Scattered

I think we should at least consider that for #17, the "suckling child" could refer to Elhokar's son. I'm not sure yet why it would be important for him to die, but he is the first baby of significance we've seen. Another possibility could be a future child of Shallan and Adolin.

Thanks for those WoB! Nice to know an idea I had wasn't completely off base for once.

Aah I had forgotten that part, thanks. Though that doesn't necessarily disprove the theory about Bronze potentially being able to locate investiture other than Allomancy.

Do we have any proof that Bronze does NOT pick up on all forms of investiture? There is a scene where Vin spots Hoid and decides not to meet him because it doesn't feel right to her, and there was a lot of discussion at the time about why that was. I believe the prevailing theory was that she was sensing his Lightweaving, which would mean that Bronze could be used to sense investiture, rather than just Allomancy. This is a minor point, but I suppose it could mean that anyone with the ability to burn Bronze could theoretically detect anyone using a Surge on Roshar. Might be a handy way to detect Knight Radiants...

What about, "I accept that I will fail" or "I accept that I will not be able to save everyone"?

I think part of Kelsier's inability to take up Preservation's power also had to do with the fact that he is dead. Remember he can't burn metals any more after he dies, so whatever connection he may have had to Preservation is now gone. Even after he does eventually take up the power with the help of the artifact, he remarks later that he never would have been able to use it as well as Vin did. The notable difference here is that Vin, who was influenced by Ruin almost from birth, was still alive when she Ascended, whereas Kelsier was not.

I think maybe it's just during Desolations that they travel from west to east, and being the place of the Heralds, who only pop up during Desolations, Urithiru was constructed to withstand those. That could still explain the asymmetry though, and possibly the hurricane shape of the entire continent.

I always thought that Dalinar was so torn up over his wife's death that he asked for the pain to go away, like what you suggested, so that the fact that he can't remember her is actually his boon. Conversations in the book imply that he did love her very much, and that they were perfect for each other, so I don't think it's true that he didn't love her as much as he did Navani. It's just that his memories of his wife were taken from him, so he can't remember how he felt about her, he only remembers his feelings for Navani. I don't think there's enough evidence to make a solid guess at what his curse might be, though I suppose the curse could be that he was chosen to receive the visions, and have the weight of uniting Alethkar on his shoulders. Of course I'm basing this on the fact that it seems like a curse to not be able to remember the love of your life, and it's a very Brandon thing to do to flip that on it's head so it's actually the boon. Theoretically I suppose it could actually be the curse, and perhaps his boon was the healing, but that seems too simple to me. I like the idea of the curses and boons being tied, but remember the story about the potter (I think it was a potter) who asked for money or something like that to feed his family, and he ended up seeing the world upside down as his curse. In this instance they weren't tied, so I don't think that theory can hold true, as cool as it would be.

I have many, but the biggest ones are, in order: 1. Sazed becoming Harmony - this completely blew my mind, and I still consider this the most original ending to any book I've ever read 2. Atium mistings - should have seen it coming, and yet it totally blind-sided me 3. How Raoden fixed the Aons 4. The Kandra plot twist 5. OreSeur/TenSoon 6. Vin's earring 7. Vasher being Warbreaker/the whole hidden army thing 8. Shallan's "10 heartbeats" comment

Thanks everyone!!!!

My dad recently decided he wanted to start reading the Alcatraz books, but when trying to purchase them, he says he can't find Alcatraz book 3 for less than $150. Even on Amazon it's going for $155, used. Does anyone know why this is? I'm assuming it has to do with the scurfuffle with Scholastic, but figured you guys would be the ones to know. Thanks!

Did he really? I hadn't heard that! I'll have to see if I can find it, I didn't know anyone was continuing the series! Maybe there's hope for this yet. I did enjoy the Artemis Fowl books, so it will be interesting to see what he's done with Hitchhiker.

I've been having a harder time finding new books to read ever since the Borders closed (not a huge fan of Barnes & Noble), but since my last post I was able to read Legion and The Emperor's Soul, as well as the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. I loved loved LOVED these books - think American Gods minus all the dark stuff, written by an author with a knack for silly modern humor. A friend recommended these books to me, and after reading just the first 2 pages, I was totally hooked. That first page also gives you a pretty solid idea of how the entire series feels, so there shouldn't be any unexpected surprises for those of you who are content-shy. I laughed the whole way through these books. I also read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy omnibus with all the stories, and honestly I was surprised to find myself disappointed. I think it may just have been a problem of overhype, since I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I was probably expecting something different. I laughed at a lot of it, but overall was disappointed with where the story went. But seriously, Iron Druid Chronicles all the way. Book One is called Hounded.

Warning, slight WOK spoiler. At first I thought that this wouldn't make sense, since Roshar is so full of soul-cast objects and they don't have trouble going to Shadesmar. But then I realized that those objects actually physically change, instead of just believing that they've changed. And if Shadesmar is really made up of all those little balls of consciousness that Shallan sees in WOK, then I can see how it would be a very confusing place when that consciousness is confused. I think you hit on a pretty solid theory for this.

This was my thought while reading the book also.

