M.L.S. Weech's Blog, page 80

Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (SECOND READ)

[image error]This image was taken from Amazon.com for review purposes.  Featured image was taken from Fruitlesspursuits.com, no source was listed on the website.

Spoiler Free Summary: Words of Radiance is the second book in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.  My review for Book One is here. As Shallan Davar prepares to make her way to the Shatter Plains, her plan gets ruined before they even have a chance to begin. She’ll need to find her own way, and in the process, she’ll have to confront her greatest secret and her biggest lie. Meanwhile, Kaladin has escaped the oppression of the light eyes, choosing to align himself with the only honorable lighteyes in the world, maybe. The more he works with them, the more he fears what he thinks is their inevitable betrayal. Just as everything comes to a head, he discovers a plot that puts him on the wrong side of his oaths. What effect would breaking his oath have on Syl?

NOTE: This is my second read of the book. I usually re-read books in a series like this before the new one comes out.  I was still working up to this blog site, so I don’t have access to the original review.

Character: Kaladin is one of the most awesome characters in epic fantasy fiction today. His arc is amazing, and his role in this book is a big reason this remains my favorite book in the series. However, this book focuses on Shallan, who I found came into her own a bit here. When I first read the series, I couldn’t stand her. I’ll admit, this second time through, reading more carefully, her arc was satisfying, if not the type of story I normally look for.  Her past and intrigue are fascinating.

Exposition: Sanderson doesn’t tend to rely on this too much. He avoids most of it via flashback sequences that coincide with the plot. Each time something happens, we usually see a flashback that helps put the action we just saw into perspective. I’m sure he had some, but I don’t honestly remember much.

Worldbuilding:  If you love amazing, deep, complex worlds, this is the book (and series) for you. The scope of it is frightening! How Sanderson manages to keep everything aligned is a mystery. I’m not normally a fan of too much world building. I think Way of Kings got a bit carried away with it in some points. But, one book into the series, WoR lets us follow along without any overly drawn out tangents.

[image error]Photo by Nazrilof taken from Mr. Sanderson’s website.

Dialogue: This is Sanderson’s usually, snappy work. Sanderson is a master at building conflict and character through dialogue. It’s a joy watching these character talk (and more often than not argue) with each other. It’s just fun.

\Description:  This flowed well. I love a book that gives me the details I need and then lets my imagination do the rest. I have a cast in my imagination and a HD visual dreamscape made for this kind of book. I can’t say it enough, Sanderson creates something here that’s stunning to imagine.

Overall: Even better the second time around. I can’t believe how much I missed the first time I read it.  Honestly, it’s embarrassing the number of things I just whiffed on. I’d be reading something in Book Three, and I’d be like, “Oh MY GOD!” Then my brother, who also reads this series would say, “Dude, Matt, they learned that in the last book.”  I’ll confess, it took a while for Shallan to grow on me. It feels like I just skipped her chapters entirely. I didn’t do so intentionally, but I’d forgotten pretty much everything she learned in the book.  I got most of it down now though! Even after reading Book Three, which I’ll post a review here for next week, this is still the best book in the series. It’s simply perfect in any way that matters to me (although I’m sure someone out there can gripe at it). This is the book that made me commit to this series. (Who am I kidding?  I’d read anything Sanderson writes, but this is the book that has me frustrated at the wait for more. Frustrated, but understanding.  I’ll also post about that (the wait for new books in a series) later on down the road.)

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The 2017 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Bracket Starts Now!

[image error]Hello all and Happy New Year!

I’ve been building to this for quite some time, and I’m so excited to kick things off. This is it! Twelve Book Covers of the Month join four Wild Card Book Covers to comprise a sixteen-book tournament to determine which one will rule them all!

If you like, you can take a look at each book cover’s winning announcement: December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and The Wild Cards.

[image error]346 book covers. 43,724 votes. All leading to this tournament! The covers were ranked 1-16 by the number of total votes each received. That means the cover that received the most votes (Loveless) is going up against the Wild Card that received the fewest votes. (The Girl Who Could See), and so on and so forth.

You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.

As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

[image error]Image taken from Pixabay.

If you are the author, let’s remember to be good sports! 1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.

Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.

A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.

