MERGED: BOOKS you have recently bought/ currently reading / already read

[mochiko.me]

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The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight...

[acecrystal]

Rouge-Danielle Steel

[MollyMillions]

BOOKS you have :

recently bought : Has Christianity Failed You? : Raavi Zacharias
currently reading :30-second Philosophies : Barry Loewer
already read : The Irrational Man : William Barrett

[LaBelleza]

Currently reading:

Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
Anybody Out There - Marian Keyes. But I wanna stop reading it coz it's depressing but maybe if I keep going it'll get better. Maybe.

[endlessknight]

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

[Sigbin Puti]

Incoming walls of text!

I remember the first time I got my hands on Harry Potter The Deathly Hollows. I didn't have the money to buy the book itself but I did have friends who did. I borrowed the book from one and in my excitement and consideration towards the owner, ( I borrowed the book from her just after she bought it, so yeah, I read the book before the owner did ) I made it my goal to finish the book in one day. And I did. I think it took me around 16 hours, give or take 2. But it sure didn't feel that long, time flew when I read that book. I'm sure a lot of people could relate to how I felt, as it was the most popular fantasy work at the time. But I'm not going to talk about Deathly Hollows, just using it as a point of reference.

I started reading Words of Radiance 4 days ago. Book 2 of the Stormlight Archive a 10 book epic fantasy series if I'm not mistaken. And after a total of 12 hours sleep, around 15-20 hours of necessary human activity, and 6 headache pills, I finally finished. That feeling I got while reading Deathly hollows all those years ago? Multiply it by 3 or 4 or 50 and that's probably how much I felt for this book.

I became a big fantasy fan after HP, I jumped from Brooks to Tolkien, Goodkind and then Jordan... I eventually delved deeper into the genre, finding Guy Gavriel, Bujold, Abercrombie, and a LOT more, and now I no longer read books outside of fantasy. I felt the "thrill" multiple times but over time, the thrill came less frequently, most likely because my standards have risen quite a lot after Jordan, Sanderson, and Martin.

And since Words of Radiance is a Sanderson book, my expectations were really quite high. Really high.

And boy was I not disappointed!

I finished just about 3 hours ago, and the fanboy in me is still screaming. How the hell does he do it? Sanderson, why you so good?

This book just stands out in a lot of ways...

Spoiler! 

The Magic system. The world Sanderson created uses Spren as a form of magic of sorts. A spren is sort of like a spirit, or to borrow the books definition, a spren is a physical manifestation of an idea. Thought given form. There are different kinds of spren, honorspren, fearspren, angerspren, etc.. there are also spren based on nature, windspren, stormspren, etc. And the people who can interact with them have special abilities, a person who has a contract with an intelligent spren becomes more or less a Knight Radiant. A Knight Radiant's skills are varied, from flying in the sky to creating illusions. This magic system may sound familiar to those who've read Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, Sanderson's magic is a lot more complex though.

The Setting. It's Level: Final Fantasy. The Stormlight Archive world feels like something you'd see in a JRPG. And I wouldn't be surprised if Final Fantasy had an influence on the author, Sanderson is an MTG addict, or so he claims in his website, and he also listens to Nobuo Uematsu... so yeah, the guy's a nerd.

The Characters. I fell in love with Lift, a character who was introduced in this book, who happens to have just one chapter. She's a 13 yr old girl thief. She breaks into rich people's houses not to steal money, but to steal their dinner. Because rich people have good food. In her chapter, she breaks into the royal palace. She is just too awesome. SZETH SON SON VALLANO!!!! A super saiyan version of battousai the slasher. Seriously, this guy is too bad-ass. Wit, a mysterious smartmouth, nobody knows what he's up to, he seems to be more or less on the side of good though, and his powers are a mystery. Jasnah Kolin, a genius who wants to save the world, sister of the king, a woman who can turn you to ash with just one touch. Tarvangian, a kind and gentle king to the outside world, he is king to a kingdom known for it's healers, he also wants to save the world, and he'll do anything to do it, including murder. These people are just supporting characters though, at least for now. The main characters are even more bad-ass.

I recommend this book to ANYONE who likes to read. If you're a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, then this series is for you( the next ASOIF book will come in 2-3 years so might as well pick another series while you wait ). If you liked Wheel of Time, then you should be reading this book by now. If you think Terry Brooks is an awesome writer ( he's not ) then you you should try other authors, start with Sanderson. If you're a fan of Terry Goodkind ( I doubt you exist, this guy is even worse than Brooks but ah well ), then you REALLY NEED to read other books, start with Way of Kings.

Any fan of fantasy will love the Stormlight Archive. Since Words of Radiance is book 2 of a 10 book series, the wait may be painful, its starting to hurt me already. If you're a bit skeptical and you haven't heard of Brandon Sanderson yet, then you should try Elantris first, it's his debut novel and it's also very good.

( sorry s long post... nag practice ko gmay s ako writing skills... )

[porbidaman]

The Wolf of Wall Street and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street

[arcadix]

The lost symbol, angels and demons,the da vinci code..

[itsmebevi]

Rich dad poor dad by Robert kiyosaki and to sell is human.

[japferp]

How to win friends and Influence people by Dale Carnegie