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Arcanum Unbounded reading thread... SPOILERS

#21 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 03 March 2017 - 01:09 PM

View PostBriar King, on 02 March 2017 - 08:41 PM, said:

Ok I ll try to point in right direction and yall can find it in SLA 1. In one of the interludes there is a guide on the Pure Lake who Encounters 3 strangers with 3 dif accents the Laker can't pick out saying they are searching for a man named Hoid. They are in fact the 17thShard. He knows they gave him fake names so he gives them names of his own and describes them to reader. It just has to click a switch in your head who they are but BS confirmed it was them.


Okay, I am smack in the middle of SECRET HISTORY and I'm in the section where Kelsier talks to Khriss and Nazh! This is so fascinating!

Also, am I crazy or is this the first time it's been keenly noted that the shards are basically the 16 people/fractional gods who killed Adonalsium?

Fuck me, this book is excellent!
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#22 User is offline   End of Disc One 

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Posted 03 March 2017 - 01:36 PM

Glad you're enjoying Secret History. That novella blew me away.

For worldhoppers, there's also that certain character from Warbreaker who shows up in WoR. Two characters actually, counting weapons.
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#23 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 03 March 2017 - 10:55 PM

View PostBriar King, on 03 March 2017 - 10:41 PM, said:

View PostEnd of Disc One, on 03 March 2017 - 01:36 PM, said:

Glad you're enjoying Secret History. That novella blew me away.

For worldhoppers, there's also that certain character from Warbreaker who shows up in WoR. Two characters actually, counting weapons.


Yeah I told them but spoiled it for Abyss since he ain't read WB yet.

QT Idk if it is. Harmony may have said something to Wayne in Alloy 3. If he didn't then I guess AU is indeed 1st.


I'm not done SECRET HISTORY yet, but goddamn this is both good Mistborn AND good Cosmere!
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#24 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 04 March 2017 - 02:50 PM

Finished MISTBORN: SECRET ARCHIVES and found it absolutely amazing! What a wonderful novella. Yeah, it tended to be a bit choppy and shoehorned Kelsier in at certain points...but at least BS acknowledges that and the meat of the story made up for that by just being excellent. And as I did when I finsihed HERO OF AGES, I got emotional at the end of this, with Kelsier not wanting Vin to go to the Beyond.

Also, I'm fucking calling this now. Kelsier, will be a Worldhopper soon. There is no way that this isn't what BS is heading for. Kelsier will be present for the Cosmere Engame...whatever that is.

WHITE SANDS excerpt was cool, and I think I should go pick up the whole trade and read the rest of the first volume of it. The Dayside is cool, but I'm SUPER curious about Khriss' home on then darkside. Sure it's not the most inventive of the worlds and such, but I thought it was a fun little romp with milder powers.

Onto SILENCE!

Also, Abyss, I'm thirding (fourthing?) the recco that you read WARBREAKER. Iv'e read it twice now and it really is a great story...and I'm with the others that there is no Nalthis in this anthology....though perhaps that's because

Spoiler
...and Brandon already thought he spoiled us with WARBREAKER stuff by doing that?

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 March 2017 - 02:51 PM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#25 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 06 March 2017 - 01:39 PM

Finished SHADOWS/SILENCE...hmmm...it was okay, but I wasn't overly blown away by it or anything. Enjoyed, but my second least fave in the book so far behind HOPE.

Started SIXTH OF DUSK though, and so far it's really, really enjoyable! Our first look into the Drominad system (though Khriss noted that is its "nickname"....I wonder why). Cool setting. Looking fwd to see how this one turns out.
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“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#26 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 06 March 2017 - 03:34 PM

View PostBriar King, on 04 March 2017 - 11:19 PM, said:

...You can def tell the beginnings of the Mistborn magic in White Sands.


Be interesting to see how much common ground, if any, the various magic systems have.


White Sands is people with a rare talent to drawing on their body's own moisture to manipulate the ambient energy in sand, turning the manipulated sand from white to black. It's 'visually' similar to Mistborn's iron/steel push/pull, tho i wonder whether the specific sand of that world is key.
Mistborn is people with a rare talent to consume or use metals to trigger various powers. The mistborn 'burn' the metals, while ferromancers use them but don't seem to burn them out the same way.

Will be interesting if/when we start getting characters with powers on one world trying to use their abilities on another.

View PostQuickTidal, on 06 March 2017 - 01:39 PM, said:

Finished SHADOWS/SILENCE...hmmm...it was okay, but I wasn't overly blown away by it or anything. Enjoyed, but my second least fave in the book so far behind HOPE.

Started SIXTH OF DUSK though, and so far it's really, really enjoyable! Our first look into the Drominad system (though Khriss noted that is its "nickname"....I wonder why). Cool setting. Looking fwd to see how this one turns out.


