#yeah I do like to think about the cosmere and other fantasy worlds

[koravelliumavast]

So one of my classes has us doing this survey thing about our leadership types and the professor leading it said that the things might not suit you as what you think you are and stuff like that.

Well my five are Individualization, Input, Learner, Achiever and Intellection and seeing as how I decided to learn a fictional written language at 10am, out of BOREDOM (and curiosity) I’d say it’s pretty accurate.

[writtenonreceipts]

Hi friend! Can I ask you a book related question? So I read the Skyward series from Brandon Sanderson—those were the first of his books that I’ve read, and I loved them. I’ve wanted to read his other series for a long time, since I always hear so much about them, but I have no idea where to start. Cosmere? Stormlight? I read that they take place in the same universe, so do I need to read those series in order? If you could help me out it would be much appreciated. If not, I’m sure I can find the answer somewhere through google, but I thought I’d ask a friend first 🫶

Hey friend!! Yes! I love book questions! Haha 😄and I love Sanderson too, lol, and never get to talk about it enough. Forgive the rambling that is about to commence 😅

Skyward is honestly such a good place to start with his books tbh. He is very much a high and epic fantasy writer and that series really eases readers into his style as well. I still need finish them, lol, but I'm so glad you liked them! I've just read the first one and it was such a fun reach honestly.

As far as his other books go: The Cosmere is basically what Brandon called the magical universe he created to interconnect most of his books. (I think theres only 1 or 2 right now that aren't considered part of the Cosmere). So yeah, if you wanna choose chaos you can read any of the different series as you want in whatever order. But I do have some thoughts:

I do recommend starting with Mistborn. It is what he is best known for and what really launched his career. It's...it is a little denser, but the world building and characters and pay offs are phenomenal. It highlights a great magic system, political intrigue, overthrowing evil, and heists. Brandon describes it as his Cinderella heist novel, lol. It's the what would happen to the world if the villain had won? And highlights one man's desire to fight kill/eat the rich. The Mistborn books are considered "Era 1". He has 3 series planned set on this specific planet in the Cosmere.

Era 2 of Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne Books. A Western fantasy. And I love it. Queer characters, autistic characters, chaos, broody male mc, sarcasm and puns, marriage of convenience (thought that plot is very small. It's my favorite thing about the series though). The final book just came out last Nov. I'll spare you all the other thoughts lol. But it can technically be read on its own without needing to read Era 1, though, there are a lot of things about this series that work better when read after the og trilogy. I hold this series close to my heart. It's a lot of fun and you can tell Brandon just had fun.

Warbreaker. Handsdown love this book. I want to recommend reading it even before Mistborn as it does bridge the gap of ya to adult fantasy rather well. The magic system is different and fun too. This book has the forced marriage plot a bit stronger, political intrugue, queer rep (albeit small), and magical talking swords that want to kill you be your friend. And I love the female characters. Vivenna is my love. Hands down one of my favorite female characters ever. I don't think this book is talked about enough tbh. I could go OFF an all the things I love about it.

The Stormlight Archive. Get ready to buckle in. It is planned to be a 10 book series. Book 5 should be coming out in 2024. They are 1,300-1,500 pages long. So... yeah, long and epic but so so worth it. Like. I can't even begin to describe it. War, mental health, religious discussions, honor, depression, hope. Iconic characters. I also hold these books special to my heart. You can jump right into this one, but there are references to world hoppers on this book and the magic system is steep. So, I would recommend reading at least Mistborn. But that's just me.

>>Other Sanderson Books and thoughts: The Rhythmatist, people have mixed feelings but I liked it, which is why I bring it up. It's another ya almost adult fantasy. It's another great one to get into the way Brandon does magic systems and world building. Elantris is technically his first published. It was not my favorite. I mean...I enjoyed it but it was hard to get through. You can tell it's his first book. The premise is cool and interesting but I struggled with it. It is technically the first book of the Cosmere universe. He has a book of short stories and novellas interwoven through the Cosmere. If you can find it on it's own The Emperors Soul is great.

I'll stop. I loved this...anyways...

[moghedien]

Could you recommend some adult sff? Love your blog btw!

Thank you! 

And ok, I could give you better personalized recs if you give me some idea of what you’re looking for or what you like, but I’m gonna give you some general recommendations. Also I only really feel comfortable recommending books that I have personally read, and there are tons more out there than what I have read. If you want to find more, looking at recent Hugo nominations over the past few years might be helpful. Also one of the reasons why I know anything at all about the SFF world is that I’ve been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast for like, a decade. I never really mention that podcast, but its literally why I started reading at all and also they have a pretty active goodreads group as well. 

So recommendations: 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: 

This is one of my favorite books period. This is a far future space opera about an artificial intelligence who used to be a spaceship and now is only one human body, and she is ANGRY ABOUT that. I don’t really want to say more than that, but if you like AI shenanigans and being sorta confused as to what is going on the entire time, then this is the book for you! It’s the first book in a completed trilogy.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: 

Obviously I’m gonna recommend the Wheel of Time. This is the first book in a 14 (actually 15) book series and if you need something to do with the next 1-5 years of your life *motions toward EoTW*. 

So the Eye of the World, I think is uniquely good as a book if you kinda want to get into adult fantasy for a few reasons. For one thing, its kinda considered to be one of those “classics” of the genre but its not too old to be offputting to some readers. It’s a 30 year old book, so its not reflective of the genre now, but you can definitely see its influence all the place, even outside of just books. The Eye of the World specifically, also goes out of its way to make readers comfortable. It leans heavy on Tolkien references and tropes at first without being a straight up copy of Lord of the Rings like some classic fantasy books are. Its done very purposefully, in my opinion, to make the reader feel like they have some idea of what’s going on, and the series quickly drops the Tolkien references as soon as its established itself enough. 

Also the Gandalf parallel for the series is a smol bi lady and there is 24 year old rage healer who wants to fight everyone with her own two fists.So many women to stan. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of the Expanse, which is a nearish future space opera that takes place in our solar system. Mars has long ago been colonized and is a completely separate government entity than Earth, and conflict between the two planets has been stirring. The Asteroid Belt has also been colonized and have long been little more than tools of corporations that run their colonies. A group of ice haulers working in the outer planets get in the middle of one of the biggest secrets in the solar system and find themselves in all kinds of trouble. 

I don’t really want to say more than this, but this is probably the only SF series that I actively keep up on when a new book comes out. There are 8 books our currently, and the 9th and final book will be out sometime in the near future. There are also several short stories and novellas set in the world, and there’s a TV show that I really like though I need to catch up on it. 

