Wind and Truth Full Book Reactions (Cosmere Edition)

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

22 hours ago, KaladinWorldsinger said:

This is my one major complaint with this book. If cultivation thought that Dalinar needed to learn all this.... Why not just tell him????

This is one of the major drawbacks in the series in general, and in Brandon's writing, he relies on lack of communication and shared information too often. Early on like with Jasnah, Shallon or Kaladin not talking about what they could do, and various factions is one thing.  
The stormfather knew the history, - No don't go but I won't tell you. 
Cultivation knew, but won't say, if he really needed to know why take the risk, just show him the visions. 

The entire we need to go to the SR felt contrived, most of it felt pointless. 
I hated the idea of the child champion, and I think I hate the oh we will just age him up plot cheat even more. 
 

[legion1]

I haven't done a re-read of the other books but I'm missing what Rock and Vivenna are up to now. What's going on? Was Rock just written out?

 

Was Vivenna poorly received? I thought she worked well and I'd hoped that by book 5 there would be more appearances of other Cosmere characters.

 

I think my expectations for book 5 were for there to be more direct Cosmere tie-ins. 

[+Oltux72 he/him]

53 minutes ago, boonboon said:

I wish I had stopped reading after TWoK/WoR. OB killed SA and my trust in BS, WaT burned the corpses.

Well, you do you have a point. The first two books build up a beautiful mansion. The latter three books in the series have Godzilla come in and stomp it into the ground.

Yet, then we would have to ask, how would the story end?

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

22 hours ago, Inevitability said:

To hand him the answers without the context would not provide him with growth. Dalinar needed to experience those moments to get the understanding of not only Tanavast but also his own mistakes. It was that growth which enabled him to ascend to Honor

More controlled visions, another pruning of memories moment where the info is provided, there are all kinds of ways she could have passed on the information, without once again, doing a " I know a secret but I'm not telling" 
 

[Ewery1]

Okay I largely did love this book but the fact that none of our main character spren were killed at anti-light is insane to me, it almost feels like a cop out. Maybe it’s a virtue of it being book 5/10 but I think my issue is the victory felt too easy. Only 1 (2 if you count Leyten) of our main characters died. And only 1 was really left broken emotionally.

6 minutes ago, FollowYourMuse said:

More controlled visions, another pruning of memories moment where the info is provided, there are all kinds of ways she could have passed on the information, without once again, doing a " I know a secret but I'm not telling" 
 

Yeah but that’s her intent! Her Intent is not “Win” it’s “Cultivate”. To Cultivate things you let them grow. Besides, I think people are presuming too much goodness & failure from her - it seems to me that everything is going according to her plan.

I think she wanted the victory to be this pyrrhic and providing more answers at the beginning would not have achieved that end. Also, Odium would have then had more time to respond to them.

Edited December 8, 2024 by Ewery1

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Well, I storming love this book, and everything about it

The rest goes in spoilers, in case people happen to be looking on my profile.

MAJOR WAT SPOILERS:

Spoiler

First off, the artistry behind this book was amazing, from the crumbling arches to the endpapers to the Kaladin Herald arch in the epilogue.

I loved Szeth much more than I thought I would, as well as his flashbacks. His arc was interesting, though I didn't see why dismissing Aux was compelling to him. Kaladin as well did a fantastic job of balancing being awesome and applying the lessons he learned in RoW, but I thought him not killing Moash was a major loss. It makes sense for Taravangian to send his strongest servant after Szeth and Kaladin, who were both wild cards. I loved Kal's ending and him healing Nale was incredible. I also loved the Honorbearer plot, with the first fight defying all expectations and the second topping it.

I was disappointed at best with the Shattered Plains, having tons of hype for El, Sig, and Leshwi, and I really enjoyed Jasnah's trial at Thaylenah, which broke my heart. I loved Adolin's arc though the end underwhelmed me.

Then, they were two people who made the book better: Taln and El. Taln had the most incredible off screen scene in SA so far, slaughtering Fused by ripping them upon and shattering their crystals, with no armor or Surges, against Fused who could heal and use Surges. Taln's past was fascinating. I really liked it in the same way I liked Lightsong's, it was not what you're expecting, but still good. Can't wait for his flashbacks.

El was a delightful minor villain, who was villainous and charming, with an interesting past and relationship with the Heralds. The Grand Admiral Thrawn vibes he gave made me interested, in a long term villain of SA.

