StormingTexan

Just finished The Crimson Campaign and starting The Autumn Republic now. Two book in I really like it. I admit I had a hard time connecting with the characters while reading the first book but this changed some over the second book. Overall I was able to overlook it because I liked the story so much. I think the magic is interesting although I think I am spoiled a bit by Sanderson and it felt a little too simple.

^^ Just reread that thanks for pointing that out. In the AoL audio book Kramer gives Wayne a Aussie accent that is awesome.

My biggest problem is the uniforms. While reading WoK I pictured gladiator or roman style uniforms in the beginning then realized they were more like 19th century revolution type uniforms as they were described. There was nothing I remember reading that should have made me think they were roman style but I still see Kaladin in a skirt. I think it is because the scenes where he is traveling in the slave cart reminded me of the movie Gladiator and it stuck in my head.

Maxal I know what you mean about the main characters but I think we are looking at this only two books in. Although I would not consider several as main characters they will be. Like Botanica I would love to see a Herald Novella. Taln, Kalak or maybe even Shalash. I doubt we will get a lot of POV of these characters so a Novella featuring one would be great. Although it may be to spoilery. After that Mraize, Lift, Axies or Rysn. Possible even the two characters (cant remember their names) that were studying spren. As much as I love Lopen I cant imagine reading a Novella solely about him.

I really liked the first Kingkiller book but the second was a train wreck for me. Even with that Rothfuss is a really good story teller and because of that many may be able to overlook the flaws I found in the second book. Not that the first one didn't have flaws but overall I found it a lot better. I'm almost 75% through the first Powder Mage book and man it's good. Lots of action and interesting magic. Kinda reminds me of Mistborn to an extent. Only thing I feel like I'm missing is a real connection with any of the particular characters although several are very interesting. I'll be going straight in to book 2 when I finish.

I'm about half way in to the first Powder Mage book and so far I really like it. It is for sure one of the better Non-Brandon books I have read so far this year.

Just to clarify my comment wasn't meant to contradict anything you said on the contrary I agree with it. As I said mostly right but not always. I agree it's easy to interject your own wishes which may not always be the best for your kids. Sometimes past regrets also play into this. Which goes right back to experience. I think it's easy when your young to dismiss or undervalue your parents experience and advice I know I did. Becoming a parent I developed a new respect for what my parents did. First off kids do not come with instruction manuals which I somehow overlooked when I was younger blaming them for not doing things right. Sure there are plenty of books and an endless amount of info on the internet but wow read it and see how contradictory it is. In my late teens and early 20's I found myself criticizing my parents for all their mistakes and stupid advice. Now I see they just did the best they could with what they had. Had I listened and respected some of their advice I would have avoided some real pitfalls. I have and will make mistakes with my kids. I will always try to steer them to the better or safer path and help them avoid mistakes especially ones I made. Same exact thing my parents did hopefully my kids will listen better

I really wanted to like Dark Tower I love long series and even better completely written series but yeah like you just found nothing to compele me to continue it. I really liked the second Magicians book probably my favorite of the 3 although I liked the ending a lot. I agree to I found the Julia parts the most interesting. I liked how it showed the wheels off school of magic. I know I'm odd man out on Gaiman.. Like I said I really wanted to give his books another shot still nothing. I'm all ears if there is something you think I should try.

Just the 2 cents from an old person your parents are probably right most of the time. Mine were as much as I hate to admit it. I didn't know this until I had my own kids. Maybe not all parents and times do change but your parents have something you do not. They have experience. They have the hindsight of learning from mistakes they made. There is no shortcut to gaining experience. It comes only with time. It's valuable and should be respected. I also agree with following your own destiny but don't dismiss the wisdom of others who have followed theirs and learned from their mistakes and successes. If you listen you may learn something.

I finished the Magicians trilogy which started off pretty shaky for me but I liked it by the end. Then I read the first book in the Dark Tower series cant really say I liked it may come back to the rest of the books later. I am not really a fan of westerns though and that may be my problem with it (AoL is the only book I have read in this kind of setting I liked). Ok so I tried to give Gaiman another shot after not really digging American Gods and picked up The ocean at the end of the lane. Funny thing was is in the copy of American Gods I have the first chapter of this book is in it which I liked when I read it. Sorry to all the Gaiman fans out there I just don't get it. I am about 70% through and doubt I will finish which is extremely rare for me I usually finish books even if I do not like them. Just got the first Powder Mage book hoping it is as good as I hear.

I'm only a couple years younger than Brandon. It does freak me out a little to think we may be in our 70's before Dragonsteel is finished.

Rysn and Lift are two of my favorite characters probably because we only know a little about them. I really liked how Brandon did the interludes, prevented the huge info dumps to learn about the world and other cultures.

Ok I admit that sounds like an awesome way to space travel and the map stuff does make sense with Elantrians. Of course.... via Imgflip Meme Maker

My only problem with Elantrians is I can't help but think the space travel is magically enhanced or derived and AonDor is a very localized magic. It only works close to Elantris so how could it work to travel space. Unless they somehow figured out how to bring it with them but how do you move the Dor.