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Hello, this book comes with content warnings for literally everything, but it is such a good book/trilogy. This is book about a woman trying to find her daughter again in the middle of the apocalypse. Definitely a heavy read but absolutely brilliant. The world has a magic system based on geology and the people that can use that magic....saying they’re discriminated against is an understatement. I don’t want to say much more about it, but if you have any kind of content you can’t read for whatever reason, I’d check before picking this up. This is the first book in a completed trilogy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

So this isn’t really super SF heavy and is actually sold as a literary book, but it takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out a large portion of the population...so maybe this is a bad time to read this book, OR its the best time to read it. Depends on how you’re dealing with *motions at the world*

The book flashes back to before and during the pandemic a lot, but is largely about art’s importance and is actually quite optimistic in its messaging, and this is another of my favorite books ever. But yeah, might be a bad time for you to read it of you can’t deal with the content now. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

I just remembered that this book also has a plague, but its a subplot and not the major thing. So this is a big ol’ chonky standalone book that is high fantasy, deals with multiple cultures having to interact and work together, and has dragons. Also there’s a genunine slow burn f/f romance and *chef’s kiss*. I can’t really say much else, mostly because I struggle to explain this book, but its very good and probably my favorite book from last year. 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 

In this house we stan Mary Robinette Kowal, ok? 

So this is a science fiction that is more an alternate history that poses the question, hey, what would have happened if an asteroid slammed into the east coast in 1952 and the world had to scramble to colonize Mars so that everyone didn’t die on earth when the climate got catastrophic, because that’s the inciting action of the book. The main character is a Jewish woman who was a WASP pilot in WW2 and is a computer for the space program when all this happens. The book deals with sexism, and racism, and xenophobia, and all the social issues that are gonna come up with it being set in 1952, but Mary Robinette doesn’t flinch away from addressing social issues in any of her books, even when it makes her main characters look bad. (Also if you like Pride and Prejudice, she has a series that is just Pride and Prejudice with magic and like, yeah, its good). 

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This is a book which poses a question, what if dragons were like weird animals that were real and an eccentric woman spent her entire life traveling the world to study them and then told the stories of that in her memoirs when she was too old to care about the consequences of publishing all her scandals. That’s what the book is about. This one is probably actually the weakest in the series, just because it deals with so much set up. It’s a great series to get on audio because Kate Reading is a fantastic narrator, and the prose works so well as audio, because it’s just someone telling you her life story. There are five books in the series. 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

So this is a novella and is the first in the murderbot series. Basically a killer robot gets addicted to television shows and accidentally became sentient. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I really need to reread this one and get to the others. 

Jade City by Fonda Lee

This is a fantasy set in world sorta inspired by the early 1900s but is in a fantasy world. It’s like a mafia movie and kung fu movie had a baby and it was this book. The sequel is out currently, but the third book is set to release next year.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon 

This is another heavy read. This is a SF story set on a generation ship that has a society very heavily inspired by the antebellum south. There’s class issues, race issues, gender issues, mental health issues. All kinds of things intersecting here. Its fantastic, but a heavy read.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is another fantasy classic, and is the first of the Farseer Trilogy. The title is sort of also a description of the book, so like. I’m not sure what else I can say. I haven’t read further into the series, but people I trust love it, and honestly I need to reread this and read more of the books. 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

So if you think that Station Eleven might be a bad book to read at the time, then this is THE WORST POSSIBLE BOOK TO READ RIGHT NOW. Or, maybe the best. Depends on how you cope. This is a book about time travelers based in Oxford and the main character accidentally gets stranded in the past right as the Black Plague is about to hit. And it hits. The book is horrific. The second book in the series is much funnier. This one ain’t funny, but is good. Just, oof. 

Mistborn or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So if you want to get into the Cosmere, which is a series of series that interconnect and will ruin your life, then then my personal opinion is to either start with Mistborn or Warbreaker. People might not agree with me, but that’s my personal opinion. 

Warbreaker is currently a standalone (a sequel will come out eventually but its not set up for a sequel so you can 100% read it as a standalone). The magic in this world is based on colors, and the story revolves around two sisters. One of them is betrothed to the horrific God King of their neighboring kingdom. The other sister ends up being sent in her place because their dad hates her. I adore Warbreaker so much. It has it all. Two women discovering their true places on the prep/goth spectrum. Talking swords. Vivenna. Everything you can need right there. 

Mistborn is a trilogy that is very emo and will ruin you. Its about people who swallow metal to get magic powers and live in world where the dark lord won already, so they’re all emo. And that was the worst description of Mistborn I ever could have written, but I find it too funny to change. 

So if you’re interested in the Cosmere, but are afraid to commit long term, pick up Warbreaker. If you want to get into a series right away, pick up Mistborn. 

[beyond-far-horizons]

Rhythm of War reactions so far (half way through.)

I caved despite mountains of work and I’m half way through Rhythm of War! So many cool things so much I could scream about, so many cosmere links! Bit right now I’m just gonna throw it out there that I think Thaidakar is a dragon like Hoid’s friend. No idea if this is true (and don’t confirm or deny til I’m through the book please.)

Spoiler reactions for RoW so far and rest of Cosmere Book (poss) so far under the cut. If you do respond please don’t spoil me for the rest of the book!

KALADIN!!! My baby! My boy! Someone help him! Someone give him a hug! But he is doing so well and I love his solo quest/Die Hard in the Tower at the moment. I loled officially at Kaladin Stormblessed the Psychiatrist who discovers group therapy! It’s a little on the nose to be honest but I still liked it.

F*ck Moash #noredemption. Although LOL that Kaladin is officially a thorn in Odium’s side (payback time pal!) and yeah I BET you want to turn him. I admit I loved this section. Enemy/hero connections are always so interesting to me and the metastory with the Shards is the most interesting part of any cosmere book to me apart from maybe Kal-centred stuff. I love seeing the hints of how the emotions/properties of the Shard play out in the narrative/characterisation as it’s one of the main themes in my own WIP and magic systems. Odium seems to break the power of Shards by targeting their main Intent (as someone else suggested). I predict Kaladin will stick with Honor and conquer the Hatred in his heart as Dalinar did. Also ‘Son of Tanavast’...I don’t think Kaladin is physically Tanavast’s son but I think spiritually he is, which is why he suffers so. He’s def key to something, protected from harm but for a better reason than he is led to believe. We’ll see. 

Poor Shallan! This book is heavy on the mental illness although I am glad it is being addressed in Epic Fantasy and Sanderson’s integration of it with his magic systems is inspired. I really hope Shallan can get through this, she deserves it. PATTERN WTF??? Please no.

I’m much more of a Shaladin/Shalladin (official ship spelling please?) fan and tbh that put me off reading this book at first because I felt really betrayed about how things were developed in OB. I felt it cheapened the deep connection they made in the chasms in WoR to have it as a ‘passion’ thing from Veil etc. Having said that Adolin and Shadolin really shine in this book so far and Shalladin would be a bad choice for both of them right now. (WoB states he developed the love triangle as an echo of a previous thing - most likely Gavilar/Navani/Dalinar and rereading WoR, OB and the start of RoW underlined that both Navani and Shallan commenting on Kaladin/Dalinar’s intensity.) That said I’m really warming to Adolin. I really hope he resurrects Maya and the scene with him demanding a trial with the Honorspren was great. PheonixWright!Adolin (Objection!) Nale can be the lawyer for the opposition.

