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subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
I got Brandon to sign my copy of TWoK when I went to the Towers of Midnight signing event. I like fantasy books way too much... I couldn't think of anything witty to make him write, hopefully I'll plan a bit better next time, this was kind of last-minute decision to go.





Sorry for the horrible picture of book, I took that just now

subx fucked around with this message at 09:44 on Nov 6, 2010

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subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

combat_potato posted:

Cool! I saw on him tweeting about signing books all week. I wanted to see if he came anywhere in the midwest. Unfortunately he only stops in Detroit, the only place I wouldn't drive. I live in Wisconsin so Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis (St. Paul) were all in.

This was Cinicinnati - about 1.5-2 hour drive for me.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

BrandonSandrson on Twitter posted:

I feel bad, not having Stormlight 2 for you. But there was no way I could do that and AMOL. It is this or nothing. (And this is awesome.)

Guess we have to wait for Stormlight 2. Not that I blame the guy, A Memory of Light is a pretty massive undertaking, finishing up a series like that. At least he's not pulling a GRRM and just not working on anything.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

combat_potato posted:

I saw that too and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I can only hope that the tentative release date of late 2012 hasn't been pushed back further. I seriously lack patience (besides this is a 10 book series, at that pace it'd take 18 years to finish).

He has said it will take a while anyways - he's going to take a break after the first 3 to write some other things, and then pick it back up to do a few more, then another break.

Hopefully we will get Stormlight 2 in 2012, which even two years apart is alright for a book series. If you are impatient, maybe you should just not read them for a long time when you can read 5 or 6 together.

Anyhow, 18 years sounds fairly likely for the entire series.


Cartoon Man posted:

I think he said we are going to get a mistborn novella some time next year. I can see how this is probably eating at him, he knows that not all of his fans are WOT fans. But finishing WOT is really the best choice for him, he owes it to all his new fans that would have never known about him before. I think there would be riots in the streets if the final book had to wait 2 more years because of Stormlight 2. Theoryland might self destruct...

I agree, especially as a WoT fan. I read a couple of his books before the whole WoT thing happened, but it definitely made me read more of his stuff. Honestly if he only gets AMoL done in the next two years I think that would be a bigger feat than many writers could do in twice the time.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Jorenko posted:

Random cultural differences, intended to reinforce that this is a world apart from our own, and that societal norms are weird when viewed from the outside? My guess is he needed an excuse for Shallan to be able to carry around the broken soulcaster all the time.

I don't think that's it - she could have just carried it in a pocket or something. I think it was just a weird custom that got started long ago and is now "standard practice." There's stuff like that in every culture.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Charlz Guybon posted:

Is that the unnamed urban fantasy he's got 53% done on his blog? He's been working on that for like less than 2 months hasn't he? Guy's an absolute beast!

Guess he needed a book to come out in 2011 since AMoL is planned for early 2012 and was like I got a few months free, here's a novel.

I don't think they are the same book. I think (though I could be wrong) the "Urban Fantasy" book was supposed to be unconnected to any of his established series.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Comrade Flynn posted:

Just finished Towers of Midnight and saw this was out, read the entire thing in a week. I enjoyed it quite a bit, although he's definitely not as good as crafting a world at Jordan. For example, I think I can only really name two areas in the book: the shattered plains, and the hilltop city with the giant library. And I have no idea where those things are in relation to one another.

He doesn't spend as much time on traveling as Jordan did. While it doesn't give you as much idea where things are compared to one another, it helps speed the story along instead of having parts that really drag. Good and bad I guess. Also its the first book, so we will know a lot more areas in the future.


Comrade Flynn posted:

I'm not even really sure who or what the voidbringers are, or what happened in the past (I'm still really confused by that intro chapter).

I don't think you are supposed to know everything yet. It's meant to be a little confusing. That's why its scheduled to be a huge epic. More will be revealed later for sure.

Just for reference I think those guys in the first chapter were something that came before the Knights Radiant.

Comrade Flynn posted:

What other kind of books are like this? I've read Mistborne and enjoyed those quite a bit.

Not sure exactly what you mean - other Sanderson books? Or epic fantasies? As for epics, George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, and Joe Abercrombie have large series. I'm sure there's others, but those are the popular ones.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Yea I don't get the complaining about the cover. Compared to most fantasy covers it's pretty good. At least it looks like real art, and not like a five year old drew it.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

IRQ posted:

Shard-verse?

All of his books (minus WoT obviously) are supposedly in one "Universe" or something.