Then, the Herald lore, with the little bit of El stuff, was fascinating, especially with Jezrien, Nale and Chana.

All the SR stuff was great, I'll skip it for right now, maybe I'll cover it in another post.

Finally, Dalinar. Dalinar pleased me more than expected. The Contest, and his realization, were perfect for me, with Dalinar gaining tons of character and sealing Retribution's fate. Retribution was also very interesting, and I'm excited for the Shardic war (particularly Valor). Now we have a feeling for the space age, and what this book set up makes me ridiculously excited for what comes next.
 

[neosporin]

2 hours ago, FollowYourMuse said:

This is one of the major drawbacks in the series in general, and in Brandon's writing, he relies on lack of communication and shared information too often. Early on like with Jasnah, Shallon or Kaladin not talking about what they could do, and various factions is one thing.  
The stormfather knew the history, - No don't go but I won't tell you. 
Cultivation knew, but won't say, if he really needed to know why take the risk, just show him the visions. 

The entire we need to go to the SR felt contrived, most of it felt pointless. 
I hated the idea of the child champion, and I think I hate the oh we will just age him up plot cheat even more. 
 

I'm pretty sure it's because Cultivation just telling Dalinar would undermine the entire purpose of the series. It's the journey, not the destination, that makes you the man you are. This was Dalinar's journey. 

[Inevitability]

31 minutes ago, neosporin said:

I'm pretty sure it's because Cultivation just telling Dalinar would undermine the entire purpose of the series. It's the journey, not the destination, that makes you the man you are. This was Dalinar's journey. 

It also breaks the writer’s rule of: Show, Don’t Tell!

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

I hope Szeth is still around in the back half to meet up with Kaladin again.

"What are you doing here? You're dead!"

"I know things got pretty confusing at the end there, but-"

"No, I *literally* saw your corpse. Your eyes were burned out. I helped bury you with my one remaining hand. You'd better have an explanation for this, Stormblessed."

[The Stick]

I liked a lot of the book, but I had a couple of mixed thoughts.

Everything in Shinovar was pure gold. Sure, the monasteries did get a little repetitive, but bringing in Nale kept things excited. I think Kaladin's arc and ideal were great. I also think Szeth's arc was wonderful. His flashbacks were good, and he grew a lot as a person. I am happy to hear was survived and married, even if he was a total idiot to reject his bond. I did have a couple of issues with Ishar as the voice. Like, why not just Chemoarish, and why did the crystal spike torture happen? Crystallury?

Vasher: I know he only appears twice, but it does a great job explaining what is going on for him. It makes sense people want his "massive" storage of breaths, presumably tenth heightening, and is a cool callback to War breaker. I think that him training Lift in book 6 will be priceless.

Jasnah and Thaylen City: I don't feel very strongly on this arc either way. What I can say is that I think that Jasnah absolutely has this coming to her. You can't out utilitarian Taravangian. I love how Taravangian just brought up the lesson to Shallan, and the contract on Aesudan. I think this does a decent job setting her up second half.

Shattered Plains: I felt both good and bad about this. It gave Sigzil a good chance to shine. I think the Venli stuff was pretty pointless, but it was a good move. I feel terrible for Leyton, goodbye. Moash is an absolute horrible person, he doesn't deserve a redemption arc. Also, I was disappointed we did not see devastating once. The focused ones were cool, and I thought El would end up being a devastating one but clearly not. 

Azir: I am normally an Adolin hater. He just does not appeal to me. However, I really liked Azir this book. I think it was quite well written, and the Taln and Ash part was epic. 

Shallan, Rlain, Renarin, BAM, and Ghostbloods: None of this was very moving to me. Shallan's arc was already over last book, nothing happened in this one. Plus they pulled out Chana Davar for a bit, then it came to nothing. This entire line could have been cut, and nothing would really have changed except potentially the ending with a free BAM.

Navani and Dalinar pre Ending: I thought that this was really cool. It all makes decent sense, and closes up all the big events of history before the first arc. I still think someone could have like, you know, told them some of this. Stormfather acts so difficult at so many points in the series, then bends over backwards to Dalinar. I think the Tanavast lore was all cool, and gives a good idea of what went on across the Cosmere. Valor is definitely going to have a big role in the future of the Cosmere. I was a little disappointed with the power rejecting Tanavast just because he broke an oath and sealed BAM. Kelsier was an atrocious vessel for Preservation, and it did not drop him. Leras knifed Elend, but the power liked him.

