mariapapadia

daniel greene is where i go! i like that he has different segments like : fantasy news, talks with authors, reviews, characters comparison etc. also he's a big sanderson & wheel of time fan and talks more in depth about the theme of the book, implications and all that. it seems like in the past couple of months he blew up! i randomly discovered him when he had about 100 subs and now he's well over a 100k!

I started the books for the same reason about a month ago and I'm on book 4 out of 7, they read pretty quickly though. Kind of similar as with The final empire, the first book you should start with is The last wish, then continue with Sword of destiny before picking up Blood of elves (Time of contempt, Baptism of fire etc). The first two ( The last wish & Sword of destiny) are short story collections and they introduce you to the world and some of the characters that will appear later in the books. At first I was kind of dreading reading them because I wanted to jump straight into the action, but they grew on me a lot and I think it helps you understand the story/motives etc better. The magic system and the writing are not that similar with Brandon's in the sense that the magic is more "traditional" (not really explained) and you're not that much into the characters' head. They grow and they are complex and layered, but their actions speak more than their thoughts if that make sense. That being said I think the books are good. They definetly have that folklore/story vibe to them and the first collection gets a lot of inspiration from classical stories (like Snow white, Beauty & the best etc.), but it twists them in an original way. I really like the interraction between the main characters, they're not blood related, but they care a lot about eachother and they are fighting to protect one another. It also plays nicely with the mentor/apprentice trope.

I've been on a Witcher marathon for the last few weeks. The books are not that new, they came out a couple of years ago. Even though they feel like more classic fantasy (with elves, monsters, the chosen one etc), I really enjoy them. The writing is not as fast paced as Brandon's and so far I haven't felt that build up towards an explosive ending, the magic system is more in the background (not so detailed) and you're not that much into the characters' head. Despite that, there are some nice twists on popular tropes, the dialogue & humor are sarcastic and cynical (which is right up my alley) and I love the pairing of the characters in them. There are some duos that remind me of Kelsier & Vin or Jasnah & Shallan.

If that doesn't work I can always sign up on Tinder and add as my description and profile picture "What I like in bed is...."

YKYASW when you think every person in the metro reading something Sanderson related is your soulmate. As Ed Sheeran would say "The club isn't the best place to find a lover" so the metro is where I'll go. A couple of months ago I was on my way to work and the guy next to me was reading WoR, while I was (finally!) reading Elantris on my Kindle (damnation it!). I was so surprised that I stared and squeaked and smiled like a lunatic and before I knew it I both missed my stop and he got off before I could say anything, so now I am always carrying a physical Sanderson book with me, hoping I will stumble upon my soulmate again

I was actually really curios to hear the opinion of some sharders about the "controversy" that has risen up in the last few months about Brandon being overhyped. I love Brandon not only as an author, but as a person (from what I've seen on him online, in meetings etc.). At the same time I also had some problems with some of his writing choices. A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a very negative review of TWOK and, forgetting that the youtube comment section is not the 17th Shard and me being the semi-crazy person that I am, I ended up writing an essay about Brandon trying to explain the hype around him. But I know not everyone has the patience/dedication to read a 5 pages long comment so when Daniel posted that video I was glad because both his arguments and the format he's expressing them in are more digestible for the regular readers/non-sharders.

HA! can't belive I'm out one year and it feels like i never left haha I'm telling you ! The more I think about, the more I'm making the case for Kaladin and Rysn one of these days I'll go back to ignoring all real life stuff and probably write a 10 page essay on why they would be great together !

Sorry for the offtopic and popping in like this, but is there anyone here good with rhymes? I need some help! Also this is the most active thread, so if I were to have some luck, I hope to find it here Ok! Thank you ! Carry on !

Hej ! I know this might be unsual, but I need some help and I know there are some writers/poets somewhere on this forum! I am terrible at rhymes or puns or anything like that. I bought a Christmas present for a friend and I have to write a rhyme dedication. Does anyone have an idea of something witty or funny to say ? It could be it English, Swedish or Islandic If it helps with anything, the present is a book called Persepolis. Please help !

