/lit/ - Literature

>inb4 you tryhards claim you can write a better prologue than this and bash it because its fantasy; It may not be Grapes of Wrath but it's still very enjoyable to read

Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stumbled to a stop before the body of a dying thunderclast. The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions from its chest broken and cracked. The monstrosity was vaguely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long limbs that sprouted from granite shoulders. The eyes were deep red spots on the arrowhead face, as if created by a fire burning deep within the stone. They faded.

Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver. The beast’s hand was as long as a man was tall. He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

Of course, dying rarely was.

He rounded the creature, picking his way more carefully across the battlefield. The plain was a place of misshapen rock and stone, natural pillars rising around him, bodies littering the ground. Few plants lived here. The stone ridges and mounds bore numerous scars. Some were shattered, blasted-out sections where Surgebinders had fought. Less frequently, he passed cracked, oddly shaped hollows where thunderclasts had ripped themselves free of the stone to join the fray.

Many of the bodies around him were human; many were not. Blood mixed. Red. Orange. Violet. Though none of the bodies around him stirred, an indistinct haze of sounds hung in the air. Moans of pain, cries of grief. They did not seem like the sounds of victory. Smoke curled from the occasional patches of growth or heaps of burning corpses. Even some sections of rock smoldered. The Dustbringers had done their work well.

But I survived, Kalak thought, hand to breast as he hastened to the meeting place. I actually survived this time.

That was dangerous. When he died, he was sent back, no choice. When he survived the Desolation, he was supposed to go back as well. Back to that place that he dreaded. Back to that place of pain and fire. What if he just decided . . . not to go?

Perilous thoughts, perhaps traitorous thoughts. He hastened on his way.

>>4105014
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
>power armor
>giant monsters
>wars
>magical systems that affect society and the world
>even the plants are original and in accordance with the magic of the world
>all of the pulpy stuff you think will happen from the above BUT inside a great story and with amazing characters

I love fantasy, overall this is my #1 favorite at the moment.


ASOIAF is ok, when I went through it I enjoyed the complexity of the world but never really cared that much like I would from other stuff Martin wrote or from other fantasy books. I'm glad it's popular now.

>tfw something horrible might happen and you won't live to enjoy the rest of the Stormlight Archives

Mistborn left me feeling meh, but the Alloy of Law was really interesting because he advanced the tech level to guns. So imagine mistborn with guns and new knowledge and powers of Allomancy, like burning alloys instead of pure metals. Very cool.

By and large Sanderson writes good stuff at a steady pace and while not terrible it never felt mind-blowing to me, I never found his jokes funny, just awkward, but I always enjoyed the overall story or rather the world he created.

But then, I read The Way of Kings, and let me tell you if he keeps up the quality in this book The Stormlight Archives series will be fucking huge like LOTR or Wheel of Time or what have you.
Probably my #1 book in the genre at the moment.