Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

A strange title, don't you think?

Shadows of Silence in the Forests of Hell, is another short story by Brandon Sanderson in the Arcanum Unbounded and boy does it pack a punch.

Based in a Cosmere world called Threnody, ghosts called shades roam freely in the Forests. The Evil has taken over the Homeland and everyone who wasn't killed by it was forced to flee to this continent where the shades rule with shadowy hands. You follow the Simple rules and you'll be fine, don't and you will wither away to skeleton and clothes.

Silence is an innkeeper who secrets away as a bounty hunter in order to pay for all the silver she uses to keep her homestead safe from all the shades as well as the money to keep the in running. When a major bounty rolls into her inn she takes the chance to take him in, not alive of course. But killing in the Forests is bad and will set the shades into a rage that will kill anyone and everyone if they smell blood. Tricky business finding them, trickier business killing them, trickiest business getting out alive.

This was a very cool story. I very much had a "This is Halloween" vibe that would be good to read during that spooky time. I'm not normally very interested in "ghost ghost stories" but this was (written so well) one that pulled me in. It could have pulled on many cliches and troupes, but went an a different route which made it very much engaging.

It also has a very strong lead female characters who will survive. A mother and a daughter who have do to what they have to do. I think Brandon did a very good job with these characters, whereas he's been lightly criticized about his female characters in the past. It's fun to see him growing as a writer and making these people, all of them, so real.

I can't wait for more books in the Threnody world and see how it reaches into the Cosmere. Very excited.

Emiline, Knight in Training

Another book about Dyslexia.

Emiline is a knight in training, where she has problems reading, they move and are hard to read and understand. But she is a knight and there is more to her life and duties than just reading. She helps "tame" ogres and saves dragons eggs and helps her friends when they are in trouble. She does take the time to practice reading and because she is dedicated and asks for help, she's able to know when something bad is going to happen, she's also able to help her friends and teacher.

This is a very short book, something good for those who struggle reading wouldn't find hard or intimidating, that might give an extra bust in wanting to read and that it takes dedication to get things done. But that facing the challenge can be worth it and can help others.

It is a very cheesy book though, where anyone who isn't having these difficulties wouldn't like it as much as others. (But then again, I have a hard time reading very young books. I don't care for "dangerously cheesy" books.)

A True Book: Dyslexia

More research into Dyslexia and I go for the children's information section of the library. It's a good place to get basic information about many things where it can be simple to understand and a good jumping off point to then dive deeper with adult non-fiction reads.

This book was just that. A good, simple read full of information that would be helpful for anyone who is starting out in their quest for knowledge.

This one is very good at building the reader (aimed toward children who probably have dyslexia themselves) up and letting them know that they can still do great things--like learning to read well--because they think differently than others. And that it's okay to do so.

The Alphabet War

I've recently rediscovered (self diagnosed) that I have dyslexia and was trying to do research about it--thinking also that my son might have it too and wanting to help him as much as I can not struggle through elementary school like I did.

The Alphabet War is about a little boy who has dyslexia and some of the struggles he had while discovering that he had dyslexia. The common ideas of "I'm stupid" "I can't do this" and then becoming a bad kid because he'd "fake it 'til he made it" or start daydreaming instead of reading the confusing, jumbled up letters.

This one is a good story for those whose kids might have it and some of the beginning steps on how to address the coming situations of tutors, special help, or diagnosing dyslexia. A way to help those kids not feel as worried about their abnormal situation. It is a book that is probably best read to the children. It's not the most fun or exciting read, but it's a good one for information.

I remember doing it. It's not easy. Adam, in the story, was able to be diagnosed and got tutors to help him out, which is the case for many people. Others, like myself, self-diagnosed themselves years later (for me it was at the end of my college career). Giving kids the tools they need early to help them is very important and so then they can use them as they get older too. So then we don't have to struggle on our own, feeling alone, and feeling stupid and dumb as we walk blindly on.

Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Elantia

Allomancer Jak is another short story in the Arcanum Unbounded book by Brandon Sanderson.

When I first looked at it on Goodreads I thought it was going to be a graphic novel, but it's not. It is a obnoxious, humorous snippet that would have been found in a newspaper with lots of little episodes about adventures off in the Roughs of Mistborn Era 2.

Jak is the obnoxious one. The adventurer who can get himself out if any entrapment or snare by doing the most outlandish things. Whether his tales are "true" or not is for the "dear reader" to read and decide. Jak's story isn't the most thrilling or possibly or "well written" because that's not who Jak is. Brandon wrote it from Jak's point of view and in Jak's words, so they are off kilter--almost so much that I didn't want to read it.

The part that kept me going were the footnotes throughout the piece which were written by a Terris Steward who accompanies Jak on his adventures and transcribes Jak's letters for the public. They are very funny. The commentary is hilarious.

It's a very short story, but one that give a bit more insight to the world of Mistborn era 2. It can be read pretty much whenever after the original series, and doesn't give really anything away.

