fantasy

Drew’s State of Writing – October 2015

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It’s once again time for my semi-annual State of Writing Update. This serves the dual purpose of letting all of you wonderful readers know what I’m getting up to when I’m, say, slacking on my WoT reread posts or forgetting to do Books of the Week, as well as providing myself with a touchstone to get my agenda in order.

If you’ve followed these in the past, you’ll notice a theme: I generally go way, way off my intended schedule. Sadly, that’s sort of the reality of being a writer who also works a full-time job. Sometimes life gets in the way, and sometimes new things pop up and demand me to write them.

This update, thankfully, doesn’t feature too much of that. Continue reading

Shadows of Self – A Review

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Well, this is exciting. Any time a new Sanderson novel comes out, especially one set in the Cosmere, I have a little field day. It’s been well over a year now since we got a new Cosmere novel (the last was Words of Radiance, which I reviewed here), and the hype has really built. Due to the importance of some of the Cosmere-wide tidbits in Shadows of Self, this review will have some spoilers, not only for Shadows of Self, but also for others of Sanderson’s works.

Shadows of Self

Shadows of Self is the fifth and latest installment in Brandon Sanderson’s popular Mistborn series. Properly the second book in “Era 2” of Mistborn, Shadows picks up a year after the events
of Alloy of Law. Continue reading

Book of the Week: October 9th, 2015

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As promised, the conclusion of my featured Mistborn books is the Book of the Week!* This time, it’s the first Wax and Wayne adventure, The Alloy of Law.

*Not actually the conclusion. A review of Shadows of Self is currently in the works, set for posting either Sunday or Monday.

Alloy of Law Continue reading

Top 5 Siege Battles in Epic Fantasy

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I found myself, the other day, mulling over some of my favorite battle scenes (and sequences) in fantasy, and realized something: a lot of them seem to be sieges. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy a good battlefield chapter, or that fast-paced wars don’t excite me (they do; there’s one in All Flames Cast). There are some great ones out there, from Dumai’s Wells and the Seanchan campaigns in Altara in The Wheel of Time, to the Nírnaeth Arnoediad in The Silmarillion, to the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix, and on and on.

But today, I want to talk about my five favorite siege battles (and a couple of honorable mentions).

5) The Shattered Plains in Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Am I cheating right off the bat? Maybe a little bit, but the warcamps and fighting over gemhearts and all that is definitely a type of siege. In fact, it’s precisely because this isn’t a conventional siege that it made this list. Continue reading

Book of the Week: September 17th, 2015

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Sorry for the late post on this one. I was intending to get this out last week, but events conspired against me. This time, though, we do have a Book of the Week. As I said last time when I covered The Final Empire, I’m continuing with my reread of Mistborn, and moving on to Well of Ascension. Next week will feature The Hero of Ages, with The Alloy of Law after that (and keep an eye out for a review of Shadows of Self in early October).

Well of Ascension Continue reading