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[Faiz]

I wonder how much finishing WoT catapulted Sanderson's career. I know i hadn't heard of his books before him being revealed as WoT's writer after Jordan passed away.

Yeah, it's hard to judge. I hadn't heard of him either but I also don't follow new authors that closely. He was announced as Jordan's chosen replacement just a few months after Well of Ascension was released. This was only two years after Elantris! That's a meteoric rise, from first novel to chosen replacement for one of the best selling fantasy authors of all time in two years.

Like many, after reading Harriet had chosen him based on the strength of Mistborn, and the detailed mechanism of its magic systems, I immediately went out and bought Final Empire. I imagine I would have gotten there eventually on his own but... who can say? I'm just glad he's here and we are with him for the ride.

 

[zroid]

if I remember right, I think after reading TGS, I borrowed Mistborn 1 from the library and, after finishing it, promptly ordered the trilogy boxed set from Amazon

actually I might have done so before finishing

 

[Barzul]

I wonder if we're ever going to get a decent adaptation of Sanderson's works a la GoT. I imagine the effects would be too expensive to pull off.

 

[DieH@rd]

I wonder if we're ever going to get a decent adaptation of Sanderson's works a la GoT. I imagine the effects would be too expensive to pull off.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/

 

[SuperEpicMan]

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/

Hope they manage to pull it off. The Cosmere could easily fuel an MCU style film series if they are committed to it.

 

[caliph95]

Might as well post my first post and say I'm on book two of the reckoners and enjoying it so far took me couple days too

 

[Man God]

Finishing WoT was far and away the biggest feather in his cap.

 

[Wafflecakes]

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/

Love Brandon, but I have every expectation that the films will be utter shit.

 

[zroid]

Love Brandon, but I have every expectation that the films will be utter shit.

always the safest assumption, and that itself assumes that the film(s) actually get released and don't end up in production hell. I'd be thrilled to be pleasantly surprised of course.

 

[Error]

my dream stormlight archive adaptation would be a high budget 2d handrawn animated series.

 

[ExMachina]

I'm also taking the same attitude towards the adaptations... Not holding my breath for them to turn out well at all.

my dream stormlight archive adaptation would be a high budget 2d handrawn animated series.

Yup, same. SA with the Avatar TLA/Korra treatment would be the greatest.

Some badass fanart by BotanicaXu in that vein (end of WoL and WoR spoilers kinda): http://www.17thshard.com/forum/uploads/gallery/category_6/gallery_6459_6_9390.jpg

 

[zroid]

my dream stormlight archive adaptation would be a high budget 2d handrawn animated series.

I honestly think that is the best medium for adaptations of most high fantasy series.

but it probably doesn't happen because the revenue ceiling is much lower than for live action adaptations

 

[Slater]

Stormlight alone means it would be so hard to do in in live action, just visually without looking goofy AF.

Kaladin and Syl are the best though http://ayhotte.com/

 

[Malyse]

I would love Cosmere to be the next Star Wars: comics, novels, movies, TV, games trans media mega franchise where every medium gets a new story and all of it's canon.

Stormlight alone means it would be so hard to do in in live action, just visually without looking goofy AF.

Kaladin and Syl are the best though http://ayhotte.com/

What I really would love is if they took a cue from Kingsglaive and did a CGI film with digital actors.

 

[Wafflecakes]

What I really would love is if they took a cue from Kingsglaive and did a CGI film with digital actors.

Ew no.
Nonononononono.

 

[T.v]

my dream stormlight archive adaptation would be a high budget 2d handrawn animated series.

This could work. I'd love to see a TV adaptation like GoT, but the budget would have to be astronomical.

 

[DieH@rd]

I'm finally reading Warbreaker, and I'm enjoying it. Sanderson has again created a interesting new magic system.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

I started The Way of Kings, and I'm having a really hard time with it. Like, is it just sort of Star Wars anime the whole way through? People with lightsabers...errr...shardblades and power armor leaping around? Seems...corny. Spren seem dumb - like, what do they do, other than act as a way to explain how people are feeling, a kind of cheating way to get away with telling rather than showing?
Is it worth sticking with?

 

[Woorloog]

Mistborn Adventure Game: Alloy of Law: Masks of the Past released:
https://www.crafty-games.com/buy-now/alloy-of-law-masks-of-the-past

 

[88random]

I'm finally reading Warbreaker, and I'm enjoying it. Sanderson has again created a interesting new magic system.

