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Bands of Mourning Full Book Reactions [Bands Spoilers]


Chaos

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We have WoB that Nazh is from Threnody.  The haunted-man's magic seems like a ighly-developed version of the system in Shadows for Silence, which takes place on Threnody.  And the Haunted Man is actively trying to acquire a map, which is a very Nazh-ish thing to do.

 

The white-haired man probably was Hoid, though, as I read it.

Edited by ecohansen
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Oh, boy. Oooh boooy. Let's try to organize this a little bit:

 

Major reactions

  • Telsin being a part of the Set is something I started suspecting at some point throughout the book, but then Brandon managed to trick me to lower my defenses. Good one, Brandon!
  • Steris throughout virtually the entire book - priceless! Gold! I just wish she had more of a role during the climactic events, seems like everyone else did. But outside of that, I absolutely loved her.
  • Wax's... postmortem? experience was all sorts of nice. The image of Harmony must've been quite the thing - I wonder if Sazed chose to appear like this, if this is simply how Wax imagined him; I lean towards the former.
    • On that note, when Harmony told Wax that Lessie had asked him to look after Wax... I am not ashamed to say I teared up a little. 
  • Khriss (whom I didn't recognize as Khriss) and Nazh (whom I did) are two people whose appearance makes me very very happy. I do worry a tiny bit that Brandon is feeling pressured to include more and more Cosmere easter eggs just to please his rabid fanbase, but  I am going to assume he has it under control for now.
  • Evil kandra! I am confident they are kandra with trellium spikes, given to either mistwraiths that were never kandra, or to some of Harmony's kandra who have had their normal spikes removed. 

 

Food for thought

  • I was wondering if the Set's soldiers, in their red uniforms, might be "the men of gold and red, the bearers of the final metal" Miles mentions before his execution, but I don't think gold was ever mentioned around them. They do have "some mark on the breast", but that's it.
  • Speaking of the Set, can we talk about their ranks for a moment? They have Arrays, Sequences, and Series - which is immensely cool to this software engineer (though I will allow that mathematicians might appreciate it too). It kicked me out of the story a little bit, but I think I can allow for ranks like this to exist within an organization called the Set, in a fantasy world where people eat metal to do magic.
  • Allik mentions the "five peoples." Could be five nations in Southern Scadrial. Allik mentioned (possibly)... 3 or 4 of them, depending on how you could: his own, the Hunters, and the ones that used to be kings. Maybe the Mask Deniers too.
  • So you need a Metalborn and "the Excisors... the gifts the Sovereign made for us" to create the heat medallions. I wonder of the Excisors are a metalmind similar to the Bands, but much more limited in both power and number of powers.
  • I like the idea that ettmetal could be lithium, pretty much for all the reasons already mentioned. It also turns out it was discovered during the early 19th century on Earth, which, accounting for parallels, could explain why denizens of the Final Empire and the Basin don't recognize it. My initial reaction was to assume it was either harmonium or an alloy of it, and I was happy with that idea since the timeline could possibly work (ettmetal-powered devices seem like a relatively recent invention, not something the Southerners have had for centuries), but I feel like more data points line up in favor of lithium. 
  • Suit being "limited to three boons, even if [they] have discovered how to make someone else be weak" doesn't make sense to me right now. I agreed, in another thread, that it could be explained with a kind of slow-drain Hemalurgy, where Suit doesn't steal a person's ability to, for example, burn steel, but burns steal through them instead. This doesn't make sense to me anymore, a recipient of a Hemalurgic spike wouldn't feel weak, would he? We don't have the best data, but Spook didn't report weakness of any sort, though he only had one spike. Maybe adding many spikes puts a strain on the recipient's Spiritual aspect? I remember the Inquisitors having to rest a lot, though at the time I assumed it was because they were storing health; maybe they just had to rest a lot. And the reason we don't see the same thing in Marsh is because he can Compound gold? I feel like we need to talk about this.
  • When Wax confronts Edwarn in the airship, his Bands-enhanced steel burn allows him to see everything, not just metal. He (or possibly Harmony, I am honestly not sure) then realizes that "they are all the same. Metal, minds, men, all the same substance." So what is he seeing? Probably not trace amounts of metal in everything, that doesn't explain his revelation. Realmatic aspect(s)? He does report seeing the lines flicker sometimes, allowing him to see "the radiance inside of each person and thing" - this sounds like maybe Spiritual aspect? If this is even remotely close to being correct, I may need to write up a theory about how Allomantic steel/iron works... 

