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Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Discussion in 'Books and Anime Discussion' started by silverlasso, Mar 4, 2014.

  1. silverlasso

    silverlasso Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    I can't believe this moment has come.

    Let's regroup and discuss after we've all finished the book.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2014
  2. DarkAizen

    DarkAizen Professor DLP Supporter

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    Grrr... the kindle comes out in two days!
     
  3. Tapi

    Tapi Third Year

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    Just finished reading the book. Blew my mind
    Still processing......
     
  4. DvorakQ

    DvorakQ Seventh Year DLP Supporter

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    -burps-
    Yeah. I may have called in a sick day. Awesome stuff. Should there be spoilers at all in this thread?
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2014
  5. andy50

    andy50 Groundskeeper

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    It was amazing, especially the end.
     
  6. KHAAAAAAAN!!

    KHAAAAAAAN!! Troll in the Dungeon –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    So Sanderson.
    Much amaze.
    Wow.
     
  7. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    Spent all day reading it. Some major revelations, a lot of good stuff, but I'm not sure I was impressed by it as most people seem to be.
     
  8. Ashan

    Ashan Groundskeeper DLP Supporter

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    I just finished reading it. It was glorious. Especially Nightblood. I always found that thing funny.
     
  9. Vesvius

    Vesvius High Inquisitor DLP Supporter

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    Just finished powering through it. Excellent book, and I really enjoyed it.

    That said, I liked Way of Kings better. Maybe it's because WoR focuses heavily on Shallan, and she was my least favorite of the main cast in WoK.
     
  10. CrippledGod

    CrippledGod Banned

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    This.
    Sanderson seems to write better female characters than male, which wouldn't be a problem if I liked the female character.
    I got invested in Kaladin and all he seemed to do was wallow in his angst.
     
  11. Klackerz

    Klackerz Bridgeburner

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    Okay just finished it. And I loved it. Gotta admit Shallan was not my favorite character in the first book but I loved her in this one. The last battle was fucking awesome.

    I really thought Jashna's 'death' was too sudden especially for someone who could soulcast human bodies. Gotta say that I was happy that it was a fake. xD

    The next book is said to feature Szeth and the working title is now Skybreaker

    Edit: Oh God NIGHTBLOOD. :awesome Totally missed that
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2014
  12. Aekiel

    Aekiel Angle of Mispeling ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Just got it through in the post today. Fuck that's a big book.

    Now I will happily avoid this thread for the weekend.
     
  13. Ashan

    Ashan Groundskeeper DLP Supporter

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    Also, something I realised I missed. Zahel is from Nalthis (Warbreaker world). Colour metaphors, a game with coloured stones point to that. The fact he's had a voice in his head means he's probably Vasher.

    Also, why is a Herald walking around with Nightblood, killing Radiants?
     
  14. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    Honestly, her coming back was part one of my biggest gripes about the book. Maybe I'm just too used to GoT, but some characters need to actually die and stay dead. The only major character I can think of who actually died was Sadeas, and that was really only because he had to in order for the plot to progress. And then there were all the teasers - Jasnah and Szeth died, but not really. Kaladin almost died, but was saved from certain death at the last moment by the return of Syl (who shouldn't have been able to return), Dalinar almost dies several times, and so on. Of those, only Kaladin and maybe Dalinar are truly essential to the story so far. Jasnah is still a supporting actor, and Szeth served his purpose (he's essentially a new character now anyways - freed of his bond, no more Honorblade).

    My other major gripe was the seemingly random intermixing of modern colloquialisms/phrasings. Things like "yeah," "wow," "kind of" and Lift's "awesomeness." It throws me out of my immersion. There may be a valid explanation for it within the Cosmere (I seem to recall seeing someone bring the same issue up before with some of Brandon's other work), but the juxtaposition of characters speaking in what we would see as formal to semi-formal language and modern slang is really jarring.

    I did enjoy Shallan though, especially her interactions with Kaladin. Sometimes you forget that they're teenagers (or close enough, in Kaladin's case),
    but then they go and have an insult battle in front of the palace.
    That scene just about killed me.
     
  15. Orm Embar

    Orm Embar Auror

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    Sanderson loves his spunky, intellectual nobleborn women. Sadly, I loathe them. I don't think I walked away from a single chapter of Shallan's feeling anything other than irritation.
     
  16. Klackerz

    Klackerz Bridgeburner

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    I am happy with Jashna's survival mainly because her 'death' was not explained that much. I half expected her to survive and me and silver had a conversation about that in irc when I reached that. Here is someone who could soulcast humans to crystal and use lightning to kill. Ya I don't buy her getting killed by some normal assassins. xD. Though Navani journal did threw me off.

    Anyway I do agree that there should be more deaths of important people. We have 8 more books. I am pretty sure we will see that.
     
  17. DarkAizen

    DarkAizen Professor DLP Supporter

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    Way of Kings > Words of Radiance.

    I really liked Shallan in this book, considering I hated her in the first. And I see that Sanderson has build a really big , awesome and complicated world. But can he please kill one character? One important character. For fuck's sake... the only guys to die in the end of the world battle was Roion and some cousin of the spanish guy? Come on... At least kill the villan! But no... only Sadeas died, and he was by far more interesting than other characters. It was like GMMR killing Cersei in the first book, yes it moves the plot forward. But I liked the politics in the book.

    *sigh* Also the Shallan/Kaladin pairing? What's up with that?
     
  18. Erandil

    Erandil Minister of Magic

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    In my opinion Sanders sucks at writing romances, especially those of his female lead. They always feel so unnatural and being in love seems to lower the IQ of his females by at least a third.
     
  19. KHAAAAAAAN!!

    KHAAAAAAAN!! Troll in the Dungeon –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    He's come a long way since the terribadness of Vin/Elend. Be thankful.
     
  20. MonkeyEpoxy

    MonkeyEpoxy The Cursed Child DLP Supporter

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    Finished it and loved it. I liked it more than the first one (but I might be the only one here that actually likes Shallan.) I need to go over it again and catch all the Cosmere stuff. References to the shards of Adonalsium were found, but I'm embarrassed I didn't catch that Zahel was from Nalthas. But to be honest, I bet on a readthrough I'd be less tolerant towards the dragging middle half, but the climax and character payoff is enough to get me to read it again without complaint.

    My hype cannot be contained if the next book is indeed Szeth's - especially since Sanderson said the break between Stormlight 2 and 3 won't be as long as this wait.

    Szeth + Nightblood = my erection my last longer than four hours.

    Overall, not disappointed at all.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2014
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