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More likely to be something further down the groups, in my mind. Something like Caesium or Radium: the descriptions are notably evocative of radiation. Keep an eye out in the next book for how many pilots have cancer.
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Jul 26, 2016 11:04
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Heh, heh, heh. I get the thread title now Okay, I haven't been reading this thread so I don't know how cool people are with this, but don't read this next spoiler if you're new. All his books are set in one universe, the cosmere.
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Jul 27, 2016 02:28
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Not really a spoiler. We talk about it pretty openly in the thread. Hoid is also the same dude in each book.
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Jul 27, 2016 02:33
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On the serious side, as a overthinker with an interest in military history, I find the Kaladin's military training exhausting to get through. The details are all off, creating this surreal logic that reminds me of Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment. But in there, the combat stuff was background to all the comedy, while here it's foreground that we're supposed to take seriously.
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Jul 27, 2016 03:10
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Monocled Falcon posted:On the serious side, as a overthinker with an interest in military history, I find the Kaladin's military training exhausting to get through. Did you read the wheel of time series? I felt like Robert Jordan's descriptions of battles and military life had an authenticity that I couldn't really pin down or describe
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Jul 27, 2016 05:28
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RJ was a decorated Vietnam vet (2 years as a helicopter door gunner) and did his undergrad at the Citadel when he got back. He wasn't a military lifer but he lived it long enough to be able to write war and battles authentically. Sanderson, on the other hand, is a quintessential nerdy Mormon, who did a 2 year LDS mission in Korea but otherwise had mostly lived as a writer and academic. Not quite the same.
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Jul 28, 2016 00:02
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Just finished the Well of Ascension. Can definitely see what you guys mean. Aside from some terrible dialogue early in the novel it's noticeably better. I can't read through 200 pages of forum, and I assume it's in there somewhere, but did anyone else get really annoyed with Vin halfway through the novel? Like, if Elend was actually shades of grey in terms of morality, or hid his emotions at all I could definitely get behind her indecisiveness, but as it stands he's practically the most upfront and morally straight character ever. In my opinion, the whole "Zane or Elend" arc could be removed completely and the narrative would be stronger for it. OreSuer came out of loving nowhere, did not see that coming in a million years.
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Jul 28, 2016 20:30
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lolasaurusrex posted:Just finished the Well of Ascension. Can definitely see what you guys mean. Aside from some terrible dialogue early in the novel it's noticeably better. Nah, you're right. WoA is pretty bad for the first two thirds or so. It's slow. Hero of Ages is much better. And the second Mistborn series, starting with "The Alloy of Law" is better than any of the originals.
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Jul 28, 2016 20:33
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It helps that as well as Sanderson maturing as a writer, he struggles a bit writing women. It's amazing that Vin comes off as well as she does, because most of the other female characters are pretty one-note. Wax+Wayne are written much better than Mistborn, but the Marasi bits still fall a bit flat and it feels like he's still struggling to find a proper voice for her. (Steris is pretty good post Alloy of Law though) Jasnah is probably the best he's done with a woman, but we've only ever gotten a single PoV chapter from her, and it was far enough in the past to not be a representation of her 'current' character.
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Jul 29, 2016 06:09
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I love the mistborn series. Both of them. But I'm finding the second one kinda harder to read. Been reading bands of mourning for quite some time already, 2/3rds into the book, and it is just... generic? The gunfights are pretty same-y. Steelpush, fire gun, cover, steelpush, repeat. In this novel we actually have all of the characters in the action, five of them, but not once in the whole book someone had a shining moment. Or a breakthrough scene. The mistery involved is pretty good, being an avid fan of the cosmere and the shards and all. But the novel by itself is getting boring and hard to read. Anyone else had the same problem?
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Jul 29, 2016 06:17
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lolasaurusrex posted:Just finished the Well of Ascension. Can definitely see what you guys mean. Aside from some terrible dialogue early in the novel it's noticeably better. I had a friend who did not understand why Vin would not choose Zane. She thought he was way better than Elend, who she considered boring and whiny. Still baffles me to this day... 
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Jul 29, 2016 06:39
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NeruVolpi posted:I love the mistborn series. Both of them. But I'm finding the second one kinda harder to read. It was all right, but nothing super interesting. I powered through it so I could read 'Secret History' which is really loving good and all about the cosmere.
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Jul 29, 2016 10:54
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Drunk Tomato posted:I had a friend who did not understand why Vin would not choose Zane. She thought he was way better than Elend, who she considered boring and whiny. Still baffles me to this day... Some people never get over their Hot Topic phase, I guess
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Jul 29, 2016 12:09
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Only the Darkstar in Feast For Crows was more Original Character Do Not Steal than that dude.
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Jul 29, 2016 12:46
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Drunk Tomato posted:I had a friend who did not understand why Vin would not choose Zane. She thought he was way better than Elend, who she considered boring and whiny. Still baffles me to this day... I think Sanderson says in the annotations on his website that a fair number of beta readers wanted Vin to end up with Zane as well. 
