#i should reread mistborn actually

[aparticularbandit]

thinking about mistborn and kelsier and "who are you" "i am the thing you cannot kill. i am HOPE" and then what happens immediately after.

thinking about kelsier in the context of junko.

[kaladinstormblessed09]

Started my cosmere reread with the final empire. I haven’t read mistborn since 2018 and I can’t believe the amount of foreshadowing Brandon put in there. “Oh look all the steel inquisitors are seeker, coincidentally my brother is also a seeker!” “They used to call him ironeyes cause he’s got stern eyes but they stopped cause it’s rude.” Skas gossiping if kelsier is actually human or if he’s dead and something is wearing his face. Kelsier contemplating maybe he should find his own religion…..like the list goes on! I’m having so much fun finding these little hints!

[avidabsurdist]

Every time a new Brandon Sanderson book is released everyone updates their suggested reading order but all you need is the patience to be uninformed and enjoy the book!

But depending on your preference the best story to start with will be different.

If you want a crash course on the basics of The Cosmere's magic physics (Aka Investiture) so you can hypothesize on how other magic works I suggest the short story "The Emperor's Soul" as a starting point, it gives a solid overview of Realmic theory and covers Identity (a rather difficult idea to communicate) very effectively. (this is the start of the PhD route)

If you want something that's more like a traditional fairy tale as an intro I suggest Tress Of the Emerald Sea, which doesn't require a PhD in the shattering to understand. (though if you're going the PhD route I suggest reading this one later because if you're questioning the magic it's a far more confusing one)

Warbreaker is a good middle ground, if you're going the PhD route I suggest this second (it covers Intention which "The Emperor's Soul" doesn't), It's not a bad starting place either, it was my first book in The Cosmere and it's up for free on The Sand-Man's website. It's also all-around an excellent book.

I'm going to be (a tad) controversial and say I enjoy Elantris, it's certainly not Brando-Sando's best work but it was his first, and it's not a bad book to start with! just keep in mind that many of the issues in the book are things he improves on in later books.

Mistborn is two (soon to be 3) series, we distinguish them by 'Era' and they should be read in order if you want to make sense of what's going on.

Mistborn Era 1 (3 books) is also an excellent place to start, it's a YA-style series so you follow a teenager in a Post-(more like perpetual)-Apocalypse, but it's also an Epic high fantasy so if you like those and don't mind romance It's a good one.

"Mistborn Secret History": read this after Mistborn Era 1 if you're going the PHD route read anytime before The Lost Metal (Era 2 Book 4) for everyone else. (PhD track: if you want the most out of it I suggest also reading White Sand first)

Mistborn Era 2 (4 books) is a high fantasy Western set in the same world much later in time, 10/10 no notes, it's excellent.

The Stormlight Archive, TheBigOne™ It is planned to be a 10-book series with accompanying Novellas. I suggest reading in chronological order including the short stories, published so far that would be:

The Way of Kings

Words of Radiance

"Edgedancer" (novella)

Oathbringer

"Dawnshard" (novella)

Rhythm of War

Start with this series if you thirst for sprawling high-fantasy novels with page counts that would make grown men weep (the Audiobook for RoW was like 48 hours long)

The entirety of Arcanum Unbounded is not required reading, (unless you're on the PhD track) but it contains both "The Emperor's Soul" and "Edgedancer", you should probably read Elantris, Mistborn Era 1, Alloy Of Law (MB Era 2 Book 1), and Stormlight (up to Words of Radiance). If you enjoy Graphic Novels and dislike spoilers/rereading stuff when you haven't finished it yet I suggest skipping the White Sand excerpt.

White Sand is also not a terrible intro, it covers a theme in B-Sandy's work that isn't directly related to the cosmere but will give you a good insight into whether you'll like his work or not: the idea that skill is developed, not just inherent. if you're like me and dislike graphic novels GraphicAudio™ (actually a company not a joke) Has an Audio rendition that has some narrative differences from the Graphic novels (iirc at least one character is a different gender) But the Graphic novels also have a random boombox on a planet with no electricity so either should be fine.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is in a similar situation to Tress of The Emerald Sea except instead of a classic European Folktale Vibe it's got a Western Interpretation of Anime Vibe, ofc it's high fantasy like all Sandon Branderson's work so it's world is inspired by Japanese culture rather than just being Japanese.

The Sunlit Man read Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (Arcanum Unbounded), and at least Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive 3) before this one, unless you like being thrown into the deep end, Mistborn Era 1 & 2 would also help.

There are other routes than Ph.D., there's also the Galactic Politics route, The Secret Society route, The Worldhopper Watcher route, The Ancient History route (Aka The Shattering route) ect

if you want specific reading route recs just tell me what you're looking for I can help!

[lifblogs]

Bad Batch Mistborn AU!

I’m rereading Mistborn and can’t get this idea out of my head. (layman’s terms will be at the bottom of the post)

So Clone Force 99 is an experimental elite unit by being given the powers of allomancy* and feruchemy**.

Hunter - burns copper to dampen allomantic vibrations (thus protecting his squad), uses tin to store senses

Crosshair - burns bronze to pinpoint allomancer enemies, uses steel to store physical speed

Wrecker - is supposed to be able to burn pewter to increase his strength, but it’s not working (subsequently making him feel like a failure), but he can actually burn brass to soothe emotions, though he can use pewter to store his strength

Tech - burns electrum to see into the future, which aids in his mental abilities and strategizing, uses zinc to store mental speed

Echo - is the product of the Techno Union’s half assed attempts at hemalurgy*** (I haven’t completely thought this one through). Regs tend to refer to him as a “creature,” and “that thing.” They’ll use it/its pronouns while talking about him.

Omega - Mistborn****

I’m thinking all the clones have earrings kind of like animal tags to mark property. When looked into the Kaminoans lie that it is something to keep them calm. But of course this is minor hemalurgy so the Empire can get inside their heads.

However if we look at Echo as being more a victim to hemalurgy he’d be the one who is turned by the Empire rather than Crosshair since he has more metal in his body. Enhancing him will probably include adding more spikes. (Should he get to keep his eyes in this? Idk.)

