Books

[Yoshiken]

Oh, I was told the two were pretty different. Yeah, I loved the S3 manga, although this is from someone who's not had a chance to actually play S3.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Finished Hero of Ages! I'm still sorting out my opinion on the book.

[superaielman]

Assassin's apprentice: About a third of the way in. It has lived up to the hype so far- very engrossing coming of age story.

Edit: Finished. Good book all around.  Tightly told story about a bastard child who goes unloved by almost all his family and everyone he knows, except for an old solider and someone teaching him how to kill. Hobbs does an excellent job painting the details of the land and area the story's set in.  Can't wait to get my hands on the next book- the story only really resolves one thread, there is plenty more of that world to explore. This is pretty straightforward compared to what I'm used to from fantasy authors of late, but you know what? Not going to complain, it was a compelling read.

[Grefter]

Unloved?  I think that is a bit bleak a view of Fitz' life.  He is just unwanted and unnecessary.  He is an uncomfortable circumstance.  Wait for it, you will find that far more of the problem in Fitz' life are of his own creation than the first book will suggest.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Mistborn series rant! Spoilers for the entire series abound.



Top 5 favorite scenes in the series:

5. I can’t decide on a fight scene to put on here but a lot of them are cinematically quite good. Shan/Vin is quite good.
4. Elend and Vin talking about the skaa murdering that the nobility does after having sex with skaa women. “How many girls have you murdered, Elend Venture?”
3. Elend killing Jastes. First of all, holy shit did Jastes have it coming. I think it solidifies the moment in the plot where Elend decides to stop hiding behind all the philosophy and the books and to just do what is needed and just.
2. The Death of the Survivor. Just a very chilling scene; I like how he rallies people around him and does it in a ridiculously open place. Just emphasizes what a flair for the dramatic and how much of a Messiah complex the dude has.
1. Vin/Kelsier scene where Vin tells Kelsier that he lives like a nobleman, not a skaa. I felt like it was very deserved and really needed to solidify that Kelsier –was- questioned by his followers. Nothing else in the series really measures up to it in emotion.


My order of the books is 1 > 2 > 3.  I think 1 is quite a bit better than 2 which is decently better than 3. I think 1 is a complete book – has great fight scenes, great character building, a well-defined threat to fight, and the innocent romance is refreshingly awkward. The end is quite satisfying (which is one thing 2 and 3 both fail at) and it has a lot of impactful scenes. I adore Kelsier because he’s such a deliciously arrogant and overzealous bastard. I think 2 has a lot less action and a lot more politics, which is fine, but I feel like the presence of Kelsier is missed. 2 builds up tension pretty well as well, and the romance stuff again is great. The character work is good – I like Sazed, Elend, Vin, Tindywl, Straff, Zane, etc. The biggest thing I am going to pan 2 for is the ending. The ending sucks sucks sucks and I feel like the end of book 2 and the beginning of book 3 is the worst stretch in the series. It is a fantasy copout to make the impotent main character useful, but I feel like his incompetence in a fight and normalness is what makes him different than most of the other people in the crew, and just randomly giving him special powers is really fucking stupid. I do understand why they did it for three reasons (make Elend less in need of babysitting, make him a foil to LR, and show what the Well of Ascension did just in case you’re a little slow on the uptake) but bleh. Book 3 beginning suffers from this as well; yay god-mode bullcrap! I will rant more about this point in my character section – and believe me, I am going to bitch again about this there. >_>

Book 3… I like the Quellion stuff in theory, but between Spook’s boringness and Sazed’s emoliciousness, the character POVs could be better. I’d have liked to see Breeze POV there. The Elend/Vin stuff is pretty boring for a long time. I’m glad Elend expressed his own fears of his thinking becoming more and more Lord Ruler-like; I was getting the feeling that maybe they plain weren’t going to address that which would be really psyduck. Once you get the big plot reveals with Ruin the plot is pretty exciting; I liked watching everything unfold. I think pretty much from Elend’s LR lamenting scene to the chasing Ruin across the country I couldn’t stop reading; I was quite intrigued in how everything connected. I think after that the plot gets a little… weird and ethereal. I’m not sure what to think about the end. Weird is really the best way to describe it…

Characters! I’ll try to list them in order of appearance. Kinda.

