The Wheel of Time Casting Call, Tier 3, Part 1

Well, I've gotten things going here. I want to let you know though, this is actually a pretty tough project. People don't often think about the complexities involved in choosing good actors and actresses for such popular roles who also fit the look of the characters. 'Tain't easy folks, is all I'm saying, and that's just knowing that I have to make myself happy with these decisions - not even considering that you guys will probably want to be happy with who is casted as well.

I want to say a few things before I get started.

First of all, there is no possible way to get actors and actresses who look just like what their character should look like. In fact, it's impossible to even try. Therefore, for my casting, I have given myself two 'rules' to work within. The boundaries are this - the actor/actress just have a similar defining feature as the character, and, he or she must be an actual actor or actress. The first rule means that, if the most common thing used to describe a character is their hair color (say, with Elayne, when it mentions her red-gold/sun-colored hair), then that is the major physical attribute I use. Height is the second-most important consideration after hair-color, since the Wheel of Time makes so many mentions of it. The second rule means that I won't be using people who are only models, musicians, etcetera - they must have had a speaking role in a motion picture to be included.

A few other things worth mentioning. First of all, for more information about which characters are in which Tier, refer to the Introductory Post I made last week. There was a comment that Lan should be brought up to Tier 2 or even Tier 1, and while I certainly disagree with Tier 1, I could possibly be convinced he's a Tier 2 character, just let me know what you think. Also concerning this, please remember I combined the Tier 3 and Tier 4, and that's what we're working on from here on out.

Secondly, for the descriptions of the characters, I am going very simple - I am using whatever is said under "Character Description" about the character over at the WoT Encyclopaedia. Therefore, if the only description there is "she's old," even if I could possibly find her hair character by digging through 10,000+ pages, I am not going to do that, and will at that point make a few assumptions. And on the subject of character descriptions, I have always pictured the Aiel as very much Native American-ish - their heights, hair and skin coloring, and even culture is extremely reminiscent of this. However, due to the fact that the number one feature in describing Aiel is usually their height and their light or red hair, those are the two features on which I will be focusing. This means that most of the Aiel I've cast are Caucasions, and I hope that is okay with everyone. While we're on the subject of ethnicity and race, a lot of time, skin-color is mostly left out in tWoT, other than to say "a person is dark-skinned," or "a person is pale," or things of the like. This is not the case when speaking of very specific races, such as Sea-Folk and Seanchan - I take this to assume that the majority of Randland is Caucasian-ish. I do not intend to step on anybody's toes, but with only a few exceptions, there are no black actors and actresses cast.

Thirdly, I am assuming an infinite budget for the casting of this film. What does that mean? It means that if I want to assume that the director is willing to pay the quite-literally billions of dollars it would cost to get all these people together on the same set, then that is exactly what the director will do. I decided not to limit myself by trying to think "how would one realistically cast this series" - the cast is a very ideal one.

Fourth, for the sake the fact that this may take a long time, and could also have been done ten-twenty years ago, I am saying that all actresses and actors I cast, it is assumed they will remain alive long enough for me to finish this project. That means that I won't be recasting someone who is played by an older person if that person happens to pass away in the near future. At the same time, I will not be doing anything like, "well XXXX actress would have made a great YYYY character 10 years ago, let's pretend she's still only ZZZZ years old." That's just goofy (as much as I want(ed) Julia Ormond to play Moraine originally).

And finally, a note about pictures - in particular, in regards to female pictures. In my scouring, I have found that for most of these actresses, under the age of say, 30, the pictures tend to be like they're modeling a dress. Many were pseudo-pornographic. I have tried to choose pictures where the actress or actor looks professional, and in certain situations, may even look like they're playing the role they're in. However, for some of the actresses, it was like swimming up a waterfall to find pictures that didn't look like they were selling lingerie. With that being said, some of the females' pictures are rather, ahem . . . skimpy . . . so hopefully that won't cause any offense. And it's not that there weren't also plenty of male photos of similar ilk, but definitely, it seems to me that actors are photographed in suits much more often than actresses are photographed in dresses. Ah well...

Well, that's all the intro we need, I believe. Let's get started, shall we? Here are the first eight of Tier 3 (and Tier 4, technically) in alphabetical order.