Omega doesn’t know she’s a mistborn until she runs away with Clone Force 99. The water on Kamino she drinks is pure, with no trace metals, so she had no idea she had powers until she was drinking non-purified water. Hunter is the one who decides they should test her allomantic abilities.

With leaving Kamino Clone Force 99 loses a steady supplier of their metals, and they find themselves stuck with only half their powers working.

I have a few disconnected scenes in mind. Not sure I’ll write this, but I wanted to get the idea out there (plus this helped hammer out some of my thoughts).

*Allomancy - a magic system in which users have the ability to “burn” metal they swallow, granting them abilities based on specific metals

**Feruchemy - a magic system in which users can store attributes from their own mind and body into a specific type of metal. Example: while storing one or more of his senses into a piece of tin jewelry Hunter will have that sense dampened as he is taking from himself. This is useful because he can take from his store later to enhance his senses.

***Hemalurgy - a violent magic system in which a spike driven through an allomancer’s heart is placed into someone’s body. Placement determines the power gained from the allomancer.

****Mistborn - someone who can use all the allomantic metals

[mistbornhero]

Hello my dear. Do you have. any book recomendations ever. I'm talking stories that would suck me in and spill me off when I finish it like I went thru a whole lifetime in a few pages. Any genres are cool.

ohhh boooks I'll try to not forget every book I've ever read now lmao

this has been in my drafts for days because I did in fact forget every book I have read. Cutting this into things I am fannish about and books I just liked in general and books I could probably be fannish about with the right incentive.

Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson

honorary mention, mostly lmao

obviously like the books just look at my username

I like the first Mistborn Trilogy best, even if the Stormlight Archive is probably technically better

It gets bonus points for being shorter and already finished

It gets extra bonus points because book one has a heist

Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

idk if you've read this? but! robots! in space! and found family!

witty and fun

I would die for murderbot (it would roll its eyes at that)

murderbot could have killed many people, but instead it just wants to watch tv, which is a mood

I blame blackglass and her enthusiasm for podficcing every fic for everyone.

All For The Game by Nora Sakavic

gay crime sports anime book

found family!!

so like. this is not a good book, I think

but it also definitely is a fun book, kind of like. self indulgent fics where things that are objectively Too Much happen but in a fun way?

also! canon demi character!

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

kid has magic! he must now go to magic school!

immediately falls in love with an elf girl and declares noble!guy his nemesis

he thinks this nemesis thing is mutual, but noble!guy is just very in love with him

realized he was bisexual and actually in love with noble!guy (dated elf!girl for a bit, but decided they were better off as friends)

.... would add TLT here, but I think you've read that, seen you post about it,

Not fannish about, but I could be:

The Riyria Chronicles by Michael J. Sullivan

two bros doing crime and being Good at it

fun fantasy worldbuilding

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

fun political things!

slow burn romance

started to reread to say more but then got busy 🥲

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

I just love people who are really good at what they do (stealing)

Great worldbuilding

It's part of a series, but I haven't actually read past the second book because there was an event I didn't quite like at the time (not like it's bad, just. different mental space needed?)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

I'm in this for the worldbuilding

Should reread honestly

there's a spin-off series that I also love

Not fannish about, but I love:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

time travel!! cool rules for it!!!

emotional?? basically you can only meet other people who have been in the cafe, so it's usually people who go back to see the ones they were in the cafe with? so yeah, emotional

It made me cry so much

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

fun animal facts!!

if you feel like Learning Things this is also pretty interesting?

Literally just spent the entire time I read it telling people fun facts about how animal senses work

this is not going to be sucking you in and spilling you out with a mess of feelings, but I liked it

[titsthedamnseason]

it’s probably a bit hasty for me to get right into posting my thoughts but alas i shall! it took a bit but i finally finished mistborn era one!!! 🥳💗

i rated the final empire 4.25/5 stars (looking back i actually think this book deserved 5 stars. i was a little harsh but the ending and overall story arc is perfect especially now having the context of the whole series. i think if i were to reread it i would appreciate it so much more)

i rated well of ascension 4.75/5 stars

and lastly, i gave hero of ages a 4/5 stars

ultimately i was quite satisfied with sazed’s ending and the way his character arc ended. i thought it culminated very expertly and if there was any character that should have become a god it was certainly him

vin’s ending i was more unsatisfied with but i maybe need more time to sit with it. i never necessarily saw that for her and thought it was so abstract that it lost some of its impact for me. maybe it was that the moment she took on the role of preservation it was obvious that “human” vin was dead no matter the fate of her mystical consciousness so the actual moment of her death had way less impact than a character like her deserved. i mean, she was literally the main character lol. and from a romantic standpoint her and elend’s final goodbye while they were both human in person was underwhelming. maybe on purpose since neither of them knew they would never see each other again but still im bitter about it. i’m happy they are reunited though

it might be too soon for me to really articulate my thoughts on elend’s death. i kind of hated it in the sense that it’s frustrating when a character has their moment of actualization and grows to their full potential only to die pages later, as if all that development was only for dramatic effect. but i think this one is too raw and i also might just not like it because im sad about it. objectively elend was a loyal ruler that wanted nothing but to protect his people and that is what he died doing with a smile on his face so in that sense i can acknowledge that it was in character and he would probably be content to know he died playing such a major role in saving the world

overall i really loved my introduction to brandon sanderson! his books are a rollercoaster and i hear it only gets crazier / worse / better / intenser from here so i am READY 🫡 my copy of arcanum unbounded is on the way

[wanderingwolpertinger]

finished Six of Crows yesterday (yes I skipped shadow and bone entirely the opening exposition was annoying me buuuut I'll go back later. Blame my friend she said I should start with SoC) and I haven't started Crooked Kingdom (no spoilers please!) however I wanted to dump my thoughts for a bit (I probably ended up being overly critical so if this is your fav series maybe scroll by lol)

-the characters were the highlight of the story for me, super well executed banter. Tie between Kaz and Matthias for fav POV. (Kaz's backstory was especially well done, the way it influenced his actions throughout SoC was very natural)

-worldbuilding/lore was pretty easy to follow even though I did not read S&B or watch the show. magic system is pretty cool, excited to see it fleshed out in S&B

-not sure how I feel about how ship-happy this series is (maybe the author was trying to outrun ship war potential idk). possibly makes more sense when viewed as a series? (will have to update my opinion later) but overall having every main pov character paired off somewhat sappily by the end of book one was ehhh? I'm not opposed to romantic subplots but I felt they may have held too much influence in the main plot here.

