Tag Archives: Robert Jordan

I Don’t Know How This Escaped Me…

….but Robin Hobb is releasing a new book on Jan 26th – two days after my birthday! (How’s that for a birthday gift?)  She’s one of the foremost writers of fantasy, and after I read her Liveship trilogy, I’ve been desperate for more about the Rain Wild.  My wishes are granted, because this new book is ALL ABOUT the Rain Wild.  It’s called Dragon Keeper.  Here’s a youtube video with Robin Hobb talking about the new book and writing in general:

Also truly exciting in book news is the just-barely-released copy of The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  I’d be even MORE excited by this, except that by now I feel Brandon Sanderson is wasting his talents on The Wheel of Time.  He’s so much better than Robert Jordan ever was.  Still, I’m grateful for an ending in sight (finally!) to The Wheel of Time saga, and whatever Brandon Sanderson says in the prologue, the story will be better with the reins in his hands.  I’m only a few chapters in, and already I can tell.

And in more personal writing news, I entered a short story in the big Writer’s Digest writing contest, and out of nearly twenty thousand entries, I won an honorable mention.  And not even at the bottom of the honorable mentions; out of 100 winners,  I came in at number 49.  That’s not too bad.  Okay, okay, that last was a failed attempt to be humble.  I suppose you can tell I’m pretty thrilled???  🙂

A Little Bit of Hope

According to several sources, Scott Lynch’s third book, A Republic of Thieves, is going to be released in Spring 2010.

Yes.

I’m currently reading Brandon Sanderson’s newest, Warbreaker, and good golly molly, if the ending is anything like the middle, this is a book that will vault onto my shelf of favorite books.  It actually reminds me a bit of Lynch’s writing, which is why I’m talking about it now.  The snarky sense of humor is nearly the same, and some of the characters could well exist within Lynch’s world.  This “wheel of time’ thing?  Sanderson really really needs to finish that, so he can stop wasting his creative juices on it.  And I say that as a fan of Robert Jordan’s writing. I think Jordan was terrific, but Sanderson could really be a writer for the ages.

On the subject of good books…

Here’s how you know you’ve read a really, really good book: you don’t want to read anything else. It’s sort of like that scene you see occasionally in the movies…a girl gets her hand or cheek kissed by someone famous, and she’s so overcome that she says “I’ll never wash my hand/cheek again!”.

Well, I’ve been kissed by a really good book – it’s the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, and I just want him to hurry up and write another book already! I go through my bookshelf (which is overflowing with books I formerly wanted to read) and I don’t want to read any of them. I pick them up, glance at the back, flip through the pages, sigh over them, then go sew or watch Torchwood episodes. I think Brandon Sanderson may have ruined me. I’d be genuinely concerned, if I hadn’t had this exact reaction to Harry Potter. Or more recently, “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell”. Or C.S. Lewis. Or Scott Lynch. Or… Okay, I think I’ve made my point; don’t get me started listing my literary loves or this post will be five blocks long.

Here’s my review of Hero of Ages, as posted on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com:

The first two books in the Mistborn trilogy were excellent, but it is only in the last one that Sanderson twists everything you know, and everything you *think* you know in such an unexpected, completely original direction that you’re left breathless. All the little clues were there, but he planted them so artfully that they aren’t even noticed until suddenly you realize the meaning *behind* what you’ve been reading! I’ve rarely read such a masterful plot.

I discovered this author by hearing that he had been chosen to finish Robert Jordan’s last Wheel of Time novel. I started reading Sanderson’s books because I wanted to assure myself that Jordan’s family had chosen a writer who could finish the saga successfully. Now I realize that writing Jordan’s last book is a waste of Sanderson’s talents; he should be writing his *own* books. I positively cannot wait to see what Sanderson’s next book, or series of books, will be. I also want to sit down and re-read the Mistborn trilogy over again from the beginning; the first two books will be an entirely different reading experience, now that I understand the truth.

Now go get yourself kissed by Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy!