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Yeah that's a pretty cool cover aside from the mistborn being an anime for some reason.
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# ? Apr 6, 2011 00:32 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:32 |
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Silenced Parrot posted:I feel as though I'll be in the minority round these parts, but I like the UK cover of The Alloy of Law much more than the US, goggles be damned.
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# ? Apr 6, 2011 09:29 |
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IRQ posted:Yeah that's a pretty cool cover aside from the mistborn being an anime for some reason. I always got a really anime-y feeling from Sanderson's books, ESPECIALLY Mistborn. It didn't hurt my appreciation of it, but it was easier to picture in my head that way.
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# ? Apr 6, 2011 12:11 |
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Yay posted:I've always thought the UK/European covers were much better. Way of Kings being the same style was a bit jarring, though. The American cover art for Way of Kings is amazing, though. Also, I was browsing German editions of some books that I like, and they also get some cool covers. The Way of Kings one is actually pretty thematically similar to the American covers, though a bit darker and less vibrant.
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# ? Apr 6, 2011 18:08 |
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I've been thinking of getting the Mistborn Trilogy from Audible, and a second version has come out by another audio company. The second and third books are basically the same length, but the first book is 24 minutes shorter. Does anyone know what was cut? The samples for each sound exactly the same.
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# ? Apr 7, 2011 17:56 |
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BananaNutkins posted:I always got a really anime-y feeling from Sanderson's books, ESPECIALLY Mistborn. It didn't hurt my appreciation of it, but it was easier to picture in my head that way. Yeah same, and the worst/best scene for this is undoubtedly when Vin (book 2) comes flying out of the loving sky to cut Straff and his horse in half out of nowhere. There are a few other moments (most battle scenes) but that one in particular is what I always think of when people make "Mistborn is an anime" comments.
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# ? Apr 7, 2011 21:05 |
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Lzn64 posted:Yeah same, and the worst/best scene for this is undoubtedly when Vin (book 2) comes flying out of the loving sky to cut Straff and his horse in half out of nowhere. There are a few other moments (most battle scenes) but that one in particular is what I always think of when people make "Mistborn is an anime" comments. Is that an anime thing? I thought that was just awesome and I don't watch anime at all.
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 02:53 |
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Is that an anime thing? I thought that was just awesome and I don't watch anime at all. Being awesome and being anime are mutually exclusive, so no.
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 02:55 |
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IRQ posted:Being awesome and being anime are mutually exclusive, so no. Sarcasm? (serious question)
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 02:56 |
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Is that an anime thing? I thought that was just awesome and I don't watch anime at all. Vin picking up a giant Koloss sword and swinging it around like it weighs less than a butterknife is pretty anime. Over the top violence performed by a scrawny hero/heroine is an anime staple. Guy posted:Being awesome and being anime are mutually exclusive, so no. Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Deathnote, and most Studio Ghibli releases are pretty good entertainment. There's a lot of crap, sure, but there are a lot of crap live action American releases too. When used properly, animation lets you pull off stuff you couldn't possibly do in live action without an obscene budget. Done poorly, you get catgirls fondling each other and eating ramen on the deck of their bounty hunter spaceships while being chased by intergalactic tentacle beasts driven mad with the desire to probe their furry nethers. MartingaleJack fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Apr 8, 2011 |
# ? Apr 8, 2011 07:00 |
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BananaNutkins posted:Vin picking up a giant Koloss sword and swinging it around like it weighs less than a butterknife is pretty anime. Over the top violence performed by a scrawny hero/heroine is an anime staple. Ah. Well, considering pewter's effects, that is kind of inevitable with Vin.
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 17:01 |
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They talked about that scene in a recent podcast. Summed up, scenes like that only work with appropriate build up. If you didn't understand how Allomancy works, then it loses its impact, but if you can build up to such a moment, it gets awesome.
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 18:20 |
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Is that an anime thing? I thought that was just awesome and I don't watch anime at all. It's just something that would not be out of place in a generic fight anime. I still enjoyed it in the book, but then again, I have literally no opinion on the "IS ANIME GOOD" debate goons are always having.