Yeah, i enjoyed SHADOWS, certainly more than when i read it in the Dangerous Women anthol, but can't say it blew me away. Def liked it more than HOPE tho'.
SIXTH was very interesting, a strikingly different world from the other stories in the book.
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#27 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 06 March 2017 - 03:44 PM

SIXTH's setting is very cool and unique. water world, lots of islands...specific archipelago treated like holy places with each island being a different "god", Tropical in nature with jungles. I think the closest that Sanderson has come to that type of weather/setting is in Hallendren on Nalthis (WARBREAKER) which is very much a Mediterranean place. This feels more "Pacific Islander"...but the vibe feels similar to me.

I'm excited to see where this goes...but I'd be lying if I wasn't the most excited for a new Lift / Roshar story up next!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 06 March 2017 - 03:45 PM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#28 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 02:02 PM

Finished SIXTH. Great fun tale throughout. Really liked it.

I'm only about ten pages into EDGEDANCER and I'm already having such a blast! Lift is one of my fave minor characters from SLA, so this is pure gold to me. I love how...

Spoiler

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 March 2017 - 02:06 PM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#29 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 03:14 PM

View PostBriar King, on 07 March 2017 - 01:42 AM, said:

On Shadows me and Abyss talked about up thread. BS said we may get more of Therondy at some point and idk if there is enuff meat to this world to be engaging. There is no standard BS magic system. Having an entire bk of people sneaking about sticking to rules to me would becoming boring as fuck! If we do get more I hope it's in the same novella size. Plus how the hell can they mine that much silver to ward off the Shadows? Unless the planet regularly produces it they would run out replacing it so much as they need to.


The most interesting part about SHADOWS, and where Brandon's writing really shines, is where people were manipulating the rules to their own advantage... ie Silence setting a firetrap to draw the shades down on the other bounty hunters.

As for silver, it's pretty clear it's a scarce resource everyone covets, and a planet at that relatively medieval stae of tech isn't exactly stripmining its resources.

It wouldn't be hard to make things interesting... a worldhopper opening a portal between Threnody and Roshar to send an army of shades through would do it. Imagine Kaladin coming thru to close the gate and Silence guiding him to wherever.
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#30 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 03:14 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 07 March 2017 - 02:02 PM, said:

Finished SIXTH. Great fun tale throughout. Really liked it.

I'm only about ten pages into EDGEDANCER and I'm already having such a blast! Lift is one of my fave minor characters from SLA, so this is pure gold to me. I love how...

Spoiler




You are really, really going to enjoy this story.
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#31 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 05:25 PM

View PostBriar King, on 07 March 2017 - 04:45 PM, said:

Good now that you have finished Sixth. BS says in post that this is the most foward in timeline. I think the Ones Above could very well turn out to be future FTL Mistborn.


Oh, that's a good point. And the Above Ones do very much seem like a FTL race from the descriptions and the devices. But then we'd have to ask ourselves why future Scadrial Mistborns would need from Aviar? Or more specifically the parasite.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that the parasite worms that the Aviar consume to get their abilities...are splinters of Odium (since the system has no actual shards and Odium moves around)? They feel much like the "dark" side of things like Voidbringers...while they affect the birds in abilities that do help...Sak at the very least is a VERY grim ability...seeing and showing death premonitions?

Just a thought.
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

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#32 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 05:40 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 07 March 2017 - 05:25 PM, said:

View PostBriar King, on 07 March 2017 - 04:45 PM, said:

Good now that you have finished Sixth. BS says in post that this is the most foward in timeline. I think the Ones Above could very well turn out to be future FTL Mistborn.


Oh, that's a good point. And the Above Ones do very much seem like a FTL race from the descriptions and the devices. But then we'd have to ask ourselves why future Scadrial Mistborns would need from Aviar? Or more specifically the parasite.


One of the mostest brilliant things Brandon did with this was allow for scattered timelines across worlds, so MISTBORN WAX/WAYNE could be the 'past' relative to SIXTH, or TSA, or the future, etc.

The scavengers Kelsier encountered in SECRET are my best candidates for the Ones Above, as they are a group clearly trying to obtain shards and related power, albeit a 'past' version.

Quote

Also, am I the only one who thinks that the parasite worms that the Aviar consume to get their abilities...are splinters of Odium (since the system has no actual shards and Odium moves around)? They feel much like the "dark" side of things like Voidbringers...while they affect the birds in abilities that do help...Sak at the very least is a VERY grim ability...seeing and showing death premonitions?


Hard to guess ...there are no Shards on First but the 'power' must be coming from somewhere to end up on that specific island infecting those specific parasites.
A few shards, four i think, are unaccounted for, and they can move around, so one or more of them may have been on Patji at some point and done something.
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#33 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 07:31 PM

View PostAbyss, on 07 March 2017 - 05:40 PM, said:


The scavengers Kelsier encountered in SECRET are my best candidates for the Ones Above, as they are a group clearly trying to obtain shards and related power, albeit a 'past' version.