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Jul 29, 2016 16:33
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I actually thought the Zane stuff was a nice subversion of the love triangle trope. He was just a crazy stalker and Vin never even considered him as a real option - she never felt anything for him and was just drawn to the concepts he represents. The furthest she got was considering running away with him so to keep him away from Elend and the others. Though Elend was whiny, I actually liked him, and had to sympathize each time he tried doing the right thing and everyone gave him crap for caring about stuff like rights and freedom. Avalerion fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Jul 30, 2016 |
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Jul 30, 2016 09:48
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bewilderment posted:I just finished Bands of Mourning because after reading Stormlight so far, I had no idea there was an entire two more books of WaxnWayne. Luminaflare posted:Magnesium doesn't explode in contact with water. It's some form of alkali metal. Most likely Lithium, Sodium or Potassium. Bewilderment might be thinking of a magnesium fire interacting with water.
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Jul 30, 2016 10:03
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Reading Words of Radiance now. I do not like this thing where Dalinar 'trains' the high princes into following the code. Not very far into the book, so perhaps this turns out to be a diaster, but it's more nonsense to me. IMO, one of the hosed up realities of warfare and I guess human society in general is that the vain gloryhounds are very often extremely good at what they do. Trying to beat people into quiet professionalism is a terrible idea.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:58
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Avalerion posted:I actually thought the Zane stuff was a nice subversion of the love triangle trope. He was just a crazy stalker and Vin never even considered him as a real option - she never felt anything for him and was just drawn to the concepts he represents. The furthest she got was considering running away with him so to keep him away from Elend and the others. Its been a while, but I had the impression that among other things she kind of pitied him, as he had clearly been brainwashed into insanity by his family.
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Jul 31, 2016 04:53
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Yea, just mean he didn't turn it into the typical love triangle which is someone having feelings for two people and having to choose one. Why I'm hopeful the hinted at love triangle from stormlight won't turn into this either and he'll do something more interesting with it there, too.
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Jul 31, 2016 08:07
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Avalerion posted:Yea, just mean he didn't turn it into the typical love triangle which is someone having feelings for two people and having to choose one. Why I'm hopeful the hinted at love triangle from stormlight won't turn into this either and he'll do something more interesting with it there, too. Pretty sure it's gonna be Shallan + Kaladin going, what the gently caress did you do?! over and over to Adolin as he goes darkside.
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Jul 31, 2016 08:13
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Avalerion posted:Yea, just mean he didn't turn it into the typical love triangle which is someone having feelings for two people and having to choose one. Why I'm hopeful the hinted at love triangle from stormlight won't turn into this either and he'll do something more interesting with it there, too. There is no room for a love triangle in Stormlight. No woman can ever compete with Sylphrena for Kaladin's affection.
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Jul 31, 2016 17:30
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You will all look silly once Kaladin and Adolin elope!
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Jul 31, 2016 19:36
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Torrannor posted:You will all look silly once Kaladin and There. Corrected it for you.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:37
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Well at least it's not Adolin and Renarin.
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Aug 1, 2016 02:08
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Luminaflare posted:Well at least it's not Adolin and Renarin. It will be in someone's fan fiction.
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Aug 1, 2016 13:44
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Well, I've finished it. Wow, that third book was loving something else. Better than the first two combined. The way everything sort of dovetails in together in last 50 pages is masterful. Sanderson has made a fan. I still think that he can be a hammy writer sometimes, especially with dialogue, but aside from Lord of the Rings, and maybe Wheel of Time, that was the best fantasy story I've ever read. So many subtle subversions of fantasy tropes, and so much unbelievably gentle foreshadowing and planting of clues. I didn't see that ending coming at all!
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Aug 1, 2016 20:37
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lolasaurusrex posted:Well, I've finished it. Wow, that third book was loving something else. Better than the first two combined. The way everything sort of dovetails in together in last 50 pages is masterful. Sanderson has made a fan. Glad to hear you liked it! Some people will say to go on to the next mistborn series immediately, but I'd recommend reading warbreaker (it's free http://brandonsanderson.com/books/warbreaker/warbreaker/) next instead.
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Aug 1, 2016 21:07
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Tunicate posted:Glad to hear you liked it! I've decided to read the Secret History next, which I am already halfway through! Love me some Kelsier  I will read Warbreaker, Elantris, the first Stormlight and the other 4 Mistborns next, but I'm not sure of the order yet. Cheapest first probably!
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Aug 1, 2016 22:33
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lolasaurusrex posted:I've decided to read the Secret History next, which I am already halfway through! Love me some Kelsier I highly recommend the Wax and Wayne stuff before Secret History (Sanderson does too, IIRC). Warbreaker is free on Sanderson's site so you can just download the PDF to your ipad/kindle/whatever.
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Aug 1, 2016 22:46
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lolasaurusrex posted:I've decided to read the Secret History next, which I am already halfway through! Love me some Kelsier But I understand putting a book down midread is difficut
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Aug 1, 2016 22:47
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Tunicate posted:I'd recommend against secret history just because it spoils some tings that happen in the next trilogy I'm already thoroughly spoiled for a lot of stuff through reading the Coppermind Wiki. I can never help myself when I come across something I'm not sure about, like when Vin approaches Hoid in Fadrex I was like "this is significant, I must Google this".
