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There is a disconnect between the strong "At last" you've mentioned at the end of chapter 1 and the character's behavior here. If he's been waiting for his father to die (and the king seemed to be in good health, so the prospect must have been far away), he should think about his next steps : organizing the succession, strengthening his position as a ruler. There, we see only mild reactions, like "He didn't know what to feel about that" (which is a big tell, BTW). As a result, the character still seems weak. In the council scene, he kind of takes charge, but I almost expected the other councilors to ask him to change seats and be quiet. I completely bought the bickering between councilors. Seemed very real in a crisis situation. I also found strange that the librarians didn't even know him by sight or even suspect who he was. I'm sure that if the king had walked to them, he would have been recognized. There, even when they learn who he is, they still don't treat him respectfully. Maybe that's a world's feature; if so, you could add a thought about how librarians were so discourteous. As it is, their reaction only reinforces the fact that he's seen as someone weak. Question : how are they going to explain that the corpse is a head short (they're very unlikely to retrieve the head)? Some people might even doubt the body they're shown is the king's.

The reason why sciency folks don't stress the difference between theory and fact is that non-sciency folk tend to vastly underestimate the reliability of any "mere" theory. The theory of relativity has been tested and retested from day one with nary a flaw to be found. Within it's scope of application, there are no inconsistencies and it's predictive power is unimpeachable. It has a few convivial disputes with those quantum fellows on the fringes, but the core is sound, and resolving those disputes is what string theory and loop quantum gravity are being developed for. The odds of relativity turning out to be fundamentally flawed are on par with those of the Earth actually being flat all along. Sciency folks don't call relativity a fact because it is still technically falsifiable, not because they lack confidence in it. (Sorry, rant about non-sciency folks underestimating science because it has the honesty to acknowledge when it's technically possible for a theory to be wrong).

Steelpush the switch for the kettle. Ironpull the lock to let people in. Put Brandon in a Bendalloy bubble so SA2 gets finished quicker (Not useless but it needs to be said as often as possible ) Soulcast flies instead of using a flyswatter. At easter just soulcast real eggs into chocolate instead of buying from the shops. Awaken a pen to 'do paperwork' Soulcast your name onto someone else's homework. Use Aon Tia to get things from the fridge. Soulcast something into fire instead of using a heater. Soulcast your shoes into ice, and perform a quarter-lashing on yourself, then skate wherever you need to go. (Actually that one sounds fun) When I read this one I just imagined a fledgling Allomancer accidentally pulling too hard and flinging a Labrador into some kids.

Many threads focused on finding some god use for some apparently uselss power. Here, I'm doing the opposite: take some perfectly good power and squander it in some ridiculous way. here my ideas Surgebinding - infuse yourself with stormlight, then read by night without needing to turn on the light. - use a lashing to bind your trousers tight so you don't need a belt - when opening or closing a door, change gravity on the handle instead of pushing or pulling it. Soulcasting - if you are stuck out under the rain, constantly soulcast the water in your clothes to air so you stay dry (that looks useful enough, but you could just soulcast an umbrella) - turn ink to blood. Sign everything in blood, because it's cool Awakening - awaken the ties of your shoes and have them tie themselves, because you are THAT lazy - same for your cravat - awaken the food you're cooking and tell it to stir itself now I'm wondering if you could use awakening to do household chores; that would actually be useful Allomancy - have a keyboard specifically made of metal for you. type by steelpushing (i figure it would be much more difficult than just using the fingers. maybe vin or kelsier could have typed at a reasonable speed and used their hands to do other things) - have a layer of metal under the pavements, roofs and walls in your house. float in your house instead of walking. - put a metal collar on your dog. use a subtle ironpull on it instead of a common leash. Feruchemy - use alcohol or drugs freely. tap gold to prevent damage to yoru body. tap more gold if you need to be sober to drive. - only for kids: fill gold to stay home from school - tap a lot from bronze to make a sauna without the sauna. Bonus points if you're in your garden in the middle of the winter dressed only with a towel and swaeting like hell. Extra bonus points if you accumulate all that heat by walking around with an heavy coat in summer. Find others!

