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Comments
Anyways, who here has read The Alloy of Law? I wanna chatter about it.
Reading a few John Green books and the 2nd set of Ciaphas Cain books atm.
Most of the way through The Dragon Reborn at the moment.
I'm about to finish Hero of Ages. I'll probably get Alloy of Law for Christmas.
Well non spoilery, I think half the impetus of The Alloy of Law was Sanderson realizing that out of all the misting powers(short of being a mistborn or full feruchemist), being a coinshot is probably the coolest. Well being a tineye could be pretty cool, but there is all the drawbacks of cranking your senses up to eleven and the risk of warping your body like Spook did.
...eugh.
Fine... I'll try...
So basically, it's one of those fantasy/sci-fi crosses. The main protagonist is a commando from Earth - half Finn, half Pole, who grew up in Croatia, some unspecified century or two in the future - who is equipped with all manner of stuff and bionic enhancements and sent to a planet of primitive aliens to retrieve the mising staff of a research station. For some reason the locals differ from humans pretty much only by eyes and occasional anime hair. In cultural terms, they're also all too similar to the Norse. Now, I mention it as the reader; the characters make comparisons, but find nothing weird in it. Perhaps I should assume it's been discussed off-stage, or will be in the last part (the fourth).
Now, non-interference clause isn't yet what makes it borderline fantasy - magic works there, to be perfectly blunt. At first the Chandlerian hero finds it yet another random nuisance (ie. monsters) on his way, but it soon begins to play a crucial role in the story; it is of essence to the matter of the lost scientists.
The second plot - I won't say secondary, as I'm not sure it was intended to be - is the story of a heir of a distant local China/Persia/Mongolia equivalent (luckily less similar to Earthly counterparts), who is forced to flee as a mysterious prophetess (and months-long drought) topple his father's rule and replace it with a totalitarian theocracy. He has a number of misfortunes and adventures (impersonation of a priest, slavery etc.) along the way, and the two plotlines meet in the late third book.
Since I guess I can spoil all I want: it was so far revealed that the Earthlings are behind it all. After the science crew discovered magic, they went apeshit with the premise (for reasons discussed in-story, modern human mind) - they concluded that as there is a tangible force that is shaped by human will, now they can set up every utopia that failed on Earth. Yeah, the prophetess is one of them. The fourth part will likely force the protagonist to deal with all that crap. There is a catch, though - the magic keeps the planet in Viking Age stasis. Too many changes in too short a time cause a global amnesia, and the humans have already introduced quite a change.
Some minor nitpicks: the writing is great in the human part, not only because of a badass sarcastic commando, but also of a suitable mix of old-timey heroic and rationally analytic in the descriptions. Hard to describe. Let's say lightning physics and divine visions can go hand-in-hand surprisingly well. In the heir part it's about local kid spouting his opinions of everything; not bad, but kinda meh. There is also some political stink, but the story's written well enough that I probably wouldn't have noticed without looking for it.
Finished The Hero of Ages.
Well, that was pretty awesome.
^That sounds interesting.
It was pretty sweet. Pretty sure I mentioned it already.
I think the other half was that he wanted to write a Mistborn story in a gunslinger setting, and given his magic system, who wouldn't?
What'd you think of it?
Anyway, I've been thinking about Brent Week's trilogies lately. Prism and Night Angel.
I think it's interesting to note that the protagonists in the two series are almost opposites. Gavin Guile starts off the series as extremely powerful, but he is slowly becoming weaker and weaker, and he comes with a dark past behind him, but he's trying to keep a lighter eye on things. Meanwhile, Kylar starts off the story as a typical street urchin, before eventually becoming the Night Angel. His attitude starts off darker, but gets lighter in the later books.
hey guys I'm at a library what should I look for.
Keep in mind this is a suburban library, so we don't have much that's recent.
Since I dropped my re-read of Mount Terrible (also known as Game Of Thrones and Kill Your Friends, I finished Small Favor (Dresden Files #10) and Cloud Atlas.
