Shardcast

I’m so out of my depth all of a sudden! There’s so much worldbuilding happening! Augh! I feel like I’ve been thrown into the deep end, and I’m just trying to like, absorb as much of it as possible.

Back at it again with the Splintercast! Let’s do Edgedancer, everyone!

For those who are new to Splintercast, this is an audio-reaction podcast where I record my spoken reactions to reading Cosmere books for the first time, this time, the Lift novella from Arcanum Unbounded. I loved this novella, and I adore Lift, so this one’s pretty fun.

We said there would be a December episode, and here we are on New Year's Eve with one! This month we have an extra long episode as well: over an hour and twenty minutes digging through the Arcanum Unbounded essays and picking apart everything in them. Shockingly, we were more than able to talk about these for a very long time. We dig through each of Khriss's essays. I feel we could have even talked longer, but I'm sure we will mention them a lot in the future.

What! A podcast that isn't Splintercast Reads A Book? I know, it does seem crazy, but it's true. Welcome to the Shardkeepers Podcast, our theory podcast where we discuss all sorts of minutiae of the cosmere. As I learned when recording, this usually results in headaches, but we make that sacrifice for you.

Today, we're going to talk about an amazing quote that we got earlier this year about Nightblood that blew our minds.

I’m pretty salty about that. However, I’ll try to keep most of my salt contained to like, that one event, and not let it completely overtake this episode. Like, I don’t want this to be a salt-fest.

The end is upon us! Unfortunately, as I said last episode, this is not my original reaction file, because for reasons unknown, that recording up and disappeared on me. It has fled. So instead, you get backup Current!Feather’s reactions, but hey, we’re gonna have fun with it anyway.

Mistborn: Secret History. Also known as, ‘Kelsier Punches Literally All of the Deities.’

Our trip through the Cognitive Realm leads us to some unexpected new acquaintances as we start to leave Scadrial behind… Kelsier makes friends and cons them, because that’s what he does. I go back and forth on how to pronounce the word “Ire” before finally actually figuring it out and we finally figure out what gave Vin the heebie-jeebies before she met with Hoid in Hero of Ages!

“He’d saved the boy’s life once, so that would make them even”? Kell, that’s not how saving someone’s life works. You don’t just get like a free pass to murder them whenever you want later!

Mistborn: Secret History continues, as we travel through Realms previously unseen. We meet some interesting characters, have a chat with a few old villainous friends, and watch as our intrepid hero makes a very long journey. 

This is the greatest thing that has ever been written. This is the greatest thing that has ever been written.

In which there is flailing. So much flailing. You might assume, if you have seen my salt about Secret History around, that I do not enjoy the novella. You would be incorrect, as I actually pretty much adore it. Despite the fact that I might have an issue with a thing at the end, I am 100% on board with reading this wonderful romp through the cosmere afterlife. Utterly delighted.

I need this. I need this, okay. Alright. Okay. I haven’t even started reading it yet, I just saw that Wax is… I’m pumped. I’m pumped!

The grand finale of Bands of Mourning, everyone! It’s a race to the end as we jump off of the last cliffhanger and tumble all the way through our final installment for this book. Ships, both literal and relational, are sailing and flying and there’s Allomancy and theories and reveals. It’s wild.

I called it! I never call stuff like that. But I totally called it and I never call stuff like that! That’s kind of why it’s fun to record these, because the few times that I do get it right I’m like: “It’s on recording! I got proof! I’ve got an ‘I told you so!’”

First of all, I want to apologize for the brief hiatus we’ve had on Splintercast. It’s been a really hectic few weeks for me and I appreciate your patience. Free time has been in short supply for this Feather, especially the long swaths of time it takes to sit down and edit the audio for a whole episode. But we’re back now and we’re nearing the end.

This time, a lot happens!

Cosmere is still number one in my heart, okay? I’ll never leave the cosmere behind. I been in this for six years. We ain’t leavin’ the trenches now!

Finally, things start to come together for me theory-wise. I talk myself back into my theory of Telsin’s alignment, which is probably a good thing. However, I also start to “figure out” my theory about who the Sovereign is, and I’m still mad that that theory was wrong because it made so much sense, listen.

I don’t think it was him. I don’t think it was. I’m pretty sure he was dead. But... maybe... Augh! I don’t know! I’m doubting everything!

I would like to issue a formal apology to my new son, Allik, whom I assume to be a Hemalurgic experiment in this chapter. Listen. We all make mistakes. Allik, I didn’t mean it. Please forgive me. Like also that mistake of me talking myself out of a theory I’ve held since the beginning. Oops.

Don’t lose your guns, Wax. I feel like I’m babysitting him. Like every time he loses his guns, I’m like ‘Go get those back. Pick them up. What’re you doing?’

In which a whole heck of a lot happens. The end of Lady Kelesina’s party and we flee into the countryside with our heroes to try to see what exactly the Set is up to.

God bless. Harmony bless. Maker bless. Every... every deity just bless Steris Harms. Let’s just be real right here. Honor? Uh, Endowment? Like, all the Shards just need to like, group together, call a truce real quick, and bless Steris Harms. Kay? There we go. So it is decreed.

This episode of Splintercast, Feather discusses RP and how she really ought to get around to joining Mistborn: The Inquisition. Listen, guys. I love RP so much, but I like chat RP. It’s gotta be fast. Instant responses. Wait, you’re here to hear about Bands of Mourning? Oh, okay I guess we can do that too.

