Serity Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 So I've picked up Shadows of Self after rereading Alloy, and I'm currently about a 3rd of the way through the book. Before starting it, however, I made the mistake of reading the blurb on the inside of the dust jacket. Most of it was fine--dry, wouldn't convince me to buy it, but it's a Sanderson so I already know I want to--but then I got to this last paragraph: At the heart of the story this time are one of the Mistborn series' most intriguing creations, the kandra, nonhuman creatures who can impersonate any animal or person they've digested. Some of them now work directly for the god Harmony, functioning very much like our angels. But one has gone mad and into rebellion against Harmony, and she is just as determined as Lucifer to have her own way, even at the cost of everything accomplished since the rebirth of Scadrial's civilization. First of all, this undercuts pretty much the whole drama of the first part by telling us who the murderer is. Wax's investigation--tracking down Idashwy, etc.--all becomes kind of uninteresting when there's no suspense because the inside cover already as much as told us a kandra stole her powers with Hemalurgy and then did the murder. Second, I might be wrong but I didn't think these books were marketed to a specifically Christian audience. So what brilliant marketer thought "Hey, you know what we should tell people who are deciding whether to buy this book? That it's a metaphor for Christian mythology." After the previous books, especially Hero of Ages, handled religion in such a mature and thought-provoking way without seeming to pick a side, I had hoped for better than the book coming out and saying "Hey, angels and Lucifer are real. We all know this, right?" I mean, that would be like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows saying "Harry, like our Jesus, died to save the people of his world and was returned to life to triumph over the devil Voldemort." Having similarities to Christian mythology is fine, but when you pull them out that explicitly you're alienating everyone who's not a Christian. Anyway, I just thought the whole thing was weird. I know it's probably not Brandon's doing, but I'm still disappointed. I usually love buying Brandon's books in physical form because the production value is so high, but this one I'm a little embarrassed to have on my shelf. Did anyone else notice/get bothered by this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattig89ch Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 I have the audible version of the book, so I never saw that blurb. That said, It does kinda spoil most of the plot. Theres still a big thing at the end (not going to spoil it for you), and the actual investigating is pretty interesting overall. If you can, I would still read it. You don't have the how, or why of it yet. And those two pieces are pretty big deals in the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Invested Beard Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 (edited) "Some of them now work directly for the god Harmony, functioning very much like our angels." This is a little weird. It's playing pretty fast and loose with even a normal Christian ideology. So not only is it unnecessary, it's poorly written. Wonder how this got past the eye of the editorial staff. Is that on the US version? Edited January 30, 2016 by The Invested Beard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master_Moridin Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 It is on the US version. Got my copy right here. It is weird that it made it to print. Oddly phrased, and spoilery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormgate Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 And it wasn't even honest. Some of them work for Harmony? Try most of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardbearer Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 Wow, is that a terrible cover blurb or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrae Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 I wonder who wrote that blurb. Hopefully they won't be hired again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Expanding on this, one day I was showing my fiance the hardcover signed books I got from Sanderson as she is considering giving reading them a shot since I love these books so much. Personally i always read ebooks since I read constantly, and that helps me to always have a book on hand, but I have been collecting the hardcovers for just coolness factor. What I realized as I read the descriptions on each of them with her, is I didn't like a single one. I even feel had I never read a Sanderson book before, and read such a description, I would probably have put the books back on the shelf. This surprises me considering how much I love all of Sanderson's books. Has this happened to anyone else? Again for reference, I am speaking of specifically the hardcover english versions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Invested Beard Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 I think everyone's on the same page here. We should really bring this up with Peter next time he's around and see if there's some way to enact stricter quality control on these blubs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencer12347 Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 This is the reason why I took me so long to start reading his books and how surprised I was when I started them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattig89ch Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 what is, the badly written dust cover? never judge a book by its dust cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRyan Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 I don't even... what? I own the hardcover of SoS (never actually read it as most of my reading is done on my kindle app) and I will definitely be checking this out when I get home. How did that EVER make it past... well, anyone? This is pretty mind-bending to me haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.d41b1ca865930ccf5f63b08a839f908e.png){kind=logo}
Recommended Posts