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I always attributed it to WoR/OB Who she was sketching. Taravangian would almost certainly attract cyptics, more so than Elhokar even.
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Dec 3, 2023 16:11
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pik_d posted:@81sidewinder also, remember all the weird stuff in WoT that Androl gets up to? That's basically how it is in all his books. Appreciate this. Androl did have a couple scenes where we got that d and d manual type of explanation, but the payoff was ultimately pretty great and totally worth it. DarkHorse posted:Sanderson gets a lot of satisfaction out of making simple magic rules and then seeing what nonsense emerges when you start smashing them together. This mechanistic view of magic-physics is the scaffolding that his characters tug on to advance the plot and allows for dramatic reveals, power-ups, and other satisfying surprises without resorting to rear end-pulls or (most) deus ex machina bullshit. Everything is usually consistent with what you've seen thus far and clever people can often figure it out before the characters do. I think I'm somewhere in between. The 'how does this magic system work' piece of it isn't the fun part for me. But if 5 percent more explanation in the first act of a book keeps the storytelling consistent, I'm totally cool with that. Having a good book ruined by some random bullshit in the final scenes is one of my major peeves.
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Dec 3, 2023 17:37
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81sidewinder posted:I think I'm somewhere in between. The 'how does this magic system work' piece of it isn't the fun part for me. But if 5 percent more explanation in the first act of a book keeps the storytelling consistent, I'm totally cool with that. Having a good book ruined by some random bullshit in the final scenes is one of my major peeves. Then Sanderson is the guy for you. For example, there's this really amazing moment (among many!) at the very end of the first Mistborn trilogy that doesn't feel like an asspull because the ground rules enabling this specific Moment of Awesome have been laid down very clearly over the course of the books. Yet I think very few saw it coming. So sometimes getting a bit more explanation than we want to read is the price we pay so that Sanderson doesn't have to resort to random bullshit.
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Dec 3, 2023 18:56
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Sandersons books run like clockwork, everything in the plan.
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Dec 3, 2023 18:59
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M_Gargantua posted:Sandersons books run like clockwork, everything in the plan. It's almost strange coming from so many other fantasy authors who seem to just kinda run with it as it goes along, Sanderson legit has everything plotted out and planned. Even if the moments don't hit, he for sure set it up beforehand and it's at a minimum satisfying to see it come to fruition.
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Dec 3, 2023 20:23
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The whole cosmere feels like one big well crafted puzzle box
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Dec 4, 2023 03:07
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The Way of Kings Ch 49: To Care I'm really looking forward to Kal leading them to the eastern edge of the chasms and Rock having to live up to his promise to name him kaluk’i’iki lol. I'm sure they will go that way rather than fighting the army.
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Dec 4, 2023 23:18
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Managed to somehow crank out Lost Metal, Tress, and Nightmare painter in just 5 days. Gonna more or less hook up an iv drip of coffee and nicotine to see if I can't squeeze in Sunlit Man before I hit day 7. Unemployment definitely its perks. Lost Metal was good and fun, though I find Mistborn 2 to be some of Sanderson's weaker stuff. I definitely still have a soft spot for it, but I'm enjoying the secret projects a lot more. I was especially excited to see Forgery in action again, it's always been one of my favorite magic systems. Tress has some of the coolest worldbuilding in the cosmere, reminded me of some of the Arcanum Unbound stories with really odd magic systems and bizzare worlds that were incredibly hostile to human life. Really enjoyed Tress' pragmatic attitude and the more whimsical tone the narration took. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is definitely my favorite so far, though. That last act is loving crazy, one of the better Sanderlanches in the cosmere. I loved how much of a pathetic mess Painter was. Hoid in the secret project books sure does get himself into some funny predicaments. Cursed into being a tasteless moron in Tress only to get turned into a sentient coat rack in the next one. Hoping that Sunlit Man continues the trend
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Dec 5, 2023 15:32
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The Way of Kings Ch 53 I'm really curious as to what is going on with these quotes some person or group is collecting of people moments before death. Assuming they don't culminate in something before the book is over I'll have to reread them when I finish the book. I also wonder when Kal developed the powers that Szeth has. It has to be something more recent otherwise it wouldn't be so notable to him that the spheres loose their light frequently around him. I might have thought it would have been when he killed the shard bearer, but you'd think anyone who did that would experience the same thing then, which doesn't seem to be the case. It could be his stay in the high storm, but surely he's not the only one who's survived that before. Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Dec 5, 2023 |
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Dec 5, 2023 17:40
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I got my Stormlight minis; they look pretty cool (and Syl is already in translucent blue so technically she doesn't need painting at all). I'll post pictures of my terrible paint jobs when I get around to them in like two years.
