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Gamesguy posted:I don't generally read much fiction, but I loved this book and the Name of the Wind by Rothfuss. I think I like the downtrodden youth rises to greatness genre(my favorite character in this book was the spear guy). Furies of Calderon is pretty awesome. The main character is the only person in his society of magic users without any super powers. And he kicks rear end nonetheless. Xachariah fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Nov 28, 2010 |
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Nov 28, 2010 13:10
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Casao posted:I finished Mistborn a few days ago, it's a really good series, and he managed to tie up pretty much everything without me feeling it was rushed or forgotten (despite thinking a few times "Jesus will you just get to X already?!) 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. Xachariah fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Jun 28, 2011 |
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Jun 28, 2011 22:54
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The Night Angel Trilogy was very derivative, and definitely juvenile, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have a thing for unknown shepherd to badass hero journeys since I got hooked on fantasy with The Belgariad by David Eddings as a young'un. I also liked the first book in The Lightbringer series that he wrote after Night Angel, The Black Prism. It's far less derivative (at least as I remember it), and the magic system is at least original. Speaking of heroes journey stuff, does anyone have any recommendations? I think I've read all the good ones (and the bad ones).
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Apr 23, 2012 01:20
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Cartoon Man posted:Here's an interesting tor.com blog about the science of Mistborn. That doesn't really make any sense to me when it comes to hearing. I can understand how adding random auditory stimulus can enhance perception and increase concentration. Hell, that's why surgeons play classical music in operating theatres. But adding random auditory stimulus in the background while someone speaks a sentence would help you hear them better? No, it does the opposite to helping you hear better. You might strain to focus your hearing to make them out properly but perception would be shot to pieces anyway. Do they mean the volume of hearing or the perception of hearing? They aren't the same. Someone who can hear normal volumes, or indeed better than normal volumes could still have difficulty understanding a single word anyone says.
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May 15, 2012 18:14
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mistaya posted:I'm listening to the Mistborn trilogy on audiobook, about 1/4 of the way through the 3rd one. (The audiobooks are excellent by the way.) Well, the good thing about depressing and grimdark stories is that the climax is always sweeter. Unless the writer is G. R. R. Martin, in which case there will be no climax.
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May 22, 2012 23:59
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Cartoon Man posted:I swear that somebody posted in this thread about how awful he was. In my opinion, he's still one of the best Sanderson characters from all his books. His story arc is 10 times more interesting than the other two. Though I do love the last four or so chapters with Raoden. It's not that bad. Lengthy, yeah, but Erikson does a good job of keeping the plots moving. It's a bit confusing when you start it for the first time, but just soldier on. You never really understand the first book of Malazan until you finish Book 10 then re-read Book 1.
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Jul 26, 2012 15:59
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Cartoon Man posted:Brandon posted a deleted scene from The Way of Kings. I'm glad he changed what he did. As far as I'm concerned the published version was superior.
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Aug 14, 2012 00:50
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Spoilers below, obviously you should have read the book before clicking.
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Ulio posted:Been reading The Final Empire, I haven't finished without spoiling anything can anyone answer... Does it ever make sense why Vin who doesn't trust anyone falls in love with a noble at first sight? or is that part of her change? also is it explained in the first book the lord ruler becoming god and why the Final Empire is the way it is, socially and environmentally(all dat ash)? The second question is answered in the third book I can give a short non-spoilery synopsis if you want. Don't look at the spoilers if you don't want to know. When the person got to the Well of Ascension, they were given god-like powers, so they attempted to fix the mist problem in a terribly crude way. They tried to burn it off the planet by moving the planet closer to the sun. That caused excessive heat, so they then had to make the ashmounts spew ash to darken the skies. This killed the plants and people, so their physiologies were altered so they could survive the ash.
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Oct 17, 2012 02:27
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Cicero posted:Who's Brent Weeks and what's wrong with him? He wrote the Night Angel Trilogy and the Lightbringer series (work in progress). Some people accuse his debut series The Night Angel Trilogy of being derivative fantasy as is has elements reminiscent of The Wheel of Time, such as a society of female magic users and wedding bonding. Other people just enjoy the story without caring too much about who copied who. The Lightbringer series is great too, has a Sanderson-esque magic system utilising colours. The main protagonist is a fatty too which is unconventional. I haven't heard anyone saying anything bad (or good) about it. I think some people are just prejudiced because they didn't like his debut novels. I think he's a fine writer and his stories are fun to read. In my opinion he goes from strength to strength much like Sanderson.
