I am still trying to get through Wind and Truth. I am 66 and don't think I will live long enough to finish Stormlight. I'm glad you said this is an ok place to stop. Thanks, Mike. Happy New Year to you and yours.
So much better reads out there. Don't waste your time on this guy. He is not as good of an author as so many claim. The reviews of this book are starting to show the cracks forming in his halo.
@@JohnAndrewMacDonaldwhat are you talking about? The book is good and currently the 2nd highest rated Stormlight book on Goodreads with over 12,000 ratings.
I don't have much time for TH-cam anymore but I still check you and Petrik out when I can. Thank you for your Discord. It helped me get into Sun Eater.
Thanks for coming on the channel, my friend! I had a blast, you are the man! Great wrap up as always, can't believe you conquered Wind and Truth so fast! Glad you are getting though some of the down stuff. I suffer from depression at times too and it can be rough. Your community loves you, brother and we get it and will always be here! Yes! Loved the read aloud, excited to hear it again! Have a merry christmas and great holiday week!
Fair take on wind and truth, it’s certainly needlessly bloated. It’s also similar to the lost metal last year, in that these are Cosmer books at this point, rather than mistborn/stormlight and so you can’t really skip them.
I have had such a resurgence of my reading since discovering your channel and Book tube. So many great series I now know and love. I just look at the people I subscribe to so I guess I don't get the algorithm things. Here's to a brighter new year, best wishes!
If there's one director who can handle 'too many characters', it's James Gunn. I'd rather be hopeful, hoping for the best. But this Superman just felt so familiar. And Guy Gardner, with that comic accurate look, feels like a perfect fit in a James Gunn movie
I started Oathbringer without finishing Warbreaker. So much FOMO and I love Roshar so much. I plan to dedicate next year to the Cosmere. Also fight Club is a really good palette cleanser
Still here, not going anywhere. Don't have as much time to watch TH-cam these days but still appreciate your channel, Mike. Wishing you and your family all the best for the festive holidays !
I really liked WaT and I totally appreciate what he did with the ending. People who liked it should read Sunlit Man next if they haven't already. And yeah, James Bond is a total tough guy fantasy character, that is the character, so why would someone change that? Just find a different character. Bad enough they wrote a Q character that makes fun of gadgets.
I think you mirrored my thought on WaT, exactly. Im enjoying it but it’s not giving me the same feelings I had during way of kings and words of radiance.
completely agree on alot of you point on Wind and truth. looking forward to your full review. As far as this being good stopping point, I dont know about that, fact that he isnt planning on releasing stormlight book 6 for 9 years is whats really frustrarting
@@MrJosh066717 in your opinion. I tried the first and couldn't even get 1/4 of the way thru. I have read so much fantasy over the years that are magnitudes better that anything Sanderson ever wrote that I can't waste time on thousands of pages in the hope that I might eventually like some of it.
I'm disappointed to hear you talk about Winds ans Truth and compare it to Disney + because that is exactly how i felt about Lost Metal and why it left me really cold is it was obvious there was a lot there i wasn't picking up on. At that point I hadn't even read Stormlight, I was Mistborn only.
One thing that has surprised me about some of the reactions to Wind and Truth, is that not everybody LOVES going back in time to all the different events that I have wondered about for the entire series. Things that have catapulted the book to second place for me seem to have really detracted from the story for others. It's always interesting to see other people's perspectives. For Superman and your fear about Warner Brothers taking it away from Gunn and ruining it: He is the head of their DC division now, so technically HE would be the person that would do that. So Superman should (in theory at least) be safe.
I don't watch wrap ups but your's are the exception. In fact, I always look forward to them! Thank you foe always giving us such great content and I hope you have a happy holidays!
So excited you're reading Lost Man's Lane. Probably my book of the year. I am so glad I decided to reread Gardens of the Moon because it really clicked for me this time around and I'm super excited to give Deadhouse Gates another try next month. I'm reading the final installment in The Perfect Run
I read the complete edition of Bones by Jeff Smith a year ago and after saw that his comics were almost adapted but he was led on by the suits in charge to the point that he finally lost hope. I always feel especially bad for authors whether it's a written book or if it's a comic and their material is tossed around and you can tell they're disappointed by it not happening or it is adapted and it doesn't live up to what they imagined.
I'm at 55% of wind and truth and I took a couple of days break because it got too slow for me, and I see that I am heading into some Venli and Shalan chapters and.... yeah..... not thrilled
Yup…. My overriding thought from reading WaT was holy shit, he Marvel phase 4d Stormlight….. why?! Each to their own, not for me, super disappointed, I would not have picked up book 1 if I knew we’d go down the direction this book took for a few characters tbh - the backbones of the series. I won’t be reading any further either.
