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circlique · 2 years

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The Book of Forbidden Bending Styles: Part 2

A few sessions ago, Kelsang found a book of forbidden bending techniques in the airbenders’ library. Since the whole island was facing imminent destruction and he couldn’t afford to be encumbered with a bunch of books, he ripped pages out of the book to carry with him. Our DM, Z, actually went to the trouble to type these pages out.

With the knowledge that Amon was able to permanently block chi paths through bloodbending and that some waterbenders can event placate spirits with water, did you ever wonder why water is the most OP bending style what could happen if a waterbender was born with the affinity for an even finer level of control? This chapter covers mindbending, a (now lost/extinct) substyle of waterbending in which the waterbender can manipulate thoughts and emotions in much the same way as the Rioters/Soothers from the Mistborn series.

Part 1 / Avatar DND Masterpost

Chapter 6: Mindbending

Mindbending is a relatively recent discovery, deriving from Waterbending, though strangely only Waterbenders with the lowest affinity for Waterbending are able to mind bend. This is surprising because only the most powerful Waterbenders can Spiritbend, the art of placating or agitating spirits with water, yet Mindbending seems like Spiritbending applied to humans (see Chapter 2 for Spiritbending). Current theory is that Spiritbending requires the development of a spiritual connection with the spirit being bent, which requires spiritual compromise, adaptation, and redirection, all core tenants of waterbending philosophy. This is in sharp contrast to Mindbending, which is about forcing uncompromising control over another. While not much is known about the use of Mindbending spirits at the time of writing this, much is known about Mindbending people and even animals, which be expanded upon shortly. The techniques in this chapter were learned directly from the first Mindbenders: Cuttlecobras

I state that Mindbending is all about forcing control, but it has limits. No amount of force will push a mind to commit an action that it is fundamentally incapable of executing. So, while Mindbending might appear to be a standard bending style where the stronger benders can automatically bend anyone they wish, it in fact does not matter what strength or affinity a person has to bend minds. This is because majority of Mindbending occurs before any bending starts. Mindbending is just fancy manipulation, with the exception of Hypnosis, but that requires rituals and circumstances not easily encountered in daily life. Most uses of Mindbending are spontaneous and subtle. Manipulation is achieved through extensive prep work and keen perception. Thoroughly knowing the feelings, desires, and traumas of the target of manipulation is vital to successful Mindbending because it provides you awareness of the nodes available to prod in order to generate the desired result. This is accomplished by either gathering intel on the target’s personal life and background or reading their body language.

The act of gathering intel on a person is easy. Befriending, covertly watching, eavesdropping, and interviewing confidants are all easy ways of getting information. The trickiest part is sorting useless and useful information. Useless information are facts that serve no purpose in manipulation, but it all depends on how the target is going to be manipulated. If you wanted to Mindbend your target to get lunch, knowing their favorite foods would help, but that info is useless if you want to Mindbend them into killing the chef. To understand how to Mindbend your target for a specific purpose, it’s not enough to have information. You must understand what information would motivate them to do something they normally would not. There are two ways to accomplish this: witness the direct link between motivating information and the target’s action, or ponder what would motivate you to do the intended action. If you saw that the target got angry at a merchant for being dishonest to his face such that the target attacked the merchant, perhaps they would attack the waiter if you Mindbended them into interpreting an action by the waiter as dishonest. Replicating motivation can produce the same action or response. If you do not witness this, then understanding your own motivations behind your actions can help you speculate as to what could motivate your target. What would it take for you to kill the waiter? What would you have to catch them doing or learn about them to convince you that they deserved to die? And this is where knowing the person is handy because different people require different levels of stress and motivation to kill, and some may not do it no matter how much you try to Mindbend them.

Body language is also critical. Leveraging an existing state of mind is the easiest way to Mindbend because little force of will has to be exerted on your part. If they are already angry and you need them angrier, simply amplify their emotions (more on that later). But in order to leverage their state of mind, body language and context are important. Catching a target who is already distraught is a matter of luck or incredible manipulation of the surrounding environment and people. Most of the time, you have to work with what you have. Facial expressions are thought to be the easiest way to tell emotions and intent, but that’s not always the case. Targets who are good at hiding their emotions always have control over their facial expressions. However, few people have control over their ticks and feet. If someone is uncomfortable with a person or topic, they will often change the position of their legs, torso, or arms or direct their feet in a direction away from the source of stress. This change in position is more important to notice than if they were already positioned in that way before the stressor. Other involuntary responses (known as ticks or tells) include slight tensing of the shoulders, clenching of the jaw, clenching of fists, arching of back, increased breathing, crossing of legs, swinging or folding arms, and picking at fingernails. The exact ticks and tells vary by individual, which is why it is important to know the target well before Mindbending them.

The act of Mindbending is not hard, but it does take practice. It’s just concentrating, but to maximize effectiveness, minimize distractions. Meditation and pondering your own thoughts and thought processes will also make you better at understanding the flow of information and motivation in a mind, which is helpful for Mindbending others. Additionally, be as specific as possible with your intent when Mindbending. Vagueness can be misinterpreted by the target’s mind as your commands are translated between from one brain to the other. Visualizing images is more effective than words, as all humans can see a rock, but every human thinks of a different rock when they think of the word “rock”. The following are some specific techniques you can use for Mindbending, which can be divided into two categories: Reading and Overwriting.

Reading is the act of using Mindbending to detect information on the target. It is the act of establishing a link between your mind and their mind and reading existing body language. Because non Mindbenders typically don’t have as strong of wills, thoughts, or spirits as Mindbenders, it is on the Mindbender to listen as information will not be easily forthcoming. Invoking a state of emotion or stress makes a mind louder though, which will make reading easier. Note, it is impossible to read exact thoughts unless another Mindbender is deliberately trying to insert them into your head. The most you can get out of Reading are emotions and, on rare occasions, pictures when the target is recalling a memory with traumatizingly strong emotions. Again, it is important to keep body language in mind, because many emotions emitted by a mind sound the same to a Mindbender. Reading can be applied in many areas when paired with context. If asking the target a sensitive question, Reading allows you to determine if they are lying by assessing the change in their emotional state and piece together the actual truth. This gives the perception that you are reading their minds, which can amplify their emotions and make them even easier to read.

Overwriting is the Mindbending Category centered on altering a target’s thoughts or feelings such that perform the desired action. There are many useful applications of this. Amplifying and dampening emotions is a form of Mindbending that requires existing emotions in the target and changes the strength of those emotions. Amplifying is good for inducing action in the target, while dampening is useful for inducing inaction or hesitation. This is exceedingly useful if the target is already tired. A strong Mindbender can “Induce Fatigue” and cause tired targets to fall unconscious. Note, it is best if there are multiple Mindbenders acting on the same target so one can suppress all other emotions and the other can amplify fatigue. The most useful application of dampening emotions is to “Induce Doubt”. This is done by suppressing emotions that drive the target’s confidence. If they are attacking you because they are angry, suppressing their anger will make them question how strongly they feel about their actions.

Another application of amplifying emotions is “Induce Confusion”. Amplifying ALL emotions at once can cause the target to get overwhelmed and freeze. Of course, this result can also be applied by injecting conflict imagery into their mind. This can go so far as to cause panic attacks occasionally if a sufficient amount of stimulus is injected paired with amplified emotions. The most nuanced application of amplifying emotions is inducing bodily function. Amplifying disgust or injecting thoughts of disgusting things can “Induce Nausea”, and can lead to vomiting. If someone is holding a knife to someone else’s throat, a Mindbender can sharply amplify the target’s fear, causing involuntary muscle flection and resulting in a bloody knife.

As previously touched on, bending existing emotions is easier than bending emotions the target isn’t already experiencing. However, it can be done to a limited extent. This is known as “Inducing Emotion”. The emotion that results will always be weaker than an emotion that is naturally occurring due to the situation. Now, if the target eventually comes to believe that the emotion is the result of the situation, then it can be sufficiently amplified, so long as the mindbender isn’t already concentrating on inducing that emotion. To induce emotion, you need to know what would normally cause that emotion to be felt by your target. This is why intel gathering is important. The more details you have about the target’s source of emotion, the more specific you can be with the emotional imagery you send to your target’s mind. Specificity is key.

The final type of Overwriting is “Induce Thought”. This is the hardest to accomplish because it requires extensive knowledge of what the target knows, what the target feels, and why what they know drives how they feel. The reason it is difficult is because while sending an emotion has a personal effect on the target, sending a thought will have not effect beyond mild puzzlement if that thought isn’t significant or linked to emotion. The best way to explain this through an example. I once wanted a target to kill their friend after my team had ambushed them. This would never happen naturally. However, though deduction, I learned that the target felt betrayed, and I learned that his friend had previously done dishonest things for money in the past. So, I injected the idea that his friend was paid off to betray him. This was enough to cause accusations, following which I used Induce Emotion to cause the friend to suddenly feel nervous and guilty. I then amplified the anger of the target and a fight ensued. All stemming from a single thought, which would not have worked if the friend was honest, or if the target didn’t already feel betrayed. Intel is key.

