Support NeoGAF

[Kaladin]

A lot of people have been asking if this is the end of the Reckoners. It is. The trilogy is finished, and came together wonderfully. However, as you all know, I’m unlikely to leave an ending without some hints of where the characters would go in the future.

I don’t currently have plans to do a direct sequel series, but the next project I’m planning is in the same universe. This is a new trilogy in the works with Delacorte (the publisher of the Reckoners), and it’s the unnamed project I talked about in my State of the Sanderson post in December. It’s scheduled tentatively for a 2018 release, and it’s called The Apocalypse Guard.

Here’s the pitch:

Over a decade ago, people started manifesting strange, incredible powers. One side effect of this was an awareness of alternate dimensions—some of these powers could reach into other realities, other versions of Earth. Though infinite dimensions are present, most of these are unstable, existing only as vague possibilities.

A few of these worlds, however, are stable. These real, alternate versions of Earth are sometimes very, very different from the one we know. And a bizarrely large number of them, it turns out, are doomed. And so the Apocalypse Guard was founded: an organization of thousands of scientists, engineers, and extraordinary individuals who save planets.

They comb the dimensions searching for stable worlds to contact. When they find one that is facing some kind of cataclysm, the Guard either finds a way to save the planet, or evacuates it. The process can take years, but so far the Guard has saved some dozen planets—though it has lost half as many to utter destruction.

Emma is the Guard’s coffee girl. On summer internship at mission control, she gets to witness—from a safe distance—their activities. During the events surrounding the rescue of a planet, however, a shadowy group attacks the Guard and throws it into chaos. Emma finds herself cast through dimensions to be stranded on a doomed planet the Guard had been planning to save. Cut off from mission control, woefully inexperienced, Emma has to try to meet up with the Guard or find another way off the planet before cataclysm befalls it.

In the tradition of the Reckoners, The Apocalypse Guard is a fast-paced, action-oriented story with roots in comic book traditions. This one is a little more science fiction and fantasy than it is superhero, and it will dig deeper into the mythology begun in the Reckoners. It is not a sequel to the Reckoners, in that it has new characters and a new story, but it might help answer some questions left by the end of Calamity.

It’s going to be a little while before I write this. Stormlight 3 takes precedence currently, and after that I’m thinking I should probably write the sequel to The Rithmatist. However, I’ve been mulling over this new series a lot, and even went so far as to commission some concept art.

I’ve only done this before with the Stormlight books, having Ben McSweeney (who ended up becoming the illustrator for Shallan’s sketchbook pages) do concept roughs for the characters, so I could have them as kind of a quick reference for how the characters look.

This was really handy, and so I had it done for The Apocalypse Guard as well. We put the characters together in an action shot, though keep in mind that this was mostly for my internal reference (and kind of as a proof of concept). This isn’t the cover art, and isn’t intended to be a finished “movie poster” for the books. More a cool piece of concept art trying to nail down character looks and outfits.

Anyway, enjoy!

This sounds awesome, but damn that's a wait.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Hey, just curious, in the print versions of Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning, how are the newspaper excerpts represented? They're kind of... awkward in the audiobook versions.

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

Hey, just curious, in the print versions of Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning, how are the newspaper excerpts represented? They're kind of... awkward in the audiobook versions.

Just on a page laid out like an actual newspaper. Takes up one page st the beginning of a chapter. I can take a picture of you want.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Just on a page laid out like an actual newspaper. Takes up one page st the beginning of a chapter. I can take a picture of you want.

Ah, so it's actually laid out like a newspaper, that makes sense. In the audiobook all he can do is read the the actual text, so it just kind of jumps around all over the place.

 

[suzu]

I finished The Bands of Mourning yesterday and yoooo... that ending!

Immediately read two chapters of Mistborn: Secret History. Will probably finish the rest of it tonight.

Spoiler

I'm glad we get to read more about Kelsier, since he's my favorite character from the series.

 

[JustAnotherMike]

So I'm listening to Warbreaker and this thing is great so far. Some cool twists and good humor. I laughed for about a minute when "the talk" is first brought up. Can't wait for the reveal.

 

[Mashing]

Finished Shadows of Self last night. I really liked the book as a whole and the ending was great.

Spoiler

It was nice to see some familiar faces in the last 3rd of the book.

I can't imagine the ending not have a profound affect on Wax though, so I'm looking forward to digging into BoM.

