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Hassan Mona hasanahmdh1e34 — strange!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah Jane sjmaki — Originally posted at The Girl Who Read and Other Stories I can't believe I just finished a 1,007-page epic fantasy. o_O Still dazed and dazzled. Please pick me up off the floor after a few hours. Proper review coming soon. I waxed poetic about Sanderson and reading The Way of Kings a couple of posts back. I was not able to successfully uphold my Fidelity Oath to it (I swear, it was only because Riordan's The Son of Neptune was more convenient,) but I wasn't kidding when I said that reading this takes a lot of concentration, so I'm glad it only took me a couple of days to finish with Riordan and get back to this. Don't get me wrong; the book is an easy read, especially if you're used to Sanderson's writing style. As one of the folks over at 17th Shard told me once, The Way of Kings goes down like water. It's just that the world of Roshar itself demands attention and concentration, because if I could only pick one thing that Sanderson did well in this book, it would be that he built a very detailed and captivating world. It's easy to imagine the concept artwork for what Roshar would look like in the indie movie adaptation that I produce and direct in my head whenever I read books. The terrain, the animal and plant life, and the distinct nations, races, and cultures are described so vividly, that I regret not being anywhere near as talented as Shallan Davar in drawing. There are wonderful illustrations scattered throughout the book, which give readers an idea of just how deep the world building is. Thank the Stormfather that world building wasn't really the only thing he succeeded at here. I love the heart-stopping action scenes. And this being a story that deals with war, there are, of course, a lot of action scenes--from big army battles (think the Battle of Gondor in The Return of the King) to one-on-one duels (think Obi-Wan Kenobi versus Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace) to battles against monsters (think the Heroes versus the Giant Scorpions in Clash of the Titans). As with his Mistborn trilogy, magic is integral to the characters' fighting styles, and Sanderson opens the book with a demonstration worthy of the best kung-fu movie I've ever seen. If Sanderson ever gets tired of writing, he can probably get a job as a stunt choreography consultant on a big-budget Hollywood film. :P The bulk of The Way of Kings is told from the perspective of 3 major characters: Kaladin, a slave who doesn't exactly act like one; Dalinar, the King's uncle, who's been seeing visions every time a Highstorm sweeps across their war camp in the Shattered Plains; and Shallan, a highborn lady who seeks to be apprenticed to the King's heretic sister for not-quite-so-noble intentions. Each character serves Sanderson's narrative purposes as he develops their respective stories. Kaladin is the hero of this first book--a young man who has fallen from grace to become a slave to one of the King's army commanders. His storyline is the most graphic--he's in the frontlines of the war, and he was trained in the medical arts since he was a child. Through him, the reader gets a glimpse of the class and political issues within his society. He also struggles a lot with the idea of losing the people that he swore to protect. Although his emo moments sometimes wore me down enough that, in my head, I imagine myself pushing him into a chasm, apparently his sense of honor and loyalty will be the means through which he will gain an unusual power. Dalinar is in the frontlines of the war, too, but through him, readers see something different. As a Shardbearer (owner of a Shardblade--a sword with magical properties), he demonstrates a different aspect of the magic system of Roshar. Through him, we also get the inside scoop on all the military and political intrigues. His visions, meanwhile, offer a glimpse at Roshar's history, and the overarching mythology of Sanderson's cosmere. Side Note #2: "Cosmere" is the term used for the universe where almost all of Sanderson's epic fantasy novels are set. Each novel takes place on a different planet, but they share the same basic cosmology. Shallan, meanwhile, is far from the action. Her story is set in another country, Kharbranth, where she is apprenticed to the King's sister, Jasnah. Sanderson writes interesting female characters, and Shallan is no different--she's witty, snarky, and talented. Through her, we discover that only women are allowed to learn reading and writing in their society, with the exception of ardents (monks). Wives, therefore, serve an additional function as scribes or clerks. Just think of how much power the women inconspicuously hold. ;) Shallan's story line can be rather tiresome, as Sanderson has seen fit to pour most of his trademark ramblings and musings on religion, philosophy, and society into Shallan's interactions with Jasnah and some of the inhabitants of Kharbranth. I personally find the musings interesting, and have come to accept it as part and parcel of Sanderson's style, but I can't help but think that the book would've been shorter and paced better had he cut down on the philosophizing. The structure of the book is unusual, especially when it comes to Kaladin's thread. His present