The Kraken's Daughter

So, after picking the pieces of my brain up off the floor following the Toadium event in RoW, I formulated a theory on how Odium might eventually be dealt with. Odium has been described as being particularly dangerous, and one of the epigraphs in RoW indicates that this is due to the Intent of the Shard itself, not just the personality of Rayse as its (former) Vessel. The standard way of dealing with something like this would be to kill/destroy it. But clearly Brandon laughs at the idea of doing what we expect, so what if there was some other way to neutralize Odium as a threat? What if instead of being destroyed/splintered, the Shard could be changed? Rysn now holds (or is) the Dawnshard Change. I think that Dawnshard may eventually be used to mitigate the worst parts of Odium's Intent. This might be a straight-up softening, like changing it from Odium (hatred) to Anger. Or it could be a more subtle change, like directing hatred only toward evil things. (I'm thinking of something like the TV show Dexter here, which is about a serial killer who targets other murderers. It doesn't change his essential nature, but he manages to channel it in a way that's less harmful for society overall.) What do others think? I recognize that changing the nature of a Shard would be a very tall order, but if the Dawnshards were used to shatter Adonalsium, I think they'd be up to the task of changing a piece of Adonalsium. (And because of their power, I think it's entirely possible Toadium will want to get his hands on the Dawnshard if he finds out it's on Roshar. I really hope he doesn't piece it together from whatever info about the expedition to Aimia the other monarchs let King T have.)

Dawnshard spoilers: I think any plausible way for the good guys to rules-lawyer a victory would have to meet some loose definition of being "honorable" to avoid an oops-Dalinar-just-broke-his-bond-and-killed-the-Stormfather moment. Of course, as we saw with the honorspren, not everyone agrees on what qualifies as "honorable." But I think something like "Jasnah, as absolute monarch of Alethkar, issues a royal decree changing the name of the next month so that the agreed-upon date never comes" wouldn't work.

I agree, I got Skybreaker vibes from that guy too. I wondered a bit about the Shardgun. Have we seen a living Shardblade in the form of a projectile weapon before? And do "regular" Shardbows like the one Rock used come with their own ammunition, or do they take regular arrows/bolts? I guess I'm just curious about the Radiant spren being able to separate itself into parts to make both the gun and the ammo.

Just finished Sefira and Other Betrayals by John Langan. Now reading The Gameshouse by Claire North.

Thanks for finding those! Of course, Hoid wanting to become a Lightweaver raises questions of its own: What Truths would he speak to gain Lightweaver powers? I can think of two moments in SA that have felt like he was revealing something personal. One was when he told Dalinar that he shouldn't trust Hoid too much because he would "let this world crumble, with tears yes, but I would let it happen" if necessary to achieve his goals. The other is when he tells Shallan that he's old, and you get the definite impression that, as in many stories, immortality is not all it's cracked up to be. (That, in turn, makes me wonder if the goal he alluded to in the Dalinar quote is to find some way to stop being immortal. Then again, I don't know if Brandon would see that as too derivative, since mortality was the great prize in Highlander and possibly other stories dealing with immortality as well.) Yeah, that quote to Dalinar I referenced above makes me wonder when the other shoe's going to drop. I don't know about him setting up Elhokar's death, since he seemed to be working against the Fused a little bit (giving Azure those metal plates to shield the Soulcasters), but I suspect we are going to see him getting in the heroes' way at some point.

Brandon's created a wide variety of cultures for Roshar, each with their own customs, food, clothing, governments, religions, and so on. If you were in the Stormlight Archive, which one would you want to live in? The Reshi Isles and the Purelake both seem pretty cool to me.

I'm a little disappointed that we won't be getting the Rock novella yet, but not too disappointed since I find Rysn intriguing as well. Since she has a ship now, I wonder if she'll be leading some sort of expedition to Aimia?

I voted Other, because honestly Rock is my favorite of all of them. But of the ones listed, I think Lift and Dalinar are about tied.

@Extesian and @Ghanderflaffle, if you liked Uprooted, you might also enjoy Novik's "Spinning Silver." It's set in a similar Eastern European fairy tale-esque setting, and I liked it even better than Uprooted. My top ten for 2019: 1. The Way of Kings 2. The Kingdom of Copper, by S.A. Chakraborty 3. The Wrong Stars, by Tim Pratt 4. Oathbringer 5. Words of Radiance 6. The Dreaming Stars, by Tim Pratt 7. The Forbidden Stars, by Tim Pratt 8. Edgedancer 9. In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire 10. Snowblind, by Christopher Golden

I just became a lighteyes! I hope Airsick Lowlander is one of the ranks.

