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Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.
Yeah the US versions suck. They make her look like 25+ when she's supposed to be like 15? Reminds me of some of the characters in Glee.

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Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar
:words: except it's Sanderson

Leng
May 13, 2006

One song / Glory
One song before I go / Glory
One song to leave behind


No other road
No other way
No day but today
Just finished Cytonic.

Most of the plot twists (delvers are AI, therefore M-Bot is a proto delver) were foreshadowed pretty good that when they came I was like ahhh, and then the final one came and Spensa merged with a delver and I just went whhaaaaaaaaaaaat. I'm not sure how I feel about the TWO "deaths" that came in quick succession but that were also not-deaths.

The setup for Defiant is all in place though and I'm really curious as to whether it will resolve like I think it will (fully sentient AIs living in happy harmony with a new galactic government in place where humans and other "lesser species" are recognized, plus the nowhere becomes a regular location like anywhere else)


Also a lot seems to have happened since ReDawn.

Gg Sanderson, I need Evershore ASAP.

Also glad he's writing Defiant right now as part of NaNoWriMo because then we'll get that next year while he's working on Stormlight 5.

Narmi
Feb 26, 2008
Finished Cytonic.

It was fun, it definitely answered some questions from the previous books, especially where Delvers came from and why AIs are hated. I liked that we got to see more of the Superiority from people who lived there, though the "superior" races treating humans like expensive pets, for their "benefit" was really messed up. That one guy humming for 20 years...

It also raised a few more; what's Brade planning? It she trying to shadow-puppet Winzik? Turn the Delvers against the Superiority? It felt weird, because she seemed more in charge than those other humans we met[spoiler] and [spoiler]is there something on Earth, or those other planets that got locked?[spoiler]. Also, why [spoiler] did that first AI became a Delver and killed cytonics still needs an answer.

I'm looking forward to Evershore next month, with Spensa being a bigger and better cytonic

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

Narmi posted:

Also, why did that first AI became a Delver and killed cytonics still needs an answer.

The one in the flashbacks? I figure it has something to do with the nowhere turning AIs into fully aware beings and not having had the experience to cope with it and going crazy, perhaps not in the same way though.

On a similar note I personally think the whole "cpus are too slow to run an AI at human level" and needing a cytonic component in order to achieve sapience feels just wrong. Regular humans and aliens too, are running on all physical hardware without any cytonics. So why would AI's need a cytonic component when biological life does not? I don't buy that their hardware would be slower than biological brains either, if anything I would expect the opposite in a sci-fi setting, considering real life technological development.

Narmi
Feb 26, 2008

His Divine Shadow posted:

The one in the flashbacks? I figure it has something to do with the nowhere turning AIs into fully aware beings and not having had the experience to cope with it and going crazy, perhaps not in the same way though.

That's possible, and the most likely answer, but M-bot was okay since he had time to "grow" into his emotions, as well as having Spensa. Chet was saved/rehabilitated as well. It would be nice to get some confirmation, but if we don't get it I'll just assume that's what happened.

Narmi fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Nov 27, 2021

Fezz
Aug 31, 2001

You should feel ashamed.
I just finished ReDawn. It took me a bit to get into it, but that was one hell of an ending. Really makes me impatient for Evershore.

Taffer
Oct 15, 2010


In Cytonic, how did Heshow (sp? i listen to the audiobook) survive his ship being blown up in the previous book? He's not cytonic. I love his character but him magically being alive for no good reason was kind of silly and undercuts any other deaths that happen.

Slanderer
May 6, 2007

Taffer posted:

In Cytonic, how did Heshow (sp? i listen to the audiobook) survive his ship being blown up in the previous book? He's not cytonic. I love his character but him magically being alive for no good reason was kind of silly and undercuts any other deaths that happen.

I think the only explanation was that there was a lot of weird cytonic stuff going on at the time and a Delver too! I can't rember if Brade attacked the kitsen ship with destructors or with mindblades (or another cytonic attack), which could potentially make a difference?

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Just finished RoW, pretty great. I can see why people might dislike it, but I loved it. Some insane implications from some of those final chapters. Was a pretty big fan of how deeply he dove into topics of mental illness in this book and I think it was pretty well handled.

That's the entire cosmere marathon complete, started in may I think and took a break for like a month or two. I haven't read whitesand but I'm not in any immediate rush for that one. It's been a wild ride.

tweet my meat fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Nov 29, 2021

Leng
May 13, 2006

One song / Glory
One song before I go / Glory
One song to leave behind


No other road
No other way
No day but today

Taffer posted:

In Cytonic, how did Heshow (sp? i listen to the audiobook) survive his ship being blown up in the previous book? He's not cytonic. I love his character but him magically being alive for no good reason was kind of silly and undercuts any other deaths that happen.

