[Malaclypse]

You'll have to tell me how you get on with [1]The Republic of Thieves[/i] because I'm just not sure I am willing to risk devaluing the wonderful debut novel any further.

I just finished the Mistborn Trilogy from Brandon Sanderson - it's my understanding that this was his entry into the speculative fiction arena and I was only prompted to read it because someone in the Mark Lawrence thread referred to it as 'important' which I was eager to crush so I had to read it in order to crush it thoroughly and publicly.

And I was pleasantly surprised. It's very readable and I can see why some people (ie., people who never went to University, no offense to you uneducated motherfuckers out there) would find it 'important'.

Meticulously plotted, which allows me to forgive the clumsy language, hokey dialogue and hackneyed stereotypes. I reckon this dude was trying to project something positive when he planned and wrote these books and more power to him, crazy Mormon bastard that he is. It must be noted that he took far longer to plan this series, languishing in obscurity, than any work that followed. This will become important later on

Problem is I read his later works before I read this and this is an order of magnitude better than anything that comes after, at least everything I've sampled.

So his best days are behind him, and while it is an enjoyable romp you'd never read it a second time.

Which brings me back to the unfortunate phenomenon which I will term 'one-book syndrome' - somebody, somewhere I'm sure has a better name for it and please educate me on the matter if you can - but for me, it refers to that first book or first series of books in which an author expends all of his or her best ideas in one glorious geekgasm and everything that follows is substandard and you get a lot of unfortunate weirdos that fall in love with this person's socio-political/religious ideas and internally declare eternal devotion to them and become devotees. I could be accused of such, and I may even be guilty, but Steve Lundin - if the community at large cannot agree that Steven Lundin is a more interesting and important author than Brandon Sanderson then I'll happily drink a bowl of cyanide.

I just think a lot of fantasy authors are nothing special at writing so they must rely upon their imagination and in my experience, that is often used up carelessly. Though I wouldn't say that of Sanderson because it was clearly dragging in the middle of book and then it definitely picked up.

Solid effort. Simplistic, juvenile and hopelessly naive but a solid effort for all that.


Back to Philip K. Dick.

[QuickTidal]

Mal, no offense bro...but I REALLY don't think you get what the word "subjectivity" means, and how that applies to individual human beings. Meh, I guess you can take offense to that. What do ya know!

But yeah, just because you enjoy one author over another (or feel that a specific author's early work is their best), doesn't mean everyone else is on crack for having a different opinion about it. That's how we are diverse human beings instead of lemmings or still monkeys smearing feces on rocks.

[QuickTidal]

I finished up Sullivan's THE CROWN TOWER, and it was not only a great book with a solid ending, but the thread left open at the end to go into the next volume is a nipple-twister.

The choice now is whether to go on and read THE ROSE AND THE CROWN immediately, or do REPUBLIC Of THIEVES first. Hmmm...I may do the read a chapter of each and decide thing.

[polishgenius]

Malaclypse, on 18 October 2013 - 11:45 PM, said:

I just finished the Mistborn Trilogy from Brandon Sanderson - it's my understanding that this was his entry into the speculative fiction arena

Your understanding is wrong. Elantris was first, and iirc, Warbreaker was released later, but written earlier.


Anyway, Sanderson isn't important for his quality. He's important for the precedent he set in terms of mixing epic fantasy with more weird settings and concepts (and having success with it).

[Malaclypse]

QuickTidal, on 19 October 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Mal, no offense bro...but I REALLY don't think you get what the word "subjectivity" means, and how that applies to individual human beings. Meh, I guess you can take offense to that. What do ya know!

But yeah, just because you enjoy one author over another (or feel that a specific author's early work is their best), doesn't mean everyone else is on crack for having a different opinion about it. That's how we are diverse human beings instead of lemmings or still monkeys smearing feces on rocks.

