A scene early on, when Rowan attempts to explain how objects fall, and accidentally constructs the Newton’s Canon thought experiment captures the mood of the story, the temperament of the protagonist, and, when I read it, captured my attention for the remainder of the book.
Blog
Why War
The point is not in the specifics, but in prompting you (and me) to consider these things when we write. I’ve said it many times, and I’ll continue saying it; the most important decisions you make in your story might be the ones that you don’t even realize you’re making.
The Cutting-Off Way Review
Rather than engaging in “Russeauistic retrospective utopianism," Lee presents a nuanced, complex portrait of indigenous warfare during, prior to, and just after the contact period, examining the question from the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war.
The Autodidact’s Greatest Gift
I hear people say that the internet is making them less intelligent, and I don’t understand, because the internet is to me a reminder of just how much there is to learn.
The Sunlit Man Review
The Sunlit Man marks Sanderson’s fiftieth novel, and it is probably the deepest dive yet into connecting the Cosmere.
Teamwork Sometimes
I don’t deride teamwork to the extent that Rand does, but neither do I hold it up as a veritable moral imperative demanded by a collectivist deity…and given the current context, I consider that we are in far greater danger of too greatly lauding the team than we are of not valuing teamwork sufficiently.
Making It So Review
Making It So is well written and has a few, mildly interesting segments, but it overall doesn’t offer much that is unique or freshly insightful in any broader sense.
New Old Stories
It is reductionist and unimaginative to contend that there are no new stories to tell, akin to the assertions that history is just a cycle that repeats itself. As long as there are new people, as long as the world is changing and entropy hasn’t prevailed throughout the universe, there will be new stories.
Shahnameh Review
The ”Persian Book of Kings” is sometimes described as the Persian Iliad which, after reading it, I think is a terrible description. Shahnameh is far less narrative, and it is as much a history book as it is an epic.
Wondrous Tales
All of this reflection, eventually, produced a name for the sense I had for what was missing in my writing and what unifies the pieces I enjoy the most: wonder.
