Here are my thoughts on the first half of Warbreaker

[AleStaar he/him]

 

I started Warbreaker about two months ago. But school and learning about mental health slowed down my pace. I’ve been slowly reading it and I’m finally halfway through it. I'm on chapter 31.

So far the pacing is slower than a Mistborn book, but faster than Elantris. I think it’s worked pretty well. 

Much like the other Cosmere books I’ve read, the scope/history of Warbreaker's world isn’t as descriptive or vast as I would like. Much like Era 1's outer Dominances, or the Roughs and explorers and unknown regions of Era 2, the nations don't have much interconnection apart from Hallandren and Idris. The other nations exist to establish a vast world outside the "central" nations. This isn't a dealbreaker, but I wish Sanderson's worldbuilding delved far beyond them.

However, in terms of describing a unique world, this is Sanderson’s best. Everything about this world is so colorful and descriptive. Awakening is shaping up to be my favorite Cosmere magic system! I'm a fan of versatile magic systems that anyone can access. Everything about the Returned is so engaging, and even the brief mentions of non-Hallandren Returned are cool. 

Vasher’s POV is very cool. Vivenna’s arc didn't have an interesting start, but I'm warming up to it. Siri's arc is very compelling and I was NOT expecting Susebron's character development. Or the talking storming murder sword Nightblood and Susebron are so cute. Denth and Tonk Fah are so funny.

Lightsong and the other Returned are the best parts of the book. The politics, Lightsong’s theory on Returned appearances, the dreams and visions, the Third Heightening! MY GOD! It's all so beautiful.

I’m especially intrigued by Llarimar's theory that all Returned come back with a purpose. It seems this world’s Shard gives tiny pieces of their future sight to certain dead people, who become the Returned. Then the Shard uses the Returned to play a game of future sight 5D chess. Vo, Peacegiver, Lightsong, Blushweaver, Hopefinder, and the God Kings all seem like important pawns. 

Also, I'm making a few connections to Secret History

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Ale the Metallic Conjurer said:

I started Warbreaker about two months ago. But school and learning about mental health slowed down my pace. I’ve been slowly reading it and I’m finally halfway through it. I'm on chapter 31.

Due to spoilers, I'll wait to adress anything else until you finish, though I do recommend the Annotations here above even Mistborn Era 1 (but not until after the first reading or side-by-side with the first re-read - the eBook actually has the annotations built-in). I will mention some Annotations here, because you have already touched on it:

Spoiler

Annotation to Ch 1:

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That’s one of the things I like about the book. My agent complained, but I know he likes things more streamlined than I sometimes do. He loved the Mistborn books, and I do think they are excellent novels—but they are very focused. The characters are distinctive, but their plots are all centered on many of the same types of goals.

With Warbreaker, one of the main things I’m trying to do is contrast it to Mistborn. To do something different, something that harkens a little more back to Elantris, with its three very different viewpoints.

I want there to be a lot of different tones and feels to this book. It’s part of the theme of the novel—that of vibrant Hallandren and its many wonders. I want it to feel like a lot is going on, and that in different parts of the city, very different stories can be told.

Annotation to Ch 15:

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By now, however, you should be wondering more. Who is he? What are his motives? Is he angry with her or not?

The driving force behind this, actually, is the Lord Ruler. In Mistborn, a part of me always felt that he was just a little too stereotypical an evil emperor. True, I worked hard to round him out, particularly through the later books. But writing him made me want to take an evil emperor archetype in a very different direction.

I’ve spoken on the reversals in this book. Well, one thing I realized after the fact is that the novel is—in a lot of ways—about reversals of my own writing. Things I’ve done before, but taken the opposite direction. Almost like I need to react against myself and explore things in new ways, particularly in cases where (like the Lord Ruler) I did things that were more conventional to the genre.

I think that’s why this book has so much resonance with my previous books. Or maybe it doesn’t really, and I’m just seeing something that doesn’t exist. A lot of my ideas in writing, however, come from seeing something done in a movie or a book (or even in one of my own books) and wondering if I could take it a new and different direction. I hope that doesn’t make me feel like I’m repeating myself.

Annotation to Ch 20:

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After writing Mistborn, I became increasingly intrigued with the idea of a complete reversal book—a book that did things very differently from the way I’d done them before. I’d dealt with an all-powerful emperor, and so people would expect (unconsciously) for the God King here to be like the Lord Ruler. That gave me more opportunity to use their expectations against them and pull off a reversal of roles like the one in this chapter.