Hi all, This is a flintlock fantasy short story. I know it's a little on the long side, but it didn't feel quite long enough to split into two. Happy New Year, everyone!

Adolin makes progress on healing Maya More Lift! Some information on the Stonewards and Willshapers. (And also some on Truthwatchers, since we don't know much of what they can do, and Renarin's abilities may be non-standard for the order anyway.) More Rock! Maybe even a trip up to the Horneater Peaks to deal with Moelach? The awakening of Urithiru The emergence of more Radiants/Squires. I feel like Team Honor/Cultivation is going to need a lot more surgebinders to defeat Odium and his army. Rysn taking her new ship on an expedition somewhere important. (Perhaps to Aimia? I assume the hordeling Aimians need Stormlight to keep their bodies together, so maybe Chiri-Chiri can get them past the guardian who poisoned that Soulcaster by eating all her Stormlight.)

I do think Adolin will gain some degree of power, simply because the events already shown with Maya (summoning her in fewer than ten heartbeats, her attacking one of the Fused of her own volition in Shadesmar) would feel like unfired Chekov's guns if no further development happens. That said, I don't think Adolin needs powers to contribute meaningfully to the war against Odium. Martial experience is clearly not a necessary criterion for becoming a Radiant, since we've seen spren bond to a cobbler and an orphanage administrator. As the series progresses, there may be more Radiants like Ym and Stump, who had civilian jobs prior to bonding a spren and don't know much more about swordfighting than "stick 'em with the pointy end." And even Radiants who are military trained may not be as adept at strategy as Adolin is--we see Adolin explaining principles like "shardbearers can't hold ground" to Kaladin a couple of times during OB. So I could see a non-powered Adolin acting as a teacher and general for the Radiants. Training them in combat techniques during downtime and directing them in battle.

I'd like to submit on Monday if there's a slot. I hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season!

At the very end of OB, Hoid retrieves the Cryptic that was about to bond with Elhokar. He says he thinks the reason he came to Kholinar may have been to find that spren. I find myself wondering what's so special about this particular spren? It's described as small and trembling, so clearly it's upset by having lost its Radiant. (Thanks fer nuthin', Moash.) But I don't get the impression that this is just a random act of kindness like him uniting the little orphaned girl with the woman who lost her baby. This feels like something that's meant to have a larger importance, and I'm curious if any Sharders have theories about why. Could this Cryptic be its species' equivalent of an Ancient Daughter, a spren that was made in an earlier era and might have knowledge about Aharietiam and/or the Recreance? Is it some sort of leader among the spren that could give whoever bonds it extra influence in Shadesmar? Something else?

I finished OB a couple of days ago, and I've been wondering ever since if the expansion in scope of Dalinar's "unite them" mandate will culminate in uniting Odium with Cultivation and/or the remnants of Honor. It reminds me of an episode of the original Star Trek where a transporter accident splits Kirk into two people. One is his impulsive, aggressive side and the other is his protective, compassionate side. While the impulsive Kirk causes a lot of problems, the split isn't as simple as "good Kirk" vs "evil Kirk." The side with no motivation or aggression is basically useless and couldn't command its way out of a wet paper bag. The impulsive side is only "bad" when it doesn't have anything to temper or restrain it. And I wonder if Odium is the same way. With Honor dead, things are out of balance, but they'd be just as stormed up (albeit in a different way) if Odium were gone completely. Maybe things will only be really, truly fixed by reforging Honor and reuniting him with the other two Shards. (And perhaps the ultimate endgame for the Cosmere as a whole is to reforge all the shards into this Adonalsium I keep hearing about.)

