Words of Radiance Reactions (SPOILERS)

[Awesomeness Summoned]

Oh, so since they are a different species (or maybe it is because they have some red to them), it is fine to enslave them?

No, it was fine to enslave them because all indications were that they weren't a sentient self aware species with a will of their own. The Parshendi themselves call it "slave" form (yes, I know probably in reference to how the Alethi use them, but still) and they refer to them as not having a soul. If it was suddenly discovered horses were sentient beings, would you condemn all of humanity the last 10,000+ years for using them as beast of burden when there was no indication they were anything more than animals?

 

When they first encountered the Parshendi, it should have caused some alarm bells on if they should be treating the Parshmen how they were but by that point is was so much a part of their culture that it didn't even occur to them that the Parshment might be more than they seemed.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Awesomeness Summoned

[RShara]

The entire parshmen/Parshendi-human thing is alll deliberate.  Bow before Brandon's might!

 

 

Q:  How did you decide that you were going to tackle racism, classism, gender, all those things in WoK?
A:  One of the things I like about Fantasy is the ability to tackle things like this in a way that removes the baggage from our current society which is why you see me doing things like the gender relations centered around whether the hand is sleeved or not. I want to do something that is one step removed so that it is pertinent…The Parshendi-Human thing is going to be a big deal for the series so I wanted to introduce it early on in the books.

[Lunu'anaki]

I thought it was Radiant! The kind of book that I dove right into then started to slow down the farther I got into it. Not because I lost interest, but because I was afraid for it to end. When I got to the last couple chapters I found myself holding my breath fearing that when I turned the page I would see the dreaded words, "The End of Book Two".

[Spark]

First, the bad, unforgivable sins:

 

The racial undertones of the book really creep me out. The bad, black people and the noble Aryans who will save everyone is just a trope that should never be expounded on for an epic series. I understand the eye colour analogy that Kaladin has agnozied over endlessly over the series, but even so, it still is just too much and a bit beyond the "pale".

 

 

It's what I actually love about the books. You can't really earnestly spin a story about any sort of society without addressing or at least acknowledging racism as an issue. If you do, it won't go deep enough. And the fact that - as others have mentioned - it plays on two levels in SA - against another species and within the same species - makes it just more interesting.

 

It shouldn't creep you out. The fact that you have the Alethi/Parshmen situation presented the way you describe does not mean it's condoned. It simply is. We're 2 books into the series and we've been given a glimpse into a fictional society and it's way of reasoning. And it will be all the more interesting to see said society maybe have to confront their own false reasoning.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Spark

[hoser]

It was fantastic!  I could go on and on, but I just realized one of the ways that Brandon totally trolled us.  He told us he could still do a viewpoint book after a character died.  I thought it would probably suck, but tried to keep an open mind.  He could still have a character really die and have flashbacks, of course.

 

But noooo, Szeth dies in WOR and will be the viewpoint character in Stones Unhallowed.  Trolled!

[Swimmingly]

It was fantastic! I could go on and on, but I just realized one of the ways that Brandon totally trolled us. He told us he could still do a viewpoint book after a character died. I thought it would probably suck, but tried to keep an open mind. He could still have a character really die and have flashbacks, of course.

But noooo, Szeth dies in WOR and will be the viewpoint character in Stones Unhallowed. Trolled!

I guess it was a technical death, so yeah...

[don_karma_II]

iirc, the incident that you're referring to is an insult directed at a specific individual.  The individual in question kept accusing Pattern of being a void spren, so he essentially threw the accusation back at the individual.

 

Yes, I understand it is an insult at a specific person. But the next line Pattern says is "Insults in particular will be of

great use to my people, as they are truths and lies combined in a quite interesting manner. " which implies that there was some hidden truth involved in that particular insult he used. Between that and Elokhar's comment that shadows with spindly arms he can see in the mirrors and they disappear when Kaladin is around has quite convinced me that Elokhar is actually seeing Voidspren.

Edited April 4, 2014 by don_karma_II

[GoneRampant]

It was fantastic!  I could go on and on, but I just realized one of the ways that Brandon totally trolled us.  He told us he could still do a viewpoint book after a character died.  I thought it would probably suck, but tried to keep an open mind.  He could still have a character really die and have flashbacks, of course.

 

But noooo, Szeth dies in WOR and will be the viewpoint character in Stones Unhallowed.  Trolled!

 

That's something I wasn't fond of myself- how Szeth and Jasnah are shown to die and come back peachy.

 

Mind you, I loved the book (Read it over a week, finished this morning) but I feel like Part 3 won't be as great if Szeth's the viewpoint character, simply because I don't feel his backstory is as interesting as Dalinar, Eshonai or whoever else becomes a viewpoint character for books 6 through 10. That, and I just didn't like Szeth all that much after reading the scene where Kaladin points out that he's a coward (Talking of Kaladin, the semi-eventual scene where Shallan finds out he killed her brother should be good).

[Silus - Shard of Flame]

OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!

