Musicspren

Time to tap that Chromiummind.

I think copper is probably allomancy-specific. We don't know what realm copper operates primarily on, but as it's part of the mental quadrant, I'd venture a guess that it's cognitive. As Hemalurgy is on the spiritweb, I'm guessing it's primarily spiritual (nothing is entirely one realm or the other, but these could be mainly on one). Copper may put up a sort of blind in the cognitive realm - not impenetrable, but obscuring. If most of Ruin's spike influence is through the spiritual realm, the cognitive blind likely wouldn't help much. One other possibility is aluminum shielding - not only is aluminum unaffected by iron or steel (this on its own could indiciate that it didn't view itself as a metal), it apparently shields from emotional allomancy (thus the aluminum foil hats mentioned in passing in AofL), which a normal, non-metal substance would not. However, if Ruin has a direct connection to the spiritweb via the spike, I suspect it's like trying to shield from an IV (Intravenous, not Roman numeral 4) - you can't very well stop it without disconnecting it - removing the spike in this case.

Months in the past, I had tried to read Homestuck (because I had seen that Sharders liked it), but didn't manage to progress through Act 1, but tried again more recently, and succeeded. It took almost two months, but I caught up to date on 11/11/12 (because arc numbers are important). And I am now very much a fan. Homestuck has the odd effect that, because it references so many things, a mention of those things in any context seems like a Homestuck reference (e.g. card suits, Nic Cage, zodiac signs, buckets...for that matter, caps lock makes me think of Karkat now). Favorite Beta: Rose Favorite Troll: Kanaya, with T3r3z1 and Vrisk8 close behind Favorite Alpha: Jake at the moment, subject to change as they're all rather new characters Favorite Pre-scratch Troll: Aranea (although for humor, Meulin)

This looks unremarkable. Until you notice the title/alt text.

Also, for something not canon, you should go to MBI and meet Davinna. And then read the Casuana Ball, which includes several hilarious and insane contributions from her, and many other great characters. (There's also Aerouna, but she hasn't RPed much yet.)

Oh, right, I suppose I ought to recount the adventures of Queen of Sorcery. Hettar developed a dry sense of humor for a chapter or two, so I'm considering liking him. Ce'nedra is at least a rather different from the other characters, although not especially interesting. The two characters I liked fairly well were absent for the latter part of the book. As with Pawn of Prophecy, everyone seems to expect that all the people in a country will conform to a certain stereotype. Which would not be so frustrating, except that it seems to be true in the story. Every Tolnedran is like every other one; every Nyissan is like the next. I probably was supposed to be impressed by the new displays of magic, but they weren't foreshadowed well, so they felt more like plot devices. Garion is as bland as ever. This is unfortunate, as Eddings describes his introverted thoughts and struggles the most, but I find that I don't care. Eddings learned to not mention the seasons so often, since every time he does, he sounds quite absurd. Overall, it was better than Pawn of Prophecy, but not good enough to motivate me to finish the series.

I have finished The Pawn of Prophecy (book one of the Belgariad) and...was unimpressed. I realize that this was written was before a lot of other books, so some of the times when it seems suspiciously similar, it's didn't copy them; if anything, the copying was the other way around. So I'll try to refrain from judging it on plot points except to say he seems to have modeled it on middle earth (Kal Torak = combination of Sauron, Gollum, and Melkor; Orb = Ring; etc.). I think my biggest problem might be the characters; they're mostly bland. The only two I care about are Silk and Wolf, and them not that much. I'll try not to compare them to Sanderson's characters, because that's rather unfair given how high Sanderson's standard is. But I will say I care more about several characters (just comparing the characters, not the setting, mind you) in MBI than anyone in Pawn of Prophecy. And those were all created by non-professional writers. Onward to Queen of Sorcery, in which I hope Eddings redeems himself.

I love the first two sentences. Actually, all of it, but that pair is quite wonderful. "Shai" looks suspiciously similar to "Skai." And "Gaotona" actually contains "Aona," albeit splintered into two sets of two letters.

One has come to earth. And it's on Wikipedia, so it must be real.

And I shall respectfully disagree with you - I think a ketek is holy (in topic) if it has to to with a religion, whatever that religion is. That doesn't make a ketek that is holy in topic necessarily better than one that isn't, but saying it's not holy because you're not Christian is like saying the keteks in The Way of Kings are actually not holy unless you are Vorin. Which, I'm guessing, none of us on this thread are.

It seems odd that we'd have downvoting over religions here. Apart from the fact that doing so is inane (which should be enough on a Sanderson fansite), there was a discussion of religions on one thread, which was completely civil, without downvotes.

No idea; I see no harm in the glories/glorious switch, and that's the most I could see wrong with it (if I'm really trying to be negative, which I generally wouldn't). I've upvoted them back to neutral.