-hrrmmm love me some GrimDark (not) (ok not when it's not done very impactfully imo) (mmmm let's not explore the ethics of casually taking lives for more than 0.5 seconds) (yes it's a fantasy book but still) (particularly Jesper's pov was ... odd) (he seemed to have issues with his actions but also didn't?) (maybe it will make more sense upon reread)

-Standard Heist Plot (no notes) (yes to explosives)

-ok back to the crit. one of the reviews in the front of my copy compared SoC to ASOIAF (haven't read it but I know enough to verify) and like yes actually it really did feel somewhat like aggressively PG-13 Game of Thrones. (I dunno this is more of a personal gripe with authors feeling the need to inject the sexual exploitation of women into their fantasy novels in order to be more Realistic) (especially when it's minors) (bleh)

-idk a lot of the side worldbuilding choices felt like something an edgy 14 year old would choose because they were Dark ™️

-however props for character design, the appearance/physicality of each of the Crows was wonderfully distinct

-not in loooove with the ending. It sets up book two nicely yes but kinda gave me KOTLC cliffhanger flashbacks

-sort of feels like this book is a sanitized adult fantasy novel with de-aged protagonists (could be being unfair here) and a YA plot

-no actually the number of times Nina's breasts are mentioned is absurdly high, the heck was up with that

-so Matthias being a ex-witch hunter = bad (duh) cause he was going to send Grisha to their deaths. Ok makes sense. Now tell me why Kaz/Inej/Jesper killing somewhat indiscriminately is not really addressed in moral terms beyond "necessary"? (Actually ignore this one for now I would need to do a reread before I have full thoughts on this) (But there will be thoughts)

-overall, I had a good time reading this book. Yeah I had problems with it but some of that could honestly stem from the fact that I am not 15 anymore and have different taste in books. (ok ok also I am actively comparing this with Lockwood and Co and I feel that series took equally dark topics but explored them much more maturely) (and honestly also Mistborn. That series also had dark worldbuilding but didn't linger on what it didn't have to?)

[gayszlen]

Oh hey I got tagged for a thing ty @warioigottawin:+)

OK

Fav colour: I think foresty green, but my like lifetime favorite colour is royal purple, however I've been real into pale pinks lately too...

Currently reading: OOOH ok so I was rereading Harrow along with my friend who I'm doing the cosplay with BUT I was also at her behest reading the Final Empire, book one of Mistborn (she's super into Brandon Sanderson's stuff) and now I'm onto the second book, the Well of Ascension. They've been really good so far, it's a really cool and unique fantasy world with an awesome magic system (eating different metals lets you do crazy shit) and I loooove the main characters, they start out a bit basic but especially coming into book two they gain a lot of depth and are just generally really likeable, I have had a bit of trouble keeping track of the side characters though lol, there's a couple that all melt together in my brain. Also ostensibly working on starting discworld, I'm a little bit of the way through Guards! Guards! But TLT and Mistborn have been keeping me busy (STILL need to read nona lol, I'll probably get to it before Alecto comes out lol) also I've been doing all of this with audiobooks which I still have some trouble paying attention to sometimes but it's massively easier for me these days than physical books OK LONG BIT OVER

Last song: last song I actually listened to was DUI by Estelle Allen, I unironically love it so much even though I can't drive and therefore follow through (I DID SCHEDULE A PERMIT TEST THOUGH WHOO LOOK AT ME BEING AN ADULT) anyways if you haven't heard it PLEASE please listen to it immediately (and also the whole album it's on, it's actually real good)

Last series: UHHH haven't been watching a ton of "tv" shows recently, but I just finished season 5 of game changer on dropout which was fun, and I'm now binging all three seasons of SoupRS's Gielenor Games OSRS competition gameshow, I haven't actually played old school in a bit and never very seriously but I do love those funny little guys fighting funny little monsters and flicking their funny little prayers :+)

Last movie: UHH I think the DnD movie? I personally loved it, it's not as cringe as I expected and is very accessible to anyone who's not into dnd the game or the internet dnd "fandom"

Sweet, spicy, or savoury: GOD that's hard I mean I am a pleasure seeking creature so like I do love sweet sugary stuff, but I also loooove sweet/spicy stuff, or really just all of those stuck together, although I think I'd actually go for umami over savoury. I've been practicing this scallion oil noodle recipe that is soooo good and the sauce especially is a really great blend of sweet from sugar, spicy from various stuff, and savory from the scallions (plus a lot of umami from the sesame oil and soy sauce lol) my rendition of the recipe is just a simplified/easier version of some I've seen on the internet, but I can post it if anyone's interested :3

Craving: SPONGE CAKE AND TOO SWEET ICING god I just love the texture its such a good sensory experience for me, and the flavor is just. Sugar lol so yeah. However seeing char's answer reminds me that I loooove the samosas from this one Indian place we used to order from that shut down BUT they JUST reopened under a new name and slightly different model so I need to get my mitts on some yummy yummy samosas and tamarind sauce

Tea vs coffee: TEA ez, I mostly just drink water and the occasional sodie (although I really should get an electric kettle for my room id drink way more tea) I think I've literally never had coffee and tbh I don't have much desire too, doesn't smell a way I like and I can get caffeine from sodies, someday I may grow up and get into coffee but I wanna get back to more tea first, I made this syrup with lemon balm that I really wanna try as a sweetener in a tea

Currently working on: well not a ton, got a callback from a job I was really excited about and they seemed into me but also I need a driver's license for that so. I'm starting work on a permit lol. Theoretically working on that cosplay but most of it is just gonna be ordering stuff, I might make the sword out of foam and wood though so I can bring it to cons. Also been drawing a sword for the same friend's fantasy series she's been working on, and just generally helping her brainstorm that stuff which is really fun :)

OK uhhhhhhhhhhhhh do I have to tag people? Idk, if anyone wants to do this you can just say I tagged you, and I'll give uhhh @the-gay-prometheus @potorch @bark-eater @zoentropy a ping for it lol, absolutely no pressure to do it, entirely just if you're interested ok bye :)

[chetney-pockopea]

Might fuck around and spend the next 3 hours on coppermind so I can work out what the actual living FUCK y'all are on right now.