Tresting: Haha, and I thought he’d be major. Lulz. Nice introduction.

Kelsier: A magnificent bastard. I absolutely adore Kelsier; he’s an interesting mix of a fun character, the ‘Jeigan’ of the story, and a total egomaniac with a Messiah complex. I think they do a fantastic job of making him flawed (overzealous enough to get himself almost killed a few times, hatred for all nobility, and the fact that he seems to enjoy being revered) and having the other characters be understandably disturbed by this. His death scene definitely punctuated the beginning of the end of the first book. I like how his legacy resonates – even in Book 3, he is influencing the world. Despite the fact that he’s only in one book he’s one of the most important characters in the series.

Vin: Vin is a really great character. She starts out as this meek, distrustful to a fault girl who is understandably paranoid about the world. Her courtship with Elend is ridiculously cute and she seems to enjoy it, kind of like a sixteen year old would! I find her very believable. In Book 2 she struggles a lot with her double life – she thinks Elend doesn’t really get her and Zane fuels this. You just have to be rooting for her by the end of Book 2. Book 3 she falls off despite having a lot of POV time (I feel like Vin’s POVs are very base and don’t have a lot of thoughts through most of it), and the stuff in the end of the book leaves me with mixed emotions. The most memorable thing about her in this book is the fact that ‘Reen’ in her head has always been Ruin. Great twist there.

Camon: Jerkface. He makes a decent antagonist for the beginning of the book. Gets what he deserves.

Dockson: Despite him being around quite a bit for two books, I find him just… unremarkable in every way. He’s the organizer or something, but not really great.

Breeze: Breeze, on the other hand, is awesome. He’s a bit of a slimeball at times and likes to use people to amuse himself, but he’s fun. I like the girl harassing him. Breeze POVs are always fun.

Hammond: Bounches off of Breeze really well and is just a really nice person. I think he offers the genuine niceness that the Kelsier crew really needs.

Clubs, Yeden: I have little read here.

Spook: I was fine/apathetic with him until they started giving him tons of POV in Book 3. Spook is just not an intriguing character; he seems like a much worse Vin, for lack of a better comparison? The highlight of his chapters was ‘Kelsier’s’ voice which drives him. I really like it.

Lord Ruler: I think the plot twist with him did take most of the intrigue out of him, but he’s not bad. His role in Book 3 is pretty cool.

Sazed: I’m pretty conflicted on Sazed. His emo in Book 3 is really bad, but I do like the concept of a character with a faith crisis.

Marsh: DEUS EX MARSH. He consistently shows up and does useful shit throughout the books and it’s kind of awesome.

OneSeur: A little douchey?

Elend: I’ve made very little secret that I absolutely adore Elend. He was my favorite character in Book 1; I love his defiant attitude and I think he’s a fun and charming guy. He’s a genuinely nice person in a world of douches. I think he and Vin’s romance is really fantastic and awkwardly believable. I like the scene where his friends try to talk to him about serious stuff and all he can think about is Valette. So cute. Book 2 he plays a more major role, and I think he’s quite fun again. He tries quite hard to be less of a terrible leader and it shows (I enjoy his slowly building self-confidence); I also like the building tension/love between he and Vin, and I really like the scene where he kills Jastes. It shows how he’s realized that he needs to embrace his responsibility. The end of Book 2 plot twist I think trivializes a lot of the tension between Elend the scholar and Vin the assassin, which I think is really unfortunate. Book 3 is… weird for him. I hate the way they deal with him in the beginning of Book 3, but I think the scene where he confronts his fears about becoming the Lord Ruler, and there are a couple of scenes that I like of his (the one with Telden is good, and I think him temporarily letting go of all the bullshit and making him realize that, yes, he can still be Elend the scholar is nice). His death scene is surprisingly honorable (I was afraid he’d be killed due to being a bad person). Overall I think he’s a great character but I think the Book 2 plot twist makes him a little too super-human, which is a big part of why I dislike the beginning of Book 3. Ah well. Whew, that was rather long!

Straff: Douchelord. I think he is unabashedly the most unsympathetic person in the series. Wowww. Between his lust for young young ladies, forming an army to stand against his own son, and sending his tortured child to the Pits (and trying to intentionally get his other son assassinated), he is just…so bad. I think he’s a great antagonist because you just can’t help but loathe him.

