Did book 5 affect your feelings of the whole series?

[Geoffray]

I'm now completly convince that SA will be an incredible epic and will be remember as the "LoTR" of our age.

WaT convince me of this! 

 

Yeah, i'm overstating a bit much, but hey, with what i'm reading there, i'm not the only one...

[christianrapper]

6 hours ago, alder24 said:

The visions are the essence of Honor, not Cultivation. She can't give him the visions that would make him experience everything from Tanavast's point of view and understand Honor, which was the whole point of this trip to the SR. And because the only person who could have shown him those visions directly - the Stormfather - was unwilling to cooperate, he had to go there on his own. WaT ch 16:

He only got Honor after he came back from the Spiritual Realm. Then he immediately let it go. He didn’t need Honor at all. All Dalinar did was free Odium. He could have done that from the beginning. No, Todium did not need to have Honor. We literally see in the text that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium os because that he’s trapped on Roshar. 

18 hours ago, Raven Wilder said:

Well, Dalinar was originally planning just a sort, exploratory jaunt, to get used to the Spiritual Realm, until Mraize wrecked things. Presumably, if things had gone according to plan, once returning from that first trip, Dalinar and Navani would then have worked through the logistics of keeping things running with one or both Bondsmiths absent.

Yeah, I know. However, there was no guarantee that he could have came back anyway. It was just likely that it would work. That still doesn’t change the fact that he went there for absolutely no reason. 

[Jon]

On 12/28/2024 at 11:44 PM, christianrapper said:

For me book 5 dropped this series from being a 9-10 to about a 6.5. I don’t even know that I can recommend Stormlight to anyone anymore with this 8 year break in between books. Book 5 was way too contrived for Todium to get the win. We got to see two radiants take the 5th oath and we didn’t see them do anything. They turned Szeth into a moron for one scene. What was the point in taking the 5th oath and then giving up the bond? That only happened so that Szeth could lose his arm. He could have easily done that after he finished fighting his last fights. 

Ya definitely knocks the series down quite a bit for me as well. I also don't think I'd recommend the series at this point. It really is a shame, because it starts out so strong with the first couple books, but it kind of fell apart.

Early in the series the characters felt fleshed out and I wanted to root for them, but in this last book they just feel like walking stereotypes. I think a lot of the issue is what other people have noted, there is a lot of telling rather than showing. In the early books we see Kaladin be confronted by dark thoughts but press on, in WaT we just get told he still struggles but choses to be happy instead. I think Renarin was one of the worst examples of this in the book. Instead of showing situations where his inability to pick up on social cues causes him trouble, we just get long soliloquies from him bluntly stating how it makes things hard for him. I told my wife it reminded me of reading something someone would write in a Reddit post. 

So much of the stuff is so blunt and on the nose as well. Hey librarian lady, did you know bullying is bad? Hey Szeth, did you know its okay to make decisions for yourself?. It comes off as preachy, and its a shame in a series that handled things with a lot more nuance in earlier books. 

I think a lot of the plot was weak in this book as well. A lot of the threads just felt kind of pointless. The whole quest for BAM, which is a major part of the book, never really ends up impacting anything in this book. Yes, I know it sets things up for the future, but with how much of the book was dedicated to that line, I expected her release to influence the contest or do something major to change the outcome of things, instead we have all that build up that just leads to her disappearing. A lot of other stuff is like that as well, the whole shattered planes plotline feels kind of aimless and ends in a status quo. Odium's perpendicularity gets discovered, which feels like it should be a huge game changer, and everyone immediately proceeds to just kind of forget it exists. Dalinar and Navani experience visions which dump lots of historical information, but ultimately don't effect anything.

Some of the big reveals also felt like a letdown. For 5 books we have wondered what was the cause of the recreance. What could make every single non-skybreaker radiant forsake their oaths?  Oh, Honor got scared and simultaneously showed them all a vision of how their powers could possibly be destructive.

I think that show much was left hanging and unresolved left a bad taste in my mouth as well, knowing that this is the end of the first arc and that its gonna be a long long time before any new books. Knowing the future books are gonna time skip ahead it just felt unsatisfying to leave so much up in the air. 

All in all I was kind of bummed out with the book, and the more I've thought about it the less I've liked it. 