I know! When i first read that chapter with Shallan it gave me goosebumps, thinking we will have an "unchained" version of her! I do hope we'll get to see that & her explore this 'passionate', 'raw' Shallan we were hinted at. Haha! I know what you mean! it's been a while since i sketched something outside of work or university and as a soon to be architect, that made me wanna start again! I m actually planning to use the Christmas break to play with different stuff and scenes i had in my head from OB. We also have the American cover of WoR as a canon drawing of him, or am i getting that wrong?

The only thing is that question was asked a year ago, so I assume we got our resolution in OB. I haven't got the chance to read all the previous posts, but I will take a look, thanks for pointing out !

Maybe he wanted to hint at the possibility of a romantic relationship and then kill it, so people won't fantasize the whole series about K&S. UGHHH! I don't know ! It's frustrating ! Yes, the chasm scene looks like such a waste now ! Then there is also this! The thing is, as hard as I try something doesn't fit here. If it's an immitation of something that happened in the past, I assume he refers to the Gavilar Navani Dalinar triangle, then why weren't things explored a bit more in-depth? Was that supposed to be all ? I'm literally talking to myself now, but I get annoyed because I just achieved a moment of peace and then I read all of these and want to scream "WHERE IS THIS IS OB BRANDON, WHERE?"

Hahah! I would cry if someone else would ever touch my Copic markers I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for kids, as they are quite an investment, but there are a lot of alternatives out there, that won't make your soul hurt if one gets destroyed. That being said.. Copic markers are one of the best products out there, so if you ever want to spoil yourself @bdoble97, that's a way to do it. Also, if you are interested, I would recommend you an youtube channel that focuses a lot on drawing characters and scenery! It's called Draw with Jazza and the guy is actually a Sanderson fan as well he has a lot of stuff on construction, proportions, colours and things like that !

I was procrastinating and looking though WoBs as one does.. and this annotation from WoK stood out to me It's funny how I stumble upon this after a couple of weeks of disscusing Shallan and nitpicking everything about her.. I have conflicted opinions about this. I know there were theories and theses wrote on her on this forum, by others who see her underlayers and symbolism more than I do, but this is the first time when I actually start to belive that there is much more to her story. This gives me hope and it makes me more excited to see who the real Shallan is. But on the other side I get more annoyed and frustrated at things like this "flaring passion", used to describe Kaladin as well. UGHHGHGH I don't know what to think anymore. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME BRANDON ?! You guys all debating and nitpiking don't help, because it makes me belive there is something more, but there my logic kicks in and I can't tell how much is wishful thinking and how much is reality. Oh well.. I'm just going mad I guess. The thing is now, I'm trying to imagine how all this will go. Let's assume there will be no more romantic undertones to Shallan and Kaladin, I am curios where this is going. Because I browse through a couple more WoBs and saw a lot of references about how important the interraction between those two will be. Plus their mirrored arcs until OB and all the other details that made them contrast/complement eachother. It builds up to an important connection/ relationship (not necerssarily romantic ) between the two, but then OB felt so anticlimactic, not only romantic wise, that I don't know what to think. Maybe their romantic connection had to be get out of the way before they could become close friends or something? I don't even know where I'm going with this

@PhineasGage I'm working on my dissertation right now and this looks more thought through and put together that my thesis will ever be I am blown away by your dedication

I also think is was their common hatred towards lighteyes and the hardships they suffered because of them, that brought them closer. I recently read an article that said the best friends/hips are made over common hate for the same things ( I can attest that is true in many of my friendships )

