Flights of Fantasy discussion

We will be discussing The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson starting on February 17! This will get us all ready for Words of Radiance, which is coming out in March! Hoorah!

Oh god, gotta stay away from this thread, otherwise I'll just gush about this book and then get myself even more worked up for the next one then I currently am.

Also, just in case anyone is interested and didn't previously know, Tor.com has about 12 chapters of the next book available for reading now, for free. They're AMAZING but it makes it even harder to wait until March 4th lol.

Don't stay away! Come talk! Re-read! Jooooin us!

I promised myself I'd finish books 4 and 5 of aSoIaF before The Words of Radiance comes out :(

I don't know though, my love of The Way of Kings might outweigh my common sense in the end lol.

I'd love to discuss!

Luke wrote: "I promised myself I'd finish books 4 and 5 of aSoIaF before The Words of Radiance comes out :(

I don't know though, my love of The Way of Kings might outweigh my common sense in the end lol."

Come on. Common sense is overrated. ;)

I'll be joining in. I put The Way of Kings on hold and will read Clash of Kings instead. I'll pick it up again after - probably mid next week.

I bought the ebook some time ago but still haven't read it... This seems to be the right time to start! I'll join you :)

I am really excited for this. Even more so because I realized I apparently have it purchased on my Kindle already! I know I read it before but I don't remember much except liking it.

Is a chapter-reading schedule going to be decided? Since I still haven't read the book I'd like to avoid spoilers reading the discussion thread. This is my first group read ^^'

We are really good about tagging spoilers in this group. I'll add instructions to the top post for everyone's reference.

That said, I'm open to whatever people want to do regarding a schedule. I think it has 5 sections and a prologue if I remember?

I'm not good at reading on schedules. Just putting that out there. Once I start reading this, I probably won't want to stop.

Yeah, I'm not fond of schedules either... As long was we all mark our spoilers according to what chapter we've read up to it will be fine... Like so:

Chapter 12: (view spoiler)[Oh em gee!!!!!!!!! (hide spoiler)]

Ok! ;)

I´m not good with schedules either... I seem to always either get ahead or lag behind. Looking forward to this!

Alright, you guys convinced me :)

As a side note, I already told work that I'll be out on March 4th lol.

Great timing, I'm just finishing it. A lot of things to talk about with this baby.

Not to mention that Sanderson loves to hide things in his work (not nearly to the level of Rothfuss, but still quite a bit). Between the interaction between his other works and this one, and the importance of various numbers, there's a lot of hidden meat for those who love that kind of thing.

I know! I love the idea of the cosmere and there are some clues in this one. I'm curious to what all you are referring to about hidden things in Rothfuss' writing though. I'm not as familiar with that but I'm a huge fan.

Let me try out my newly learned html capabilities lol.

(view spoiler)[All Felurian's words actually make a song when you pull her sentences out of the dialogue and write them down together.

He also hides answers to questions in the words of songs. There's at least one conspiracy theory that's answer is hidden in the words of one of Kvothe's father's song.

There's a lot more, those are just the ones I remember from reading the forums where the real experts talk. Some of those guys have read the books 8-10 times.

Here's the link for Felurian's poem: http://lanceschaubert.org/2011/03/26/...
(hide spoiler)]

Interesting, I need to look into that more. I love that stuff haha

He puts a huge emphasis on meter and music. He's kinda the song guy in fantasy like Tolkien was the language guy.

Anyways, I let myself get off track lol. I'm going to try to start tWoK tonight, but I've got a massive pile of paperwork to get through before Monday, so it's going to be a slow start :(

Mmmmmmm I forgot how much I love this book. Well, not really forgot, but just underestimated how hard it would be to put down even though this is my second read through.

I started this 3 times before I could finish it. I don't know why. I read long books all the time. I love big books. When I finally did finish it I liked it a lot. But I've been delaying rereading it because I've had such a struggle with it in the past. I think this time I'm taking it nice and slow and hopefully I won't burn out.

Soooo...Is it terrible that I've never heard of this book/series before?

YES YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! Just kidding, it's just the first book, so there's a lot of people waiting for the series to get further along/finished before they jump in. Plus, the length does push some people away.

Luke wrote: "YES YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! Just kidding, it's just the first book, so there's a lot of people waiting for the series to get further along/finished before they jump in. Plus, the length ..."

*Smile* I see.

I will be one of those "Waiting for more" people. Especially since I have more than I can handle on my plate at the moment.