 

[Schneeente]

On 12/31/2024 at 2:12 PM, christianrapper said:

Taravangian didn’t do anything.

  

On 12/31/2024 at 2:12 PM, christianrapper said:

He only was able to choose Gav because Dalinar went to the spiritual realm for what eventually turned out to be absolutely no reason.

  

On 12/31/2024 at 2:12 PM, christianrapper said:

Todium also was only able to conquer most of the world because of that spiritual realm side quest.

  

On 12/31/2024 at 2:12 PM, christianrapper said:

I don’t get why people are doing mental gymnastics to make any of Dalinar’s decisions in this book make sense. After book 4 he was in a position of strength. In 10 days he managed to squander all of that away. Sanderson turned Dalinar into a complete moron in one book. He sent all of his best fighters except Adolin away on side quests. He goes to the spiritual realm which deprives his armies of stormlight. Then he sacrifices himself so that Todium can’t use him, but that too was pointless

  I respectfully disagree. 

 

I hope you are not offended if I tell you that you sound to me like the sterotypical "random frontline soldier" who is only able to see how a certain event is affecting his own life and only in the super short-term. 

 

It's super frustrating to me reading your opinion because... I want to yell "you are totally ignoring the bigger picture!!!" but somehow I feel that repeating for the nth time why Dalinar's decision was really good for Roshar will not suddenly make you acknowledge/appreciate the underlying logic - much less change your opinion.

 

But since your unfair criticism towards Dalinar totally triggered my protection instinct, I am going to do it anyways

 

This is your sentiment if I understood you correctly:

Todium conquered most of the world because Dalinar has suddenly become a moron who (1) sent his best fighters away, (2) wasted his own time in the spiritual realm, (3) because of that he couldn't help his troops by refilling their stormlight which ultimately lead to Todium conquering most of the world.

 

((Totally not the point I wanted to make but if Dalinar had done what you think would have been best, staying in the real world to fight on the frontline to help holding allied-territory they would have lost Thaylen regardless but they would probably have held the Shattered Plains although likely they would have lost more Radiants and wouldn't have established positive relationships with the "old Singers". Herdaz + most of Azir would have been gone regardless as well.))

 

Now, what you fail to understand is this: 

Even if by some miracle Dalinar's presence would have prevented the splintering of Azir, the betrayal of Fen and the subsequent change of side of Thaylen City, and would have defended the assault on the Shattered Plains, and would have reconquered Herdaz... and then would have bested Todium's Champion, even with all those "best case scenarios" Dalinar would still have preferred the outcome we got now. Because his goal is not "to win the next desolation" but to finally end the entire freaking war that has been going on for MILLENIA. All those things you suggest are exactly what previous generations of rulers did and what the heralds did again and again and again and again. 

 

 

Personally I think Dalinar's decision was incredibly clever, selfless, and the best one for the people of Roshar. Because whatever happens next, at least he broke the endless circle of war, rebirth, war, rebirth, war, rebirth... 

[Leuthie]

If Sanderson had pulled off this ending and made everyone happy and excited, he'd be considered the best writer of his age, not just the most prolific. This ending is meant to make you hate it. Every main character is left diminished. The world is left diminished. The enemy basically won. The bright side offered is a Cosmere-wide one. Everything in the back 5 books will be different. No Radiants. No Stormlight. No High Storm. An even stronger Shard in near total control, a control only held back by an Oathpact made between a dead god and people who have failed in this task before. 

Any author that could make readers excited by that ending is a master. Brandon is merely prolific.

Edited January 6, 2025 by Leuthie

[bmcclure7]

On 12/29/2024 at 12:44 AM, christianrapper said:

For me book 5 dropped this series from being a 9-10 to about a 6.5. I don’t even know that I can recommend Stormlight to anyone anymore with this 8 year break in between books. Book 5 was way too contrived for Todium to get the win. We got to see two radiants take the 5th oath and we didn’t see them do anything. They turned Szeth into a moron for one scene. What was the point in taking the 5th oath and then giving up the bond? That only happened so that Szeth could lose his arm. He could have easily done that after he finished fighting his last fights. 

