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I’ve been reading Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, who has been chosen to write the final book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. This is a really really good book, I’m enjoying it tremendously.

Every time I look at Sandersons blog though, I can see that he gets these books in the same way i did. I had remarked earlier about how he agreed with one of my keys to being a WOT fan. And now I see another point of agreement. The person who first told me about the series recommended I read it years ago, before Path of Daggers came out. I never got around to it till right before the release of the 11th book Knife of Dreams. When I spoke to him after I started reading, he told me how its starting to get too much for him. Too long, and the pace has started to slack off. I loved the series all the way through(though I would have to say if books 7,8,9 and 10 were 2 books instead of 4 it would probably be even stronger). We have very similar reading tastes, so we tried to break it down. What we came up with is almost exactly what Mr. Sanderson talks about in his post on Crown of Swords:

I object to complaints about pacing.  I thing the pacing across the series has been even, and I certainly didn’t find this book to be any slower than previous volumes.  However, perhaps that’s because I’m able to read these all through without any wait in-between.  One thing that is happening is that as the series grows longer, the viewpoints per character grow less and less frequent.  There are enough main characters with important plots that we can’t spend an entire book focusing on just two or three of them like we did during the early books.

These books are so detailed, that it becomes difficult to enjoy that detail if your struggling to remember specific plot points while your reading. If the whole story is fresh it works better, and the details become something one savours.

Anomander+Rake, originally uploaded by amitmdoshi.

Saw this on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Love the Malazan books, and this looks awesome.

I think this is the jump readers need to make to really enjoy this series.  They can’t get so attached to Rand, Mat, Egwene, and Perrin that they aren’t willing to experience the powerful characterizations of other people in the world.  Those who can’t make this jump tend to complain about the series loosing focus.  Those who do make the jump get a story with more complexity and depth than you find in some of the other fantasy series, which stick to the more traditional plot structures and characterizations.

Brandon Sanderson Blog: WOT Read Through: THE SHADOW RISING

As a huge wheel of time fan who hasnt had a chance to read Brandon Sanderson yet(The books are in the mail) this entry makes me so happy. This nails what Ive always thought is the dividing line between people who think WOT is the best thing ever, versus people who cant stand it.

If youve never read The Wheel of Time, this post might seem like gibberish to you.

It was the first set of Fantasy/SciFi books that I read, and I’ve never gotten as immersed in a book as I was in this story. Not 1 book, but 12 enormous books(11 in the main series and 1 prequel).

Unfortunately Robert Jordan passed away in the middle of writing the final book in the main series. His widow, who was also his editor for all the books, selected Brandon Sanderson to finish the last book. Sanderson is going to be writing some of his thoughts about the series of books as he runs through the entire series in preparation. He just posted his first set of impressions on The Eye of the World. He talks about foreshadowing:

I know how difficult it is to foreshadow across an entire series, and am frankly astounded by how well Mr. Jordan laid the groundwork for his future books.  Min’s prophesies are one great example, but equally potent is Mr. Jordan’s use of mythology and story as a means of preparing the reader for events such as the Great Hunt, future interactions with the Aiel (and the People’s relationship with them), and the coming of the Seanchan.

If you havent read these books its impossible to realise just how difficult and incredible a job this foreshadowing is. This is a massive story, the scope of which Ive never come close to seeing anywhere else. Its 3.1 Million words. compare that to the average length of a novel which is around 100,000 words.

He talks about 2 kinds of foreshadowing above, Prophecy and Myth. Theres another thing RJ did, which delighted rereaders in particular. A throwaway line, will wind up alluding to significant events, character arcs in the future. One that comes to mind is Mat telling Rands father how he is interested in war. Theres another line by Moiraine about Egwene becoming the Amyrlin Seat.

Robert Jordan really was an incredible author.

Something that makes me happy reading this and all of Sandersons post on the Wheel of time, is just how much he gets the series. Based on my first few sampling of his blog, I’m encouraged, that he will give this series the finish it deserves. I have also ordered the first book of his Mistborn series, which I understand is darker, but will hopefully give me more reason to be excited about A Memory of Light.

Finally and most importantly we have been promised the identity of Asmodeans killer. I cant wait for 2009.

David Eddings is one of the more important figures in Fantasy. I started the series 12 days ago, and got done yesterday. That was a lot faster than I anticipated. I believe that fact shows both the strengths and the weakness of this series. I enjoyed reading it, but it was fundamentally unsatisfactory. It was a straight forward read, and given my immersion in the genre for the last couple of years, there was nothing here that really took me by surprise or really moved me.

There are 5 books in the series:

Pawn of Prophecy (Belgariad)

Queen of Sorcery (The Belgariad, Book 2)

Magician’s Gambit (The Belgariad, Book 3)

Castle of Wizardry (The Belgariad, Book 4)

Enchanters’ End Game (The Belgariad, Book 5)

The basic premise of the books is a quest in which Garion, Mister Wolf, Aunt Pol, and Burnik leave Faldors farm to find the Orb of Aldur which has been stolen. The Orb is what protects the West from being overrun by the Angaraks of the East. They are joined by Barak and Silk, who are companions of Mr. Wolf. As they set out on the journey, Garion realises that Mister Wolf is Belgarath, an ancient sorceror, and his Aunt Pol is his daughter, who is thousands of years old. They are joined by other characters, some annoying, some interesting and fun. Mandorallen, was initially irritating, but he grew on me, similar to how he grew on his companions. Relg, I never liked at all. Garions love interest Ce’Nedra’s a brat, very much in the same vein as Robert Jordan’s Elayne character, or George Lucas’ Princess Leia for that matter.

I think my nephew who is just now starting to read the genre(loves Harry Potter, Eragon, and the first young adult version of Robert Jordan’s From The Two Rivers will really enjoy this. For a older audience, its lightweight fun. Ive got to say I was never bored, but I was also never really immersed in the book the way I was when reading George RR Martin or Robin Hobb or Robert Jordan

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