However it is suspect that the Fused want Elhokar's body, as its clear that is what they are after in the rubble of Kohlinar. In any case, Wit is either gonna go full Radiant or is trying to get another Lightweaver to join the cause.
I had assumed by the time I saw it it would have been shared here since I was so busy this week but hey this makes me happy. I still remember a time when he was saying nah to a sequel, then next thing I knew it was "oh wait yes writing a sequel at some point and oh btw I have an outline" to now actually in drafting. And it wasn't all that long of a period in between. I love how he can still surprise us even in his process.
Basically he's started right the Sixth of Dusk sequel on his trip to Germany and plans to continue that on his flights this year because it's too hard to write Stormlight on a plane due to story complexity and environmental distractions. Some tidbits about other stuff in there too.
I had assumed by the time I saw it it would have been shared here since I was so busy this week but hey this makes me happy. I still remember a time when he was saying nah to a sequel, then next thing I knew it was "oh wait yes writing a sequel at some point and oh btw I have an outline" to now actually in drafting. And it wasn't all that long of a period in between. I love how he can still surprise us even in his process.
Basically he's started right the Sixth of Dusk sequel on his trip to Germany and plans to continue that on his flights this year because it's too hard to write Stormlight on a plane due to story complexity and environmental distractions. Some tidbits about other stuff in there too.
Finished rereading WoK and love it even more the second time around. 70% done with WoR and this one is even better. I remember the last quarter of the book lighting my ass up the first time.
I've never read Edgedancer nor book 3.
So hyped, and I'm glad I reread the first two books before hopping in to those.
Finished rereading WoK and love it even more the second time around. 70% done with WoR and this one is even better. I remember the last quarter of the book lighting my ass up the first time.
I've never read Edgedancer nor book 3.
So hyped, and I'm glad I reread the first two books before hopping in to those.
No, but in a similar vein. There's a character that pops up and then there is a moment that is completely supposed to be like a MCU type post credits stinger.
Man, Sanderson is a machine but only getting Part 1 submitted in July and needing to get the full draft in by January. I dunno, I don't think book 4 is coming in 2020. I'm betting it slips to '21.
Speaking of Oathbringer reminded me that I didn't write up ky impressions on a whole about the series nor about Part 2 of it. I do have SOME speculation about the series now that I am caught up.
1. Dalinar is totally being setup to be the next Shard of Honor correct? Cause between the perpendicularity, his ability to completely hold back Odium's corruption and in general the way the series is going, I dunno what else it could be building up to.
2. I assume cultivation and her part will show up in the 2nd half right? Cause we keep getting more hints and deflections on that whole deal, but her Spren are also helping the Radiants, meaning her and Honor definitely teamed up before to take down Odium.
3. With theH Heraldsdoing their own thing, as well as starting to drop like flies, will we see new Heralds? I mean, if Dalinar does end up becoming the next Shard of Honor, I could see him reinstating new Heralds. Would be super fucked up because they would likely be people like Kaladin, Jasnah, etc but perhaps they will find another way to defeat the fused. I mean, if you can trap the unmade in a perfect gemstone, who is to say you cannot do the same with the fused.
Man, Sanderson is a machine but only getting Part 1 submitted in July and needing to get the full draft in by January. I dunno, I don't think book 4 is coming in 2020. I'm betting it slips to '21.
This must be an early chapter or even the opening chapter cause there is no way in hell she is keeping her alliance with Fused while becoming a Radiant. The willshapers are the only Radiants not on board with Dalinar, and I would assume that it would be good for the world to start having some Listeners on the side of the Radiants as well.
I'm not sure what it is about my life at the moment, but basically every high note of Dalinar's confrontation with Odium had me bawling. "What is the most important step a man can take? Always the next one," "if I must fall, I will rise again a better man," "you cannot have my pain," and especially "I forgive you." It almost hurts writing them down now.
