Review: Word of Radiance (Stormlight Archive Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson

Now, I know that this review is kind of late but I want to make sure that I wore off my excitement and able to give more honest review. Read on!

Word of Radiance is the second book from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series. And this series is AWESOME!!! This book is even better than the first book, if that even possible. The character development is deeper, the cast screen time is more balance, the story is more cohesive, and the final is even more awesome.

I love how Mr. Sanderson dig Shallan's background. If the first book was all about Kaladin, in the second book Shallan emerge as strong secondary main characters. Now we can understand why Shallan do what she did, and why she felt the why she felt. Maybe in the third book we can read more about Jasnah? (crossing fingers). Just read that the third book is about Szeth.

There are some scene which almost make me tears (I swear, it was just prickling in the eyes....), and there are scene which make me want to strangle Kaladin (just how dense he can get!?!). The last hundred or so of the book really make me want to scream and make me to stop reading but unable to lol. And the scene with Syl and the last fight is awesome. Although the last scene with Dalinar and Adolin is really unexpected (who would guessed that Dalinar would do that, and Adolin to do it? Really!). And that early dead! God, it was almost broke my heart. Almost.

There are so many new plot development that I think I had to reread the book at least once before reading the next book (by the way, when it was scheduled? 2015? 2016? Damn it, that's way too long!). So many plot and twist, so many new mysteries (is the artifact on the last scene with Szeth is that artifact?!? Is Hoid really the person who wrote that letters?!?).

I really didn't want to spoil much, at least not as much as what I already did (sorry lol). What I'm saying is, you really had to read this book. I assure you, you won't regret it!
Well, at least I did not. It was worth the sleepless night when I did it.

Highly Recommended.
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ps: sorry for my previous melt down. Just ignore it.

Running Away

Do you remember MIRC?
I still remember MIRC, chatting senselessly into Indonesian chat room (or called room back then). Or downloading Dragon Ball wallpapers, then saving it to 3.5" floppy disk. And how many pop up I had to close before I can see the web content. God damn the Internet Explorer.
I was using Yahoo! back then. On a computer with dial up connection. The Net Cafe I used was cost me about IDR 6,000 (maybe equivalent to IDR 20,000 now). For comparison, now Net Cafe only cost IDR 2,000 an hour, with 1Mbps connection speed. And now I'm browsing the internet using my phone or my notebook. With 2 Mbps (or more) connection.

I find it easy for me to lost myself to the wide and wild internet world. Sometimes I spent my day only browsing and browsing, shunning the world, not caring if it was a brilliant, clear day or dark and thunderous rain. I care not if there are peoples out there. I'm going to internet. I was happy.

Or so I though.

Actually I was lonely. And the saddest part is I don't understand that I was lonely. I tried to fix my loneliness by going to internet. I'm like a shopping junky. You see, shopping junky thinking by going shopping and buying things to their heart content, they can make their loneliness go. And maybe it does, for some times. When the excitement wore off, or their money spent, the loneliness back. I'm like that. For sometime I was excited and happy browsing the internet. Reading news, new gadgets, pretty pictures, funny videos, the stuffs. But when the excitement wore off, I'm back being lonely. Then the cycle continuous. Back and forward.

The thing is, I'm not exactly liked people. I find it exhausting to socialize with them. Because I found peoples always have expectations to met, emotions to respond, the rules to obey (or at least to be respected), etc. It's exhausting. So most of time I hold other people at bay, not letting them too close to me, but not to far either. And I find it hard to trust people. I always hold back some part of myself. I just can't let it all go.

Sometimes I'm afraid that I become some kind of user-person. Using people, then discard it when I don't need them. I'm afraid that I grow too dis-attached to other people that I became cold and bitter person. Or maybe I already gone to that path, I don't know. And I'm not sure if I'm care.

I'm not blaming the technology. What I'm saying is, those technology made it easier to run away from peoples, and the REAL world. Before then, I was running to books. That's one reason I loved fantasy novels. Maybe THE reason. And every day, I'm only tried just to getting by. I don't make much efforts to be MORE. As long as I getting by, it's enough. And I believe it going to destroy me.

But it's so easy just not to care. Just so easy just to lay back and let the life running by it self.
No worry about life. No worry about other peoples.

 I'm going numb. And the only excitement I can feel is small in number. And I think it's going smaller and smaller.

I don't know.