Brendan

Really? I'll probally read it somewhere in the middle as a nice break up of the massive tomes, I plan to finsh book 13 on Jan 7th to allow as little time between the last books as possible!

I meant to start my reread at the start of this month, however I'm still going on Book 9 of Malazan, but I'll get my reread done in time!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I have already read most of them, but there are a few there I will hav a look at!

So, I'm about to start my re-read of WoT to get ready for the 8th of Jan, however I want to break it up by including some nice lighter reads in between books. I was hoping that someone would be able to suggest some books for me, I'm keen for something easy to read but also easy to put down, 200-400 pages long and preferably standalone. I generally read epic fanasy, military sci fi and dystopian fiction however I will give pretty much anything considered speculative fiction a go. Please let me know anything you think would be enjoyable to read, the only restriction is I need to be able to get it in print in Australia as I do not have an E-Reader. As a little bit more info, I've read all of Brandon's stuff, what I'm looking for is something that I can easily read that is vastly different to Jordan's work. I already will also be reading the second book by Brent Weeks in the 'Lightbringer' series as well as the fourth book in Heitz's 'The Dwarves' series as they come out, so I'm really after shorter books, as 16 ~thousand or so page books in six months is pushing the limits of what I'll be able to get through with my limited spare time! Thanks for the help guys!

That was fun to read

With Gaimen, try Good Omens if you enjoy Pratchett, then if you enjoy it go onto Neverwhere. They are both great books, I enjoyed the other stuff of his I read but I loved both of these.

Nice, welcome fellow Aussie!

I'm not saying that Shardblades are part of becoming radiants, I'm saying they are halting their growth towards becoming radiants. Also apparently I'm wrong about Szeth, his powers are not radiant powers, 'something else' is hapening to him.

Sounds legit

Yeah Gaiman is good, I loved Neverwhere and Good Omens, I also enjoyed his other work. Scalzi has that humour through all his books, he is one of those authors I often find myself actually laughing out loud while reading.

Yeah, the only story I personally would really like to read is Tam's. That is the only one I would be happy about missing a Sanderson original for.

It was too open ended for me, I love Brandon’s writing but I bought AoL expecting an as advertised standalone novella. It annoyed me that I was left desperately wanting to read the sequel when I know it won’t be around for a long time. It was sold as a standalone and a standalone shouldn’t leave a reader waiting impatiently from the sequel. Neither Warbreaker or Elantris left me demanding a sequel, AoL did. Moral of the story, Brandon should stop writing so well that I get frustrated that he plans to write more books then I previously thought!

Is Sigzil a native of Roshar?

Another little something: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/library/32/Elantris-The-Hope-of-Elantris Also his Suvudu write up (hilarity): http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2012/03/cage-match-2012-round-4-moiraine-damodred-versus-kelsier.html

I've been reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series for about a year now and am about half way through book eight (I do however read multiple books at a time, so the length of time for me to finish this series is not odd) and I wasn't sure if I was going to read the entire series until I got to the end of book two. For me it was wonderful and I've thoroughly enjoyed each book since although they are hard to get through if you're not in the mood to be heavily into a very complex book. That is one of the reasons I read numerous books at once tho and why it has taken me so long to finish the series. I need to finish it quickly tho as I plan to start my WoT reread within the next 4 weeks and having two such epic reads going on at the same time would surely do my head in. So if you are interested in giving it a shot I suggest reading to the end of book two, if you’re not in love with the series by then you never will be. It is extremely heavy hitting with a steep learning curve, you are not hand held at all through the series and if you do not like that then this is not a book series for you.

Hey guys, I enjoyed the podcast, a great start on your endeavour. There were a few things I felt you could work on to make it a more enjoyable experience for the next time you record, that I thought I would pass on in a hopefully constructive way; 1) For me it ran a bit long, forty minutes for a podcast made it lose my attention on a few occasions, I'd rather it fifteen to twenty minutes as it would hold my attention better that way. 2) I would like more structure to your content. You didn't seem to have your quotes to hand even tho you knew you would be talking about these topics and having them to hand would make the process smoother and avoid people talking over each other. 3) On talking over each other, I would suggest not having a fourth person until you guys have worked together more and know each other’s roles better. With the ability to know who does what and who picks up on which cues it will make it easier to then have on a fourth guest and not have everyone talking at once, which gets confusing for the listener. 4) On theories; it would be more enjoyable for me if you were clearer on the theories, referencing things to being; canon, word of god, commonly theorised, wildly theorised etc. would then give the listener an easier understanding of how wide spread the theories are. Including links to pages (forum or wiki) along with the podcast would also then allow the readers to learn more about the theories discussed in the podcast and make for a better experience. Conflicting viewpoints on theories should be scripted, this would allow emotions to be removed from the equation and deliver a better understanding of all sides to the listener, thus allowing them to make up their own mind. As I said, I enjoyed your first podcast and wish you all the best in creating additional ones and hope my advice is taken as intended, being constructively.

