Iarwainiel I

I'd love it if he came to Cleveland! But usually if his tour has an Ohio stop, it's in the Dayton area because folks on his core team have family there, and the value he puts on family is one of the reasons we all love him, right? It's a good 3-3.5 hour drive from the CLE to Dayton, but easily do-able. Even if I go to the BYU release party (hoping so!!!), I'd probably still go to a Dayton / Ohio event, just cause it'll be smaller / more personal, and to show support for Brandon in the eyes of the publishers & bookstores.

Have an up-vote, GatorGirl! I noticed the first one, but not the second one. Also, when Hippolyta says something to the effect that "wars don't make heroes," I immediately thought that Mad Ben Styke (from Brian McClellan's Sins of Empire) might disagree. :-) The lump in my throat when WW climbs out of those trenches and into no-man's-land is exactly the same as the one I get reading about Bridge 4 and the Battle of the Tower. This is such a great movie!!

@ Alfa - IMO it's not typical / trope. Arden, the "farmer boy," doesn't discover he has powers - he figures out stuff about the in-world magic on his own. His plot arc is a little similar to Kaladin's in that he suffers due to betrayals, but his character/personality aren't similar to Kaladin (no depression) - just the plot. The books do a good job illustrating the real costs of life in societies that run by "an eye for an eye," and (again, this is my take) and contrasting that with how communities that work together are stronger and can overcome evil and tragedy better in the long run. There's also a theme of self-sacrifice. The down-side, and this is a big one that has generated a good deal of controversy, is that Brett routinely uses rape as a device to move his plot forward. As I said, the series is a "strong-R" and not for everyone. hth

Another place you might look is the "Big Ideas" posts over at John Scalzi's blog, The Whatever. Scalzi has authors guest write the posts, explaining what the "big idea" behind their book was, right around the book's publication date. You can usually tell if it's something you're going to like by what the author says about it. Most of the books are sci fi/fantasy. If you're into mysteries, each of my two favorite series had new books in 2016: Strange Tide - the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler (octogenarian detectives in London; some paranormal undertones) Scents and Sensibility - the Chet and Bernie series by Spencer Quinn (Narrator POV is the dog, Chet, and he is delightful! But start with book 1, Dog On It) Happy reading!

Surprised no one has mentioned The Core by Peter V Brett - it's due out a month before Oathbringer. [Note: This series is "R-Rated" and it's what they call a "strong R" - - I skim or skip parts of it 'cause there are images I don't need in my mind, but I'm invested enough in the story to need to know what happens, you know what I mean. People have mentioned the violent tone of the books to Brett, as he is a family man, but he feels this is the way he wants to write, and the books are way popular. But he's no Brandon when it comes to worldbuilding or characterization, IMO.] I'd say I was looking forward to McClellan's next Powder Mage book, Sins of Empire, but it's already out and It.Is.Awesome.

Pagerunner thank you for starting this thread! I'm actually hoping to come to this release party, so it's helpful to me as I begin planning. "November 14th midnight" could be taken 2 ways, and now I know which is correct. Since I'm in Ohio, I usually attend his Dayton events - I had a blast coordinating the "Tour Archive" thing** for the WoR signing! - but going to an actual release party is on my "bucket list." Plus, with the rate at which these SA books come out, and since I am kinda old, ... let's just say I don't want to let this one pass me by. Does anyone know if they're still doing those pin giveaways for people in costume? It would be a Bondsmith pin this time. Hope to see many of you in November! [** If there is another "archive" project this time, or anything like that, I can share some tips and insights I learned during the WoR one, especially with how to communicate with the bookstore's event planner so that they're totally onboard with what you're wanting to do. By the time Brandon got there for our WoR Dayton event, the bookstore lady herself was leading the festivities for me! She had a lot of fun herself, and it made my part so much easier. And gotta say, Extreme Kudos to the Shard-er who put that whole thing together - it was a ton of work for her, but I know Brandon really appreciated it, and it really gave a feeling of participation to the signing even more so than usual.]

