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Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Gamesguy posted:

I don't generally read much fiction, but I loved this book and the Name of the Wind by Rothfuss. I think I like the downtrodden youth rises to greatness genre(my favorite character in this book was the spear guy).

Does anybody know of any similar novels? I'd love some recommendations, thanks.

Have you read Mistborn? It also has the "downtrodden youth rises to greatness" thing going on and Elantris kinda does, too.

For other authors, you might like Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, though it does get a bit dark in parts (it's a series about assassinations; go figure). If that doesn't bother you or if you can get past it, it's a fun read.

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MartingaleJack
Aug 26, 2004

I'll split you open and I don't even like coconuts.

Gamesguy posted:

I don't generally read much fiction, but I loved this book and the Name of the Wind by Rothfuss. I think I like the downtrodden youth rises to greatness genre(my favorite character in this book was the spear guy).

Does anybody know of any similar novels? I'd love some recommendations, thanks.

The Warded Man by Peter V Brett is pretty good and along those lines. It has a fairly typical fantasy with a somewhat unique magic system based around runes. I haven't read the sequel, but people tell me its good. I think of the book as Wheel of Time-lite.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is an awesome, fun fantasy novel about a group of thieves, and the main character comes from about as low prospects as possible. Too bad the sequel is the most disappointing book I read last year. And Scott Lynch is currently in some kind of Aspie / male menopausal meltdown, which he likes to post about on his blog thing.

MartingaleJack fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Nov 28, 2010

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

BananaNutkins posted:

The Lies of Locke Lamora is an awesome, fun fantasy novel about a group of thieves, and the main character comes from about as low prospects as possible. Too bad the sequel is the most disappointing book I read last year. And Scott Lynch is currently in some kind of Aspie / male menopausal meltdown, which he likes to post about on his blog thing.

Is that the dude acting like Gurm but actually being up front ab out having crippling depression writer's block? (for which I would completely excuse Gurm)

I keep hearing that series mentioned, but I haven't tried it yet. I won't bother if it's going to be Gurmed.

Gamesguy
Sep 7, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

BananaNutkins posted:

The Warded Man by Peter V Brett is pretty good and along those lines. It has a fairly typical fantasy with a somewhat unique magic system based around runes. I haven't read the sequel, but people tell me its good. I think of the book as Wheel of Time-lite.

I read that earlier this year and got partways through that before I gave up, just got really bored with it. The whole book basically revolved around one character, which is fine, but I couldn't bring myself to care about him at all. Maybe it's the writing style, but it just put me off.

Gamesguy fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Nov 28, 2010

Xachariah
Jul 26, 2004

Gamesguy posted:

I don't generally read much fiction, but I loved this book and the Name of the Wind by Rothfuss. I think I like the downtrodden youth rises to greatness genre(my favorite character in this book was the spear guy).

Does anybody know of any similar novels? I'd love some recommendations, thanks.

Furies of Calderon is pretty awesome. The main character is the only person in his society of magic users without any super powers. And he kicks rear end nonetheless.

Xachariah fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Nov 28, 2010

OdinsBeard
Jul 12, 2003

I don't think about my hands too much. Just trying to hit the ball in the air. Hit the ball in the air!

Gamesguy posted:

Thanks for the suggestions guys.


I read that earlier this year and got partways through that before I gave up, just got really bored with it. The whole book basically revolved around one character, which is fine, but I couldn't bring myself to care about him at all. Maybe it's the writing style, but it just put me off.

It actually does switch characters. The writing style is bland, but the story does pick up.

I just like the concept of this book so much (no spoilers); people are basically living in the dark ages because at night they're terrorized by demons which materialize out of the Earth, and when the book starts, humanity is fading away.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

IRQ posted:

Is that the dude acting like Gurm but actually being up front ab out having crippling depression writer's block? (for which I would completely excuse Gurm)

I keep hearing that series mentioned, but I haven't tried it yet. I won't bother if it's going to be Gurmed.

More or less. Anxiety, too, and he's apparently on meds now. The first book ties things up pretty reasonably on its own, though, and it's better than the second one anyway, so I've been recommending people just read that and pretend it's a standalone book for the time being.

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.
Scott Lynch had a really good short story in the Swords and Dark Magic anthology called In the Stacks about a magical library. I recommend that, in fact I recommend the whole anthology.

