Zea mays

My loopy theory on honorblades and heralds: The bond between Herald and blade is somewhat analogous to the bond between spren and knight: That is, some part of the Herald's cognition/sapience/sanity is tied to the blade. They cannot remember themselves and function properly when separated from the blade for too long. They "go stupid". Maybe the blade has a cognitive aspect (gah, as if I even have any idea of what that means).

Barti just delivers his musings like an actor giving an aside comment in a play. Quite smoothly, actually.

For a while I have been listening on and off to a very comprehensive history of the ancient world, covering the vast area from ancient Rome to China. For a change of pace I decided to check out the Bartimaeus trilogy I have been hearing good things about. The glory of this series is the hilarious snarky narration by the title character (performed magnificently by Simon Jones in the audible version). I think Bartimaeus read the same history book as me. He kept making references to it. What I was not ready for was the ending. Are (so called) YA authors allowed to do that? No, no, talk amongst yourself now, I... I've got something in my eye.

Welp, maybe it's the epigraph for chapter 61 Right for Wrong "In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving." I had always thought that was foreshadowing Eshonai's character arc, but maybe it suits Szeth better.

As I remember the scene, Shallan did have proof of her identity : the copy of Jasnah's span-reed conversation with Navani. Kal only let Shallan into the room once that has been read and confirmed.

Sorry, I never heard about that at all. Now I wonder how much more tantalizing wild Oathbringer information is lurking around on this Reddit. Have an upvote for spoiler tagging though.

Whoa, whoa, whence comes this info?! Also, shouldn't stuff like that be hidden under, you know, spoiler tags?

I hope somewhere in Oathbringer we get more information about the parshmen's general, er biology, or life-cycle. Sooo many questions. Do the Alethi breed them? Where are the little parsh-babies and parsh-children? What is their life span? Do they age at the same rate as humans? Do they lactate? There was apparently some hybridization between Parshendi and other Roshar peoples in the past (There's a WOB somewhere), so presumable they can't be too different. Maybe there was a 'nearly human' form.

I am trudging my was through the Rye-Era* Revelations series by Michael J. Sullivan. S'okay I guess. I like some one of the characters. * Ok OK, it's actually spelled Riyria, but that's how the narrator pronounces it.

Don't you just wanna hug that thing? I hope it doesn't have spikes.

League of Dragons is out today. Even in that Universe, Bony can't win forever.

I've just listened to Cursed and Taken, respectively, book 2 and 3 of the Alex Verus series. I do not know if I will continue with this one. It's happened. I found a series that does not utterly suck, but can be put down. I don't know, I just haven't really gotten to care about any of the characters. I do not know what makes me care deeply about some characters (random sampling: Kaladin, Kvothe, Snape, Lawrence and Temeraire, Lirael, Lyra&Will) but not so much about others. Alex Verus is alright, but he's not nearly as fresh and crisp and snarky as Harry Dresden, and he really suffers in the comparison. It's not that Jim Butcher is a much better writer than Brandon Jacka - they seem basically on the same level. I do not know what it is. It sounds better in French: Je ne sais quoi. Meanwhile, (while waiting for League of Dragons) I'm listening to The History of the World in Six Glasses, which is delightful. So far I've learned how beer jump-started civilization, and Wine refined it. Eventually Coca-cola will lead to it's downfall, but that's several millennia away and I won't hear that part 'till tomorrow.

Just watched The Force Awakens. Poe Dameron is soooo Ace Rimmer. I hope someone smoked him a kipper.

The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams was as much fun as remembered. Also listened to The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (read by the author) which was quite sweet but also sad. Maybe I should check out Uprooted.

Well, besides The Order of the Stick, the two others I love are Gunnerkrigg Court and Unsounded. for those unfamiliar, GC is set in a gigantic mysterious school/magic laboratory/ industrial complex park and follows the lives of best friends Antimony Carver and Kat Donlan. It's slow simmering, but the characterization and gentle humor are excellent. I can't really do it justice, and it is a very strange world to describe. Be advised, the art in the first chapters is a bit rough, but improves in leaps and bound as the comic progresses. Unsounded is set in a fantasy world on a brink of war and is sometimes a tad NSFW. It's OK because it's art. The characters are very complex and (eventually, in the case of Sette) endearing.

Yeah, Tongue of Serpents in definitely the weakest link in the Temeraire series. I didn't really dislike it because A) Having happened upon some fan reactions beforehand, I knew going in that nothing much will happen, and It's set in Australia.

I finished the published Temeraire books, so now I have to wait... a month and a half for the next one. Having recently listened to the entire War and Peace somehow helped me enjoy the books more (especially the last one). All in all, good timing. Also Tor is doing a re-read of the series if anyone is interested. The Raven King, the final book of the Raven Boys cycle, came out on Tuesday, and it was quite lovely in a heartwarming nightmare sort of way.

Wow. Corn is Rosharan. I knew it.

I made further headway in the Temeraire world. I can't really stop reading a book series. How is that done? Maybe if it's utterly crappy and terrible... I think Eragon is the one book series I dropped. Anyway. Finished Victory of Eagles last night, and may take a breather before the next book, Tongue of Serpents (I was planning to take a breather after Empire of Ivory and then - that ending happened). Who am I kidding, I'll probably be deep into book 6 this time tomorrow. The only really tough decision is whether to read or listen to it.

I'm currently listening to The Jade Throne, the second book in the Temeraire series and find it rather enjoyable.

It's better if you can figure out how to get them all drunk.

I've been reading listening to the first three* Raven Cycle books by Maggie Stiefvater . Supernatural teen romance that is actually a good read. What are the odds? *The fourth and last book comes out next month.

This is a great idea. Do you have a link to Goodread's collection? I noticed that Krhart just uploaded his Apocalypse guard cover art on DevArt (along with some awesome Wax& Co art) Also, Breath Art posted his gorgeous cover to the Chinese edition of first Mistborn book (His WoK cover is in the collection Botanica posted upthread).

I was being unclear. Jasnah is correct, Nalan is the one who clings to mis-information.