kaellok

"Odium reigns." Said by the Stormfather to Kaladin in The Way of Kings, Chapter 46: 'Child of Tanavast', p.648 hard-cover. A Shard other than Odium being the Broken One referred to in the epigraph just doesn't make any sense at all to me at this point.

I'd read it. ....that means nothing, though. If Brandon wrote it, I'll read it.

I think that this is less likely to be true on the whole, even though I would expect there to be more representatives of it than just Moash. iirc, Sanderson has said that stories where there are no real heroes are not ones that he is interested in writing; everything he has written so far would seem to align with this so far, at least. SA will certainly continue to play with how different moralities can cause people to feel that they are in the right and working for the same goal, even if they are in direct odds with how to achieve it. I would still expect there to be mostly sympathetic characters acting in traditionally heroic ways that get the vast majority of pagetime. While there would still be conflict over which characters the readers like best, I think that the question of who is in the right and who is wrong will continue to be one of lesser importance. (For instance, there's been great debate about Szeth and Mr T compared to other characters, but from what I have seen that is usually from the viewpoint that what they did is monstrous, but perhaps necessary for survival. I would not expect to see Kaladin or Shallan or modern-day Dalinar in that same light.) As for my thoughts on how the Cosmere arc ends, I think that it would have to directly deal with Adonalsium's Shattering in some way. After all, that event created ripples that caused every major event in the Cosmere, which caused every slightly less major event, etc. Whether this means that Adonalsium is re-formed, or the Shards come together in some new manner, or all Investiture gets spread evenly throughout the Cosmere is really impossible to predict. But the thing that started everything will be one of the core strands that wraps everything up, too. In a smaller way, I see this being played out with the Recreance in the SA series. The state Roshar is in is largely as a result of the Recreance. Resolving the major issues facing the planet will require greater exploration and resolution of what caused the Recreance to begin with. Even if it's just people slowly losing faith (as suggested in Oathbreaker), then the struggle will be to give people something to hold faith in when all hope is gone. That strong central cause will have to be resolved in some way for a satisfying ending to the sequence. Spoilers for Wheel of Time which help explain what I mean a bit more

Guess I had been away from the forums a bit longer than I remembered, but like so many others feel flattered by the mention Also like so many others, unfortunately, plays are not so much my thing. I do really like language and find the way that it is used to be interesting, though, so I'll comment a bit on that. Most of the angel's dialogue I am rather fine with, to be honest, even if it is a bit long-winded. In general, it lends itself immediately to a majestic and grand speaker in my mind. I would recommend that future edits should try to ensure that the near-rhyme scheme going on continues, as there are a few places where it doesn't happen that it is expected (like in the 2nd scene, discussing about the 2nd festival the king is throwing; rearranging the sentence would have made the scheme work, while as-is it breaks the flow somewhat). It's possible that the angel is not needed at all, but at least for now it serves a useful purpose. I do think that if you keep the angel, you should remove the "Heavenly Voice'. Leave it as a booming sound that is heard, but not understood by any humans present; the angel can simply bow his head, and then say something like, "As you command, Lord. The sinner who is Your servant's servant shall be the instrument of Your wrath." The guards, guests, Haman, and Mordechai all talk very similarly. In my experience (which is legit limited to our world and US Army customs), soldiers in the field will not be so proper with their language, even if they are guarding the general or speaking directly to them. Contractions are one way of signifying this, especially ones which clip words. For instance, "We've been sittin' 'ere for five bloody weeks, and ain't accomplished a damnation thing. There ain't no money, there ain't no glory, and there for damnation-sure ain't no end in sight." I had to do a double-take with the 2nd scene, as I thought that the guests were the guards. Changing between 'low' and 'proper' language-use can help to make it immediately clear that they are different characters if you get someone like me who is maybe not great about reading each and every word but just sees a 'gu' and assumes it's more guards... I'm not very familiar with the story of Esther, which I have seen others mention that this play seems to be a retelling of. However, I can say that seeing Mordechai transformed from the honorable and conquering general to a literal servant certainly seems an intriguing development. Could it be a more permanent change in employment status without upsetting the story? Hearing that it's only a 6-day punishment lessens this, however. So far you have done very little with presenting a picture using words, allowing it to be formed by the audience's mind instead. What you have done, though, has still left a fairly strong impression in my own head of how things look. Plays and other scripts will usually have a bit more details added, though, especially for KEY CHARACTERISTICS or THINGS THAT STICK OUT. Use that to give a more definite idea of how each of the characters look different than the others. This is especially important as so far we are seeing the story unfold mostly through the eyes of people present on the outskirts of major happenings, but not central figures in them. Haman signing the contract with Mordechai is obviously a big deal, but we're seeing it through the guards, and not through Haman or Mordechai. All in all a fantastic start, and I hope that my suggestions are more helpful than not.

