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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:So I'm finally sitting down with Way of Kings (reading Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker and White Sand in quick succession kinda burned me out on his stock characters) and I'm just wondering, this is his Exalted campaign isn't it. Pretty obviously, yeah. I don't think he's even very secretive about that.
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May 18, 2012 03:28
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I got about 40% through Elantris and then had to put it down for a couple weeks because real life is a bitch. Never picked it back up and realized I was feeling blah about it and didn't really care about any of the characters. This was a couple years ago, I bought it after I loved Mistborn and Warbreaker. I should get around to finishing it sometime. I liked the worldbuilding but found myself uninvested in the characters and the plot moved slow.
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Jun 14, 2012 04:29
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shymog posted:I agree. I know a lot of people seem to spew some hate on various parts of the book, but the only part that made it difficult was the pacing. The absolutely mechanical rotation between the main characters really slowed it down and was really the only big issue for me with the entire book. He did that in Hero of Ages too, bouncing from viewpoint to viewpoint, but it worked a lot better in that book because the tension was high and the chronology was clear and followable. Elantris felt like I was reading very long introductions to three different books, alternating one chapter at a time. It was annoying and felt disjointed. I know he did that on purpose, but I didn't care for it.
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Jun 23, 2012 19:16
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Cartoon Man posted:Wait till you get to play guess the narrator in book 3, everything will make sense by the end of the book. You've actually made it through the worst of the trilogy, hold on tight and enjoy the last. That's interesting. I knew who the narrator was after reading the first sentence of the book. And I'm usually very slow on the uptake (for instance, in book 2 I didn't figure out who the impostor was until very shortly before the reveal, even though on re-read it is screamingly obvious and most of my friends who have read it report it was obvious to them the first time through). I didn't think it was much of a mystery at all who was writing the lead-ins in book 3. I remember somewhere around the middle of the book particularly reading a lead-in and thinking "yeah, he's not even really hiding who this is anymore".
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Jul 23, 2012 04:13
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I liked Warbreaker. Half the time I think it would have been better 100 pages shorter, and half the time I think it would have been better 100 pages longer (spending most of that time with Vasher, preferably). I think mostly the problem is that the various gods except Susebron just fall flat for me. And Susebron can't really get involved until near the end of the book, for obvious reasons.
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Jul 25, 2012 14:15
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I quit Elantris halfway through, because I found all three protagonists uninteresting. Sorry.
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Jul 25, 2012 18:06
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I just finished Way of Kings, loved it, but count me in with the "Wit is horrible" crowd. This character is in every Sanderson book (seriously, Elend/Lightsong/Wit are all the same character dropped into different circumstances/life stages) and for me at least it gets more painful to read, not less, with each new series. Good lord is Sanderson good at worldbuilding and providing interesting and believable protagonists, though.
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Sep 18, 2012 15:21
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computer parts posted:He's actually literally in every book. Yeah, I know about Time Lord Hoid. That's not what I meant, of course. I always wonder if there are a bunch of people out there who love the Sanderson Humor Outlet Character or if it's just a bit of authorial self-indulgence. Not that there's anything wrong with that; he's Brandon loving Sanderson after all.
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Sep 18, 2012 22:51
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I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the Truthspren or whatever they're called get attracted to people who are habitually lying about something major. Don't remember where though, it could have just been tvtropes or something. If that's true, the fact Elhokar sees them has interesting implications...
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Jan 20, 2013 19:43
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Koryk posted:Someone refresh my memory: what's the projected release date for WoK2? Aiming for late 2013, last I checked. I believe it's tentatively titled Book of Endless Pages, which suggests Shallan will be the primary star.
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Jan 26, 2013 18:35
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MildShow posted:I think one of the reasons it's on sale right now is because Tor is doing a reread of Way of Kings on their website. It sounds like an interesting concept, so I'll probably be following along, even though I just finished my own reread a couple of weeks ago. It's all aimed at getting people to read (or re-read) it and then want to buy the forthcoming book 2 at full price. After book 2's out book 1 will go back to a standard paperback price to sell to whoever might have read book 2 first.