Adeleas Namelle/Vandene Namelle
These twin sisters have been in the series for almost as long as the heroes, though they have had limited screen time. The descriptions of these Sisters usually includes the fact that they are both very old, that they both have white hair, and that they both have very fine features. Well, I'm just going to use one actress to play both parts (since there is a bit of humor in that Mat could never tell them apart), and that person is Maggie Smith.

Put a little bit of dye in Maggie's hair, and you would not even be able to tell that the description above isn't just talking about her, instead of fictional characters. Maggie is a very stately lady, often playing sophisticated parts in movies with a very serious manner. Here's a picture of her being 'wizardly,' suitable for either character.

Places you've possibly seen her:
The Harry Potter Movies
Sister Act
Hook

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Alanna Mosvani
Ah yes, that woman, the one who bonded Rand against his will, and then has done very little in the seven books since then to redeem herself. She is supposed to be very beautiful, often described as 'dark and fiery.'

Gina Holden has played a lot of one-shot roles in television shows, and each time I've seen her (which has been on Supernatural and Smallville), I've been at least relatively impressed with her acting, and thoroughly impressed with her looks. Here she is wearing her Ajah's colors (what little she's wearing, that is).

Places you've possibly seen her:
Saw3D
Various CW TV Shows
Harper's Island

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Alivia
The ex-damane in Min's fabled Viewing, the person who will 'help Rand die.' She likely has a pretty important role to play. She is over four hundred years old, but doesn't look it, due to her remarkable strength in the One Power. She has yellow hair with streaks of white, and 'fine wrinkles' at the corners of her 'blue eyes.'

Meredith Baxter is most commonly known for the roles she played in Family and Family Ties. She has a very strong personality and look, and has just the right amount of crow's feet to look like what I picture of Alivia, though she would need a bit of dye. Here she is in damane-gray (though not a dress).

Places you've possibly seen her:
Family
Family Ties
Various Cold Case episodes

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Alliandre Kigarin
Alliandre, Queen of Ghealdan, Blessed of the Light, Defender of Garen's Wall, is one of Perrin's followers as of Towers of Midnight - she asked for his protection from Masema, and has been with Perrin ever since. She is in her middle years, has dark hair, and a long-ish nose.

Julia Ormond is one of two actresses I would have chosen to play Moraine if I had done this twelve-fifteen years ago. She was once beautiful, but I don't find that she's aged particularly well. She still has a majestic presence about her, though, and should be able to pull the Queen with no problem. Best 'queenly' picture of her I could find.

Places you've possibly seen her:
First Knight
Sabrina
Legends of the Fall

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Aludra
Aludra is the Taraboner Illuminator who has run into (and been hanging out with) Mat several times now. She has dark hair (no longer in braids in the Taraboner style), is pretty, and has a 'small, full mouth.' The 'full mouth' description is an odd one, I assume it means 'full lips,' so that's what I went with.


Rachel McAdams fits that criteria, as long as my definition of RJ's description works (and honestly, even if it doesn't, I'm going with it). I never really liked Rachel McAdams, though my wife is very fond of her as an actress. She tends to be stronger in mostly comedic roles, I feel, but I'm willing to give her a chance.

Places you've possibly seen her:
Sherlock Holmes
Red Eye
Wedding Crashers

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Amys
Our first Aiel to be cast, Amys is one of the Wise One Dreamwalkers, and is also a channeler of the One Power. Because of this, she looks younger than she really is, though she has white hair anyway. As an Aiel, she needs to look strong and fierce.


I've gone with Patricia Wettig, who does not have white hair, but I think that can be dealt with pretty easily. What she does have is strength of character, and a strong, tall presence. Her voice could be a bit stronger, from what I imagine of Amys, but once again, I believe that could just be handled by her acting.

Places you've possibly seen her:
Brothers and Sisters
Prisonbreak
Cityslickers I and II

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Androl Genhald
Androl is a Dedicated at the Black Tower, first introduced in Winter's Heart, and then playing a much larger role in Towers of Midnight. His only true description that I've found is 'square-faced with heavy eyebrows,' so that gives us a lot of opportunities to pick and choose. And I'm going with someone that (my guess is) many will believe should be reserved for higher-tiered characters.


