The Way of Kings

[LedZepMan]

Alright, never read anything of Sandersons other than WoT, so where would be a good place to start?

[Leyrann]

Elantris, Mistborn: The Original Trilogy or The Stormlight Archive are all good starting points.

 

I myself started with Mistborn, but with all three books/series I just got hooked after a while and could barely stop reading. Disadvantage of The Stormlight Archive (and the second Mistborn Trilogy) is that they're not finished yet.

 

As for the Mistborn trilogies, they're seperate, but in the second series the events of the first series are referenced quite a bit, so it's just better to start with the original trilogy.

[Leyrann]

And the choice between those three is basically this:

 

Elantris: About a city where people are basically dying in some way, where their wounds forever keep hurting and do not heal.

Mistborn: The chosen one from prophecy came to save the world... and failed. The sky is filled with ash, the sun is blood red, everyone is oppressed by the immortal, all-powerful Lord Ruler and there's no hope of getting out of it any time soon.

The Stormlight Archive: Sometimes, a storm comes with extreme fury, which blows over the entire continent. Anyone who has not found shelter will be carried away and will die. "Sometimes", here, meaning "about once a week".

 

So, which world do you like most?

[Leyrann]

Mistborn spoiler for the third book (reading it is your choice):

 

 

 

That Lord Ruler, he's the good guy.

 

 

[Leyrann]

So the thing is, I now got some new ideas to work with, and I can actually start writing again (though I do need to work out what exactly each kind of magic can do, but that's not going to be that much work), but I'm too busy with university, reading, watching League of Legends and playing League of Legends with friends to actually get to it...

 

Meh.

 

And on top of that I cannot find a comparision of infrared luminosity between the sun and an average red dwarf.

[Leyrann]

If only people didn't need sleep. That'd give me eight more hours to work on the world and probably start writing...

 

I hate this universe.

 

Which is probably why I like fantasy so much.

[Gentled Ben]

He's quite fast and got quite a few years ahead of him most likely, so I'd say it should be fine.

 

Also, I am only something like halfway through Words of Radiance at the moment, maybe even less (I couldn't wait until this weekend so I got the epub version which I'm reading now), but I'm starting to feel like there are some words that Brandon Sanderson used in Wheel of Time that Kaladin also needs to hear: "Let go."

 

Yeah, I loved Kaladin in the first book, but in the second book, he became an emo burden, much worse than Perrin in his search for Faile or Jon Snow in the earlier Ice and Fire books. If I recall correctly, he snaps out of it by the end of the book.

 

Alright, never read anything of Sandersons other than WoT, so where would be a good place to start?

 

Mistborn. Elantris is a nice premise and an interesting magic system, but I thought a lot of the dialogue, especially between the protagonist and heroine via correspondence at the beginning, was painful to read. The ending is exciting, but overall, the book was pretty "Meh." I would like to see him revisit it and do it better justice, and when I saw him at a book signing four years ago, he said that he planned a sequel to Elantris, but that a few other books were ahead of it still, like finishing the Mistborn stories.

 

Mistborn is really good. Imagine a world where Sauron wins, and hope dies. A desperate, impossible resistance forms among thieves, and slim hope renews. As the hope begins to swell, a growing despair accompanies it as the protagonists learn how the world really works. It is a very unique story and one that I wish he'd get back to as promised, but he got distracted by writing detective novels set in the same world. Now that those are finished, perhaps he will continue with the story proper, as it is supposed to be three trilogies: one in the past (completed and quite good), one in the present (quit horsing around and write it, Brandon), and one in the future (yeah, right...about the time that Winds of Winter gets published. ) 

 

Nevertheless, the three Mistborn books tell a complete story, and I think almost anyone who likes fantasy would like Mistborn. I know it's three books instead of just one, but I promise you it is better than Elantris and worth your time, and it is really not that long. Elantris doesn't suck, but Mistborn is far more polished and it is a deeper, more rewarding plot. You will like it. 

 

Also, it you haven't already, don't read the spoiler in Leyrann's earlier post; it ruins a wonderful reveal.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Gentled Ben

[Songstress]

Anyone been reading the Oathbringer chapters that are being released every Tuesday on tor.com?