Apparently an old god got split into shards and give people powers in different ways on different worlds. He hasn't done much other than mention it thus far though.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Cartoon Man posted:

Every book he writes (minus WOT) has a charecter that pops up called Hoid. He usually only has a scene or two in which he tells stories or has information for the main charecters. Most people forget he was even in the book once they finish reading it. (I know I did.)

In the Way of Kings, Hoid is further explained to be a worldsinger. He can travel between the worlds of the different books through a plane called the shadesmaar. Towards the end of the book, Shallan learns how to travel there too in order to work magic. (Or something...drat I gotta re-read that book again.) Hoid's motivations are still unknown, though he does seem to help the good guys in each book.

I have to say, I kinda rolled my eyes when I learned all these books tied together, mostly because of how bad the Dark Tower (Stephen King) turned out. But now I really think that Brandon has a vision and can pull this off. Unlike King, he doesn't seem to be pulling this out of his rear end in order to sell more books. And with Brandon's work ethic, we should be getting 1.5 - 2 books a year. GURM would have a heart attack if he had to write that much.

It's fine to me - it's a pretty loose tying together. I don't think he's forcing things, which makes it just a nice side story (maybe eventually a larger story, but for now its just side notes).

I think Warbreaker had the best Hoid part - he told some really neat stories. Seemed to have the biggest part in that book anyways. I don't remember him talking that much in Mistborn/WoK.

subx fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Dec 7, 2010

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

senae posted:

It really doesn't to me. Sanderson mentions that he doesn't know much about the issue several times, and projects the opinion that gays have existed, do exist, and will continue to exist in perpetuity. He might have learned from the OSC fiasco, but the only thing he seems to be against is gays marrying.

It's obviously not a very nice opinion to many of us, but it's a drat sight better then thinking forced "rehabilitation" is a good idea.

The most surprising thing is someone against gay marriage forming a sentence that goes beyond "BUT ITS KILLING OUR FAMILY STRUCTURE." I disagree with that opinion, but that's mine, and he's just as entitled to his opinion as I am.

I don't see it affecting his books, unless you want to see gay weddings in your fantasy books, there obviously won't be much of that.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Cartoon Man posted:



This can't possibly be right. That's like good art on a fantasy book cover. We don't got no good covers here in these parts. That must be the UK version.

subx fucked around with this message at 14:19 on Mar 22, 2011

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Cartoon Man posted:

If this were the WOT thread, I would agree with you.

Brandon's had a really impressive streak of good cover-art lately.

I know, but still. I liked the WoK cover art as well.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Dramatika posted:

http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/972/Suvudu-Cage-Match-Vin-vs.-Zeddicus-Zul-Zorander

Apparently in the fantasy character cage match, Vin is up against Zedd of Sword of Truth fame. Brandon wrote how he thought the match would end up, and also reminded me why he's probably my favorite author at the moment. Nice jab at Goodkind. I'm not gonna spoil it, but it's AWESOME.

"COMMUNISTS!!!"

That's fantastic reading. Much better than the one on the suvudu site.

IRQ posted:

I just remembered why Kaladin seemed so drat familiar.

Kaladim is the dwarf city in Everquest 1. I killed so many loving dwarfs.

Holy poo poo I didn't even think of that. I played way to much Everquest, but didn't spend much time in Kaladim (wasn't that on the continent no one went too?).

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

SystemLogoff posted:

I was talking about The Final Empire, although I just spoiled myself because I quoted you. Woops. This is why I should not post as soon as I wake up. I've just started the second book (At Part Two) and I'm starting to worry about characters dieing.

Book two is the weakest of the three in my opinion, you'll feel that it drags a bit, but since there's no waiting for book 3, it's not too big of a deal.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

A Nice Boy posted:

:words:

Obviously Mistborn series and Novels aren't going to have nearly the world-building that Jordan or Martin have as they don't have as much space. They do pretty well with what the have though, and you have a pretty good sense of the world before the series is over.

Also it is not nearly the commitment to read Mistborn as it is to read Wheel of Time or something - all of them put together are like 1.5x the size of a single WoT book.q

Way of Kings is going to be his real test as an Epic Fantasy writer. The first one is great, and if he continues to improve at the pace he has been in the past few years, he could go down as one of the best fantasy writers ever.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Streebs posted:

Warbreaker and Elantris are ok, they are worth reading if you really like Sanderson's other stuff. I think Warbreaker was better than Elantris. Sanderson is planning sequels for both books.

Elantris was one of his first books and it shows - it's a decent story but the writing is a little off.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

fordan posted:

It's not out in mass market paperback yet, that's end of May. It's cheaper that the Dec 30 2010 paperback that's up on amazon.co.uk for £9.69. I'd expect the price on the Kindle flavor to drop around May 26 or so.