Zachary Quinto, the guy with the heaviest eyebrows I can find, looks suitably brooding and dark to be a Dedicated under the thumb of Mazrim Taim. He has some pretty serious acting chops, and even looks the part - behold, here he is in an Asha'Man coat! :)

Places you've possibly seen him:
Heroes TV Show
Star Trek (2009)
Various Single Appearances on TV through the 2000's

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Aram
Aram is the grandson of Raen and Ila, and is a Tinker. He is dark haired, dark-eyed, and handsome, and is a youth like Our Heroes. Until is untimely demise in Knife of Dreams, he was hanging around Perrin, acting rather surly all the time.


The least-famous celebrity on this casting call today goes to Aram - Aaron Johnson will be his actor. I actually don't know him extremely well, but thought he was pretty good in Kick-Ass. Here he is, looking too damned pretty (and quite Frodo-like) for his own good (I'm sure Perrin would have something to say about it as well).

Places you've possibly seen him:
Kick-Ass
Nowhere Boy
Shanghai Knights

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Well, there you have it. Part one, the first eight, which also happened to be all the "A's" in Tier 3/4. I will be doing eight more next week as well, until we're done with this Tier. I do hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope you'll comment if you find any particular improvements I could make, or have any questions to ask. I will say, I have already chosen all the actors and actresses to play the characters, so you don't need to give me any suggestions unless you just want to. But I won't confirm or deny anyone until they've been posted here on the site! :)

Cheers!
-E.S.

The Wheel of Time Casting Call (Take 2) Introduction

Okay, so I'm back, and I have figured out how this is going to work, and thought I would let those of you reading know what's going on, so you have an idea what to expect.

Basically, with the help of some kind people over at Theoryland Forums, I have set up a ranking system for most of the major players in the Wheel of Time. Here is the criteria I used to rank characters.

Tier One Characters are arguably the story's 'main characters' - those who the plot and premise of the Wheel of Time revolve around. There may be a couple names in here that look out of place, but I will explain them if questions arise. Tier One Characters are (in alphabetical order by first name):

Egwene al'Vere, Elayne Trakand, Ishamael / Elan Morin Tedronai, Lanfear / Mierin Eronaile, Matrim Cauthon, Moraine Damodred, Moridin, Nynaeve al'Meara, Perrin Aybara, Rand al'Thor

Tier Two Characters are characters who are the major instigators of sub-plots, have lots of close connections with Tier One Characters, and who play major roles throughout most of the series, in some way or another. They are (again, alphabetically):

Aginor / Ishar Morrad Chuain, Alviarin Freidhen, Aran'gar, Asmodean / Joar Addam Nessosin / Jasin Natael, Aviendha, Balthamel / Eval Ramman, Be'lal / Duram Laddel Cham / High Lord Samon, Cadsuane Melaidhrin, Couladin, Cyndane, Demandred / Barid Bel Medar, Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, Fortuona (Tuon) Athaem Kore Paendrag, Galad Damodred, Gawyn Trakand, Graendal / Kamarile Maradim Nindar, Logain Ablar, Mazrim Taim, Mesaana / Saine Tarasind / Danelle Sedai, Min Farshaw, Moghedien / Lilen Moiral / Gyldin / Marigan, Morgase Trakand, Osan'gar, Padan Fain, Rahvin / Ared Mosine / Gaebril, Sammael / Tel Janin Aellinsar / Lord Brend, Semirhage / Nemene Damendar Boann / Anath, Sevanna, Siuan Sanche, Thom Merrilin, Verin Mathwin, Zarine (Faile) Bashere

Big list, but there's a bigger coming.

Tier Three Characters were the trickiest to come up with, because with 1800 named characters in this series, I could make tons of tiers, but I needed this one to be the last major tier I cast. The criteria for characters belonging to this tier are that they have to have contributed to the sub-plots in significant ways, either through politicking, constant 'screen time,' or manipulating events to work out in specific ways. This is by far the largest of the tiers. Observe:

