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Evershore Full Reactions


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We are nearing Evershore's release of December 28th! In this board, full Evershore spoilers are allowed when this forum opens December 28th, midnight GMT (which is December 27th at 4pm PST and 7pm EST).

Post your full reactions to Evershore here! 

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Hoooh boy that was a great book. I’ll spoiler tag just to be safe, since its the first reaction here. :)

Spoiler

Really enjoyed the kitsen and their culture! I also enjoy their beautiful and poetic names for different things. The slugs in chapter 15 were great, and I am very excited to see what happens with them in future books. The ending was phenomenal, and was a crazy ride. I do think this was my favorite of the three novellas. Excited to see other peoples thoughts! :lol:

 

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That was a really good read! I enjoyed seeing Jorgen's growth and his moment at the end with Cobb was really touching. I'm surprised at (and thankful for) how much screentime FM has gotten over these three novellas. I know she was the MC of Sunreach and important in ReDawn, but it still came as a shock to me to see how pivotal she was in Evershore as well. But I'm not complaining! I think her arc over these past novellas has tied into her arc in Skyward pretty well. 

Jorgen has come into all he needs to be, in the very Sanderson style of "let's skip a few ranks and get you to a position of power." But seeing his powers grow in so many ways was really awesome. Some ways were expected, others...not so much, but still pretty well set up and brilliantly applied. 

I'm happy these novellas were released as they were and released when they did. I'm happy we're getting more novellas, because Quirk was really shorted on page-time during these three, and I still want to get to know T-Stall, Sadie, and Catnip. 

Final thoughts: 

On Goodreads, right before Cytonic released, I remember someone recommending the reading order be: 

Skyward

Starsight

Sunreach

ReDawn

Cytonic through the final chapter

Evershore

Cytonic Epilogue

 

I 100% back this order. I liked Evershore because despite knowing the ending, I was so curious about how we'd get there; but I know that's not for everyone, so the recommended method, while a little laborious, may work out better. 

Overall, I'd give this novella - and all of the novellas overall - a solid 8.9/10. I'm not quite sure they're worth a 9/10, but they're definitely on the cusp. I usually like to listen to the novellas during and after I finish reading due to work and travel time, but since I'm home on a break and plan on saving my listen-through of this novella for a later travel time where I will most definitely want and need something to listen to, I won't be taking this story in again in the immediate future. But when I do take this story in again, I'll definitely review my score of it. 


Other notes:

While I'm happy the novellas and book weren't one combined story, as I remember a Redditor or two fearing and believing, I would like to see these stories be in one combined season for a Skyward television show. I think Spensa's journeys in Cytonic would line up very well overall, although the tone of that third book may paint our heroine in a less than flattering light to viewers who may not understand or agree with the central theme and tone. (Although the end of Spensa's journey in Cytonic paired with Jorgen's journey in Evershore would make for an AWESOME episode or two.) 

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I am so glad we have the novellas. Evershore was incredible. I think I would place all three novellas nearly at the same level as Skyward. Skyward mostly gets the edge just because it is the start of it all. I love how much Jorgen, FM, and Rig have been developed in these books. I hope we do get more novellas so we can dive into Kimmalyn, Ned, and Arturo more. I also hope we learn more about the different Taynix abilities that were teased and see if those line up with other Cytonic abilities. 
I really felt for Jorgen this book. He has grown so much while still being true to himself. I was so close to tears during that last battle when he was just trying his best and realizing that it still might not be good enough. And learning to let go of the need to feel like he could control everything. He needs a good sit down with Captain Picard. “It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.” (Actually I said that as a joke, but Picard actually seems like he would be a good mentor for Jorgen. They have similar personalities.)

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Alright, I might say something here that might be pretty polarizing, but I feel if all of these novellas were somehow mixed in with Cytonic that the book would have been much better for it. I enjoyed Cytonic for what it was. However, if we had the high stakes of each of these novellas intermixed with the deeper dive into the Nowhere, I think it would have been a better read.

Evershore was fantastic, and it was truly hard for me to put down.