Has anybody compared the Kindle version to the print version, specifically around the interior art? I've only done the audiobook so far and was looking to see some of the art inside the book people have spoken about...

I have both hard back and Kindle (I went to a signing and got that and ToM signed, otherwise I would only have the Kindle version).

It has all the art, it's really well done too. Maps are really the only thing that aren't so hot on the Kindle, they can be hard to read.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

arioch posted:

I'm finishing up a re-read of the Mistborn trilogy now in anticipation of Alloy of Law and it's still pretty good, and really great in a lot of places.

Also, the "Sanderson Avalanche" is by now a well-documented effect.

Well he only has like 6 books (minus WoT), so currently it's not too hard to get caught up on all his works. If he continues at this pace, in 20 years a "Sanderson Avalanche" will take like 2 years to read through.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
I really hope Stormlight gets a following like WoT has. Tons of speculation and such are a lot of fun.

I think that's what's missing from GRRM's books, there's no real mystery as to who or what is happening. Sure there's surprises, but there's not much foreshadowing to contemplate those things beforehand.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

arioch posted:

Mistborn had a great series of setups and rug-pulls, so if Stormlight is anything like that on top of being epic-length, then yeah it's going to be absurdly enjoyable to follow.

What I'd be leery of is if some of these books put too many cards on the table--like we kind of know what's up with the Adonalsium Shards now, etc.

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.


CyberLord XP posted:

Who are Jon Snow's parents?

You don't even know that's a "mystery" until pretty late on, as far as you know he's exactly who he says he is.

Note I'm not saying they are bad books - I love the series, I just am not as attached to it as WoT.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

arioch posted:

Definitely, but the Shards/worlds/Shadesmar is a part of the setting and the metaplot has become important in the plot/resolution of some of the books.

Again, it depends on what Sanderson's eventually going for, but he was at one point suggesting that maybe Sazed went insane due to the combining forces of Ruin and Preservation in the next Mistborn series, and to me I just feel like while that may serve the metaplot, it does terrible things to the conclusion of the first series, particularly as it recapitulates Lord Ruler and Ruin.

You have a link to that? I must have missed that, and I hope that's not the premise of it or it will be a bit disappointing (I will read it and enjoy it still, I just hoped that part of the story was wrapped up).

I was hoping for some expansion on the Kandra. I haven't read much of anything about the new book though, aside from it being set in "more modern times."

subx fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Apr 27, 2011

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

arioch posted:

I just did a google search on the matter and apparently Brandon Sanderson has since said that he is not going to go insane. A link to a 17thshard forum staffer quoting something else:

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/index.php?/topic/70-theory-shards-cant-remember-their-names/page__st__20

Also apparently Preservation's name was Leras, hence Lerasium being the metal found at the Well of Ascension used to make a normal person Mistborn. The more you know!

Is it bad that I've never heard of "17th shard? Anyways, thanks for the nifty link.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Cartoon Man posted:

A lot of people read through all of Sanderson's books and not pick up on Hoid, the shards, and how the books tie together. I never knew untill it was pointed out to me on the internet.

I meant the fan site, not the shard itself.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

ConfusedUs posted:

Indeed.

Even if he's not making much off of the last WoT novels directly, he's earning a killing on his other books now.

I know that I'm not alone in saying that I'd never heard of the guy before he stepped up to WoT, and now I'm hooked. I now own everything he's written except Elantris. I'll get to that one, too, eventually!

Yea, even if he didn't recieve a single penny WoT would be more than worth his time to write.

That said, I'm sure he's making a decent amount, but "not much" relative to it being his own original stories.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Liesmith posted:

:words:

I don't think it's "awkward" as much as it is obviously a setup novel. I think it's a great book on its own, but it will be even better once it has the followups to support it.

Even a book like LotR would be somewhat awkward without books two and three. I mean who just reads Fellowship and then waits two years to read Two Towers? That's the "price" you pay for wanting to read the book the day it comes out though. You could just wait ten years and read the entire series at once.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

A Nice Boy posted:

:words:

I feel the same way about TenSoon - cool character that seemed like he should have had a bigger role at the end.

Also Warbreaker has a lot of the foreshadowing stuff as well, so you should enjoy that. And since it's a single book, it doesn't have the drag feeling that Mistborne occasionally gets.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Cartoon Man posted:

Yes and Warbreaker and Elantris.

You might be able to get Warbreaker free from Sanderson's site still, you should check that first. Unless you just want to support Sanderson, in which case buying it probably takes a lot less effort than buying->converting.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

To get back on topic: I also need to finish Wheel of Time, but that should be a lot faster once I finish book 10. I get to read Sanderson's parts soon!