Okay, as I've said, it's more about what Aethling said was in American Gods than his opinions. I've seen enough opinions in its favor to not be easily swayed by one against it; it's the facts that sway me. Now, if Aethling's facts (again, not opinions) are wrong, I will readily change my mind. You have said some of them are incorrect, so that does make me somewhat more inclined to read it. Several people have mentioned books that are more graphic than American Gods, but, having not read any of those, I can't use them as reference (they might be good arguments in its favor had I read those books, but I can't apply them personally). Well... Conclusion: The insoluble Peter Ahlstrom is a kandra. I won't be dissuaded by controversy - every book will have that, and I believe it is no indication of quality.

Okay, unless Aethling is mistaken about the content the American Gods (and, while opinions of the book's merit have, obviously, differed, I haven't seen anyone contradict that those things were in the book), I won't be reading it. I will consider other books by Gaiman that have been mentioned as less graphic. Also, I'm 50 pages (mass-market paperback) into The Pawn of Prophecy (first of Belgariad) and... Eddings really likes infodumping. And he generally does it with absolutely no subtlety. And I hope the prologue is a myth twisted away from truth, because otherwise it's a particularly obvious sort of Tolkien copy.

I have finished my reread of Warbreaker! And I have decided that (if I can time this correctly) I will reread TWoK at the end of the summer so I know I'll end with something really good. This means that next I will start the Belgariad. Shivertongue, I appreciate your defense of American Gods; I'm not convinced to read it yet (what Aethling said was in the book, even more than people's personal opinions, still dissuade me). But I'll consider it, if I've gotten through other books (and if I'm not trying to do another Sanderson reread).

Ruin will be very disappointed that the Coppermind is down.

, which granted magical

When it comes to following outlines, remember the ideals the Knights Radiant, most of all: Journey before Destination And if that journey involves reading the thing and waffles...it still came before the destination, so it must be proper. And of Honor.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts; I won't plan to read Gaiman's books, but I will try to read HGttG at some point. The 42 joke is humorous; I was just wanting to know if the book was funny other than that. It could have been one of few funny things in the book (or, for that matter, it could have been one strange thing that the internet made funny).

Update on books: I have bought the first three books of the Belgariad. I also have TWoK back from my friend, so it's possible I'll read that immediately after Warbreaker, then hope to still have time to venture into non-Sanderson. Okay, given what Aethling has said, I won't be looking at Gaiman unless someone else says that American Gods is nothing like his other books (in which case I still won't look at American Gods). One more book/author question: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams). I've heard it is humorous (presumably apart from the 42 joke). Would you recommend it?

What if, instead of 16 Epic God "Metals," there are only three, one for each realm. Sodium (Chloride) is clearly cognitive. If there are only three, it's easier to find things that will not catch poison/incinerate us. Perhaps there are really just 3 Epic God Salts.

A couple of questions on specific authors I've heard of: I've seen Gaiman's name a bit; are his good (and if so, which)? Also, is Scalzi normally funny like in The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City (Prologue)? Because I really liked that, and would read something else of his if that much humor is typical.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. (Sorry for the slow response; I was at a music festival last week, so free time was not exactly prevalent.) So far I have gathered: The first Malazan book is good. The first Malazan book is bad. The second Malazan book is not as good as the first. In fact, it's the most boring of the series. My thoughts by the end of the second Malazan book will be representative of how I will like the series overall. The third Malazan book is the best. Why did I think asking about books on a forum was going to help me decide? The Belgariad seems to be more consistently supported (with the caveat that the whole thing is long - it looks like all twelve are roughly 4k pages [although I can't know what that means in wordcount], while Malazan appears to be at least twice that). (I am aware that I am ignoring the YA mentioned - I'll read those if I reach a point where I want a break between epics; currently, those breaks are called school semesters). So my current inclination, is, after I reread Warbreaker, to read the Belgariad (unless I reread TWoK first or don't think I'll have time).

Last fall, I composed a piece for solo percussionist on vibraphone and orchestral bells, and entitled it Words in Steel, after the quote in WoA, "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted." A student percussionist (not me) performed it this spring, and I've now posted a recording: Although it is intended to make sense without knowing the book or series at all, I did have a connection to the plot in mind. I recommend listening to it first, then reading the extra spoilered text. (WoA spoilers)

Is Eddings on a good level by himself? Or simply a singular level which everyone else was definitely better or worse than? Regarding Eddings, please tell me that the Amazon product description for the Belgariad is inaccurate. Because that description makes it sound like he read LotR, spent a little time on TVTropes, then wrote the plot with the ideas from the two, and I seriously doubt you would be recommending it if that were the case (N.B. I'm not accusing it of being that bad, just wanting confirmation that Ruin wrote that product description). I've seen a lot of people mention Malazan (and Tor has a re-read of it, which, although I obviously have not read it, speaks well of the substance of a series), so I'm definitely considering that series. I do intend to read the Alcatraz books at some point, although I'm kind of waiting for them to be republished and have the expected fifth book. I'll keep those in mind. True on both - he's not the best, as he is sometimes called, but it's definitely worth having seen the ideas before they were clichés.