WHIMSY. INVENTION. MERCY. VALOUR!!!!!!!! Also Harmony getting on the scene! Go Sazed. My first thought about the sword he mentions was Kaladin who keeps fighting with the protect/kill thing throughout the book and series but he’s not connected (Connected) to Scadrial (yet). Same for Nightblood and Szeth so I’m not sure. Also I feel and hope that Sazed is a lot wiser a Vessel than many of the originals. Who knows as we mostly haven’t seen them esp in their original uninfluenced selves. Also what’s the issue with Mercy? I get a really creepy feeling from that tbh. It’s interesting how a supposedly wholesome Intent could be twisted.

Talking about that...Rayse/Odium...I like that we are getting hints of more human feelings from him but I’m still not convinced by the whole Passion/Hatred thing. His Shard’s name is Odium - Hatred. That is a very specific emotion. From WoB it’s indicated he might be lying to himself but he doesn’t seem that hateful to be honest and neither do a lot of his forces. I mean I was expecting Dark Lord levels of torment. It makes it more interesting, but I’m a little concerned the concept of ‘Passion’ being tainted by this association in a meta way. Unless Odium used to be Passion and it got twisted by Rayse which is possible but the text at present doesn’t really support that...hmm. Looking forward to the showdown between him and Dalinar/Kaladin and Hoid - yesssss!

Also Hoid....WTF is going on with Jasnah??? I mean I could ship it but...yeah what is going on? Also this frustrates me because Brandon is being very coy with Hoid’s knowledge here and I feel this doesn’t work in the narrative and characterisation. I feel we need a scene establishing Jasnah/Dalinar trying to force Wit to say what he knows and him establishing to them (and us) that he can’t be forced. Because right now he’s just blithely being allowed to waltz around wisecracking with cosmere-saving knowledge in his head that could be vital to Jasnah and Dalinar and...they are just letting him? Bit of a stretch. I know they likely can’t force him and need to keep him on side but we need to see that. 

Ghostbloods!!!! I confess I like Mraize far more than I should. Until he hunted Lift and then I wanted Kaladin to kick him off the side of the tower. That was a shame to me - there are so many possibilities to a book (like Atium I guess) and one I was really hoping for after the shock/horror of the attack of Urithiru was realising there were some seriously powerful people there who could combat the Fused - Kaladin, Lift, Mraize and Zahel. I just really want to see Zahel let go and kick some ass properly and tell everyone his secret. Still it makes sense that Mraize would play both sides and I guess it’s more interesting that way but still screw him! (Pun intended because I still like sexy bad guys.)

Navani - the engineering sections can be difficult to get through but I’m so here for her arc and her scholarly battle of wits with the Lady of Wishes. (Again with the complex enemy/protag dynamics). I LOVE that there are so many multifaceted women (and femalen) characters at all levels and esp a STEM older female character. I hope she becomes the new Bondsmith of the Sibling although it’s again a little on the nose considering she is married to the first one.

The Singer stuff is interesting to a certain extent and Leshwi in particular is cool but I admit I’m just not as invested (lol) in them as I am in the rest of it. Fingers crossed for Venli and Rlain to win the day though (also again I love the genderflip of those two and her having to pretend to want him as love-slave which is usually what happens the other way around. Brandon is getting really good at this stuff and I appreciate it.)

I’m sad we missed some key development in the timeskip but I guess for pacing this was important. Some of the casual language still annoys me esp when Brandon’s worldbuilding is so interesting as it just seems lazy and out of place. I know some people like it but it’s my opinion that seeing things like ‘neat’ and ‘teenagers’ brings me straight back to 21st Century America when I had just been in a world of Stormlight and Greatshells. There’s better ways of conveying those ideas than reverting to our slang developed from a specific subset of our world. Anyway....

Overall enjoying it much more than I though. Onward!

[aion-rsa]

To Sleep In A Sea of Stars and the Importance of Optimism in Sci-Fi

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article is sponsored by:

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is Christopher Paolini’s first foray into science-fiction, and the first of potentially many stories in the Fractalverse. The story follows xenobiologist Kira Navárez as a chance encounter with an ancient, alien artifact propels her into an epic space adventure across the vast expanse of the galaxy, in a fight for the fate of humanity. We talk to the author about the writing process, his sci-fi influences, favorite shared universes, and writing hopeful science fiction.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Den of Geek: What is it about science fiction that made you want to create within that framework?

Christopher Paolini: I grew up reading as much science fiction as fantasy. So for me, it was a very natural transition. My dad was and is a huge science fiction fan. My mom was a fantasy reader, so I kind of got both genres from them. And I just love the possibilities of science fiction, and I love how a lot of science fiction talks about the future of humanity, especially as we may be moving off this planet and exploring the rest of the universe. And I was also wanting a change from fantasy after working on The Inheritance Cycle for about 12 years, from 15 to 26/27. That’s a large chunk of one’s life to be put into one project. So yeah, science fiction felt like a very natural fit.

Which came first for you, did you already have an idea that you wanted to write in science-fiction? Or did you have the idea of a whole story in one book, then decide that science fiction would fit with that idea in mind?

I had the idea for the story first and the idea first came about in 2006, 2007. At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a self contained story or series, but very early on, I decided that yes, it was going to be a one book story. That became increasingly important to me the longer I worked on The Inheritance Cycle, because I didn’t finish that series until the end of 2011, and then I was touring for it mid to late 2012. So when thinking about what I wanted to do next, was like, “Well, I’d rather write a self contained story and then move onto something new.” And also I wanted to get that experience for readers of not having to wait for years and years for the next volume. The ironic thing is that it actually didn’t really take me any less time to write To Sleep than if I had broken it up and just done two or three novels.

Were there any things that you maybe didn’t want to get rid of or cut to make the story fit into one tome that you had to get rid of? If so, how did you deal with that?

No, I told the story of what I wanted to tell. I actually had a unique experience with editing with this book where my editors at Tor, along with the other changes I was making, general revisions and copy edits… They actually had me add about 30,000 words of material to the book as I was revising, which I’ve never had that experience before. So no, everything I wanted to put in the story is in the story. It’s a book that is stuffed to the gills with stuff, and hopefully readers will enjoy all of that stuff. With that said, there is lots of material within the universe and within that setting that I want to write about and have plans for that isn’t in this book. But this book itself has what it needs to have.

Do you have plans for, not necessarily a sequel, but other stories that take place within the same connected universe?

Absolutely. I mean, if people… At least in the hardcover edition of the book, they’ll see there’s the logo for the Fractalverse, not only embossed the cover, but also printed on an inside page and the Fractalverse is a setting that I’ve been working on for quite a long time. The idea is that any stories that I want to tell that aren’t explicitly fantasy can fit within the Fractalverse. So it includes the real world, the far future, the distant past. And even though some of those stories might seem a little disconnected, they will all tie together in the end.

What do you think makes a really good connected or extended shared universe?

