Word Count
- Project Paradise Word Count: 357
- Project Skye Word Count: 1617
- Project Independence Word Count: 2428
- Project Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel Page Count: 12
I didn’t manage any new words on any of my major projects–I didn’t even manage a blog post. I realize this is where I’m sabotaging my writing, so I’m redoubling my efforts to write at least 250-500 words each day on at least one of these projects.
Currently Reading
- For Fun: Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy Novella)
- For School: Rhetoric in the European Tradition by Thomas Conley (A Book on the History of Rhetoric)
- For Research/Personal Development: Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)
I wanted to read Oathbringer over the summer break before classes started again, but BS said that it might be helpful to read a Novella entitled, Edgedancer, before starting on Oathbringer. I finally found a copy at MTSU’s library and I’m reading it now. X gives a history of Rhetoric. Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover. Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.
Finally Finished
So, this past week, I finally finished rereading Towers of Midnight, the 13th book in The Wheel of Time Fantasy series. This series was started by Robert Jordan in the early 1990s, but he sadly passed away. Brandon Sanderson was asked to complete the series based on the notes left behind by RJ after his death. I can’t remember if I’ve done a formal review of the books based on fact that I’ve already read them, but I won’t do a full one here, just a shorter one that tells why I like the book.
Secondary Characters
If the previous book’s focus is mostly on Rand (the main protagonist of the series), then this book focuses more on the two side characters who also act as protagonists, Perrin and Matt. RJ & BS do the time-honored tradition of splitting up the characters and having them go their separate ways. This book checks in on the pair and offer resolution to their separate storylines so that they might be unencumbered by dangling plot-lines for the final epic battle that RJ & BS are setting up for in Book 14 (the final volume). In this case, the book works, although even though we spend quite a bit of time in both characters’ heads, it still feel like this one is more about Perrin than Matt. I think that it may be because the author may identify more with Perrin than Matt, but whatever the case, this is what makes it feel slightly unbalanced to me.
Not Sure at First
When Brandon Sanderson first took over the reins of the series, I was hesitant to read the final books because I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I actually delayed reading them until all three were out because 1) I hadn’t read anything by BS yet, so I didn’t know what his writing style was like and 2) because of the mixed reviews on Amazon. Some praised his characterization and said it matched the “spirit” of RJ’s original books, while some were disappointed in the way the books were characterized. For me, The Wheel of Time was always more about the characters than the world (at least, in the later WoT books). Jordan had a dense style, and while that was sometimes helpful to “world-building”, it was also sometimes off-putting and (dare I say it, a little dry and boring). It was his characters and traits that really stood out, from one character’s tagging on her braid when she was angry to one character also being an absolute flirt while claiming he knew nothing of the opposite sex, Jordan’s ability to create characters was amazing. After I read Sanderson’s A Way of Kings, Book 1 of his Stormlight Archives series, I had enough confidence that he would treat Jordan’s characters right and so I dived in and I’m glad I did.
Sidney
- Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
- Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
- Read Faerie Knight in the anthology Fae, Rhonda Parrish, Ed. or the Kindle Edition
- Read Ship of Shadows in the anthology Visions IV: Space Between Stars, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
- Read WarLight in the anthology Visions VI: Galaxies, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
- Read Dragonhawk in the magazine Tales of the Talisman, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, David Lee Summers, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
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