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Brandon Sanderson - The Cosmere |OT| there's always another secret...

F

faer0n

Member
FUBAR McDangles said:
Finished Words of Radiance last night. Loved almost all of it. My thoughts, spoiled just in case:

Kaladin is a boss. A whiny boss at times, but a boss nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Sanderson is so good at writing these scenes.

"Honor is dead" befor kaladin Jumps ibto the Arena or his arrival at the battle field or his first awakening in book 1.
I could read these parts again and again
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Binabik15 said:
Screw it, I'm starting Steelheart now. It's not fantasy, but whatever, more Sanderson.


I went Stormlight 1 and 2 -> Mistborn firt trilogy -> Elantris so far. Way of Kings is the best book, but I might like the cast in Words more. The plot isn't quite the page turner as the action in the first, though, and ss a med student I liked the healing lessons ;)

Only heard of Sanderson on GAF, then this threads title taught me of the Cosmere. I've Warbreaker as a downlosd from his site, but I think I'll buy it, paper books still feel best.

PS: since TWOW won't ever come out st this rste I might be looking foreard to Stormlight 3 more.
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Just a heads up for Steelheart and the rest of the Reckoners trilogy... It's pretty much a YA/Teen aimed series and is written as such. I still found the books entertaining but do expect the trappings that are common in Teen aimed books.
 
R

rickyson1

Member
rickyson1 said:
been doing a lot of reading the past month and a half or so(mostly because I was way behind on reading 50 books this year like I wanted to) and have now finished all of the mistborn(both eras) and elantris books

my opinion of them has remained pretty constant throughout(good and likely to continue reading for the foreseeable future but not quite reaching the level of amazing)

just read the emperor's soul though and feel like it's a level above his other stuff,easily my favorite thing he's written that i've read so far
Click to expand...

read Way Of Kings and liked it about as much as if not more than Emperor's Soul

i'd say Sanderson is probably up there with my favorite authors at this point and would roughly compare him to Abercrombie(both in terms of how much I like his stuff in general and also in the sense that I like some of his books a fair amount better than the others)
 
K

Kaladin

Member
So this happened.

DMG Entertainment has nabbed film and licensing rights to “Cosmere,” Brandon Sanderson’s interconnected series of acclaimed fantasy novels. The entertainment and media company has committed to spending $270 million, which will cover half of the money needed to back the first three movies made from Sanderson’s canon. That makes it one of the largest literary deals of the year. DMG beat out several interested parties for rights to the series. As part of the pact, insiders say Sanderson will receive a minimum guarantee on each film that is produced, as well as a rich backend, allowing the author to make millions.

The Cosmere series links the bulk of Sanderson’s writings, with DMG likening it to acquiring a comic book universe rather than a single book franchise. The books are a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy, and they unfold in a number of different worlds and time periods, but are unified by an intricate system of magic that drives the plots.

DMG is fast-tracking an adaptation of Sanderson’s “The Way of Kings,” the first in the author’s series, “The Stormlight Archive,” and has hired screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writing team behind several “Saw” films, to adapt the book. DMG founder Dan Mintz will produce the film, with Sanderson and Joshua Bilmes serving as executive producers. DMG also intends on simultaneously adapting the first book in Sanderson’s “Mistborn” series. It has yet to decide on a screenwriter for the project.

Sanderson’s books’ global sales top 10 million copies, making him one of the few top-selling authors without a produced movie yet of his work.

“DMG is all about global entertainment brands built cinematically for the worldwide audience, and Sanderson’s library of present and future material provides one of the greatest story and character universes ever created,” said Mintz in a statement.

“The people at DMG aren’t just producers or financiers. They’re fans,” Sanderson said. “From the first moment we met, I knew they understood my vision and goals for the Cosmere, and I’ve been excited to work with them in bringing their vision for the universe to the screen.”

DMG has a publicly-listed Chinese arm, DMG Yinji, that gives it access to the world’s second-largest film market. It has been very active acquiring literary properties, recently nabbing Ken Liu’s “Grace of Kings” trilogy. The studio’s upcoming projects include John Curran’s political drama “Chappaquiddick,” the Felicity Jones and Nicholas Hoult thriller “Collide,” and the Ed Helms and Owen Wilson comedy “Bastards.”

Tor Books is Sanderson’s publisher. He is represented by APA, Bilmes at JABberwocky, and attorney Matt Sugarman at Weintraub Tobin. Paradigm’s David Boxerbaum, Underground’s Trevor Engelson, and attorney Dave Feldman represent Melton and Dunstan.
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http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/
 
D

DieH@rd

Banned
Kaladin said:
So this happened.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/brandon-sanderson-cosmere-movie-adaptation-dmg-1201902500/
Click to expand...

