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veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Amarkov posted:

I think that's really the problem. He's not a horrible character, but his flashbacks were so soul-crushingly boring and predictable that my hatred of them transferred to him. When that reveal happened, I was thinking "oh god finally the flashbacks are over".

Likewise, the flashbacks are basically stealing screentime from the 'current' plot, which made them feel worse than they were.

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MartingaleJack
Aug 26, 2004

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

veekie posted:

Likewise, the flashbacks are basically stealing screentime from the 'current' plot, which made them feel worse than they were.

The flashbacks work on more levels than people give them credit for. Most important is the establishment of the light eyes, dark eyes animosity, and then thr general world situation before the various armies temporarily united to go after the Parshendi after the king is murdered.

We get some of the same information from Dalinar and Adolin's perspective, but it would seem superficial coming from them, because they are privileged and there is no real emotional investment in their class situation like there is for Kaladin.

And another thing, I liked how telegraphed the thing with Kaladin's brother was. I think that was intended by Sanderson, because I had a real sense of dread waiting for it. The last time I felt that kind of dread was with Susan in Wizard and Glass by Steve King. King did it better, to the point that I actually felt sick, but Sanderson's effort worked too.

wellwhoopdedooo
Nov 23, 2007

Pound Trooper!

BananaNutkins posted:

And another thing, I liked how telegraphed the thing with Kaladin's brother was. I think that was intended by Sanderson, because I had a real sense of dread waiting for it. The last time I felt that kind of dread was with Susan in Wizard and Glass by Steve King. King did it better, to the point that I actually felt sick, but Sanderson's effort worked too.

Funny, the flashbacks reminded me a lot of Wizard and Glass as well. They both have that semi-dreamlike state, that just makes reading them a really awesome experience. Unless of course it's too much of a transition for you, which is understandable--you're right in the middle of the story, and then you get broken out of it and are expected to read some story that's just very different. The best I can say for those who don't enjoy it is, it'll probably be better the second time through, because you won't have that subconscious anxiety that it's taking away from the "real" story. And if not, at least you can skip it guilt-free.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


ConfusedUs posted:

They're just different. I love the entire series. But if I had to be 100% honest, here's how I'd explain each book's faults:

Book 1 is basically Ocean's Eleven with allomancy. Its biggest failing is being overly expository at times.

Book 2's biggest failing is the dreadfully slow second act.

Book 3's biggest failing is that (a certain popular character)spends most of the book whining and crying.

My only real problems with the second and third books was just too much recapping.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

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

muscles like this? posted:

My only real problems with the second and third books was just too much recapping.

I think they were written like people would read them a couple years apart and need some recapping, but of course no one reads them that way so it feels awkward.

The General
Mar 4, 2007


My biggest problem with the Mistborn Trilogy was that I knew how book 3 ended by the middle of book 2 (I expected book 2 to end that way for some reason).

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


The General posted:

My biggest problem with the Mistborn Trilogy was that I knew how book 3 ended by the middle of book 2 (I expected book 2 to end that way for some reason).

Are you speaking generally? Like you kinda figured there would be an end of the world type scenario? Or had you figured out some of the specific revelations like Ruin's body being atium, Preservation's body being the mist, the mist forcibly snapping everybody (which is how the random deaths happen), vin's earring being a hemalurgic spike that allows Ruin to keep tabs on her, etc?

I don't think Ruin or Preservation get mentioned untill the end of the second book.

soru
Apr 27, 2003

The Red God has his due, sweet girl, and only death may pay for life.

The General posted:

My biggest problem with the Mistborn Trilogy was that I knew how book 3 ended by the middle of book 2 (I expected book 2 to end that way for some reason).