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6 hours ago, Philomath said:

(Actually I said that as a joke, but Picard actually seems like he would be a good mentor for Jorgen. They have similar personalities.)

And now I want that story! In my mind, I was thinking of how Jorgen, Kaladin, Todoroki, Zuko, and Gaara would all feel if they could have a talk. (Todoroki, Zuko, and Gaara have the most similarities, but I think Kaladin and Jorgen would fit in pretty well. Then again, maybe Adolin would be a better fit instead of Kaladin, and Kaladin would do well talking with Aang and a few others...)

Edited by Use the Falchion
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54 minutes ago, fallenalexiel said:

Alright, I might say something here that might be pretty polarizing, but I feel if all of these novellas were somehow mixed in with Cytonic that the book would have been much better for it. I enjoyed Cytonic for what it was. However, if we had the high stakes of each of these novellas intermixed with the deeper dive into the Nowhere, I think it would have been a better read.

Evershore was fantastic, and it was truly hard for me to put down.

Hah! I could see that. If you combined Cytonic with the three novellas, you'd basically have a massive multi-POV epic... it would be basically in the style of Stormlight! OK, so still not as massive as that, but I could see how that would work.

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2 hours ago, ftl said:

Hah! I could see that. If you combined Cytonic with the three novellas, you'd basically have a massive multi-POV epic... it would be basically in the style of Stormlight! OK, so still not as massive as that, but I could see how that would work.

Exactly - it would be well beyond the scope of a "Young Adult" novel (and thus out of line with the first two books)

I think Evershore had the biggest jaw-drop moment for me in the entire series.

Sure, in true Sanderson style, there WERE hints and foundational groundwork descriptions about Detritus: its relatively small size, its lack of surface water, and the "platforms" surrounding it (the entire planet) that indicated the ancient human creators had imbued it with a LOT of protections and offensive firepower, including linking up to form a shield between them... And when it was revealed how taynixes powered the really OP stuff, and hey, the planet "just happens" to have internal caverns full of them and their food sources, and then they found they could teleport the platforms with the taynix to BAM come to help in the defense of another planet... And is also the source of the DDF's graviton "GravCaps" flying tech...

Maybe it SHOULD have crossed my mind about, well, maybe the ENTIRE PLANET is a flying fortress - a Life Star, if you will, as opposed to a Death Star, or at least a fortified ark.

But it didn't.

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10 hours ago, fallenalexiel said:

Alright, I might say something here that might be pretty polarizing, but I feel if all of these novellas were somehow mixed in with Cytonic that the book would have been much better for it. I enjoyed Cytonic for what it was. However, if we had the high stakes of each of these novellas intermixed with the deeper dive into the Nowhere, I think it would have been a better read.

Absolutely. I truly think that releasing it all in the same volume with interposed chapters would make for a great read, I know I would recommend future new readers to read cytonic last chapter after evershore, knowing the end of evershore was coming was a bit of a letdown. It’s a mark of how talented are Brandon and Janci both that the end was still thrilling but I would have liked to be surprised.

 

Edited by Blackwarder
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6 hours ago, robardin said:

Exactly - it would be well beyond the scope of a "Young Adult" novel (and thus out of line with the first two books)

I think Evershore had the biggest jaw-drop moment for me in the entire series.

Sure, in true Sanderson style, there WERE hints and foundational groundwork descriptions about Detritus: its relatively small size, its lack of surface water, and the "platforms" surrounding it (the entire planet) that indicated the ancient human creators had imbued it with a LOT of protections and offensive firepower, including linking up to form a shield between them... And when it was revealed how taynixes powered the really OP stuff, and hey, the planet "just happens" to have internal caverns full of them and their food sources, and then they found they could teleport the platforms with the taynix to BAM come to help in the defense of another planet... And is also the source of the DDF's graviton "GravCaps" flying tech...

Maybe it SHOULD have crossed my mind about, well, maybe the ENTIRE PLANET is a flying fortress - a Life Star, if you will, as opposed to a Death Star, or at least a fortified ark.

