistborn is somewhat simpler because Brandon wrote it as a young author. That's all.

Genuine Fake
Oct 2, 2004

Drunk Tomato posted:

It wasn't originally, but it is currently being remarketed as YA where I expect it will get an even bigger following.

I mean Brandon just writes clean books, it doesn't mean they're only for children if there's not vicious incestuous gang rapes or something. The complaint that something is "stealth YA" is dumb and points to the sort of person who watches movies for boobs and blood instead of story and character.

Mistborn is somewhat simpler because Brandon wrote it as a young author. That's all.

It definitely was originally released as a YA book. I'll try to find a source, but that was his next book when I first started reading Sanderson so that really sticks out for me.

Edit:

Wikipedia posted:

Reception

Steelheart debuted at #1 on the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller list for the week of October 13th and gained favorable reviews...

Genuine Fake fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Oct 18, 2014

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

Drunk Tomato posted:

I mean Brandon just writes clean books, it doesn't mean they're only for children if there's not vicious incestuous gang rapes or something. The complaint that something is "stealth YA" is dumb and points to the sort of person who watches movies for boobs and blood instead of story and character.

I find this baffling too. Same camp as the "You cant enjoy X because your Y years old! :argh:" crowd or what?

Rumda
Nov 4, 2009

Moth Lesbian Comrade
I don't think the English version was ever released as YA before, but I know it was in other languaages

Drunk Tomato
Apr 23, 2010

If God wanted us sober,
He'd knock the glass over.

Holy_Zarquon posted:

It definitely was originally released as a YA book. I'll try to find a source, but that was his next book when I first started reading Sanderson so that really sticks out for me.

Edit:

Aren't we talking about Mistborn, not Steelheart? The latter was definitely released as YA

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

Steelheart is YA, Mistborn is YA for kids who like to say they read above a 12th grade level. They're long books and some bits could get gruesome for kids, but on the whole very clean and easy reading.

Law Cheetah
Mar 3, 2012
The Rithmatist is YA and I like it a lot. Steelheart is YA and its bad.

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Dalael
Oct 14, 2014
Hello. Yep, I still think Atlantis is Bolivia, yep, I'm still a giant idiot, yep, I'm still a huge racist. Some things never change!

subx posted:

Aside from the second Stormlight book, his other stuff is quite a bit shorter. So you can read something like the first Mistborn in a few days and decide if you want to spend more time/money on his other stuff.


I will definitely check out more of his stuff. I used to read light fantasy novels, like Forgotten Realms and other like that. Then ever since I've read Game of Thrones, I felt like no books would ever get me so interested again. Until I read the first of Stormlight Archive.


The part where Szeth-son-son-Vallano kills the king of Jah Keved kept me on the edge my seat. I actually had an adrenaline boost and remember shouting "gently caress Yeah!" after he killed those shardbearers.


I just wish my librairy was bigger so I could add to my collection.

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