Magnifico Giganticus

I appear to be a bit of a minority regarding ASoIaF. I love it, though not unconditionally. Though I am of two minds as far as the time it takes him to put a book out. On the one hand, I couldn't write one book as good as any in the series in two lifetimes, much less however his longest interval has been. But on the other hand, nobody I ever heard of takes anywhere near as long as him and I am tired of waiting. And I didn't have to wait for any but A Dance with Dragons. I can only imagine how you people feel who have been reading the series since 1996! It may not be the nicest thing to say that you hope he finishes it before he dies but good gods, it is a legitimate concern at this point.

I just read The Martian and Ready Player One in the last month or so. I'm the same age as Ernest Cline so RPO was a total wayback machine for me. I loved it. Now I'm watching all the movies and reliving the 80s. I'm thinking that I'm just going to tackle Brandon Sanderson chronologically the way I do every author. I will have read his oeuvre by this time next year. Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks to everybody for their input. You've added to my known reading list. My reading list ultimately encompasses everything so I split it. Hehe. For my part I can tell you all to never bother with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Ugh. Horrible! I moved on to The Lies of Locke Lamora and that is quite enjoyable. Haruki Murakami is wonderful. I've read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and about six others of his and what is said here is totally accurate. I don't know what any of them were about save for perhaps 1Q84.

Are these patterns examples of fractals? I'm not very good at the math so I don't know. And if so, it there any meaning behind it? Is it a face-value sort of thing with what Kabsal was demonstrating as a proof of the almighty? No more to it than that? Or is this the kind of thing I should read the other Cosmere books to get insight into and avoid spoilers?

What the hell! I'm an anomaly and I can't world-hop.

Also, I took his ripping on people to be a part of what a Willshaper might do. It could be instructional to people to call them out. Maybe alter their chosen trajectory through the world by making them ashamed of it. But oh well! I can accept being wrong!

He's not? I just took it from that epigraph that he was. Or that he could be. It seemed to be descibing him and then there's how he gets around. I definitely have no proof! But hey, this is what I'm here to discuss. So, is he more like the guy who brought Szeth back? I would love to do that search but I am thinking I'll want to go through the books first. Though if I'm worried about spoilers I shouldn't be asking for them by trying to figure this stuff out! The brain always wants to race ahead. It is really nice to have something like this to be excited about again.

You're absolutely correct, sir. I agree. Except the "other activities" thing. Hehe! That's why I figured re-reads. I am certain that it is a disservice. I started Oryx and Crake and wasn't feeling it at all. So I stopped and eventually came back and ended up liking that series quite a bit. I knew I wasn't in the right place for it at first. So it is definitely worth giving a book a chance against something like the SA by not reading it too soon after.

Ah, see, I didn't see to come at it that way. Those epigraphs are how I knew that Wit was a Willshaper though. I think they tipped me off on Dalinar, too. Sombody. But not Jasnah. Good catch! I planned on going back through just the epigraphs of both books and see if I can't get a more solid picture of what they are getting at. Clues everywhere!

No, I haven't read any of his other books. In fact, I haven't been reading much Fantasy at all in quite some time. Except for A Song of Ice and Fire which I've read three times. A confluence of things have brought me back. Mostly my favorite high-school English teacher who is my friend on Facebook. He recommended The Way of Kings and some others and then gave me some books including the first three Wheel of Time books, Codex Alera, some Stirling and Sixty-one Nails by Mike Shevden. When he recommended those books he didn't have to loan me I put a bunch on hold then started reading The Eye of the World. I got to the part where they are separated and the Gleeman is protecting the boys so they can run. At which point ALL the books I put on hold came in! So now I'm trying to hammer through them to get back to that. But with as unutterably good as the Stormlight Archive is, you can guarantee I will be getting to his other books!

Ok, just have to let this out there. I knew she was alive! At first I didn't have proof. I just wanted her to be alive and wondered how so ostensibly powerful a person could be taken out like that. Then I found a graphic on the nets showing the Orders and how they are related. I remembered (I think it was) Jasnah telling Shallan how each Order shared a Surge with each Order on either side of them. So I was curious to see what Order Jasnah had been and I knew I just had to see who Lightweavers shared Soul Casting with. When I looked I saw that it was the Elsecallers and that the Elsecallers'other Surge was Transportation and I KNEW! I knew she was alive and I was right! I don't expect that to matter too much but I have to talk about this stuff and the only person I know who read the books isn't nearly as excited as I am.

I thought about exactly that! Cleansing the palette. But then how would I do that? Not read!? Absurd! LoL. Maybe do a re-read of something. But I have to read something every day. As I'm sure most here understand.

Ah, ok. I remembered that being mentioned in the book. I guess I was hoping he was one. That would be great! So let's see... No, wait. I was just about to start talking about who represents each Order thus far but I have yet to pore over this forum and that would be a noobile move on my part.

And thanks for those links! I can send them right to my Kindle!

I had figured that my first post here would be regarding something like which Order is Lopen or something like that but no. I am ruined for other books! I finished Words of Radiance right after The Way of Kings and now I'm reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman and I can't even tell if it's a good book or not. The Stormlight Archive is an HD-technicolor-kaleidoscopic-and-many-other-adjectives piece of awesomeness. Other things are going to seem very gray for a while.