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I've just started reading the Cosmere stuff after finishing WoT, is this the only Brando Sando thread? There's not a split between spoilers/no spoilers? Anyway I'm starting with Elantris because I heard it's a bit rough and I'm gonna get it out of the way first. I'm only six chapters in but fuckin lmao at Serene thinking she's over the hill at 25. Great job Sanderson, no wonder you got picked to finish WoT.
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May 2, 2023 01:47
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mewse posted:Publication order would be my advice for anyone planning to read all the books but.. it makes sense to me to recommend Emperor’s Soul to someone who doesn’t necessarily like fantasy but would like to see what Sanderson is about I'm definitely starting with publication order but it looks like the Stormlight books get really spread out that way, so would it make sense to save them all for after Mistborn era 2 and Warbreaker? I have literally never seen any two suggested reading orders be the same, but grouping the larger series together seems to be a common theme among the non-publication order suggestions. Either way I've been suitably warned that it gets better after Elantris and so I wanted to get the "worst" one out of the way so I don't have to go back to it later. I know games aren't books but I loved the first Witcher game when it came out but absolutely cannot force myself to play it again after having played 2 and 3. pik_d fucked around with this message at 04:01 on May 2, 2023 |
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May 2, 2023 03:58
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Mordiceius posted:If you can make it through Elantris, then it's all uphill from there. Serene's chapters are the loving pits. I'm up to Elantris chapter 15 now. Sarene loving owns so far. Her whole MO is to gently caress with people who deserve to get hosed with (everyone in this story). I basically want her and Raoden to team up soon and kick rear end on both sides of the Elantris city walls.
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May 4, 2023 20:00
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Light Elantris spoilers. Yeah I have noticed a few sets where Raoden and Sarene have 20-25 page chapters then Hrathen gets 7-8 pages. I do like the rotating pov idea in general but some things have to be shoehorned a little to make it work. Coming from WoT it's nice to know I won't run into a 5 chapter run of a boring character before getting back to someone more interesting. It's rough in spots for sure, but I like that each of the three seems like they could be the main character, though on balance Raoden edges it. I will come back for those spoilers in your post.
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May 4, 2023 20:36
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Elantris up to chapter 42. There's definitely been some silly writing decisions, like every time Brandon sticks in something like "And then everything changed." which takes me out of the story a little, but I'm definitely having a lot of fun with the characters. I do feel like he's torturing me by drip feeding Selene clues that "Spirit" is actually her undead husband Raoden without having her piece it together. Hrathen has also been interesting as a logical religious zealot. His crisis of faith took some wavering when he went into Elantris as a false Elantrian, he seems to have bounced back but I'm not convinced he wont have more issues with that. I do feel like Sanderson probably regretted the rotating POVs where each main character took every third chapter, with some of the chapters being 4 pages and some being 25. I'm glad there's going to be two sequels because I love these characters and want to see more of them.
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May 8, 2023 18:12
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mewse posted:Elantris doesn't have two sequels, I think you're thinking of Mistborn Elantris doesn't have two sequels yet https://coppermind.net/wiki/Elantris_sequel
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May 8, 2023 18:32
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Synesthesian Fetish posted:Elantris has a novella but it's more about stuff that happened during the first book so it isn't a sequel That's cool but this is what I said originally so I don't really think there's an argument here, just a misunderstanding. pik_d posted:I'm glad there's going to be two sequels because I love these characters and want to see more of them.
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May 8, 2023 19:40
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Torrannor posted:Just a warning, the Coppermind is an amazing wiki, and the time machine feature is amazing. But it's relatively new, and there's a limit to how far back it's good. It's very easy to get spoiled browsing the Coppermind. You should probably avoid going to it before finishing Bands of Mourning + Secret History, as well as Words of Radiance. Thanks for the heads up, I'll avoid it for now. It was just the top result for "elantris sequel". I'm guessing any Elantris sequel is a few years out at best, but I've got the rest of the Cosmere to burn through and any other series I pick up after that. It's just nice to know he plans on going back there eventually.
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May 9, 2023 00:15
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Is Elantris the only book that got an upgrade after being released?
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May 9, 2023 22:32
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I finished Elantris  So that book just kinda ended? It felt like after Raoden fixed the giant Aon things just wrapped up really quickly, he zooped over to Teod and kicked some rear end (with the help of Hrathen) and then he had a wedding over like 2 pages and then it was done! Then Hoid had a little bit of wider universe exposition and peaced out.Gonna read the Elantris novellas then on to Mistborn.
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May 10, 2023 12:22
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DarkHorse posted:Yeah pacing issues have been the biggest thing Sanderson has struggled with and it shows Yeah I like the characters and world and magic system he's created, I like the different POVs though the strict 1-2-3 pattern didn't land perfectly, but I can totally see the criticisms of Elantris that people have had. I assume his pacing gets better as he writes more, and the prose gets more refined.
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May 10, 2023 13:09
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I'm reading through those at work on my phone and I really loving wish the "Next chapter" button was above the list of chapters instead of below it. Fun read though, just a lovely layout choice
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May 10, 2023 22:08
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Torrannor posted:Which book are you reading now? I'm talking about the linked annotations for Elantris on Sanderson's website. As for your question, I'm going to get through the Elantris novellas before moving on to Mistborn.
