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Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender
I just got an e-mail letting me know my Kindle preorder's available. I guess I'm starting this tonight. :woop:

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404GoonNotFound
Aug 6, 2006

The McRib is back!?!?

Kreeblah posted:

I just got an e-mail letting me know my Kindle preorder's available. I guess I'm starting this tonight. :woop:

My jealousy of the ereader crowd is tempered by the fact that I already read the 6 preview chapters, which is probably anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 of the full book. So we'll probably be at about the same place when my copy arrives... right? :gbsmith:

Decius
Oct 14, 2005

Ramrod XTreme

Kreeblah posted:

I just got an e-mail letting me know my Kindle preorder's available. I guess I'm starting this tonight. :woop:

Apparently I preordered the UK Kindle version months ago, which is 6 € cheaper, but also only available on the 10th instead of today. Curse you, financial responsibility! One day before Skyrim? That's gonna be tough.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!

Decius posted:

Apparently I preordered the UK Kindle version months ago, which is 6 € cheaper, but also only available on the 10th instead of today. Curse you, financial responsibility! One day before Skyrim? That's gonna be tough.

I'm glad my last real responsibility before Thanksgiving break is next Tuesday, or else I would fail out of school between Skyrim and Alloy of Law.

Wolpertinger
Feb 16, 2011
Agggh, I read too quickly - I've just finished it. Curse you, Brandon Sanderson, for ending it in such a way that (deliberately vague minor ending spoilers) leaves it on a note revealing that you only just scratched the surface of what was REALLY happening, and all-but-guarantees another big epic trilogy in this world

pakman
Jun 27, 2011

Haven't started reading it yet, but it's downloaded to my Kindle. I have to put off reading it until tonight because of a busy day today :(

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

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

Wolpertinger posted:

Agggh, I read too quickly - I've just finished it. Curse you, Brandon Sanderson, for ending it in such a way that (deliberately vague minor ending spoilers) leaves it on a note revealing that you only just scratched the surface of what was REALLY happening, and all-but-guarantees another big epic trilogy in this world

my favorite moment (towards the end, don't click if you don't want to spoil a cool character moment)

Wax is talking to harmony after he's been beat up and whipped around and it looks like he's done for, and says to Harmony "why won't you help us?" to which Harmony responds "I sent you didn't I?" then Wax's big chest of guns is right in front of him "You're welcome"

Xenix
Feb 21, 2003

Wolpertinger posted:

Agggh, I read too quickly - I've just finished it. Curse you, Brandon Sanderson, for ending it in such a way that (deliberately vague minor ending spoilers) leaves it on a note revealing that you only just scratched the surface of what was REALLY happening, and all-but-guarantees another big epic trilogy in this world

My understanding was that Sanderson wanted to write multiple trilogies in that world during different time periods, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Xenix posted:

My understanding was that Sanderson wanted to write multiple trilogies in that world during different time periods, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

Well, he intended for the second trilogy to be a modern-day thing, but I guess we're getting extra books on the way.

Anyway, I just finished and having read the bit at the end, I'm intrigued by the Feruchemists' nicrosil power. It seems that Investiture relates to the various Adonalsium shard powers, so being able to store that in a metalmind could make for some interesting results. Maybe somebody from Scadriel who jumped to Sel could store Aon-writing and then use it elsewhere?

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

gently caress I need to get on this book, I can't stand black bars if Sanderson's work is involved. Officially avoiding this thread until I read the book myself.

404GoonNotFound
Aug 6, 2006

The McRib is back!?!?

Democratic Pirate posted:

gently caress I need to get on this book, I can't stand black bars if Sanderson's work is involved. Officially avoiding this thread until I read the book myself.

Same here. See you in a week or two folks!

Wolpertinger
Feb 16, 2011

Kreeblah posted:

Well, he intended for the second trilogy to be a modern-day thing, but I guess we're getting extra books on the way.

Anyway, I just finished and having read the bit at the end, I'm intrigued by the Feruchemists' nicrosil power. It seems that Investiture relates to the various Adonalsium shard powers, so being able to store that in a metalmind could make for some interesting results. Maybe somebody from Scadriel who jumped to Sel could store Aon-writing and then use it elsewhere?

