Subject: And it's also damn dangerous.
Author:
Posted on: 2016-02-22 11:41:00 UTC
You see something made of magnesium on fire? DON'T USE WATER.
Water reacts with magnesium freeing highly flammable hydrogen, and you'll just end up making the fire worse.
I firmly believe that this community would devour the works of Brandon Sanderson like a school of hungry piranhas going after some poor jungle critter; therefore, I shall plug him.
Brandon Sanderson is honestly one of the best writers I've ever had the privilege to read. His characters are vibrant, his magic systems are deep, his world-building is epic, and his stories always make me think. He leaves me laughing, crying, and eagerly awaiting the next installment. He writes mostly fantasy, with a dash of science fiction, and he's quite prolific. If you don't mind diving right in, try his Mistborn trilogy; if you're in the market for only one novel I'd go with Elantris. If you want something even smaller, I'd recommend Sixth of the Dusk; my favorite novella.
If you want to test him out before committing to buying one of his deliciously long books (that I still finish in a day or two, because I honestly can't put them down) try this preview chapter from the first Mistborn. And here's a humorous dialogue exercise he posted about a poor kid whose special knack is smelling good to dragons. Appropriately titled: "I Hate Dragons."
If you need any more convincing, one word: Cosmere.
-Alleb
I was given the first, then made sure to get the other two (due to them not being in our library). And... I'm still not sure how much I like them. :-/
This review/analysis will necessarily contain spoilers, but I'll try to keep them mild. You should be able to read these and still enjoy the books just as much - the main one is just that a character you don't think is going to die, doesn't die. ;)
My first issue was with the blurb on the back of The Final Empire - and the front, for that matter - which states the really interesting premise: What if the Dark Lord won? Great, fascinating - but we are very, very quickly told that the 'Dark Lord' is the Chosen One who turned evil. Which means that either the blurb is a flat-out lie, or it's a massive spoiler for the fact that the premise contains a flat-out lie. That left me skeptical. (In fact, at no point in The Final Empire is any character mentioned who could even be a Dark Lord from the Chosen One's story. So the blurb is a lie whatever else happens.)
Secondly, Elend. I don't have any particular problem with Elend himself - but why does he end up in a position of such prominence in The Well of Ascension? That never sat right with me. He was not a person the heroes of the first book should ever have looked to in the way they did, and nothing made sense of it for me at any point.
Thirdly, the chapter-heading documents. I liked them. I liked the way they sneak you the backstory, and I like the way they do it through an inherently biased viewpoint.
But. When the first two books pivot on the fact that there is something misleading about those excerpts (and, thankfully, they are different misleading things)... how much of an idiot would I have to be to believe the implication of the third one?
Fourthly, while I adore his worldbuilding, I'm not so sure about the way he works things in. I can't recall the details, but I'm sure there were at least a few things which were just sort of dropped on us, in a 'if this were actually true the characters should absolutely have done something about it earlier'.
Relatedly, I'm sure there were some tricks people played with metals which they ought to have been using all the time, but which they only pulled once. I can't remember specifics, though, and a lot of 'one-off' tricks did end up being used over and over.
But... I liked the setting, and many of the characters, and a lot of the reveals came as a surprise (which is good). The cast felt believably flawed, and I appreciated the fact that, in the latter two books, you didn't feel that the characters were safe (even from being killed).
So I honestly don't know. It's all very irritating. ^_^
hS
It's been a bit since I read them. I don't remember experiencing any of your frustrations, but I think you read a lot more deeply than I do (and, when I first read them, I did not read as deeply as I do now).
However, I still heartily recommend the followup trilogy that he recently completed, taking place several hundred years later in a 1910's kind of setting. I believe, at the moment, he's writing two more after this, one with 80's tech and the other a space-exploration thing. I love this man. These books are hilarious-- Wayne is definitely in my top ten favorite character list.
And, one random question: You can burn one metal. What is it?
-Alleb
Though it may have to wait (maybe until I've reread the first trilogy?).