Sja-anat is an unreliable source. So, they could be telling the truth to Shallan--which would make me assume that Sja-anat had lied or deceived Odium about Shallan's nature. Or Sja-anat is lying to Shallan. When I first read that section, I felt certain that Sja-anat was actively involved in the deceit one way or the other. I still feel that way, even if I have changed my mind which way it goes a few dozen times since then. Odium's knowledge can only be as good as his sources of information are. Mr T is actively hunting and using the Unmade in order to gain information; it seems highly likely that Odium would be able to be aware of this, and thus know to keep a close watch on him. It's also possible that Odium can See the Investiture of people, and thus know that there is at least one Herald constantly around Mr T, and so the area is worth watching--until it is discovered that Mr T is worth paying significant attention to individually. This would inevitably lead to knowing everything about the Diagram and Mr T. Foresight is said to be of Odium, and it certainly seems likely that Odium is quite good at it. However, Odium would still need to know where and how to look; so if his sources are bad or unreliable, he will not necessarily know to do so. That is represented by the very disconnect between what he knows and what he doesn't that you highlight.

I mean, it's possible that these are allusions, but seriously--these names are NOT uncommon or unique. For instance, Azir is also a major city in the Pathfinder RPG, from a campaign setting book released in 2009. Ashe was a main character in Final Fantasy 12, released in 2006 (considering it had a playable demo released in 2005 6 months after the release of Elantris, and had been in development since 2001, it is highly doubtful that there was any influence at all between the two in determining the name). It's also a real name that real people have. Shen is apparently a Chinese word for "god", "deity", or "spirit." Graves is a somewhat common last name in the real world. Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease named after the doctor who described it. Talon Karrde is a Star Wars expanded universe character that's been around since at least the early 1990s. Voidbringers appeared in vanilla WoW as summonable demon minions for warlocks, as well as enemies, starting in 2003? 2004? There's quite a few other examples for these names, too. Whether there is an intended connection or not, I do not know--but speculating on the basis of name alone would only work when there aren't other examples that pre-date both the Sanderson works and League of Legends.

i liked him better in WoK and WoR. In OB, we find out how stupid the Diagram's point really is--fight annihilation by capitulating to its author? The question before was, "Wow, I wonder if Mr T's alternate method of saving the world, in comparison to the Radiant's, will actually work!" Now it is, "Just how many people will be killed because of this useless plan?" Really not understanding any love for Mr T's long-term plans post-OB.

What about Sylpatterdin?

I've always thought that the rattles are necessarily chosen by Odium and co, so much as concurrently heard by them. Slight Warbreaker spoiler (And a side-question: what would happen if Nale used his healing fabrial on someone as they were having a death rattle?)

I think OB suffers too much from "middle-book syndrome" to be the best. Add to that general expectations for it to be better than WoR which was better than WoK, and it feels worse by comparison than it actually is, imo. Also, while WoK and WoR have some truly wonderful scenes, in my mind OB only has some wonderful moments. Those moments don't last as long as a scene, and so my feeling of wonder and awe don't last as long; when I go back for a re-read of them, the moment is quickly found and gone again. WoR has Shallan with Hoid when she's a child; Shallan and Adolin go to the Zoo with Kaladin, plus Hoid!; and of course the Chasm Scenes, which is one of my favorite scenes written in any book ever. WoK has Shallan going mad from being stalked by spren, and the Battle at the Tower. Both have their small wonderful moments, although nothing compared to Dalinar's "I am Unity" or Teft's "I will protect those that I hate, even if I am the one that I hate the most [paraphrased]". WoK is strong and great, and while I'm in general more upset at WoR than I am with WoK because of reasons I went into at great length after its release, I love it for far more reasons. OB is a fine book, but imo a solid 7 standing next to a couple of 9s.