How would that really work, though - metalminds store something already inside you, leaving you without it, and then allows you to draw upon an excess of it later - To become one of those people that can use the Aon Dor (I forget the name of that transformation, haven't read Elantris in ages) you need to be born somewhere nearby - it's genetic, like Allomancy.

Or, actually, in light of a couple tidbits he's revealed in interviews and sneaked into books, it's actually in their 'spirit web' essentially a combination of 'spiritual dna' and your actual soul - a hemalurgist tears off the piece that governs whatever power or attribute is desired from whoever you stab and staples it onto whoever receives the spike.

Which does bring an idea to mind - what if a nicrosil feruchemist could use Hemalurgy? Then he might be able to gain or use powers he shouldn't from other worlds. The little codex at the end DOES have the mysterious writer considering the possible potential uses of Hemalurgy in other worlds.

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

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

Wolpertinger posted:

How would that really work, though - metalminds store something already inside you, leaving you without it, and then allows you to draw upon an excess of it later - To become one of those people that can use the Aon Dor (I forget the name of that transformation, haven't read Elantris in ages) you need to be born somewhere nearby - it's genetic, like Allomancy.

Or, actually, in light of a couple tidbits he's revealed in interviews and sneaked into books, it's actually in their 'spirit web' essentially a combination of 'spiritual dna' and your actual soul - a hemalurgist tears off the piece that governs whatever power or attribute is desired from whoever you stab and staples it onto whoever receives the spike.

Which does bring an idea to mind - what if a nicrosil feruchemist could use Hemalurgy? Then he might be able to gain or use powers he shouldn't from other worlds. The little codex at the end DOES have the mysterious writer considering the possible potential uses of Hemalurgy in other worlds.



my guess is that it has something to do with storing 'magical energy' not unlike the well of ascension did. a Nicrosil ferring could store native cosmic energy and unleash it at a later time. the question is whether that would be 'well of ascension' power on Scadriel and Stormlight on Roshar, or abilities being used on/around the nicrosil user

of course my theory would be Aon Dor and Stormlight and Allomancy are all the same 'magic' just different expressions of it

Donkey
Apr 22, 2003


Wolpertinger posted:

How would that really work, though - metalminds store something already inside you, leaving you without it, and then allows you to draw upon an excess of it later - To become one of those people that can use the Aon Dor (I forget the name of that transformation, haven't read Elantris in ages) you need to be born somewhere nearby - it's genetic, like Allomancy.

Or, actually, in light of a couple tidbits he's revealed in interviews and sneaked into books, it's actually in their 'spirit web' essentially a combination of 'spiritual dna' and your actual soul - a hemalurgist tears off the piece that governs whatever power or attribute is desired from whoever you stab and staples it onto whoever receives the spike.

Which does bring an idea to mind - what if a nicrosil feruchemist could use Hemalurgy? Then he might be able to gain or use powers he shouldn't from other worlds. The little codex at the end DOES have the mysterious writer considering the possible potential uses of Hemalurgy in other worlds.


Based on the Ars Arcanum at the end it seems like Hemalurgy might be usable on other shard powers.

Other Mistborn magic speculation:I'm going to assume that Nicrosil feruchemy lets you store your own magic-using ability. If that's the case it might limit by its own effectiveness. That is, storing your power would decrease your power to store your own power. You'd have to find some equilibrium. That would limit the amount of magical power you could store at one time.

Also, If you're a Mistborn/Feruchemist you could probably store your own magic power in some Nicrosil and then burn it to gain a very high level of power, in the same way that the Lord Ruler was much stronger than a conventional Allomancer. If someone killed you with a spike while you had greatly increased your magic power, that spike might actually have a higher net charge, eliminating the power loss inherent with Hemalurgy.

wallaka
Jun 8, 2010

Least it wasn't a fucking red shell

Just finished Alloy as well. I thought it interesting that at the end Sanderson goes against the cliche and the engagement continues.