One metal... hrm. I'm going to discount the higher metals (though gold looks like fun if it's at all tune-able - 'how would I have turned out if I were born in Doriath?') and just look at the basic eight from the original books. Hmm... while pewter and tin look interesting, I think I'd have to go for either brass or zinc.
I'm not entirely convinced there's much difference between them in practical application - sure, a Rioter can provoke anger faster, but a sufficiently skilled Soother can dampen everything except doubt and rage and achieve the same effect in the long run. Likewise, what's the difference between Soothing away negative emotions and Rioting positive ones? It's a matter of speed, mostly.
I guess I'll burn brass. I can see more applications for immediately Soothing than for immediately Rioting.
hS
PS: You know I'm a chemist, right?
Blue is for allomantic elements, red is the elements they alloy with, black lines show the links.
-Carbon is the only non-metal used in an allomantic alloy (steel, specifically).
-Copper and tin are both used as alloy-counterparts, while also being allomantic metals themselves. Copper is actually used in three of the six alloys: duralumin, bronze, and brass.
-Sanderson seems to have picked his metals based on name-recognition, not any discernable pattern in the periodic table. ^_~ But if you're hunting for new allomantic metals, check out indium or thallium; they're right in the middle of the pack.
hS, still/again
(PS: Thallium and indium are both highly toxic, so burn them fast! ~hS, third time lucky)
I absolutely adore the setting-- I'm going to use it for my next D&D campaign, I think.
I'd probably go with pewter or steel. It'd take me a while to get used to zipping through the air, but it'd definitely be fun. Imagine living in a city, with metal everywhere! No more traffic for me! ^_^ Zinc and brass would definitely be helpful, though.
I seemed to remember something about you being a chemist-- analytical, right? I think Sanderson trained as one as well; at the very least, he describes himself as an armchair scientist, and I believe there's a "Unifying Theory of Magic" hidden in his work. There's also Realmatic Theory and other cool things-- if you don't think it will spoil too much of his work for you, try The Coppermind Wiki. It knows everything.
-Alleb
You see something made of magnesium on fire? DON'T USE WATER.
Water reacts with magnesium freeing highly flammable hydrogen, and you'll just end up making the fire worse.
... is how you mistyped 'awesome' as 'dangerous', 'always' as 'don't', and 'even more incredible' as 'worse'.
hS, creator of the Pyro Department, and professional chemist
1968 French Grand Prix. He crashed on a full magnesium-bodied Honda RA302... with obvious results.
Sergio, showing off his racecar nerdiness.
Thermite is also pretty neat.
-July. Flame.
Awesome!
Electrum's pretty cool; I wouldn't mind being able to burn it.
-Alleb
That said, a few of my IRL friends have been badgering me about the Mistborn series for some time now, so I probably ought to give it a go one of these days. =]
One idly wonders what it would be like in a modern setting, where the Mistwalkers are burning, for instance, plutonium. Maybe it makes you an expert sushi chef. =]
Instant knowledge of sushi would be excellent; and who knows, I think there are still some unknown Allomantic metals in-universe! ^_^
-Alleb
Mainly because it's damn convenient.
And it makes you a terrific dancer. ^_^ I'd probably go into some professional sport if I were a Thug; after all, it's not technically illegal, right?
-Alleb
I'd reckon it's kinda like taking performance-enhancing drugs, only the drug you take is a metal you can burn — I assume it'll become illegal very quickly. If I were a Thug, I'd probably go into carpentry or masonry; those disciplines always interested me, but I'm a bit too physically frail (hello, asthma) for them.
Still, I could probably do some professional dancing outside of competitions. Or I could be a bouncer. What a mental image that is...
Carpentry or masonry would be pretty cool, though! Woodworking seems like a handy skill to have, and you can make some beautiful stuff.
-Alleb
Holy duck, that was fast. I'll have o grab sooner or later.
Anyway, I would go for Bendalloy. I find time speed really interesting.
I started Words of Radiance a couple days ago and it's bad for my sleeping hours.
It's very hard to focus on work and such when ohmygoshShallanbackstoryohmygosh!
That's how I felt through most of the book, anyway.
Oh, side note: how do you pronounce "Shallan?" My friends say "shall-en" but I say "sha-lawn."