Jastes: I think Elfboy put Jastes best: “Sub-Charmles”. He’s fairly sympathetic in the first book; he helps Elend be more cautious, which is a good thing. Second book he is a sniffling piece of shit coward who hides behind an army of monsters who he can’t even control. I really like his death scene.

Telden: Hmmm. He’s overall not a very memorable character; in Book 1 he’s the ladies man of the noble group and I think that’s literally it. Book 3… I liked that another one of Elend’s old friends who WASN’T a psychotic pile of garbage talked to him. “So you become the Lord Ruler instead.” is refreshingly blunt and someone needed to say it. His second appearance in Book 3 is totally unmemorable.

Shan: Someone needed to play her role (to show Vin that court people are vicious) and the Mistborn fight is awesome.

Kliss: Not really a character, but pooor naïve Vin.

TenSoon: I really like TenSoon. In Book 2 he is a clever, manipulative bastard. In Book 3 he’s probably the best character, which is really random and awesome. I just really liked getting in his head and hearing about the interesting history of the kandra. He doesn’t have as much depth as the main three characters but he is possibly fourth/fifth overall?

Zane: Poor Zane. Knowing what ‘God’ is makes you feel really sorry for him. I like his fun defiance and he plays a nice foil to Vin.

Tindwyl: Frigid bitch, but she has a way of being right.

Alliane: Surprisingly nice and funny. Poor Breeze.

Perrod: Meh.

Cett: He’s a neat guy. Blunt blunt blunt. So much less of a douche than Straff, but a greedy bastard.

Quellion: A logical extension of what would probably happen post-Survivor. Not too interesting but not bad.

Beldre: Um…?

Yomen: Philosopher king and a pretty awesome dude. I like him a bit better than Cett.

Anyway, that’s all I really have to say. Great series, would read again.


EDIT: I lied. Another complaint about Book 3 is that... I feel like Book 1/Book 2 have a consistency in their world and rely less on the incorporeal bullshit. I think that's one reason I like the series so much.

[Luther Lansfeld]

The Dragon Reborn - Overall a decent book when it wasn't going into Perrin POVs, but those existed way too often. Lack of Rand was sad and the end was an awful lot like the end of Book 2...

[Lady Door]

Lookie what I got!



Sanderson had a reading/signing at an SF/F bookstore in San Francisco, so I went. Whee~

From top, left to right: The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time), signed; Hero of the Ages (Mistborn #3), signed; Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2), signed (signature shown); 'Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson' gel bracelet (holding open pages of Well of Ascension); two copies of Way of Kings, signed and personalized; "Tai'shar Malkier!" bumpersticker (Tower of Midnight promo); "Sly as an Eelfinn" bumpersticker (ToM promo); "An Epic Book Requires An Epic Bookmark" oversized Way of Kings promo bookmark; Way of Kings promo drawstring sport bag.

[Captain K.]

Congrats!

I hate you - die

[Luther Lansfeld]

So badass!

[Dhyerwolf]

Read the other two Krondor books. Man, those were scattered. Looked up on Amazon and this fool Feist has written like 12 more books in the same world?! I think he might actually have the claim for being the biggest milker (Which well...part of Krondor books were pretty atrocious and written solely for game tie-ins). I have 3 more books of his, but they appear....to be like 6 books out in terms of chronology. I'm thinking of actually just dropping him because something tells me that he may have a tendency to get repetitive later?

The Dark Tower- Read the first 2 books of this. Very split in terms of content, although both were enjoyable. I feel like Super said the series goes to shit later. May start looking at new authors, but that's always so chancey.

[superaielman]

The series is worth reading in spite of the unbelievable things King does wrong later on. How do you "Very split in terms of content", though? Books were uneven?

[superaielman]

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/thegreathunt

Short version: Sanderson posted one of the chapters from book 13 ahead of time on his website! But encoded. He put the codes in various copies of the way of kings (His latest novel), and had fans find them. The hunt finished today, with the final clue being located in Venice, Italy.


Edit: Royal Assassin finished! Now it's time for Assassin's quest.

[Lady Door]

Read Red Mars. Am reading Green Mars.