Cliffhangers continue to be my nemesis, but hey at least we got some fancy party infiltrations and a firefight in a graveyard. Steris is, of course, perfect, like usual. Dalish is cute and then naughty and must be exiled. And I’m upset that we haven’t talked about MeLaan recently.

Shut up, Wax. Not everyone has to go out and like, vigilante justice fight crime with their Allomancy. Maybe some people like to juggle, all right?

In which my commentary on these chapters contains significantly more jingle bells than one might have expected. What can I say? The kitten wants what the kitten wants. And usually that’s jingly feather toys.

Anyway, this week on Splintercast, Feather gets confused about gondolas.

[sputters] I don’t... even have words for what I am feeling about this development at the moment.

An episode that has it all. To quote myself: we’ve got some firefight, some cutes, some canoodling, deep snogs. Steris Harms continues to be perfect while Wayne continues to be on my bad list. We see some devices which double as plot devices for the first time. Yeeeeeeee.

Yeah, you guys only thought I was going to be reacting to the book. You didn’t know you actually signed up for ‘Steris Appreciation Podcast 2016.’ Here we go.

This week, featuring special guest star: my kitten who loves to sniff the microphone while she’s purring and interrupt me. She’s smol. And naughty. And I love her.

Okay. Nothing’s going wrong. Okay? It’s the first chapter of this book. Everything can still go smooth! We don’t need conflict yet. We can have cutes. Alright? Brandon, I’m like, staring at you across the room. Don’t do this to me. Just give me a good, nice wedding.

And now in earnest, the book begins.

Y’all knew I was gonna get rekt over these opening chapters, right? Steris is my daughter and I love her and she deserves eternal happiness. Unfortunately for her, she’s in a novel written by Brandon Sanderson, which means everything has to go wrong. Of course.

Ha. You're not--You're not gonna follow the rules, Wax. Come on. Let's just go. Let's--Let's just do this. I'm curious, you're curious. Let's go. Out the window with you.

Daaaaang, Feather. Back at it again with that Splintercast!

Though I guess it probably doesn’t feel like we're "back at it" since Shadows of Self just wrapped up last week. Regardless! Here we go again. Now we're getting into Bands of Mourning and I hope you all are as excited for this as I am. We're in for a wild ride, so strap in.

I'm feeling it. I'm feeling this theory, guys. It would be so horrible. It would be so awful. It would wreck Wax so bad. And that's exactly why it should happen. Am I a bad person? Yeah. Yeah I am. I'm sorry... But I'm really excited.

So, it seems that I missed a week, what with me travelling to meet Brandon and also happening to be rather supreme garbage. So, to make it up to you, TWO EPISODE END OF BOOK EXTRAVAGANZA. We're finishing this book in one long binge of two episodes. Let's do it, right?

Gosh dangit, Brandon. Stop killing people! You’re as bad as Bleeder is!

In which Current!Feather stays up late after working her two jobs full-time and part-time back to back to get this episode edited… only to listen to Past!Feather in the recording staying up late after working her two jobs back to back in order to read. Well. Some things never change.

On this episode, Wax and the crew are deep within their investigation of our mysterious antagonist, and trying to piece together the reasons behind her enigmatic actions. Meanwhile, the police are getting rather tired of putting up with all the Dawnshot’s antics, which honestly, seems pretty valid considering how much trouble he can be.

“Whaaaat? I’m so lost. What’s going on? Brandon, you’re yanking me! I’m getting yanked over here!”

After a brief break to let everyone gnaw on their new copies of Bands of Mourning for a little while, Splintercast returns to keep going through Shadows of Self! A quick reminder that there are to be no spoilers for Bands of Mourning or Secret history discussed in the comments, even under spoiler tags, until the spoiler ban is lifted. Thank you!

"I just need to give the God of the world a hug, okay? I'm just... I'm just gonna hug him. Anybody got a problem with that?"

Another week, another Splintercast!

In this week's episode, I flail over finding out more about our lovely villain for this book, squee over the reappearance of an original Mistborn trilogy character, and talk about the philosophical question of whether technological progression is inherently valuable. And of course, the most beautiful of fandom experiences: the sailing of a new ship.

This week, Splintercast continues reading Shadows of Self! The plot thickens, you hear more about Alyx's RP (because of course you do, this should be expected). And it's a long episode too: about fifty minutes long! You get a lot of Alyx this week. Too bad she couldn't write this. She said, "I'm too busy" and "two sixteen hour days in a row are the worst." What a slacker. (Just kidding.)

Be careful what you wish for, Alyx! "I'd love to see an awesome lady villain," she says. Heh heh... Yeah, about that.

In a shocking twist, a lowly moderator has hijacked the news feed from the treacherous admins to bring you all this: the return of Splintercast!

And this time, I, your intrepid hero FeatherWriter (also occasionally known as Alyx), am here to take on Shadows of Self! Perhaps a bit delayed... but well, hacking my way into the 17th Shard news feed is no small task. I thank you for you patience, dear listeners, and now we can get to the fun!

For those new to Splintercast, I record my reactions in real time as I read new cosmere books for the first time, then edit them down to one cohesive, crazy listening experience. All in all, you can expect a good deal of running theories, in-the-moment commentary, shipping, crying, celebrating, and yelling at characters when they're dumb. And Steris appreciation. Someone has to appreciate Steris Harms and I am just the fangirl for the job. It's its own brand of craziness, but also a lot of fun.