Jump to content

Rhythm of War Full Book Reactions


Chaos

Recommended Posts

So I just finished this tonight, and my brain is still a big mash of pudding. Here is all I can think of :

1) I love Maya. Syl might have some competition cause Maya has soooooul. I think Adolin was going to bring her back this book, but hey, I can wait for the good things.

2) I was thinking/hoping that Sanderson gave Moash a redemption arc. Not anymore. I want him to burn. I want an entire extra book of Moash screaming in pain and agony and that's all it is. The interludes are him crying and pissing himself. I haaaate him.

3) Kelsier being a potential antagonist has me sad. I actually really love Kelsier and I don't want to see him as a bad guy.

4) I was routing for Rlain as a bondsmith, not too excited about Navani, but eh, it'll do.

5) Man Taravangian as Odium, 300% did not see that coming anywhere. Well played Sanderson, well played.

6) Harmony talking to Hoid is epigraphs is always a delight.

7) Shallan is not a favorite of mine, but, I enjoyed her arc at the end, it was quite lovely, onion cutting ninjas got me once again.

8) Is Wit doing a Doctor Strange at the end? :D

9) I was surprised at the lack of Rysn, I thought Dawnshard was getting her set up for something but we just saw her the once. Perhaps next book.

10) I'm glad Navani might change her approach to fabrials, the whole trapping spren in a gem made me uncomfy for a while now, it didn't seem right to me.

11) Cultivation has me worried now, I don't know what her game is :/

12) Dalinar choosing himself as Champion seems stupid. I mean, 10 days and he has said numerous numerous times he doesn't know what he's doing.

I'm sure I have more, about the Singers and Fused, about Kelek and Ishar and other things in general but right now I just feel....muddled.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I thought it was a  just "alright" at first but all the Cosmere implications really cranked it up a notch. I love Stormlight for what it is but the Cosmere connections get me going, and I feel like he was both generous AND obvious with them this book, which makes me want to reread because I know he has some sneaky things in there now. Anyway need to go put my brain back together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Favorite single line by far: "Journey before destination, you bastard." :D

Also, (and this may just be me) but I would totally love a world where we have Stormlight Archive movies or a TV show scored by Enya. I listened to The Loxian Gate right after finishing Oathbringer and it's forever imprinted in my mind as the OB credits song, and now after RoW I was listening to Book of Days and I can definitely see ways it could apply to some of the Knights Radiant or the books as a whole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

does anyone have in their mind that Brandon may die before completing his cosmere series? He makes novels in other universes as well and cosmere could have 40-50 books in its arsenal. That many books will at least take 50-60 years to write. When he writes other novels as well then he would need more time than that which he will probably not have

 

Anyway, why should we care. A universe has billions of planets with millions of intelligent species. We can assume that an advanced alien species can destroy all the shards and human beings if they act all haughty and high and mighty

Edited by smokeesid
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interludes! Lol, Hesina's dad sounds awesome. Hesina gets down to tacks of brass with Lirin, confronting him with why he's acting this way to Kal. Lirin felt guilty for locking horns with Roshone, and felt Tien's death was on him. Hesina asks him if he wants to lose another son. Oof but honestly, he deserved that. He meets the soldier with the PTSD he'd met who tells him his son gave him the will to live. Hesina gets Lirin to *listen*.
A PoV from a Darkeyed child's perspective who wants to be a Windrunner. Social development is going to be such an uphill battle..
Taravangian is visited by Sja-Anat, who confirms what was hinted so far, that Odium and Rayse, the power and the mind are at cross-purposes which leaves him vulnerable, which must be what Taravangian saw. His deal with Odium leaves him unprotected from past promises the god made. Voidspren are afraid of Bondsmiths. Sja-Anat would lure Odium with her Corrupted spren that we saw in her interlude to Taravangian. She suspects Cultivation has a been playing a long game (squee!)

