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Clinton1011
Jul 11, 2007
The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch is a good alternative if you want something like Dresden that is more serious.

Since we are in the Sanderson thread I should suggest The Grimnoir Chronicles. Takes place after world war one with a really detailed magic system. I had a lot of fun reading the first two books.

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The Glumslinger
Sep 24, 2008

Coach Nagy, you want me to throw to WHAT side of the field?


Hair Elf
I've been meaning to post this for a while since I reread WoK, but I just noticed that Elhokar paranoia is caused by him seeing the same symbol headed spren that Shallan saw.

This was probably obvious to most people, but I managed to completely miss it the first time.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


The Glumslinger posted:

I've been meaning to post this for a while since I reread WoK, but I just noticed that Elhokar paranoia is caused by him seeing the same symbol headed spren that Shallan saw.

This was probably obvious to most people, but I managed to completely miss it the first time.

Imagine how many other tiny minor things we are missing that will all come back to play major roles in book 10.

Reading Brandon Sanderson books owns. :cheers:

Subvisual Haze
Nov 22, 2003

The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.

Cartoon Man posted:

Imagine how many other tiny minor things we are missing that will all come back to play major roles in book 10.

Reading Brandon Sanderson books owns. :cheers:

Hell, the last 2-3 books should be a sustained avalanche!

404GoonNotFound
Aug 6, 2006

The McRib is back!?!?

keiran_helcyan posted:

Hell, the last 2-3 books should be a sustained avalanche!

And will probably weigh about 5 pounds each.

coffeetable
Feb 5, 2006

TELL ME AGAIN HOW GREAT BRITAIN WOULD BE IF IT WAS RULED BY THE MERCILESS JACKBOOT OF PRINCE CHARLES

YES I DO TALK TO PLANTS ACTUALLY

Clinton1011 posted:

The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch is a good alternative if you want something like Dresden that is more serious.

Yeah, Rivers of London and its sequels is the best urban fantasy series to date. Mostly because it's actually well written, gasp. And while they're certainly more serious that the Dresden Files, they've still got a fair bit of comedy in them.

Once you've knocked through those, pick up Harry Connolly's Child of Fire trilogy. That they're excellent didn't stop it being unfortunately cut short by dire sales :(

e: On Twitter, Sanderson's just said he's finished 30%/90,000 words of the Stormlight 2 rough draft. Gonna be another thousand-page doorstop like the first :psyduck:

coffeetable fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Dec 12, 2012

Antinumeric
Nov 27, 2010

BoxGiraffe

404GoonNotFound posted:

And will probably weigh about 5 pounds each.

The real Sanderson Avalanche is accidentally knocking over a collection of his books.

Charlz Guybon
Nov 16, 2010

ConfusedUs posted:

No, the others were bad. Shallan? Horrid!

But Wit was a humorous hipster, hyper-expanding the horizons of horrible jokes before it was cool!
Nobody else in the book found Shallan funny. She was definitely supposed to be that way, the Wit I think was more failure on Sanderson's part.

Charlz Guybon
Nov 16, 2010

AlternateAccount posted:

I really wasn't looking for it, but in Chapter 34 of KoD, Furyk walks in on a grouping of Seanchan leaders and kind of runs through how they're all physically pretty distinct in coloring. So apparently Seanchan is rather gigantic and unified across quite a variety of people.

The Westlands are quite big (roughly 6 millions sq miles), but Seanchan is bigger and unified. Not counting the Lesser Blight, Seanchan runs from about 40 degrees north to 40 degrees south.

Charlz Guybon fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Dec 23, 2012

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Something I noticed...isn't ClayShan basically magical combat ballet?

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe
I finally got around to reading The Final Empire and really enjoyed it. It had some issues but overall was really well done. The OP says the second and third book are a lot different though and that's making me a bit wary of starting into the rest. Is it worth continuing or are they so drastically different that I should just treat it as a one off and move on?

NinjaDebugger
Apr 22, 2008


The Gunslinger posted:

I finally got around to reading The Final Empire and really enjoyed it. It had some issues but overall was really well done. The OP says the second and third book are a lot different though and that's making me a bit wary of starting into the rest. Is it worth continuing or are they so drastically different that I should just treat it as a one off and move on?

The answer with Brandon Sanderson is invariably "KEEP GOING". Yes, there are slow parts. Yes, there are characters and developments that you will hate. Yes, it is always worth it to keep going. It invariably all pays off in the end.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


NinjaDebugger posted:

The answer with Brandon Sanderson is invariably "KEEP GOING". Yes, there are slow parts. Yes, there are characters and developments that you will hate. Yes, it is always worth it to keep going. It invariably all pays off in the end.

