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Cicero posted:It's like two trilogies now. I only read the first three books, and was pretty satisfied with how they turned out. Is the second trilogy finished? Might pick them up as well. Aggro posted:I really enjoy the whole Powder Mage universe. I like magic systems with strict rules, and characters who use that magic in inventive ways. I also like technologically restricted and consistent universes, so flintlock fantasy works well for me. He writes characters with a decent amount of depth and the dialogue ranges from mediocre to surprisingly good. His best strength is probably something that other readers might hate, but I appreciate that he’s an obvious war game nerd who maps out all of his battles. Because he’s so deliberate about where troops and cavalry are laid out for each battle, the conflicts are consistent in how each side responds to attacks and developments. Brian Staveley and Django Wexler also do those things well, and I similarly dig them. Staveley's Chronicles of the Unhewn Stone is pretty entertaining as well. It's also a finished trilogy, which is important to me after the whole Name of the Wind fiasco. Too bad that Staveley is apparently content to just write side novels for his trilogy, instead of writing a new series, or at least a new arc for the Chronicles.
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Apr 19, 2019 04:38
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Leng posted:He's been pretty upfront that just because a character is slated to have a flashback book doesn't mean they will necessarily survive. What's wrong with Lift, exactly? Is it just because she's a "kid character"?
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Apr 22, 2019 03:40
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Kaiser Mazoku posted:What's wrong with Lift, exactly? Is it just because she's a "kid character"? Awesome
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Apr 22, 2019 03:46
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I don't remember what's happening in the 2nd powder mage trilogy because I read the 2nd book last year and the 3rd hasn't been released yet 
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Apr 22, 2019 03:48
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Kaiser Mazoku posted:What's wrong with Lift, exactly? Is it just because she's a "kid character"? I think it's because she acts LOLRANDOM that turns people off of her. I don't really see her as the Manic Pixie some do. I see her flippancy and flightiness as her being genuinely afraid of letting anyone get close at a personal level and I'm guessing there's some deep seated trauma behind it.
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Apr 22, 2019 03:49
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Proteus Jones posted:I think it's because she acts LOLRANDOM that turns people off of her. You definitely get hints about that in her first appearance, but it's made more explicit in the Edgedancer novella. Why would a tween want to get a boon from the Nightwatcher without some messed up back story.
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Apr 22, 2019 05:52
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Lift labeling her powers "awesome" is one of my favorite things about her, same as Vin saying she "used her luck" or whatever it was in the early chapters of Mistborn. A person isn't born knowing the names of all their abilities like they're moves in a JRPG.
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Apr 22, 2019 05:59
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Young Kaladin using his “upsidedowny” or Shallan using “pixie sparkles” Lift is awesome 
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Apr 22, 2019 06:09
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Kaiser Mazoku posted:What's wrong with Lift, exactly? Is it just because she's a "kid character"? She's a very poorly written kid character who slides around like bugs bunny stealing food and saying catchphrases, with no emotional depth and sans anything interesting happening. She's the Poochie of Cosmere. I realize everyone does silly anime stuff in Cosmere, but Lift is specifically written with some tropes that some people find more annoying than endearing. Maybe if you watch a lot of anime or something she's good. (Its ok if you like Lift, I'm just explaining my distaste, the anime thing is like 75% a joke).
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Apr 22, 2019 08:34
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Lift is definitely divisive, she seems really tonally divergent from the rest of the Stormlight Archive, to the point of being the wacky animated comic relief sidekick in a particular type of Disney movie. However I think that's kinda the point, she's not Bugs Bunny, she's John McClane. The conflict in the Stormlight Archive begins between 3 shards, Odium vs Hono(u)r and Cultivation. What seems to matter a lot in these shardic showdowns is foresight, the ability to predict the future. It's why Preservation beats Ruin for example. Brandon has implied or otherwise stated that Honor has poor foresight, Odium has good foresight and Cultivation has great foresight. Thus Odium in some way foresaw how the Oathpact would work out and killed Honor with it and had a major counter to Honors plan to make Odium choose a champion, by preparing Dalinar as his champion. Oathkeeper is basically Odiums final plan to win in Roshar and free himself of the Oathpact (which if you know Legend of the Five Rings is possibly like Togashi's choice of weapon against Fu Leng "My weapons is the people of Roshar, until they are destroyed you cannot win). So in Oathkeeper everything is going exactly according to keikaku (it means plan) for Odium, bar one thing. Cultivation is better at foresight than Odium. So while he was prepping Dalinar to become his champion, Cultivation prunes Dalinar to change him in a subtle way so he defies Odium. Then he manifests Honors perpendicularity. At this point Odium goes nuts quote:"No!" Odium screamed. He stepped forward. "No, we killed you, WE KILLED YOU" I always found the phrasing on this weird, Odium could be referring to the "we" as himself and his spren and thus Honor, or he could be referring to "we" as in the original group of 17 who shattered Adonalasium. In any case his plan goes to poo poo and he ends up retreating and teaming up with Taravangian instead. Incidentally Taravangians plan is derived from a gift from Cultivation so that may not go great for Odium. So who is the third character significantly altered by Cultivation? Lift. I think Lift is the final fly in the ointment for Odium, what will ultimately finish him off. This has been hinted at with Odiums interactions around Lift being odd, she spies on him when he is in Dalinars visions, IIRC he seems to have trouble noticing her, she can touch spren physically, directly convert food into Stormlight. She seems designed or cultivated into something that can directly gently caress him up in a way the other characters can't. Her being so quirky and atonal may be a consequence of this or just Brandon indicating she's a literal rule breaker so her later significance is foreshadowed. TLDR: Lift is the Monkey in the Wrench for Odium.