Reading through Wind and Truth right now. I'm getting tired of Sanderson over explaining everything. It makes reading the series overly tedious for me.
Gotta be honest and say I'm with you about Sanderson, broadly. The man is clearly an incredibly gifted writer, but I personally don't enjoy all the shared universe stuff. I always feel like if I were to start reading through more of his stuff I'd have to read everything, and there's kinda too much. His books are also paced very slowly for the first half of them, and when a book is 1200 pages I just can't really justify not really having fun for that long. I read and enjoyed WoK, but really I enjoyed the second half of WoK. Is it a good book? Yeah! I even tried book 2 (Words of Radiance?) and got about 600 pages in before I just had to admit I wasn't having enough fun with it. Not to mention I was actively disliking anything to do with Shallan, and I believe that's her backstory book. I put it down and haven't picked it back up. I am just not a huge fan of Sanderson's pacing. I am going to listen through book 3 of Mistborn Era 1 soon. I wasn't a huge fan of book 2, but it had enough mystery at it's ending that I am looking forward to 3. Hoping to enjoy it!
Way of Kings is up on my short list of favorite books and Mistborn is what got adult me back into reading, but I am 1000% with you on not being a fan of needing to read all the Cosmere to get stuff. I really didn't enjoy Sunlit Man or Tress.
Bravo! I've been reading Dark Age since the last week of November. The books in the series are putting me in a slump and not because they're not well written but rather it's not a suitable series for me. I'm 56% done and I think at this rate I'll finish it somewhere around mid-January 2025.
I finished off the Banished Lands books, that was a blast. I look forward to rereads in the future. Thanks for turning me on to John Gwynne! Finally got my copy of Disquiet Gods. I think I'm gonna take your suggestion and do Mistborn next.
I must admit, I'm feeling the same about WaT. I've been bored several times, lost because of the expansive lore despite having read every Cosmere book, and it's just not books 1-3. Still better than RoW by miles. I would recommend the audiobook to get through the sheer volume of it.
Nothing can top Words of Radiance, but I do think Wind and Truth is #2 for me, just above Way of Kings. Having completed all the Cosmere this year, it was such a treat reading all the crossovers and reveals. It really amplified the entire reading experience past Way of Kings, which I found plodding at times. Oathbringer is #4 with the ending obviously the highlight, and Rhythm of War a DISTANT #5.
DC Comics is filled with awesomely strange and silly stuff, and that should all be embraced in any adaptation. If that stuff isn't there, the end result can't help but feel empty. I'm just hoping that Gunn understands that the tone of Peacemaker (which I enjoyed!) is not appropriate for Superman :P
I'm late to the party when it comes to Sanderson, and I just finished WoK. Amazing stuff, especially Kaldin's storyline. I can't wait to start WoR and am looking forward to exploring more of the Cosmere. Glad your enjoying PoN by the way, Thousandfold Thought is going to blow youre mind.
Finished WaT in 15 days too. Back half was surprisingly satisfying. Adolin really was the MVP, what an arc he went through. Therapy sessions did overwhelm the book though. I’m kind of interested in the wider cosmere now. I feel like a lot of things went over my head.
Totally agree with your Stormlight archive assessment. Brandon Sanderson’s books are always hit and miss with me. It seems like he tries to make his magic systems almost ridiculous, and I often get bored with it. i enjoy your book content videos.
Superman trailer has me hyped. I loved seeing everything James Gunn is throwing into it. And he has shown us he does well will large casts in his Guardians movies and his Suicide Squad. I very optimistic about this movie.
Since I'm done with 2024's books, I started on 2025 early . . . with one you recommended. The Pillar of the Earth. I started it yesterday. Thanks Mike!
100% agree. MCU did this to make $$$. Many folks had their favorite super hero and didn't necessarily want to watch every movie. Now here comes Ant man and She Hulk. Easter eggs (like King does) is one thing, but having parts of your story in different books (moves/tv shows) to the point where you are forced to consume every story is wrong. If these were ONLY artistic decisions, I might be ok, but they are financial ones. I would argue the same point for long series (WOT). If you can't tell a story in 2-3 books, then you need to edit/shorten the story ambitions.
Appreciate your authentic reviews, Mike. I agree that Words of Radiance is the peak of Stormlight. I think that, despite being great books, the next books of the series could do well with a tad bit of trimming. I'm looking forward to this Superman. It has that old-school feel to it. As for James Bond...I'm reminded of a quote by Bill Denbrough from IT by Stephen King: "If fiction and politics ever really do become interchangeable, I’m going to kill myself, because I won’t know what else to do. You see, politics always change. Stories never do."