It’s been fun, but, as I mentioned when I announced the Wild Card Winners, I’d like to end this tournament on a high note. I’m trying to get 10,000 total votes. Please, tell everyone. Get people to vote. I want this trophy to mean something, and it’ll frankly mean more as more people vote.

Also, if you’re wondering where the 2018 December’s Book Cover of the Month bracket is, worry not. That bracket will kick off RIGHT after the BCOTY ends. So this month will be pretty full and by the time we get to Feb. 1, people might be pretty tired of it. I’m not sure what else to do about it, so I’m open to ideas, but this is what I got right now.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

M.L.S. Weech’s 2018 Tour

Greetings all,

[image error]These two have become two of my favorite readers. This is why conventions are awesome!

A new year means a new chance to get out and meet readers and, you know, sell some books. So I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know where I’ll be. I’d love to see you all there.

Jan. 19-21: Animorecon, 300 Light St. Baltimore, Md.

Feb. 9-11: Farpoint 2018, Hunt Valley Inn, 245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley, Md

March 30-April 1: AwesomeCon Washington D.C. Convention Center. (I go here every year, and I was afraid I wouldn’t get in this time. I was thrilled to get the confirmation email!)

Sept. 28-30: Baltimore Comic Convention, Baltimore Convention Center.

I’m waiting on word back from one event, and I’d like to get a sixth. My goal is six conventions this year. I’ve mentioned a time or two before, conventions are my primary sales method. It’s also the best way to meet you guys. I hope to see you all out there.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: An Ogre’s Tale by Lilian Oake

[image error]This cover image was taken from Amazon.com for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Spoiler Free Summary: An Ogre’s Tale by Lilian Oake  is the story of Lyla, who’s mother gains a strange obsession with consuming food and then leaves. When an elf, searching for something, encounters Lyla, they join forces, and Lyla learns a terrible secret.

NOTE: This is a children’s story, and I feel that the audience matters in this case. While some (sometimes unfairly) demand a stories transcend audiences, most authors actually stick to their audience.

Character: Lyla is a sympathetic character. I think young readers will truly connect to her and her challenges. Her story is tragic, and books of this sort usually deliver powerful messages through tragedy, and this story is no different.

Exposition: Oake delivers perfectly here. Young readers demand movement and progression. This short, fast-paced story is perfect for story time (if, perhaps, not right for bed time). Oake wisely backs away from expository setting and scope to move the plot forward.

Worldbuilding:  This is perhaps the biggest area of weakness for me. It felt as though the author minimized this aspect for the same reasons she minimized the exposition. I don’t honestly know as I never sat down to ask her about it. This is just the sense that I got. However, I think a bit more worldbuilding here would have made the book more captivating for children.

Dialogue: There isn’t a ton of interaction here, but it’s effective and helps move the plot forward. The relationship between Lyla and the elf is a good one and adds a nice counterbalance to the cautionary tale that comprises the main plot. The dialogue is the main device to develop that relationship.

[image error]Author’s bio image taken from her bio page on her website. Featured image also taken from her website. Please don’t sue me. I have no money.

Description:  I liked it, but I like stories that don’t get bogged down with description. What I’d REALLY love to see is this same story with complete illustrations. That would take a powerful plot and endearing character to the next level. The description of the text is just as it needs to be in my opinion, but I wouldn’t dispute fans of more visceral stories feeling there isn’t enough.

Overall: Ogre’s Tale delivers a powerful message for young readers in a fast-paced manner. While a darker story, it’s main character provides a compelling reason to learn how the story ends and, more importantly, leaves room for discussion afterward.  While perhaps not something adults would enjoy, I do think it’s something adults would enjoy reading to their children, but do so knowing, as I’ve mentioned, it’s a cautionary tale.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The Results Are In! The M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Wild Card Round Winners!

Greetings all,

[image error]Five days of voting have come and gone, and that means it’s time to announce the last four seeds of the 2017 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year entries!

To say it was close doesn’t begin to give the statement justice. Three out of four of the elimination matches were decided by just one vote. I certainly hope everyone had a chance to vote and share. The fact is, I need a few days to get the tournament set up. I’m already concerned with how much I’m asking of people to vote on essentially four tournaments in two months. I’ve tried to walk the line between getting word out and pestering authors and followers. I hope I’ve done that.