Basically he got pulled in when the delver emerged/returned from/to the nowhere was how I understood it and it was a pretty coincidental alignment of timing of when the delver emerged/returned and when his ship blew up I can't remember which way it was exactly but that was the gist of it.

Junkozeyne
Feb 13, 2012

Taffer posted:

In Cytonic, how did Heshow (sp? i listen to the audiobook) survive his ship being blown up in the previous book? He's not cytonic. I love his character but him magically being alive for no good reason was kind of silly and undercuts any other deaths that happen.

IIRC his ship did not actually blow up but experienced a hull breach. There were definitely part of the kitsen crew that survived in starsight. The idea I got was that he was blown out of the ship and ended up in the nowhere due to the delver already piercing the boundary between dimensions. It is shown that delvers can pull in matter into the nowhere after all.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

https://www.tor.com/2021/12/06/book-announcements-the-lost-metal-a-mistborn-novel-from-brandon-sanderson/

quote:

We’re thrilled to announce The Lost Metal: A MISTBORN Novel by Brandon Sanderson—publishing November 15, 2022 with Tor Books.

Return to #1 New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with The Alloy of Law, comes to its earth-shattering conclusion in The Lost Metal.

For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set—with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders—since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between Elendel and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate—whose corruption Wax and Steris have sought to expose—and Bilming is even more entangled.

After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god reveals that Harmony’s power is blocked in Bilming. That means the city has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial…at any cost.

Harmony’s vision of future possibilities comes to an abrupt halt tomorrow night, with only blackness after that. It’s a race against time, and Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin

External Organs
Mar 3, 2006

One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."
That description sounds kinda nuts and I'm into it. :clint:

Sab669
Sep 24, 2009

quote:

publishing November 15, 2022 with Tor Books.

That's not soon enough :(

Mordiceius
Nov 10, 2007

If you think calling me names is gonna get a rise out me, think again. I like my life as an idiot!

External Organs posted:

That description sounds kinda nuts and I'm into it. :clint:

Yeah... that seems kinda loving wild.

External Organs
Mar 3, 2006

One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."
Wonder if we'll know the 'offworlder'. Era 2 is supposed to be between the two Stormlight groupings right?

Whatever gently caress that I hope it's (RoW): someone from Whimsy's planet.

eke out
Feb 24, 2013



External Organs posted:

Wonder if we'll know the 'offworlder'. Era 2 is supposed to be between the two Stormlight groupings right?

Whatever gently caress that I hope it's (RoW): someone from Whimsy's planet.

betting it's someone else already in conflict with Autonomy

ConfusedUs
Feb 24, 2004

Bees?
You want fucking bees?
Here you go!
ROLL INITIATIVE!!





Any sentence about Mistborn that contains the word "ruin" gets my attention. There's no way that word is used accidentally. I'd perk up just as much at "preservation" or "autonomy" or pick-a-shard's name.

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
That's a very spoilery description of the book. I'm still extremely intrigued. But the wait will be far too long :(

M_Gargantua
Oct 16, 2006

STOMP'N ON INTO THE POWERLINES

Exciting Lemon
At Sanderson's new pace post sanderlanche era that may well just be a summary of the first two chapters

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



Question for long time Brandon fans:

What made him famous? I remember last time I was musing about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died and the consensus on here was Sanderson's finishing up WOT was not very good.

But apparently this was what made him famous? All he had out before that was Final Empire and Elantris?

But I swear I first heard of Sanderson because of Mistborn. That's why I started there.

mewse
May 2, 2006

NikkolasKing posted:

Question for long time Brandon fans:

What made him famous? I remember last time I was musing about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died and the consensus on here was Sanderson's finishing up WOT was not very good.

But apparently this was what made him famous? All he had out before that was Final Empire and Elantris?

But I swear I first heard of Sanderson because of Mistborn. That's why I started there.

You can write the most dreadful crap imaginable and still become famous, look at Ernest Cline.

Sanderson was well on the way to establishing himself and then got picked to finish WoT. Way of Kings was released *while* the last WoT books were being released (Way of Kings and second-last WoT book were both 2010).

If you twigged to him because of the first Mistborn books you got in early.

e: As for completing ASoIaF, I don't think Sanderson has the sensibilities for the amount of treachery that GRRM writes. I'd look to someone like Mark Lawrence (who is not GRRM either, obv, but probably capable of closing out the plot lines in a better way than the show runners did)

mewse fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Dec 8, 2021

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

NikkolasKing posted:

Question for long time Brandon fans:

What made him famous? I remember last time I was musing about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died and the consensus on here was Sanderson's finishing up WOT was not very good.