The Ending plus Hoid:

The Mink scene was hilarious, but needed way more time, and it still had no resolution.

The whole Hoid and Rysn scene was not well enough explained. I don't really get was he was trying to do.

The Sigzil and Hoid section was pretty good. It set up Sunlit man, and gave another Dawnshard Command.

I did not love the ending very much. By the ending, all of the endings to the arcs were pretty good except to Dalinar's and the contest. Dalinar renouncing his Oaths was totally idiotic, and he murdered the Stormfather for no reason. I think the Nohadon segment was good, except for the weird nascent Honor personality, which made no sense. However, the whole Gavinor thing was just not good at all. It was just a conglomeration of bad ideas. Now sure, that is a hard decision for Honor as Dalinar to make. But he had 3 perfectly good options. One, he could kill Gav. This would obviously be terrible, but would not necessarily be bowing to Taravangian. Second would be being a slave to Taravangian, which is bad, but would preserve Gav and some other things. Finally, he could fight Odium. I don't get how that would even have destroyed the planet. I mean, we saw plenty of clashes between Ruin and Preservation, both the minor Kelsier clashes and the Vin clash. But those Intents, which are even more diametrically opposed, did not do any damage. But beyond that, that would destroy the planet, but would at least handle Odium. 

Dalinar singlehandedly chose the worst option. He essentially destroyed the planet through the new storm, and he destructing of Roshar's ecosystem, the outcome of plan 3. He gave Taravangian an immortal general to lead his armies in the form of the Blackthorn, plan 2, and he also kicked the can down the road like plan one did. He did not solve the problem, he just made it other people's problems, as per plan 1. I mean, how did he think giving Taravangian more power was a good idea, and how would that help Honor to become more than oaths. 

Navani in a coma was fine. I think setting up an invulnerable Urithiru and saving Navani in a back half pocket is fine. 

Hoid having cell cultures to resurrect was totally hilarious. I can just imagine him popping up to Retribution and saying, "Oh yeah, you thought you killed me?". 

Ultimately, it was a good book, and Shinovar was storming wonderful, but the ending just did not stick the landing. 

7/10.

My ranking is as follows.

Oathbringer

WoK

RoW

WaT

WoR

[Asthariel]

This book made me very emotional, which does not happen often to me. I cried a lot in last 20% of the book, when Kaladin was confronting Nale, when Dalinar was confronting Taravangian, when Kaladin was offering second chance to the Heralds...

I think I loved it, but I cannot say if I loved it as much as I did Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, but I liked it more than Oathbringer, and definitely liked it more than Rhythm of War, which remains the weakest part of the series.