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May 10, 2023 22:19
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The Emperors Soul is a really nice story. Another cool magic system, though after reading the Sel system blurb/essay it seems like it is just a different way that the Elantrian Dor is used? I saw someone somewhere else say that this could be adapted into a stage play and it really does feel like that. Shai spends the majority of her time in a nice cell, her updating the cell could be used to tell the passage of time, and the magic isn't something that needs special effects. I also thought she had some interesting motivations, just to trick the whole empire. Obviously she wants to escape too, but finishing her work is clearly more important. She even manages to impress Gaotona and probably even the Emperor himself. She completely fooled Zu, Frava, and the Bloodsealer. I'm just glad she never fired her Chekhov's gun in the "forget everything" soulstamp. On to Mistborn!
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May 13, 2023 11:40
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Up to chapter 7 of The Final Empire I'm very glad that we got a novice Mistborn so we could get a training montage of what the different Allomancy metals do, though so far I still have 0 knowledge about the 9th metal, and I don't know what Atium or the 11th metal do. Vin has one hell of a survival mode don't trust anybody mentality, I'm guessing she'll shed that around Kelsier sooner or later. This heist seems fun and definitely no part of it will go wrong. Fun book so far, but I'm very curious how much the mist actually does since that hasn't been explained yet.
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May 16, 2023 19:42
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NikkolasKing posted:Can I ask if you've read any other Fantasy and how you feel TFE compares to them if you have? Well I've only read about 7 chapters so far so it's hard to say, but I do really like it and think it'll be right up there with some of the best from below. I really like books/series that have really good world building and this seems to be doing that well. I like the snippets at the beginning of each chapter that I assume are Lord Ruler from 1000 years ago. Most recently I read through the Wheel of Time after watching the 1st season of the show which led straight into Brandon Sanderson's stuff of his own. Towers of Midnight was very powerful. I'll probably forget a few books here and there but this is most of my history: Avatar Kyoshi novels The Expanse series (Sci-fi I know, but honestly there's fantasy stuff goin on there) The Witcher short stories and novels Big gap in college and most of 20s The Riftwar Cycle - this one holds a special spot in my heart because it was the first mega series I completed, despite the author writing a worse case of power scaling than Dragon Ball Z Read a few of Piers Anthony's Xanth novels before, even as a stupid horny teenage boy, some of the characters were gross and turned me off from the whole thing This is the empty space where Harry Potter would be if I didn't bounce off that hard after the following: The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings trilogy Whatever Redwall books my middle/high school library had Animorphs
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May 16, 2023 21:54
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Grundulum posted:Please keep posting thoughts on Mistborn as you go through it. I don’t care to watch reaction videos, but reading reaction takes of books is a lot of fun. pointlessone posted:I just did a reread of the Era 1 Mistborns, you're in for an amazing ride. Nearly every question you have will be answered over the next three books, including the ones you might not have realized to ask. If you're willing, would you continue posting your impressions throughout them? I'll definitely keep posting them. Sanderson is definitely giving me just enough information to tempt me into trying to extrapolate things, but not enough to definitely get it right. I read chapters 8 and 9 last night which finally game some concrete information about Mistwraiths. They exist, the young ones are big dumb piles of specter bones that won't actually attack living creatures. The older ones are more intelligent based on how Kelsier answered Vin's question, but are they human levels of intelligence? I have no idea. Could a mature one be posing as Lord Renoux? Maybe! But I've got my doubts. Sazed and Kelsier agreed that Vin is a bit of a prodigy so that answered a question I had about whether or not all Mistborn/Mistings were equally powerful and relied on having more metal at their disposal. Sazed gives me strong WoT Aiel vibes. Very bummed out I didn't find out more about the high metals. I assume Vin learned about them during the time skip between these two chapters.
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May 17, 2023 16:59
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More first time reader reactions, I've read up to The Final Empire chapter 17. The Inquisitors in these books are much scarier than the Star Wars Inquisitors that end up getting punked by kids in the shows and games. Though I suppose these Inquisitors may get destroyed by Vin because I assume she'll get a power up later on. Also they might be immortal, but I'm sure there'll be a way to defeat them. Glad to finally know what Atium does, but it's basically only useful if only you have it so that's slightly underwhelming. Still don't know anything about the 9th metal or 11th metals though. Please tell me Brandon. I'm guessing Lord Elend will end up actually being Mistborn, I actually thought it was gonna be him saving Vin from the Inquisitor before the Sazed reveal happened. Speaking of Sazed, now there's another magic system to deal with? He uses metal to store information, but used up an entire metalmind to make the trip between cities so fast? So he can use metal for "powers"?
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May 21, 2023 02:15
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Artonos posted:You're making me want to read this series again because I can't quite remember when things became clear. I think there were hints towards more power for that character before what you described. But it wasn't shown as clearly on "screen" until then. Yeah there was a conversation where he said "The Lord Ruler doesn't like us, we're a different kind of ability than Allomancy." or something like that. That and the fact that he remembers near 600 religions.