This easily leaps to my number one spot of favorite books.  It's official, Stormlight Archive has topped Mistborn for me.  There were many "shouting into a pillow so other people don't hear me freaking out at what just happened" moments in this book, most of them revolving around Kaladin's acts of sheer awesomeness.  If this series had a big scope before, that was nothing compared to what happened here and what it's set up to become.  Wow, just wow.

[Chicken]

I liked it. Best of Sanderson after Emperor's Soul.

 

Szeth became a Looney Toon and/or Popeye before the end. It was awesome. Then he got the crazy sword of craziness. It's very hard to wait for their buddy cop routine that's no doubt gonna happen in the next book. They'll fight crime!

 

Herald Dread is both interesting and boring at the same time. He's interesting because of his background and actions and boring for being a cliche lawful stupid.

 

Kaladin was paddling water and getting nowhere when he wasn't interacting with Syl/Adolin/Shallan. Luckily it picked up and ended well. Moash was a nice foil for showing him how he can still turn out badly. Windrunning is a bit too flashy though. The climactic battle was getting ridiculous and distracting from characters. I doubt Sanderson will fall into the starwars prequel pit, but it's there.

 

Shallan got the best scene of the book with the much anticipated murder. Her growth comes off as much more relatable than Kaladin's, possibly because how over the top grimdark Kaladin's situation was. Then again, Kaladin was starring in Bridge Over River Kwai while Shallan went all Bourne Identity on us so "relatable" isn't really correct either way. Her flashbacks are filling in for the requisite grimdark too, so in total Shallan>Kaladin.

 

Dalinar was a bit overshadowed by everything else going on. Spotlight was mostly on Adolin, which is cool. He's a cool guy who does cool things. He got lots of points for that magnificent Shallan date and broing it up with Kal. Also removing Sadeas was probably the most useful thing anybody had done so far. Then Dalinar went and bonded Stormfather, reclaiming badassery throne. Poor Adolin will never ever get out of dad's shadow.

 

The chasm scenes were seriously great, everything was cool down there. We should've had some outsider perspective for the ending however. It would've been much better to see the reactions to Shallan and Kaladin return from the chasms from somebody other than the main protagonists. A Sadeas viewpoint there would have been soooo great. Alas it wasn't meant to be.

 

Hopefully internet won't get clogged with rabid shipper wars now that a possible triangle has been established. (who am I kidding?)

 

Jasnah managed to surprise twice. Killing her randomly was a big twist. In retrospect, going the way of wise mentor figure seemed really fitting and normal for her. Then she reappered to spite the old cliche and everything was happy sunshine.

 

While I know Parshendi won't become generic orcs, it's still somewhat disappointing to see them suddenly becoming fulltime evil minions.

 

Renarin came out of nowhere and wasn't very interesting either. Perhaps he'll get better.

 

Elhokar may as well be a failspren. Seems everything he's ever done, including picking a wife, generates nothing but failure. It's entertaining.

 

And that duel... Dat duel!!1!one!!11! It was the most pro wrestling scene ever written in the history of fantasy literature.

"You're going down Sadeas!"

"Amaram! I'm calling you out!"

[Shardmancer]

I definatly agree with you on the counts of outsiders perpectives for some of the crazy scenes. Like Kaladin flying in at the end- would be nice for Adolin to be the "what the frack".. As far as Sadeas going down though.. dont forget he has a badass manipulative wife who even Jasnah gives credit for her being clever with her network of spies. I wouldnt count out manupulation and subterfuge setting back the gang in the next one as well.. But yes different perspectives on main events would be nice twist atleast reactionwise.

[Azdarith]

1. A. Jasnah, I assume, went into Shadesmar, thus escaping from drowning, which is pretty reasonable since, when dealing with Shadesmar, sea is land and land is sea, etc.

B. The thing with Szeth was--I admit--a little clumsy (Sorry, Brandon!!!), but you can't kill off the assassin in the *soup*ing second book of a five-book series! (don't ask about the "soup" thing, please)

Quote

 

Shardblades losing a lot of their danger with Kaladin healing his arm

C. It's an Honorblade, which is obviously not the same thing as a Shardblade since (as far as I know) Shardblades don't make you able to fool around with gravity, etc.

2. People have been talking about Nightblood showing up, so I'm going to digress for a bit.

So, I think that this comes after Warbreaker.  Zahel (the swordsmaster guy) is Vasher and I'm not exactly sure how Nin got Nightblood but I assume we're going to hear more on that subject.  We'd better hear more on that subject.

You probably already know most of that, so sorry for wasting your time, but I just wanted to make sure.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Azdarith

[Moogle]

It's an Honorblade, which is obviously not the same thing as a Shardblade

 

'Shardblade' is more of a general term referring to any Invested sword. Honorblades, sprenblades/Radiantblades (have we even got a name for these?), and Nightblood would all count as Shardblades.

 

Here's the WoB:

 

Q:  If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade?