I think Taravangian may have fallen prey to one of the classic flaws of antagonists/villains: underestimating his enemy. Odium is, obviously, way more powerful than any human, even the Heralds. But all the lore about Odium talks about him as a force of destruction. He slaughters people, razes cities, punts civilization back to the Stone Age. He fills people with bloodlust or makes them give in to hedonism. He's all about Passion. None of these are traits we usually associate with intellect. T may have been viewing Odium as a dumb brute: super-powerful but not the greatest in the "planning ahead" department. And how do you defeat an enemy who's way more powerful than you but not the brightest bulb on the tree? You trick him, of course. If T knew that his boon came directly from Cultivation, that may have given him even more confidence, since he'd be using another god's power to outwit a god. To me, one of the scenes that most shows how threatening an enemy Odium is, is that vision where he talks to T. He says, "Let me show you how far I see," manifests the Diagram...and then shows its writing extending off into infinity in all directions. The thunderclasts and Nergaoul and army of Fused were impressive and all, but we already knew Odium was powerful. But that scene really showed how much smarter/more cunning he is than even the greatest genius in Roshar's history. It's the equivalent of someone walking into an argument between Einstein and Hawking, saying "Nope you're both wrong" and scribbling out a Grand Unified Theory of physics in ten seconds. I don't think T expected that from Odium any more than I did. All that said, I really like the theory about T being a plant. He really is going to be instrumental in defeating Odium and saving humankind, just not in the way he thinks he is.

I agree any bond a Shardbearer may form with their Blade's deadeye would be up to the discretion of that spren. And we did get a pretty strong confirmation earlier in the book that even "dead" spren have some ability to perceive what's going on around them in the Physical Realm, remember past events, and form opinions of people. When Dalinar retrieved Oathbringer from where Adolin had chucked it out a window, he noticed that it didn't scream as loud in his mind as other Blades. The Stormfather told him that was because it remembered the circumstances under which Dalinar obtained it, and the circumstances under which he gave it up. "It hates you, but not as much as it hates others."

Page 3 All I care about is whether or not the statures of ACH will prohibit me from my craft It should be “statutes,” not “statures.” Curious. I don’t recognize that one. Why would she expect to? If there are many Witches in the world, and they can all make Witchbeasts, it would be entirely normal to run into one you haven’t met before. I would expect her to be more surprised that one’s traveling with a Seeker. Page 5 I have nothing to hide. Is that why you’re hiding in the sewer tunnels? Hah! I liked this exchange. Page 7 No, of course not! Since the question P asked was whether she’d gotten the bodies without causing any harm to their owners beforehand, I think her answer here should be “yes,” since that’s what she wants P and Z to think. Page 9 P took note, and carefully approached her, keeping her between him and him shield the whole time. I think you mean that he kept the shield between him and her? Page 22 The One Above All I think this name is used for a sort of ultimate being in either the Marvel or DC comics universes. Overall Thoughts This whole story has been leading up to the confrontation with N, but the way her character is established made it hard to get invested in the fight. P says that S was an amoral person, but I didn’t get that impression from the prologue scene. He seemed gruff and asocial and perhaps prideful, but he didn’t seem all that terrible. His amorality came off as an informed attribute, so P’s assertion that N must be truly awful if S left her didn’t have the weight it should. Similarly, it wasn’t entirely clear to me what her crime actually was. Did she, in fact, kill at least one of the corpses she was experimenting on? Had she committed some other form of harm against them (e.g. blackmailing them into agreeing to donate their bodies after death)? Has she killed in a situation whose morality is subjective or controversial (e.g. euthanizing a consenting terminally ill patient, killing an enemy soldier in a war that some consider to be unjust)? I’m not sure why T is sensing a lie when she says she did no harm to the now-corpses but not when she says she isn’t a murderer. I get the impression that you’re intending this to be a straightforward fight of good vs. evil, but N doesn’t really do anything clearly evil until after the protagonists have already initiated hostilities. And if you were intending it to be a shades-of-gray situation, you haven’t clearly established for the reader what the moral dilemma is. I also feel like Z’s belief system is too close to Christianity for a secondary world setting. If this were a far-future earth where magic has replaced technology or something like that, it would make some sense to have such a belief system in place. But it feels out of place here. I do still love T, though. I like the idea that he can amplify the negative emotions of an evil person and cause them to self-destruct.

