Lady_Yasha

And this is one of the major complaints I have with the fans: "Read ASoIaF, it's realistic because it's gritty." Realism isn't always gritty and I'm told constantly by fans of the books that it's realistic purely because there's a lot of bloodshed. Admittedly, I picked up Game of Thrones for that reason but I got bored in the third book because the writing was dull. Maybe I would have slogged through it but the fans put me off more with a sense of obligation to finish them because I won't find a more realistic fantasy anywhere... Then Knife of Dreams came out and I forgot completely about ASoIaF

I believe Pullman was trying to highlight religion's own absurdity, rather than attacking religion directly. He identifies as an agnostic atheist, so he's open to the idea of a deity aslong as it can be proven. He uses the Church in Lyra's world as a manifestation of the constraints and dangers of dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, without actually attacking Christianity itself. You could call it outrageous, but I like to refer to it as creatively informed Even Christians applaud his work and I do very much like his take on religion as a whole. Despite the character flaws in later books I enjoyed the concept and view of the universe Pullman gave us.

Eh, people have their own opinions. Personally I dislike ASoIaF because Martin seems to think that no-one can be anything other than a variant of a jackass. Character archetypes are so similar I have trouble distinguishing who's who and often get the feeling one character is a parody of another. Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings were good reads, but it started to stagnate after that.

Sounds like I'll be waiting for the DVD then. I was in no rush to see it. I hate how it takes a trilogy to get to the point. With the original Bourne it worked nicely because every movie had its own conclusion that felt satisfying. They could've ended Identity and the whole story with Bourne and Marie reuniting at the end.

Short fights are always more tense, I think, because one man is always going to be better than the other. A lot of variables affect a fight and in the middle of a battle/war no one man is going to be in top form. Between the three I think it's a toss between Mat and Galad. Galad certainly has the prowess in combat now, but Mat exploits weaknesses; having countless memories to call upon he should be a blademaster in his own right and maybe even acts reflexively. Gawyn, he'd probably just throw a paddy and whine about life not being fair, or how Mat is obviously a Darkfriend because he used to be friends with Rand, who is now the Dragon Reborn. Guess who else I hate

I realised that was wrong when it was brought up in IRC. I was only thinking of the baser properties without considering the implications, which evolved into a scientific debate of us all trying to rationalise Allomancy

I like Jeremy Renner but I'm not sold on the genetic modification plot point. Bourne was a superb agent through his own skills, I don't want Renner's character being over-powered because he's had a slight chromosome shift.

I might pick it up again at some point. At the moment I'm obsessed with Skyrim and Dark Souls.

Perrin comes out of the battle as something he hates - he doesn't want to be a lord, nobility, it's forced upon him but he can't back away from it because he's realised he can make a difference due to his ta'veren nature. Perrin was the critical thinker of the three, he would've seen that he couldn't just go back to being a blacksmith like he wanted. Aviendha stopped herself from falling in love for Elayne's sake; her "sister." It was a personal failure as she'd told Elayne no-one would come between her [Elayne] and Rand, and then she came between them herself. She broke a promise. No, but Min's misreading of a viewing that affects a person's actions and the catastrophic consequences can be. When it goes against the character who's perspective of honour is different then yes. Mat doesn't believe in fighting for honour, only that he keeps getting roped into events that he can't dissuade and eventually accepts the flow. He's a Reluctant Hero trope. Except Galina's actions also traumatize Rand for a good five books. He becomes claustrophobic, mistrusts Aes Sedai even more to the point of irrationality. I believe this event also serves towards Rand's developing cynicism and disgust with the world. Maybe it's not the driving force but it was definitely a catalyst. Rand is ta'veren and the Dragon Reborn. But he's certainly failed massively at other points in the books. And more than enough people have died from Rand's actions that he could have otherwise prevented. Every single one of those people he could've protected and saved is a failure on his behalf.

It's a nice concept but the laws of Physics don't apply to superficial ideas of emotion and thought. Precisely what governs Allomantic Steel and Iron is the manipulation of magnetic attraction/repulsion.

Kandra have full versatility over the manipulation of their bone structure, so it's perfectly plausible to say they could form an exoskeleton. They'd require a lot of bones if they intended to form an internal rigid structure as well.

