David's comments

David's comments from the Modern Fantasy Readers and Writers group.

Note: David is no longer a member of this group.

Are you okay, Jason? Is your computer alive?

So, are we doing this book, or not?

Outoy watched all of this with little understanding. As the sun rose, he had oozed under the door and taken the replaced the fake plants in the middle of the bar with himself. In the unnatural lighting of the bar, no one had been able to recognize him thus far as being non human. That was, he was beginning to realize, less of an issue than he had thought, as a lion like creature and a burning human had entered with little fan fare.

Perhaps that wizard had truly done him an ill-service when he had been forced through the portal. It seemed highly unlikely that he was still in the same world. The human he knew feared those who were not. And these all had strange magical devices which allowed the to communicate with other distant humans, or at least he assumed they spoke to humans.

Realizing that hiding was gaining him very little, he oozed off of the pot and formed himself into a vaguely humanoid shape. He approach the lion-like creature and said, "No harm little man."

The lionlike creature snarled, then jumped back as its gaze fell upon him. Its surprise did not last long, as the creature backhanded Outoy with a clawed paw. Outoy was a little disappointed to see several green blobs of its body splash as it struck the ground.

The lion-like creature turned back to the human, only to find that he had left. With a roar the creature jumped upon Outoy.

I also can't figure out why the women who do magic are fanatically obsessed with not having children. Is there some kind of strange implication here?

It'll be weird reading his version of the Wheel of time. The plot will advance, there won't be endless descriptions of people's lace, fewer tea parties... I'm personally very glad they didn't choose someone who drags out a story forever.

Oh, the second book was decided on. (bulging eyes!) I better pull that book out!

I liked the questions, but they may have been a little bit much. I think it might have seemed like homework to some people. (Just guessing as many peopel started reading it but only a few answered the questions.)

The executions and the witnessing by the crew of the executions was a grisly scene. Why do you think Sanderson Added it?

I think this scene was here in order to keep the plot grounded. Otherwise it seemed like Lord Ruler had no real power. But when you see him organize mass deaths of people not even involved, then he really seems liek a villain.

[Character:] Kliss is a minor character in the overall span of the book. What do you think of Sanderson's handling of her when she reveals the assassination plot against Elend and the people behind the plotting?

I couldn't recall who this character was and didn't spot it on skimming the book.

[Plot:] The major twist was the sacrifice of Kelsier and his "rebirth". Did you see it coming? Did you have enough foreshadowing that it was believable? What was your overall impression of the event?

I did not see it coming, even though it was foreshadowed several times. It was my favorite part of the whole book. Of course, if I were religious it might also be the most offensive part of the book. Luckily I am not and I enjoyed how he played on people's emotions to create his own religion.

[Plotting:] I have heard both good an bad feedback on the book. It left me questioning why I liked it so much. The answer for me, was the pacing of the story. Did you find the building of tension and development of the plot to pull you along? Or did it leave you behind? What do you think of the overall pacing of the book?

I really liked the pacing of this book, and that is probably why I read the whole series of book one after another late into the night. The later books in the series to me seemed to slump in the middle. Especially because it was obvious the characters weren't working on what was important but instead getting caught up in side events which I knew weren't going to go anywhere.

[Wrap-Up:] What were your overall impressions of the book? Of Sanderson? Will you read the rest of the series? Why or why not?

I really like his voice when he writes and his imaginition in terms of systems of magic. He is very good at creating twists at the end of his books (although the one at the end of Elantris isn't quite believable) I like that he doesn't go heavily into descriptions of the furniture and what kind of lace the women are wearing on the cuffs of their sleeves under their coats.
The only thing I really don't like is that he doesn't quite give that extra little bit. I thought the Mistborn series was very good, but not a quite classic. There's something missing here. Maybe it is depth? I'm not sure.

Elend Venture becomes a major focus of the series as he grows through a maturing process. His and Vin's interactions are really developed at the end of our last sectino and throughout Section 4 of our reading. What were your initial impressions of Elend? What tools did Sanderson utilize to make us see him that way?

Well, I liked him because he was associating with the crowd of people who were presented as evil. And he liked Vin, who I liked.

[Plot and Character:] What do you think of Kelsier going to informants to find out about Renoux; to discover how much was leaked of their secrets? Did this scene develop Kelsier's foresight for you making the final plot twist more believable because of how scheming Kelsier was?

Well, I didn't when I read it. But now that i read your questions, I guess it seems pretty obvious that it is just setting up character details.

[World and Character:] It is important to explain how magic systems work in fantasy, so we have an understanding of how things work. Sanderson does this over the whole book, but really pushes his system forward with the training Vin receives from Marsh. Did he handle this well? Did the training between Vin and Marsh seem like a natural part of the story or did it feel more like an opportunity to expound upon Sanderson's magic system? During this training session what did you gather about Marsh's character?
I thought the magic was explained well throughout this book, and it never really felt like the characters were talking to the reader instead of each other, to me. In terms of learning about Marsh, I think this was our first opportunity to learn about him. Up to this point, he hasn't had much screen time.

