Brandon Sanderson: There's always another secret project.

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Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Tunicate posted:

loving yes. I just finished WoR (I know I know, I'm am a slow reader) and it was great. The last 15% was a total page turner which I had to finish in one sitting. I was just talking to girlfriend that I'll be loving old by the time he finishes SA but ~1.5 year turnaround would be great since I'm craving more so good to know there may be another one next year.

I cheered when Adolin killed Sadeas. But it's probably going to lead to something bad and I get the impression he was setting up Kaladin and Shallan to eventually get together.

It's actually quite amazing how far Brandon Sanderson has come in terms of writing female characters. Between Emperor's Soul and WoR, he's really come a long way. Shallan was actually quite a pleasure to read this time around compared to four years ago where it was kinda so-so at best.

Time to pop Rithmatist on my kindle now.

Xaris fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Aug 1, 2014

# ¿ Aug 1, 2014 06:01

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 11:04

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Quinton posted:

I'm certainly hoping that after everything that happened in WoR there won't be that much Kalladin moping about in the next book -- seemed to me like he actually made some progress sorting his poo poo out.

Yeah. I felt that his time of moping is over with by the end, thank god. I also didn't quite get how he "killed" Syl the first time. Seemed like he was trying to draw on her power to save people? I think it would have made more sense if "killed" her by trying to use his power to attempt to kill someone in cold blood (i.e. Amaran) than by trying not to die in a fall

# ¿ Aug 5, 2014 08:15

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Illuyankas posted:

but also containing more Kaladin complaining. Surprising.

God damnit. I had hoped we were over that with the end of WOR. Kaladin moping and complaining was easily the worst part of WOR

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 20:30

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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TOOT BOOT posted:

Not sure I'd recommend Mistborn too much at this point given the number of people I've seen in other threads saying they gave up on Sanderson after reading Mistborn.

I dunno I read Mistborn first and loved it. Originally I'd almost say I'd prefer it as whole over Way of Kings (although Words of Radiance was clearly better).

But I suppose the safe thing to do is read his most recent stuff since he's drastically improved as an author even over 3 years and it really shows. I'd recommend an order like:

- Rithmastic (Short)
- Emperor's Soul (Short)
- Steelheart
- Mistborn Trilogy
- Mistborn: Alloy of Steel
- Other stuff

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 19:59

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Yeah I suppose.

Strange, I really like Steelheart and while yeah it's definitely different than his fantasyt work, thought it showed a lot of development on Sanderson's part and just a well (nearly) standalone book. I actually haven't read Elantris so I should probably do that.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 06:36

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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DarkHorse posted:

Just finished Firefight, and I'm disappointed at the things I predicted and pleased at the things that surprised me. Super-spoilers follow.

I agree with the comments that the book feels a little disjoint, like there were several plot lines that were put together or changed direction a lot. It wasn't bad, just not as cohesive as I'm used to seeing from Sanderson.

I finished it recently and really liked it. I didn't feel it was that disjointed, maybe not as tight of a story as Steelheart but pretty drat fun read. I didn't see some of it coming but I did predict early on that

Regalia was trying to get Professor to use his powers to turn him evil so he could join her, so I was kind of close :v:

. Also it was pretty obvious Megan was good and helping, either thats just Sanderson's often unsubtlety coming through or I dont think he wanted you to ever think she was evil

Not sure if I like Calamity being a super dude gifting powers, it would have been more interesting as some strange phenomon but I guess it fits in with his sandersonverse if its just some shard of some corruptgod dude

# ¿ Mar 6, 2015 00:39

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Cicero posted:

The Autumn Republic (Powder Mage Trilogy Book 3) from noted Sanderclone Brian McClellan comes out tomorrow!

http://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Republic-Powder-Mage-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00KVK33AI/

Thanks for the recommendation. I've already consumed most/all of common fantasy goon-recs (Sanderon/Abercrombie/Rothfuss/Mieville/GRRM/Butcher/Lynch/Hobbs) so I was almost at the point where I'd presumed to have read most of the "good stuff" out there. Just finish the first book of the trilogy and really enjoyed it. I wouldn't quite say Sanderclone but they're definitely similar (and not in a bad way). Onto book 2 now.

E: Saw some Erikson chat, and that was the one common goonrec series I couldn't get into

Xaris fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Mar 23, 2015

# ¿ Mar 23, 2015 20:12

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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I really liked Steelheart and Firefight was really good too, but not quite as so. I pretty much sat down and read them until "holy poo poo its 4am???" moment--but I do that for a lot of books so maybe thats not a ringing endorsement. Still, I highly recommend them even though they don't get as much fanfare for some reason.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2015 02:19

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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SavTargaryen posted:

Yeah, I thought Weeks' first stuff, the Assassin books, were super mediocre but super fun, but the Lightbringer books are great, so I could see him picking up the mantle like some sort of fantasy superpower highlander.

