Iarwainiel I

"Bondsmith" is perfect - thank you for thinking of this! Chadwick Boseman's death is a shattering loss. Speaking only for myself, "Black Panther" was the one MCU storyline that I was excited to keep with going forward; for the rest, I felt such deep closure after "Endgame" that more movies seem anticlimactic, at least to me. So now I think I really am done with the current MCU, and I'm fine with that - I'm also happy that others will enjoy future movies ... actually, it will be kind of a relief, not having to radically avoid spoilers, LOL! One thing that amazes me & I have a lot of respect for, is that someone HAD to know what was going on with Boseman's health, and NOone leaked it to the press: not the healthcare workers (we can say "of course," but it would have been tempting), not the cast or crew (wardrobe, limo drivers, assistants, even food service - they must have noticed things), no one. They all respected his privacy, and in this day & age, that's a remarkable testimony to what they thought of him. "Black Panther" was more than a movie - it was a phenomenon, and it makes me proud that it was the sci-fi/fantasy genre & community that gave this phenomenon to the world. We are the idealists who can imagine a better world and work to bring it into being. Wakanda forever!

Not sure if anyone else has suggested this yet but ... Why are we assuming it was the Ghostbloods that were hunting Ialai & eventually killed her? Maybe it was, but there are at least a couple other secret societies that might have wanted to see the Sons of Honor eliminated. (Waiting for these preview chapters is teaching us all patience, LOL!)

I'm re-reading the Hunger Games trilogy; also been wearing my Mockingjay pin; still need to get some gold eyeliner to wear.

@Goatbringer - TAY: Lift? Is Zahel Lift? ME: *laughter* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Tay, thank you SO much! I needed a good deep laugh today & you came through for me Also - - if she likes Pattern, what will she think of Wyndle?!? Thanks so much for sharing these with us Goatbringer! !

Agree wholeheartedly @Weltall - Mahler too, & IMO a bit of Bruckner, tho not sure Williams has said anything about the latter as inspiration. (Glad to find a fellow classical fan here on the Shard - I suspect there are a lot of us! These forums are the best - I find out about new music etc. all the time on the Entertainment threads!)

This made me think of what John Williams said, back in the day, about the soundtrack he composed for the very first (1977) Star Wars movie. IIRC, he said that he chose to use symphonic music, instead of techno/synthesized, because the movie was otherworldly enough on its own - to have futuristic music would distract from the film itself. He felt that the traditional music would help people (remember it was the 70s) feel more at home/at ease in "a galaxy far, far away." I wonder if Brandon used American-sounding names for a similar reason - like a touchpoint of the mundane in the middle of a fantasy story. Interesting point!

Reading books (including audiobooks) allows me to co-create the characters' appearance and costumes, and the scenery, and everything else - I get to make up what it looks like. In that sense, I feel like movies stifle my creativity. I first read the Rings in the 70s, before there were any movies, and for my personality I'm glad it happened that way. Still haven't seen the movies or even allowed my eyes to focus on any photos from them: I want my Frodo, my Gandalf, my Bag End, my Rivendell, etc., to be the images in my mind, not someone else's no matter how good. However, I am SO glad that the movie versions were high quality and have expanded the fandom now & for years to come - happy to have all of you in the Middle Earth tribe!

I vote for either BigSkellyBois or RockySkellyBois, and I defs vote against Kalinar -- ewwwww; plus that would be sad because Kaladin especially in WoR really needs Dalinar to be a leader and father figure; remember that part before the army departs and But Tay's reactions are just so off-the-wall, and that's what makes this thread so fun! I am still SO eager for her to meet Lift! but that Interlude is a long way off. Total respect for Tay and all other schoolteachers in these challenging times! and parents and children as well! They all need superpowers!

@Kasimir That Parker 45 looks awesome! What are you inking it with? Glad to see that I'm not the only fan of Goulet Pens & the Nibsmith here on the Shard - it's a joy to support small businesses that have such great customer service!

