ShawnMC

Yup. Now I'm mad at myself. I clearly remember him beginning the First Ideal in Oathbringer but I completely forgot about him mentioning how he saw figures with twisted symbols for heads in the mirrors. I even remember being excited by that scene during my first read. This annoys me because out of all of the books, I've read The Way of Kings the most, probably five or six times. Ugh! Guess I'll just have to read it again.

You could say that everybody has an accent. It just depends on what language you're speaking and where you are when you're speaking.

Was this confirmed? In the books, I mean. If it's something that was confirmed in an interview or the whole 'Words of Brandon' or something like that then I probably missed it. I'll be disappointed in myself, though if it was in one of the books and I missed it, especially one of the first two considering how many times I've read them.

Ha! Not anymore. Years of speech therapy have done wonders. But I can still bust out a killer NY accent when I want to and my Bostonian isn't too shabby, either.

My father was originally from New York but moved away before having me and so I was born and raised in Ohio. Do you know what you get when you're an Ohioan raised by someone with a New York accent? In my case, a lisp and funny sounding R's.

I said haunted but yeah, semantics. I recall him mentioning how he saw shadowy figures and often felt like he was being watched. As I was reading Oathbringer, I started wondering if he might be have one of the Unmade or some sort of iniquitous spren following him. as I said, I'm probably way off base. I'm not usually very good at picking up on plot twists and stuff like that. I'm also not as familiar with the rest of the Cosmere and a lot of people on here seem to be so. He was probably just paranoid because of what happened to his father as well as the continued activity of the Assassin in White but it just seemed to me that there was some foreshadowing going on (or maybe Moash sticking him was the result of said foreshadowing). Again, I'm probably way off and just read into it more than what was there.

Mistborn and possibly Stormlight SPOILERS for those who care... I really loved the premise for Mistborn but thought that it was poorly executed and TFE doesn't really resemble my understanding of a heist story the way that Brandon always describes it. Also, the most interesting character of the five books I've read is the Lord Ruler and he died in the first book and was only on scene for a couple of chapters. I found his (not really his) journal entries the most interesting. I've only read the first two books of the Wax and Wayne series so please don't tag me in any spoilers but so far I think they're better than the first trilogy with a more fleshed out setting, better plot, and more engaging characters. I also think their belief in the religions established in the first era books to be more plausible. But overall, I don't think any of the Mistborn novels hold a candle to anything found in Stormlight. Still, I get why people enjoy them but personally I'm happy that they weren't my first exposure to Brandon's work. I'm not sure if I really have any truly unpopular opinions other than that... I've seen a lot of people agree with my disappointment in his Reckoners series so I don't feel like that's very unpopular. After reading this thread, I wasn't aware that so many people disliked Shallan or Adolin and was surprised not to find more people complaining about Kaladin being "angsty". I actually like all of the Stormlight characters so far, each for very different and particular reasons. I've seen someone mention on here that they think that Moash is redeemable and I agree with that. I'll also add to it by saying I believe that if Kaladin hadn't be so absorbed in his own self-pity and that if he had sat down and had a more open and frank discussion with Moash that his betrayal could have been prevented and Moash could have learned to move past his grief (even if he still chose not to forgive Elhokar). I also believe that there was more to Elhokar than people give him credit for and based off of some things that he said in The Way of Kings, I thought that he was being haunted by some sort of evil force rather than being unduly paranoid and I wonder if, despite his death, we haven't seen the end of his story yet. But I'm also really bad an guessing stuff like that so I could be waaaaaaay off.

I'd mention the ending but it seems to be a common complaint of the series. Also, this was only my second venture into YA. I started reading Abercrombie's Shattered Sea trilogy without even realizing it was YA (I hadn't realized just how graphic the genre could be, Reckoners included). Anyways, other than the unsatisfying ending, I find myself more interested in what would come next more so than everything I've already read. I would much rather see how this world that has existed among cruel and heartless Epics would react and adapt to them being heroes, especially as human governments start rising again. It is hard to imagine that they would openly welcome heroic Epics, even new Epics who appear post-Calamity (I imagine that all of his power sets would remain and recycle among humans, pretty much creating a world of superpowers among humans without the inevitable corruption bit). Also, this might seem strange since I read the entire trilogy but I didn't really like David. For one, I wasn't aware it was written in first-person when I bought it or I may have waited. Regardless, I didn't really like Dave most of the time and his personality seemed... weird. His whole shtick of being bad at metaphors made me smile here and there and I guess it was meant to be funny but most of the time I just groaned when I read it (and not in a good way like when hearing a corny pun). He did have his moments, though where I did connect with him and actually care about him such as the scene where he recalled riding bikes with his dad. With all that said, I still enjoyed the series. This is one of the few stories I've read in which the plot made me want to keep reading more so than the character, even if the ending flopped a little. I loved the idea of ordinary humans fighting against superpowers (with minimal superpower aid of their own). I also loved all of the unique Epic weaknesses and power-sets. These power-sets are an awesome example of why and how Brandons is so good at creating magic systems. He takes a lot of old, recycled power sets and adds an interesting twist, usually in the coupling of strange and off-the-wall weaknesses and limitations. People keep talking about how they want a movie or a TV series but I'd like to see a comic book version (or continuation, as mentioned above). A table-top RPG would be pretty cool, too.

