christianlathaire

Did anyone get the sense that Timbre might be Eshonai? Venli finds Eshonai's corpse, a strange glowing spren underneath her, Venli gets dragged out into the Everstorm to be possessed by the spirit of a dead Parshendi, Eshonai is a dead Parshendi, after she gets the new spren, she notices that it is very similar to the one she found by Eshonai, and the way that Timbre knows the rhythms so well. None of it is very definitive, but it makes sense to me.

I loved Szeth's interactions with Nightblood, one of the highlights of the book. Especially because Szeth is so deferential and self-effacing. But I cannot wait for Szeth to bond with the Highspren and see how his two moral compasses interact. Nightblood: Kill them. Kill them all. They're evil. Destroy them. Highspren: You haven't filed the proper paperwork. Oh, master, I wish you would just throw him away. Let's stop by the local magistrate's office to determine the correct procedure for disposing of dangerous magical artifacts. Nightblood: Booooooring! Also, if Szeth starts using his spren as a shardblade, I can see Nightblood getting jealous and even more tetchy than he/she is.

Odin, Odium... If we got Anthony Hopkins, we're halfway through our Latin conjugations. But seriously, half Odin, half Hannibal Lector - I'd watch that.

I should preface this by saying that I wasn't picturing James Spader when I was reading the book. I guess I pictured Odium as your average square-jawed Josh Brolin or Jon Hamm or something. But as I was thinking about how wonderfully off-putting his seemingly genuine interest in Dalinar was, the way he'd pat you on the shoulder and cheerfully inform you that he could squash the whole world like an annoying little bug, I couldn't help but think of James Spader in the Blacklist. I know he isn't necessarily angel of light material, but the way he can switch on a dime from chatting about the delightful wine he had at that chateau and then murder three people in cold blood, I think he could totally embody Odium. Really this is just an excuse to talk about how refreshing it is to have a villain who is neither mustache-twirling nor bag full of cats crazy. I just loved how godlike he seemed. Come, I'll take away your pain, I'll take away your guilt, I'll take away your soul. He's scary in the same way that a riptide or a tornado or a black hole is scary. But all the time smiling and acting like at any moment he might just give you a hug. It was great. Also, as a sidenote, if they ever make a movie, they need to get Michael Pena for Lopen. He would nail it.

Adolin: We certainly are an odd bunch. Pattern: Yes. Seven People. Odd. Nothing goes over these guys' heads. Their reflexes are too fast. They would catch it.