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Apr 22, 2019 13:13
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Every Lift chapter -- Lift slides onto the scene wearing banana peel shoes "Me hungy!" she declares with her characteristic cheerfulness as she hops up onto the meeting table, surprising all the stuffy trained soldiers and farting in one of their faces as she glides past to add extra propulsion!!! Lift grabs a sandwich and stuffs the WHOLE THING in her mouth, looking like a chipmunk as she scoots along, a stream of visible fart gas propelling her up the wall. "That's my AWESOME! Bye bye bad guys thanks for the grub!!" she says through a mouthful of food.
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Apr 22, 2019 20:29
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Lift is an anime character spouting dumb internet poo poo and should be quietly sidelined, thank's
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Apr 22, 2019 23:17
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Yeah, instead of a character that's fun to read about, he should get back into Kaladin's depression again. Lift is great.
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Apr 23, 2019 00:21
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Spun Dog posted:Yeah, instead of a character that's fun to read about, he should get back into Kaladin's depression again. Agreed. Between this and Dalinar's skeletons in his closet and all the other depressing poo poo that happens it's nice to have a semi-comic relief character.
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Apr 23, 2019 00:25
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If the other characters treated Lift like the bizarre hyperactive twee anime she is, it wouldn't be so bad, but for some reason they all forget their fantasy intrigues and political plotting and dry kayfabe and take her seriously. It was scandalous when Darkeyed characters were allowed to be in the same room as the high-cast Lighteyed characters... flexible or easygoing aren't words I'd use to describe any of the Alethi characters. At least have them react to her weirdness, or awkwardly ignore it. Not wordlessly accept it.
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Apr 23, 2019 00:49
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What? Most character interactions with her seem to be some variation of stupefied exasperation. To the point that Szeth treating her seriously freaked her out (in addition to his weird poorly-attached soul, but still) Lift is a character that happens AT people, partly because she's so afraid of forming attachments. She's like the tornado that blows through a junkyard and makes a plane. She's chaos personified and generally, inexplicably leaves things better in her wake. It's fun to figure out the sideways way she looks at the world and follow along with the other characters being completely nonplussed by her. I get why some people are irritated by her narrative and there are definitely flaws with her characterization, and I don't fault people for not liking her, but saying the attraction for her is because she's anime is selling her short. E: lest I sound like a Lift fan, she's not a character I liked at all or even noticed until the Edgedancer novella. I mostly just read through her stuff until I got to the next part; not excited by it, but not dreading it either.
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Apr 23, 2019 01:40
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i mostly liked Lift because she reminded me of the main girl from Unsounded in the "hyperactive obnoxious brat that has a poor magical dude bound to her who has to deal with her bullshit" which tbh was probably more due to the strength of Unsounded than anything else for once, not anime
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Apr 23, 2019 04:48
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Infinite Karma posted:If the other characters treated Lift like the bizarre hyperactive twee anime she is, it wouldn't be so bad, but for some reason they all forget their fantasy intrigues and political plotting and dry kayfabe and take her seriously. It was scandalous when Darkeyed characters were allowed to be in the same room as the high-cast Lighteyed characters... flexible or easygoing aren't words I'd use to describe any of the Alethi characters. At least have them react to her weirdness, or awkwardly ignore it. Not wordlessly accept it. What Alethi did she even interact with other then Dalinar? At this point shes a Radiant are her eyes even dark anymore?
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Apr 23, 2019 05:20
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socialsecurity posted:What Alethi did she even interact with other then Dalinar? At this point shes a Radiant are her eyes even dark anymore? But suddenly Lift shows up, and huff and puff and they roll their eyes, but just let it go.
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Apr 23, 2019 05:56
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Someone let me off this "complain only about women characters" train.
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Apr 23, 2019 07:19
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I wonder if those who don't like Lift haven't read Edgedancer? Because that book painted a picture considerably more nuanced than her just being a child jokester.
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Apr 23, 2019 07:39
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Torrannor posted:I wonder if those who don't like Lift haven't read Edgedancer? Because that book painted a picture considerably more nuanced than her just being a child jokester. This for sure. Remember that "they were all broken". She's got some serious mental baggage that is only lightly referenced a couple times, but it's pretty clear that her child-like nature is a very deliberate coping mechanism, like Shallan. I get the hate, but she's not one dimensional comic relief.