I would rather they adapt Stormlight into epic TV series, but I suppose a 2.5hr film could work if they make good choices. I don't ask for 1:1 adaptation, they need to make BEST MOVIE POSSIBLE and not be afraid of cutting stuff. I just hope the end result will remain faithful to the original material.

Hopefully the entire project won't end up in development hell.
 
K

Kuros

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Yeah, I guess :(

I really prefer TV adaptations for longer books/series though.
Click to expand...

Even a GOT like budget wouldn't do it really. They actively have to avoid a lot of the fantasy (ie killing off the direwolves and keeping the dragons screen time to a minimum.

Imagine having to do that with a world entirely populated by monster crustaceans.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Honestly.. Heavy and intricate magic systems would probably be best represented through animation.

I will be cautiously optimistic that these movies turn out entertaining.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Kuros said:
Even a GOT like budget wouldn't do it really. They actively have to avoid a lot of the fantasy (ie killing off the direwolves and keeping the dragons screen time to a minimum.

Imagine having to do that with a world entirely populated by monster crustaceans.
Click to expand...

Like I said, I get that a budget is a budget is a budget, and there's only so much CGI to go around.

But big books in long series just do not translate well to feature film series, generally. Unless they're Harry Potter tier, they just don't get the adaptations they deserve.

Jest Chillin said:
Honestly.. Heavy and intricate magic systems would probably be best represented through animation.

I will be cautiously optimistic that these movies turn out entertaining.
Click to expand...

Animation would be fantastic, yeah.
 
S

studyguy

Member
Jest Chillin said:
Honestly.. Heavy and intricate magic systems would probably be best represented through animation.

I will be cautiously optimistic that these movies turn out entertaining.
Click to expand...

The metal burning is easy as shit to put on the big screen.
I always pictured it as first person shots of people seeing the iron lines shooting out, or just putting a haze over a crowd being rioted/soothed, copperminds having an actual shield around them, etc.

I don't think it's that tough to demonstrate as people think. Everything is pretty straight forward. WotK stuff is gonna be weird though.
 
K

Kuros

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Like I said, I get that a budget is a budget is a budget, and there's only so much CGI to go around.

But big books in long series just do not translate well to feature film series, generally. Unless they're Harry Potter tier, they just don't get the adaptations they deserve.



Animation would be fantastic, yeah.
Click to expand...

I think WoK could be done. A lot of it is the sheer torture of Kaladin's bridge crew life which could be cut back. WoR is way more complex though. A TV show with a huge would be better but it won't happen :-(
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
Poodlestrike said:
But big books in long series just do not translate well to feature film series, generally. Unless they're Harry Potter tier, they just don't get the adaptations they deserve.
Click to expand...

And even freaking Harry Potter is faaaaar from an example of a star adaptation IMO. By trying to make sure that every major plot point of the books was hit, they failed to make any of them feel meaningful. The movies are just strung along with no sense of build up or climax.

I'm sure there are better examples of adaptations done well—I'm not a huge movie buff so my experience is limited—but the ONLY truly great adaptation I can think of is Lord of the Rings. Everything else has been crap.

Kuros said:
I think WoK could be done. A lot of it is the sheer torture of Kaladin's bridge crew life which could be cut back. WoR is way more complex though. A TV show with a huge would be better but it won't happen :-(
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually think Way of Kings is doable, if only because the first half of the book moves fairly slowly. But I don't know how the HECK you do Words of Radiance, and I'm expecting books 3-5 to go up in complexity, not down.
 
K

Kuros

Member
Lotr is the best fantasy adaptation by miles. But it was three 3hr movies.

And WoK is 3/4 the length of the whole of LOTR.
 
S

studyguy

Member
Kuros said:
Lotr is the best fantasy adaptation by miles. But it was three 3hr movies.

And WoK is 3/4 the length of the whole of LOTR.
Click to expand...

Even Mistborn probably needs to be cut down some for the bigscreen.
I just don't see how Stormlight could be done without serious revising unless they're all in like a shitload of long films just to cover each book.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
studyguy said:
The metal burning is easy as shit to put on the big screen.
I always pictured it as first person shots of people seeing the iron lines shooting out, or just putting a haze over a crowd being rioted/soothed, copperminds having an actual shield around them, etc.

I don't think it's that tough to demonstrate as people think. Everything is pretty straight forward. WotK stuff is gonna be weird though.
Click to expand...

It's not so much the metal burning itself that's problematic but the complexity of how the individual powers combine to create some of the bigger feats and fights.