Dalinar is tired of war.  It sounds like Brandon is buttering up Argyle, lol. Ishar can apparently cause glyphs to appear willy-nilly. The Ghostbloods *did* say he was dangerous.
Wit and Jasnah *are* together. Huh, looks like we might find out what Hoid wants sooner than expected, in this very series. He's really becoming a fleshed-out character here, his warning to Dalinar regarding himself, the one about watching Roshar burn comes to mind with what he sounds like here. His contract for a Contest of Champions to Odium would see Roshar destroyed but Odium contained. He confirms Rayse's nature as a megalomaniac and that he probably put all his eggs in one basket woven of blackthorn. Huh, sounds like Odium provokes other Shards into attacking him and then kills them as it weakens them to break their promises. 
Poor Kal is stretched to his limits. The Sibling contacts them that the last node was found and Raboniel is planning to kill all the Radiants and to send Rlain. Kal sends Dabbid to Rlain and then Navani; Teft, Lift to wake the Windrunners and rescue the other Radiants, while he gives Lezian what he wants.
Dalinar talks with Yanagawn who's being watched eating (lol, I remember that from the deleted interlude in... WoR, I think) He asks Jasnah to write the undertext for Oathbringer, aw. They talk about undertexts (agree with both here), and what Dalinar's book would mean for Vorinism.
Timbre is disappointed in Venli but assures her that she believes in her. Vyre left to where? This forces Venli to turn back to Urithiru.
Raboniel uses Navani's notes to find anti-Stormlight. Navani finds comfort in prayer. Uh... someone has a plan? is that a Cultivation shout-out, ehehe? Raboniel protects Navani from Moash and sends him to destroy the node that Lezian is delaying after he refuses to try to kill Kal, which is good because she gave him a Raysium dagger with anti-Stormlight and White Sand to kill spren. Two Kal simps vs Kal & team is a go! So Honorblades can bypass the protection. Are people having their attention redirected? Kal remembershus sergeant in the well and Navani catches a glint of the discarded dagger conveniently. Direform: explain the new forms Branderson! I wonder if Shash would mean hope in the future, lol. *gasp* Syl in Bridge 4 uniform, someone call the artists!
These epigraphs, who is El?
Looks like Kaladin's fate is to be the lightning rod in this book. Teft and Lift get a Moash interrupt. Kaladin rips into Lezian's fragile mind, lol. Teft vs Moash! I like Phendorana, please don't kill her!
Rlain can't get to Navani and is taken to Raboniel near the crystal pillar which is exactly where he needs to go to bond the Sibling! Congrats to those who predicted Rlain would Bond the Sibling! Lezian is scared of Kal now, lol and everyone's impressed with Kal, *again*. The dead inside and desperately hoping he remains dead inside Moash forces Teft to fight him by killing one of the comatose Radiants. Phendorana made herself visible, which is very dangerous, not that she knows. Phendoranablade blocks Jezrien's Honorblade (...for a moment I'd forgotten that *wasn't* Nightblood.. Pffff, god) ... Moash killed Phendorana with the dagger first and then killed Teft with the Honorblade. Teft died knowing he was loved. Okay then, Moash is *not* coming back from this. I'm surprised after his PoVs in OB and the beginning of this book, I feel like Brandon changed his mind on him because of the fandom's reaction. But yeah, this Moash gets an f u from me too. P.S oh look *another* Sanderlanche, seriously just *why* did the reviews say this book didn't have a Sanderlanche?
Lezian flees. Moash wants, no *needs* Kaladin to break to justify himself. My, my what happened Lirin, *now* you want to resist again? Moash tells Lezian to kill Lirin in front of Kal if he returns to his senses. Odium wants Lift, for her Lifelight, for her Boon, for her connection to Cultivation. Gods, that's too much chull dung Kal has had to sift through, he better get a good retirement.
Navani arms her fabrials and her dagger to kill Raboniel. Raboniel tells Navani to run as Moash is coming for her. This time Navani tricks Raboniel with her painrial.
With Taravangian and Nightblood, over here Navani and anti-Voidlight, is Odium going to get killed / Splintered in this very book? We're close to the the end, which with Bran San doesn't add a "though" to the end of that question but rather amplifies the possibility! Squeeeeeeee! 
Navani the chad walks and crawls through the pain and kills Raboniel! Raboniel tells Navani to run, again, with her dying breath. I suppose, the best manipulations are the ones in which you show your true heart but not your mind, and your mind is willing to go against your own heart. Raboniel just wanted the war to end. Moash stabs Navani.
Venli wonders again if she is a bad person for not grieving her sister as she watches Kal. Timbre tells her to tell Leshwi she's a Radiant but she recoils. Leshwi tries to protect Kal from the disgraced Lezian who does what Moash told him not to do, provoke Kaladin into aggression, Kal is now **__enraged__**, looking terrifying... with red-yellow glowing eyes?! Did he just spontaneously join a Voidbinding order out of sheer rage, what the-flow?! Holy! Kal lashed Lezian's body with Adhesion and used Reverse Lashing on the floor to tear his head off! Most of the Heavenly Ones flee in terror, Kal doesn't pay any heed to Leshwi or Venli.
(but there was a Lezian PoV in Part 5, are we gonna get a PoV set in Braize?)
Lezian's soldiers go to kill the Radiants.
The Heavenly One with Lirin flees from Kaladin in a panic and throws Lirin over, Kal jumps. Syl can't remember the Words.
A dying Raboniel grapples with Vyre. Navani hears the Rhythm of War from the Sibling's pillar. (So she'll have to mix Towerlight and Warlight?)
Through Connection to the Spiritual the Stormfather and Dalinar can slow down, I assume, the perception of time in a limited area by dragging them partially into a vision. (I thought those were more of a mix of Cognitive and Spiritual than this, and ultimately located in the Cognitive, but it seems, at most, the Cognitive is an interpreter). Lezian's soldiers begin slaughtering the civilians who stand in the way. Venli turns away then begs Leshwi to stop it and find a better way. Venli shows Leshwi. Dalinar tells the Stormfather to be better than just a storm. Dalinar sees the Spiritual Realm and Connects Kal to... Tien. By the gods, Tien was too good for this world. Kal sees why Tien chose to die. (So the Spiritweb persists as long as it has Connections, so long as there are people who remember them). Journey before destination. Life before death. The Fourth Ideal "I accept that there will be those I cannot protect". Kaladin glimpses the Spiritual Realm. I think Honor somehow accepted his Words.
Leshwi asks Venli if the spren have come back to them? Forgiven them? Leshwi and her Heavenly Ones start fighting Lezian's Singers killing the humans, Venli joins her. This act acts as an emulsifier, Honor and Odium joined together, the Rhythm of War. The Sibling tells Navani she's not worthy to Bond him.
Rlain and Dabbid and Hesina help the survivors irrespective of their sides. They see Teft's dead body. Lift is bleeding out, she can't use Stormlight, they don't know about Lifelight. Heh, Rlain, of both worlds, an outsider, unites the two groups who've started squabbling. *How did Timbre capture the Voidspren in Venli's Gemheart? Is that what allows her to use Voidlight to power Radiant abilities?*
Windspren part the storm around Kal, and Bond him, coalescing into Plate.
Navani calls it chull dung that she's not worthy, finally confident in her self-worth, courtesy of Raboniel and going through hell. Calls out the Sibling's hypocrisy. Navani hums anti-Odium, helping the Sibling and hurting Vyre. Navani sings Honor's song, they sing Cultivation's. Together they sing the song of Towerlight. Human and spren, the Sibling realizes their purpose, they accept Navani's Words. Say hello to the newest Bondsmith in the block! Sorry peeps who wanted Rlain to Bond the Sibling, but this fits better no? Besides the Nightwatcher is still there, assuming Taravangian doesn't Bond her. Lirin and Kal make up. Kal's Plate has the Bridge 4 symbol and the brands fall away from his forehead.
Sigzil flies Dalinar to Ishar, Szeth comes with, of course. Turns out Ishar was less wise man, more mad scientist tinkerer plus soldier, which makes sense. Ishar has his Honorblade, which was held by Neturo, Szeth's father.
Okay, I'm pretty sure these cremlings are not being inhabited by Voidspren but are simply the Sleepless. Venli sent away the Reachers for their own safety (aw, I thought we'd get  Fused Radiant Leshwi!). Well done, Brando pulls a big misdirection with the Rlain-Bondsmith business, I thought Renarin sent one of Sja-Anat's Enlightened spren to Rlain, but I forgot about it in the chaos!