I’d like to caveat that Mindbending does not work well if the target knows you are a Mindbender because they will immediately be suspicious of any and all thoughts that go through their head. Of course, this can be overcome easily by having the right intel to convince them that you are not the source of distrust. This level of manipulation really comes from experience and can’t be taught from a book. Use all your resources. Unless they have evidence, you are a Mindbender, induce doubt that you are one. If they do have evidence, induce doubt in that evidence. If they can’t be persuaded through this method, dampen their emotions so they feel more relaxed around you as you assure them that you would never use Mindbending on them. The benefit you have is that Mindbending is a relatively rare skill (as of the writing of this book). Most people don’t know the extent of our capabilities, and the general perception is that we only hypnotize, not drive emotions.

I’d like to touch on some of the more advanced uses of Mindbending. Multiple targets can only be accomplished are similar in emotion or motivation. Decide in the moment if it’s better to weakly influence a few people or strongly influence one. Additionally, multiple Mindbenders acting in tandem (if properly synced), can overwhelm a target to the point of inducing cardiac arrest or strokes. More on this is a bit.

First, I want to discuss the theoretical potential of Mindbending. Specifically, teaching the Avatar to Mindbend. They could Mindbend entire nations of people. Unfortunately, the Avatar is a powerful Waterbender, but there is a workaround for (end of page)

#avatar #atla #lok #avatar dnd

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ladybugsbookishcorner · 11 months

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The Final Empire by Branon Sanderson | review

Stars: ★★★★★

Summary: In a land ruled by evil, the people have been suppressed to the point of losing hope. However, a rebellion stirs underneath the surface. With the plan of a criminal, will what seems like a longshot really be enough to overthrow the current regime?

also posted on storygraph

It took me a while to decide to start reading Brandon Sanderson, and if I remember correctly, I only bought the boxed set with the Mistborn trilogy last year. For this, I am ashamed.

Despite a few annoyances with the writing in some instances, I was floored by how much I liked this book. I wasn’t grasped as I read the prologue, but from the first few pages of the first chapter, I was hooked.

This is a story full of intrigue, with great characters that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. The worldbuilding is immaculate and drew me in from the first few mentions. Sanderson’s way of explaining things in little tidbits of information disguised as a conversation was perfect. I kept wanting them to show up because every little bit of information, whether about a carefully and well-crafted magic system, or the ways the world within works was fantastically interesting.

I have seen a review saying that the book seems like someones’ D&D fantasy in novel form, and that is one of the things I loved about it. The fact that there’s rhyme and reason to everything that happens, like some kind of a very full-scale heist, made me more excited than I can possibly explain. Not only that, but when you’ve reached the end and you think back to all those little pieces you saw, everything makes sense and you realize how great the foreshadowing is. Fantastically done.

This is what I want from a story. To be fully immersed enough that I sit up until 5 am to finish it because I have only 150 pages left and I cannot put it down because I need to know what happens. I realized, reading this book, it’s something I’ve missed.

I should have picked up Sanderson long ago, because if the rest of his books are as good as this one, I have so many good stories to read in the future and I can’t wait to read them all.

#books #bookblr #book review #the final empire #brandon sanderson #mistborn #the final empire review

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lerildeal · 2 years

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I know this is the opposite of interesting, but here's some concept art for a piece i'm currently working on

#My art #medieval houses #architecture #backgrounds #landscape #not really but its for one so what ever #i know the final piece will be shit compared to this coolish concept art #but thats basically the story of my life at this point #if i could make a career by sketching I'd have no worries for the future #a lot of this is inspired by the CR comics and BOTW #if you don't understand those abbreviations why are you even here?#im kidding of course thats a joke #in completely other news #Im currently reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive #Its genuinely pretty amazing #I read Mistborn a while ago and liked it enough #Not the entire trilogy though #I couldnt make it past the first book #too much romance in the second it turned me off #anyways #maybe ill post the final piece when im finished #Itll probably such so i probably wont though #Im currently struggling to find a good brush pen that works with water color #the one I currently have smeers #But we're working on it #and I have to learn how to water color #This'll definitely be an interesting process #traditional art #wip

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imanes · 5 years

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just finished skyward by brandon sanderson

#next month's brandon sanderson pick will be the mistborn trilogy if anyone wants to literally break down alongside me #i read the final empire a WHILE ago and like i never finished it bc somebody dies and i was like ??? well kill me then bitch!#bc it was just that intense and i was trying to enjoy my vacation and not have a mental breakdown over the death of a character #however i think that i am now strong enough to just roll with the punches

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bellaroles · 3 years

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Reminisce of the time a few years ago I hunted for these books like a hawk because goodreads rec. them to me. These were quite hard to get and some I regretted having acquired them lol.

Here some of the titles

The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I love this one. Very Rereadable. I also like her other book, the Sherwood ring. No regrets on these

An Earthly knight by Janet McNaughton. Nope DNF. (I was in Tam lin phase then lol but this one I shall passed) Regrets!

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. This is so fun. I may reread sometimes in the future.

The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan. I like the book fine but will not reread.

Time enough for drums by Ann Rinaldi. Right this was interesting for me but as the internet keep telling me the age gap in this one is bothering me a lot.

Keturah and lord death by Martine Leavitt. I couldn't really get pass the MC self consciousness and the way the story was told. Regrets!

Summers at castle auburn by Sharon Shinn. I love her Archangel book. (1 st book only) and this one also supposed to be without flaws. Only there are quite a few of issues that disturb me.

The Hollow kingdom by Claire B. Dunkle. Hmm will not reread. On the stockholm syndrome note.

A Face like glasses by Frances Hardinge. Was glued to the pages literally. Could not put it down. Felt the same thrills reading these like when I read Garth Nix's keys to the kingdom. Might reread but y'know it won't be like the first time ever again.

Dragon's bait by Vivian Vande Velde. Felt like a cliffhanger with no second book. Not that interesting. Regrets

11. The Blue sword by Robin Mckinley. Can't say I regret this but I'd felt that this should have been better. Not to mention the weird prequel book that I won't reread again.

12. The Belgariad series by David Eddings. Loved these while it lasted. I got bored with the second series. Not rereadable to me.

13. The Changeover by Margaret Mahy. Like it. Not gonna reread.

14. The Changeling sea by Patricia A. Mckillip. I regreted that this was the first Mckillip book I'd ever come across. Dreamy but not engaging. My favorite of hers are the forgotten beast of Eld, In the forest of Serre, the Riddlemaster series, and Winter rose.

15. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. Very entertaining. I love it. Haven’t reread this since.

16. Song of the lioness series by Tamora Pierce. I was undecided about these. Well I like the Immortals better than this one. Trickster duology impressed me the most. Not regret these but still haven’t reread them.

17. Sabriel by Garth Nix. Special to me because I read this first on audiobook. What a thrilling experience. I was so crazy about the Abhorsen lore for months. Haven’t reread also.

18. Wildwood dancing by Juliet Merrilier. I was crazy about nearly all of her books for a time. Reread this along with Heart’s blood and Daughter of the forrest many times. It was good but didn’t really hold up to now.

19. Enchanted forest chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. Like but not love. I like Mairelon’s books better or even the sorcerer and cecelia book.

20. Crown duel by Sherwood Smith. Love the books though Mel’s impulsiveness irked me lots of time. The starts of my obsession with her Sartorias-deles saga. Too many books with vastly different target audience, I gave up trying to read them all at some point lol. Love banner of the damned and the Inda books though.

21. Sally Lockhart’s series by Philip Pullman. Yeah I like his spectacular HDM but I like these more. Sally is so cool. No regrets.

22. The Black magician triology by Trudi Canavan. Used to be my guilty pleasure. because of the ending I will not reread.

23. The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. Love these and the third trilogy also. Regret reading the second. Won’t reread because it was too painful. Also if I could one day reread them, I might continue with the series.

24. Earthsea cycle. By Ursula K. Le Guin. Favorite series. Reread many times. Will continue to recommend them.

25. Mistborn series. By Brandon Sanderson. Love these but won’t reread because I can’t go thru all of that again.

26. The chronicle of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Read on audiobook. Like them but haven’t reread since.

27. Lumatere chronicles by Melina Marchetta. So intense lol, it was good but I won’t go thru all that again.

30. Tales from the flat earth by Tanith lee. Did not regret. So dark and arabian-ish. I especially love Simmu’s stories and Chuz. Her B&B retelling in Red as blood is also my fav. So unique. But I regret buying her Claidi’s journals and Paradys books.

31. I, Coriander by Sally Gardner. So pretty cover. The stories was good for my teen years. Did not reread since.

32. A Company of swans by Eva Ibbotson. Gosh this was unexpectedly cute. So many weird things but still it works for me. Haven’t reread.

33. The Ivy tree by Mary Stewart. This book lied to me! I was so obsessed with the pseudo amnesia thing. First read on audiobook. One time is enough because the suspense can be experienced only one time.