[Plot:] Sanderson spends a considerable amount of time describing the differences between Skaa and Noble. Giving us the question, "Why are they different? Should they be?" Do you feel Sanderson answers this question in his book? Or does he leav it open? In particular, why does there have to be Noble blood for there to be allomancy?

He explains this at the end of book 2 actually, In thsi book it is left as an open question.


[Plot:] The destruction of their army broke a large part of the plan the group had. How do you feel about how Sanderson handled the Crews reaction to this twist? For those who have finished, doesn't the outcome of Kelsier's plan seem to make the army almost irrelevent? Like they never needed to develop an army?

I am embarrassed as I missed this plot hole. You are quite correct in thinking that it is unnecessary. And for the life of me, I can't think of a single reason why Kelsier would have done it, unless Sanderson didn't know how the book would end until he got there.

Name: Outoy
Height: variable
Weight: about 350 pounds
Build: amorphous
Eyes: nonexistant
Hair: none
Face: again, not something that is fixed
Dress: nope
Walk: more of a gliding along the ground as the surface of the creature moves.

First impression a mother would have: "Ah!!!!"
First impression a father would have: "Get the torch!"
First impression a store attendant would have: "Ah!!! He's absorbing everything off the shelf!"

How would they respond to:
Do you have a light? Glow dimly
What time is it? "Sun out"
"Get out of my way, I am late!" : Politely slide out of the way.
Getting cut off in traffic? Doesn't care because he doesn't drive.
Being arrested? Would not go unless it wanted to, as it is hard to handcuff an ameoba-like lifeform.
Getting a cold meal at a restaurant? engulf the food.
Being invited to go camping? "Yes. Much sun. Good growing."

Maxwell, I thought the people's responses to your character were hilarious. Though obviously fitting for the character.

very silly

Sanderson uses a lot of action scenes to help pace his book. What do you think of the structure he uses to craft these scenes? Does it work for you? Can you picture the action? Or does it just seem tedious?

When they started off I read them. But after about 3 I just skimmed them. The only one I read after the start was when Kelsier fights the (guy with spikes in his body)

what do you think of Sazed and Kelsier's discussions about religion? Did you pick up on the tie to the twist at the end? In particular their discussion about Jaism from page 173 of my book. Sanderson uses several potent allusions that we miss until later in the book. What do you think of his skill on handling these? Are they obvious or obscure? Give examples.

I enjoyed their discussions of religion, and they helped set up what happend to Kelsier near the end. I thought they were subtely doen, especially when you consider that Kelsier nearly says what he is going to do, but I never caught on. I tried to look up what Jaism is, but couldn't figure it out. I found out what Jainism is, but I'm not sure that is what you weree referring to. My book seems to have different page numbering, as page 173 is a fight scene with no dialog.

In the scene where Kelsier and Vin discover the destroyed thieve's hideout, what do you take from her reaction? Was it believable that she was that cold, did Sanderson build her well enough to this point to believe it?

I thought it rang true.

Atium is a valuable commodity throughout the book. Sanderson has established a large part of his plot on the value of Atium. The only reason its valuable is because of Mistborn; but Mistborn are extremely rare. Do you buy into the economy of his world? Does it make sense and is supportable? Why or why not?

In terms of what is presented in this book, the high value of Atium doesn't make much sense. In terms of book 3, it makes a lot more sense as their are things happening in the background economically that we don't see at this point. But if it was jsut usable for a few people, then it wouldn't be greatly desired.

The way to discover Mistings is not discussed as far as I can recall in the book; other than having a bronze burner be near someone who is burning a metal. Do you think that is effective? Or would noble houses have a way of testing, should Sanderson have explored this further? How would it have changed the dynamics of power to have a Misting who could burn Atium?

In book 3, the way to find more mistings is discussed. (Don't want to throw in a spoiler here) In answer to the other questions, these are all answer in later books. You must have been thinking like Sanderson. ;)

Psst!

I actually liked this book a lot, just to be clear. But the fight scenes seemed to be written in anticipation of a movie.

So I guess I mean to say that the author needs to be very thick skinned, or else we'll just be sugar coating everything.

I think it a fantastic and novel idea. The only thing I worry about is that it's hard to say something negative to the author's face. I mean, they put a lot of work into it, and it isn't necessarily their fault we didn't like it (if we didn't).

Kind of unfair to compare someone to Stephen King!

I have to agree with the fights being practically unreadable. It was liking trying to read about a james bond action sequence or something from the matrix. It just doesn't work that well in prose, even though it works great on TV.

The part about the hero of prophecy I can't disagree with in terms of this book, but in the sequels there is a lot more depth.

I never watched/read a lot of heist stuff so to me it was a bit new, but I can defintely see it being old to someone who has read that kind of material.

Thanks for the replies! I missed the links in amidst all the other things in the post. Now, I was trying to look at the first book, but the sample chapter it brings up is chapter 2. Maybe I'm just a bit anal, okay I certainly am, but what about chapter 1?

Did you post a sample somewhere?