Dunkum

personally, i'd argue it is at least unclear so far whether the vision fits are related to his epilepsy or just how that surge works for his rather unusual case. as you say, we may know a bit more as we see Rlain explore his bond, though even there it isn't guaranteed, since he is a Listener and not a human. either way, the eyesight healing satisfies my point

I think we actually see a bit of this with Renarin, where his condition and eyesight are healed when he bonds his spren.

Don't have the patience to try to form this into proper sentences/paragraphs, so here are some thoughts, just sort of strewn about: General: as others have noted, animals and text both tend to feature heavily in existing tattoos, as do patterns. I'd expect this to carry over, with the addition of things like Spren on Roshar. ROSHAR I'd imagine Greatshells and some of the more interesting spren to feature heavily. Storm motifs as well. Not sure about shardblades - they look cool, but tend to be owned by the wealthy, and I could see some nobles getting upset if you tattooed their blade on your body. likewise I could imagine shard bearers tattooing their own shards, but then what if you lose it? duelists in particular seem the most likely to do this and the most likely to face consequences of it. Glyphs would probably feature pretty heavily in Alethkar, and in probably in other nations as well, if they have been at peace with Alethkar for a while - sort of like getting Kanji tattoos. they are very picturesque. IN Vorin nations, I'd expect symmetrical designs and patterns to show up pretty frequently. things like Irish knots (Vorin knots?). Among Women (and others who aren't forbidden to read) I'd imagine Keteks would be relatively popular the way poems or bible verses are here Among sailors, luckspren and skyeels would probably appear a fair amount. Axehounds and horses (especially ryshadium) would probably also be pretty common Knights Radiant getting tattoos of their partner spren wannabe KRs getting better-known oaths tattooed SEL in Arelon and its surrounding areas, Aons would almost certainly be popular especially ones like Aeo (bravery), Ata (grace) etc. in Fjordell, their equivalents may NOT be common, because the Dakhor monks would likely consider it an insult. in the Rose Empire it may vary. Seals used in Bloodsealing would probably not be used very much, but the ones from forging may SCADRIAL the metallic alphabet symbols would likely be popular. Especially the Allomantic and Ferruchemical symbols for Pewter (for strength) and, to a lesser extent, Tin. others, especially the ferruhemical ones, may get some use as well: e.g. F Gold symbol representing Health. Among survivorists, i wouldn't be surprised to see Tattoos of scars on hands. Once available/if possible, I expect Metallic looking tattoos would prove popular as well. NALTHIS Hallandren tattoos would feature lots of colors. I considered whether they might also have upscale ones using the artisan's script, but I think sin color changes too much for that. not just person to person - a 3rd heightening artist could compensate for that, but I mean things like blushing or veins being more or less prominent from day to day whcih could alter the shades and mess up the meaining Idrians probably don't get a lot of tattoos, and if they did they would probably just be basic designs in black THRENODY Given the extreme risk of blood when poking a person with a sharp thing, I doubt tattoo technology gets very far on Threnody until modern eras.

yes, yes, and yes. off the top of my head, we have seen Hoid do the following "on screen": Some are easier than others. for instance anyone can receive breaths and learn to do awakening, and anyone can bond a spren assuming they can find a willing one (though leaving the rosharan system with one is harder). others are trickier - pretty sure accessing Selish magics require modifying connections if you are not from there. though things like Hemalurgy and unsealed metalminds can help too.

Just Nalthians. but anyone is capable of receiving a breath if someone from Nalthis give it to them

been slowly making my way through Tad WIlliams's "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" trilogy. it isn't bad, but it just isn't grabbing me either. I'll try to finish it but part of that is just because I don't have anything else I'd rather be reading right now.

I can see that - Tress takes itself a bit less seriously. also Hoid is more actively involved in Tress, as opposed to Yumi, and that can help a bit as well because it sort of internally makes more sense that he would be talking about it. but as I recall (and its been a bit since I read either) he was also adding a lot more commentary in Tress, so for me at least it was more distracting. it more or less works sometimes, but there is definitely such a thing as too much.

He wasn't quite as bad in Yumi as he was in Tress. I think he more or less works in the storytelling segments in Stormlight, but those are much shorter - not long enough for it to become grating.