 

Side notes & comments

  • Wax telling Steris how he would sometimes sneak out of parties when he was younger and find a quiet balcony, and Steris going "And do what? Read?" He is no Elend, Steris. Unfortunately, she probably doesn't know the homage she paid to the Last Emperor there.
  • The text is unclear, but it looks like Marasi's constable credentials are actually an engraved metal plate. Seems like writing in metal has retained its symbolic value, if not the practical one.
  • Marasi, looking up at Vin's statue in the graveyard, wondering if the Ascendant Warrior was ever insecure, or if she got jealous, frightened, or angry. Never in the entire 3 books since The Hero of Ages have I wanted Vin to come back more than I did during that scene because she was all those things more than she was the Ascendant Warrior, and I would've loved to read the scene where she tells Marasi that.
  • I like that the Coinshots call the top of the mists "The Ascendant's Field." I remember when Vin first broke through the mists and marveled at their beauty from above. Nice nod.
  • Allik's speech pattern, ending sentences with "yah" (when being translated) or "yes" (when speaking his native tongue) is mildly interesting and potentially something to watch for in other books, as it might be as much of an indication that there is a worldhopper afoot as Galladon's "kolo".
  • Jaggenmire seems to be Allik's word for "Shard". Herr and Frue then are his people's names for Ruin and Preservation. Unfortunately they missed the memo that Preservation was a dude, but hey, not bad. Unsurprisingly they remained a bit more aware of Scadrial than the people Rashek crushed beneath his heel. 

Heh. Look at me trying to put together a comprehensive list. Steris, love, you are contagious. 

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The Red Rip is obviously Taln's scar.

 

It's Calamity.

 

:P

 

 

 

On a more serious note...

 

 

The text is unclear, but it looks like Marasi's constable credentials are actually an engraved metal plate. Seems like writing in metal has retained its symbolic value, if not the practical one.

 

Real world police badges are made of metal, and serve as a credential.  It sounds as if the police in The Basin do something similar.

 

 

 

 

Steris officially joins the team in this book.  There have been hints since Alloy of Law that she wasn't just the severe bland woman that she initially appeared to be.  And she gets her big coming out party in this book.

 

I was expecting the Southerners to make an appearance either in this book, or the next.  I didn't expect them to be as far along technologically as they appear to be in this book.  The Basin is excited about the introduction of motor cars.  The South has full-blown passenger "skimmers".

 

"Lord" Hoid provided an interesting item in this book.  I'm curious where he got it from.

 

Is it confirmed that Trell is connected to an investiture?  The red eyes at the end made me think of the Parshmen and Parshendi.  Is it possible that there's another group of Parsh-types that exist in the Cosmere separate from the ones we see in the WoK books?  If so, then Trell might have never been human.

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Suit being "limited to three boons, even if [they] have discovered how to make someone else be weak" doesn't make sense to me right now. I agreed, in another thread, that it could be explained with a kind of slow-drain Hemalurgy, where Suit doesn't steal a person's ability to, for example, burn steel, but burns steal through them instead. This doesn't make sense to me anymore, a recipient of a Hemalurgic spike wouldn't feel weak, would he? We don't have the best data, but Spook didn't report weakness of any sort, though he only had one spike. Maybe adding many spikes puts a strain on the recipient's Spiritual aspect? I remember the Inquisitors having to rest a lot, though at the time I assumed it was because they were storing health; maybe they just had to rest a lot. And the reason we don't see the same thing in Marsh is because he can Compound gold? I feel like we need to talk about this.

I interpreted this a little differently than you. I think the Set might have captives that they are using to mass produce metalminds that aren't keyed to any specific identity and therefore can be used by members of the Set that have Feruchemy. So in Suit's case, strength. It would just take two spikes per person, although it would require a lot of Ferrings to pull off.

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Oh boy, where to start. My brain hurts from double dosage of new Mistborn!

I love Steris, she was growing on me during SoS but she really came into her own with this book.

When Wayne got caught after the train heist with MeLaan. LOL.

Khriss!! Nazh!! Oh I was so happy.

The biggest surprise with me about the Set reveals was that Edwarn answered to Telsin, instead of the other way around. I had just assumed he was higher up the food chain.

Really enjoyed Wax's scene with Harmony at the end. I felt it was a nice closure of SoS, and you get a glimpse of what Sazed is dealing with on a larger scale.

I had planned on holding off on the novella until tomorrow, but those last few paragraphs!!! Threw those plans out the door.

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So many realmatic reactions here already that I see little need to react to those as well. So mundane stuff.

Apparently when someone says that they go to find quiet balconies at parties the standard way to react is to assume they were reading . . . Elend, please :ph34r:

Also, failing to notice a train robbery because they were doing . . . that. Wayne x MeLaan things I guess.