Whatever success I’ve had, we now how the field of sixteen.  These are the four who moved on:

The Dragon Rider Vol. 1 by T.J. Weekes: Right from the start it looked like Weekes wasn’t going to be denied. She took the lead and never let it go. She ended with 13 people voting her all the way through to the winners’ circle and 52 votes overall. This is now the 13th seed.

Fate of the Big Bad Wolf by Neo Edmund: This cover earned the 14th seed with three voters calling it the best of all eight and 24 votes total.

The Other One by Amanda Jay earned the 15th seed with 20 total votes.

The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson: Swanson took the 16th seed with 20 total votes.

[image error]So it comes to this. Sixteen covers have been chosen, but only one will be named the 2017 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year.  Voting will start Jan. 1 and last two weeks.

My goal: I’m a fan of this sort of stuff, but I want it to actually mean something to the people involved. The best way to do this is to get as many votes as possible.  The Most votes we ever had in one bracket was 6,102 (May’s bracket). I want to shatter that record. My dream is 10,000 total votes. This is a (perhaps overly) ambitious goal.  First, there’s one less round.  In order to meet this goal, I’d need 2,500 people to vote all the way through. I can’t do this without all of your help plus that of the authors and artists.  I only have 400 or so followers here on my Blog, so I’d need all of you and seven of your friends to vote. I’d need half of my Twitter followers or three times my Facebook followers.  In short, I need help.

I expect (and hope) the authors call on their readers. But in order for this to be more about the quality of the book than the following of any one author, word needs to get out. Please help me make this as meaningful as possible. Even if it’s just 16 authors bringing their readers to the table, it’s enough, but it can be more with your help.

I look forward to seeing who will win.  I hope you are, too.

Thanks for reading,

V/R

Matt

Book Review: Operation Breakout by J.R. Handley

[image error]Spoiler Free Summary: Operation Breakout byJ.R. Handley  is the third book in The Sleeping Legion series. I’ve read the others. Here’s the review for book one, and here’s the review for book two.

The Human Legion is still putting the pieces together following a crippling betrayal, but they’re fighting back. They’re working to take the continent while keeping a hold on their fragile, newly-formed union.

Character: I got frustrated with Lance’s arc in this. He’s still pretty much a badass, and it’s not so much the challenges he faced that bothered me; it was more the way he handled those challenges emotionally. Again, this book is great for readers who like fast-paced action, but there are too many characters in too few pages for me to keep straight. I have a few that I liked, but they didn’t get the air time I wanted. Honestly, these books always feel like they need to be another hundred thousand words or so to justify the number of points of view. It’s more of a lost opportunity than anything else, but it’s been my gripe on the series from book one.

 

Exposition: Three books in, I expected this to get better, and it did. I didn’t feel much in the way of info dumping. I think Handley improved his description and dialogue to reduce the amount of “telling” vs “showing.”

Worldbuilding:  A race (one reason the number of characters hurt is that I can’t really recall this race exactly…they’re basically giant war rabbits…)  gets center stage, and I appreciate when scifi has non-human characters take center stage. They were cool to watch. We get more insight. I think this was the best in the series in regard to this category.

[image error]Dialogue: There wasn’t exactly a lot of it when I think about it. What was there felt pretty decent. I thought it was average. I remember some of the back and forth best.

Description:  Handley took another step forward in this. It wasn’t so much the amount, but the placement I noticed. I found the world more inviting because I could see what I needed to see when I needed to see it. It’s fun watching a new writer develop like that. Each book was better than the last.

Overall: While it didn’t have some of the arc I wanted from book two, it had what the others have. If you like scifi action at a fast pace, this book won’t disappoint. There’s more development here than in the first two, but readers will have to keep their eyes sharp to keep track of which character is where. Quick reads like this do help to break up the monotony and rest the eye from some of the thicker tomes I usually read. This had more action that the others (a huge plus). The fight scenes were particularly fun. If you like his work, you’ll like this book.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The 2017 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Wild Card Round Begins!

[image error]Greetings all,

I have to admit, I’m super excited about this project. I love tournaments, and I love book covers. I’m having a lot of fun with it, and I hope you all do as well.

In addition to giving you the link and some guidance, I wanted to give you some insight as to why these eight covers were chosen.  So here we go!

