May. 7th, 2009

jack: (books)
Book: Mistborn: the Final Empire
Where from: Fivemack lent it to me in the Carlton -- thank you! It's great being lent books spontaneously.
Author: Brian Brandon Sanderson
Hold on, which wheel of time novel did he write? The last one.
What's it about: Firstly, a the author himself says, "a gang of gentlemen thieves who each had a distinctive magic power"
And secondly? A detailed magic system.
And thirdly? A rebellion against an evil emperor, who was once a great hero who saved the world (or nearly so, it's still in ruins).
What's really good: It's a medley of interesting ideas. The characters are memorable, the setting is creepy, and most of all, a lot of pay-off is mostly in discovering how the different sorts of magic and magical creatures work and interact, which is something I really love.
What's not: Unfortunately, despite many good aspects, it reads a little bit as if someone had pulled out a bunch of good tropes (some old, some new) and stuck them together. But it meant I didn't have much emotional engagement. Deaths made me think "yep, fantasy trope #517 fulfilled", and fight scenes "ooh, that's a good info-dump of how allomatic powers work". But not be engaged. I definitely wanted to find out what happened, but didn't really care about the middle.
Do you want to read the sequels: Yes, at least to find out what happens next.
jack: (Default)
Approximately 0.6%1 of people are called "Matt", and 0.6% of people are called "Johnson". So approximately 1 in 20,000 people are called "Matt Johnson". Count the number of people you've ever met called "Matt Johnson", multiply by 20k, and you've probably met that many people. I think I've met three.

[1] Statistics probably not accurate for my demographic or decade. I didn't pursue this seriously. Because obviously using just one name is a joke. The idea of counting the number of people you know any of the five most common surnames, and then multiplying by 20 or 30 to get the number of people you know to a given level of closeness, is more well standing.

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