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Mar 15, 2013 23:07
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I need to do a third reading and look for it, but my assumption is that Kaladin's surgebinding and Syl are tied to each other and Kaladin didn't start using Stormlight until after Syl first appeared.
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Apr 23, 2013 02:52
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Yeah actually now that I think about it, it seems pretty obvious given his longstanding reputation for being lucky and all.
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Apr 23, 2013 20:20
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subx posted:People say the whole "move directly on" thing all the time, but book 10 is still pretty bad. For as many plots and subplots going on in the world, it was amazing that book could contain so little story movement - it's almost like he actively avoided progressing anyone's plot-line. He did, if I'm remembering right. I think he admitted it was an attempt on his part to do something different and it failed badly.
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Apr 25, 2013 17:12
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Fezz posted:Elantris is hamstrung by Brandon's triptych plotting. Like you'll get really invested in one thread and then have to wait two chapters to get back to it. I had this problem the first time I read The Hero of Ages--I didn't give a drat about Spook or Elend (when he wasn't with Vin) and was annoyed every time I turned a page and saw I was about to read a Spook Chapter or Elend Chapter. I think I just have a very low tolerance for angstiness. I don't mind it nearly as much on re-reads, though, probably because now I know it all ties together nicely and those chapters actually are somewhat important. I also really enjoyed Lightsong even though Sanderson's sense of humor generally annoys me to no end. There was just something appreciable about how he was openly being a jackass and doing so with a point. Sanderson seems fond of the rear end in a top hat With a Heart of Gold type of character.
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May 11, 2013 03:52
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Shallan's been sheltered all her life and is what, 19? Less? I expect her to be awkward, shallow and flighty. She's not likeable, but inasmuch as that was book 1 of 10 I don't think she's really supposed to be. It was an introduction to a character that's marked for development. I wish there was somewhere that offered Stormlight Archives betting lines because I would load up on Adolin's going to die well before the series is over.
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May 11, 2013 17:32
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treeboy posted:really? My money is elsewhere but nearby. I view that as a given, pretty much. The point is it seems obvious to me that Renarin is being set up to be a major character with basically a Male Siri (ignored non-heir child suddenly thrust into the heir's responsiblities) flavor of development.
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May 11, 2013 18:15
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fordan posted:Which kinda makes sense since it's aimed at the 5th-7th grade, same as his other YA series, Alcatraz. Yeah, this. 12-year-olds cannot imagine anything cooler than being 16, so it's pretty natural for books aimed at 12-year-olds to feature 16-year-old characters that act like 12-year-olds.
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May 14, 2013 22:42
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I actually have really liked Sanderson's female characters until Shallan. It's only book one of ten so there's probably a lot of character development to come, but so far I roll my eyes every time I read her name.
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May 15, 2013 18:34
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I really liked Warbreaker 
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May 28, 2013 04:00
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Let's not be too sympathetic for the Lord Ruler, we're talking about a dude who's totally cool with his followers raping and murdering skaa women whenever they feel like it. Just to pick one thing. For what it's worth I still regard The Final Empire (first Mistborn book) as Sanderson's best work to date, even over Way of Kings, and one of the best books in the fantasy genre. But it was the first Sanderson book I read and so that's probably the first book bias talking. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 05:59
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You know, looking at the long game I'm honestly not certain Sanderson will live long enough to finish Stormlight Archive; in bitchin' meta fashion someone else may end have having to write the last couple books in the series, continuing the cycle. Just doing some math here.... assuming the January release date is right, it was just under 3.5 years between books one and two. Granting he was working on Wheel of Time and other projects in between there, but on the other hand I'm sure he has no intention of writing strictly Stormlight Archive going forward. Let's be really optimistic (imo) and say one book every 2.5 years. That's 20 years to finish 8 books--assuming the series stays 10 books and doesn't swell up to 12. That puts the completion date at 2037, when Sanderson will be 57 years old. Doesn't sound too bad, but, well... let's just say I really hope for his own sake and the genre's that he takes better care of himself. Then again if he ever did decide to write strictly Stormlight Archive he'd finish all eight books by next December. 