I'm also glad that nobody in this book was supposed to be witty, that grew pretty tiresome in WOK.

omnibobb
Dec 3, 2005
Title text'd

wallaka posted:


I'm also glad that nobody in this book was supposed to be witty, that grew pretty tiresome in WOK.

I felt Wayne was his witty dude and it came off well, amd had me genuinely laughing at his and Waxs interactions.

The two things that pulled me out of the book were "Waxillium" & "Wax and Wayne". Waxillium is a dumb name and wax/wayne is a dumb pun.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
Just finished Alloy. I love everything about the main villain in this.

wallaka
Jun 8, 2010

Least it wasn't a fucking red shell

omnibobb posted:

I felt Wayne was his witty dude and it came off well, amd had me genuinely laughing at his and Waxs interactions.

The two things that pulled me out of the book were "Waxillium" & "Wax and Wayne". Waxillium is a dumb name and wax/wayne is a dumb pun.

Jesus, I can't believe I didn't get that. :ughh:

Wolpertinger
Feb 16, 2011

treeboy posted:

my guess is that it has something to do with storing 'magical energy' not unlike the well of ascension did. a Nicrosil ferring could store native cosmic energy and unleash it at a later time. the question is whether that would be 'well of ascension' power on Scadriel and Stormlight on Roshar, or abilities being used on/around the nicrosil user

of course my theory would be Aon Dor and Stormlight and Allomancy are all the same 'magic' just different expressions of it


They are, kinda - there's a huge cosmology going on that all the books give hints on and Brandon Sanderson has given tons of info on in interviews, etc - essentially there was one, big overgod at some point, Adonalsium (you can see it mentioned in a few books), and for an unknown reason, he died and shattered into 16 'shards'/personalities that personify different aspects of his personality and power.

The ones we know of are Ruin and Preservation from Mistborn, Endowment in Warbreaker, Devotion or something of that nature (we don't know the exact name) in Elantris for the Aon Dor, along with another one in the Elantris world that we know only the tiniest details of, then Honor, Cultivation, and Odium in The Way of Kings, and all the rest we don't know the details of beyond a few names from before they became gods.

All of the shards at some point had a person take them up like Sazed did (including Ruin and Preservation, formerly named Ati and Leras), and all of them slowly turn into a personification of whatever aspect of the Overgod they took - Ruin was a nice guy, for example, before taking up Ruin.

They all, merely by interacting with a world, and creating life on those worlds (They've all created human life on their respective worlds - no idea where the 'original' humans they all copy came from), inherently and possibly without even really intending to, imbue that world with some magic that reflects their nature - but the magic still draws upon the same divine font of magic that used to be the Overgod - it's just biased and shaped by the aspect that it draws from.

He's even implied that at some point there's going to be the mother-of-all series that links all the universes together for a big finale and showdown involving all the planar-hopping characters that are hinted at in each book (Hoid being the most obvious, being a secondary character in every single book so far), and all these 'shards' of God. It's also been confirmed that it's possible to make every single magic in all the series work on other worlds, if you're someone who really understands how they all work, because they are all really related at heart

It's interesting that he's put so much thought into the metaphysics of the world, and the fact that he has makes me really really interested in what the big finale could be like.

There's a forum here that seems to be entirely dedicated to debating about all the hidden little things in Brandon's stuff which adds up to this bigger picture, which is the only reason I would have known this - most of this stuff was pieced together over years and through lots of reading between the lines in the books, and Brandon's confirmed a lot of it.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Wolpertinger posted:

How would that really work, though - metalminds store something already inside you, leaving you without it, and then allows you to draw upon an excess of it later - To become one of those people that can use the Aon Dor (I forget the name of that transformation, haven't read Elantris in ages) you need to be born somewhere nearby - it's genetic, like Allomancy.

Or, actually, in light of a couple tidbits he's revealed in interviews and sneaked into books, it's actually in their 'spirit web' essentially a combination of 'spiritual dna' and your actual soul - a hemalurgist tears off the piece that governs whatever power or attribute is desired from whoever you stab and staples it onto whoever receives the spike.