Ishar was considered average in skill?! How OP in fighting skills are the rest then! Jezrien, Nale, Chana and Taln must've been inhuman then! Of course Taln was the best (Squeeeeeeee!). This fight is making me very anxious. Ishar can use Connection to draw out Stormlight (apparently by making the Stormlight think the ground he linked to the Radiants' soul was a part of them)! Dalinar opens Honor's Perpendicularity. Ishar can steal Connections! This man *needs* to die! Unfettered Bondsmith powers are wack! He tried to steal Dalinar's Nahel Bond and his Connection to Odium as his challenger but Szeth severed the Connection between him and Dalinar. Dalinar has become too passive... Nightblood collapsed the Perpendicularity. There's an Unmade in Shinovar. Dai-Gonarthis, I assume. Or... something else? How much of what Ishar is saying is crazy talk? Nightblood chipped Ishar's Honorblade! Ishar created a Perpendicularity (that's how he sent people into Shadesmar), gaining momentary sanity, he asks Dalinar to come to him in Shinovar and swear an Ideal next to him to grant him momentary clarity so he can reforge the Oathpact. (Ah so that's why Book 5 was contested between Skybreaker and Bondsmith. But there definitely won't be a renewed Oathpact, there will be something entirely new)
Navani inhabits Urithiru like Dalinar rides the Highstorm, she sees all the fabrials that the Sibling manifested in the Tower and understood them. She has the resources and knowledge to eject the Voidlight from them.
Ishar was the first on Ashyn that got tricked by Odium into experimenting with the Surges. (So, it was his guilty conscience that made him consider the Oathpact to punish himself, I assume.)
Szeth gets permission from Dalinar to advance in his Ideals in his crusade against Shinovar, ehehe *ominous music*
Wow, Kaladin can apparently make the Windspren form Shardplates around others!
Heh, the Tower's protections are back in place, oof the Deepest Ones got stuck in the stone, lol.
Ishar can make spren have physical bodies. He's been studying their cadavers. What the hell!!! Cryptics and Ashspren have the most inhuman physiologies, Honorspren the most human. That's why Ishar was hunting Honorspren.
Moash feels again and does not like the experience. The experience leaves him blind. Judging by the epigraphs there's *still* a bombshell left in this book!
His plan again in tatters, and Dalinar exhausted, Odium drags him into another vision, golden, of course. Odium's Light is violet (or ultraviolet?) then why does his form glow gold. It's *not* just his megalomania. The red is corruption but what is the gold?
(Also, wow Roshar is going to be so OP in space-age Cosmere). Odium thinks Ishar taught him (Odium couldn't see Ishar either huh, makes sense though). Odium realizes Hoid wrote the contract. He explains a bit more but all stuff we know by now, this was just confirmation but glorious still. How did Honor chain Odium to the Rosharan system? (a Dawnshard? He did keep rambling about Dawnshards being required to defeat Odium. Plus the things we learned in the novella...) The Everstorm means that Odium can't agree, his forces are basically free, and he's natural to Roshar now. Odium confirms Hoid's thoughts that he plans to use the Rosharans, the Singers *and* the Surgebinders as troops against the other Shards (confirming that Rosharans are too OP). Odium really wants to get out of the Rosharan system and he's desperate at this point. His mind is still that of a human, an extraordinary one, but he's *stretched*) He offers to leave Roshar alone (which he won't do, he'll come back to collect his power... the back 5 books, perhaps?) Hmm so Odium *could* see what was happening in Urithiru, he just couldn't interfere. A compromise of maintaining the current battle lines, Odium asks Dalinar that if he, as his own champion loses, his soul will join Odium's side! Odium had the battlefields he wanted: Alethkar & Jah Keved, who are practiced in battle, the Iriali (from wherever their Long Trail originated), hmm... not Shinovar? If Odium wins he gets to keep the lands he won + Dalinar and still remains bound to the system, if Odium loses he'll give back Alethkar and Herdaz, and himself stay bound to the system but would still be able to use whom he conquered as his agents outside of Roshar either way.
Raboniel is still barely hanging on. She asks Navani to mercy-kill her. The Sibling is much more understanding now.
Taravangian draws more emotion spren when he's more emotional than intelligent, makes sense, why is it pointed out like that? *narrows eyes* "passions" *further narrowing*. What did Renarin see in Taravangian's future? Odium is coming, isn't he? He has Voidlight spheres to contact Odium. Edit: Sja-Anat's Corrupted Windspren not Voidlight, I can't believe I missed that. Lol, did he just accidentally manipulate Szeth? Odium is here! So is Nightblood! Szeth kills Taravangian's body and Taravangian stabbed Odium with Nightblood. Go Nightblood! DESTROY EVIL! Rayse is consumed, Nightblood sated. Taravangian Ascended and became Odium.
What.
(Will he have the same problem with the power as a certain someone had? They're both dead but this one naturally has more Connection. Long game indeed, Cultivation. Taravangian's Boon was *exactly* what he asked for)
Rlain is also a Truthwatcher like Renarin, from an Enlightened spren. It was the spren, Tumi inhabiting the cremling'a gemheart. Hah! No, Tumi is not *just* of Honor and Odium, but also a bit of Cultivation! Rlain gets the spren he deserves. The Heavenly Ones, Venli and her Singers go back to the Shattered Plains. Oh, the Plate is *always* there.
Taravangian still has two sides given to him by Cultivation: emotionless logic and unbridled emotions. Cultivation comes to pay him a visit.
Teft gets a funeral. Kal is doing better.
Odium and Cultivation talk. Taravangian still has a saviour's complex... uh-oh.
(Hmm... you know who'd be good at wielding hatred? Kel, maybe, or not)
Testament, Shallan's previous Cryptic, seems to also be getting better. 
The cube has a Seon inside! Of course! Simple answers, duh! The Seon's name is Ala. If hope they're not Bonded to Mraize. They aren't! Yes! Kalak has been telling Shallan about Ba-Ado-Mishram, and other planets.
"Lord of Scars"? It *is* Kel! "his avatar"? That's quite the term to be using! "deal with your own stupid planet, you idiot", lol.
Venli makes her way to the Listeners and her mother, hoping a Radiant Bond would heal her mind. Her Second Ideal is accepted by Cultivation. A Chasmfiend helped the Listeners! They're intelligent too, huh. The War of Reckoning was a war on three sides then. That's terrible.
Kaladin asks to remain off-command. I'm so happy for him! "Few men have the wisdom to realize when they need help. Fewer still have the strength to go get it" This. And he's immediately asked to help Ishi, of course.
Ha, Hoid's flute. The Aviar she found is fine too. (This is becoming *very* cross-over-y).
El! El is a Fused with horns and is partially metallic... Intriguing. Lezian's title went to Vyre? El kills Lezian. I like El.
Kal finds Tien's carving. He decides to go to the therapy group.
Eshonai hums the Rhythm of War, refusing to die a slave in her own mind. The Stormfather accepted her Words though she couldn't speak them while drowning and she died Radiant, the Stormfather carried her on the Highstorm and showed her the world. Goodbye, Eshonai... 
Clearly Brandon has been heeding Hoid on story-telling, lol. Hoid entertains Corrupted / Enlightened Windspren. Wit meets the new Odium and realizes a bit too late it's not Rayse. He used Breaths to store his memories. Odium starts fiddling with Hoid's memories... Egad. Hmm... so much talk about misdirections...

 

That was... a lot to process. At first, when Rayse died, I was pretty happy. The story would've turned from a war against a greater evil against which everyone had to unite... into a story about fighting against hatred. That can still happen of course. We'll see. I expected Hoid to remain untouchable for a while yet. But well, he is becoming a real character in this series, so it's only appropriate. This wasn't the Listener book. This was the human and listener book, which really fits beautifully. I did not expect the Taravangian twist... nay, twists at all. Looks like Trell... might have been Odium, or rather his power, somehow, after all.

I'm happy with all the Navani & Raboniel science but I was also looking forward to some Venli science, which she apparently didn't do, it was all Ulim.