 

[Aiii]

So why does everyone set their jaw?

 

[Faiz]

So why does everyone set their jaw?

It's an expression of determination and resilience.

Is it something Sanderson makes a habit of overusing? Can't say I've noticed it but next time I do a reread it will probably leap out at me, haha.

 

[Aiii]

It's an expression of determination and resilience.

Is it something Sanderson makes a habit of overusing? Can't say I've noticed it but next time I do a reread it will probably leap out at me, haha.

Depends on what you consider a lot, I started noticing it. For instance, Words of Radiance has seven hits for "set his jaw" and another two for "set her jaw".

I mean technically it's not a lot, but it's still enough to become noticable.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

I didn't notice it.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Depends on what you consider a lot, I started noticing it. For instance, Words of Radiance has seven hits for "set his jaw" and another two for "set her jaw".

I mean technically it's not a lot, but it's still enough to become noticable.

It's not braid tugging or skirt smoothing, that's for sure.

 

[Faiz]

Depends on what you consider a lot, I started noticing it. For instance, Words of Radiance has seven hits for "set his jaw" and another two for "set her jaw".

I mean technically it's not a lot, but it's still enough to become noticable.

Interesting. Decided to take a quick look at the few other Sanderson novels/novellas I have in eBook.

Way of Kings - set his jaw, 8 times; set her jaw 2 times.

Alloy of Law - no hits for either.

Infinity Blade Awakening and Redemption - no hits for either.

Secret History - set his jaw, 1 hit

Shadows for Silence - no hits

My copy of the collection containing Sixth of Dusk looks to have disappeared. Ugh.

Edit- Sixth of Dusk - set her jaw, 1 hit.

Seems like mainly a stylistic choice he's consciously made for Stormlight Archive.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

By the way, is there a consensus on which author is similar to Sanderson?

 

[Sulik2]

By the way, is there a consensus on which author is similar to Sanderson?

Robert Jordan, RIP.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Seems like mainly a stylistic choice he's consciously made for Stormlight Archive.

I think it's also worth noting just how freaking long The Stormlight Archive books are. The Way of Kings is easily five times the length of any of the other books you searched--more in some cases.

 

[Aiii]

I think it's also worth noting just how freaking long The Stormlight Archive books are. The Way of Kings is easily five times the length of any of the other books you searched--more in some cases.

Sure. I guess I also noticed it because it is not a very common expression to hear (Switching between Audible and Kindle with whispersync) which made me take note of it more.

 

[Faiz]

I think it's also worth noting just how freaking long The Stormlight Archive books are. The Way of Kings is easily five times the length of any of the other books you searched--more in some cases.

Which is why it would be an error to consider each piece individually and instead consider the body of work.

To which I will also add (left out initially because I forgot I had a pdf):

Warbreaker - no instances of "set his/her jaw", though there are two instances of "jaw set" for example: "It was necessary," Treledees said, jaw set.

 

[GDJustin]

Interesting. Decided to take a quick look at the few other Sanderson novels/novellas I have in eBook.

Way of Kings - set his jaw, 8 times; set her jaw 2 times.

Alloy of Law - no hits for either.

Infinity Blade Awakening and Redemption - no hits for either.

Secret History - set his jaw, 1 hit

Shadows for Silence - no hits

My copy of the collection containing Sixth of Dusk looks to have disappeared. Ugh.

Edit- Sixth of Dusk - set her jaw, 1 hit.

Seems like mainly a stylistic choice he's consciously made for Stormlight Archive.

Can you run a search for raised eyebrows in Mistborn? Just re-read it and characters, all characters, seem like they're raising their eyebrows or one eyebrow like 5000 times.

Edit: I will say with almost 100% certainty that the "set jaw" thing is not intentional for Stormlight. Authors, even deliberate, careful ones, fall into unintentional patterns. It strikes me as something that just got stuck in his head when he was working on Stormlight.

 

[Woorloog]

Robert Jordan, RIP.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say Sanderson's style is similar to Jordan's, given that Sanderson is a Wheel of Time fan and influenced by that series.

Though ultimately their styles are clearly different (i'm just re-reading WoT and started the Gathering Storm, there's a difference in style though not in a bad way, unlike, say, with Dune "sequels" and proper Dune series).

 

[Incandenza]

The phrase "of course" is the one that sticks out for me.