I find it incredible to believe that at no point between Aharetium and the Recreance that Honor never told the Radiants, "The Heralds lied, and Desolations are not over--they're only paused." He created the set of incredibly elaborate illusions for a future Bondsmith, but didn't spend even a couple of minutes in a time period to be measured in +/- thousands of years? Like, Honor took the time to freak out the Radiants that their unchecked use of powers when he was dead would destroy the world--this happened, according to OB. But that was while he was dying. Prior to that he just let everyone chill and think things were done and good? I don't buy it. What probably really happened (as I've mentioned in other threads) is that there were a large number of things coming to light at once that hit each of the Orders differently, in a specifically calculated way that would result in them losing faith in themselves. Windrunners finding out that the Bondsmith was going to lobotomize an entire race of people that were actually the original inhabitants would probably do for them, but I don't see Lightweavers caring all that much about it in comparison (sure, maybe they would think it was a bad idea, but stuff happens). Dustbringers especially I don't see casting aside their faith and their Oaths because of either of those actions. We see how the Urithiru coalition was brought low through a perfectly coordinate plan of attack, and Kaladin says that he doesn't think it was any one thing happening which caused the Recreance. I'm convinced that the Coalition Collapse occurring in the way it does is an attempt to give readers context of how the Recreance happened. While I think that there was more to the Recreance than what we have seen (because what we saw doesn't make a storming bit of sense), without actually seeing the context of how the revelations played out and what the Radiants were actually like it will always seem like some sort of nonsense. At least with the Coalition Collapse and Kaladin's Thoughts(tm), we are reminded: the old Knights Radiant were people first and last, and there was a great deal of politics involved as well. The Recreance needs to be analyzed through that specific lens.

The parsh were the Dawnsingers. Near the end of tWoK, Honor says, "A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain. And...without the Dawnshards...Well, I have done what I can. It is a terrible, terrible thing to leave you alone." (Note that the ellipses are part of the direct quote.) I had always taken it to mean that the Dawnshards were some ancient and powerful weapon that the humans had--but knowing who the Dawnsingers actually are, and reading the few sentences with that lens, it could also mean that the Dawnshards had been in service to Odium, but something was done by Honor to prevent them from being used (easily). It's a bit of a stretch, but I think it's plausible that the Dawnshards were Voidish in origin, but Honor blocked them away. @Stormfather-in-Law, I'm not convinced that the Shards are being taken in order to be wielded. They're still fairly significant amounts of Investiture, and Odium seems like the kind of person petty enough to go to extreme lengths to defile and destroy the remnants of a powerful foe that thwarted him for a long time. Honor might be dead, but His power isn't gone, and Odium is probably doing what he can to make sure it doesn't pool back together again.

@Ookla the Obtuse Thanks for the clarification! My own post evolved a bit as I was reading yours and some replies, but I kinda started off with the wrong assumption and then tried to build backward to be compatible with both. Towards Szeth, that was an embarrassing typo; I meant to say that he believed what he was doing was wrong, but did it anyway. I disagree with your interpretation of Elhokar being willfully ignorant, though. True, he is king, but hardly a powerful one. Each Highprince has a substantial portion of power and influence over shaping the nation, irregardless of what the king wants or demands. Elhokar has likely been surrounded since birth by those that want to use his position for their own gain. It has been the rare occasion where Elhokar is able to see that a different path is even possible to be walked. I don't want to derail the thread into talking about Szeth too much more, as I was only mentioning him to show an arc where I simply do not believe that it is possible for him to ever earn the redemption that it is fairly clear (storytelling wise) we will see an attempt at. Already the gears have been set in motion for the arc to continue forth. The contrast I see with Szeth and Elhokar is that one of them knows the proper path, but allows himself to be diverted onto a path that is wrong or dangerous with terrible outcomes for the entire world--and to me, it matters not what those reasons are. Elhokar is only barely beginning to be aware that that proper path exists, and wants to walk it. Perhaps he wants to for the wrong reasons, especially at first (as evidenced by the quote you share from WoR), but by OB it is fairly clear that he thinks he is doing what is best for his people. Even with his huge blind-spot of Aesudan, even though he is wrong, he still thinks what he is doing is right--and because he does not trust himself, he has laid out a contingency plan to see to it that the right thing is done regardless. That, more than anything, to me shows that he has earned at least the benefit of the doubt of redemption. Did he succeed in it? Was he done? Was there more that he could or should have done? Yes. Moash decided to not let him, though, and story-wise, this was the right decision.

