JoeAgain

I enjoyed the chasm sequence and the growing respect and possible friendship between Shallan and Kaladin. That said, I truly and very strongly do not want to see them become romantic; she and Adolin are enjoyable, and the story really doesn't need to become more Kaladin-centric.

Sadeas = ruddy blond who wears red Szeth = Aang Rock = Zangief Shallan = Merida from Brave Pattern = maze Dalinar = NOW that Baldur's Gate portrait somebody posted, thanks spheres = Dragonballs

This description is nearly identical to that of the chamber Shallan finds in the Shattered Plains. A couple of differences are there is no eleventh lamp in the room in Stormseat, only ten ("The ten lamps faded like closing eyes," WoR 1037) and the eleventh mural depicts Urithiru, though Lhan could be interpreting such a design as the Tranquiline Halls. Additionally, there is mention of obstructions impeding the turning mechanism when Shallan and Adolin turn the blade in the keyhole (WoR 1037). It's possible they've altered/damaged the fabrial with modifications or have simply blocked the wall physically from being turnable. That said, there is a direct reference to Shallan's Blade "unlocking" something within the plateau itself.

I liked Shallan in tWoK; I loved her in WoR! Her flashbacks very much added to her character, and she grew quite a bit. To those who thought she seemed to develop too quickly, that's really more that the book did not dwell on the timeline; as you can see here (Thanks, Cheese Ninja!), she traveled for several weeks with nothing to do but practice and grow with quite strong motivating factors for doing so. In fact, now that she, a character who prefers to work behind the scenes, is in the spotlight, I'm eagerly looking forward to how her growth continues from there. Will she suffer moments of regression (a la Kaladin)? Will she wind up at cross-purposes with Jasnah? Her interactions with Kaladin were enjoyable, but I am NOT on board that ship. Let that sucker sink like the Wind's Pleasure!

Adolin notes a painting of "animals from mythology" that includes one I was sure was a lion (1067 US hardback). I hope we're not in for an Earth All Along.

The Black Death killed 1/3 of Europe's population and its still infamous. Being decimated meant losing 1/10, and that word has become synonymous with devastating. So even if the Radiants reduced population loss to 1/2, the Desolations would still be epically horrific events. I agree with the point that Honor did not stop the Desolations and may have in fact been a party to their recurrence. Perhaps, , Honor simply could not defeat Odium.

I love Shallan as a character, but even the backstory of a character I disliked (*cough cough* Szeth) would be interesting to me!

One thing I particularly love about the interludes is the opportunity to see far-flung places throughout the world. Brandon's worlds are very rich, but most of his stories happen in a very small piece of the geography.

The idea that women are more likely to put themselves through a very invasive and shaming process just to get petty revenge on innocent men than they are to actually be attacked is wrong, insulting, shameful, and dangerous. Rape is one of the most underreported crimes, and any attempt to denigrate or discourage victims of this crime should not be left unchallenged--or worse, up-voted--on a serious forum of any kind.

Although Odium may not have directly told them to, that does not rule out the possibility that they were manipulated by him into doing so. They may believe, as Someone Else does, that reviving the Knights Radiant/Surgebinding would trigger a desolation.

I tried /j/ with the "J" letter, but despite the IPA's best effort it's not going to happen; it's /ʤ/ for me invariably. In contrast, Taravangian is a hard /g/, not /ʤ/. Seth, Ay-MEE-uh, and Sa-DAY-uhs round out the others. Oh yeah, and "Rock."

Kaladin hasn't really thought about Tarah much for a romance, especially with how much he thinks of others in his past, and while he thinks several times about future options, she's never one of them. Interestingly, Brandon "randomly" dropped another name, Hav, that at the time sent me flipping back through the book wondering who the heck this person was that I had somehow missed. Given that TWoK was Kaladin's flashback book, and yet we saw nothing of these folks, I wonder if they are just "Ham has a family" flavor.

Our ill-fated, jam-loving ardent always comes out "Kasbal" in my mind. The most egregious of mine was in Mistborn, "Tidwyndle." But Taravangian? Nailed it.

Actually, the Letter says that "Aona and Skai are both dead, and that which they held has been Splintered." This doesn't preclude the possibility that a shard can be splintered without killing its holder, but it's not as strong a hint at it as you might have liked.

TWoK was my first Brandon book and had a ton of twists and shocks (Honor dead, Taravangian, spelling his name right on the first try, etc.), but I felt a TLR-style slap across the face with Denth, so that's my pick. I'd had Vin's earring and Sazed's ascension spoiled, though, so those might have ranked high otherwise. The Lord Ruler still got me--several times.

Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin are characters on the rise, and though Szeth is really annoying--way too invincible (and arrogant about it) yet self-pitying, there is a lot of potential to grow there; I really have a hard time seeing any of them offed soon, though that probably is at least some of their ultimate fates. I see the mentors like Dalinar and Jasnah in more immediate danger, but they still seem to have a lot left to do, so I'm thinking they all make it through Book 2. As for who gets it, I think some of the Bridge Four guys are going to get red-shirted. Renarin and Elhokar are wild cards; their deaths would certainly would make waves in the story, but it would also be interesting to see what they might accomplish/become if they stick around. Amaram's trending toward the ill-fated messenger role. When it comes to romance, Brandon does have a heteronormative soft spot for every boy having his girl. Or dying. Or both. He'll probably just make up a character (or use the current one) for Adolin. I think Shallan would be drawn to Renarin for similar reasons Kabsal was attractive to her, but I could see narrative convenience throwing her at Kaladin as if her type of man is "man." Or Laral will make a comeback. Jasnah might actually get the romance pass. Bonus cheese if Szeth is won over by the Power of Love.

Honestly, it doesn't bother me that the covers don't feature the flashback characters; the books are much more than just the flashbacks after all. It looks like the covers are featuring viewpoint (or future viewpoint) characters who fight one-on-one: Dalinar vs. Eshonai, Kaladin vs. Szeth, Shallan vs. ???.

I consider it a good sign when I reach the end of a viewpoint and think, "Aw, man, I want to keep reading that!" as opposed to "Finally, I can continue more interesting stuff." In that respect, TWoK very much succeeded. It never dragged for me; you had to feel Kaladin hit rock bottom to believe in his turnaround, and you had to feel Dalinar was really struggling to give his decisions punch. Also, Brandon's good at avoiding the Daenerys trap by maintaining meaningful connections between threads. My concern for book 2 is that once the worldbuilding that Brandon so excels at slows, especially with all the viewpoints converging on the already heavily featured Shattered Plains, the plots will start to drag. With Mistborn, I found FE superior to WoA and HoA. I thoroughly enjoyed the overarching story, and the grand finale was chock-full of crowning moments of awesome (I even teared up!), but quite frankly, add the "Ruh roh!" ending from WoA onto FE, then the highlights of WoA and HoA could have been condensed into a single sequel. Also, the caracters who all started out so distinct and interesting--even flawed--trended toward Mary Sue, stalled, or dead in the later two books, crowded out by newer viewpoints. For example, Spook was fantastic, but Allrianne was superfluous (even if likeable), and the annotations talk about Ham being given a family as cheap characterization that Brandon at times forgot about (at one point even forgetting about Ham). Instead, put Ham and Breeze in a relationship, and Ham fills Allrianne's spot and fits better with Breeze's background (currently an out-of-text explanation as random as Ham's family was) and Dockson's distaste for Ham (which was told but not shown--now partly from Ham's "affliction of the nobility"). Or make Ham a woman (Allrianne of Tarth anyone?) who then also takes over the old Allrianne's spot. Despite those worries, I'm very optimistic about Words of Radiance. Gloom complained above that it seemed Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar only worked through one arc each in TWoK, but I think those arcs worked for a first book and left room for continued development; Kaladin worked through his depression, but he still has his anger (Amaram's appearance is going to be interesting, as the OP noted); Shallan's theft fell through, but her work with Jasnah feels important and her family is still in danger; and Dalinar worked through the shock of some drastic changes, but the visions are not done with him yet! There's also Szeth. I don't like him, but not because he isn't well-written, and that certainly leaves room to grow. And speaking of Szeth, I thought the interludes were used brilliantly to showcase the world and minor characters in a way that was not distracting or overwhemling, so I'm even looking forward to those.

Hearing Brandon's readings was interesting since I have gotten used to saying names a certain (often peculiar) way: Kaladin = Ka-lah-DEEN. Actually, it kind of sounds like saying "Paula Deen" and... I don't... even... NEXT! Shallan = SHALL-un Jasnah = JAZ-nuh (Never gonna give J up!) "Kh" like Spanish "J" (not lazy island dialects' /h/ but real /X/): XO-leen, XO-lih-nar Elhokar = el-oh-KAR Szeth = I don't say it consistently: seth, zeth, sheth. Rysn = RIH-zin Sadeas = Sa-DAY-us Rock = Hawaiian sounding name (easy to say once you read through it carefully)

I actually registered just to delurk and say I actually liked Vivenna. I also like Kaladin, and Shallan and Dalinar are indeed awesome-sauce. I really, really dislike Szeth; he whines, but his problems seem almost entirely self-imposed. Still, it's still a sign of good characterization that I have a strong opinion about him.