Part of it would be theme and tone. I think about Star Wars or Star Trek or Babylon 5 or any of these big franchises, and usually there’s a certain feel associated with that franchise. You know that when you’re going to go watch a James Bond film, for example, or you’re going to go watch a Star Trek film or show, you’re going to get a certain something. So I think theme and tone is a big thing. I’m kind of in the same camp as Sanderson for this one, finding ways to tie in characters, or thematic things, or world events so that things really are interconnected on a deep level. It may not make much of a difference for any one individual story, but when you step back and look at the whole edit sets, you can see how all the pieces fit together.

What are some of your favorite extended universes, across all mediums?

The Cosmere by Sanderson would certainly be up there. Also the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and how that ties into his other works. I’m not actually a fan of horror. I think that there are enough difficult things in the world already, without putting more of that in my head, but I really appreciate how the Dark Tower sort of ties together his other books, characters cross pollinate between his various stories. I think that’s pretty cool.

If you could choose any character from To Sleep in a Sea of Stars to put into another universe that you didn’t create, which character would you put into that universe and why?

My answer probably won’t surprise you. Gregorovich.

And what universe would you put him in?

Oh geez. Almost anything, almost anything. I would love to see him in… Actually, this would make him deeply unhappy, but the way it tickles my storytelling brain, I would love to see him in Battlestar Galactica and see him grappling with divisions between the humans and the Cylons, and him being sort of an inter median between human and cyborg or even full on Android.

Were there any tropes or things you wanted to explicitly avoid in your writing for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars?

My general approach was to try to treat every character with dignity and respect the same way I would want to be treated or anyone else would want to be treated, to not make a big deal about people being the other, even if sometimes they feel like they’re the other. And also, the thing is, I’m sure there’s still going to be prejudice and discrimination and all sorts of other issues in the future. I mean, humans are humans, that’s unfortunately not going to go away. But there’s no reason to highlight that or make it a major point of your main story or character, unless that’s something you want to grapple with in a deep examination of “how can we do better?”

I wanted to know about the rules you set for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars where: you wanted it to be realistic science, you wanted it to not completely break physics, and you wanted to disallow time travel. What was the reason and the thought process behind that?

The main point for me was that I didn’t want my spaceships to be time machines. Because if you look at the physics of a lot of faster than light travel in a lot of popular franchises, the math says that the spaceships really should be capable of time travel, which, if your story’s not about time travel, having your most popular transportation method allowing for that kind of wrecks your story. So I really, really wanted to avoid that. I really wanted a technical answer that I could wrap my brain around, which would give me a really solid footing for whatever I want to write in the Fractalverse.

What was the process of figuring out how to both be very technical, but also making it where a lay person could just read To Sleep in a A Sea of Stars and actually be able to follow along?

Well, that was very important to me. Having written fantasy, I definitely ran into challenges of info dumping and, and not wanting to info dump, and how do you convey large amounts of information to your readers in a palatable fashion? I definitely learned things when working on The Inheritance Cycle and I tried to apply them in this book. So the goal was to naturally introduce readers to this universe without overloading them with technical information. If readers want that technical information it’s in the appendices at the back of the book. So in some ways it’s almost like science is to science fiction is what magic is to fantasy, it defines the rules of what is possible in that universe. And it’s important for me as the author to know all those rules, but I don’t have to dump out those on the reader all at once.

Were there any habits that you had to break in the transition from writing a fantasy series, then going into a completely different genre and a different world?

Absolutely tons. First of all, I had an established approach style in a society that I had been working with for so long that it was really second nature. So I had to work very hard to come up with a cleaner, more modern style for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which I enjoyed. It actually gave me a lot more freedom in terms of the tools I had to write the book. And then also just the pacing of the book is different because To Sleep is a complete story from start to finish. That was actually a little surprising to me, because when you write a series, you really get to know the characters in a way that you just can’t in one book, because you have thousands of pages to live with them. So the pacing was different and that was also a challenge to get used to. On top of that, the fact that a spaceship does not go in faster in an emergency, unlike horses or people, where if you need to get from point A to point B faster, you can just sort of spur the horses on a little more. You can run, you can push yourself harder. Spaceships don’t really do that. Machines don’t really do that. So that put some restrictions on the logistics of moving my characters around, it was a fun restriction.

Are there any common threads between your other series and this new one?

There is a fairly significant easter egg from The Inheritance Cycle in this book that I’ll leave for readers to discover. And then there are my usual obsessions as a writer on display. For example, I find myself continually drawn towards stories of personal transformation, both physical and mental, and that’s on full display here. And a lot of questions of how the individual relates to society. What is your responsibility to people in general if society stopped caring about you as a person? Despite the fact that it’s science fiction, there is a very real ethic and physics to the story, as it proceeds, that people who are fans of that in my fantasy novels will find the same here and will enjoy that also.

If you had to choose for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars to be respectfully adapted into either of the following, a TV mini series, a standalone film, or a AAA game title, which would you choose and why?

I don’t know if it’s one film, but my gut says, a film. Simply because I would love for people to experience the story in one go, that was my whole reason for putting it into one book. I mean, a miniseries or TV show could do a wonderful job of it. But the pacing is different in a TV show and the beats and the emotions are different. So yeah, my gut reaction would be a film.

What are some of your favorite stories specifically set in space across all mediums— book, TV, film, comics, video games?

Well, video games. It would be the Mass Effect series, specifically if you’re playing with Commander Shepard, who is voiced by the amazing Jennifer Hale, who we were fortunate to get to read the audiobook. And she did an absolutely fantastic job with that. The Halo series, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, old school Star Trek, the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. Dune by Frank Herbert, including the David Lynch film, which I have a soft spot in my heart for. Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. I know that’s science fiction, that’s not in space. I think those would be some of the big ones. Oh, a lot of Iain Banks’ sci-fi novels.

What job do you think you would have, in the To Sleep in a Sea of Stars universe?

Well, given that the To Sleep in a Sea of Stars universe includes the real universe, I have a feeling I’d have the exact job I have now, writing epic stories that people would hopefully enjoy.

If you could bring one thing from the To Sleep in a Sea of Stars universe into our real modern day, present day, what would it be and why?

If I had to pick one piece of human technology to bring, it would actually be the fusion drives from the spaceship, because that would allow us to access the rest of the solar system in a way that we can’t, and really start spreading. I mean, the solar system we have is huge. So that alone would really provide an enormous boost for us as a species.

If you had to convey what To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is about to someone or something that doesn’t communicate with language as we understand it, what vibes would you want to give off or what feeling would you try to express?

I love this question. Oh, I’m so glad you asked that. I would want to convey the same feeling that inspired me to write this book in the first place. And it would be a feeling of… A tingle down your spine, of awe and wonder, both horrible and beautiful at our place within the universe. At the fact that the universe even exists and that we exist, in a bittersweet ache, that things are never perfect, but we still have accomplished all we can. And there’s hope for the future.

That’s a really hard thing to combine into one word or one sentence. But I literally wrote this entire book to try and convey that feeling and hopefully to convey it in the very last scene, in the very last line of the book.