• First of all, I am very impressed with what Sanderson did here with the story. He could have very easily write yet another book about cool Radiants doing epic things, and Everyone Was Kung-Fu fighting at the final battle, but that obviously will need to wait for the true ending of this series, while here we reach a halfway point, the Darkest Hour.
• I love Dalinar's gambit, giving Taravangian everything that he wanted and more, but what seemed to be a blessing in fact turned out to be a curse. On the other hand, it feels unnecessary that even with Dalinar dead, Blackthorn remains. I can understand that, as everyone was before release hyped about the possibility of Dalinar losing and becoming a Darh Vader-like figure for Taravangian, but here it feels like Sanderson wanting to eat his cake and have it too. Still, at least this is yet another weakness that will surely bite Retribution in the ass - after all, this is Blackthorn that got Dalinar's character development, so it will surely backfire for his master.
• Everyone guessed years ago that Gavinor would be Odium's champion, well done, but its not really that important, as Taravangian himself said - it could have been anyone innocent, the point was that Dalinar could not in good faith kill an innocent. Gavinor losing his childhood is exceedingly cruel, and im interested to see how he grows in the next books, but im also afraid that it will be offscreened - after all, I fully expect book 6 to start 10 years after ending of this one, so we will miss a lot of the story about how Gavinor and his remaining family interact with each other.
• Chana being Shallan's mother was also guessed years ago, good job to the person that came up with this first! It was satisfying that it was confirmed, adn while some people may consider both this, and Gavinor being Champion, to be predictable, I feel like its extremely unfair way of looking at it - it may be predictable only, because we have been reading those books for last 13 years and internet analyzed every single paragraph that could be found in them while waiting for new books, in order to find any foreshadowing that may have been present there. Surprises are overrated, I prefer well placed and fired Chekhov's Guns, even if they can be recognized for what they are.
• I loved the journey of Kaladin and Szeth through Shinovar, although I wished we could have seen more of the land itself, but at least we learnt more about its society in Szeth's flashbacks. Entire present day plot here felt very inspired by Dark Souls/Elden Ring, with traveling through a fallen land, fighting undead bosses, and even getting invaded once. I loved that Kaladin, even when no longer being a soldier, still has an important role to play as someone who helps with healing minds of traumatized people and I love that Sanderson is continuing this plot point from Rhythm of War, where it was sadly put on pause by the invasion on Urithuru.
• I am also sure, that while Book 1 ended with Taln returning, now Book 6 will end with Kaladin returning, together with all the other Heralds. Speaking of which - now we will need to see if Battar/Dova will also heal, or does she still serve Taravangian, because it would be a waste to spend entire interlude on her getting recruited only for it to amount to barely anything.
• I was shocked that Szeth managed to survive this book, and not only that, but he also gets a wife in the future - I cannot wait to see him again in book 6, now that he is focused on helping others in Shinovar. I loved his flashbacks, and I cried at the realization that Szeth is not a mirror to Kaladin, but to Tien, as a child robbed of his childhood and forced to become a killer.
• Even if it was Szeth's book, I felt like Adolin was the second most important character here, just like Navani was important in the last book despite Venli and Eshonai getting their flashbacks. Im glad that he survived it all, even if for years I was sure that he would get killed at the end of book 3, then book 4, then book 5. Both Adolin and readers were afraid that he was no longer important in the world of Radiants, but now, with the world experiencing a full reset of status quo, Adolin yet again has a big role to play in the future with his Unoathed. I liked that we got explanation for why he never became Radiant himself (because he, in his very essence, deslikes concept of oaths), and that the damage he suffered is not temporary, but now here to stay, even if his shardleg will help him to remain mobile.
• I also liked Yanagawn's growth and I loved understanding, what was his role to play in the story as a former thief - to infiltrate his own palace in the climax. In general, I loved many callbacks to previous books - Yanagawn being thief, Jasnah planning to kill Aesudan, Dalinar beating up Elhokar, Offworld travelers meeting Ym's granddaughter, Nale mentioning his fight with Lift... some references may hve been excessive (like "Honor is dead... but I will see what I can do" being used again), but I can forgive Sanderson some literary fanservice here and there.
• Time bubble being placed around Roshar system causes Sigzil's situation to not be as cruel as it seemed in The Sunlit Man - it may be decades for him, but only 10 years for Roshar, when he returns for the second half of the series. Even his Spren managed to survive, although I was sad to see that she does not want to have anything to do with him ever again, even if he broke his oath only to save her life.
• Venli, perhaps due to being hated by readers of Rhythm of War, had only a very small role to play here, which did not help me to start caring about her. I really want to like her as a character, but she needs to start interacting with other main characters first in order for that to happen.
• Im curious to see what will become of Shallan's child, growing up in the Shadesmar, away from human civilization.
• I was afraid that, yet again, Renarin would only play a very small role in the story, but this time he got many chapters with his POV and I am excited to see how be comes, even if not the leader, then one of the future leaders of Urithuru, now that his father is dead.
• I am also excited to see how Jasnah grows from there - she was always the smartest, the most self confident, the one most in control of the situation, and in this book she failed completely and lost both her mother and her uncle. This is definitely an example of a character being broken to be built up again in future books and I will be there to see it.
• Lift, trained by Zahel, not needing Stormlight to use her powers, having her own Avian, is definitely gonna be a new powerhouse of Books 6-10, until new power system emerges for others to use.
• Lastly, I have complicated thoughts about Cultivation's role in all of this. It was very easy to think that she is a hidden villain, manipulating both Honor and Odium for her own ends, but in this book, she seems to be completely outplayed and escapes from Roshar at the end. And yet... she prepared Lift, the one person that can function under Retribution's rule without Stormlight, and this card has not yet been played out. We know that Taln wanted to kill her in the past. We know that all 3 Shards, Honor, Odium AND Cultivation were considered to be dangerous by other Shards. We know that Odium screamed " WE KILLED YOU!" at Dalinar at the climax of Book 3. It is difficult for me to not think that she is still playing her long game of 5D chess here.

