Andy92

Copy-paste it from the ebook. Otherwise, happy typing lol.

The new WoB does contain this part: So, it doesn't sound like the answer is easily cut-and-dry. Maybe whatever the asterisk is was plausible enough reason for Brandon to say "there's no Shard there" a few years ago. I do see where you're coming from in that it seems like a continuity issue. And it's possible Brandon changed his mind on this one. But it could be that whatever the asterisk he's referring to makes the situation strange.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256-oathbringer-london-signing/#e8686 Heh.

I also ran across this newer WoB: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/259-oathbringer-leeds-signing/#e8763 I wonder if this could be referring to what Autonomy does?

My thoughts on her are that I'm also personally not a huge fan of her character. However, I don't think she's poorly written. I do cringe when I read about some of the things Shallan does/says. But I cringe because of the decisions she makes and the way she acts. I don't cringe because I think it's bad writing. If a character tells annoying jokes, it's probably a good thing if you're annoyed by them. That means that the character is written properly. I do understand where you're coming from, but I disagree that your distaste must exist because of poor writing. I think your distaste comes from the character's personality, and imo, that's okay.

Although I agree that some of Moash's PoV's were uninteresting to read about (mostly his early ones), I think he's being setup pretty well as a main antagonist. Odium spent the entire book trying to convince Dalinar that his past mistakes weren't his fault because Odium was the one making him do those things. While Dalinar withstands this temptation, Moash falls right into it. Moash even alludes to this later in the book when he's talking to himself, justifying the choices he has made because "they aren't his fault." I'm interested to see where he goes now that Odium is under his skin. Although his chapters in Oathbringer weren't very interesting at times, I am interested to see what becomes of him moving forward. And we need some new antagonists in this series that aren't millennia-old super spren...

Szeth was another character who progressed through his Oaths quickly. But he had Nale and the other Skybreakers to train him fairly rigidly. I think it's natural that people who are being trained to become potential Radiants would progress in their Oaths faster than characters who had no guidance from other Radiants.

It's an interesting thought. Kaladin does have some internal struggles that are holding him back up to this point. I think the way he views himself plays into that to some degree. The books seems to suggest that the 4th ideal for Windrunners is focused around realizing you will never be able to save every single person. It could be an ideal based around being willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Kaladin still sees himself as he was in the past, at least to some degree. I think that's where most of his character growth can come from moving forward. He will have to learn to save those he can without beating himself up too much when he fails.

He protected countless bridgemen throughout tWoK, he saved the day at The Tower, he saved Elhokar from attacks by Szeth as well as Moash, and he saved Dalinar at Narak by defeating Szeth. I don't think he's failed to fulfill his duty very often. I can understand your points about how Kaladin can be self-loathing at times. But I disagree that he's a failure at fulfilling his main goal. He had a moment of weakness that cost him dearly. But that doesn't mean that moment in the palace will define his character forever.

Well, "unite them." But that one seems quite obvious lol. Hadn't noticed that about tWoK. Good catch.

Honestly, I was glad Brandon went with this approach for Kaladin's character. Because too many times in fantasy novels, you have this almost infallible chosen one who, despite some struggles from time to time, always saves the day. As tough as it was to read about Kaladin's failures in Oathbringer, I think it's a more realistic circumstance. The fact of the matter is that one person can't always save the day every. single. time. A lot of the characters in Stormlight Archive live lives that are full of failures, but they press on anyways. That's the hope I'm glad to see the series bring to its forefront. His story wasn't always fun to read about in Oathbringer. I don't like seeing one of my favorite characters struggle so much. But it's realistic. He has seven more books to progress throughout. A character that brushes off struggles and always saves the day eventually becomes a boring character if that nature persists throughout a ten book series.

The biggest revelation from their conversation was that Jasnah learned what caused the Recreance. That's the only major detail I can specifically remember that the book mentioned she learned from Wit, but the rest of the characters didn't learn of what caused the Recreance until the later parts of the book. I'd also be interested in knowing what all they talked about, but I'm assuming most of that conversation is spoiler-heavy which is why it didn't come up much.

Ah okay, that makes sense. I always wondered why mistings of Ruin's god metal would be a thing if Allomancy was Preservation's system. I just kinda rolled with it as I read the series lol.

I assumed the Everstorm fuels Voidlight like the highstorms fuel Stormlight. Not sure what the difference is in regards to how Voidlight is stored though. Maybe there are special gemstones that hold it. Maybe it is powered and stored directly into the Fused themselves.

I'm pretty sure that an unbonded Shardblade just drops on the ground as a normal blade, waiting to be bonded by someone else. I'm not sure what happened to this particular Shardblade, but I don't think blades disappear into Shadesmar when they're unbonded. They just remain in the Physical Realm like any other sword.