A short, interesting read if you can get past Jak's obnoxious ways.

The Eleventh Metal

The Eleventh Metal is another short story from Brandon Sanderson, though this one is centered around the Mistborn series. This is a prequel story about how and why Kelsier started to become the way that he did throughout Mistborn.

We follow Kelsier as he is new to his mistborn powers and still trying to learn how to think like a mistborn. He has a teacher named Gemmel, who is referenced in Mistborn: The Final Empire. Gemmel is a mistborn himself and very quirky. He talks to himself (though it's possibly Ruin with whom he's conversing) and acts rather crazy. Kelsier can't get much of a handle on the man, though he sticks around the loon to gain as much knowledge as he can from the miser. They invade a Keep, much like it often happens in the rest of the series, and try to find something--though what Gemmel is looking for isn't completely clear. Inside Kelsier finds a new drive after his again which then starts out the beginning of the rest of the series.

I love reading about Kelsier. He is one of my favorite characters and I will read anything that Brandon Sanderson produces of Kelsier or of the Mistborn world. I love it all.

Hope of Elantris

This is a short story based off of the happenings in Brandon Sanderson's book called Elantris. The copy I found was in the Archanum Unbound book which has many of the short stories and novellas that are associated with the Cosmere.

The reasoning behind this short story was really cute. A young Brandon Sanderson was dating a teacher (his now wife) who had a student do a book report on Elantris and it impressed the new author greatly. He, knowing that the kids in would need to be taken care of in Elantris when the climax of the story begins but not being able to put it into the story because of pacing issues, placed a young girl (with the name of the fan) in the story to help the kids get to safety.

It is a very short story, but it was cute and I think the background of it made it just that much better.

On to more Cosmere books!

Guardians of the West

Guardian's of the West is the first book in the Malloreon, a sequel series to David Eddings' Belgariad. This is one where it is best if you read the Belgariad first otherwise there are major spoilers.

The story starts with Polgara, Durnik, Errand, and Belgarath travel down to the Vale. Now that the Evil God Torak has been defeated and the prophecy of the Child of Light vs the Child of Dark has been completed, things can become peaceful. They are able to live, for the first time in millenia, in peace without having to worry about Kal Torak waking up and ruling the world in darkness. However, small things begin to happen. People appear, have mysterious and odd conversations, then vanish. The East is very unsettled and in the midst of internal conflict and wars on a mass scale. There is talk of a strange dark stone and evil forces moving again. But their lives have been so focused on Torak and the Mrin Codex's prophecy that maybe they missed something. Is there something more moving out there now that Torak is dead and gone? Garion and Ce'Nedra are in Riva with trials of their own, marriage conflicts (brought to you by a clash of personalities), and the country grows restless without an Heir to the Rivian throne. There have also been murders in the castle and attempted assassinations, each time with so little information to go off of. Who is doing this? Why are they after the baby? What is this newly discovered prophecy that is throwing this world into an upheaval again?

This book starts off very slow. I started reading it years ago but I got through about half the book and nothing "super exciting" was going on so I put it down. (Apparently right before things really got interesting. This is the first book in a large series and so needs a bit of introduction. It also sets up the fact that years are passing between the death of Torak and the wiggling changes that this new prophecy and the workers behind it are implementing. This book goes to show that sometimes it just takes time for real dangers to hit and that sometimes those dangers, if left unnoticed or unchecked, can suddenly grow into all wars.

It also brings back the love of old characters. All of them I have loved throughout the whole Belgariad series many make their appearances here and seems will continue to do so as the series goes on. By the end, we are informed that many more new characters will find their way into the story and we're left with wondering "who are they?"

This book is written rather like The Hobbit where there isn't much in the way of description of surrounding areas. Hardly any at all. Much of the book is conversations and dialog with funny, snarky comments. Much is left to the imagination of the reader in terms of setting and other descriptions. This, I think, is mainly do to the time in which is was written, where Edding's lets the (now considered) cliches run themselves. He's not trying to break the troupe or cliche because fantasy was still fairly new and weren't considered cliche much.

I do really like the fact that women (in the very male ruled society) are still able to put their foot forward. Polgara is highly respected. A king dies and his wife takes over until their son can grow up and claim the throne, where she runs more of the campaign than the rest of the men do so it seems, and she is very prominent in all of the counsels that they have. Vella makes a return and has a fowl mouth that made some gentlemen blush yet can stand on her own feet and defend herself while being sold (which is Nardak custom). But then we also have many other different women throughout the books, casting different personalities and none of them were looked down on or belittled because some where more compassionate or powerful or sneaky or overcome by sea sickness. I think it would be interesting to read articles based on the women in his stories. There is a lot that could be said here.

In the end, now that things are moving forward a bit more dramatically, I'm very interested on where the rest of the story is going. Where it's not just black and white, good vs evil, one big bad guy where we know where we're going. But there is more of a mystery too it which can make it more exciting. I'm ready to read on.