Small, random thoughts:

• There is definitely fourth Shard hiding in the Roshar system, and its probably Reason, the only Shard that is missing, outside of Valor.
• I was very disappointed to learn nothing new about Rock and Horneaters in this book. Where the hell is that novella, Brandon?
• I was shocked to see that Malata is not appearing, nor even referenced at any point in this book. I thought that as first Dustbringer we meet in this series, and first Radiant traitor that served Taravangian, she would become much more important, and yet she seems to be completely forgotten by the author. Is she does not reemerge in future books, I will be extremely mad.
• storm Moash.
• Skybreaker accompanying Chana Davar mentions at one point one of Shallan's siblings being a bastard. Holy storm, we are still not done with Davar's family drama!
• I was disappointed that Rysn continues to be a Potential Woman of Stormlight Archive - always with potential to do something cool in the future, but never actually doing anything important in the story, always just teasing something that will happen in the next books.
• I was silently rooting for Mraize to just give up and join Shallan, but sadly, that would be too much redemption and forgiveness for one book. I also somehow never came to realization that Iyatil was disguised as Formless all this time, even though many other readers predicted that.
• RIP Stormfather, you were pain in the ass, but it is still sad to see you get anihilated.

 

Edited December 8, 2024 by Asthariel

[PrestigiousOwl]

Overall, I really enjoyed this, and I think some of the early reviews felt too harsh - whether thats because people who hard binged had specific expectations or what, I dont know.

I think it is important to remember that this still isn't the "end" and so while some things absolutely CAN be criticized, I think others probably shouldn't be. 

Like, not enjoying pacing, etc is fair. But the folks saying "the efforts to find and free BAM felt like they weren't important" - I get the impression she's going to be relevant in the back half, so we'll get there. Similarly, folks thinking "Cultivation stormed up with Todium/Cultivation could have just told Dalinar everything" are also ASSUMING this didn't go how she wanted. Maybe this was bad for her. But it also seems like the Dragon of Long-Term Gradual Plans might, possibly, be playing a bigger game - and until we KNOW, I wouldn't call this a plot hole. 

Likewise, for folks saying "oh, it seemed like this was a last minute addition with ____ (people talk about the "Old Magic/Gods" alot for example)", its not likely they're doing much of a Deus Ex Machina with these. They're just being introduced to be used later.

I know some other moments didnt land for some people, like not getting to see Taln's rampage. For me, I thought having that offscreen was great for preserving the "awe" around the Heralds - especially since we're set up to get so much of them, seemingly, in the back half.

For me, overall, this was good. Felt like as much of an effective wrap up as we could reasonably expect here. We get stability, but there's clearly a lot that'll need to be resolved.

I laugh a bit because lots of folks described this as "Endgame" but to use the Marvel metaphor, it really wasn't: it was Infinity War. And Dalinar's ultimate play was basically Dr. Strange saying "alright boys we're entering the endgame now"

Edited December 8, 2024 by PrestigiousOwl

[+Oltux72 he/him]

1 hour ago, The Stick said:

Hoid having cell cultures to resurrect was totally hilarious. I can just imagine him popping up to Retribution and saying, "Oh yeah, you thought you killed me?".

No. It would be cool, but Taravangian has surely noticed that Hoid does not pop up as a ghost in Shadesmar.

1 hour ago, Asthariel said:

• Time bubble being placed around Roshar system causes Sigzil's situation to not be as cruel as it seemed in The Sunlit Man - it may be decades for him, but only 10 years for Roshar, when he returns for the second half of the series.

I really doubt he'll ever return. Roshar now will be really watched closely.

1 hour ago, Asthariel said:

• I was very disappointed to learn nothing new about Rock and Horneaters in this book. Where the hell is that novella, Brandon?

It seems to me that that would amount to desecrating a corpse at this point. The old Roshar is gone. The Stormfather is dead. Cultivation's shard pool is gone. Horneater culture is broken.

 

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

20 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

No. It would be cool, but Taravangian has surely noticed that Hoid does not pop up as a ghost in Shadesmar.

He didn't notice that Dalinar popped up as a ghost in Shadesmar until he went looking for him.