Alanna Mosvani, Alliandre Kigarin, Aludra, Amathera, Amys, Aram, Bain, Bair, Basel Gill, Bayle Domon, Berelain sur Paendrag, Beslan, Birgitte, Chel Vanin, Chiad, Colavaere Saighan, Dain Bornhald, Damer Flinn, Darlin Sisnera, Daved Hanlon / Doilin Mellar, Davram Bashere, Delana Mosalaine, Dobraine Taborwin, Dyelin Taravin, Eamon Valda, Egeanin (Leilwin) Tamarath, Elyas Machera, Fager Neald, Galina Casban, Gareth Bryne, Gaul, the Gholam, Herid Fel, Ingtar of House Shinowa, Isam, Jaichim Carridin, Jain Farstrider / Noal, Jaret Byar, Joline Maza, Juilin Sandar, Jur Grady, (al')Lan Mandragoran, Leane Sharif, Lelaine Akashi, Liandrin, Loial son of Arent son of Halan, Martyn Tallanvor, Masema Dagar, Melaine, Merana Ambrey, Merilille Ceandevin, Morvrin, Myrelle Berengari, Pedron Niall, Pevara Tazanovni, Rhuarc, Rodel Ituralde, Romanda Cassin, Sebban Balwer, Sheriam Bayanar, Silviana Brehon, Sorilea, Sulin, Suroth Sabelle Meldarath, Talmanes of House Delovinde, Tam al'Thor, Tarna Feir, Teslyn Baradon, Therava, Turak Aladon, Tylin Quintara of House Mitsobar, Valan Luca

Finally, the last tier.

Tier Four Characters are people I feel need to be casted whether or not they've significantly contributed to the story (though some have, just in subtle ways, such as Noam) - it could probably be argued that this Tier is basically my favorites that didn't make it onto the previous Tier, but I want to cast anyway. ;) Here you go:

Adeleas Namelle, Alivia, Androl Genhald, Caraline Damodred, Carlinya, Elza Penfell, Faolain Orande, Geofram Bornhald, Jahar Narishma, Laras, Lopin, Nalesean of House Aldiaya, Nerim, Noam, Olver, Reanne Corly, Selucia, Shiaine Avarhin / Mili Skane, Sylvase of House Caeren, Theodrin Dabei, Toram Riatin, Uno Nomesta, Vandene Namelle, Weiramon Saniago

So, a few notes about who I left out. I left out the leaders of all the Houses that competed with Elayne for the Rose Crown, I left out most of Liandrin's original Thirteen, and tons of other named Aes Sedai who haven't really had a part worth mentioning in the story, and it is probably very obvious that I have left out any Sea Folk - I'm unsure of any of their contributions to the story (other than as a passive-aggressive-almost-antagonistic role, if such a thing exists)

I would like you guys to let me know (if you care) whether or not any of those in there you really, really think need casting. Or, if you want someone not mentioned above, please tell me why. Some of the characters may actually be important in some way, but I just don't think most fans (once again) would really care who played them - the actor/actress wouldn't make or break the movie, in other words.

As a final note, I only made Tier Three and Tier Four separate for my arbitrary listing patterns - I will actually be combining them for the casting call itself. I will start with Tier Three/Four characters, going through about a dozen per post (in alphabetical order), then will move up to Tier Two, before ending with Tier One. I hope to have the first post up by the end of next week (Friday-ish).

Hope you enjoy!
-E.S.

New Brandon Sanderson Interview at 17th Shard

Over at the 17th Shard, a new interview has been posted that has some pretty awesome points in it. Here is a link to the post on 17th Shard:
Brandon Sanderson Interview Thread

The most interesting part to me was his talking about the Interludes, which was basically just a way of world-building by the use of occasional short stories.

He also goes into detail about The Way of Kings Primed, his original ideas for the Stormlight Archives, as well as talking about his thoughts on who the main characters are/were, and how much "screen time" they will get in the next few books. Best part? We will get a "flashbook book" about Szeth!

It's a 40-minute interview, and there are tons of awesome things in the interview that I didn't talk about here, definitely check it out!

Apples First - Chapter 1 of Towers of Midnight Released

For those of you hiding under logs that may not know this, Chapter 1 of Towers of Midnight has been released on Tor's site (and various other places). The chapter's title is "Apples First," and reading through it, it has a very different feel from the last few books. We get reacquainted with a character waaaaaay back in The Eye of the World, and for possibly the first time EVAR in an epic fantasy series, we get to see how a minor, relatively unimportant character (whom most of us most likely thought we would never see again) has fared over the last few years of story time. And Mr. Bunt has not fared well.

