[OB] Part 2 Reactions

[DeployParachute]

Just logging in to say that I have never been more afraid about a death than when the bridgemen started remarking on Teft's absence during one of the earlier Part 2 chapters.  I also have never found myself relieved that it was "just" a drug problem, for the alternative my mind was cooking up was so much worse.  Damnation Part 2 has been so good.  A few more chapters left to go.

Also, short term prediction, Shallan is going to convince Kaladin to let her tag along to Thaylenna...

Edited November 14, 2017 by DeployParachute
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[CodeMnke]

He didnt do it, He didnt do it! Ah wonder if the rest of my prediction will come true....

[StormingTexan]

Not reading other reaction since I haven't finished part 2 yet but storms Rock's chapter was beautiful. Wasn't expecting Bridge 4 POVs this is going to be awesome thank you Brandon! 

[Starla]

Just finished this part and it was SO GOOD. I was captivated by every chapter. A few random thoughts:

The Bridge Four chapters have my heart. Every perspective was unique and there were several tearjerker moments. Rock's family, Teft's addiction, Rlain's isolation, Hobber, Skar, and Lin finally using stormlight... I love these people. And I have been waiting for years for the squire training sessions and it exceeded expectations.They have access to the surges! They can fly on their own, or at least when Kaladin is within 50 miles. YAY. And Kaladin can lash multiple non-squires along with him. YAY. 

Who is the big lady spren and smaller spren near Bridge Four? New honor spren in the making? Syl seemed to know white spren, but I didn't grasp what was happening there.  

I think Jasnah is my new second favorite character. I love her POVs, everything about Ivory, her fellow scholars (especially the baker guy), the fact that she can read lips, and her general no-BS attitude. And her reaction to Amaram? Priceless. "you are a detestable buffoon who achieves only the lowest level of mediocrity, as it is the best your limited mind can imagine" is my favorite quote so far. And what the heck happened to her as a child? Did she lose her mind and get locked away for a while? Maybe that's why she maintains a firm hold on logic now.

Shallan, hmmm. Jasnah's appearance certainly threw her for a loop. I loved her chapters even more than her chapters in part 1, but the fact that she has no idea what she's doing, or how to "be" around Jasnah, is disconcerting. I hope her trip to Kholinar helps her clear her head (that should be a fun trip). And did she use the word "fractal" to describe Pattern? Do they know this term on Roshar? Regardless, as someone who is often called "fractalhead" as a nickname, my brain exploded in joy a little.

Renarin: lots of interesting info from him. I hope he finds his place. I was so happy when Shallan stood up for him. And I can't wait to see what he uncovered in the library. I got the sense that it is a sound version of the library. Audiobooks?

Lift, holy cow. Talking about Dalinar's tight butt. I cannot WAIT for her to arrive in Urithiru. Will she eat Rock's stew? Or chouta? The possibilities for hilarity is endless.

Moash, what? I have a bad feeling that he will train Sah and Khen's group to fight, take them to Kholinar, and they will end up fighting Kaladin and Elhokar's party because vengeance. He'll probably end up on Odium's side, just ugh.

And Odium himself, eek. He says he doesn't want a fight of champions. He just wants to be set free. I have some bad feelings about this, but it is related to one of this interludes right after part 2 so I'll come back to that later.

Lots of mind-blowing info about the heralds, recreance, spren, voidspren, fused, etc. I can't wrap my mind around it all now. It will definitely take a second or third read (or reading discussions by all the smart people here) to get a handle on it.

Dalinar's flashbacks: the biggest thing I took from these is that five year old Adolin is the cutest thing ever, and it's pretty sad that Renarin was a year old when Dalinar first saw him. He didn't even know his name. 

All I can say about Elhokar is that he painted over the strata. Seriously dude?

I didn't try to figure out the epigraphs. Are you guys saying that Harmony wrote it?

There is so much more to this part, but part 3 is calling.