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# ? Apr 8, 2011 20:29 |
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Lzn64 posted:It's just something that would not be out of place in a generic fight anime. I still enjoyed it in the book, but then again, I have literally no opinion on the "IS ANIME GOOD" debate goons are always having. Yeah, same. And I definitely agree with the buildup thing. If every fight in Mistborn were just like that, it would lose the intensity.
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# ? Apr 9, 2011 03:08 |
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Sarcasm? (serious question) No, I just hate all anime.
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# ? Apr 9, 2011 03:15 |
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Haha what the gently caress BrandSanderson A note from @sleepinghour: "Found some Japanese fanart of @BrandSanderson's "Mistborn": http://bit.ly/hiXy30 "
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# ? Apr 13, 2011 03:34 |
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Streebs posted:Haha what the gently caress ugh, I can just picture that anime creeper drawing it up and paying special attention to get the camel toe juuust right. Not overstated, but if she's going to wear a skin-tight whatever the gently caress that is, clearly she's going to have a camel toe. I mean it's just unrealistic otherwise. Also, she's always described as extremely young, or boyish even, so don't go overboard on the tits. A classy "D" is plenty, as long as they're popping the gently caress out of her straining bustier.
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# ? Apr 13, 2011 04:58 |
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Lzn64 posted:It's just something that would not be out of place in a generic fight anime. I still enjoyed it in the book, but then again, I have literally no opinion on the "IS ANIME GOOD" debate goons are always having. I loving hate anime, but due to the way the magic system was explained in the book, I had absolutely no problems with how things worked out. I do think shardplate and shardblades in Stormlight have a pretty big anime feel to them, but when they aren't visually represented for me, I can imagine them as a little less lvl 70 epic wow gear looking, and a little more as just really loving large out of a special metal, etc. As well as the way he describes them fighting with them and how the wielders have to use a slightly different style of swordplay to be effective.
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# ? Apr 14, 2011 18:24 |
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To get away from the anime debate a bit, I think Sanderson personally refers to it as "cinematic writing," where he tends to write the way he imagines a movie would portray the scene, and as a result his descriptions evoke crazy, arguably over the top visual images (Vin flattening Kredik Shaw and flying into the stratosphere is the specific scene he uses as an example.) He has an entire annotation on that chapter where he ruminates on whether his writing might be different if he hadn't grown up with ready access to so much visual media. So yes, everything is explained and his magic systems and rulesets are awesome, but the exaggerated crazy poo poo that happens is very anime-esque on the surface. That's all I was saying.
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# ? Apr 14, 2011 19:52 |
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I guess it's the difference between abstract guidance towards something awesome vs. clear direction to something awesome. The former is generally more challenging because it runs the risk of alienating, confusing, or tiring the reader, but you can foster partnership and investment with the reader if successful. The latter, to me, at least, usually seems like someone's trying a little too hard. I prefer Jordan's combat scenes, but I don't think Brandon's are bad. Explosions and exclamations as opposed to concept and poetry.
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# ? Apr 14, 2011 19:59 |
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Well, I think I'm becoming a Sanderson convert. That said, I've only read the twelfth Wheel of Time book and am partway through the 13th. That said, I'm pretty amazed at how amazingly well he took up Jordan's torch, and he writes the world like he has a really good understanding of it. I feel like some people who write fanfics and stuff just namedrop significant places/events in a world to prove that they know about the stuff they're writing, in a kind of desperate kind of way. I was afraid that Sanderson would do this, but he doesn't at all. I really, really liked the 12th book, and think it might be the best WoT book since the early ones (like 1-4/5). I feel like what makes his stuff great is that, as anyone would argue, Martin was an amazing worldbuilder. The world of WoT was amazingly detailed and well thought out. That said, his books really started dragging, evnts wise, and it seemed like he fell more and more in love with his world and less with progressing the plot. Sanderson is a breath of fresh air in that regard. He seems to understand that it's time to get the plot kicked into gear, and even though he's writing three books in the series, they really seem to have a lot going on...Events progress at a great pace. That said, the reason I'm posting here instead of in the WoT thread is because I wanted to ask about his other fantasy series. How are series like Mistborn and such? How would you rank them against the genre heavies like Martin/Erikson? Worldbuilding is a lot harder than writing decent scenes, I'd imagine, so I'm wondering how he does when the entire WORLD is his own. So far, everything I've read of his was imagined and thought out first by someone else, so I'm naturally curious how his worldbuilding is. As far as things like Mistborn go (I'm interested in Stormlight, but I hate getting into series when they're only like one book deep), what are your thoughts?