I don't think that's a very common problem.

syphon
Jan 1, 2001
I kinda figured the whole 'shattered world' thing would be fixed and the world would go back to normal, but I don't know if I'd say I saw it coming (it was just an idea bouncing around in my head after they started discussing how the world used to be).

egg tats
Apr 3, 2010
So Sanderson is going to be doing a Q&A on reddit. He hasn't said anything worthwhile so far, but he did drop this little tidbit:

Brandon Sanderson posted:


My current plan is to hold out on the second trilogy until I've reached a breaking point in the Stormlight Archive. (So after book five.) My reasoning is that the second trilogy is very involved, and I'm not certain if I want two thick-booked series going at once. There is a good chance I'll return and do another shorter book, like this one, in the world before then. Either about Wax, or perhaps a quick glimpse of the southern continent.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
Oh no! We might to wait a whole five years to get another Mistborn book! :D

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

Oh no! We might to wait a whole five years to get another Mistborn book! :D

Less than that if he does another Alloy of Law book in-between Stormlight Archives books. :D

Xenix
Feb 21, 2003
So I've just finished Warbreaker and I feel as though I missed something semi-important. The high priest for the God King is named Treledees, and about midway through the book, Denth is referred to as VaraTreledees. He's called this twice more before the book ends. Is there a relationship between the characters? Does the prefix mean something that I just missed? I tried just searching for the prefix, but found nothing except the three occurrences where it's used with the name.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


If you need more proof that Brandon is a goon.
http://twitter.com/#!/BrandSanderson/statuses/159855329717403648

bigGIANTcircles Jimmy Hinson posted:

Seriously, I feel like I should write a soundtrack for Mistborn. What say you @BrandSanderson? You favor orchestral or electronic? :)

Brandon Sanderson posted:

@bigGIANTcircles Of yours works, my favorite is Anthem of a Metroid Hunter. (Excellent work, by the way.) Maybe a blend favoring Orchestral?

Edit: Oh wtf Brandon...

quote:

Right now, taking a (short) break from the WoT rewrite to spend an evening working on the Mistborn video game script.

Q: Xbox? PC?
A: Both.

Q: I don't suppose you can tell us who's developing it yet, can you?
A: Afraid I'm not allowed to say yet.
:argh:

Q: Is Epic games developing? Is this how they got you to write the Infinity Blade novella?
A: I hope to do some projects with Epic in the future, but they are not doing this one. Part of why I took that project, however, was to get more experience with video game storytelling and plotting.

Makes sense.

Cartoon Man fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Jan 19, 2012

Fallorn
Apr 14, 2005
I do have to say that I just want more :rock: Rock :rock: because awesome cook. Also waiting for Kaladin to kill his High lord who sold him into slavery in a duel taking back the plate and blade. And if it was going to be super scripted giving it to the kings uncle for the blade that saved the bridgemen.

lunar detritus
May 6, 2009


Is there any difference between Warbreaker v6.1 and the one available in Amazon?

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


Nope, just the fact that the Amazon version gives Brandon money for a job well done.

Edit: Wait, are you talking about the free version Brandon put up on his website?

Kruller
Feb 20, 2004

It's time to restore dignity to the Farnsworth name!

Cartoon Man posted:

Q: Xbox? PC?
A: Both.

Q: I don't suppose you can tell us who's developing it yet, can you?
A: Afraid I'm not allowed to say yet.
:argh:

Q: Is Epic games developing? Is this how they got you to write the Infinity Blade novella?
A: I hope to do some projects with Epic in the future, but they are not doing this one. Part of why I took that project, however, was to get more experience with video game storytelling and plotting.

Makes sense.

I'm really hoping it's a pseudo Metroidvania style, where you aren't a full on Mistborn at the start, and get the alloys with Lerasium that make you a misting of each type as upgrades through the game. Like maybe you start with a lovely one, like gold, and end up a full Mistborn who rips poo poo up. Maybe an Arkham Asylum type game, since tin is sorta like detective vision.

404GoonNotFound
Aug 6, 2006

The McRib is back!?!?
I would definitely prefer the Assassin's Creed/Arkham City style, if only because that seems more fitting for a console/PC tile, while a metroidvania would more likely than not end up exclusive to smartphone platforms.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


I'm hopeful that it takes place before the first trilogy of books and follows Kelsier's mentor.

lunar detritus
May 6, 2009


Cartoon Man posted:

Nope, just the fact that the Amazon version gives Brandon money for a job well done.