This is a really good time for this book, I was surprised at how delicate and hopeful it was.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

I want to write optimistic fiction, ultimately. I never wanted to leave my readers depressed when they finish one of my books. I’ve heard so many people over the years where Eragon got them into reading, or one of the books helped them, helped a person through a difficult time in their life. And it makes me think that, well, if they’d read the wrong book and the wrong time, it might’ve made life a lot harder for them. So I think it will be unlikely that you’ll ever catch me writing a grim dark fantasy or science fiction.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is out now.

The post To Sleep In A Sea of Stars and the Importance of Optimism in Sci-Fi appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3c5gh1e

[heoneyology]

50 questions tag

yay I found one of the things I was tagged in!!! by a lot of people!! before it gets too lost in my favorites!! so I think @helloicarus, @youremytreasure98, and @parkseonghwa are all the people who tagged me?

1. What takes up too much of your time?

work, first and foremost...

2. What makes your day better?

my cats, my boyfriend, jooheon’s dimples, the photocards of jooheon and hongjoong I now have in my phone case, tacos, and naps!

3. What’s the best thing that happened to you today?

my boss told me I could have the day off... but then I realized I wasn’t going to have back-to-back days off this week alkdjfksdk

4. What fictional place would you like to go?

uhh anywhere high fantasy tbh? chromeria (brent weeks lightbringer series), the known world (game of thrones), cosmere (brandon sanderson’s stormlight archive and more), middle earth (the hobbit), uhhh also harry potter?

5. Are you good at giving advice?

I try but??? I personally don’t feel like I am

6. Do you have any mental illness?

generalized anxiety

7. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?

once when I was a kid, I literally had no idea what was going on I was so young, and it scared me half to death. I begged my mom to sleep in the living room with me that night and we watched late night cartoons together until I was convinced it was safe to fall back to sleep.

8. What musician inspired you the most?

linkin park and chester bennington. also block b, and zico.

9. Have you ever fallen in love?

yes! and I’m still amazed some days he puts up with me, but he’s my best friend

10. What’s your dream date

staying in bed all day and reading or watching a movie and cuddling, or hiking and tacos after we finish the hike (this is our go-to date actually lol)

11. What do other people notice about you?

I get told a lot that it’s my smile?

12. What is the annoying habit you have?

when I’m anxious or not keeping my mind occupied I have a habit of either chewing my lip until it’s bleeding or subconsciously scratching at my arms or forehead :’))

13. Do you still talk to your first love?

yeah, I live with him my boyfriend is the only person I’ve seriously been in a long term relationship with and I don’t consider past dates or crushes 

14. How many ex’s do you have?

none, I don’t consider the people I went on a lunch or dinner date with a couple times as serious relationships, so...

15. How many songs are on your playlist?

I don’t know akljdf;ljsdf I switched to using spotify and things aren’t exactly organized over there...

16. What instruments can you play?

none now but I used to be able to play the flute

17. Who do you have the most pictures of?

my cats and.....

18. Where would you like to go before you die?

new zealand, south korea, and japan!

19. What is your zodiac?

libra sun (gemini moon and libra asc)

20. Do you relate to it?

a decent amount for certain personality things, but for like my mindset I think I relate more to my ascending libra and gemini moon than I do my sun libra?

21. What is happiness to you?

wherever you feel at ease, and whatever fills your heart with an inexplicable warmth

22. Are you going through anything right now?

not... in particular...?

23. What is the worst decision you’ve ever made?

when I finally put my first cat, who grew up with me all the way to me turning 18 years old, down because he was old and at the end of his life... I just turned him over to the vet because I couldn’t handle staying in the room with him, and I hate myself to this day for it

24. What is your favourite store?

the internet...

25. What is your opinion on abortion?

your body, your choice

26. Do you have a bucket list?

kind of? it’s more like just a travel bucket list, there are just places I really want to go someday

27. Do you have a favourite album at the moment?

take 1. are you there (monsta x), treasure ep 1 & 2 (ateez)

28. What do you want for your birthday?

to move out of this city/state... I’m kinda over it now lol

29. What are most people’s first impression of you?

uhh... no idea :’))

30. What age do you seem according to most people?

well when I was younger, everyone kept telling me I was older. now that I’m older, everyone keeps telling me I seem younger like I’m 21 alkdsjfk;lsdj

31. Where do you keep your phone while you’re sleeping?

nightstand next to my bed

32. What word do you say the most?

fuck

33. What’s the oldest age you would date?

probably someone around 10 years older? so someone close to 30? age gaps kind of start to mean less the older you get...

34. What’s the youngest age you would date?

5 years (20) is the cutoff for someone younger

35. What job/career do most people say would suit you?

doctor or nurse

36. What’s your favourite music genre?

everything akldjfksdf.... rock, alternative, kpop, edm... even country since I grew up with it

37. If you could live in any country in the world, where would it be?

somewhere with better health care please

38. What is your current favourite song?

I suck at choosing favorites of anything so I’ll pass on this alkdjfksdf it depends on my mood LOL

39. How long have you had this blog for?

8 years!!

40. What are you excited for?

monsta x in august!! lowkey mostly meeting jooheon aklsdjfkslj

41. Are you a better talker or listener?

listener

42. What is the last productive thing you do?

nothing. I did absolutely nothing productive today.

43. What do you want for Christmas?

to move somewhere new lmfao

44. What class do you get the best grades in?

when I was in school it was english/literature

45. On a scale of 1-10, how are you feeling rn?

5ish

46. What can you see yourself doing In 10 years?

I don’t know cries it’d be nice to be living somewhere else?? close to friends, with lots of cats and pets like I’ve always wanted, maybe finally having a book published akdjflksdf and traveling a lot

47. When did you get your first heart broken?

when I put aforementioned cat from a few questions ago down

48. At what age do you want to get married?

no time constraint, I don’t really care either way

49. What career did you want to have as a child?

veterinarian

50. What do you crave now?

hot wings, and to live somewhere that isn’t where I live right now

I’m not tagging anyone because I’ve lost count of how many people have done it!!! but if you see this and want to participate tag me so I can see you did it c:

[moonlight-at-dawn]

Any recommendations for your followers things outside your main passions on Tumblr? (FFXV and Full Metal Panic!)

MOST OF MY RECS ARE SO OLD I CAN’T MAKE GRAPHICS FOR THEM AHHHHH

BUT HERE!!!

Video Games

Mana Khemia ~Alchemists of Al-Revis~

PS2/PSP

Robust NG+, Multiple Endings, Character Affection

Part of the Atelier series of games and my personal favorite of the lot

Cry with me over Cat Dad Sulphur

Atelier veterans can be amazed over PLAYABLE!!! PAMELA!!!! (and her SKILLS!!! SHE’S OP!!! AS!!! FUCK!!!)