Fight choreography is difficult enough for films to pull off convincingly before you start adding Sanderson's supernatural systems.

CGI is still heavily hit or miss and wirework is too floaty.

WoK is a bit easier to do with camera tricks and practical but WoR will be a task.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
I actually don't think Allomancy would work well on screen. How would you show the amount of metal in reserve? How would you show the use of Brass and Zinc? I feel like the magic system would probably get reduced down to just pushing and pulling with Steel and Iron.

Now, what would be excellent is a Mistborn video game.

Kuros said:
Lotr is the best fantasy adaptation by miles. But it was three 3hr movies.

And WoK is 3/4 the length of the whole of LOTR.
Click to expand...
Which is why I find this whole thing kind of strange.

It's an impossible task. I don't know how it can possibly turn out well.
 
H

hamchan

Member
Kuros said:
Lotr is the best fantasy adaptation by miles. But it was three 3hr movies.

And WoK is 3/4 the length of the whole of LOTR.
Click to expand...

Wow is it really? Both Stormlight Archive books went by really fast for me compared to LOTR which felt like such a huge slog.
 
F

Faiz

Member
I've been trying to formulate my opinions on the DMG deal since it was announced and I've finally distilled it down to this:

I think it's great for Sanderson (financially) but I have no real hopes of a good product being made for fans.

Obviously I hope to be proven wrong in time. It would be awesome.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
You won't get the lore or meta narrative. But it will be fun to see the settings, costumes and fight choreography. I just hope they don't go too CG. Weightless combat would destroy both Surgebinding and Allomancy.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
For what it's worth, if anyone DOES desire a full-length but more cinematic version of Sanderson's books, the stuff at Graphic Audio is really good. It's the full story, except all dialogue is voice acted and they add music and sound effects. It's really well done.

My one issue—and it's really a fairly minor nitpick, but it matters to me—is that for some reason they remove all of the chapter breaks, which makes it harder to stop at natural points in the story.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
As usual, the UK gets the better cover:

391px-Arcanum_Unbounded_UK_Hardcover.jpg
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
As a i general rule, i prefer the original covers but i might make an exception here. That said, i will still try to get the original one, as all of my other Sanderson books have original covers, plus the UK editions seem to be slightly more expensive here for some reason.
 
V

Veelk

Banned
Hey guys.

I'm currently reading The Ways of Kings. I actually read around 25% of it before, but I dropped it because it didn't impress me.

Well, I'm actually digging it FAR more now than I did then. I genuinely can't tell if maybe I was just in the wrong mood for it back then, or I just really want to read a high fantasy novel and Jordan's Wheel of Time was so fucking godawful that washing my mouth out with Sanderson's stuff is just much more refreshing now than it would be otherwise.

Either way, I'm nearing the part where I stopped reading it before, but I am now into the characters way, way more now than I had been before.
 
F

FUBAR McDangles

Member
I think Way of Kings will work well as a movie if they manage to efficiently trim fat. A lot of exposition can be cut out and still effectively make a good movie.

Just a few ideas. I think the movie can be good in competent hands - it isn't some impossibly hard book to translate, it's just going to require some reworking because the book is so damn long.

EDIT: Had to delete a good chunk of the post because for whatever reason spoiler bars weren't appearing. Mainly, I think a good chunk of activities in the middle of the book regarding
Shallan's studies and Kaladin's bridge runs + bridge training + some flashback stuff
can be cut and still make a good movie.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Whatever they will do, they will cut out so many small things from the world we won't see what kind of place it really is. Sanderson's strength is worldbuilding, and unfortunately worldbuilding is a thing that works rather badly on screen. Not because i cannot be shown, for it can be, but rather because it would take time and massive budget.

I doubt any Cosmere films will be good.


And speaking of adaptations, i wonder how the Mistborn video game's working out... It has been delayed twice, and i think Sanderson's assistant (Peter?) was rather doubtful about its prospects somewhere some months (a year?) ago.
Probably gonna be shit, even though the magic system should suit a video game almost perfectly in theory. I mean, the most average way i can think of would be to take Assassin's Creed and bolt mostly context-based Allomancy on it. Wouldn't be great but it could work. Yet i suspect they won't manage even this...
 
F

Faiz

Member
Kaladin said:
As usual, the UK gets the better cover:

391px-Arcanum_Unbounded_UK_Hardcover.jpg
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I like the style of it but I can't really relate it to the Cosmere? Seems a weird choice to me.

And honestly I've really liked a LOT of his covers, haha. There are only a few I'd take the U.K. Cover on.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Those that have read the Mistborn Secret History story : Is it safe to read after the original trilogy or do you need to be into the Wax and Wayne books?

