JoyBlu

Are you buying a signed and numbered book and do you care about the book number? If you want the lowest book numbers you’ll need to show up a day early and sleep outside in the snow. (Pros: you get a low book number and make some fantastic friends (I’ll be there!); Cons; you are exhausted and frozen the rest of the convention). You have to preorder the book with swag to get a numbered copy. Also, you need to decide now if you are going to try to read the book at the convention or will you wait and read it after you get home - there will be many people who have read all of the preview chapters before they arrive and as soon as the book drops they will read and not sleep until they finished the book. By the next day 100’s of people will have finished the book and will be ready to talk about it. They will probably have a panel the last day where there will be spoilers for the entire book. There is also a reading room where people just go and read all day. Sanderfans are really good at not spoiling the book though so I wouldn’t worry about others spoiling it. Personally I’m in the camp that tries to enjoy the convention while I’m there and enjoy the book later when I’m not so exhausted. My oldest son will have the book read within 24 hours after it drops. He is a much faster reader than me and is younger and rebounds faster! So choose the way you want to enjoy the convention. There are certain panels and crafts and games that you have to preregister for. Pay attention to what those are and decide now which ones you want to try to attend. The MTG draft will sell out the first minute it becomes available. Those have opened up about 2 months before the convention in the past. So watch for announcements and check the schedule for those. You can bring your own food into the convention. Last year they ran out of food to buy. I had packed lunches and planned on buying dinner. You can leave and walk to a nearby restaurant but we didn’t want to leave so I just had pizza delivered and we ate that. I strongly recommend bringing a water bottle and some snacks. If you dress up in costume and if you are lucky you will get a special pin that you can only get at the convention and only get if you are in costume. It’s so fun to see all the costumes people come up with. There will be a random drawing to get one thing signed by Sanderson at a lightning signing. So if you want something special signed bring it. 1 out of 3 attendees will get this chance. Maybe 1 out of 2 since it’s 3 days now. There will be lots of secret quests and scavenger hunts going on. These are mostly to earn something fun. My kids absolutely love this part of the con. There will be raffle items for lots of items and you can spend the “earnings” from these quests on raffle tickets. Most of the stuff in the raffle is stuff you can buy from vendors or stores - but they usually have a few things that you just can’t buy. (Snugglebug — giant doomslug was last years). You’ll need to talk to people and run around a lot to solve all the puzzles. If this isn’t your thing then that’s ok. It takes a huge investment of time to figure it all out and it’s not for everyone. I’m usually in line for something (food, bookstore, etc) and this gives my kids something to do while I’m waiting. I’m sure there are things worth mentioning that I’m forgetting - but these are the things that are coming to mind right now I hope you find it helpful. I really is a great convention with really great people. It will be interesting to see how they grow it this year

I’m guessing that this year it will be Dragonsteel Nexus and slowly they will drop Dragonsteel and within 5 years everyone will just call the convention Nexus. Just like when you get a new dog and you want to change its name from Spot to Duke. At first you call it Spot. Then you call it Spot-Duke. Then you slowly drop Spot and Duke sticks.

I call Utah County my home. It’s been a crazy spring.

Well now we know. 1,500 VIP tickets sold out in 6 minutes and the rest of the 6,000 tickets sold out in less than an hour. This year the book bundle was $80 which included the Signed, stamped, and numbered copy of Wind and Truth NEW Stormlight Epic Bookmark Szeth Cosmere Character Collectible Pin Chull plushie As for releasing more tickets — last year when Dragonsteel sold out they were able to rent more room in the convention center and then add more tickets. I am not sure if they have reached their capacity for space or if renting more space is an option this year. As for tickets becoming available- just keep watching. (Like check everyday) As people become vendors, as couples break up, as life happens and plans change, people will drop their tickets. I did hear last year that some people had bought tickets that people were reselling for more than they had paid for them. I’m not sure where people resell them though. My heart goes out to those people who have already bought non-refundable plane tickets and couldn’t get tickets. I hope that they figure out a way to get tickets. As for merchandise - I have mixed feelings about this. I spent over 4 hours in line last year just to buy things from the Sanderson store. It made me upset because I waited in line the first day of the convention and some of the things (pins) were not available to purchase until the 2nd day of the convention so I had to stand in line again the 2nd day to get the pins. Grrrr. I felt that had everything been available to purchase the first day that would have cut down on line times and also allowed me more time to shop at the vender booths. I’ve now realized that Dragonsteel Store will restock everything - but the vender booths are usually only one chance. We got some great things at the vendor booths last year but other people had to point them out to me because I didn’t have much time to browse them myself. Also be ready for Dragonsteel to surprise you with something that you want that you didn’t know existed because you will want something new! I hope this helps a little bit.