34. The Seer and the sword by Victoria Hanley. Regrets. The plot was supposedly engaging but I couldn’t care less.

35. The Blue castle by L.M. Montgomery. Beautiful prose. Like the plot very much. Now if I could really find the time to read Anne of green gables.

36. Book of a thousand days by Shannon Hale. Nice. Can’t remember much but I like this enough to draw a doodle. I like her Austenland better. That was hilarious.

37. Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. I love these esp. the Dawn trader one. Haven’t reread yet.

39. The savage Damsel and the dwarf by Gerald Morris. Funny. I remembered that much.

Other books I regret are The books of Pelinor by Alison Croggon. Darkangel triology by Meredith Ann Pierce. Knight and Rogue by Hilari Bell, A college of magics by Caroline Stevermer, Riverside by Ellen Kushner.

#past bookshelves

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firelxdykatara · 3 years

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Reader anon here!

Hi it's been awhile, I hope you are doing well! I know I am! I have successfully bought more books and filled another shelf in my bookcase and it is just so satisfying to see! I have a shelf dedicated to each genre I like, so one shelf is just erotica and downright smut, while another is high fantasy/YA fantasy! Then at the bottom are my books on mythology and languages!

I am so proud of my collection 😩 and can't wait to get more books. That new book smell is just-🤌🏻

Do you like books that focus on romance or do you like books that focus on more mystery/conflict and have a good chuck of romance? For me, I like both!

Oh omg reader anon I am in awe at your organization skills akflgjhdkfjghdkjfgh

Right now my 'to be read' pile is a literal pile of books (well, multiple piles, but) scattered around my room and the living room and every once in a while I'll pick one up and actually start reading it (I recently started The Lunar Chronicles, in fact, and I'm already fully in love with Linh Cinder, best girl) and then sometimes I'll get halfway through and pick up another book and sdfklghdkfjhgkjdgh ANYWAY IT IS A WHOLE MESS IS WHAT I'M SAYING. I wish I could have an organized bookshelf but I ran out of space in mine ages ago and it is covered in yet more piles of books (though the ones on or around my shelves are mostly ones I've already read, although I've been eyeing Mistborn and The Wyrd Museum for a reread cause it's been so long, but I think if I started rereading old books right now my unread book piles would coalesce into an autonomous figure and beat me over the head with my own readerly ambition lmfao)

As for your question, honestly it really depends on the book! I absolutely love a good romance-focused narrative (emphasis on 'good', bodice rippers don't usually do it for me but sometimes when I'm in the mood I go to my mom's bookshelf and raid it for something cheap and tawdry (affectionate) that hits just the right button I need pressed at that moment, so y'know, it varies), but I also love books where the romance is incidental to the actual plot. In that case, though, I like it best when the romance and character arcs are woven into the plot rather than forcing the plot to conform to them, you know?

Like, I'll use the Grishaverse trilogy as an example here, because I've been rather hyperfixated on it and the extended world lately, but part of the problem I have with that series is that the romance the author clearly wants you to be invested in and root for at the end of the day is the most boring part of the entire story--and yet it quite literally warps the universe of the books around it to make it the most important part of the main character's journey.

You have a world on the brink of full-scale war where the main character has just discovered she is part of an oppressed minority group that are primed for literal annihilation--she is in the only country where her people can get even a pretense of agency and a fulfilling livelihood (Fjerda burns their witches, Shu-han vivisects them, Kerch sells them into slavery, and even in Ketterdam they aren't really safe unless they can make themselves useful enough to earn protection from one gang or another; the Wandering Isle and Novyi Zem may be the exceptions to the rule, but Fantasy Ireland and Fantasy Australia/Africa never matter enough to the story for any of the characters to find out), and yet even when she is suddenly a target for assassination purely because of what she is, there's never any real sense that she actually cares about Grisha as a whole.

Instead, the only thing she really cares about is her childhood romance. Getting back to Mal is the only thing that matters to her. The show tried to give her a little more agency (where in the books, she was pretty much just buffeted this way and that by the whims of the plot and very rarely made her own decisions about anything; and when she did, they were rarely based in any actual logic, and I say this as someone currently forcing my way through the books so that I can more accurately critique them.... it is intensely aggravating as a reader lmao), but they couldn't change the plot too much, so she winds up coming across as even more stupid than in the source material. And still, Mal and the meadow is a constant refrain, for reasons that, as far as I can tell, are never actually explained beyond 'these two kids traumabonded over their experiences growing up in an orphanage in a war-torn country, and they are dangerously codependent as a result'.

In order for the books to end as they do, Alina can't actually give a shit about the plot going on around her. The romance completely overrides the sense that anything else in this world matters, and when the romance is the most boring part of the plot, focusing on it to the exclusion of all else just makes the entire thing fall flatter than a house of cards in a stiff breeze. And that's the kind of romance I usually don't like--which gets thrown into much sharper relief when you go over to Six of Crows and find romances that actually work with the characters and the world and the plot surrounding them, rather than against it.

So that said, tl;dr: I like both too! But if the narrative is going to be romance-focused, then that romance needs to not be the least interesting part of the plot (traumabonded childhood friends to lovers working through that pain and coming out the other side healthier and happier for it can work really well, if you haven't plopped them in the middle of a world and plot that is much more interesting when they are apart), and if the romance is secondary to the plot, then it needs to take a proper back seat and work with the characters and their individual arcs as they move through the world, rather than attempting to force the plot into a different shape so the romance can work.

#reader anon #asked #grishaverse salt #malina salt #anti malina #just in case

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whisperofthewaves · 3 years

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this post is just my ramblings bc I’ve been reading the book intensely the past two days and things have been spilling out of my brain (spoilers up to ch 95 I guess)

so they mutually decided to break the oaths. they didn’t know full consequences, but they thought the price was worth to save... something. somebody. bodies.

gods dammit I can barely grasp like 30% of the whole cosmere/investiture/shards system going on, there’s so much this can mean.

*throws a dart* is this about making shadesmare and physical realm too close through the bonds and making it easier for odium to escape roshar

*throws another dart* I still seem unable to understand if the radiants abandoning their bonds and the heralds leaving theirs happened at the same time or were two different events lol. and what does that mean if they happened separately (I have a feeling they did. just my memory is terrible).

*thud* was honor killed by odium and then absorbed by him so the radiants had to break the oaths as to not get corrupted. is the storm spren the last free splinter of the honor left uncorrupted. did honor pull the mistborn on the world

*throws another* whose is the anti-Light anyway. Void is Odium’s, Storm is Honor’s, Life’s Cultivation’s. then there’s Towerlight of Sibling which is Honor/Cult., and now we have War of Honor/Odium. it’s getting crowded in here. is the anti-light of Cult./Odium? something else entirely? on top of that even though odium was the newcomer, now his power is part of the local ecosystem. which fair, it’s been a while, it got integrated. and then there was this bit in the epigraphs how the power and the vessel aren’t the same thing necessarily (I feel like I should know that already from mistborn, but I don’t lol), and how Taravangian noticed in his last vision with Odium that the golden light in him was... sickly? on that point, it always felt a little counterintuitive that Odium’s power of all should be warm and golden and nice. but that may not mean anything other than the contrast between its presentation vs odium’s plans. for the flavour.

*plonk* what about that false desolation and something-something-something unmade who jumpstarted it. was that when the radiants and spren decided to break the oaths? * and what about that bit where Sibling said the nodes system was supposed to be larger, but at the time the bondsmith(s) started there was already a decline in radiant ranks (I think?) and there weren’t enough people to implement more than the four nodes (which kinda implied the bondsmith(s) were ones of the last to go), but later Blended (I think) says Sibling somehow terminated their bonds with the bondsmith(s) before the mass dying and that saved the Sibling?

* as an aside why is Wit collecting all the methods of using investiture like pokemons. more access points to investiture?

* I keep forgetting Dawnchant is a thing and that it used symbols which were visual representations of sound vibrations. (if I even remember it right). now what the hell are Dawnshards.

dammit. this is way too much for me. there are already bits I’m forgetting which I’ve read like 4-10h ago, while at the same time some stuff form the previous books is flooding me which I didn’t even know I still remembered.

OH YEAH WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE SLEEPERS. (I haven’t read Dawnshard yet, but I’m half-convinced it won’t help me make things clearer lol, and I did read Edgedancer)

#this is a rambling post excuse me #rhythm of war #row spoilers #long post

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theastrophilearchitect · 3 years

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March TBR/W.

Every book, audiobook, tv show and movie I want to consume in March 2021.

-Hence ‘TBR/W’ - to-be-read/watched.

I’m not usually a fan of pre-planning my media for the month - I plan out all my media obsessively, but doing it by month seems a little too much like setting deadlines for my taste, and I’m sure I’ll somehow manage to turn watching tv into a chore. Regardless, it’s worth a shot, so this is going to be a rough guide - I’m going to pick four of each category, one per week, because I’d rather underestimate and surpass than overestimate and have to defer things to the next month. So let’s go.