I really like Weeks stuff but yeah his first one was male power-fantasy wish-fulfillment kind of stuff but it worked out without feeling too trashy even though it really sort of is. I'm easy to please though. Lightbringer is much better about that, and I really like the light-based magic system in it so yeah even though they both got their pros and cons I think it could work.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2016 02:59

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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DarkHorse posted:

Finished Calamity and Bands of Mourning recently. Both gave me a vibe of Sanderson owning critiques of his work. For example, in Calamity someone says to David essentially, "You have brilliant ideas sometimes, but your execution is crap." He also lampshaded his weird curses and contrasted it with real world slang.

In Bands, it felt like he was pushing his Mormonism limits by the inclusion of alcohol, making fun of soda (and having a character down a bunch of it), having risqu� interactions between characters including some talk of body parts and sex, cursing, and a few other things so it wasn't the squeaky clean comfort zone he's had in the past.

Yeah I agree. Seemed like he's poking fun at himself several times.

Bands was really good and a nice surprise. The sex scene with transgendered immortal thing was pretty funny, especially later when everyone is looking way Wayne as MeLaan is shifting into a guy and hes just like "What are you staring at??? I dress up as a girl all the time makes perfect sense to me that someone would dress up as a guy!". Not something I expected to see coming from Sanderson but I think that made it all the more amusing.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 16:07

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Tahirovic posted:

It's not really looking good out there, I've tried some Brent Weeks

I think as mentioned, which series did you read? If you haven't, I'd recommend giving his Lightbringer series a go. It's a fun read and much better written than his first one (which I still enjoyed but probably couldn't recommend to the general populace in good faith since it's really sort of cliche-y male power fantasy that one might lap up as a teenager).

# ¿ Apr 12, 2016 16:00

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Thyrork posted:

This, but added one that you shamefully missed.

also you forgot The Rithmatist. i'm excited for the next one.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2016 00:24

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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lolasaurusrex posted:

How much has BS came along as an author since Mistborn?

Quite far. He's noticebly become more confident in writing variety of characters and giving them actual personalities. His shorts are good (Emperors Soul, Perfect State) to read next as well.. they're short. Stormlight is also good though I'd say the first Stormlight is just a wee-bit rough around the edges but the second Stormlight is much better.

I'd recommend the Alloy of Law trilogy too (Mistborn set in more like later 1800s wild-westish sort of era) as well and that might be a good next point.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 16:17

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Problem I see is having exposition dump on how various metals and poo poo work and a lot of problems showing the various effects. On paper that's fine (even though it also has some problems in his books too but it's sort of necessary anyways) but I don't see that translating to screen well. You pretty much have to insert the equivalent of Ellen Paige's character from Inception and have some guy just sit there for like 10 minutes talking about steel vs copper vs zinc etc and all the other magic system stuff.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2016 01:52

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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RC Cola posted:

The black prism so far reads like Kip is the writer when he was a fat 15 year old. All it talks about is how every girl is the most beautiful girl ever blah blah blah

Kip is basically a fat bumbling horny goon, embrace your inner goonself and it's much better. I didn't think he was a self insert

# ¿ Oct 29, 2016 04:05

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Torrannor posted:

I just realized after rereading Secret History that Marsh's words to Marasi about Wax ("That one does not like unanswered questions, but he does my brother's work, and that is something I feel inclined to encourage"), might be meant literally!

I feel like I need to reread the Wax/Wayne books again now I read Secret History. I finished it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it, I didn't know what to expect and thought it would be some boring similarion-like just info dump so I put it off for many months, but it actually ended up being about Kelsier still owning bones even in death.

Definitely read it if anyone hasn't.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2016 22:37

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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Cicero posted:

New Powder Mage book is out now, Sins of Empire.

Thanks for the heads up. I enjoyed the first PM book with it going a little downhill with the subsequent books but I still didn't dislike it even at the end, just some parts I disliked. I'm reading Dagger and the Coin series right now, enjoying it quite a lot with some annoyances as well but I'll finish it and have to check out the new book.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 02:23

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
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mewse posted:

Someone in this thread recommended Robin Hobb after I had exhausted the Sanderson catalog. I finished reading her stuff now.. where do I go from here?