[kingjasnah]

Reading RoW in one night is actually crazy but also. Hi how did you do that. Do you have any marathon reading tips?

yah firstly to preface: i dont think anyone should be reading rhythm in one night. i needed to for Reasons but besides those there's really no need to do this. also i know ive been saying it was one night but in the spirit of full transparency, i committed a little wage theft and read the first part (pretty much everything that had already been preview released) while still on the clock....last min circumstances (someone got covid) meant i was able to work from home the week it dropped and again. i dont think i could have done this if i had to commute the next morning. in general i am a fast reader and ive done these before but 1200 pgs was still. daunting.

ok so 1) you need good and consistent light. your eyes will be strained enough, dont make things harder for them. 2) a source of caffeine you can drink quickly that wont hurt you later. i drank a lot of very very very cold diet coke cause if i had tried to do it with my beloved filter coffee i would have been physically ill. 3) focus. like in general. i had noise cancelling headphones without playing music until everyone i lived with was asleep and that got me through. 4) you need to trick yourself into caring so so so so so much about what is happening that you force whatever you are reading into becoming a page turner. i could not have read 1200 pages in 8 hours of just anything, but kaladin is my friend and i wanted to see him so.....yeah. if you're last min cramming for school or something this is harder but fr if you straight up psychologically trick urself into caring thats better than caffeine

im actually kinda interested in reading rhythm in smaller doses....i was thinking of doing a big november reread where i would follow that drinking game tor published but like. a couple of chapters a week or smth......idk, for the sake of my liver and the fact that its literally mistborn release month and im ignoring the franchise

[aeondeug]

1, 10, and 19 for the book ask?

book you’ve reread the most times? - The Lord of the Rings probably. I used to reread the thing on a yearly basis. I should get back to doing that because I do genuinely really love LotR. I don't have a copy of it here though...Granted I guess they're super easy to come by given that every bookstore has like a dedicated Tolkien section. do you have a guilty fav? - The Horse and His Boy remains like. One of my favorite books. Despite the fact that it is like. Awful??? On a number of fronts. With only more being revealed the older I get. But like I do really like the thing, especially Aravis. most disliked popular books? - Harry Potter kind of shot right to the top over the years due to just the ever compounding amount of bullshit. Also like as I've looked back on the books they're just...Extremely mean? Like the books are just very cruel all of the time and I just don't know why we have to be so mean! And even if there wasn't just the issues the books themselves have I can't in good conscience read them again because of the kind of person Rowling is and what she's currently supporting. Another thing though because like that feels kind of like an easy and obvious answer is...I don't really hate or dislike Brandon Sanderson's books per se but I do kind of get really tired of them being viewed as like The Best Magic Systems Ever. Because while they are really cool and I do like them, I just kind of hate that there are people that use the books to be shitty about other ways of handling magic systems. In particular the sort of derision towards the very concept of soft magic just. Gets to me. Because it's very often framed not as like a subjective opinion based thing but like objective fact and Sanderson's books get propped up as examples of what is objectively good. It's soured me a bit to his books even though I know that's not fair. Also as much as I love Mistborn the romance in the series is handled so horribly that I'm not sure I could ever actually reread the books. I loved them. They were fun. But that romance takes up such a large part of the series despite being boring at best until the very, very end when Elend dies that I just can't see myself going through them again. Because if I did I'd have to read through the Vin/Zayn/Elend love triangle again.

[reliquiaen]

Hey! I've been your follower since u wrote AT fanfics and because of your work, amongst other beautiful fanfics I've read over time, I've really wanted to try making my own.

I was just wondering what books have u read since u wrote Pray for the Preacher's daughter? Also do u have any book recommendation for newbies in creative writing?

English isn't my native language so sorry if it's a bit confusing to read

dang son that's a long time to be following me. like. a long time. wow hi nice to still have you here in spite of... fandom hopping and all that haha. thank you, i'm always so chuffed to hear someone likes my writing, literal day-maker tbh, god bless ♥

i uh... haven't read as much recently as i might like actually. i find it hard to get invested in new books and my living situation doesn't give me room to be storing books anyway. mostly i just reread a few of the ones i have pdfs of.

for book recs, i find those real hard to give out actually, mostly since people have different tastes you know? what do you like, mate? haha

still, for the simple fact of learning about writing styles i can recommend a few series/authors. this is not an exhaustive list, it's just some books i think have nice writing.

for the simple fact that the show is airing rn and i have it on the brain: if you can find a copy of robert jordan's wheel of time series (and you have the stomach for a monolithic 14 book series that gets real boring and slow in the middle ngl) you should definitely read it. world-building, characterisation, various cultures, all that is really good. his descriptive writing is out of this world and i guarantee you'll learn more new words in the first book than you might think. i know i did. just. really good jumping off point for third-person story-telling.

if you make it through those books and you're like, huh. what else? do yourself a favour and read literally any book by brandon sanderson. he finished the wheel of time books and like... you can't go wrong with any pick of his books. the mistborn trilogy will give you FEELINGS, but if you're after a stand-alone novel, i can not recommend warbreaker or the legion books enough. they're short, they're punchy, and his magic systems are always breathtaking.

kj taylor's fallen moon trilogy is quite good, excellent if you're looking for How To Write Convincing Villains. the author herself is a delight as well if that matters at all lmao. can't speak for the follow up trilogy bc i haven't read it but i'm sure it's just as good. (also she's aussie which always delights me, love a good aussie author)

also do yourself a favour and read the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. douglas adams was a master wordsmith and the books are so much fun. it's one of the few hard copies i have here in england bc i just love it so so much. never fails to make me laugh.

if you're more into crime stuff, i do recommend karen slaughter. i've only read a few of her books (courtesy of my mum who's an avid fan) but the ones i did read were thrilling cover to cover.

