[OB] Haven't Read the Previews

[EC11 he/him]

In light of some of the (what I found to be) disappointing changes and unfortunate later edits to Words of Radiance I have personally skipped out on reading the previews posted on Tor.com. I'm curious if anyone else has adopted this policy or whether I'm alone in doing that

If other people have, what are your reasons?

[Kav]

I haven't read anything either, though it's taken some serious willpower! I haven't done it for any reasons related to edits though, I just thought reading it piece by piece for weeks would drive me crazy. I just felt it would be more satisfying to have the whole thing before I begin - I prefer to sit down with a new book and power through it. I cannot wait to actually have it tomorrow, I've made sure I have absolutely zero other things to do!

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

3 minutes ago, Kav said:

I just thought reading it piece by piece for weeks would drive me crazy.

Don't worry, I'm fine. 

*eye twitches*

[StormingTexan he/him]

You can always read them now and it will be like getting the book a day early.

[EC11 he/him]

15 minutes ago, StormingTexan said:

You can always read them now and it will be like getting the book a day early.

My fear is of last minute edits that will throw me off later in the books. Then there was Brandon's decision to change the nature of Szeth's death in Words that also threw me, so I'm playing it safe by not reading for the moment.

[DiamondMind he/him]

 

36 minutes ago, EC11 said:

My fear is of last minute edits that will throw me off later in the books. Then there was Brandon's decision to change the nature of Szeth's death in Words that also threw me, so I'm playing it safe by not reading for the moment.

Tor took their text from the final printed manuscript, there are no last minute changes. Tor's version does have some copyedit mistakes because to the copying method, but that's it. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by DiamondMind

[gbazz4 he/him]

1 hour ago, EC11 said:

In light of some of the (what I found to be) disappointing changes and unfortunate later edits to Words of Radiance I have personally skipped out on reading the previews posted on Tor.com. I'm curious if anyone else has adopted this policy or whether I'm alone in doing that

If other people have, what are your reasons?

I lost willpower last week and started reading the chapters on Tor.com. Though i do have a few friends who waited. Some because their lives were busy and they didn't have time to get to the book. Others who just wanted to read it all at one time.

52 minutes ago, StormingTexan said:

You can always read them now and it will be like getting the book a day early.

At this point I can understand waiting. But i might not wait and just do what Storming suggested and start now then when you get your copy jump to where you left off. I caved and read the preview chapters last week after i had completed rereads of WOK, WOR, and Edgedancer. The 1 week wait has been killer, but i had another book and that got me through to today. but man am i impatient right now. 

37 minutes ago, EC11 said:

My fear is of last minute edits that will throw me off later in the books. Then there was Brandon's decision to change the nature of Szeth's death in Words that also threw me, so I'm playing it safe by not reading for the moment.

I am not sure if there is much to fear with last minute edits, all the books needed to be printed so the chapters released on  TOR.Com i would think mirror what is in the books being printed. When Brandon changed WOR i think that was a while after it was released. I think it was when it went from hardcover to paperback (someone might remember better than me and can clarify that) that he took the opportunity to make changes with a whole new group of books being printed. I don't think that will be common, i feel like i read in a WOB at some point that he didn't intend to do that anymore. but again someone more knowledgeable might be able to clarify that. 

Either way i can't wait, only about 6 1/2 hours left and it better show up on my Nook!

[EC11 he/him]

2 minutes ago, DiamondMind said:

 

Tor took their text from the final printed manuscript, there are no last minute changes. Tor's version does have some copyedit mistakes because to the copying method, but that's it. 

With the release date in mind that is a relief, but I still worry Brandon might make another post-release change that will effect the way the story is meant to be viewed.

[Shadowmancer he/him]

@EC11 I didn't even know that there HAD been a change to sonny's death until like a week ago, and then only from a random post. Shook me up some. I don't know what to believe in anymore...

[EC11 he/him]

1 minute ago, gbazz4 said:

I am not sure if there is much to fear with last minute edits, all the books needed to be printed so the chapters released on  TOR.Com i would think mirror what is in the books being printed. When Brandon changed WOR i think that was a while after it was released. I think it was when it went from hardcover to paperback (someone might remember better than me and can clarify that) that he took the opportunity to make changes with a whole new group of books being printed. I don't think that will be common, i feel like i read in a WOB at some point that he didn't intend to do that anymore. but again someone more knowledgeable might be able to clarify that. 

Either way i can't wait, only about 6 1/2 hours left and it better show up on my Nook!

True. Still, that kind of big change made me leery, but I'm also trying to avoid getting too deep at first.

I am looking forward to going downtown and getting my copy tomorrow though! 

Spoiler

 

 

[EC11 he/him]

1 minute ago, Shadowmancer said:

@EC11 I didn't even know that there HAD been a change to sonny's death until like a week ago, and then only from a random post. Shook me up some. I don't know what to believe in anymore...