I don't think I expressed myself well enough. What I belive is that the more layers you add to a character the more complex and fleshed out that certain character becomes, because you see him/her in diffrent instances and interactions. I wasn't insinuating that a romantic relationship for Kaladin would necessarily be a happy one or he will find his happiness in one. Even the failed relationship with Tarah, although brief, showed another dimmension to his character. I just think it's interesting when different types of relationships are explored. Well, maybe I didn't express myself well enough. I wasn't comparing Szeth's mind to a child's, because of his phisical features, I don't know how you jumped to that conclusion, because I didn't think I was insinuating that there is a connection between his intellect and appearence. Why I compared his mind to the one of a child and assumed he skipped over some basic social interactions, was because the vibe he gave me whenever I read him. I don't have the first two books with me otherwise I would go back to his chapters to point out exactly what made me think so, but I don't think there is any shadow of a doubt that he is not right in the head, or a bit on the path to insanity (at least before he died). By that I don't mean that he is not intelligent or thoughtful. He is one of my favourite characters, I don't say these things to dimish him or make him look weak, but by the way he interracted with Lift, his blind obbedience to the Oathstone, his rambly thoughts and him talking to himself, made me read him in a certain way. Maybe the comparisson with the mind of a child is not the best one, but he definetely isn't sane, so it's not so wierd that one doesn't automatically think of him in a romantic relationship. I would say that would be wierd considering we don't know much about his character or his past. With Kaladin, Shallan or others it's different because we've been more in their mind and we followed them for 3 books now. I debated a bit if I should reply to this or not, but I will add something before I let it skip. First I am sorry if I came across to harsh or if I offended you. I do agree this is a thread about exploring Kaladin's romantic posibilities and everything that supports a certain theory can be disscused, but at a certain point I also think we have to take a step back and see if what we add something new to the conversation or not. It's not like this is a "must" or I've always thought about adding something, but in a topic like this, after all the talk and arguments that have been made in favour or against that particular subject, I was a bit tired of going though all of that again and I felt that's where the thread was going. I do think everyone should be able to express their opinion here and not be censured, but that topic is such a broad one and has so much base to it, that I feel it's better served on its own thread, rather than including it in one that briefly approaches different posibilities. Hope this explains better where I was coming from

I don't particulary agree with the idea that self actualized women are mostly selfish, but I do agree that is a shame not so many people talk about how strong of a character Navani is. When it comes to strong characters, I feel like the tendency is to consider one strong if he/she is a great fighter or is independent like Jashnah , but for me the strongest asset one can have is their character and mental strength to push through. There are different types of strenght among all out female characters in SA. THIS! THIS SHOULD BE PINNED! I cannot tell you how much this frustrates me in everyday life as well as in the online environment ! I feel like nowadays if a woman chooses to ba a stay at home mother or to get married before she is the top in her carrer, the majority would consider her weak or lacking ambition. I've seen so many cases of women looking down at others for choosing more traditional lives or deciding to be mothers instead of advancing career wise. It's so annoying when all those judgements come from other women. Instead of supporting everyone's choices we end up viciously critizicing and hating on women who don't fit our ideal of independence or power. I personally love Jasnah as well, but this is the beauty in SA, I feel we get a lot of representation when it comes to strong female characters. "One size doesn't fit them all" I agree with the general ideas you express in these posts. I don't want to offend anyone and I really hope this won't be interepreted as someone being responsable or at fault for this, but the overall feeling I got after I browse through the Reddit Beta AMA, was that almost all the beta readers were in consensus that this book didn't lack anything and it was perfect. Granted, I can't pretend to know what was discussed during the reviews and I don't want to blame anyone, but it was a bit surprising to me that no one was bothered by the things I've seen so many others complaining about (plots points never explored, scenes skipped, pacing etc). And I have to wonder why. If it wasn't for this forum to see other opinions, I would've think I read another book. Of course everyone looks and expects different things from a book, but I really find it surprising that none of our concernes raised more questions early on. Of course this is only speculating, I might me wrong since I don't know the full process, but I just wanted to point this out. As for Shallan being disliked.. I can't relate to those people. I loved Shallan from the beginning, maybe because she reminded me in a way of Hermione Granger (which is still one of my favourite female characters in literature). Thought lately, she started to put me off a bit, not necessarily because of her character, but because of how polarizing she is. So I feel I have to take a step back a little ( and here I am talking in a Shallan thread ). I might be biased in this as well, because Shallan is the character in SA that reminds me the most of myself, because I always felt, especially the more I interacted with people from different cultures and backgrounds, that I have to put on a mask for everyone, in order to be accepted. And it's not only about the insecurities I had regarding myself, but about other people's acceptance (or lack thereof ) of different ideas/opinions. Although Shallan's problem become worse and worse, what she does in the beginning, in WoK or WoR doesn't seem much different to what ,I belive, everyone does to an extent, which is to put on a facade for the outside world and let only a small group, maybe close friends, family, SOs see our real personality. I finally forced convinced my sister to read WoK and to my disspointment she told me she doesn't like Shallan So I wanted to have a firsthand impression of why someone would dislike Shallan. She told me it's mostly because of her arc so far, she found it a bit improbable that someone who has been sheltered her whole life would just go out trying to fool one of the smartest women in the world, thinking she would succede. Now I just have to wait for her to read more and maybe get to WoR. If after that she still doesn't like it, I might me in the market for a new sister