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab: This is one of only two covers to receive more than 1,000 total votes. Unfortunately, it face the OTHER cover. Schwab’s 1,091 votes didn’t carry it through. It was the runner up, but didn’t make on it’s second time up. I still think it’s an amazing cover, and with 1,000 people behind it, I felt it deserved a final try.

The Dragon Rider Vol. 1 by T.J. Weekes: This was November’s runner up, and since I always put the runner up in the next tournament, I felt this time should be no different.

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan: This book was one of only two to finish as runner up in two different brackets. A lot of people liked this book cover. So if this was one of two books to be a runner up twice, it only stands to reason the other would get in too, right?

The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson: Your darn right it stands to reason.

[image error]Anaerfell by Joshua Robertson and J.C. Boyd: This doesn’t surprise anyone who follows my blog, but I had to make the announcement. This book was in a downright fight with Bentz Deyo, and it was just fun to watch. The cover also received a total of 574 votes.

The Other One by Amanda Jay: It finished as a runner up and received a total of 433 votes.

To Brave the End by Frank Dorrian: Another runner up to fall just short, it received 348 votes in it’s first try.

Fate of the Big Bad Wolf by Neo Edmund: It also received 348 votes. It was a runner up, and even performed pretty well on its second try.

Three hundred votes is an important benchmark. Since I went to the two-week, total voting style, the winners all received a maximum of 350 votes. So my thinking was people who earned enough votes to win under the old system deserved a chance with the new one.

Now that’s said, let’s go over the basics:

This bracket has eight books. The top four selected will move on to the 2017 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year Bracket. Winning is good (and I use vote totals to create the matches in the BCOTY bracket, but all you really want is to finish in the top four.

You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.

As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

[image error]Image taken from Pixabay.

If you are the author, let’s remember to be good sports! 1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.

Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.

A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

 

 

 

Failure is a choice; success is inevitable

Greetings All,

I’m sitting at an airport getting ready to see the family. As I considered what to talk about (I’m a discovery writer at heart, so mosts of my posts are organically conceived if not written), I came across a post on FB about George Lucas and how he had to fight to get Star Wars out to the people.  THAT post reminded me of a conversation I had with my sister recently.

I think if I die, and anyone cares to throw out a quote from me,[image error] I’d like it to be this:

Failure is a choice; success is an inevitability.

At any point in time, an individual is free to decide he or she no longer wants to pursue those goals. The reasons can be disappointment or a new opportunity that’s of more interest, but it is the individual who chooses to stop.

But what happens to those who decided not to give up?

Here are a few of the (perhaps a bit less known) stories of those who didn’t give up.  My source for this is storypick.com, where you can find the full story here.

Brian Acton was turned down by Twitter and Facebook before he and Jan Koum built WhatsApp.

Steven Spielberg was actually rejected by USC’s School of Cinematic Arts because of his C average.  He took an unpaid intern job at Universal  and waited for his chance.  I think it worked out.

There are more stories. I’d be interested to hear yours (if you feel you’ve arrived) or another. There are a lot I’m aware of, so I’m particularly interested in stories people may not already know, but that doesn’t preclude you from placing whatever story of inspiration you wish in the comments below. I’d love to hear them.

Why is it, in stories we demand characters who perceiver through failure, but fail to recognize the lesson that teaches us. Anything worth having is worth working for.

[image error]I’ve published two books so far. I’m not ever going to stop writing. I’ll either make it, or I won’t, but I believe I’ll succeed in time if I just keep at it. I believe the same of you.

If you choose to let go of this path, don’t choose because you’ve decided to be a failure. Instead, choose to move on to something new. If you look at it that way, you weren’t a failure, you simply found something more worth your time.  But if the thing you’re after means everything, I implore you to be willing to risk everything to get it. That’s my point of view.

So strive. Fight. Work. Do so knowing it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. You will get there, so long as you keep working.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Announcing the November Book Cover of the Month!

Hello everyone,

It’s kind of cool to know I’ve been doing this for a year. We’ve picked out 12 amazing covers, and we still have some work to do (more on that below).  For now, the November Book Cover of the Month bracket has just wrapped up. This month had a great surge of voters. Three particular authors came out in force and really got their following involved, and that’s wonderful to me.

We had 4,177 votes this month.

