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SoldadoDeTone posted:Thanks for the advice! I picked up The Way of Kings and am looking forward to it. Curious why did you begin with an author's worst novel?
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Jul 13, 2018 00:26
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mewse posted:Curious why did you begin with an author's worst novel? It was not part of a series, so I thought it would be a good place to start. I did not know it was his worst! I had just heard that he was a reputable fantasy author. Also, the lady at Barnes and Noble said it was very good.
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Jul 13, 2018 00:50
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Wait, I misread what mewse was saying. Carry on.
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Jul 13, 2018 00:58
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SoldadoDeTone posted:It was not part of a series, so I thought it would be a good place to start. I did not know it was his worst! I had just heard that he was a reputable fantasy author. Also, the lady at Barnes and Noble said it was very good. Lol B&N fucks someone again
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Jul 13, 2018 01:02
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mewse posted:Curious why did you begin with an author's worst novel? a lot of people start with the first one lol
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Jul 13, 2018 01:14
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mewse posted:Lol B&N fucks someone again Eh, I'm glad I read it. It's quite flawed, but the characters are interesting, and the concept for the world is inventive.
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Jul 13, 2018 01:40
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Way of King’s is a huge improvement over Elantris but does start with what I consider a misstep. The whole prologue reading like a video game tutorial
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Jul 13, 2018 01:44
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rule 1 of reading any novel is Always Skip The Prologue, the Way of Kings just has like three prologues
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Jul 13, 2018 02:32
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Tunicate posted:rule 1 of reading any novel is Always Skip The Prologue, the Way of Kings just has like three prologues wtf.....?
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Jul 13, 2018 04:25
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scary ghost dog posted:wtf.....? There is the series prelude the heralds 45 centuries in the past abandoning their pact Then there is the book one prologue the assassin in white before he is cool Then there is the start of book one where kaladin is briefly not depressed
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Jul 13, 2018 04:37
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scary ghost dog posted:wtf.....? basically brandon got told epic fantasy doesn't sell anymore, so he decided to go as self-indulgent and epic fantasy as possible for stormlight Three prologues! Thirty magic systems! One thousand plus page books, limited only by the physical size of the publisher's printing press! Nine secret societies! et cetera
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Jul 13, 2018 05:29
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I think starting with Elantris is a good idea. If you’re start with the worst one it’s all uphill from there.
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Jul 13, 2018 05:57
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Tunicate posted:rule 1 of reading any novel is Always Skip The Prologue, the Way of Kings just has like three prologues A Crown of Swords has 2 hours worth of Prologues in the audiobook. Gross.
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Jul 13, 2018 06:34
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One day genre fiction editors will swear a final pact to trashcan any manuscript with a prologue.
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Jul 13, 2018 12:41
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Tunicate posted:basically brandon got told epic fantasy doesn't sell anymore, so he decided to go as self-indulgent and epic fantasy as possible for stormlight why would u skip the first chapter of a book though lol
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Jul 13, 2018 13:00
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scary ghost dog posted:why would u skip the first chapter of a book though lol if it were important it'd be called chapter 1, calling it a prologue indicates the author secretly knows this poo poo is superfluous to telling a good story
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Jul 14, 2018 00:04
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Tunicate posted:rule 1 of reading any novel is Always Skip The Prologue, the Way of Kings just has like three prologues lol I adopted this rule reading the Wheel of Time, once the prologues got past 100 pages long. Like, holy poo poo dude. They just get longer and longer with each book.
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Jul 14, 2018 04:00
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Tunicate posted:if it were important it'd be called chapter 1, calling it a prologue indicates the author secretly knows this poo poo is superfluous to telling a good story this is so dumb......
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Jul 15, 2018 03:22
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Tunicate posted:if it were important it'd be called chapter 1, calling it a prologue indicates the author secretly knows this poo poo is superfluous to telling a good story The prologues are actually good, op
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Jul 15, 2018 03:46
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scary ghost dog posted:this is so dumb...... can you name a book that was significantly improved by a prologue? There are a lot where the prologue makes the book worse (easy examples are lensmen, and szeth's tutorial mission in stormlight). To further attest to the prologue's status as a book's vestigial organ (a status it ironically does not share with the appendix, which is sometimes useful), literary agents commonly skip the prologue when reading samples. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jul 15, 2018 |
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Jul 15, 2018 03:52
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Tunicate posted:can you name a book that was significantly improved by a prologue? Well if all the literary agents jumped off a bridge we'd have a lot less books to publish
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Jul 15, 2018 05:05
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Tunicate posted:can you name a book that was significantly improved by a prologue? I think the prologue with Lews Therin in The Eye of the World is pretty good.
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Jul 15, 2018 07:11
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Torrannor posted:I think the prologue with Lews Therin in The Eye of the World is pretty good. That was the prelude, if I'm not mistaken. I'd say that preludes could be skipped - upon first reading you really don't have the context of the world to really understand them in my very limited experience, but I'd never skip a prologue. Even the goddamn 89 page prologue in Lord of Chaos (and I hope that guy earlier who said they get longer every book isn't right). Like I had no idea what the gently caress was going on in the Way of Kings prelude, but upon re-reading the series I really enjoyed it. Sab669 fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jul 15, 2018 |
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Jul 15, 2018 11:15
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Why would you skip the prologue in a WoT book? They usually have pov's from interesting characters that don't normally get pov chapters. If you want to make the later books readable just skip all the Elayne and Perrin pov chapters.