I'm just finishing up Tress of the Emerald Sea then on to Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. After those I'm starting my reread of Stormlight. I have yet to read book 4 so that will be new this time around. Oh and gg Fairbairn.
I've always loved Marvel more than DC, but I loved Smallville... I loved Arrowverse. Some of the Batman movies were really good. And the Aquaman movies may not have been great, but the casting was spot on. It all depends on who does it. I'll give Superman a try before I pass judgement.
Speaking of A Christmas Carol, I'm currently reading a book called Marley by Jon Clinch. It's a prequel of sorts, about the relationship between Scrooge and Marley when they were young men and business partners, and Marley's dark turn towards Scrooge. I'm enjoying it.
Yo Mike I appreciate your channel. Keep up the good work. I guess it's easy for me to say not to worry about whether sharing dark moments will lose followers since I don't know what's its like to have a good following. But for me, you can't go wrong with authenticity. Cheers for 2025
I wish he has wrapped it up at Oathbringer :( Had some cool moments but I wont be continuing with the cosmere. Mistborn era 2 and the last two stormlight books are big let downs and I just dont think Im going to enjoy where its going. Not to mention its going to be a longgggg time to get any closure with the series.
Wind and truth was good overall but has problem of too many storylines some are incredibly like adolin and some feel like underwhelming but needed for wider cosmere sigzil as an example
Mike I’m with you on the James Bond movies. Bond is a male fantasy. I mean he drives a classic car he’s lucky with the ladies he defeats the villain. He’s a man’s man. If they pc Bond they will destroy the character. Like you said we’ve got the old classic Bonds to go back to.
Superman trailer has me excited. From seeing Hawkgirl and Mr Terrific. Loved that version of the JSA. But It is was seeing Guy Gardener and the worst haircut in all of comics.
I have 30 hours to go in wind and Truth I see what you mean. Imo this book is way to long. I'm starting to think about skipping POV's of characters I don't care about
NGL, i was upset Cavill wasn't Superman anymore even if i wasn't a Snydercerse fan. BUT this trailer looks amazing and I'm excited. And i did not recognize Nathan Fillion at first. That hair! 😂
Really appreciated your quick thoughts on Wind and Truth. I did like it a whole lot more than you did, but that's a bit unsurprising - I'm a huge Sanderson fan, and I'm "all in" on the Cosmere. You've probably talked about this before, but is there a *reason* you don't like the idea of keeping up with the Cosmere much? To me it's pretty much a no-brainer because I like all the books, and *love* the connections between them, so there's no real reason *not* to keep up with the Cosmere. But I can understand if some books feel like a "slog" to you then it's annoying to "have to" read them (though Sanderson of course says that he'll keep trying to write in a way that you don't need to in order to enjoy the books).
I read Oathbringer and Rhythm of War back to back to get ready for Wind and Truth and so I’m taking my time. Just starting Day Eight so should be done soon. I will say it seems a bit long to me as well but it might be because of a little burn out. Curious if you’ve read the James Bond books? I’ve read the first three and think they’re very good so wanting to read them all eventually.
I watched Kraven last night and I laughed thinking about all the women who went goo-goo gah-gah over the actor that played Kraven, saying they can’t believe that’s the same guy that played in Kick-Ass. It’s been 15 or so years.
I should be finishing Excalibur sometime this week and started Shogun and The Shadow of What was Lost. Been kind of a rough week. The wife hit a little set back in her battle and we have to change up her treatment a bit and dealing with insurance 🙄
The interludes in Stormlight I feel like half can be left out. I was also disappointed when as I went to start Oathbringer in the beginning it said you need to read edge dancer so I did and felt it added nothing. You were introduced to lift in book 2 and she’s hardly in book 3.
i just started with Mistborn and my god that was really good but i’m getting scared of this being Marvel that i have to read every book to understand it
I’m really excited for Superman Legacy, even though I think introducing Krypto is a little strange. Last week I think the only thing I finished was a Zelda manga of Ocarina of Time by Akira Himakawa. It was really good and made me excited to read more. It’s something me and my little brother could share. I’m trying to finish The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe, book 3 of The Book of the New Sun. It’s good, just really hard. I’m going to try to finish that this week, as well as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It’s one of my favorite stories ever and I’m excited to read it.
I agree 100% on what you said about how the books are getting to where you have to read other stuff about the cosmere to get whats going on in this series. Im not a big fan when authers do this. I will say Stephen King does this well with some of his characters in his books.
I think movie executives think fans will go see franchise movies like Bond no matter what, and we do even go and hate watch stuff a lot. I saw Madame Web willingly. So they know most of us are going, the only way to increase takings is to try and capture new audiences. And in today’s corporate shareholder dominated world, the numbers have to go up every year.
