Malazan Book of the Fallen is my favorite completed series I’ve read, including WoT. Stormlight might surpass it when it is complete. Stormlight is a lot more reader friendly, Malazan is a beast, but so damn good.
re: Malazan - It took me about 2 years to read everything, including all the Esselmont novels and short stories. I read other stuff in between as well. I'll probably do a reread sometime soon. It's so good. re: Stormlight - Like others have said, you can start basically anywhere with Sanderson as they all tie together but no real chronological necessity. Mistborn is a great place to start, but I think Stormlight is okay to dive right into. You'll catch more stuff in Stormlight if you read the other novels first, but the same works vis-a-versa.
All of Sanderson's work stands alone perfectly fine. You can read it and enjoy it 100% without understanding any of the greater cosmere (his word for his universe) implications. Understanding how they tie into each other though increases the enjoyment to about 120% or so.
Did anyone find a primer or reminder of where we are before reading? Don’t remember where exactly book 3 ended. I'm listening to this review, but this is not exactly what I'm looking for.
Book 3 ended with a stunned Adolin walking in on Dalinar with Shallan and Navanni, both of their safe hands wrapped around his bulging... wait wait wait that was the fan fiction. Nevermind.
I may have been converted to a audiobook guy. I started the book on a road trip and it was nice. Think I've read one champter physically. I really wish I had someone to talk out theories with while reading or explain shit to me. My mind is getting blown as stuff is getting explained
As Gin Buckets can attest, I used to be staunchly anti-audiobook in the early days of this book club. Then I got a job 50 minutes away from my house and started doing audiobooks on my commute. Now I’m 80% audiobook 20% kindle.
As someone who hates the ASOIAF fandom with a passion, you have to be careful about online fandoms because they are notoriously awful and can often times ruin your experience instead of enhance it. Having said that, the time that I’ve spent on r/stormlight_archive and r/cosmere haven’t been bad. Pretty easy to navigate spoilers as well.
gotta wait until tomorrow when Arcanum Unbounded arrives and I still need to read Dawnshard goddammit, I'm reading too quickly. that's all that's left, i think.
Just finished RoW audiobook this morning. I was listening to this on the commute and during runs. So good. Spoiler He knew something was up tho My only gripe with this book, is I just dont really care for most of the parshendi stuff. The fuzed were cool tho
r/KingkillerChronicles can be pretty united in it's annoyance with Pat Rothfuss and the forever wait of Doors of Stone
Loving this book so far. Took me a bit to reread oathbringer, but I’m tearing through this one. Just now getting to chapter 39 “the invasion”
And of course I had to finish part two. Gonna read the interludes and start part 3 tomorrow. Holy shit
my main gripe is that there was a negative vibe. RoW is probably 3 for me behind WoR and WoK, ahead of Oathbringer. I didn't dislike Oathbringer, btw. all of them are good and none are bad. just my opinion.
i thought RoW was 200 pages too long in the middle very much enjoyed the beginning and the end and i love how everything was tied together and they answered questions I had so overall, i liked it quite a bit spoilers below Spoiler i had no idea Taravginan was going to become Odium, i had not clue where that was going and it was crazy that Cultivation set all that up years ago, just nuts i like what they did with Kaladin at the end as well and let him overcome his "failures" and had him rise up again i probably should have seen it, but i didn't and when i found out that shallan had bonded two different spren, my mind was blown - just WOW how can you not love Adolin as well - his bond to Maya was one of my fav parts of the book and how it all came out in the end left me rooting for him
Spoiler agreed, too much backstory on the Parshendi, that's probably the part where they could have saved 100 pages and not let it drag so much in the middle
Spoiler I liked how it allowed him to be fully healed and he Shash brand was gone also, how bout dat Mormon author recognizing trans-people! the king of Reshi or whoever it was becoming "healed" to match her image of herself
Caveat that I haven’t started RoW yet. As great as the books are, this can be said for damn near every book in the series. I’m prepared to get yelled at here, but no fantasy book needs to be 1,200 pages. Shit, 1,000 is probably still too long.