Edited by natc
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Allik implied that ettmetal can run out, meaning it must be self-burning. Either that or it really is dangerously radioactive as mossyfisk speculated.

On a lighthearted note, I kept smiling like an idiot all throughout the Aunt Gin scene. Also, MeLaan's aluminum True Body is pure genius.

Edited by skaa
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I took as much time off reading this as I could today and wow... Just finished it (I will probably regret staying up so long tomorrow). KELSIER! I mean, its heavily implied that its him at least. I mean, the word "SURVIVE" etched into his arm should be a dead give away. Also, assuming the character isn't lying, referred to himself as first a King among the people of Elendel, then a God. While it can be said Kelsier was never really a King, he did lead a revolution and was followed by a lot of people. That could be interpreted as a King when translated to the southern language (Idea came from another user on this thread.)

 

Regarding the Set, I assumed someone in the party was a plant. I wondered, damnation if maybe Steris isn't just a great actor and is actually a member of the Set, sent to infiltrate and get close to Wax. I mean, considering her change in character (however likely and plausible it may seem) I could believe it. As soon as his sister came in the picture I assumed she was in the Set too though. At that point, I didn't know if it would be Steris or Telsin. I'm glad it was Telsin. I'm not glad Wayne didn't kill her.

 

Kudos to Wayne for getting over his fear of guns! (Kind of... As he said, its a shotgun, it barely counts.) Wayne had me in tears this book. He's one of my favorite characters in the cosmere. He's just so ridiculous but in such a calculating way. It's nice to see when his mask comes off and you see the real him underneath. Which seems to be only fleeting glances, but still, you can tell there is much more to him than meets the eye, as usual.

 

Lets see, do I have any other thoughts? Idk I just finished the book and my mind is still reeling from the whole Kelsier thing (I kind of both want, and don't want, it to be him). Anyway, wow what a ride. Can't wait for the finale! Stormlight 3 though first. Lets do this!

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I interpreted this a little differently than you. I think the Set might have captives that they are using to mass produce metalminds that aren't keyed to any specific identity and therefore can be used by members of the Set that have Feruchemy. So in Suit's case, strength. It would just take two spikes per person, although it would require a lot of Ferrings to pull off.

 

I don't know, this feels... convoluted. 

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WOW this was sooooooo epic. I loved the crew. Steris was adorable and Wayne was hysterical. I'm so happy Kell is back. :D

 

On another note, who is Nazh here anyway? I spotted Khriss right away but I couldn't find him. Also wasn't Hoid Wax's coach driver in SoS? How come Wax didn't recognize him even though he said his name?

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This book took soooo many left turns, it was dizzying.

After the wedding we got a set-up for a good old fashioned macguffin hunt. On the way, it becomes an all fashioned Western complete with horse-back train robbery (Wax notices that this is ridiculous), but it turns up, that was just a distraction.

Then, an archenemy from the heroes past resurfaces for a long-delayed vendetta. Nope, that was also a distraction.

It becomes a story of political intrigue in glamorous foreign surrounding. For a while. Then someone uses a radio. And gets shot.

While traipsing through the old 'being framed for a murder I didn't commit, must stay alive and clear my name' terrain, the story veers into vintage science-fiction land, complete with air-ships and aliens. OK, not aliens. Not as such. People in masks from the other side of the same world.

Then everyone becomes an adventure archeologist.  The only thing That could be counted on now was the sudden but inevitable betrayal.

 

I am still reeling. :blink::P

 

 

 

 

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My phone has stopped accidentally downvoting as I scroll. It now upvotes. Rusts.

WOW this was sooooooo epic. I loved the crew. Steris was adorable and Wayne was hysterical. I'm so happy Kell is back. :D

On another note, who is Nazh here anyway? I spotted Khriss right away but I couldn't find him. Also wasn't Hoid Wax's coach driver in SoS? How come Wax didn't recognize him even though he said his name?

Probably lightweaved his appearance completely to be extra sure. Edited by natc
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Did anyone else think "PARSHENDI" when they read Brandon's initial description of Allik?

 

 

Inside the cage, dim light reflected from a too-flat face of red and black. Dark pits of eyes. [...] Horrible faces of red and black, with those deep, dark eyes.

 

 

If that is not from Jasnah's notes then I will eat Wax's hat. I bet Brandon was giggling to himself as he wrote those lines knowing that we would immediately jump to the conclusion of a worldhopping Parshendi (pun intended).

Edited by CaptainRyan
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Duralumin can store connection to a location? I think Hoid just found out a new way to try to become an Elantiran...

He'd have to get really lucky, though. Maybe that was what he was trying after the restoration of Elantris. We don't know when exactly he got Feruchemy, after all.

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