Sonisi
Sep 25, 2008
Just finished the book and really enjoyed it. There were some points that just seemed to drag on (by the end of it I was pretty over Kaladins childhood). Although I doubt it will end up this way I would love if it turned into the "good" way and "bad" way to try and save the world between Dalinar and Taravangian, please don't make it so that any one who does evil things for good turns out to really be evil all along Sadeas

Also on another note what is with the American cover art on so many fantasy/sci-fi novels looking like it just came out of the 80s? You can have perfectly good modern cover art on fantasy books. While the Australian (and European I am guessing) cover is not fantastic it is still a ton better than the one in the OP, I have noticed this with a number of books from the US.

Sonisi fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Dec 3, 2010

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

America always gets poo poo cover art for scifi/fantasy. I think there might be a significant number of readers who actually just walk into a store and grab whatever had the most garish dorky cover and the publishers are doing it because of that.

The rest of us have to hide in dark corners when we read lest regular people see the abominable crap it looks like we're reading. Thank gently caress for ebooks!

Streebs
Dec 6, 2003

RIP

Sonisi posted:

Just finished the book and really enjoyed it. There were some points that just seemed to drag on (by the end of it I was pretty over Kaladins childhood). Although I doubt it will end up this way I would love if it turned into the "good" way and "bad" way to try and save the world between Dalinar and Taravangian, please don't make it so that any one who does evil things for good turns out to really be evil all along Sadeas

Also on another note what is with the American cover art on so many fantasy/sci-fi novels looking like it just came out of the 80s? You can have perfectly good modern cover art on fantasy books. While the Australian (and European I am guessing) cover is not fantastic it is still a ton better than the one in the OP, I have noticed this with a number of books from the US.

The guy that did the cover art for Way of Kings is the same artist that did the cover art on several of the first fantasy novels Sanderson read as a kid. So Brandon has a big nostalgic hard-on for the guy, he did an enormous blog post about it. At least it's better than WoT cover art :gonk:

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


I like the American cover, I think the lighting and setting are fantastic.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Sonisi posted:

Also on another note what is with the American cover art on so many fantasy/sci-fi novels looking like it just came out of the 80s? You can have perfectly good modern cover art on fantasy books.

So, there's this thing about cover art in the US. It hasn't really changed much since the 80s for sci-fi and fantasy, so that is modern cover art here.

Neep
Jan 2, 2003

Terrorist is Prohibited!!!
Finally finished the Mistborn trilogy after racing through the first one. The second two never grabbed me as hard, mainly because I just didn't like the gods aspect of the story.

Though, I did like how everything fit together at the end (Vin's earring) plus the final appreciation of the Lord Ruler.

I've now read: The Way of Kings, Mistborn 1, Warbreaker, Mistborn 2-3.

Sanderson really gets off on systematizing magic (boy loves his magic cards) but I do appreciate the twists in story. I really want more Stormlight Archives. I just hope he doesn't get too ambitious and starts so many stories without finishing older ones.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

Neep posted:

Finally finished the Mistborn trilogy after racing through the first one. The second two never grabbed me as hard, mainly because I just didn't like the gods aspect of the story.

Though, I did like how everything fit together at the end (Vin's earring) plus the final appreciation of the Lord Ruler.

Chekhov's earring. I kept waiting and waiting to see what the significance would be since book one. But he finally delivered.


quote:

Sanderson really gets off on systematizing magic (boy loves his magic cards) but I do appreciate the twists in story. I really want more Stormlight Archives. I just hope he doesn't get too ambitious and starts so many stories without finishing older ones.

I'm reading Elantris right after having burned through Mistborn pretty quickly. A lot of the same elements are apparent. A lot of very similar characters with very similar styles. Not really a problem, but I think I need a break from Sanderson after this one to clear the palate.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


Speaking of the cover, if you got the cash...

http://michaelwhelan.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=350

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Yea I don't get the complaining about the cover. Compared to most fantasy covers it's pretty good. At least it looks like real art, and not like a five year old drew it.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


subx posted:

Yea I don't get the complaining about the cover. Compared to most fantasy covers it's pretty good. At least it looks like real art, and not like a five year old drew it.


Click here for the full 938x1425 image.

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

James T. Kirk was a great man, but that was another life.

i never understood how that artist decides which scenes from the books to draw, because he invariably picks the dumbest ones. The final scene on dragonmount would've been way better. (from very far away so you can't see his horrific humans)

treeboy fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Dec 5, 2010

Che Delilas
Nov 23, 2009
FREE TIBET WEED

It doesn't even make sense, but when I look at this, I hear Quasimodo yelling, "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"

Dramatika
Aug 1, 2002

THE BANK IS OPEN
I was bored this weekend and started a Mistborn re-read.

