This is my reaction blog for Wind and Truth. Beware of spoilers! Index post here. 

{NOTE: Big delay, many apologies. I dropped off reading the book in the middle of Ch 33 and am only picking it up again now.}

Title: Experiment
Dalinar’s gonna make a door.

Icons: Battar and Jester 
Jester might be for Wit’s presence and influence, since he is playing a major part in this endeavor, but it could equally be indicative of the attempt to cross to the Spiritual Realm, which abuts to all the various Shardworlds, not just to Roshar. Battar, patron of Elsecallers, is appropriate here even though we’re relying more on bondsmithery to cross between realms.

Epigraph: Again, I feel like we’ve belabored the point a bit. The acknowledgement of domestic violence as a situation to justify escape is a slightly unexpected inclusion on the list, anchored as we are in the feeling of parable and Nohadon’s pre-modern sensibilities, but it’s a good touch.

Again, Shallan’s instincts don’t quite match my own. She sends a messenger to Dalinar, but immediately goes herself into Shadesmar. I would have thought that planning together in the physical realm was the better first step. Aren’t the Shattered Plains far enough away that they don’t expect Mraize to arrive for some time?

It’s adorable how Shallan is so overwhelmed by the artistic beauty of the Tower in the spiritual realm that she can’t even function–she immediately trades off with Radiant so that she can gush internally as rapturously as she wants while Radiant actually gets stuff done. Radiant simply acknowledging “hey, it’s pretty” before moving on is such a contrast.

Wait, Isasik joined the windrunners? That’s crazy! 
Oh, it’s not the same guy. Isasik the cartographer just shares a name with Isasik the Windrunner. No wonder there are so many variations of Isaac throughout the cosmere. It’s just a super common name.

Hmm. All of Teft’s former squires have apparently sworn vengeance on Moash. Not that I disagree, but the narrative weight is such that if they do go after him they’re all gonna die. I’m concerned about their choice.

Ooo, the uniforms are changing! Props for picking something not associated with any Alethi or Veden nations, but white and gold is a bold choice for several reasons. Keeping a white uniform clean and presentable has got to be a terribly difficult task. Not to mention that the white and gold color scheme has already been associated with Odium (not that most people will know that). Hmm. Autonomy’s “men of red and gold” are obviously different, but I wonder if the gold has any sort of connection beyond coincidence?

The beads following her call her “Other Shallan” when she’s Radiant? That’s hilarious to me, and adorable. You’ve got some good armor there, Miss Davar-Kholin.

Oh, Shallan suspects that Mraize and Iyatil will arrive via oathgate. That explains her rush. I was imagining them using some sort of fast travel technique on the Shadesmar side that would get them here quickly, but not instantly.

I’m not quite sure what it is that Renarin is showing understanding for here. I do like that Radiant is reevaluating her opinion of him, but I feel like I missed some subtext to this conversation.

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“Curious how people’s decisions are an individual matter when they’re confronted about them–but those decisions form blatant patterns.”

Good on Rlain for calling this out. He’s more assertive than he ever has been before, and it’s a good talking point. I feel bad that inside I’m undermining the seriousness of the discussion by waiting for Pattern or Testament to chime in about pattern identification.

Huh. So in the cognitive realm Glys is overlaying Renarin as a pre-cog style afterimage, but possibly only when using his Truthwatcher intuition? That’s got interesting parallels to Szeth’s wounded soul and to the Rhyshadium music spren overlap, while still being pretty distinct from both. I wonder what it says about the altered nature of the bond to “enlightened” spren.

—

Not gonna lie, I'm quite jealous of Navani’s “don't get tired” super stamina coming from the Sibling.

She leads them through a swarm of gloryspren, which really highlights how many otherwise rare spren are flocking to the tower. It partly makes me wonder if all of these spren are manifesting physically, or if Navani's companions might not all see the gloryspren as fully as she does. 

