Ryan

I quit watching that show. The animation was beautiful, but once I found out that I might have forgiven it that, but it's also a pretty gruesome show, which I can only handle in small doses. It's a bit like Deadman Wonderland: beautifully animated, weak protagonist, horrifically gruesome. I can't watch shows like that.

I don't remember the episode number. They just got Usopp on their crew. (Clearly I haven't had much time for Anime of late. ) I never go for the English dub. There was one show that I think was probably improved by a dub (Bacano!), but I usually can't stand them. I'm watching the official version on Hulu. With fan subs the content owners don't get paid.

Seconded. It does get less depressing. Fair warning, the season 1 resolution kind of sucks, as does season 2. I still think it's worth watching at least once.

I've now watched past my previous high-water mark on One Piece. I like it better this time, though I wouldn't say I'm hooked just yet. My attempt to describe it. It's a lot like Duck Tales; that is, If Duck Tales were: Targeted at teenagers, Made in Japan, and Not about ducks. With lots of shouts of GUMU-GUMU-NOO!, of course.

Larry Corriea book bombed it at one point, which is how I heard of it.

Alright...sooo...Space Brothers! Space Brothers is a show about two brothers whose childhood dream was to become astronauts. Fast forward 20 years, and the younger brother is an astronaut, on track to become the first Japanese person on the moon. The older brother gave up the dream, and is an engineer at a car company. ...until he gets fired. And old dreams start to reignite... I discovered this show when I myself was unemployed and struggling to find work, so the first episode hit very close to home, and I was hooked from the start. That said, even without that odd set of circumstances, I think I still would have been hooked, because this show is wonderful. It's targeted straight at old people (me); the conflicts are about work and career paths, family and parenting, dealing with loss, and other things adults face. And yet, it's not deadly serious; it's funny and heartwarming even as it's hitting you in the feels. Also, I'm a huge space exploration nerd, so I love all of the space stuff almost as much as the main characters do.

It was six years ago, so I don't remember very well, but the number that sticks in my head is 10 episodes. I don't remember exactly why I quit, except that if I had to listen to Luffy shout "Gumu-gumu-noooooo!" one more time I was liable to start throwing things. I'll give it another shot. I see it's on Funimation, which is unfortunate. Hopefully Crunchyroll can secure the rights to the old stuff soon.

Have you read Discworld? You must read Discworld. Terry Pratchett is win. I'm too tired right now to explain why and do it justice, but others on the Internet have done that job anyway. For sci-fi, try Kristine Kathryn Rusch's wreck diving books (starts with Diving Into the Wreck). The books have structuring issues that mostly have to do with their origin as a series of novellas, but I find them exceedingly compelling. This review explains why better than Tired Brain Ryan can.

As a first book from a new author, this was stunning, mostly for its complexity. McLellan juggles three POV characters, a host of side characters, and a relatively complex plot with seeming ease. I don't think it's a perfect book, but I can find little to complain about. Some of the more political sections dragged for me, but the pace really picks up in the middle, and doesn't let up. I disagree that the book needed to spend more time on the addiction. It just would have slowed the breakneck pace. There will surely be time for that in subsequent books. The various competing magic systems were great, but for me, the real clincher was the characters. This is a book with a pretty large cast of characters, and all of them are great. My favorite? Pole. Definitely Pole. Close second - Adamat. I'll be reading the sequel soon. I have a sizable backlog of books that I've purchased and not read, and I've promised myself I wouldn't buy any more until it was gone, but for this I will make an exception.

Boxbot!

You really like One Piece better than Hunter x Hunter? I'm very curious as to why. I tried to watch it years ago, but gave up after like 10 episodes because I found Luffy extremely annoying. Hunter, on the other hand, is one of my favorite shows, so maybe OP is worth another look?