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Dec 5, 2023 18:45
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Nitrousoxide posted:The Way of Kings Ch 53 These are some mighty interesting questions you’re asking. A competent author would surely provide answers at some point, or enough hints that on a reread you can go back and figure things out from newly-appreciated context.
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Dec 5, 2023 18:59
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tweet my meat posted:I get all caught up and take like a year off of Sanderson books and now I'm 4 books and probably like $75 behind god drat it. The Lost Metal is pretty good though, nice fun story to hop back into the cosmere with. Getting a new ebook every 3 months has been really enjoyable this year, it's a shame it's over.
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Dec 5, 2023 19:06
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The Way of Kings 56 I also don't think it was his stay in the high storm that awakened (gave?) the power Szeth is using in Kal. I remember that when he tried to use the spheres to purchase some first aid supplies from the alchemist that they had also been drained, which was well before the high storm stay. Also, it was pretty disappointing for Kal's flashbacks we got him joining the army and then it skipping over his brother dying to go to him killing a shardbearer. Maybe it'll come back to that? But it'd been going chronologically up until then, so I don't see why Sanderson would do that. It seems like a pivotal moment in his life.
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Dec 5, 2023 19:35
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Nitrousoxide posted:The Way of Kings 56 Don't worry, you'll get it eventually. I don't, generally, like the Kaladin flashbacks and how they're handled.
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Dec 5, 2023 19:44
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Nitrousoxide posted:The Way of Kings Ch 53 Surviving a high storm is like riding out a tornado the size of a hurricane. It's a death sentence but with the excuse of "well technically it wasn't me that killed him" Sure it's theoretically possible, but it'd be like falling out of an airplane without a parachute and surviving (after getting struck by lightning on the way down)
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Dec 5, 2023 20:53
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DarkHorse posted:Surviving a high storm is like riding out a tornado the size of a hurricane. It's a death sentence but with the excuse of "well technically it wasn't me that killed him" Kal mentions having the soldiers he was with roughing it through a high storm more than once due to lack of any cover. It's dangerous and exceedingly unpleasent, but he'd hardly be the first. Now, being strung up and flung about is certainly worse than hunkering down as best you can, but in both cases you're exposed to the storm.
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Dec 5, 2023 21:35
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Nitrousoxide posted:Kal mentions having the soldiers he was with roughing it through a high storm more than once due to lack of any cover. It's dangerous and exceedingly unpleasent, but he'd hardly be the first. Big difference is that was in the west of Alethkar and not the shattered plains where the storms are significantly stronger
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Dec 5, 2023 21:43
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Also somehow the winds in a highstorm only blow in one direction, like a sideways tornado. So you're afforded some shelter if you can get behind cover facing the wind. This is why buildings are largely reinforced on one side, IIRC
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Dec 5, 2023 22:36
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Yeah there is a big difference between camping behind a rock or a gully and being strapped to a roof facing the storm wall.
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Dec 6, 2023 00:13
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Highstorm exposure is not technically a death sentence because hey, maybe you'll get lucky and you won't be hit by the countless amounts of debris being thrown around at hurricane speeds, and you'll just have to survive the exposure to the hurricane itself. It's happened before in recorded history, y'know! At least once! But, like, you're meant to draw the obvious implication from the fact that when Kaladin returns alive, people start assuming he's under the very close and personal protection of the Almighty.