I'm not sure what it is about my life at the moment, but basically every high note of Dalinar's confrontation with Odium had me bawling. "What is the most important step a man can take? Always the next one," "if I must fall, I will rise again a better man," "you cannot have my pain," and especially "I forgive you." It almost hurts writing them down now.
Yep that was so good. I was fucking hyped as he started to feel himself
Sanderson really did great with Dalinar so we know what he's about imo. Also my tears was used up in a different section and its the flashback scene where he's drunk and cursing his bro about hiding the alcohol but then after talking to little Renarin he realized that he mostly drunk it all. The part that really got me was Renarin saying those things showing that he always believed in his father even though Dalinar didn't really care much about Renarin, plus his wife never said a bad thing about him to both his sons even though she could of (which he thought she was doing).
The moment he heard that, hugged Renarin and started to cry vowing he will find a way to get past this was it for me.
Yep that was so good. I was fucking hyped as he started to feel himself
Sanderson really did great with Dalinar so we know what he's about imo. Also my tears was used up in a different section and its the flashback scene where he's drunk and cursing his bro about hiding the alcohol but then after talking to little Renarin he realized that he mostly drunk it all. The part that really got me was Renarin saying those things showing that he always believed in his father even though Dalinar didn't really care much about Renarin, plus his wife never said a bad thing about him to both his sons even though she could of (which he thought she was doing).
The moment he heard that, hugged Renarin and started to cry vowing he will find a way to get past this was it for me.
I read the first Mistborn trilogy about 2 years ago and that was my first introduction to Sanderson and Cosmere. Mostly enjoyed it. Then someone recommended The Emperor's Soul Novella and I read that last year and enjoy that too. So since Elantris takes place on the same world as that, I decided to read that next.
Good entertaining book, the central mystery of Elantris was a good hook and the 3 PoVs were interesting. Coming from the Mistborn trilogy Raoden felt a bit too similar to Kelsier, charming, scarred, intelligent guy and Sarene a bit too similar to fish out of water Vin. Hrathen was good.
The book actually took me about 3-4 months to get through the first 300 pages because PoV rotation just killed the pacing and I'd be good after a chapter or two since it'd be another 2 mostly unrelated chapters to get back to the continuation of where the current one left off. I'm normally fine with PoVs like in GRRM stuff but the 1/2/3/1/2/3/1/2/3 definitely made it a piecemeal read for me. That said in the middle when the PoVs start to converge it really picked up and I finished the last 300 pages in 3 nights. The ending stuff felt really rushed, like so much was covered in like 50-70 pages it didn't really give time to breathe. When I finished the Mistborn trilogy I felt the 3rd book was the weakest because of the ending (I really liked the 2nd book political standoff structure), so I hope that's not just Sanderson's style to spend tons of time nicely developing characters through PoVs and then rush a ton of stuff in the last 50 pages in a less than fully satisfying and explained way.
So anyhow, Cosmere. I wish some of the magic and stuff in Elantris was explained more since that was a lot of the interesting mystery hooks.
I felt like the whole explanation for the chasm from an earthquake changing the landscape and rendering all AonDor magic in Elantris null and void was an ok resolve for the big mystery of what happened 10 years ago when Elantris fell...
...except, 10 years ago you have a city full of magic users in Elantris who know what AonDor is and how to use it, etc..etc...and you're telling me that none of them could figure this out and reboot the system and instead let the city fall into doom and most everyone die....
...meanwhile some guy from the outside in a couple of months wanders in and reads some books and figures it out?
Like that sorta struck me as a bit wonky. I would've rather had the cause of AonDor failing be something outside of Elantris to the point where Elantrians had no way to fix it, but an outsider like Radeon could.
Anyhow, the other magic stuff like Dahkor, Seons, etc... was interesting but nothing is really explained into how the magic system really works. I get that Sanderson has said he'll write a sequel to Elantris, but who knows when that will happen.
Also was a little bummed that Emperor's Soul felt hardly connected. Like reading Elantris I expected to find that Elantris's AonDor magic was the origin for the magic systems of Forgery and stuff in Emperor's Soul, but in the end they seem like two completely different things and I don't even see any reason why Emperor's Soul was set on the same world when it could've just been a different world and nothing would change.