I’m with you on this. It was still really good and some of the high points are really high but upon first read it’s firmly in 4th. Next one should be insane though
I actually recall hating this part and is what turned me off to Oathbringer. Basically certain characters become so powerful that it feels like everyone else in the book doesn't even matter. Granted I haven't read this book in +/- 3 years but I recall those being my feelings at the time.
I thought he did a good job of making sure every major character had a role in that end fight The Dalinar arc was just infinitely more interesting than some of the other POV arcs and I thought the finale was uber satisfying.
Also I am SO fucking tired of kaladin being a whiny bitch. Every time you think he’s over it, it’s straight back to Taking Back Sunday territory
Just finished. Ive got it as equal to Oathbringer. Not really a complaint, it was the same in Oathbringer, but he saves up all of the revelations and really eventful stuff for the Avalanche, which makes the middle seem slow. I still enjoy the “slow” parts and the setup, but I get why some people don’t love that part.
I'm about 700 pages in now. Very slow until the mid-point then I flew through 200 pages Spoiler during the Fused invasion . Now have another 300-400 pages of nothing really going on until the avalanche I assume. Lirin has to be one of the most hateable characters in this series.
And I'm finished with the book. Spoiler That was a ton of shit going on the last 100 pages or so. Did not see Rayse being killed. I assume Dalinar is going to lose the battle of the champions and be Taraodium's slave, which will setup the 2nd half of the SA series. Kaladin is going to be an absolute unit with the shard plate armor now. Adolin and Maya was the best part of the book IMO. Interested to see where that is going. I assume Adolin will eventually become Radiant in some manner but will have different abilities. I'm very pleased I don't have to listen to Kaladin, Lirin and Shallan whine for 700 pages each book moving forward.
I hadn’t noticed that on my initial read but after several times through I realize that Kaladin is conflicted about killing vs saving lives and he seems to doubt himself from time to time
Spoiler: Spoiler just finished. Thought it was a nice ending that set up multiple branching story lines. I want to know more about the chasam fiend and parshendi. I must have missed the part about cultivation setting this all up tho. Im excited to see what the next book brings. Not sure what is next to read guess dawnshard and give wax and wane another shot
About 60% into book 1 and hoo boy fellas I'm absolutely hooked. Looking forward to catching up and talking with you guys about it. I love this world...I was kind of growing tired of your more reality based middle ages type fantasy books and was hoping for a more exotic and alien type world and it did absolutely that. Once I finish this one I'm diving into Mistborn. How would you guys compare the two? The Blackfish You're my go to when it comes to all things nerd
You could consider Mistborn the "A New Hope" to the Stormlight "Empire Strikes Back". Basically, it's the Stormlight light since it was first.
The Stormlight Archive is Sanderson’s magnum opus. It is grander and more in depth than anything else he’s done and it is the series that ties the rest of his series together (similar to King’s Dark Tower Series) so don’t go into Mistborn expecting door stop books. With that said Mistborn is great as well with a interesting magic system, some of King’s best characters, fight scenes and twists. Also it’s still ongoing too. All of Sanderson’s adult fantasy books take place in his universe (Cosmere) and all interconnect with plot lines, characters, gods, magic etc... and the thought, detail and minute hints and foreshadowing he places in the books are mind blowing. You can still read each book on its own merits not seeking to understand the greater Cosmere implications and be totally fine though. After you finish Stormlight (including novellas) I would go into Mistborn like you’re thinking then Warbreaker Mistborn Era1 Mistborn Era 2 Mistborn A Secret History Warbreaker Elantris Emperor’s Soul (novella) /fanboy rant.
Spoiler I know it won’t but please God let this book be the start of reducing how many depressed Shallan and Kaladin chapters we get where we just rehash the same thoughts over and over
You may be right but I'm kind of optimistic a corner has been turned. With the Dalinar/Taravangian ending this should really get cranked up in scope and both characters you mentioned seem to have a level of peace with themselves, maybe?
Spoiler just realized I never posted my thoughts. I can't agree more with Regiment's post, it was hard to read through soo much Shallan & Kaladin finding themselves chapters, especially Shallan - I just don't resonate with that storyline. Overall I'm not sure where to rank this one in the series, I couldn't put it down but it felt slow and I really don't know how I feel about the Taravangian turn. (I'm sure he will make it awesome)