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Oct 23, 2012 17:22
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Cartoon Man posted:And the planned sequels to Alloy of Law. Sanderson may be a prolific writer but he's not prolific enough. He needs to write faster.  I want Stormlight 2 now dammit.
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Nov 4, 2012 17:51
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Yeah that's just Word with a custom toolbar at the top, page divisions turned off and using the navigation panel with headers.
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Apr 19, 2013 18:33
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Didn't Kaladin kill a lighteyes who was wearing shardplate by ramming a spearhead in the lighteye's visor slit?
Xachariah fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 23:24
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Krakkles posted:Yep - it's what led to him being a prisoner. PS probably want to spoiler that. Sorry, spoiler that quote then.
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Apr 22, 2013 23:58
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Tunicate posted:I'm not sure, but I kind of get the feeling that nobody else in universe finds Shallan as witty as she thinks she is. I think Jasnath basically says at one point 'you're trying to be witty, but you suck at it, stop it'. Also it's very heavily implied (or at least I thought so) that the earlier comments from sailors and the like on her wit is just brown nosing because she's a lighteyes or aryan-noble or whatevs.
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May 11, 2013 02:01
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Superstring posted:Jesus Christ, that's 17 books in planning or some stage of development/writing. He says there that part of the reason he's so productive is because he jumps between various works repeatedly. Seems like a good way to stave off writer's block.
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Jul 26, 2013 03:10
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Aren't there no spren in the place the Shin come from?
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Jul 30, 2013 10:03
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tliil posted:I read the first two Mistborn books after reading the first Stormlight book, and I like that the universes are tied together but the magic systems feel very much the same. Has he written books where the magic system feels different? They seem pretty different to me.  In Mistborn they digest base metals which allow them to manipulate electromagnetic fields, or they can store attributes in metals. In Stormlight they inhale light caused by a continent sized supernatural storm which allows them to change gravity, or they can use the light to transmutate one material into another.
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Aug 10, 2013 11:50
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Strategic Tea posted:I agree that the logical magic can get a bit much. I loved slowly finding out the Shards' true nature in Mistborn because they had that sense of old, unknown magic, but Sanderson seems to reserve that stuff for magical plot twists only. Some of the regular allomancy, or a lot of what Szeth does felt a bit too much like an rpg character looking at his talent tree. These pre industrial, pre scientific theory societies have distilled the power of literal gods into power levels and capitalised technical terms. I find that concept fairly reasonable in worlds where magic is commonplace (at least to the practitioners). When magic is repeatable and has the same result every time then you'd probably start to think of it as a tool. I think it works quite well, Kaladin doesn't exactly call his powers anything technical but Szeth has secret knowledge and such. If I had to choose between Sanderson's "Technical manual" magic or Erikson's "1. Warrens, 2. ???, 3. ~*Lotta Magic*~" I'd probably go for the former. At least with his self restrictions Sanderson will DBZ things up less. Erikson kinda puts Sanderson to shame when it comes to power levels, and it's mainly cause he doesn't have real rules for magic use beyond opening warrens and fireball/healing/whatever.
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Aug 12, 2013 21:18
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Very awkward lookin' trophy there. OK rockets are generally shaped much like that but when you put a dome at one end, well... I mean... OK theres no easy way to say it that trophy looks like a dildo.
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Sep 5, 2013 00:24
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404GoonNotFound posted:Recognitionmancy? You know, -mancy is supposed to refer to divination. Necromancy originally being divining the future by talking to the dead for example. This isn't an excuse to be pedantic, I just wanted to segue into a way to inform everyone that "alomancy" is an actual thing where you use salt to divine the future (like casting bones is ossomancy or looking into a crystal ball is crystallomancy). So if you want to be a real life allomancer, just spread some salt about and make up some bullshit.