I get that a lot of these stuff like how to the Cosmere universe works and its magics and how everything is connected is world building stuff that will optimistically eventually all come together into a coherent explanation, but while I'm excited to read more of the Cosmere to see how things connect, from what I'm reading there's still A LOT of books left for Sanderson to write before Cosmere gets to its conclusion and generally I don't like to jump into on-going series until there's at least an endgame release date in sight.
Anyhow, I was thinking the next Cosmere book I should read is another standalone book. I heard Warbreaker is good, so was thinking about that, or going with the next Mistborn trilogy. I know everyone says this main 10 book series is Sanderson's best work, but again, only 3 books done out of 10 makes me really hesitant to jump in now, I'd normally want to jump in around book 8 of a 10 book series to catch up and be there for the endgame.
I read the first Mistborn trilogy about 2 years ago and that was my first introduction to Sanderson and Cosmere. Mostly enjoyed it. Then someone recommended The Emperor's Soul Novella and I read that last year and enjoy that too. So since Elantris takes place on the same world as that, I decided to read that next.
Good entertaining book, the central mystery of Elantris was a good hook and the 3 PoVs were interesting. Coming from the Mistborn trilogy Raoden felt a bit too similar to Kelsier, charming, scarred, intelligent guy and Sarene a bit too similar to fish out of water Vin. Hrathen was good.
The book actually took me about 3-4 months to get through the first 300 pages because PoV rotation just killed the pacing and I'd be good after a chapter or two since it'd be another 2 mostly unrelated chapters to get back to the continuation of where the current one left off. I'm normally fine with PoVs like in GRRM stuff but the 1/2/3/1/2/3/1/2/3 definitely made it a piecemeal read for me. That said in the middle when the PoVs start to converge it really picked up and I finished the last 300 pages in 3 nights. The ending stuff felt really rushed, like so much was covered in like 50-70 pages it didn't really give time to breathe. When I finished the Mistborn trilogy I felt the 3rd book was the weakest because of the ending (I really liked the 2nd book political standoff structure), so I hope that's not just Sanderson's style to spend tons of time nicely developing characters through PoVs and then rush a ton of stuff in the last 50 pages in a less than fully satisfying and explained way.
So anyhow, Cosmere. I wish some of the magic and stuff in Elantris was explained more since that was a lot of the interesting mystery hooks.
I felt like the whole explanation for the chasm from an earthquake changing the landscape and rendering all AonDor magic in Elantris null and void was an ok resolve for the big mystery of what happened 10 years ago when Elantris fell...
...except, 10 years ago you have a city full of magic users in Elantris who know what AonDor is and how to use it, etc..etc...and you're telling me that none of them could figure this out and reboot the system and instead let the city fall into doom and most everyone die....
...meanwhile some guy from the outside in a couple of months wanders in and reads some books and figures it out?
Like that sorta struck me as a bit wonky. I would've rather had the cause of AonDor failing be something outside of Elantris to the point where Elantrians had no way to fix it, but an outsider like Radeon could.
Anyhow, the other magic stuff like Dahkor, Seons, etc... was interesting but nothing is really explained into how the magic system really works. I get that Sanderson has said he'll write a sequel to Elantris, but who knows when that will happen.
Also was a little bummed that Emperor's Soul felt hardly connected. Like reading Elantris I expected to find that Elantris's AonDor magic was the origin for the magic systems of Forgery and stuff in Emperor's Soul, but in the end they seem like two completely different things and I don't even see any reason why Emperor's Soul was set on the same world when it could've just been a different world and nothing would change.
I get that a lot of these stuff like how to the Cosmere universe works and its magics and how everything is connected is world building stuff that will optimistically eventually all come together into a coherent explanation, but while I'm excited to read more of the Cosmere to see how things connect, from what I'm reading there's still A LOT of books left for Sanderson to write before Cosmere gets to its conclusion and generally I don't like to jump into on-going series until there's at least an endgame release date in sight.