 

[Faiz]

Can you run a search for raised eyebrows in Mistborn? Just re-read it and characters, all characters, seem like they're raising their eyebrows or one eyebrow like 5000 times.

Edit: I will say with almost 100% certainty that the "set jaw" thing is not intentional for Stormlight. Authors, even deliberate, careful ones, fall into unintentional patterns. It strikes me as something that just got stuck in his head when he was working on Stormlight.

Unfortunately I can't, don't have them in ebook.

As far as Stormlight Archive, he wrote the two books years and years apart with several books in between. It may well be unintentional but the fact that it doesn't show up as much in his body of work that was interspersed around them seems to indicate it's not just just a habit. But hey it could be!

 

[Sulik2]

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say Sanderson's style is similar to Jordan's, given that Sanderson is a Wheel of Time fan and influenced by that series.

Though ultimately their styles are clearly different (i'm just re-reading WoT and started the Gathering Storm, there's a difference in style though not in a bad way, unlike, say, with Dune "sequels" and proper Dune series).

You're correct, Sanderson is an evolution from Jordan. They are cut from the same cloth in terms of world building, detailed magic systems and intricate long term plotting. Sanderson actually got better at writing like Jordan in the latter two WoT books. Especially Mat.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I can't speak to whether or not Sanderson is like Jordan, but I know I love everything I've read by Sanderson (except Elantris) and didn't like any of the Wheel of Time books I've read except for Eye of the World (I gave up part way through book 5)

I would also like recommendations for authors like Sanderson, by the way, other than Robert Jordan.

 

[H.Cornerstone]

Just started reading Warbreaker. I think I'm going to like this.

It might be my favorite book of his.

Spoiler

Mainly cause Vasher and Nightblood are such awesome characters

 

[Celegus]

I can't speak to whether or not Sanderson is like Jordan, but I know I love everything I've read by Sanderson (except Elantris) and didn't like any of the Wheel of Time books I've read except for Eye of the World (I gave up part way through book 5)

I would also like recommendations for authors like Sanderson, by the way, other than Robert Jordan.

Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs and City of Blades feel kind of similar to me. Also a big fan of Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series. Both of those worlds feel very well realized with very unique rules of magic type stuff similar to Sanderson.

 

[Sulik2]

I can't speak to whether or not Sanderson is like Jordan, but I know I love everything I've read by Sanderson (except Elantris) and didn't like any of the Wheel of Time books I've read except for Eye of the World (I gave up part way through book 5)

I would also like recommendations for authors like Sanderson, by the way, other than Robert Jordan.

Will Wight's The Traveler's Gate Trilogy is probably in the same vein. A super interesting magic system, a flair for creative action scenes and an intricate world.

The Mageborn series by Michael G. Manning is excellent too.

 

[Kaladin]

New White Sand preview on io9

http://io9.gizmodo.com/one-of-brand...&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

It is a 3 volume set.

 

[Faiz]

New White Sand preview on io9

http://io9.gizmodo.com/one-of-brand...&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

It is a 3 volume set.

Gah, beaten!

Looks great. Can't wait to read it.

 

[Woorloog]

Why does that creature make me think of the Chasmfiends in Stormlight Archive?

I wonder if there's a relation... considering the Cosmere is what it is, i would not be surprised.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

400 pages into Mistborn #2 and it is really good. I was a little worried because people consider it to be worse than #1 and #3 (which I obviously have not read yet) but it's really, really good once again. I'm enjoying Mistborn about as much as Stormlight Archive honestly.

 

[Faiz]

400 pages into Mistborn #2 and it is really good. I was a little worried because people consider it to be worse than #1 and #3 (which I obviously have not read yet) but it's really, really good once again. I'm enjoying Mistborn about as much as Stormlight Archive honestly.

Yeah I never understood that. I think Well is on par with Hero and both are better than Final Empire.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Yeah it's no worse than the fantastic Final Empire. One thing I am not so super fond of so far is the fact that

Spoiler

Vin has been kinda reduced to some caveman assassin. I found her more multifaceted in the first book to be honest. But she's getting into research right now so perhaps that will improve. I loved her noble woman parts in the first Mistborn book.

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

As far as Mistborn goes, my ranking is 1 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 4

With a big gap between Hero of Ages and Shadows of Self, and an even bigger gap between Shadows of Self and the Alloy of Law.