Books

1. Skyward and 2. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Skyward is set in a future where the human race is on the verge of extinction, trapped on a planet constantly attacked by alien warriors. Spensa, a teenage girl stuck on the planet, wants to be a pilot, but it seems far-off. Then, she finds the wreckage of a ship that appears to have a soul, and she must figure out how to repair it, and persuade it to help her navigate flight school.

In truth, I mainly want to read this because of how highly it’s been praised by Hailey in Bookland on YouTube. I actually tried reading Sanderson’s Mistborn series a couple years ago, and just didn’t click with it. I love fantasy, but I can pretty confidently say epic fantasy just isn’t for me. However, Sanderson’s work is adored by many, and Skyward and its sequel Starsight appeal so much more to me, and I can’t wait to get to them.

3. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

This is Maas’s first technically-adult book; Throne of Glass is young adult, ACOTAR being classed either as young or new adult. I’ve been a fan of Maas for a long time, and, though I enjoy her books less now than I have in the past due to how seriously they tend to take themselves, I’d still love to read this one. Where her previous series were both fantasies, this sits somewhere between that and a sci-fi, but I can’t say as-of-yet what I think, because I haven’t read it yet.

Bryce Quinlan finds herself investigating her friends’ deaths in an attempt to avenge them after they were taken from her by a demon. Hunt Athalar is a Fallen angel, enslaved by Archangels, forced to assassinate their enemies, when he’s offered a deal to assist Bryce in exchange for his freedom.

4. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

I listened to this as an audiobook in 2019 as part of BookTuber Book Roast’s Magical Readathon, and didn’t hugely get along with it in truth. The audiobook was excellent as an audiobook, but the story Ian’s I just didn’t really vibe. I think I just want to like this book, so I think it’s worth a reread to see if my opinion changes.

This follows Citra and Rowan, a reluctant pair of apprentice Scythes - in a utopian future where humanity has the means to live forever, it is the job of the Scythes to control the population by essentially reaping the souls of those they choose to die. Neither Citra or Rowan want it, but I don’t remember enough about this book to say any more.

Audiobooks

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and you either already know what this series is about, or you’ve been living under a rock for the last thirteen years. I read this book for the first time nearly seven years ago, and it’s stuck with me. It sent me into a phase of only reading dystopian books (The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken was part of this, and was the series that really got me into reading), but this was the main one that stuck with me.

It contains a powerful message about capitalism and discrimination, and this is the second time I’ve listened to the audiobooks, though the god-only-knows-what time I’ve read the series. I listened to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in February, which automatically puts this on my to-listen for March.

2. Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman

This is a novella bind-up set in the Shadowhunters world, that I would imagine has quite a bit to do with the Shadow Market, an aspect of the Downworld introduced in The Dark Artifices, which I finished in January.

In truth, I’m mainly planning to listen to this audiobook because it’s the only Shadowhunters novella bind-up with an audiobook, and I’d just rather read additions to the main Shadowhunters series in this format rather than physically.

3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

This is a Hunger Games prequel that was released early last year, and I just wasn’t going to read it. I heard several reviews, the general consensus of which was basically that it’s not as good as the trilogy and is somewhat unnecessary, but, in truth, my curiosity’s got the better of me, especially since I started listening to the trilogy’s audiobooks again.

This prequel follows Coriolanus Snow as a mentor in the Games before he became President of Panem and the wonderful villain of the original trilogy.

4. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

I mentioned this in my physical TBR post a couple weeks ago, but have decided to listen to the audiobook instead. A few weeks ago, I’d started to run out of audiobooks I wanted to listen to, and didn’t want to read anything on my regular TBR in this format, including this book. But, I went through a load of audiobook recommendations, and this was one of them, so it joined my to-listen.

I’m not hugely into contemporary books, but I’ve wanted to get more into the genre for a while, and this was the first one to join my TBR.

This novel follows Eliza Mirk, your typical high school outcast, who publishes a hugely popular web comic under the pseudonym LadyConstellation. Then Wallace Warland, the biggest fanfic writer of her comic transfers to her school and begins to draw her out of her shell.

TV Shows

Before I go into my list, I’d like to mention that I am currently watching WandaVision and am definitely planning to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+, but both come out on a weekly basis, so aren’t being included on this list. Also, I’ve been watching way too much YouTube recently, so I’m not sure I’ll get through all of these this month, especially since I’m watching the Arrowverse shows, which have such long seasons.

1. Love, Victor Season 1

This Love, Simon spin-off follows a character named Victor at Creekwood (I think that’s the name?) High School. I saw Love, Simon twice in cinemas when it was released, and, miraculously, it made me cry. I love that movie.

This series was released last year on Hulu, which is only available in the US, but as of February 23rd, it’s one of the shows that came to Disney+ as part of Star.

2. The Flash Season 1

As mentioned, I’ve started watching the DC Arrowverse shows. I watch tv shows through alternating seasons - as in, I watch season 1 of show A, then season 1 of show B, then 2 of A, etc., then when I finish one, I start watching show C - but I’m treating the Arrowverse as one show (even though it isn’t) so it’s not the only thing I’m watching. So this is technically Arrowverse S3, preceded by Arrow S1+2 (though I haven’t actually started S2 as of writing this because of how much YouTube I’ve been watching, so I’ll be finishing that first).

I genuinely don’t know that much about most DC superheroes, Flash included, but I’m going into this having been assured it takes itself less goddamn seriously than Arrow. It’s my sister’s favourite Arrowverse show, and I can’t wait.

3. Dare Me Season 1

I added this Netflix show to my watchlist when it came out, and my basic understanding is that it focuses on the cheerleaders at a high school, and begins when a new coach arrives. It focuses on the psychological damage behind competitive cheerleading, and I’m not convinced I’m going to love it, but I think it’s worth a shot.

4. Arrow Season 3

I’m so confused by this poster. This is specifically the season 3 poster, and I’m so confused, but I’m sure it’ll make more sense when I watch the season.

I explained the weird way I’m watching Arrowverse (named as such because Arrow was the first show in it) already, but Arrow follows Oliver Queen, the son of one of the billionaires of Starling City upon his return after being stuck for five years on an island when a cruise ship carrying him and his father sunk. His father left him with a list of names of the people ‘corrupting’ the city, and Oliver takes it upon himself to assume a vigilante identity and take them down.

Movies

I’m not a huge movie-watcher, but I end up compiling so many to watch that, to ensure I get round to them, I watch a movie every time I finish a tv show season. I’m also currently re-watching the MCU movies in chronological order.

1. Instant Family

This is just something that came onto Netflix recently and I thought might be entertaining, and so it joined my list.

This follows a couple who decide to adopt a teenager, only to find out she has two more siblings.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This is just a continuation of my MCU re-watch - I love this movie. I love Guardians of the Galaxy, full stop (on another note, I just generally don’t understand why British people call it a full stop and Americans call it a period. Neither name makes particular sense).

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron

And here we have another continuation of my MCU rewatch. I honestly think this is my favourite Avengers movie, because the whole teams actually together, and Wanda, Scarlet Witch, is introduced - I love her. I really didn’t like Vision until WandaVision came out, though.

4. Behind The Try: A Try Guys Documentary

Not technically a movie, but still. (Are documentaries movies? I tend to think of them as separate categories, but I guess they’re both movies. Hm.) I’ve been watching the Try Guys for years, which means I need to convince my sister to give me her Google password so I don’t have to pay for this.

I’m probably not going to stick to this list, and even if I do, I’m either going to also consume things not on it, or just not finish it. But, you’ll have to wait for my March wrap-up to find out.

#tbr #book #books #reading #reader #bookblr #marchtbr #tv shows #movies #review #films #movie #tv show #writerblr #march tbr

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shinylitwick94 · 3 years

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Finished “The Way of Kings”, by Brandon Sanderson, first in the Stormlight Archive.

I liked it, but the things that annoy me about the way Sanderson writes didn’t magically stop annoying me. Go figure.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the whole book! And very long post!

Dislikes:

1. This book is far, far too long.

It’s 1000 pages long and...not much happens. It’s mainly worldbuilding and setup for future books. A few things do happen, of course, but they’re mostly concentrated at the end of the book. Almost nothing happens in the entire middle portion.

It depends on the POV characters of course, but really, you could remove almost half of it and have a better book. Dalinar’s story is the only one where I feel you wouldn’t have to cut out much. Shallan could easily be 1/3 shorter. And in Kaladin’s case you could (and IMHO opinion should) remove half of it.

Kaladin’s story in particular I found was repetitive and dragged down the pace of the book. You could remove or condense half of those small incidents and still keep the story. Same for his flashbacks. You could have had 1 flashback or maybe 2, and still keep the same elements, instead of what felt like 20.