Anyhow, I was thinking the next Cosmere book I should read is another standalone book. I heard Warbreaker is good, so was thinking about that, or going with the next Mistborn trilogy. I know everyone says this main 10 book series is Sanderson's best work, but again, only 3 books done out of 10 makes me really hesitant to jump in now, I'd normally want to jump in around book 8 of a 10 book series to catch up and be there for the endgame.
Okay, so the Elantris world is kind of unique in the Cosmere in that it has multiple magic systems - but there is a reason for that. I don't believe it's been laid out in the books yet, though. Certainly not explicitly.
Stormlight is the best series if you want to get a better picture of the Cosmere as a whole, I think. I'm a little unusual in that I didn't really like Mistborn, but Wax & Wayne is a fun enough series. What I'd recommend is:
1) Way of Kings
2) Warbreaker
3) Words of Radiance
4) Oathbringer
5) Wax & Wayne
6) Mistoborn: Secret History (massively spoilerific for Wax & Wayne, so even if you skip Stormlight definitely read this after those)
Warbreaker does tie into Stormlight more strongly than the others do, thus far at least, and it's definitely got the best character writing Sanderson's put out, so if you do decide to put off Stormlight, I'd start there.
I've got about a quarter of Oathbringer left, but seriously, fuck Moash. That whole sequence was insane, Sanderson is so good at writing battle scenes and individual fights.
Okay, so the Elantris world is kind of unique in the Cosmere in that it has multiple magic systems - but there is a reason for that. I don't believe it's been laid out in the books yet, though. Certainly not explicitly.
Stormlight is the best series if you want to get a better picture of the Cosmere as a whole, I think. I'm a little unusual in that I didn't really like Mistborn, but Wax & Wayne is a fun enough series. What I'd recommend is:
1) Way of Kings
2) Warbreaker
3) Words of Radiance
4) Oathbringer
5) Wax & Wayne
6) Mistoborn: Secret History (massively spoilerific for Wax & Wayne, so even if you skip Stormlight definitely read this after those)
Warbreaker does tie into Stormlight more strongly than the others do, thus far at least, and it's definitely got the best character writing Sanderson's put out, so if you do decide to put off Stormlight, I'd start there.
Thanks, I'm about to order the next book and debating between reading Warbreaker or Way of Kings next. Since order doesn't seem to matter much, which is the better book between the two? All in all while I like Sanderson from the 4 books and 1 novella I've read so far, I'm still waiting for that really great book that makes me a fan. The Mistborn trilogy was like an enjoyable popcorn B+ read and Elantris about a B to me. It sounds like Stormlight is his A game, so I'm thinking I should read Way of Kings next unless Warbreaker is a really good novel?
so I hope that's not just Sanderson's style to spend tons of time nicely developing characters through PoVs and then rush a ton of stuff in the last 50 pages in a less than fully satisfying and explained way.
I wouldn't really call it rushed in the books i've read, (though maybe Elantris was a bit like that now that I recall it) but slow build up and fireworks reserved almost only for the last portion of the book is or was basically the Sanderson modus operandi that I feel has only changed in Book 2&3 of SA. I dunno about Warbreaker but Way of Kings is a slow book burdened by the need to setup from the beginning the plot that is supposed to span 10 books, the 3 main POVs and explain a completely alien world and it's socioeconomic system. Given your qualms i feel that needs to be noted.
Okay, so the Elantris world is kind of unique in the Cosmere in that it has multiple magic systems - but there is a reason for that. I don't believe it's been laid out in the books yet, though. Certainly not explicitly.
Stormlight is the best series if you want to get a better picture of the Cosmere as a whole, I think. I'm a little unusual in that I didn't really like Mistborn, but Wax & Wayne is a fun enough series. What I'd recommend is:
1) Way of Kings
2) Warbreaker
3) Words of Radiance
4) Oathbringer
5) Wax & Wayne
6) Mistoborn: Secret History (massively spoilerific for Wax & Wayne, so even if you skip Stormlight definitely read this after those)
Warbreaker does tie into Stormlight more strongly than the others do, thus far at least, and it's definitely got the best character writing Sanderson's put out, so if you do decide to put off Stormlight, I'd start there.
