RE: Eagle Time Reading List
07-13-2018, 08:35 PM
Vis a vis Sanderson: I really like Mistborn. Haven't read any of his other full-lengths, but I intend to get into Stormlight someday. There's just something about how thorough everything is and the names he creates; something like the ancient looming evil power being called The Deepness is an archetype of what I wanted books to be like when I was a kid constantly reading fantasy. And I love how obsessed he is with religion.
Currently I have, and have read most of, Arcanum Unbounded. It's "short" stories from his many different worlds, mostly more describable as novellas. It has one long Mistborn thing and a long Stormlight thing which I'm trying not to read since I haven't read any Stormlight yet. It also has the theology of how all these worlds were created, which is kind of a strange story, but apparently they're all related; I'm not totally sure how I feel about that. I have mixed feelings about the stories in general. I really like reading them, but sometimes I think, "Okay, Sanderson, yet another magic system that you explain to us, and none of these characters would talk like that in real life." The story I just started (as well as the last one I can read without spoilers), Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, I love so far, though. It's world is completely new for the story, and no one's used magic yet, they just have to follow superstitions to ward off magic.
My favorite magical realism author is Kelly Link. She's very influenced by what I guess I'd call pop-cultural fantasy, less high fantasy and more our own world having weird stuff in it (think Buffy for example), but her stories don't have plots that are trying to be plots - their characters just slip and slide further into the weirdness. Her latest collection, Get in Trouble, is probably as good as any she's ever published. Highly recommended.
Currently I have, and have read most of, Arcanum Unbounded. It's "short" stories from his many different worlds, mostly more describable as novellas. It has one long Mistborn thing and a long Stormlight thing which I'm trying not to read since I haven't read any Stormlight yet. It also has the theology of how all these worlds were created, which is kind of a strange story, but apparently they're all related; I'm not totally sure how I feel about that. I have mixed feelings about the stories in general. I really like reading them, but sometimes I think, "Okay, Sanderson, yet another magic system that you explain to us, and none of these characters would talk like that in real life." The story I just started (as well as the last one I can read without spoilers), Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, I love so far, though. It's world is completely new for the story, and no one's used magic yet, they just have to follow superstitions to ward off magic.
My favorite magical realism author is Kelly Link. She's very influenced by what I guess I'd call pop-cultural fantasy, less high fantasy and more our own world having weird stuff in it (think Buffy for example), but her stories don't have plots that are trying to be plots - their characters just slip and slide further into the weirdness. Her latest collection, Get in Trouble, is probably as good as any she's ever published. Highly recommended.