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May 21, 2023 03:06
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Continuing my first time reader stuff, The Final Empire, chapters 18-25 (Part 3 of the book) Vin has gone from being awkward at balls to wondering if some of the nobility are good, actually. That's loving gross. I realize she's got a crush on Elend but she's spent 16 years being a Skaa. It's wild she can look at the rest of them and see redeeming qualities after the life she's lived. I still don't know what the 9th or 11th metals do, but at least I understand Sazed and the Keepers. A different kind of metal magic, seems like a more patient but also more sustainable form of Allomancy. I'm actually wondering if there's truth to the claim that the Lord Ruler gave those loyal to him Allomancy, and it's just a bastardized version of Feruchemy. Kelsier is a dick and either needs a hell of a redemption arc or is actually just going to go full Lord Ruler himself, and Vin's more nuanced abilities are going to help her stop him. RIP their army though, I'm expecting a reaction from Lord Ruler to the tune of gratuitous death. And the guy who hired them died, so that paves the way for Kelsier to do whatever the gently caress he wants now, which is probably extremely bad. And I saw Hoid! I read Elantris first so this is my 2nd time seeing him. He was trying to luck into some Elantrean powers there so I assume he wants to be an Allomancer here. I love that he and Kelsier were both playing each other but were playing entirely different games when doing so.
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May 25, 2023 01:50
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The Final Empire chapters 26-34 (Part 4) I finally know what the 9th metal is, but it's just gold and it sends you on a self discovery acid trip. I do think it'll eventually be useful for something though. Kelsier has underestimated pretty much everything but iron and steel in terms of the nuance of how to use them so why not this too? It's also pretty interesting that Vin can detect stuff through copper clouds, it makes me wonder if it's simply that she's better (I don't think so) or that there's another rung on the Misting/Mistborn ladder. Misting/Mistborn/Mistlord? Some really cool fight scenes in this part as well. Vin took on two Mistborn and some number of Mistings when she killed Shan. She's a boss. Then Kelsier getting some action in destroying the Pits of Hathsin and then killing an Inquisitor before ultimately getting brushed aside by the Lord Ruler. Which is screaming "fake out" death to me. The Renoux Kandra is involved somehow. Can Kandra's use Allomancy when they absorb Allomancers?  Their abilities have really not been explored at all, I have no idea how much of someone they need to absorb in order to take on their shape.I'm also really curious how important Eland is going to be, for a while I thought he'd turn out to be a Mistborn but he very much doesn't seem like one, though maybe he hasn't snapped yet. He's definitely getting in over his head if he really has no Allomancy.
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May 28, 2023 21:13
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pointlessone posted:I just want you to know how much I'm loving these. Torrannor posted:Another great post, with some truly smart insights. And now you're in for a treat, because the famous Sanderlanche at the end of his books, where everything goes crazy and a thousand awesome things happen at once is about to start in a few chapters. Enjoy it! I was going to read 2 chapters last night, but they were short and there wasn't much left so I finished the book. And then also read The Eleventh Metal. The Final Empire chapters 35-Epilogue (Part 5) Some things answered, some new questions asked, very good end of the book though. Looking forward to the next one. So people gathering in the street just preaching the word of Kelsier. I guess his plan was good, they start praising him but he dies so it doesn't go to his head and he doesn't become a tyrant. Then Vin is like "I can totally take the Lord Ruler this time, I have this mystery metal to help." Absolute lunatic. I'm guessing Kelsier never figured out what the 11th metal is because he always burned it when he was alone, so never saw the alternate versions of people. This makes it an alloy of gold? Which means that the higher metals do have the pairs thing going on, which means Atium might have an alloy that is internal precognition? Oh and by the way there's ANOTHER metal that you can burn that just depleats all your reserves? Is there an alloy of that that can deplete someone elses reserves? I somewhat feel like the answer to that last one is "no" because that would just be a cheat code. Anyway, I was right about the Kandra being involved in Kelsier's death, it scooped up Kelsier's bones and posed as him to make people think he wasn't dead. Kinda spooky but sure. That does mean that Kelsier isn't coming back, unlike his loving brother?? Who is an Inquisitor but NOT turned? And he killed a bunch of other Inquisitors without them all ganging up on him? Wild. And Elend shows up again, the idiot. Can we just call him a himbo? Dude's a himbo with book smarts but absolutely clueless when it comes to "should I stick my nose in here". He's lucky his crush is a Mistborn or he'd be dead like three times, at least. It'll be interesting to see how good of a king he is, and if he needs saving in the future books. Glad he got a hug in the end, I was worried about Vin going full Batman and going it alone for a second there. And the Lord Ruler that we know is Rashek. So that fucker killed the real hero and ended up taking things for himself. I had been reading this kids diary and thinking "wow you grow up to be a dickhead", I'm so sorry dude, you would have done it. So now I wonder if Vin is the new Hero of Ages. She's the Dragon Reborn. She's gonna have to go to the Well of Assention and be the Hero that defeats the Deepness, which, looking at the next two book titles, makes a lot of sense. I also read the Eleventh Metal, Kelsier's trainer came straight out of the school of hard knocks, and Kelsier had a loving big clue that the Eleventh Metal was external since there were literally people that it was being tested on. What a clown.