Nienna wrote: "I started this 3 times before I could finish it. I don't know why. I read long books all the time. I love big books. When I finally did finish it I liked it a lot. But I've been delaying rereading ..."

I was ambivalent as well for about the first half. The sheer amount of POVs the strange predeath things at the beginning of each chapter and the interludes had me a little wary. I also am not a fan of continual time jumping through a book but the second half makes up for it.

Nienna wrote: "I started this 3 times before I could finish it. I don't know why. I read long books all the time. I love big books. When I finally did finish it I liked it a lot. But I've been delaying rereading ..."

I was like that with Mistborn, but then as soon as I got past the prologue, I flew through them. Sometimes, I think it's just not the right time for books and something inside us makes us wait for the right time to come.

Becky wrote: "Sometimes, I think it's just not the right time for books and something inside us makes us wait for the right time to come."

I agree! What frustrates me is when it seems like nothing seems right at the specific time you'd like to read!

Don't I know it!

Did anyone start on this today? I have one more book to finish before digging in.

Oh crap. I think I read 4 pages of my other books all weekend. So umm. Not yet

Errr... no. I'm probably gonna be a bit late on this one, what with Earth Abides and Moloka'i still to read, after I finish Mr. Shivers and Gardens of the Moon. *sigh*

So many commitments. Maybe I'll skip Moloka'i until later. LOL

I plan on starting it tomorrow as yesterday I had an exam and tomorrow there's another one. And I also have 60 pages left to finish the book I'm currently reading :/

Uh... No. Not yet. I've been rather moody the last week with my reading. Anyway. I still plan to. But I'll be late.

I'll be starting tomorrow night or Thursday morning. Just finishing up Mr. Shivers first..

Hi, being a relative newcomer to the fantasy genre, would it be recommended to read other books by Brandon Sanderson before tackling the way of kings?

Gerard wrote: "Hi, being a relative newcomer to the fantasy genre, would it be recommended to read other books by Brandon Sanderson before tackling the way of kings?"

Yes. Read Mistborn or Elantris first. The Way of Kings is something like 1,250 pages in paperback making it one of the largest fantasy books around.

I started my re-read on Friday I think. I'm almost half-way through. I'm hoping to finish with enough time left to re-read the pre-release chapters on Tor.com again.

Has everyone here read a The Emperor's Soul? (Sorry, would link but am on mobile device.) It is seriously perfection.

Thanks Luke. I'm currently reading the wise man's fear by patrick rothfuss but i'll check out the books you mention once i finish it.

Emily wrote: "Has everyone here read a The Emperor's Soul? (Sorry, would link but am on mobile device.) It is seriously perfection."

I need to. I only recently discovered that it's set in the same world as Elantris. Different continent.

Emily wrote: "Has everyone here read a The Emperor's Soul? (Sorry, would link but am on mobile device.) It is seriously perfection."

Yup, I really liked it. :)

Luke wrote: "Gerard wrote: "Hi, being a relative newcomer to the fantasy genre, would it be recommended to read other books by Brandon Sanderson before tackling the way of kings?"

Yes. Read Mistborn or Elantris first."

I would say this isn't really necessary unless you just want to get a feel for Sanderson's style before committing to a huge book like TWOK. There's no prior knowledge needed from other books for TWOK.

Thanks becky. The length of the book wouldn't be a problem. I was more concerned whether i needed prior knowledge from previous books. I've caught the bug for the fantasy genre

Gerard wrote: "Thanks becky. The length of the book wouldn't be a problem. I was more concerned whether i needed prior knowledge from previous books. I've caught the bug for the fantasy genre "

No problem. :)

It really depends. I REALLY wish I had read Mistborn first since the whole Cosmere thing is primarily based on Mistborn. Most of the theory threads make no sense to me without having read Mistborn.

But if length doesn't throw you, then by all means read The Way of Kings, it's well worth the length.

Ok thanks. The length of the way of kings isn't a problem but if theres any benefit from reading mistborn first then i'll read it first. I'm still finding my way in this genre so any recommendations for any books are welcomed.

With Brandon Sanderson, he intertwines some of his books, it's called the Cosmere. I believe this includes Elantris, Mistborn, and The Stormlight Archive books (there are probably a few others but I don't know them off the top of my head). Every book can be read by itself, but a lot of the more subtle things won't be apparent unless you've read all of the books.

Emily wrote: "Has everyone here read a The Emperor's Soul? (Sorry, would link but am on mobile device.) It is seriously perfection."

Loved it and wished it was longer.

Have you read his short story in the anthology Dangerous Women? That one was goood. Very different from his usual style. But good.