shadmere

First off, I want to say that I really enjoyed the book. Don't take this thread as me complaining about it being bad or anything. I loved it. But was anyone else kind of confused at how guns worked in the book? How fast did these guns shoot their bullets? (I know each gun will be different, but I'm asking in general.) It seemed like they must be slower than sound, because on multiple occasions characters had the opportunity to react after hearing the sound of the shot. Wayne, in particular, would need this kind of thing to be able to throw up a speed bubble, see where the bullets are, and move out of their way. If he couldn't hear the shot before the bullets reached him, that wouldn't work at all! So ok. I can accept most of the guns shooting subsonic. It would make some sense with the relative time period, too. (Though you would think that there would be significant motivation to make guns that could fire supersonic rounds. It'd be a great idea for more "Hazekiller" bullets. But even with subsonic ammunition, a lot of the actions in the book seem kind of impossible. I thought it was very well done in the prologue. Wax knew that by the time he heard the shot, any reaction was pointless. He also noted a very brief flicker of a blue line leading to a bullet as it passed by. I liked that. I could see his Allomancy letting him possibly notice a bullet going by, but it would be a "blink and you miss it" type of thing. Then during the rest of the book, that seemed to change a little. Wayne is able to notice gunshots quickly enough to throw up a bubble. Wax can fire a bullet then push on it Allomantically. Even with subsonic ammo, it should be all but impossible (maybe entirely impossible) to do that. Maybe he was already pushing in the direction he knew the bullet would be, anticipating his own shot? I could see that, maybe. But at one point, someone fires a bullet an a Coinshot (I forget who, and my book isn't with me). The Coinshot reacts by raising his hand in the direction of the shooter, and the bullet stops. That sequence of events just doesn't make any sense. If he was shot at, there's no way he could possibly have time to raise his hand before the bullet was stopped. Could he? Maybe I'm not thinking about this in the right way. If I've making a mistake somewhere, please point it out. I love the book, I just wonder about this kind of thing. Even if these are mistakes, they're mistakes that literally every single book I've ever read involving guns has made. If they're not mistakes, and I'm not thinking about something correctly, then let me know. Also: Glad to join the new forums! (Last time I posted, it was at TWG.)