The chapter concerns itself with a farmer named Almen Bunt, who has taken over his brother-in-law's apple orchards after the death of said B-i-L, and is struggling with the fact that the area, region, even world seem to be dying. His family back home is starving as worms eat all their potato crops, and everyone around in his current little village are hoping for the best, but seem resigned to the fact that the world is ending. As the chapter begins, all the apples on all the trees, after struggling to even bloom for months, have fallen off and onto the ground, withered and dead. Almen discusses this misfortune with his relatives and friends, and then sends them back up to the farm to see if they can find something to salvage the tiny, shriveled apples.

Suddenly, from behind, he feels a direct ray of sunlight, for the first time in quite a while, and sees a stranger walking up the path. The stranger is none other than Rand, who seems to be faring very, very well after his epiphany on Dragonmount at the end of the previous novel. Now, instead of a dark, shadowy "warp in the air," following Our Hero around, a warp of light follows him. Almen looks on in shock as the apples on all the trees grow back. Rand tells him to harvest them as quickly as possible, and those harvested now should remain good. He then walks on towards Tar Valon, for a meeting with Egwene that we have been waiting for for about six books now.

This chapter is an extremely warm and light chapter by the end, and is quite frankly a huge change of direction from the previous books, and even the prologue to Towers of Midnight. Of course, based on Jason Denzel's and Leigh Butler's (p)reviews, things are still going to get very, very bad by the end, but it's nice to see that Rand seems to have taken things in the right direction mentally.

A few notes:

First of all, I really am now digging Sanderson's take on Rand. After reading the prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 8, I feel very, Very confident in his abilities to finish the series. Those of you who have read my previous thoughts on Sanderson know that I had misgivings the first time I read The Gathering Storm . . . those misgivings are completely gone. And I love his presentation of Rand now after Our Hero's conclusion last book.

Rand himself comments that he may be insane (indirectly, by telling Almen, "It's not you who is mad, friend"). I find this interesting, especially with all his vehement denials in previous books of "I'm not Mad! Yet!" and such. A turn of heart also added rational and logical thought back into his head, apparently.

Rand seems to be in the right frame of mind to hear whatever Egwene is going to tell him, but I still can't help but feel like she really needs to think first once they have their confrontation. If he actually accepts her "Righteous Anger," without so much as a comment - especially if she starts comparing her jail time to his time in the box - I'm going to have some serious issues. We all know Rand has done some Very Bad Things, many of which I'm sure we still haven't seen the full repercussions of yet, but Damn It All, he's our hero, and the only one who can save the world. And Egwene is a carbon copy of whomever she currently finds herself wanting to emulate, always willing to try out a new fad, so I just don't find the situations equal. But hey, that's just me. Many disagree.

Also, what war is going on in Seanchan? What craziness have I completely forgotten about after not having read books 10 and 11 in three or four years now? I know the ruling family was killed, I guess it has to do with that? If so, it seems like the amount of destruction mentioned in this chapter reaches a lot further than a typical coup d'état. Feel free to let me know.

Can't wait for this book.

Cheers!
-E.S.

The Way of Kings - The Stormlight Archives, Book 1 REVIEW and THOUGHTS

Warning: Book-Breaking Spoilers Below

It was good.

I'll start with that.

Honestly, it did take me a little ways into the book to fully start liking it. But the awesome thing is, the second I started liking The Way of Kings (tWoK), I started LOVING it. Literally, starting at about page 485-ish, I could not put the book down. It took me two weeks to get to page 485, and then two days to finish the next 516 pages of storyline.

When I first started reading tWoK, I was very annoyed by a couple things. The first was the slow start. Granted, I've read a lot of fantasy novels in my time, and many have slow starts, but I think I'm biased because I have prior relations with those novels, and have read and re-read them multiple times over the years. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn doesn't really get started until page 190 or so, but from there on, the adventure never stops. By the time I got to page 200 or so in tWoK, my brain just started thinking, "When is this going to get going, already?" and there was really nothing I could do about it. Regardless, I should have been thinking more about the fact that this is just the first book in a proposed 10-book series, and therefore, a little teaser to get us into the world should be expected.