story is punctuated with flashback chapters, some of which, go as far back as his childhood, and some that are as recent as a few months before he arrived at the Shattered Plains. The flashbacks don't appear chronologically either; they pop up when there's a need to rationalize or give more light to what is happening to Kaladin in the present. So if you're currently reading a flashback that happened 3 years ago, the next one may have happened 8 years ago, and the one after that just 4 months ago, and so forth. There are also Interlude chapters in between the main Parts--some no more than 5 pages long--which feature several characters that do not appear in the main story line, and one who is important to the overall arc. Though these Interludes seem like they're disconnected from the rest of the story, knowing Sanderson, every little detail counts toward world building or a plot point in a future book. Sometimes, it's easy to spot when he's foreshadowing something, but most of the time, he just takes me by surprise. My "Things I Correctly Predicted Scoreboard" reads something like "Meann: 1, Sanderson: I stopped counting". I accept that the odds are on his side, though, because most of the rules that govern his world and the magic in it are still a mystery. George R.R. Martin once said that coming up with so many rules for a magic system takes all the "magic" out of fantasy. But such a detailed world still evokes a sense of wonder and awe that's no less magical because everything remains so different from what we know and expect. It could have benefited from a couple hundred fewer pages, but after 1,007 of them, The Way of Kings managed to fulfill its purpose as the first book in a series: to lay the foundations of the world for the next books. There were a lot of questions posed, and some of them were answered. Shardblades and loyalties have changed hands. The main characters' present concerns were resolved satisfactorily just as they are maneuvered onto a "staging area" for the next phase of their journey. 1 book down, 9 more to go. It's going to be a long wait. I wonder if Time Travel is possible in the Cosmere...

Yigit Ilker kayraxe — I know this book is quite popular and the motion-picture adaptation comes out this summer, but I could not get into it. The protagonists just weren't that likeable. I'm sure it was meant to be "realistic," stumbling through life trying to figure out what you really want to do, altering your worldview as you age from your twenties to thirties to forties, but I just didn't enjoy reading about so many drunken mistakes. I liked Emma somewhat better than Dexter but she seemed a bit pathetic, and too much of a stereotype sometimes. I finished the book more out of a desire to be done with it then a passion to see how it ended, and I don't think it's a good sign that I don't at all care whether I ever see the movie or not. It was an interesting mechanism (only telling one day, the same date, every year), but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Andrew Stanford _512 — In Michael J. Fox's movies, I loved how he was always able to play unassuming, normal characters and then inject them with a certain heroic quality that I think arose from his own inner-passions and zest for life. He radiated "cool" in a seemingly effortless way, which is a nice change of pace from the usual sexed-up, overly made-up, unlikeable crop of young actors that have become the norm in Hollywood. Unfortunately, in this, Fox's second book, he comes across as every inch the celebrity, making it hard to relate to him the way I could in his films. Maybe if I could afford to ponder life's difficulties while swimming with turtles or vacationing in Paris, or if I could get pep-talks from the likes of Muhammad Ali and Lance Armstrong, I could be an incurable optimist, as well. Not that I begrudge him those things...not at all!...I simply wonder exactly how "incurable" his optimism would be if he didn't have so many other things in his life going for him. One can only speculate. I tend to be more interested in artists' views on art than on their personal lives, so this book isn't really my cup of tea. The first part on politics is interesting, but I have little respect for Fox's views on politics because the only issue that really matters to him when choosing who to vote for is whether or not they support stem cell research. I could be wrong, but I think there are a vast number of other, equally important issues that should be given consideration before casting your vote. I think Fox's political activism is positive and admirable, and I respect the hell out of him, but it is also somewhat self-serving, so I don't think of it as being particularly heroic. I was disappointed to see him rake Rush Limbaugh over the coals so much in this book, as I had thought Fox had taken the moral high ground when responding to Limbaugh's criticisms a couple years back by not resorting to personal counter-attacks. The section on faith is disappointing because it is more from the perspective of an outsider looking in than from that of a man with strong religious convictions. It's refreshing to see how devoted he is to his family, however, and it is the last section of the book that makes me respect him the most. All in all, though, I would highly recommend that you read his first book, Lucky Man, instead.