Scattered

I think we should at least consider that for #17, the "suckling child" could refer to Elhokar's son. I'm not sure yet why it would be important for him to die, but he is the first baby of significance we've seen. Another possibility could be a future child of Shallan and Adolin.

Thanks for those WoB! Nice to know an idea I had wasn't completely off base for once.

Aah I had forgotten that part, thanks. Though that doesn't necessarily disprove the theory about Bronze potentially being able to locate investiture other than Allomancy.

Do we have any proof that Bronze does NOT pick up on all forms of investiture? There is a scene where Vin spots Hoid and decides not to meet him because it doesn't feel right to her, and there was a lot of discussion at the time about why that was. I believe the prevailing theory was that she was sensing his Lightweaving, which would mean that Bronze could be used to sense investiture, rather than just Allomancy. This is a minor point, but I suppose it could mean that anyone with the ability to burn Bronze could theoretically detect anyone using a Surge on Roshar. Might be a handy way to detect Knight Radiants...

What about, "I accept that I will fail" or "I accept that I will not be able to save everyone"?

I think part of Kelsier's inability to take up Preservation's power also had to do with the fact that he is dead. Remember he can't burn metals any more after he dies, so whatever connection he may have had to Preservation is now gone. Even after he does eventually take up the power with the help of the artifact, he remarks later that he never would have been able to use it as well as Vin did. The notable difference here is that Vin, who was influenced by Ruin almost from birth, was still alive when she Ascended, whereas Kelsier was not.

I think maybe it's just during Desolations that they travel from west to east, and being the place of the Heralds, who only pop up during Desolations, Urithiru was constructed to withstand those. That could still explain the asymmetry though, and possibly the hurricane shape of the entire continent.

I always thought that Dalinar was so torn up over his wife's death that he asked for the pain to go away, like what you suggested, so that the fact that he can't remember her is actually his boon. Conversations in the book imply that he did love her very much, and that they were perfect for each other, so I don't think it's true that he didn't love her as much as he did Navani. It's just that his memories of his wife were taken from him, so he can't remember how he felt about her, he only remembers his feelings for Navani. I don't think there's enough evidence to make a solid guess at what his curse might be, though I suppose the curse could be that he was chosen to receive the visions, and have the weight of uniting Alethkar on his shoulders. Of course I'm basing this on the fact that it seems like a curse to not be able to remember the love of your life, and it's a very Brandon thing to do to flip that on it's head so it's actually the boon. Theoretically I suppose it could actually be the curse, and perhaps his boon was the healing, but that seems too simple to me. I like the idea of the curses and boons being tied, but remember the story about the potter (I think it was a potter) who asked for money or something like that to feed his family, and he ended up seeing the world upside down as his curse. In this instance they weren't tied, so I don't think that theory can hold true, as cool as it would be.

I have many, but the biggest ones are, in order: 1. Sazed becoming Harmony - this completely blew my mind, and I still consider this the most original ending to any book I've ever read 2. Atium mistings - should have seen it coming, and yet it totally blind-sided me 3. How Raoden fixed the Aons 4. The Kandra plot twist 5. OreSeur/TenSoon 6. Vin's earring 7. Vasher being Warbreaker/the whole hidden army thing 8. Shallan's "10 heartbeats" comment

Thanks everyone!!!!

My dad recently decided he wanted to start reading the Alcatraz books, but when trying to purchase them, he says he can't find Alcatraz book 3 for less than $150. Even on Amazon it's going for $155, used. Does anyone know why this is? I'm assuming it has to do with the scurfuffle with Scholastic, but figured you guys would be the ones to know. Thanks!

Did he really? I hadn't heard that! I'll have to see if I can find it, I didn't know anyone was continuing the series! Maybe there's hope for this yet. I did enjoy the Artemis Fowl books, so it will be interesting to see what he's done with Hitchhiker.

I've been having a harder time finding new books to read ever since the Borders closed (not a huge fan of Barnes & Noble), but since my last post I was able to read Legion and The Emperor's Soul, as well as the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. I loved loved LOVED these books - think American Gods minus all the dark stuff, written by an author with a knack for silly modern humor. A friend recommended these books to me, and after reading just the first 2 pages, I was totally hooked. That first page also gives you a pretty solid idea of how the entire series feels, so there shouldn't be any unexpected surprises for those of you who are content-shy. I laughed the whole way through these books. I also read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy omnibus with all the stories, and honestly I was surprised to find myself disappointed. I think it may just have been a problem of overhype, since I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I was probably expecting something different. I laughed at a lot of it, but overall was disappointed with where the story went. But seriously, Iron Druid Chronicles all the way. Book One is called Hounded.

Warning, slight WOK spoiler. At first I thought that this wouldn't make sense, since Roshar is so full of soul-cast objects and they don't have trouble going to Shadesmar. But then I realized that those objects actually physically change, instead of just believing that they've changed. And if Shadesmar is really made up of all those little balls of consciousness that Shallan sees in WOK, then I can see how it would be a very confusing place when that consciousness is confused. I think you hit on a pretty solid theory for this.

This was my thought while reading the book also.