i guess my best advice is to read widely? my typical fare is fantasy, i'm such a ho for a good fantasy book, idk if it's obvious in my fic writing but that's where my soul lives, it's what i first started writing (literally my very first original writing was some stupid knock off of the dragonlink series).

go grimdark gothic and pick up brent weeks' way of shadows books (incredible covers is why i picked them up and the story did not disappoint). traumatise yourself and read stephen king (i've read just a few of his but 'the outsider' was so gripping i legit stole it off my mum for two days to binge read it and she got mad at me). read some kristin cashore books (bitterblue is fabulous, just saying) and enjoy your tropey fantasy. i've got 'everything leads to you' by nina lacour and 'the abyss surrounds us' by emily skrutskie and like any of malinda lo's books and OMG 'the memoirs of lady trent' by marie brennan.

and uh. don't forget to keep reading fanfics haha. much of my writing style is grounded very firmly in the third person fantasy from whence i came, but my transition into present tense is fanfiction's fault entirely baby. and you pick up tropes - my foundation stones! - much better in fic because it distils them down nicely i feel. people who've been writing fic a while already have a feel for the tropes that make stories work so you might have to pay a bit more attention when you start out, don't worry about it, that'll come naturally with practice. which you gotta do.

also also, dictionaries and thesauruses are your friends. thesaurus.com is part of my dna now. go there. sign up. word of the day yourself. it's great stuff and even if you don't remember all of them, adding a few new words to your arsenal now and then can't hurt.

just practice. experiment with what you write and how you write it. not everything you type has to be published either. lord knows i don't post any of my personal work anywhere and half my fics never see the light of day either. write for you and have fun.

hope this helps somewhat. feel free to hmu if you wanna ask anything else lol i know i got a bit longwinded my bad ^^;

[fromzeepewithlife]

ok, I’ve had a lot of people ask me for advice on where to start with Brandon Sanderson books. so, for my own convenience and the hopeful pursuasion of strangers, I wrote up my own crash course. hopefully this helps!

Abbey’s comprehensive guide to Brandon Sanderson

First, lemme tell you about the Cosmere.

Ok. Brando the madman has written a LOT of books. They vary in genre, but ultimately they all have one thing in common—they’re all magical!

There are cosmere books and non-cosmere books. Cosmere is the name of Branderson’s high-fantasy universe that he pours all his best worldbuilding, magic, and story into. It includes a bunch of separate series that are connected through that universe. All other series he’s written outside of the cosmere are unconnected.

The cosmere books tend to be more in-depth when it comes to worldbuilding, and they’re generally heavier in lore and politics, since he pours all his energy into them. They should be read in a certain order if you want to have the full understanding of some stuff that happens. All the non-cosmere series can be read in any order (aside from the order within the series itself, obviously).

There’s also a book of short stories in the cosmere called Arcanum Unbounded. It’s an optional read, but it explains a lot, especially in the Mistborn series.

“So! What order should I read them in?” you ask. Well, it depends on what you want. Here’s my recommendation of the order in which to read the cosmere books, followed by a list of non-cosmere series I love:

Cosmere series:

Elantris

Elantris is a stand-alone book about a holy city that has lost its power. I LOVE IT.

1. Elantris

Warbreaker

Warbreaker is another stand-alone! It’s about a young girl, a lazy deity, and a grumpy warrior with a talking sword.

1. Warbreaker

Mistborn

Mistborn has two trilogies, the second of which has a fourth book planned. The first trilogy follows a girl who gets caught up in an impossible heist to overthrow the government. Then, a couple hundred(ish?) years after the events of the first trilogy, two dudes named Wax and Wayne engage in a fun, magical whodunnit western murder mystery. It sounds chaotic, and it is. It’s also excellent.

First Trilogy:

1. Mistborn: The Final Empire

2. Mistborn: The Well of Ascension

3. Mistborn: The Hero of Ages

3.5. The Eleventh Metal, followed by Mistborn: Secret History (found in Arcanum Unbounded story-story book)

Second series:

4. Wax and Wayne: Alloy of Law

5. Wax and Wayne: Bands of Mourning

6. Wax and Wayne: Shadows of Self

7. TBA

The Stormlight Archive

This one. This is the big kahuna. The Stormlight Archive is the central series of the cosmere, with immense worldbuilding and story. It’s about a once-soldier become slave, a witty artist, and a stoic highprince with TWO WONDERFUL SONS. It has two sets of series planned, but the most recent is book four of the first series.

First series:

1. The Way of Kings

2. Words of Radiance

2.5. Edgedancer

3. Oathbringer

3.5. Dawnshard

4. Rhythm of War

5. TBA

Second series:

6-10. TBA

White Sand (Optional)

White Sand is a graphic novel about a dude with sand magic. It’s very good, but completely optional. As of right now, the most relevance it has to the other cosmere books are easter eggs and details that you can ignore in Stormlight Archive. If you want to, though, you can reread that series after reading white sand and understand those things later. No rush.

1. White Sand I

2. White Sand II

3. White Sand III

I know. It’s a lot. On the bright side, you have a TON of content to enjoy, and an interaction-starved fandom to talk about it with!

MAKE NOTE, THOUGH, Mistborn doesn’t need to be read before The Stormlight Archive. Technically, neither does Elantris. I would highly recommend reading at least Warbreaker before starting Stormlight Archive, though. It’s up to you when you want to read Elantris and Mistborn, but there are things in Stormlight Archive that will make more sense after you’ve at least read the first trilogy of Mistborn.

Non-cosmere

In any order you’d like:

The Reckoners

The Reckoners is a series about superheroes called Epics—except every single Epic is evil. In a post-apocalyptic society, an 18-year-old boy dedicated his life to bringing down these Epics.

1. Steelheart

2. Firefight

3. Calamity

Skyward

Skyward is an in-progress sci-fi/fantasy series about a girl with a talking space ship.

1. Skyward

2. Starsight

3. TBA

The Rithmatist

Rithmatist is a magical, chalk-based whodunnit murder mystery about a young schoolboy and his teacher. I love this one so much, but I’d probably wait to read it until he’s actively working on the second book again.