I’ve had this complaint about a lot of other fantasy books (Wheel of Time, Malazan, Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, even ASOIAF...), but the fact is that the genre is far too willing to tolerate barely edited 500+ page monstrosities. Yes, sometimes it’s justified, but most of the time it’s really not. This didn’t bother me as much when I was a 12 year old with nothing else to do, but as an adult, having to push through 500 pages of fluff to get to a story pisses me off.

To contrast, as usual when I complain about this, the entirety of LOTR is also roughly a thousand pages long. Frodo went to Mordor and back in the time it took Kaladin to get out of Sadeas’ warcamp.

2. I have multiple issues with Sanderson’s writing.

Two major problems here: repetitiveness and action scenes too detailed for my taste.

Sometimes both at the same time.

By which I mean stuff like this:

“Ten heartbeats after the passing of the guards, Szeth Lashed himself to the wall. That direction became down for him, and he was able to run up the side of the stone fortification. As he reached the top, he leaped forward, then briefly Lashed himself backward. He spun over the top of the wall in a tucked flip, then Lashed himself back to the wall again. He came down with feet planted on the stones, facing the ground. He ran and Lashed himself downward again, dropping the last few feet”

(quote thing not working, so italics it is)

This sort of paragraph makes my eyes bleed. And Sanderson’s action scenes are unfortunately always full of this stuff. This was the primary thing that made me decide not to continue with Mistborn and was also the thing that made me drop this book the first time, because the first chapter is like this.

Basically what happens here is that Sanderson really likes his worldbuilding and his magic. So he feels the need to beat you over the head with them again and again and again and again.

It’s most noticeable in action scenes like this, and granted I’m not super fond of action in the first place and tend to skim it, but it also happens in regular prose, since he also apparently thinks his readers have the attention span of a goldfish and so repeatedly explains something he already explained three chapters ago.

In the first ten chapters I felt like he taught me how spheres worked a good 4-5 times.

It just makes me feel like I’m going through a forced tutorial and being treated like a child. FFS trust that your readers can pick up on stuff on their own.

From what I’ve seen a lot of people actually like this overexplaining BS, so it’s clearly a matter of taste, but it sure as hell isn’t to my taste.

Things I’m neutral on:

Characters

The characters land themselves in neutral because while there are some very good ones (hi Dalinar!), most of them are just kind of meh.

Looking at our POV characters, I’d class both Shallan and Kaladin as meh. They’re interesting enough, but not really captivating to read. Just very standard archetypal characters. Nothing wrong with them, but also nothing stands out.

Dalinar and maybe Szeth are the only POV that I really enjoyed as characters on their own.

The secondary cast is fine, with some characters I really liked (Navani, Jasnah, Sadeas - yes, I know, I’ll get to that in a second) and a lot of others that were just ok.

Bridge Four for me falls into this last category. I mentioned in an earlier post that this part of the plot brings to mind Spartacus, Gladiator and now that I think about it even prison movies. Essentially things where an heroic main character is dumped in with a group of dispirited hopeless men and tries to do something with them, which is Kaladin’s whole story here. More importantly, the characters in Bridge Four also largely follow the archetypes for this kind of setting - you have the Gentle Big Guy, the Clever Guy, the Guy Who Does Not Trust The Hero, The Unexpectedly Cultured Guy, The Old Veteran, etc.

Which at the end of the day meant I had trouble connecting to bridge four because I couldn’t look past the archetypes.

To get back to Sadeas - he’s introduced as such an obviously evil character that I really hoped he’d turn out to be something else up until the very end. It would have been far more interesting to have him be a genuine if rahter unscrupulous rival than a very boring, very predictable traitor. This hope is what made me like him so much at first. Alas, it was not to be.

Things I liked:

1. Worldbuilding

Of course.This is what Sanderson is best at and it really shines through here.

Roshar is massively detailed at every level and Sanderson makes sure his big choices regarding the world’s setup are reflected in both the natural world and the societies he creates.

I loved the focus on the natural world, in particular. It’s an aspect that most other fantasy authors don’t usually devote a lot of time to, but Sanderson clearly loves it.

Forget adaptations - I’d kill for an Attenborough-esque documentary on Roshar’s fauna and flora!

The worldbuilding feels a little bit shallower when it comes to peoples and societies, but really this is just nitpicking on my part, it’s great overall.

2. Plot

The plot itself is pretty interesting, even if the pacing could use some improvement.

I particularly liked Dalinar’s part, and Shallan’s once it actually picks up speed.

The ending was also very intense and a lot of fun to read, with what I felt was a good mix of action and big reveals.

Honestly, regardless of my complaining above, I enjoyed this book and had a great time reading it. It’s fun, it just takes a while to get there. And I will be picking up the rest of the series eventually.

For me it’s a solid 4 stars.

As for recommending this, I’d say it’s good for people who already enjoy fantasy a bit, are looking for something completely different and don’t mind a slow start. Oh, and people who want a series that is ongoing but very likely to be finished in a timely manner. Sanderson delivers when it comes to his writing. No Martin/Rothfuss surprises here.

#shinylitwick reads books #stormlight archive #the way of kings

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scienter · 4 years

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1, 7, 19

1. Book I’vereread the most times

Mistborn the FinalEmpire by Brandon Sanderson. I reread it at least once a year. I lovethe characters (Kelsier! Vin! Sazed! Elend! Dox! Marsh! Breeze!Spook! I LOVE THEM ALL!!!) The world building is original andintriguing (a post apocalyptic and ash covered world with an earlyVictorian era feel). I also really enjoy the heist plot (it has anOcean’s 11 vibe going on). Mistborn is my go-to comfort book.

7. Is there a series/ book that got you into reading?

Well I’ve enjoyedreading since I was a kid, but I think the series that really made meidentify as a “reader” is probably the old Star Wars ExpandedUniverse (specifically Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy. And yes Iprefer it to the crap Disney makes now. lol)

19. Most dislikedpopular books?

G.R.R.M’s A Songof Fire and Ice and Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles.

I read Game ofThrones (years ago before the show premiered), and I simply didn’tget the hype. I didn’t care about the characters. The setting isnot original (European medieval setting with knights & dragons –rme puh-lease!). And I didn’t care who got the damn throne in theend. I feel like the only fantasy fan who unimpressed with G.R.R.M.’smagnum opus.

While I liked TheName of The Wind well enough, Wise Man’s Fear killed my enjoymentfor the Kingkiller series. Kvothe is a Gary Stu is excels ineverything. The pacing is glacial as fuck (700 pages into book 2 andhe’s STILL hasn’t graduated from that stupid magic school). Andalthough Rothfuss is praised for his purplebeautifully detailed prose the man sucks at writing females (I’mlooking at you Denna). I also can’t figure out why Kvothe losinghis virginity to some seductive wood nymph requires some 60 odd pagesof detailed devotion? It doesn’t further his characterization orthe plot so what’s the point making me read through chapter afterchapter of Kvothe & Felurian’s sex-capades? All it did was makea painfully slow book series even slower.

(Oh it felt good torant about those! lol)

https://scienter.tumblr.com/post/188997563383/aeryastark-book-asks-book-youve-reread-the

#thanks lint!#asked #asked for ts #book asks #book meme #knives-and-lint #books #misc

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callunavulgari · 4 years

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YEAR-IN-BOOKS | 2019

So. Last year I read 89 books. The year before that I read 39. The year before that I read 23. This year I have (thus far) read 110 books out of my goal of 100 and will likely finish both The Secret Commonwealth and The Library of the Unwritten before the end of the year. I may even finish another depending on which audiobook I go for next. So I’m gonna talk a lot. Again.

1. a book you loved?

Again, I read a lot of books this year. It was a great year for books. I discovered Brandon Sanderson, which has been amazing. I reread at least two different favorite series, some graphic novels, a few books that would ordinarily be outside of my typical genre. But I’m going to pick Red, White, & Royal Blue, which was probably the one I loved the most. Casey McQuiston, for those of you who weren’t in The Social Network fandom, wrote a really fantastic RPF in like 2011 or so. It was gorgeous and while I’m sad that it was never finished, I can still appreciate the crap out of it. RWARB is a story about the son of America’s first female president falling for the Prince of Wales. It is everything I loved about fics like The Student Prince and Drastically Redefining Protocol and more. It’s best universe 100% and I will probably be rereading it within the next few months because I loved it to pieces. Also, it won both best romance and best debut novel on goodreads by a pretty large margin, which is amazing!

2. a book you hated?

I think the only book that I absolutely hated this year was The Gunslinger. Which sucks because a lot of people recommended that one pretty highly, but I either reluctantly enjoy Stephen King’s books or I outright loathe them. My review, directly from goodreads, with a rare one star rating:

“Thing number 1: same guy who did the audiobook recording for The Stand did this one as well. Bad enough. Thing number 2: I forgot how badly Stephen King writes women. I got to listen to this narrator read a scene where a woman has an orgasm because the main character is exorcising a lust demon out of her by shoving a gun into her unmentionables, and then I got to hear someone described as "falling whorishly." DNF at 75%. Sorry. I just could not do it. Falling whorishly was the straw that broke the camel's back.”

3. a book that made you cry?