[Harbour]

Hilghlights:

-Hobber's legs.

-Lift's commentary on Dalinar's butt.

-Jasnah slammed Amaram like crazy.

-Odium appearance.

 

Overall impressions:

This part felt dragged and in some parts pretty boring. Shallan line was boring, Jasnah wasn't that exciting for me due to her personality. We had no Adolin and no Kaladin's PoV. 

And i absolutely dislike sudden Teft's addiction to drugs and alcohol. BS tried to explain it, but it felt an extremely unnecessary character arc. Teft always felt like the guy who gonna bring people tougher while Kaladin somewhere else, competent and badass. I expected to see some issues of him but not THAT kind of issues.

And, maybe some people will burn me for what ill say, but i fond some dialogues i was excited to read pretty forced and unnatural, like the one between Kaladin and Jasnah.

Now, maybe its just my expectations, but i really expected to see more communication between Kaladin and Dalinar, between Kaladin and Shallan, between Adolin and Kaladin, between Jasnah and Navani, between Malata and everyone else.

Well, there are a few more parts. Im looking forward to this.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Harbour

[Aleksiel]

I just finished part 2 and couldn't resist visiting the forum, I need a moment to catch my breath and gather my thoughts 

I can't believe how much we learned! I thought we'd get an interlude from Moash, I didn't expect various Bridge Four povs, that surprised me in a good way.  Also, Lift undermining the Stormfather and sneaking on Odium  Truly the most awesome of them all, Rock should prepare a feast for her  

 

[BlackYeti]

So, I've just finished part 2, and haven't read any of the other comments yet.

We got confirmation that the Stonewards Tension Surge abilities are different from those of the Bondsmiths! This makes me very happy because this goes some way towards confirming (though it's not quite there yet) a minor theory that I'd come up with. I never actually posted a topic about it, but I did write a little about it here:

Per this theory, the Stonewards would be able to use the Tension the same way that the Bondsmiths can as well, just as the Bondsmiths can use Adhesion the same way that the Windrunners can, and also another way that we haven't seen yet.

Also, based off of Navani's reaction to seeing the Regrowth fabrial, I think I was also right in my theory that ancient fabrials are something completely different to modern fabrials. Rather, ancient fabrials are an alternative way to access the Surgebindings, whereas the modern fabrials are their own system.

The epigraphs were fascinating, was that first letter actually from Bavadin? That's my best guess at the moment, and if so that would reveal so much about her. She would actually have a presence on multiple worlds, not just Taldain. The second letter was much less interesting to my mind since it was clearly from Sazed (or meant to look like it was), and so it didn't actually reveal all that much.

I'm not sure that I understand what's going on with the fused yet: it sounds like the ancient listener Cognitive Shadow spren are actually possessing the bodies of the [listeners? What do we call them now, it looks like I was wrong about this being the name of their species?], yet that doesn't match what we've seen of the Stormform listeners. Does that mean that the fused are something else than the Forms of Power?

The only other reactions off the top of my head:

• Jasnah's put down of Amaram was absolutely perfect.
• And it looks like Lift will be joining the cast , her interaction with Dalinar was likewise superb.

[What's a Seawolf?]

Only read two chapters of part 2 so far, and not reading a single comment on this thread or any other, but damnation I already miss weekly discussions.

So here goes:

-Lopen is unbelievably fantastic at all things in life and needs to meet Lift so the two of them can become the undisputed king and queen-nay ultimate power duo in the history of literature-of Roshar.

-If Brandon had a midlife crisis and said 'screw it, I'm done with all my stories and am just going to write an archive of the everyday life of Bridge 4,' I'd be more than okay with that.  A redshirt Bridge 4 member dying would hit me harder than most named characters.

-Jasnah is so testing Shallan to see if Shallan can stand up for herself or if she still sees herself as 'second' to Jasnah.  I feel like that's kind of obvious so I hope it's not a major plot point for Shallan in part 2.

