Iarwainiel I

I think it will be amazing for Brandon to write from a Bastille POV - I wonder if the whole idea came about because he was intrigued to do so? She is such a great character, as is typical in his works. I too hope we won't be waiting as long for Book 6 (et al) as long as we waited for Book 5.

You will not be disappointed in the Alcatraz series at all. The books are delightful, extremely humorous, and hold up well on multiple re-reads. They even appeal to young folks who "only want to read manga!!" And it has been interesting to look at pictures of the cover of "The Dark Talent" and locate items that have been mentioned in previous books. Also, have you looked into Fishpond for ordering books? They ship from anywhere, to anywhere. I ordered the latest Half Continent book (Monster Blood Tattoo series by D.M. Cornish) from Fishpond, as it was only available in Australia not here in the US. Ordering was easy and I had the book within 10 days. You might want to check them out.

In WoR, someone (Mraize? Mr. T?) mentions a ruler / king in a city we haven't heard too much about yet, and describes that ruler as having "god-like abilities" or something like that. (Sorry - no time to look it up now; will come back and edit to add it later if I can.) I wonder if that ruler-person isn't Yesteel? Especially if they thought he was bringing dead bodies back to "life." BTW my guesses are usually way off, so take this with a grain of copper.

You know you're a Sanderfan when... you're listening to the close of the Republican National Convention (2016, here in Cleveland - hence my interest)... and in his acceptance speech, the candidate says he will "remember those who are forgotten" (or something extremely similar)... and you immediately wonder if he just took the first Edgedancer oath and will start Surgebinding any minute and talking to his spren about his "awesomeness"... after all, some people think he's already quite "slick" ** I trust you, Shardian friends, to not let this post get us off-track into politics. It just gave me such a chuckle that, in the middle of a real-world speech, my brain went immediately to Roshar.

I haven't read comics / graphic novels since I was a child (and dinosaurs roamed the earth). So I came to White Sand with a totally open mind - no expectations other than wanting to experience the Taldain story as Brandon was presenting it. I very much enjoyed the book, and gleaned more stuff on my 2nd and 3rd re-reads. I paid list price as I wanted to support my local brick-and-mortar (so happy thay had it on the shelf!!). I plan do the same with future volumes. IMO it's just a different reading experience - not the same as a novel, but enjoyable in its own way. Especially I liked seeing how the artist and colorist contributed to depict things we'd normally read as prose descriptions. I felt almost like it was a new language I was learning, developing skill in picking things up visually. Folks who've read a lot of graphic novels / comics / manga would already have this skill, but for me it was new and refreshing - I always enjoy learning new things.

I was kind of wondering if that place on the Mastrell's Path where Kenton fought the sandling would be the perpendicularity - like, maybe the Shardholder (Bavadin?) put the creature there to guard it? The novel does say that "no one knows how that deep sandling came to be isolated so far from the deep sands" - that's what got me thinking. Or maybe there's a path from there to the shardpool? But I like the theory about the symbol on the map too. Wishing the map was more detailed!

LOL! Is this where I'm supposed to say, "Oh yeah? You and what 15 other people?"?

Agreed, & here's an example: 1.3 million people flooded downtown Cleveland last week for the victory parade for the Cavaliers winning the 2016 NBA championship. People flew in from out of state (Kansas, the Carolinas, Boston, etc.) for the celebration! Sounds like a pilgrimage, eh?

Yes, me too - especially in the car. About the only time there's an opportunity to sing in public these days is the National Anthem at sports events; at baseball games, you get a bonus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "God Bless America" @ the 7th inning stretch. Come to think of it, I've read where sporting events in the US kind of fill the place that religious rituals do in other cultures ... perhaps the OP should add "Professional Sports" to the list of poll options for "Religion."

Wow I am going to have to come back when I'm not so tired and read this entire thread! I've just read a couple of the 19-thus-far pages, and have come to the conclusion that you all are amazing. This is how it should be: people respecting others who are different from themselves and learning about their beliefs freely, with no pressure or judgement. It is incredible and wonderful that we're so diverse and can have this type of (virtual) dialogue. For myself, I am a Christian/Protestant - have been since the 60s - but through the years it's been interesting to have friends with other beliefs (including atheists) tell me that I simply cannot be a Christian because "you're not like those people - you're normal!" I just believe in respecting others; IMO tolerance is not enough - do you want to be "tolerated"? wouldn't you rather be respected? I know I would, and it's up to me to respect others first. Sorry - don't mean to "preach" - it's just something I care about. Edit/addition: For Christians of any persuasion - Have you heard any of the "new Irish hymns"? Complex words, but the Celtic-style tunes are really catchy! And for others: I can well imagine that hymn-singing could strike you as strange. In western culture today, we don't sing routinely as our ancestors did or as other cultures do now. With MP3 players (and older technologies), music has become a spectator activity for us, like much of sports. Maybe someday it'll change back, but probably not soon. Interesting to think about...