Which does bring an idea to mind - what if a nicrosil feruchemist could use Hemalurgy? Then he might be able to gain or use powers he shouldn't from other worlds. The little codex at the end DOES have the mysterious writer considering the possible potential uses of Hemalurgy in other worlds.


Well, maybe we'll see Marsh with 256 spikes or whatever at some point. I have to think that if Hemalurgy becomes a thing later on (which the bit at the end did seem to imply), he'd probably be the best position to make use of it. Other than him, there may not actually be anybody left on Scadriel that knows Hemalurgy exists, let alone anything more, given how secretive the Steel Inquisitors were about it.

Wolpertinger
Feb 16, 2011

Kreeblah posted:

Well, maybe we'll see Marsh with 256 spikes or whatever at some point. I have to think that if Hemalurgy becomes a thing later on (which the bit at the end did seem to imply), he'd probably be the best position to make use of it. Other than him, there may not actually be anybody left on Scadriel that knows Hemalurgy exists, let alone anything more, given how secretive the Steel Inquisitors were about it.

I think it mentioned somewhere in the glossary that it's pretty much nobody but Harmony, Marsh, and the Kandra serving Harmony.. though it wasn't firm enough to completely leave out the option that a bad guy might know about it.. which is a possibile potential use for the kidnapped allomancers, I suppose!

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Kreeblah posted:

Well, maybe we'll see Marsh with 256 spikes or whatever at some point

That is a lot of spikes and places to put them.

Wolpertinger
Feb 16, 2011

veekie posted:

That is a lot of spikes and places to put them.

Spikes CAN be pretty small - remember the earring?

pakman
Jun 27, 2011

So I had a busy day yesterday, and only got through the prologue and first chapter, but I am liking the wild west/victorian magic with guns thing. I'm reading this on my Kindle, and sadly, it seems that this version doesn't come with maps that are most assuredly in the actual book. Does anyone have a link to some scans (if, in fact, there are maps)?

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice
I don't think there are maps. There are those broadsheets, though.

BannedNewbie
Apr 22, 2003

HOW ARE YOU? -> YOSHI?
FINE, THANK YOU. -> YOSHI.
There are maps at the beginning of the book, they're included in the nook version.

Edit: Here are the images from the nook version:
http://i.imgur.com/T087x.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EGDHI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZblyF.jpg

BannedNewbie fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Nov 9, 2011

pakman
Jun 27, 2011

BannedNewbie posted:

There are maps at the beginning of the book, they're included in the nook version.

Edit: Here are the images from the nook version:
http://i.imgur.com/T087x.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EGDHI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZblyF.jpg

Thank you very much! I appreciate it.

omnibobb
Dec 3, 2005
Title text'd
Did I miss Hoid in Alloy of Law?

BannedNewbie
Apr 22, 2003

HOW ARE YOU? -> YOSHI?
FINE, THANK YOU. -> YOSHI.
I didn't catch his direct appearance if he made one, but I assume that he's the one who wrote the glossary at the end of the book

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

^^ Yeah, I'm thinking Hoid is the one who wrote all the analysis at the end of the book as well

I really liked this book, I'm hoping this was just a taste and there will be another huge trilogy involving this plot /time in the future. I loved references to all of the events in the Mistborn trilogy as well. I wonder if Sazed and Marsh talk a good amount, just to keep Sazed entertained.. Also, who was the Sliver supposed to be?

I'm really hoping for Sanderson to include a giant explanation that captures some key points about all of the worlds, just enough for everyone to have a good grasp of what is going on. Also for Vin/Elend to come back as Mistborn somehow

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

Democratic Pirate posted:

^^ Yeah, I'm thinking Hoid is the one who wrote all the analysis at the end of the book as well

I really liked this book, I'm hoping this was just a taste and there will be another huge trilogy involving this plot /time in the future. I loved references to all of the events in the Mistborn trilogy as well. I wonder if Sazed and Marsh talk a good amount, just to keep Sazed entertained.. Also, who was the Sliver supposed to be?

