A Stormfather-Sized Update | Weekly NLR Ep. 12

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

I'm hearing a lot of mixed feelings on Wind and Truth, but I'm glad you found it an overall fitting conclusion to the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. There have been enough positive reactions to keep me motivated to read Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth to at least finish the first arc, probably at some point in the middle of 2025. Hooray for Water 7, and best wishes for Curse of the Mistwraith!

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy it certainly is having a mixed reaction from the community - hopefully I'm not just caught up in the hype! And I got another big chunk of Water 7 done today.... I absolutely LOOOOVE where it's going! Should be able to start Enies Lobby tomorrow :)

[@esmayrosalyne]

Sounds like we had a very similar reading experience with Wind and Truth, I am glad it was still such a satisfying end to this arc overall! To me, the highs easily outweigh the lows, and I have a feeling that era 2 could become even better for my personal enjoyment. Anyway, have fun with your shows and gaming. Hope you end the year on a high note. Wishing you a lovely NYE and all the best for 2025 🥰

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@esmayrosalyne happy new year!! I hope your 2025 is amazing in every way 😁

[@IbbyMelbourne]

I feel like while WaT might not be perfect, the level of creativity and thought that goes into these books is still unlike anything else being published right now. That alone still makes this book incredible for me, but I completely understand why people wouldn't enjoy certain parts.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@IbbyMelbourne yeah I can understand the criticisms! And I'm with you, the intricacies of the worldbuilding are just unbelievable

[@N.A.Summur]

Glad to hear Wind and Truth worked for you! I’m looking forward to getting into it. And I’m continually jealous of those Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn books. They look so good! Streaming games is pretty fun. I used to do that on Twitch for a while, until I got back into reading and writing. Don’t really have the time for it anymore.

[@NerdLevelRising]

Why can't we just have more time?!?!

[@N.A.Summur]

@ agreed. I need about an extra 24 hours a day please. lol 😂

[@safinan8008]

I’m glad u liked the book!! I’m still reading wind and truth. Happy reading to you!! 😊happy new year!! 😊

[@NerdLevelRising]

hope you love it!! Happy new year!

[@BookishChas]

I share a lot of your feelings about Wind & Truth, Jake. It was very mixed for me. Glad you had a relaxing holiday man. Some really nice gifts there too.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@BookishChas it's been so interesting hearing everyone's experiences with Wind and Truth!

[@ZOMGfantasy]

Oof, looking good with the hair down, Jake! Glad to hear WaT worked a tad better for you than it did for me! I fully agree with your critiques (even made a long and silly video about them lol) I'm currently 50% through Edan book 2 and it is unrelenting, jeez! I remember watching Water 7 way back in the day. That arc left an impact - I think you'll enjoy it :)

[@NerdLevelRising]

I still need to watch your video on it! 17th Shard is keeping me occupied for the next 9 hours lollll

[@TomOrange]

Seems like we line up on Wind and Truth! One thing I did do was avoid any discussion about it before I finished it and filmed my video with my thoughts. Now going out and seeing some of the discussions and reviews I can see why it didnt work for everyone but for me its still a stormlight book. I end up comparing it a lot to WoT. Not that they are super similar stories but just in that they are true large scale epic fantasy. When a story reaches this scope there is just so much happening its impossible for it all to work for everyone. Especially on an individual book level. I think its the kind of thing that readers are going to have to look at in totality which can be hard. I think it makes for a really interesting discussion.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@TomOrange I did the exact same thing, I've only started watching some other reviews since I finished reading it - still need to check out yours! I think that WoT comparison makes a lot of sense, the sheer scale of what Sanderson was doing in this book is just bonkers

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

Nice to see there's at least one other person on the Internet not kicking the daylight out of WaT. I loved it as well!

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels a completely negative review of it is just unfair imo, there's so much great stuff in this book!! To each their own and I get the criticisms but, come on lol

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

@NerdLevelRising I think most readers went in with far too high for expectations, the hype was real before it dropped. A lot of the criticisms are valid but listening to people talk online you'd think Sando swindled them out of their pensions, lol.

[@noname3609]

You read Sanderson and Oda,subbed!!!😊 Im enjoying WaT and Elbaf arc atm ❤

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@noname3609 ayyyy thanks!! 😁 I actually just finished up Water 7 arc and will jump in to Enies Lobby tomorrow! WOW this is so great!

[@noname3609]

@@NerdLevelRising IT gets better,enjoy and have fun!!!☺️

[@valliyarnl]

Oh my god yes the chapter tittles’ when I was reading it I was losing my mind like AHHHHH THERE IT ISSSSS

[@NerdLevelRising]

@valliyarnl I'm super impressed that people caught that!! It's only been a couple years since I read Way of Kings but that still flew straight over my head 😅 I'm very excited for a stormlight re-read at some point, I think I'll catch a lot of stuff that I missed

[@amy_harboredinpages]

I've had an off couple of weeks. Work stuff often unbalances me, but it's fine a plan has been set, and I will stress less. I'm a pre-K educator and I often struggle for balance of work/life the first 2 months of school year... but 4?! After having a chat with my new coworker and other teaching colleagues, it's not just me! We've been on survival-mode, and now we are just popping up for air again. I think my body and mind are just resetting. Brain space for reading is returning! I've got The Two Towers by Tolkien to finish (a re-read), and a new book by Bill Roorbach waiting...know clue what its about... but it's got a Lucky Turtle. I like turtles.🐢 From fantasy🧝‍♂️🧙‍♂️ to literary-fic🐢. Perhaps the short genre switch will be a help to my reset. Then back to fantasy... but what I really want is sci-fi... specifically, Pierce Brown's Red God! 📚😒 waiting is hard. 🤣🤣🤣