So are there many Aussies that hang out here, would love to hear from some other Australian based Sanderson fans. Oh Hi everyone btw

Dalinar, is forgetting his wife the boon or the curse? I always thought that he went to ask for him to forget his wife because it was too painful remembering her and has some other curse, but others on this board seem to think that it is his curse if so what is his boon? Is there any evidence either way (I couldn't find a thread).

This came to me whilst driving home today and I wanted to write it down before I forgot it, so I decided I may as well share it here to see what others thought. So we have a collection of people from WoK who I believe are becoming Radiants and we know that Syl has a fair bit to do with Kaladin becoming closer to being a Radiant. I believe all of the following have shown tendencies towards becoming radiants: Shallan; sees truthspren in various ways, can soulcast, we have PoV, no spren (just visions of truthspren), has a shardblade Jasnah; can soulcast, no PoV, no indication of spren, no shardblade Elhokar; talks about seeing beings similar to truthspren (I know this is grasping not fact), no PoV, no indication of spren, has a shardblade Dalinar; visions, we have PoV and no spren yet he acts (arguably) with more honour than Kaladin, has a shardblade (until now) Szeth; surgebinds, we have PoV and no spren, he has a shardblade. Kaladin; surgebinds, interacts with Syl, no shardblade We also know that Syl has an aversion to shardblades. So we know that those we have PoV from that only Kaladin has a Spren attached to him however each of the others has a shard blade, leading to the possibility of the spren being scared away by the shardblades. So what if the shardblades scare off the spren, making it so that those with shardblades donnot interact with their spren and this would stunt their growth as a radiant. This could mean that now that Dalinar has given up his shardblade that we will see a spren come to him in book two. I could not find any indication that Jasnah has a spren attached to her, however, we see from Kaladin's PoV that people try to conceal it if such a thing does happen. If it comes out that she does have an association with a spren, or that Dalinar now starts to then this would greatly support my (rather thin) theory. That could then also have something to do with the Knight Radiants abandoning their shards, taking them back into contact with their spren? Sorry if something like this theory already exists somewhere, or if any of the above is based on incorrect facts, my mind was just flowing and I wanted to get it down before I forgot.

I am thankful that Brandon was chosen to finish the WoT, because it meant that it got finished and also that I came across his own work. I find that I am now looking forward to reading book two of Stormlight Archive as I am to reading aMoL, which got me thinking. I know that it has been stated again and again by Brandon Sanderson and Harriet that it is most likely that they will not do any Outriggers or Prequels for WoT and I am not against this, mainly because for each one Brandon would write it would mean less time he was spending writing his own stuff. However there is at least one story I still want told, so my question to you all is: What if any Outrigger/Prequel would you want written at the expense of having to wait longer for Brandon to publish more of his own work?

