Brandon Sanderson

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , , Leave a comment

Hey Jared,

I’m slowly getting though all of Sanderson’s smaller works and I’m starting to really enjoy novella length. Short enough to read in a couple of hours, but long enough to have many of the aspects of longer novels. But I’m still struggling with short stories.

shadowsforsilenceTitle: Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell
Series: Cosmere
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval, Magic
Synopsis: When the familiar and seemingly safe turns lethal, therein danger lies. Amid a forest where the shades of the dead linger all around, every homesteader knows to follow the Simple Rules: “Don’t kindle flame, don’t shed the blood of another, don’t run at night. These things draw shades.” Silence Montane has broken all three rules on more than one occasion. And to protect her family from a murderous gang with high bounties on their heads, Silence will break every rule again, at the risk of becoming a shade herself.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen.

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Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell – By Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn – Short Story: The Eleventh Metal – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , , 1 Comment

Jared,

Next month is going to be crazy. 7 new releases, and most of those are from some pretty big authors. So many books to read so little time……thus the Thursday post.

Have you seen/played this before? You’ve got nerdy friends. One of them is bound to have this sitting in a closet somewhere.

eleventhmetal
Mistborn Adventure Game Cover Art

Title: The Eleventh Metal
Series: Mistborn, Cosmere
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval, Higher Magic (of sorts)
Synopsis: This story was written specifically for the Mistborn Adventure Game, a tabletop RPG. Please keep in mind that the story was intended to help a GM bring his players up to speed on the world if they haven’t read the books. There are a few goodies for those who want to know more about Kelsier, but this story is not meant to stand wholly on its own.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen. Servers as a good intro to the Mistborn setting and then followed up with the main books.

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Mistborn – Short Story: The Eleventh Metal – By Brandon Sanderson

Snapshot – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , 4 Comments

Jared,

Sorry this is a day later than I said. Things have been crazy this past week and weekend. But neither illness, sleep deprivation, Pokemon Go, or freakishly long books could keep me from reading Sanderson for too long.

snapshot

Title: Snapshot
Series: Reckoners Universe
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: EU, Superpowers (sort of)
Synopsis: Davis’s job as a cop on Snapshot Duty is straight forward. Sometimes he is tasked with finding where a criminal dumped a weapon. Sometimes he is tasked with documenting domestic disputes. Simple. Mundane. One day, in between two snapshot assignments, Davis decides to investigate the memory of a call that was mysteriously never logged at the precinct, and he makes a horrifying discovery.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen. Definately recommend it, especially if you like crime/mystery or are just a Sandeboxer like me. (Ya, I totally think Sanderson fans should be called Sandeboxers. And yes, I’m that level of nerd.)

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Snapshot – By Brandon Sanderson

Elantris – Short Story: The Hope of Elantris – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , , 2 Comments

Jared,

I’m reading this out of Arcanum Unbound, the Cosmere collection of shorts, but this is actually available on Mr. Sanderson’s website for free. But you really shouldn’t read it until you’ve read Elantris first. Normally I don’t read, let alone review, short stories. In this case it’s Sanderson and Cosmere to boot.

thehopeofelantrisTitle: The Hope of Elantris
Series: Elantris/Cosmere; Short Story
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval, Higher Magic
Synopsis: New Elantris, the faded imitation of a once great city. But for once the inhabitants don’t care. They have a purpose. When outside forces have designs of their own for this forgotten place, they’ll do what they can to keep hold of their humanity.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen. The events take place during the final events of Elantris, so there are some major spoilers.

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Elantris – Short Story: The Hope of Elantris – By Brandon Sanderson

Hype Train #2 – Dark Prophecy Cover + Snapshot + Oathbringer + Blade of Empire

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , , , , 10 Comments

Welcome to the second stop on the hype train where I fawn over recent book news and coming releases……Yep, fawn over them.

thedarkprophecyThe Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan (Trails of Apollo #2) is headed for it’s release May.2.2017 and got it’s cover recently. While an exciting next step the cover doesn’t do anything for me. It’s not a bad cover, but sort of….meh. I am very interested to find out what’s behind that cover though. More so since Magnus Chase #2 was so awful I’m concerned this one will also be a let down.

Brandon Sanderson’s Snapshot should be released next month. Set in the Reckoner universe it’s supposed to be targeting an adult audience. I had assumed it would only be a limited edition hardcopy release and finding a specific release date proved unusually difficult. Maybe it’s just me but you’d think that if you were taking limited edition pre-orders you’d have the release day clearly visible. Thankfully I found the Amazon listing a couple of days ago, which had the release day (Feb.17.2017) and have since pre-ordered it. I’m hoping I can read it quick and post a review the next day, Saturday, or Sunday at the latest.