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Dec 6, 2023 00:24
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The Way of Kings Ch 62: Three Glyphs Ah, so Kaladin and Syl's partnership is why he can use the Stormlight. I have a suspicion that the Parshendi will never let Kaladin rest now that he's desecrated their corpses. I have to imagine that he's going to have to keep an eye on his back at all times now, even when scavenging
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Dec 6, 2023 04:58
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Finished The Way of Kings. Whew boy things really picked up in the last few chapters. Shallan and Jasnah can soulcast without the use of their artifacts. Parshmen are (probably) the voidbringers of yore. Taravangian is the one gathering the quotes listed at the top of chapters and also Szeth’s master. His kindly old man persona certainly fooled me. Dalinar (wisely) gave up his shardblade which has obviously been corrupting his mind. God is dead and Odium killed him. Wit is very clearly not just a man, he’s something more, though what I do not have the faintest clue. Something I did notice is that the Parshendi armor Kaladin wore repaired itself like shardplate while he was infused with stormlight. I have to wonder if they are related. I don’t know if the armor did that for anyone else in Bridge Four. The pairs the Parshendi fight in also seems to mirror some of the paring fabrials mentioned in the Ars Arcanum, though I don’t have a super high confidence there’s any connection there. They could just be couples or partners, or something. I looked through the chapter starter quotes. A few notable ones I found Ch 2: “Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?” Possibly a reborn member of the Radiants? The Prelude has Kalak and Jezrien talking about being sent back to the world over and over but they are apparently a group of 7 and not one of the several hundred Radiants as they seem to speak about them separately. Ch 4 “I’m dying, aren’t I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.” A hint of Taravangian’s team killing people to get their quotes. It also sounds like he’s seeing the spren that Shallan can that allow her soulcasting. Ch 8 “Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.” Probably a quote from a previous desolation, who from who’s perspective, humanity or the void bringers, I don’t know. Ch 11 “Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns.” Probably a reference to Odium in “The Broken One”? I don’t know who the “three of sixteen” could be. Ch 53: “He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!” Perhaps a reference to our three protags? Shallan (the tower and knowledge maybe?), Dalinar (the crown which he has forgone), and Kaladin (the spearmaster). Ch 60: “The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.” An inversion of the Radiant’s oath maybe? Also, not one of Taravangian’s quote from his hospital project, but this one stood out... Ch 50: “Flame and char. Skin so terrible. Eyes like pits of blackness.” As killing someone with a shardblade burns out their eyes, and several other chapter starter quotes reference the voidbringers with their charred skin and flames, I expect there is a tight connection there between that blade and them.
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Dec 6, 2023 21:55
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Nitrousoxide posted:Ch 53:
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Dec 6, 2023 22:06
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Question about Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: is the sun where Painter lives described as cold, and shining in a black sky? Is the death rattle transcribed above a reference to another world in the Cosmere?
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Dec 6, 2023 22:20
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Grundulum posted:Question about Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: is the sun where Painter lives described as cold, and shining in a black sky? Is the death rattle transcribed above a reference to another world in the Cosmere? i think the above quote from stormlight death rattles is just literally how the sun is described in shadesmar
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Dec 6, 2023 22:28
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Words of Radiance Ch 4: “Something like that. There is a complex sort of conflict between them and the honorspren. Spren politics are not something I’ve been able to devote much time to. This spren will be your companion—and will grant you the ability to Soulcast, among other things." Excited to see their spren when Kaladin and Shallan meet 
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Dec 7, 2023 18:00
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Holy poo poo I just finished the well of ascension and I’m too excited to get my hands on the last book.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:04
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Great thing about bullying friends into reading Sanderson are their reactions to the Sanderlanches, I love it Mistborn book 1 spoilers 
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Dec 7, 2023 18:06
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Louisgod posted:Great thing about bullying friends into reading Sanderson are their reactions to the Sanderlanches, I love it that kandra in well of ascension had me all over the place emotionally
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Dec 7, 2023 18:08
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virinvictus posted:Holy poo poo I just finished the well of ascension and I’m too excited to get my hands on the last book. HoA is a great book, but what exactly has been your reading order?