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Apr 23, 2019 13:26
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SynthesisAlpha posted:I get the hate, but she's not one dimensional comic relief. She's nuanced comic relief. I just want the nuance part to overtake the comic relief part.
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Apr 23, 2019 16:19
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Torrannor posted:I wonder if those who don't like Lift haven't read Edgedancer? Because that book painted a picture considerably more nuanced than her just being a child jokester. I definitely liked her a lot more after reading it, and she's far from my least favorite of Sanderson's characters. That spot is currently held by the AI from Skyward.
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Apr 23, 2019 16:29
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New Yorp New Yorp posted:She's nuanced comic relief. I just want the nuance part to overtake the comic relief part. Sure but she has had what a novella and a few chapters versus everyone else spanning 3 giant rear end tomes?
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Apr 23, 2019 17:01
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Infinite Karma posted:I don't literally mean it's about eye color. The whole first book was about a bunch of low caste poors being sentenced to death slavery on Bridge Crews for inconveniencing higher status lords, or disrespecting them. These lords (who are most of the main characters of every nation) take traditions and respect really seriously. Most of them live for throwing their weight around and letting people know who has the power. Yeah but According To The Worldbuilding if you've been a shardbearer for like a week you're automatically a lighteyes and in fact your eyes literally turn light, and a Knight Radiant is shardbearer squared. So yes, huff and puff and that's all they can do.
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Apr 23, 2019 19:29
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:Yeah but According To The Worldbuilding if you've been a shardbearer for like a week you're automatically a lighteyes and in fact your eyes literally turn light, and a Knight Radiant is shardbearer squared. I figured it was the fact that there's a literal apocalypse going on so when someone shows up with magic powers to fight demons and poo poo you don't snub them because they used to be homeless. Also the entire mythology they've built up with how even the dead Soren blades will turn you lighteyes (which is true) and so they have a deeply rooted cultural belief that someone with a shardblade is an automatic highborn Noble, that has expanded to include anyone manifesting stormlight investiture.
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Apr 23, 2019 19:43
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:Yeah but According To The Worldbuilding if you've been a shardbearer for like a week you're automatically a lighteyes and in fact your eyes literally turn light, and a Knight Radiant is shardbearer squared. Like in so many other things, dead shardblades behave differently from the real ones in this regard. Kaladin's eyes become very light when he surgebinds, and they darken to their natural eye color after a some time. It's only the dead shardblade holders who become permanent lighteyes.
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Apr 23, 2019 20:47
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Torrannor posted:I wonder if those who don't like Lift haven't read Edgedancer? Because that book painted a picture considerably more nuanced than her just being a child jokester. I like Lift as a character just fine, it's more on first read the prose was really grating because I have "awesome" and "deevy" in a book where no other characters come even remotely close to thinking like that. I know it's a deliberate technique, we even talked a page or two ago about how Sanderson views the books as being translated into English from Alethi/Reshi/whatever and so he's just picking the closest equivalent English word, but drat if it wasn't incredibly jarring the first time reading it. On reread you notice that there weren't really that many instances. It's similar to how some people decry the Szeth prologue in WoK as anime/video gamey. I didn't mind it but there's been lots of posters here who hate it.
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Apr 23, 2019 21:42
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Stormlight as a whole is pretty anime/videogamey.
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Apr 23, 2019 22:23
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Kaiser Mazoku posted:Stormlight as a whole is pretty anime/videogamey. characters who glow and have their eye color change when they power up is "anime"? well i never
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Apr 23, 2019 22:40
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Stormlight would make a great anime-ish series to be made by the people behind Avatar TLA, Dragon Prince, or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
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Apr 23, 2019 23:09
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Yeah I don't see how you could make it in any medium but animation of some sort. Attempting to do it live action would be expensive and almost guaranteed to be disappointing.
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Apr 23, 2019 23:13
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I'd trust HBO to put Sanderson's stuff in front of a camera and no one else.
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Apr 24, 2019 00:41
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Cicero posted:Stormlight would make a great anime-ish series to be made by the people behind Avatar TLA, Dragon Prince, or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Yeah I'd be down for this. As long as it's like TLA and not like season 1 of Korra because yikes (yeah I know there were a lot of factors leading to S1's issues).
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Apr 24, 2019 05:10
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Sab669 posted:I'd trust HBO to put Sanderson's stuff in front of a camera and no one else. I don't really wanna see Kaladin's dick.
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Apr 24, 2019 12:59
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SynthesisAlpha posted:I don't really wanna see Kaladin's dick. coward
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Apr 24, 2019 17:42
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Sab669 posted:I'd trust HBO to put Sanderson's stuff in front of a camera and no one else. Turns out Vin and Jasnah have great tits.
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Apr 24, 2019 17:42
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Subvisual Haze posted:Turns out Vin and Jasnah have great tits.
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Apr 24, 2019 17:58
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As a certified anime hater I really resent all of these comparisons
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Apr 24, 2019 21:12
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