I was working at the hospital where/when LeBron was born (don't remember if I cared for him/his mom or not), & I also saw him at a restaurant when he was 14 & had to duck to get in the door. (minor "brush with fame" there :-) I've lived near Cleveland almost my whole life, and in many ways the region's mood has been like Bridge 4 for a long time. In my heart right now, LeBron is like Kaladin at that battle at the Tower in WoK, where he just took the entire battle on his back and willed his "team" to win. Looking at that block of Iguodala's shot near the end, my heart just says, "Windrunner!" The Warriors are a fantastic team, & IMO the best 2 teams were facing off in Game 7 this year. So happy that the "drought" is over in the CLE. Enjoying the moment. Edit/Revision: Thank you gracious friends @ 17th Shard for not jumping on my unintentional faux pas re: Kaladin's Shash brand/former slave status.. It never entered my mind - I was driving to work and had a sudden, "Oh no!" moment. I have edited the title of this thread from "Kaladin" to "Windrunner" in hopes of averting any confusion. Humbly, - old aggie

I thought that too, but it didn't seem to fit any of the Gallery topics, since it's not something I actually made. Also, I was hoping wider exposure here would encourage others to look into getting their own Cosmere plates. If the Admins choose to "mallet" the thread or move it, I'll totally understand. Yes, but the sense of subterfuge is part of what made it fun for me: only Sander-fans will get the reference, others will just be puzzled. I admit, it was tempting to go with "KELSIER," but Adonalsium spans the whole Cosmere series of books; most everything/everyone else does not ... at least that we know of for sure. I suppose Icould have gone with "HOID" but ... well, what's done is done. Thanks everyone for your encouragement!

I've always thought that the Fallen World was Braize - that the people on Threnody world-hopped there (aided by the God Beyond?) when Odium took over Braize ... maybe not immediately when he got there, but when life there became impossible because of him. I know that others have theorized this, and there are points for / against on other threads. Maybe there were 2 levels of emigration: To Threnody from another world, and from a "mainland" on Threnody to the island/continent with the forests. That could be why there's confusion in how it's worded. Just an idea - what do others think?

Wanted to share the tre-cool Cosmere license plate I just ordered! It was a difficult choice between "ADONLCM" and "ADNLCM" with the Superman logo (so happy we have that here in Ohio!). I went with the superhero. That means, in Ohio, the full 7-letter version is still available for another Sander-fan. My car and I can't wait till it arrives!

I did try making a choice - I've said "No" / "Stop" every way the thing will let me - but it just keeps coming back. Need help from the Admin Obi-Wans. :-(

Overall I like the redesign very much - it was obviously a lot of work, especially to keep everything intact yet make it all new. Kudos. The one thing I absolutely hate about 17s-4 is how the "Do you want notifications?" box pops up EVERY TIME I GO TO A DIFFERENT PAGE! UGH! It's acting like a cat: "Do you want notifications now? OK, how about now? Then how about now? Come on, you want these notifications now, don't you? Here have some more notifications! ..." and on and on and on. Other websites have something like this, where they keep wanting to know your location. I frequent those websites as little as possible - usually only when I have to for work research. Please, please stop with the notifications. Give us a setting where we can turn it off or something. You might have done this already, but I don't have time to wade through 10 pages of comments on the redesign to find it. It should be opt-in; i.e., the default setting should be "Notifications OFF."

I still think the whole ideology sounds like Minbari beliefs from the Babylon 5 TV series: "...that the universe itself is sentient, and that the universe has the ability to break itself into many pieces and invests itself in every form of life" (quote from Wikipedia page on Minbari Religion). Maybe JMS got his idea from Spinoza too - I have no idea.

Xaladin, I have thought this same thing. To me, the title "Old Magic" feels like pre-Honor/Cultivation, and (just my opinion) it feels like a square peg in a round hole to see Nightwatcher's boons and curses as "of Cultivation." Other posters in this thread make some great points about how Cultivation isn't just about things growing, but to my mind it just doesn't quite fit: Cultivation should end up with a net positive outcome, and Nightwatcher's plus/minus dealings seem like they have a net neutral (or zero) sum. I am really looking forward to learning more about the history of Roshar - maybe there'll be some hints in the upcoming anthology that will give us a better clue about the Old Magic.

Quiver kinda beat me to it, but I'll go ahead and say it anyway: I'm calling Tony Stark for a redshirt, by the end of the 2 Thanos movies - - either that, or he'll have some kind of major health issue that will send Iron Man into immediate and permanent retirement (and possibly reunite Tony with Pepper?). Very much enjoyed Ant Man, Spidey, and Black Panther, and especially all the humor! I love it when the movie is so new that everyone in the audience still laughs out loud at the jokes. :-) I liked the movie and will probably see it a couple more times. No, it's not superb, but it's way better than I expected.