1. The Rithmatist

2. TBA (on indefinite hold for research)

Aaaand there you have it! Brandon Sanderson’s complete guide of books. At least, the ones I can remember right now. Keep in mind that he not only keeps a website with multiple progress bars to keep you updated on where he is on his current drafts & projects, but he also has a yearly update he writes on his said website, listing and describing progress on every project he’s ever mentioned—including movie deals and TV scripts. He also uploads advice lectures on storybuilding and writing online.

He also takes care in representation! He has a ton of diverse characters, who differ not only in ethnicity, but sexuality, philosophical beliefs, and mental illness. And basically every character has character development overhaul, especially in his cosmere books. Especially especially in Stormlight Archive. (even his side characters get developed). He’s also incredibly funny and witty, so the jokes riddled throughout are just golden.

In short, this man is the embodiment of the “haha writing machine go brrrr” meme. And he answers questions and keeps his fans updated. Enjoy amazing content by a consistent writer that actually respects, values, and listens to his fandom :D

[starryocean]

Okay, finally doing it. I know I said I was gonna do this a while ago but then didn’t so now I’m finally doing it. My thoughts on the books I’ve read since my last post, sans Kumo desu ga 12 since I need to reread that to remember what I wanted to talk about.

These will be in no particular order. Also, please no spoilers in the comments, and also there will be spoilers for these mentioned books in the post proper:

First off, I ended up buying Starless Sea, Mistborn 1, Wayfarers 2, and I think one non-fiction book the last time. I won’t be reviewing the non-fiction book since I’m only really doing these for fiction novels. I also bought a one-shot light novel on the kindle called Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?! some time after buying and reading those. I’ll go over them all now.

Mistborn 1 was really good, like I’ve heard. I remember thinking at various points that the characters felt like the sort of people I’d want to get to know, just from their dialogue alone and how they bounced off each other. The story was also fairly light on the darker parts, leaving most of it up to implication and off-handed mentions to help raise the stakes. This surprised me since the setting and premise of the story is so dark. It certainly helped me stomach reading it, although it took a while at first since I wasn’t really in the mood for darker stuff at the time and I had no idea how far the story would go with its themes.

One thing that surprised me for instance was Elend not secretly being an asshole. I was fully expecting him to betray Vin, or else cause her serious problems down the line, especially in one moment where Vin let slip some details about how the skaa get around. Like, I was fully prepared for that to bite her in the ass, but it didn’t. It didn’t even come up after that moment. A different writer would probably have used that slip up to throw a new wrench in the works, but Brandon Sanderson didn’t go for it, which was honestly refreshing. I’ve gotten so burnt out on “everything is horrible for everyone forever” after binging too much worm fanfiction a few years ago, so it was really nice to see an author take a different path than the most cynical one.

Also, despite starting the story with a (mostly) off-screen attempted rape, Mistborn was actually very light on the sex? Like, again, considering the premise, I was expecting more than just implications/references to rape, but it never even happened. Again, refreshing. I guess my main thing was that I expecting the story to get so much more dark in general, and I kind of built it up in my head that way, only to continue getting shown that no, this is not what Sanderson is about. He definitely errs on the more hopeful side of things, I think--that scene where the skaa managed to gather together after Kelsier’s death and form a proper riot despite all the Soothers working on their minds for so long proves it.

As for the whole mystery angle with the fallen hero...I was honestly expecting the Hero of Ages to be the Lord Ruler. A lot of the snippets we got from his journal had given me confirmation bias about it, and so it was a good twist that it wasn’t him. But also kind of fucked up? Like, the Hero of Ages mentions wanting to see more mountains breaking up the countryside of their continent, and then the Lord Ruler went and recreated those mountains in the form of the Ashmounts. And then there’s other little things here and there that were clearly inspired by some of the Hero’s vision for how the world should be once the Deepness was gone, but just so horrifically twisted by the Lord Ruler. I still can’t tell if it was meant to be mocking or spitting on the Hero’s dreams or if it was meant as a sort of screwed-up apology/“He’s still in there somewhere” sort of thing. Would be fascinating to analyze, if only we got a bit more about the Lord Ruler/Hero. I’m sure the other books expand upon it, but...I haven’t read those yet.

Now, Starless Sea. Most beautiful prose I’ve ever read, hands down. Equally beautiful ode to storytelling across various forms of media as a whole. Loved this book, want more of it, although I didn’t quite get the ending at first. It was more...bittersweet, I guess, than I was expecting. An end to the Harbor, and a birth of a new one, with Zachary and Dorian wandering the ocean alongside Eleanor and someone who’s implied to be Simon joining them.

I loved the little inserts of the various books that Zachary picks up and reads along the way, as well as inserts of books and stories that he doesn’t find. The whole mythology of the Starless Sea is fascinating to me, it really feels like an old epic that has spanned centuries and times and places that you’ll never go to and yet is preserved in the form of those remaining texts. The only thing I wish for from that book is that there was more to it, but I also understand why it had to end where it did and expanding it unnecessarily would probably cheapen the whole thing. But it’s a book about a world that I’d love to find and live in, and it does an amazing job building it.

Hard for me to find other things to mention, because there was just so much that I loved I really have no disappointments or critiques at all. There’s just so much I could talk about and I’m a bit overwhelmed with choices. I guess one thing I noticed was that the author’s usage of sentence length was very different from how I would have worded things myself, and it was a bit strange for me to read. Sentences that I would have ended in earlier places went on for longer in a way that felt like run-ons to me. And yet it also contributed to the beauty of the prose, I think, making the whole thing seem much more magical. It was a little bit weird and hard to get used to, but it definitely helped sell it.

Now, Wayfarers 2. A Closed and Common Orbit made me tear up and/or cry at multiple points, let me tell you. There was just so much more emotion to this book than I felt like I got out of the first one, what with Pepper’s story and Sidra’s quest to find her place in the universe. From what I’ve heard about the third book (which I will definitely order when I have to money to spend on it) I have a feeling it’ll be full of the same sorts of emotions, too. Pepper’s story really spoke to me, though, being forced to grow up in such a hostile environment and being raised by an AI who then gets forcibly separated from her because people don’t understand that these AI are people. By the end of it I could definitely understand why Pepper does the things she does, believes what she believes in, and how if her circumstances had been any different she could have lived all her life without ever learning these things.