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May 29, 2023 16:09
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The Well of Ascension chapters 1-11 (Part 1) At the very beginning I was thinking that Venture took the royal Atium stash because he would have had access and he couldn't really lose anything after the Pits of Hathsin being destroyed on his watch. Also it makes sense as a way for him to pay that army of his. I still think he's the prime suspect but I don't know for sure if it was him. The Watcher, who claims to be crazy, who wonders why Vin plays "their" games, sounds kinda like Gemmel to me. They could be a Mistborn from a fallen house who doesn't give a gently caress anymore, but Gemmel seems like a neater tie in. I'm happy to get more information about Allomancy so soon, the 11th metal gets a name, Aluminum gets named and even gets a sick nuclear alloy in Duralumin. It feels like using that could overwhelm someone using Atium with sheer speed and power. I am also extremely confident that there's an Atium alloy that is something like precognition of oneself, however that works. Maybe you can see if your immediate plan works like "can I make that jump?" or "will I blast a whole through that guy?" I am extremely not cool with Vin's racism against her kandra, and also having that dog killed, no matter how well it seems to be working. It's been a year, Kelsier literally told OreSeur to eat him, get the gently caress over it, or at least don't take it out on him. If she doesn't win OreSeur over before his contract runs out that'll be terrible for Vin, and she'll have deserved it too. I feel like he should be able to help figure out who the second kandra is, or if not that Vin can do whatever it is Inquisitors do to uncover them. Sazed and Marsh going off to check out an empty Final Empire stronghold/library is pretty worrying with Marsh's apparent change in mannerisms and everything. It could be that Marsh is really ostracized and is feeling lovely, but I'm guessing that him being an Inquisitor is slowly changing him inside as well as out. And finally, it looks like the daytime mists, weird mist figure apparitions, and (maybe?) heaver ashfall are related whatever the Lord Ruler was doing for humanity that he mentioned in his death. Vin is gonna have to sort that out over the next two books.
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Jun 2, 2023 01:37
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The Well of Ascension chapters 12-27 (Part 2) I'm going to be totally honest, I was enjoying the "steal the world from our god-king" heist much more than this "political  thriller" book.There's very clearly something going on in the background that resulted in the mists and koloss to start doing more stuff, I really just want to get to that. Sure Elend's dad has an army but it's a normal army, he's just a Tineye, It's hard to take him seriously as a threat after defeating the Lord Ruler even though he is a danger to Elend and Luthadel. I did like how Vin (and Elend) outmaneuvered Straff during their meeting. Now he wants her dead which will probably not end well for him at all. Zane is gonna have to get taken out soon, he's got a voice he thinks is God and he's got a walk in closet of daddy issues that he wants Vin to fix for him. At least he taught her a new trick with keeping a coin in the mouth. That said, I am glad that I know what the koloss are after they went unused last book, I like that we're getting more information about the kandra, though I still don't know what they do with the atium that they demand as payment. I'm guessing that the enemy kandra that's spying on them is Demoux since he's an easy one to off without it being a main character and fits with the fact that the spy was trying to gain everyone's trust (I think?). I've really been hoping that the koloss show up and they end up in a fight with Cett and Straff that wipes all three armies out, but that seems way too easy for our heros. The book is called the Well of Ascension and no one has even thought about going there yet! I was really hoping to bring this politicking to a close but Elend's getting deposed and the next part is titled "King" so I guess that plot is far from over.
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Jun 8, 2023 02:24
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The Well of Ascension chapters 28-38 (Part 3) A lot more Politicking here, the entire deposed and lead up to the vote was really tiring to me, even with Cett showing up, though it would have been worse without him. The Koloss showing up and literally nothing happen was also very annoying. There were good parts though, I liked Vin and OreSeur's conversations, very interesting to find out that the kandra have a religion that the Keepers never found out about in 1000 years. OreSeur also mentioned Ruin and Preservation in one of their conversations, I've already read Elantris and all the Sel stuff in Arcanum Unbound, and those words sound very much like Dominion and Devotion that were the shards in the Sel system. I will note that I don't actually understand what a shard really is, other than that I believe the shards are the "dead Gods" that Hoid mentioned in the end of Elantris. Then at the end of this part, Vin figures out that she can poke kandra with duralumin, and OreSeur compares her to Allomancers of old. I'm curious if duralumin was known about back then, or if they really were stronger. Zane is at least annoying in a good and interesting way, though he does need to end up dead along with his father. I most like that he and Straff are both pretty much aware of how much their relationship is a giant mess, but a necessary one for now. Zane needs an anchor mentally, while Straff needs the firepower. I do think Zane will snap at some point and kill Straff before he realizes what he's doing. The theories about the Deepness are starting to make sense, that it's the mists themselves. I'm really looking forward to more Sazed/Tindwyl looking into this, and then including Vin in their research. This will have to be how they decide to go to the Well of Ascension. I'm still unsure about who the opposing kandra spy is. I had the same thought that it was Demoux, and I'm not convinced he's innocent, but it's very muddy right now. All the Allomancers are cleared, Demoux and Dox have good alibis, which leaves OreSeur which would be heartbreaking given the turnaround he and Vin have had. He keeps claiming his kind are really good at their research but there's only so much that can be done, someone's going to slip up eventually. I am most annoyed that Vin didn't try emotional Allomancy on Demoux or Dox since it doesn't work on kandra (without duralumin). That would have been an easy tell. Riot their emotions a bit and see if they punch a wall. With the next part being called "Knives" I'm assuming that Zane and Vin will be doing lots of stuff since they're the knives of their respective Ventures. Looking forward to it.
