What Are You Currently Reading?

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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:31 pm

IamNotCreepy wrote:I am so jealous of you right now. I wish I could go back and read it for the first time.

As you said, Sanderson doesn't have the most pretty writing, but he is a master storyteller. His magic systems are extremely well thought out, his worlds are developed with personality, and his characters are fun and interesting.

You have some very good theories, and I think you'll appreciate how things turn out.


I'm 2/3 of the through and holy crap shit is going down.

I thought it was going to be like the raid on Kedrik Shaw. But it's really going down, it's now or never.
I'm also no longer sure what to think about Kelsier:
Spoiler: show
I thought I was watching him walk down the same road as the Lord Ruler, but now after his speech at the executions, following the destruction of the rebel army, I'm not sure. Maybe it's all an act, all part of his manipulation. But maybe he really is what he's trying to convince everyone he is. I want to believe in him, I really do.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:24 am

Double post!

I finished it in bed last night. And very nearly got up and put the computer back on to talk about it while I was still feeling it all.

Oh Kell...
Spoiler: show
I should have believed in him! The book started in his POV, we saw how he really felt, and I should have trusted my instinct. It was that damned log book: I could see how Kelsier was going down the same road, and that narratively his story had to end up the same way, but the real twist in that respect never occurred to me.

I'm not sure the worst bit isn't that he died thinking Marsh was dead. And poor Marsh! I love him, I really do, I did from much earlier in the book. He has a bit of a Sam Gamgee role. Kelsier's the hero, the one who'll be remembered, and he did do amazing things. But it would probably have all been for nought without Marsh quietly working in the background to come and save the day at the end. Only Sam got to go and marry his sweetheart and be Mayor of the Shire and eventually retire to magical elf-land, and didn't have to live with steel spikes through his body or almost the whole world thinking he's a terrifying monster.

As for my theory, it was probably right but probably for the wrong reasons.


I loved it, and I'm already starting on the second book. Sanderson's storytelling is just beautiful.
Spoiler: show
It's the way that four or five times he convinces the reader that everything's happening now - the disastrous raid on Kedrik Shaw, the destruction of the rebel army, Elend discovering the truth about Vin, the start of the house war... And over and over again, it goes back to preparing and making plans, but with the danger and the tension ramped up a few more notches.

By the time of Marsh's apparent death it was at fever-pitch - and I'd been fooled so many times that I didn't really believe that this was it. And then it's still paced - although that event immediately sets the ultimate plan in action, it's two days in-story time, and the writing is paced so that you feel the waiting. And then it all happened.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby IamNotCreepy » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:44 pm

Sanderson is the master of building up a world and complex system, explaining all the rules to you, and then pulling the rug out from under you, where everything you know is wrong.

Once you finish the trilogy you should check out his other "Cosmere" books: Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Stormlight Archive. They are all part of the same shared universe, but on different planets.

There is a character, Hoid, who shows up in every story in a small role. He typically observes and may help the plot along in a small, but crucial way. He is not always mentioned by name, but he will usually show up as either an informant, beggar, or bard. It's kind of like a game of "Where's Waldo (Wally)". In the first book he was Kelsier's informant.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby Cpt._Funkotron » Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:54 pm

I just finished the audiobook for 'Shadow over Innsmouth' by HP Lovecraft. I've never read any of his other boks, but I quite liked this one. It's not so much scary as I expected, more "huh, that's interesting."
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:03 pm

Lovecraft varies a lot in scariness. Things like The Quest of Iranon are just sad - and indeed there's The Silver Key which I'd say is bittersweet. But most of them are at least creepy and they go right up to spine-chilling: The Curse of Yig had me lying awake too terrified to get out of bed and switch the light back on.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Apr 20, 2017 4:03 pm

I finished The Well of Ascension, the second Mistborn book.

Wow. I did not see it coming - I was all pleased with myself for calling one or two little things earlier in the book, but I did not see the big one.