If that's the case, then I would say it is nearly as likely for there to be lamps of stormlight infused gems to illuminate the area, which is common practice in Roshar, where even the poorest of slaves (bridgmen) use them as such. I think a playing field without either would be more reasonable. I think that it is a fair enough statement to say that Szeth could not be killed from a projectile weapon whilst he is holding stormlight. Reverse lashings are the most stormlight efficient lashing possible, (according to the Ars Arcanum in The Way of Kings) so if a Mistborn was to stay at a distance and shoot anything at Szeth he could survive for a long period of time, only drawing enough stormlight to counter each attack. I won’t argue this statement as I have no knowledge of any reference to existing momentums effect on basic lashings and although we never see it affecting Szeth in any of his battles in The Way of Kings, I would not argue that it doesn't happen. However I feel that Szeth can move faster than a Mistborn, in the air they are limited to the speed of gravity, whilst Szeth can multiply the effects of gravity to move much faster, Szeth can travel at any direction at an amazing speed, with the only qualifier being his limited amount of stormlight. Mistborn tho are restricted to their direction and speed dependent upon metal being around them and the metal stock inside them. On the ground I feel that pewter and stormlight would give about the same advantage (unless anyone has a quote showing otherwise?). I'd disagree, the drawing of stormlight and the activation of a reverse lashing we have seen numerous times in The Way of Kings as something not even thought of but a reaction (Kaladin and the arrows to the bridge) Szeth would only have to use this power if he was attacked and until such time he need not do anything. Atium does give an advantage to a Mistborn, who would certainly be able to keep away from Szeth whilst using it, however with the power of a reverse lashing I still don't see a way it could help one to kill Szeth while he had stormlight, and without stormlight a Mistborn wouldn't need Atium to kill him. I don't believe you are at all suggesting that a Mistborn would try to take Szeth on in melee whilst he held stormlight, Szeth has the obvious advantage there. I would say (I think this is what you are also saying?) that a mistborn would have to either: a ) Bleed out Szeths store of stormlight to win b ) Get Szeth away from anything he could use a reverse lashing upon and kill him from range I don't think Szeth would allow b ) to happen, given the fact that a piece of wood held out to his side would redirect anything shot at him with a simple reverse lashing and given my previous assumption of knowledge of his opponents skills, so that leaves a ) as the only possible winning option for a Mistborn in my opinion. Whilst I think a ) is possible I feel it is much more likely that Szeth would be able to catch the Mistborn in melee, due to his greater speed and mobility and each time the Mistborn would require Atium to escape, given the rarity of Atium *I* would say the Mistborn would run out of Atium before Szeth ran out of stormlight. Which would give the victory to Szeth, if the other two competitors are not being considered.

I won’t argue your first point however I believe it becomes a small issue in conjunction to my reply to your second point being; I would say that Szeth is skilled enough as to only infuse what he will use as he is in a position to use it. We see him repeatedly drawing additional stormlight as he continues to fight, often from his own stock of gems as a fight progresses in The Way of Kings. Kelsier doesn't burn metals he isn't using, and Szeth doesn't hold stormlight he doesn't need. To your third point I would say that once anyone got close enough to Szeth for him to feel threatened enough to draw stormlight then they are close enough for him to reach them, as he can use a multiple basic lashing to turn his gravitational pull towards them to fall towards them multiple times faster than gravity alone can do so, he would then arrive very quickly. I have no doubt that Szeth could catch a mistborn using basic lashings, the use of basic lashings on oneself can be used to fly, I have no doubt that Szeth can do so. For this fight I would assume the following point: Everyone is aware they will be fighting. What this means is: Dalinar is in full Shardplate, with his Shardblade in hand. Wax has a store of metals which are in his stomach and has metal minds both full and empty so he can alter his weight either way, he also has additional metals to consume as required and he has an aluminium weapon and haze killer bullets along with a large supply of coins handy. Kelsier has a stomach full of metals, with additional metals to hand as required and a large supply of coins Szeth has a large stock of stormlight infused gems and I’d say he has his shardblase out. I would then also assume this point: That there is no natural advantage to the terrain. What that means is: No mists No additional sources of stormlight No metal to be pushed or pulled upon as part of the terrain – allomancers would have to use their own supply of coins to move I would feel that these two points would be fair to assume, along with another point previously theorised; that they know of each others powers, these three points I feel being essential to creating a fair playing field. I would also remember that a benefit of stormlight is that you don't have to be touching it to 'ingest' it. Unlike allomancy, where after using one duralumin enhanced anything requires you to physically restock your stores.

Just have to note, arguing that Szeth would run out of stormlight is fairly nonsensical, as you could also argue that Kel would run out of metals to burn. I think you would have to come at this that they each have brought sufficient quantity of whatever they draw their power from to not run out, else you'll get caugt in a loop: "No Szeth ran out of stormlight first!" "No Kel ran out of metals first!"

I couldn't find this anywhere, if it is mentioned anywhere, sorry for making a whole new post for this, but I was excited to discover from Brandon at Supanova in Melbourne that he had decided on the main characters (flashback ones) for the next four Stormlight Archive books (mostly) being: Book 2 Shallan Book 3 Szeth Book 4 probably Navani although may be an as of yet not view pointed character Book 5 Dalinar Certainly made me excited! Edited to add: http://www.supanova.com.au/media/podcasts/brandon-sanderson-melbourne-supanova-2012/ 26:15 is the relevant question