I really liked Sidra, too, but I don’t think I connected with her like I did Pepper. I mean, I did, just not in the same way. I really liked her friendship with the Aeluon Tak, though, and I liked how Tak managed to get over xir prejudices in order to better understand Sidra. What I didn’t like about after that is how Sidra ended up roping xem into things that were only technically legal, being outside of xir comfort zone. The reprogramming thing I can easily excuse as it was necessary for Sidra to not be caught due to being unable to lie, but the getting xem to (technically) break into the museum to get at Owl I’m not so sure on. Yes, it was important in order to rescue her, but Tak clearly wasn’t comfortable with it, even as xe went along with it. They both managed to stay friends afterwards, though, so I guess it wasn’t as big of a deal to Tak in the aftermath as it was in the moment.

Past Life Countess, Otome Game NPC?! is a weird one. It’s actually an isekai, where a noblewoman from a fantasyland ended up getting reborn as the titular Otome Game NPC. There’s another girl who got reborn as the Otome Game’s protagonist, and they end up working together to try and help Protag-chan (I can’t remember her name atm) win over one of the popular, pretty love interests from the Otome game. There’s also some stuff going on with a girl called Chouko Tsukuyomi where the three girls have to compete with one another in a series of tests so Chouko will approve of their relationship with one of the guys.

I wasn’t really expecting anything from this one. I mostly picked it up because someone mentioned it in a thread on SV and it sounded interesting, so after reading the sample I knew I had to buy it (It was only like, 7 bucks, so it was cheap too). It ended up being way denser textually than I expected any LN to be, and at multiple points I was thinking to myself that it felt like a western novel rather than a Light Novel just from prose alone. I suppose that fits with the setting, but it was still a bit jarring since LNs usually aren’t so textually dense. It wasn’t as dense as say, any of Robert Jordan’s books (which I can say because I’m reading one, more on that in a minute), but it was denser than the standard LN.

Anyway. What I got was actually...kind of cute in parts, but incredibly disappointing in others. Protag-chan initially starts out as someone you’d think would fall into the “secretly evil heroine” stereotype that’s common in villainess isekai, but she ends up turning into a good friend of noble lady. All the characters end up getting along just in general, although it’s not a bisexual harem like in Bakarina. The author was a bit too cowardly for that. There was also a scene where one of the male love interests starts showing interest in Protag-chan in a very cute way, only to be mercilessly shot down and have his rival in love get confessed to by Protag-chan right in front of him.

Like, it was so damn savage, I honestly felt sympathy for the guy. It ended up coming off as mean, even, since the way he was trying to show his interest in her was by sending her pictures of his cat, which the novel stated he never did to anyone unless he liked them a lot. And then Protag-chan ended up going and pulling this, and nobody even said anything about it. and you have to keep in mind, this was also in the middle of a public place. As in, a store. They did this all in the middle of a super-fancy clothing store.

Yeah.

More on the author being cowardly--Chouko and noble lady are shipteased quite a bit throughout the book. Since they’re both girls, I was hoping that they’d end up going for a yuri route with noble lady and Chouko. But then the author pulled a bait-and-switch such that Chouko was actually a guy pretending to be a woman all along. And he wasn’t even a trans guy or anything, he was just cross-dressing as a dude because his parents forced him to. I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but I legitimately hate that type of plotline so much. Just make the dude trans? Or else commit to the lesbians? Either way the author was a coward.

Anyway, that’s it for the books I’ve finished since last time I posted about my reading escapades. Right now I’m reading Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (hence my comment on the density of his writing earlier, by god is this book textually dense) and I’m going to try and pick up The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman again, as I’ve left it sitting for too long tbh. Both readings are extremely slow-going, especially now that I’m attending classes and my accelerated 8-week course as started today. I hope to eventually get them done, though--I have a feeling I’ll be able to juggle my classes fine for the most part, so that should free up some time on weekends at least to do some reading. If I don’t end up having to work over the weekend, anyway.

Will try and reread Kumo desu ga 12 again if I can, so I can finally post my thoughts on it. I’m still kicking myself for forgetting to when I first read it.

[libralita]

I'm sure you've covered this before but is there a way to read the Cosmere books to maintain the best order and actually pick up on all the details? I've looked through Brandon's website and it's hard to workout what order there can be between the different books and series. I've read through all of Mistborn and SA through Oathbringer, but I feel like I'm missing a proper way to read through it all. Appreciate it.

I’m of the philosophy that you should read the Cosmere in mostly any order that you want. It’s pretty hard to find a lot of these small details on your first read through, unless you know what to look for. Even then I’ll miss a lot of details and it’s not until the rereads that I find them. Maybe it’s just because I’m the least observant person on the planet Earth but that’s kind of how I see it, though my mindset has changed slightly.

Oathbringer has a lot of references to the Cosmere and I think the Cosmere is starting to get to that point where you need to read some books before others. I think in like 10 years when we have more of the cosmere published then the fandom and Brandon will be able to give a more definitive reading list. So, I’ll try my best.

Mistborn Era 1, Elantris, White Sand and Warbreaker - this books I’m calling “foundation books” which means that they don’t have a lot of references in the Cosmere, in the stories themselves. You’ll get a Hoid cameo, there are little hints but nothing outright talking about the Cosmere. These are going to be the books that are referenced in other Cosmere books either characters or events that have happened in them. So, I think these are good ones to start out with. They’re also pretty easy to get into. I would recommend going in Era 1, Elantris, White Sand and Warbreaker in that order.

Mistborn Era 2 - This is kind of an in-between series. There are bigger hints about the Cosmere then something like Elantris, however we’re still getting a taste. I would just recommend reading White Sand before reading Era 2. Other than that, this is a good middle one. But then there’s Mistborn Secret History

Mistborn Secret History + Arcanum Unbounded - Mistborn Secret History is a short story that was published around the time Bands of Mourning was published. Most people in the fandom agree that this should be read after Bands of Mourning. Then Arcanum Unbounded is a collection of short stories in the Cosmere. I think these should be the ones read towards the end of the Cosmere. A lot of them have spoilers for the series they’re in so it makes sense to read them after you’ve read the mainline books. The one that would wait to read is Edgedancer which takes place between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer.