@Hopefinder Do you mean a VIP pass? Are those gone already? I didn’t even try to purchase one but didn’t realize how limited they were. Anyone know how many there were? I’m bringing my kids with me and thought about getting one VIP just for the swag but since we couldn’t sit together I didn’t even try.

I was finally able to register. Got badges in the 400's. The TTE site still doesn't show it as an option to register in their search, but if you follow the links from Brandon's site I was able to register -- which was different from what I was expecting.

I'm trying to buy tickets to Dragonsteel Convention right now on TTE but I don't see it as an option. How were you able to buy tickets?

I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by many Sanderson Fans who live in my community and I know if I decided to “stay in the dark” and be surprised that somehow something would slip and I would hear it anyway in casual conversation. So I might as well get it directly from the source. It would be lovely to be completely surprised by the books though. If they had a “book club” option where 12 books were shipped together and my neighbors and I all received them at the same time that would be awesome. But I’m pretty sure with the volume of books they will need to ship that we will be receiving them over the course of the entire month so we are not really going to receive them at the same time anyway. Which is a bummer because if mine come first I’m sure my kids will steel them from me. The sacrifices a mother makes for her children.

Thank you @The Sovereign and @Theoryspren for those nice tidbits. It’s those little details that I love about Sanderson. So many of those little things turn out to be clues to something later. When I re-read RoW I’ll look for more clues. I had hoped she would have showed up in one of Sadeas’s houses or working with Ialia somehow but that didn’t happen. With her dad being a quartermaster assistant and her knowledge of weapons I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up in the fighting or war camps somewhere. I do believe that Sanderson has a backstory for Tarah & her father that hasn’t been told yet and I’m eagerly awaiting to hear it. I’m betting she was somehow in RoW and I missed it but I also can see @agrabes point on how Kaladin needed to come to terms with himself in his own and more writing about Tarah was just distracting. Thanks for all the thoughts!

I finished RoW awhile ago but something has been nagging me at the back of my brain. Where is Tarah? She was mentioned in the previous 3 books and with all the RAFO’s I received when asking about her Father and family I assumed that she and her family would be playing a part in future books. My first theory that Tarah was an illegitimate grandchild (and named after) Taravangian was destroyed by Brandon, but I still felt there was a role/part/story for her to still play or reveal about her time with Kaladin. Do you guys think we are done hearing from/about her, or do you think she will show up again? I wonder what drew her and Kal together initially? Was she also an aspiring radiant? Any thoughts on if she did show up in RoW and was just not called by the name of Tarah? Any other characters that could be her by description only? I searched for her name in the kindle version and she didn’t show up in RoW. I missed her.