It changes the canon nature of Szeth's death, which I found dissatisfying. Maybe later works will clear things up a bit, but we shall see. The only feeling I commit to at the moment is that it makes me leery of material released before the official release and I'm withholding judgement until later in the series.

[gbazz4 he/him]

1 minute ago, EC11 said:

True. Still, that kind of big change made me leery, but I'm also trying to avoid getting too deep at first.

 

I honestly can't even remember how big a difference the change meant for the scene. When i heard there was a change when Brandon announced it by the time i went to see how it read different my nook updated and i couldn't compare the text. If you are anything like me it is entirely possible you wouldn't remember the details of any changes Brandon announces by the time he announces them. 

Actually does anyone know of where i could find the scene from the original version of WOR so i could read the scene with both sets of text? I would really like to compare them.

[EC11 he/him]

Just now, gbazz4 said:

I honestly can't even remember how big a difference the change meant for the scene. When i heard there was a change when Brandon announced it by the time i went to see how it read different my nook updated and i couldn't compare the text. If you are anything like me it is entirely possible you wouldn't remember the details of any changes Brandon announces by the time he announces them. 

Actually does anyone know of where i could find the scene from the original version of WOR so i could read the scene with both sets of text? I would really like to compare them.

It struck me because thematically it wasn't as appealing in terms of the fight set up between Kaladin and Szeth, and because then Szeth's resurrection isn't quite as impressive in overall terms.

Honestly its probably saved online somewhere, but the best way would be to find one of the original hard copies. 

[gbazz4 he/him]

Just now, EC11 said:

Honestly its probably saved online somewhere, but the best way would be to find one of the original hard copies. 

Alas, i bought the Nook ebook version. I will need to rely on the help of my fellow 17th sharders who may have purchased one of the original hardcopies.

[Shadowmancer he/him]

@gbazz4 and @EC11 Here ya go! Had to do some digging, lol, but I found a dedicated sharder who posted the entire set of changes to WoR

On 3/6/2015 at 0:11 PM, WeiryWriter said:

For those interested here are all the changes made in the new edition:
 

  Hide contents

Hardcover: PAGE 19
Revised word document: PAGE 12
Current:

• She took it as the rebuke it was, and found herself blushing. Even her mother Navani could not do that to her.

Replacement:

• She took it as the rebuke it was, and found herself blushing. Even her mother, Navani, could not do that to her.

Hardcover: PAGE 84
Revised word document: PAGE 104
Current:

• “Toward victory and, at long last, vengeance.”

Replacement:

• “On victory and, at long last, vengeance.”

Hardcover: PAGE 99
Revised word document: PAGE 126
Current:

• We start with some of the lesser Shardbearers and work up.”

Replacement:

• We start with some of the lesser Shardbearers and work up to him.”

Hardcover: PAGE 136
Revised word document: PAGE 181
Current:

• Father carried Shallan over the body of a woman in white. Little blood there.

Replacement:

• Father carried Shallan over the body of a woman in blue and gold. Little blood there.

Hardcover: PAGE 147
Revised word document: PAGE 196
Current:

• The other spheres were still there, but the the sleeve was unbuttoned.

Replacement:

• The other spheres were still there, but the sleeve was unbuttoned.

Hardcover: PAGE 367
Revised word document: PAGE 512
Current:

• If she knew that, it might tell her how her own princedom was fairing.

Replacement:

• If she knew that, it might tell her how her own princedom was faring.

Hardcover: PAGE 397
Revised word document: PAGE 556
Current:

• I SUPPOSE THIS MUST BE, the Stormfather said.

Replacement:

• I SUPPOSE THIS MUST BE, the Rider of Storms said.

Hardcover: PAGE 397
Revised word document: PAGE 556
Current:

• I CANNOT STOP THIS, the Stormfather said. I WOULD

Replacement:

• I CANNOT STOP THIS, the Rider of Storms said. I WOULD

Hardcover: PAGE 517
Revised word document: PAGE 727
Current:

• The terms were for an exchange of goods, Father trading some of his breechtree cotton and raw shum to Revilar in exchange for a small payment

Replacement:

• The terms were for an exchange of goods, Father trading some of his breachtree cotton and raw shum to Revilar in exchange for a small payment

Hardcover: PAGE 608
Revised word document: PAGE 857/858
Current:

• Even walking on her tiptoes—which was masked by the illusion—she was much shorter than the highprince.

Replacement:

• Even walking on her tiptoes—which was masked by the illusion—she was much shorter than the highlord.

Hardcover: PAGE 647
Revised word document: PAGE 915
Current:

• Blasted spren, Kaladin thought, walking up bedside Shallan and Adolin.