Today in my incredibly slow reread of The Way of Kings, I reached Cocoons, which is Chapter 16, running from pages 245 to 257 in the hardcover edition. At first, I didn't think anything of significance could be hidden in a Kaladin flashback chapter (I always underestimate Brandon), but I think I might have found something. On page 254, we have a moment where Kaladin goes into "battle mode". Actually, until I typed that quote I was going to go on a tangent about how the rock Tien gave to Kaladin chanelled "warrior's spirit" or something in him, but I just noticed something. That scene there, the cliche moment where the hero realizes that they're actually really badass, is accepted by our minds because we've seen it so many times. But this isn't any old "badass" moment. Kaladin just activated the Thrill, and he did it without a Shardblade. While my mind struggles to comprehend how that is possible, I'm going to go back to the topic I wanted to bring up. On page 247, Tien shows up and gives Kaladin a rock. Here, have some quotes. A strange rock that magically makes Kaladin happy, while also seeming to have a face in it? Either Tien gave Kaladin drugs, or something is up with those rocks. Seeing as the rocks magically improve his mood, something mystical like a Spren is probably hiding within them. They might have Stormlight, but Kaladin couldn't use Stormlight until he met Syl, and the rocks still retain their powers after he activates the Thrill. (Possibly. After Kaladin uses the Thrill, the first rock doesn't cause him to crack a smile, but the second one does. However, the first rock still retains its pattern.) If the rocks do have Spren in them, then that may suggest that Shardblades have Spren within them as well. After all, the translated notes Navani has reveal that , meaning that Shardblades are the only magic that doesn't use Spren. Also, the face in the rock could be the face of a Spren. Also, if the rocks do indeed have Spren, Tien finding them can't be a coincidence. He might have some special power which lets him detect Spren, or he might have a connection to the Radiants. The next thing to consider is Syl's hatred of Shardblades. She , so the Spren inside Shardblades must set her off. The only other thing known to set Syl off is the name "Odium". Make of this what you will. And there we have my theory. As I continue to reread The Way of Kings, I may draw new things that give my theory a more constructive purpose, but for now you have to make due with my conclusions based on that chapter.

Through methods involving the sacrifice of several people who didn't want to be sacrificed, I've decoded the song of the Parshendi. Read it here, and be amazed. Amazing, isn't it?

Alright, I know everyone and their mother has come up with this one, but I have something new to bring to the table. Anyway, the theory goes like this: Three Shards (Honor, Cultivation, and our mystery Shard) are ruling peacefully on Roshar. Then Odium shows up, and the mystery Shard flees to the world of The Silence Divine, which shares the solar system of Roshar. It sounds far-fetched, but allow me to direct you to two quotes. Essentially, three Shards used to be in charge of Roshar, but now Odium Reigns. Of course, the line implies that Odium wasn't one of "The Three" (heh, reminds me of Warriors), and instead came later. This Brandon Quote backs me up. This further suggests that the Three were ruling until Odium came in and took over. Since Cultivation, Odium, and Honor are the only Shards on Roshar, this means that someone had to leave. Obviously, it was our mystery Shard. Skeptics may claim that having Roshar and the planet of The Silence Divine in the same solar system was just a stylistic choice, but I beg to differ. You heard the man. As well, I have proof that the Shard from The Silence Divine has actually been on Roshar. First, let me draw your attention to the magic system of this planet. On the world of TSD, getting a disease gives you magical abilities. Someone here gave this example of how it would work: "You get a cold and then you can fly." Now where have we heard something like that before? Both the Nightwatcher and the world of TSD operate on a curse-boon system. The Nightwatcher gives you a boon, and a curse to balance it out. For example, she gives a man some cloth, and also flips his vision upside down. On the planet of TSD, you get a curse (a disease) and a boon (superpowers) balances it out. It seems that both worlds have had influence from the same Shard. Could the Nightwatcher be a Splinter? Also, Brandon mentions in an interview (I don't have the link, but I'll find it) that we have seen the magical effects of two Shards in The Way of Kings. One of those Shards supplied the magic of the Radiants, and Odium doesn't want to invest himself in anything. Brandon refused to divulge which Shards we saw, which would make the most sense if we were dealing with a Shard outside our knowledge. Finally, the author of the Ars Arcanum mentions, "I am beginning to suspect that the Old Magic is something else entirely." Make of this what you will. So there you have it. My theory.