Really I didn’t realize someone disliked this book so much

[Soccorro]

11 hours ago, Geoffray said:

I'm now completly convince that SA will be an incredible epic and will be remember as the "LoTR" of our age.

WaT convince me of this

 O matter how you like/dislike the book his is a huge cap IMO. There will never be next LoTR mainly because it was published 70 years ago and was unique back then. This feeling is now lost because there’re tons of different fantasy series for everyone.  Even series that are more popular than Stormlight archive aren’t even close to LoTR popularity. SA is pretty niche series, fantasy readers who are interested in specific literature know who BS is, but most of casual readers have no idea these books exist, meanwhile everyone at least heard about LoTR

[Argenti he/him]

7 hours ago, christianrapper said:

He only got Honor after he came back from the Spiritual Realm. Then he immediately let it go. He didn’t need Honor at all. All Dalinar did was free Odium. He could have done that from the beginning. No, Todium did not need to have Honor. We literally see in the text that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium os because that he’s trapped on Roshar. 

Yeah, I know. However, there was no guarantee that he could have came back anyway. It was just likely that it would work. That still doesn’t change the fact that he went there for absolutely no reason. 

He absolutely needed honor to be taken by odium. First off, there's the obvious "Oh my god there's a super shard" factor, which kicks the shards into doing something, rather than just sitting around. They didn't do something when Rayse was murdering random shards across the cosmere before, why would they do anything now? 

The shards view this double shard as a larger threat, and thus will do something.

There's also the aspect of intent, by taking up honor, Taravangian limited what he could do. Honor is very particular about things, and especially with the semi-conciseness of the power, it will limit what T-Ret can do. For example, do you really think he would have left azir with the sun without honor? Of course not, the oath was broken! It had no power over odium. But honor? Honor really wanted to follow it, even if it didn't bind him.

[Geoffray]

7 hours ago, Soccorro said:

 O matter how you like/dislike the book his is a huge cap IMO. There will never be next LoTR mainly because it was published 70 years ago and was unique back then. This feeling is now lost because there’re tons of different fantasy series for everyone.  Even series that are more popular than Stormlight archive aren’t even close to LoTR popularity. SA is pretty niche series, fantasy readers who are interested in specific literature know who BS is, but most of casual readers have no idea these books exist, meanwhile everyone at least heard about LoTR

Don't you read my last sentence. I'm going way overboard because of what I read on this board. Sorry if the irony is too subtle...

 

I'm not saying that WaT is perfect (far from it). Some editing would have made it way better, and some plotline left me hanging. But seriously some people seems to hate this book with a passion that is insane.

They didn't have the book that they imagine and therefore the book is rust... Seriously,they need to try to touch grass some time.

[alder24]

18 hours ago, christianrapper said:

He only got Honor after he came back from the Spiritual Realm. Then he immediately let it go. He didn’t need Honor at all. All Dalinar did was free Odium. He could have done that from the beginning. No, Todium did not need to have Honor. We literally see in the text that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium os because that he’s trapped on Roshar. 

Firstly, we don't know if Cultivation's plan was to give Honor to Odium so this outcome might be something she did not intend to happen. Secondly, Dalinar at first didn't plan to give up Honor, he wanted to blast Odium into oblivion (which would destroy Roshar). The book explained well why Dalinar had to give Honor to Odium. I've explained this to you as well before.

The Shards didn't bother with Odium when he killed Aona, Skai and Uli Da before he got stuck on Roshar, they didn't care about any of this, some were even glad that those Shards were killed. For all of them Odium alone was not enough of a threat to take any actions against him, not to mention to unite with other Shards. Dalinar's move made him the most dangerous power in Cosmere, twice as powerful as any other Shard (except for Harmony), which means none of them can fight him alone. If previously they thought they could deal with Odium on their own (Endowment certainly thought so, the 1st OB letter), now they all knew they can't rival Retribution, thus they were forced to unite with other Shards and take immediate actions against Retribution.

This not only means that Retribution can't attack other Shards, but he also can't spent centuries on Roshar training his army, which was Taravangian's whole plan - even if he were to be released he wouldn't have left Roshar and go on a killing spree, he wanted to patiently stay there, pretend that he's still imprisoned, raise his army and after centuries he would have attacked Cosmere. Other Shards would have ignored him this whole time. That's why Dalinar's only option was to give up Honor to Odium. It united all Shards, forced them to action and denied Taravangian all secrecy and preparations.