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Jul 15, 2018 12:33
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Sab669 posted:That was the prelude, if I'm not mistaken. I have bad news for you... fake edit: I don't know if they get longer with every book, I think Winter's Heart has the longest. I don't have the very last book on hand right now, but the first two books Sanderson wrote have about 30 pages long prologues. Torrannor fucked around with this message at 12:43 on Jul 15, 2018 |
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Jul 15, 2018 12:40
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Tunicate posted:can you name a book that was significantly improved by a prologue? ah....i see. u are a retard
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Jul 15, 2018 14:01
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[guy posting in the reading books section]: anyone else do this cool trick where u dont read the first part of the book in case its bad [dozens of other people]: yes absolutely. here is our strategy for judging whether or not to read the first parts of books by looking at their covers
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Jul 15, 2018 14:04
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Only prologues I ever skipped were the ones in David Edding's Belgariad/ Malloreon which a lot of the time were recaps of each previous book, which is pretty pointless if you're binging them.
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Jul 15, 2018 17:39
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scary ghost dog posted:ah....i see. u are a retard couldn't think of any examples, could you?
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Jul 15, 2018 17:45
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Tunicate posted:couldn't think of any examples, could you? literally every book with a prologue, guy. every part of a book is essential
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Jul 15, 2018 19:02
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If you skip any portion of any book you’re an idiot.
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Jul 15, 2018 23:08
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Daric posted:If you skip any portion of any book you’re an idiot.
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Jul 16, 2018 02:17
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Same
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Jul 16, 2018 14:45
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Why do so many people dislike the Szeth prologue? I liked it for showing of the cool magic system early on, and it gives context to everyone making GBS threads themselves about the assasin in white, as well as an idea of what Kaladin is becoming. And sandersons magic systems being “video gamey” is one of his selling points. 
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Jul 16, 2018 17:40
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Avalerion posted:Why do so many people dislike the Szeth prologue? I liked it for showing of the cool magic system early on, and it gives context to everyone making GBS threads themselves about the assasin in white, as well as an idea of what Kaladin is becoming. The old writing advice is "show, don't tell" and Sanderson tried to bend the rule by showing Szeth flying around by manipulating his own gravity and lashing himself to the ceiling etc, but what he was actually doing was telling us "this is how the magic system works. He lashes himself to the stones of the castle. His magic sword passes through flesh and kills it." Doesn't he even use a half lashing in the prologue? It was a massive dump of info about how the magic system worked without the reader knowing who any of the characters were yet. Worse, the reader can't retain a lot of that info because they don't know who the characters are. I went back and re-read that prologue after reading Words of Radiance and it's like "oh poo poo, he shows Dalinar drunk off his rear end" which I completely forgot about because I didn't know who Dalinar was when I read it. So I personally don't hate the prologue as much as some people but I can definitely see validity to their criticisms. The chapter with the heralds abandoning the oathpact was rough as well. It's OK for Sanderson to present a scene with no context and fill in the details later, but it really needs to be done with some restraint so he doesn't have this long chapter that doesn't make any sense, because the reader hasn't been immersed in the world yet. e: also I feel like some of this foreshadowing is Sanderson showing off how intricate his worldbuilding is when he returns to it later. "See, I intended that all along!!" while the reader wonders what the gently caress mewse fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Jul 16, 2018 |
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Jul 16, 2018 18:49
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Isn't that just how fantasy prologues/preludes work? You get a scene that is cool but has no context, but later on as you learn about the world you can look back and go "ooooohhh" at how you now understand it. Chapter ones are kind enough to accept that you are new to this world. Prologues don't give a gently caress.
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Jul 16, 2018 19:16
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I dunno about you guys but I tend to avoid the awkward teen chapters, name a book that was improved by the presence of chapters 13-19.
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Jul 16, 2018 19:22
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Frabba posted:I dunno about you guys but I tend to avoid the awkward teen chapters, name a book that was improved by the presence of chapters 13-19. And frankly, the depressive early-adult years really drag down an experience. I recommend skipping 20-25 as well
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Jul 16, 2018 20:00
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Avalerion posted:Why do so many people dislike the Szeth prologue? I liked it for showing of the cool magic system early on, and it gives context to everyone making GBS threads themselves about the assasin in white, as well as an idea of what Kaladin is becoming. Because he writes like it's a video game tutorial. "Szreth used LT+X to burn 20% of his Stormlight Gauge to a Full Personal Gravity Reversal Lashing and run down the hallway on the ceiling. Then he pressed Y as he passed the lamps to draw in 15% Stormlight from the glowing blue lamps, and then he used X+D to burn 10% of his Stormlight Gauge on a Full Targeted Gravity Redirection Lashing to drop the guards down the hallway, followed by RT+LT+X to use a Gravitational Attraction Shield on the door so that it would block enemy arrows." Sanderson's always had videogamey magic systems, but this is egregiously bad even for him.
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Jul 16, 2018 20:14
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Taffer posted:And frankly, the depressive early-adult years really drag down an experience. I recommend skipping 20-25 as well Old people chapters are little better. You should just stop after chapter 50 or so.
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Jul 16, 2018 21:00
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