But it didn't.

Ever read the Dahak series by David Weber? The premise is that the moon is actually a moon sized battleoid with a super AI at the helm.

Now all I think about is connecting Mbot to Detritus as an anti-delver weapon.

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15 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

And now I want that story! In my mind, I was thinking of how Jorgen, Kaladin, Todoroki, Zuko, and Gaara would all feel if they could have a talk. (Todoroki, Zuko, and Gaara have the most similarities, but I think Kaladin and Jorgen would fit in pretty well. Then again, maybe Adolin would be a better fit instead of Kaladin, and Kaladin would do well talking with Aang and a few others...)

Now I’m thinking how Toph and Spensa would probably get along really well. They’d be terrifying. Ha ha. 

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8 hours ago, Use the Falchion said:

Toph and Spensa, Toph and Lift, Toph and probably Naruto (12 YO Naruto, not Shippuden or older Naruto). Toph would get along with a lot of people!

In my copy of Cytonic, Brandon wrote what would happen if Lift and Spensa would ever meet,

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On 12/31/2021 at 8:32 PM, Robin Hatter said:

C'mon, don't leave us hanging...

Cytonic spoilers on my guess on a Lift-Spensa encounter:

Spoiler

This isn't Brandon's quote, which I'm sure would be much better, but Lift might eat Spensa's algae bar - and spit it back out! - as Spensa's eyes start glowing white, which is when Lift would scream, "Voidbringer!" 

I mean, she's not wrong.

********************************************

My Reactions:

My overall reaction was that this novella was the best of a great set of novellas!  I think I prefer the novellas to the novel, actually, and I heartily agree that the novellas should be merged with the novel if made into a TV series.  I'm not certain the first two books would have enough for an entire season each, but perhaps they could be merged into one season.  I'd still love to see more sprinklings of the Detritus gang in the Starsight portion.  Heck, I'd have loved to see that in the books!

I squealed with delight at the "Den of Everlasting Light Which Laps Gently upon the Shores of Time"!  It's as if the fox-gerbils are overcompensating for the size of their beings with the size of their proper nouns.  My favorite of their proper nouns is only five words, though, instead of the full dozen:  Big Enough to Kill You.

Gran-Gran must have much the same superior comms skills that Jorgen has since she was able to listen and hear Cobb (a noncytonic) and the cytonics trapped inside the Nowhere, neither of which Alanik could hear.  I wonder if Gran-Gran has mindblades, too, but I believe that's a separate skill.

I screamed again when Jorgen manifested mindblades - so awesome!  I adored every single time Boomslug said boom.

I screamed yet again when the entire freaking planet hyperjumped.  I paused immediately and asked my husband what would happen to two planets in extremely close proximity to each other, knowing the effect of the moons on tides (which Sanderson kindly reminded us of in this book).  Tsunamis, for certain, but gravity comes from huge bodies like moons and planets, so I was thinking they might gravitate together and collide. (That's before I got to the part about planetary gravcaps, so Sanderson was thinking along the same lines!). It wasn't until later I recalled my favorite Bible expert's theories that Mars' cycle used to bring it within spitting distance of Earth every 54 years (hyperbole, but close enough to make out and describe the two moons of Mars with the naked eye), which is where we got lore of Mars as the god of war and so much fear of Mars in the ancient world.  Such near drivebys would have been accompanied by meteors, earthquakes, and of course land tides, experts said.  And the Mars driveby was likely not nearly so close as Detritus was to the Den of Everlasting Light Which Laps Gently upon the Shores of Time.

******************************************
I loved, loved, loved that we got hundreds of new taynix along with new taynix colors!