I read about 500 pages of Way of Kings before I quit Stormlight. There were some great scenes, but I learned that some books are just too long for me ha.
I finished Wind & Truth as well and loved it for what it is, but I felt the length and clunky prose more in this book than any previous Sanderson work. I just started Mistborn and I don't know why he stopped doing this but when a character thinks thoughts in Mistborn, he just puts the thought onto the page and uses italics or a slightly different font to signal that its an internal thought. Its super obvious and used throughout fiction. For some reason Sanderson just chose not to do that for the Stormlight Archive and has probably added 1000+ mentions of "Kaladin Thought"s to these books. I know its a small thing but when you add all the other small things Sanderson does to elongate his passages, it starts to feel very bloated. His fans talk about window pane prose, the more I read his stuff the more it feels like a dirty window. Its really hard not to notice the splotches. I still love the world and everything hes trying to do with his characters but going from reading Cormac McCarthy to reading this was rough.
I’m still slogging through Rhythms of war on audiobook (tried reading them but gave up) and have Wind & Truth to listen to but won’t be going further. Brandon massively drags out the story with irrelevant filler stuff.
Creature Commandos is really good. I'm guessing that Superman will be good as well. There won't be shitty reboot origin stories yet again. Everyone knows Superman and I have no doubt this movie will hit the ground running and rely on character work to make us care about the story. The fact the trailer starts with Superman getting his ass beat is proof that they know what they're doing.
When James Bond lost the twinkle in his eye started drinking beer instead of martini’s the movies just became another action movie and not a James Bond movie ( looking at you Daniel Craig)
Not sure it's his style (Mistborn wasn't like this). I heard he SET OUT to write a book/series of that size, his magnum opus. I have an issue with that. There is an old saying work expands to fill time allotted. Well, same for authors that decide they want to write their Lord of the Rings. They find story and characters and locations to fill 1000+ pages. Even if no filler, and best book I ever read, I would argue cutting these books in half and releasing them 6-8 months later would be better for all concerned. Most readers I know would prefer to read two to three great 500-600 page books vs one. 1,400-500 page book. I also presume you make more money selling two-to-three 500 page books and fans don't have to wait 2-3 years for the next book (while they watch you work on other projects). But hey, who am I to judge? He's a famous published author and a multimillionaire.
I am still trying to get through Wind and Truth. I am 66 and don't think I will live long enough to finish Stormlight. I'm glad you said this is an ok place to stop. Thanks, Mike. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Journey before Destination.
So much better reads out there. Don't waste your time on this guy. He is not as good of an author as so many claim. The reviews of this book are starting to show the cracks forming in his halo.
Try Malazan Book of the Fallen! It's a completed 10 book epic fantasy series!
@@JohnAndrewMacDonaldwhat are you talking about? The book is good and currently the 2nd highest rated Stormlight book on Goodreads with over 12,000 ratings.
@@austinvaughn8015 it's called a personal opinion. you should try one sometime.
I don't have much time for TH-cam anymore but I still check you and Petrik out when I can. Thank you for your Discord. It helped me get into Sun Eater.
Thanks for coming on the channel, my friend! I had a blast, you are the man! Great wrap up as always, can't believe you conquered Wind and Truth so fast! Glad you are getting though some of the down stuff. I suffer from depression at times too and it can be rough. Your community loves you, brother and we get it and will always be here!
Yes! Loved the read aloud, excited to hear it again! Have a merry christmas and great holiday week!
No idea if Superman will be good, but that trailer captures perfectly why he’s the OG and still the greatest.
Hope, positivity, justice.
Agree with your initial thoughts. Wind and Truth should've been much shorter
I’m about to start Wind and Truth tomorrow, just capping off Disquiet Gods hopefully today
Man, Ruocchio is so damn good!!!
Yes he is. I'm really enjoying Disquiet Gods. So far it's alot more upbeat than the last two lol
Fair take on wind and truth, it’s certainly needlessly bloated. It’s also similar to the lost metal last year, in that these are Cosmer books at this point, rather than mistborn/stormlight and so you can’t really skip them.
Thanks a lot again for coming on my channel man! Had a blast :) Merry Christmas to you and the family!
I have had such a resurgence of my reading since discovering your channel and Book tube. So many great series I now know and love. I just look at the people I subscribe to so I guess I don't get the algorithm things. Here's to a brighter new year, best wishes!
If there's one director who can handle 'too many characters', it's James Gunn. I'd rather be hopeful, hoping for the best. But this Superman just felt so familiar. And Guy Gardner, with that comic accurate look, feels like a perfect fit in a James Gunn movie
I started Oathbringer without finishing Warbreaker. So much FOMO and I love Roshar so much. I plan to dedicate next year to the Cosmere. Also fight Club is a really good palette cleanser
Still here, not going anywhere. Don't have as much time to watch TH-cam these days but still appreciate your channel, Mike. Wishing you and your family all the best for the festive holidays !
