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Release Dates:

22/05/14 - X-Men: Days of Future Past 01/08/14 - Guardians of the Galaxy 01/05/15 - Avengers: Age of Ultron 19/06/15 - Fantastic Four 17/07/15 - Ant Man 06/05/16 - Captain America 3 19/05/16 - X-Men: Apocalypse 10/06/16 - The Amazing Spider-Man 3 08/07/16 - ??? 03/03/17 - The Wolverine 2 05/05/17 - ??? 14/07/17 - Fantastic Four 2 04/05/18 - The Amazing Spider-Man 4 13/07/18 - ??? (20th Century Fox*)

In Development/No Release Date:

Black Panther The Inhumans Doctor Strange Deadpool X-Force The Avengers 3 Gambit Thor 3**

Announced/In Early Development:

Ms. Marvel Blade Nick Fury The Incredible Hulk 2 Venom The Sinister Six

Rumoured:

The Vision Ka-Zar Nova The Punisher Quasar Black Widow*** Iron Man 4

Not too long ago I reviewed The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive. So far, it’s my only 10/10 review. Radiance is of a similar length, and I finished it just as fast. I wouldn’t put it on quite the same level as the first, but it certainly lived up to expectations. Just a note: I'm reviewing this as a sequel, not as a novel in its own right. Everything I said for Brandon's skill in writing and worldbuilding in my review of The Way of Kings still applies here.

Going into this reading with a knowledge of the Cosmere definitely changed the way I would view it. I reread WoK shortly before so I could better understand the hidden parallels, and even then I missed some. It isn’t necessary to have read Sanderson’s other works, the first time I read WoK I had no idea there was any connection despite having read them, but it certainly adds another layer. There are some quite prominent references to Warbreaker which I almost missed. This novel definitely advances the story of Adonalsium much more so than any other, possibly excluding The Hero of Ages. I have a feeling I’ll be frequently rereading works to keep up.

As a single series, it’s certainly not lacking. The plot was engaging and seemed to flow naturally, although there were a few too many places where there was a large change in characterisation masked behind words such as “I was a new man”, “I felt like a changed man” etc. These don’t detract from the story, but often they were unnecessary and more fluid characterisation could have been built it without detracting from plot or pacing. At the beginning of the novel it also felt like the characters had changed too much with little prodding or explanation, if I hadn’t of just reread the previous work I doubt I would have noticed it. About halfway through these oddities settle out, though.

Shallan and Kaladin still form the core of the story, with the Kholin’s inhabiting a central role. In contrast to the first novel, the setting is now the same for the majority of the story. Whilst this brings greater cohesion to the text, it loses a part of its epic scope for a long while. It is interesting to see how these relationships developed though. Adolin played a bigger role in this novel, and whilst I’m glad of this it seemed to be at the expense of Renarin who should really have taken up more space. A chapter of his own wouldn’t have gone amiss, although it could have caused issues further down the line as he becomes more important.

In a similar way to the first novel, the large cast somewhat detracted from the drama of the novels climax. With the major characters each needing their endings, it took longer than it should have. Even with a surprising plot twist towards the end, in a chapter again presented by Wit, it didn’t quite equal that of Kings. In fact, the ending of the first novel failed to live up to its promise of grandeur, all things considered. Whilst it is necessary to move slowly in such a large series, the story as linked to Talenel was disappointing.

In terms of content, I was glad to learn of Shallan’s past. I have disliked her at times in both novels but Sanderson still managed to excite me whenever I saw a chapter was about her past, in a similar way he managed to with Kaladin previously. In regards to Kaladin, I was disappointed for a large portion of the novel. His characterisation was shoved to the side and he changed dramatically. Whilst it could be understandable from his change in position it still felt unnatural. Too much happened to him with not enough explanation, and he became severely lacking at times. He was quite consistently out of character for a while, which can only really be excused when there’s a good reason behind it.

It all tied together in the final few hundred pages, and my mild disappointment reached back into excitement and intrigue. There were some parts that, even then, seemed a little too confident and not quite as natural in progression as they could have been, but from page one I never wanted to put it down. Whilst I seem to have written a lot of the novels flaws, it more than makes up for it. It’s exciting, it’s engaging, it’s fun and it’s sad. Frankly, it’s everything I wanted from a sequel, even if there were some hiccups along the way.

30 Day Challenge: Day Three

Favourite Series - The Cosmere Cycle by Brandon Sanderson

I told myself I wasn’t going to mention Sanderson again, definitely not so soon, but I just had to. This series is absolutely astounding, mainly because it’s all in the subtext. Sadly, I’m missing physical copies of the other four works in this series so far. Of all the eight books in the Cycle already released (out of approximately 34 planned), there is one trilogy about the same characters, one more on that world with another character, two books about different people in a different place but on the same planet (different to the first mentioned), and the rest are on entirely different worlds. In one series that’s four planets and six stories. All of them have entirely different ways of magic. All of them work entirely differently. In truth, you could completely ignore that the overarching story exists. I completely missed it on my first couple reads of each book, but slowly you start to realise all these people and all these places are connected.

If my explanation is shaky, it’s because I’m not entirely sure of the complexities myself yet. When you’re dealing with a story told entirely in subtext the details can get a touch hazy. In essence, the Cosmere Cycle is about a man name Hoid, who features most prominently in The Way of Kings but is in most novels, and at least mentioned in each. The Cosmere is about something, either a god or power, called the Adonalsium, which at one point in time was shattered into sixteen shards. These shards were taken to worlds across the universe by unknown people, but these shards melded with them, creating the almighty forces in all of Sanderson’s novels. On the worlds to which these shards were taken, magical systems were formed. These include, but are not limited to, the powers in all Sanderson’s novels.

The Cosmere is most perceptible in the Mistborn trilogy. The three planes are explained by the character Sazed in these novels, and the Shards Preservation and Ruin play a vital role. More than that, I can’t really say. So far, we don’t know who Hoid is. We don’t know what Adonalsium is. We don’t know what’s going on, at all, but we do know there’s something.

30 Day Challenge: Day Two

Favourite Author - David Eddings

David Eddings was the first author I truly loved, the first where I could say straight out that he was my favourite. I bought the rest of his works before I finished the first series. Since I initially read them I've realised they're more flawed than I thought, but I still gain the same enjoyment each time.