Sorta like Scadrial (unlike Ruin and Preservation, the shards on Elantris were basically experimenting, making as many disparate systems as they could), and I don't think they said that in the books yet.
Thanks, I'm about to order the next book and debating between reading Warbreaker or Way of Kings next. Since order doesn't seem to matter much, which is the better book between the two? All in all while I like Sanderson from the 4 books and 1 novella I've read so far, I'm still waiting for that really great book that makes me a fan. The Mistborn trilogy was like an enjoyable popcorn B+ read and Elantris about a B to me. It sounds like Stormlight is his A game, so I'm thinking I should read Way of Kings next unless Warbreaker is a really good novel?
1) I almost always recommend order of publication, assuming the intention is to read it all/get the most out of it.
2) Finishing Way of Kings is likely to leave you with the desire to move right into Words of Radiance, and Warbreaker really should be read first.
3) Warbreaker is a stand-alone without a direct sequel, currently. On whether it's really good... I think it's really good, a lot of other people think it's really good, but y'know, everything has its naysayers.
All that said, there's nothing inherently wrong with reading Way of Kings first.
1) I almost always recommend order of publication, assuming the intention is to read it all/get the most out of it.
2) Finishing Way of Kings is likely to leave you with the desire to move right into Words of Radiance, and Warbreaker really should be read first.
3) Warbreaker is a stand-alone without a direct sequel, currently. On whether it's really good... I think it's really good, a lot of other people think it's really good, but y'know, everything has its naysayers.
All that said, there's nothing inherently wrong with reading Way of Kings first.
Doesn't Roshar also have two systems? The fused have their own fkrm of Surgebinding and while similar they work with their own voidspren and the bindings follow different applications.
Doesn't Roshar also have two systems? The fused have their own fkrm of Surgebinding and while similar they work with their own voidspren and the bindings follow different applications.
Doesn't Roshar also have two systems? The fused have their own fkrm of Surgebinding and while similar they work with their own voidspren and the bindings follow different applications.
1) I almost always recommend order of publication, assuming the intention is to read it all/get the most out of it.
2) Finishing Way of Kings is likely to leave you with the desire to move right into Words of Radiance, and Warbreaker really should be read first.
3) Warbreaker is a stand-alone without a direct sequel, currently. On whether it's really good... I think it's really good, a lot of other people think it's really good, but y'know, everything has its naysayers.
All that said, there's nothing inherently wrong with reading Way of Kings first.
Doesn't Roshar also have two systems? The fused have their own fkrm of Surgebinding and while similar they work with their own voidspren and the bindings follow different applications.
Fabrials are another. Sanderson says the Old Magic is something a bit different, though from a readers perspective I think it should still qualify.
It really should be noted that the powers and the way they relate to the shards isn't really clear. Magical powers aren't, or maybe aren't always, directly related to the shards. How those powers are obtained are related, but not the powers themselves.
I don't necessarily think I have the best grasp on the whole thing, but he's being intentionally a bit cryptic. Exploring the Words of Brandon can be interesting, but he's let go of some things I would have preferred to learn from one of his books sooo... hahah.
Warbreaker should be read first because it acts as a prequel to some characters in Stormlight. It isn't noticeable in "The Way of Kings", but there is one "Holy shit!" moment at the end of the second book that is much less effective if you didn't read Warbreaker beforehand.
As for magic systems:
Sel has a lot of them, because the magic is location based. Aon Dor in Arelon, ChayShan from JinDo, Forgery and Bloodsealing from "The Emperor's Soul", and whatever the Dakhor monks are doing with bones and sacrifices. And there's probably more.
Fabrials are another. Sanderson says the Old Magic is something a bit different, though from a readers perspective I think it should still qualify.