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Jun 20, 2013 14:19
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Heh, somehow I never noticed until just now what unfortunate initials Brandon Sanderson has.
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Jun 20, 2013 21:26
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Just finished Steelheart and absolutely loved it. A few of the twists were fairly predictable but I didn't think it detracted from my enjoyment of the story at all. I actually prefer Young Adult fiction a lot of the time, as it usually dispenses with literary frills (I read for plots and characters, not to challenge my brain to unwind the writing or to admire the author's artistic talent with words). Like most my only serious complaint about the book is the using 'spark' in place of 'gently caress'. On one hand it's something Sanderson readers are well accustomed to as it's part of the peace he's made with Mormonism; on the other hand even absent that I'm pretty sure the publisher would have required a soundalike swear word because the book was aimed into the YA genre anyway. On the third hand, drat is it annoying in this particular setting. I don't mind it in fantasy novels set on fictional planets where it's kind of justifiable, but in a story set on Earth in the not-very-distant future it's not justifiable and jarring. Edit: Okay, one more minor complaint I can think of: The pretty much instant acceptance of the protagonist by everyone on the team except Megan, especially since he's pretty much making all the plans and they're following his lead, is fantastically unrealistic for a whole mess of reasons and strains my suspension of disbelief. This is definitely the most Mary Sue-ish Sanderson protagonist yet. I understand this is kind of a tradition in the genre, but I don't like it much. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Oct 17, 2013 |
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Oct 17, 2013 00:37
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OK, here's another gigantic plothole in Steelheart in my opinion (this is what I do, I can turn off my logic while enjoying a story but after I'm done I start thinking it through): Prof and Tia are not idiots, have well-developed survival instincts, and are aware of what illusionist Epics can do, so there is no way they wouldn't instantly strongly suspect Megan of being an Epic the instant they realized she couldn't "use" the tensors or harmsways.
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Oct 17, 2013 18:59
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Fezz posted:Not a plot hole. As far as I see it: Sorry, I'm not buying it. Even if they didn't explicitly know that quirk about gifting, Prof's inability to gift to Megan and only Megan would have/should have set off all kinds of alarm bells. I don't think they could stay alive as long as they already had by the time the story picks up without being both very smart and very paranoid. Also, it's never explicitly stated but based on their interactions and Tia's reaction to Prof's apparent death I thought it was pretty obvious she is his wife. It is definitely clear she knew he was an Epic all along. edit: or his sister or colleague from before Calamity or such is equally possible; but to me at least it's clear they have been familiar with each other for longer than they've worked together as Reckoners. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Oct 17, 2013 |
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Oct 17, 2013 21:14
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I thought the implication was pretty strong that Megan/Firefight, while not using her powers and allowing herself to be human, fell pretty quickly for David and her heart wasn't really in the double-agent thing through most of the story. She did help Nightwielder in his efforts to kill David in the climactic battle, but even then, while she was using her powers, it didn't seem like she was really giving it the proverbial 110%. And I don't think her role from Steelheart's perspective was much more complicated than just keeping tabs on what the Reckoners are up to. As the above post says, so long as none of them are a direct threat to Steelheart it serves his purposes just fine for them to be going around killing other Epics. Had she reported back that the Reckoners know for sure what his weakness is and are working on figuring out how to exploit it, he probably would have personally gone down there and killed them all immediately. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Oct 20, 2013 |
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Oct 20, 2013 20:42
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api call girl posted:I'm trying to figure out if Prof's been "outed" to the rest of the cell. I can't remember exactly where in the short it was, but I'm like 98% sure it's made clear that he has. Most (all?) of the cell saw Prof fight Steelheart; pretty hard to come up with any explanation for how he hung in against him for so long other than "he's an Epic."