This was the same move Adolin and May used against Gawx in the Tower game. One strong opponent will force all weaker ones to unite against him. If Gawx didn't start so strongly and feigned weakness, Adolin and May wouldn't have united against him and he could have won. 

Again, I've told you this before so I don't know where the problem is. You don't like the ending, I get it. It's completely understandable and fine, I respect your opinion. I'm not trying to convince you to like it, but you keep repeating the same things which are just wrong and the book was very clear about it. The book didn't just say that Dalinar's move was brilliant, it explained why it was a good thing and what are the real consequences of this action. It was all in the book, but it looks like you've missed this. 

[christianrapper]

12 hours ago, Argenti said:

 

 

7 hours ago, Geoffray said:

Don't you read my last sentence. I'm going way overboard because of what I read on this board. Sorry if the irony is too subtle...

 

I'm not saying that WaT is perfect (far from it). Some editing would have made it way better, and some plotline left me hanging. But seriously some people seems to hate this book with a passion that is insane.

They didn't have the book that they imagine and therefore the book is rust... Seriously,they need to try to touch grass some time.

Everyone likes different things.  I loved this series until this last book. I dislike this book a lot.  Your statement is like me saying “anyone who likes this book is insane.”

[Lord Ruler Sylphrena He/Him]

3 hours ago, alder24 said:

Firstly, we don't know if Cultivation's plan was to give Honor to Odium so this outcome might be something she did not intend to happen. Secondly, Dalinar at first didn't plan to give up Honor, he wanted to blast Odium into oblivion (which would destroy Roshar). The book explained well why Dalinar had to give Honor to Odium. I've explained this to you as well before.

The Shards didn't bother with Odium when he killed Aona, Skai and Uli Da before he got stuck on Roshar, they didn't care about any of this, some were even glad that those Shards were killed. For all of them Odium alone was not enough of a threat to take any actions against him, not to mention to unite with other Shards. Dalinar's move made him the most dangerous power in Cosmere, twice as powerful as any other Shard (except for Harmony), which means none of them can fight him alone. If previously they thought they could deal with Odium on their own (Endowment certainly thought so, the 1st OB letter), now they all knew they can't rival Retribution, thus they were forced to unite with other Shards and take immediate actions against Retribution.

This not only means that Retribution can't attack other Shards, but he also can't spent centuries on Roshar training his army, which was Taravangian's whole plan - even if he were to be released he wouldn't have left Roshar and go on a killing spree, he wanted to patiently stay there, pretend that he's still imprisoned, raise his army and after centuries he would have attacked Cosmere. Other Shards would have ignored him this whole time. That's why Dalinar's only option was to give up Honor to Odium. It united all Shards, forced them to action and denied Taravangian all secrecy and preparations.

This was the same move Adolin and May used against Gawx in the Tower game. One strong opponent will force all weaker ones to unite against him. If Gawx didn't start so strongly and feigned weakness, Adolin and May wouldn't have united against him and he could have won. 

Again, I've told you this before so I don't know where the problem is. You don't like the ending, I get it. It's completely understandable and fine, I respect your opinion. I'm not trying to convince you to like it, but you keep repeating the same things which are just wrong and the book was very clear about it. The book didn't just say that Dalinar's move was brilliant, it explained why it was a good thing and what are the real consequences of this action. It was all in the book, but it looks like you've missed this. 

1 hour ago, christianrapper said:

 

Everyone likes different things.  I loved this series until this last book. I dislike this book a lot.  Your statement is like me saying “anyone who likes this book is insane.”

In the name of civil discussion I will try to summarize the argument that I and the others on the thread who like WaT have tried to make. It's okay to dislike this book, you are not obligated to like anything but saying it's poorly written because the characters make choices you don't agree with is a tad shortsighted.

I think this book made significant improvements  in pacing and keeping me entertained the whole way through. Things like the siege of Azir make this book less slow then prior entries and I actually managed to tolerate Venli existing in this one. 