Well, that answers that question: Gav is leery of the gloryspren and won't talk until they back off. He's traumatized by spren in general? I won't say that's unreasonable, but I'd expect his trauma to manifest more towards specific features or types of spren. Kids can easily become Phobic towards dogs, for example, but I don't think it's common for dog attack victims to be afraid of all animals. 
More to the point, though, what of the tower did he see? Just earlier in the conversation with Lift, she specifically mentioned that the little column of light that the Sibling manifested would be invisible to other humans. Was she wrong? Does Gav have greater than normal sensitivity to the cognitive realm? 

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“This is how we know the tower is good”
“Because it has boxes?”

Nice try, Navani. We may still need to add a slight bit of nuance to this worldview.

It's interesting to see Navani's mental distinction between God who is the power behind Shards and is worth revering, and the Vessel who is dead and/or fallible. 

Wit wants to start with viewing Ashyn, and probably the Exodus to Roshar? Jumping right into the deep end I see. Not really a fan of incremental experimentation. 

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“Rock from Ashyn, like those carried by your ancestors to this world during their migration. They were fragments of a holy site on your homeworld, but the stones themselves took on a kind of mystical lore by association.”

Finally, an explanation for Stone Shamanism, though I guess we can't complain too much about the wait since we haven't seen anything of the religion itself yet. 

And Wit successfully distracted them from follow-up questions by casually dropping the fact he was present for that migration. Then refuses to comment further on that. Classic Wit.

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Wit: “Do the magic thing”
Navani: “How? What are the mechanics?” 
Wit: “You just make the power connect to stuff”

Navani would much prefer to have Khriss as magical advisor. It makes me think of another story I love where a character who has studied magic her whole life has to work with one who is naturally talented but knows none of the theory or limitations. To quote her, “Save me from instinctive ritualists!”

The moment with Wit describing his connection to the Spiritual Realm is surprisingly tender and sincere. I'm proud of Navani for drawing that out of him so gently, and of Wit for letting down his masks for a moment. 

“The deity who insisted he was not” is a good descriptor for Wit, Navani. Good job.

—

Shallan has determined her life goal, once this apocalypse thing is dealt with: she wants to do a thorough study of human-spren symbiosis (probably expanded to include the other races of Roshar as well, though she hasn't thought that far yet).
“A grand illustrated tome explaining the intricate details of the bond”--is this what it sounds like? A giant art book of spren lore that will be published between this and the back five Stormlight books?! Yes please!! Sign me up. 

Renarin needs to consult Shallan about Mishram and his vision? As usual I'm so about these dances of identity, but I'm not sure why she would be the expert in this instance. 

—

Renarin is so overwhelmed by everything, and I feel sorry for him, but his descriptions of the spren ecosystem all around the tower are fascinating and I need more! It's reminding me that everything on Roshar is basically a tide pool, with accompanying aesthetics. So awesome. 

Oh, so that's why Shallan grabbed Renarin; she thought he'd be able to see people bonded to Sja-anat’s children. She needs to work on her tactful terminology though. 
Oh wait, Renarin called her on that being a deflection. What's the real reason? She thinks enlightened spren can lead to Mishram’s prison, and she wants Renarin to help her race Mraize there.

Yay Glys! Reducing sensory overload isn't an application I’d have thought of for a truthwatcher spren but it makes sense and is a valuable quality of life aid for Renarin.

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“He kept going…because if he turned back, then Rlain probably would too, which would mean leaving Shallan completely without access to common sense.”

Harsh, but not wrong.
Oh, he keeps going. This critique is great.

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“Accidentally joining a secret organization bent on ruling Roshar, then never finding the time to mention it to anyone until it became a crisis? In his experience, that was the most Shallan thing she could have done.”

Two extra souls in the walls. Gav and the governess? Maybe Lift?

Wait, any spren can learn to hide inside their host, even on the Shadesmar side? That changes my expectations significantly. 

Yes, Lift is in the ducts. Shallan thinks the guards are ghostbloods in disguise? I won't say that's impossible, but it feels like a red herring.