I really liked WaT and I totally appreciate what he did with the ending. People who liked it should read Sunlit Man next if they haven't already. And yeah, James Bond is a total tough guy fantasy character, that is the character, so why would someone change that? Just find a different character. Bad enough they wrote a Q character that makes fun of gadgets.
I think you mirrored my thought on WaT, exactly. Im enjoying it but it’s not giving me the same feelings I had during way of kings and words of radiance.
Cautiously optimistic about Superman. If Gunn gets the tone right and just lets the hero be a hero we could be in for a great time.
270 pages in on Wind and Truth, liked it so far but I struggle to remember some parts
completely agree on alot of you point on Wind and truth. looking forward to your full review. As far as this being good stopping point, I dont know about that, fact that he isnt planning on releasing stormlight book 6 for 9 years is whats really frustrarting
I really struggled getting thru Rythm of War but finally made it. Excited to start Wind and Truth
why? if the last book was so hard, why think this will be any better?
@@JohnAndrewMacDonald Because it is better.
@@calebmauer1751 I wasn't asking you
@@JohnAndrewMacDonaldbecause the first three books were excellent. ROW was awful
@@MrJosh066717 in your opinion. I tried the first and couldn't even get 1/4 of the way thru. I have read so much fantasy over the years that are magnitudes better that anything Sanderson ever wrote that I can't waste time on thousands of pages in the hope that I might eventually like some of it.
I'm disappointed to hear you talk about Winds ans Truth and compare it to Disney + because that is exactly how i felt about Lost Metal and why it left me really cold is it was obvious there was a lot there i wasn't picking up on. At that point I hadn't even read Stormlight, I was Mistborn only.
Just finished Jim Butchers Changes and i simultaneously need a moment and want to jump directly into the next one.
One thing that has surprised me about some of the reactions to Wind and Truth, is that not everybody LOVES going back in time to all the different events that I have wondered about for the entire series. Things that have catapulted the book to second place for me seem to have really detracted from the story for others. It's always interesting to see other people's perspectives.
For Superman and your fear about Warner Brothers taking it away from Gunn and ruining it: He is the head of their DC division now, so technically HE would be the person that would do that. So Superman should (in theory at least) be safe.
I don't watch wrap ups but your's are the exception. In fact, I always look forward to them! Thank you foe always giving us such great content and I hope you have a happy holidays!
Hey Mike great update! I really enjoyed watching the series ranking video that you did 🙂 (I enjoy all of your videos)
When that kid put up the Superman flag and started praying for Superman, I knew for sure that James Gunn's do well.
So excited you're reading Lost Man's Lane. Probably my book of the year. I am so glad I decided to reread Gardens of the Moon because it really clicked for me this time around and I'm super excited to give Deadhouse Gates another try next month. I'm reading the final installment in The Perfect Run
I think the best thing about being late to reading Sando is knowing a bit what to expect so it isn’t a drag on me later when I jump in
Will definitely be listening to you read A Christmas Carol while I work Tuesday. I enjoyed it last year too.
I share your DC love so deeply! I have such hope here. I am really diggin Creature Commandos right now.
I RESPECT this review soooo much... Thank you
I read the complete edition of Bones by Jeff Smith a year ago and after saw that his comics were almost adapted but he was led on by the suits in charge to the point that he finally lost hope. I always feel especially bad for authors whether it's a written book or if it's a comic and their material is tossed around and you can tell they're disappointed by it not happening or it is adapted and it doesn't live up to what they imagined.
The one thing Smith said was he would have loved the Red Dragon voiced by Ray Charles.
I'm at 55% of wind and truth and I took a couple of days break because it got too slow for me, and I see that I am heading into some Venli and Shalan chapters and.... yeah..... not thrilled
Lol, same. I'm at 720 pages going oh my god there's 600 more? It has to get better ..
Merry Christmas, Mike!
I also finished part one of Gardens of the Moon if that’s anything.
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Yup…. My overriding thought from reading WaT was holy shit, he Marvel phase 4d Stormlight….. why?! Each to their own, not for me, super disappointed, I would not have picked up book 1 if I knew we’d go down the direction this book took for a few characters tbh - the backbones of the series. I won’t be reading any further either.
Reading through Wind and Truth right now. I'm getting tired of Sanderson over explaining everything. It makes reading the series overly tedious for me.
I would be okay with the exposition if it was well written, like what we see with R Scott Bakker. But it isn't.