Infinite Undiscovery

XBox360

Writers are Shouji Gatoh (Full Metal Panic!) and Ryo Mizuno (Record of Lodoss War)

NG+, an amazing postgame dungeon that can make you cry if you’re as attached to a certain character as I am

Canon romance is realized before the end, so you get to experience some of it in more than just a ~happily ever after~ way :3

Fantastic cast, lore, cutscenes, an interesting battle system that I personally love and can be challenging at times, especially during the obligatory “separated from the party” section of gameplay

I can’t count how many times it made me cry okay

Lunar Silver Star (Story/Harmony)

multiple systems, best bet today would be PSP -Harmony version

A fucking CLASSIC, every JRPG fan should experience it AT LEAST ONCE

Okay I’ve sadly never watched in Japanese but TOMOKAZU SEKI’S FIRST(?OR DAMN NEAR?) ROLE WAS AS KYLE OKAY, I LOVE HIM, HE’S MY FAV SEIYUU

Disclaimer: Some of the humor… has not…. aged well… I realize. There’s some slightly predatory-gay/predatory-trans tropes in, but not every character views those random NPCs that way at least??? Jessica doesn’t seem to mind the trans priestess at least?

Look, I’m one of those people that tends to love the mascot characters that everyone else calls annoying, and I WILL DEFEND NALL WITH MY LIFE, YOU WILL RESPECT HIM, GIVE HIM FISH, AND THANK HIM WHEN HE RESURRECTS YOU GODDAMMIT XD

(And hug Nall in Lunar 2, Ruby isn’t as useful as he was, but she’s cool too)

Maybe I’m a baby but again, I cry, multiple times lol

LOVE STORY OF THE CENTURY, ALEX AND LUNA ARE GREAT AHHHHHH

Atelier Series in general

I recommend Mana Khemia first and foremost, but most of the Atelier games have their own charms :3

They all tend to have some angst, yes, but are ultimately feel-good and 💖~

Not as scary as all the time limits for jobs might seem. The time is very generous as long as you aren’t screwing around until the last minute lmao so it is great for casual gaming~

AUTHORS/BOOKS (I have a fantasy bias lol)

Tamora Pierce

I started reading her books something like 20 years ago, and I still enjoy them to this day

I bias towards Tortall books, but the Circle of Magic is also amazing (and one of the main 4 from it is a lesbian POC blacksmith~)

My favorite set is the Beka Cooper trilogy. These ones were also a bit experimental in style, in that they’re written as diary entries aND SO!!!!!! GOOD!!! It PAID OFF BIG TIME, I WAS BLOWN AWAY

Mercedes Lackey

I’ve only indulged in her Valdemar/Velgarth novels so I can’t speak on her other series’ bUT

I seem to have a thing for when authors break out of their comfort zone lol because my favorite of these are the Mage Storms trilogy. This one is very broad, focusing not just on Valdemar, but the main character is actually a Karsite (the historical enemy of Valdemar), and the Empire also plays a big role and just, ahhhhhh, I love seeing more than just Valdemar and the Hawkbrothers and Shin’a’in ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Magic’s Price ;;o;;

Brandon Sanderson

I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of his books lol

His Cosmere books all interlink so when you read outside of wherever in it you started, it’s really cool to see all the similarities and the few worldhopping characters that make appearances in multiple worlds

HIS WORLD BUILDING IS FUCKING IMPECCABLE OH MY GOD I COULD JUST STUDY HIS WORLD BUILDING TECHNIQUES FOR MONTHS IN FACT I HAVE BEEN

Really amazing and diverse cast of characters, social aspects of the ‘verse is almost never divorced from the characters, their experiences, and their story. It’s really amazing to see it all~

Magic systems involve clear rules for manipulation of existing forces. Things don’t happen just because ~magic~

Stormlight Archive is where I’ve started and I’d also highly recommend it just because I cannot stop loving this cast and revisiting it over and over and over I’ve listened to the audiobooks like 4 times and they’re all between, what, 38~52 hours long?

Even when you might not like a character at first, revisiting their story is just… HNNNNN NEWFOUND LOVE AND APPRECIATION

ELHOKAR, I’M TALKING MOSTLY ABOUT ELHOKAR

One of the spren in this world, the Cryptics, represent “the fundamental mathematics by which natural phenomena can be explained” tO GIVE AN IDEA OF HOW ROOTED IN REALITY THIS STUFF IS LOL SANDERSON GOES HARD HE DOESN’T FUCK AROUND WHEN HE BUILDS HIS WORLDS

Uhm…. That’s mostly it for my recommendations I think lol, I don’t really watch much in the way of TV….. (I’d recommend NCIS seasons 3-11 though - Ziva David is my reason for life but her leaving made it hard for me to continue and then the writers broke their fucking promise not to do her dirty while she wasn’t around and while it made for a beautiful story for DiNozzo’s departure, THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THAT)

and when it comes to my taste in anime, it’s fairly easy for me to find stuff to reblog lol… so…

WELL NO, HERE

SWORD ART ONLINE

YEAH I SAID IT

It’s “cool” to hate on it but it’s not nearly so bad as people make it out to be. People just like to spread vitriol about it because it’s popular, and you know how popular shit gets treated like the fucking devil around here. Asuna’s not some damsel in distress not even when she’s a prisoner in the ALO arc, she’s always got her own agency and is always working towards her goals and freedom and victory

And wtf is this nonsense people like to say about Kirito cheating on her?????? HE DOESN’T. HE LOVES AND RESPECTS HER AND HE DOESN’T FLIRT WITH OTHER GIRLS YOU GUYS JUST DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF FUCKING HUMOR APPARENTLY CAUSE YOU THINK JOKING = FLIRTING

Anyways, great romance, I love the iconic line from BEFORE they got together when he says the whole thing about “Wouldn’t [learning something new about the one I love] mean that I get to love them even more now?” like HE’S SUCH A FUCKING CUTIE

*coughs* Don’t let the hate that spreads around about this (or anything else really) deter you from checking it. Wipe your minds of what you hear and let it stand on its own, decide for yourself how feel. Don’t go “Oh I hear they reduce Asuna to a crybaby in s2″ and then see it that way because it’s what you expect to see. This is a THING, by the way, if you get told something is great or bad for whatever reason, you’re a lot more likely to see it that way. So just, keep that in mind, and try to empty yourself of preconceived notions before looking at it, k? K. That’s my last recommendation for this post lol cause I’ve rambled on forever.

Let things stand for themselves, not on the backs of hearsay.

[libralita]

Title: Emergency Contact

Author: Mary H. K. Choi

Summary: For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. 

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Review:

So many things wrong with this book. I’ll talk about the one thing that I thought was done well. The romance. Which bonus points for a romance book having a decent romance. I think that Penny and Sam’s interactions were charming. There was very little forced tension and I think that part was well written. I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to tell which perspective I was in because there’s a lot of texting but it was pretty distinct and the third person helped. I also didn’t have a panic attack when reading about anxiety so that’s good.