You should have read it before the Words of Radiance, it makes some reveals much better

 

[Aiii]

Mistborn Adventure Game: Alloy of Law: Masks of the Past released:
https://www.crafty-games.com/buy-now/alloy-of-law-masks-of-the-past

Speaking of which, the House War boardgame is finally getting shipped out. They almost had us Europeans pay 60 bucks for getting the game and the expansion shipped, but backtracked when there was outrage (and rightfully so, that pricing was shameful, it was almost half of my 130 USD pledge). Can't wait to play it, though.

 

[Barzul]

I started The Way of Kings, and I'm having a really hard time with it. Like, is it just sort of Star Wars anime the whole way through? People with lightsabers...errr...shardblades and power armor leaping around? Seems...corny. Spren seem dumb - like, what do they do, other than act as a way to explain how people are feeling, a kind of cheating way to get away with telling rather than showing?
Is it worth sticking with?

I thought it was really good....I'd stick with it. It might just end up just being not for you. Maybe read another 100 pages and see how you feel after that?

 

[Woorloog]

Went over the first part of the Masks of the Pasts supplement. Actually a bit disappointed, it is pretty clear Crafty Games has been working with little more than the novels as source material. Sanderson is keeping all the really juicy stuff under wraps, until the next Era 2 book anyway (The Lost Metal, unless the name has changed?). Still, there's useful stuff in this supplement for Alloy of Law-era MAG games.

Perhaps the "yarns" have interesting stuff...

 

[Faiz]

I started The Way of Kings, and I'm having a really hard time with it. Like, is it just sort of Star Wars anime the whole way through? People with lightsabers...errr...shardblades and power armor leaping around? Seems...corny. Spren seem dumb - like, what do they do, other than act as a way to explain how people are feeling, a kind of cheating way to get away with telling rather than showing?
Is it worth sticking with?

I'm puzzled by the questions to be frank. "Star Wars anime"? Contextually it's obviously criticism but it's a superficial comparison (shardblades are not even close to light sabers) at best. You say corny, I say awesome.

Honestly, you are in a thread full of people who love Stormlight Archive. There are even people here who don't like or don't care about his other works, but really enjoy Stormlight. Vast majority of us would in general say "stick with it" because we love it and the pay-offs are amazing. But to this sort of reaction... I think you'd be best served to walk away.

 

[Woorloog]

Actually, lightsaber anime is quite accurate description of The Stormlight Archive.

Sanderson has noted that Shardblades are inspired by lightsabers. Indeed, both cut through nearly anything, both are rare and important objects, both date from past times different from current era.
And they're ridiculously big swords. I don't watch anime but impractically huge swords don't seem to be uncommon in fiction made in Japan. (IIRC, Sanderson has also noted that the world of The Stormlight Archive is created to justify such swords.)

Now slap on the powers of Knights Radiant... Szeth is a good example. He is a goddamn ninja with a lightsaber.

It is corny as hell but also awesome.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Actually, lightsaber anime is quite accurate description of The Stormlight Archive.

Sanderson has noted that Shardblades are inspired by lightsabers. Indeed, both cut through nearly anything, both are rare and important objects, both date from past times different from current era.
And they're ridiculously big swords. I don't watch anime but impractically huge swords don't seem to be uncommon in fiction made in Japan. (IIRC, Sanderson has also noted that the world of The Stormlight Archive is created to justify such swords.)

Now slap on the powers of Knights Radiant... Szeth is a good example. He is a goddamn ninja with a lightsaber.

It is corny as hell but also awesome.

Hah! Thank you. It seems really obvious it's heavily anime and Star Wars inspired. The blades, at least at first introduction, are clearly supposed to remind you of lightsabers. He even describes how they make a fuzz noise when travelling through stuff.

 

[Woorloog]

He even describes how they make a fuzz noise when travelling through stuff.

He does? Wow, i've missed that, despite reading the book many times. (But reading 50-60 pages an hour does cause me to skip over small details at times.)

 

[VanWinkle]

Maybe it's because I really dislike anime, but I hate the idea of the Stormlight Archive being described as anime, and, while reading it, never had the impression that it's like that at all.

 

[zroid]

Maybe it's because I really dislike anime, but I hate the idea of the Stormlight Archive being described as anime, and, while reading it, never had the impression that it's like that at all.

It is a pretty meaningless descriptor anyway, because the only thing "anime" describes is a visual art style, and by definition a novel is not that. The Star Wars comparison, sure I can see that.

