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What are you reading? V1


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6 hours ago, Daniel said:

Oh yeah, the ending was solid, but I didn't think the lead up was as good as it had been.  And the Lord Ruler being good was pretty much already done by the first book, so I don't think it really helped out the third one that much.

Elend was pretty bland.  He'd have been better if he didn't become hyper-competent.  Sazed's story arc disappointed me in HOA the most.  The last chapter was great for him, but I was pretty turned off by the whole struggle with his faith deal.

But Sazed's ending wouldn't have been earned/felt like such a great payoff if he hadn't lost faith previously. I can see an argument that the amount of time spent on his lack of faith was a bit tiresome, but if Sanderson hadn't devoted chapters to it and only touched on it briefly, the ending would have lacked meaning.  It wasn't something you could rush. Just my two cents.

As far as Elend goes, it does feel like a tiny cop out for him to gain Allomantic powers, but I think Sanderson did a good job limiting him as a character because even though those powers were very strong, he didn't really know how to use them well, which is why Vin was the better Allomancer.  So I don't know if I'd describe him as hyper competent.  I've only read the trilogy twice and the last time was a few years ago, so maybe I need to revisit.

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On 4/16/2020 at 10:33 AM, theJ said:

Did you finish it yet?  It's my favorite book series of all time.  I think i blew through the series in 3 weeks.  Just couldn't put it down.

Halfway through. I've only been reading a chapter or two at a time. 

A little bit passed the point where Darrow just found out Sevro "knows".

It's as good as the first. I would love to see this series adapted. 

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3 hours ago, fraziafraze07 said:

But Sazed's ending wouldn't have been earned/felt like such a great payoff if he hadn't lost faith previously. I can see an argument that the amount of time spent on his lack of faith was a bit tiresome, but if Sanderson hadn't devoted chapters to it and only touched on it briefly, the ending would have lacked meaning.  It wasn't something you could rush. 

I'm not saying it should have been dropped.  It could have been done with a lot less text devoted to it.  For instance, let's say you leave the questioning, but get rid of the pretty strange and weird idea of cataloging each religion to see which one is "true."  That seemed more like an excuse to show off some worldbringing.  All of those sections could have been removed, and it wouldn't have affected his character arc.  Religions were his area of study, so it didn't seem necessary for him to study them individually to find common threads/contradictions/the inability to prove it was right.  The whole thing was just a little too much.

And when you have a 700+ page book, you can afford some cuts.

3 hours ago, fraziafraze07 said:

As far as Elend goes, it does feel like a tiny cop out for him to gain Allomantic powers, but I think Sanderson did a good job limiting him as a character because even though those powers were very strong, he didn't really know how to use them well, which is why Vin was the better Allomancer.  So I don't know if I'd describe him as hyper competent.

I say hyper competent because he seemingly takes very little effort to overcome any bad habits.  He's always portrayed as intelligent, from the beginning.  But by the third book, he's not only become a much more decisive, inspiring leader, he's also become an excellent fighter, has gained a lot of muscle mass and lost fat so his clothes don't fit, learned allomancy to the degree where he can fly with horseshoes like Vin, and a great tactician, apparently.  Don't forget that he's an exceptionally moral character too.

He's too competent.  Characters need flaws unless there's a good reason for them to not have them.  By the end of book 2, he has none.  By the beginning of book 3, he has no flaws and also superpowers.

It's just bad character work, which is surprising from a writer who very clearly knows what he's doing with characters, characterization, and character arcs.  But different strokes for different folks.

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15 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

It's as good as the first. I would love to see this series adapted. 

Me too.  It'd be great as a movie trilogy, or a mini-series.  And i think it'll happen eventually, but Pierce Brown obviously is being careful about it.

 

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Just now, theJ said:

Me too.  It'd be great as a movie trilogy, or a mini-series.  And i think it'll happen eventually, but Pierce Brown obviously is being careful about it.

Nice. I'll watch that later. 

Personally, I think it would do better as a TV series. Let HBO or Netflix/Amazon get their hands on it. I don't know much about Book 3 or anything yet obviously, but Netflix loves shows that can go 3-4 seasons. Seems like a good match, as they seem to give a lot more freedoms too. The Witcher, among other fantasy shows on it, proved that to me. 

There's a lot of backstory with characters to explore and flesh out. Something that couldn't be done in movies as well. I also don't think it would do well in a B.O. setting. 

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15 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

There's a lot of backstory with characters to explore and flesh out. Something that couldn't be done in movies as well. I also don't think it would do well in a B.O. setting. 

Not only that, but chapter after chapter ends on cliffhangers.  It's made for an episodic series, honestly.  It sounds like Brown is going for a TV series, FWIW.

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Recently started reading the "Joe Pickett" series by C.J Box. The first book was fine enough, but the next 2 get a lot more intense and darker. I believe there are now 23 in the series.

Joe Picket is a Game Warden in Wyoming, a good and honest family man who seems to find more trouble than there should be

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12 minutes ago, fraziafraze07 said:

Just finished Book 10 of the Wheel of Time.  Not sure how many times I've re-read the series through this point, but I don't think I've ever re-read Books 11 through 14.

Do you think people make the “slog” a bigger deal than it is? I do.

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13 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Is WOT worth reading?  15 books is an enormous commitment.  That's like almost half of the books I read in a normal year.  But I know it's supposed to be a big deal.

You might as well read the first one and see if it grabs you

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1 hour ago, Daniel said:

Is WOT worth reading?  15 books is an enormous commitment.  That's like almost half of the books I read in a normal year.  But I know it's supposed to be a big deal.

Same reason i've never read it.  About 6 books in a series feels like the limit for me.  I just can't imagine it being worth it after that.

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