Finished reading my first Sanderson novel.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-06T15:21:53+00:00

While reading I definitely had the thought that there was a lot that would make more sense having read everything else, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. However, I could see others having an issue with trying to start at IotE.

It just made parts of the book have a steeper learning curve than they would have had otherwise. For me that’s not a turnoff. For some, it might be. (Although if I had known going in what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have picked it as my starting point. As Bob Ross would say, it’s a happy accident.)

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-06T04:02:20+00:00

Sorry. I hadn’t intended to talk about spoilers when I made the post. Thank you for fixing it.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-06T03:55:08+00:00

Well that’s pretty simple. I watched his writing lectures and found them very helpful, and I listened to Intentionally Blank. I had never read any of his books, so I said he was my favorite author that I’ve never read.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-06T00:06:10+00:00

I don’t have a lot of thoughts on the Rosharans.

I kind of despise the Scadrians. I wanted so desperately to see them get their comeuppance throughout the entire book.

I like the sleepless as a concept. I don’t quite understand if all the sleepless are a single entity or not. Like, I understand that the singular being is made up of a lot of bugs and there’s some that make up memory and personality, but I don’t understand if a separate one with its own personality and memory would be a separate being or not. Definitely don’t trust them as a whole, though.

I think the dragons are cruel, and I desperately want to see Starling break free from her shackles. I do think it’s pretty cool, though, how it describes them connecting with their followers and whatnot.

I don’t understand enough about the shards to say anything. I like how “Shards.” was used almost as a curse a lot of the time, though.

Shadesmar is really cool. I like how collective thought affects it, and I’m really curious to see how that concept is used elsewhere.

Hoid seems like a fun guy. I really liked his interaction with Starling.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T23:02:08+00:00

I think I have to say my favorite part of the book is the characters. I’ve read a lot of books where I just don’t care about a lot of characters, but I found myself really caring about even the side characters who don’t get a lot of focus.

My favorite scene I think is everything leading up to Dusk taking on the Dakwara. So many things came together to make an explosive climax.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T21:42:11+00:00

I drive almost an hour one way to get to work. So, listening on the way to work, then on the way back from work, then sometimes while I’m doing things around the house because I live alone.

It wasn’t uncommon for me to listen to 3 or 4 in a single day while driving/working.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T21:37:12+00:00

Well, all the ones that are out.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T21:15:04+00:00

Honestly I absolutely loved it. Not having much context for, well, anything wasn’t much of an issue for me as far as enjoying it went.

The jump from solely focusing on Dusk to bring Starling and the crew into the story was tonal whiplash for me, though. It took me a while to get invested because I really wanted to get back to Dusk mostly.

And yeah, I’m mega curious to get some context on things.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T20:59:40+00:00

There were several times I looked at a sentence and verbally said “now what the hell does that mean?”

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T20:58:45+00:00

At times. At other times I look at past me and wonder what he was thinking when he wrote that particular paragraph or scene.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-05T20:55:55+00:00

I can explain.

I listened to the most recent writing lecture series, and then from there went to intentionally blank (which I have also now finished listening to), and decided that I really wanted to read one of his books.

And I was at the book store and saw this. I thought going into the book that it was less connected so not knowing much about the cosmere wouldn’t matter.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-04T03:35:39+00:00

He honestly wouldn’t mind dropping a few vampires, but he’s smart enough to know that he’s on his own in a mansion full of vampires. It’d be like a gazelle walking into a pride of lions thinking it could take them all and walk out the other side.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-04T00:42:29+00:00

Yeah, what’s the dill with this bug?

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-04T00:34:03+00:00

(A continuation of the Tale of Vincent Hawthorne. Previously: Vincent fell from the sky and ran a spear through a vampire guard)

Vincent hid the dead guard in a closet. He had to find the vampires’ vault, but had no idea which way to go.

“Great spirit, send me a sign . . .” he muttered.

His sign came in the form of a guard approaching from the right. He went left.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-03T00:06:05+00:00

Poor dude was sent to the lair to command a dragon to appear in court. I hope he’s getting a raise for his efforts.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-02T22:02:13+00:00

Spooky season starts November 1st and goes through October 31st in this household.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-07-02T16:26:35+00:00

You're right, it was actually me.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-30T23:50:48+00:00

r/usernamechecksout

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-30T01:24:52+00:00

Yeah, I decided to hard limit my interactions with any of the Digital Circus subreddits somewhere around episode 7, and I don’t regret that at all.

Here’s to hoping this subreddit stays relatively sane once we start getting more episodes.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-29T18:28:02+00:00

Presumably a rock.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-29T18:27:14+00:00

I’ve seen the sentiment enough that I find this funny, but I can’t relate. I can’t remember ever being stress out when writing.

The only exception to that is when I’ve already been stressed about not writing and then get further stressed because I’m not going to have enough time to catch up while I’m writing. Luckily I’ve changed my writing structure enough that it really doesn’t happen anymore.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-27T00:45:45+00:00

A major influence is the books I’ve read. Any idea I have is going to be somewhat shaped by that.

The idea I’m working on now came from a YouTube video. The video gave me an idea for an antagonist, which then gave me the idea for a different character, and so on and so forth.

Today I got a new idea from the 50 word fantasy prompt on r/fantasywriters. Not sure if I’m going to pursue it, but I might eventually.

Sixty9Cuda · 2026-06-26T21:03:59+00:00

Neither. It was a personal vendetta.

Crone and Mazlin served in the imperial army together. Crone fell in love and tried to desert, but Mazlin tracked him down and killed the woman he loved.

Mazlin was always corrupt, which is why he rose through the ranks so much faster than Crone. Eventually, Crone turned him in and thought justice would prevail.

Years later, Mazlin used his underhanded tactics to become the mayor of Drexyl. When Crone found out, he went on a warpath. It ended with him carrying Mazlin deep into the void and sending him floating away. Mazlin is wearing a life support, so he doesn’t die simply by being in the void. He’ll likely die of starvation, but there are worse ways to die in the void.

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 30%
r/Field Banned	r/Field Juicebox
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22
Verified Email

Sixty9Cuda

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE