nerdgir1

The Emperors Soul is one of my favorites, actually and I want sequels for Elantris because I want to know more about the other magic systems and the world, always loved super powers...

 

Anyway you joined during a very weird part of the year where we change our names to Ookla the something... it will stop being weird, maybe. (Im pretty new too, I just kind of joined in on the festivities)

 

Well, hello, welcome, etc.

I was wondering about the whole Ookla thing! lol... thank you!! I better go change my name to something more Ooklish...

I can see what you mean for Game of Thrones. I liked the setting and characters enough that the rest didn't bother me, but it does start pretty slow. As to Harry Potter, I'm afraid I have to agree with your son. The first couple chapters of each of the books (the parts before the magic starts) were all really boring

lol... I do have to give him (and you) some credit there... I actually said out loud, "... but you haven't even got to a part where Harry can TALK yet!! He just got dropped off on the doorstep as a baby. Way better stuff is coming... there's a snake that talks, and an annoying kid gets a pig's tail magicked onto his bottom, and there's even flying car! you'll love it!" nope. he wasn't havin' it. Harry didn't talk during the first chapter when he had a chance, so he's kicked to the curb. boring non-talking infants. hahaha

I started reading the Game of Thrones series but could not get past the SUPER BORING beginning. Now, when I go back and try to re-watch the TV series I get the same feeling and have to start a few episodes in... lol

My 6 yr old son and I listen to audiobooks at night and we recently started on the Harry Potter series, but he said the beginning of book 1 is "too boring" so he doesn't want to finish it. WHAT?!?! BLASPHEMY!! lol... we'll come back to that series and try again in a few years... on the other hand, he's all about the Magic Treehouse series right now and is on book 17 - I can't get into this series enough to even finish a single one (and they're very quick reads)... so what does he know? haha... I am very thankful he at least inherited my love of reading - even if he has terrible taste in books jk jk

Since the next episode is a finale -- any speculation as to who won't make it to the end of the episode? I'm kinda thinking Morgan (half way into "the end of the world" doesn't seem like very good timing to take up a "no killing for any reason" philosophy... but I guess it's sorta working for him. At least it hasn't gotten *him* killed yet -- although it's certainly endangered and/or gotten other people killed.)

Hi! Welcome to the 17th Shard!

Have you read any of the non-Cosmere works?

I haven't... although I have been thinking about it a lot. I'm almost done re-reading the original Misborn series (again) and looking for a new series to fill in while I'm waiting (rather impatiently) for Stormlight 3 to come out... lol

The thing to remember is that the flashback character of a book isn't the same as the main character of a book. Sanderson's even said that it's possible for a character to be dead in their flashback book.  

 

If we look at whose got the most screen time so far, the first four major characters are Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, then Adolin (who I don't think is getting a flashback book ever).  They have 292k, 213k, 117k, and 51k words.  That's a fairly significant gap between each character.

 

So, why do people focus on Kaladin?  It's because Sanderson put the focus there first.  I'd say that Kaldain is the main character of the series so far, probably for the duration first five book arc.  He could get killed off or phased out soon, but it looks like he still has a lot of character arc left to go on.

 

Look at how it's split up in each book.  In WoK, Kaladin's book, he is far and away the focus of the story, with almost twice as much screen time as the second most common character, Dalinar.  Then Shallan get's about 75% as much screen time as Dalinar.  Her viewpooints are really like a side-story that doesn't interact with the main plot in the shattered plains.

 

Then in WoR when it's Shallan's turn, she has to split the focus with Kaladin.  She just barely gets more than Kaladin.  Without her flashbacks the difference was basically negligible.  Then Dalinar just pops in enough so we don't forget about him.

 

In fact out of the ten parts from both books Kaladin's the only character who's been in each and every one.

 

While there is a large cast of characters who all get large amounts of screen time Kaladin still stands out as the most major character.  A story like this one, I think, just wouldn't work without someone who can be a clear protagonist.  It's not like Mistborn where it seemed like Vin got almost every viewpoint, but he clearly gets more than anybody else.

 

Plus, there's an idea in storytelling that you introduce things in order of importance.  Kaladin got to be the main focus of the first book, so people are going to naturally expect more from him in the future. 

 

 

Tl:dr Kaladin is the main character of this arc.

 

 

 

Numbers from here: http://coppermind.net/wiki/The_Stormlight_Archive/Statistical_analysis

I think you made a lot of really good points here. Kaladin just feels like the natural protagonist at this point -- although I personally hope Shallan's story will get a little more "screen-time" in the coming books and/or that she'll become more of a main protagonist as her character grows and develops.

I just joined and admittedly haven't even had time to peek at most of the book-related discussions here, but thought introductions sounded like a good place to start... lol

I'm Becky, I'm from Denver, I <3 Brandon Sanderson's novels, I'm divorced, my 6 yr old son lives with me full time, and I'm an INFP (google it lol) so I tend to be kind of a nerdy introvert and love getting lost in the cosmere that Sanderson has created.

I'd love to meet some people who share the same passion as I have for these stories and characters.

Some of my favorites so far:

- Mistborn Series (I preferred the original series over the Wax and Wayne series -- I just don't feel as emotionally connected to the new characters... although I had the same problem with getting into the Fear the Walking Dead characters too, so maybe it's just me. lol)

- Stormlight Archive (I love EVERYTHING about this series and cannot wait for Book 3!!!!)

- Elantris (I love this as a stand-alone book... I kinda feel like everything I "needed" resolution for as a reader happened by the end of the book, so I'm not sure how I feel about a possible sequel... and I had a really hard time getting into The Emperor's Soul as an Elantris a la carte story... but that might only be because of my aforementioned "new characters" issue haha... so I guess I probably would have enjoyed it more if I viewed it as it's own stand alone story.)

- Warbreaker (I wish I hadn't listened to the audiobook version of this one, but overall loved the storyline and I'm hoping for a sequel... with the same characters!! lol)

Anyway -- Now that I've rambled on and on, I'll get to my point:

Hi! lol