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

2 hours ago, neosporin said:

I'm pretty sure it's because Cultivation just telling Dalinar would undermine the entire purpose of the series. It's the journey, not the destination, that makes you the man you are. This was Dalinar's journey. 

I get that, it just was repetitive, and I found many of the SR scenes to be, not boring,  but not engaging, like I did not care enough. 

[discorat she/her]

honestly guys im just happy kaladin didn't die so i didnt have to off myself...

but in all seriousness, I can't believe ive waited 10+ years for this. It was a read, and i was invested, and 99% of my disappointment is due to the fact that its dawning on me that its storming over now. Like arc 1 is over. 

Dalinar: I loved his arc, the ending was a bit disappointing mostly because it did remind me too much of mistborn era 1, its not like i expected it to happen though, but the first thing i thought was ''hey someone did that before you actually'' lol. But i do love that he didn't kill Gav... that wouldve been horrible to witness.

Jasnah: Seeing her arc end at the bottom was actually a great ending for her because shes been this perfect woman all this time. She finally didnt win??

Adolin: lovelovelovelove adolin so much. Him and Maya, gosh the way hes just reviving the deadeyes with Maya, oh my god. His scenes with Maya was the biggest tearjearker for me in this book - just like how Maya speaking in court was in RoW (for some reason i seem to be the only one who bawled their eyes out at that scene??). I love how sanderson didnt make him a radiant. Also the biggest gast i let out when his leg got amputated?

Renarin: my sweet boy renarin. Laughed my ass off when he caught rlain looking at them kissing lol. Also, as someone in psychiatry, i did love how his autism was described.

Shallan: The reveal of who shallans mom is also gave me a physical reaction, even though i do remember reading a theory about it somewhere. as someone in psychiatry i also do love that sanderson had DID experts to help out. 

Venli; Too little of venli tbh

Navani: Not much happened with her i feel like? Right?

Szeth: Just topped my favorite character list, right after Kaladin. This book was made great because of him in all honesty. I could imagine some people thinking him as over the top, but hes just so, so traumatized. Im thinking maybe CPTSD, sometimes i thought he was a bit autistic, but i just think its the trauma. Hes been through SO much and never healed from any of it, that poor poor boy. They took EVERYTHING from him. He loved one little sheep and they slaughtered it and they made him kill, and then he spent an entire night weeping over the dead corpese/skin of that blind sheep? and then they forced him to keep killing as a punishment? and not even that, in the end when they had broken him to the point where he didnt even see himself as human they wanted him to give away the last piece of himself he had to become a herald. Yeah storm you nale, even though you redeemed yourself storm you and good on szeth for giving the finger to that spren

Lift: Didnt annoy me in this book

Wit: Did annoy me in this book

Gavilar: Still hate that bastard!

Taravangian; Still hate that bastard!

Moash; Still hate that bastard!

I probably forgot someone 

 

Visually that stone wall crumbling even further the further along you got gave me so much anxiety

[+Oltux72 he/him]

46 minutes ago, discorat said:

but in all seriousness, I can't believe ive waited 10+ years for this. It was a read, and i was invested, and 99% of my disappointment is due to the fact that its dawning on me that its storming over now. Like arc 1 is over.

I am afraid I need to point out that a lot more than the first arc is over.

Someone has got to say it: Without the Highstorms and Stormlight Roshar might just as well be just another world.
A lot of other things are gone. You can hardly be Vorin and praise Retribution at midnight to keep your food growing and your fabrials running.

[Krenn]

9 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

I am afraid I need to point out that a lot more than the first arc is over.

Someone has got to say it: Without the Highstorms and Stormlight Roshar might just as well be just another world.
A lot of other things are gone. You can hardly be Vorin and praise Retribution at midnight to keep your food growing and your fabrials running.

Why not?   If what Vorin recieves from Retribution is Warlight,  and can be used interchangeably as either Stormlight or Voidlight,   then Vorin just became the currency center of the world.  For 1 part per 1000 of your gems each night,  Vorin's people will lay out the other 999 gems for you, pray for you, and return those gems filled with Warlight to you.  Retribution didn't place any limits on how many gems Vorin could recharge each night, or what needed to happen to the gems afterwards.  He probably even set her up like that on purpose.   Use warlight to re-activate the oathgates, and ship warlight-infused gems everywhere,  including into 'good-aligned' territory.  It will be a wonderful act of cognitive dissonance for the good guys.