I'd probably pick this order over the one Brandon suggests in the other response - I think keeping the secret projects at the end of the current books works best, especially if you are trying to catch connections the first time through. but some notes: note 1: I agree with Brandon about Elantris being one of the weaker entries, and probably wouldn't start with it. Mistborn or Warbreaker would be my choices instead (I think Mistborn was actually where I did start so many years ago). that said, I agree with the list, if not necessarily the precise order, of the pre-stormlight books. note 2: personally I don't like the idea of jumping back and forth between Stormlight and Mistborn Era 2. I mean, i read them as they came out so I DID do that, but I wouldn't do it that way again. so if you'd prefer to read through one series before jumping to the next, then I'd have to recommend Mistborn Era 2 before Stormlight. there is not a huge amount of intersection there, and most of it comes from book 4 of Mistborn era 2 if memory serves, so if you wanted to retain something like the level of surprise that you would have had reading them as they came out, you could theoretically do SA 1-3 (including Edgedancer, and maybe Dawnshard if you want, though it can go later as long as it is before Stormlight 4) then Mistborn Era 2 (including Secret History where he puts it relative to those books) then Stormlight 4. but if you want to spot all the connections as soon as possible, then Mistborn Era 2 comes first. EDIT: i looked it up and I had the release order for Rhythm of War and The Lost Metal backwards. so to revise my note 2: to keep the surprise aspect you would do all of Stormlight before all of Mistborn Era 2.

do you know how similar The Narrow Road Between Desiresis to "The Lightning Tree"? I got the impression looking at it that it was essentially an expansion on that story to some degree, but I haven't actually read it to compare.

I was exaggerating some, but there are definitely a few people I have met for whom it seems to be a pillar of their identity and they will hear no ill spoken of it. my experience is just completely at odds with the line "no one is pretending it's the best thing ever" personally I think it's fine, and I'd probably like it a bit more if not for the sort of hype that surrounds it. but I also have plenty of gripes with, so I land firmly in the "overrated" group on that one. but part of that is just that it did get so much publicity. Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and A Song of Ice and Fire are probably the only fantasy series that are even slightly comparable on that front.

this baffles me. who have you been talking to? because every HP fan I have ever met DOES seem to think it is the best thing ever, and they will go on about it at length. its a fun enough series, but that level of hype is unsustainable.

huh - I'm not surprised about wine, but I was curious what WOULD make a useful disinfectant. based on google results, even most hard liquor isn't concentrated enough. you pretty much need to jump to grain alcohol or other types of things sold specifically for having a lot of alcohol.

Didn't realize Jim Butcher had finished a second book in the Cinder Spires series until I saw The Olympian Affair at the book store this afternoon, so starting on that today. I liked the first one well enough, but I read it so long ago that I barely remember anything about it or the setting. ideally i'd give it a reread first, but I don't have it on hand. if I get too confused i'll just look up a synopsis or something to refresh my memory

I'm firmly of the opinion that any time anyone suggests hiring J.J. Abrams for anything, they should just play the "somehow Palpatine returned" scene to remind them why that is a bad idea.

hadn't seen that one before. for what its worth I suspect it would work better in the proposed book than in the other 2, because that one IS his own story. his interjections were distractions in the other 2 in a way that wouldn't be the case there.

Not sure how controversial this is but: I don't like Hoid very much as a story teller. his little interjections can be amusing, but he jumps in too much with them and it hurts the flow of the story. very minor spoilers for 2 of the secret projects (probably unneeded at this point, but doesn't hurt to be careful):

calculus is....fine. Abstract Algebra is great though. I could do proofs all day. but not Linear Algebra, too many matrices - the worst thing in all of math

haven't read that one, but i've read a few from him and I didn't think any of them were quite as good as Tigana. not bad, but also never quite reaching that height.

the prologue says he has an "unusual weight" which I always interpreted as meaning he is heavier than he should be, but I'm having trouble finding other references in Warbreaker to his weight. they might be there, but i'm skimming through the physical book, so easy to miss them if they are.

not disagreeing, but grape is worse.

I don't think this is all that controversial. ther are few solid ones, but for the most part any enjoyment I get out of christmas music is highly tinged with nostalgia for when I was little I don't think this is controversial at all. grape is second only to licorice as a bad flavor

it makes sense, though i'd have to reread a fair bit to see if I agree. part of the problem is that we do tend to get a very limited amount of Seanchan perspectives, so its harder to gauge how consistently they are written.

Can you elaborate on that? i don't remember feeling like Brandon didn't handle the Seanchan well when I read it at the time, but if it wasn't as glaring as his first few Mat chapters then I definitely could have missed it.

yea, something like that would definitely put a different spin on it. if i'd been going in expecting that, i might have been a bit disappointed too. it would have flavored the read a bit differently at least