I could take offense to a number of things you've said here but it wouldn't be sporting. I understand subjectivity very well thank you - I simply reserve the right to express my opinion and passionately argue about it with others - I am never under the illusion that I have access to universal truth on any subject (well, maybe sometimes but I'm always wrong in those moments). Do yourself a favour and avoid topics like human nature where adults can hear you

[Malaclypse]

polishgenius, on 19 October 2013 - 12:43 PM, said:

Malaclypse, on 18 October 2013 - 11:45 PM, said:

I just finished the Mistborn Trilogy from Brandon Sanderson - it's my understanding that this was his entry into the speculative fiction arena

Your understanding is wrong. Elantris was first, and iirc, Warbreaker was released later, but written earlier.


Anyway, Sanderson isn't important for his quality. He's important for the precedent he set in terms of mixing epic fantasy with more weird settings and concepts (and having success with it).

I stand corrected, thank you

I may seek those out in a month or so.

And agreed. I couldn't give a squirt of piss about 'precedent' but Sanderson deserves a place in the genre. I don't think he should be winning any awards however.

[QuickTidal]

Malaclypse, on 19 October 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 October 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Mal, no offense bro...but I REALLY don't think you get what the word "subjectivity" means, and how that applies to individual human beings. Meh, I guess you can take offense to that. What do ya know!

But yeah, just because you enjoy one author over another (or feel that a specific author's early work is their best), doesn't mean everyone else is on crack for having a different opinion about it. That's how we are diverse human beings instead of lemmings or still monkeys smearing feces on rocks.

I could take offense to a number of things you've said here but it wouldn't be sporting. I understand subjectivity very well thank you - I simply reserve the right to express my opinion and passionately argue about it with others - I am never under the illusion that I have access to universal truth on any subject (well, maybe sometimes but I'm always wrong in those moments). Do yourself a favour and avoid topics like human nature where adults can hear you

Indeed well and fair. No real harm, nor foul.

BTW, this is the bit that urked me.

Quote

you get a lot of unfortunate weirdos that fall in love with this person's socio-political/religious ideas and internally declare eternal devotion to them and become devotees.

Had you left that bit out I'd not have noticed, as everything else you said was totally your opinion.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 19 October 2013 - 03:38 PM

[Grief]

polishgenius, on 19 October 2013 - 12:43 PM, said:

He's important for the precedent he set in terms of mixing epic fantasy with more weird settings and concepts (and having success with it).

I really wouldn't credit him with setting any sort of meaningful precedent there.

[Malaclypse]

QuickTidal, on 19 October 2013 - 03:34 PM, said:

Malaclypse, on 19 October 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 October 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Mal, no offense bro...but I REALLY don't think you get what the word "subjectivity" means, and how that applies to individual human beings. Meh, I guess you can take offense to that. What do ya know!

But yeah, just because you enjoy one author over another (or feel that a specific author's early work is their best), doesn't mean everyone else is on crack for having a different opinion about it. That's how we are diverse human beings instead of lemmings or still monkeys smearing feces on rocks.

I could take offense to a number of things you've said here but it wouldn't be sporting. I understand subjectivity very well thank you - I simply reserve the right to express my opinion and passionately argue about it with others - I am never under the illusion that I have access to universal truth on any subject (well, maybe sometimes but I'm always wrong in those moments). Do yourself a favour and avoid topics like human nature where adults can hear you

Indeed well and fair. No real harm, nor foul.

BTW, this is the bit that urked me.

Quote

you get a lot of unfortunate weirdos that fall in love with this person's socio-political/religious ideas and internally declare eternal devotion to them and become devotees.

Had you left that bit out I'd not have noticed, as everything else you said was totally your opinion.

And this is the sound of me not caring what you think about anything. We're not friends. You disagree with me, let's fight - I'm happy to lose so long as I learn something. Don't imagine that I will have any patience whatsoever with your ...whatever the hell this is

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 19 October 2013 - 06:00 PM

[QuickTidal]

Malaclypse, on 19 October 2013 - 05:56 PM, said:

And this is the sound of me not caring what you think about anything. We're not friends. You disagree with me, let's fight - I'm happy to lose so long as I learn something. Don't imagine that I will have any patience whatsoever with your ...whatever the hell this is

Wow.

[Malaclypse]

Oh don't be precious. I'm just talking realities, no offense intended.