I've never read Eragon but wasn't the author about fifteen when he wrote it? I understand why veterans of the genre would grow bored of the same old stomping grounds of fantasy but I still enjoy going back to something familiar, even as I crave something more exotic and innovative. Even though it is typically used as an insult, I don't think that a story being cliched necessarily means that it's bad or not worth reading. After all, if Eragon is a young reader's first foray into the fantasy genre then it's something fresh and new from their perspective. My introduction to fantasy outside of Greek and Norse mythology was the Dragonlance Chronicles and I still go back and re-read my favorite scenes. In fact, it was to me what The Lord of the Rings is to a lot of other people and personally (be prepared for incoming blasphemy), I prefer it over Tolkien's work which I've always thought read more like a history than a story. Granted, I'm glad for Tolkien's status within the fantasy genre because without him we might not have all of the wonderful stories that his work inspired. Then again, I don't consider myself to be a "critical reader" or even well-read and I'm relatively easy to please. I tend to forget the books I don't like and forever remember the ones that I do.

I took the test THREE times, only adjusting my answers slightly each time as I tried to be more honest with myself concerning each slider, and all three times I got Truthwatcher as my top result. Truthwatcher: 73% Lightweaker: 66% Windrunner: 63% Edgedancer: 61% Willshaper: 58% Skybreaker: 53% Elsecaller: 49% Stoneward: 48% Dustbringer: 47% Bondsmith: 42% I'm not gonna' lie, I'm a little disappointed by the results. But then these always seem to be the types of results I get in tests like these. I bet if I took a similar test for something like Allomancy, I'd probably get Soother or Tineye when really all I want to do is punch stuff like a Thug. But if I'm being honest, I'd say Truthwatcher fits me pretty well but if I had my pick and stuck to the theme with what I think really fits me the most, I'd probably choose Lightweaver, Elsecaller, or Willshaper. The Truths as Oaths part of Lightweaver would have me scared (I feel bad for Shallan) but I think I fit their more artsy side than I do the scientific part of Truthwatchers. I like the Elsecallers for always wanting to better themselves and reach their potential (something I cam currently working on in my personal life) and Willshapers for how much they value freedom. But if I threw out all of my inhibitions and ignored what I think "truly suits me" then I think I'd want to be an Edgedancer. I'm not a particularly religious person, more of a skeptic really, but I love how the Edgedancers focus on helping the common people, those who might otherwise slip through the cracks. I feel like one of those people sometimes and so I respect their desire to remember those people. Also, I'm not gonna lie, Lift makes it look like some damnation good fun.

It seems that this is a pretty old thread but its also the kind of general world-building topic that I love seeing explored (especially by sharper minds than my own). With the islands being at a higher (and moving, it would seem) altitude, this would change the sort of regular atmosphere the people are accustomed to. This could even change the potential location of resources such as pulling water vapor from the air. This also all depends on the specific limits of the transmutation being used. Playing off of @Hemalurgic Headshot's idea (that is such an awesome name), even if the surface world isn't habitable enough to sustain life, what about underground? Now there is potential for conflict between two drastically different societies vying for similar resources on the surface world. I wish I was more competent in certain subjects such as economics or environmental science. They're boring subjects (to me) but are a natural resource in the sort of in-depth world-building I love reading about.

I never knew this was even a thing. I don't think I'll be able to make it this year, especially if it is something you have to register for. But next year is in Canada and that's even closer to me than Utah. Granted, Writing Excuses likely won't be there but this is a cool convention with a lot of history and I've been wanting to attend events like this.