I read the book, what...18 years ago now? Wow. Anyway, I agree with the "rushed" sentiment. It's funny, because the book isn't particularly long, but a lot of things about battle school and Ender's struggle for acceptance and his gradual scrabble to the top of the pack just don't really come through. There wasn't enough screen time for any of Ender's Jeesh to shine (except for maybe Petra, and to a much lesser extent, Bean). You didn't really get a sense of how revolutionary Ender's tactics were, and how hard he had to struggle against the endlessly mounting odds. So much so, in fact, that when at the very end he shouts at Graff, "How do you like THAT?" it feels out of place, because you don't really feel where it's coming from. I hate that they introduced FTL travel to the world, all seemingly so that Ender could run outside and find the last surviving Bugger queen. Have a "2 (relative) years later, on a different world" transition, and he can still find it, without wrecking the entire universe. That's what I didn't like; overall, though, I loved the film. It brought the book to life in a way that few book to movie adaptations accomplish. And, despite all it didn't show of the original story, it managed to retain Ender's character: how he's one scary kid, how he struggles to maintain his humanity and innate goodness, and how he succeeds through the strength of his character and his connection to his sister Valentine. So for that, I'm glad it was made, and that I saw it.

Captain Kennet from Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy. I just...gahh. In the WoT, it's gotta be Elaida. Elayne and Gawyn at least have redeeming qualities, and kicked butt in the end.

They said that they regarded Tuon as a woman of honor, and I don't think any Aiel had enough interaction with her before (or even during) the last battle for that to develop.

I love the big cinematic action sequences, but the scenes that wind up staying with me, and come out as my favorite, are the ones with emotional punch. Wheel of Time: There are so many great, amazing scenes in this series, but there is one that rises to the top, and it's one that I imagine few others would pick. Remember that chapter towards the end of Knife of Dreams, when Furyk Karede marches into the camp of the Band with a head full of misconceptions? Mat is in rare form in this chapter, and Jordan plays off the misconceptions perfectly to create maximum amusement. But then Tuon says, "You kept my doll," and you see that this man's almost fatherly affection for Tuon is not unrequited...I tell you, reading that chapter, I was laughing and crying and my heart was melting. It's a chapter with a depth that only a series like the Wheel of Time could bring off. It's triumphant and perfect, and I think it's my favorite in the whole series. Harry Potter: My favorite scene in the series happens to come in my least favorite book, the Order of the Phoenix. It's the chapter called, "The Woes of Mrs. Weasly". Leading up to this, you want to side with the kids; those silly overprotective adults, why won't they just tell the kids all the things? Then Moody pulls out the photo of the original Order and points out for Harry all the ones that were killed, and how, and it's most of them, and you're thinking, "Oh crap, this really is pretty dangerous, isn't it?" Then Harry goes upstairs and stumbles across Mrs. Weasly, unable to exorcise a boggart, because her biggest fear is that her loved ones are going to wind up dead and she just can't face their corpses... And with a punch to the gut, Rowling turns our sympathies inside out, while creating a very real sense of ominous foreboding. I tear up a little every time I read it. Warbreaker: No question about it. It's Lightsong's character climax. You realize what he's going to do a heartbeat before he does, and it's a stunning and delightful revelation. Discworld: It's really, really hard to pick a single moment in Discworld as my favorite, but if you pressed me to it, it would have to be the end of Thud, with Vimes running through a cave in the Dark desperately shouting "Where's my cow?" at the top of his lungs. Monster Hunter International: Mordecai throwing himself at Machado to give Owen time to escape. Second place: "How many guns do you have?"

I don't really get the sentiment that AMoL was rushed. Fact is, the rest of the series is slow. It's my favorite series ever, so I say this with love: it's TOO slow. AMoL (and, to a certain extent, the other two Brandon books) picks the pace up to a normal clip, and people complain that it feels rushed. Anyway, to speak to the original topic, I can't see Perrin willingly taking a crown, but he would also do anything for Faile. And there was that one viewing Min had of him, a broken crown...that has something to do with Saldea, though I can't recall what, if we were ever told. I also can't see Mat leading a conquering army. It just wouldn't sit right with him. He might even get himself executed or assassinated for refusing, or he might run far and fast. Based on Aviendha's vision, Tuon seems to hold to the Dragon's peace anyway. There's some implication that she was assassinated, as I recall, which would be a shame. The most tragic thing about that future (apart from the fate of the Aiel) is the enslavement of the female channelers and subsequent repression of the Asha'man, as well as the loss of knowledge of channeling. I guess the fourth age is supposed to be like our time, with myths of magic in the past and technology at the forefront of society. I don't have to like it, though. I imagine Rand will find his way back to his wives eventually. Assuming he burned himself out resealing the Bore, he may even get Nynaeve to heal him. Sure he was initially relieved, but that's so unusual - it's rare enough for a channeler that has been severed to even survive for long, let alone be happy about it. He does have his mysterious reality-bending power, which may be enough...who can say? Cadsuane would do well as Amyrlin, but she has so little time left. And Egwene's progressive reforms were exactly what the Aes Sedai needed, too. Sniff...Egwene...