Comm (purple with orange), mindblade (red with black), and hyperjump (yellow with blue): all of which we already had and knew but needed more

Inhibitor (blue with green): found on a Superiority ship on Wondering Leaf

Unknown cytonic powers:

  1. Wrinkled gray with black & white spines
  2. Unknown body-color (wrinkled gray, too?) with fading rainbow spines
  3. "Strange" mostly blackish but iridescent blue under control room lights
  4. Teal with pink (smaller in size)

Since mindblades spines are black, especially the 3rd unknown but perhaps the 1st, as well, could be weapon slugs.  I'd love for the rainbow slugs (2nd unknown) to be multi-talented with especially diverse cytonic abilities.  And I'd love for the teal and pink (4th) to have some sort of cuddly and cute skillset.

The black turning blue (3rd one) reminds me of shows like CSI and Dexter where blood shows up blue under their special lights and sprays.  That's fairly ominous, but it might not be the intent.

I'm thinking that human cytonics are much like the slugs but without the obvious and helpful color-coding.  Spensa and Alanik are hyperjumpers while Jorgen and Gran-gran are comm.  Jorgen is also a mindblade.  I'm sure some could be inhibitors if they could figure out how.  And, like the rainbow taynix, the cytonics can be a jack-of-all-trades if they practice, train, and exercise long enough.

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1 hour ago, Wit Beyond Measure said:

I'm not certain the first two books would have enough for an entire season each, but perhaps they could be merged into one season.  I'd still love to see more sprinklings of the Detritus gang in the Starsight portion.  Heck, I'd have loved to see that in the books!

I was thinking that Skyward would be enough for one season, and then Starsight could be bolstered by Defending Elysium. 

Then again, I'm the sort of person who would put flashbacks in nearly every television show if I could. (Stormlight Archive and Arrow really made an impact on me.)

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I loveddddd this novella! Of the three and the main story it was easily the best, glad I saved it for last. I love Jorgen as a character and it turns out even more as a POV character. I love how rigid he is & how he reacted to his parents death. Admiral was never so well deserved. 

I think my favorite bit was near the beginning, when Jorgen quotes the rulebook and uses it to not answer the assembly. In shock, avoiding FM's empathy, and taking over the DDF in such a badass way. It just set up how well the rest of the book was going to go. 

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I definitely enjoyed this novella, but I was never fully drawn in. I definitely wish I hadn't read the ending of Cytonic before reading this book, but I'm not sure it would have helped really engage me. As I've said before, I think I like this series the best when it's focused on all of Skyward flight*, and this felt too much in Jorgen's space. Other than FM and Rig, I think most of Jorgen's interactions with the rest of the flight were while they were in the air. (Ok, thinking back I guess there's some interactions on the land on Evershore). I am enjoying the whole series, but it feels like it is petering out. I'm hoping for a strong finish in Defiant.

 

*Skyward and Sunreach are the best examples of this. Skyward probably kicked it off for me and set the tone, and Sunreach seemed like the first return to that feeling.

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On 1/3/2022 at 11:41 AM, Wit Beyond Measure said:

Comm (purple with orange), mindblade (red with black), and hyperjump (yellow with blue): all of which we already had and knew but needed more

Inhibitor (blue with green): found on a Superiority ship on Wondering Leaf

Unknown cytonic powers:

  1. Wrinkled gray with black & white spines
  2. Unknown body-color (wrinkled gray, too?) with fading rainbow spines
  3. "Strange" mostly blackish but iridescent blue under control room lights
  4. Teal with pink (smaller in size)

Since mindblades spines are black, especially the 3rd unknown but perhaps the 1st, as well, could be weapon slugs.  I'd love for the rainbow slugs (2nd unknown) to be multi-talented with especially diverse cytonic abilities.  And I'd love for the teal and pink (4th) to have some sort of cuddly and cute skillset.

Yay let's theorize!

From Gran-Gran we know there is also a "mapping" ability. From the earlier novellas there are also compression bolts. 

Cytonic:

Spoiler

From Cytonic's Path of Elders we know that there is an infinite life ability, and some sort of future-sight ability. 

Unknown 1 could certainly be the compression bolts! I wonder if the teal with pink is the mapping ability?

I like your idea of rainbow is multitalented, and also agree the iridescent gave me a creepy/weird vibe & that they had an ability we hadn't seen yet. 

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