It really should be noted that the powers and the way they relate to the shards isn't really clear. Magical powers aren't, or maybe aren't always, directly related to the shards. How those powers are obtained are related, but not the powers themselves.
I don't necessarily think I have the best grasp on the whole thing, but he's being intentionally a bit cryptic. Exploring the Words of Brandon can be interesting, but he's let go of some things I would have preferred to learn from one of his books sooo... hahah.
Brandon has literally said he counts Fabrials as a magic system.
Q: How many magic systems are in The Stormlight Archives, and how many of them [have been seen]?
A: I would say the only major one you haven't seen is Voidbinding. It depends on how you count them. I count fabrials as one, Surgebinding as one, and Voidbinding as one. And then the Old Magic is kind of its own weird thing.[4]
.
Just finished my reread of Mistborn book 1. I think I came out loving it even more than the first time around.
One big question I having now having read it a second time is in regards to timing of events leading to the end:
It's revealed later during the Skaa rebellion that the Lord Ruler hadn't found out about Kelsier destroying the pits of hathsin, and we know Marsh doesn't break down and reveal the plan(leading them to flea to the back up house or have renaux flee), so what exactly lead the Inquisitor's to collect House Renoux and set a trap for Kelsier? They talk about it being assassinations as a result of the pits, but Straff says later during the actual rebellion that he only just found out and that the Lord Ruler hadn't been informed yet.
I ended up liking it more my second time reading than I did my first, but it still has a lot of issues. Most of all it's pacing. I can't tell you how many times I thought it was close to wrapping stuff up only to find out I still had hundreds of pages left to go, and that's having read it before. It really lingers in a lot of spots that really makes it a struggle at times. Some of those moments are great for lingering though. The meeting between the crew when they were talking about getting Vin and Eland out was an absolutely sweet chapter that really hit me emotionally.
Zane was no where near as annoying in my second read through as I found him in the first. First of all he actually feels like he's barely in this book. By memory he kind of feels like a big part of the book, because his parts just really suck and they expound on the annoying parts of Vin, but in truth he's probably only actually present in about half the book and even then he only has about 3 POV moments and only about 4 or 5 conversations win Vin. Compared to the rest of the book he seems like such a minor part now looking at it with the lens of a reread.
I came out of this liking Eland more than I did the original time. My first time reading I remember really liking Eland in the first book and hating how much he changed in book 2. But reading both books back to back I appreciate the development more and really think he wasn't all that changed from the first book other than attitude. I think my memory was seeing a different Eland in the first book than what was actually there.
I'm really glad I re read this because I came away from it a lot higher on it than I originally did, and now I'm way more interested in going in to the third book for the first time. Having disliked the end of the second book so much the first time around that I quit pretty early on in book 3.
I'm pretty sure Well of Ascension is my second-least-favorite Sanderson book, behind Elantris. It's odd, because I think The Final Empire is my favorite Sanderson book.
As you say, WoA is just a lot longer than it needs to be, given that not all that much happens. The love triangle between Vin, Zane, and Eland never leads anywhere, and doesn't add to character development or world building in a meaningful way.
It's true Zane lacks many POV scenes, but that was never my problem with him. If anything, I like his POV scenes more than the chapters where he's just present. At least his POV's are mysterious.
All of Eland's political machinations similarly never lead anywhere. At least in that case, the plot led to very substantial character development, but I'm not at all convinced it was worthwhile.
Hero of Ages is significantly better, although it still never reaches the same height as The Final Empire IMO, or many of Sanderson's other books. I think HoA could have benefitted from a more concise beginning and more a drawn out ending.
Just checked my library's digital collection and they had White Sand vol 3! Checked it out and will read it today. Even though it's a comic book just happy to be back in the Cosmere after so long.
Sazed sitting down with the first generation and saying "Well, lets get to work." may be the most hype I've gotten from anything from the Cosmere so far. The duel scene in Words of Radiance comes pretty close though.