Edit: Wait, are you talking about the free version Brandon put up on his website?

Yup, the last version he posted here.

Conduit for Sale!
Apr 17, 2007

I'm about halfway through The Way of Kings, and I'm curious, do people actually like Kaladin and his plot? As far as I'm concerned he's the worst part of the book. His story is going nowhere - he just decided they're going to try and escape, but I looked a few hundred pages further and he still loving doing bridge runs and poo poo and hasn't done anything. It's pretty obvious he's eventually going to go super saiyan and become Jesus or whatever (which I'm sure I won't care about either), why is Sanderson loving around with this bridgeman poo poo?

I wish this was a GRRM book so he'd die.

e: I do like most everything else about the book though. Kaladin just annoys the poo poo out of me. The only thing I like about his chapters is Syl. Rock is pretty cool too.

Conduit for Sale! fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jan 20, 2012

subx
Jan 12, 2003

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

Conduit for Sale! posted:

I'm about halfway through The Way of Kings, and I'm curious, do people actually like Kaladin and his plot? As far as I'm concerned he's the worst part of the book. His story is going nowhere - he just decided they're going to try and escape, but I looked a few hundred pages further and he still loving doing bridge runs and poo poo and hasn't done anything. It's pretty obvious he's eventually going to go super saiyan and become Jesus or whatever (which I'm sure I won't care about either), why is Sanderson loving around with this bridgeman poo poo?

I wish this was a GRRM book so he'd die.

e: I do like most everything else about the book though. Kaladin just annoys the poo poo out of me. The only thing I like about his chapters is Syl. Rock is pretty cool too.

It feels like people are wanting the story to be super fast, but this is going to be like a 10 book series, so I'd expect the first book or two to be a lot of character and world building. The bridge thing is really just showing his natural leadership and his slow building of long-dead powers. Remember this is a guy (Sanderson I mean) that really loved the WoT and it had similar pacing early on in the series.

Conduit for Sale!
Apr 17, 2007

I don't necessarily want it to be super fast. I like Shallan and Dalinar/Adolin, and their plots are anything but quickly paced. There's just nothing I particularly like about Kaladin, and there's nothing I find interesting about his story. The others each have something I can sink my teeth into, whether it's Dalinar's visions or Jasnah figuring out whatever it is she's figuring out and teaching Shallan, Although, I would unironically read a one act, conflictless book about Shallan being tutored by Jasnah where the resolution is Shallan becoming educated, so my opinion on Shallan's chapters is probably suspect.

Also, I got that Kaladin was a natural leader and had something lucky about him that would probably end up being superpowers from his first chapter. Everything after has just been filler.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender
I dunno what to tell you other than that (dunno why I'm even spoilering this, honestly) his story is more about the journey than the destination.

Conduit for Sale!
Apr 17, 2007

I just needed to vent more than I was looking for anybody to tell me it gets better. I think I'm just never going to like Kaladin.

It's funny, people were talking about how much they disliked Kaladin's flashback chapters a page or two ago, but I find those way more interesting than Kaladin's current chapters. :v:

Anyway, I have a question: do Szeth's intermission chapters take place at the same time as the rest of the book? Because I'm sorta wondering if Shallan's father was on the list Szeth got.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

Kaladin is slow as poo poo and nobody will argue with you about that, but he's mostly worthwhile by the end of the book. Whether you hated or liked the flashbacks.

Way of Kings was about worldbuilding, and it did that well. I felt it wasn't a great book on its own, but I really do think it will pay off.

L-O-N
Sep 13, 2004

Pillbug
One of the main purpose of Kaladin's story is about giving a view into lives of the common people and dark eyes. Without it, all you have it Shallan and Dalinar's light eyes perspectives. Plus, Kaladin's crew all seem very interesting as well.