Especially the book 3 ending when you realize how much closer you should have been paying attention to detail.

Sulphagnist
Oct 10, 2006

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

Cartoon Man posted:

Especially the book 3 ending when you realize how much closer you should have been paying attention to detail.

Fortunately, I love it when an author makes me feel stupid like he does.

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

I reread the entire Mistborn trilogy a few weeks ago and accidentally mistimed my reading speed. I hit the last part of the third book, the giant Sanderson Avalanche, around 10pm. You don't sleep until you ride out the Avalanche.

I was very unproductive at work the next day.

Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.
The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Brandon Sanderson: You don't sleep until you ride out the Avalanche.

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe
I'm about halfway through the second book now and it's...not great. The first book was pretty consistent so this is a bit disappointing, I'm just not enjoying it very much. Maybe the first book coasted on the Kelsier character too much, I don't know but it's really boring with the focus being mostly on Vin and her character isn't anywhere near as interesting this time. I hope this gets better, avalanche or not.

wellwhoopdedooo
Nov 23, 2007

Pound Trooper!

The Gunslinger posted:

I'm about halfway through the second book now and it's...not great. The first book was pretty consistent so this is a bit disappointing, I'm just not enjoying it very much. Maybe the first book coasted on the Kelsier character too much, I don't know but it's really boring with the focus being mostly on Vin and her character isn't anywhere near as interesting this time. I hope this gets better, avalanche or not.

IIRC, yeah, it picks up right around the halfway mark. But the second book is easily the weakest in the trilogy, I was thinking of giving up on it a couple times myself. Vin's "journey" really didn't grab anything in me at all.

The third book made me glad I stuck with it, but overall I'd call Mistborn "pretty good" and not "great", with moments of "holy gently caress that was sweet" and at least a few slogs of "oh my GOD I don't care". Book two is where the greatest density of the last occurs by far.

The Way of Kings is great. Hold your final judgment on Sanderson until you've read that book, you won't be sorry.

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe
Yeah I read The Way of Kings and really enjoyed it, so I figured I would revisit his older stuff since the new book wasn't out yet. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the first Mistborn book was since people warned me his early writing was a bit rough. Unfortunately the second book is not clicking at all for me :( I'll stick with it awhile longer and see.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


The Gunslinger posted:

Yeah I read The Way of Kings and really enjoyed it, so I figured I would revisit his older stuff since the new book wasn't out yet. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the first Mistborn book was since people warned me his early writing was a bit rough. Unfortunately the second book is not clicking at all for me :( I'll stick with it awhile longer and see.

The avalanche kicks into overdrive near the last quarter. Book 2 is not as good as the others, but is necessary to finish because book 3 owns! Also book 3 has a major Spook POV all throughout it and that owns in an of itself.

What I'm trying to say is, Spook owns.

patricius
Apr 17, 2006

sicut patribus sit deus nobis

wellwhoopdedooo posted:

The Way of Kings is great. Hold your final judgment on Sanderson until you've read that book, you won't be sorry.

Yeah, I read the Final Empire and then The Way of Kings in quick succession and the difference even in the quality of his prose is pretty noticeable.

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


patricius posted:

Yeah, I read the Final Empire and then The Way of Kings in quick succession and the difference even in the quality of his prose is pretty noticeable.

Have you read his recent short stories/novellas? (The Emporer's Soul and Legion.) He's getting even better than when he wrote WOK. Stormlight book 2 is going to be so good... :black101:

patricius
Apr 17, 2006

sicut patribus sit deus nobis

Cartoon Man posted:

Have you read his recent short stories/novellas? (The Emporer's Soul and Legion.) He's getting even better than when he wrote WOK. Stormlight book 2 is going to be so good... :black101:

I haven't read Legion yet, but yeah, Emperor's Soul blew me away.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

The Gunslinger posted:

I'm about halfway through the second book now and it's...not great. The first book was pretty consistent so this is a bit disappointing, I'm just not enjoying it very much. Maybe the first book coasted on the Kelsier character too much, I don't know but it's really boring with the focus being mostly on Vin and her character isn't anywhere near as interesting this time. I hope this gets better, avalanche or not.

The second book is really not fulfilling until you see the last Sazed chapter, then it's awesome.

Subvisual Haze
Nov 22, 2003

The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.

The Gunslinger posted:

I'm about halfway through the second book now and it's...not great. The first book was pretty consistent so this is a bit disappointing, I'm just not enjoying it very much. Maybe the first book coasted on the Kelsier character too much, I don't know but it's really boring with the focus being mostly on Vin and her character isn't anywhere near as interesting this time. I hope this gets better, avalanche or not.