But apparently this was what made him famous? All he had out before that was Final Empire and Elantris?

But I swear I first heard of Sanderson because of Mistborn. That's why I started there.

Wheel of Time was one of the biggest fantasy series in the 90s. He finished the Wheel of Time books. That's how he became famous, it's very simple.

And I'm surprised to see you say that the consensus here was that Sanderson's finishing up WoT was not very good. Was this really the case? Is that the case? His books weren't as good as Robert Jordan's books, but that shouldn't surprise anybody. And the general WoT fandom was imho satisfied with his work, and frankly very happy that the series got and ending at all.

Also, The Final Empire is easily one of his top three best books he's written, so if people tried out that book due to the name recognition he got for finishing WoT, then it's no wonder he got famous.

And it's only natural that when people muse about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died to mention Sanderson, since he's the only author I know who finished a fantasy series after the original author died, and did this in a way that provided an adequate conclusion of the story.

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



Torrannor posted:

Wheel of Time was one of the biggest fantasy series in the 90s. He finished the Wheel of Time books. That's how he became famous, it's very simple.

And I'm surprised to see you say that the consensus here was that Sanderson's finishing up WoT was not very good. Was this really the case? Is that the case? His books weren't as good as Robert Jordan's books, but that shouldn't surprise anybody. And the general WoT fandom was imho satisfied with his work, and frankly very happy that the series got and ending at all.

Also, The Final Empire is easily one of his top three best books he's written, so if people tried out that book due to the name recognition he got for finishing WoT, then it's no wonder he got famous.

And it's only natural that when people muse about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died to mention Sanderson, since he's the only author I know who finished a fantasy series after the original author died, and did this in a way that provided an adequate conclusion of the story.

My memory of when i brought up ASOIAF continuing on after GRRM is that a lot of folks said something to the effect of "Sanderson tried to continue a franchise after the original author died and LOOK HOW THAT WENT."

My memory could be wrong or maybe it was just one person. It was on this forum though and not too long ago.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



The Final Empire got a lot of buzz when it came out. I got it solely on word of mouth. When I heard the WoT news, I had very much of a "yeah, I can see that" reaction

mewse
May 2, 2006

NikkolasKing posted:

My memory of when i brought up ASOIAF continuing on after GRRM is that a lot of folks said something to the effect of "Sanderson tried to continue a franchise after the original author died and LOOK HOW THAT WENT."

My memory could be wrong or maybe it was just one person. It was on this forum though and not too long ago.

I don't think this is the popular opinion. There are quibbles with how Sanderson did, he acknowledges he could've done a better job with Mat for instance, but there isn't broad consensus that it was an unmitigated disaster like the new Dune books or something.

Zore
Sep 21, 2010
willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d’etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things
Yeah, in general people are pretty satisfied with his Wheel of Time stuff AFAIK? Like some people grumble about how there are some parts where you can visibly see the seams between his original stuff and the drafts Jordan left, and he uses a lot of different verbiage than Jordan did. But he generally followed the draft and the books were fairly well received at the time by the fanbase.

I think the only thing I can really remember people getting Big Mad about what that he introduced a new character and did some dumb DnD bullshit with them exploiting the magic system as he is wont to do. But that's an incredibly small part of the 3 novels.

Zore fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Dec 8, 2021

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

IIRC there are a couple passages people were particularly upset about and they ended up being ones that were purely jordan's work

New Yorp New Yorp
Jul 18, 2003

Only in Kenya.
Pillbug

mewse posted:

I don't think this is the popular opinion. There are quibbles with how Sanderson did, he acknowledges he could've done a better job with Mat for instance, but there isn't broad consensus that it was an unmitigated disaster like the new Dune books or something.

Yeah the last three wheel of time books were good. They were focused, tied up all of the loose ends in a mostly satisfying way, and weren't jarringly different in tone. He even did some fun stuff that Jordan didn't do, like go deeper into the male channelers' insanity and doing interesting things with the magic system (tactical view screen gateways during battles!).

Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

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

NikkolasKing posted:

Question for long time Brandon fans:

What made him famous? I remember last time I was musing about somebody having to continue ASOIAF after GRRM died and the consensus on here was Sanderson's finishing up WOT was not very good.

But apparently this was what made him famous? All he had out before that was Final Empire and Elantris?

But I swear I first heard of Sanderson because of Mistborn. That's why I started there.
Finishing WoT definitely helped, but mostly people just really like his books, especially Mistborn and Stormlight. His prose is plain and his dialogue can be kind of wooden (especially humor), but he has good plotting, decent character development, really good endings, interesting world building and cool magic systems.