Gotta be honest and say I'm with you about Sanderson, broadly. The man is clearly an incredibly gifted writer, but I personally don't enjoy all the shared universe stuff. I always feel like if I were to start reading through more of his stuff I'd have to read everything, and there's kinda too much. His books are also paced very slowly for the first half of them, and when a book is 1200 pages I just can't really justify not really having fun for that long.
I read and enjoyed WoK, but really I enjoyed the second half of WoK. Is it a good book? Yeah! I even tried book 2 (Words of Radiance?) and got about 600 pages in before I just had to admit I wasn't having enough fun with it. Not to mention I was actively disliking anything to do with Shallan, and I believe that's her backstory book. I put it down and haven't picked it back up.
I am just not a huge fan of Sanderson's pacing. I am going to listen through book 3 of Mistborn Era 1 soon. I wasn't a huge fan of book 2, but it had enough mystery at it's ending that I am looking forward to 3. Hoping to enjoy it!
Way of Kings is up on my short list of favorite books and Mistborn is what got adult me back into reading, but I am 1000% with you on not being a fan of needing to read all the Cosmere to get stuff. I really didn't enjoy Sunlit Man or Tress.
I love the slow burn of Brandon Sanderson! Wind and truth is my favourite of Stormlight. 😊
I hate it. So boring
Bravo! I've been reading Dark Age since the last week of November. The books in the series are putting me in a slump and not because they're not well written but rather it's not a suitable series for me. I'm 56% done and I think at this rate I'll finish it somewhere around mid-January 2025.
Wind and Truth is the only book thats ever cracked words of radiance for me. I think WoR is the better book...but WaT was so satisfying for me.
I finished off the Banished Lands books, that was a blast. I look forward to rereads in the future. Thanks for turning me on to John Gwynne! Finally got my copy of Disquiet Gods. I think I'm gonna take your suggestion and do Mistborn next.
I must admit, I'm feeling the same about WaT. I've been bored several times, lost because of the expansive lore despite having read every Cosmere book, and it's just not books 1-3. Still better than RoW by miles. I would recommend the audiobook to get through the sheer volume of it.
Nothing can top Words of Radiance, but I do think Wind and Truth is #2 for me, just above Way of Kings. Having completed all the Cosmere this year, it was such a treat reading all the crossovers and reveals. It really amplified the entire reading experience past Way of Kings, which I found plodding at times. Oathbringer is #4 with the ending obviously the highlight, and Rhythm of War a DISTANT #5.
DC Comics is filled with awesomely strange and silly stuff, and that should all be embraced in any adaptation. If that stuff isn't there, the end result can't help but feel empty. I'm just hoping that Gunn understands that the tone of Peacemaker (which I enjoyed!) is not appropriate for Superman :P
ive noticed a lot of Booktubers who arent even caught up with this series which says a lot to me. Actions speak way louder than words
For Christmas my wife bought me the faithful and the fallen series by john gwynne. I could not be happier!
On day 4 of Wind and Truth!
I'm late to the party when it comes to Sanderson, and I just finished WoK. Amazing stuff, especially Kaldin's storyline. I can't wait to start WoR and am looking forward to exploring more of the Cosmere. Glad your enjoying PoN by the way, Thousandfold Thought is going to blow youre mind.
Finished WaT in 15 days too. Back half was surprisingly satisfying. Adolin really was the MVP, what an arc he went through. Therapy sessions did overwhelm the book though. I’m kind of interested in the wider cosmere now. I feel like a lot of things went over my head.
Totally agree with your Stormlight archive assessment. Brandon Sanderson’s books are always hit and miss with me.
It seems like he tries to make his magic systems almost ridiculous, and I often get bored with it.
i enjoy your book content videos.
Superman trailer has me hyped. I loved seeing everything James Gunn is throwing into it. And he has shown us he does well will large casts in his Guardians movies and his Suicide Squad. I very optimistic about this movie.
Merry Christmas Mike!
Since I'm done with 2024's books, I started on 2025 early . . . with one you recommended. The Pillar of the Earth. I started it yesterday. Thanks Mike!
Hey I’m reading that right now too! What page are you on?
@@Sighience just finished chapter 1 of Part 1. I’m doing audio, so I’m not sure of the page number, but I’m about 3.5 hours in.
@@Sighience how far are you into it?
100% agree. MCU did this to make $$$. Many folks had their favorite super hero and didn't necessarily want to watch every movie. Now here comes Ant man and She Hulk. Easter eggs (like King does) is one thing, but having parts of your story in different books (moves/tv shows) to the point where you are forced to consume every story is wrong. If these were ONLY artistic decisions, I might be ok, but they are financial ones. I would argue the same point for long series (WOT). If you can't tell a story in 2-3 books, then you need to edit/shorten the story ambitions.
