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Tor Releases the Prologue for Shadows of Self


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We got specific Fauna an Flora! I'm ridiculously excited about that fact.

So it seems like the area around Elendel is African-ish, between the Giraffes, Acacias, and Lions. Now I really want to see a map of the continent(s) so we can get an idea what else there might be around

I also found an error... do I just leave it here?

Lessie knew he could Push the bullets away, so when she’d joined him in running up the steps.

It's just an incomplete sentence. I suspect it just needs a "..." on the end.

Edited by LabRat
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That was a pretty adorable first meeting. A few typos did bug me, but I think that's not really our job to fix at this point.

The giraffes

really threw me for a loop--that was not at all what I'd been imagining.

I do think the humor felt a little forced, but I'm super excited for the book regardless.

Edit: just in case it's useful to Peter, here are the typos that bothered me most.

magnifying his weight manifold in an instant.

forced himself to twist around, shanking himself free of the broken wood

Edited by ccstat
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I'm choosing not to read it until the book is released. Why do I feel like I should just avoid these forums in their entirety until November?

Because you are a sane and intelligent person?

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I liked it, though a few continuity concerns (assuming Peter is reading this? I'd prefer to say it here rather than leave everything in the comments on Tor):

 

-Apparently we're capitalizing Shove now? I just wanted to double-check this wasn't either a failing of my memory or an error.

-Are there really "thousands" of nails in the floor? That seems like a relatively high density of nail:wood...

 

-Continuity concern with the two guards with Joe?

The two guards didn’t move. No metal lines on the guard on the right, Waxillium thought. Or on Joe himself. The one on the right had a handgun, perhaps trusting the speed of his draw against a Coinshot. The other two had fancy hand-crossbows in their holsters, he bet. Single shot, made of wood and ceramic. Built for killing Coinshots.

 

So the "guard on the right" doesn't have any metal lines but the "one on the right" does?

 

As an unrelated note in that paragraph it took me a moment to parse that "the other two" meant Joe and the other guard, rather than "the other two guards" or the like, which confused me since I had just read that there were only two guards. It's cleared up quickly enough, but I did stumble over it; then again that could just be a testament to my failings as a reader.   :unsure:

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I do think the humor felt a little forced, but I'm super excited for the book regardless.

I felt that way too. Although, it is very Brandon. Felt really similar to Wit's mockery in WoK and Lightsong's conversations with Blushweaver in Warbreaker. The kind of humor that manifests when a writer has too much time to think about it.

 

Aside from it being relevant to fill in Wax's background with Lessie, did anyone else feel like spending time with Lessie is wasted time? Since we know she dies and we don't want to fall in love with her character. Or is that just me?

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@Kurkistan: Just checked my ebook of the original trilogy, and it seems like "shove" wasn't capitalized in those books. However, I can't say if it was that way in Alloy of Law (I'll check that later, I only have a hard cover of that book..., I'm now kind of curious to see if it was...)

 

Just one bit of nitpicking from me: (Sorry...) D;
 

"The kid–round-faced and seventeen, with barely a hint of stubble on his face, despite weeks of trying–nodded with a solemn expression."[/size]

 
This sentence seems a bit awkward to me...

 

Also, I just realized that (mentally) I always change Waxillium's name to "Wax" when I read his perspective... >.>
 

I do think the humor felt a little forced, but I'm super excited for the book regardless.

I feel that it's a bit out of character for Wax, personally but it might be that we're so used to him being cold(er) and stern(er) that it's kind of strange to think he didn't have a stick up his...anyway. I find it much more weird than forced, personally, it...oddly reminds me of someone else...heh heh heh (and not Wit). :P
 

Also, man, catching your spur (or any part of your boot) on the stirrup really, really hurts, just fyi. *past experience* -.- 

Edited by Nymp
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The humor - or at least the levity - of the conversations made an impression on me as well. It's been a while since I read The Alloy of Law, but I don't remember Wax talking like this, I remembered him as more... solemn. Not entirely, but more in that direction. Still, I like him. 

 

I also now ship him and Lessie. Waxie is now a thing.

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A fun read. I find it interesting how awful Wax is at shooting, particularly considering he became one of the best later on. Maybe some evidence for Allomantic steel savantism?

His "steel bubble" for deflecting bullets as well

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The humor - or at least the levity - of the conversations made an impression on me as well. It's been a while since I read The Alloy of Law, but I don't remember Wax talking like this, I remembered him as more... solemn. Not entirely, but more in that direction. Still, I like him. 

 

I also now ship him and Lessie. Waxie is now a thing.

 

Hmmm, is there something in the air? It smells like character development to me. (Considering that Breeze is his ancestor, I was wondering where the snarker was in AoL. Now we know...poor Wax...) 

 

Huh...considering that the Roughs are on the Northern Continent...Does that mean that Scadrial is still in the same orbit that it was before Sazed took the Shards (the one TLR put it in when he was messing around with that kind of stuff...)? Since the Savannah is found near to the equator on earth and it seems that Scadrial is nearer to its sun than we are, I guess this makes sense...

 

So, are there elephants too?

Edited by Nymp
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I just now realized this prologue must be from his past. Initially I assumed that it takes place after The Alloy of Law, Wax going to the Roughs for some reason. His levity feels far less out of character after this realization... 

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It is interesting to see wax as a couple of things he is not in AoL.

-A bad shot

-Humorous

-Still working on his "thing"

And

Giraffes, acacias, and lion were really a surprise. I guess it makes sense since it is actually near the equator, despite being the magnetic north.

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Little Wayne - with a bowler hat. I'm happy!

 

With regards to the humour - it's didn't feel dissimilar to the humour in AoL to me although admittedly a lot less of it came directly from Wax himself in that book. He tended to be the butt of it (from Wayne) rather than the instigator but, given the timeline, I think that works He's much more gauche here and I'm intrigued how he got from this iteration to the one we know in AoL.

 

I spotted a few typos but I think they've all been mentioned in this thread already.

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Well looks like I'll need to make that Shadows of Self spoiler board in fairly short order.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the giraffes yet.

Edited by Chaos
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Well looks like I'll need to make that Shadows of Self spoiler board in fairly short order.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the giraffes yet.

 

I think a few people did behind spoiler tags. They're obviously top-secret giraffes!

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It weirded me out that Wayne was a teenager.

 

AoL

Lessie hasn't died yet, so it makes sense that he has a completely different character. Didn't Wax spend 15 years in the roughs before coming back to Elendel for AoL?

 

Edited by Curiosity
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That was... amazing. Seeing Wax as a wannabe gentleman bounty hunter was great.

"I still think you have nice legs." Thats so smooth Wax, one could almost think that you were a soother instead of a coinshot :lol:

 

Too bad we didnt get to see more of young Wayne, I want to see how different he was too.

 

Maybe Lessie will be more important to the plot than we think? Not just because she is Wax's old girlfriend.

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