Lightning

I just asked Brandon about this at the midnight signing, and he said he didn't think the Lord Ruler's bracers were hemalurgic, and Peter backed him up on that. So apparently we have some conflicting statements.

It sounds like I'll actually be there a little after 8, but I've put my decks in the car already, so I'm set.

My daughter has a concert this evening just south of campus, so I'll be on campus right after that (probably around 7-8 pm). I was thinking that it would be easiest to just grab a table in the Wilk (warmer in there than outside), and then get in line around 9:50 for the signing. I will try to bring my extra decks, for those who may be interested in joining us but don't have decks handy.

I imagine I'll be at BYU before they open the doors. Anyone else interested in some Magic the Gathering, commander format?

zas678, Are you sure they can get into the midnight release? I seem to remember at the last BYU release, we had to have the wristbands we got from ordering the book. But maybe I'm misremembering...

I was checking right up until my class started at 12:00pm. So I missed the sign-up time by about 55 minutes. Oh well, maybe I'll get REALLY lucky in the raffle.

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. So I just have to order by Oct. 1st to keep whatever number I get. Final question: as far as I could tell, we are supposed to check the website around noon tomorrow for the digital line website. Is that right?

Hmmm... but can't I ALREADY sign up to get the pre-ordered book at the BYU store? What do you mean sign up early in the day?

Okay, so I understand how to get into the raffle for books 1-100. But how do I get a good place on the digital line? That part wasn't very clear.

My impression was that what they did prevented them from returning to their torture. But maybe I read too much into the story there.

So, what will happen if in fact the stolen blade is an honorblade, and it is placed in the circle where the other honorblades where put (at the beginning of the first book)? Would this actually break the honor-pact?

AMEN! Not to mention Brandon's unusual coyness with respect to whether that really was a herald after all...

Why be Adonalsium, when you can be a reconstituted Adonalsium? ;-)

I went into the 4th Eragon book with very high hopes. The first two books were fun (if not deep), and I liked the third one okay. But the 4th one was just AWFUL! First, I had to wait YEARS for it to come out. When it finally did, it seemed like they gave the author too much free rein. He needed a good editor. There was one part where it seemed like he droned on for 10 pages about toenails or something. The last 200-300 pages could have been cut from the book and nothing good would have been lost. I should have stopped, but I didn't. I guess the good thing that came out of it was I will no longer read his books. So there is that...

I used to think having multiple personalities was a bad thing. I used to think killing God-kings was a big no-no. I used to think eating lots of metals would be bad for your health. I used to laugh at people who drew with chalk on their sidewalks. I used to think that living in a world with semi-sentient animals who hunt humans would be scary. Now I KNOW it would be scary. I used to think stamps needed ink. I used to think cloning would-be dictators was insane. I used to think wearing aluminum hats was only for nut-jobs. I always knew that being blind would help you be awesome at psionics. I used to get mad at my kids for breaking things.

The public martyring didn't overthrow him. Vin did. If she hadn't dealt with him, the Lord Ruler would have survived any uprising. He literally could have killed the entire city if he wanted to.

What's really weird is that

Only in the books we have so far.

I would probably side with those who believe the Lord Ruler would win. However, we have LOTS of instances where people stab the Lord Ruler. He thinks he is immortal, and so unless he is actively looking for invested objects nearby, there is a chance that he would just let himself be stabbed. Insta-loss.

I hope you guys have a fun time. If you're ever in the Talmage, feel free to stop by my office (318 TMCB).

Sazed's bane?

Frankly, having once been addicted to World of Warcraft, and having now come back to the real world, I think my ideal would be pretty close to this world. I'm not a person who enjoys violence in "real life". So, yeah, I'm pretty boring!!

D'oh. I just saw this today.

I think I would have been shocked by some of the story, if my wife hadn't read it first, and warned me. Because of that, I was able to ignore the overt parts (and apparently the swear words too), and just really enjoy the story! [However, I won't recommend this book to my brother, who is bothered by such things, or let my daughter read it. So, overall, I think that those parts were unnecessary, and not in line with Brandon's previous style, so potentially upsetting.] Still, the story (apart from those things) was awesome! In fact, it was so good that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for the last couple of days. Here are some things I keep thinking about. 1. When Sophie touched Kai, to change his code, I was wondering whether she also added a virus to that code (for some inscrutable purpose). I imagine that the code deals with how the computer sends signals to Kai's brain, how Kai sees himself, and so forth. Can you change your code to make your brain think you are suffocating? (Can the code actually make the machines taking care of your brain lower the oxygen output, and actually make you suffocate?) Using the code can you make yourself look like whatever you want? Could you make yourself have horrible sores? An old body? etc... 2. The fact that Sophie/Mehli didn't use that opportunity to kill Kai immediately tells me something more is going on than just vengeance. I wonder what type of person Mehli is, what her motivations could be. That would be a VERY interesting story. 3. A lot of people seem to have dismissed Kai's magic system as unimportant. But I wonder if what Kai does is any different than hacking. Yes, I know that Kai says he is no good at hacking--but perhaps that's because he's thinking about it the wrong way. In other words, everything these brains-in-a-jar do is just send signals to the computer taking care of them, the computer interprets those signals, and things happen. Couldn't Kai's magic system itself be a hack on hacking? Isn't Kai's use of the magic really just a direct interface to the computers, doing a quick reprogram? Or perhaps there really is a fundamental difference between the two acts. I don't know.

I actually thought that there might be more going on here than just Megan killing Sam. Why the sudden change to disobey orders and go head-to-head with an epic?