Well, I’ll be damned. This piece was looking to be one of Sweet’s best in years. Suitably epic. Love the colour palette.
Curious that there’s no Rand on the cover, though. Hmm…
Posts Tagged: Brandon Sanderson
One Wheel of Time fan recently had the chance of a lifetime. Known as “Luckers” on the Dragonmount forums, this fan sat down with Brandon Sanderson and railed off a series of questions regarding some of The Wheel of Time‘s mysteries, both big and small. Most of the questions were answered with “RAFO” (Read and Find Out), or some variation thereof, but others were met with refreshing honesty (or devilish smiles, which tell almost as much). It’s a great read for fans of The Wheel of Time who’re just itching to get their hands on the final volume in the series, A Memory of Light, which releases early in 2013.
There are, of course, spoilers out the wazoo, up-to-and-including Towers of Midnight, and, some might consider, beyond. So, you’ve been warned. Read More »
From the bestselling author of the Mistborn Trilogy and co-author of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series comes the tale of a heretic thief who is the only hope for the survival of an empire.
Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Though condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Despite the fact that her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead from the attack of assassins.
Delving deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that her forgery is as much artistry as it is deception.
Skillfully deducing the machinations of her captors, Shai needs a perfect plan to escape. The fate of the kingdom lies in one impossible task. Is it possible to create a forgery of a soul so convincing that it is better than the soul itself?
Wow, how did this one slip by me? Before you get too excited (or heated because you’re desperately waiting on the sequels to The Way of Kings, this is a ‘short novel’ from Sanderson, about 30,000 words, so less than half the length of The Alloy of Law. Now, with that out of the way, it looks like this story is set in Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, meaning it will have ties (though not necessarily directly) to his other novels in that universe, including The Way of Kings and Mistborn, and should fit into the overarching narrative he’s constructing throughout his various series. The ‘novel’ itself sounds like it has all the juicy magic that we’ve come to expect from Sanderson.
And how gorgeous is that cover? I’ll be sure to post a larger version if I come across one.
The Emperor’s Soul will be released by Tachyon Publications (a great coup for the small publishing house) in December 2012.
Because I didn’t annoy Wheel of Time fans enough last week, I thought I’d try again this week. I’m currently about two-thirds of the way through The Fires of Heaven, so, if this were a venn diagram, I’d be right where “Visiting every city ever mentioned” crosses over with “Men not understanding women” and “Women thinking they understand men, but getting it completely wrong,” with a bit of “Actual plot development” thrown in for good measure. I suppose, though, that this could point to nearly any part of any book between volumes 5-10, so…
EDIT: I should make it clear that I didn’t create this pie-chart, just found it somewhere in the depths of the Internet (meaning, probably Pinterest.) Credit goes to the original creator.
EDITEDer: Thanks to my wonderful reader, Aaron, we have an artist, the lovely Jenn L. from the now defunct Tor.com Wheel of Time Facebook page.
The full press release:
Little Orbit revealed today that they will be bringing best-selling author Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series Mistborn to games late next year for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC and Mac.
Mistborn is set in a dark world of ash, mist, and gothic fantasy creatures, dominated by a seemingly immortal villain known as the Lord Ruler. It also follows individuals who use a powerful rule-based magic system known as Allomancy that allows them to temporarily enhance their physical and mental abilities by ingesting and “burning” flakes of metal. Those who have the ability to burn a single metal are called Mistings, and those who can burn all metals are known as Mistborn.
The upcoming RPG video game will feature an original storyline created by Sanderson, set several hundreds of years before the first Mistborn novel, and will focus on a unique combat system that puts Allomancy into the hands of gamers. Players will suit up as Fendin “Fiddle” Fathvell, an arrogant young nobleman who must quickly master his newfound Allomantic abilities before forces at work can destroy his entire family.
“I’m a huge fan of the series, and I cannot wait to get this into the hands of gamers,” said Matthew Scott, CEO of Little Orbit. “Between the distinctive magic system, the story twists Brandon has planned for the game, and the rich depth of character skills, we’re creating something very unique for players to enjoy.”
Sanderson is no stranger to video games. He recently completed story development on the Infinity Blade II video game including the accompanying Infinity Blade: Awakening novella. In between writing his popular Mistborn and Stormlight novels, he is also finishing work on the final novel in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Sanderson has been labeled “one of the most popular new fantasy writers to emerge in the last ten years.”
“As an avid gamer, I’m extremely excited by this opportunity,” said Sanderson. “The chance to write the story for a Mistborn game while working with a team of talented developers is, quite literally, living a dream.”
I caught some hints of this when I had dinner with Sanderson a few months ago, though I suspected at the time that the announcement would come from from Chair Entertainment, a division of Epic Games that is responsible for Shadow Complex (based on a universe created by Orson Scott Card) and Infinity Blade, a popular iPhone/iPad series that Sanderson has been involved with (including a novella he wrote set in the universe, bridging the stories between the two games). I’m unfamiliar with Little Orbit, the publishers of Mistborn: Birthright and, given their meagre 48 ‘Likes’ on Facebook, I expect you are, too. Mistborn: Birthright is being developed by Game Machine Studios.
The Mistborn universe is ripe for a videogame adaptation, so let’s hope that this relatively unknown development team can do justice to Sanderson’s creativity and vision. It makes sense that they’d choose to develop this game as a ‘prequel’ to the novels, allowing gamers to explore the Mistborn world that they’re familiar with from the first novel, The Final Empire, rather than what it has become in The Alloy of Law, and Sanderson’s involvement in the creation of the storyline is encouraging. What do you hope for from the game?
Mistborn: Birthright is set for release in Fall, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac. For more information, visit the official website of Mistborn: Birthright.
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