The Ire? The ones from Sel? Or did you mean the two Worldhoppers?

View PostAbyss, on 07 March 2017 - 05:40 PM, said:

Hard to guess ...there are no Shards on First but the 'power' must be coming from somewhere to end up on that specific island infecting those specific parasites.
A few shards, four i think, are unaccounted for, and they can move around, so one or more of them may have been on Patji at some point and done something.


We are missing 6, as 10 have been revealed thus far.

Odium
Ambition
Autonomy
Cultivation
Honor
Preservation
Ruin
Devotion
Dominion
Endowment

And I guess we need to consider the delivery of the info so far has been exclusively Taldanian worldhopper Khriss, and she says herself that those planets don’t have Shards…BUT considering Shards can affect the system they’ve BEEN in…it’s true that The First may have been affected by a Shard in the past. But then how that ties into the study by a FTL race into Aviar is a mystery.
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#34 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 07 March 2017 - 07:56 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 07 March 2017 - 07:31 PM, said:

View PostAbyss, on 07 March 2017 - 05:40 PM, said:

The scavengers Kelsier encountered in SECRET are my best candidates for the Ones Above, as they are a group clearly trying to obtain shards and related power, albeit a 'past' version.


The Ire? The ones from Sel? Or did you mean the two Worldhoppers?


The Ire. In theory the Ones Above would likely be future versions from the ones Kelsier encountered, probably future from anything we've seen on Sel thus far. The ones Kelsier encountered had magic and/or limitted tech but nothing on the level of starships.

Quote

... I guess we need to consider the delivery of the info so far has been exclusively Taldanian worldhopper Khriss, and she says herself that those planets don't have Shards…BUT considering Shards can affect the system they've BEEN in…it's true that The First may have been affected by a Shard in the past. But then how that ties into the study by a FTL race into Aviar is a mystery.


If a Shard were hiding on First we dont know that Khriss would necessarily know about it.

Of if a Shard had 'died' on First and the parasites were the remainder of its power, and the Abovesies had figured that out and were just trying to reason around their own weird rules so they could scoop it all up.
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#35 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 09 March 2017 - 02:16 PM

Well EDGEDANCER was fucking amazing. Not just for Lift but for Nale’s progression as well. I’m trying to decide which bit I liked best, Shardfork….or “Your Pancakefulness”…LMAO! I also like that Brandon used this story as a way to progress not only Lift into a more Knight Radiant position….but giving Nale a change of heart/goal before he shows up like that in OATHBREAKER. Just a solid blast of a story all through.

So I think for my money, the best stories in the anthology are SOUL, SECRET ARCHIVES, and EDGEDANCER….with an added bonus of the Cosemere info. The other stories are all varying levels of decent-to-great cream on top.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 March 2017 - 02:17 PM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

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#36 User is offline   End of Disc One 

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Posted 09 March 2017 - 09:09 PM

I was surprised that one of the characters in Edgedancer went through such a major change of heart. That could be jarring in book 3 for those who haven't read Edgedancer.
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#37 User is offline   Mentalist 

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 01:53 AM

just finished Edgedancer.

I totally called it in the WoR thread about Nan taking his aspect to the extreme! TOTALLY CALLED IT!
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View PostJump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.
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Posted 14 November 2018 - 02:57 AM

My order of likes:

1) Emperor's Soul- I LOVE well-done cases of a story of a craftsman creating a masterpiece--- and this was such an example.
2) Sixth of Dusk- great setting, good use of sci-fi tropes, and once again, I really like the Islander vibe (ever since I read Jack London's short stories), so this was a huge piece of greatness
3) Edgedancer- yup, Lift is great. a 13 y.o. with superpowers who blunders into greatness and has moments of sheer brilliant inside despite projecting Kruppe-like absentmindedness.
4) Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell - eerie setting, very well-written, and shows Sanderson do good things with minimal obvious magic (I'm sure threnody has its deep rules, just probably ones that mere mortals don't know too well)
....

....
last would be "White Sand", the GN format didn't work for me and the Sandmasters' magic sounds kinda neat but the plot is kinda... meh? If it does become important to the Cosmere, I hope it's available in other formats.

QT, where did Endowment get mentioned? is that the Shard from Warbreaker?
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View PostJump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.
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#39 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 03:38 AM

View PostBriar King, on 14 November 2018 - 03:24 AM, said:

Endowment is Warbreaker.

I was quite upset that there was no Nalthis story or system information page.

I really liked Dusk but it appears that was the least liked story collectively iirc.


Dusk was around for years before Arcana. Likely it just got read/loved less because of that.
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