It also ties nicely into Dalinar's story since both are taking place in the same time and place.

Shallan's always felt the most disjointed since it seemed to have no tie in to the main plot other than a few snippets.

I do like all the characters, though, and thought that Kaladin's plot's climax was pure awesome.

L-O-N
Sep 13, 2004

Pillbug
quote!= edit

lunar detritus
May 6, 2009


I just finished Warkbreaker. The story was fun and the magic system creative but the epilogue was a bit disappointing. I guess I cared more about Siri and the God King than Vivenna and Vasher and the obvious sequel hook felt forced.

Amarkov
Jun 21, 2010

Conduit for Sale! posted:

Anyway, I have a question: do Szeth's intermission chapters take place at the same time as the rest of the book? Because I'm sorta wondering if Shallan's father was on the list Szeth got.

It's actually impossible to answer any part of this with anything except "keep reading".

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


Brandon tweeted that the Mistborn videogame announcement should come sometime next month. The game is set hundreds of years before the first book, so no Kelsier and company. Tentatively set for summer/fall 2013.

Cartoon Man fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jan 20, 2012

subx
Jan 12, 2003

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

gmq posted:

I just finished Warkbreaker. The story was fun and the magic system creative but the epilogue was a bit disappointing. I guess I cared more about Siri and the God King than Vivenna and Vasher and the obvious sequel hook felt forced.

Surprisingly, with such an obvious "there's more!" ending, it's the one book I don't think he has said he is going to do a sequel to in the near future.

Streebs
Dec 6, 2003

RIP

subx posted:

Surprisingly, with such an obvious "there's more!" ending, it's the one book I don't think he has said he is going to do a sequel to in the near future.

He actually has talked about doing another book set in the Warbreaker world, speculative title is Nightblood (the name of the talking sword).

OmniBeer
Jun 5, 2011

This is no time to
remain stagnant!

Streebs posted:

He actually has talked about doing another book set in the Warbreaker world, speculative title is Nightblood (the name of the talking sword).

See, that'd make me happy. I liked the sword quite a bit, and while Warbreaker was fun, I felt like they sort of didn't integrate it very well into the story.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!

OmniBeer posted:

See, that'd make me happy. I liked the sword quite a bit, and while Warbreaker was fun, I felt like they sort of didn't integrate it very well into the story.

I think the reason for that is that if Sanderson had focused more on Nightblood earlier in the story, there wouldn't really have been a story. Most of the conflict came from how Nightblood was created and the consequences of that.

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender
Holy poo poo. I really wish I had the cash for this.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/1048/

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!

Kreeblah posted:

Holy poo poo. I really wish I had the cash for this.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/1048/

Jesus those are nice-looking books. But yeah, the bid's already at $600, soooo.

AlternateAccount
Apr 25, 2005
FYGM

Conduit for Sale! posted:

I'm about halfway through The Way of Kings, and I'm curious, do people actually like Kaladin and his plot? As far as I'm concerned he's the worst part of the book. His story is going nowhere - he just decided they're going to try and escape, but I looked a few hundred pages further and he still loving doing bridge runs and poo poo and hasn't done anything. It's pretty obvious he's eventually going to go super saiyan and become Jesus or whatever (which I'm sure I won't care about either), why is Sanderson loving around with this bridgeman poo poo?

I wish this was a GRRM book so he'd die.

e: I do like most everything else about the book though. Kaladin just annoys the poo poo out of me. The only thing I like about his chapters is Syl. Rock is pretty cool too.

Yeah, I pretty much said all these things a few pages ago. People defend it a bit, but I'll tell you now, his story doesn't get any better. Just push on through.

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IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

He gets a little more interesting, but it's a slog yeah, especially all those flashbacks.

I think there were better ways to tell his story, but not that would have fit with the rest of the novel/series, so we got what we got. I consider the whole book to be world building so it's sort of forgivable, but it's his worst book when it comes to pacing and being self contained.

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