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mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Streebs posted:

Also, Sanderson treats writing like a job and doesn't take retarded vacations to Europe every few months.

Actually it's even better because Sanderson treats writing like a hobby and it's what he does for fun.

Edit: For the sake of not turning this into yet another GRRM bitch thread, I deleted my comments about GRRM mentally checking out of asoiaf.


And just to expound on Sanderson a bit: I'm super-excited about TWOK. Sanderson has gotten really good at delivering really solid entertaining books. His prose is not on the level of a GRRM or RJ and Sanderson doesn't have nearly the wit or humor of either of those two (No Tyrion's or Mat Cauthon's from BS yet). But Sanderson really knows how to write some kick-rear end action and pull his storylines together to end on an exciting, satisfying conclusion.

In fact I'm probably more excited for TWOK than either The Towers of Midnight or A Dance With Dragons. The Wheel of Time ending is more of a relief and I've come to accept that asoiaf is never going to get done. But TWOK is fresh and new and filled with possibilities. And everything I've read from Sanderson and about him has given me faith that this series is going to get done and it's going to be really good, if not great.

mcable fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Aug 3, 2010

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mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

anathenema posted:

Man, it's a little depressing that Sanderson has written as much as he has and he still gets compared to the established authors. From what I read of his Mistborn books, his style isn't at all like Jordan or Martin. I think people will have more fun with the books going into them with expectations of a good book, rather than expectations of a new Martin.

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Brandon's writing. But I guess I'm just being a bit defensive since there's a segment of the internet population who seems to dismiss BS as a lightweight and a gimmick "magic system" writer. My point was that BS has his strengths and his weaknesses but in the end it adds up to some very entertaining stories.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

thecallahan posted:

I'm about 3/4th's of the way done with the second Mistborn books an am enjoying it so far. But I just read the outline for Way of Kings on B&N and couldn't he have picked main characters a little different than what he's used before? I mean, I'll probably still read it since I'm enjoying his writing and style but come on.

Well by all accounts TWOK is more mature and better written than any previous Sanderson book, so even if it's "more of the same", it'll be a upgraded version of "more of the same".

And to me the only character that sounds similar to previous Sanderson characters is Shallon. BS sure loves his feisty, young, noble-women/princesses.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

SaviourX posted:

Aye, I can respect that, but that sort of progression will always be a slow uphill drive.

I have a much better view of Sanderson's writing abilities than you guys but I'll agree that Sanderson has improved the craft of his writing a lot, the last few years by working on the Wheel of Time books.

So yeah, two more days. Woop Woop.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

VanillaGorilla posted:

I'm enjoying it as well. The book gets much better after the first chapter - Sanderson has a way of being way to expository in his writing. It's like there's a technical manual for his magic system buried in every fight, and it becomes a bit overbearing and repetitious. It's almost like he doesn't trust his reader to imagine this super awesome action sequence that's playing in his head, so he goes waaaaay overboard trying to describe the mechanics of what's happening.

It's one of the things that really annoyed me about the Mistwalker series, and it's front and center in Way of Kings. That being said, Sanderson's ability to build worlds and interesting systems is here, too, so I'm sticking with it. I just hope that he lets go of writing everything like "so and so Lashes himself to the wall (OH BY THE WAY DID I MENTION THAT LASHING OPERATES THIS WAY AND THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF LASHES AND THIS IS HOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT)"

I got to disagree that he does it all the time. I'll say that he's more technical with the early fight scenes. But once he's explained how the magic works, then the subsequent fights are a lot more free and fluid. At least that's how I feel about Mistborn, since I haven't gotten WOK yet.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

BananaNutkins posted:

* One reused character archetype. So far Shalla is the same female lead from Warbreaker and Elantris.

Not to mention that in Warbreaker, there were two of them. At least we didn't get a twofer in WOK, with the heretic princess averting the typical princess tropes by being a super-smart, didactic B.

Finished the first part and really enjoying it so far.

mcable fucked around with this message at 12:11 on Sep 1, 2010

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
I'm pretty sure I read in a recent blog/interview that Brandon said that Way of Kings clocked in at 400k words but that future installments would be more like 250k-300k.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Hizawk posted:

800 pages in, enough with the god drat safehand already. Really makes the women a bit of a chore to read, because Sanderson has a hand fetish or something.