Replacement:

• Blasted spren, Kaladin thought, walking up beside Shallan and Adolin

Hardcover: PAGE 690
Revised word document: PAGE 977
Current:

• Gawk slunk around the corner.

Replacement:

• Gawx slunk around the corner.

Hardcover: PAGE 788
Revised word document: PAGE 1113
Current:

• “And then the storm would come,” Dalinar replied softly. Twelve days.

Replacement:

• “And then the storm would come,” Dalinar replied softly. Eleven days.

Hardcover: PAGE 955
Revised word document: PAGE 1355
Current:

• After no attack had come that night, Dalinar had pushed the three armies into another day of marching.

Replacement:

• After no attack had come that night, Dalinar had pushed the four armies into another day of marching.

Hardcover: PAGE 992
Revised word document: PAGE 1410
Current:

• Had they recovered Teleb’s Shards?

Replacement:

• Had they recovered Teleb’s Plate and the King’s Blade he was wielding?

Hardcover: PAGE 1003
Revised word document: PAGE 1424
Current:

• General Khal’s som wore his own Plate and bore Teleb’s Blade, which he’d blessedly recovered from the corpse after the other man had fallen.

Replacement:

• General Khal’s son wore his own Plate and bore the King’s Blade that he’d blessedly recovered from Teleb’s corpse after the other man had fallen.

Hardcover: PAGE 1009
Revised word document: PAGE 1433
Current:

• Two storms coming, one from each direction. They will crash into each other right here.”

Replacement:

• Two storms coming, one from each direction. They will crash into one another right here.”

Hardcover: PAGE 1009
Revised word document: PAGE 1433
Current:

• “They will feed each other,” Pattern said.

Replacement:

• “They will feed one another,” Pattern said.

Hardcover: PAGE 1041
Revised word document: PAGE 1478 / 1479
Current:

• Szeth did not parry. He just closed his eyes.
• Kaladin drove his Blade into the assassin’s chest right below the neck, severing the spine. Smoke burned out from beneath his eyelids, and his Blade slipped from his fingers. It did not vanish.
• Get that! Syl sent him, a mental shout. Grab it, Kaladin. Don’t lose it!
• Kaladin dove after the Blade, dropping Szeth’s corpse, letting it fall backward into the stormwall. It vanished among the wind, the rain, and the lightning, trailing faint wisps of Stormlight.
• Kaladin grabbed the Blade just before the storm consumed it. Then he Lashed himself back upward, passing along the stormwall, the windspren he’d attracted spiraling about him and laughing with pure joy. As he crested the top of the storm, they burst around him and zipped away, moving off to dance in front of the still-advancing storm.

Replacement:

• Szeth did not parry. He just closed his eyes to accept the attack.
• In that instant, for reasons he could not have articulated—pity, perhaps?— Kaladin diverted his blow, driving the Blade through Szeth’s wrist. The skin greyed. Flashing with reflected lightning, the sword tumbled from the assassin’s fingers, then dulled as it plummeted.
• The glow fled the assassin’s form. All his Stormlight vanished in a puff, all Lashings banished.
• Szeth started to fall.
• Get that sword! Syl sent to Kaladin, a mental shout. Grab it.
• “The assassin!”
• He has released the bond. He’s nothing without that sword! It must not be lost! Kaladin dove after the Blade, passing Szeth, who tumbled through the air like a rag doll, buffeted by winds toward the stormwall.
• Kaladin furiously Lashed himself downward, snatching the Blade just before the storm consumed it. Nearby, the assassin dropped past him into the storm and was swallowed up, leaving Kaladin with the haunting image of Szeth’s limp silhouette being driven into a plateau below with all the tempest’s force.
• Raising the assassin’s Blade, Kaladin Lashed himself back upward, passing along the stormwall, the windspren he’d attracted spiraling about him and laughing with pure joy. As he crested the top of the storm, they burst around him and zipped away, moving off to dance in front of the still advancing storm.

Hardcover: PAGE 1042
Revised word document: PAGE 1479
Current:

• “That was very nicely done,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll keep you around this time.”

Replacement:

• “I didn’t kill him,” Kaladin said.
• “Did you want to?”
• “No,” Kaladin said, surprised that it was the truth. “But I should have anyway.”
• “You have his Blade,” she replied. “The Stormfather likely took him. And if not … well, he is no longer the weapon he once was. I must say, that was very nicely done. Perhaps I’ll keep you around this time.”

Hardcover: PAGE 1043
Revised word document: PAGE 1481 / 1482
Current:

• “This is going to happen again?” Kaladin said. “That other storm is still out there?”
• “Yes,” Syl said, sitting on his shoulder. “A new storm. It’s not of us, but of him.”
• “Will it be this bad every time it passes?” Kaladin asked, surveying the wreckage. Of the plateaus he could see, only the one had been destroyed completely. But if the storm could do that to pure rock, what would it do to a city? Particularly since it blew the wrong way.