I use them all the time for just about everything - writing meeting notes at work, grocery and to-do lists, correspondence, etc. I rarely use ballpoints anymore - only when I'm needing to press through copies (which you should *never* press when writing with a FP - that has been a learning curve, LOL, but worthwhile). You can get a decent FP for just $5 (Platinum Preppy or Jinhao Shark which is shaped like a shark!), so it's easy to give it a try & see if it's for you. They usually come with a couple ink cartridges, so you don't have to buy bottled ink right away. I like writing with FPs because once you get the hang of it, the writing experience (even for a left-handed person like me) is just so *smooth* - the pen glides over the paper. Also, there are literally hundreds (thousands?) of colors of FP inks to try! Some of them have shimmer (sparkles) and/or sheen (where the edges of the lines dry a different color, like red edges on teal ink). I love color! so FPs feed that need. FPs can last for decades, but you have to fill them with ink (that's where the name "fountain" comes from - they have a little reservoir of ink inside, unlike a dip pen like a quill or calligraphy pen). The more you write, the faster you use up the ink, so how often you need to refill is gonna vary. Some FPs tend to dry out if you don't use them every day; Platinum brand pens are known for not drying out (I have 3 & it's true). And if you use a FP all the time, you need to do "maintenance" on the pen every couple of months, like flushing the nib with pure water to prevent it getting clogged. Re: losing them - that is a concern. I use a pen sleeve in a pocket in my purse to keep them safe & keep them upright. Might be better to start with just using them at home, at first. I tell my friends that FPs are the "new hipster item," though I'm no hipster by a longshot. I hope this helps, & I do hope you give FPs a try!

I caved too, but at a different task: I decided to not do a full reread of the previous 3 books. I don't have the time (thankfully I've been very busy at my job, working at home through this whole pandemic - makes me a bit sad, but it's the right choice for me now), and I've read them all several times already. What I am doing is reading through: (done) All the chapter epigraphs (I copied them into a separate document and have some of them reorganized per their citations which is a very interesting exercise...) (done) All the Interludes (done) All the Prologues / versions of the night Gavilar was murdered (in-progress) All of Dalinar's visions But I am going to discipline myself to not be here on the Forums so much for the next few months, just in case anyone guesses something that turns out to be a spoiler. It's going to be even harder to not cave for the Shard, but I did it for Oathbringer so I know I can do it now. Happy reading!

I totally understand - I am the same way with skimming. I did the Harry Potter books via audio, and I was replaying bits all the time to catch things I missed. Re: White Sand - I know the graphic novels are canon, but reading the non-canon prose version was IMO really worthwhile & helped me get more of an idea of who was who, character-wise. Just a tip in case you do find the graphic version to be an issue. Press on! You WILL finish Warbreaker!

@Odeem - Are you open to just skimming it, not reading with your full attention? That might work. The first time I read it, I disliked both Siri and Vivenna a lot. Reading it again a few years later, it seemed to me that those 2 female characters were what they needed to be for the plot that Brandon wrote, but neither of them nor really any of the characters in WB are up to his usual standards of creating characters. I never felt like I got to know them or develop any kind of sympathy/empathy for them like I did with Kelsier and Vin and Dalinar and even Alcatraz Smedry and Spensa. The WB characters seem to be more at the level of the characters in the White Sand graphic novel - kind of not well defined. Just my opinion; YMMV of course. Hope you can see it through; it does get better in the last 1/3-1/4 of the book. :-)

That is so interesting! It's like she sees Adolin in a similar way to how Kaladin sees him in the book. And I think she (like most of us, probably) is going to be surprised at these two personalities. Plus, what we learn about Adolin throughout the book makes his actions near the end even more shocking (but satisfying too). (Also, you're right & I was wrong about them meeting for the first time; but in WoR they actually get to know each other. so that's probably where I got confused.)

Is there a Shardpool in France? Sure looks like it! http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200730-the-fosse-dionne-frances-mysterious-underground-spring Worldhoppers - Coming to your area soon! (Just kidding, of course, but wow would the Fosse Dionne ever make for a spectacular Shardpool!)