 …Yeah that’s about it first Penny. I don’t like characters who are dicks to their parents. I get that Celeste is not the best parent in the world but my god she needed to cut her mom a break. She didn’t let her mom go with her on move in day which is like so heartless. Especially at the end. Penny tends to be a dick to everyone except for Sam. Mallory I get because Mallory is a bitch. But Jude didn’t deserve it.

There were a few plots that were so minor I didn’t really give that much of a shit about them. Penny’s professor was forgettable. She didn’t really do anything and didn’t have much of a character other than YA idol that came straight out of Tumblr (we’ll get to that later). Then, besides the pregnancy thing, a lot of Sam’s subplots didn’t really keep my attention.

There were also some dumb little moments like this:

“Penny wondered why ‘girl trouble’ meant some dude had dating drama and that ‘women’s trouble’ was about periods.”—Page 55

Probably because you become a woman when you’re on your period. While you date when you’re young, usually. You know girlfriends. Ever heard of the phrase “boy trouble”? But this moment made me laugh. Also the fact that the author refers to things like stereotyping countries as racist. Like at one point Penny makes a generalization about Australia and she wonders if she’s racist. Because that’s a racist. It’s just really silly.

But the thing that made me really hate this book was only on two pages. Pages 80 and 81 were the worst. And it had a lot to do with Penny’s “love” of Sci-Fi. Which is also a thing that only has some importance to the plot. Just a little disclaimer is that I’m not huge Sci-Fi person so take what I say with a grain of salt:

“Over the years, Penny inhaled the [Sci-Fi] classics—Ready Player One, Dune, and Ender’s Game, though it wasn’t until was introduced to Messiah, ironically from a guy who was the worst dude in the history of dudes, that she realized sci-fi didn’t have to be so…boy. J.A.’s work was like Ender’s Game, yet where Ender was smart and getting conned ‘cause he was a kid, J.A.’s hero Scan knew her worth.

A female protagonist made the stories more inspiring than voyeuristic.”—Page 80

Okay. First of all, “Sci-Fi classics like Ready Player One”. What? That is just silly. I have not read this book but it’s not exactly a Sci-Fi classic. Dune could be considered one, Ender’s Game…I guess? But my god Ready Player One does not belong on this list. This just screams to me that Choi just googled popular Sci-Fi books and that was all the research she did in the genre.

Second of all, that last line doesn’t make much sense? I looked up what voyeuristic means and I’m guessing what this sentence is trying to say is that when a protagonist is female then she becomes inspiring and less sexualized? That doesn’t make sense because you still sexualize a protagonist. I…just don’t know what this means. This is just feels like the author is bullshitting and doesn’t really know what she’s talking about. Which brings me to my next quote:

“From then on Penny’s stories centered around women and girls. There wasn’t even a special trick. You wrote it exactly as you would for a guy, but you made pain thresholds higher since girls have to put up with more in the world and give them more empathy, which makes everything riskier. Plus, with sci-fi, you set up the rules at the beginning and you could blast it all to kingdom come as long as you did it in a satisfying manner.”—Page 81

Okay, so in order to write female characters you write them exactly like male characters. EXCEPT you make them have higher pain tolerance because of shit they go through and they’re more empathetic. A tad contradictory.

Then you go on to say that in Sci-Fi you can up whatever rules you want. So…what happens when you have like a matriarchy? There are stories with matriarchies. So would you just switch that for the men? It’s Sci-Fi you can do whatever you want. That line also doesn’t make sense on a completely different level. Because “Plus, with sci-fi, you set up the rules at the beginning and you could blast it all to kingdom come as long as you did it in a satisfying manner” sounds like you’re saying that Sci-Fi authors can set up rules and then just go “fuck them!” and it’ll be fine as long as it’s satisfying.

Haha no.

Do you remember when the Prequels came out and people were freaking the fuck out about Midi-chlorians because it fucked with established lore or whatever? Sci-Fi and Fantasy have a lot of similarities and I know if Brandon Sanderson just flipped the table on how the Cosmere worked the fandom would be pissed. Also that sounds like some real “ends justify the means” shit. As long as I get to a satisfying conclusion it doesn’t matter how I got there.

But this book talks about real issues and it has a message. It’s empowering to women and--

“J.A. made nerdiness glamorous. And not in some posery Tumblr way where girls played first-person shooters in their underpants to be attractive to guys.”—Page 81

Wow, you just slut shamed a bunch of women. That’s not hypocritical at all. Also, cam girls are not on Tumblr, they’re on Twitch.

[ghostmartyr]

You seem to be a big fan of the Stormlight Archive series. How strong of a recommendation do you give it?

(I think I managed to do this all spoiler free.)

Very.

So the Stormlight Archive is a high fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. I like most of his books, though his earlier work is a little too intent on wrapping things up neatly, in my opinion. Where he really shines is designing settings and magic systems. Even if the plots and characters weren’t engaging (they are), he creates insanely cool worlds, with a lot of variety.

World? As a Sanderson fan, I’m somewhat lacking, but from what I currently understand, all of his books take place within the same universe. You don’t need to read one series to follow another, but there are a lot of cool easter eggs if you do, and there are some fundamental consistencies to his various settings that come from everything being based in what is referred to as the Cosmere.

Anyway, Stormlight Archive. You’ve got the magic, you’ve got the massive battlefields, and you’ve got the motley collection of a cast expected to handle some great, nefarious evil from eons ago. You’ve also got a lot of separate story threads that don’t mind taking their sweet time to come together.

That’s something I’d actually warn about; these books are dense as heck. The first book in particular feels like its beginning is designed as a prologue for the entire envisioned ten-book series. There are currently three out. It’s all very worth reading, especially if you’re interested in the world, but it takes a bit to reach the perspectives of the characters who qualify as leads. On my first go I struggled some with the sheer number of names in the first few chapters, partly because I wasn’t sure which I needed to pay attention to.

Having spent some time observing other people talk about this series, that’s not a thing to worry about. There is always something to pay attention to, so the idea of picking the ‘right’ one is silly.

I could read this series a dozen times over, follow the plot just fine, and still miss something like a million tiny details that enhance the story. I know this because common discussion topics are things I didn’t even realize were there to notice.

If that sounds daunting, that’s because I don’t know how to recommend things without being overly cautious about what style of writing people are willing to put up with.

These books are long, but they’re wonderful for it. They themselves are a fitting example of one of the oaths that help structure the main story line; “Journey before destination.”

Because there’s so much to potentially focus on, I don’t know the best way to say why this series is so wonderful to me, but I’ll try.

One particularly appealing part to me is this world’s system of magic. It’s based on different sects of people swearing different oaths. They’re known as the Knights Radiant. Different Knights swear different oaths to beings called spren, who serve as their partners. The partnership and the oaths bind the Knight and spren together, bringing out incredible abilities.

Only the Knights Radiant no longer exist.

They abandoned their oaths.

Where the story picks up is the age where the evil the Knights were instrumental in facing is coming back, and there’s once again a need for them.

Except people are terrible, and the ideals that the Knights lived are as dead as their oaths. Worse, a broken oath kills the spren partnered to the Knight, so spren aren’t exactly inclined to try rebooting the whole system.