I have so many questions about who tricked who to what degree with Taravangian, Cultivation and Hoid. Did Cultivation make a mistake or is there a bigger plan? Is the Boon/Bane still there, as a safeguard? Did Taravangian really trick Hoid into believing he was Rayse? Or did Hoid trick Taravangian into believing he successfully tricked him, given how much he talked about misdirections. Immortals can make mistakes, we saw that with Rayse. So Cultivation might've made a mistake, Hoid might've been tricked by a new player in the game. We'll see.

Edited by Honorless
edited for clarity
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished the book about an hour ago and generally walked away with good positive feelings. Lotta good, some bad but overall a solid book that I had no problem reading through from start to finish without feeling like I needed to put it down.

Best moment by far: Maya's speech and her bond with Adolin, that scene had me blubbering like a baby. Easily one of the best stormlight moments along with "Honor is dead but I'll see what I can do" and Kaladin going back for Dalinar and jumping across the chasm in WoK.

Underrated MVP of Urithiru: Dabbid. Dabbid had so many amazing moments and his character really came to life in this book. I can't count the number of times I teared up when he was coming to grips with his problems and rescuing Kaladin early on. Kinda suprised he hasn't bonded an Honorspren yet.

Honorable Urithiru mention: Navani going into full matrix fabrial expert mode right after bonding the Sibling. That was an awesome moment and Navani deserved all the good things that happened to her at the end of this book. I predicted she would become a Willshaper so I was slightly disappointed, but the way it turned out in the end fit much better. I definitely didn't miss the nod to that possibility when she wiped blood all over the mural of a cometspren while stumbling through the pillar room. 

Most interesting arc: Surprisingly enough it was Adolin and Shallan's arc in Shadesmar that I was looking forward to reading the most. Shadesmar is such an interesting place that I never get tired of reading about it and the whole legal defence thing in Lasting Integrity was pretty fun to follow.

Least interesting arc: Unsurprisingly the flashback sequences were the worst part of the book. There's only so much Brandon can do to be interesting when you basically already know exactly what happened and where the story will go. I especially found the early flashback chapters to be the hardest to get through. If anything in the book could be described as a slog, it would be the flashback chapters.

There are so many more things I could mention, from T becoming Odium to Hoid's memories being wiped to Ishar just casually murdering spren, but I don't want a massive wall of text so I'll leave it at that.

Edited by ggscv
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, this was a rollercoaster.

Many things that I expected to like, I didn't, and all those that I didn't expect to like, I did. Maybe the expectations are the key. Either way, epic.

Group A:

I loved the gloomy atmosphere of the occupied fortress. And I loved how tightly-knit this arc was. Switching viewpoints was so smooth, with a lot of interactions between all POVs. I thought the Singers would be boring and take away the focus from the established characters (especially after the early reviews), but they turned out to be an absolute highlight. Venli was fantastic, Brandon really didn't shy away from any unlikable characteristics, and yet I found myself cheering for her. Raboniel moved me more than some of Kaladin's key scenes. Navani's chapters were at times a bit too info-dumpy, but the tension made them work.

I have mixed feelings about Kaladin. There was so much hype about his arc, that maybe I simply expected more. Wonderful that he's taking the first steps to introduce psychiatry to Roshar. It was super cool to see him inspire the people of Urithiru and be awesome (maybe a bit too overdone, but I don't mind much). His fights with the Pursuer were quite repetitive, though, and he showed little initiative, mostly following Navani's or Sibling's plans. The most emotional and heartbreaking moments for me were those in Part 1. In the climax, I was largely indifferent, it seemed obvious how it would end. As much as Teft's death was a shock, I didn't fully buy Kaladin going all suicidal after that. That scene in Kholinar, when whole groups of people he led for a while started killing each other, was way more dramatic. The Tien vision was sweet but heavy-handed, the way he pretty much gave Kaladin the ready-made answer kinda violated "show don't tell" to me.

Most of all, I feel like his character arc currently lacks direction a bit. They need a fighter to defend the Sibling - done. They need a healer to go to Ishar - yes, please. He's pulled in so many directions, he goes in circles. The most amazing thing he's ever done was not fighting, not being a surgeon, but turning Bridge Four into what it has become. I don't currently see any setup for him to progress along those lines further. The trip to Ishar will certainly be fascinating, but it feels disconnected. It's telling how impossible it is to tell what his 5th Ideal would be, what's his next challenge as a character. I'm sure there's a plan, but I'm a bit worried.

Group B:

A relatively slow read, disconnected from all other arcs. I enjoyed it more when I finally decided to read it separately. Still, most of Part 2 was unnecessary. I enjoyed Adolin's interactions with Kaladin and Dalinar a lot, but the moment they started to travel, and travel through Shadesmar... Boring. Especially the whole hunt for the spy was anticlimactic. When Pattern said it was him, I was waiting for some twist, at least to see that his intentions were different... But that was it. A lot of setup for not much. On the other hand, Part 4 was rushed in some places. Shallan integrating Veil happened a bit out of nowhere, I expected a stronger "trigger" and more incremental setup there, and Formless was much ado about nothing too. Maya speaking on the trial was the most predictable development possible, but the content made sense, and I like that she spoke for herself. The Honorspren were so ridiculously focused on the law that they should have been Highspren. Looks like, next thing, they'll release BAM and all the deadeyes will all be revived. Which may be too predictable to actually happen, or not.

Group C:

That was the smallest arc? Huh. In addition to Dalinar and Jasnah - Renarin, Szeth, Taravangian, Wit... Big party, big revelations. Also tied to Group A which made part 3 all the more interconnected and enjoyable. Jasnah felt a little odd at times, the whole duel scene came a bit out of nowhere and it seemed only put there for the sake of maybe some foreshadowing of the deal with Odium? Renarin is the best, even when there's so little of him (maybe especially then - I'm actually not looking forward to him becoming much less mysterious). Let me just say, I didn't expect Rayse to die just yet :P - and the way this whole secret looms over our protagonists, that epilogue... Makes me shiver. I really love how the stakes continue to grow, a war with a god for the fate of the world wasn't enough, we have the whole universe involved in so many ways. Now I really don't know what would be next.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally finished this last night at 1:30 am, and I have to say that Row is, without contest, my least favorite Stormlight Archive book. 

I've never cared much for Navani, and honestly her "I'm no scholar" line was as tiring and fatiguing to read as Nynaeve's incessant braid tugging in The Wheel of Time, or Perrin perpetually explaining how this tricky situation is like a locksmith's puzzle. 

Imagine my horror when I realized that a seemingly unique and interesting villain, Raboniel The Lady of Pain (or rebranded The Lady of Wishes), is really just a life coach for Navani. 