Got it . I'll dodge their spikes accept their cookies with glee.

I need some plot advancement here. You can get away with an informative first chapter when it follows an exciting prologue, but by chapter two I need some outright conflict, even if it doesn't have to do with the main plot. What is the very first obstacle Fen must actively face? Right now he seems to just be reacting. Is it just me or did your style change in this one? Before, your descriptions were crisp and thorough, but now suddenly these characters are getting a somewhat vague sentence or two whereas before they were getting a paragraph. It makes me feel like, if someone or something doesn't get a long description, I don't have to remember this person or thing because they obviously not as important is that other person who got half a page. The first person train of thought on Page 3 was a bit much. It felt disjointed and unnatural. Based on the society you built here, one that goes to so much trouble to ensure the order of ascension, that the secrecy behind the King's death doesn't really ring true. I would think their first and foremost objective would be to put Fen on the throne, if for no other reason than out of tradition. Perhaps Fen can talk them out of raising him to King and waiting two weeks to reveal the death (his first obstacle?) but it should be there. Am I wrong? When Fen goes to the library, you overuse the words "book" and "bookshelf" to the point of distraction. Overall, your prose are still top notch, but I feel each submission has gotten just a little bit weaker. I've spent, basically, 30+ pages reading about this King's death and yet I don't feel like the story is going anywhere quite yet.

Okay, I'm late, but I'll submit something for partial credit for last week. I'll try to get my next homework in on time... Current project: When Isaac and his mother escape from the mob who murdered his father, they leave in the time machine he invented to try to bring him back to life. But will they succeed when the changes they make set Isaac's father's tyrannical doppleganger against them, in his very own time machine? NaNo 2012 When hormonal surges start causing temporary changes and powers instead of just acne, one teenager discovers the pattern, and starts using them to his advantage. But will he succeed when the real originators of the changes take notice? Other options (my first book): When Sam accidently sends himself to an artifical alien planet after his house is destroyed by a void of energy, he is set on a path to both reclaim his home and discover his new magical talents. But will he succeed in his war against the voids, the league of Maji who create them, and the dissolution of the entire universe?

Use tin to wear sunglasses at night. Use feruchemical Atium to convince customers you are the store manager. Store identity so no one notices you are slacking on the job.

I'm kind of wondering if the Shards broadly fit a pattern similar to the allomantic metals, like so: Human focused -emotions --Honor/Odium --Devotion/??? -interactions: --Endowment/Domination --Cultivation/??? Physical -Processes --Preservation/Ruin --???/??? -??? --???/??? --???/??? The big issues are that only Preservation/Ruin and Honor/Odium are on the same world as their pairing in this system, though it might not be a hard linkage, and that the second physical subcatagory is a huge blank. I have not the slightest idea what it could reasonably be that would not be kind of dumb. Shard of Molar Mass, anyone?

Ooh! I know. Sacrifice a Dakhor monk to get transported a block away.

I tried to make one, tell me if it works, I'm not sure. I guess it's on the Voidbringers... Without void/they come/terrible/come they/void without With punctuation, it makes more sense. Without void, they come; terrible, come they, void without ....Does that work? I put it together earlier...it's hard, but rewarding.

- Use Feruchemistry to have infinite bad luck. - Lash other people to their clothes so they can't undress. - Use Duraluminum and aluminum at the same time to run out of metals super fast. - Use Aon illusions to look like yourself.

Sounds almost like modern texting...

Not just that, but this is some escoteric side affects to the escoteric side affects he's already created. I mean really, did you ever think, Man that Cadmium bubble should totally be creating a wind tunnel? Me neither... Not until i really thought about it. And Brandon doesn't speculate as much about his books as I do because he can just hand-wavium his interpretation in.