What do you want out of a book? To me, I enjoy fantasy that is just escapism and book-form equivalent of an immersive summer-blockbuster movie/game (but not DnD litrpg trash either) where I can just pick up and get engrossed during the train ride to and from work in a half-asleep fugue or tired state, and maybe read into the wee hours at night on a weekend or on a plane. Most don't tread anything new and don't hold a candle to "really good" stuff like Gene Wolfe and may have problems with not the best prose, or female characters, or whatever but I like them even recognizing that.

If you're ok with fantasy that isn't anything super special or new per se and more of the former description, I could throw out a lot of recommendations:

First Law + Standalone (Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country) by Joe Abercrombie are among my favorites. Starts a little slow with First Law but gets better with each book, and honestly his standalones are even better than First Law trilogy. Abercrombie is one of the few exceptions that does do something very good and fairly fresh and new on it's own.
e: Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. The first one is insanely good, then he has two more, the second one is more pirate-y boating adventures and third one is more political-theatre romance-y. I will say it's a testament to how good the first one is that even though the second one drops drastically in quality it's still an entertaining read, and that third one drops a bit even more than the second yet also worth a read as well.
Great Coats series by Sebastian De Castell. Some of the most simultaneously upbeat, humorous, and yet dark swashbuckling adventure fantasy books I've read.
Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham. Each book really flowed into something bigger and bigger and each got better. First book is the weakest and does start off a little slow, but really does pick up after each book and I was powering through each book quickly into wee hours of the night thereafter.
Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan. This guy is very much a Sander-clone (he was even a pupil of Sanderson) and it's not a bad thing, I think they get a little weaker with each book but I liked them. He has a new book 1 of a new trilogy(?) out which is really quite an improvement writing wise as well and good but you need to read the first trilogy first.
Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence. If you liked this trilogy, then go with his first trilogy called Prince of Thorns (they're both in the same far flung dying-ish earth/post-apocalyptic earth universe) but Prince of Thorns has a more dickish very dividing "protagonist" which is either liked/hated so ymmv. He also has a new book out called Red Sister which I liked but it's just the first so far.
Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. Very Sanderson-like with cool magic system, first three books are entertaining but hoo boy the 4th book really loving blows and almost makes the rest of them suck by association. There's still 1 book left to be finished so we'll see if it gets redeemed but the first three are good. I'd also throw out his first series Nightangel there which I liked in a very guilty-pleasure way which you may want to check out if you are fine with power-fantasy wishfullfilment type stuff but I won't defend it as being remotely "good" and not by a long shot.

There's also book one of a new series called Dawn of Wonder by Johnathan Renshaw which I liked but there's still many more to come so it's unfinished right now so who knows where that will go. Comedy option is Patrick Rothfuss, but no really don't read it it's bad even by my low trash standards.

You can also get into Malazan series (wasn't for me but I'll try again), then there is of course local goonwritten The Traitor Baru Cormorant which is actually legitimately good and not just more casual-good.

I could probably think of some worse ones that I still had fun reading during my commute but I think there's plenty out there without delving into the lower rungs for the time being.

e: wrong series name for one guy, and I can't believe I forgot Lies of Locke Lamora.

Xaris fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Jun 15, 2017

# ¿ Jun 14, 2017 06:09

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
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HelixFox posted:

I was going to say we should put all these alternative author suggestions in the OP since it comes up a lot. Then I looked at the OP and it's pretty old and out of date

Maybe time for a new thread?

Ehh... I'd say given that most fantasy-specific authorial threads in particular are dead or very slow (Scott Lynchs long gone, Abercrombie's is pretty dead, BraSan thread is the most lively but p slow until a book comes out, and Rothfuss is well lmao lets not talk about him and let's leave that poo poo festering in the corner for laughs) there is probably room for a more "General Trash Genre Fantasy" thread (or however you want to define it, idk)

I enjoy the Sci/F thread sometimes but it's really it's own beast and I know I personally don't care about 99% of scifi and often starts devolving into weird scifi or other high work slapfights, and I feel most posters there also dislike/look down on Sanderson and similar fantasy writing for the most part (which I get on a level, y'know, it's nothing revolutionary or some deep work but it's entertaining and fun to read)

# ¿ Jun 17, 2017 22:12

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 11:04

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
Laugh and cry

mewse posted:

I don't see how they'd age badly, they are fantasy novels set in a medieval-ish period.

It's not like they're Shakespeare and the English language has moved on since they were written

I think its not so much they haven't aged badly, rather than so much better fantasy has been written (and you aren't 15 anymore) that going back to something like WoT after reading Sanderson (which is very fast paced with always constant interesting things happening) or Abercrombie (which really pushes typical tropes and story and characters to an amazing level). There would have been a great series in there, but it's spread out over way too many books to be enjoyable.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2017 05:40

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