[FollowYourMuse she/her]

5 hours ago, Inevitability said:

It also breaks the writer’s rule of: Show, Don’t Tell!

Yes I know, and I get why, it is just the need info - go have visions was feeling really repetitive. 

[Soccorro]

6 hours ago, Inevitability said:

It also breaks the writer’s rule of: Show, Don’t Tell!

Well, it didn't stop Brandon from breaking this rule billions of time before. RoW in particular suffers a lot from exposition info dump. Sanderson just hides the information when it's needed to push the story forward even if it makes little sense for the characters to hide this information from each other.

 

6 hours ago, PrestigiousOwl said:

I laugh a bit because lots of folks described this as "Endgame" but to use the Marvel metaphor, it really wasn't: it was Infinity War. And Dalinar's ultimate play was basically Dr. Strange saying "alright boys we're entering the endgame now"

Here's the problem. Endgame was out next year after Infinity War. Book 6 is currently scheduled for 2031 and it always take BS more time to write the book that he initially planned. If he knew that he's taking such a long break from the series, why did he choose to left so many plot lines and important characters fates like Shallan and Navani in limbo? Ofc when books 6-10 will be out it will make sense (probably) but as of current...Dalinar will remain a fool who destroyed Roshar for 10 years at least hehe)

[Kardenal_13 he/him]

13 minutes ago, Soccorro said:

If he knew that he's taking such a long break from the series, why did he choose to left so many plot lines and important characters fates like Shallan and Navani in limbo?

I mean, do you consider them to be in limbo?

Shallan is living in Shadesmar now, she has Felt, a Seon, and her powers to help her survive.

Navani is in a magic coma till further notice.

I think the only person who's current/future situation I couldn't give you at least an educated guess about would be the Mink, none of the main characters have a mystery to their fate at the end of the book. It's not the end of their story, and sure I'd love some details, but if Sanderson decided to stop writing it'd be a better place to end then RoW or OB IMO.

[thaidenheimer]

So Odium got the blackthorns cognitive shadow. And the part of Honor that flew off before the merge is the part of Dalinar that held Honor to be a cognitive shadow to Valor or xyz...right. As in, he wasn't claimed by another in the moments before slipping to the beyond....it was because that part of them was still out there

Edited December 9, 2024 by thaidenheimer

[Ryshadium she/her]

I haven’t posted here in like a decade, but felt the need to share that I loved every second of reading this book. Maybe some minor nitpicks here and there, but it almost felt like the literary equivalent of journey before destination. I found myself not even caring much how it all ended because I enjoyed the journey so much. And when I got to the destination, I found it sometimes surprising, sometimes expected, and wholly satisfying. 
 

Hoping others out there feel the same way because I’m still riding on the high of it. 
 

 

[Gloomspren she/her]

1 hour ago, Ryshadium said:

I haven’t posted here in like a decade, but felt the need to share that I loved every second of reading this book. Maybe some minor nitpicks here and there, but it almost felt like the literary equivalent of journey before destination. I found myself not even caring much how it all ended because I enjoyed the journey so much. And when I got to the destination, I found it sometimes surprising, sometimes expected, and wholly satisfying. 
 

Hoping others out there feel the same way because I’m still riding on the high of it. 
 

 

Just finished and feel the same way. Still in my feels hours later. Can’t go to sleep. Feels like I just got off a rollercoaster of feelings. One of my friends asked me “am I going to be mad, sad, or happy?” And I said all of the above and none of the above; it’s complicated and thought-provoking and overwhelming and satisfying. To reduce it down to plot points is doing it a major disservice and antithetical to one of the main points of the whole series. I am in awe of the journey I just went on.

[Soccorro]

4 hours ago, Kardenal_13 said:

if Sanderson decided to stop writing it'd be a better place to end then RoW or OB IMO.

RoW - yes, OB has more definitive ending than this book, in my opinion

33 minutes ago, Gloomspren said:

To reduce it down to plot points is doing it a major disservice and antithetical to one of the main points of the whole series

With this logic, you can excuse absolutely everything BS writes. Plot doesn’t matter, pacing doesn’t matter, character arcs don’t matter, nothing does matter, reducing this great writing to plot points is a disservice to “journey before destination”. Very convenient, I’d say