I definitely cried when I finished The Hero of Ages, which is the third of the original Mistborn trilogy by Sanderson. Without spoiling things... I was definitely crying by the end of it. Might have been crying at the end of the first in the series too. The only other ones I can think of that may have made me sniffle are Everything I Never Told You and To Be Taught, If Fortunate.

The first because it’s a wonderfully crafted little tale about a family getting torn apart when their daughter dies tragically. The whole thing is pulled wonderfully taut with tension, and each of the character’s snippets into Lydia’s life before her death leads you to more and more discoveries until finally everything comes together seamlessly in the end.

The second because it is a little, little book about a big, big universe and is just so achingly beautiful and big inside that it hurts.

4. a book that made you happy?

I mean, I’m tempted to Red, White, and Royal Blue again because it is 100% the one that made me happiest. I was grinning like an idiot half the time I was reading it. But, because answering the same book for two questions seems cheap when I’ve read over 100, so I’m gonna go with King of Scars, which is the sequel to the sequel of the original Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. It took the best things about the original series and combined it with the best parts of Six of Crows and left me with a super riveting, fun read.

5. the best sequel?

Gah, I read so many series this year, so this is kind of hard. I have two answers!

The Well of Ascension, which was the second of the Mistborn novels and probably my favorite and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, which in my humble opinion was leagues better than The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. Not that it was bad, I’m just starved for stories about smart sexy ladies who become pirates and flirt with other pretty pirate ladies.

6. most anticipated release for the new year?

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is still my answer to this one. The release date got pushed back to August of next year instead of March of this one, so provided it doesn’t get pushed back again - that is 100% my answer. Some others I’m excited about: The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, which I found out about two minutes ago, the as yet untitled Stormlight Archive #4 which is apparently coming out in November next year, and like six books that don’t have release dates yet so probably won’t come out until 2021. Oh, oh, oh, and The King of Crows, the fourth in The Diviners series, which I forgot was coming out in February!

7. favorite new author?

Easily Brandon Sanderson. Most of my other favorites that I really loved were all authors I’ve read before. Sanderson was my Rothfuss of 2019. Discovering his books changed my whole damn year.

8. favorite book to film adaptation?

I didn’t reread the series this year, but HBO put out their adaptation of His Dark Materials and it has been absolutely amazing so far! I’m blown away by every single episode and can only hope that the second and third seasons will be this good.

9. the most surprising book?

Okay, so there’s this book that I picked up randomly at the library because I liked its cover. It’s called The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais and it’s about an Indian boy who grows up to become a world famous chef. It’s so, so rich. The detail is wonderful. You can taste the food, feel the sun, be a stranger in a market somewhere in France. It was a true delight of a book and definitely one of my favorites.

10. the most interesting villain?

I read Codename Villanelle shortly after I got into the TV show, and it was actually a surprisingly good book. She’s a great villain. However, I also read Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, which you don’t even realize is about the evil queen until you’re like halfway through the book. That one was really, really well done and I need to get around to reading its sequel.

11. the best makeouts?

I’m tempted to say Chilling Effect because there’s just something about a sassy space pirate making out with her alien crew member whose skin can make her go into anaphylactic shock that really appeals to the part of me that shipped Sheppard/Garrus from Mass Effect, but there were two really steamy ones in The Hating Game (elevators) and Ninth House (slightly dubcon-y bit because one character is drugged, but super searing anyway?).

Also the bit in Red, White and Royal Blue where they make out against a painting of Hamilton in the White House will probably get me every time.

12. a book that was super frustrating?

Again, But Better was a pretty decent book over all. But there were slightly too many pop culture references and listening to an audiobook where the characters are signing along to Blink 182 along with several other songs was a little cringey because the narrator did not actually sing, just kind of singsongy shouted. It was weird.

The Alchemist was also really slow going for such a short book but was over all pretty good.

13. a book you texted about, and the text was IN CAPSLOCK?

I have no real life friends who really read and it is fucking tragic, so the closest I got was recommending a bunch of books to my mom and going off on tangents about how good they were. I think I might have ranted to Nick about a couple of them too.

14. a book for the small children in your life?

I reread The Bartimaeus trilogy again this year and it’s a kid’s book series that I would recommend to literally anybody because it might be my favorite series ever? I also read Lockwood & Co, a kid’s series by the same author who did Bartimaeus, which was fantastic because I didn’t even know he’d written anything since Bartimaeus? It didn’t quite compare, mostly because I adore Bartimaeus way too much, but was still highly entertaining. Spooky kid detectives hunt ghosts!

15. a book you learned from?

While I did not read a single non-fiction book this year (again, whoops), a lot of books are informative even if they’re fiction. Hell, I learned more about cooking from The Hundred Foot Journey than I have in any cookbook out there.

16. a book you wouldn’t normally try?

Maybe Challenger Deep? I’ve been branching out more, so it’s getting harder and harder to tell which books I wouldn’t normally try. I did read like three exclusively romance novels this year, which was a bit odd for me.

17. a book with something magical in it?

I still say all books are magical. And definitely a lot of the books I read were magical, but probably the one with the most magic was The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, which was a meticulously crafted love letter to all stories and fairy tales. It was really magical and definitely lived up to The Night Circus. If she keeps up like this, I won’t even mind the decade between publications, because she has a hell of a way with words.

18. the best clothes?

Maybe either The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (the descriptions of her gorgeous silky green dresses made me deeply envious) or Three Dark Crowns (which had neat food and clothes from what I remember)

19. the most well-rounded characters?

All of Sanderson’s stuff has great characters, but Everything I Never Told You is still probably the one with the best. Celeste Ng is really, really good at making you feel each of her characters down to their marrow.

20. the best world-building?

To Be Taught, If Fortunate was very much wow when it comes to the world building. But so was Ninth Gate and The Alloy Era of the Mistborn novels (sequel series to the original series that takes place hundreds of years after the first series). I also read Saga this year, a graphic novel series about a man and his wife on the run from their governments with their baby daughter because their species are in a long standing war and nobody wants anybody to know that they can procreate. That has some fantastic world building.

21. the worst world-building?

Maybe What If It’s Us? I found that one largely boring.

22. a book with a good sidekick?

Definitely any of the Alloy of Law books. Wayne is a wonderful sidekick and all of the other “side characters” in that series are fantastic.

23. the most insufferable narrator?

Ugh, the Gunslinger. Both the character in the book and the person who narrated the audiobook.

24. a book you were excited to read for months beforehand?

I think the only ones I was really excited for head of time were the two Folk of Air sequels by Holly Black and The Starless Sea. I still need to read Call Down the Hawk, and I’m currently reading The Secret Commonwealth, the sequel to His Dark Materials which I’ve been excited about since I learned that it would be a thing.

25. a book you picked up on a whim?

You already know about The Hundred Foot Journey. We Are Where the Nightmares Go and The Monster of Elendhaven were also both randoms that I picked up during the Halloween season that I really enjoyed.

26. a book that should be read in a foreign country?

The Hundred Foot Journey. 100%

27. a book cassian andor would like?

I still don’t know what to make of this question.

28. a book gina linetti would like?

Probably any of the steamy ones? I honestly don’t know.

29. your favorite cover art?

Probably The Ten Thousand Doors of January. It’s very pretty and flowery and the book itself is fantastic. I also really like the cover of David Mogo, Godhunter.

30. a book you read in translation?

I think The Alchemist was the only book I read that was translated from another language.

31. a book from another century?

Ha! North and South was first published in 1854. Other than that the oldest ones I’ve got were written in the 80s (Shards of Honor, Ender’s Game, and The Alchemist) or the 50s (The Two Towers).

32. a book you reread?

This year I reread the Bartimaeus Trilogy, the Temeraire novels (and then finished the last two I hadn’t read yet), Sabriel, and The King of Attolia.

33. a book you’re dying to talk about, and why?

I have clearly talked enough at this point. I think the only one that I loved that I didn’t get a chance to talk about already was Horrorstor, which is a book about haunted Ikea (basically). It’s fantastic and hilarious and spooky and now that I think about it Gina Linetti would probably like it. Oh, and The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy, which was a retelling of an old Russian tale. It was great.

TLDR; Read Sanderson’s books, Leigh Bardugo’s books, and whatever Casey McQuiston writes for the next 30 years.

#heather says what #new year's memes #2019 #books to read #recommendations #fuck yeah recs!!#this was a mistake why am i still awake #oh right because i can't shut up and talk about books for two hours #in a post that will largely probably only be read by myself a year from now #it's okay though because i like looking back on them

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boldlybloggingbooks · 5 years

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The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson

So I’m still on my Cosmere bender, having started with The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) in October. Eight books – now nine, after finishing this one – later and… I’m still blown away. Sanderson’s skill, his worldbuilding, his character development…! There’s not enough praise I can heap on these books.