In OB, Shallan asks Pattern what he thinks of Hoid; Pattern responds that Hoid seems like one of them (spren). Spren act according to their nature, unless they have been corrupted, and in that case, they act according to their corrupted nature. I think it likely that the Heralds are very akin to a corrupted spren at this point. With all of the Investiture imbued within them and millions of people that literally worship them, plus millions more that revere them in different ways, I can't see how that wouldn't have made an impact on them in a similar (if lesser) way than how the Stormfather was changed by the same belief systems.

I had read the one sample chapter from Kaladin waaaaay back when on his trip to Hearthstone, and that was it. I had very carefully avoided any place that might have any potential spoilers for the story, so that way I could get a fresh read and clean experience. There is a lot to be said for how knowing the general path a thing takes and some of the twists and turns to expect can lead to a greater enjoyment of a thing--but there's also a lot to be said for going in completely blind and experiencing it for yourself first-hand for the first time as it is happening. When I can, for things that I am 90% sure I'll love, I try to do it that way. After all, I can always read the book again or see the movie again to get the 'familiar' experience. SO, I had no idea Vivenna was in OB. But at this point I knew that it was someone from Warbreaker-land like Vasher. It wasn't until Nightblood was talking to Szeth about Vivenna that I realized who it must be. Finished book, came to boards, saw that I was actually right--and had missed about a dozen other Worldhoppers (or maybe more).

It's lovely seeing a thread like this when there's a few with hundreds of replies seemingly doing nothing more than attacking Shallan. I like Shallan a lot because we have had similar childhood experiences and developed similar coping mechanisms. (OB she went quite a bit beyond me, though, so there is that.) What I consider to be the best scene Sanderson has ever written, and I think one of the finer scenes that anyone has ever written, was because of Shallan. Of course I'm talking about the Chasm scene in WoR. Take anyone else, real or imaginary, and replace Shallan with them--and the scene suffers for it. As @Ookla the Grey said, Shallan continually inspires people by showing them who they can be. What an amazing thing! When I have been the most depressed in life, one of the main thoughts was "I don't know how to be other than who I am" (which is actually sad-funny, because who I am changes depending on the situation and who I am around, but mostly I was meaning that I don't know how to not do that). I imagine that I'm hardly unique with those thoughts, and here comes Shallan showing people that they can be different and better. Shallan is driven to do. Even as a child she was doing things to make life better for her brothers. Now she is doing things to make life better for most of Roshar (sorry-not-sorry Fused). Oh, and Pattern. Still the best spren, and I don't say that lightly-- Syl was my favorite character in WoK.

(Just as a note: I'm not sure what you're saying or asking for us in your edit in the first post. Are you saying you want us to evaluate whether Elhokar is deserving of redemption? Or that you want us to evaluate whether Elhokar has earned redemption?) I think that Elhokar is deserving of the redemption arc that he was given. We see very clearly as far back as WoR that he knows things are wrong and that he isn't the person the nation needs, but he doesn't know how to be that person. Every action he makes, every sentence he speaks in OB is directed at being the person that is needed, but taking into consideration what will happen when he fails. Not if; when. He himself makes that distinction so very, very clear. How anyone can say that someone who knows that they have done wrong and is actively doing absolutely everything that could possibly be expected of anyone to be better isn't deserving of any redemption at all is shocking to me. In comparison, I personally find the Szeth redemption arc to be one that I have a hard time stomaching. The man willfully and wantonly committed murder and brutality on an unprecedented scale because his religious beliefs demand that he do what a man holding a rock said. Szeth did not think what he was doing was wrong; he predicted the chaos and devastation that would come. And he did it anyway. For me, if someone cannot recognize what they are doing, I will judge them less harshly than if they can. Ignorance is not an excuse, but it can often be a mitigating factor. It can be incredibly difficult to know how to walk the path if there is no guide (or worse, thousands of poor guides). To know the path, and refuse to walk it? No matter your intent, no matter your goals, no matter the end result--I will never forgive them. Was Elhokar's redemption complete? No. But I really do believe that he had been acting on it in very real ways throughout the entirety of OB; he had paid the first 100 pence of a 10,000 talent debt to refer to the conversation @Ookla the Obtuse and @Lightning were having. His debt was so very large and he was ill equipped to pay much of what he owed, but he had definitely shown that he was wanting to pay it to the people who he owed the most--the citizens of his country. If he hadn't, then he would still be alive, in Urithiru.

