Iarwainiel I

I'm doing it for myself - stuff like that is part of my day job. Glad to know I'm not the only one. And yeah, I wouldn't distribute it; if someone really wants it, it's easy enough for them to get their own copy.

A couple additional things that haven't been mentioned yet - Consider the joy of reading something for yourself, and how that differs from having someone read it to you / for you. By reading to them now, the experience of discovering the Cosmere for themselves - imagining it solely in their own minds - will be different. Also, children's brains will often (blessedly!) skip over bits they're not mature enough to understand yet. That's how you can re-watch a movie you saw 10-20 years before and see all kinds of stuff that you never saw before, especially about innuendo, satire, even political commentary embedded in a plot. So with Brandon's books, think of how much of the enjoyment comes from things that younger children wouldn't "get" or that wouldn't resonate as deeply with them. Going just on my own experience, I didn't read TLotR until I was out of college and I'm so glad I waited - it's like, at age 22, my soul was the Liberty Bell and the book rang it loudly; at a younger age, even though I was smart enough to read the book, the ringing would have been a much smaller bell. (I hope that metaphor makes sense to you - if not, apologies. )

Same type of synesthesia that I have - cool! For me all the letters (and numerals too) are unique colors; upper and lower case are the same color. I don't associate letters with hair colors ... if I did, Kelsier's would be royal blue! IIRC, not even Aimians or Natanan-ians have blue hair!

Because of the way my brain stores information (long story involving synesthesia), I have difficulty remembering who's who when characters have names that are spelled similarly, especially when their names begin with the same letter. This was waaaaay bad for me when I tried (and failed) to read the Wheel of Time series (which I've posted here on the 17th Shard already so won't bore you w/ that). There were so many, many characters and even places with similar names; real lack of creativity on Jordan's part IMO. I also for some reason had trouble with Elhokar's name ... kept forgetting who he was ... until I hit on the strategy of calling him (in my head) El-Hokey-Doke. (It's OK, you can laugh at me - I deserve it. ) ---- Also, @I am Witless, this is a great thread! Thanks for starting it!

I've never played either, but a group of friends from (of all things!) one of my professional societies plays D&D at some of the conferences and they're really kind to newbies. I'm really hoping to join them next time. Also, you'd be surprised at how many people - of all ages - have never played D&D and are just now wanting to get into it. I was surprised to learn that I'm far from the only one. Hope you find a friendly group and have fun @Kidpen !

I also felt that her reaction to the thugs in Kharbranth indicated that she'd suffered some type of abuse from "men." With the ideas from this thread, I wonder if it was something like this: She had some kind of episode as a young child (perhaps re: proto-radiant); Gavilar & Navani sought to "protect her" by having her committed to the royal asylum which, (I think) we know from Taln's situation in WoR, is inside the ardents' monastery; they put her in a dark room where she "scream[ed] her voice ragged" and perhaps suffered some kind of physical abuse. What happened to her inside the asylum would have been invisible to her family - they might never have known how she was treated; if she tried to tell them, the ardents might have lied to cover it up. Amaram might have been in on the cover-up, or at least have failed to believe her - IIRC he was considerably older than Jasnah. Think how that would have hurt her: she tried to confide in "Daddy's friend," only to have him not take her seriously. If it was me, I'm not sure I could ever forgive him, but I'm kinda hard-hearted sad to say. I can imagine that Brandon would write something like this because we see it happen in the real world, for example, to the elderly or to people with developmental challenges. It seems like the kind of issue that he might want to say something about, and do so by working it into one of his characters' backstories.

Both scenes where Hopper gave his life to save Perrin (and the world) - in the waking world and in the Wolf Dream. "Hopper, the cub who had watched the eagles soar, and so badly wanted to fly through the skies as the eagles did. The cub who hopped and jumped and leaped until he could leap higher than any other wolf, and who never lost the cub's yearning to soar through the sky." (TEotW) When Brandon signed my copy of AMoL, I asked how to write something related to Hopper & he did. :-) All the love for Hopper - my fave WoT character by far. "To soar!!"

Here's an example of "modern hanbok" - I think the style is just lovely!

That is exactly what I was thinking!

Thank so much @Jungah!! One more question: The ribbon closure on the jacket (jeogori?) - is there a meaning to the color of the ribbon or the way it's tied? I think "modern hanbok" not only looks beautiful, but is probably comfortable and practical too. I used to sew all my own clothes when I was young; if I ever get time to go back to that, for sure I'm going to look into this style.

