Argent

My question on Reddit collected quite a few responses, many of them with suggestions and recommendations for novels (and a few other mediums) with female villains. They are still underrepresented, but at least now I have a few titles I go read if I want to check that representation out.

A similar thing came up in the Reddit thread, only about the Forsaken. In short, I could probably buy into the female Forsaken being the villains of some some of the story arcs. They are not without their issues, but I could agree to it.

That's not the same as having a female villain - I could argue that most of the Black Ajah are closer to the evil henchman stereotype than the villain one. Plus, none of them are really the Big Bad of the story.

Yeah, now that I think about it, I've rarely seen a female villain. Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood kind of has one, but she is not the Big Bad. Lady, from The Black Company series, could be considered a villain too, I guess, but if you've read the books, you know she is not a good example; the same applies to Sabetha in The Republic of Thieves, but she is an even worse example, as she is not so much a villain as an antagonist, or even better - a foil. Jim C. Hines' Princess series might be the best example I can think of. I don't know, it's a weird phenomenon. Let me go ask on Reddit for some examples.

Yeah, both Tamas' and Taniel's backstories felt a little... forced, I guess, though that's a strong word. For a few pages in the first book I was hoping we'll get more from Taniel and Vlora, it looked like a part of the plot was them finally figuring out their relationship, either bringing it to a closure or rekindling it. Nope. Didn't happen. That entire thing was kind of ignored after page 20 or so.

I am sad to say that your issues with the Aes Sedai won't go away. It gets a little better later on, you will eventually get to meet unique Aes Sedai from most of the Ajahs (e.g. you'll see a Green, and she will feel like a real character, while still possessing the traits that determine a Green; the rest of her Ajah will still be flat though). Suane has an interesting arc ahead of her. And I am with you on Elaida - I don't know what Jordan was trying to do with her, but it backfired. Oh, and Verin is a weird one - though whether that's because she is Brown, has an off personality, or something else will be up to you to decide and / or find out.

Considering that we don't know anything about Khriss... no. Oh, other than she is allegedly in White Sand.

Reddit treasure hunting strikes once again, this time with a short animated scene from The Way of Kings. /u/Gamerboybob and (according to the Reddit thread) his brother-in-law drew and animated the scene where Kaladin gets strung up to wait for the Stormfather's judgement. There is also some other (non-Brandon) neat stuff on his YouTube channel, if you want to check it out.

I still need to make my way through the short stories, but they might have to wait a bit - if I drag my feet with David Hair's Mage's Blood, I might have to jump straight into Brent Weeks' The Broken Eye. But then, I got a Reddit reply from the McClellan, so I am almost obliged to prioritize him...

We already have a thread for The Crimson Campaign, but I figure it's better to have one for the series as a whole, not just for one book - the second one on top of that. I read Promise of Blood a not too long ago and was happy to find out that it was a really solid book - most of Brandon's recommendations are so, but every now and then our tastes diverge. Magic based on powder is definitely not common in the fantasy genre (maybe steampunk features it more?), so I was at least happy to see something new and weird. The actual mechanics weren't as complicated as I would've liked, and the similarity to Allomancy was obvious (not to imply Brian was copying Brandon or anything, just a statement of fact), but the other magic systems made up for it, I think. There is a lot of potential with the Knacked. Actually, now that I think about it, the main magics of the series (Privileged, Knacked, Marked - I am going to ignore Ka-Poel's voodoo for now) could represent the progress of the people's way of thinking about the unexplained. The Privileged wield magic that's powerful, wild, and largely under the umbrella of "soft magic" - it could be treated as a metaphor for a more primitive view of the world. The Marked, the powder mages, are on the other end of the spectrum - their magic features an almost scientific precision in both its cost and its effects. Plus, there is also the bit about the ingredient required for it - powder, a well-understood symbol of scientific progress, a product of humankind's mastery over the natural elements. And finally the Knacked, sitting kind of in the middle - their Knacks definitely lean towards what the Privileged can do, with their mysterious and strange effects, but the fact that they are very specific and contained nudges them towards science as well. I am going to continue ignoring Ka-Poel, because it's late and I am too tired to think where she fits, if she does. Look at me, being all excited about magic, when it wasn't the magic that grabbed me. It was the characters. Tamas and Tanael, for the most port, were both very interesting and dynamic characters. Both had solid personalities, but with a flaw or two that made them unpredictable at times. Tamas' hate for whatshsiface from Kez may have felt a little exaggerated, since we never actually saw how much the Field Marshal loved his wife, so his impulsive behavior was a little weird at times, but I could buy it. Taniel was better, but he felt too much like an escapist to me, and I am not sure that was well justified in the text. Adamat was probably the most interesting and well-developed out of all the main characters, even if I usually enjoyed reading about Taniel the most. The servant girl, Nila (?), felt a little forced in Promise of Blood, but she managed to find her place in The Crimson Campaign. And look at me again, writing essays and stuff. I blame the tiredness again. Let's see what others have to say.

I kind of have to agree - though it's only marginally less direct than The Name of the Wind. It was very early in Day 1 when it became clear that a big part of the plot, or at least Kvothe's arc, was going to be the discovery of the name of the wind. Regardless, The Doors of Stone has never been finalized as title. We - Pat included - have kind of been using it since it was announced as a placeholder. In fact, Pat often refers to it as Day 3 because of that. But I would not be at all sad if it stays as TDoS. It's not a bad name.

Your second question is moot, you can't Soulcast a stick into fire. It's been tried before.

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Started and finished Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan since my last update here. It was kind of meh, about on par with the first book in the series, maybe a little worse. I am still going to read Queen of Fire, the next book, when it comes out, but I am not very optimistic about it. What I am optimistic about is Mage's Blood by David Hair, which I started earlier this morning. It has a very distinct writing style, and the book itself has... ambition. It's a weird feeling to have for a book, but it has the signs of a potentially pretty epic fantasy. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

With about 50 strips in, it looks like the demon could be treated as a metaphor about either a young girl's insecurity or a psychological condition. Which, intentional or not, makes the whole thing even better.

The one-strip format is kind of weird, but I think I'll check at least a couple of hundred of them. It's a quick read, if nothing else.

Talk about luck. The very first time I hit the Random Page link, it took me to Ten Essences/row... which doesn't seem like a page we want in the index of possible random page hits. Is it possible to remove it?

That's... amazing and disturbing all at the same time. Almost as much as the swiftness with which I will buy it.

No good place, no. Your best bet is probably to ask around the forums, some of us are quite familiar with the books and where things happen and are described, so it wouldn't take us long to find specifics.

I see my arch-nemesis has arrived to this thread. Again.

Teia / Adrasteia is not a superviolet (though Liv is). Teia can see and draft paryl, a color described as "as far below subred as subred is below red." Which makes it microwave, but a very narrow slice of the microwave spectrum.

I imagine they are gateways - which, I believe, is consistent with both Raoden's and Brandon's words on the matter.

Never have I felt such envy for another man's sister...

Aye. And she makes it feel different from when she just plays this person or that.

Cosima is, hands down, the best clone. If she dies, we riot. And Kira... her genome has to be weird. Like, superhuman weird. For some reason I am left with the impression that she heals abnormally fast, and she is definitely way more perceptive than a kid her age deserves to be.