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Aug 2, 2016 10:14
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lolasaurusrex posted:I'm already thoroughly spoiled for a lot of stuff through reading the Coppermind Wiki. I can never help myself when I come across something I'm not sure about, like when Vin approaches Hoid in Fadrex I was like "this is significant, I must Google this". I can understand that, and I always have to hold myself back from getting spoiled through reading the wiki entries. But sometimes I can't resist, and in most cases I can still enjoy a book just fine, even if I'm spoiled on the big events.
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Aug 2, 2016 11:24
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I know rules-based magic is sort of Sanderson's "thing," but does he ever tone it down? I'm about 20% into The Final Empire, and the story and setting are interesting enough, but the constant Pushing and Pulling and burning just make my eyes glaze over, so maybe he's not for me.
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Aug 4, 2016 19:05
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Lester Shy posted:I know rules-based magic is sort of Sanderson's "thing," but does he ever tone it down? I'm about 20% into The Final Empire, and the story and setting are interesting enough, but the constant Pushing and Pulling and burning just make my eyes glaze over, so maybe he's not for me. That aspect is easily at its most prominent in the first Mistborn trilogy. He always does it, a little. The first chapter of Stormlight is awful for it (although the rest is amazing). Overall, the newer his work, the less you'll see video-game-like tutorials and descriptions.
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Aug 4, 2016 19:17
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Lester Shy posted:I know rules-based magic is sort of Sanderson's "thing," but does he ever tone it down? I'm about 20% into The Final Empire, and the story and setting are interesting enough, but the constant Pushing and Pulling and burning just make my eyes glaze over, so maybe he's not for me. It gets less with his later books. Just ignore the RPG-handbook like first chapter of Way of Kings, should you ever want to read it. It never gets remotely as bad as that afterwards.
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Aug 4, 2016 19:56
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Lester Shy posted:I know rules-based magic is sort of Sanderson's "thing," but does he ever tone it down? I'm about 20% into The Final Empire, and the story and setting are interesting enough, but the constant Pushing and Pulling and burning just make my eyes glaze over, so maybe he's not for me. Torrannor posted:It gets less with his later books. Just ignore the RPG-handbook like first chapter of Way of Kings, should you ever want to read it. It never gets remotely as bad as that afterwards. That said, if you hate descriptions of what you can and can't do and why about fictional magical abilities, he might not be the author for you. They aren't quite as bad as the mentioned first chapter of WoK or his really early books, but he still does it occasionally. Personally, I usually enjoy the descriptions, kind of neat to find out the rules and limits of someones abilities. His world-building is really great, and his magic systems always take center stage somehow in the world building. subx fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Aug 5, 2016 |
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Aug 5, 2016 06:08
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Having known rules and limits really stops the 'and a wizard did it' factor. Having really well defined systems that not even the characters fully understand and discover as the series goes on also works really well. Take mistborn for example. Some of the revelations in the last book totally change how you see the first book. It's great.
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Aug 5, 2016 08:24
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Mistborn is in it's 7th book and Brandon keeps coming out with new information and possibilities for his magic. Some of it feels a little bit shoehorned but all on all it is a pretty well done expansion of simple concepts
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Aug 5, 2016 12:50
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ConfusedUs posted:That aspect is easily at its most prominent in the first Mistborn trilogy. Torrannor posted:It gets less with his later books. Just ignore the RPG-handbook like first chapter of Way of Kings, should you ever want to read it. It never gets remotely as bad as that afterwards. Only found this thread a few days ago and read the whole thing - and I gotta say, the sheer number of criticisms levelled at Sanderson for the Szeth prologue in TWOK is insane. It made me go back and re-read it a few times to try and see if it was really all that bad...and guys, seriously? The part that explains the mechanics of Lashing is 3 short paragraphs - each about 3-4 sentences long - in the entire chapter. I can see why some people may find it jarring (because presumably Szeth is so used to using Stormlight by now that he wouldn't be consciously thinking about the mechanics while he's trying to complete his mission), but it is nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be. Lester Shy posted:I know rules-based magic is sort of Sanderson's "thing," but does he ever tone it down? I'm about 20% into The Final Empire, and the story and setting are interesting enough, but the constant Pushing and Pulling and burning just make my eyes glaze over, so maybe he's not for me. If this is the first time you're reading Sanderson, it can take a bit of getting used to, especially when you're not familiar with the magic system. Allomancy has a lot of metals involved and they all have different properties so there's a bit of a learning curve when you're reading to instinctively remember what kind of Allomancer can burn what metal for what effects. The earlier you are in a book/series, the more obvious he needs to be with the terminology as a reminder, so readers aren't constantly having to flip to the Ars Arcanum to figure out what is going on. Strumpy posted:Having known rules and limits really stops the 'and a wizard did it' factor. This. I now find myself annoyed when I go back to reading books where there are no well defined rules for the magic system - any time magic makes something happen just makes me go, "oh well of COURSE it did".
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Aug 5, 2016 13:21
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