I'm reading The Way of Kings for the first time

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 12

Let's start with the fact that we met Wit. I know Wit is Hoid's other name, but this guy had black hair instead of white. My suspicion is that it is him and he dyed his hair, especially with that one sentence about him knowing things he shouldn't.

Dalinar and Adolin are listed as two POV characters for part 2, and this chapter alternated between both of them, which was kind of interesting. I wonder where Dalinar's visions are coming from. At first I thought 'unite them' meant to unite the Alethi and Parshendi... it might still be true and he's just misinterpreting.

[PurpurPhönix Crew Leader]

Glad to have you reading again! it's been fun seeing the book through a first timer's eyes

[Amira Arbiter]

22 hours ago, PurpurPhönix said:

Glad to have you reading again! it's been fun seeing the book through a first timer's eyes

Thanks!

Chapter 13:

Honestly, I felt bad for the chasmfiend, it was minding its own business and the humans just had to come and kill it...

Great battle descriptions, and the shardblades are creepy but cool.

I feel like Adolin should try to become the great man that he wants his father to be instead of obsessing over whether or not his father is doing a good job of it.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 14

Yay, back to Kaladin! Very realistic how his attempts to get the men to train failed, and cool that he found something to do anyway. We'll see if it was productive or not. Syl changing is interesting, perhaps some kind of magical bond is forming between her and Kaladin? Can't wait for the next Kaladin chapter. I wonder when we'll finally find out about Kaladin's magic. I assume that the same thing that protects him against arrows gave him the extra stamina.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 15

I think we all approve of Wit picking on Sadeas. We finally find out who came up with that horrid bridge idea. I tend to side with Adolin; Sadeas seems like a shady fellow; I wouldn't trust him. My guess is that Elhokar's worries aren't just paranoia, and someone actually cut his saddle. It's cool that they talked about Gavilar's message that Szeth wrote for him. I'm very curious about that.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 16, back to Kaladin's childhood.

I'm not sure if Laral was being a jerk or trying to help Kal discover the career he really wants. Very interesting to find out that if a darkeyes kills a shardbearer and takes his Blade he becomes a lighteyes. My theory is that Kaldin will achieve this at the end of the book.

[Treamayne Ferring]

34 minutes ago, Amira said:

Chapter 16, back to Kaladin's childhood.

I'm not sure if Laral was being a jerk or trying to help Kal discover the career he really wants. Very interesting to find out that if a darkeyes kills a shardbearer and takes his Blade he becomes a lighteyes. My theory is that Kaldin will achieve this at the end of the book.

I always just took this to be that Laral started to think of Kal as more than a friend, but he was still oblivious. . .

[Amira Arbiter]

He was oblivious, but meanwhile enjoyed "looking at her"

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 17

Okay, the dimming of the spheres is a dead giveaway - Kaladin is somehow using the same magic/powers Szeth used, drawing on the stormlight without knowing it. Not sure how he can do this subconsciously, since Szeth had to be so deliberate about it, but I'll wait and see. As expected, Kaladin's surgery training came in handy. I think the bridgemen will finally start respecting him and following his orders more now. My guess is that some of them will help him pay for more medical supplies.

[Amira Arbiter]

I'm back! Hopefully life will let me read this book for once, but we'll see.

Chapter 18

So the saddle was cut, but now there's the possibility that it was cut accidentally by a misplaced sharp piece of metal. Hm. My guess is that someone is actually after the king.

I have a feeling that Adolin will like his father's idea of becoming highprince of war. The question is, can Dalinar pull it off before the storm episodes do him in? I hope in the next chapter about him we'll get to see the reaction of the people who see him during his 'episode', though it does make me nervous...

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 19

I'll try to guess who the voice in the visions is.

Option 1: Hoid. I don't think this is very likely, it's just that he's the most mysterious character we know so far, and probably the most powerful one, though I'm probably not supposed to know that yet. I get the impression that he doesn't meddle *this* much, but I might be wrong.

