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I've been thinking it was monumentally irresponsible for him not to have his weakness in safe hands somewhere to be exposed if he went bad. Like criminal levels of negligence. Maybe Tia knows it or has it secured somewhere, but if I had been him, the moment I went bad, it would have been broadcasted across the country to shut me down.

This seemed apropos: http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/22z03d/yay_im_a_stick/

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? Frankly, part of me was rooting for the Parshmen to rise up and slaughter the slavers (i.e. all of the Alethi, etc.) since the entire society is basically built on it. But, of course, let's make them also evil so it is all justified in the end: "This defect of character would alone justify enslaving him, if he is to remain here. In Africa or the West Indies, he would become idolatrous, savage and cannibal..."

Coming out of lurking - Just finished second reading... On the first reading I hated the book. On the second, I started to like some of it... 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". Don't kill off characters and resurrect them. It is annoying and the worst sort of deus ex machina. I think it is fine to occasionally kill of a main character, it means the stakes are really high and makes you want to root for your favourites, but to bring them back at the end just undercuts all of that entirely. Jasnah is so one-dimensional it almost hurts (I suspect she has Aspergers), and Szeth played out his role - so losing them made sense. Second, the mediocre - the characterizations: Kaladin should have more depth. He is defined by his one conflict of hating lighteyes and Amaram and now that is gone, so what sort of interest as a character will he have remaining? Shallan isn't a cohesive character: she is super-intelligent; her "wit" is shallow, obvious and annoying; a Radiant; ruthless; far too capable without any life-experience, etc. Jasnah is a typical Brandon Sanderson atheist strawman. I know he loves putting them in there to expound on grade school philosophy endlessly page after page... Third, the good: I like the way Taravangian and the Ghostbloods are the "ends justify the means" group, much like Amaram. The idea of his compassion and intellect being on a see-saw makes it pretty interesting as well. I'd love to see it carry through the entire series, but I suspect they will be in open conflict with the Radiants most of the time with resolution before the end. Some of the fight scenes are pretty well written, especially those with Kaladin and Szeth. Anyway, overall a pretty decent read, but not as good as WoR.