Aon Ati

16 hours ago, Roadwalker said:

The writing style. I read straight Sanderson books for several months after reading Harry Potter and other series like that, then I came back to other books, and the writing is awful! The pacing, wording, style, foreshadowing, etc. In Sanderson's books are just in a different league.

Yes, Roadwalker! A thousand times yes! I tried reading 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' a couple of months ago and I had to stop because I couldn't make sense of what were the character's motives, the magic system, or the plot. I still plan on reading it but only after I practice with other fantasy novels first.

16 hours ago, mariapapadia said:

Ahh! This is one of those instances where I just want to blab about my eternal love for Sanderson and since I have no one IRL to do that with (all my friends and family have banned me from talking so much about him), I'll to it on the internet. That's how life works, eh ? 

I discovered Brandon, about 2 and a half years ago, which is not much in terms of how long he's been popular or relevant. But ever since the summer of 2015, when I first picked Mistborn, I couldn't enjoy another book that wasn't one written by him. Which is a real stuggle now because I love reading, but I am so critical of everything I read. 

The main reason I love his writing are his characters. Reading about them is like reading about actual people. I love how he manages to achieve what he is preaching, by making every character the hero of his/her own story. Of course, when it comes to liking characters, there are some I absolutely love and some that I hate. But even with the ones I hate, I don't hate them because of how they are written, but their motives/personal taste etc. This is what makes it so great for me, that he can show (not just tell) about the stuggles one is having and how far they have come. I find a lot of comfort in reading and I like to get attached to what I read and get immersed in the world. That's why small details about someone who is not a main focus, or about the world, every little thing makes me belive there is a world behind what I am reading, that after I close the book or finish a certain scene those people will continue on with their lives. 

In a time where introducing diverse characters in literature has become more of a trend or a checklist and I feel every new author that comes out is competing for "the most diverse book/character", Brandon does that so masterfully, that one can see it's not for the "trend" purposes. I have a problem when authors start defining or basing their characters only on religion/sexuality/race etc. A real person is more than their religion, sex, disability or race, and I feel like Brandon manages to express that really well. 

And then there is the reason why I love him as a person. I've never had the opportunity of meeting him so far, but watching his lectures online or his pannels at conventions and such, make me feel he is so genuine. Like someone said above, he is firstly a fan. He's presence appears to be so positive and even if I have no interest in creative writing as a profesion, it was so fascinating listening to his lectures. You can tell that he loves to teach and the fact that he's still doing it, even if he doesn't get that many financial benefits from it, shows that his heart is in the right place. 

As I said, I get very attached to what I am reading and most of the time I hold some books to a greater level, not because of the masterpieces they are, but of the impact they had on me at a certain point in my life. For the longest time my favourite book(author) has been the first one I read on my own (an obscure children's book about a magic closet and a plastic indian that comes to life) and even Harry Potter couldn't take that first spot. That was until Brandon, I am aware that Sanderson is a human and what he writes has its flaws sometimes, but I honestly don't think I'll enjoy other books in my lifetime, as much as I enjoyed his.

I could ramble more, but this is already too long and I need to sleep.

I completely agree with you about authors who throw in diverse people only because it is a trend. Understand, I do not mind characters who are written with diversity in books, but when I read 'Ready Player One' and the author threw in a lesbian for no purpose other then a "twist", I mentally proclaimed "Oh Come On! There Is No Reason For This!". If there is an author who I think can do this right, it will be Sanderson.

11 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

Because his books build people up. Both in my life and in this community, Brandon brings people together. 

Hello Steeldancer. That is a great way of summing up the way Sanderson's books make me feel, building me up as I read it, instead of wearing my happiness down.

Being quickly turned to dust sounds much less painless then being crushed, so I would go with the Lord Ruler option. 

Would you rather be forced to become a Hemelurgic construct or a Dakhor monk?

On 10/16/2017 at 6:37 PM, The Technovore said:

Stick

Edit: In all seriousness, I love Brandon because A his works are never what you expect, and B, because he's the most enjoyable to read. His characters are always well developed, you end up loving every single one of them, even the bad guys, and you can't help but smile when they start bantering. (Unlike some authors where you end up intensely hating half the cast.) I always get excited about the climax, I'm always surprised by his twists. He just does it... well. He does it in the best possible way.

Hi Technovore. I completely agree with you about the twists always getting me. Even when I am looking for it I am always wrong and then blown away by the twist. And you seem to have an author in mind when you made the "intensely hating half the cast" quote. Would you care to tell which author your referring to?