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Dec 12, 2013 04:06
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Drunk Tomato posted:I'm seriously considering this retreat for next year. It sounds so amazing, since I love BrandSand and the WE group and who knows how long this opportunity will last I was looking at this also--with 24 seats at a way-too-cheap price (they're selling for $750 what they could easily get $3000 for given the tiny supply) and far more people aware of it than last year, those 24 seats are going to go to the 24 people with the fastest internet connections in about 15 seconds. I'm going to try to sign up but I'm not optimistic, because I'll be at work at the appointed time and the internet connection there sucks. Seems like an odd way to parcel them out to me; I'd just make everyone interested pay the $750 up front, randomly select 24 lucky winners, and then return everyone else's $750 the next day.
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Dec 18, 2013 15:46
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Dude, if I could win a writing contest I wouldn't need the seminar! 
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Dec 18, 2013 17:58
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I'd assume the seats are nontransferrable except in extremely unusual circumstances. Otherwise I'd try to buy all 24 seats and sell them off at like a 400% profit. Seriously though the demand is going to be extreme and even while bitterly disappointed I'm going to have no choice but to laugh when I get all my information entered in 20 seconds and am told sorry, sold out. There's also the matter of the on-campus housing. I see they have it set up as something you can buy separate from a ticket only reservation, but there's only one of each. So trying to reserve one of those is a real gamble; if you go for one of them and someone beats you to it, then you're hosed, all the ticket-onlies will be sold out before you even start to try to buy one. I am definitely not going that route. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Dec 19, 2013 |
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Dec 19, 2013 04:42
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cryptoclastic posted:The Black Prism just dropped to 1.99 for Kindle. I guess I know what I'm reading next! LOL, like 2 hours after I paid $6.50 for it. Seems like it's worth the $6.50, though.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:03
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Eric the Mauve posted:LOL, like 2 hours after I paid $6.50 for it. NightRift posted:Is it just me or did the last three books of Wheel of Time read faster than any other in the series? It's not just you. I suspect were Robert Jordan still with us we'd have just finished Book 15 and the plot would have been about two-thirds of the way through The Gathering Storm.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:05
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If Sanderson ever did a book signing somewhere near me and I were able to attend it, I'd buy a hardcover for the novelty. That's about it. I'm 100% ebooks these days.
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Dec 24, 2013 01:18
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Kelsier of Mistborn is a fine example of a... well, I guess technically he wasn't the protagonist, but he was definitely the most important character in the first book. Sanderson mostly emphasizes Kelsier's strong points through a viewpoint character who views him as a father figure, but there's plenty of subtext there quietly alerting the discerning reader that he's kind of a monster. (And a few instances of another character openly calling him out on it.)
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Dec 31, 2013 07:14
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Tunicate posted:Oh hey, registration for The Writing Excuses Retreat starts tomorrow And ends tomorrow. If you want in you'd better be at your computer at 8:59 AM EST, because registration is probably closing at 9:01.
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Jan 18, 2014 04:01
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I didn't. Sold out before the registration page loaded.
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Jan 18, 2014 15:38
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Democratic Pirate posted:I'm so ready for WoR because there's a >90% chance the Szeth - Kaladin showdown is going to happen, be awesome, and I can't decide if Dalinar will make it through or not. I think Dalinar will make it, but I wouldn't sell Adolin any life insurance if I were you. Although that may not happen for another few books yet. Gotta get the Kaladin/Shallan/Adolin love triangle revved up first.
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Jan 27, 2014 14:59
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The Puppy Bowl posted:Nope, Renarin has Knight Radiant printed on his format I'm pretty convinced Renarin is going to be a major character in the series, that's why I think Adolin is doomed. The Kaladin/Adolin parallel if Adolin's weakling little brother gets shanked while Adolin is helpless is so obvious that it's got to be a red herring.
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Jan 28, 2014 05:41
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Bluedust posted:The first chapter is literally Jasnah sitting Shallan down and telling her right up front about the Shadesmar. On some ship in the water. It came off so forced, since the prologue dealt with Jasnah and the Shadesmar. I think in the context of the story and where it left off at the end of WoK that is exactly what Jasnah would in fact be doing, though? It would seem awkward to skip over it and have Shallan later on knowing important things the reader doesn't.
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Jan 31, 2014 04:52
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