Major Criticicisms: 

This book suffers most severely from an extreme lack of fantastical detail. Brandon is a great writer, but his strength is not in creating fantastical places. His default descriptions for architectural forms are boxy or box-like. The majority of the book took place in the mythical tower city of Urithiru, the Ancient Fortress of the Knights Radiant, and with the exception of the detail of the Atrium, it still feels like a largely unfleshed out space. It's basically a city, and in the book there were really only 8 locations, the atrium, the pillar room, Navani and Raboniel's study, Kaladin and Lirin's surgery room/house, the model tower room (which conveniently became the place for the father of renegade Windrunner and personal attendants of the Last Listener to tend to the comatose Radiants), the breakaway market, the conference room, the Oathgate Platform staging area, and the Teft and Kaladin hidey hole. Tashik in a short novella felt like a more fleshed out space than Urithiru has in 2 books! 

Shadesmar continues to be underwhelming, so sad about this really, especially with the very nice Michael Whelan art. Most of the time in Shadesmar was spent on a "box-like" barge sailing over a uniformly boring sea of beads, or in the "boxy" fortress of Lasting Integrity, with the one concession to the fantastical setting being the MC. Eschcalators, walls that you can walk up. But then again there's nothing interesting described on the walls that make it worthwhile walking up, so yay for walking on walls. Also the trial takes place at the forum, but other than the detail that their is a seated section and a standing gallery you really aren't given any description of the setting. I was incredibly interested to see what one of the largest spren cities looked like and see some of the details of how living ideas live, but the honor spren were just props for Adolin's show trial. 

maxresdefault-2.thumb.jpg.54806dc7fbedaeacdf96d95b346d61b1.jpg

That's one of my major complaints, this book more than any other in SLA has canned situations setup to showcase how wonderful the characters are. Characters constantly telling protagonists how amazing what they are doing is, this is basically the author trying to lead you to certain conclusions. Admittedly Adolin is very sweet to Maya, but I got tired of all the side characters gaping at what his deadeye could do. Bravo Adolin, bravo. 

My biggest beef with RoW though is how implausible everything is and how stupid the plans that the characters come up with are. Urithiru is occupied, yet Kaladin can still move around pretty much wherever he wants, he just has to be careful. Raboniel was spying on the communications between Navani and the Sibling, but respects Navani's privacy when she is communicating with Kaladin? Dabbid, because people think he's slow, can go wherever he wants with supplies, fabrials, etc. even to the routinely unoccupied portions of the tower. This seemed slightly plausible after the initial occupation, but with Urithiru controlling the Oathgates, Odium should have moved the majority of his forces to the tower, and with the renegade Radiant being Kaladin Storm blessed it seems like they would at the very least be watching Navani, her scholars and Kaladin's family to try and figure out his whereabouts, and have setup a better network of checkpoints. But Odium in this book (and in Oathbringer really) is a pretty seriously stupid bungler.

Then there's Venli. Voice to Leshwi, ok, kind of convenient but I'll buy that. Taken by Raboniel to the tower as her voice, hmm, less plausible but OK. Given essentially free reign, oversight of the recovering Knights Radiant, oversight of the traitorous Bridge 4 listener (who can likewise move around unimpeded), that stretches the skein of plausibility to the breaking point. Oh wait, here's a blank writ from The Lady of Wishes that she could maybe use to sneak the comatose Knights Radiant out of the tower with. Snap goes the skein of plausibility. Once again, the tower feels empty, not enough troops, and far too easy for Kaladin to traipze around in. It bothered me a lot that the big plan to with the baited trap of the Third shield node to kill Kaladin was to have the purser chase him, and then after he took out the completely locally undefended node, to trap him in the well with a bid a big lid that a bunch of singers sat on. That'll show him. Great plan guys. 

I love Brandon's magic systems, and I really like that there is a scientific basis for them, but I feel like he's moving away from the highly successful mistborn approach and early SLA approach, where the solid basis for the magic is built into the magic system and the use of the magic by the protagonist is described in a way that conveys the realism of the system. With RoW and especially with the explication of the metals that control fabrials, he's gotten bogged down in the minutiae of his wholly fictitious schema, in a manner that I find tedious and completely uninteresting. You can't theorize, you can only speculate about what the ramifications of revelation are. Not very satisfying. 

The Singer Willshaper book had very little new information about the Singers or The Willshapers. We know 3 forms of power?? Raboniel attacked Kaladin with a knife twice, why not use her power of transformation? The Listeners were a tribal society before the humans found them? Disappointing, I was hoping we would get more about the history of the Listeners, more revelations in the Song of Secrets, more information about past desolation, but their culture was as developed as the interior of the tower or the city of lasting integrity, mostly empty. 

Now the plans, dear lord, the dumb, dumb plans. 

Adolin, I demand a trial by witness, I heard someone walking up a wall say that, that sounds good. He has no idea what this means when he demands it, his is coached by a spren he doesn't know in how to proceed to do this, and he doesn't even think to have Maya help in his defense. Dumb as a manifested brick. 

The Honor Spren appoint Kelek, the mad Herald known for his indecisiveness, to be High Judge. And they let trained monkeys drive busses, and give swords to children, and have alcoholics tend bars, etc. etc. Makes you wonder if Ishar was just trying to figure out if the honor spren's brains were in their backsides. 

Contest of Champions, do wait, this thing that the Stormfather has been leading Dalinar to for the whole series really, is about who gets Alethkar and Herdaz or Dalinar's soul? Those are the terms for the winner. Oh yeah, either wsy Odium is confined to Roshar for 1000 years, and since to leave is all that Odium wants, then he really knocked that negotiation out of the park. Ishar should have checked where Rayse's brain was too. 

Dalinar's plan, I know, I'll visit Ishar the mad Herald to figure out what my power's are, you know, the guy that advised Nale to join Odium's side. Sheesh, Ishar should check where Dalinar's brain is. 

Hey, it's still a Stormlight Archive book, which means it's better than 93% of all the books ever written. 

The Good Stuff:

Moash. Probably just because all of the other villains were so inept, Moash was truly great in this book.

He says he's going to break the node, he breaks the node. He said he's going to deal with Kaladin and he nearly does. He had a plan to break Kaladin and if the Pursuer hadn't tried to get his vengeance it probably would have worked. He sees Teft is trying to fight defensively, so he kills a Radiant to draw him out. He takes out lift, he takes out Teft. All to be unchained, all to give into Odium's lie. He says he's going to come back to kill Navani and he would have if Raboniel hadn't drlayed him. By far the most capable and thoroughly detestable of Odium's minions. The part were his connection to Odium was interrupted and he had to face the consequences of his actions was so good! 

Kaladin finally swearing the 4th ideal. I would have been OK with him deciding the 4th ideal wasn't for him, but I'm so glad that he can move on from this. His compassion is what makes him truly great, but now he is giving others the freedom to do what they think is right too. Good character growth for one of the very best characters in fiction. 