It is funny you mention that I felt very similar. Eventually I kind of got use to it and actually appreciated it as the book jumps back and forth the female narration made it easier to know when it was switching. Additionally I just couldn't get in to Shallan's chapters in WoK. I did a complete 180 though in WoR and Shallan's chapters became some of my favorites.

I just assumed Calamity was Brandon's foreshadowing of the upcoming MLP books everyone here seems to want.

This is an excellent explanation as to why I think WoK seems really slow to a lot of people. I read Mistborn first too which I loved and to be completely honest felt really let down with WoK up until the very end. Mistborn had action from the very beginning. We learned about the magic system very early on but just as natc said everyone knew about the magic. In WoK it is just the opposite the magic is very unknown and slowly being revealed to us as well as the in book characters. This does slow down the pace considerable. WoK also sets the stage for a huge 10 book series and an extremely detailed world and history. The ending does make the rest worth it though. I appreciate WoK a lot more now after finishing WoR. You're not alone though I think a lot of people had the same thoughts.

I don't know how anyone can read WoR and the Warbreaker sequel not be your most anticipated book but maybe that's just me. I think the saying "If it's not broke don't fix it." pertains to this. The quality of Brandon's writing just keeps getting better. The mind boggling thing is he gets better while also publishing so many books. In the course of just a few months apart we are going to get two more Wax and Wayne books and Calamity. That's amazing to me. I get why people want SA3 so bad the series is just amazing but so are all the other series.

via Imgflip Meme Maker

Even worst my most anticipated book is the Warbreaker sequel. via Imgflip Meme Maker

She actually did that specifically because fire was her worst fear. It was actually pretty smart and she tells David why would anyone think fire is the weakness to a fire epic. She of course was never in any real harm since it is an alternative world version of herself that does not have a fire weakness. My analogy with the flame thrower pertained to her real form of course.

For arguments sake we can only assume it is your worst fear that's all that's been revealed. Sure it's possible it's not but we have nothing to support that and everything to support the alternative.Facing the other fear had no impact. I think the fact he has already faced his worst fear was what allowed him to reject the powers (or at least the rendering I think he still got the powers just doesn't know it yet.) I feel like I just keep circling around on this so I'm going to stop after this. I just think the water deal is way too easy. Granted there was tons of iluding to water being his fear but it does not match up to all the other fears we have learned about. It just all of the sudden comes up as soon as he arrives to Babilar. It's his worst fear and he almost dies from drowning yet it's not bad enough for him to not go floating around above the sea using a water jet pack he barely knows how to use (that's like Megan using a flamethrower as a weapon who would buy that?). It was also a little too convenient that the main protagonist is an epic that controls water and yep guess what the antagonist is afraid of water.

Well for one his dad can only die once and it's already happened so that's not going to be a good weakness. Also by this point David had pretty much already overcame this fear by killing Steelheart. I think his "worst fear" is letting someone he cares about die due to his inaction or cowardness. So maybe David's worst fear was just off the table for Calamity and he picks water instead but it is not really David's worst fear.

Actually we do not know enough to make that assumption one way or the other since we are only getting David's POV. We know what his fear is but we do not know what the traumatic event or events were that triggered Steelhearts fear. IIR he was a bully? Maybe someone stood up to the bully and beat him within an inch of his life or heck stabbed him or something. That would be traumatic and warrant his fear of not being feared. Edit: When I was a kid (like 4) I was trying to fish ball out of a pool and fell in. I didn't know how to swim luckily my dad saw me and jumped in I know what you mean about being afraid of water embarrassingly I was like 12 before I learned how to swim because I was so scarred of water. The thing is people have multiple fears but for epics it is what they fear the most that ends up as their weakness (personally I think Calamity puts this in as a fail safe to keep his epics from getting too powerful). I mean if you asked David is he scared of bullets I would venture to say he would say yes. But bullets are not his worst fear/weakness. I do not think water is either as we have nothing revealed of a past traumatic experience with water. Like I said earlier he starts talking about the water creeping him out before the ball and chain thing. The thing he does talk about that I would call a life changing traumatic experience is his father getting murdered in front of him.

Exactly he has already faced and overcome his worst fear (weakness). My thoughts is something will come up in book 3 to challenge this again. Yes Calamity latches on to this new found fear of water that I do not think is his real "worst fear". Maybe he did this because David had already concurred his worst fear and this was all that was left. But it is not his true worst fear and therefore not a weakness. Possible that was how David was able to avoid the rending. He was being made an epic after he already concurred his worst fears. The water thing just does not jive with me. All the other fears/weakness we have seen are the result of some deep rooted life changing past traumatic event. Although I completely agree the ball and chain thing is traumatic it does not seem to be tied to any other major life event up to this point so seems way to convenient to me. In fact if water does turn out to be his fear I would be very disappointed as it lacks all the depth of story the other ones that have been reviled have. Also I re-read and he talks about the water pretty much right when they get to Babilar. So if this is his fear it would have had to been established before the ball and chain event and that could not be the traumatic event. Also notice the choice of words in this first quote.