Yados

Either Tachyon Press or the Park Slope Barnes & Noble made a sizable error because tonight, when my girlfriend and I went to check out the "bizarro" Barnes & Noble (she works at the Downtown Brooklyn location) they had this on the shelves. I'm afraid I purchased a copy. Parties involved with the production of this book will have to forgive my indulgence. That's a pretty huge breach of sale date, though. My girlfriend says it happens all the time if books don't have a "strict on sale" and Tachyon, an indie publisher, possibly doesn't normally have to include those with the books it ships? That's just a theory. I have no idea what happened. No copies of Memory of Light or Red Country on the shelves. Don't think I didn't check. I will be reading tonight and tomorrow and giving some non-spoiler impressions. Just flipping through, I like the art-direction. There's a cool print at the start of some of the chapters.

I suppose it's a matter of whether holding in a lot of stormlight is like having a lot of biochromatic breath (which confers, I believe, investiture) or if it's like an allomancer drinking in a lot of metal. I'd guess it's the former, since the stormlight seems do things (enhanced reflexes, healing, resistance to injury) without the holder actually using it. Like how biochromatic breath endows the user with perfect pitch, connection to other human beings, and color recognition just by its presence. And I don't know if would take *that* much stormlight. Shardplate doesn't get cleaved through by a sharblade and it runs on stormlight. It would take a good number of gems, but not "every gem in roshar". Maybe as many gems as Szeth breathed in during the prologue. It's not like he ever got cut.

If investiture counteracts the effects of other invested objects, would breathing in a whole mess of stormlight mean that a shardblade could only hurt you in as much as a normal sword? The only people we've seen breath in stormlight haven't ever been cut by one. Presumably. ... if this has been been brought up or dismissed or is totally off, sorry. There's like nine pages of argument.

Historically, there have been fat people in most eras, cultures, and social classes. Except like... extreme urban poor. Except these days and here where obesity is a bigger problem the less money you have. Weights have a lot more to do with genetics, metabolism, and nutrition than mere caloric intake. Not that the the four aren't all interrelated. Holes has a fat protagonist, though that's not really fantasy. I guess the dearth of fat protags probably has something to do with the escapist nature of most fantasy. Edit: On Topic I think I'm going to start the Blinding Knife later today.

I didn't end up liking the First Law books themselves very much, but the two stand alones, Best Served Cold and The Heroes, rank up there with my favorite fantasy books of all time. I feel like the First Law books had a lot of spite and vinegar in their DNA. It seemed like Abercrombie was telling a type of story he didn't want to tell and he took it out on the reader. As if telling an epic fantasy with messed up characters wasn't enough of a subversion because even the idea of an epic implies that there can be value and meaning attached to anything that humans hold dear beyond their own base or personal needs. Which was very effective, but a little strange as no one sat down and forced Joe to write an epic fantasy in the first place. Thus, you kind of eye the omnipresent resentment that's there on the page like you might eye a friend who pushes you in the mud for saying how nice the weather is. The later two books two don't have the same chip on their shoulders and are allowed to be merely well-written engaging books in a gritty world whose bleakness, while pointed out, mirrors our own just enough to make it seem tangible. I know which I prefer. So yes, looking forward to Red Country. I'm pre-ordering the British version along with the Alcatraz omnibus that just came out there. I'm a bit of a cover snob, but I'll also probably get it a month early since it's been delayed stateside. I have a feeling that most of our "Yay Logen is back" feels and expectations are going to be subverted to tragic, crushing effect, though.

It could be that it's the natural state of all life on Roshar is to form symbiotic bonds with Spren and something has happened to humans that makes it exceedingly rare for Spren to bond with them anymore. Maybe that could have something to do with the moving plants, sky eels, and magic fish. Thinking back to that "alas, not all spren are as discerning as honorspren" line in Dalinar's flashback to before the formation of the Knights Radiant.

We don't know what Honorshards or Dawnshards are. Also Surgebinding is a set that contains Windrunning. It's like if someone asked you if you wanted to be an Allomancer or a Soother.

Hello! Thanks for doing this! I assume you've answered everyone else's articulate and thought-through questions. Since those questions have all been asked, though, you'll have to forgive me for asking some baseless ones. Baseless Stormlight Questions: 1) Could a Shardblade sever a Nathel Bond? Could it slice a Spren? 2) Could a Shardbearer materialize his or her Shardblade inside another person? What about something inanimate like stone? 3) Are the Heralds native to Roshar? 4) What's up with those fish in the Pure Lake? 5) Between the Parshendi and the Alethi harvesting gem-hearts, how long has it been since a Chasmfiend got to finish pupating? One baseless Mistborn Question: 1) Does Sazed's biological body still exist somewhere? If so, does that body still possess Feruchemical abilities?

To be fair, "Surgebinding" referrs to ten separate but related magic systems. You might as well put Misting as a choice. It's just as vague. That said, Feruchemy. By far the best power.