Appreciate your authentic reviews, Mike. I agree that Words of Radiance is the peak of Stormlight. I think that, despite being great books, the next books of the series could do well with a tad bit of trimming.
I'm looking forward to this Superman. It has that old-school feel to it. As for James Bond...I'm reminded of a quote by Bill Denbrough from IT by Stephen King:
"If fiction and politics ever really do become interchangeable, I’m going to kill myself, because I won’t know what else to do. You see, politics always change. Stories never do."
I'm just finishing up Tress of the Emerald Sea then on to Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.
After those I'm starting my reread of Stormlight. I have yet to read book 4 so that will be new this time around.
Oh and gg Fairbairn.
I've always loved Marvel more than DC, but I loved Smallville... I loved Arrowverse. Some of the Batman movies were really good. And the Aquaman movies may not have been great, but the casting was spot on. It all depends on who does it. I'll give Superman a try before I pass judgement.
Speaking of A Christmas Carol, I'm currently reading a book called Marley by Jon Clinch. It's a prequel of sorts, about the relationship between Scrooge and Marley when they were young men and business partners, and Marley's dark turn towards Scrooge. I'm enjoying it.
Yo Mike I appreciate your channel. Keep up the good work. I guess it's easy for me to say not to worry about whether sharing dark moments will lose followers since I don't know what's its like to have a good following. But for me, you can't go wrong with authenticity. Cheers for 2025
I wish he has wrapped it up at Oathbringer :(
Had some cool moments but I wont be continuing with the cosmere. Mistborn era 2 and the last two stormlight books are big let downs and I just dont think Im going to enjoy where its going.
Not to mention its going to be a longgggg time to get any closure with the series.
I hate WaT so much! I hated it so much i dnfd at 1100 pages... i just didnt care anymore to finish. Cant belive he made kaladin a therapist...
Wind and truth was good overall but has problem of too many storylines some are incredibly like adolin and some feel like underwhelming but needed for wider cosmere sigzil as an example
Loved Lost Man’s Lane!
Mike I’m with you on the James Bond movies. Bond is a male fantasy. I mean he drives a classic car he’s lucky with the ladies he defeats the villain. He’s a man’s man. If they pc Bond they will destroy the character. Like you said we’ve got the old classic Bonds to go back to.
Superman trailer has me excited. From seeing Hawkgirl and Mr Terrific. Loved that version of the JSA. But It is was seeing Guy Gardener and the worst haircut in all of comics.
I have 30 hours to go in wind and Truth I see what you mean. Imo this book is way to long. I'm starting to think about skipping POV's of characters I don't care about
Very excited for Superman but i think DC is building back trust slowly because The Penguin was fantastic and Im really liking Creature Commandos.
Just finished up Sun Eater. I may squeak in a drizzt book in here last minute
I saw a video about the first Pierce Brosnan Bond, GoldenEye, how it had a different style of music. But it never continued beyond that movie.
Currently reading The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. Plan on reading That Which Stands Outside by Mark Morris after that. Happy Holidays, my friend.
NGL, i was upset Cavill wasn't Superman anymore even if i wasn't a Snydercerse fan. BUT this trailer looks amazing and I'm excited. And i did not recognize Nathan Fillion at first. That hair! 😂
Love the doctor who shirt. Merry Christmas Mike
Really appreciated your quick thoughts on Wind and Truth. I did like it a whole lot more than you did, but that's a bit unsurprising - I'm a huge Sanderson fan, and I'm "all in" on the Cosmere.
You've probably talked about this before, but is there a *reason* you don't like the idea of keeping up with the Cosmere much? To me it's pretty much a no-brainer because I like all the books, and *love* the connections between them, so there's no real reason *not* to keep up with the Cosmere. But I can understand if some books feel like a "slog" to you then it's annoying to "have to" read them (though Sanderson of course says that he'll keep trying to write in a way that you don't need to in order to enjoy the books).
Defending DC Comics to the death and then seeing the Harley Quinn fart comic and being like bruh...
I read Oathbringer and Rhythm of War back to back to get ready for Wind and Truth and so I’m taking my time. Just starting Day Eight so should be done soon. I will say it seems a bit long to me as well but it might be because of a little burn out.
Curious if you’ve read the James Bond books? I’ve read the first three and think they’re very good so wanting to read them all eventually.
I watched Kraven last night and I laughed thinking about all the women who went goo-goo gah-gah over the actor that played Kraven, saying they can’t believe that’s the same guy that played in Kick-Ass. It’s been 15 or so years.
Totally agree with your take on Wind and Truth. I liked it but didn’t love it. Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were much better
I should be finishing Excalibur sometime this week and started Shogun and The Shadow of What was Lost.