The book is still incredible.

The safehand stuff didn't bother me at all. But imagine a crossover fanfic with freehands tugging braids and safehands folded under breasts (ooh sexy). That could get out of hand in a hurry, so to speak.

Get cracking goons.

mcable fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Sep 8, 2010

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
The Way of Kings debuted at #7 on the New York Times bestseller.

http://twitter.com/BrandonSandrson/status/23946962913

That's really impressive for the first book of a fantasy series. The Wheel of time didn't hit #1 until the eighth book (Path of Daggers) and a Song of Ice and Fire didn't until book four (A Feast for Crows).

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
I was actually surprised how morally ambiguous a lot of the characters ended up being. In the other Sanderson books I've read, usually the good guys are the good guys and the bad guys are the bad guys, except when they're pretending to be good guys.

But in TWOK many of the "good guys" have complicated motives and a few of the "bad guys" seem to be pragmatic schemers rather than truly evil.

The only character who is truly black/white and really seems to see the world in black/white terms is Kaladin. Infuriatingly so sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I was plugged in to his story and really rooted for him. But everytime he busted out his "Lighteyes can't be trusted" routine, I wanted to punch him in the face.

Especially since when we finally see Amaram's betrayal, I was really underwhelmed. Amaram took the shardblade for himself when Kaladin turned it down. What did he think was going to happen? That's not lighteyes being evil, that's just human nature.

Whatever. There's nothing wrong with having a legitimate "white hat" in a fantasy story. It's pretty much a requirement unless your name is Martin, Abercrombie, Bakker etc.

mcable fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Sep 9, 2010

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

taco_fox posted:

You don't think killing Kaladin's friends (who were also Amaram's soldiers) then selling him into slavery so he doesn't talk about Amaram stealing the blade isn't evil? I think we saw enough of Kaladin's history to understand why he's so bitter towards lighteyes and it's perfectly reasonable.

I'm not saying that Kaladin as a character is inconsistent or unjustified in his feelings. I just don't like his character in this regard. He reminds me of the people who blame everything on race and think everybody is out to get them based on racism or reverse racism.

The world is more complex than "darkeyes good, lighteyes bad". Look no further than the darkeyes from his village who treated his family so poorly. And even his father, an ostensibly "good" man, did a "bad" thing by stealing the spheres. There's good people and bad people in the world regardless of eye color. And even good people can do bad things based on the given situation (I even kind of buy Amaram's reasoning for killing Kaladin's friends and selling him into slavery. It seemed more ruthlessly pragmatic than evil to me).

I'm not even faulting the writing here. I think it makes total sense for Kaladin to act this way considering his sheltered life, the way he put lighteyes on a pedestal and his own unflinching sense of honor and morality. But that doesn't mean that I can't be annoyed when the 50th "lighteyes are keeping me down" speech rolls around.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

soru posted:

This is exactly what he learns at the end of the book.

Yeah, I suppose. Here's hoping it sticks in the next book on.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
AMOL will come first. And last I checked, BS was a bit pessimistic that AMOL would come out a year after Towers. So that's probably more like a Spring 2012 release. If I had to guess, Stormlight 2 will either come out in the Fall of 2012 or Spring 2013.

And lest you think Brandon is slacking, he'll be coming out with a young adult novel in the fall of 2011, called Scribbler. Scribbler seems to be a big favorite on Brandon's fan forum, so that might be worth checking out as well.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Kreeblah posted:

Uh, bad news, guys. It looks like the Sanderson writing machine is going to be slowing down for the foreseeable future. :(

Releasing three books in the next two-three years in slowing down? It's pretty much what I predicted up-thread (except for the slight delay for Scribbler):

mcable posted:

AMOL will come first. And last I checked, BS was a bit pessimistic that AMOL would come out a year after Towers. So that's probably more like a Spring 2012 release. If I had to guess, Stormlight 2 will either come out in the Fall of 2012 or Spring 2013.

And lest you think Brandon is slacking, he'll be coming out with a young adult novel in the fall of 2011, called Scribbler. Scribbler seems to be a big favorite on Brandon's fan forum, so that might be worth checking out as well.

Brandon is prolific and punctual but he's only human. Though I don't totally buy his buffer modesty, since he's still planning on writing both AMOL and SA2 in about a year and a half. I'm still putting money on Brandon being done with all 10 books of the Stormlight Archive before GRRM releases The Winds of Winter (since A Dance with Dragons may finally be close to being done).