I'm about halfway through Well of Ascension, and I'm a little suprised I never thought more about the bronze earring tidbit being brought up at least once every 50 pages for the entire series more during my initial readthru. It holds up pretty well though, I'm excited to see the ways in which he expands the universe in the other books he's writing.

Kalas
Jul 27, 2007

Dramatika posted:

I was bored this weekend and started a Mistborn re-read.

I'm about halfway through Well of Ascension, and I'm a little suprised I never thought more about the bronze earring tidbit being brought up at least once every 50 pages for the entire series more during my initial readthru. It holds up pretty well though, I'm excited to see the ways in which he expands the universe in the other books he's writing.

I just finished my second read of the trilogy, kicking myself for missing so many subtle things.

Re-reading this series is like watching Sixth Sense for the 2nd time.

If only one tenth of the authors out there had Sanderson's level of planning and detail...

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
Although I think the Mistborn trilogy would only be ruined when it gets tied into the Shard-verse proper (and the sequel trilogies). So I'm eager to find out how he's going to prove me wrong.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

arioch posted:

Although I think the Mistborn trilogy would only be ruined when it gets tied into the Shard-verse proper (and the sequel trilogies). So I'm eager to find out how he's going to prove me wrong.

Shard-verse?

subx
Jan 12, 2003

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

IRQ posted:

Shard-verse?

All of his books (minus WoT obviously) are supposedly in one "Universe" or something.

Apparently an old god got split into shards and give people powers in different ways on different worlds. He hasn't done much other than mention it thus far though.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

subx posted:

All of his books (minus WoT obviously) are supposedly in one "Universe" or something.

Apparently an old god got split into shards and give people powers in different ways on different worlds. He hasn't done much other than mention it thus far though.

Oh, ok.

Having read Mistborn and Elantris of his so far I can't say I saw anything similar about them outside them being obviously written by the same person.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


Every book he writes (minus WOT) has a charecter that pops up called Hoid. He usually only has a scene or two in which he tells stories or has information for the main charecters. Most people forget he was even in the book once they finish reading it. (I know I did.)

In the Way of Kings, Hoid is further explained to be a worldsinger. He can travel between the worlds of the different books through a plane called the shadesmaar. Towards the end of the book, Shallan learns how to travel there too in order to work magic. (Or something...drat I gotta re-read that book again.) Hoid's motivations are still unknown, though he does seem to help the good guys in each book.

I have to say, I kinda rolled my eyes when I learned all these books tied together, mostly because of how bad the Dark Tower (Stephen King) turned out. But now I really think that Brandon has a vision and can pull this off. Unlike King, he doesn't seem to be pulling this out of his rear end in order to sell more books. And with Brandon's work ethic, we should be getting 1.5 - 2 books a year. GURM would have a heart attack if he had to write that much.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

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

Cartoon Man posted:

Every book he writes (minus WOT) has a charecter that pops up called Hoid. He usually only has a scene or two in which he tells stories or has information for the main charecters. Most people forget he was even in the book once they finish reading it. (I know I did.)

In the Way of Kings, Hoid is further explained to be a worldsinger. He can travel between the worlds of the different books through a plane called the shadesmaar. Towards the end of the book, Shallan learns how to travel there too in order to work magic. (Or something...drat I gotta re-read that book again.) Hoid's motivations are still unknown, though he does seem to help the good guys in each book.

I have to say, I kinda rolled my eyes when I learned all these books tied together, mostly because of how bad the Dark Tower (Stephen King) turned out. But now I really think that Brandon has a vision and can pull this off. Unlike King, he doesn't seem to be pulling this out of his rear end in order to sell more books. And with Brandon's work ethic, we should be getting 1.5 - 2 books a year. GURM would have a heart attack if he had to write that much.

It's fine to me - it's a pretty loose tying together. I don't think he's forcing things, which makes it just a nice side story (maybe eventually a larger story, but for now its just side notes).

I think Warbreaker had the best Hoid part - he told some really neat stories. Seemed to have the biggest part in that book anyways. I don't remember him talking that much in Mistborn/WoK.

subx fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Dec 7, 2010

Dramatika
Aug 1, 2002

THE BANK IS OPEN
Hoid was an informant that Kelsier talked to for info in Mistborn book 1. I think that was his only appearance in the series, it was just one chapter.

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747

Dramatika posted:

Hoid was an informant that Kelsier talked to for info in Mistborn book 1. I think that was his only appearance in the series, it was just one chapter.