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Dec 7, 2023 18:08
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Louisgod posted:Great thing about bullying friends into reading Sanderson are their reactions to the Sanderlanches, I love it
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Dec 7, 2023 18:16
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CapnAndy posted:Calling Kelsier Vin's dad is very sweet. lol I thought that's what he meant at first too
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Dec 7, 2023 18:28
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Louisgod posted:lol I thought that's what he meant at first too
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Dec 7, 2023 18:31
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CapnAndy posted:Wait, was it not? Who else gets got by the Inquisitors? Her biological father, who was revealed to the Lord Ruler as part of the Inquistor's coup.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:32
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CapnAndy posted:Wait, was it not? Who else gets got by the Inquisitors? https://coppermind.net/wiki/Tevidian_Tekiel
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Dec 7, 2023 18:32
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CapnAndy posted:Wait, was it not? Who else gets got by the Inquisitors? Vins literal actual biological father. Edit: Wow CapnAndy got fuckin jumped
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Dec 7, 2023 18:32
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One thing that has been interesting to me is that, up to this point, the Stormlight Archive hasn't had the "one more page"/"one more chapter" effect on me that most of Sanderson's works do. Maybe it is just the daunting size of these audiobooks or something. 50 hour audiobooks are insane. But anyway, I find myself getting to the end of a part and then taking a week or two break before starting the next part. Am I curious to learn what happens next? Sure, of course I am! But also I know that whatever happens is going to roll out very slowly and because of that, I never feel the obsessive/addicted urge to listen at every moment. In comparison to the other most recent Sanderson book I listened to - when I was listening to The Lost Metal, I was obsessive. Any time I had a quiet moment where I could pop in my headphones, I would. It was almost a compulsion. Stormlight Archive, up to this point (about 15-20% through Words of Radiance), I'm genuinely enjoying the series at this point. Way of Kings was rough, but Words of Radiance has been pretty interesting from the jump. That being said, it's still a bit of a slow burn and because of that, I don't feel that drive to listen every moment of every day like I do with his other books. I'm not saying that I wish Stormlight was changed to be more my pace, it has been an interesting journey going through these books so far and I appreciate them for what they are.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:33
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I'd say it's absolutely because of the size of each book; chapters are daunting and require a lot of emotional energy to get through, and you generally have to commit to an hour+ read/listen to get anywhere. Definitely no harm with going slow and taking breaks.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:35
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Louisgod posted:I'd say it's absolutely because of the size of each book; chapters are daunting and require a lot of emotional energy to get through, and you generally have to commit to an hour+ read/listen to get anywhere. Definitely no harm with going slow and taking breaks. Yeah absolutely. And often due to the size, if something dramatic happens, it can be a multitude of hours before it gets touched on again. Like in The Way of Kings, Dalinar is like "I'm going to abdicate" and then he's not a viewpoint character for the next section, meaning I'm waiting anywhere from 10-15 hours of audiobook before I get more information about that. And then at the end of part 1 of Words of Radiance Amaram shows up and I'm fully expecting it to be another 15+ hours of audiobook before anything to do with him happens. The Stormlight Archive is definitely about long set-ups and payoffs and I think that's really neat. It has the side effect of me never feeling like "Oh poo poo! I need to keep listening so I can see what the fallout from this new plot development is!!" because the next piece of whatever just happened probably won't occur for another 10 hours of listening.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:45
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Nitrousoxide posted:Her biological father, who was revealed to the Lord Ruler as part of the Inquistor's coup.
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Dec 7, 2023 18:46
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