Been kind of a rough week. The wife hit a little set back in her battle and we have to change up her treatment a bit and dealing with insurance 🙄
Next stormlight needs to be TWoK length and focus on new characters. Im looking forward to it but also happy to wait 7 years after this big chonker.
The interludes in Stormlight I feel like half can be left out. I was also disappointed when as I went to start Oathbringer in the beginning it said you need to read edge dancer so I did and felt it added nothing. You were introduced to lift in book 2 and she’s hardly in book 3.
i just started with Mistborn and my god that was really good but i’m getting scared of this being Marvel that i have to read every book to understand it
You should read the James Bond books! Great palate cleansers and could be a great idea for the channel.
I really struggled with Days 5 and 6, not much happening there, looking forward to the last third and Lost Man's Lane sounds intriguing...
I’m really excited for Superman Legacy, even though I think introducing Krypto is a little strange.
Last week I think the only thing I finished was a Zelda manga of Ocarina of Time by Akira Himakawa. It was really good and made me excited to read more. It’s something me and my little brother could share.
I’m trying to finish The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe, book 3 of The Book of the New Sun. It’s good, just really hard.
I’m going to try to finish that this week, as well as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It’s one of my favorite stories ever and I’m excited to read it.
I agree 100% on what you said about how the books are getting to where you have to read other stuff about the cosmere to get whats going on in this series. Im not a big fan when authers do this. I will say Stephen King does this well with some of his characters in his books.
I think movie executives think fans will go see franchise movies like Bond no matter what, and we do even go and hate watch stuff a lot. I saw Madame Web willingly. So they know most of us are going, the only way to increase takings is to try and capture new audiences. And in today’s corporate shareholder dominated world, the numbers have to go up every year.
I much prefer reading DC comics. Kingdom Come is my all time favorite ❤
I read about 500 pages of Way of Kings before I quit Stormlight. There were some great scenes, but I learned that some books are just too long for me ha.
I finished Wind & Truth as well and loved it for what it is, but I felt the length and clunky prose more in this book than any previous Sanderson work. I just started Mistborn and I don't know why he stopped doing this but when a character thinks thoughts in Mistborn, he just puts the thought onto the page and uses italics or a slightly different font to signal that its an internal thought. Its super obvious and used throughout fiction. For some reason Sanderson just chose not to do that for the Stormlight Archive and has probably added 1000+ mentions of "Kaladin Thought"s to these books. I know its a small thing but when you add all the other small things Sanderson does to elongate his passages, it starts to feel very bloated. His fans talk about window pane prose, the more I read his stuff the more it feels like a dirty window. Its really hard not to notice the splotches. I still love the world and everything hes trying to do with his characters but going from reading Cormac McCarthy to reading this was rough.
Wind And Truth isn’t very good. It’s a bummer.
I’m still slogging through Rhythms of war on audiobook (tried reading them but gave up) and have Wind & Truth to listen to but won’t be going further. Brandon massively drags out the story with irrelevant filler stuff.
Creature Commandos is really good. I'm guessing that Superman will be good as well.
There won't be shitty reboot origin stories yet again. Everyone knows Superman and I have no doubt this movie will hit the ground running and rely on character work to make us care about the story.
The fact the trailer starts with Superman getting his ass beat is proof that they know what they're doing.
The WB suits absolutely destroyed the DC movies by trying to chase after the MCU
🎉🎉🎉
I've read Peter Benchley the books called BEAST I recommend it to you book readers
New Year's Eve live stream I will be at home
Soo disappointed. I even liked Rhythm of War better than Eind and Truth. 😩. Maybe my expectations were too high..
When James Bond lost the twinkle in his eye started drinking beer instead of martini’s the movies just became another action movie and not a James Bond movie ( looking at you Daniel Craig)
OK I'm loving the tshirt. I have to ask tho, is it bigger on the inside?
Shame about the insomnia, hope that gets better.
What do you do for work if you don't mind me asking?
Not sure it's his style (Mistborn wasn't like this). I heard he SET OUT to write a book/series of that size, his magnum opus. I have an issue with that. There is an old saying work expands to fill time allotted. Well, same for authors that decide they want to write their Lord of the Rings. They find story and characters and locations to fill 1000+ pages. Even if no filler, and best book I ever read, I would argue cutting these books in half and releasing them 6-8 months later would be better for all concerned. Most readers I know would prefer to read two to three great 500-600 page books vs one. 1,400-500 page book. I also presume you make more money selling two-to-three 500 page books and fans don't have to wait 2-3 years for the next book (while they watch you work on other projects). But hey, who am I to judge? He's a famous published author and a multimillionaire.