Funniest book I've ever read: "Big Trouble" by Dave Barry (http://www.davebarry.com/book-page.php?isbn13=9780425239476) I read it when it was first published in 1999, and I have no idea if it has aged well ... but I here's what remember: I could see the comedy coming - knowing for sure what was going to happen - and when it did happen, laughing hysterically anyway. When does that ever happen? Funniest part of a book (not the whole book): There's one part of John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" that is the #1 funniest thing I've ever read, hands down. I will NOT spoil this here (and don't anyone else do so either! :-) ... when you read it, you'll know. Funniest part of a new book: The part near the end of Brian McClellan's "Sins of Empire" where Celine tells Ben what happened ... (trying to avoid spoilers). I must have read this 10 times, and every time I laugh till I cry. Out of context, the dialogue would seem very, very odd, and that makes it even funnier. If you haven't read SoE, you should check it out!

Soundtrack from "Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them" Specifically, about 5 minutes into track 15. (I'm not naming the track because spoilers, just in case.) Cannot get that tune out of my head ... I've been humming it ever since seeing the film for the first time. Brings a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat every time, which isn't too convenient at work but it's worth it. Might be one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard - - so simple, so poignant.

BTW - There's a similar topic/thread under the "Entertainment" forum, and IIRC it has posts newer than 2014. = = = = I wanted to add a comment re: Stephen Lawhead, who someone mentioned above. I have come to the conclusion that he's good at worldbuilding, mythology, and characters, as far as setting up his story, but he is just terrible at bringing his series to a satisfying conclusion. Examples: Taliesin and Merlin were fantastic, but Arthur - not so much, and the tag-on books after that were pretty bad. Likewise, The Paradise War and The Silver Hand were delighful, but The Endless Knot was a disappointment. (I'll skip the awful Celtic Crusades series - all of it was bad.) Most recently, His Skin Map series showed such promise - I was so excited that he was finally writing something worthwhile again! - and then ... and then, The Fatal Tree. Would someone write some fanfic to replace that book, please? It was just awful: Main characters.simply.died - no explanation - and what should have been the climax scene was so blurry that IMO it was just a mess. I think he was trying to replicate the end of C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, but ... FAIL. I really feel bad for him; I understand that he's a very good person - a friend of a friend knew him in college. But if I were a publisher, I would really hesitate to give him another contract. He's been active for over 25 years; if he were going to improve, seems like he'd have done so by now. = = = = On a happier note, to avoid disappointment, I highly recommend the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy by D.M. Cornish. It's a tween series (viz, early-Harry-Potter), but the worldbuilding, characters, and art are just amazing. If sci-fi series are an option for you, I have never been disappointed in anything in Scalzi's Old Man's War universe, likewise for Mark Van Name's Jon and Lobo series (first book One Jump Ahead). So nice to discover authors (like Brandon) who don't disappoint - we Sanderfans are (happily!) spoiled.

Such good news!! Dalinar is also my favorite - he is unlike any character I've ever run across (admittedly I don't read as widely in genre as some of you do). Re: the cover: I think we will be lucky to see it in August - - September is a better possibility, if the timeline is similar to Brandon's other books. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on these.) The WoK cover (Kaladin's flashback book) showed Eshonai and Dalinar. The WoR cover (Shallan's flashback book) showed Kaladin and Szeth. If that pattern holds, Dalinar will not be on the cover of Oathbringer. So who do we think will be? Shallan? Jasnah? Adolin? Evi (Dalinar's wife, aka "shshsh")? And if the pattern holds of showing a protagonist and an antagonist (or at least a seeming antagonist at the time), who would the other person be? Nalan? Taravangian? Mraise? It'd be cool if it was Nightwatcher - her curses could seem antagonistic from the protagonist's point of view. We have 11 months to prepare for the release by rereading WoK and WoR, plus Edgedancer.

There are 4 Dalinar flashback segments in the new "Unfettered 2" anthology, edited by Shawn Speakman - it was in Friday's news here on the 17th Shard: http://www.17thshard.com/news/brandon-news/dalinar-flashbacks-in-unfettered-ii-and-stormlight-fan-film-r309/ IIRC, you can only get "Unfettered 2" as an e-book at this time, because there's a delay in the hardback. In Brandon's introduction to his chapter, he says that these 4 segments are not 100% final - he has been reading them at signings, but his team hasn't finished analyzing them for continuity. So they might change a little before we see them again in "Oathbringer" next year. He also says (correctly) that these flashbacks contain no real spoilers for SA3 - they just develop the character Dalinar, showing us how far he has come, and give insight into the Alethi Thrill. hth