Stormlight Archive - This is the big one. I’m pretty sure all of the Cosmere books have been referenced in this series. You’ve got characters from previous books popping up. You’ve got plotlines referenced. Possibly this plotline is bleeding into other stories. It’s the big one. So this should be the last series you read. Now, like I said before, you probably won’t find all the references. Like, Demoux from Mistborn is in one of the interludes for Way of Kings. And how you know that is in Hero of Ages it is mentioned that he gets a scar from one of the battles of his face. And then Thinker has a scar on his face. So like, some of the references are stupidly hard to find. But it is part of the fun!

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2020 - May

My reading is going insane thanks to the pandemic... I might need to start writing reviews as I finish the books instead of waiting for the end of the month! As usual I haven’t proof read this

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers (Wayfarers)

This was a pleasantly enjoyable read for me! I usually don’t like science fiction, particularly heavily science based scifi, because (to be brutally honest) science and space bores me... However, I’d heard SO MANY good things about the characters in this novel that I had to see what the fuss was about. It’s worth the praise! The character work, inclusivity and diversity was wonderful to read. It was a beautiful novel to read and just explore who each member of this misfit crew are as they journey through space.

The sudden apperance of plot in the last 25% ruined the book a little bit, it wasn’t necessary when the rest of the book was all about character exploration. It felt like it was there just to set up the sequel (which I probably won’t read...) The problem I had with the sudden explosion of plot was the book in theme and character centred narrative (not setting or writing) felt more like a 20th century novel than a modern scifi. Everything is about the people on this ship and their found family, and each persons place in their respective societies and cultures. The action right at the end felt out of place and disrupted the love affair I’d had with the rest of the character work from Chambers. Nevertheless, I did really like this novel and would highly recommed it, particularly to people who don’t typically read science fiction.

Words of Radiance (volumes one and two*) - Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #2)

We all know how I feel about Sanderson and the Stormlight Archive, I don’t think I need to rehash that here. However, this is my least favourite of the three novels out so far - I just really dislike Shallan... (Sorry)

I’d still recommend it but start the series with The Way of Kings!

*I’m still bitter I had to pay for this book twice (it was only available in the split UK edition when I bought it) so I always count this as two books in my book count each year. 

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend (Nevermoor #1)

I ADORED this book! I was skeptical about it because I haven’t read any modern childrens fiction outside of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson since I was a child. However, this book was stunning. It was fun, fast paced romp that captures a similar feeling that Harry Potter did when I was little. Morrigan is a delightful protagonist and the world Townsend created is spectacular!

I don’t want to say too much about it because I went into it pretty blind and I think it was the best way to do it. But if there is one book eveyone should read as a pick me up then this is it! I was blown away by the quality of Townsend’s world building, plot, characters, and writing style - seriously good stuff here!

Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett (Discworld #12; The Witches #2)

I didn’t love this book as much as I was hoping to and I’m not really sure why? It’s Pratchett’s take on fariytales and he retells several well known fairytales with the typical no nonsense approach we can expect from Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick. I actually really liked the set pieces of the book where Pratchett retold stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Wizard of Oz, or pulled from iconic imagery such as the dwarves from Snow White and traditional vampires. 

Yet, the main story (pulling from the Snow Queen and Cinderella) fell a bit flat for me. I didn’t really connect with the over arching story, which was disapointing after I’d loved Wyrd Sisters. I don’t really know what happened here - it could have been my mood or the book I’m not sure.

The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Era One #3)

I cried. Twice. I can’t say much more. Go and read Mistborn if you want to know why!

I do prefer The Stormlight Archive over Mistborn as a whole but the conclusion to this series is incredibly powerful. I have some major bones to pick with the series (Spook’s conclucion made me MAD which was not good as it was the last scene of the book...) but the overall quality of the series is amazing.

I do think the hype around the series ruined my enjoyment a bit - I was spoilt for the conclusion and for the majority of The Final Empire and part of Well of Ascension I was thinking ‘is this it...’ However, it is an outstanding series from modern fantasy. 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrects - J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter #1&2)

Do I need to talk about Harry Potter? It’s a childhood classic, I grew up with this and no matter how old I get this is going to make me feel like a kid again. I’m  doing a full Potter reread this year to cheer myself up and to remind myself why I loved these books so much after all the crap that’s gone down with Rowling recently.

Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time #13)

I really can’t talk about this book in a spoiler free way and if I turned this into a spoiler review this post would be ridiculously long... However, the core of my feelings on this is:

I enjoyed this, Mat’s character still reads in a strange way, and the END IS NIGH.

Read the Wheel of Time!

Defy or Defend - Gail Carriger (Delightfully Deadly #2)

I was eagerly awaiting this book and it did not disappoint. Carriger’s books are always comfort reads for me and now I’m caught up with her series I can read new releases IN REAL TIME which is amazing!

I was eagerly awaiting for Dimity’s book in the Delightfully Deadly series and I fangirled my way through this novel (Dimity was my favourite of the Finishing School girls.) Seeing her makeover a vampire hive, tackle the gothic behaviour of the vampires themselves, while establishing a relationship with Sir Crispin was wonderful. This was everything I had been hoping for from Dimity and Carriger and now I’ll have to wait for the next installment.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

I feel like the only person on the planet who didn’t like this book... Dickens is a hit or miss author and his books that I know the plot of through cultural osmosis don’t really work for me. I already knew the major mysteries of the novel (Pip’s benefactor, Miss Havisham’s past, and Estella’s origins) leaving very little for me to sink my teeth into. I do think this would be an excellent entry point if you want to get into Dickens, it just didn’t work for me.

Currently Reading

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K Rowling

I actually finished this book earlier but I technically read it in June so I’ll take about it at the end of the month.

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend

I’m about 200 pages in and I think I love it more than the first book

A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

THE END IS HERE and damn is it intense!