I'm really hoping for Sanderson to include a giant explanation that captures some key points about all of the worlds, just enough for everyone to have a good grasp of what is going on. Also for Vin/Elend to come back as Mistborn somehow

Sliver = Sliver of Infinity = Lord Ruler. It was one of his titles in the first trilogy.

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

Ah thanks, that completely slipped my mind just now.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
About halfway through the book. Wayne's extremely loose interpretation of trading is a great running gag.

404GoonNotFound
Aug 6, 2006

The McRib is back!?!?

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

About halfway through the book. Wayne's extremely loose interpretation of trading is a great running gag.

Yeah, despite the usual :goonsay: Sanderson usually manages at least one funny moment per book/series. See: The "homicidal hat trick" in Hero of Ages and "chull dung has many uses" in Way of Kings.

gninjagnome
Apr 17, 2003

Man, I just powered through Alloy of Law. I love that it's feels like a huge prologue for a larger series. It does a great job of setting up the world, and how it links back to the original trilogy. I really want to know more about this time period, and love the personalities of all the characters.

Ugly In The Morning
Jul 1, 2010
Pillbug
After I finished AoL today, I was flipping through the first book when something caught my eye. So, the (Alloy of Law/Next mistborn trilogy spoiler) Trell thing that Miles mentions as he's being executed? The diety in a religion Sazed tries to convert Vin to in Mistborn 1. They're the ones who worshipped stars. God dammit Sanderson, how do you keep track of all this poo poo?.

wellwhoopdedooo
Nov 23, 2007

Pound Trooper!
I gotta say, he's made massive strides in humor in this book. It feels much less forced, like instead of trying to make me laugh out loud he's happy to get a genuine smile.

Oh, there's still been a time or maybe even two times where I wanted to cringe (I'm about halfway through now) but on the whole, I think he's finally starting to get it. And the rest of his writing is getting really good too, he's going from a writer with really interesting ideas whose prose was pretty rough at times, to a just plain excellent writer. Can't wait to read absolutely everything he ever writes, but I'm practically drooling over the modern times Mistborn and next Stormlight book.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
I just finished the book. Just wonderful. As I mentioned before with the trading gag and others are saying, the book is way more naturally funny than any of his others. The plot was (is, I suppose, since it's clearly not over) interesting and well thought-out as usual. I'm so drat psyched for more Stormlight and whatever else he writes. I'm finally to his contribution to Wheel of Time (finished Knife of Dreams last week), so I'm looking forward to that and eventually AMoL. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite current authors.

Oh, and I loved how Wayne is implied to be reading Watership Down at the end, however weird it is with regards to world continuity.

Subvisual Haze
Nov 22, 2003

The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.
Most of the "new" names for old characters are pretty straightforward, but "The Lord Mistborn" was giving me fits though. Now I'm almost certain who it was though. He was some sort of great early ruler, he was the last of the mistborn who all the kidnapped people are having their lines traced to, and he named the city Elendel. I had to check the old trilogy, but then I remembered, Spook was made a Mistborn at the very end of the story. His nonsense language appearing at one point in the story as some sort of official language pretty well hammered it home.

Overall it was an enjoyable, if brief, read. I felt somehow deprived not having my ridiculous Sanderson confluence of characters and revelations in the last quarter of the book. The villain was a very well written brand of crazy though.

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Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

keiran_helcyan posted:

Most of the "new" names for old characters are pretty straightforward, but "The Lord Mistborn" was giving me fits though. Now I'm almost certain who it was though. He was some sort of great early ruler, he was the last of the mistborn who all the kidnapped people are having their lines traced to, and he named the city Elendel. I had to check the old trilogy, but then I remembered, Spook was made a Mistborn at the very end of the story. His nonsense language appearing at one point in the story as some sort of official language pretty well hammered it home.

Overall it was an enjoyable, if brief, read. I felt somehow deprived not having my ridiculous Sanderson confluence of characters and revelations in the last quarter of the book. The villain was a very well written brand of crazy though.

Oooh. Good catch. I was wondering about that, too. I completely forgot that Sazed made him a full Mistborn at the end.

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