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# ? Apr 15, 2011 17:59 |
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I loved Mistborn and Way of Kings. His prose isn't quite as good as Martin's (I haven't read Erikson yet)--though he seems to be improving a lot, especially while finishing WoT--but his stories are fantastic and the worlds and magic are really well-developed. He's also written a couple of standalones--Elantris and Warbreaker--that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. Edit: And yeah, I totally get the feeling of not wanting to read an in-progress series. However, I couldn't resist, read WoK, and now I'm craving more. Sadly, he's finishing WoT first, and the next one won't be out until early next year at best.
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# ? Apr 15, 2011 18:23 |
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I think Stormlight Archives is being positioned to be what people pick up when WoT finishes, and I'm pretty glad of it because it feels like it's what WoT would've been if Jordan had had a solid plan from the start. That aside, I've got a huge soft spot for Sanderson because he's well aware of the flaws in his writing and makes pains to correct them. The result is that his prose gets better with every book, and putting Elantris and WoK side-by-side, it's like night and day. coffeetable fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Apr 15, 2011 |
# ? Apr 15, 2011 19:14 |
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Way of Kings is probably his strongest book, followed by Mistborn I. The sequels aren't paced as well, though they are still very good. I would rank my enjoyment of all Sanderson books like this: 1: Way of Kings 2: Towers of Midnight 3: Mistborn I 4: The Gathering Storm 5: Elantris 6: Mistborn II 7: Warbreaker 8: Mistborn III
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# ? Apr 15, 2011 19:24 |
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A Nice Boy posted: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.
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# ? Apr 15, 2011 20:20 |
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Mistborn doesn't have the world building or character depth that some epic fantasy series do like WoT, Martin's series or the Malazan series. But I think the plot is pretty tight and the action scenes are really well written. I also really enjoyed the magic systems in that series and I loved the ending. Mistborn is also a really easy read compared to some of the huge fantasy series out there, which for me is a plus. Way of Kings on the other hand has a ton of poo poo going on, the world is incredibly rich. It was by far Sanderson's best work so far, outside of the WoT books. I guess my only complaint would be, when comparing it to other fantasy series, is that the characters aren't as complex as I'd expect from a great writer. Given time I think he can fix that. The thing that really excites me about Way of Kings is that I have a million questions after reading the book but it was still satisfying when I finished it. Sanderson is very good at creating stories that are resolved in one book but also fit into the series story arch. 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.
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# ? Apr 15, 2011 20:46 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 16, 2011 01:34 |
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subx posted:Elantris was one of his first books and it shows - it's a decent story but the writing is a little off. Yeah, that was the one that I enjoyed the least of all of his books. It's an OK story but it really shows that he was a 'published for the first time' author. The best part, as mentioned above, is that he's constantly reviewing and reanalyzing his writing and has improved with each new book.Sanderson is one of my favorite authors these days, and he's getting better and better with each book.
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# ? Apr 16, 2011 02:19 |
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Awesome. I was just bumming out that I had nothing to read after this WoT book, but now I'm happy because Mistborn is on Kindle, so I'll be ripping through that. Thanks, folks!
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# ? Apr 16, 2011 04:49 |
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I love reading his stuff with the annotations.It's written so that there are no spoilers in the annotations past the chapter it's written for. That said, I think they are far more enjoyable to read in a second readthrough. You learn some really cool stuff with them.
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# ? Apr 16, 2011 06:34 |
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I was rereading through parts of WoK and Elantris and remembered a suggestion somebody made (I can't remember if it was here or on another forum somewhere) that the men chasing Hoid in WoK are in fact Roaden and his cadre. The physical descriptions seem to fit, personalities too.