 

[rexor0717]

I loved all the Mistborn books but The Way of Kings isn't really hooking me. I want to stick with it because I feel like I've not gotten to the best parts yet. I guess the magic system feels less compelling so far, but I'm sure it's just because I'm fairly really into the story.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I loved all the Mistborn books but The Way of Kings isn't really hooking me. I want to stick with it because I feel like I've not gotten to the best parts yet. I guess the magic system feels less compelling so far, but I'm sure it's just because I'm fairly really into the story.

IMO The Way of Kings doesn't get "good" until part 4, or midway through part 3 if I'm being generous. Part 1 is boring as heck.

It's unfortunate, but the good news is that Words of Radiance gets going much faster.

 

[Faiz]

Actually, lightsaber anime is quite accurate description of The Stormlight Archive.

Sanderson has noted that Shardblades are inspired by lightsabers. Indeed, both cut through nearly anything, both are rare and important objects, both date from past times different from current era.
And they're ridiculously big swords. I don't watch anime but impractically huge swords don't seem to be uncommon in fiction made in Japan. (IIRC, Sanderson has also noted that the world of The Stormlight Archive is created to justify such swords.)

Now slap on the powers of Knights Radiant... Szeth is a good example. He is a goddamn ninja with a lightsaber.

It is corny as hell but also awesome.

I've never seen him say anything about Shardblades being inspired by lightsabers.

I HAVE seen him talk about the inspiration of Shardblades... and lightsabers didn't come up.

Shardblades aren't inspired by keyblades specifically, though there is a core inspiration that might be shared by both myself and the creators. While I did play the first kingdom hearts game when it came out, the first draft of The Way of Kings was well under way when the game was released.

However, I did play all of the Final Fantasy games—I had the first on original Nintendo, so get off my lawn, you kids. The origin of Shardblades relates to fantasy games and art in general, and the concept of the stylized sword which is also horribly impractical.

In a lot of my writing, I react toward or against the fantasy archetypes of my youth in the 80s and 90s. When designing the Stormlight Archive, one of the things I asked myself was, "Can I make a situation where these oversized, over-stylized blades are actually practical? Why in the world would you need a weapon like that? And how do you actually use one?"

Making the blades summonable seemed one of the only ways that carrying one around would be reasonable.

If lightsabers were really the inspiration, that discussion would have been a good time to mention it?

Now, I'm not saying he's NEVER invoked lightsabers in a discussion of shardblades... tbh I'm not sure it's possible for a sci-fi/fantasy author of our generation to create a mystical/powered sword and it be completely free of any influence of lightsabers. But the differences between lightsabers and shardblades are enormous. In fact, the one time I COULD find a WOB on lightsabers, in response to a question of who would win, a shardblade vs lightsaber:

A lightsaber is actually a little more easy to wield than a Shardblade, I would guess. Shardblades were designed to fight something larger than another person; you don't actually need all of that size when fighting someone. So that gives a slight edge to you average Jedi. If it's someone like Szeth, who has a more modestly sized Blade, then I don't honestly know.

Mainly focuses on how different they are, in general.

It is a pretty meaningless descriptor anyway, because the only thing "anime" describes is a visual art style, and by definition a novel is not that. The Star Wars comparison, sure I can see that.

Yeah, it's a terribly meaningless descriptor but it's even worse than that because "anime" isn't even a "visual art style." It's cartoons that are a product of the Japanese animation industry (and, increasingly accepted are cartoons produced by foreigners who are trained products of the Japanese industry like LeSean Thomas and Thomas Romain, but that's a whole other argument that's best left to other venues). Even within that industry styles (both storytelling and visual) vary wildly.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Now I could be recalling this wrong but I believe the description of a Shardblade slicing through someone was one of vibration?

Also, there really isn't anything lightsaber about the Shardblades. Lightsabers, colloqially, cut through "everything." Shardblades passthrough living tissue without damaging it. The only connection is reader-based pop-culture impression. Which is understandable but often just a quick shallow read on something.

At the end of the day, if the book doesn't grab you, it doesn't grab you. And that's ok.

 

[Veelk]

Archtypically, they invoke similar ideas. They're a special sword that are representative of a high order of knights that are meant to represent ideals of chivalry and honor.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Archtypically, they invoke similar ideas. They're a special sword that are representative of a high order of knights that are meant to represent ideals of chivalry and honor.

Except Shardblades and Armor aren't representative of a high order or knights who represent any ideals in particular.

Spoiler

There is certainly the original order of knights that wielded the weapons and armor but the group that uses them as of the time of the story taking place are not related to them at all. Nor do they subscribe to any beliefs. Only Dalinar holds to those. The current users are just the elite class of society. They have no "order" to speak of. Even the original wielders abandoned their oaths entirely, so there's not much relativity there either.