But Kabsal isn't one of the lower classes. He has light eyes. And it's the most devout people-- Kaladin's mother, Navani-- who we see burning prayers. Shallan is devout and she thinks Kabsal's behavior is strange enough to mock. Plus Dalinar and Adolin may not look spiritual by our standards, but the intricacies of Vorinism allow them to be warriors and religious at the same time because their glories match up with their station. We never see anyone, devout or high class or low class, speak to the Almighty in such a way. Except Kabsal. ...to my knowledge.

Well I hope that means there are more "episodes" planned for production. It occurred to me as I was reading that an episodic series in this format is something that ebooks would be very well suited for. You wouldn't have to worry about keeping everything in print... Which might be a problem at an indie like Subterranean. I'm glad the feel was intentional because it was very effective.

I'm listening to Way of Kings on the train and noticed this. It's from Chapter 33, Cymatics. Kabsal and Shallan are discussing Jasnah. Seems innocuous, yes? But there's the thing. I ran a search on the phrasing "looked up" and "glanced up" and it's never used to indicate anyone talking to the Almighty in the whole rest of the book. Just here. And it's Kabsal, an ardent (maybe) who does it. He should know better. Or, more importantly, this shouldn't be his impulse. Unless he's a religious man who isn't from the Vorin kingdoms. So why does he do that? Why does he address God in a way that no one on Roshar (well, the eastern half) does/would, but that no one on our world would blink at? Why is he pursuing someone who can access Shadesmar? Why is he spending so much time with another person who has the potential to do so as well. Maybe Hoid and the 17th Shard don't have a monopoly on world-hopping and the Ghostbloods are far more important than a mere secret society.

Very much enjoyed the first book. The second is sitting on my shelf looking at me. I may need to indulge soon.

Oh that was quite good! The length was the most interesting thing for me, I think. It was a fast paced and engaging story and only took an hour to read. Thus, it had the distinct and strange feel of sitting down and reading the hour-long pilot of a new television show. That the book was so open ended only augmented that. I'd like to see more of this; both world and format.

Amazon.

By all means.

It's the "deluxe hardcover" edition. I suppose it's not that small. It's about the size of a standard trade paperback. That it's a hardcover and so slim might make it seem shorter as well. I hope that didn't read like I was catastrophizing. I just wasn't expecting those dimensions. Here it is, pictured with a standard trade paperback and a quarter for scale.

Oh, it's tiny. For some reason I thought it would be tall and slim like a graphic novel. But it's little and slim like... this book.

Or, you know, buy the book. http://www.amazon.com/The-Mongoliad-Book-Foreworld-Saga/dp/1612182364/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1346257162&sr=8-2 Eight dollars. Trade paperback.

My copy shipped last night, apparently, and is due to be delivered today. This is a nice thing to wake up to since, as late as last night, it was scheduled to be delivered September 5th. I have no knowledge or opinions about this book and don't know if anyone else has knowledge or opinions. So I'll report back when I have those things.

Where are you living that this costs $50?

Hi, all. After a sizable hiatus, I'm submitting my second chapter, featuring the second viewpoint. This is pretty different than the first chapter. I guess the things I'm most concerned about are whether or not this seems like too much of an infodump, if I'm utilizing foils correctly (I added Taez on my second go towards this purpose), and if the handling of race seems sensitive and appropriate. The world I'm writing has some pretty heavy racism at its core and I wanted the main character of these segments, Lyan, to deal with having a sort of unique place in her culture and how that affects her sense of identity (later, we get into how it affects the circumstances of her life, but we're not there yet). So give me your thoughts on all that. And everything else. Except typos. I'm pretty sure there are a few.

any more spaces for this week? i have an actual, finished chapter.

I quite enjoyed these books, but I can't remember enough about them to say more than that. I do know I was shocked to find out that many readers have found them to be poor or objectionable. Especially since I remember feeling refreshed by the series as I read it and, at the time, wished that I was in contact with a young adult to whom I could pass them along. One of my cousins is eleven now. Maybe I'll send them her way.

Very nice catch on the cognitive nature of the Nightwatcher's boon/curse. I believe our thinking is along the same lines. While you saw the nature of the Nightwatcher in the boon/curse stories in the interlude, I was working more from the pov's stated purpose to seek the Nightwatcher-- to become braver. If this is something within the Nightwatcher's purview-- to rewrite a person's nature as well as their ability/cognitive perception-- well, I don't know what that would mean. The biggest problem with both of our theories is that Dalinar, apparently, knows both his boon and his curse. Which means he is very unlikely to not think of the two potential curses-- his growing change of disposition and his revulsion at the Thrill-- without also thinking of the Nightwatcher. And he thinks about both at great length in WoK. Which is sort of the problem with books where you have flashbacks and pov's that can't spoil the flashback books. It's sort of cheating. Especially since there are things about Dalinar we're apparently not going to know until Book 5... while still probably getting his pov in each and every book.