Option 2: Same person who's behind sending Szeth to kill Gavilar. This too seems like a stretch, because starting a war and wanting to 'unite' people are kind of opposite, but maybe the war against the Parshendi is supposed to unite the Alethi highprinces? We know this person likes to pull the strings from the shadows, so it's an option.

Option 3: A new character we haven't met yet.

Option 4: Kelek or one of his fellow 'gods', if they're still around.

[Treamayne Ferring]

Welcome back. Two whole chapters in one week. . . it's a streak.

You are asking good questions.

[Amira Arbiter]

3 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Welcome back. Two whole chapters in one week. . . it's a streak.

I know, I'm reading it slower than Brandon is writing it

[Treamayne Ferring]

Just now, Amira said:

I know, I'm reading it slower than Brandon is writing it

As long as you are enjoying it, that's what counts.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 20.

I think Kal's dad doesn't know the right things to tell him to help him feel better, which sadly seems to happen to many parents. Since this chapter was so short, I'll add another comment I forgot to say about the previous chapter. Dalinar had a brief chance to talk to the Radiants, and I wish he'd asked them how they pulled that trick making their helm disappear and 'falling' into the air. It would have been cool if he came back from a vision with knowledge about Stormlight magic It probably would have helped him gain back the respect he loses for having visions in the first place.

[Shallan Stormblessed High Prelan]

Yeah. That was a sad chapter... poor Kal.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 21

No idea what plant Kaladin wants to collect, either something he can sell or something he can use as medicine/antiseptic. Nice to see a few of the the others starting to support him. It makes a lot of sense that the guy he switched places with on the bridge run would be grateful. Not sure why Kaladin is so clueless when it comes to his 'luck', it seems pretty obvious that *something* is going on. Also not sure why Kaladin doesn't ask Syl to make herself visible to others so they don't think he's talking to the air. I look forward to seeing how he continues to transform the life of bridge four bridgemen.

[king of nowhere Voidbringer]

You are making good observations. All of your questions will be answered.

But most of them, somewhere along books 2 and 3. The stuff with the old radiants and the heralds, especially.

the payoff is worth the wait, though.

[Amira Arbiter]

Chapter 22

Another option is that Sadeas is sending the visions, feeding Dalinar a story that he knows will work on him and telling him to trust him so he could take Dalinar down. But this would mean Sadeas has an incredible amount of power, so it doesn't seem likely.

Not sure why either Navani or Dalinar didn't tell Elhokar the hidden meaning of what he did. It seems like characters don't communicate as much as they could have in this book, though I guess this is Brandon's writing style, and some people are like that, so it's not unrealistic. Seems hard to be a noble in this world, every random small action has ten hidden meanings.

Does Szeth ever become a main character? I want to hear more about him.

Or maybe Sadeas is behind the cutting of the girth, that's way more likely than him being behind the visions.

Edited June 28 by Amira

[Treamayne Ferring]

2 hours ago, Amira said:

Does Szeth ever become a main character? I want to hear more about him.

I'll answer this, but I'll spoiler it because you might not actually want the answer knowing it has spoilers (possibly an idle question)

Spoiler

 

You will learn more about Szeth and he remains important.

You will see Szeth outside of Interludes

Book five will have his flashback sequence. If you were unaware, the way you see some of Kaladin's history in this book, each book has flashbacks for one character (the character does not still need to be alive in the "present" to get flashbacks):

• Spoiler

   

  • The Way of Kings - Kaladin
  • Words of Radiance - Shallan
  • Oathbringer - Dalinar
  • Rhythm of War - Venli/Eshonai
  • Book 5 - Szeth

   

 

 

 

[Amira Arbiter]

26 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

I'll answer this, but I'll spoiler it because you might not actually want the answer knowing it has spoilers (possibly an idle question)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

You will learn more about Szeth and he remains important.