A:  Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal

 

Also, since sprenblades were patterned on the Honorblades, we should expect them to cut similarly. Kaladin being able to heal from those sorts of wounds does take a lot of the danger away from them. I personally was rather upset that Kaladin was able to heal it - it would have been an amazing twist for Sanderson to take away Kaladin's fighting ability and force him to grow as a character in new ways. He still would have been ridiculously dangerous (Lashings), it would have just required him to change and I would have loved it.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Moogle

[Delightful]

 

Also, since sprenblades were patterned on the Honorblades, we should expect them to cut similarly. Kaladin being able to heal from those sorts of wounds does take a lot of the danger away from them. I personally was rather upset that Kaladin was able to heal it - it would have been an amazing twist for Sanderson to take away Kaladin's fighting ability and force him to grow as a character in new ways. He still would have been ridiculously dangerous (Lashings), it would have just required him to change and I would have loved it.

Agreed. I was both horrified and excited as Kal was thinking he would never be a surgeon or hold a spear again, because there was just so much room for him to grow there. I though it was AWESOME that he could heal the wound, and of course that told Szeth that he's a Radiant, but still. I'm a teeny tiny bit disappointed that he doesn't have to live with a dead arm.Maybe in some alternate universe that's what actually happened....

[Aleksiel]

I would have preferred it if Renarin was the one who healed Kaladin's hand at the end of WoR. It would have been more awesome and unexpected.

[AerionBFII]

I would have preferred it if Renarin was the one who healed Kaladin's hand at the end of WoR. It would have been more awesome and unexpected.

 

I prefer it the way it is #

Makes the Knights Radiant more self sufficient 

[Aleksiel]

I prefer it the way it is #

Makes the Knights Radiant more self sufficient 

 

It would have been nice to see Regrowth doing more than the standard self-stormlight healing and Kaladin could have had a reason to rethink his view on lighteyes. It still like it the way it was, though it would have been interesting to see Kal having to deal with one hand for more than a paragraph. I'm just saying it would have been a nice plot twist and give Renarin a bigger role in the story. At least for me it would have been more impressive if Renarin showed his abilities that way.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Aleksiel

[maxal]

I would have preferred it if Renarin was the one who healed Kaladin's hand at the end of WoR. It would have been more awesome and unexpected.

 

I think Renarin will end up show casting his powers while saving someone's life, pretty much like Lift did with Gawk. I suspect that someone may be his brother or someone from bridge 4.

[Aether]

B. The thing with Szeth was--I admit--a little clumsy (Sorry, Brandon!!!), but you can't kill off the assassin in the *soup*ing second book of a five-book series! (don't ask about the "soup" thing, please)

Pardon me, but I am going to ask about the soup thing: what is the soup thing?

[BrindIf]

1. A. Jasnah, I assume, went into Shadesmar, thus escaping from drowning, which is pretty reasonable since, when dealing with Shadesmar, sea is land and land is sea, etc.

Can you "go" into Shadesmar? I mean, does the one going there (Jasnah or Shallan) really disappear during a moment from the actual world, or is this trip happening in her head only?

[Aleksiel]

Can you "go" into Shadesmar? I mean, does the one going there (Jasnah or Shallan) really disappear during a moment from the actual world, or is this trip happening in her head only?

 

I think it's safe to say Jasnah and Shallan were only mentally in Shadesmar when  soulcasting - Jasnah soulcasted that rock in the palace, then the thugs while being physically present both times in Shallan's PoV. I suspect it's the transportation surge that allows physical entrance to Shadesmar; I think Brandon RAFO-ed if Shallan or anyone with only the transformation surge could physically go into the Cognitive realm. 

[Shaggai]

Pardon me, but I am going to ask about the soup thing: what is the soup thing?

Maybe it's like the chull?

[Ryan]

I just finished this. I got it on the day it came out. Yeah, I know. Life.

 

I could wax superlative about this book, but I won't bother, because I'm sure everyone else has said everything I would say. I'll only post two reactions:

 

First, this is the seminal work of modern fantasy. If this series doesn't remake the genre in the same way that Tolkien's and Jordan's did, nothing will.

 

Second, how amazing and hilarious is it that Shallan had to solve a lamp-lighting puzzle in order to open the Oathgate? Any Zelda player could have told her. Duh, girl. Light all the lamps and the door will open!

[Aether]

Second, how amazing and hilarious is it that Shallan had to solve a lamp-lighting puzzle in order to open the Oathgate? Any Zelda player could have told her. Duh, girl. Light all the lamps and the door will open!

Well, to be fair, she had to learn how to Invest her Stormlight back into spheres first. And the lock wasn't something that could be opened by EVERY key from WHEREVER.

[BaoTheWyld]

Is anyone else wondering if the group of Parshendi that didn't take stormform and escaped will end up being allies? I could see that happening. It isn't very clear, but in some of Dalinar's visions of the desolations it sometimes sounds as if the mixing of blood and bodies on the ground could mean some parshendi fought alongside the humans.