This was honestly one of my favorite months to watch. We had some wonderful matches, and one of those matches has me clicking refresh even as I type this announcement. The Sweet Sixteen match between Prey till the End by S.L. Eaves and Living the Good Death by Scott Baron was back and forth for nearly a week. I don’t remember that match being more than five votes apart, and they both had more than 30 people vote their covers all the way to the winners’ circle.  It’s so close, I actually feel the need to type an announcement for each of those covers, and wait until the bracket closes to edit the winner in.  I had to check back and fourth, but it was fun watching it.

The November Book Cover of the Month is…

 

 

[image error]

 

 

Living the Good Death by Scott Baron! If you’re curious about how I felt about the book, check out the Facebook post that I posted when this book first landed on the bracket, here.

Let’s look at the stats!

Baron received 268 total votes. He edged Eaves out of the sweet sixteen by two votes.

[image error]Here’s the part where people may upset. Though Eaves would have one had she beaten Baron, she didn’t. The runner up to this (the author who won her side of the bracket) was  The Dragon Rider Vol. 1 by T.J. Weekes. I did a lot of thinking, but the fact is Weekes earned the right to try again by winning her bracket. Sure, the NCAA may loop Alabama into the playoffs, and I can’t even say I’ve never done it (though that was an extreme even beyond this) before, but the Book Cover of the Year Wild Card Round only has one slot left, and Weekes earned it.  You have to be the runner up.  So Weekes will be the final entry into the aforementioned (and still to be discussed below) wild card round.

For Baron, he doesn’t have to stress over another “tryout” bracket. He’s in the main Book Cover of the Year Bracket.  Let’s look at the summary for his book.

 

 

Amazon:

(START BLURB)

Wearing nothing but psych ward pajamas and fluffy slippers, the odd girl wasn’t really dressed to kill. Being the Grim Reaper, however, she felt confident she could make it work.

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind of day when things just don’t go your way. Like when your botched suicide attempt and claims of supernatural powers get you hauled to the emergency room, placed under observation, then transferred to a locked-down psych facility.

The girl who thought she was Death had failed miserably in her efforts to shed the troublesome human body in which she was trapped. The result? Finding herself surrounded by nutjobs, locked in a mental ward ruled by a humorless doctor with a Napoleon complex and a penchant for sleight of hand. Sure, she did technically bring it on herself, but how was she to know that trying to off herself in public and using her outside voice to proclaim she was Death incarnate would result in a psych ward lockdown?

With that problematic little blunder behind her, the concerns now vexing her were pressing. Escape, both from the mental hospital, as well as from this plane of existence, was vital, but equally so was addressing the other issue haunting her. The big one. The one that could end the world. The issue that with Death missing, people would rather inconveniently no longer die like they were supposed to. Eventually, things would hit critical mass. She just didn’t know when.

The situation was, well, grim, to say the very least. An irony not lost on the girl claiming to be the Death.

(END BLURB)

I’ve added Living the Good Death to my TBR. (For those who are new to the deal, I buy the Book Cover of the Month to read and review in the future. I bought Manning’s first cover, Howard’s cover, Deyo’s cover, Jones’s Cover, Hubert’s Cover,  MacNiven’s cover,  Jon del Arroz’s, Rob J. Hayes’s, Chris Philbrook’s, R.L. Week’s, and Manning’s second winning cover. They are also on my TBR. Manning’s review is here.  Howard’s review is here. Deyo’s review is here. The review for Jones’s book is here.  I’m currently reading Hubert’s book.

Here’s Baron’s Facebook page. Give it a like if you’re curious about him and his work.

I’ll try to find out who did that cover. I’m frankly behind my interviews, but I’m hopeful my vacation can give me a chance to get caught up.

But wait! There’s more!  Starting Dec. 18, my Book Cover of the Year Wild Card Round begins. Weekes and seven other authors who came up just short of winning a monthly bracket will have five days to duke it out for one last, last chance to get into the Book Cover of the Year bracket. The way it will work is the top four winners (as determined by Brackify) will earn the four remaining slots into the Sweet Sixteen of 2017 (I like the ring of that).

[image error]

V.E. Schwab’s A Gathering of Shadows.

Michael J. Sullivan’s Age of Myth.

Kara Swanson’s The Girl Who Could See.