Relieved to see that I'm not alone in finding the GN format to be a challenge. I kept wanting to know what happened between the panels/pages, like what you get in a real Sanderson book. This is the first GN I've ever tried to read (other than old-style comic books decades ago when I was a child, which were way simpler) so I'm a bit relieved to know that it may not be the whole genre that's a no-go for me - just these 2 books. When I found out that White Sand was being published, I put aside the idea of reading the older prose version so that I'd only be exposed to the "real" story. But now I'm re-thinking that and will probably read the prose one after all - - and that's something I determined through reading this thread, so huge THANKS fellow Shard-ers!

If you're using the library (which is how I always try-before-I-buy), that's totally understandable since the movies are in the theaters now so maybe try again in a few months. If you're buying Ready Player One, check a used book store if you have one nearby. I was just at a local Half Price Books, and they had a ton of copies. The Southern Reach/Area X trilogy is much, much harder to find. After looking everywhere for a year, I gave up trying to find it in bookstores & just ordered the omnibus (3 volumes in 1) online. hth

The Powdermage trilogy by Brian McClellan, and also his new trilogy Gods of Blood and Powder (book 2 is due out next month; book 3 next year), are excellent. You don't really need to have read the Powdermage ones to read the new books, but it helps. Also, he has published several e-book novellas in that same world that you can get for 99 cents, so you can get a feel for whether you like his writing without spending a lot of coin or time - "Ghosts of the Tristan Basin" might make a good starting point. You might like the Ex-Heroes book series by Peter Clines - combines superheroes with the zombie apocolypse, with a slight touch of humor. IIRC there are 4 books out so far. If you haven't read Ready Player One, it's a great book. The story is somewhat different from the movie, and both are highly worthwhile. If you saw the movie, don't feel like the book would be a waste of your time - it's different enough and good enough to be worth reading. If you're interested in reading something that is truly weird, you might try the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer. If you saw the movie "Annihilation," the books are almost nothing like it: the movie is more horror, while the books are just ... wierd. I don't like horror, and I did like the books. They aren't very long, but IIRC they take more effort to read than one might expect. (If you do read them, there's a thread here on the forum with spoilers/reactions/theories.) Happy reading!

This is really fun - thanks for sharing! (BTW, that was a lot of typing! ) Re: Dudley Dursley - I'd like to suggest a cool idea that a friend of mine had: What if, in the final scene of DH2 there are Platform 9 3/4, we had not only Harry & Ginny, Ron & Hermione, Draco & his wife, but also Dudley and his wife and child - his child who had inherited magic abilities (Petunia is Lily's sister, after all) and who was going to attend Hogwart's. Can you imagine how scared and awkward and everything else Dudley would feel in that situation? It would have been priceless ... and it would serve Vernon & Petunia right to have a grandchild who was a witch or wizard! Have to remodel their fireplace, they would! I love the OP's speculation too - - both ideas are fun to imagine!

[This is the first New Topic I've ever created! ] I just found this recent BBC video on the resurgence of hanbok, a traditional Korean fashion: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180321-korean-hanbok-the-comeback-of-a-600-year-old-garment At 1:54 the lady says that the sleeves of a "princess" robe are long so that the hands shouldn't show. Immediately reminded me of Vorin fashion!! ... but I bet Sanderson HAD to have it be only one sleeve in order for Shallan to be an artist. Hanbok is really beautiful! I saw a lady wearing "modern hanbok" at church a couple months ago - so elegant. I'm tempted to add a modern hanbok outfit to my own wardrobe, but I understand that the colors have meanings - I'd hate to choose something and find out later that it was offensive to someone actually from that culture. Tips from Korean members of our 17th Shard community are welcome!

I have a feeling that Marsh has a special status, granted by Harmony at Kelsier's request. Harmony would have known what Marsh did re: Vin's earring at the final battle, and he would surely know how difficult it would have been for Marsh to accomplish that oh-so-important nanosecond of rebellion against Ruin's control right at that instant. Perhaps Sazed even gave Marsh a choice, to go Beyond or to stay and help Scadrial. I really hope we get some insight on Marsh in W&W4; he is such a noble & tragic figure.

Agree, and I'm already partly resigned that I won't live to see SA10 or Dragonsteel. (sigh) Not getting involved in any more series where the author is so much younger than me! But re: WS2 - Like many other commenters, I liked the simpler art style much better - less distracting from the story. With the scratchier style, I was constantly trying to figure out if Aarik was wearing a tan shirt or if he was shirtless, and stuff like that - way confusing. To me, the graphic novel fomat makes it harder to follow what's going on in the story. Example: I re-read the part with Khriss and the "science" equipment several times and it just doesn't make sense to me - it's like it's explained wrong or it skips a bunch of stuff. (FYI - I have a background in the hard sciences; maybe that's why it bothered me.) There's only supposed to be one more volume, right? and there are a boatload of loose ends to clear up. I know Brandon can do it ... will a "sander-lanche" work with this graphical format? Time will tell!