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Jun 11, 2023 17:44
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Grundulum posted:I don’t think you’re supposed to at this point, to be honest. You’ve got a bit of an edge having already read other Cosmere stuff, and it shows up in places like this: references and namedrops Sanderson makes that you have the context to say “hey, I recognize that word/concept”. Yeah, I'm doing the novels in publication order but reading the associated stuff slightly out of order, just so I could do all the Elantris stuff all at once. I probably should have just done the two short stories, not the Sel system essay thing but oh well. I've heard that I should keep the bulk of the essays until after reading Stormlight: Rhythm of War, which may actually be a spoiler for the question smackfu asked, or maybe not, but honestly just by knowing about the Cosmere you know there's connections somehow.
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Jun 11, 2023 21:04
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The Well of Ascension chapters 39-48 (Part 4) Hell yeah the politicking is basically over!  Not terribly surprising that Straff has Penrod by the balls, but by the end of this section Straff has much bigger problems with Zane having a lot of very knifey ideas, and then dies. Which, gotta say, hilarious that Vin runs to Elend and says "I killed your brother" as a way of informing him that he even has a brother.I thought he'd stick around longer but I am not sad to see Zane gone. Definitely got a lot of questions about him, from "God" changing his tune at the end and even telling Zane he wasn't crazy, and the Inquisitor style spike, but only one? I am curious if the spike and voice are related. I expect the voice to show up again though. I really thought for a second that Sazed knew the location of the Well, he knows so much else, and it matched the map in the book. I guess that map is just the Sazed map that he draws to trick Vin. She's gonna be so upset when she realizes he lied, I guess that does seal that we're not seeing the Well in the book titled "Well of Ascension". So many questions though, where the gently caress is Marsh? Was he the Inquisitor spotted in the city? Who ripped the pages? Were they trying to hide the line or draw attention to it? When will Straff finally just die? Did Vin take the atium that Zane had?
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Jun 16, 2023 02:06
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Mordiceius posted:Welcome. By finishing this section, you have just crossed the border into The Sanderlanche. Strap in. Listen, if they get to the fake Well of Ascension, find the Terrisfolk, then get to the real Well of Ascension all in the last 10ish chapters I'm gonna wonder what the hell Brandon was doing with the rest of the book
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Jun 16, 2023 02:21
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The Well of Ascension chapters 49-56 (Part 5 +1 chapter) I really thought Part 5 would be the entire rest of the book, guess I'll be posting today and tomorrow when I finish. Not surprised Tindwyl didn't want to leave with Vin and Elend, especially since she probably knew he was bullshitting about the Well's location. Allrianne on the other hand has surprised me over the course of this part of the book, legitimately caring about Breeze. I figured she was just using him. It's still hosed up given their ages but hey, allies. The mistmonsters or whatever that just form outlines in the mist and can use Allomancy are confusing. One was in the city watching over Vin, grabbed her arm which hurt but didn't stab her or anything. Then some out in the outer Dominances are killin people, my theory is that it targets non-Allomancers. Then one shows up to Elend and points north. I think it's various former Allomancers. Lord Ruler, Kelsier, maybe others. I just wIsh they could communicate better. The battle for Luthadel seemed particularly brutal, I did enjoy getting to read about how awesome Sazed was. He really is better than he thinks he is. Shame about Tindwyl, Dockson, and Clubs but they all knew the danger, it would have been cheap if everyone survived. Vin also continues to be amazing, from figuring out how to reverse juggle those horseshoes for fast traveling to realizing that yes actually the koloss can be controlled like the kandra. And thank gently caress Straff is dead, shame Cett didn't also die, Allrianne would have been a much better ally as a head of house. I know Sazed is convinced Vin is the Hero of Ages and it makes sense. She's the main character, main POV, hears the thumping, is a super powerful Allomancer, but my book reading senses are screaming "it's a trick!!" and that the Hero of Ages is actually Elend or possibly Sazed. The prophecies are loose enough that both of them also can fit as the Hero. Did I forget anything? Oh yeah, Spook.
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Jun 17, 2023 19:59
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Oh poo poo I did actually forget the Inquisitors. I think the footsteps Vin saw in Kredik Shaw are Marsh, because I don't want him to be part of the Terris eugenics project. I also think they want Terris/Keeper blood to make another Lord Ruler.