On 10/16/2017 at 7:01 PM, Weltall said:

It's a bunch of things for me. I was first introduced to Brandon's writing when he was picked to finish the Wheel of Time series. I was absolutely blown away by how good The Gathering Storm was and I knew that I'd have to read some of his own works. I read the WoT books at a deliberately slow pace so by the time I was done, it wasn't that long before I saw Way of Kings on store shelves, saw that it was the beginning of a new series and dove right in. I didn't learn about the nature of the Cosmere until I went back and read the rest of his books in publication order and I started to notice Hoid, then looked things up and had my eyes opened.

Anyhow, I started loving him because I got eased into it with an awesome entry in a series that I'd already been following for over a decade by then, then loved his first original work I read, then his subsequent ones and have been hooked ever since. I love his dialogue and his humor, as a nice counterpoint to other series like ASoIaF and Gentleman Bastards that edge more into grimdark territory (which don't get me wrong, I still enjoy, but I like laughing a lot too). And I really love how he constructs magic systems that follow internal rules that let us predict how they'll interact and which forces the characters to come up with clever applications to accomplish their tasks (which we can understand even when we didn't necessarily see them coming in advance) rather than pulling out new powers. So I've had lots of fun with the magic systems he creates.

I also really love how open he is about his writing process and getting a look at various draft chapters or incomplete ideas so you can see how the Cosmere as we know it has taken shape in his head over a long time.

And lastly and perhaps most importantly when it comes to the Cosmere, I absolutely adore how he does worldbuilding. Individual series can be enjoyed on their own but the more you know about the wider franchise, the more connections you notice and the more enjoyment you get out of the whole experience. And the level of intricate detail and how much potential there is for us to theorize about future developments, new applications of magic systems, crossovers, character motivations, general discussion... it's the sort of thing I really enjoy. As you can probably tell by me being on the Shard at all and just writing several paragraphs on why I love Brandon's books. xD It's also what makes me a huge fan of the Legend of Heroes game series; I like trying to point people playing those in Brandon's direction because the worldbuilding is handled very similarly, just on a continental scale rather than a galactic one.

Hello Weltall and thank you for your post. I have actually started reading The Eye of the World and have enjoyed it so far, but it will be a while before I get to Sanderson's books in the series. 

On 10/15/2017 at 2:52 AM, mirahound said:

I love his work because every book I picked up has guided me through my own issues. Vin's fear of trust, Kaladin's depression, Shallan's repression, Vivenna's redemption... it's been a little surreal.

Hello Mirahound. I can completely understand this, Vin's trust issues actually helped me understand how to develop relationships in real life. This is one of the main reasons why the original Mistborn trilogy is so important to me.

I love how Sanderson can write something that causes the fandon to freak out and then the next page just destroys all the theories that were made.

The golden spren actually creeped me out a little, since this spren seems to be even more 'intelligent' than Syl or Pattern!

And finally, I do not trust the Dustbringer at all. Thankfully if she tries anything Dalinar will make short work of her.

(Also,we got a little bit more info on what the Ghostbloods are trying to do.)

Hello everyone. I am making this post to find out, as the title says, why we of The 17th Shard love reading Brandon Sanderson's works. I want to discover if there is a common thread between us all, thus making it easier to find others who might like the Cosmere.

My reasons for reading the Cosmere books are that the characters and worlds are actually places that I want to exist and interact with. The magic systems are also really cool, my favorite probably being the Metallic arts. And the stories that Sanderson tells are just so good, with plots that are strong and twists that come out of nowhere.

But that all that praise I just gave can be applied to several other fantasy series, so I still do not know what it is about myself and others that causes us to have a similar interest with each other through this forum. So if you have ideas as to what that shared trait is, please add to this.

I'm glad that there are other people who like/love Elantris. Raoden is in my top ten list of favorite Cosmere characters, Hrathen is such an interesting person, and while she is no Vin, Serene is still very well written. The magic system is cool, the villains are extremely creepy and the story and message is told in an engaging way. Also, the ending of the tenth anniversary edition with Hoid; just imagine how awesome that would be to see on the big or small screen to kick off a cinematic Comsere.

What if Harmony is letting all the extra Ruin power turn into a shard pool? The Well of Ascension is gone and I'm pretty sure Sanderson said that the Pits of Hathsin were on top of a pool which is where the atium came from. So Harmony could just be allowing a tiny portion of Ruin to condense into a perpendiculary( I probably sppelled that wrong).

40 minutes ago, Yata said:

It's stated by a WoB that Kel's spike gives "nothing special"

Ah nuts, I really liked that theory. Well, thank you for telling me about that.

I have an idea, but not only is it crazy and mostly based on speculation, but it contains major spoilers for both Bands of Mourning and Secret History, so...