Secondly (and speaking of getting us into the world), it took me forever to figure out what is going on in this world. You see, I read no preview material about the novel before it came out, read no reviews, read no spoilers, and therefore, had no idea that Brandon Sanderson had not only crafted new cultures, but also new geologies and ecosystems for his world. It is expected in fantasy books to have to learn a bit about the people, but most of the time, the world itself still remains basically the same. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall all happen in pretty much the same order (though sometimes are very extended), and the weather systems of the world pretty much do what they do here on earth. There are typically still lions, tigers, bears, dogs, and cats, and you still hear the fantasy characters talking about oak, elm, and spruce trees. Sanderson puts us on a completely new and original planet, where hurricane-like "highstorms" occur every few weeks, and the entire geology and ecosystem of the world have adapted to those conditions. Many animals are crustacean-like, and many trees and plants actually protect themselves from these highstorms. So, all that being said, it took awhile to figure out how the world works. There are still a lot of things to figure out, but luckily, there are nine more books coming to help out with that.

Sanderson has done a remarkable job with a new magic system for this series. If I understand correctly, most gems (diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etcetera) are ordinary, pretty gems, until they are washed by a highstorm. If left out during one of these storms, these gems become infused with a glowing essence of magical power called Stormlight (which suggests the storms themselves are magical, right?). Then, these newly-infused Stormlight gems can be used to power various devices and items. These items include Shardplate, (which I'm not very sure what it is, but it stops Shardblades), Fabrials, which are basically technological items that use magic to work, and others. Of course, the real purpose of them, as I see it, is to actually infuse people with their powers, thus giving us one of the types of magic Sanderson has introduced: Surgebinding. If I've read correctly, two characters in the book so far can use Surgebinding - one of them knows exactly how it works and in the process, makes Neo look like a clumsy three year old child. The other character is just starting to learn of his abilities, and we get to see as he becomes more powerful throughout the book.

There is another type of magic in the series as well, but we don't find out about it until near the end. Up until the last few chapters or so, Soulcasting appears to just be a way to use a specific kind of Fabrial to make magical effects happen. When we finally learn what is actually going on, we get a glimpse into a much darker side of the world than we had previously been let on to. Shadesmar isn't explained, and when it's introduced (as a Chapter Title), we don't really even know what's going on. But we know it's important, especially by the map in the back of the book. And by the way, the way in which those strange ... beings ... that Shallan sees are introduced put some major creep-factor into the books as well. They had the feel of Stephen King-Style horror to them, which possibly explains a bit about why I feel that this can't be a good thing.

Brandon's done a great job in tWoK creating a world we have to get to know. There are things thrown in seemingly-randomly that make us wish for more information, such as quick descriptions of how people in foreign lands look, and tantalizing short interlude-chapters which seem to have no real bearing on the story. But knowing Sanderson, they probably will become very important in the future.

Anyway, that's it for now. The book is good. It definitely took me a ways into it to really start feeling it, but now I literally can't wait for the next one in the series. I look forward to following Sanderson for many more years now.

Cheers!
-E.S.

The Way of Kings - Part 1 (With some Preamble about Brandon Sanderson in General)

I read one of Sanderson's works about three years ago now (I think), called Elantris. I can't remember what the reviews were like at the time, but I honestly recall being not-extremely-impressed for the most part. There were definitely aspects of the book that I liked, but overall, when I was done with the book and had put it into its spot on my shelf, I didn't think about it anymore afterward. That's usually a sign to me that I didn't really get much out of a novel.

Soon after I read that novel, I was confronted with the news that Brandon Sanderson would be finishing up the late Robert Jordan's epic saga, The Wheel of Time (tWoT). I wasn't extremely happy, but I saw potential. You see, I have been reading tWoT since 1992-ish, which means I've put eighteen (and at the time of the news of RJ's untimely death, fifteen) years of my life into this series. It did not bode well with me that some author with whom I had not had the most pleasant experiences with so far was going to finish up the fantasy saga of modern times. At the time, I had always thought Harriet (RJ's wife) should have gotten Tad Williams to complete the series, but c'est la vie. Well, I waited in anticipation, and around this time last year, The Gathering Storm was released. I read the entire novel in three days.

After I had read the novel, which did a great job of progressing the story, I put the book on my shelf and put it out of my mind. Nothing in particular stuck out to me as overly bad, but nothing stuck out to me as overly good either.  My thoughts about the book were, overall, not extremely positive - but not extremely negative either. Many of the scenes in the book were filled with bad-assery - characters being awesome, saying awesome things, and living through awesome situations. Sections of it were written almost like fanfiction - things played out exactly how I had always hoped they would, and some in much better ways than I ever could have imagined. However, many of the scenes left me doing the literary equivalent of a double-take. The scene of Semirhage's spanking, as well as the Hinderstrap chapter(s) both left me with a bit of a "... wait... wha- huh?" feeling, and  left me shaking my head.