-Alleb
"SHAH-lan", probably.
How do you pronounce Elend? I always stressed the "-end," but everyone else stresses the "E."
-Alleb
Does anyone call him 'El' on a regular basis? That would only be a natural nickname for EL-lend (el-LEND would have to be 'Len'). It's not sure-fire, particularly in a written medium, but it's a good indicator.
(I can't remember myself; I'm not sure there was anyone who would...)
hS
I'd have to look it up, but I seem to remember people calling him "El."
-Alleb
"e-LEHND", I think? Then again I'm heavily influenced by Hebrew pronunciation.
This isn't on purpose, is it? I already preordered it. If you don't know what it is, the series is basically this: Red satellite appears in the sky. People, known as "Epics" get superpowers. Most of these people go crazy, and the world falls apart. Fast forward ten years. A guy named David Charleston knows the reason why a supposedly invincible epic has a scar on his face. The series is full of late arrival spoilers. I've only read the Alcatraz VS. series and The Rithmatist so far, so I have not read anything related to his Cosmere at all yet.
How do you make links with a word, not the web address?
It was excellent. I couldn't put it down. Actually, the only thing of Sanderson's that I haven't read is Alcatraz. I should really get those. Ooh, I love The Rithmatist! I've heard he's coming out with a sequel soon.
Use this: here Substitute the word you want for "here" and put the desired link between the quotation marks. Then delete the spaces so that the entire thing is one word, except for "
-Alleb
I have to wait until Monday. Say, what do you think would be the mini for the Cosmere? For Alcatraz, it would definitely be a gak, The Rithmatist, maybe a chalking of the subject, and for Steelheart, I have no idea.
Maybe once we know a bit more about Adonalsium's home planet, we could pick one, but I think it would be easier to have a separate mini for each Shardworld until then. Unless we used mini-Hoids. ^_^ And that would be awesome.
I like the chalkling idea. For Steelheart, it'd probably just be a mini of whatever was misspelled. Or maybe mini-Obliterations. That'd be adorable.
-Alleb
Generally speaking minis are monsters, not sentient people. People-minis, AFAIK, are off-limits.
For the Stormlight Archive, though, I suggest mini-Chasmfiends.
Mistborn minis could be either koloss or mistwraiths; Elantris could be mini-Seons. Actually... they're sentient, so I'm not sure. Then again, they could be like the mini-balrogs.
-Alleb
They are somewhat sentient, and the trilogy sequel turns them into their own species (enough for a human to be 'koloss-blooded'). But mistwraiths wouldn't be good enough for holding back fanbrats, so...
Scadrial doesn't have much in the way of other monsters, though.
-Alleb
Like you said, monsters aren't so numerous back there.
The Avengers OFU has mini-Nick Furies, for example.
Nor are minis under the jurisdiction of the PPC. They, and any decisions about what they can be, come under the OFU aegis, and Miss Cam - the creator of the OFU and mini concepts - never set any rules about whether they can be people, based on capitalisation, or anything else.
But person-shaped minis are creepy in so many ways and no-one should make them. <<< That is my opinion which I very firmly hold. But it is not a rule, because there is no rule.
hS
The Avengers OFU has mini-Nick Furies, for example.
Nor are minis under the jurisdiction of the PPC. They, and any decisions about what they can be, come under the OFU aegis, and Miss Cam - the creator of the OFU and mini concepts - never set any rules about whether they can be people, based on capitalisation, or anything else.
But person-shaped minis are creepy in so many ways and no-one should make them.
hS
Because the idea of a mini the size of a double-decker bus amuses me enormously.
"They're your WHAT?"
"Mini is... something of a relative term."
Mini-Aragogs and mini-Roots are the first things that come to mind.
It was excellent. I couldn't put it down. Actually, the only thing of Sanderson's that I haven't read is Alcatraz. I should really get those. Ooh, I love The Rithmatist! I've heard he's coming out with a sequel soon.
Use this: < a href="http://www.yahoo.com"> here < / a > Substitute the word you want for "here" and put the desired link between the quotation marks. Then delete the spaces so that the entire thing is one word, except for "
-Alleb