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Messages - Shadmere

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Did the Lord Ruler ... ? (Spoilers)
« on: January 19, 2011, 09:06:44 PM »
Yeah, I didn't remember anything like that, but my girlfriend insists he had a large spike in his chest.  "Like Zane's but bigger."  (She just finished the second book.)

It's been a year since I've read the book, so I wanted to make sure I was right before I told her that there was no thing.  I know he was pierced, but I think that was just to keep his feruchemical metals from being pulled off.

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Brandon Sanderson / Did the Lord Ruler ... ? (Spoilers)
« on: January 19, 2011, 08:41:09 PM »
Did the Lord Ruler have a spike in his chest?  I'm talking about it with someone, but neither of us have the books anywhere near where we could check within a reasonable amount of time.  I hate going to the net to ask a simple question like this, but my Googling was getting me nowhere!   :P

If he did, was it a hemalurgic spike?

Thanks.  :)

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: The Thrill (Spoilers)
« on: September 29, 2010, 05:25:44 PM »
I wasn't thinking that the Thrill was supernatural at all, honestly.  I had assumed it was just a cultural way of thinking about the . . . well, the thrill . . . of the fight.  Of being in mortal danger but fighting anyway, against those trying to kill you, trying to kill them first.  The ultimate contest.

Considering how Dalinor starts being sickened after experiencing the Thrill, it does seem like it's possible that it's supernatural.  I still don't know if I'd considering it the most probable explanation, but yeah, possible. 

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: A use for Aluminum
« on: September 28, 2010, 09:41:47 PM »
That seems fairly unlikely, honestly.  At least without a lot of fairly obvious author fiats.  If aluminum took away toxic metals in your body, wouldn't it also take away things like the iron in your blood?

Now that I say that much, I realize that allomancy probably just works on metals you have in your stomach.  Metals in your bloodstream and cellular structure (iron, copper, silver, zinc, etc) would have to be unaffected, or you'd suffer a pretty bad case of Critical Existence Failure.  Iron is needed for for the blood to work, and copper and zinc are needed for a variety of other chemical reactions.

I guess it's possible that humans on Scadrial have a significantly different makeup. 

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: questions about brandon
« on: January 29, 2010, 04:32:37 AM »
Anthem is one of the few things written by Rand that I can stomach. 

Anathem, though, was really good.  The word "short" has nothing to do with that particular story, though.

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Books / Re: What is the best and/or worst recent book you've read?
« on: January 29, 2010, 04:22:43 AM »
Recently?  Hrm. 

Over the last few months, I'd probably choose Mistborn as the best one I've read, followed closely by The Baker's Boy, by JV Jones.  If I look at the last year or so, I'd probably pick Anathem. 

Mistborn and Anathem are good for nearly opposite reasons.  Mistborn moves fast and feels very action-packed.  Anathem moves slowly.  I've read several reviews that specifically disliked the book for that reason, but the world was so well realized that I didn't care.  It was funny, though . . . the first half of the book, where he was building the world and describing it?  It took me so far into the world that I was slightly disappointed when the actual plot started!

Worst?  Oh, this one is easy.  As She Climbed Across the Table, by Jonathan Lethem.

I've never read a published "science fiction" book with as much ridiculous technobabble.  Lethem was obviously just making things up as he went along, assuming that the science didn't matter.  In a way, it didn't.  The plot wasn't influenced by the technobabble, really.  But still . . . even if it's unimportant, hearing someone say "The M particles are repelling the L particles" or something just really breaks suspension of disbelief.  The scientists in the book all acted bizarre and absolutely unscientific.  The macguffin of the book is a stable black hole that some researchers at a university create.  They name it Lack.  For a few weeks, they are incredibly interested in Lack.  But as it stymies their precious attempts to figure it out, they eventually stop caring.  Lack is left just floating above a table in an obscure room in the science department.

The book was also some sort of anti-science fantasy.  Like I mentioned above, when Lack did not seem to behave rationally, the scientists almost immediately gave up.  They couldn't find a logical way to explain its actions, so they threw up their hands and left.  This is possibly the most bizarre description of scientists I've ever seen: they discovered a black holel; it eats some things that are dropped into it, while letting others pass through; they cannot figure out what lets some things fall 'into' the black hole, and what lets other things pass through un-touched.  The reaction?  GET ANGRY AND LEAVE.  One scientist actually calls it an "abomination against science" or something like that.  When a literature professor states his intent to 'read' Lack like a text, using symbolism and metaphors, the scientist who created Lack becomes so threatened and insecure he runs out of the room to vomit.