Messy because it has memory and thought and context-sensitive action crossing boundaries and being in one realm or another at different times for different reasons. And I still dislike your insistence on using the word "soul" to refer to Breaths. Yes, we don't know how large a chunk it is, so I suppose I wasn't right to assert that it was small. Still, we have Drabs retaining a large amount of their efficacy despite being Drab and Awakeners not simply "doubling-up" every few Breaths they get. Also, you would think that a Breath nearly as powerful as a full soul would be enough to power a piece of rope without needing 99 of its closest friends to help out. So the "unnecessary-ness," once again, flows to our different conceptions of how Commands function. Senses is odd, actually. Obviously real people need their sense-organs to sense the majority of their environment, but I suppose that Awakened objects rely entirely upon Spiritual cues. I will eat my shoes if it involves removing a soul. Read the descriptions we have on TES. It's all about creating a fully functional new soul and sticking it into an empty shell. I suppose I'm getting old and forgetful. Would you mind re-quoting those sources that actually support emotional memory, explaining how exactly they support it, and above all clearly stating what you're current definition of "emotional memory" is? Here's what he would have had to write if Awakening works as I theorize and he wanted to talk about it: "This, of course, isn't an easy thing to determine. In fact, I don't think it's a black or white issue for most people. When Nightblood was created, the partial Cognitive aspect that was copied over from Sharshara into Nightblood at the moment of Shashara's Awakening of him was insufficient to truly grasp and permute the meaning of "evil" in the over-reaching "Destroy evil" Vocalization which Sharshara also embedded in Nightbloods new Cognitive aspect. This partial of copying of Sharshara's mind then interpreted that it could best accomplish it's task to "Destroy evil" though using it's heightened Spiritual sensitivity to gauge the personalities and intentions of those who touched Nightblood..." So essentially: "the Breaths infused in him did their best to interpret their Command. What they decided" Vs. "the partial Cognitive aspect that was copied over from Sharshara into Nightblood at the moment of Shashara's Awakening of him was insufficient to truly grasp and permute the meaning of "evil" in the over-reaching "Destroy evil" Vocalization which Sharshara also embedded in Nightbloods new Cognitive aspect. This partial of copying of Sharshara's mind then interpreted" Perhaps I was unnecessarily verbose or it could be slimmed down, but, especially since Brandon wants to keep it unnecessary to understand the Cosmere as a whole and Realmatics in particular, and he was focusing on something else at the time of writing, I don't think it's an unbelievable leap for Brandon to just have simplified it. See my above request for you to provide that evidence all in one place. Also, that "trouble" primarily consists of me rejecting that implication as nonsensical for various reasons, foremost because of its unnecessary complications of the magic system and implications about the necessary messiness of the structure of the Cosmere. Curing disease is dirt simple for Breaths. Just pump up the "immune system" stat and call it a day. Seeing colors in more detail is just heightened perception and falls under the same category. And all of this also takes place in an already functioning human with an intact Cognitive aspect, so even if it was Cognitively demanding it would have little to do with the Breaths providing the Cognition. Fair enough. I should have been more thoughtful in my descriptions, but that's not really what I meant. You don't "react" to disease and I've already discussed purely Spiritual interactions being real things, such as Connection. Nightblood sounds more like a psychopathic manchild than a being of pure instinct. Almost as if his mind is simply stunted and such a complex and nuanced task as "destroy evil" is to much for him? To wrap up my thoughts about "emotional instincts," I think you're simply reaching. As I've already said, everything can be boiled down to "instincts" if you simplify your description of it enough. But what's the instinct to "hold when thrown?" Is that a human instinct that the "soul" is simply acting on? I didn't know that I instinctually held onto trees whenever I was thrown at them, and then never let go. Besides seeming unnecessary and overly-simplistic, this talk of "instincts" also vastly limits the capabilities of Awakening if the complexity and nuance of Commands is limited more by some unknown "instinct limitation" on Breaths than on the imagination of the Awakener. Not to call yet another "the author wouldn't do that," but I don't think Brandon would want to limit the magic system that severely. And if you tell me that there's no effective limit to what "instincts" can accomplish, then what's the limit on how you define instincts, and how are they then truly different from thought? We also have the question of why such a thorough Visualization component is necessary if Breaths can "instinctively" know how to carry out a Command. If you tell a person to "hold things," you don't have to then draw them a picture of how things can be held. If Breaths are really these nearly-complete instinctive human souls, then they shouldn't need such hand-holding. The existence of almost purely Cognitive beings merely shadowed in the Physical realm suggests that Physical aspects aren't all-important. P.S. Sorry, not as full a set of replies as I could have made, running out of time just now.

