Comments on: Dear Brandon Sanderson

By: William Morris

William Morris — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:54:52 +0000

[quote]hopefully there are no Ewok analogues in it, though[/quote]

Perish the thought!

By: Ivan Wolfe

Ivan Wolfe — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:35:33 +0000

Adam Greenwood summed up some of my feelings, though he gave away a little more spoiler information than I would have liked. My biggest problem was that the middle of the book (the second act) dragged and several of the plot twists were rather predictable. But the ending made up for most of that.

Whether intentional or not, this series is structured a lot like the original Star Wars trilogy (I hinted at this above). The first book is a good read that can stand well enough on its own (Like A New Hope). The second ups the stakes considerably, puts the heroes through some real pain and betrayal, and ends with a “everything you thought you knew was wrong” twist/cliffhanger (though in Well of Ascension, it’s more earth-shattering than “I am your father”). I can’t wait for the third book (hopefully there are no Ewok analogues in it, though).

By: William Morris

William Morris — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:10:44 +0000

Good point. It’s more of a pamphleteer.

By: Nate Oman

Nate Oman — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:43:16 +0000

I object to the notion that T&S is a “small press.” ;->

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:40:48 +0000

I will accept any and all. My thanks to the little people who made this possible.

By: Patricia Karamesines

Patricia Karamesines — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:32:20 +0000

Or … wait … is it the Handcart Prize? I tend to confuse the two.

By: Patricia Karamesines

Patricia Karamesines — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:24:12 +0000

“career as a commentist is burgeoning”

Oh, yeah. You’re on track for a Pushcart Prize.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushcart_Prize

I believe your talent places you well into the “literary whatnot” category.

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:45:30 +0000

Gosh, thanks. I’m glad my career as a commentist is burgeoning.

By: Patricia Karamesines

Patricia Karamesines — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:12:22 +0000

The author realized it was a problem intellectually and made cosmetic gestures at showing why it wouldnâ€™t work, but he didnâ€™t go near far enough. And it wasnâ€™t just politically that the clone was a chump. He tells the heroineâ€“who is impulsive and unstableâ€“that whatever fool thing she does heâ€™ll accept as awesome, and we readers are supposed to be heartwarmed by this instead of damning it as double-dyed idiocy. But it was still better than 90% of the fantasy novels on the market and the reversal was fantastic and really set us up for a bang-up concluding novel.

Don’t know enough about the novel to agree or disagree, but I love the plot and pacing of this comment.

By: Adam Greenwood

Adam Greenwood — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:27:30 +0000

I read Mistborn because of this post. And, yep, Mistborn was that good.

[Possible Spoilers for Book 2!]

I just finished the sequel (Well of the Ascension) which I didn’t like as much. Some of the problems are unavoidable. But the titled James Madison-Ghandhi clone as George Washington figure was stomach-turning. The author realized it was a problem intellectually and made cosmetic gestures at showing why it wouldn’t work, but he didn’t go near far enough. And it wasn’t just politically that the clone was a chump. He tells the heroine–who is impulsive and unstable–that whatever fool thing she does he’ll accept as awesome, and we readers are supposed to be heartwarmed by this instead of damning it as double-dyed idiocy. But it was still better than 90% of the fantasy novels on the market and the reversal was fantastic and really set us up for a bang-up concluding novel. Can’t wait.