Summary:

Six years after the murder of King Gavilar, the Alethi kingdom is still at war with the mysterious Parshendi. With each highprince fighting on the Shattered Plains for his own glory and to earn Shardblades and Shardplate, the original purpose of the war – revenge for Gavilar – has slowly faded from their minds. For Brightlord Dalinar Kholin, however, the war isn’t his only challenge – strange storm-induced visions order him to reunite the highprinces and kingdom.

Slave Kaladin Stormblessed has just been sold to a new master, Brightlord Sadeas, who also fights on the Shattered Plains. Ordered to run as a bridgeman, the lowest of soldiers who are responsible for carrying chasm-spanning bridges into battle, the darkeyed Kaladin is lost. His faith in lighteyes has been shattered, he’s lost everyone he’s ever cared for, and he’s not expected to survive in his new role. But when mysterious things begin happening to Kaladin, he comes to learn that his part in the world is greater than he ever imagined.

Far across the sea in Jah Keved, Shallan Davar seeks out the scholar and heretic, Jasnah Kholin. Shallan’s father’s recent death has thrown their family into chaos as debts are being called in and a strange group begins making threats on the Davar family. Jasnah holds the key to the survival of Shallan’s family, but will Shallan be strong enough to do what she came to do?

* * *

Once again, the first book of the Stormlight Archive opens on a new world with new characters and a new system of magic. Roshar, a world of rock and stone, is probably the harshest of the cosmere worlds I’ve read (although Mistborn’s Lord Ruler era was pretty bad). The plants are rocklike, the animals are rocklike, and harsh highstorms can destroy anything in their path. Even rainwater has a sediment-like material (called crem) in it. As harsh as the world is, however, the peoples of Roshar have learned to survive.

The magic on Roshar is different as well. It’s not fueled by metals like in the Mistborn books. It’s not powered by breaths and color as it is in Warbreaker. It’s not even fueled by drawing Aons, such as in Elantris. No, magic in the Stormlight Archive is powered by… ta-da, Stormlight. A glowing power that is contained within gemstones which people trade as currency or use to light a darkened space. At this particular point in time in The Way of Kings, individuals who can harness Stormlight and use it are basically myth. Those who once held that power, the Knights Radiant, fell ages ago after abandoning mankind.

I think what I’m enjoying most about the magic of Stormlight Archive is that the magic truly has its limits. Very few people can use it. This means that not everyone is the same magical threat to each other; however, it makes those who can use it very dangerous to everyone else. And it truly is limited – you had to have Stormlight-infused spheres with you in order to Breathe in the Stormlight. Once those spheres are dun and the Stormlight has been spent, the user is out of power. Finally, since the ability to use these powers has, for the most part, been lost, no one is a true powerhouse using the abilities granted by Stormlight. Well, except for Szeth, but his full backstory hasn’t been told. Yet.

The Way of Kings is told through several POV’s. For the most part we hear from Shallan, Dalinar, and Kaladin. There are a few chapters from Szeth’s perspective, and those serve to explain the chaos he’s being ordered to sow throughout the lands. There are a few other perspectives we hear from, mostly between the parts in which the story is told. I enjoyed reading Kaladin’s sections the most. He had the greatest character development, in my opinion, but that’s also because we’re introduced to him when he’s practically at rock bottom – mentally, emotionally, and physically. The reasons behind his beaten-down state are completely valid, and he doesn’t just overcome his struggles in one event. Undoing as much harm as was done to him takes quite a bit of time. Dalinar’s POV was my second favorite. Brother to the murdered king and also known as The Blackthorn, Dalinar faces an entirely different kind of struggle. He’s the first to realize that the “war” is just being taken for a game among the other highprinces – even the current king, Elhokar, has been sucked into this game. With each vision that Dalinar sees in the highstorms, he becomes increasingly convinced that he must do something drastic to change the tides of war and unite the kingdom. But against and in preparation of what… he has yet to know. And finally, Shallan. The secluded daughter from the Davar family, Shallan has struck out on her own with the intent to steal Jasnah’s Soulcaster, a powerful object which can transform one substance into another. The Soulcaster is the only item that can help save her family, but Shallan’s worldly inexperience proves to be her first obstacle because in order to get close to Jasnah, Shallan must become her ward and assist with research. I can understand how Shallan’s lack of experience lends to her indecisiveness and frequent confusion (and it was gratifying to watch her grow as a scholar), but I just felt like there wasn’t enough to her as a character. Obviously, this is only book one in the series, so I’m hoping that Shallan develops further as the plot progresses.

There was something captivating and relatable about this new story in the cosmere, despite it being fantasy. Several times around reading, I found myself almost using “spren” in a sentence – and I did say “flamespren” aloud at one point to people who hadn’t read these books, and boy, did they look confused. Sanderson’s command of words is magnificent; despite introducing so many new terms and people and ideas, the words flow so smoothly that after a while, you hardly realize that you’re immersed in a new world while creationspren crowd about you.

Yes, I’m still dying to really learn about Hoid and what his purpose is in the cosmere, and I’ve been told that it will come in the next books. Well, it better come soon because his storytelling and world jumping is absolutely baffling to me.

There’s so much more I could get into, and I haven’t even started on my theories for what I hope will happen in the next books. But that would keep me from starting on the next book. “Journey before destination;” well, I’m greatly enjoying the journey that Brandon Sanderson’s books have taken me on, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

* * *

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

#books #bookworm #book review #the way of kings #stormlight archive #brandon sanderson #booklr

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sterisladrian · 5 years

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1, 7, 9, 15 for cosmere asks!

1. When did you start the cosmere?

I’m pretty sure it was around the time my middle sister graduated from college, which would have been around 2008-2009ish? I remember reading a mass market of Mistborn that my oldest sister lent me while we were staying in a hotel, so I think that’s right. So I’ve been reading the cosmere for a decade, more or less!

7. What’s your favorite cosmere theory?

Honestly, I’m totally out of touch about current theories within the cosmere. I might have to think on this one and come back to it.

9. What other fantasy books do you like?

Oh man, what fantasy books don’t I like. (Case in point–I’m making a career out of my love of reading fantasy books.) Let’s talk about some good ones I’ve read this year:

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang – Brutal and devastating, but so, so good.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty – Incredible world-building and a whopper of an ending.

The House of Shattered Wings and The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard – Set in a ruined Paris populated by fallen angels, it’s got complex characters, compelling mysteries, and prose that is to die for.

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden – Just finished the last one a couple weeks ago and almost cried in front of strangers on a bus. Based in Russian folklore, has a protagonist that I adore, and a world that you won’t want to leave.

The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin – This one kind of blurs the sci-fi/fantasy line, but there is definitely magic in it, so it counts. All three books won the Hugo for Best Novel in consecutive years, and there’s a reason for it. ‘The trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece.

(Five is probably enough, right? I could honestly go on for a long, long time. If anyone wants more fantasy recs, I’ve read a ton of good ones in this year alone, so feel free to ask me for more!)

15. I am a stick?

I am a stick.

Ask me cosmere questions?

#cosmere #blueboxinthecosmere #fantasy recs #reading recs #cosmere asks #thanks for asking! :)#hello leah's mundane thoughts

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jmhwritesstuff · 5 years

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Writer Ask

(I wasn’t tagged or anything, but I was bored and felt like rambling a little, so I just answered the whole list.)

What age-group do you write?

Mostly YA, but I occasionally border into adult.

What genre do you write?

Fantasy is my go-to, but I’ve dabbled in Contemporary, Horror, and Sci-fi from time to time over the years.

Do you outline according to big ideas or small details?

I’m not great at outlining, but if there’s ever anything (big or small) that I feel the need to write notes on, then I’ll do a little brainstorming so I have a document on hand if I need it.

Which do you prefer–line-editing or plot-revisions?

Plot revisions. It’s frustrating as hell, but I like to make sure everything is as it should be for the purpose of the story.

Do you write better with or without deadlines?

Neither, honestly. Deadlines don’t compel me to get things done, they just stress me out, and no deadlines also stress me out because … it just gives me more reason not to do anything, and then I just feel really bad about it, which makes me not want to do it more. It’s a never ending cycle that I desperately need to break.

What would be the biggest compliment you could hope to receive on your current WIP?

That it’s actually interesting enough to keep readers wanting more.

How long is your current WIP?

It’s still sitting at 40k, but right now I’m abandoning it for something new which is still in the planning stages.

What author would you be most excited to be compared to?

I have no idea. I guess any of the most well-known YA writers.

What do you struggle most with as a writer?

Consistency. I’m forever fighting with myself to get more words down and finish something.

Do you brain-storm story ideas alone or with others?

Mostly alone. Sometimes I have a friend who likes to bounce ideas around with me, but writing has always been such a lonely thing for me.

Do you base your characters off of real people?

Not really. I did it once, but now that I’m rewriting that particular novel, the characters have become their own people.

Is your writing space clean or cluttered?

A bit of both. I like to be organised but there’s not much room, so I just make do.

Do you write character-driven or plot-driven stories?

I think I always fall on the character-driven side. I try to focus more on plot when it’s necessary but it never feels good enough to me, so that’s pretty difficult.