There's still plenty of people who dislike his books though, just like any popular author. If you go into the main SF/F thread there's plenty of people who hate his writing there IIRC.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

New Yorp New Yorp posted:

Yeah the last three wheel of time books were good. They were focused, tied up all of the loose ends in a mostly satisfying way, and weren't jarringly different in tone. He even did some fun stuff that Jordan didn't do, like go deeper into the male channelers' insanity and doing interesting things with the magic system (tactical view screen gateways during battles!).

That's a typical Brandon thing, he actually sits down and goes quite indepth in how an ability could be used and comes up with all kinds of ideas.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost

Tunicate posted:

IIRC there are a couple passages people were particularly upset about and they ended up being ones that were purely jordan's work

One with Mat in particular. Apparently Jordan's process involved writing it in a neutral voice first and then doing rewrites in the voice of the specific character, and that passage was far enough along Sanderson didn't want to mess with it but not finished enough that it triggered uncanny valley effects. It might also have just been notes and drafts Jordan wrote as he knew he was dying and so they were rushed

seaborgium
Aug 1, 2002

"Nothing a shitload of bleach won't fix"




DarkHorse posted:

One with Mat in particular. Apparently Jordan's process involved writing it in a neutral voice first and then doing rewrites in the voice of the specific character, and that passage was far enough along Sanderson didn't want to mess with it but not finished enough that it triggered uncanny valley effects. It might also have just been notes and drafts Jordan wrote as he knew he was dying and so they were rushed

That was the Tower stuff right? I remember hearing something about that, people didn't like it and were vocal about it, but the writing was mostly Jordan even if it did stand out as not as good as previous stuff.

Barreft
Jul 21, 2014

seaborgium posted:

That was the Tower stuff right? I remember hearing something about that, people didn't like it and were vocal about it, but the writing was mostly Jordan even if it did stand out as not as good as previous stuff.

Yea the Tower stuff was RJ but it was still in draft form, he had to fix things up.

Any WOT fan would be lying if they said they'd prefer no ending then what Sanderson spent like 6 years of his life doing. It's not the best but who can come in and finish an author's 11 book, 2 decade long series, having to make the last into 3 books and actually read like the original author?

Synesthesian Fetish
Apr 29, 2008

Ya know, I useta be President... I'll let you kids punch me anywhere but the face for a dollar.
Sanderson admitted that he got Mat's voice wrong in The Gathering Storm but I think he did a good job correcting it after that. I honestly think he gave new life to the series as it felt like RJ was spinning his wheels the last few books. I was very satisfied with the ending. I did a reread this year for the first time since the last book came out and I noticed Sanderson's touch even less than the first time through. Not perfect but you can't ask for a much better ending when the author has died.

aparmenideanmonad
Jan 28, 2004
Balls to you and your way of mortal opinions - you don't exist anyway!
Fun Shoe

Synesthesian Fetish posted:

it felt like RJ was spinning his wheels the last few books

More Knife of Dreams erasure. "The Slog" ends with book 10; RJ wrote book 11 and it was great. Makes the fact that he didn't get to finish all the more disappointing since he was clearly ready to write a quality finale. I have my complaints, but I am very glad Sanderson got picked to finish it and did as well as he did.

Synesthesian Fetish
Apr 29, 2008

Ya know, I useta be President... I'll let you kids punch me anywhere but the face for a dollar.

aparmenideanmonad posted:

More Knife of Dreams erasure. "The Slog" ends with book 10; RJ wrote book 11 and it was great.

Book 11 was definitely better than 10 but it still feels like a slog where a lot of the plot lines don't feel like they move ahead. I'm sure part of it for me was that I caught up to the series right when book 9 came out so waiting so long for books 10 and 11 to come out felt unsatisfying. They are easier to digest on rereads with the entire series finished.

Narmi
Feb 26, 2008

Torrannor posted:

Wheel of Time was one of the biggest fantasy series in the 90s. He finished the Wheel of Time books. That's how he became famous, it's very simple.

He was already famous (for an author) for writing Mistborn before he was chosen to finish WoT. The Final Empire (2006), The Well of Ascension (2007), and The Hero of Ages (2008) all came out before The Gathering Storm (2009). In fact, Jordan's widow chose him because she like the first book so much. The announcement that he would finish the series came out well after Mistborn 2 was published.

It definitely helped make him more famous, but by the time A Memory of Light (2013) came out, he had published The Way of Kings (2010) and The Emperor's Soul (2012), which were huge hits (the latter won the Hugo Award for Best Novella).

Narmi fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Dec 10, 2021

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External Organs
Mar 3, 2006

One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."
Sanderson is also a pretty savvy internet guy and will happily reply to more reddit posts than I would ever think possible given the length and frequency of his books. This probably only benefits someone's potential scope in this day and age.

Also, Mormon buddy college roommates with Ken Jennings!

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