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@amy_harboredinpages I hope all the work stress calms down moving forward!! That's the worst

[@amy_harboredinpages]

@NerdLevelRising it will! We are halfway into our core curriculum, and these last few months are my favorite! We've also got just enough snow to get out a big Sled, and I'll be burning some calories hauling 2 to 3 kids at a time around the playground tomorrow! weeeeeeeeeee

[@arabellawillow]

The Illustrated Harry Potter books are soo nice! Your girlfriend is awesome 😅 Wind and Truth has been a slow read for me .. I'm almost finished day 6 .. because I love it so much. I think I largely feel the same way as you.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@arabellawillow she is indeed 😁 so glad you're loving it also!!

[@Chance.Dillon]

The gaming arch has begun. ELDEN RANGGGGGG

[@NerdLevelRising]

AND SO IT BEGINS

[@kingzzz6509]

I didn’t finish anything this week. But my little brother got Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Switch. Normally I despise fighters, but Smash Bros. has been awesome. I’m hoping to finish The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and/or Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. Last time I read Empire of Silence I finished the “Speak Like a Child” (if you know, you know) and it was incredible. So, I hope you have a great New Years celebration and I’m excited for what the new year has to bring.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@kingzzz6509 happy new year!! Now go get back to Empire of Silence! 😉

[@mrgoodkat8448]

I think the problem with the humour in Sandersons books now is that he's trying too hard with it. I enjoy it when it feels more natural like in Kal and Sils interactions or just callbacks to character quirks. I love the effort he's putting into making it more diverse too, though you could argue that can be a bit heavy handed at times as well. I'm nearly at the end of Gardens of the Moon now and I am loving it! Playing some Indiana Jones while I listen to this too. Have a great new year everyone 🎉

[@NerdLevelRising]

Enjoy that insane ending to Gardens!!

[@iSamwise]

Glad you had a great time with WAT. I’ve heard really mixed reactions to it but I’m glad it worked for you. I’ve been finishing up Aurelia by Stephen Lawhead which has been a real treat and a half to read this ARC for the prequel to his Pendragon series. I’ve also been reading book seven of The Dark Tower by Stephen King which continues to be consistently inconsistent just like the rest of the series.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@iSamwise "consistently inconsistent" lol I love that. Book 7 is the finale right??

[@iSamwise]

@ it is. It’s also just barely shorter than The Stand…so mind numbingly long. I’m really not sure where I’ll land with this finale tbh but it’s certainly been one of the most wild fantasy series I’ve read!

[@CaptnKrksNippls]

If you haven't played the witcher games I would highly recommend them (I would just start with witcher 2 then 3 because the first game is a little outdated and needs mods). They're only $2.99 and $7.99 right now on steam, although the sale ends at 12pm central today so hopefully you see this early lol.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@CaptnKrksNippls I definitely want to play those!! I've watched my girlfriend play the Witcher 3 a bit previously on my old ps4 and it looked awesome

[@Talking_Story]

sounds like we are together on our thoughts on WaT

[@NerdLevelRising]

I need to go listen to your thoughts on it! I've been skipping over everyone talking about it until I finished it to avoid being swayed lol

[@Talking_Story]

@ just covered it on yesterday’s Weekly Reader.

[@SethPlato01]

Seems to be a divide on Wind and Truth, i think its something like..... people that read sanderson for years are kinda mixed and people that are more new to him are positive

[@NerdLevelRising]

interesting thought for sure!

[@eronlittle1276]

How long did you think about making a youtube channel before you did it? Did you find it difficult to start?

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@eronlittle1276 I wanted to do it for like a year or 2 before I finally jumped in! Not super difficult to be honest, the biggest thing was freeing up the time for it and making a setup that I felt mostly good about how it looked on camera

[@eronlittle1276]

@NerdLevelRising Your channel is great. It really feels like you've been doing it much longer than you have. A natural knack for it, perhaps.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@eronlittle1276 thanks so much! That's really great to hear 😊

[@souljang]

Had no idea there were illustrated HP books...

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@souljang yes indeed!! 😁

[@souljang]

@NerdLevelRising i looked them up and they look sweet! I guess there's something called Storiarts too, that have interactive parts in the book. Definitely going through a collector's itch having splurged on some Cosmere leatherbound...

[@NerdLevelRising]

@souljang hahaha I totally get that! I'd love to get my bands on all those leatherbounds myself

[@ahill6858]

Books 1-4 were life changing for me…WaT missed the mark! I’m incredibly sad about it. I feel like I’ve lost a friend. I’ve been telling my self it was good to cope, but deep down I’m let down.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@ahill6858 ahh I'm so sorry to hear that!! I know some people certainly are feeling that way

[@radudumanovschi3387]

I'm disappointed with what Brown did to Ulysses in Dark Age. I'm nearing the end of the first volume of Zodiac Academy and taking baby steps into three more books....that was the week in reading.

[@NerdLevelRising]

@@radudumanovschi3387 that's a lot of irons in the fire!