The Ghostbloods. This book had do much Ghostblood goodness in it! Mraize's scene where he is talking with Shallan about the spy while his Aviar was hunting moles, the Seon communication cube, Pattern lying to Shallan, the plot to trap Kelek, and the decision Shallan made to reject the Ghostbloods. Such good stuff, though they are the kind of organization to have a failsafe plan, they would have preferred that Shallan had done the deed and joined them, but I'm still pretty sure Isnah is a Ghostblood and that Kelek won't have much time left in book 5. There's also the detail that is unresolved about Shallan using a similar communication cube when she was young, I think her entanglement with the Ghostbloods is not resolved by any stretch, and the fact that her remembering that she killed her original radiant spren is not the truth that leads to her 4th ideal. I'm pretty OK with Thaidakar bring Kelsier, I think it makes them a more interesting organization, Kel's motives might be self-serving but he at least will have a plausibly noble end goal it seems. 

Taravangian becoming Odium. So GOOD. We know that Cultivatiion's touch on him gave him both the expanded intelligence to control his shard better and the expanded passions to align to his shard better. And when it's all said and done, dumb Taravangian believed that smart Taravangian was prideful and wanted to be the one that saved the world, making his ascension possibly problematic. Unless as some have speculated this is all part of Cultivatiion's terrible long term plan. Exciting stuff. 

The Part 2 epigraphs, the exploration of the Fundamental mechanics of investiture, and Kaladin's fabrial glove. Some very good Cosmere stuff in RoW, interesting to find out that Illumination might be the most super charged of all surges, and Kaladin's use of the fabrial glove was great. A constrained magic system, and plausible and inventive uses for the magic. Brilliant. 

Kaladin's expanded use of his adhesion surge. The reverse lashing death for The Defeated was brutal! 

Interesting things to think about:

It's mentioned, I don't remember exactly where, that one of the sleepless is working with the Ghostbloods.  Sja-Anat agrees to send one of her children to Check out the Ghostbloods in the tower though she doesn't promise it will bond Mraize, she does imply it will bond one of the Ghostbloods. The corrupted truthwatcher spren that bonds Rlain is the voidspren that was hiding in the cremling. Rlain, when discussing how he was the perfect one to build a bridge mentions that he was rejected by the Singers and the Humans and he was a spy. My guess is that Rlain is a Ghostblood. 

I think it's interesting also to keep an eye on Sja-Anat, whose one stated goal is to protect her children. As someone stated earlier in this thread Raboniel and Navani never investigated the pairing of Lifelight and Voidlight, but this seems like exactly what a truthwatcher spren is (if you look on the Knights Radiant Surgebinding chart, Truthwatcher are on the opposite side of the Gods eye symbol from Bondsmiths, implying a stronger connection to Cultivation). Also Sja-Anat appears to Taravangian in his mirror, it's the sacrifice of her children that brings Odium to Taravangian that Renarin (bonded to one of her children) delivers a note that says sorry. Maybe Sja-Anat has been touched by Cultivation too! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

I finally finished this last night at 1:30 am, and I have to say that Row is, without contest, my least favorite Stormlight Archive book. 

I've never cared much for Navani, and honestly her "I'm no scholar" line was as tiring and fatiguing to read as Nynaeve's incessant braid tugging in The Wheel of Time, or Perrin perpetually explaining how this tricky situation is like a locksmith's puzzle. 

Imagine my horror when I realized that a seemingly unique and interesting villain, Raboniel The Lady of Pain (or rebranded The Lady of Wishes), is really just a life coach for Navani. 

Major Criticicisms: 

This book suffers most severely from an extreme lack of fantastical detail. Brandon is a great writer, but his strength is not in creating fantastical places. His default descriptions for architectural forms are boxy or box-like. The majority of the book took place in the mythical tower city of Urithiru, the Ancient Fortress of the Knights Radiant, and with the exception of the detail of the Atrium, it still feels like a largely unfleshed out space. It's basically a city, and in the book there were really only 8 locations, the atrium, the pillar room, Navani and Raboniel's study, Kaladin and Lirin's surgery room/house, the model tower room (which conveniently became the place for the father of renegade Windrunner and personal attendants of the Last Listener to tend to the comatose Radiants), the breakaway market, the conference room, the Oathgate Platform staging area, and the Teft and Kaladin hidey hole. Tashik in a short novella felt like a more fleshed out space than Urithiru has in 2 books! 

Shadesmar continues to be underwhelming, so sad about this really, especially with the very nice Michael Whelan art. Most of the time in Shadesmar was spent on a "box-like" barge sailing over a uniformly boring sea of beads, or in the "boxy" fortress of Lasting Integrity, with the one concession to the fantastical setting being the MC. Eschcalators, walls that you can walk up. But then again there's nothing interesting described on the walls that make it worthwhile walking up, so yay for walking on walls. Also the trial takes place at the forum, but other than the detail that their is a seated section and a standing gallery you really aren't given any description of the setting. I was incredibly interested to see what one of the largest spren cities looked like and see some of the details of how living ideas live, but the honor spren were just props for Adolin's show trial. 

maxresdefault-2.thumb.jpg.54806dc7fbedaeacdf96d95b346d61b1.jpg

That's one of my major complaints, this book more than any other in SLA has canned situations setup to showcase how wonderful the characters are. Characters constantly telling protagonists how amazing what they are doing is, this is basically the author trying to lead you to certain conclusions. Admittedly Adolin is very sweet to Maya, but I got tired of all the side characters gaping at what his deadeye could do. Bravo Adolin, bravo. 

My biggest beef with RoW though is how implausible everything is and how stupid the plans that the characters come up with are. Urithiru is occupied, yet Kaladin can still move around pretty much wherever he wants, he just has to be careful. Raboniel was spying on the communications between Navani and the Sibling, but respects Navani's privacy when she is communicating with Kaladin? Dabbid, because people think he's slow, can go wherever he wants with supplies, fabrials, etc. even to the routinely unoccupied portions of the tower. This seemed slightly plausible after the initial occupation, but with Urithiru controlling the Oathgates, Odium should have moved the majority of his forces to the tower, and with the renegade Radiant being Kaladin Storm blessed it seems like they would at the very least be watching Navani, her scholars and Kaladin's family to try and figure out his whereabouts, and have setup a better network of checkpoints. But Odium in this book (and in Oathbringer really) is a pretty seriously stupid bungler.

