First Chapter to The Gathering Storm, up on tor.com
Richard Boye <richboye>
Lookie here, lookie here now.
The first chapter for _The Gathering Storm_ is up on tor.com.
Be mindful of the soilers, they are sharp:
still sharp.
owie, don't touch.
Alright, we see that Tar Valon really has gone to seed, with crime and
grime and vermin, and that the Amyrlin has lost all control, which
didn't even happen when the city was besieged in the Aiel War. You
suck, Elaida.
Gangs of burly workmen are being ridden herd by Red sisters to
dismantle the river-chain towers and inner defenses, which as we
learned like seven years ago, Egwene turned to <i>cuendillar</i> and
thus blocaded the city. As noted, the stone defenses of teh city were
augmented centuries ago by use of the One Power, so taking them apart
from the inside is laborious.
We jut over the river and see that the rebel Aes Sedai are still
pretending all is well, with bands of novices (of all ages) bustling
about under the watchful eyes of still serene sisters, despite the
fact that everyone knows that Egwene has been captured and is
imprisoned. That certainly would be a big downer for her adherents.
Then we flip over to.... Rand and his stewing ball of psychoses,
currently convalescing in Arad Doman! Hooray, Arad Doman. We finally
set our reader's foot(?) on your sumptuous, languid land of silks and
seduction and find ourselves in a log cabin out in the forest. Nyuck,
nyuck, Mister J. evidently, the elegant, soigne Domani have a thing
for log cabins, plain red cedar furniture and I am guessing flannel
shirts.
Rand is still going batty, and has been jaunting about the realms
under his control, using various lords' pastoral retreats as
safehouses. We are here in the mountain ski chalet oof Lord Tallaen, a
Domani noble who is besties with Davram Bashere. The Saldaean troops
who survived that trolloc attack at Lord Algarin's down in Tear are
busily fortifying Tallaen's house with a moat and stockade.
While Min simpers and wears her feminized man-clothes (prompting Rand
to ponder "why dress like a man, if you're going to adorn it with lace
and embroidery?"), Rand broods on the chaos of his empire - he fixes
one realm, and another goes haywire. He worries about his truce with
teh Seanchan and the unstable bordered between his realm and theirs
(echoing that long ago prophecy about North balancing South, etc...
Remember that one? Good. I won't have to go look it up.) He also
worries about Elayne in Andor, not knowing what we know yet, I guess.
Rand waxes insanely on Semirhage (now thankfully a captive due to the
combined work of Cadsuane, Nynaeve and Alivia), with her legendary
exploits in the AoL - oh, she slaughtered cities and tortured one
thousand men separately just to catalog the differences in their
screams. Fun fact, though. Apparently, she was known to never lie. Or,
more precisely, to rarely lie.
This fact is important because Semirhage has been telling Rand and his
new, somehow possibly more annoying triad of previously impossibly
more-annoying advising female characters that she will escape and kill
she will escape and kill them all.
Cadsuane, Nynaeve and Alivia (Nyn, incidentally, having adopted a new
Domani fashion of a modest dress with a colored sash - hers is yellow)
have the charge of interrogating Semirhage, but are laboring under
Rand's strictures THAT THEY DO NOT TORTURE HER!!!! Because she's a
woman. That's our Rand.
Cadsuane and Nynaeve display their famours character foibles, this
time as foils for one another (imperious and haughty vs. imperious and
hostile, respectively) while Alivia sits there in grim silence playing
matches and talking about destruction. There is some talk about
delivering Semirhage to the Aes Sedai, which probbaly won't happen,
but serves only a table-dressing for Rand to lay out his new mental
centerpiece - Egwene is, now the Amyrlin, <i>is Aes Sedai to her core
and will view him only as a pawn. (they also don't know about the
whole capture and imprisonment thing.)
Rand thinks to himself that his info about where Graendal might be (in
a pleasuredrome hidden away in the mountain fastnesses of Arad Doman)
sounds about right from what he knows of her from LTT, and wonders if
he should be worried, since he is in Arad Doman now.
Phew.
I haven't done anything like that in ages.
John Hamby
Richard Boye <richboye> wrote:
> Hi, remnants of a remnant, and other long standing habitues,
>
>
>
>
<snip>
Hi Rich. Glad to know you still walk the earth.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Whew. I got the whole thing in an email this morning and figured it
was a friend's idea of a nasty joke knowing that I think Sanderson is
not an author with the talent to take this on (to be fair I could not
tell you who is; Sanderson though is pretty damn weak when writing his
own stuff).