This book was awesome! Like most of Sanderson's books, the first two thirds can vacillate between awesome, meh, and even cringeworthy, but then I get to that final third and remember that Brandon is a storming genius. One small complaint I had about the final battle was that some of the jumpcuts seemed a little excessive, almost like the sight gags you see in movies sometimes, like when Lancelot storms the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But seriously, that finale was insane. As epic as this story is, though, it's surprising how intimate most of the really powerful scenes are. Teft finally saying his oath, Shallan and Wit trying to put back together the shattered remnants of her soul, Dalinar taking the next step. Dalinar really is that immovable object that meets the unstoppable force and stops it cold. From that first Chasmfiend hunt where he catches and holds the claw, to him holding together the palace in the vision with Venli, to him telling Odium to go to Damnation - you cannot have my pain! Forget shoulder angels/devils, Dalinar's soul has been the staging ground for a decades long turf war of three Gods. Dalinar is probably the only person alive to have personal meetings with Honor, Cultivation, and Odium, and they all thought he was their champion. And that whole "it wasn't you, it was the thrill, it was me" schtick from Odium reminds me a little of Captain America: Civil War when Cap tells Bucky that wasn't you, you were brainwashed, and he says, yeah, But I did it. But that's the whole point of the Cosmere, isn't it? These are broken people, serving broken gods, just trying to take that next step. I also really loved that Kaladin was saved in the end, not once but several times. I honestly think the fourth Ideal is going to be something like "I will allow others to protect me" or I will allow others to protect themselves" or "I will accept that I cannot protect everyone." It actually kind of reminds me of the Serenity prayer - "God give me the strength to change the things I can change, the courage to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference." Kaladin's struggle has always been learning to let go of the people he failed, and if you look at his inner monologue when he's about to say the words, he thinks of all the people he's failed to save. Kaladin's journey is refuting the hero complex, and I think by the end he's going to have moved beyond the likes of Rand's mantra of all the deaths he's responsible for in the Wheel of Time. I thought Shallan's arc was more about keeping her head above water than actually making huge strides in character development. She does grow in some very important ways, but it's a long tough slog to sanity for her. Also, I feel like her magical persona/split personalites are a theme that keeps coming up for Brandon, most notable with Legion and Emperor's Soul, but even Wayne has some weirdness going on when he goes into his disguises. Also, I thought there was going to be something more to the Shallan/Pattern conflict resolution. I mean, in the beginning he's practically offering to let her kill him, she can't handle it, and then throughout the book, it seems like Pattern is trying to say stuff and she's tuning him out, but then that never really gets confronted, which is either Shallan being Shallan and avoiding the issue, or this story has about thirty-six plot threads too many and some of them get lost in the shuffle. Also, I kind of missed the Spren in this book. They were great in Part one, but drifted into the background for much of the rest of the book, even when they became corporeal in Shadesmar. I don't know if Shallan had any meaningful interactions with Pattern, and Kaladin and Syl didn't talk that much outside of logistical stuff. Although, my absolute favorite joke in the whole book (not the funniest, just my favorite) is between Adolin and Pattern when Adolin mentions they're an odd bunch, and Pattern says, Yes. Seven people. Odd. It's so great because neither of them get that it's a joke. As a side note, one of the few times Kaladin and Adolin get into a verbal sparring match, Adolin's retort is you talk like a girl - and that was such a recess on the playground - you play ball like a girl - kind of comment. Jasnah was great. Supercharged elsecallers are no joke, especially with that cascading quartz soulcasting, where the one guy crashes into the next guy and then the next guy. Also, her refusing to kill Renarin seemed very much a journey before destination move. Honestly, this war is going to be won by consistently refuting utilitarian ethics. The ends never justify the means. Also, due props to Elhokar's growth in this book aside, Jasnah is going to make a much better Monarch than her brother. She doesn't take crap from anybody and she loves telling people what to do. Also, the Vorin church has got to be in shambles at this point. The new Queen of Alethkar and the de facto High King of Roshar are officially heretics, and the King of Jah Keved and Kharbranth just made a deal with the actual devil. Plus, speaking of Taravangian, that guy is Faust on steroids. His soul has got to be more shredded than Voldemort's. Also, I found his bargaining with Odium to be somewhat reminiscent, in a funhouse mirror kind of way, to Abraham dealing with God over the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Plus, you can really see how justifying your means leaves you with some pretty paltry ends at the and of the day. Sets out trying to save the world, can barely hold on to his own city. Do not try buying a car from Odium. There were a couple of things that didn't make sense to me. I don't really get how Kaladin "rode the storm" from Urithiru, solidly in the middle of Roshar, to Thaylenah, decidedly on the Eastern edge of Roshar, on a Westbound storm. The only way for me to rationalize this is that the storm spans a good chunk of the continent all at once and he's skimming over the top of the storm as it passes by underneath. Also, the logistics of recharging spheres makes no sense to me. You have to expose the vast majority of the world's currency/lighting/other essential modern conveniences to violent storms once every couple of weeks. How is everyone not robbed blind all the time? Also, the discrediting of Dalinar felt very soap opera-y and weak to me. The whole exposed visions in TWoK had a lot more impact than this did. I know this post is way too long but I just wanted to end on a couple of idiosyncratic Mormon tidbits. These are a little esoteric but here goes. The civil war in Jah Keved, with thrill-induced wholesale slaughter reminded me a lot of the final chapters of Ether in the Book of Mormon, when the Jaredites self-destruct their whole civilization and kill each other down to the last man. And Cultivation saying that she needs to prune Dalinar to help him grow, reminded me of Elder Hugh B Brown's talk about the currant bush. I'm not trying to preach or anything, just thought I'd point out a couple of things that might have influenced Brandon creatively.

Did anyone else feel like they had stumbled into an episode of Star Trek when David finally confronted Calamity? Q is the only one that springs readily to mind, but it seems like every five episodes of Star Trek there's some godlike being saying how depraved and violent humans are. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the similarities are uncanny.

Just find a couple of gold mistings, pay them a ton of money and have them start mass producing the things via compounding. You could completely eliminate surgery that way.

Ranette Shotgun 2.0 - Put one of those skimmer medallions into the handle (grip? - not great with gun terminology) and anyone could shoot it. It would actually be a pretty good design principle for any gun. Throw in a cadmium medallion and you wouldn't have to breathe while you take a shot. Or, make a tin scope so you can zoom in on your target. Other ideas for gear: bullet-magnet vests - give someone the abilities of a lurcher and a bloodmaker and have them soak up the damage (although I personally wouldn't want to draw that short straw). Night-vision goggles that let you pierce the mists at night by giving you the abilities of a tineye. Steel-toed seven league boots. A Zinc-medallioned thinking cap for the commander running strategy and tactics. You could have gold medallions on hand so that you could shoot through the hostage and then heal them. Actually, having gold medallions on hand seems like a prudent move, whatever the situation. Those little medallions could really revolutionize Scadrian society.

Does no one else see the pun potential for it being Cesium? Leras had Lerasium, Ati had Atium. Sazed must have Sazium.

So, I've got a pretty boring job at a call center, so over the last couple months I've sketched out characters for all two hundred fifty six twinborn combinations. They're not all great and most of them were written before the Bands of Mourning was released so the enhancement feruchemy abilities are a little off, but I had a ton of fun with this and I thought I would share it. Twinborn Combos - Google Docs.pdf