Then there's Venli. Voice to Leshwi, ok, kind of convenient but I'll buy that. Taken by Raboniel to the tower as her voice, hmm, less plausible but OK. Given essentially free reign, oversight of the recovering Knights Radiant, oversight of the traitorous Bridge 4 listener (who can likewise move around unimpeded), that stretches the skein of plausibility to the breaking point. Oh wait, here's a blank writ from The Lady of Wishes that she could maybe use to sneak the comatose Knights Radiant out of the tower with. Snap goes the skein of plausibility. Once again, the tower feels empty, not enough troops, and far too easy for Kaladin to traipze around in. It bothered me a lot that the big plan to with the baited trap of the Third shield node to kill Kaladin was to have the purser chase him, and then after he took out the completely locally undefended node, to trap him in the well with a bid a big lid that a bunch of singers sat on. That'll show him. Great plan guys. 

I love Brandon's magic systems, and I really like that there is a scientific basis for them, but I feel like he's moving away from the highly successful mistborn approach and early SLA approach, where the solid basis for the magic is built into the magic system and the use of the magic by the protagonist is described in a way that conveys the realism of the system. With RoW and especially with the explication of the metals that control fabrials, he's gotten bogged down in the minutiae of his wholly fictitious schema, in a manner that I find tedious and completely uninteresting. You can't theorize, you can only speculate about what the ramifications of revelation are. Not very satisfying. 

The Singer Willshaper book had very little new information about the Singers or The Willshapers. We know 3 forms of power?? Raboniel attacked Kaladin with a knife twice, why not use her power of transformation? The Listeners were a tribal society before the humans found them? Disappointing, I was hoping we would get more about the history of the Listeners, more revelations in the Song of Secrets, more information about past desolation, but their culture was as developed as the interior of the tower or the city of lasting integrity, mostly empty. 

Now the plans, dear lord, the dumb, dumb plans. 

Adolin, I demand a trial by witness, I heard someone walking up a wall say that, that sounds good. He has no idea what this means when he demands it, his is coached by a spren he doesn't know in how to proceed to do this, and he doesn't even think to have Maya help in his defense. Dumb as a manifested brick. 

The Honor Spren appoint Kelek, the mad Herald known for his indecisiveness, to be High Judge. And they let trained monkeys drive busses, and give swords to children, and have alcoholics tend bars, etc. etc. Makes you wonder if Ishar was just trying to figure out if the honor spren's brains were in their backsides. 

Contest of Champions, do wait, this thing that the Stormfather has been leading Dalinar to for the whole series really, is about who gets Alethkar and Herdaz or Dalinar's soul? Those are the terms for the winner. Oh yeah, either wsy Odium is confined to Roshar for 1000 years, and since to leave is all that Odium wants, then he really knocked that negotiation out of the park. Ishar should have checked where Rayse's brain was too. 

Dalinar's plan, I know, I'll visit Ishar the mad Herald to figure out what my power's are, you know, the guy that advised Nale to join Odium's side. Sheesh, Ishar should check where Dalinar's brain is. 

Hey, it's still a Stormlight Archive book, which means it's better than 93% of all the books ever written. 

The Good Stuff:

Moash. Probably just because all of the other villains were so inept, Moash was truly great in this book.

He says he's going to break the node, he breaks the node. He said he's going to deal with Kaladin and he nearly does. He had a plan to break Kaladin and if the Pursuer hadn't tried to get his vengeance it probably would have worked. He sees Teft is trying to fight defensively, so he kills a Radiant to draw him out. He takes out lift, he takes out Teft. All to be unchained, all to give into Odium's lie. He says he's going to come back to kill Navani and he would have if Raboniel hadn't drlayed him. By far the most capable and thoroughly detestable of Odium's minions. The part were his connection to Odium was interrupted and he had to face the consequences of his actions was so good! 

Kaladin finally swearing the 4th ideal. I would have been OK with him deciding the 4th ideal wasn't for him, but I'm so glad that he can move on from this. His compassion is what makes him truly great, but now he is giving others the freedom to do what they think is right too. Good character growth for one of the very best characters in fiction. 

The Ghostbloods. This book had do much Ghostblood goodness in it! Mraize's scene where he is talking with Shallan about the spy while his Aviar was hunting moles, the Seon communication cube, Pattern lying to Shallan, the plot to trap Kelek, and the decision Shallan made to reject the Ghostbloods. Such good stuff, though they are the kind of organization to have a failsafe plan, they would have preferred that Shallan had done the deed and joined them, but I'm still pretty sure Isnah is a Ghostblood and that Kelek won't have much time left in book 5. There's also the detail that is unresolved about Shallan using a similar communication cube when she was young, I think her entanglement with the Ghostbloods is not resolved by any stretch, and the fact that her remembering that she killed her original radiant spren is not the truth that leads to her 4th ideal. I'm pretty OK with Thaidakar bring Kelsier, I think it makes them a more interesting organization, Kel's motives might be self-serving but he at least will have a plausibly noble end goal it seems. 

Taravangian becoming Odium. So GOOD. We know that Cultivatiion's touch on him gave him both the expanded intelligence to control his shard better and the expanded passions to align to his shard better. And when it's all said and done, dumb Taravangian believed that smart Taravangian was prideful and wanted to be the one that saved the world, making his ascension possibly problematic. Unless as some have speculated this is all part of Cultivatiion's terrible long term plan. Exciting stuff. 

The Part 2 epigraphs, the exploration of the Fundamental mechanics of investiture, and Kaladin's fabrial glove. Some very good Cosmere stuff in RoW, interesting to find out that Illumination might be the most super charged of all surges, and Kaladin's use of the fabrial glove was great. A constrained magic system, and plausible and inventive uses for the magic. Brilliant. 

Kaladin's expanded use of his adhesion surge. The reverse lashing death for The Defeated was brutal! 

Interesting things to think about:

It's mentioned, I don't remember exactly where, that one of the sleepless is working with the Ghostbloods.  Sja-Anat agrees to send one of her children to Check out the Ghostbloods in the tower though she doesn't promise it will bond Mraize, she does imply it will bond one of the Ghostbloods. The corrupted truthwatcher spren that bonds Rlain is the voidspren that was hiding in the cremling. Rlain, when discussing how he was the perfect one to build a bridge mentions that he was rejected by the Singers and the Humans and he was a spy. My guess is that Rlain is a Ghostblood. 

I think it's interesting also to keep an eye on Sja-Anat, whose one stated goal is to protect her children. As someone stated earlier in this thread Raboniel and Navani never investigated the pairing of Lifelight and Voidlight, but this seems like exactly what a truthwatcher spren is (if you look on the Knights Radiant Surgebinding chart, Truthwatcher are on the opposite side of the Gods eye symbol from Bondsmiths, implying a stronger connection to Cultivation). Also Sja-Anat appears to Taravangian in his mirror, it's the sacrifice of her children that brings Odium to Taravangian that Renarin (bonded to one of her children) delivers a note that says sorry. Maybe Sja-Anat has been touched by Cultivation too! 

