20 June 2010

Uh. Yeah. I'm bad with consistency. And the Mistborn Trilogy

Okie doke. Yeah. I suck at this.

Anyway, since I didn't read anything for a LONG time, and just picked up some books again (FINALLY) I s'pose I'll post.

I started the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson recently. Already done with the first book (Mistborn), now into the second (The Well of Ascension).

Dude. BRILLIANT. It's not as sweeping and fantastical as my faves, David Eddings and George R.R. Martin, but it's really really got me hooked by my other book-loves: badass (but normal and flawed) heroines and thieves/thieving/spies/general skulduggery & intrigue of the garroting sort. Not that there's been any garroting per se (yet) but there's been plenty of violence and thievery which just gets me *pokes chest* right here, yaknow? *wipes tear* I really really like this series and this author's writing style.

There's only been a few annoying thesaurus-abuse moments (he uses "maladroitly" often as well as making some words up entirely. WTF is a laget? That's not a thing!). I hate wordy vocabby "fantasae writtinges". It doesn't set any fucking mood, it just pisses me off when you get all esoteric adverby for no good reason. Just say what you mean, don't abuse the thesaurus to make it seem like you're intellectual or whatever, it just starts to feel like a ye-olde-spandex-med-faire disaster. Either write it all in old english or get off the plywood wagon. I won't name names.

Back to the Mistborn books. It's got pretty much all the good bits you'd want. It's kind of dragging a bit, second quarter of the second book (The Well of Ascension) but I expect it to pick back up ASAP. I dig these books a bunch, but for some reason, they're not... pulling me in and making me feel like I want to jump around like a Mistborn or eat pennies to see if I can burn metals or something. I don't know if it's me maturing somewhat (hah! NEVER!) or if it's the situation I'm reading them in (recovering from surgery) or if it's the world (so far it all takes place in once city, which while very beautifully mapped by Isaac Stewart (nethermore.com), doesn't seem to have full life breathed into it.) I'm not sure. I'm only on page 505 of the second book, so it may flesh out a bit more as the story progresses. Perhaps the world isn't as solid to me because every character seems to be a full personality with dimension already. You don't usually get such a fully realised large cast so soon in a book. There's a lot of personalities!

Anyway, I'll get back to reading and forgetting life beyond my recovery and sustenance. Hopefully I'll be healed (crossing fingers) by the time I finish the third book!



Widgets for the three books from Macmillan (Tor):