Wait. Does Lift think that he is awesome, or amazing? THE WORD MATTERS! If she thinks he is awesome, then she thinks he's a Radiant, and since he clearly isn't at that point then everything she says should be discounted and mistrusted (although even liars and fools tell the truth sometimes, whether on purpose to trick us or on accident). On the other hand, if she thinks that Hoid is SynonymOfAwesomeButNotThatSpecificWord, then it means that either he does not have a nice butt, or she was not able to see it, and her judgment on that specific matter may not be final. When is the next signing? We need an answer regarding this soon!

Also @FuzzyWordsmith I've been looking at this thread every now and then, but haven't voiced my opinions because of a few different reasons: 1. The conversation moves fast, with lots of active updates. Why am I going to drag the conversation back to something that was active 3 days ago, and 9 days ago, and 2 weeks ago, but is on something completely different right now? 2. There are a lot of people that are anti-Shallan on this thread. They have different reasons for it, whether based on the writing, or the romance, or just not liking her as a person, or what have you. How they feel is fine. But I fought this fight in WoR to get people to have a better understanding of what was occurring with Shallan, and I just don't feel like fighting it again, certainly not when the feeling is as entrenched as it seems to be at this point in this thread. 3. The most active posters have generally the same opinion, with only disagreements on relatively small things. I have not read the entirety of the thread, so maybe I am getting that wrong. There are entire pages that I didn't even glance at. From what I can recall, though, the people still actively posting in this thread are by and large the ones that have been throughout, and there hasn't been any major change in thought throughout. Nobody is going to change their mind. No sudden understanding will occur to make them look at things in a different light. 4. People probably really do see this as primarily a romance thread because that's what the title HEAVILY implies. 5. Looking at how heavily upvoted many posts are makes it harder to make counter-arguments, especially weeks after the fact. In case it wasn't clear, I'm not faulting anybody for anything at all--y'all are doing nothing at all wrong. I'm just explaining why I have been reluctant to post in this thread, and since I'm insanely self-centered, I assume others not posting or not posting much in this thread are doing so for similar reasons.

Except that Rysn decides that she does want to have the ship and go traveling. Also, that was her mentor's wish for her, right before he was brutally murdered in front of her eyes; I'm sure that she would want to honor his memory by fulfilling his wish for her. On the other hand, it could be very interesting to see a Radiant who is also a paraplegic, but I don't think that an Interlude character would be the best way to explore that possibility. A Skybreaker or Windrunner would make for some very interesting contrast--someone who can fly, but not walk.

I like this theory, except that if Rysn were to become a Bondsmith she would be able to heal her paralysis--and then she would be stuck in Urithiru, when what she really wants is to travel. Although, that would make for good character development as she struggles with that and...yes. I have changed my mind, I just straight up like the idea of this theory (even though I find it unlikely).

snipped some bits to reduce space, keeping those that seemed to encapsulate the core argument. Apologies if I removed something crucial that makes the rest lose necessary context. First off, I may not have directly quoted Kaladin and Syl's conversation, but I DID directly reference this conversation AND the parallel it has with breaking the Urithiru Coalition in my post on Page 1 of this thread. Second, I find the whole "we stole this land from them in the first place, so we need to kill our friends and let their gods murder us!" sentiment to be hogwash. Humans been on the planet for literally thousands of years at that point; maybe even thousands of years after Aharietium. The context of the Eile stele is that the Dawnsingers were commanded to welcome the humans, and they did so. The strong inference we can draw including that information is that there was a place set aside for the humans to live, which is incredibly likely to be Shinovar. If we assume that Shinovar is the reservation set aside for humans, then it could make absolute sense for Radiants to abandon their fight against the parsh save to keep Shinovar safe, secure, and free. Even then I find that an incredibly extreme reaction. For how long must a people be punished for the sins of their ancestors? 100 years? 1000? 5000? Even longer? Sure, the parsh definitely deserve to be free, and not enslaved. They deserve to be a people again. That does not mean that it's right to consign humans to annihilation. That doesn't mean that it makes sense for people who, at their core believe Life Before Death as their motto decide to murder and walk away from a conflict just because their ancestors started it some many thousands of years ago. Maybe, knowing that, they should--talk? Yeah, talking would be good. Or they could abandon all non-Shinovar nations; that would make sense. But no, they could see no way to reconcile their Oaths, and so instead they killed their friends, leaving them abandoned in the ground, and made seemingly no attempt to even try to bring them back later. The reason for the Recreance has supposedly been given to us in OB. It is lacking context that would make it an emotionally or logically satisfying reason, and so has been utterly underwhelming to at least me. The context that people have been trying to give to it, as hinted at in OB itself, does not fix any of the problems with the Recreance prior to the big revelation. We're still left with a few thousand people dedicated to Life who, within a short span, decided that it was either too dangerous to exist (because supposedly they will destroy the world again if they do, although we have no idea how or why), or that they had no right to exist because of something humans did thousands of years prior. Again, I say "hogwash!" I'll continue to be disappointed and underwhelmed until we get the Real Answer 2.0 in Book 4. Or Book 5. Or Book 10. Or maybe never, because this is all there is (but I very strongly doubt that).