In WS2, we do learn that people in that society (Taldainians? Lossandans? Sand Masters?) only dance while they're single - once they're married, no dancing (it's when Kenton & Khriss are entering the admiral's party).

Agree 100% Orlion. It IS worth seeing, and fans supporting it will hopefully send a message to Hollywood that thoughtful sci-fi, without gore and horror, can be at least moderately successful at the box office.

GREAT topic @Zellyia!! From childhood I remember getting these at the library & enjoying them: The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander Beneath the Hill by Jean Louise Curry Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron The White Stag by Kate Seredy ... just now noticing that almost all these are by women - wow! Ahead of their time! But it wasn't till after college that I returned to the genre and read, for the first time, TLoTR - - changed my life forever.

I saw the movie "Annihilation" yesterday. As expected, it's pretty much a different / new story. It's good but doesn't follow the book, so as long as you keep that in mind it's an OK movie. Just OK? Yeah - I'm not sorry I spent the $6 to see it (yes, movies in Ohio are that inexpensive), but it was waaay less mysterious and intriguing than the books. IMO you just can't convey the weirdness with visuals alone - you need words to describe the characters' subjective impressions. For example, the "pull" of the Tower, and how the party felt drawn there, and how it had a "heartbeat" that they could feel but not hear, or the fact that they all instinctively thought of it as a "tower" even though it was underground. Most of that aspect of the books was missing. And the new ending pretty much closed off the story, so I don't expect to see movies of Authoruty or Acceptance. It's an interesting ending, but much less vague and creative than the books. I think Vandermeer (the author) will be pleased with the movie, not miffed or embarrassed, but his own story is on a much higher plane. Anyone else see "Annihilation"? What did you think?

@Captains Domon - how funny that your avatar is Captain Jack Sparrow, yet Johnny Depp isn't on your list of the 10 best actors. Not saying he should be, just interesting to observe. It's also interesting to think about how the criteria for what makes an actor/actress "good" has evolved through the decades, and think how it might change in the future as well. Many actors have had success at the box office but not been acclaimed for "quality" - Errol Flynn, for one. If I were to make a list of 10 male actors who've seemed "best" to me over the years, it would probably include (in no particular order): Alec Guiness (some of his early stuff in old B/W movies is great!), Benedict Cumberbatch (so versatile), Al Pacino (also surprisingly versatile), Anthony Hopkins, Denzel Washington, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford (of course), Joseph Fiennes, Oscar Isaacs, and Patrick Stewart. I've probebly missed some obvious ones - this is just off the top of my head. Thanks! This has been a fun exercise on Oscar night!

I might have thought of something that doesn't quite make sense in BP - help me out fellow Sharders & tell me if this is a real plot gap or maybe I just missed something. I just saw the movie again yesterday - every bit as good as the first time. Definitely one to see on the big screen!

I saw "Black Panther" last Tuesday & only now have time to post. I absolutely loved the film. Casting, cinematography, costumes & sets - all top-notch. It seemed like there was a little less CGI - or maybe less scenes that were mostly CGI - than many other superhero movies, and having more live-action worked well. I think it might legitimately get some Oscar nods next year for more categories than effects & makeup - the acting and directing, and the script too, were that good. I didn't sense any heavy-handed "message" in it - just the same kind of moral dilemmas and characters working through them that we see in Brandon's books. One of the things that heightened my enjoyment even more was the crowds! The family next to me had driven 15-20 miles because every showing that evening - EVERY showing - at the multiplex near their home was entirely sold out - that's 7-8 theaters, 3-4 showtimes each, at the biggest cinema in town. BP is really a cultural phenomenon in a positive way, and I hope to see it at least once more in the theater ... especially after reading @Sunbird's comment! Aaarrrgggh!! A friend at work who's a total Marvel geek assured me that there was only 1 post-credits scene, so I focused on talking with the lady next to me & left when she did, evidently before the other post-credits scenes! Storming CJ and his storming "assurance!!" Last time I trust that Voidbringer!

What @EC11 said. And I loved the "voice" that Sixth spoke/thought in - so unusual & expertly maintained throughout the story. Part of me wants the outsiders to go away and never bother Patji or the planet again, but part of me wants to hear many more stories about the unique creatures and cultures of this world - - and also how it (supposedly) has no Shard but does have Investiture. (I'm ignoring fan theories - I want the real story from Brandon.)