Joshua Robertson’s and J.C. Boyd’s Anaerfell (Which I’ve read and reviewed).

Amanda Jay’s The Other One.

Frank Dorrian’s To Brave the End.

And Neo Edmund’s Fate of the Big Bad Wolf.

When the bracket kicks off, I’ll post a summary of why each book made it into the Wild Card Round, but I felt it fair to announce who all eight were so, if they read this, they can start to summon their followers.

Now, that brings up some additional news. My first ever BOOK COVER OF THE YEAR tournament is coming. This will feature all 12 BCTOM winners and four “Wild Card” covers.

The Book Cover of the Year Bracket (for which I’m purchasing an actual trophy to send to the artist) will launch Jan. 1. It will be a two-week tournament. Then, I’ll launch the December Book Cover of the Month, which will start off a new year. Yes, that means I’ve decided to to this at least one more year. It’s exhausting, but matches like this one make it fun, and I’ll do it as long as it’s fun.

I will continue to identify and select covers for each day from Amazon’s New Release section for fantasy and science fiction. If you follow and like my Facebook page, you can see what covers will make the bracket.

Thanks for reading

Matt

Book Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

[image error]Image taken from Amazon for review purpose.

Spoiler Free Summary: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson  is the first book in The Stormlight Archive. This was my third time reading this book. I wanted to read it before reading Oathbringer (the cover for which is in my November Book Cover of the Month Bracket).

 

Kaladin  is a man who was betrayed and enslaved for doing the right thing. Forced to help a team of men carry heavy bridges miles just to charge enemy arrows, he chooses to do what he can to protect those bridgemen.

Shallan is a noble woman from a minor house. She’s trying to save her family’s household. Her plan to do it? Rob the most powerful, respected scholar in the world. What’s she stealing? A religious artifact everyone seems to be after.

Dalinar is a general and high prince of his house, but he’s having strange visions, and those visions are forcing him to change not just how he looks at himself, but how he looks at the war he’s been fighting. His son doubts him, the other high princes think he’s lost his mind. Never-the-less, he’s trying to unite those same high princes to end a war that’s gone on for far too long. His fear is that his current war is nothing compared to what’s coming.

Character:  This is always a strength for Sanderson. I did an entire study on Dalinar. Kaladin is one of my favorite characters ever.  What I’ll admit is that the first few times, I didn’t like Shallan at all.  Functionally speaking, her only real role is to provide an economic lecture and show off some of the world building. It’s great for fans of deep, realistic worlds, but the first two times reading, all I wanted to do was skip her chapters to get to one of the others. For some reason (probably having read Words of Radiance), Shallan didn’t bother me nearly so much.  I saw her conflict and story line more compelling in this case.

Exposition: There was a scene here or there that I felt slowed the book down. The thing I have to note is I’m not a huge world building or description guy. Others demand that level of detail. But I have to admit there were a few scenes I felt could have gone a lot faster. In any story this big, one expects a bunch of exposition.  Honestly, I think there’s less in this book than most, but the large blocks drag a reader down here or there. Don’t let that stop you (if you’re like me). Keep reading, I promise you won’t regret it.

[image error]Image by Nazrilof taken from Mr. Sanderson’s Website for this review.

Worldbuilding:  This was massive. Even putting aside the scope of the Cosmere, this planet had so much going on for it. It made me want to travel to Roshar just to see everything. Fans of science fiction, with its detailed planets and culture, will get a huge kick out of this.

Dialogue: Sanderson always has great, snappy dialogue. He really does a good job of showing honest, realistic conversations.

Description:  I’m not a fan of description. Normally, I warn people because I was fine with a book, but I make sure they know I’m not that into description.   This time, I’ll say there’s a lot of visceral, imagination-inspireing stuff here. There’s just so much to see and interact with. I honestly don’t know how he did it.

 

Overall: How good is this book? This is the third time I went through the book (I listen to audiobooks on additional references with a story). To me, it just keeps getting better. I honestly think I can read this another 20 times and STILL miss something I should have noticed. But those “I should have seen that” moments area always satisfying during re-reads. I keep finding myself trying to ferret out plot points for future books. If you haven’t read Way of Kings, there’s really no better time. You can burn through to Book 3, and then commiserate with the rest of us while we wait for Book 4!

 

Thanks for reading,

Matt