-Priority number one better be infusing that magical crystal pillar of magic with Stormlight, cause that undoubtedly makes Urithiru fully armed and operational.

[Patrick Star]

1 hour ago, Starla said:

second favorite character. I love her POVs, everything about Ivory, her fellow scholars (especially the baker guy), the fact that she can read lips, and her general no-BS attitude. And her reaction to Amaram? Priceless. "you are a detestable buffoon who achieves only the lowest level of mediocrity, as it is the best your limited mind can imagine" is my favorite quote so far. 

Relevant xkcd

[Aleksiel]

Does anyone else have the feeling Lyn might be our next Windrunner? And be the one who shows oaths can be worded differently.

[BlackYeti]

1 minute ago, Aleksiel said:

Does anyone else have the feeling Lyn might be our next Windrunner? And be the one who shows oaths can be worded differently.

Didn't we see that Teft has already bonded a spren? We already have our next Windrunner, don't we?

[Leyrann]

4 minutes ago, BlackYeti said:

Spoiler

Didn't we see that Teft has already bonded a spren? We already have our next Windrunner, don't we?

 

SPOILERS! This is only up to Part 2.

[BlackYeti]

Just now, Leyrann said:

SPOILERS! This is only up to Part 2.

This was in part 2, I haven't read further.

Edit: it's in the chapter from Teft's PoV.

Edited November 14, 2017 by BlackYeti

[Leyrann]

Just now, BlackYeti said:

This was in part 2, I haven't read further.

He may have come across a spren, but I am positive he hasn't bonded a spren by part 2.

[BlackYeti]

7 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

He may have come across a spren, but I am positive he hasn't bonded a spren by part 2.

Quote

Reflected in the waters of the well, a face appered over his shoulder. A woman with pale white skin, glowing faintly, and hair that hovered around her head like clouds.

"You leave me alone," he said, slapping his hand into the water. "You just... you just go find someone who cares."

...

When he looked up, he found that spren standing in front of him

Teft... she whispered. You've spoken oaths...

So he's used to seeing the spren, and she's talking to him, referring to him by name, something that we haven't seen any spren do besides Radiant spren...

Edit: that quote's from Chapter 41.

Edited November 14, 2017 by BlackYeti

[Aleksiel]

10 minutes ago, BlackYeti said:

Didn't we see that Teft has already bonded a spren? We already have our next Windrunner, don't we?

He has, which I honestly didn't see coming, however is it an honorspren? I couldn't decide from the description and shouldn't Syl have noticed? She's supposed to be the only one defying the SF, I don't recall any hints there was someone before her. Lyn feels to be set for something more than a squire, which would be radiant. After all, new honorspren came looking for people to bond, so we should see it happen. 

[Leyrann]

3 minutes ago, BlackYeti said:

So he's used to seeing the spren, and she's talking to him, referring to him by name, something that we haven't seen any spren do besides Radiant spren...

Edit: that quote's from Chapter 41.

Uh, you're right lol. Apparently I had my timelines messed up.

[BlackYeti]

2 minutes ago, Aleksiel said:

He has, which I honestly didn't see coming, however is it an honorspren? I couldn't decide from the description and shouldn't Syl have noticed? She's supposed to be the only one defying the SF, I don't recall any hints there was someone before her. Lyn feels to be set for something more than a squire, which would be radiant. After all, new honorspren came looking for people to bond, so we should see it happen. 

I didn't think it sounded much like an honourspren, however we definitely see Teft performing lashings later on, so unless he's both a Radiant and a Windrunner squire (which I doubt is possible), it surely has to be an honourspren.

[Aleksiel]

Just now, BlackYeti said:

I didn't think it sounded much like an honourspren, however we definitely see Teft performing lashings later on, so unless he's both a Radiant and a Windrunner squire (which I doubt is possible), it surely has to be an honourspren.