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Sep 6, 2013 11:15
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Regarding Megan, I wrongly suspected that illusionist (Refracticity or something?) they killed when going to David's place had done the old illusionist switcheroo with Megan. It was pretty obvious Megan was an illusion epic given her mood swings, hiding in the elevator shaft and the second motorbike, but that situation with that other illusionist seemed fishy to me. It was kinda weird to have another illusionist come out of nowhere to have been another Epic all along actually, was a bit deus-ex-machina-y. It was also pretty obvious that the Prof was an Epic as well, I mean that sudden arrogance/mood swing is a dead giveaway for all those secret epics isn't it? I thought he was a minor tech Epic like Micah from Heroes, but in hindsight I guess he woulda made more than 3 things in that case. That propaganda room to make Steelheart more feared kinda gave away his weakness early. If he needs to make himself feared then his weakness is probably not being feared. Would have preferred that part not being in the book actually, bit of a ham-fisted foreshadowing of something that wasn't obvious until then. Dravs posted:Also he looks like he has written this specifically with a movie being made in mind, so, quiz time, what actors should play what part? In my mind as I was reading it I had Jesse Eisenberg as David, Woody Harrelson as Cody, Prof as David Strathairn, Angela Jolie as Megan, Omar Sy as Abraham, Henry Cavill as Steelheart, Hiroyuki Sanada as Nightwielder and uhm, couldn't place an actress for Tia.
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Sep 30, 2013 10:19
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I didn't see Megan's age mentioned, the bit where she and David met just reminded me of Wanted.
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Sep 30, 2013 11:00
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The Puppy Bowl posted:So I... Uh, not to be pedantic or anything but have you finished the book? Mouse over the following only if you have: Steelhearts weakness is being attacked by a person who does not fear him. The anti-propaganda was to make people fear him. As far as overarching themes through multiple books, anyone taking bets on Calamity being similar to Preservation/Ruin/Honor/Odium/Cultivation/Devotion/Dominion/Endowment? Hard to reconcile the earth setting with the cosmere stuff I suppose, unless you want to get into alternate realities.
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Sep 30, 2013 20:38
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Haha, that's exactly who came to mind for me too.Xachariah posted:In my mind as I was reading it I had Jesse Eisenberg as David, Woody Harrelson as Cody, Prof as David Strathairn, Angela Jolie as Megan, Omar Sy as Abraham, Henry Cavill as Steelheart, Hiroyuki Sanada as Nightwielder and uhm, couldn't place an actress for Tia. Can basically be summed up as Zombieland, Alphas, Wanted, Intouchables, Superman: Man of Steel and Rush Hour 3. Also subx posted:Seeing as he said in the first line that he had just finished a certain part of the book, I would assume he hasn't finished it. poo poo, I should read all the text of posts I'm replying to in future. Xachariah fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Sep 30, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 22:15
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More disabilities amongst the people in Sanderson's books would be fairly refreshing. I mean, for being dystopias the people in the Mistborn and Reckoner's worlds are perplexingly perfect. No one has survived a disease or gotten into an accident or anything? No one happens to have a mental illness or genetic disorder? No asthma, back pains or deafness due to industrial machinery? I know that the same thing is true for most non-Sanderson media too, but it seems to be more prominent to me when you're in a dystopia with no prevalent miracle healing.
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Oct 3, 2013 12:41
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I'm utterly convinced that Shallan herself just believes she is witty and everyone else is just mostly humouring her because she is noble born and pretty or whatever. We only see from her point of view and she is a mighty proud of herself.
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Oct 21, 2013 14:46
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Tunicate posted:If you have a reddit I can send it there. Can I have it too? I have PM's.
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Oct 24, 2013 21:41
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Drunk Tomato posted:i wonder if we are actually going to get two more mistborn trilogies, or if bransan will get tired of the universe by then He writes so many different series at once to prevent that. His idea of taking a break is to write a different book.
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Oct 29, 2013 17:15
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BananaNutkins posted:Weeks has lots of unnecessary and very childish sexual stuff, at least in his first series. Haven't read the new one. Well yeah, that was his debut, he probably wrote it when he was young and touched it up a little for the YA fantasy market. His new series is a lot more mature thematically, and the second installment of his Lightbringer series is probably his best book to date.
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Dec 22, 2013 13:48
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Democratic Pirate posted:There shouldn't be a delay on the WoR ebook right? I like hardcovers and how nice the illustrations are on them, but I'd rather carry around my kindle than a 1008 page book that was almost too big to bind. Exactly the biggest they can bind. Its like in Uni when the word count has to be between 2500 and 3000 and Sanderson submits an essay at 3000 on the dot and everyone else is happy with 2450 and slightly larger margins.