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Jun 17, 2023 20:29
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The Well of Ascension chapters 57-Prologue Sad Sazed is just so depressing. Though I guess Tindwyl helped him figure out that there was a problem in the end. I have to admit I also missed the "Holy First Witness" connection too, given what I now know about the prophecies that somehow makes even less sense. There's a lot I still don't understand. Vin thinks about the Lord Ruler, I'm wondering if he was doing something to keep the Well from filling. Was he taking the power every so often to keep it low and keep himself powerful? Or was there some other method of suppression? It filling after his death probably isn't a coincidence. Sazed gets to meet a Mistmonster! I should probably stop calling them monsters, but honestly they keep killing people so who knows. Sazed thinks of it as a mist spirit. Based on TenSoon's mention, Feruchemists and Allomancers are both of Ruin, with the connection to metal and "God" talking to anyone with spikes. Kandra, mistwraiths, and mist spirits are all of Preservation. Though the mist spirits are the most confusing, they seem contradictory, some helping some just killing. Maybe that's in response to Ruin wanting to escape from its jail. That really is the thing that bothers me, how are the mist spirits targeting people? I first assumed it was anyone who couldn't become an Allomancer, and maybe that's it, but why? It could just be random I suppose. It also now makes less sense that mist spirits are former Allomancers since the two are almost certainly of different shards. Maybe the soul doesn't care, only the body. And while I understand the mist spirit attacking Elend at the Well to try to get Vin to help him, was the mist spirit attacking Elend during their journey the same thing? Trying to piss off Vin so she'd use the Well to stop the mists instead of releasing Ruin? I could think about this in circles forever, but I'll just RAFO instead. Anyway, Marsh! I'm counting this as confirmation that "God" aka Ruin is talking to the Inquisitors too. Probably more strongly than Zane since there's more spikes. The fact that Marsh is sorry, yet still "has to" kill Sazed gives me hope of redemption, especially since he escaped after being defeated. Statlin City is circled and therefor important. Got it. Except I can't see Statlin City on the map? What? And then another metal? Do I hear 15 metals? I'm going out on a limb and saying that since this one grants Allomancy it doesn't have to have an alloy, though if there was one it would either grant Feruchemy or more likely take away Allomancy. Anyway, Ruin. God. He's got the ability to flip bits in metalminds. He's got the ability to rewrite rubbings that's on paper? That part was confusing. Either way, very big "Dark One" vibes. Touching the world but needs to be released by mortals. Then after Ruin was freed the mist spirit was adamant that Vin save Elend, which tells me that the mist spirits still have hope that Ruin can be defeated. Even with the Ruin/Preservation thing I still have hope that the one helping them was Kelsier. Edit: Forgot some stuff I predicted Elend was a Mistborn very early in book 1, and was wrong. Now I'm right. Feels weird. The end of this book has a new Allomancy table with Electrrum, which never showed up in this book, that feels weird, but I did believe that an alloy atium did exactly what that metal does, so that's cool. And where the gently caress was Hoid?? pik_d fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Jun 18, 2023 |
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Jun 18, 2023 16:42
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Yeah I've seen that suggestion before and that's how I'm planning on doing it. I am (more or less) planning on reading everything in release order going forward. It's pretty interesting that Secret History came out 2 days after Bands of Mourning by the looks of things? The only exception is that I've seen also that it makes sense to read all the system essays in Arcanum Unbound after Rhythm of War. And also I'll just read White Sand in one go probably.
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Jun 18, 2023 21:22
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The Hero of Ages Prologue - chapter 13 (Part 1) At the very beginning I was thinking the epigraphs may have been Rashek, then Vin, but now I'm pretty sure it's actually Sazed based on the speach patterns and who has been named. Sazed definitely needs to go on a journey before he gets there though, he's lost his faith in a bad way. Very cool to see some POV chapters from Marsh, if only to confirm some things about how exactly Ruin controls him (completely, unless he's not paying attention), Hemalurgy, and all the extra spikes. I'm not really sure about his plan to lull Ruin into ignoring him is going to work. Interesting that they can collect powers from Allomancers and Feruchemists. It makes sense that Elend is stronger than Vin because he's essentially an original Mistborn from the bead (15th metal by my count). However, it feels wrong that Vin, the main POV across the trilogy, is not the strongest anymore. She's got some unique things like the connection to the Well, but I felt like that would come with a level of power that wouldn't be surpassed by any of her allies. Either way, I am enjoying this whole "finding caches left by the Lord Ruler (?) plot, can't wait to see what's in the final one. I'm glad that electrum can block Atium since the team doesn't seem to have any, despite the fact that they should have been able to collect Straff's and Zane's caches of it after last book. Why is that just not a thing? Those two 100% had Atium and it straight up disappeared from the plot. I'm also liking that TenSoon is still going to be important, it definitely didn't feel like he was gone forever in the previous book. Claiming that Vin is now "Mother" in the way that the Lord Ruler was "Father" is a big balls move, I'm guessing some of the younger generation are going to like what he had to say and help him out. I also think that the 1st generation is dead or controlled by the 2nd generation. "They talk through us" sure buds. Sure. Also a koloss named Human, absolutely love it. I'm looking forward to that developing more. What can Vin learn from him, and what can he learn about being human? This book has been off to a great start, every chapter is interesting. Stuff happens, or we learn about some of the lore, it's great. Enjoying this much more than last book at this point.