Still have not read Bands of Mourning yet. I'll probably get around to it by the end of the month.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

By the way, how do I pronounce "Sazed"?

 

[Kaladin]

By the way, how do I pronounce "Sazed"?

"Say-zed"

I think that's right.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Thanks, I got it right then. I was a little confused because Kelsier abbreviated him "Saze" a couple of times in the first book.

 

[Faiz]

"Say-zed"

I think that's right.

It's definitely the long "ay" as opposed to "ah". People report him saying "SAY-zed". But what's never been clear to me, because I can't recall him saying it when I've seen him in person, is if the people reporting that pronunciation are actually writing it the way they mean to with respect to "-zed". When I say it, it's more like the word "seized". But "SAY-zed" sounds more like two distinct syllables, literally "say" and "zed" said as one word.

Anyone know? I'm guessing the latter because it would be just like me to have latched onto the wrong one. 😂

Thanks, I got it right then. I was a little confused because Kelsier abbreviated him "Saze" a couple of times in the first book.

Yes! Probably the reason I latched onto saying it like "seized". If it were SAY-zed then shortening it Saze doesn't sound right to me.

 

[Incandenza]

Along the same lines, how do you pronounce Sarene? My gut instinct was that it's the same as "serene" but her father shortens it to just 'Ene, which doesn't really work with that pronunciation.

 

[Woorloog]

Names are so easy in Finnish... just pronounce just like they're spelled.
No, most won't sound right to anyone speaking English most likely but sure as hell makes life easy here.

 

[ExMachina]

Along the same lines, how do you pronounce Sarene? My gut instinct was that it's the same as "serene" but her father shortens it to just 'Ene, which doesn't really work with that pronunciation.

sa-RAY-nay or sa-REE-nee, I tend towards the former myself.

The "canon" pronunciation in Brandon's books can get super weird, since he often writes names in a way that looks good in English but isn't necessarily consistent with the in-world language. A linguist friend of mine wrote out a Cosmere pronunciation explanation guide if you really want to get into it:

http://featherwriter.tumblr.com/post/114414221062/cosmere-pronunciation-guide

But Brandon has gone on record saying you can pronounce names in his books however you want, hell he himself isn't consistent about it a lot of the time.

 

[suzu]

As long as you don't pronounce Kaladin like Aladdin, you'll be ok.

 

[Aiii]

As long as you don't pronounce Kaladin like Aladdin, you'll be ok.

Paladin.

Because of course that is how you pronounce it.

 

[Woorloog]

As long as you don't pronounce Kaladin like Aladdin, you'll be ok.

Paladin with K is how it is pronounced, me thinks.

And given that Kaladin is basically a paladin...

 

[Kaladin]

Listen to the audiobooks and you would know how it is pronounced. Michael Kramer is amazing. He does all of Sanderson's Cosmere stuff.

 

[Faiz]

Listen to the audiobooks and you would know how it is pronounced. Michael Kramer is amazing. He does all of Sanderson's Cosmere stuff.

From what I've heard they've got a few things wrong though. Will try to find examples later.

But hey, even Sanderson has said he's not too concerned about how people pronounce them, we apparently care more than he does. 😂

 

[Mashing]

By the way, how do I pronounce "Sazed"?

The same way Sazh is pronounced in Final Fantasy 13 I imagine (if it ended in -ed). Atleast that's how I say it (Sah-Zed).

 

[Jest Chillin]

Saysd
Paladin with a K
Sahreen ('Ene being een)

 

[Supermanisdead]

i read the first 2 mistborn books and now im starting the third.

Spoiler

i don't like this already. fuck elend, why did they give him powers. hes so boring.

 

[ExMachina]

The Stormlight Archive: A Pocket Companion to the Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

A limited-edition hardcover book of trivia from The Stormlight Archive epic fantasy series written by Brandon Sanderson. The Stormlight Archive is an ongoing epic fantasy, planned as a ten-book series. Included content is drawn from the first two series’ books which are the only books currently available. Compiles interesting details, character profiles, deeper descriptions of the landscape, maps, illustrations, unanswered questions to ponder until the next book. This is a fan collectible as the content would not be gathered in this way anywhere else. (Free item. Limited to one per customer.)

Available for free on April 30 as a part of Independent Bookstore Day.

Here are the participating stores: http://indiemap.bookweb.org/?utf8=✓&search_type=City/State/ZIP

I'm definitely going to try to pick one up...