I completely disagree about the comments people keep making about Maya. As the mother of a child with severe cognitive delays, I can tell you that this is EXACTLY how people react - when they aren’t trying to convince me that she isn’t capable of acting of her own volition. Maybe you’re the rare individual who treats children like mine as people; sadly, most humans seem to struggle to see children like my girl as individuals.

So yes, it may be irritating, but is completely true to life. Those scenes were my favorites due to how deeply they resonated with my own experiences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

I completely disagree about the comments people keep making about Maya. As the mother of a child with severe cognitive delays, I can tell you that this is EXACTLY how people react - when they aren’t trying to convince me that she isn’t capable of acting of her own volition. Maybe you’re the rare individual who treats children like mine as people; sadly, most humans seem to struggle to see children like my girl as individuals.

So yes, it may be irritating, but is completely true to life. Those scenes were my favorites due to how deeply they resonated with my own experiences.

Oh I liked Maya, she was great, and I really liked Adolin's relationship with Maya, it was very sweet and genuinely touching. I was saying that Adolin was as dumb as a manifested brick because his plan was basically I'm Adolin. A crisp suit, a winning smile, and peppered golden hair aren't going to sway the Honorspren Adolin, you need a real plan. Jeesh. 

Life isn't always easy, but the things that are worthwhile are rarely easy. They don't call it love because it's always super happy funtime, but it is the thing that makes life most worthwhile. 

I'm sure your daughter is a beautiful and wonderful person, and I wish you and her much love. 

I know I'm thankful for my girls, though lord knows that it's not always easy. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Oh I liked Maya, she was great, and I really liked Adolin's relationship with Maya, it was very sweet and genuinely touching. I was saying that Adolin was as dumb as a manifested brick because his plan was basically I'm Adolin. A crisp suit, a winning smile, and peppered golden hair aren't going to sway the Honorspren Adolin, you need a real plan. Jeesh. 

Life isn't always easy, but the things that are worthwhile are rarely easy. They don't call it love because it's always super happy funtime, but it is the thing that makes life most worthwhile. 

I'm sure your daughter is a beautiful and wonderful person, and I wish you and her much love. 

I know I'm thankful for my girls, though lord knows that it's not always easy. 

I wasn’t disagreeing with that part. I meant where you said that it annoyed you how often people acted surprised at what Maya could do. If I had a dollar for every idiot doctor who told me any of the following:

She won’t breathe on her own

She won’t eat/drink by mouth

She can’t swallow

She doesn’t recognize you

She’ll never smile

etc.

I would be VERY rich. And then she went ahead and did all those things. If I told them she grabbed a cracker the other day, or has begun occasionally saying words they wouldn’t believe me either, then act completely shocked when she does it in front of them.

So the reactions of the various people around Adolin was actually very accurate and reflective of the RL reactions and frustrations.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, smokeesid said:

does anyone have in their mind that Brandon may die before completing his cosmere series? He makes novels in other universes as well and cosmere could have 40-50 books in its arsenal. That many books will at least take 50-60 years to write. When he writes other novels as well then he would need more time than that which he will probably not have

 

Anyway, why should we care. A universe has billions of planets with millions of intelligent species. We can assume that an advanced alien species can destroy all the shards and human beings if they act all haughty and high and mighty

He plans to release more 7 Mistborn books (final Mistborn trilogy will be the last Cosmere work)

6 Stormlight Books

2 Elantris Books, 1 Warbreaker sequel 

And a Yolen series

 

So it's around 20 books.

 

If he release one every 2 years that might take 40 years. As his currently pace (and is likely going to stay the same for more 10 years) is closer to 2 books every 3 years I think he can release half of those 20 promised books until 2035

The problem is those books only account for 4 worlds and 1 pre shattering worlds. We still having 6 shards that we didn't see in any series, and I think he will end writing more series/trilogies/stand alone books and this can really hurt his promises. I can see him delivering 20 more Cosmere books, but 30... seems quite a high number

Edited by IcaroRibeiro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/16/2020 at 9:20 PM, Parallax said:

What is the scene Brandon said he had been planning for a long time and we would know it when we read it? (I won't have the book until tomorrow and I don't mind  spoilers). 

Oh you will mind that spoiler I assure you. Major RAFO!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, FudgeHeart said:

About choosing a champion for SA5:

  Hide contents

Why not choose Taln to be the Champion?  Don't mess with Ishi, he's mediocre.  Dalinar doesn't even have a sword.  It's fine that Taln's cra-cra.  He can friggin' catch blow darts out of the air with two fingers.

 

He is also completely catatonic as of now so I don't think he is a prime candidate. I don't like the current choice of Dalinar either. But we will see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Cephandrius Everstorm said:

I don't like the current choice of Dalinar either. But we will see.

The worst part about Dalinar's choice is that he tells Odium his choice. This gives Odium 10 days to choose a Champion specific to defeating Dalinar.  For a supposedly top general, he should know better than to flat out give the enemy his plans and give him 10 days to figure out a way to defeat them. Ugh, Dalinar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Quote

 

ElephantEarwax

If Taravangian became a Vessel, would he still have smart and stupid days?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO

Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019) 

 

- RAFO INDEED

 

Quote

 

ElephantEarwax

Could Kaladin rip limbs from people using Lashings?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. This is theoretically possible.

Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)

 

 

Now he has shown us a brutal, practical berseker mode representation. 

 

 

Quote

 

Questioner

What would happen to a spren if someone with a Nahel bond Ascended?

Brandon Sanderson

It's a good question, and it is also a RAFO.

Tor Instagram Livestream (Nov. 25, 2020)

 

Is this the direct hint? Are we going to see Dalinar ascending? 

 

 

Edited by Ramona Tehradin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/16/2020 at 9:20 PM, Parallax said:

What is the scene Brandon said he had been planning for a long time and we would know it when we read it? (I won't have the book until tomorrow and I don't mind  spoilers). 

 

Spoiler

It's ch. 80. The dog that wanted to be a dragon.

 

In the illustrations why does Shallan's sketchbook have different script than Navani's notebook?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I felt sort of sad and let down at the end. We did get a lot of answers but it felt, overall, like everything is ready to fall apart in the next 10 days.

Mr T seems like he will be worse than Rayse and now Wit has been tricked but what does that mean to Roshar?. And I can't even get over the horror of what the God King is trying to do with the spren. Why would he want them in the physical realm? And Dalinar, he made a deal with himself as Odium's prize but what will this new Odium spring on him. Mr T knows him so much better than Rayse did and that means he can be more effective against him.

There were many parts that I liked. Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin and Navani all had good story lines but the very end of the book sort of bummed me out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was pretty sad with what happened to Teft. Once I finished the book and thought about that one more in hindsight, his addiction was basically responsible for his own death. Bridge Four had Jezrien’s Honorblade until Teft sold his jacket for spheres to feed his addiction, allowing the spy to steal the blade and give it to Moash. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...