They're really great. I was genuinely surprised about Red Mars being so enjoyable. I am okay with hard sci fi, but I tend to like it better in short formats. But I really liked Red Mars! I think the managing factor is how important the hard science is to understanding the story, the less the better. Red Mars is like this: undoubtedly you will enjoy it more if you really enjoy the scientific principals, but it's also a really great book about people.

That said, I'm kind of burnt out on "serious" stuff, and there's a lot of very sad moments in these books. I think I'm going to wrap up Green Mars, give Blue Mars shelf space, sending Red and Green to MC (hey, Met, PM me your address!) and starting Way of Kings.

[Hunter Sopko]

Read Red Mars. Am reading Green Mars.

They're really great. I was genuinely surprised about Red Mars being so enjoyable. I am okay with hard sci fi, but I tend to like it better in short formats. But I really liked Red Mars! I think the managing factor is how important the hard science is to understanding the story, the less the better. Red Mars is like this: undoubtedly you will enjoy it more if you really enjoy the scientific principals, but it's also a really great book about people.

That said, I'm kind of burnt out on "serious" stuff, and there's a lot of very sad moments in these books. I think I'm going to wrap up Green Mars, give Blue Mars shelf space, sending Red and Green to MC (hey, Met, PM me your address!) and starting Way of Kings.

You're forgetting OLD PEOPLE SEX

[Luther Lansfeld]

Shadow Rising: Finished. Best book in the series, everything but Perrin stuff was good, and even some of his stuff was decent at the end of the book, especially with Abell and Tam around. Favorite chapter is when the stuff happens at the tower. I liked super tyrant Rand and drunk Elayne and Mat being hanged. Perrin/Faile relationship stupid is the only real lowlight of the book.

[Grefter]

They aren't that old yet, it is only middle aged people having sex.  Your parents still have sex, it isn't that much OLD PEOPLE SEX.

But yeah the second and third book are much less OH MY GOD ERGH SO MUCH BAD STUFF RELENTLESSLY HAPPENING, so if it helps there is that.  Still very serious books.  Glad you enjoyed it though, I cannot really put into words how well these books work for a Psychology majour with a minor in Sociology who has a ginormous nerd on for Physics though.  It is like they were written just for me and they were written when I was like 9.

Generally the rough idea of the science is fairly accurate, but they do fudge plenty of it and keep it light and easy enough for Humanities students to not lose their bottle (and met should note that it is based around 30 year old theory at this point, lots of stuff from the 80s in there because I know she is totally going to be more up to date on the real stuff than I am).

EDIT - YOU DIDN'T MENTION HIM EATING A ROCK CIATO YOU ARE DISAPPOINT

[Luther Lansfeld]

He eats a rock? I'm so confused.

Also, Fires of Heaven is probably the best book in the series. No Perrin!

[Grefter]

When he and Rand are making their way into Rhuidean he puts a small rock into his mouth, this is actually a technique for preventing your mouth drying out as it helps induce saliva glands and stuff.

It is an incredibly minor thing that has always made me laugh, Mat eats a rock.

[Luther Lansfeld]

He doesn't actually eat it though. I was so disappointed.

[superaielman]

Unloved?  I think that is a bit bleak a view of Fitz' life.  He is just unwanted and unnecessary.  He is an uncomfortable circumstance.  Wait for it, you will find that far more of the problem in Fitz' life are of his own creation than the first book will suggest.

Book 1 definitely paints a bleak picture of Fitz's life, in spite of the book having a fairly positive tone overall.  Hard to argue with that after getting midway through book 3.

Anyway, Farseer series is good, everyone shoudl read them. I wouldn't put it on the level of mistborn, but it's really good fantasy that avoids a lot of the usual genre pitfalls.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Fires of Heaven - About 100 pages in. Rand is turning into a douche^2.

[Excal]

Nah.  As far as the series is concerned, Rand is still only hitting maybe a 1/10 on the Douchometer.  And we're talking in terms of Rand's character arc, not even him competing against the real douches.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Wow, you're making me want to read more! I like douche!Rand. Possibly because I am a douche myself.

[superaielman]

Farseer series: Done. I'm a little disappointed by the very end of the books, but eh. Very good read overall.  Burrich's my favorite, Verity is good, as is the general cast.

[Shale]

Elantris: Read this while in Oklahoma. Good stuff, if a bit by-the-numbers in some places. Definitely interested in picking up Mistborn at some point.