Every character in the book was flat and incredibly unbelievable.  These two autistic guys are written as if by someone who read an article in Reader's Digest about the condition.  The scientists are all obsessed with logic and when something seems to go against logic, they decide it's safer to pretend that thing does not exist, and ignore it completely.  The Gender Studies professor that appears in a single scene goes on and on about how women allow themselves to be dominated by men by even speaking the language, and that spoken language is, at its root, a tool to control women. 

The main character cannot see a single thing, talk to a single person, or think a single thought without going on a bizarre, pages-long poetic rambling about what whatever-he's-talking-about symbolizes.  He's also possibly the most moping, emo protagonist I've seen since high school.

The ending, interestingly enough, was really, really good. 

But not good enough to suffer through the rest of the book for.  Not good enough at all.

::whew::  I had to get that off my chest.

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Books / Re: Malazan Book of the Fallen
« on: January 29, 2010, 04:02:32 AM »
I've definitely been considering this series.  I saw it recently on a list of "Best Fantasy Series."  Heh.  Well, there's got to be some way I find new books. :p

After I finish The Baker's Boy and its two sequels, I might give it a try.


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Books / Re: Fantasy girls, where are you?
« on: January 29, 2010, 03:54:09 AM »
For some reason I've never been able to get into Robin McKinley's stuff.

I tried to read The Hero and the Crown in middle school.  It seemed just up my  alley, I loved stuff like that!  But I couldn't get into it.  Maybe read 5-10 pages, at most. 

Later, in high school, all the girls I knew absolutely LOVED that book, along with The Blue Sword.  So I tried again.

And couldn't get into it.  Made it 10-20 pages in, maybe. 

I don't remember why I didn't like it, though.  But i haven't touched them since 10th grade or so.  I should probably pick them up and see what I think, now. :p

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: questions about brandon
« on: January 29, 2010, 03:48:12 AM »
I love Flowers for Algernon.  It was almost certainly the first thing I read for school that really, really got to me.

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Books / Re: Fantasy girls, where are you?
« on: January 28, 2010, 11:52:17 PM »
I second (third?) the recommendation of Melanie Rawn.  Dragon Prince and the series following it are really, really good.  :)

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: questions about brandon
« on: January 19, 2010, 01:07:02 PM »
Um... Don't tell anyone I said that.
Heh.  I was assuming that keeping 70 extra people hanging around the classroom would be impossible. 

Well, guess now it's only the right thing to do to email the administration.    (Obviously j/k. :p)

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Allomancy or Feruchemy? [ SPOILER ]
« on: January 19, 2010, 06:20:03 AM »
Woo, vindication. ;)

I definitely still think that Allomancy (at least, in Mistborn form) is a more powerful ability.  If nothing else, the ability to perform like that day after day beats out anything a Feruchemist could hope to accomplish. 

But in a single battle, where the Feruchemist is well-stocked and has no reason to save anything for later?  There would be a beat-down. 

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: questions about brandon
« on: January 19, 2010, 05:59:38 AM »
That's pretty awesome about the sit-ins.   At UNCC, they'd chase you out if you weren't enrolled.  (Well, they were supposed to.  If you had an in with the professor, you'd probably be able to slide.)

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Allomancy or Feruchemy? [ SPOILER ]
« on: January 18, 2010, 09:59:13 PM »
I assume that if the difference was insignificant, then Sazed wouldn't have bothered bringing it up.  If you asked him, "Hey, will you be here in an hour?" he would probably not contradict you if he thought that he'd actually show up a few seconds after an hour.

I'm also drawing conclusions based how quickly Sazed used up his metalminds during the siege of Luthandel.  If it was proportional (or even anywhere close to proportional),  and he had a year of strength stored up, then even running at 256 times normal strength would give him nearly three days of power.   

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Allomancy or Feruchemy? [ SPOILER ]
« on: January 18, 2010, 09:13:31 PM »
I was assuming strength increased the strength of your bones, as well.  Otherwise, even the levels Sazed was using should have snapped his bones like twigs.

As far as friction goes, tapping health hard should be able to balance that out. 

Regardless, when the Feruchemist he'll be done for a few months, or even years.  The Allomancer can just chug some more metal and hop right back in.

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