IndigoAjah

On the subject of Nin, bets on a last minute, what have I done, Heel-Face turn and self-sacrifice to rescue our heroes when they look doomed?

I think there is a separate Highspren but no idea why we haven't seen it yet

Sorry, you're right - both groups are separately linked via Gavilar but we have no evidence T was in the SoH

It may not matter what current Mr T or supersmart Mr T's plans were at all - every aspect of his capacity to help has come from the Nightwatcher and/or Cultivation. If it's the former, then the alternating IQ and Empathy might just be a potentially lethal prank (except that pragmatic Mr T was always with the Sons of Honour, right? Not a point in his favour. I suspect he always planned to bargain with Odium and join him but save as many humans as he can, just as Odium said, and the others would be "sacrifices" alla Amaram-thought). But if it's the latter, Cultivation, then it's her plan that matters - anything combo of empathy and intelligence he gets is up to her and he is just a tool that thinks he has a say in the matter

No I just find it an amusing thing that people complained about at the time- that these problems don't magically go away as soon as they are first engaged and apparently solved- like Kal not magically ignoring his years of oppression and his depression. Or Shallan reverting to immaturity of earlier books. Or Vin, in MB, not solving her identity crisis despite it very very superficially being "solved" in TFE. It's seen as false character development, where I would argue it is fair more genuine than pretending issues just disappear. for me it's one of the best bits of character work in the series, but people are entitled to their views just as much

Sanderson's thing is pretending to deal with hooks that come back though. for example, the Adolin murder thing is not over, no more than Kaladin not suddenly forgiving all Lighteyes at the end of WoK and again, like there, people will probably complain...

I loved it. Not without flaws, but I thought better than WoR, read it almost straight, getting no sleep at all between starting and finishing and have reread a fair bit of it. agree it's not as tight as it should have been though. But a series of this scale I think will inherently lose tightness

You are entitled to that opinion. I find it inherently illogical- I don't think Azure stands out any more than any other character seen for the first time with backstory, and again, it's only an imagined problem that people who have read warbreaker assume exists. We'd have to ask people who haven't read the Warbreaker book(s). i can kind of see your point, just can't agree with it

How is that any different to, say, Jasnah? Szeth? Mraize? The only reason she seems out of place is because you KNOW she's from Warbreaker (or more accurately, Warbreaker is her character prequel to give backstory for when she turns up here). Ignoring that cross- world interactions is meant to be a major point in SA anyway, none of those things are any more enigmatic than the first time we hear about any of the new concepts in this book (as in, new to the characters). You are biased simply because you know the origins of her mysteries

YMMV. I think she fits perfectly, and how does she defy in world explanation? The key plot twist in this novel was all about migration from a different world.

I think you are thinking about Nightblood and Azure the wrong way around. They aren't cameos that you need Warbreaker to understand. They are key characters that we learn every bit as much about here as we did in that book, who happen to have an excellent prequel showing their background story if you care about it. this is their real series, Warbreaker is their Magician's Apprentice

I will put money, if you can find me a betting shop that will give odds on it, on Ishar being the most insane of all the heralds

Except I'm pretty sure Odium intends to do some nasty stuff to the remaining humans and the worst world of all so far has had its Shard brutally murdered (Threnody). Scadrial has improved with its Shards united. Shards can be good or bad. They are in the end people. Humans are bad. We know this, we are humans. But they can also be good and wonderful. Odium is so clearly bad news for anyone ever. He doesn't care. He pretends. He needs people to give in to him to have true power over them. And i think there is a lot to go that we do not know with the backstory. But yes, I can see where the Parshendi anger comes from. That doesn't excuse Odium's plan, or the Fused.

Yes, but Nale is crazy. His judgment is by his own admission flawed, and I think he has to believe Ishar is sane right now or accept the length to which he has messed up

Yes, whilst channeling the idea of stealing Fire, metaphorically showing the self determination of humanity for better and for worse

Quite possibly

Kal is master of his passion. His compassion, less so

I think every Radiant we've met would be on some levels (they are all by definition "broken"), but the attempt would be doomed to fail on other levels

Does "both these strains" refer to humans and Parshendi or Herdaziens and Horneaters, though? I assumed it meant the former

That doesn't say humans were on Roshar before the Shards. Merely that they existed, and the Parshendi too. Which can still be in the Roshar system.

Nale siding with the Parshendi may not eventually mean siding with Odium

Distance is still very much a limiter in the Cognitive as well, and humans have to continue to eat and drink in the Cognitive. I think a long journey there is deeply impractical for enough humans to colonise Roshar within millennia, in a move that is, to me, clearly meant to parallel the formation of the USA amongst other more topical immigration fears

Royal we, or I and my lackies though Cultivation being involved would be a fun twist.

the most viable alternative, given distance will be an issue for any mass immigration, is Braize

1) yes. The post-cataclysmic planet where investiture occurs through disease 2) why? It sounds like an Odium based minor magic system to me, probably changed by Odium leaving the planet. The fact that there is any magic system at all implies that a Shard once resided there, no?