I haven't finished the book yet. So please, NO SPOILERS for anything beyond the prologue. I thought it would be fun to try to guess Steelheart's weakness. In public. That way it's embarrassing when I'm wrong. My guess: David's father was trying to protect Steelheart when he accidentally injured him. I think that's the key: you can only hurt Steelheart when you're trying to protect him. That would be a REALLY hard weakness to exploit...

I'm playing The Cave. It's an adventure platformer with a wonderful dry sense of humor and a slight dark side. I've never seen an adventure game quite like it before. First of all, you don't have an inventory, so it avoids the common pitfalls of adventure games (inventory bloat and "pick the right random item" puzzles). Each character can carry one item at a time, and that's it. There are seven characters in the game. At the beginning you choose a party of three to take with you into the cave. Each character has their own special ability and their own little story, and the parts of the cave you encounter changes based on who you chose (so multiple plays are required to get the full experience). You control one character at a time, and can switch freely between them. A lot of the puzzles rely on this mechanic, and sometimes you need to put characters in pretty far-flung parts of a level in order to progress. However, if you leave an area, your other two characters will automatically join you, so you don't need to worry about moving everyone forward. I believe the creator of Monkey Island was at least partly behind this, which explains the tone and the sense of humor. Even the visuals hark back to Monkey Island somewhat. I've really enjoyed what I've played so far. The only downside is that the platforming is a little clunky.

I really loved this book. I could scarcely put it down. The world and the magic were both great, but what sealed it for me was the characters. Joel, Fitch, Melody, the principle, Exton and the office lady (I forgot her name - was it Florence?). Fitch was a teacher I could only dream of having in high school. And I could really relate to Joel, because in high school, I was Joel. Not as brilliant by any stretch, but apathetic about and bored with school, anxious to study the things I wanted to know. Brandon nailed it. Joel's teachers handled him mach better than my teachers handled me. That was another thing that was wonderful - the teachers. Caring and passionate in a way so many teachers, being beaten down by the system, just aren't. The ending didn't bother me so much. Actually, I thought it was a great turn for the story to take, surprising and inevitable. I had Harding pegged as the Scribbler from early on, and had discarded Nalizar as an obvious red herring. Which he was. Until he wasn't...Brandon took my expectations and turned them inside out. What did bother me is the length. YA books just don't feel complete to me anymore. In fact, this book could have served as act 1 in any of Brandon's other books. I was expecting it, but it still left me wanting more. (So did The Way of Kings, though...it's probably just the way Brandon writes.)