I hope it worked. By now, you were probably suspecting that something odd was up with the God King. However, I hope you weren’t expecting something as redefining as the lack of a tongue. In this society, with this magic system, that is an even greater symbol of powerlessness than it would be in our society.

Warbreaker is, in-part, the anti-Scadrial.

There is much more to say, but we'll wait for you to get to the finish line. Hope you are enjoying the ride. 

Edited October 6, 2024 by Treamayne
SPAG

[AleStaar he/him]

After reading chapter 30, some big things are going on.

Lightsong questions why the Returned have different body styles. Blushweaver is thin and well-endowed, Mercystar is curvaceous, Allmother is old. Hopefinder and Susebron were Returned at very young ages, so their aging process and maturity can be different from other children. Or different from other Returned. Lightsong wonders if Returned looks have to do with Hallandren's ideals of beauty, or how society saw them. He also wonders why language, skills, and social competence survive the transformation. But not memory.

[Secret History Spoilers]

Spoiler

I think the Returned's body styles are connected to what we saw from Kelsier’s Cognitive Shadow powers. Kelsier had minor shapeshifting powers, nothing about his appearance or fluids was “real,” and he only felt pain or fatigue if he thought he should have them. I think the Returned are inspired by Hallandren's ideals of beauty, due to lack of memories. This might shape their own looks and iideals of beauty.

For example, Hopefinder shapes his look based on his ideal image of a 13-year-old boy. Susebron shapes his look from the ideal image of a ruler or god.

[Era 2 full spoilers]

Spoiler

As for the stuff about what survives the Return… I think this might come from the Shard being thoughtful of the potential consequences of Returned with all their memories intact. Very contemplative of various scenarios to the point where they're virtually managing different timelines. Through their future sight. Which when I think about it, among Shards I’ve only seen this ability from Sazed.

 

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Ale the Metallic Conjurer said:

[Era 2 full spoilers]

  Hide contents

As for the stuff about what survives the Return… I think this might come from the Shard being thoughtful of the potential consequences of Returned with all their memories intact. Very contemplative of various scenarios to the point where they're virtually managing different timelines. Through their future sight. Which when I think about it, among Shards I’ve only seen this ability from Sazed.

Theories and ideas should consider - Minor Spoilers:

Spoiler

The Shard for this planet (Nalthis) is "Endowment." Slightly more spoilers (Warbreaker/Elantris):

Spoiler

Just as Devotion and Dominion influence the DoR (both how it manifests and how it is accessed) - "Endowment" influences all aspects - Biochromatic Breath, Awakening and Returned. 

 

 

[AleStaar he/him]

Thoughts on lore revealed in this Warbreaker chapter (Mistborn spoilers included)

I finished chapter 32 today. This chapter gave a lot of unique implications for Nalthis’ history, and the plans of the Returned’s creator (who seems to be a Shard).

The uniqueness of Hanald’s valley and the Tears of Edgli brought my attention. The valley being the only jungle in the world, and the only place where the Tears can grow. I found it cool that the valley is a place where rain is never cold and food grows spontaneously. 

And that the Tears of Edgli ended up being used by Vo’s crew to turn the valley into a global superpower.

(Full Mistborn Spoilers)

Spoiler

The valley’s rain and food growth reminds me of how Harmony made the Basin’s land fertile and its weather calm, compared to the Roughs or Southern Continent. The valley’s uniqueness and Tears of Edgli really reminds me of how Preservation crafted the Pits of Hathsin and its status as the only place where atium manifests. 

Vo being Returned, giving the five Visions and dying, then his crew creating Hanald, and his wife starting the royal family with their Royal Locks. It all seems like a butterfly effect foreseen and orchestrated by the planet’s Shard.

(Full Mistborn Spoilers)

Spoiler

Sort of like how Preservation used the butterfly effect of the Pits’ existence, Mistsnapping, and someone being a lerasium Mistborn all for the precisely timed gambit with Ruin’s body. Or how Harmony foresaw and orchestrated Wax’s experiment with harmonium and trellium, knowing atium and lerasium dust could be created from it. In general, the future sight of this planet’s Shard seems much closer to Preservation’s ability than Ruin was. 

There’s also four important Returned here - Vo the first Returned, the Returned who predicted the Manywar, Strifelover/Kalad, and Peacegiver. It seems like Kalad and Peacegiver were both Returned with enough Breath to be Awakeners.

Though honestly, I thought the Returned and Awakening were going to be much older phenomena than 400-600 years.

I’m curious about the five Scholars.

[Treamayne]

Good reasoning and some interesting connections. 

Hope you recognized that storyteller.