 

(I so cannot wait for this book.)

[Leyrann]

Nope, but thanks for bringing it to my attention, because as soon as I finished Words of Radiance I sure will.

[Gentled Ben]

I haven’t read any of them yet. I think I’ve read all of the Winds of Winter chapters, but not the Stormlight teasers.

[Locke]

Anyone been reading the Oathbringer chapters that are being released every Tuesday on tor.com?

 

(I so cannot wait for this book.)

It tempts me every week but me and my roomies made a pact to wait to read it together haha

[Panchi]

Anyone been reading the Oathbringer chapters that are being released every Tuesday on tor.com?

 

(I so cannot wait for this book.)

I didn't know that. Something to read, at least for now

[Leyrann]

I'm almost done with Words of Radiance...

 

These books are bad for my planning, which wasn't exactly good to begin with...

[Gentled Ben]

I'm almost done with Knife of Dreams, and I'm debating whether I want to listen to TGS or just jump back into Stormlight. I kind of feel like I can get one more book in before I need to start up with Way of Kings, but KoD is a good place to pause in WoT because it was where I was forced to pause the first time. 

[Leyrann]

Imo it was the worst pause in all the series. It was the last book we had, but I managed to catch the Dutch translation of TGS a week or two after, which had been released pretty recently. Felt like a much better ending for me. You know, not in the middle of a scene, that kind of thing.

[Gentled Ben]

Good point. I might listen to TGS. I will probably finish KoD tonight at work, and it will not take me a month to listen to Way of Kings and Words of Radiance.

[Gentled Ben]

Nevermind. I see that I am both out of credits and have The Mists of Avalon, which I read in the 90s, on audiobook because it was on sale as part of a promotion. That's a long book that ought to get the job done, and it's a good story. 

[Gentled Ben]

I changed my mind. That's 50 hours long and will probably leave me listening to Words of Radiance long after I might have started on Oathbreaker, so I grabbed a couple of Ursula K.LeGuin's Earthsea books, instead. The first one, which I read a few times long ago, was only 4 bucks, and so was Tales From Earthsea or some such, which has stories that I'm unfamiliar with. Given the choice, I would listen to The Farthest Shore, but that one is $17, not $4, like the other two were. Can't really go wrong for $4, especially when you already know that you like one of the stories, even if you know it fairly well. So...I will listen to those, and if I am still ready too soon, I will listen to Shadows in Flight to finish up my Ender's Game books. 

 

I'm really excited about Oathbreaker. I hope there's lots of Lift in it; she is my favorite so far.

[Leyrann]

Well, I'm reading the already released chapters right now, and so far (up to chapter 17) no Lift, sadly. I also saw in some of the comments that apparently BS said it'll take a while until she reappears, and he put in that chapter to introduce her already earlier on. So, probably gonna be a while longer.

 

Many interesting things happening in those chapters by the way. They're over here:

 

https://www.tor.com/series/oathbringer/

[Gentled Ben]

Yeah, I was afraid that what we got from her in Unbounded Arcanum would be it for awhile.

I’ll wait for the release before digging in, but thank you all the same.

[Leyrann]

Well, I made my way to the Brandon Sanderson forums (17thshard) and I'm happily theorizing around...

 

I've missed this, ever since aMoL was released.

[Locke]

iirc, Sanderson said Lift was set to be one of the main characters of the back 5 books?

[Gentled Ben]

iirc, Sanderson said Lift was set to be one of the main characters of the back 5 books?

Well then, hurry up and get to the last five books, Brandon!

[Leyrann]

iirc, Sanderson said Lift was set to be one of the main characters of the back 5 books?

 

Yep. She's a flashback character for one of those.

 

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1047#21

[Leyrann]

I think that right now I'm doing the nerdiest thing I've ever done. There's a theory that attempts to explain (starting at snare theory) the workings of the Cosmere, called L-Theory of Realmatic Strings. And right now, I'm working on a post to explain every single magic system in the Cosmere using that theory, down to every single metal in the metallic arts and every surge in surgebinding.