I apologize ahead of time. This is going to be full of wild guesses. We have so little information at this point that I can't really manage anything more. First, about the induction ceremony: I don't think the coin was the issue, and I'll point out why in a bit. The fourth element is probably a part of the Shadowblaze that they have to shed in order to bind to humans. Or maybe that the bindagent has to remove. The Shadowblaze that Joel sees has a physical presence; perhaps that is what must be shed. Something very dramatic, or at least memorable, happens to Rithmatists that doesn't happen to everyone else. If not, there would be no secret to keep, because everyone would know it. About the wild chalklings: A human can be made into a wild chalkling. It seems likely, however, that only Rithmatists can be targeted in this way. At Charles' house, four non-Rithmatists were killed instead of captured. Maybe the Forgotten are picky, like Shadowblazes, but that doesn't seem to fit. They don't take non-Rithmatists because they can't. The only difference between Rithmatists and other humans is the Shadowblaze chained to them. I am lead to conclude that wild chalklings feed on Shadowblazes, and that they need them to reproduce. But, they also attack humans. Not animals, just humans. It's possible that humans offend them by making unnatural things; that they get some benefit, however small, from killing them; or that maybe dead humans somehow equates to more Shadowblazes. I'll lump the Forgotten in with the wild chalklings, since they are related. Their form seems to be a shadow without the blaze. They are weaker in the light. They aren't very bright (ho ho). They have Rithmatic power. And they're called "forgotten". Forgotten by who? How? When? Could it be that a Forgotten is a Shadowblaze that's had an element removed, but that was then forgotten? (Mehhh....probably not.) About the Shadowblaze: They are probably at war with the wild chalklings. This seems only natural if I'm right that the wild chalklings prey on them. They had a relationship with an ancient native american people, in Zona Arida. The form of the Shadowblaze even seems patterned on such people. In our world, the Anasazi built awesome little cities in canyons and large grottos in the sides of cliffs in Arizona, New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. They abandoned them, though, and today nobody - not even their possible descendants, the Hopi - knows why. Okay, so that's our world. In the world of the book, the Spanish explorers (didn't conquer this time, suckas) found evidences of ancient peoples long gone. I believe Brandon stuck that in there to tip us off (and here's another wild guess): those ancient peoples definitely had a relationship with Shadowblazes, and may have even created them. They either created the Forgotten or managed to provoke them. The ensuing madness drove them from their homes. The Tower in Nebrask has shades of those ancient cities. It also reminds me of the Tower of Newport, in Rhode Island. It's possible, even likely, that all of those ancient Rithmatists became wild chalklings. That would explain why there were no Rithmatists in America before the arrival of explorers from Europa. The Monarch had a run-in with wild chalklings, and his pocket watch saved him. The implication that he became a Rithmatist on that day is strong. I believe that the Shadowblazes saw that these humans stood a chance against their enemy, and decided to give symbiosis another try. It seems likely that Shadowblaze suck at Rithmatics. Even Nalizar admits that he's at the school to learn about it. Rithmatics is a human invention. Perhaps that's what the Shadowblazes saw in the Monarch: the potential to create something with their power that they themselves could not. (This is, BTW, why I think the coin is not why Joel was not chosen.) I've gone on at considerable length to paint a conjectural picture of the Shadowblaze at war with chalklings, needing humans for their powers of invention and ability to create order from chaos. I told you all that so I could tell you this: Joel was not picked because he has some role to play that war that requires him not to be a Rithmatist. As to what that "something" is, I unfortunately don't have much of a guess. Now, some miscellaneous comments. I think Joel is mildly autistic. His ability with math and geometry and his singleminded obsession with Rithmatics leads me to this conclusion. He is more socially able than most autistics, but I know that that condition has a very wide spectrum of severity. This may be what Nalizar saw in him. The fact that chalk - the millennia-old compacted skeletons of living things - is required for Rithmatics to work strikes me as significant in some way. The secrecy of the Inception strikes me as odd. I mean, the Church definitely has an incentive to maintain it; the parallels to the medieval Catholic church, which strove to keep scripture secret from the common people in order to maintain its power, are strong. But why are Rithmatists so fanatical in defending that secret? Even Rithmatists with no great belief in the Church keep it. There has to be a good reason presented to them, one that is so obvious to them that they all believe; and I think that, perhaps, if we can guess at that reason, we'll come a long way to guessing why Joel was not made a Rithmatist. I also was going to make a comment about the binding agent, but I don't remember what it was, but I've been typing for an hour, and I'm really tired, so I think I'll stop here. If you read all that, you have my condolences, and my thanks. Now: what do you think? Can you add to my theories, or possibly tear them down?

My response would be to simply point out that there are several new weaves in this book: The Flame of Tar Valon The True Power Shield Rand, weaving *reality itself* Rand, weaving a three-power hand to manipulate the Dark One Rand, using the One Power at a lower level than previously seen, perhaps the power of the Creator himself, to seal the Bore. Horizontal gateways, which is one that astounded Demandred The two-way double-bond And probably a few more that I'm forgetting.