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Dickeye posted:

It hurts really badly.

Sanderson mentions not wanting to put a fight right in the beginning of Mistborn because he'd have to explain Allomancy and it would drag the story down, and he's right. The audiobook version of WoK is utterly painful for exactly that reason. After that I'd imagine it gets better but my god have fun getting through the prologue.

But isn't WOK being read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, the same team that does the WOT. Kramer is an absolute pro and I'd listen to him reading the phonebook, so it can't be that bad. Haven't listened to it yet (Will probably do that leading up to the stormlight archive 2) but if I can get through a listen of Crossroads of Twilight, WOK should be no problem.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
I started reading right as The Fires of Heaven was released. I read the first four in a matter of weeks from the library. Then for some reason I thought TFOH was the final book so I actually bought it. That was over 17 years ago. Haha FML. So yeah, some closure would be nice.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

subx posted:

I hope this doesn't turn into a story about the worlds/shards and all of that. As much as I'd like a story about that later on, I hope this is an epic fantasy that stands on its own.

The Stormlight Archives will not focus on the different worlds/shards, but Sanderson does have plans for a series that kind of ties all of that together. I believe it's called Dragonsteel though he won't start it until after the SA is done.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
I took it to mean that Kaladin's chapters are heavy because of all the poo poo he goes through.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Liesmith posted:

I also dislike that he introduces incredibly boring pov characters who don't advance the plot and never show up again just for the sake of worldbuilding. I'm looking at you, WoK. You could have been 100 pages shorter and no one would have noticed.

Well your mileage may vary I guess. Because I absolutely loved those little peeks into the other parts of the world. First off I thought they were some of the best writing in the book and they worked as a palette cleanser after some of the crazy happenings from the main storylines. And they did provide some clues (all the stuff about spren and the storms) to the nature of the world that we'll probably need to know down the line. And considering how much plot and story TWOK covered, I don't mind the extra padding. It just adds to the epicness of the book.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

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

Casao posted:

what's the Rithmatist?

Another YA book but it sounds pretty cool. Here's how Brandon describes it:

Brandon Sanderson posted:

The Rithmatist is a YA novel I wrote in 2007, right before the Wheel of Time deal hit me like a freight train. And because I was so busy with that, I didn’t have time to get back to The Rithmatist and play with it, and I’m only now getting to the point where I’ll be able to do some revisions and things, because I’ve been breakneck these last few years and we’re only now slowing down a little. Tor’s going to publish it, but the release is probably a few years off because of the workload involved with the Wheel of Time.

But it’s a really fun book. I wrote it when I was supposed to be working on other things back in 2007, and it’s actually gearpunk—which is not steampunk, but more Da Vinci-era technology, extrapolated hundreds of years into the future. It’s very whimsical; it’s about a boy who goes to magic school, which you’ve seen before, except that he doesn’t have any magical powers, and it’s not something you can learn in this world. He only gets in because his mother is a cleaning lady who works at the school, so he gets free tuition.

So he goes to get a world-class education, but he doesn’t go to the magic classes, just all the other classes. It’s like a private school that also happens to train wizards. I don’t want to get too much into it, but the magic is chalkboard-based; you draw these very elaborate designs that do certain things, and you kind of duel with it. It’s kind of like playing magical chalkboard Starcraft, in a gearpunk world, told through the eyes of the unmagical son of the cleaning lady. It’s very fun.

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-nonfiction/feature-interview-brandon-sanderson/

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
What's an Exalted Campaign? I tried googling it but didn't find any sites that actually describes what they are.

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.

mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
To me the interludes were some of my favorite chapters from the WOK. They act as sort of a palette cleanser from the main story arcs, which I found refreshing since for instance Kaladin's subplot was basically hundreds of pages of misery. And I'm pretty sure some of those interludes aren't just throwaway chapters but will be integrated with some of the main plots (like the Lady vandalizing the art).

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mcable
Apr 21, 2010

https://i.imgur.com/kCXRcxe.jpg
Whoa, that is an amazing reveal and a creative idea too. Just goes to show the level of detail in the story and the amount of secrets still to be discovered. Book 2 can't come soon enough.

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