I agree with many of the favorite parts listed. One that hasn’t been mentioned yet was Eshonai’s ride with the Stormfather. I thought that was a very fitting and satisfying way for Eshonai the Explorer to end her story. It touched me, and left a pretty nicely tied up bow on her character arc. Adolin has not historically been a favorite character of mine. I haven’t hated him but I have not loved him either. I’ve been surrounded by many Adolin fans and just thought it was fun for them to like him. After RoW I am now joining the Adolin fan club. That man is good. I’ve started comparing him to my husband and pointing out the qualities they have in common. I think Adolin is taking over the role from Lightsong of what character reminds me most of my husband. I really appreciated how Adolin “handled” Shallan and Maya and was true to himself but didn’t give up. The star Spren scene was beautiful. I hope Adolin has someone to take care of him. My favorite Shallan scene was . . . Shallan fell to her knees, arms wrapped around herself, trembling. “Oh storms … Oh, God of Oaths…” She felt a hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right, Shallan,” Veil whispered. “It’s all right.” “I know what you are,” Shallan whispered. “You’re the blankness upon my memories. The part of me that looks away. The part of my mind that protects me from my past.” “Of course I am,” Veil said. “I’m your veil, Shallan.” That scene was so beautifully written after reading that I am now ok with her personalities. I felt that the Testament arc was properly foreshadowed and was satisfying but not surprising. Taravangion (Todium — what a fun name) was Super Surprising and just wow! I still don’t know what to make of all this. I wonder if Nightblood will be different now that he has been touched by a shard. It’s interesting to me that Nightblood wasn’t able to consume all that power. There were limits to what he could eat. @Truthwatcher at the Rim if you didn’t like that Warbreaker scene (which I didn’t either) then what did you think of Ishar’s tent scene? I did not like that scene - but it was unforgettable I was guessing that he was trying to manifest Spren bodies as a way for him to eventually get off world — but that’s just my first assumption. The other unforgettable cringe scene for me is the thought of Wit kissing Jasnah’s safe hand fingers. *ick* I just can’t get over that he is so old . . . Raboniel was a wonderful character. The assisted suicide scene with her daughter was memorable. It make me think about lots of things. @Stormgate Brandon mentioned at a signing last year (Starsight) that there were plans to make all the Wit stories into children’s books. The Girl Who Looked Up, Fleet, Wandersail, and now I presume the Dog and the Dragon. My fav is the Dog & the Dragon — by far. I am such a dog! One thing I appreciated about RoW is I felt that cosmere references were less obscured than in other books. That made them easier to pick up on. For example when Wit was doing magic tricks with a coin Design pointed out that coins were not native to Roshar and spheres were normally used. This kinda dumbed it down a bit but I also felt like I caught more things on my first read through. That being said I completely missed the leader of the Ghost Bloods is the “Lord of Scars” hint. I feel so stupid. It was written so obviously. I remember thinking that I should know who that was but it didn’t click when I first read it. I’m blaming that on reading in the wee hours of the morning. And I hadn’t read Mistborn in years. Next time I read a Sanderson book I’m not reading the ending after midnight.

Ahh thanks! I’ve always enjoyed making cakes for my kids. I do admit that the life size shardblade was a bigger project than I originally imagined it. We had to invite a lot of people over to help us eat it all. But it was a lot of fun to create. Looking at those photos kinda made me stop and think. There is no way I could invite that many people over today with Covid restrictions. I agree with you about being a better person after reading a Sanderson book. His stories are uplifting.

Me too @The Silverlight Scholar I am so grateful that I’ve been able to attend so many release parties and signings (it makes it easier living in Utah) and to meet so many of you online and in person. I truly missed it when Rhythm of War came out. It just wasn’t the same for me as being there in person. After reflecting in what was different (because we got more screen time with Sanderson) I realized that it was the energy in the room, talking to others, seeing people dressed up, listening to their theories and questions, and striking up conversations with strangers who shared a common interest. I’ve also enjoyed meeting you all virtually and learning from you. I’m grateful for the fandom, the parties (even the virtual ones), and the camaraderie that exist in this universe Sanderson has created. Thank you to the people who run this site. Thank you Sanderson for bringing us all together. #GiveThanks

I am grateful for the variety of stories that Sanderson writes. The first Sanderson book I bought was the ‘Rithmatist and then the Alcatraz books. While WarBreaker was the first book I read. My family is constantly rereading and quoting those Alcatraz books. We’ve all read Skyward & Starsight. The different reading levels have served as “gateway drugs” into reading. Each of my kids has “fallen in love” with reading with different series. Box Car Children, Harry Potter, Greek Mythology, etc. Those are the first books that they devoured and reread and after they read those books they liked reading. I currently have a 6th grader who has never enjoyed reading. She has never read an entire series of anything on her own at her appropriate grade reading level before and only the easiest books on the Battle of the Books list. With everyone else in the house rereading Stormlight in preparation for the release of Rhythm of War she decided to pick up Way of Kings. Never in a million years did I think she would finish it. It’s been about 6 weeks now and she finished WoK, WoR, read Edgedancer in one day, and is now working her way through OB. She tells me that the stories are actually interesting and she loves the different perspectives. So thank you Sanderson for giving my daughter something worth reading! She will be blessed throughout her life with her discovery of good literature and I’m grateful.