By the end of the book, I had a love/hate relationship with it. I thought Sanderson overall did a great job moving the story along, and he took the main protagonist to some very dark places, but I also nitpicked a lot of the story-telling choices he made (because that's what people like me, who aren't actually writing novels and selling them do! :)).

I re-read the book again about a month ago, in preparation for Towers of Midnight coming out very soon now, and found myself actually enjoying the book for the most part. If before, it was an even 50/50 love/hate split, now I would call it more of an 80/20 love/not-love split. Definitely still parts in the book that I have serious problems with, but for the most part, I believe Harriet, Tor, and Co. have made a great decision in choosing Sanderson to complete the series. I'll let you know for sure once Towers comes out in a couple months.

(Whew, that was a lot more preamble than I was expecting. Anyway...)

I have decided to give Sanderson a more fair shot. Elantris was an earlier book, so maybe it's not the best representation of his work. His "collaborations" with Jordan are just that - collaborations, and so perhaps I should not (have) judge(d) Sanderson so severely from that book. Therefore, I have picked up The Way of Kings (tWoK), the first in a probable ten-volume series, which was released just a few weeks ago. I am almost half-way through (a more developed review to come once finished), and here are a few stream-of-conscious-type thoughts I have about it thus far.

1 - Sanderson very obviously wants his world to have a unique feel to it, and has put a lot of thought and effort into the world-building aspects. He has created entire races, species of plant and animal, ecosystems, and geological phenomena to give his world a one-of-a-kind feel. Unfortunately, so much of it has been introduced at once, with very little explanation, that it leaves me (the reader) feeling like I don't ever really know what the hell is going on. I find that to be a bit sad, because there seem to be so many things that I really want to immerse myself in, but I can't, because I'm not sure what's going on with a lot of it.  Granted, I'm barely scratching the surface of this possibly ten-thousand-plus-page-saga, but that doesn't stop me from feeling a bit lost with all the "wonder" and crazy fantastical goings-on happening so far in the book.  Plus, has anyone figured out specifically what a "safehand" and a "freehand" are?

2 - I have problems with names that are hard to pronounce. Frodo, Samwise, Gandalf, Simon, Josua, Rand, Perrin, Pug, Garion, Vlad... these are all names of relatively-famous fantasy characters, and all of them roll off the tongue pretty easily. I've already come across a lot of names in 500+ pages of tWoK that I have to sound out to figure out, and that makes me squirm a little bit. Maybe that's nitpicky.

3 - I don't know if I'm really supposed to like the person who I believe is the main protagonist at the moment.  Kaladin seems the most clear-cut protagonist/central-hero-type character in the story so far, but it's also very obvious that Shallan and Dalinar, and possibly even Szeth, are all very integral to the story as well.  Like I said, Kaladin seems the most likely hero of the story at this point, but I'm having problems really liking him - he reminds me too much so far of Perrin's less-favorable characteristics in The Wheel of Time; namely, his moodiness.

4- *spren are weirdly awesome, especially Syl. *spren (Fearspren, Windspren, Lightspren, Creationspren, etcetera) are apparently little elementals that show up and harass/annoy/coerce/comfort people whenever there is a lot of wind, or people are feeling a lot of fear, etcetera. I haven't really figured out yet what they're up to, but I figure they'll be important in some way, and they are a very neat addition to a new world that I haven't seen before.

5 - The characters are all unique, and so far, all seem to have a purpose!  This can be extremely important to someone like me who did honestly get a little tired with the thousands of named characters in the Wheel of Time.  So far, I haven't felt like any of the characters are there for non-essential purposes.

6 - No padding!  At least, so far, I don't feel that any of the book is relying too much on unnecessary padding.  Of the 400-ish pages I've read so far, I feel like everything I've read has been important (even the parts I don't understand yet), so that's good.

So anyway, looking back over my thoughts, I'm pretty sure a lot of this has more to do with beginning-of-the-book-isms than any actual flaws (except the hard-to-pronounce names), but I'm intrigued enough to figure it out. I think I'll write up my thoughts when I finish the book, which will probably be around Friday of next week.

Cheers for now.
-E.S.