I'm going to follow what several others have done in the previous threads: Put my thoughts here before reading everyone else's.
Chapter 7
This is starting to point more and more toward Jasnah as the author of Oathbringer. This has me just about completely convinced.
As expected, Lirin is not pleased with Kal punching someone. Also I'm glad Kal is able to see that punching Roshone is something he shouldn't have done, though it was also hilarious that Syl thought he probably deserved it.
The little power struggle between Roshone and Kal over the situation is somewhat entertaining.
Baha. At least they're smart.
While I understand it was the most efficient way for Kaladin to get what he needed, I can't decide how I feel about him summoning Syl to get things moving. And, although the text says "Curiously," I don't find it the least bit out of character for Lirin to close his eyes and lower his head at his son being a shardbearer.
The parshmen being gone without attacking anyone seems to reinforce the theory that they're gathering somewhere in force.
I may be misremembering Storm Form, but this doesn't sound like it to me. Something new perhaps?
Kal requisitions horses, giving Roshone a small fortune, then later doesn't even take any horses. Seems wasteful.
First, possible formatting error. Hopefully just the Tor transcription. Second, this little tidbit was wonderfully done. I love that the spren of objects have associated genders.
Some of the older spren have 4 genders, because humans didn't imagine those. I wonder if these ones were imagined by the Listeners instead, since they also have 4 genders. Do Listeners predate humans on Roshar?
It doesn't really surprise me much that Roshone wasn't up to the task of doing what was necessary to save his people. And boy was it interesting to see Laral again. She seems to have changed quite a lot in the 2-3 years since Kal left, and it's interesting to see that she seems to have been happy with Roshone, or at least wants Kaladin to think that she has been.
Kholinar sounds like it's in a bad place right now for sure, spanreed not tended and all.
The scene where Kaladin is acting as assistant to Lirin definitely illustrates how much he's changed over the years, and really hammers home the point that his experience with surgery has been in the form of battlefield medicine. I can tell that Kaladin and his father have a very large gulf between them. However, Kaladin's path was always going to be the spear, no matter what Lirin had wanted for his son.
Speaking of sons, Kaladin has a little brother! Not going to lie, I teared up alongside Kal. "Child of peace," while fitting to a son of Lirin and Hesina, perhaps not a great name for a child born right before a Desolation.
Boy was it cool to see Kal show off a bit for the people.
Chapter 8
Epigraphs continuing to point toward Jasnah.
Shallan chapter finally. She's clearly out of sorts having faced down the biggest demon of her past. Unsurprisingly, she's still a big contradiction.
The art geek within me is very happy that surrealism is a thing in this world, and the scout's description upon seeing surrealism is surprisingly insightful.
We see Dalinar's affect on Shallan's Surgebinding. I wonder if this is specifically because he's a Bondsmith, or if any of the different orders can work together like this.
What's with that reaction that Renarin had to Odium's champion? What has he seen? We haven't heard much about Renarin's surgebinding, or his spren. I hope we'll get some chapters with his viewpoint later in this book. I've always been fascinated by Renarin and I'm dying to know what's going on in his head.
We know that the Oathgates are locked from the cities in which they exist, and that it takes a Radiant to use them. Does that mean that a Radiant will have to travel to those cities to unlock them, or can that be done by anyone?
Chapter 9
I have serious doubts about Adolin's ability to not fall apart about murdering Sadeas. The way he reacted to this copycat murder, I'd be extremely surprised if he makes it out of part I without anyone figuring it out. Seems like Renarin might already know, but I imagine Shallan will piece it together pretty soon. Especially since Dalinar gave him the task of solving Sadeas's murder. Shallan noted that he's "as deceitful as a newborn," which makes me worry about his ability to make it seem like he's working on solving it without implicating himself. My gut tells me he'll eventually just confess.
In closing, I'd like to reiterate: Renarin is interesting (and creepy). What is going on inside that quiet head of his? Also, I've been waiting for ages to know what that box is he was always playing with. We don't know what that is yet, right?