You will see Szeth outside of Interludes

Book five will have his flashback sequence. If you were unaware, the way you see some of Kaladin's history in this book, each book has flashbacks for one character (the character does not still need to be alive in the "present" to get flashbacks):

•   Reveal hidden contents

   

  • The Way of Kings - Kaladin
  • Words of Radiance - Shallan
  • Oathbringer - Dalinar
  • Rhythm of War - Venli/Eshonai
  • Book 5 - Szeth

   

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I looked at this because I was dying to know. Thank you for answering.

"You will see Szeth outside of Interludes" hm, but does he ever become a POV character?

Wait, how do we know book 5 will have his flashback sequence?

Edited June 29 by Amira

[Treamayne Ferring]

22 minutes ago, Amira said:

Wait, how do we know book 5 will have his flashback sequence?

Words of Brandon:

Quote

ISw3arItWasntM3

Do you plan to write the stormlight archive books with the same POV characters throughout the series (like WoT) or do you think that you give other characters POV (aSoIaF) as the series continues?

Brandon Sanderson

Most of the main POV characters have been introduced. Each book will take one major character (Kaladin, Dalinar, Adolin, Jasnah, Shallan, Navani, Szeth, Taln) and give them 'flashback' sequences in the same way Kaladin got flashbacks in the first book. There are some open spots for which I'm toying with other characters being used.

Quote

Questioner (paraphrased)

Will we see more of Szeth’s backstory, including how he became a Truthless?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That, you will have to wait for his flashback sequences in a future book. Each character gets a set of flashback sequences. I'm not going to promise that the characters live to the book where their flashback sequences are. You might have a character die and then get their flashbacks the next book to get more information on them. This will be Shallan's flashback, then the next book will be Szeth's flashback, then Eshonai, then Dalinar.

Note: This was from a Q&A before Words of Radiance released, due to story considerations, Dalinar and Szeth's flashbacks swapped places

Quote

Questioner

So, I was gonna ask about which character the next book would focus on?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, no, that's not spoilery... I said from the get-go I am perfectly all right writing a flashback sequence for a character who has already died in the books. So it's not telling you any spoilers to tell you who the various characters are. So, the front five are Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Eshonai, and Szeth. Those are our front five. And our back five are Lift, Jasnah, Ash, Taln, and Renarin. And, not in that order. I've flipped the order quite a bit as I've been going. 'Cause Dalinar was gonna be book five, and now he's book three. So now Szeth is book five, and Eshonai is book four. Right now, Lift is book six. But the back five, I'm not concerned about, other than making sure I'm setting up the right things, and it's gonna come together.

This is the order that confirmed Szeth's flashbacks in Book five.

Another Word of Brandon regarding Szeth's viewpoints and book 5 - I've linked it instead of posting it because of the same reason above. It has some minor spoilers for everything you haven't read - though it also explains why Szeth has gotten less screen time before Book 5.

Edited June 29 by Treamayne
Notes and SPAG

[Amira Arbiter]

Oh, wow, thanks for all the info!

I won't look at the link. So I guess Szeth is a "major" character but not a pov character? I'm not as excited about flashbacks as I am about "current" content, but I will look forward to more Szeth. Right now he interests me the most, followed by Wit, followed by Kaladin.

[boa Skaa]

this was so entertaining to read! i hope you continue these updates, they’re amazing

[Amira Arbiter]

22 hours ago, boa said:

this was so entertaining to read! i hope you continue these updates, they’re amazing

Aww, thank you so much! I'm definitely going to continue.

Chapter 23.

Wait. Those guys from the prequel, Kelek/Kalak and his friends, they're the Heralds that we keep hearing about! And that Shardbearer that showed up at the end of chapter 1, he's the man Kaladin killed! Then he was denied the Shardblade, offered some dumb gift instead, refused it, and became a slave. That's why he's so sure it's all a lie.

Am I close?

I liked the part where Kaladin realized just giving the bridgemen their lives wasn't enough; they also needed something to live *for*.