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Dec 23, 2013 23:41
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Welp, seems like its about the right time to unbookmark this thread 'til I'm done.
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Mar 4, 2014 22:13
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NinjaPete posted:Question: How many Heralds have we seen in the present day? I know the Justice-guy is one, but anyone else? Regardless I need to do a re-read soon. Has Sanderson indicated of he'll do annotations for WoK anytime soon like he did for the Mistborn series? There's Taln who was in the insane asylum part, "Darkness" who is Nalan, Shalash is the woman who goes about destroying any representations of herself. The others probably might have been mentioned but not pointed out specifically. Personally I suspect that Ardent Shard Swordsman of being one cause he's too mysterious. e;f,b
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Mar 11, 2014 00:00
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I don't see why some people are so put out by one of the ideals of one of the orders. It may not even be the final ideal of that specific order. If some of you guys are nitpicking this poo poo now I can't imagine the technicalities you're gonna try and wave in each others faces about the second/third ideals (if any) of the other 9 orders.
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Mar 15, 2014 18:37
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Lot's of drugs.
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Mar 15, 2014 18:51
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The 'ultimate healing power' is just a surge shared by every other potential Edgedancer and also every Truthwatcher (like Renarin). It doesn't necessarily indicate that she will be a supporting character. EDIT: If anything the eating to metabolise stormlight sounds like a big ol' main character unique plot point. Xachariah fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Mar 17, 2014 |
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Mar 17, 2014 19:16
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Contemporary/awkward dialogue can be suspension of disbelief'd away as the people of wherever speaking something that's definitely not English, but the book translates to the nearest best English approximation on the fly. Like the TARDIS in Doctor Who. I mean, it's definitely weirder to believe multiple independent planets in multiple solar systems evolved the same language after all. Just a minor point, I don't think it's too anime-like. Mainly 'cause I've never seen any anime and have nothing to compare to.
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Mar 17, 2014 20:50
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subx posted:Completely different characters in different genres of media can have similar speech patterns?!?!? The hell you say! And here I thought everything was always completely original. I can't enjoy something that might have elements that reference other things! No, the colour based idioms were supposed to be a reference to Warbreaker but it was not explicit, Sanderson just confirmed it at some book signing thing apparently.
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Mar 18, 2014 16:05
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Ranma posted:Does the whole "dark skinned race that are mostly used as slaves and are dark because they were born from sin" ("Born from darkness, they bear its taint still, marked upon their bodies much as the fire marks their souls.") bother anyone else? Especially in light of Sanderson's Mormonism and its history of not allowing black priests. Doesn't bother me, they're a made-up race in a made-up world with very made-up magic influences. Also their skin colour is half inky black/half red so they're more of an alien race rather than black people.
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Mar 18, 2014 19:01
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The Ars Arcanum is based on incomplete knowledge itself (it's written by someone in-universe, chief suspect Hoid). So if you expected them to have defined the complete magic system for you in the Ars Arcanum as a reference then I can see why you'd be confused. It's very clear at this point that Sanderson likes to keep a part of his magic system secret for the big reveals. I expect there's probably secret/unknown knight radiant orders to maintain the symmetry with the 16 original shards of Adonalsium. It may be there's a possible 16 surges granted by Honor much like the 16 Allomancy metals granted by Preservation. In Mistborn there are 3 metal magics, one of Preservation (Allomancy), one of Ruin (Hemalurgy) and one that came from a combination of the two shards (Feruchemy). On Roshar it appears that Surgebinding is of Honor, if it's similar to Mistborn then there's potentially another set of powers given by Cultivation (Cultibinding?) and Odium (Voidbinding?) and probably powers given by the interaction between them, Surgecultibinding, Surgevoidbinding, Voidcultibinding (after all, that's the explanation for Feruchemy). each probably using Stormlight for investiture much like metals were used on Scandrial for the 3x16 metal magics. If this is potentially accurate there could be as many as 6x16 = 96 types of power or variations of power in the Roshar system. Gotta dream big to stay ahead of Sanderson.
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Mar 20, 2014 05:03
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AllTerrineVehicle posted:You forgot surgevoidcultibinding for another 16 variants I DIDN'T DREAM BIG ENOUGH. 
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Mar 20, 2014 05:34
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