Agree with the rest of you: This is the Blackthorn we expected, surprised there aren't more comments on the forums on these chapters (almost a week post-e-pub!), and also liked the info re: Ryshadium. Seeing the Thrill in full-action here makes it very clear that it's evil / of Odium. I wondered if Dalinar "seeing red" is related to the red lightning of the Everstorm and the red-lightning spren that transform Listeners into Stormform. I was also interested in reading about another one of those "huge glowing figures" that stalk the highstorms. I think we're supposed to wonder if it threw the boulder at Dalinar, but what if it actually prompted him subconsciously to move so he didn't get hit? Some have theorized that the glowing forms in the WoR chasm scene were Unmade, but IMO they just don't feel ominous - in both instances, it seems more like an air of mystery and a little awe. Could they be a different kind of... Now the long-but-worthwhile wait till November...

The new teaser trailer for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" !!!! And the dozens of "reactions" videos are fun to peruse through as well - - the thing I love most is the diverse ages, races, and genders of fans who are so keyed up for this one movie. May 2017 caNOT come soon enough!

I sooooo want to read a scene with Lift and Wayne. That would be the absolute best. Also (I might need to correct this later when I've got my book handy - going from memory now), I keep telling my cats that I've got "lunks for smalls."

@David_Fonti - This is amazing! Literally, at 1:21, tears came to my eyes ... Dalinar is the best! Also, BTW, I work for a (tiny) company that does video & animation, and the guys here say the animation is awesome. Hoping to win some new Sanderfans.

I know that the prevailing theory re: the "glowing figures" is that they are - or are of - the Unmade. But I agree with @ccstat that it's only "prevailing" because we don't know enough at this point to come up with alternatives. To me, the tone of the scene is one of awe, not horror, and I've never been quite comfortable with the idea that we'd seen Unmade. But that's just my perception; I don't keep up with all the Reddits and Theoryland posts like many of you do. We know that the Sleepless have been watching Szeth - have cremlings been mentioned in his scenes at all? Or has anything else been mentioned (not a cremling) that might indicate it is a hordeling? Maybe we won't see these until we get to Szeth's book. Re: Jasnah: Maybe the Sleepless don't spy on her so much because she spends time in Shadesmar? Maybe they can't follow her there, or don't know where geographically she will emerge? Or something related to that ... if anyone else can expand on this idea (or debunk it), please feel free. Does anyone know for sure if Arclo or any of the other Sleepless will be in Oathbringer?

What about the 2 "enormous" "glowing" figures "striding the storm" in WoR chapter 74? They must be important, as that description is the chapter title. Might they be Dysian Aimians, and Investiture from the storm makes them glow somehow? I really don't think they're all made of cremlings - we haven't had such detailed descriptions of cremlings anywhere else before.

We know Arclo is "made of" cremlings, but does it necessarily follow that all other Dysian Aimians are cremlings too? What if they are plants - shalebark, or drop-deads, or even grass? Or what if they're skyeels? or ...? etc. Just don't want to see us box ourselves into a corner too quickly. Then again, I think I remember Lift saying that, the further west you go, the weirder the cremlings are - and Aimia is in the west - so maybe it is just cremlings. Oathbringer cannot come soon enough!

"Five friends I had, and two of them snakes." (FYI - They are real snakes, not a metaphor.) (This is the first sentence of "Godric" by Fredereck Buechner.)

Interesting theories from everyone. One aspect I'd like to throw in is to keep in mind that Odium is the Shard of Hatred (per the Coppermind). My feeling is that Hatred wouldn't stop at any boundaries. While Rayse's first goal is to splinter the other Shards, once that was accomplished the Hatred would find other objects ... any object ... until there was literally nothing left, just like the vision that Honor showed Dalinar: all the world disintegrating into dust. If that happened, would the corresponding things in the Cognitive Realm also disintegrate? right away? or over time? I keep having the feeling that there is something else about the Heralds ... a twist different from what we'd think ... like maybe that they are evil, and deserve the punishment they endure between the Desolations, and that their time on Roshar serves as a kind of "parole." I have to keep myself from pondering too much - I don't want to spoil my enjoyment when the books eventually get published.