This book like everything in life is flawed (I personally wish Kaladin had a bigger role in the Honorbearer fight scenes) whether those flaws are a dealbreaker for you is your choice but I don't feel that Dalinar made any huge mistakes and think there are more valid criticisms that could be made. My main complaint is that it left a lot of characters fates unclear especially The Mink and Rock. Are the Horneaters going to freeze to death now that Cultivation is gone? What was that greatshell that showed up in Herdaz? I'm all for cliffhangers but waiting for 8ish years is excessive and I would have liked a extra epilogue chapter. At the end of the day this book was 10/10 for a people that say it's trash are overreacting, I've read trash books there is a book difference between them and this.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2025 by Lord Ruler Sylphrena
Typo

[Through the Living Wrath he/him]

1 minute ago, Lord Ruler Sylphrena said:

In the name of civil discussion I will try to summarize the argument that I and the others on the thread who like WaT have tried to make. It's okay to dislike this book, you are not obligated to like anything but saying it's poorly written because the characters make choices you don't agree with is a tad shortsighted.

I think this book made significant improvements  in pacing and keeping me entertained the whole way through. Things like the siege of Azir make this book less slow the prior entries and I actually managed to tolerate Venli existing in this one. 

This book like everything in life is flawed (I personally wish Kaladin had a bigger role in the Honorbearer fight scenes) whether those flaws are a dealbreaker for you is your choice but I don't feel that Dalinar made any huge mistakes and think there are more valid criticisms that could be made. My main complaint is that it left a lot of characters fates unclear especially The Mink and Rock. Are the Horneaters going to freeze to death now that Cultivation is gone? What was that greatshell that showed up in Herdaz? I'm all for cliffhangers but waiting for 8ish years is excessive and I would have liked a extra epilogue chapter. At the end of the day this book was 10/10 for a people that say it's trash are overreacting, I've read trash books there is a book difference between them and this.

 

 

I know he’s gonna write a Rock short story…

[Lord Ruler Sylphrena He/Him]

5 minutes ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

I know he’s gonna write a Rock short story…

But when! He can only write so much and I can only wait so long!

[christianrapper]

On 1/1/2025 at 7:54 AM, The Cosmere Unaware said:

Unfortunately, and as much as I try to separate it from the rest, it did rather negatively. I was planning another reread but this took the wind out my sails. 

Yeah, this book was definitely disappointing for me. I used to love this series. 

[cvamoca]

On 1/6/2025 at 3:04 PM, christianrapper said:

He only got Honor after he came back from the Spiritual Realm. Then he immediately let it go. He didn’t need Honor at all. All Dalinar did was free Odium. He could have done that from the beginning. No, Todium did not need to have Honor. We literally see in the text that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium os because that he’s trapped on Roshar. 

Yeah, I know. However, there was no guarantee that he could have came back anyway. It was just likely that it would work. That still doesn’t change the fact that he went there for absolutely no reason. 

Yes! Thank you!

I liked the book, but also was  terribly disappointed with it. Dalinar annoys me since Oathkeeper, and dropping Honour didn't flip the board, it just gave Todium more power.

I loved the backstory of Szeth, but I'm a small farmer and would totally be incensed if someone killed MY pet sheep. During Covid, my gun was loaded for just such a possibility.

But going back to the book and series. I discovered BS and bought his first three immediately a few years ago (5-6?). I hated this book for killing most of Roshar- taking away the Highstorm and leaving people to become almost Stone age people again- no fabrials, no Stormlight means you're in the dark unless you're in Urithuru. Broke my heart to think of the creatures and people who relied on the Highstorms, how will Roshar survive- how will Shinovar and it's greenery survive? .

As someone who despised ROW, this one was better, but I'm old and think I'm done with the series here.  It's now Shards against Shards and people are just bugs- ants to be crushed, and not important.

Edited January 7, 2025 by cvamoca
needed punctuation

[Leuthie]

1 minute ago, cvamoca said:

Yes! Thank you!

I liked the book, but also was  terribly disappointed with it. Dalinar annoys me since Oathkeeper, and dropping Honour didn't flip the board, it just gave Todium more power.

I loved the backstory of Szeth, but I'm a small farmer and would totally be incensed if someone killed MY pet sheep. During Covid, my gun was loaded for just such a possibility.