I always thought the mists were Preservation's body and the mist killings a direct result of Preservation's conscience trying to produce more Mistings to combat the forces of Ruin. The killings only happened by pure misfortune, while some were Snapped as Preservation had intended.

Correction: Read "HBO."

It could certainly be adapted by an animation studio, however, since most of them exist as Japanese developers you'd be hard pressed to get the attentions of a decent company like Ghibli or Madhouse or Production I.G. to take it up. Although, after Avatar, I wouldn't mind if DiMartino and Konietzko set their sights on it. I just don't know if everyone here appreciates anime.

If Zinc is storing mental speed and from what we know of how Vin used Atium to trick Zane, I'd imagine Zinc would increase the frequency of those feints. Being able to think faster gives the Feruchemist more options; they can look into multiple situations and their consequences with astounding alacrity. So one burning Atium as well would produce more Shadows due to their hyper-accelerated brain activity. They'd be thinking of multiple different moves at once and only moving in one of them.

What you might also remember is that Vin tried different alloys of aluminium to discover duralumin. There was no Allomantic ability produced from the metal combinations Vin tried in that gap; she fell ill often from trying the impure mixtures with nothing notable. However, none of those mixtures killed her (obviously). Vin didn't know what duralumin did because she had to burn it while she was burning another metal. That has nothing to do with the chemistry of the mixtures she tried before discovering the duralumin concentration.

I've only read Across the Nightingale Floor and I thought it was pretty good. The only concern I had was Lian Hearn didn't spend enough time developing the characters, otherwise it's a fantastic read. My grandad leant me the book and we're both looking for Grass For His Pillow at the moment; book-stores aren't exactly extensive in this country.

My point was they produce no Allomantic abilities, therefore being non-Allomantic alloys.

Not all alloys that aren't acknowledged Allomantic metals kill. Before Vin discovered duralumin she tried various combinations of metals that made her varying degrees of ill, from a slight headache lasting hours, to being bed-ridden with flu-like symptoms for weeks. Lerasium is different in that it is the compounded metal form of Preservation's body. Alloyed with one of the other base metals creates a Misting of that metal but alloyed with a "killer" metal would render it useless. Until new base metals are found we can't be entirely sure what an Allomancer can burn to produce an effect. Again, not ALL non-Allomantic metals kill.

Pymary steals attributes from nearby sources and is channelled through the sorcerer to affect the world in various ways. Like the pressure of a waterfall can be taken from away from the water and applied into a massive shockwave. Heat can be taken from a fire to warm something else, or to create fire. This'll explain it a lot better, and the world it's built upon too.

I'm finally almost finished with EotW; I forgot how much happens in this book. Perrin and Mat's Talents, Loial, Rand meeting the queen of Andor and Elayne. Also, I find myself liking Gawyn in this book much to the scorn I feel for the blundering idiot he becomes in later books. Also, Master Gill is a champion, standing up to the Whitecloaks like that.

Not enough.

Some of you should come on the IRC; we have some spiffing chats about WoT quite often. Most often it's about new ways to hate Egwene but other discussions are more favourable

Yeah, but knowing what I know now about Egwene you can see the early stages of her god complex developing. She's avaricious for power to the point where she becomes arrogant towards her three friends long before she's even Aes Sedai. Of the girls I knew at her age I don't recall a one of them being as dismissive and pompous towards her friends as Egwene is. I'll give her due, she's tolerable in the first few books but it doesn't last long. She's, what, 17 in EotW? And Rand is 20. She tries to act mature because of the age difference but she completely overdoes it and is ironically even more immature than she denies she's being. Another problem is the gender dispute. I know later some male characters take it up but it's not as common as the females', if only because Egwene supplies a great deal of it. She throws around sexist quips at the slightest provocation. Rand worries about her? Men are fools. Perrin wants to exercise caution? Men are stupid. Mat... well Mat's Mat. Can you blame him?

Lovely. I chalked it up to be some Parshendi out for a little vengeance who didn't expect to meet Dalinar at that particular place and time. Or rather he made the assumption based on previous encounters with Dalinar that the man in grey Shardplate was the man he was searching for. Now tell me which of our theories is more illogical? As Exhibit R illustrates, Sanderson loves foreshadowing, and your theory may hold merit.