I searched the database, the Google doc, and these forums, and can't see where this has been asked before, so ... here goes: True or False: "Mister Suit" does NOT have that nickname because of the style of his clothing. I expect the answer to be "True," because I think "Suit" refers to something mathematical, or something related to a deck of cards, etc. The other names for this group, that we know of, are "Sequence" and "Set." That's what got me thinking that "Suit" might not relate to clothing. I apologize if this question has, indeed, been asked and either answered/RAFO'ed. If that be the case, someone please reply here with a link to the answer. Thanks!

I liked this film. Maybe it's that I didn't have many expectations: I haven't read comics / graphic novels since I was a child long ago (though that will change soon with "White Sands"!). I also haven't seen the recent Batman movies (saw the first one with Christian Bale; the others seemed too much like horror and I don't do horror, just not my thing). And I intentionally told myself not to expect a Marvel Universe film - I really love those, so didn't want to set myself up for disappointment. Maybe that mindset helped me to like BvS. I thought the casting was great, especially Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman - she is perfect for that role! I loved her joy as she leapt into battle. There's one point that Sander-fans, specifically WOT fans, might appreciate: Am I the only one who thought of Lan and Demandred when Maybe that ploy has been used in other movies/books too, but I'll always associate it with AMoL. Finally, there was a short part of the music, right near the end, which sounded very close to Zimmer's score for POTC. Maybe it's that I listen to POTC often at work (speeds me up!), but it was a glaring similarity and kind of cool. If you have a chance to see this while it's still in the theaters, it's worth it IMO. I went on discount day and skipped the 3D, so it wasn't much $$. My 2 cents.

I heartily agree with the recommendation for the Powdermage series by McClellan. He started in one of Brandon's classes at BYU (jokingly says he took it over and over as many times as the school would let him :-), and he writes solid characters in a well-constructed world. He also publishes e-book novellas and short stories independently - Orbit is letting him do it! - so that's a quick & low-cost way to check him out. "The Girl of Hrush Avenue" is a good place to start, or there are several stories collected in "In the Field Marshall's Shadow." Peter Clines' series, Ex-Heroes, is fun: superheroes + zombie apocalypse. Good characters, light humor, and great action sequences. The Silo series by Hugh Howey is really good. He started off publishing the first section of "Wool" as a free e-book (you can tell how green he was as a writer, but it's not annoying, and the story draws you in), then as the series grew in popularity, he got picked up by a publisher, etc. You can start with "Wool" - I think it's still free or maybe 99 cents - but keep in mind that Howey's writing skills get way better as he gains experience. The Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer is easily the weirdest thing I've ever read. In a way it's horrifying without being "horror," and even at the very end I wasn't sure I understood what was going on. Very much worth your time. Finally, a good source for book ideas is the Big Idea posts on Scalzi's blog, whatever.com. In each post, an author explains the "big idea" that inspired a particular (new) book. Some are sci-fi but many are fantasy - you'll be able to tell from the author's description what it is. Happy reading!

I find it difficult to not think of the climate of the continent / islands as being controlled by where it falls on a globe - like, our own poles are cold, while the equator is warmer. But isn't Roshar's climate is more dependant on the highstorms than on the planet's geography? Anyone have a WoB on this? (I know I could search, but it's nice to have discussion. :-)

@ Landis963 (#38) - Yes, and what I'm theorizing is in addition to that. We know TLR messed up Scadrial's climate by changing its orbit, so I think Brandon won't have worlds where the laws of nature don't apply: i.e., he won't make a huge planet far from its star like our Jupiter and have human beings living there normally, breathing air, drinking water, walking and talking, etc. So therefore if humans/humanoids are living on 3 planets in the same solar system, all 3 planets would need to be about the same distance from their star. The orbits wouldn't need to be exactly the same, but ... For plot purposes it would be way interesting if less technology was needed to go from world to world; something simpler than going from Earth to Mars or Venus. That's what made me think that the Cosmere planets might be in the same orbit, spaced out from each other. I don't think we have a WoB or anything specific saying the 3 planets you mention aren't in the same orbit, and IIRC we don't know for sure if any of the other planets (like Scadrial and First of the Sun) are in the same solar system as each other (though a different one from Roshar/Ashyn/Braize). I remember reading that we will be getting an interstellar map in one of the upcoming books - looking forward to that!

(I'm not an astrophysicist, so please forgive me if this is actually a dumb idea.) IIRC, two or more Cosmere planets are in the same solar system. What would happen if two planets were in the same orbit but opposite each other, and people from one of the planets went up in a spaceship and just stayed in one place - i.e., their planet moved on in its orbit and left them behind? In a half year's time (whatever that would be), the other planet would come a-rollin' down the pike, as it were. So all you would need to do, to "travel" to another planet, would be to go up, escape your own world's gravity, and do minor position corrections for half a year before attempting to land.. As long as you had enough food and life support, it could be easier to go to another world than we might have thought. If this scenario doesn't fit with the situation for First of the Sun, might it fit for two (or even three) of the other Cosmere planets?