What about actors from the Philippines? (Are there any?) Their heritage might be similar to what many of you are thinking re: Alethi. That said, even if the production company "fast tracks" the movies, it could well be 5 years or more before we see anything in the theaters - point being, all the actors we're discussing might be tool old for these roles by the time they actually film. Yeah, I know they call it "dream-casting" for a reason. ;-) I know a bunch of people who would enjoy Brandon's stories SOOOO much, but they simply will not read or even do audio books. It would make me super-happy if movies gave them a path into the Cosmere. For myself, though ... I would probably not go to see any of these movies, preferring to keep my experience of the Sander-verse in the written format to preserve what the settings and characters look like in my own mind. (I have never seen any of TLotR/Hobbit movies, or even looked at production photos, and I do not intend to do so - 18+ times through the books is fine for me.) Please understand that I'm only speaking for myself. I'm very happy for others' enjoyment and I'm solidly in favor of widening the fanbase via films/TV and will encourage everyone I know to attend. Question for the group: You don't think that Brandon will let the narrative in the movies get "ahead" of what's in the books, do you? - like GRR Martin is supposedly doing with Game of Thrones? I can totally get how the plots might diverge. between the 2 mediums, but I really hope Brandon always does the books first. I remember how Straczynski's "Babylon 5" story arc kept getting changed because of production challenges, casting problems, etc. I'd hate to see the Cosmere epic modified or controlled by anything other than Brandon's imagination, and IMO books are the only way that can be 100% assured.

Thanks Rasarr. Obviously, I'm not into comics ... I haven't even seen all the X-Men movies.

I know this thread is "dead," but since it's about a TV show on "Legion," I wanted to put this info here. I just found a listing for a "Legion" TV show (2017) on IMDB that - if it isn't Brandon's show - sounds enough like it that maybe he should call a lawyer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5114356/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1 This is the Storyline provided: "David Haller, A.K.A., Legion is a haunted man, with power beyond comprehension. His power does not come free, as it comes at the steep cost of David's mind. Plagued by numerous split personalities, each commanding a different aspect of his power, David is trying to find his way back to sanity but he's getting tired and is about to give up until he meets the girl of his dreams." Under Trivia, it says the show is connected to the X-Men / Marvel universe. Brandon's name is not listed anywhere in the extended production information. Peter, if you see this, would you care to comment?

In the same scene where we see the face in the image above, I think there is a second face. I rotated the book/page 90 degrees clockwise so you can see it better. To me it looks like a young child's face, or maybe a female character. If there are 2 faces in the same image, they can't both be Bavadin / Autonomy, can they? I'm finding more in the rocks too, now that I'm looking.

First, what an amazing job by Hayley Lazo. The last drawing of Alcatraz in the book (page 280 in my book) is just perfect. How someone could depict such complex emotions so perfectly in a relatively simple line drawing is beyond my understanding. Words fail me. Hope you all agree. Second, how about the Potted Plant as the author's photo? I think that was mentioned in each of the other 4 books; don't recall it in DT but maybe it's there too. @ hafje & others: "the ritual at the end of the book" - Biblioden was making a "blood-forged" lens, right? Like used by Dark Oculators and Scriveners Bones? My question is, will Attica's Smedry Talent affect what the lens does / how it works? I also wondered if a similar fate befell the "Smedry family" that Dif/Biblioden killed to create his false story and infiltrate the Free Kingdoms, like maybe that's where the evil lenses in Book 2 came from. How horrible. @ Sand Master: "in the same way as becoming a Smedry gives you a Talent, now it also makes you an Oculator" - Great theory! Also, I totally missed "Thesaurus" - thanks! @ zas678: "his name's similarity to Dilaf" - Wow I missed that ! Good call! @ Dramatus: "When Alcatraz looked into her soul..." - Absolutely agree with you. Both Shasta and Atticus are portrayed as extremely complex characters, especially for a tween novel. I love how Brandon raises the bar and doesn't write "down" to that audience - they are quite sophisticated. @ junior: "has Brandon Sanderson been holding that little item in reserve since book 3?" - I just reread the series before starting DT, and there are penguin references in every book, in some way or another, but none as blatant as the one you caught in Book 3. @ Lightning: "Biblioden's backstory! I mean, sinking an entire continent of followers?" - Atlantis is my guess. @ LeftVash: "...stealing Pratchett's footnotes" - Thanks for this, as I didn't know Pratchett used them. I know Brandon admires his humor, so how fitting that he'd honor Pratchett who recently passed away (last year IIRC).