I thought Renarin was pointing his sword straight up at the Thunderclast's fist in that scene. I'd have to re-read it, but I got the impression that his Shardblade pierced the Thunderclast's fist and he emerged through the opening that the blade created. Sure he would've taken damage in that moment, but the Shardblade seemed to take the brunt of the impact.

You have to have Connection to Preservation to use Allomancy. That goes for normal metals as well as god metals. One part of the series I did find interesting was that Atium mistings actually did exist. Atium is a god metal, not one of the 16 base metals. That part does make me wonder if it's theoretically possible to have god metals from other Shards outside Scadrial. And if so, could Mistings be born on Scadrial with the ability to access these metals?

We just need to get someone to ask Brandon at a book signing who "we" and "you" are in this sentence. 99% sure of a RAFO...unless if it's not supposed to be as ambiguous as we're making it out to be. Nah, this is Sanderson. RAFO time.

I'm pretty sure the Ghostbloods are a secret society that's out to come out on the winning side regardless of which side wins. I don't see them as having much attachment to anyone or anything in particular. They just want to control events to lead to their own prosperity and power.

I want to see the current day Heralds start getting more involved now that Ash and Taln have arrived on the scene. Some of the other Herlads like Chana, Vedel, Paliah, Batar, and Ketek need to show up in non-subtle ways. Along those same lines, I want to see what is going on with Ishar. We got confirmation in this book of him being the Tukari god-king, but nothing else really. Is Jezrien's death permanent, or is his soul trapped in the dagger's gemstone? I really hope the next book has Szeth flashbacks, although I'm pretty sure the plan is for that one to be book five. I'm less interested in reading a book with Eshonai flashbacks if she's dead and gone for good. If Brandon changes it to Venli flashbacks then I could live with it. The reason I like the flashbacks is because we can see how a character learns from their past and uses that knowledge to change their future. If Eshonai is dead...well there's not going to be anymore character growth.

You're probably right. The new Everstorm is throwing a big wrench into the cycle of how the Desolations used to be.

Here's the thing with Jasnah, she doesn't care about other's perception of her. Not. One. Bit. Your assessment of her isn't too far off, but the reasons you dislike her are actually some of the reasons I did like her in this book. I'll start with Shallan. Whether she likes it or not, she is still Jasnah's ward. A Knight's Radiant, yes, but she's still supposed to be training under Jasnah. And I believe Jasnah tried to teach Shallan a tough lesson in this book: strong leaders lead with a servant heart. Shallan started to become very preoccupied with her own self in this book. The split personalities, the questioning of how Adolin saw her, the questioning of how Kaladin saw her...if Shallan wasn't thinking about herself, she was thinking about how others viewed her. Jasnah knows that is a habit she needs to break out of. Being humble isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Shallan needed to learn that in this book, and I do think she started slowly coming around to that at the end. As far as the Voidbringer conversation, I did think her conclusion seemed too extreme (and maybe not that well thought out). Killing the Heralds would just send them back to Braize, and if the past is any clue, one of the ten would have broken potentially within the next 10 years. It seemed to me like killing the Heralds would be a bandaid fix to a problem that needs surgery. The part of this book that made me love Jasnah the most though, despite some flaws that she does have, was her moment with Renarin. There was a story in this book about a former king who executed everyone in his family due to his fears of being murdered for the throne. He chocked to death the very night of the executions. I think this foreshadowed something important about Jasnah. She learned from the past failures of former monarchs. Her love for her family showed in this book, and to me, that scene helped make her a more complete character.

I voted for The Tower. The newest battle scene at Thaylen Field is the largest scale fight to date, but the emotion behind the betrayal/eventual rescue at The Tower makes it my favorite. I did prefer the newest scene at Thaylen Field to Narak though.

My gut reaction when I first read this scene was that Odium was referring to Honor's death. Dalinar grabbed so much of Honor's remaining power, that the Shard was beginning to reform. The confusing part is the use of "we," but that could be referring to a few different things. Odium + Rayse, Odium + another Shard, Odium + mankind turning their backs on Honor... But I do think the exchange is referring to Honor's death, not Adonalsium or Evi.

Maybe there's slightly more to it than just the oaths? I think the presence of spren is a clue. Kaladin keeps seeing windspren the closer he gets to the 4th oath. Dalinar was surrounded with gloryspren during that scene in Part 5. I've seen some theories that Plate is comprised of a group of spren that manifest themselves as the Plate, unlike the Shardblade which is a manifestation of the spren you bonded. But maybe the Plate isn't made automatically just by saying the oaths. Maybe the oaths are a prerequisite, but you still have to do something to build/summon the Plate.