Hm, I am rushing through the book and didn't think about the lashing. He could be a weird contrast to Nale, no? He gave his family to the authorities after all. Regardless, even if it's an honorspren (I agree it's unlikely one can be surgebinder and squire) I expect someone else to bond honorspren since they showed up. No point in introducing us to a bunch of honorspren observing practice if there won't be new Windrunners.

[BlackYeti]

1 minute ago, Aleksiel said:

Hm, I am rushing through the book and didn't think about the lashing. He could be a weird contrast to Nale, no? He gave his family to the authorities after all. Regardless, even if it's an honorspren (I agree it's unlikely one can be surgebinder and squire) I expect someone else to bond honorspren since they showed up. No point in introducing us to a bunch of honorspren observing practice if there won't be new Windrunners.

Hmm, I guess that a highspren would be possible, it's just that I don't think Syl would have stayed quiet about that. We've already seen that she was reluctant to talk about which recruits might become the next squires, so it wouldn't surprise me if she kept quiet about one of the squires bonding an honourspren. Another thing is, if he's a Skybreaker, then he couldn't perform a full lashing which is the easiest lashing to master, and I would have expected him to demonstrate this first, even if it was offscreen. I think it would have been noted if he'd never done this.

As for your point about other squires going on to bond spren, I definitely agree there, and I certainly hope that Lyn is one of them: I really like what I've seen of her thus far.

[What's a Seawolf?]

Chapters 36 and 37 (I think I promise to not do this for every few chapters)

-Chapter 37 is one of my favorite things Brandon has ever written.  Not only do I love Bridge 4, but especially Rock and Lopen, and everything about that chapter was beautifully written and full of such powerful emotion.  I predict terrible terrible things for them, but damnation they got a helluva moment in the sun.

'Some days, it seemed you couldn't break Kaladin Stormblessed with all the stones on Roshar.  Then one of his men would get wounded, and you'd see him crack.'

-Chapter 36, Dalinar flashback, was a pleasant change from past flashback chapters.  Not that I minded them either, but it was nice to see some of Evi and see how Dalinar was changing even back then.  I'm assuming Evi is most definitely not Vivienna, so I got a good laugh at Brandon's trolling at the first line out of her mouth in the chapter.

(As an aside, it is so so hard not skipping ahead to read the entirety of the letter.  What pact did Aoni and Skai break?)

[Leyrann]

5 minutes ago, What's a Seawolf? said:

I'm assuming Evi is most definitely not Vivienna, so I got a good laugh at Brandon's trolling at the first line out of her mouth in the chapter.

What was that line? I don't have the book here...

5 minutes ago, What's a Seawolf? said:

(As an aside, it is so so hard not skipping ahead to read the entirety of the letter.  What pact did Aoni and Skai break?)

It appears to have been a pact between the Shards to go to different planets and not interfere with one another.

[BlackYeti]

2 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

Spoiler

It appears to have been a pact between the Shards to go to different planets and not interfere with one another.

 

Now it's my turn to point out SPOILERS. It doesn't look like @What's a Seawolf? has read past chapter 37 yet! He'll find out as he reads through the rest of part 2.

[Leyrann]

Just now, BlackYeti said:

Now it's my turn to point out SPOILERS. It doesn't look like @What's a Seawolf? has read past chapter 37 yet! He'll find out as he reads through the rest of part 2.

He specifically asked after it, and additionally it is revealed in Part 2, so spoilers aren't needed.

[BlackYeti]

1 minute ago, Leyrann said:

He specifically asked after it, and additionally it is revealed in Part 2, so spoilers aren't needed.

No, he said that he's finding it difficult to not read ahead to find out what it is, that's not the same thing as asking for the answer.

It may be permissible to post spoilers for part 2 in this topic, but that's not really the same thing as responding to someone who hasn't read up to a certain point and telling them what happens, whilst quoting them so they definitely see it.