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 

I think that Kelsier's spike is made out of Lerasium. As far as we have seen, there aren't any spikes which can allow someone to pull themselves out of the Cognitive realm and give them a Physical body. Unless there is a metal which is directly related to a Shard whose whole purpose was to keep things in a state of permanent non-decay. This can also explain how Kelsier could still be alive after all these years. Since his Cognitive self doesn't fade away, he can go in that realm, store whatever attribute Lerasium stores, come back and stay in the Physical realm using that metal mind. I know there is literally no proof of this but it's the only thing I could add to this part of the forum.

I really hope that this not true. Wayne is one of my favorites and this would make me very, very unhappy. Thankfully, I have an argument against it. Wayne is twinborn, meaning that if he was a faceless immortal  (and if they operate like the kandra) Harmony would be able to sense that Wayne is not normal. But I can see several arguments made that could debunk this, but that's what happens to theories on the 17th shard. They are destroyed.

Hello everyone! To you who have chosen to refrain from reading Oathbringer till the release date, I come to give hope. I will not spoil anything, not a word. All I will say is that you have chosen a hard path of waiting but one that will reward you better then we who are weak and read the weekly chapters. We must wait for the next part after getting only a small portion of the story week after week, making it even more frustrating when we want more. You brave souls however will get the entirety of it and have a much more fulfilling prize for your sufferings come the end of November. So, continue to be patient and strong while awaiting eagerly for the book.

19 minutes ago, Ramza1890 said:

Damnation is Kaladin going to end up being Odium's champion?

"...and one of them will betray us." from Way of Kings. STOP SCARING ME! I don't want Kaladin to be the bad guy!

These were some great chapters, with Dalinar being awesome as ever, Kaladin connecting with the parshmen, and Shallan about to confront the two biggest political manipulaters we've seen so far.

But there was one thing I noticed that made me stop in my tracks.

Sanderson has stated that when someone has knowledge about Investiture, they are aware of the Cosmere. So when Adolin made that joke about relationships needing investment because Shallan needs Stormlight, I thought that this is either a slip up with Sanderson or a deliberate clue that Adolin is more then we know. I hope that I am wrong though and that it is a slip up.

Okay. Thank you for your answers. And even though it probably won't happen, it would still be pretty cool if a kandra turned into something that was insanely large.

I forgot about that part. But in that case the mistwraith was just letting itself ooze all over the ground, while the kandra have to keep their own muscles under control. I just think that digesting a dragon sized corpse would be to much to handle.

Hello everyone. I have had a question on my mind for a while that will probably not be answered in the mistborn books. This question regards how big an organism a kandra can digest and shapeshift into. Probably the biggest thing we have seen them use bones for was in Shadows of Self, where a certain kandra turned into something resembling the Hulk.

But I want to know how big we can get; say a dragon. That would be so awesome but I don't know if that's even probable. Please tell me some theories you have about this.

I loved this! The whole sequence when Dalinar is dueling an ardent, arguing theology with him, and negotiating with another country at the same time, I kept hearing the "who's the manliest man?" line from the Lego Batman Movie. And then he absorbs stormlight! And then remembers his wife!?! With Kaladin we heard about Identity and Connection again; the magics are converging! And Shallan's whole chapter...wow! I cannot wait for the next chapters!

I found Sanderson in a rather strange way: a bookmark. A couple of years ago I found myself in a bad rut of nothing to read, everything I picked up was either unimaginative or a bad copy of other much better works. Then one day I was in a library and as I was leaving I saw a strange looking bookmark advertising a book called "The Rithmatist". It was cool looking and had a lot of really positive reviews, so I checked out the book. And finished it in one night. After that I read almost every book he has written and I am hyped for the next Stormlight Archive.

What I find "funny" about this is that to me: a Cosmere fan, these are terrifying threats that if said to me would cause me to lock my doors and keep a weapon on my person for months. But to a non-Cosmere fan these phrases make no sense and would probably be passed off as mad ravings. That being said, my threat would be: "I will use your entire family to make you into a koloss."

Even though the ending of The Well of Ascension had me literally screaming "NO!" into a pillow (in a good way), I have to pick the end of The Hero of Ages with Sazed becoming the Hero. I never saw it coming and as I read this part, all the clues in the previous books came into my mind and that was the moment when I forgot that I was reading a book and just saw it all happen in my mind. It is probably the most satisfying ending to a series I have ever read and the ending to Stormlight will have to be completely insane to top it. But this is Sanderson, I have faith.

So far, I think that they should be read like this: Elantris, The orginal Mistborn trilogy, The Way of Kings, Warbreaker, the Wax and Wayne series, Words of Radience, Arcanum Unbounded, White Sand, Oathbringer.