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Random Mythwalker Thoughts


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I first read this one years ago, and upon rereading it recently...it's a first draft.  The flaws are pretty obvious (magic system hinders rather than helps the story long-term, protagonist is not terribly deep, there are a couple of in-universe jokes that come off as edgy and are not called out by anyone), but honestly, there's a lot to like.  

  • "Ruin" (or "Autonomy"?  Role is more like reverse-Ruin but would probably be more like Autonomy in Intent) being good and "Preservation" evil is something that I think would resonate better now than when this was written. 
  • Proto-Breeze has a lot of opportunity for exploration and depth, though the slow pacing means we don't see much of that.  
  • Ix is genuinely hilarious and I love everything he says.  10/10, best comic relief character from any Sanderson book, makes The Lopen look bland.  
  • Mr. GLORIOUS REBELLION is also very funny but with enough depth to humanize him and make him likable.  I get a lot of death flags from him but honestly he deserves to live and eventually come to see his dream come to pass, and help it in some way (just not as the charismatic leader).  
  • Sarn, while a complete monster with no redeeming features...is honestly a pretty good villain.  He kind of reminds me of Fire Lord Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender; a cruel, petty, abusive man, likely with severe antisocial personality disorder, who by simple quirk of birth is in a position to do unspeakable evil, and happily does so.  He works well within this caste system (with its mix of proto-Alethkar and proto-Final Empire elements) than he would in a setting like the Final Empire, which feels more about the insane totalitarianism that Rashek set up making monsters out of everybody.  Sometimes, you don't need a nuanced villain, you don't need a "was only bad because of complicated backstory stuff that drove him to insane rage" thing like with Ruin, sometimes you just need a complete unapologetic dirtbag who knows exactly what he is and doesn't give a rat's behind.  (I see elements of Sadeas in Sarn, but Sadeas is a lot more self-deluding from his POV bits)
  • Corollary to that, this caste system's proto-Alethkar elements are somewhat more appealing to me than the proto-Final Empire elements.  
On 8/3/2020 at 7:18 PM, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Was Siri's bethrothed (whose name escapes me) intended to be Dalinar but dead the whole book? I definitely got Dalinar vibes off him (or well, hornier Dalinar vibes). I see that's a sort of trope Sanderson really likes (which isn't surprising, since iirc wasn't he from Sanderson's very first novel he wrote as a teen, before even White Sand?)

Vevinn, IIRC.  He actually reminded me of a mix of Adolin (likes unconventional women, bit of a playboy reputation, young hotshot type, son of important guy, great fighter) and Dalinar (famed tactician, not clued in to the struggles of the underclass unless it's specifically brought to his attention and even then has a hard time getting around to "society is a mess and needs immediate reform").  

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