And Marsh!
Spoiler: show
After everything I said at the end of the first book! It was all a charade, as far back as that, no doubt: the Inquisitors used Kelsier et al to overthrow the Lord Ruler. Of course this explains why Rashek oppressed religion so much, and the Terris religion in particular. But it didn't work, even the Steel Ministry was corrupted by the Deepness or whatever.

I guess that's not 'really' Marsh, either it's some kind of construct made from his body or else the process of being made an Inquisitor totally corrupts the person. I'd accepted that Marsh died, then learned he hadn't (but had still made a terrible sacrifice to help their cause. And now...


Onto the third book, and still hooked.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby IamNotCreepy » Thu Apr 20, 2017 4:20 pm

Just you wait. The third book has one of the best endings to any book I've read. There is a huge payoff for dozens of plotlines and details, small and large.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:16 pm

Less than a quarter of the way through and already shocks, revelations, and high drama.

And once again, Marsh!
Spoiler: show
He actually is Marsh still, probably, but being controlled. Now I can't be sure whether he was helping the crew or using them at the end of Mistborn. I don't know how much more of this I can take about this specific character (never mind about the world as a whole or the Lord Ruler).

And there's a lot of this controlling going around, between that, and the koloss and kandra. And that gives me a horrible suspicion about all these people who apparently recover from being attacked by the mists.


Also, I still don't think there's any atium to find, but I hope they get some from somewhere because I want to see someone burn atium with duralumin.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby DoglovingJim » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:20 pm

Ah, well I finished that book on the Hungarian revolution by Michael Korda and now I'm re-reading Lee Child's Killing Floor.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:11 pm

I finished The Hero of Ages and oh my goodness the ending. I almost cried. It's beautiful, it's sad, it's narratively satisfying, and it's unexpected.

I was in quite a state through the whole second half of the book, just from the sheer dramatic tension Sanderson manages to build up and maintain and continue increasing for that long. I do take fiction very much to heart and have strong emotional reactions to it, so possibly not everyone would get quite so wound up, but I think I can say I've never read another author's work that does quite such a spectacular job with building tension. All that's not to say I didn't enjoy reading it immensely, mind, but I think I need to read something a bit lighter next.

The whole trilogy is an amazing epic fantasy and anyone who likes epic fantasy and hasn't read Mistborn should remedy that as soon as possible.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby Kivutar » Tue Apr 25, 2017 3:23 am

Just finished devouring Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!

It's tremendously amusing. Feynman wasn't just a great physicist, he was a great storyteller. And prankster. 10/10 would recommend.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby jbobsully11 » Thu May 25, 2017 11:36 pm

Even though I haven't finished the two books I started months ago, I decided to read The Martian.

I started on Tuesday and I'm already more than halfway through. It's pretty close to what I remember from the movie.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby ghijkmnop » Fri May 26, 2017 2:11 am

Redacted
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Last edited by ghijkmnop on Thu Mar 14, 2019 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby CarrieVS » Mon May 29, 2017 8:36 pm

I'm reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first of the Dragonlance Chronicles. I've definitely read better books and I don't know whether I'll ever reread it, but it's interesting and exciting enough.

It's a Dungeons and Dragons book, supposedly the story of an actual campaign that some people played, and as a D&D player it's fun to see how it's structured like a campaign, and to figure out what abilities everyone's using, and try and guess when someone rolled a natural one (Flint seems to get quite a few).

But what makes me really happy is that two of the main characters, Rasitlin and Caramon, are twins. One of them is, for all his shortcomings, a really Good, really nice guy, and the other is morally dubious: Neutral at best, possibly tending towards Evil. One of them is left-handed, and the other appears to be right-handed. Aha, you think, I know how this goes! But you're wrong. The left-hander is the good twin and that's just awesome. I mean, I daresay it's because Caramon's player was left-handed, but it still makes me really happy.
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Re: What Are You Currently Reading?

Postby IamNotCreepy » Tue May 30, 2017 4:44 am

I am currently reading "The Cold Dish" which is the first book in the Longmire series, which was adapted to a great TV show.

It's a mystery/western set in modern day Wyoming. It's really good.
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