Keep in mind that the Shin see rocks as Holy. They likely have a reason for that. It may not be a very valid reason, or it may be a very valid reason, but they do have a reason. Maybe this is connected to it. And I don't know. If my little sister, who I care about, gave me something that she thought was special, I would smile, and would cheer up. Don't discount the fact that this could just be a family loving moment.

You forget, Ruin was not evil. He put it quite well actually. Morality doesn't even enter the equation with him and Preservation. Likewise, Cultivation and Dominion are not necessarily good or evil, they are simply doing what they do. Devotion is a tough call. Does being forced to love count? Honor is difficult as well. But then again, Szeth is honorable, and yet what he does is terrible. He has a choice in the matter, so is he good or bad? Odium would be much like Honor and Devotion if not for one factor: Its holder is evil. Odium hates all, and is driven by it. He seeks to be the only thing left in the universe (Sounds like Raistlin almost...), and refuses any shard that might change his vision. Odium wants to be evil. Though the Shard itself may not be inherently evil, the current version of Odium is.

I don't hate it. I just don't read books I hate. I'm still going to read WoT. Surely there should be something great there. Point is that I was disappointed. I was waiting for next favorite book and it wasn't that, at least first two books. About Malazan... not knowing their backstories doesn't makes them two dimensional. For me that makes it even more interesting. For others it may be hard to follow. Actually now that I think about it, it works same way as Sanderson's worldbuilding. First we get world but we don't know how it works or why, then its mysterious backstory is revealed and it all makes sense. In Malazan we have characters but we know little about what is driving them, then its gradually revealed and in the end it all makes sense. Though I should confess, I haven't read that much yet to know it for sure. Still thats what I'm expecting from it and I don't think I'll be needing in three rereads to see how awesome it is. Btw I knew Ganoes-Whiskeyjack thing from the start and it was awesome! I won't dare read first spoiler though.

I meant First Law there, which is Low Fantasy. Malazan and First Law have a lot in common but one is high and other is low so thats what I meant. I know that WoT is High Fantasy. I don't find those characters that good and I have to disagree with greatest fantasy part. Maybe they become something great later but as far as I have read they were annoying lot. Only character I really liked was Perrin because he had a little resemblance of Logen Ninefingers. Actually this book was one of greatest good vs evil battles I've read. And as far as I know every conflict between main characters was annoying for me. Should I be sorry for my opinions or taste? I like whatever I like, I'll watch whatever I want. Why are you so mad? And seriously Malazan has two dimensional characters? Have a nice day sir.

I haven't thought about that. Though most of the times I don't care about cliches/tropes, I just like whatever I like and dislike whatever I dislike. Even if born as a hero wasn't cliche back then I still hate it, though I'm gonna try to ignore it from now on Yes, exactly. Thats what I like most about it. I don't care about 90% of characters. I'm not trying to associate with them(though I can). I just enjoy plot twists, badass chitchat and action. Same can be told about First Law though what I like about Malazan is that its also High Fantasy and I really like 'fantasy' there. Its a different kind of fantasy, you shouldn't read it expecting epic good vs evil battle or something like that.

Finished second book about month ago. Ty Voidbringer. That was exactly what happened to me. On other hand I had watched Song of Ice and Fire and exactly knew what it was so when I started reading it I wasn't expecting much. Btw after finishing The Great Hunt I started reading Malazan book of the Fallen and its one of the best fantasy books I've read.

Taste. 1. I don't like it when characters are born as a heroes. With great powers and so on. I like it when they achieve it. Even more I don't like when there are 5 people like that in one little village and somehow they're all friends. Yes its that great wheel weaving patterns that way but still I just don't like that. 2. I didn't liked how Horn of Valere worked, it had feeling of fairy tale. 3. I hated almost every character, especially Rand even though I tried to like him. 4. Rand and Balzamon fighting in the sky. Other details I can't remember... I'm going to finish it anyway. Hope it gets better.

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I like this. Shouldn't there be 8 good and 8 bad?