82% Elsecaller 41% Edgedancer 32% Truthwatcher 32% Windrunner 24% Lightweaver 22% Willshaper 18% Bondsmith 6% Skybreaker 6% Stoneward 0% Dustbringer

Page 1 Z was flipping a silver coin through his hand. The wording here makes it sound like he’s passing a coin through the flesh of his hand (making his hand insubstantial or something). While that’s certainly something that could happen in a fantasy setting, I don’t think it’s what you mean here. Page 4 “Tch!” Z tensed and inhaled. He breathed in deeply and gave a slow count to center himself. “My apologies, T.” I’m not sure why Z’s comment made T upset, since it is thanks to T that G thinks Z is a Witch. Page 5 “S gave you time of night?” I like that he says “time of night” instead of “time of day.” I always appreciate it when an author shows the effect that the speculative elements of their story have on small things like figures of speech. Page 12 “Rodents of Unusual Size, eh?” Well, at least they’re not in a fire swamp. This reference does pull me out of the story a bit, though. This doesn’t feel like the kind of story where fourth-wall breaking like this would be expected. (I mean, obviously you’re playing on general fantasy tropes, such as Adventurers’ Guilds, but it just feels different to me as a reader when you reference a specific piece of media.) The other one went for him. The clause before this sentence talked about P lowering his magical barrier, so I assumed the rat was going after him. But the paragraph following this shows the rat going after Z, so I was a little confused until I figured out what was going on. Page 16 The centipede roared. I can’t really imagine a centipede roaring, even if it’s gigantic. It just doesn’t feel like a very “insect-like” sort of sound. Overall Thoughts The action scene in this was very well-written, and I especially liked P’s tactic of luring the centipede in to attack over his shield so he could go underneath. Worldbuilding-wise, I like that you fleshed out T’s powers a bit, particularly his weaknesses. I was left wondering about the mention of the town being able to hold 10,000 refugees, though. If there was an ongoing war or natural disaster that could produce the need for multiple Refuges, I feel like some character would probably have mentioned it in passing before this point. (E.g. The guild master saying, “Thanks for offering your help with this. With the war against the Awful Bad Dudes going so badly, the last thing we need is a rogue Witch.”)

I didn't get it either. I did receive @aeromancer's submission last week, but haven't gotten anything from the group today.

Ray Bradbury's short stories are wonderful! I especially love some of the ones in The October Country. I just read "The Emperor's Soul" and Edgedancer, and have now started into Oathbringer. I'm wondering if this book is going to be like WoR, where

Hi @aeromancer! I liked the characters in this story, especially T. The "characters who don't like each other get stuck working together" is a bit of a cliched plot element, but I was interested anyway because of Z. You established earlier that a Forger and an Alchemist liked him well enough to give him gifts, and given the enmity between his faction and everyone else, I wondered how he managed to befriend them. I'm hoping we'll learn that as we see him working with P. The world of this story is really interesting and makes me want to read more about it. However, there were places where the story felt very tell-y. There are a lot of different factions with their own abilities, and while that makes the story feel like it's part of a larger setting, I wonder if we need as many details as we get at the beginning. There may be some factions that we don't really need to know more about than their name and that they use moonlight. And for the ones we do need detailed info on, perhaps that could be spread out through the story a bit more. As it is, assuming that this is half the story by length, nearly all the actual plot will be happening in the second half. Obviously, I haven't read that yet, but my concern is that important story elements like N's characterization, the development of P and Z's working relationship, and Z figuring out the mystery of what scared S off will feel really compressed. As I go: Page 1 it was too early in the evening and late in the month for the almost full yet waning A to show up yet I think you’re trying to cram a bit too much information into one clause here, and it ends up reading awkwardly. A wolf’s nose is sensitive enough to smell patches of fragrant herbs on the far side of a forest, sensitive enough to detect a musk of prey hiding deep in their burrows and dens, and even sensitive enough to follow scent trails up clean, crisp streams of water. I love how vividly you describe the importance of scent here. I also appreciated that you put it in terms of things a wolf would care about. Page 2 The fragrant aroma of roasting deer In the previous paragraph, you described the smell as “assaulting” S’s nostrils. When I’ve seen that word used to describe smells before, it’s always been unpleasant ones, like a rotting corpse. So the wording primed me to expect something dangerous or unsettling, and I was a little thrown when it turned out to be something good. Page 3 And that was when he spotted the wolf slowing moving towards his campfire. I’m not one of the "You must never use adverbs!" people, but in this case, I think a single verb like “slinking” or “stalking” might be more evocative than “slowly moving.” Page 10 “But scared has never been one of them.” “Hhh. True.” “Idiot. Of course I get scared – it’s saved my life a few times.” I’m a little confused about what’s going on here. The first line is Z, so when he says “my kind,” he’s clearly not talking about the wolves. But S responds to T’s comment about it being true as if it was his people Z was talking about.