GreyPilgrim

I've never been bothered by the lack of swears. In truth, Brandon has made up swears to fit most of those we have in our world. The use of "storm" and other forms such as "storming" and "Storm off" should make it apparent what he is trying to replace. If you read his made up swears as their function rather than the word itself, then Brandon's books can be pretty obscene.

I had a dream a little while ago that I randomly received a large package, which I opened to find a copy of WoR, except it was in the form of a stack of mass market paperback sized pages, unbound manuscript style. I woke up with great excitement, only to realize that it had not actually happened.

Though from what I understand the time gap will be nothing like that between HoA and AoL. More like 10-15 years is my guess. Enough for it to still be one sequence with two arcs dividing it. I'm guessing older characters like Dalinar, Navani and Sadeas may not be around (assuming they don't die before then), but ones such as Kaladin and Shallan will still be around, with enough time having passed to introduce a while new set of characters as well.

Cool

It is mentioned the product description.

I hadn't heard of this before, but a trade paperback of WoK is being released concurrently with WoR, apparently with a unique (I am not sure it is new) illustration, limited to that editon. Check it out.

True. Malazan is certainly not grimdark, but the characters and nature tend to the darker side, at least compared to Brandon's books where no one is really evil.

Take my word with a grain of salt, though. Malazan tends to go pretty heavily one way or another among fans. It is also on the darker side, so if you didn't Prince of Thorns (which I have not myself read), you may have an issue with the darkness. But don't let me deter you; just don't blame me if you don't like it!

I agree that Malazan is very hard. My note-taking approach has been about the only way I have been able to get through it. The stories themselves are fun, but they take a lot of work. I am up to the sixth book now, and intend to finish. The work is more than worth it.

I see what you mean about the suspension of belief, though I may not have made my point clearly enough. It is not that I cannot accept that they are so witty. It is rather that I believe that their wit is too perfect to exist. It can be produced with thought, as Brandon likely did, but it just seems to me that they would not be able to come up with some of the things they do in the moment.

Well that did nothing to help me. I was really excited before, but now I cannot even express how excited I am. Usually a book this length would take me about a month to read. From everything I've heard, I may make it through WoR in less than 2 weeks. I know that is downright slow for many of you, but that is ridiculous for me. I only wish I had the time to take away from my life to get it done in less time. I may actually have to reread it very soon after release too, also very rare for me, seeing as I have so little time. I cannot comprehend how someone can possibly read a 1088-page novel in 12 hours. In 12 hours I will be 300 or so pages in. How is it possible to absorb anything at your pace???? Woe is me, I guess.

Don't get us wrong, we love Peter. It is merely a relationship riddled with frustration.

But see, this doesn't happen much. Peter is so very helpful. He would never give a cryptic answer.

This whole thing is so unfair. Brandon never comes anywhere near me. That said, my precioussssss. I wants it.

I never really had any issues with Gawyn, but I can see where you're coming from.

My thoughts are very fluid as well; I know exactly what you mean. I should note that my thoughts above about the definition of prose are really my own; by no means am I an authority on literary terms and ideas, so you do not need to necessarily amend your reference to prose, as relating to word choice.

Another little note to go with what I said above and what Iredomi just said about word choice: I agree that Brandon's word choice is sometimes a little strange, as mentioned above with "awesome" and "maladroit". Another problem I see is that many seem to think that word choice is essential to good prose, which I don't believe either. Prose has to do with the writer's ability to construct sentences and paragraphs in a way that serves its purpose well, be it to be invisible or to create great sentences or to amuse, etc. While word choice definitely affects some elements of prose, it is not essential. As long as the idea is conveyed as the author wants it to be, then it is fine. A reader may disagree with a word choice, but that does not necessarily affect the prose as a whole. Brandon's word choice, in my opinion, does not hinder his prose in any way.

Let me preface this by saying that I am the kind if reader who will find a lot of little problems in almost any work but not be bogged down, as I find that most positive qualities are more than able to redeem most negative qualities. Problems that bother me the most in books are character motivation, characterization, and (obviously) bad writing. Other than those, as long as the reading experience is enjoyable, I don't have an issue. I hate improper grammar in prose when it doesn't serve some writing purpose, though I can ignore this. On to Brandon. I agree that Elantris was quite weak, at least comparatively speaking. The writing in that book was meh to me. Not great, but not bad. I have little problem with Brandon's prose since that book. Many people seem to misunderstand different types of writing and how to judge skill. As mentioned, Brandon strives for clear prose, meaning he wants it to be forgotten, in a way. It should convey the scene and feelings of the characters to the reader. This is not bad writing, as some people seem to think. Simple prose is no better or worse than beautiful prose; it just serves a different purpose. One of my biggest quibbles with Brandon is below. This. Brandon's two most prominent witty characters are Lightsong and Shallan. Don't get me wrong, they are both really good characters (Shallan's characterization in WoK is a bit weak IMO). But their wit often across as too great to produce in the moment, and occasionally it meant that their characters were a bit unbelievable. In Lightsong's case, his wit fit his character and internal conflict very naturally, so it did not bother me as much, but in Shallan it is less believable. I have not read the WoR preview chapters yet, so I am glad to hear this may get better.

Balat (from an interlude) likes killing animals. I thought of him as well.

I feel like this series is going to end with something cheesy like "Everyone is a Radiant! We all have power, and no one is more special than anyone else!"

Upvote for cool, if baseless speculation. But that would be very cool if it turned out to be true. I could see it as foreshadowing.

I have not read any of the prerelease content other than that which was released in Steelhunt (Lift's interlude and Chapter 2) and the Glimpses. So I will begin at the beginning and read straight through, taking my time. I anticipate about 2-3 weeks to read the whole book, which is still fast for me (WoK took me a month. I may or may not do a reread relatively soon after to look for hints. I may even take notes as I read the first time. So if I were you I would just read how you want, be it a slow pace like mine or whatever, and still go to the signing.

We probably are way too out of context to really say anything on this matter, at least to go as far as death. Maybe we can begin some more discussion if this. Thus Glimpse does not seem to actually be in Dalinar's PoV, as his son is referred to as "his son", not as Adolin or Renarin. It seems to me to be someone coming on to the scene and seeing this. Kaladin, maybe Szeth? Also, why is the sky fractured? Is a highstorm starting, or something worse?

I feel like Renarin is so much more marked for death than Adolin, though. That said I wouldn't mind if Adolin died. Would prefer his death over Renarin's. But I still say it will be Renarin.

Oh no... This does not sound like a good one. I'm guessing the son is Renarin.