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Jun 24, 2023 02:17
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The Hero of Ages chapters 14-33 (Part 2) I was excited to see what Spook was up to until he got turned into a mini-Inquisitor like Zane, with the sword tip transferring the ability to use Pewter to him. Ruin also appears to have taken the form of Kelsier and Spook's desire to be big and important means he's probably going to gently caress things up for the crew. I liked all the exposition we got from the epigraphs, which I am more convinced are from Sazed than ever. There's been too many similarities in the speech patterns. Also Sazed is King of the Terris people and doesn't like that either. He's gonna hate being the Hero of Ages. One thing that really made me pause was him saying that Ruin and Preservation were represented by black and white in Rashek's outfit, and Vin and Elend also each wear black and white. One thing that I feel I really need more information about is the 16% people get affected by the mists. It seems like the mists have a quota, since it can't be related to the individual or else the numbers wouldn't work out that cleanly. I wonder if the number 16 is important, like maybe there's 16 metals and the mists cannot communicate any other way and they want someone to look for the 16th metal. They don't attack Terris people either, but they don't use Allomancy. It's an insane theory but I've got literally nothing else. Hoid is back! Never mind, gently caress off Hoid, we don't want to talk to you! That was weird and I wonder if we will eventually talk to him, or just get his POV at the end. Slowswift is also weird, I like the little trivia that he's basically Tolkien. I am not surprised that the Obligator King didn't have a favorable opinion of the people who murdered his god and took over his god's empire. It sounds like he's been in the cache, but I bet sneaking in won't be easy. I wouldn't put it past Vin to try anyway. I am assuming some Inquisitors are going to show up in Fadrex City soon enough. I'm loving TenSoon's plot. I'm curious to see if t he younger generation will follow him. MeLaan wanted him to stand up to the old guard and running away surely covers that. I really thought he'd have recovered the Blessing of Potency when he got the dog bones back, but I guess not. It also does seem like the First Generation is alive up there, just old as poo poo and unable to do much. Also curious to see what TenSoon's route is like, I still don't know where he even is, other than "underground". This book continues to be very exciting, looking forward to seeing how wrong I am about everything except Sazed being the Hero.
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Jun 27, 2023 18:24
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The Hero of Ages chapters 34-44 (Part 3) I'm really enjoying how much information the epigraphs are giving us, and I'm more convinced than ever that it's Sazed. And honestly, finally a book where we learn about hemalurgy and other spike related powers, with the kandra and koloss also using them. The koloss literally being humans that get turned into monsters is loving wild. Human literally told us the answer. And Sazed just sort of intuits the shards of Adonalsium thing. Cool, but I'm guessing I won't learn that much about them in this book. It does however seem like this world does "end", but Sazed must bring it back using the power of Preservation or else there wouldn't be an Era 2. With the volcanos going off and the earthquakes happening more often, everything else is probably just distractions by Ruin to keep Vin and Elend busy.Is there ever a point in history when Spook hasn't been a complete idiot? I mean I get that right now he's got Ruin whispering in his ear but this guy is just a horny and angsty teenager incarnate. He refuses to give important information about both him and Quellion's crew using allomancy. This "Survivor of the Flames" thing is really dumb and Spook is dumb and he needs to gently caress off. As ever, TenSoon is a bright spot in this book. It took a while but he escaped and has two Blessings but doesn't have any idea where Vin is, so I'm curious who he finds first. I hope MeLaan and the other younger kandra help him out. Still worried about that suicide pact thing in the original contract, it does seem like it'll come up in the end of times. The number 16 seems REALLY important, and I have no other ideas except for the "16 metals?" thing I said last time. Either that or 16 people are needed for something. So Vin and Elend are attending balls again, I love the audacity of them just superhero landing to make their entrance. Yomen is really smart and everyone keeps doubting him and getting completely owned. But he can burn atium and so probably Mistborn unless there's atium mistings. Oh, and Reen is loving back, except probably not. I was thinking that maybe he's an Inquisitor or spike boy like Zane and Spook, until the Sanderlanche podcast guys mentioned that maybe Vin is a spike girl like Zane and yeah, that idea convinced me. Her earring is the hemalurgical spike. To expand on their theory: her baby sister gave her extra power with bronze which is why she can pierce copper clouds, and the mists keep away from her because they can sense Ruin's presence on her when it's in. I'm pretty sure her earring fell out when she used the mists against the Lord Ruler. I know she doesn't know about Zane's spike so it's hard to completely fault her, but she's got nearly enough info to figure out that her earring is the source of Ruin's touch in her. I do love how both her and the crew with Spook have the same mystery that needs solving.
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Jul 1, 2023 02:23
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For any WoT readers, Spook is Gawyn, that is all.
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Jul 1, 2023 03:26
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Torrannor posted:Wow, rude. The Hero of Ages chapters 45-58 (Part 4) Glad Vin figured out Reen was Ruin instantly. Definitely getting closer to the end with stuff getting figured out more quickly. Pretty wild to have an entire section of the book where Vin is captured. Yomen is definitely more dangerous than anyone expected. I like that she eventually got some useful information out of Ruin, even though TenSoon told her ages ago that Ruin and Preservation existed. I'm still frustrated that Vin hasn't made the connection between her earring and Ruin, given that he starts talking to her again after she puts it in. Elend has really been put through some poo poo without Vin around. I feel like he was able to take over this new koloss army because Ruin wanted him to have it, whatever Inquisitor had it was told to give it up after a time so Elend wouldn't have to kill him, but also not get suspicious. Then he gives up and meets a literal dying god. I'm disappointed that it took this long for someone to figure out "just play 20 questions" with it, but glad that Elend at least got "please don't attack Fadrex City" since that's clearly what Ruin wants him to do. Still don't know what the significance of the number 16 is though. The mist spirt was pointing at the allomantic metals so I have a weird hope that the mists were making those people allomancers, but it really is just throwing poo poo at the wall at this point. So maybe Spook earned some redemption back in this part, AFTER continuing his creeper teenage boy vibes to go along with his "Yes Keliser would say all this dumb poo poo this makes sense" stuff. At least seeing the city on fire made him pause and think. I'm shocked that he was able to put together that the metal spikes were connected to him and Quellion seeing "Kelsier". Going into the flames to divert the water was also pretty metal, and he's the Survivor of the Flames after all, maybe he's OK! I don't trust Durn at all though. Man seems shady as gently caress. TenSoon taking Kelsier's bones was very unexpected, but his line about "When the mists leave" was telling, I'm wondering if the "end of the world" in the epigraphs will be survived only by people underground. I am excited for TenSoon and Sazed to work poo poo out together. Assuming the timeline is in order, TenSoon doesn't have time to make it to Vin. I'm guessing that TenSoon and Sazed make it to wherever the mist spirit was pointing Elend at since they're northeast of where Elend was. I really really liked how informative all the epigraphs have been this whole book, and especially now. I feel like they're diving so deep into Ruin and Preservation and even touching on the wider Cosmere lore in a sense. The wildest part was Preservation having a corporeal body. I know it was mentioned that Preservation hid Ruin's body but I guess I didn't expect it to just be some man.