But going back to the book and series. I discovered BS and bought his first three immediately a few years ago (5-6?). I hated this book for killing most of Roshar- taking away the Highstorm and leaving people to become almost Stone age people again- no fabrials, no Stormlight means you're in the dark unless you're in Urithuru. Broke my heart to think of the creatures and people who relied on the Highstorms, how will Roshar survive- how will Shinovar and it's greenery survive? .

As someone who despised ROW, this one was better, but I'm old and think I'm done with the series here.  It's now Shards against Shards and people are just bugs, ants and not important.

Azir, Shinovar and Urithiru will grown their own food. No one is in the Stone Age. They now have time and space to develop technology and stronger cultures. There's 16 years (I think) between book 5 and book 6, so a lot will change. And Taravangian still wants to develop an army, so he'll be pushing for technology and fabrials that will lead to military improvements. There are a ton of directions that Brandon can go with Roshar's development. 

[cvamoca]

7 minutes ago, Leuthie said:

Azir, Shinovar and Urithiru will grown their own food. No one is in the Stone Age. They now have time and space to develop technology and stronger cultures. There's 16 years (I think) between book 5 and book 6, so a lot will change. And Taravangian still wants to develop an army, so he'll be pushing for technology and fabrials that will lead to military improvements. There are a ton of directions that Brandon can go with Roshar's development. 

Their entire PLANET has been changed- maybe in 1600 years or 16000 years they will have advanced again- but 16? They will still be shivering in the dark. Think about Shinovar- it's green and verdant because it didn't get the highstorms but now gets the Everstorm, right? Think about The Weeping- people ran short of light and were miserable til the next Highstorm. They were depressed (Kaladin for one) and now they'll never have the Highstorms to replenish anything. No crem. No light. No spren, no fabrials- everything ran on fabrials.

TBO, I'm an audiobook listener and towards the end I'd completely zoned out, so I'm fuzzy on a lot of details. I'll relisten, but needed to cleanse my palate with some Stephen King...

[Leuthie]

1 minute ago, cvamoca said:

Their entire PLANET has been changed- maybe in 1600 years or 16000 years they will have advanced again- but 16? They will still be shivering in the dark. Think about Shinovar- it's green and verdant because it didn't get the highstorms but now gets the Everstorm, right? Think about The Weeping- people ran short of light and were miserable til the next Highstorm. They were depressed (Kaladin for one) and now they'll never have the Highstorms to replenish anything. No crem. No light. No spren, no fabrials- everything ran on fabrials.

TBO, I'm an audiobook listener and towards the end I'd completely zoned out, so I'm fuzzy on a lot of details. I'll relisten, but needed to cleanse my palate with some Stephen King...

You missed some things, then. Urithiru still works. The sun was shining on Azir. Szeth was working as a farmer in Shinovar. His wife wrote some of the chapter headings. Taravangian kept his word on allowing lands that weren't under his control at the end of the 10 days to remain free. He will probably try to create at least 2 sides to fight against each other for the purpose of developing an army. He needs both sides to be strong for this. He can create new storms to distribute Retribution light; just to his side or to everyone. He does need to solve the crem problem.

In any case, Roshar wasn't destroyed. Completely transformed, yes, but not destroyed.

[cvamoca]

Maybe it's telling that my favourites of this series are 2,1,3,5, and 4. I pretty much HATED 4. Most of Navani's stuff bored me, and all of depressed Kaladin. Adolin and Maya were my highpoints.

I'm here for the people and the planets, not the shards.

i've never gone further than book 2 of Mistborn. Though I love Elantris, Warbreaker.

 

3 minutes ago, Leuthie said:

You missed some things, then. Urithiru still works. The sun was shining on Azir. Szeth was working as a farmer in Shinovar. His wife wrote some of the chapter headings. Taravangian kept his word on allowing lands that weren't under his control at the end of the 10 days to remain free. He will probably try to create at least 2 sides to fight against each other for the purpose of developing an army. He needs both sides to be strong for this. He can create new storms to distribute Retribution light; just to his side or to everyone. He does need to solve the crem problem.

In any case, Roshar wasn't destroyed. Completely transformed, yes, but not destroyed.

I did know that, Urithuru is cut off from the rest of Roshar though aren't they? I'm sorry I have barnwork but will be back...