When I was in high school my two best friends sort of happened into alliterative titles for themselves (amazingly this wasn't planned), Audacious Amanda and Capricious Colleen. They decided I needed one as well, and they eventually settled on Side-Scatter Sarah, which is a reference to how haphazardly my brain works (and could possibly be an allusion to a scatter plot, I never asked. But two of us were math nerds, so it would make sense). Scattered just seems to roll off the tongue a little easier.

The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop has magic that's pretty commonplace. Everyone has different strengths of magic, but almost everyone has at least a little, and they use it for all sorts of things, like doing hair or cooking, they have witchlight instead of electricity, and all kinds of psychic powers (speaking mind to mind, feeling the presence of others nearby, etc). There are also talking animals, but those aren't super common (at least as far as humans know). These novels can run kind of dark though, and there's definitely a lot of sexual content, so if that's not your thing maybe they're better avoided. If you're looking for lighter-hearted fare, I would suggest the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony. That world is nothing but magic, all over the place. They read like kid books, but I read them when I was in college and I still enjoyed them. The first book centers around a character who does not appear to have magic, and they make a big deal about that because everyone else has magic.

Oh nice, I hadn't heard about that!! I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Thanks!

You just said everything I couldn't figure out how to say, about how none of those things were fetishized. Certainly they happened, but I didn't feel like it was for shock value, or even like it was overly emphasized. Those certainly weren't the things I remembered about the book, which tells you how much of an impact they had on me. As for Monarch of the Glen, I know I read it, I just don't remember it very well, since I think I only read it once. But what did you mean about *real* sequels? I'm not sure what you're referring to. And I agree with you about the Ifrit, that's the impression that I got as well.

Well maybe we can agree to disagree, but at least we know you're not a Game of Thrones fan!

Man, what's with all the hating on American Gods? I have to go with Shivertongue on this one. I picked up American Gods randomly in the bookstore, before I'd ever even heard of Neil Gaiman, and that book made me fall in love with him. It's not nearly as bad as Aethling makes it out to be, that's for sure. Granted it's been a year since I read it the last time, so I'm a little foggy on the details, but the world he described with gods living among us, barely scraping by because so few people believe in them, was so entrancing to me! I'd never read anything like that before, and I got hooked. He has such a unique writing style, too, with sort of a dry sense of humor, and he has a way of making jokes in his prose that just kills me. I'll agree that Anansi Boys was not quite as good, just because one of the main characters was such a jerk, but Neverwhere was amazing, and Good Omens has me in stitches every time I read it, which is frequently. Stardust is completely wonderful too, and the Graveyard Book. Moving on, I'm just finishing up yet another read-through of the Mistborn trilogy, and then I'm moving on to Princeps, the second Quaeryt book in the Imager Portfolio, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Also, I recently read Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card, and while I loved it, it really seemed to me like he had just re-written his Worthing Saga in a different way. The Lost Gate seemed much more unique, although everybody seems to be writing about Norse mythology these days.

I think another thing to consider is that Brandon has stated that magic on Roshar is very closely related to a person's actions. So maybe it's enough to get your deity to pay attention to your prayers if you just take the action of worshipping him (in this case, burning prayers). That could be a reason why just thinking them wouldn't work, although not necessarily why the action of writing them wouldn't work. Maybe that's just a dogma thing that developed over time.

This is sort of a random idea, but is it possible that Szeth is the son of a Herald? That would explain his knowledge about his powers, and his belief that the Voidbringers exist and that the Final Desolation is coming. I think it's possible that the son-son Vallano thing may be a very clever way to not give away his father's identity not only in-world, but to the reader. And that would also explain why he doesn't feel bad about using Vallano's name. Perhaps his grandfather has been dead for millennia. Although I guess his mother could be the Herald, so Vallano would be on the other side of the family. Of course, I suppose Szeth could be a Herald himself. Brandon did say there were a few more hidden in the book that he thought were very obvious (although I can't remember where I saw that). Maybe he hid one in plain sight? But he just seems a little too invested in Shin dogma for that to make sense to me. Anyway, it just sort of popped into my head when I was thinking about how Szeth is arguably the most mysterious character in the whole book (next to Hoid), so whatever his story is it must be something really exceptional. (Vasher, anyone?)

I agree. I've read some books where every single character seems to think of nothing else for the entire book, and to me that seems just as contrived and unrealistic as characters who logically think through every little thing (L.E. Modesitt, Jr, cough cough). I think it's perfectly natural for both Elend and Vin to be confused by their feelings and want to think them through. Who doesn't think through their relationships? I don't know anyone who's not constantly questioning and evaluating the relationship that they're currently in. I don't know about everyone else, but when I talk to my friends and they share their relationship highs and lows, they almost never mention sex. You know it's happening, but they don't talk about it. Just like Vin and Elend.

I have mixed feelings about those. They're definitely interesting, and you can tell a lot of thought and effort went into them, but there's so much going on and each book is so long that it becomes sort of a chore to get through them. All the characters I like either die or don't get talked about very often, so I was stuck reading these long sections about characters I didn't really care about. I can see why people like them so much, but I'm certainly not hanging on the edge of my seat for the next one.