A massive amount of the Stormlight was used by Shallan and her illusions, though. A couple of squires to fly around and help Lift and Szeth get the gem means that the illusions can be ended sooner, saving Light. A few more to help Kaladin can mean he doesn't take such a beating from the Fused. A final couple squires to help out Renarin means maybe he only gets squished once instead of thrice, and also they open the Oathgate to allow reinforcements sooner rather than waiting for Bridge 4 to come and help out because they should never have left in the first place. Air superiority is the primary way that the US military controls a battlefield. The enemy has done a fairly poor job of this so far, but even so it has enabled them to completely change the nature and course of battles. It's implied that the battle for Kholinar was largely a one-sided rout because of the fliers, while it would have been a much more even engagement without them (even given the thunderclasts would have ensured their victory, if they only had ground troops it would have been bloody and costly).

In that case I'm in agreement with you. On a local level there is definitely some shielding precedent being made, especially with regards to Radiants being outside of the normal order of things.

I read WoT, and nearly all of the books more than twice (for awhile my summer ritual was to re-read the series). However, THE "Cardinal Sin of WoT" that should be learned from is to always be wary of unnecessary bloat: just because it would be neat to show a scene from this characters eyes, or because it's easier to show this plot point using that character instead, doesn't mean it's a storming good idea to do so. Yes, OB is a thousand times better about this than, say, Winter's Heart, but it is actually worse than The Great Hunt was. The Interludes make for amazing built-in places to have those world-building scenes that could not be fit in easily to other places. I love them for that. I dread seeing the continued evolution of an increasing number of viewpoints for scenes that are truly unnecessary. None of the Bridge 4 viewpoints were actually critical for us, as readers, to see; the events happening in them may have been important, but us actually seeing those events as they happened? Pure bloat--even though I loved seeing Teft say the Words, and it brought actual tears to my eyes, and I loved that moment, it was completely unnecessary to be seen, and its inclusion has caused some "This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules were they doing? moments, ala, why did Bridge 4 abandon Thaylenar just before it got invaded?" In a 1200+ page tome that was missing key scenes that I would have expected to see due to the anticipated emotional payoff (like Jasnah returning--holy letdown Batman), the choice to include scenes that have not been implicitly promised to the reader concerns me. At the time I read it, tWoK was my favorite, and I think post-OB it still holds up as the strongest. The prose in each novel Sanderson publishes continues to improve over the previous novel, which is truly astounding, and there are a ton of points that I love in OB. However, these moments feel isolated, like a paragraph in this chapter, or a line in that one. WoR still has my favorite entire scenes, even if Kaladin's character arc is identical to the one in tWoK. The resolution to some major plot-threads in OB feel inadequate or incomplete, and storylines that I was hoping (but not expecting) to see more on were entirely ignored (eg, I am 90% sure at this point that we will never know what happened for Shallan to Bond Pattern at such an early age). In general, my expectations from the Stormlight Archive as a series overall continues to slowly ratchet down from 10/10, to 8/10. OB gets a 7.5/10. It had great moments, and was a thoroughly enjoyable book that added a lot to the series and to the Cosmere as a whole. However, it missed what should have been some easy wins by not even trying for them, and what should have been major and shocking revelations ended up feeling incomplete and lacking in emotional resonance.