So I guess I'll probably be accussed of sour grapes. Still I have to
say that was pretty bad. Jordan's style acheived or not. Why does
Rand talk about their dresses in such a focused and yet apropos of
nothing fashion (no pun intended)? Why is there a huge non sequiter
or three? Especially the Lord is is simply "An acqaintance of
Bashere"? Why is Rand's pov describing women he knows and is familiar
with in such an crass and crude stumbling narrative manner?
Is Sanderon going to write like his audience is a bunch of pre-
schoolers who need reminding to find a partner and hold each other's
hands every time they go for a walk to the playground?
This was just really, really bad. And I know some will say that doing
the first "wind" sequence limits Sanderson, but having read so many of
the groups efforts over the years and I have to say that is a bunch of
bunk. The stylized Wind sequence at the start of each book actually
has such wonderful parameters that the Tor annointed scribe should
have been able to write it and not sound like Legolas and the cast of
Twilight were going to make an unexpected appearance to have hawt teen
sex and plenty of kewl adventures with Rand and the girlz.
I was assuming I'd read this no matter how jarring it might be. I
knew Sanderson was much flatter in his world building and he really
has a difficult time actually writing characters. But I'm not sure I
can wade through such poor writing if this is the style he maintains
in the whole book. Because this should have been the easiest part of
the whole thing. And it comes out like this?
----
JSH
James Hammons
The first few paragraphs were pretty bad. Maybe it's just because I
haven't read a WoT book in such a long time, but I don't think
Sanderson got the feel of the whole "wind blows" thing down. Other
than that, it wasn't that bad. What scares me though, is the the fact
that I'm feeling my WoT jones kick in pretty harshly. I want this
book, and I want it badly.
James Hammons
Pete12345
> Hi, remnants of a remnant, and other long standing habitues,
>
> Lookie here, lookie here now.
>
> The first chapter for _The Gathering Storm_ is up on tor.com.
>
> Be mindful of the soilers, they are sharp:
>
> still sharp.
>
> owie, don't touch.
So, what... nothing happens. Can this be finished in only 3 more
volumes?
PEK
Brinner
Link??
Brinner
vecki
Well don't you want everything handed to you Brinner :P
Here ya go: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=53532
You need to be a member, but meh it's free.
I found the first few paragraphs to be a bit jarring, but given
Brandon pointed out on his blog at one point that the wind sequence
was the very first part of the book he wrote, I'm willing to forgive.
Some of the turns of phrase, or even just certain words Brandon uses
threw me out of the narrative a little - seriously, Min wears a coat
and breeches, not TROUSERS!
Overall, I found it ok, but the (admittedly minor) differences between
RJ and BS are going to take some getting used to.
~*~
vecki
Brinner
> Brinner wrote:
> > On Sep 9, 3:53 pm, Pete12345 <pbk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Sep 5, 9:49 am, "Richard Boye <richboye>" <rmb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > Hi, remnants of a remnant, and other long standing habitues,
>
> > > > Lookie here, lookie here now.
>
> > > > The first chapter for _The Gathering Storm_ is up on tor.com.
>
> > > > Be mindful of the soilers, they are sharp:
>
> > > > still sharp.
>
> > > > owie, don't touch.
>
> > > So, what... nothing happens. Can this be finished in only 3 more
> > > volumes?
>
> > > PEK
>
> > Link??
>
> Well don't you want everything handed to you Brinner :P
>
Cheers horse.
> You need to be a member, but meh it's free.
>
> I found the first few paragraphs to be a bit jarring, but given
> Brandon pointed out on his blog at one point that the wind sequence
> was the very first part of the book he wrote, I'm willing to forgive.
>
> Some of the turns of phrase, or even just certain words Brandon uses
> threw me out of the narrative a little - seriously, Min wears a coat
> and breeches, not TROUSERS!
>
> Overall, I found it ok, but the (admittedly minor) differences between
> RJ and BS are going to take some getting used to.
>
I shall read and comment. :)
Brinner
Frank van Schie
> Other
> than that, it wasn't that bad. What scares me though, is the the fact
> that I'm feeling my WoT jones kick in pretty harshly. I want this
> book, and I want it badly.
And you'll get it that way: badly.
I was almost waiting for the phrase "and such like" to appear, he took
such shortcuts in his narrative, which meant the elaborate detailing he
wrote seemed hackneyed. It never seemed that way in Jordan's writing;
boring, yes, superfluous, certainly, but never out of place.
--
Frank