I wouldn't call Small Favor my favorite book in the series or the best book in the series but it was definitely solid. While it's own plot kept me engaged I felt like I was meant to be focusing on something else with all the Council and Court and mysterious battle on a mountaintop in the future stuff. I like the completion of Michael's character arc (Which I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be, but I'll see in the next book) and I'll be sad to see him go. Harry himself I still like, his little mind screw thing was very interesting.
One thing I've always disliked about this series is it's obsession with it's own growing mythology. Not that a series shouldn't be grounded in it, but the constant introduction of new stuff that's made to fit despite having a whole repertoire of things that they could go with kind of makes me wish the series ends before I can hardly remember who anybody is in book 20.
Overall, I still like this series very much and I hope it'll eventually be done with planning itself out so the plot can finally become the main focus. Also, Ivy, I love Ivy, so freaking adorable. Hope to see much more of her.
Cloud Atlas... well... I feel like it would have been better as six books, but apparently American publishers don't trust the public enough to find books in a series. I don't feel like anachronic order works for a book like this, it's too big. I read the entire thing in the last two days and I feel like I remember nothing discerning aside from the basics. The characters were kind of dead, like there was no effort put into them. There were six plots in this book, each with an interesting premise (much like the book itself, and that last story wasn't special at all) executed in the most boring manners possible. The mood wasn't very well handled, one half "look we're funny!" and the other epic story of human condition.
Maybe it was a study on things that weren't characters and plots. There are a lot of um... for lack of a better phrase, "high brow" themes (not storytelling themes) in this book. In the end I put it down and felt like I was an idiot for thinking it was dumb not getting whatever I'm supposed to be getting.
Apparently there are other books in this 'series' (Series? What does that even mean in this context!). I'm not keen on reading them, as half of me still wants to run all the way to the ocean to angrily throw this book in it and the other feels really dumb for not 'getting' whatever.
Really showed how exceptionally well-planned the series was that minor conversations from the first book were actually key to the resolution.
Anyway, I just ordered Alloy of Law, so yay.
that's it
The story has been focusing on the Black Council plot for quite some time.
Turn Coat is up next for you- once you read it, you'll understand what's up with that plot.
Doesn't it? I particularly liked Vin's earring.
It was just brought up so much, but I didn't recognize the significance for ages because it was such a little thing.
I figured it out before the actual reveal, but still long after I theoretically could have given the information given. And even though I figured out that the earring was a Hemallurgic spike it still never occurred to me that it was responsible for her ability to pierce copperclouds or especially that it was what was preventing her from burning the mists.
Started Alloy of Law. The premise alone has me excited.
Also, I can't help but note that there are still sixteen allomantic metals, even though two of the original sixteen no longer exist. How did the new ones get promoted? Because Sazed says so?
Also, I was thinking about Stormlight: what happens if you drop a Shardblade with the blade pointing straight down?
I do believe it's more about intent than that.
I know you have to intend to drop the blade and otherwise it just vanishes until you summon it, but what if you're doing it on purpose as an experiment? Would it just keep falling through the surface of the Earth Roshar?
No, the stone anchors it.
Ah, okay.
So would it just stick in down to the hilt?
I believe so, yes.
Okay.
I was just picturing a Shardbearer who (for whatever reason) winds up in a situation where he's completely screwed and going "no, fuck you guys" and getting rid of his blade so his enemies can't take it.
He could just throw it.
Well, yeah.
But that's less guaranteed. I mean, it's easier to search those woods over there than to search the core of the planet.
Anyone know any stories around the same level of A Song of Ice and Fire and in that same genre?
I just got War and Peace. I'll start reading it soon once I get done with reading all those books on politics and economics that I have piling up.
The first thing that springs to mind is Joe Abercrombie. If you want dark, go with Best Served Cold, but if a longer, segmented story is more your thing, The First Law trilogy is pretty good. They're more humorous than ASOIAF (and much better written, in my opinion), but they're still pretty gritty.
I'm not sure how specific you mean when you mean the same genre as ASoIaF.
@ALl Nines Thanks. This page has now been bookmarked.
@Clock I'm thinking Epic Medieval Fantasy series. With either lots of Xanatos Gambits or realism. Preferably both.