Do you have a favorite writing-related quote?

Something about shovelling sand into a box to later make sandcastles? I don’t know. I’ve seen so many quotes about writing, but not many stand out.

If you transport your original characters into another author’s world, which world would you choose?

I’d like to see them in Throne of Glass. I think giving over my characters to SJM would be a fangirl moment for me, just to see what she would do with them.

Would your story work better as a movie or tv show? Why?

That’s hard to say. Freefall would probably be a movie. But the world of The Divine … maybe a show.

Do you make soundtracks for each story?

I’ve started to! I create playlists on Spotify for them.

If you could assign your story one song, what would it be?

When the Sun Goes Down - Tommee Profitt

Would you rather live in your characters’ world, or have your characters come live in our world?

Characters’ world. I wouldn’t want them to be ordinary.

What book would you love to see adapted for the big or small screen?

I don’t know. I’m open to any - my biggest gripe with most book-to-movie is the production teams behind them. It’s gotta be right. Stop messing with cheap production value on Fantasy.

Do you finish most of the stories you start?

Nope!

Has your own writing ever made you cry?

Yes.

Are you proud or anxious to show off your writing?

Neither, I guess. I like to show my stuff once I consider it a decent standard, and then I enjoy gaining feedback just to see if there’s anything I never considered or maybe missed.

When did you start considering yourself a writer?

Probably when I was around 17. I was writing a bunch of teen drama drabbles and got a lot of readers/likes/comments. That was when I think I really started to consider trying to make some kind of career out of it.

What books are must-reads in your genre?

Stuff by Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Sarah J Maas, Laini Taylor. So, like, Throne of Glass, Mistborn, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and The Black Prism. There’s honestly so many, just scour goodreads and dive in.

What would you like to see more of in your genre?

Can I go with less? Like, don't get me wrong, Fantasy is my favourite genre, but the political intrigue part can get really heavy, and really drawn out, really fast. It’s my least favourite part about Fantasy, but unfortunately is a massive convention of that genre. Also, I think I clearly need to read more Fantasy that’s a bit more gruelling - I’ve read so many books that came so close to being dark and tragic, and then shies away from it to make way for happy endings. And Happily Ever Babies. No thank you.

Where do you get inspiration from?

I used to get it from other books, movies, and video games. At this point in time, though … I’m not entirely sure.

On a scale of 1-10, how much do you stress about choosing character names?

Not at all, really. If I don’t think of a name right away that I feel fits the character, then I give them a placeholder name until I find the right one.

Do you tend to underwrite or overwrite in a first draft?

Probably underwrite. Maybe even half and half.

Does writing calm you down or stress you out?

Mostly calms me down, depending on how much pressure I’m feeling that day.

What trope do you actually like?

Friends to lovers. Cold guy with violence in his veins actually has a soft heart. The Chosen One. Parents are conveniently absent. Slow burn. Protagonist has to die to save the day (but actually die).

That’s just off the top of my head. I’m okay with most tropes to be honest.

Do you give your side-characters extensive backstories?

I never used to, but I’m starting to build on that more these days.

Do you flesh-out characters before you write, or let their personalities develop over time?

I write down the basics such as appearance and/or particular quirks or personality traits. But most of the time, the personalities develop on their own, and a lot of what I originally intended them to be doesn’t work out.

Describe your old writing in one word.

Amateur.

Is it more fun to write villains or heroes?

I really enjoy writing heroes - I love giving them their darkest moments and their epic comebacks.

Do you write with a black and white sense of morality?

No.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to new writers?

Write what you want and take every single piece of writing advice with a grain of salt. Not everything you read or try to make your writing better will work for you, so find what does, and don't worry about what everyone else is doing.

What’s one piece of writing advice you try–but fail–to follow?

Set a wordcount goal every day and stick to it in order to form a better and consistent writing habit. I’ve tried and failed this countless times.

How important is positive reinforcement to you as a writer?

Personally, I don’t know. I think it’s important to know the difference between criticism and constructive criticism, though, and that you don’t have to make the changes suggested by others to what you’ve written or where you intend to go with the story.

What would you ask your favorite author if given one question?

How the hell do you do it?

Do you find it distracting to read while you’re writing a first draft?

Not at all. I actually think it helps me a lot.

Do critiques motivate or discourage you?

It’s subjective, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s helpful, and sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes you get feedback from someone who knows what they’re talking about, and sometimes you get utter nonsense. So … learn the difference.

Do you tend to write protagonists like yourself or unlike yourself?

There’s definitely some amount of myself reflected in them. I learnt that while studying self-reflection in prose at university a few years ago.

Our class basically had to sit around a table and discuss personal process within our writing and what messages we think we might be trying to convey within our work. It soon moved on to whether or not we imagine ourselves as the protagonists (because that’s a popular writer stereotype) in our stories. Most of our answers were ‘no’, but most of us did discover a lot of links between the two.

For instance, the majority of my protagonists have always been orphans. No parents, no siblings. I didn’t grow up without a family or siblings, but my familial relationships have always been super strained my whole life. Instead of trying to write positive familial relationships, it was easier to cut them out entirely and replace it with the Found Family trope instead.

How do you decide what story idea to work on?

Whichever one has been running around my head the most at the time is usually the one I end up getting the itch to write.

Do you find it harder or easier to write when you’re stressed out?

Harder.

What Hogwarts house would your protagonist(s) be in?

I don’t know, and I don’t care.

Where do you see yourself as a writer in five years?

Nowhere. And that’s not trying to be self-deprecating. I’m literally struggling to hold on to my passion for it lately. You know how most writers imagine seeing their book on a shelf someday? I don’t get that. Not anymore. Or at least not at this point in time.

Would you ever co-write?

I would! It would depend on a few things, but I like the thought of it.

Are you a fast and rushed writer or a slow and deliberate writer?

Slow and deliberate. I’d like to be fast, but it’s just not in me.

Would you rather be remembered for your fantastic world-building or your lifelike characters?

I don’t know. Characters, probably.

#writer #writing #writer ask #writing questions #long post #jmhwriter

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booksaroundtheworld · 6 years

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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

5 STARS

The last time a book made me feel anything like how I feel now was three years ago when I read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. And while Mistborn will forever be my favorite book, god damn it Poppy War, you were close.

I had a wildly inaccurate idea of what The Poppy War was going to be about before I started it. Having barely skimmed the summary, I figured I was dealing with a YA fantasy, similar to hundreds of others that I've read. I assumed it'd be good (ratings don't lie), and that it'd have intrigue and romance, probably something similar to The Winner's Curse trilogy (a great YA fantasy trilogy, by the way). Boy, was I wrong. I was not at all expecting The Poppy War to be a full-fledged fantasy book and, more importantly, for it to be so. damn. GOOD.

The Poppy War follows Rin, an orphan from a poor province in the Nikara empire, an alternative, fantastical Ancient China. Desperate to escape her life and her foster family who would love nothing more than to get rid of her, 14-year-old Rin decides to prepare for the Keju, an empire-wide exam that serves as an entrance exam to the empire's universities (so like the SAT, but on steroids). If that wasn't difficult enough, Rin also has to ace the exam in order to get into Sinegard, the top military school, and the only one that offers free tuition. Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, Rin studies her ass off for two years, with an unmatched level of dedication and determination. At 16, she gets the top score in the province and heads to Sinegard, expecting her life to get infinitely better. Spoiler, it doesn't. From her wealthy and elitist classmates who all hate her, to her prejudiced teachers who expect nothing of her, to Rin's doubts about her own abilities, Sinegard becomes a living hell. If you're thinking that this sounds like a classic YA novel up until this point, you're right!! Those were my exact thoughts. But fear not, this is the light-hearted stuff and the teen drama doesn't last for long. The Nikara Empire is on the brink of war with the neighboring Federation, and although Rin is barely prepared for it, she finds herself right in the middle of everything.

Other than the plot itself, there's so much to love about The Poppy War. The characters are amazing, and you really see them grow through the 3-4 year timeline of the book. On top of that, R.F. Kuang is a truly fantastic strategist. The war she writes feels so realistic that you can't help but actually feel like these characters are master strategists who have trained in the art of war for years. I can only imagine how long it took for this level of world, history, and religion building because it's so in-depth. Also, I'm pretty sure Kuang is a debut author so that's even more impressive.

This book isn't meant to make you feel good, particularly in the second half. It's gory, it's violent, it's dark, it's drug-addled - it is, after all, a depiction of war. I read one of Kuang's blog posts that said that The Poppy War is centered on the 1937 Rape of Nanjing, which I knew absolutely nothing about. The level of research she did on this was clearly very extensive and really shows that her book, while gruesome, was not unrealistic.

But for anyone that loves fantasy, there is no question of whether or not to read this. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed The Poppy War and how excited I am to see where R.F. Kuang takes us next.

P.S. Forgot to mention that everyone is Asian!! Look at that R E P R E S E N T A T I O N!

#the poppy war #r.f. kuang #book review

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