Shivertongue

And the big awesome tent that will magically appear in the middle of the night on Friday will be the rest of the admins. xD

Currently reading Zoo City, by Lauren Beukes, and enjoying it quite a bit. It's a bit odd in the way it's set up - second chapter consists entirely of a spam 'Nigerian prince' style email scam - but the writing is great, and the setting is very intriguing.

Welcome! ...okay, I'm tired of typing now too.

I will have this.

I know it's not me. I'm not coming in til Friday.

I like it. Theories based on no logic whatsoever are my favorite.

Secret? It's the closest thing we have to a motto here! "17th Shard - Putting Spikes in Your Eyes Since 2010".

I've found that with low-fantasy, the writing itself has to be good for me to enjoy it. Complex, rich characters and a well-crafted plot presented through fantastic prose. And even then, it's not a guarantee. I much prefer high-fantasy, though, and will be so happy when the current overly-depressing dark and gritty low-magic trend fades away. edited to add; I think one of the reasons I haven't gotten to the other Abercrombie books is because of my general distaste of low-fantasy. That, and I saw some spoilers for the last book that indicate to me that I will not enjoy it, no matter how well written.

I tried the Long price Quartet - the first book, at least - and just found it a chore to get through. The writing was stellar, but the story just did not engage me, and aspects of it just didn't make any sense. Oddly, though, the hardest thing for me to get past was the concept of the 'poses'. I couldn't help but picture them as full body spasms, and then trying to picture people having conversations while doing this... I've seen your reviews of his work on EBR, and one of these days plan to pick up another of his books. Hopefully I'll be able to get into it more than Long Price. Seconded. Seconded so much, I'm also thirding, fourthing, and fifthing this. This... this has long been my issue with Malazan. It should not take three books to hook me on a series. It shouldn't even take one book. Ideally, I should be hooked by the first line, first page, or by the end of the first chapter. If I'm not hooked by the halfway point, I'm more likely than not to put the book down. Getting through Gardens of the Moon was a chore that took three attempts to accomplish, and Deadhouse Gates is still sitting on my shelf, where it has been for the past year, with a bookmark around page three. But then, I've gone on about how I feel in regards to Malazan at least twice on this thread, so I won't go any further. Took me a while to get through The Blade Itself, but I loved it. The writing itself was what drove me more than the characters, honestly. I was a bit disappointed that the entire book seemed to be set-up for the big quest in book two, and it's probably because of that I haven't cracked open Before They Are Hanged. It's on the pile though, as is Best Served Cold. Both keep getting pushed down, though, and I've only come to the conclusion that 'low-magic fantasy' just isn't what I'm into. I recommend not reading any of Sand dan Glokta's chapters while in the dentist's waiting room. I think I've mentioned Scott Lynch before, but I have to add on further agreement to this. The Gentleman Bastards series is fantastic, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Also check out Queen of the Iron Sands, a sci-fi serial done in the style of 50's pulp, posted for free on his website.

I am doing it this year as well, but I'm actually cheating. I'm taking the story I wrote last year, the first half of Wavepainter, and adding 50,000 words to it. I'm doing this because I want to do NaNo, but I don't want to get distracted by a new project until Wavepainter is finished. So I'm not panicking as much as I was at this time last year... actually, I wasn't panicking at all last year.

But they have WAFFLES!

What I want to know about Shardpools is: 1) is there a deep end? And 2) are there lifeguards on duty?

Yes, there are waffles on Scadrial too. Waffles are, I am increasingly convinced, universal.

Wavepainter is going through a bit of a rewrite right now. I might submit something on Monday, but I dunno.

I never read any of the theorizing beforehand. The earring did surprise me a bit, but not much else did. Still loved and devoured the books, but I wasn't thrown for any loops during the plot. I knew Sazed would be the Hero of Ages up until the end, and that he was writing the epigraphs from the first chapter of HoA.

Just me nitpicking - for purposes of distinction, the organization in the books is referred to as Seventeenth Shard. This is specifically so we can more easily distinguish it from this very website, 17th Shard. Also, little known fact - this letter was written on the back of a grocery list.

You read that right, Shardudes and Shardettes. It is confirmed. For reals. After so much research, so many read-throughs, so much speculation, I am happy to tell you that I have it confirmed, for certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yes, there ARE waffles on Scadrial. Everything else in the book makes so much more sense now. ^^ That is all.

I have read exactly half of that list, I've started half of the remaining half, and put down about four because I couldn't get into them.

California Dreams, a so-bad-it's-awesome teen sitcom from my childhood that I recently found every episode of on YouTube. I'm on a bit of a nostalgia trip.

It doesn't have to be. I've said it on the forums here before, but I predicted the end of book three from the first introduction of Sazed and Feruchemy in book 1. And before that, I knew something was up, and I just needed those two pieces to fit the whole thing into place. There were a few surprises, mostly due to not knowing the aspects of Shards and whatnot, but for the most part I saw every major twist and turn the plot of the entire trilogy took, and I still enjoyed it immensely.

That is actually a theory that makes a lot of sense to me. It could also explain why Kvothe is doing what he is now - a great effort made to help backfiring, and just giving him the idea that it's not worth it. I like this theory as well.

You dangerously underestimate the power of plot, my friend. You tempt fate and taunt tragedy with your unthinking words, encouraging bad fortune and unsatisfying endings to fall upon you. Do not say I did not warn you...

Bah. You're all thinking on this too much. The answer to the entire thing is so incredibly simple. The Lord Ruler is as strong as he is because of Primary Antagonist Powers. If he wasn't an overwhelming threat, then it would have been too easy to defeat him, and the book would have been boring. The Lord Ruler gained his power through sheer force of plot.