Read the last 10% of the book and you will get everything you need from it. Knife of Dreams is quite a bit better at least.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

Sorry, my completionist nature won't allow it. :shobon: I'm about 3/4 through, though, so I'll be done soon enough.

As terrible as it is plot wise (nothing happening) it's still beautiful writing. Jordan had amazing prose. Also its not nearly as bad as it was back when it was the latest book. Not having another one to read right after you finished it was really disappointing.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Isn't Crossroads the one with the entire chapter devoted to the girls in the bath? Yea that was pretty amazing.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

reflir posted:

What would a Mistborn game have to offer that doesn't already exist in pretty much every action rpg/open world style game ever? Mana by any other name is still mana.

What does any game really offer that no game has ever done before? A game can be fun and use elements from existing games.

Of course it works the other way too: A game that has tons of original stuff can be complete crap to actual play.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Xachariah posted:

Theres an HTML version which converts to Mobi or Epub perfectly well. Better than the PDF, at any rate.

EDIT: In fact there's a Word document and .prc here: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/Warbreaker/page/20/WARBREAKER-Rights-and-Downloads

I don't know if Kindle's can show .prc, but it'll convert to .epub and .mobi just fine, the Word .doc would a perfect conversion too.

I was about to say that it's only like 2.99 anyways, but apparently its 7.99 now.

Calibre is great and will automatically convert to the format you need for your device when you click "send to device" - whatever the original format is.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Affi posted:

Re: Kaladin, isn't what his bridgeburners (oh shi..) went through similar to what modern militaries try to do to recruits. Break them down before building them up again. My mind draws parallels to Navy Seals hellweek only its months long and they make you run unarmed towards death.

What i'm trying to say will the Bridgemenburners become some awesome special forces for Dalinar?



:smug: Real fans buy Warbreaker :smug:

Well it's a little different: You can quit hell week, it's just there to weed out the people that aren't dedicated or have the perseverance to complete the intense training. The bridge workers had no choice - they couldn't quit and there was no sort of dedication involved in making them do their job. It was either "carry the bridge and possibly be shot or get back and be whipped to a bloody pulp."

So I don't think it was the bridge carrying that will make them good soldiers so much as their dedication to a person that isn't just going to treat them like expendable commodities.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
If anyone picks that up please let us know if the story is worthwhile and if there is good art inside the RPG book. I probably won't be playing the RPG, but I have a few other RPG books just because the art in them is fantastic.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Maytag posted:

Yeah book goons will read it and endlessly talk about it but it's not literature you see because they all got made fun of as kids for reading it and now they're so uptight they honestly care if complete strangers see them reading it in public.

I have no idea what you just said.

A Nice Boy posted:

I brought up Abercrombie because he's another example of someone who writes fanastic characters. In fact, I'd say that Abercrombie isn't even close to Sanderson when it comes to pure worldbuilding, but I enjoyed Abercrombie's stuff a lot more overall because the people inhabiting his world kicked so much rear end.


I remember worlds just as much as individual characters. I view it as "that's a cool alternate reality, I wonder what it would be like to actually live there." Abercrombie's world building is so slow and boring that I haven't been able to finish his first book.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

IRQ posted:

He doesn't world build, it's just europe.

And while I liked his stuff it's waaaaaaay over rated and over hyped.

Oh, I just know I start them and lose interest pretty quickly. I couldn't even tell you any of the names in the book.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

veekie posted:

Something I wondered about. The notes in the Way of Kings illustrations(like say, the sketch of the fabrial), any idea what they say? Some of them are written in english but others are basically soundwave graphs.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/1012/THE-WAY-OF-KINGS-interior-illustrations-now-uploaded

If they are readable you'll be able to read them there. Obviously some you can't read, I'm sure there's a reason he didn't put actual text on them. Possibly it could be "spoilerish" for the next book if it was there? Not sure.

subx fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Sep 23, 2011

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Brandon Sanderson posted:

You might be asking, "Brandon, you are a big bestselling author. Why are you writing a video game adaptation?" My answer is simple: I can do it because I'm a big bestselling author.

Haha, that's a great line.

Also he apparently got some mention at the iPhone event. Anyone catch the event/reference?

subx fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Oct 5, 2011

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subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

pakman posted:

I preordered Alloy of Law on my brady-spankin' new Kindle last night. :3:

I need to be careful with this thing. Hopefully my local library will start lending out Kindle books soon.

It's pretty scary how easy it is to go through 5-6 books in a month when you can download whatever/whenever.

Always be on the lookout for deals on books, it can save you a bunch.

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