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_The Way of Kings_, Brandon Sanderson.
A lengthy epic fantasy, even by doorstopper standards. Part one of an unknown N, but reasonably story-complete.
The ecology makes no sense. The physics make no sense. Every so often you see where one of the test readers choked loud enough that Sanderson said, "OK, so I have to explicitly sew that hole shut, huh?".
Gender segregation of the "separate but equal" school: men fight, farm, and do skilled labor (oh, and rule), whereas women read, write, do math, history, literature, scholarship of any kind. Food is segregated: men eat spicy, women eat sweet. Not at the same table. Respectable women keep their left hands covered from puberty onwards... no clue why, and mysteriously it doesn't seem to enter into fetishism.
Eye-color and hair-color breed mysteriously true, are ethnic identifiers, and in about half the groups we see, is directly linked to social status. Rigid, caste-like social status: a specified set of social ranks, with privileges, for the dark-eyes (pronounced darkeys?) and another set for the light-eyes, who are on top.
Much of the only continent is covered in stone, repeatedly scoured by massive magical storms. Plants retract into holes.
The lack of clarity in the plot is masked by featuring a viewpoint cast of a dozen or so, some of whom are not touched on for years.
Features giant magical swords that come with their own Highlander-space, gravity-controlling ninjas, and treachery aplenty. If you like this sort of thing, this is certainly going to be one of the things you will enjoy.
A lengthy epic fantasy, even by doorstopper standards. Part one of an unknown N, but reasonably story-complete.
The ecology makes no sense. The physics make no sense. Every so often you see where one of the test readers choked loud enough that Sanderson said, "OK, so I have to explicitly sew that hole shut, huh?".
Gender segregation of the "separate but equal" school: men fight, farm, and do skilled labor (oh, and rule), whereas women read, write, do math, history, literature, scholarship of any kind. Food is segregated: men eat spicy, women eat sweet. Not at the same table. Respectable women keep their left hands covered from puberty onwards... no clue why, and mysteriously it doesn't seem to enter into fetishism.
Eye-color and hair-color breed mysteriously true, are ethnic identifiers, and in about half the groups we see, is directly linked to social status. Rigid, caste-like social status: a specified set of social ranks, with privileges, for the dark-eyes (pronounced darkeys?) and another set for the light-eyes, who are on top.
Much of the only continent is covered in stone, repeatedly scoured by massive magical storms. Plants retract into holes.
The lack of clarity in the plot is masked by featuring a viewpoint cast of a dozen or so, some of whom are not touched on for years.
Features giant magical swords that come with their own Highlander-space, gravity-controlling ninjas, and treachery aplenty. If you like this sort of thing, this is certainly going to be one of the things you will enjoy.