I am, an ever have been, late to the party. Don't think that'll stop me from posting here now. List of things in this book I loved: Moiraine showing up in the middle of the parley at Merrilor and laying a prophecy smackdown on everyone. Androl. Holy crap, Androl. I wonder how much of a hand Brandon had in that one, because he's a perfect example of Sanderson's Second Law (limitations are more interesting than abilities). Give the man a ton of limitations, and suddenly he's the most interesting channeler in the book. The Wind showing up in the middle of the book, and feeling like it had gone full circle. (I was literally shouting "The Wind! THE WIND!" when that happened.) The way it squeezed in resolutions for characters we had forgotten about, like Raef and Ila. The Hinderstapians! Talmanes. Every time he showed up. Perrin, becoming the ultimate master of the wolf dream. The Flame of Tar Valon. Now, THAT would have been a useful weave to have in prior books. How Olver grew. I was having serious worries about his future. Birgitte, standing over her own beheaded corpse. Lan. Oh my GRAVY, Lan. I always knew he was awesome, but this book took him to new heights. The moment when he Sheathed the Sword took him to heights of badassery that I have seen from few other characters in all of fiction. Mat, grumbling in his head about how even dead women treat him like Nynaeve. Thom Merrilin, composing a balad while the world ends. The voice of the Creator, right before Rand enters the pit of doom, and finally, at long last, we get an explanation for the voice in Eye of the World. Rand's realization that there must be opposition in all things, that removing that opposition would remove free will and the purpose of life. Color me surprised that he could have killed the Dark One had he wanted to; I honestly didn't think he'd be able to pull it off. Rand's impossible pipe. I strongly suspect that it was made possible by his having woven the Pattern itself. He's still able to manipulate it directly. One thing I REALLY wish would have been explained is why entering Tel'Aran'Rhiod in the flesh is supposed to be so evil, and what part of yourself you lose by doing it. Dangerous, reckless, foolhardy, yes, but evil? And losing a part of yourself? It was never shown to have had any adverse effects at all on the people who did it. A final note: I don't see how Mat's death in Fires of Heaven could have unbound him from the Horn. Supposedly Balefire undos all consequences of the actions of those it burns. Why was the link to the Horn an exception? But, well, whatever: this book was incredible. I have waited 17 years to read it, and it truly lived up to that buildup. It was...exquisite. (Thanks for that one, Thom.)

I think boxed sets are highly likely. I doubt an ebook bundle would happen, though. The Wheel of Time is a top seller in its genre. Where's the incentive for the publisher to discount it? Why bundle it if you don't discount it? The form factor of a physical boxed set adds value; what's the value proposition of an ebook bundle?

From my point of view, the dragging on comes in two forms: 1. Jordan describes everything. Every. Thing. When you enter a room and Jordan starts describing the wood paneling on the walls, the paintings on the paneling, the rugs on the floor, the carving on the chairs and tables, the tea tray, pots and cups, what people are wearing, people's appearances and personality traits...and THEN stuff starts happening. Honestly all that takes no more than a couple of pages most of the time, but it gets old. Even if you're fascinated by the worldbuilding, it gets old. I consider that Jordan's greatest failing as a writer, and it's one that Brandon mitigated when he took over the series. 2. After The Shadow Rising (book 4) the plotlines start to multiply, and some are more interesting than others. This is often the case with any book, but most books only have 2 or 3 things going at once so you get back to the good stuff relatively quickly. In the middle books of the WoT, you might go 300 pages (I'm not joking, literally 300 pages) before returning to a plotline that had just picked up steam and ended on a cliffhanger. I know that some people cannot look past these failings. I may gripe about them, but in the end, I believe that the Wheel of Time is a marvelous series. It is complex, multilayered, multi-themed, enormous, expansive, and triumphant. I have read no other series that compares in scope, breadth, and depth. Sanderson's own Stormlight Archive has the potential to at least equal it, but we've only seen book 1 so far in that series. Give it a try. You owe it to yourself to at least give it a try. Book 4 is my personal favorite in the series, and I believe that if you read that and you aren't hooked, you can probably put them down. But, let's be honest, I don't think that's likely. If you're still reading by book 4, you're almost certainly hooked.

You guys, I'm not going to make it. Not before AMoL comes out, anyway. I WILL finish my reread before I read AMoL, but the fact is that I have 2/3rds of TGS and all of TofM to read, and it's just not going to happen. What happened to me? I started a year ago! Well, life got in the way...and I wasn't going to prioritize this. Oh, I mean, I wanted to. It looms disproportionately large in my psyche, since it's such a huge thing, this series ending. It's a series I've been reading for 17 years. So my natural tendency was to put this first above other concerns. But then I remembered that they're just books, and it's just an Internet forum award, and I really ought to be getting on with things that mater. So have fun, you finishers you. I'll see you...eventually...probably next month.