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Jul 3, 2023 19:42
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Will I finished The Hero of Ages and the first Mistborn era with it. That's Elantris and those three down, however many more to go. Gotta be honest I did not see Vin becoming a god, then murder-suiciding another god, allowing Sazed to become capital-G God. I really thought that Vin and Elend would have a happy ending, which in a sense maybe they did if the afterlife is nice. It was nice though that Vin got to go out on her own terms, taking down Ruin with her and saving the world. I liked that Sazed spoke with them and Kelsier, because that means he also got to talk to Tindwyl in the afterlife. I also thought it was beautiful that all the religions Sazed remembered helped him shape the world back to what it sould have been. I also had a feeling that both Ruin and Preservation had to be dead for the balance, and that Sazed had to use both, but once I saw that there was Atium I thought Sazed was going to use it somehow. While I did think that the mistfallen were new allomancers, I didn't see the connection between them and the atium, especially since I figured the atium had been depleated already. It being Ruin's body was a mindfuck. After Preservation had a regular human body I figured that's what Ruin was looking for, but the atium was to Ruin as the mists were to Preservation. Hilarious though that the solution was to just shovel the atium into their mouths as fast as possible. Figure 1: Elend and the mistfallen saving the loving world  It's interesting that while Marsh did kill Elend, Elend didn't get him back and then he just wasn't mentioned again. There's not much atium for Marsh to store youth in, so I'm not sure how long he'll live if Sazed didn't smite him. Speaking of, Human might still be around? I feel like Sazed could have fixed him? Some interesting threads to leave hanging. I also read the Scadrian essay in Arcanum Unbound and it mentioned that Hemalurgy is capable of being used regardless of where in the universe the user is, that's scary. I do have some mixed feelings about Spook becoming the de facto leader of everyone after everything happened. I don't have him quite as much, since he actually found some brain cells to figure that he was being controlled through the metal and that maybe Vin was too. Vin literally never figured that poo poo out, but Ruin had so much time to compel her to not think about it. It was nice that some people got their happy endings though. Spook and Beldre, Ham and his wife, Demoux and that random Terris woman, creeper Breeze and creeper Allrianne. Shame about the kandra, though I guess they can be created again? I'm glad that TenSoon and Sazed got to have a meeting of the minds, I'd been waiting for that for so long. They were the MVPs of the story even before Sazed became God. I want to see if Sazed shows up as a character in the next Mistborn era. I may have said it before here, but when Kelsier destroyed hte pits of Hathsin and said it would take 300 years for the atium to come back, I instantly decided that Mistborn era 2 would happen in 300 years when the atium came back, so I'm still feeling that. But before that, I'm gonna read Warbreaker next then The Way of Kings after that before getting back to Mistborn (and hopefully Sazed). I'm curious to see where Hoid shows up next.
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Jul 7, 2023 02:18
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CapnAndy posted:If you go back and read through your reactions throughout Hero of Ages, you'll now notice that you stress how oddly informative the epigraphs are and how often the number 16 is coming up again and again. I imagine that both Preservation and Sazed are very proud of you. Yeah, Kwaan spent half his words on talking about how he didn't have enough space for all his words. Alendi spent most of his being sad about how much his life sucked now that he was the chosen one. Only Sazed could focus on the actual facts and useful stuff. It was nice to see that the 16% meant 16 metals, though I was wrong to include the Allomancy granting metal. There was also no way I was guessing that all the mistfallen were going to be Seers (1/16), that one was too far out there. Still counting it as a win overall. big mean giraffe posted:Re: MB era 1: Spook was made Mistborn and his Tin flaring damage was healed at the request of Kelsier, who died much earlier than Tindwyl. Now maybe some poo poo happened that I don't know about, but from the information I have it seems like if Sazed could talk to afterlife-Kelsier he should be able to talk to afterlife-Tindwyl.
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Jul 7, 2023 03:38
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DarkHorse posted:Something unique happened to Kelsier, he's what's called a Cognitive Shadow because he bullied Preservation into keeping him from passing into the afterlife, called the Beyond. This seems like a really big spoiler for something I haven't read yet?
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Jul 7, 2023 03:43
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