Another Brandon Sanderson book I’ve found a tentative date for is Oathbringer (Stormlight #3). I found it’s Amazon listing which indicated Nov.14,2017 as the possible date. In the 2017 State of Sanderson it was only mentioned as being “November 2017.”

Lastly, I’m super hyped about Blade of Empire by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory (Dragon Prophecy #2). Set in the World of Obsidian, it’s high on my list of most anticipated books ever as the first book came our several years ago and then nothing for what felt like ever. I have barely been keeping myself from reading that first book but until there is a firm date I won’t even consider it. The latest news puts the release in October or November, depend on who said what. I honestly don’t care which so long as it’s one of them.

That’s it for this hype train, I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip and will climb aboard next time……Speaking of next time it’s looking like February and March are going to be very busy with New Releases so it could be April before you have to endure another. Or I could do one anyways if the hype calls for it.

Robert

Hype Train #2 – Dark Prophecy Cover + Snapshot + Oathbringer + Blade of Empire

Sixth of the Dusk – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , 1 Comment

Hey Jared,

You’ll noticed that I’ve moved my Youth and Novella (or smaller) reviews from my usually Tuesdays to Mondays. There are a lot of new books being released in the coming months, especially in March, so the move will let me keep posting reviews twice a week. For those Tuesdays without a new release to announce we can come up with something.

Also, this is an actual Cosmere novella. A pretty good one too both as a standalone and as one of the many facets of the Cosmere universe.

sixthoftheduskTitle: Sixth of the Dusk
Series: Cosmere
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: Magic, Advanced Tech, Cosmere
Synopsis: The world is changing faster than Dusk can keep track of. As a trapper on one of the islands known as Pantheon. His ways are simple, steeped in tradition, and all of them are needed to survive the insanely hostile environment of the islands. But progress must be made and the islands, and their secrets, must be tamed.
Recommendation: A great read for Teens and up. If you like Sanderson then you already know what you’re getting. This novella is highly recommended.

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Sixth of the Dusk – By Brandon Sanderson

Wax and Wayne Series – Book 1: The Alloy of Law – By Brandon Sanderson

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , 3 Comments

Jared

Trying to get this written before all the craziness of Christmas. It was great to get back into the world of Mistborn……Yes, I know it has an actual name but it’s odd and can never remember it.

This book began as a writing exercise to clear his head after some of his bigger projects. It obviously became much bigger than that and aren’t we grateful for it. Sanderson also, just did his annual “State of Sanderson” this past week and I’ve crawled though it looking for all the little tidbits.

the-alloy-of-law-by-brandon-sandersonTitle: The Alloy of Law
Series: Mistborn; Wax and Wayne Series; Book 1
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU/Cosmere, Early Industrial, Unique Magic, Steampunk/Western
Synopsis: Three hundred years have passed since the events that reshaped their world. Guns, trains, and electricity are changing every aspect of society, but one thing that never changes are those who break the law……and those who keep it.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen. This book is highly recommended. However I do suggest reading the Mistborn Trilogy first, but that technically isn’t required.

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Wax and Wayne Series – Book 1: The Alloy of Law – By Brandon Sanderson

Perfect State – By Brandon Sanderson

Jared, , 3 Comments

Yet another short novella by Sanderson. He probably wrote it while putting off Alcatraz 4: Dark Talent. It was very short.  This will also be very short. Like you could read it over a decent bowel movement short.

25188109Title: Perfect State
Series: Cosmere
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Sci-Fi
Audience: Teen
ROTS Setting: Advanced Tech, Cosmere
Synopsis: God-Emperor Kairominas has conquered and unified the whole world with his amazing magic. He loves his people, although he has changed how the minds of his favorite servants work. But that is to be expected. His “rival” provides a welcome distraction challenging Kairominas to duel against robots. Now he faces the biggest challenge ever. Finding a woman.
Recommendation: Teens would find this funny. Also as another book in the Cosmere they might as well get started reading and learning, because unless Sanderson stops writing they will have a lot more to read in this universe.

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Perfect State – By Brandon Sanderson

Reply: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians – Book 5: The Dark Talent – By Brandon Sanderson

Jared, , 5 Comments

Robert,

Funny thing your review came out today and today is when the library gave me the digital edition. So I powered through and here is the reply.

darktalent-replyTitle: The Dark Talent
Series: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians; Book 5
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Youth
ROTS Setting: EU, Modern, No Higher Magic, Dragons
Synopsis: The “Final” book in the Alcatraz series. It has been a long time coming but we have it at last.
Recommendation: I recommend ages 8-12 as per the teacher aid information in the back of the book. This is a very short book I only read it across like 4 hours, disappointingly short.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Seriously read Robert’s Review first as this is a response to his review.

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Reply: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians – Book 5: The Dark Talent – By Brandon Sanderson