Timewaster's Guide Archive

Best book I've ever read??  That's a tough one because I have so many things that interest me.  So many different reasons for reading what I read... 

Best Fantasy:  Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series
Best Mystery:  Michael Connelly's Black Echo
Best Political Thriller:  Vince Flynn's Transfer of Power
Best Historical Fiction:  Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire -->Absolutely best battle scenes I've ever read!!
Best History:  Anything by Stephen E. Ambrose  -->If I had to pick one it would be D-Day
Best Economics:  Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
Best Current Events:  Moment of Truth in Iraq by Michael Yon  --> He has an online magazine that is worth reading too
Best Biography:  Ronald Reagan by Dinesh D'Souza
Best Religion:  The Language of God by Francis S Collins
                             What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza  --> Both books use science to show evidence of God

As far as sex scenes I think there are times and places for them in Literature; however, I think they are overused far too  much.  I guess that when I read I just want a good story, and most times sex scenes are just there to be there. 

Postscript:  If anyone does decide to read any historical fiction by Steven Pressfield you may want to visit this cool little site, so you know how to pronounce names and places...  www.howjsay.com

We're pretty sure Moridin was channeling Saidin, hence him saying he won't channel Saidin anymore. I still don't think the One Power and the True power are "opposites," the only difference i see is the DO chooses who gets to use the True Power and both men and women can use it. It was obviously part of the seal on his prison, from the PoV in Shadow's Rising.

So what is the True Power?  If it's not something different, or the One Powers opposite then what is it?

I was thinking for a while that maybe it was the third wheel of the one power.  Saidar, Saidan, and the True Power, but that wouldn't work for a number of reasons, the main reason being the DO would never have won because he would've battled with 1/3 of the power while the good guys had 2/3.

It also couldn't be JUST saidar and saidan combined because the DO decides who can use the True Power.  That implies ownership, and we know he has no control who can touch the One Power and who can't. 

That leaves me with this thought, that the Dark One is the bridge between saidar and saidan.  So when he allows someone to touch the True Power their actually channeling through the DO.  That would explain why they go mad faster channeling the True Power.

Before getting locked away, the DO threw back and tainted Saidan.  Perhaps the taint was a little bit of the DO, kind of like he got his foot caught in the door, so that male channelers were touching the DO every time they touched the One Power.  I think that is why he was still able to touch the world despite being imprisoned by the seals.

Any other thoughts about what the True Power is?

I thought it was that the True Power was more addictive while it also drives the user insane.  That was why Ishy/Moridin only uses it.

Here's something that I noticed in the last book:  Rand has the spots floating across his vision after he loses his hand.  (I think its called Saa?)  They were like little black flecks.  And the sun was unusually bright and hurt his eyes.  But only after his fight with Lews Therin for the Power.

I kind of remember that, I have another theory.  I could be completely wrong, so if this doesn't fit let me know.  Rand cleansed Saidan, so it should be like drinking a glass of crystal clear Ice Mountain water after drinking Mississippi mud water your whole life, right? In other words your not going to mistaken one for the other.  So maybe after their balefire streams crossed maybe Rand isn't channeling the one power anymore, maybe he's touching the True Power.  If, and I don't know if this is the case, but if their streams crossed at the end of Winters Heart, then maybe all the male channelers are touching the True Power also.  That could explain why all the Ashamen were walking around saying, "Somethings different", in Crossroads to Twilight, as opposed to realizing they were "drinking clean water" .

What do you think, possibility, or back to the drawing board?

Look into the bodyswap theory

Body swap with who Moridan?  I guess I don't remember reading that part.  Are we in agreement then that Rand and Moridan may both be related somehow?

I don't know if this will play into the ending, but in one book Rand wanted to leave something behind after he died  He set up some kind of workshop that was in the process of developing steam engines.  I don't think that will play into the final book too much, if at all, but who knows?

Maybe that's how they'll move the cannons around.

Every time Rand touches the One Power he sees Moridan's face.I looked for all these quotes but couldn't find them.  Someone else said that for Rand to live Moridan had to die, and for Moridan to live Rand had to die.  RJ has established that the Dragon and Dark One have  battled many times throughout history and he's won every time.  Could Moridan represent the only time that the Dragon changed sides?  That could explain why the DO seems to favor him, right?

Is Mat still the only one who can blow the Horn of Valere?  He did die for a while...  I also think that Mat's incredible luck was written mainly for the ending.  I think that something very unlikely will happen in the end, but we'll except it because if happened to Mat.  Like the coin that landed on its side only what happens will be bigger...

The first historical figure that I would base my main character off of, I find to be absolutely fascinating.  So fascinating that if you made a movie about him most people wouldn't believe it.  You probably haven't heard his name before, but if you like war movies, Hollywood loves to add one thing that he did to their movies.  His name is Carlos Hathcock II.  He fought in Vietnam and he was a US Marine Sniper.  If interested I recommend 2 books about him, Marine Sniper, and Silent Warrior by Charles Henderson.

Remember that movie?  Doesn't matter which one, but it's sniper versus sniper, and your looking through the enemies scope.  As he is scanning the field he moves the scope over the hero who fires a round which goes through the enemies scope into his eye.  That was Carlos Hathcock II!!

The Viet Cong often placed bounties on US snipers, the bounties often were around $8.  But for one sniper the one they called Long Trang which translates to White Feather they offered $30,000 for his death.  He got the nickname White Feather because every mission he went on in Vietnam, except his very last one, he would put a white feather in the strap of his helmet.  This guy was absolutely amazing I recommend once more those two books.

My main characters personality would be based off of General George S. Patton.  two quotes from him should give you a good enough idea of his personality.

Patton of Leadership:

Lead me, follow me, or get the H--- out of my way!!!

Patton on how to win a war:

No one has ever won a war by dying for his country.  You win a war by making the other poor dumb b------ die for his!!

Granted, that in the real world that personality would make for an impatient spy or a dead spy.  In the world of literature though, I think that it would make for a very interesting main character.

The final trilogy that I would write would be pretty much the same as what Brandon suggested he might write.  After all that's what gave me all these ideas anyways.  So it would be set in the far future and Allomancy would be all but gone.  Reduced to a sense of intuition and athletic play.  Hemolurgy would be long forgotten, and though their would be mistwraths the Kandra would be like Big Foot or the Lock Ness Monster.  The Lord Ruler would be the boogy man, a story told to children at night.  People would be far less religious that in the other series.

After establishing the roots of the religions of the worlds, and establishing the founding and roots of the countries of the world it would be time to tie them all together.  There would be cathedrals, mosques, streets, cars, businesses, monuments. littered throughout the series that would vaguely reference back to people, places, and events that happened in the previous trilogies.

So even though hundreds of years would have passed between the 2nd and 3rd trilogies, the over all feelings between the countries would remain the same.  For instance, France has been the US's longest ally, but if you go back to the time of George Washington you can find that even back then we really didn't like the French.  Amusingly enough, many Americans thought the French were cowards even back then.  So the animosity from the 2nd trilogy would be alive in the 3rd.

I would create this one to be a Cold War/Nazi Germany, Spy/Political Thriller/Mystery/Fantasy/Science Fiction Novel.  The New World (NW) would have their Manhattan Project, but instead of trying to create an Atomic Bomb they'd be trying to create Mistborn.  Mistborn would be thought of as fairy tales, so their would be plenty of doubt and sabotage. Also internal fighting over the morality of creating a mistborn. 

The Old World (OW) in contrast would be experimenting with Hemolurgy, so their would be plenty of concentration camps.

Where in the 2nd trilogy the main character(and I forgot to add this, so i will now) was a rather weak misting possibly a smoker to highlight his leadership ability and the respect and love that he received from those who followed him.  The main character in this series would be a Kandra because he needs to be a spy.I'll talk about the two people I'd model him after in my next post. 

The series would end in a D-Day style invasion of the OW.  To rescue the world from tyranny and rescue people from the camps.