I didn't really enjoy the second book much either. Elend is a moron, Zane is a brooding asshat, and Lord Venture isn't a great antagonist either.

It does have a good ending though, and the third book is nonstop amazing. So I'd recommend sticking it out.

SerSpook
Feb 13, 2012




Cartoon Man posted:

The avalanche kicks into overdrive near the last quarter. Book 2 is not as good as the others, but is necessary to finish because book 3 owns! Also book 3 has a major Spook POV all throughout it and that owns in an of itself.

What I'm trying to say is, Spook owns.

Spook is pretty great. This man knows what he's talking about.

OneTwentySix
Nov 5, 2007

fun
FUN
FUN


If only I knew what he wasing talking about.

treeboy
Nov 13, 2004

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

OneTwentySix posted:

If only I knew what he wasing talking about.

i see you've been practicing your high-imperial

Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

treeboy posted:

i see you've been practicing your high-imperial
I only recently picked up Alloy of Law and I laughed out loud when Sanderson made this 'joke'.

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe

keiran_helcyan posted:

I didn't really enjoy the second book much either. Elend is a moron, Zane is a brooding asshat, and Lord Venture isn't a great antagonist either.

It does have a good ending though, and the third book is nonstop amazing. So I'd recommend sticking it out.

I'm doing my best, about 80% through but drat its a real slog. The whole book seems like a step backwards from the first, one characters "negative" trait is that he's just too good and unselfish, I feel like I'm reading YA fantasy here. I'm not even sure what happened but every interesting character and element from the first is boring in this one. It's like Sanderson put his name on this but someone else wrote it. The ending better blow my mind or I'm skipping the third.

The Gunslinger fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Jan 9, 2013

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice

The Gunslinger posted:

I'm doing my best, about 80% through but drat its a real slog. The whole book seems like a step backwards from the first, one characters "negative" trait is that he's just too good and unselfish, I feel like I'm reading YA fantasy here. I'm not even sure what happened but every interesting character and element from the first is boring in this one. It's like Sanderson put his name on this but someone else wrote it. The ending better blow my mind or I'm skipping the third.

That's kind of what Mistborn is, slightly more advanced YA fantasy. There's no real shame in that (except in the extreme cases of horrible cash-ins ...)

The end has a pretty good twist that sets up the conclusion, though, one you should be picking up bits and pieces of as you slog through the middle.

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe

api call girl posted:

That's kind of what Mistborn is, slightly more advanced YA fantasy. There's no real shame in that (except in the extreme cases of horrible cash-ins ...)

The end has a pretty good twist that sets up the conclusion, though, one you should be picking up bits and pieces of as you slog through the middle.

Yeah I am just frustrated with the book I guess, you're right. I'm not sure what twist it's setting up to be honest, I was more focused on (correctly) guessing who the spy was and just sort of rolling my eyes through other sections. I assume it's in reference to the framing story so I'll give it some thought later.

Clockwork Gadget
Oct 30, 2008

tick tock

The Gunslinger posted:

The ending better blow my mind or I'm skipping the third.

Working your way through the second book and then skipping the third out of spite would be a pretty ridiculous and terrible mistake, seeing as how the third book is pretty much a constant rollercoaster of :tviv:

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

The worst part about the second book is the relationship stuff. It just keeps spinning in a circle over and over for far too long, and it gets tedious each time you see Vin wondering if she deserves Elend because every time that happens there's a followup scene where Elend wonders if he deserves Vin.

I did feel like the third book made up for it, but yikes there's just so much padding and bloat weighing the second book down.

Sulphagnist
Oct 10, 2006

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

Think of the Mistborn trilogy as one book. Most of the third book is the Sanderson Avalanche of that whole book. You're stuck in the middle doldrums. On reflection I didn't find it that bad, but I can totally see how someone would. But who picks up a Sanderson book and skips out on the Avalanche?

Drunk Tomato
Apr 23, 2010

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

Antti posted:

who picks up a Sanderson book and skips out on the Avalanche?


Yeah don't ever, ever, ever, ever do this. Always read to the end of a Sanderson book.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE
Aug 1, 2004

whoa, what just happened here?







College Slice


Come on, Brandon, do it!

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg

api call girl posted:



Come on, Brandon, do it!

Hell no! Brandon needs to focus on Stormlight 2. Besides he can probably finish up some of these smaller projects on his next plane-ride.

Superstring
Jul 22, 2007

I thought I was going insane for a second.

It's like clockwork with him, planes, and new books.

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veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Superstring posted:

It's like clockwork with him, planes, and new books.
With Sanderson just about anything would make a new book.

Can anyone crosscheck on this: Is ClayShan(from Elantris) actually magic ballet or am I reading too much into it?

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