 

[zroid]

Does anyone else actually pronounce everything properly in Elantris?

I try but it still makes me internally cringe all the time. Some words more than others...

Spoiler

f'ing "Sarene"

 

[DieH@rd]

Does anyone else actually pronounce everything properly in Elantris?

I try but it still makes me internally cringe all the time. Some words more than others...

Spoiler

f'ing "Sarene"

https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Elantris-Audiobook/B015YEFH40

Audible has a 3 minute sample of Elantris, and funnily enough, 2nd spoken word is the one that is apparently bothering you.

 

[zroid]

https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Elantris-Audiobook/B015YEFH40

Audible has a 3 minute sample of Elantris, and funnily enough, 2nd spoken word is the one that is apparently bothering you.

I had been pronouncing it a bit differently (apparently both ways can be considered correct) but yes. ugh

 

[Turin Turambar]

Maybe it's because I really dislike anime, but I hate the idea of the Stormlight Archive being described as anime, and, while reading it, never had the impression that it's like that at all.

More than anime, I make a connection with super heroes.


The Radiant Knights have super powers to fight against evil and are supposed to exemplify virtues and be an example of honor, knightship, courage, etc to normal people.
They are ancient fantasy super heroes.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I'd say that the Shardbearers are what you'd get if you tried to design a Superhero 'verse around Arthurian myths, more than being particularly anime.

Tbh most of the Shonenesque stuffs comes from Sanderson's Rules Magic/Magic A is Magic A tendencies.

 

[samn]

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/

DMG is fast-tracking an adaptation of Sanderson’s “The Way of Kings,” the first in the author’s series, “The Stormlight Archive,” and has hired screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writing team behind several “Saw” films

oh for fuck's sake

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Stormlight 3 release is gonna be crazy. Can't wait for it.

 

[Wafflecakes]

Stormlight 3 release is gonna be crazy. Can't wait for it.

Is he doing a release party or anything at BYU again? I may try to go this time.

 

[DieH@rd]

I finished Warbreaker. Good stuff.

Now I'm debating whether or not to start re-reading WoK and WoR.

 

[Spuck-uk]

Went over the first part of the Masks of the Pasts supplement. Actually a bit disappointed, it is pretty clear Crafty Games has been working with little more than the novels as source material. Sanderson is keeping all the really juicy stuff under wraps, until the next Era 2 book anyway (The Lost Metal, unless the name has changed?). Still, there's useful stuff in this supplement for Alloy of Law-era MAG games.

Perhaps the "yarns" have interesting stuff...

I see where you're coming from, and the very start of the book is hell for leather and over the top. It then slows down to set everything up really well and better introduce the world and characters. By the time you get back to Star Wars Anime stuff, I guarantee you'll have a completely different angle on it.

 

[Woorloog]

Uh, what? I was talking about the MAG supplement, not Masks of the Past book.

 

[Faiz]

Is he doing a release party or anything at BYU again? I may try to go this time.

Yep.

And a rather abbreviated tour following that, unfortunately for the rest of us. For a bit he was following in Jordan's footsteps by always coming to the Lexington Joseph Beth but it seems his work schedule, both writing, and increased international touring, is cutting domestic tours short.

Oh well, hopefully for the Lost Metal. It's been years since I've been to one of his signings.

 

[elshoelace]

Haven't kept up with Sanderson's books for a couple years, but have been wanting to jump back in lately. For whatever reason I never finished Way of Kings so I think I'm going to hop back into that.

Also noticed there are 2 more Mistborn books I need to read. Read the first Wax and Wayne book and enjoyed it, how are the follow ups? I have to say as well this mans output boggles my mind especially since the third book of Stormlight is about to drop.

 

[zroid]

Also noticed there are 2 more Mistborn books I need to read. Read the first Wax and Wayne book and enjoyed it, how are the follow ups? I have to say as well this mans output boggles my mind especially since the third book of Stormlight is about to drop.

They're both quite a bit better than Alloy of Law imo. They really take the groundwork from the first book and run with it. The 3rd one in particular has a lot of interesting implications for the Mistborn world (Scadrial) at large.

 

[Woorloog]

They're both quite a bit better than Alloy of Law imo. They really take the groundwork from the first book and run with it. The 3rd one in particular has a lot of interesting implications for the Mistborn world (Scadrial) at large.

Hell, it has implications for the whole Cosmere...