Good question. I skimmed those parts (mostly the part about Felurian), and was still able to understand what was going on. (I haven't read all of WoT, so can't compare for you.) I liked the first 2 books very much, and the novella about Auri, and the piece in an anthology about Bast - read each of then twice at least, and I feel they are worth reading. That said, personally I feel that Rothfuss will never actually complete book 3 and end the series - it has been too many years, and the story is too complex to wrap up in a single book and still keep the level of storytelling as high as it very much was. So I actually sold my books a couple years ago while decluttering. If book 3 ever is published, I'll pick up paperbacks then to reread. Life is too short (at least mine is) to keep waiting and waiting for a book the author seems to have lost interest in writing. My opinion; YMMV of course.

Thanks @Karger ! I wonder if Brandon's "both" means [bring + awaken/unleash], or [awaken + unleash]...

I just re-read chapter 1 of The Way of Kings, and I was struck by a couple things - the prevalence of the color red in the decor, when the Kholin color is blue, and the description Szeth gives of a "new rhythm" played by the Parshendi drummers: "...like a quartet of thumping hearts, pumping waves of invisible blood through the room." At least twice in the first 2 pages, he uses the word "revelry" to describe what's going on. The red might relate to something else, but the rest of it (to me) kind of screams "Heart of the Revel." What do you all think?

What are Tay's predictions for: Will any rock lobsters be involved in the book? What new spren will make an appearance? What new spren would she like to see in the book? ("Spren" is plural in both questions - i.e., more than one.) It's probably pretty obvious that Kaladin and Adolin will eventually meet - when that happens, will they be friends? enemies then friends? friends then enemies? or ??? Not re: a prediction, but I canNOT wait to hear her response to the Lift interlude!! Thanks for sharing all of this with us! :-)

I don't know where to post this, as it relates to Brandon's website not the Shard, but hopefully someone will see it & let the Dragonsteel folks know. (I could not find a "webmaster comments" function on the site.) The word "rhythm" is misspelled in the text at the left on this rotating banner image on the home page: Could someone (@Chaos maybe?) please pass the info to someone who can fix that image? That's all - thx.

Beginning my Stormlight reread today. Hoping to relish it, not rush ... like that's gonna happen. I've made printouts of all the chapter epigraphs from TWoK and WoR, so I need to add the epigraphs from OB to that document. Reorganizing & analyzing the epigraphs has yielded some interesting ideas... Such fun!

Check out the lower tiers on the Kickstarter: You get the ebook of Dawnshard if you pledge just $10 You get the ebook and the physical/hardback copy for $50 The leatherbounds are too pricey for me as well, but I sprung for the $50 level since that includes all the swag as well. I'm just glad that the novella is available at these lower tiers, so I can afford it! [EDIT: I now see where someone already answered your question hours ago. No idea why the Forum didn't show that until I just submitted my comment ... oh well, we're all too excited!]

Yes, he has said that the ebook (but not the bound/physical book) WILL be out before RoW - - or at least that's the plan. IIRC, they're going to release it in multiple formats to the Kickstarter backers, so you can choose-your-own device to read it.

My initial impression was that "Dawnshard" will just be the name of Rysn's ship (instead of Wandersail) - - like, the Thaylens named a ship after some legendary thing that they didn't really understand but that seemed cool. However, even if that's true, it doesn't mean that the ship's name won't prove to be irony or foreshadowing! and that she really will encounter a Dawnshard on Aimia. So glad I backed the Kickstarter! CanNOT wait!!

I am hoping right along with the rest of you! But ... My initial impression was that "Dawnshard" will just be the name of Rysn's ship (instead of Wandersail) - - like, the Thaylens named a ship after some legendary thing that they didn't really understand but that seemed cool. However, even if that's true, it doesn't mean that the ship's name won't prove to be irony or foreshadowing! and that she really will encounter a Dawnshard on Aimia. So glad I backed the Kickstarter! CanNOT wait!!