Brandon Sanderson

He has the bag of Atium he got from KanPaar the Kandra. He was trying to sell it, but Marsh got him and used some of it to fight Elend's atium suicide. I assume he used the rest to make spikes.

Makes sense. But do we know how much metal Compounding uses up? Come to think of it, do you have to ingest the metalminds?

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Sanderson has a new novella out: Legion.

Anyone read it?

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I preordered it from Amazon, and you reminded me to go check on that order. Which they apparently shipped to the wrong address. I managed to get a refund for it, but I'd rather have gotten the book. :/ I guess I'll have to go check out a meatspace bookstore to see if they have it...

Edit — and they didn't have anything from Sanderson more recent than Warbreaker, so back to Amazon I go, it seems.

edited 13th Sep '12 5:48:27 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

I bought the ebook version from Amazon, it's good. Apparently it's been optioned to be made into a TV show, with the book as a "pilot episode", it feels like a pilot episode.

Okey, here is a bit of PA: If you buy the hard cover, you email a pic of you holding the book to Sanderson, and he will email you the ebook for free.

---

Really, where did you get that Info? If so, that's very interesting. Also, yes, Legion hangs one a very strong cliffhanger, so yeah, it is good there is a continuation.

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Hey do all books by Sanderson have as much of a scarcity of badass normals as Mistborn? Seems everybody mildly important has powers.

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Yeah, Badass Normal isn't a trope that Sanderson uses much. Which is understandable, given that he seems to be mostly interested in exploring different systems of magic and divinity, so there's not much room left for people without powers. Of course, I can't say I've ever really missed then, given that he's really good at having his characters use their powers in interesting and clever ways, which is most of the fun of badass normals in my experience.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Kaladin was a Badass Normal for most of The Way Of Kings, at least.

edited 17th Sep '12 6:16:54 PM by Benluke

Sarene in Elantris as well, though the focus is more on her political Chessmaster side than her fighting side; Hrathen from the same book looks like a Badass Normla but is ultimately revealed to have been partially transformed into one of the Dakhor before he got fed up and transferred to a different Derethi order. Your average Sanderson protagonist does have at least some magic, though.

''All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us..."

I can see the intelligent usage angle, though. It's what made Wax my favorite character, power-wise at least.

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Elend had a couple of Badass Normal moments in book 2 of Mistborn.

And then got promptly leveled up. As did Spook at the end, which I feel was kinda unnecessary. Like Vin and Elend's death, but hey, Sanderson explained his reasons.

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well Vin died to take out Ruin, and Elend died so that Vin would have a reason to be willing to die to take out Ruin. Seems like perfectly good reasons to me. And honestly bringing them back to life just for the sake of a "happy ending" would have been a bit of a cop-out IMO. But YMMV and all.

Sazed would have ended up a god anyway. Whether or not he could bring back the dead was left entirely up to Sanderson, and either outcome would have been acceptable. It might have lessened the impact of the heroic sacrifice, true, but it could have easily justified in-story.

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I'm currently reading Warbreaker. I think you can tell that Brandon likes to overturn conventions - for example, I sort of assumed Llarimar would be kind of greasy and conniving and not very helpful, because that's what I've come to expect high priests and high-ranking underlings of people like Lightsong to be like.

And Denth and Tonk Fah seem like some sort of comment on people's love for black comedy. I didn't see anything amiss with, for example, Tonk Fah's talk of breaking fingers, because it was delivered in the same way that characters we're supposed to like talk. But when you get down to it, such flippant disregard for pain and death is creepy.

Be not afraid...

Good job, you figured it out faster than I did.

"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"

Figured what out, exactly? The only plot point I actually figured out in advance was The statues being Kalad's Phantoms.

Be not afraid...

You're finished it? I assumed you were already partway through and had almost caught on to Denth and Tonk Fah being bad guys.

"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"

Oh, no. I've finished it now, but when I wrote that post I'd just found out that they were evil.

EDIT: Actually, that twist really did feel like it came out of nowhere to me, which is what made me think about the possible comment. I fell for the jovially-bloodthirsty-but-good-people thing hook line and sinker.

edited 22nd Sep '12 6:32:24 AM by LoniJay

Be not afraid...

Ah. I understand.

I'm trying to think of possible actors for the upcoming Mistborn movie. I think Ellen Page would be a good Vin, and Robert Downey Jr would be perfect for Breeze.

"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"

Following a particular phrase in Mistborn - I think it was the one about 'Me leading an army? Do you have any idea how ludicrous that would be?' - I imagined Breeze with Stephen Fry 's voice. Robert Downey Jr. might be a good choice too, though.

edited 22nd Sep '12 6:16:44 AM by LoniJay

Be not afraid...

So I finally got my hands on The Alloy of Law, and it is fantastic. My only complaint is that the book is so damn short, particularly for Sanderson. Also that Waxillium is a very silly name. I love how the book implies (and Sanderson has confirmed) that Kelsier has refused to go to the Cosmere afterlife and is instead hanging around pestering God!Sazed and Marsh to interfere.

Entirely non-serious WMG for The Stormlight Archive: When humans die, they are reincarnated as Voidbringers. Hence the Parshendi's hatred of interfering with dead bodies, the dying lines, and the strange salute and respect the Parshendi Shardbearer gave Dalinar.

That leaves Warbreaker as the only Cosmere novel I haven't read yet.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

I really liked The Alloy Of Law, since it was so easy to read compared to the other Mistborn books. It reminded me of Jim Butcher's style.

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Is Alloy of law out in paperback yet? I've been waiting to read it but none of the bookstores I've been to have them.

Maybe I should just buy the ebook.

edited 23rd Sep '12 6:10:44 PM by Benluke