Replacement:

• He found no sign of Szeth’s corpse. That could mean the man had survived somehow, or it could just mean the storm had buried the body in rubble or blown it away, leaving it in some forgotten chasm to rot until the bones were finally picked over by an unfortunate salvage crew.
• For now, the fact that Szeth had not summoned his Blade back to him was enough. Either he was dead, or—as Syl had said—the strange weapon was no longer bound to him. Kaladin didn’t know how to tell. This Shardblade had no gemstone at the pommel to indicate.
• Kaladin stopped at a high point of the plateau and surveyed the wreckage. Then he glanced toward Syl, who sat on his shoulder. “This is going to happen again?” he said. “That other storm is still out there?”
• “Yes,” Syl said, “A new storm. It’s not of us, but of him.”
• “Will it be this bad every time it passes?” Of the plateaus he could see, only the one had been destroyed completely. But if the storm could do that to pure rock, what would it do to a city? Particularly since it blew the wrong way.

Hardcover: PAGE 1045
Revised word document: PAGE 1485
Current:

• “He is dead, then?” Teft asked.
• “Yes.”
• “You slew the Assassin in White,” Bisig breathed.

Replacement:

• “He is dead, then?” Teft asked.
• “Near enough.”
• “You defeated the Assassin in White,” Bisig breathed.

Hardcover: PAGE 1058
Revised word document: PAGE 1503
Current:

• Adolin had left a Stormlight lantern for her that was extravagant, considering how few lit gemstones they had—and it showed a small square chamber with a stone bench in the corner.

Replacement:

• Adolin had left a Stormlight lantern for her—that was extravagant, considering how few lit gemstones they had—and it showed a small square chamber with a stone bench in the corner.

Hardcover: PAGE 1062
Revised word document: PAGE 1510
Current:

• “Why am I not dead?” he whispered. “The Shardblade pierced me. I fell. Why didn’t I die?”

Replacement:

• “Why am I not dead?” he whispered. “I released my bond to the Shardblade. I fell into the storm without Lashings. Why didn’t I die?”

Hardcover: PAGE 1062
Revised word document: PAGE 1510 / 1511
Current:

• “Not if it is done before the brain dies. Like a drowned man restored to life with the proper ministrations, you could be restored with the right fabrial. If I had waited seconds longer, of course, it would have been too late.”

Replacement:

• “Not if it is done before the brain dies. Like a drowned man restored to life with the proper ministrations, you could be restored with the right Surgebinding. If I had waited seconds longer, of course, it would have been too late. But surely you know this. Two of the Blades held by your people allow Regrowth. I suspect you have already seen the newly dead restored to life.”

Hardcover: PAGE 1064
Revised word document: PAGE 1513
Current:

• Still kneeling, Szeth looked up after the man. “My people have the other Honorblades, and have kept them safe for millennia.

Replacement:

• Still kneeling, Szeth looked up after the man. “You are right. My people have the other Honorblades, and have kept them safe for millennia.

Hardcover: PAGE 1064
Revised word document: PAGE 1513
Current:

• “I have brought a Shardblade for you.

Replacement:

• “I have brought a replacement Shardblade for you.

 

Edit: Updated it with the final missing change.

You can find an entire thread on it here.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Shadowmancer

[gbazz4 he/him]

Thanks @Shadowmancer, that was quite impressive seeing all the changes. I appreciate being able to find all the actual changes. Apparently my reading comprehension is not what i thought and my Nook never updated to the new version so i still have the original version. Seeing the updated version i can understand how @EC11 feels. It was quite different and didn't seem as impressive. I am actually surprised at the number of other changes that needed to be made in WOR to accurately reflect that scene change. There were 3-4 more edits related to that one.

[EC11 he/him]

Just now, gbazz4 said:

Thanks @Shadowmancer, that was quite impressive seeing all the changes. I appreciate being able to find all the actual changes. Apparently my reading comprehension is not what i thought and my Nook never updated to the new version so i still have the original version. Seeing the updated version i can understand how @EC11 feels. It was quite different and didn't seem as impressive. I am actually surprised at the number of other changes that needed to be made in WOR to accurately reflect that scene change. There were 3-4 more edits related to that one.

Precisely my point. The thematic intent seems to have been sabotaged in changing that bit of the chapter, and the payoff seems less clear than it was.

I'm sure these revisions will serve a point down the line, but I would really hope for some important context to be added in upcoming books to help us readers feel why these changes were important overall.

[Kav]

Yeah I posted above and then thought alright just the prologue wouldn’t be too bad now I guess... 

...in other news I loved chapter 4 and 5 is off to a storming start.