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 07:22 |
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Re: Sanderson's Anime/Movie writing. While I love the WoT One Power fighting scenes in books, they don't quite translate over in my head as well as most of the fighting in TWoK did. It is a lot easier for me to imagine a group of screenwriters being able to make a dude running around on walls, giant suits of armor with power swords that can kill 3+ people in one swing, and a guy running around on walls stabbing people with a spear + possibly flying eventually look way better in a live action movie than people concentrating while weaving threads that end up exploding.
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 07:51 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:Re: Sanderson's Anime/Movie writing. Fantasy doesn't make good movies. I feel confident saying that categorically, and yes, I'm including LoTR. Maybe ASoIaF will be okay, I got more than halfway through the first book and there was like, 10 minutes of magic time in the movies. But that's about the only example I can think of. WoT would be a horrible movie. At least, for me. Maybe they could make it a good movie if it wasn't the same story anymore, I dunno. But there is a recent development--the accents used in Your Highness. Those things are fantasy enough, and yet not clearly some british dialect. If they could restrain themselves to using those, or others on that level, I'd give it a shot.
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 08:22 |
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I actually think that if Sanderson's books were to be adapted into visual media, an animated series would probably be the best choice -- they're not quite grey and sexy enough to get the HBO treatment, like ASOIAF. They're a bit too complex for movies. And they'd be way too expensive to film for any network to do them live-action. An animated series with a target age range of, say, 15-20 seems to be just about the right thing. For Mistborn in particular, giving each book a 13 episode season should work quite well. Unfortunately, though, those types of shows are much less common in America than elsewhere (Japan, for instance).
Jorenko fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Apr 17, 2011 |
# ? Apr 17, 2011 13:49 |
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Yeah. That'd suck though, because even though I'd know I wouldn't enjoy it, until I did see it I'd spend every day quivering and sweating in a pointless effort of self-control.
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 18:06 |
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Jorenko posted:I actually think that if Sanderson's books were to be adapted into visual media, an animated series would probably be the best choice -- they're not quite grey and sexy enough to get the HBO treatment, like ASOIAF. They're a bit too complex for movies. And they'd be way too expensive to film for any network to do them live-action. An animated series with a target age range of, say, 15-20 seems to be just about the right thing. For Mistborn in particular, giving each book a 13 episode season should work quite well. Unfortunately, though, those types of shows are much less common in America than elsewhere (Japan, for instance. Take the team behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and give them control over some of Sanderson's stuff. I would watch the poo poo out of this. Edit: By your avatar I take it you would agree with me..
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 19:55 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:Take the team behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and give them control over some of Sanderson's stuff. I would watch the poo poo out of this. I think they'd do a good job, though I don't think Nick would buy it without toning down the content in some parts. Really, I think Bones would be a fantastic choice. Maybe they could pioneer the idea of an animated series that is written and specifically produced with the idea of simultaneous release in both English and Japanese? They could put it on Adult Swim and Noitamina, with new episodes airing the same week! Probably not, but a man can dream.
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# ? Apr 17, 2011 21:57 |
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treeboy posted:I was rereading through parts of WoK and Elantris and remembered a suggestion somebody made (I can't remember if it was here or on another forum somewhere) that the men chasing Hoid in WoK are in fact Roaden and his cadre. The physical descriptions seem to fit, personalities too. Didn't Raoden and most of his gang become shiny haired, shiny skinned gods towards the end of Elantris? I don't doubt that the people looking for Hoid are from the Elantris world (forgot the name), but they probably wern't Raoden or any of the main characters from Elantris.
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# ? Apr 18, 2011 06:13 |
The "bumps" of the middle section of the book is a letter from Hoid to some unspecified 3rd person (who is not any of the Gods or Shards we've seen so far) who's had people chasing him. So I don't necessarily think the people looking for Hoid that we've seen in WoK so far are anybody we've seen before.
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# ? Apr 18, 2011 17:09 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:32 |
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Why the hell is the Stormlight Archive £8.99 on Kindle ? That's more than a paperback and twice the common price for a kindle book.
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# ? Apr 19, 2011 10:13 |