Havoc

Looks like this book had fewer Cosmere connections as compared to Tress. Here's what I could see Virtuosity is the 15th named Shard The world is shares and orbit with a planet populated by Shodel (UTol) Hoid & Design (duh!) Masaka/Hordeling stuff Was the Machine actually Awakened, or was it some kind of parallel equivalent arcana? The Cosmere has 'fay'. Is that different from 'fain life'? General realmantic stuff Are we meant to know anything more about UTol than what has been revealed in this book?

The Machine is basically a paperclip maximizer, just tuned for stacking rocks.

In addition to the related areas of research, it is notable that the last syllable of his full name - Xisisrefliel - does sound similar to 'Foil'.

This book would make an amazing movie. The art in the book is already incredible, though I'm a little disappointed we didn't get a clearer picture of the two oceans mixing. If it's made into a movie, one thing is certain. Every one of the Dougs must be played by the same actor.

Is there any reason it couldn't just be a Leecher Grenade that the Admiral surreptitiously activated in his pocket to drain the Bands? The grenades have already been shown to have an area-of-effect without the need for direct physical contact.

I see Honor as an internally focused thing. A person's choices can be honorable, which may or may not have anything to do with the people around them.

Now that we have 15 of 16 Shard Intents, here's my attempt at classifying them with known Dawnshards. Each Shard goes with the Dawnshard that's best related to its intent, even things such as Preservation being the absence of Change. Unconfirmed Shard and Dawnshard names are in red. Change Preservation Ruin Cultivation Ambition (The desire to want more than you have) Survive Autonomy (Survive independent of others) Mercy (Let others survive) Valor (Fight to ensure others survive) Prudence/Survival Think Invention Virtuosity Whimsy Honor (The loosest fit in this list) Connect (Concepts defined by a relation to others) Dominion (Control others) Devotion (Love others) Odium (Hate others) Endowment (Give to others) I'd love to hear other's thoughts about these.

That explains a lot. I didn't remember about that loophole. Before knocking out the guard, Jax spends quite a while tracking his patrol patterns. Well more than 30 seconds. I suppose you could assume he teleported back to the tube between observations, but it would have been nice to have a line about that.

I'm currently about halfway through the book, so no spoilers beyond that please. I've noticed that the Boomerang watches have very inconsistent consequences. It's originally said that you melt if you don't Boomerang back within 30 seconds. However, there are three occasions so far where a character only Boomerangs one way, and doesn't suffer any consequences of not returning. Zef sending Jax away right before his death Brigan doesn't teleport back from the power room, but Jax was melting at the time? Jax teleporting out of the containment tube Do these reflect something deeper going on, have I missed something while listening, or (impossibly) has Brandon given up on consistent magic systems?

That's a great catch. This whole exercise reminds me of how Robert Jordan used to hide grey men while writing.

Sure, it's possible to be brave without any of Valor's influence, but I think this case is different. The way Brandon has written the scene makes it very likely that the bravery is an externally induced emotion, as though Taravangian were being rioted. Add to the that the fact that Hoid would definitely have contacted Valor after Sazed's suggestion, and the pieces start to line up. Reread the epilogue with the understanding that Hoid knows exactly what has happened to Odium, but he doesn't want to let Taravangian know that he knows, and it makes so much more sense. Both the actions that Hoid takes as well as his commentary to Design.

I was re-reading the section where Mr. T ascended to Odium, and something caught my attention. Chapter 113 (Italics as per original text) That sounds to me as though Taravangian was losing hope, and some external force helped tilt the scales in his favor. And what external force was that? Bravery, otherwise known as Valor! What do we know about Valor? Sazed to Hoid - Epigraph to Chapter 25 We know that Hoid hated Rayse and was looking for a way to bring him down. Perhaps he did take Sazed's advice and approach Valor again. If Valor did indeed affect the situation here, that explains so much: Why did Brandon feel the need to give us 4 new Shard names? So that he could hide the foreshadowing for Valor. What exactly was the deal with Hoid's conversation with Todium in the Epilogue? Given his dealings with Valor, Hoid knew that Taravangium had Ascended to Odium. This conversation was his way of getting a feel for the newest Odium. The scene felt strange because Hoid does not want to let Taravangian know that he knows about the replacement, so he hid those relevant memories in the coin. Could one mortal really take down a Shard? Well yes, but it still seems odd that one person was able to out-plan a Shard. Okay, so maybe this was Cultivation's planning. But could a plan with so many moving pieces really work flawlessly without support? It's much easier if another Shard helps out at the pivotal moment.

Don't forget, both types of Aimians have different colours of blood. That pretty much confirms independent origins.

Why has no one listed the Sleepless as a secret society yet? They are clearly up to something, protecting Aimia as well as keeping a close watch on many of our main characters.

You could say that the structure of this book is Storm-lite.