[christianrapper]

On 1/5/2025 at 2:48 PM, KelsierApologist said:

He doesn’t even consider  that he’s depriving Sigzil’s army of Stormlight

This book was so predictable. As soon as both Navani and Dalinar left it was obvious that they were going to get stuck there. If Odium had tricked them into going there then it wouldn’t have felt so contrived to me. 

[christianrapper]

44 minutes ago, cvamoca said:

Maybe it's telling that my favourites of this series are 2,1,3,5, and 4. I pretty much HATED 4. Most of Navani's stuff bored me, and all of depressed Kaladin. Adolin and Maya were my highpoints.

I'm here for the people and the planets, not the shards.

i've never gone further than book 2 of Mistborn. Though I love Elantris, Warbreaker.

 

I did know that, Urithuru is cut off from the rest of Roshar though aren't they? I'm sorry I have barnwork but will be back...

Most of Navani’s chapters in book 4 was like taking an advanced course in fake science. It was pointless to me. I didn’t see the need to over explain Roshar’s magic system. That’s like taking an aeronautic engineering course to buy a ticket on an airplane. That could have been edited down to the parts where she discovered the new form of magic light. 

[bmcclure7]

On 1/1/2025 at 9:34 AM, christianrapper said:

I don’t think that Dalinar’s plan was that complicated. We saw Jasnah literally suggest it herself.  I also don’t get how releasing Todium when he is super uber powerful is somehow a genius plan, but releasing him earlier and much weaker was a danger to the Cosmere. This book was just so contrived to make Taravamgian a Cosmere level threat that it nearly ruined it imo. I could see if Taravangian had arranged any of these things. He didn’t. Sanderson just had all the main characters except Adolin act like morons. I agree. That Hoid chapter was just pure exposition for explaining how genius Dalinar’s plan is. 

He didn’t do it earlier because he thought he had better options. The whole point of the entire book was similar, realizing that this was the only best option. Before that, he thought he could win the contest of champions and then he thought he could pick up a shard. He’s come to realize that both options wouldn’t give him Victory so he only had one choice to do the unthinkable.

1 hour ago, cvamoca said:

Their entire PLANET has been changed- maybe in 1600 years or 16000 years they will have advanced again- but 16? They will still be shivering in the dark. Think about Shinovar- it's green and verdant because it didn't get the highstorms but now gets the Everstorm, right? Think about The Weeping- people ran short of light and were miserable til the next Highstorm. They were depressed (Kaladin for one) and now they'll never have the Highstorms to replenish anything. No crem. No light. No spren, no fabrials- everything ran on fabrials.

TBO, I'm an audiobook listener and towards the end I'd completely zoned out, so I'm fuzzy on a lot of details. I'll relisten, but needed to cleanse my palate with some Stephen King...

You weren’t paying attention they still have like war light. It comes every night at midnight so if anything, it’s more consistent than storm night.  
 

Only Kal was depressed during the weeping. That was very much a him thing and not something most people experience.

 

The ever storm is a lot lighter less destructive now that’s been spread out across the planet. If anything the people will be better off.

[MagicMaggot]

40 minutes ago, christianrapper said:

Most of Navani’s chapters in book 4 was like taking an advanced course in fake science. It was pointless to me.

As opposed to reading about fake places, fake politics, fake battles, fake people, fake relationships and fake magics? I mean, not everything will work for everyone, especially emotionally, and the science certainly was a departure from the rest, but with fantasy entertainment throwing "pointlessness" of certain elements around is... well, just missing the point, as far as I'm concerned.

Edited January 7, 2025 by MagicMaggot

[Nitpicking]

5 hours ago, MagicMaggot said:

As opposed to reading about fake places, fake politics, fake battles, fake people, fake relationships and fake magics? I mean, not everything will work for everyone, especially emotionally, and the science certainly was a departure from the rest, but with fantasy entertainment throwing "pointlessness" of certain elements around is... well, just missing the point, as far as I'm concerned.

At some level, Brandon is a science nerd. Not a scientist, but he clearly is interested in science. It's also clear that the Cosmere was always going to have strong elements of science-meets-magic, going back at least to Dragonsteel Prime.