I've completed the original trilogy and I'm into Alloy of Law. I'm looking forward to finally having that story in the Arcanum book.
 
F

Faiz

Member
Kaladin said:
Those that have read the Mistborn Secret History story : Is it safe to read after the original trilogy or do you need to be into the Wax and Wayne books?

I've completed the original trilogy and I'm into Alloy of Law. I'm looking forward to finally having that story in the Arcanum book.
Click to expand...

You absolutely need to be up to date on the Wax and Wayne books to read Secret History.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
Faiz said:
Hmmm. I like the style of it but I can't really relate it to the Cosmere? Seems a weird choice to me.

And honestly I've really liked a LOT of his covers, haha. There are only a few I'd take the U.K. Cover on.
Click to expand...

I vastly prefer the UK covers myself. The US ones are too photorealistic for my tastes.

Also—and I fully admit this is a personal thing—I really hate it when book covers directly depict characters. It interferes with my own images of them. It always looks wrong.

Mind you, some of the Sanderson UK covers are guilty of this too—but it at least happens less often.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
Woorloog said:
And speaking of adaptations, i wonder how the Mistborn video game's working out... It has been delayed twice, and i think Sanderson's assistant (Peter?) was rather doubtful about its prospects somewhere some months (a year?) ago.
Probably gonna be shit, even though the magic system should suit a video game almost perfectly in theory. I mean, the most average way i can think of would be to take Assassin's Creed and bolt mostly context-based Allomancy on it. Wouldn't be great but it could work. Yet i suspect they won't manage even this...
Click to expand...

I'd love to see a mistborn video game, but it would need to be a proper big budget title. Which I actually think would have been possible—see The Witcher—up until the recent movie announcements. Now, the best we'll ever see is a crappy movie tie in.
 
F

Faiz

Member
Wowfunhappy said:
I vastly prefer the UK covers myself. The US ones are too photorealistic for my tastes.

Also—and I fully admit this is a personal thing—I really hate it when book covers directly depict characters. It interferes with my own images of them. It always looks wrong.

Mind you, some of the Sanderson UK covers are guilty of this too—but it at least happens less often.
Click to expand...

I understand that to a degree. Generally if the illustration or painting is a nice one, I'm ok with it influencing my images. Anything that gets me more wrap-around Michael Whelan covers is a good thing in my book.
 
H

H.Cornerstone

Member
Wowfunhappy said:
I'd love to see a mistborn video game, but it would need to be a proper big budget title. Which I actually think would have been possible—see The Witcher—up until the recent movie announcements. Now, the best we'll ever see is a crappy movie tie in.
Click to expand...

At Phoenix Comic Con this year (all the way back in May) Sanderson was waiting to see what happened with the movie because their thoughts were if there was a movie they could get a bigger budget for the game and do it properly.

Now that they are doing the movies, I bet we will start hearing about it more.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Tbh, cover art of characters never really resembles them. It can be a useful starting point, but honestly, it's best to just put it out of your head.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Tbh, cover art of characters never really resembles them. It can be a useful starting point, but honestly, it's best to just put it out of your head.
Click to expand...

They did an amazing job with the US Stormlight covers, both of them. You knew who the characters were instantly.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Tbh, cover art of characters never really resembles them. It can be a useful starting point, but honestly, it's best to just put it out of your head.
Click to expand...

Well that's why I prefer when covers don't show characters in the first place. Play with typography. Show environments/scenes. Or, show characters, but as silhouettes'. Or only show their backs. Or obscure them in shadow.

What usually happens is I form an idea of how a character looks without the cover—until I start reading a new series, there's no way to know who a cover is depicting—and then I will look at the cover, realize who it is showing, and my image is ruined.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Wowfunhappy said:
Well that's why I prefer when covers don't show characters in the first place. Play with typography. Show environments/scenes. Or, show characters, but as silhouettes'. Or only show their backs. Or obscure them in shadow.

What usually happens is I form an idea of how a character looks without the cover—until I start reading a new series, there's no way to know who a cover is depicting—and then I will look at the cover, realize who it is showing, and my image is ruined.
Click to expand...

Didn't get that at all with Words Of Radiance,

shallan.jpg


wordsofradiance.jpg


My images of Shallan, Kaladin and Szeth were very close to what was drawn here.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
Kaladin said:
Didn't get that at all with Words Of Radiance,

My images of Shallan, Kaladin and Szeth were very close to what was drawn here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, everyone else seems to love them—but I don't. Shallan is okay but Kaladin and Szeth are completely wrong.

I liked tWoK's cover though, because—again—the characters were kind of obscured.
 
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