But some are still willing to try, and willing to work with people again.

This is a series where the main characters are largely broken. They make or have made horrific mistakes. They’re subjected to unimaginable cruelty. They fall into psychological pitfalls and don’t know how to fight their way out. They don’t know how they can possibly deal with all of the problems laid at their feet.

(The way the books are formatted, one main character per book gets consistent flashback chapters. The third book is pretty much one long string of “oh my gosh you were a terrible person wtf how.”)

So in a world of broken, tarnished oaths, people try to live up to them again.

And there are some masterpieces of promises in those oaths.

The original creed, which is the one oath all Knights share, is,

“Life before death.Strength before weakness.Journey before destination.”

As anyone who’s suffered knows, even that starting point can be difficult. Then the individual sects push even harder.

“I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

“I will put the law before all else.”

“I will remember those who have been forgotten.”

Ten orders of Radiants, each with their own philosophies, and a partner who will die if you turn your back on them. Not all of them have spiffy quotes yet (and one order demands truths instead of oaths), but the ones listed above are only Second Ideals out of several more, and based on what the characters go through to reach just the Third, they can be doozies.

This is not a series that is shy about the atrocities people are capable of.

It is also not a series that neglects the glory they can reach. The perspective characters are often people carrying the burdens of both.

I like reading about royally screwed up people, but I don’t like stories that beat on them with no point. This story is kind of about the redemption of a species, and about how hard it can be to be better when you have been the absolute worst of yourself.

You’ve got a member of the order who needs to speak truths for their bond to work, and she’s buried her own life history and self in lies so she can survive.

A person who bonds with an honorspren says that honor is dead, and by all accounts, he isn’t wrong.

This series just has such damn good characters, full of tragedy and heroics.

And severe psychological damage.

Depression, anxiety, trauma (lots and lots of trauma)… there really isn’t anyone who wouldn’t benefit from therapy, and all of those issues are active companions to the journey. Being kind of a mess myself, seeing characters swearing oaths, doing magic, and being all around badasses throughout their psychological woes is really neat, and adds to the relatability.

Other fun features include heavy class and race criticisms, Xtreme gender roles, and omnipresent religion. Just as part of the everyday setting. It’s all ripe for critique and discussion in-universe (one of the best characters is an atheist princess scholar who turns people into fire), and memorable enough to feel like a real society, with all the problems and neat concepts that civilization gets up to.

I go back to my “cool” comment. The magic’s cool, the worldbuilding’s epic, the people are damaged, and your word as your bond means something.

So… yeah, I really like it.

[libralita]

Title: The Rithmatist

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Summary: More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings—merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

Rating: ★★★★★

Review:

It’s a steampunk fantasy with a dash of Nickelodeon’s Chalk Zone and a smidge of Stormlight Archive AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! While it did take me awhile to get into and Melody Muns annoyed me a lot of time it was still pretty amazing. In my opinion it’s better than the Reckoners and probably on par with some of his cosmere work. I cannot recommend enough.

I’m actually really happy that Joel didn’t become a Rithmatist, maybe in the future he will but I kind of liked how he didn’t.

“‘Sure, I guess. What else would I do?’ ‘Oh,’ Michael said, ‘maybe prevent some assassinations, get rich, find out what’s really happening in Nebrask…’”—Page 21

This alternative history thing is really odd. There’s 60 Islands and they seem to be more like a stronger European Union. I’m really fascinated by the government system and I hope we eventually get into it. Is it an IGO or a confederation? This political science nerd needs to know.

So we meet Nalizar when he challenges Fitch and Fitch gets badly beaten which is really sad.

What’s this? A red head who likes to draw and annoys the (kinda) male main character? Gee I never heard of that before, Brandon!

I love York and Fitch, they’re so nice to Joel.

“‘Tell me honestly,’ Melody said, whispering to Joel, ‘are you following me?’ Joel started. ‘What?’ ‘Well, you did take the same math class that I did.’ ‘We get assigned our classes by the campus office!’ Joel said. ‘After that,’ she continued, speaking as if she hadn’t heard his protest, ‘you got a job at the campus office—the same place that I, unfortunately, have to do service.’ ‘I’ve had that job since the beginning of the term!’ ‘And finally,’ she said, ‘you followed me to Fitch’s office. Pretty suspicious.’ ‘I didn’t follow you. I was here before you!’ ‘Yes,’ Melody said, ‘a convenient excuse. Just don’t show up outside my window at night, or I shall have to scream and throw something at you.’”—Page 94

I found Melody more annoying than charming. She did get better as the book went on and at the end I liked her but damn she was annoying.

“‘Professor Fitch is sitting right there,’ Joel said, pointing. ‘He can probably hear everything you’re saying.’ ‘Sure can,’ Fitch said, scribbling at a notebook.”—Page 98

I do love Fitch, though.

“The clerk tapped his cane against the ground. ‘Parents,’ he said. ‘The bane of every school’s existence.’”—Page 145

I love Exton.

Melody, are you really that dumb? Joel’s father died when he was eight, the same age you go in to be tested in you’re a Rithmatist.

“‘Of course I have,’ Joel said. ‘Government was…uh, the class I failed last year.’ Fitch sighed. ‘Such potential wasted.’ ‘It wasn’t interesting,’ Joel protested. ‘I mean, I want to learn about Rithmatics, not politics. Let’s be honest, when am I ever going to need to know historical government theories?’”—Page 214

Government is super fucking important! As a political science major I’m so offended by this, Joel! Take an interest in government so I can figure out what kind of system the United Isles has!

“We can’t afford to fight each other. Not again. The last time nearly doomed us all.”—Harding, Page 216

They fought before? So some sort of civil war? Also what’s the point of being called the United Isles? Is it more like European Union type thing?

I love the name Eventire.

So Rithmatics is all about intent, interesting.

The scene where the scribbler goes after Joel is so terrifying, I was waiting for him to discover that he had Rithmatic powers but he didn’t.

They arrested Exton but I didn’t believe he did it, he was too loveable.

I kind of figured that Joel wouldn’t become a Rithmatist but…damn that’s so heartbreaking.

Harding is the scribbler goddammit. I’m so sad, I really liked him. OH GOD AND SEEING THAT GIRL GET EATTEN BY THE CHALKINGS THAT HORRIBLE.

“No, I think I was wrong about him,”—Page 338

Oh, really Joel?

FUCK YEAH FITCH! Coming to the rescue and being an absolute bad ass!

And the crazy chalkings were actually the captured people. That’s insane.

I’m so confused at what’s going on with Nalizar.

“Yes, Fitch thought, I’m sure he’ll turn out to be an all right fellow, if we just give him enough time…”—Page 365

Oh Fitch…

So, we end with Melody and Joel kicking everyone’s ass and I’m so confused about Nalizar but Brandon better freaking publish the next book next year. This book was absolutely amazing, I wish I had started it sooner. It’s probably better than the Reckoners and more on par with some of his cosmere works.