And he basically told Kell all this poo poo that he already knew

Dramatika
Aug 1, 2002

THE BANK IS OPEN

Dickeye posted:

And he basically told Kell all this poo poo that he already knew

Yeah, and the only thing he didn't already know (that Vin had fabricated links between Venture and Renoux) he would have found out when Vin got back from the ball anyways.

var1ety
Jul 26, 2004

Dickeye posted:

And he basically told Kell all this poo poo that he already knew

Does it count if Vin had the chance to meet him in the third book, but chose not to? Sanderson mentioned this in one of his chapter postmortems.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/290/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Seven

Streebs
Dec 6, 2003

RIP

var1ety posted:

Does it count if Vin had the chance to meet him in the third book, but chose not to? Sanderson mentioned this in one of his chapter postmortems.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/290/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Seven

Yeah, Vin needs information so she first goes to see Hoid but gets a bad feeling and runs away before talking to him.

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

James T. Kirk was a great man, but that was another life.
you know thinking about it, I'm guessing that in the end it's going to be revealed the highstorms are not a "bad thing", but are really some sort of preventative measure put in place by the Creator. Kind of like the reveal about the mists and why the planet is the way it is in Mistborn

Also curious what happened to the Almighty's shard power, in Mistborn we know that (ending spoiler, don't read unless you've finished the trilogy) Vin inherits Preservation's power, and then Sazed inherits the power of both Preservation (from Vin) and Ruin

I think it'd be safe to say that Odium doesn't possess it as otherwise the world would likely be a much shittier place. Maybe the highstorms are the Creators power running rampant? Or the result thereof?

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

var1ety posted:

Does it count if Vin had the chance to meet him in the third book, but chose not to? Sanderson mentioned this in one of his chapter postmortems.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/290/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Seven

Wow, I didn't know he posted a bunch of supplemental stuff on his website. I think he's becoming my favorite author.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


IRQ posted:

Wow, I didn't know he posted a bunch of supplemental stuff on his website. I think he's becoming my favorite author.

He's the only author I know of that writes DVD style commentary on every chapter of books. Hell, he might even write them for the WoW books if Harriet (Jordan's widow) and crew will let him.

Yeroc2
Aug 13, 2003

"The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body."
Grimey Drawer

treeboy posted:

Also curious what happened to the Almighty's shard power, in Mistborn we know that (ending spoiler, don't read unless you've finished the trilogy) Vin inherits Preservation's power, and then Sazed inherits the power of both Preservation (from Vin) and Ruin

Part of me thinks that its whats causing the Highstorms. They seem to be the source of the stormlight, which is likely the Almighty's version of magic. The only issue is this would mean the Highstorms haven't been happening all along, but I can't tell if they exist in few flashbacks we see.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
I think it's mentioned that the shardarmor seemed to used to glow. Perhaps the highstorms started happening after the armor stopped glowing. In other words, the shardarmors used to contain all the magical energy the highstorms now imbue into gems.

Che Delilas
Nov 23, 2009
FREE TIBET WEED

arioch posted:

I think it's mentioned that the shardarmor seemed to used to glow. Perhaps the highstorms started happening after the armor stopped glowing. In other words, the shardarmors used to contain all the magical energy the highstorms now imbue into gems.

I doubt that something as mundane as armor contained all the power that highstorms represent, at least not from an author like Sanderson. Divinity is a big theme with him and having a major source of the world's magic not somehow related to the gods seems unlikely. Plus we already have the Radiants presumably going through some sort of hell/rebirth cycle, which makes me think their power doesn't just coincidentally come from armor. More likely that whatever event or circumstance gave rise to the highstorms also affected the armor.

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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice

Che Delilas posted:

I doubt that something as mundane as armor contained all the power that highstorms represent, at least not from an author like Sanderson. Divinity is a big theme with him and having a major source of the world's magic not somehow related to the gods seems unlikely. Plus we already have the Radiants presumably going through some sort of hell/rebirth cycle, which makes me think their power doesn't just coincidentally come from armor. More likely that whatever event or circumstance gave rise to the highstorms also affected the armor.

But the thing is, Sanderson's lower-level gods are generally just ascended mortals who've been bestowed powers somehow from the shards of Adonalsium. And we're talking anything from ridiculously powerful like Sazed on down to Steel Inquisitors, then the inhabitants of Elantris, those monks, etc. Sanderson's "divinity" is often not divine.

And there were a LOT more shardplate sets than just the relatively few sets we see currently floating around. There were ten ORDERS of Knights Radiant and they seem to all have had shardplate and shardblade. Yes, the potential Knights Radiant seem to be making a comeback in terms of their powers returning in the mortals, but I don't see any indication so far that the original group of Heralds are coming back, in fact the last one that actually held to their code/oaths/whatever came back and died at the end of the first book.

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