Anyway, on topic - Counter-Clock World reminds me of how good writing can be.

[polishgenius]

Grief, on 19 October 2013 - 04:49 PM, said:

I really wouldn't credit him with setting any sort of meaningful precedent there.

He may not have been the first one to do it, but I think he's certainly had a big influence on the genre with the success he's had from it. It remains to be seen how long-lasting the impact is - there was an initial wave of people like Tchaikovsky, Reddick and Mark Charan Newton who I think would have had less exposure without Sanderson but not so much in the last couple of years so far, especially compared to the Abercrombie-influenced 'grimdark' that's exploded recently- but it's definitely had a knock-on effect.



Mal- you should come on over to the asoiaf boards, or more particularly the Other Fiction and Genchat subsections. I think you'd be a great fit and have lots of highly enjoyable verbal fistfights.

[Malaclypse]

I lived on Westeros for over a year back when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth - I brought mafia here from there - I loved the ASoIaF crew for a time, like really loved a good number of them, for a time. That time has passed. I can't get on with the staff to be perfectly honest - they offend me, forcing everybody to endure their custom-made vomit-themed skin. I get banned more or less immediately when I go there ;p

edit; I was on hiatus from here because I was so upset about the growing influence of people like Tiste Simeon - I would log onto the forum and see that he'd posted in every forum, from top to bottom, just so he could see his own name all the way down the forum homepage. I'm still angry about it. Anyway, so yeah, I know all about Westeros and I miss all of my old mafia mates

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 19 October 2013 - 08:34 PM

[polishgenius]

Fair enough. Fair enough. I'm quite impressed you get banned, it's pretty difficult...

[Grief]

polishgenius, on 19 October 2013 - 07:54 PM, said:

Grief, on 19 October 2013 - 04:49 PM, said:

I really wouldn't credit him with setting any sort of meaningful precedent there.

He may not have been the first one to do it, but I think he's certainly had a big influence on the genre with the success he's had from it. It remains to be seen how long-lasting the impact is - there was an initial wave of people like Tchaikovsky, Reddick and Mark Charan Newton who I think would have had less exposure without Sanderson but not so much in the last couple of years so far, especially compared to the Abercrombie-influenced 'grimdark' that's exploded recently- but it's definitely had a knock-on effect.



Mal- you should come on over to the asoiaf boards, or more particularly the Other Fiction and Genchat subsections. I think you'd be a great fit and have lots of highly enjoyable verbal fistfights.

Personally I see him just as part of a wave that was happening anyhow, if anything being rather late to the game. Much like I consider Abercrombie not to be influencing the gritty fantasy explosion so much as bandwagoning onto it. Though admittedly that's also influenced by the fact that I think he's a total hack.

[Malaclypse]

polishgenius, on 19 October 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Fair enough. Fair enough. I'm quite impressed you get banned, it's pretty difficult...

I went by 'Green Pig' when I was there

edit: and now I'm feeling nostalgic - maybe I'll head over there and see if I can run into anybody I used to know and try to avoid converse with the faithful.

second edit: no, sorry can't do it. I ought to have anticipated that there would be a huge influx of Game of Thrones-noobs *shudders* I can't cope with that shit.

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 19 October 2013 - 09:51 PM

[polishgenius]

Hehe. Just stay away from the main boards dude, we do our best to keep them north of the 'miscellaneous' sign...

[Malaclypse]

And they've made the mandatory skin even more putrid somehow...

[Morgoth]

Ah, the delicious taste of passive aggressive smilies

[HoosierDaddy]

Recently read through James S. A. Corey's Sci-Fi series. I realize they are two different authors, but the melding is fairly seamless. I LOVED Leviathon Wakes; Caliban's War was great; Abadonn's Gate was good.

75% through Requiem (Book 4 of the Psaalms of Isaak) by Ken Scholes. Dig it. Broke out of it for no real reason. Will finish.

Picked up Michael Sullivan's Riyiria seeries from the library. Seems fairly conventional but I like it. Going to finish all 3 before returning to Requiem.