Moash wakes up something in me that makes me realise i could be a very bloody, hateful, evil person if i would let myself to embrace the urges. I would enjoy every mi ute of his sloooooow, painful and detailed death. I know this post is getting rather dark and i want to assure everyone that i am not a sociopath & i don t plan on killing anyone, but i really hate him to the point start fantasize about his slow death #NOREDEMPTIONARC Shallan was one of my favourite characters, but lately i ve also started to get a bit tired of how polarazing she is. Although this debates shouldn t affect out liking of the characters, i ve noticed that happened to me with multiple characters. So i just started avoiding certain threads/topics

@king of nowhere I have to run so I don't think I will make the best argument, so I quoted these posts from the Overhyped character thread( I don't know how to reference the direct thread in here) that I refered to in the previous comment that explain better what I wanted to say by Syl manipulating Kaladin I do think there is a difference when romantic implications come to a relationship and those often can ruin a great friendship, so I don't want to see that. If a romantic thing doesn't work between them is not like they can go do and meet whoever they want without hurting eachothers feelings (that s to say even if Syl is capable of romantic feelings at all) , they will literally be stuck with eachother until one of them dies. That is too much drama for me to handle. But of course it's just my opinion on the matter. I am not a moderator, but I would respectfully ask not to turn this into a shipping war. This is a thread to discus Kaladin's possible romantic interests, not to turn it again into the endless love triangle drama. Everyone is a fan here, but I would also assume a sensible human being, so there is no need to go into the shipping wars. The reason I keep saying this is because we know how that subject is extremely volatile and polarizing and we've seen how those threads end up.

@Ookla the Mulkfather I am so sorry you are going trough this and thank you for sharing your story! That will give people a better idea of how depression it actually is. I think a lot of people have this idea, that depressive people are just weak or they enjoy self pity and once something good happens and you re on a good path, you can never relapse. That's what my ignorant 18 years old self used to think. So much has changed from then and fortunately or unfortunately I got to learn more about this. Also, this is a bit offtopic for the thread, but for whoever is interested in these sort of things, there is this "depression game" that's quite interactive and helps you understand a bit better how some people think or work. http://www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html It's quite a draining experience, but interesting nonetheless!

I don't want to police anyone or stop them from expressing their opinion, but let's not let this escalade and transform into a Shalladin vs Shadolin thread or another "Shallan's choice" thread. That can put off people who have something else to say and are tired of the same arguments. Just my two cents..

I know some already replied and I agree with what everyone said above. I just wanted to add a thing. We are shown from part 1 that Kaladin is going to have a dilemma to choose between what is right and what is expected of him. Given his 3rd ideal, with protecting the ones that can't protect themselves, who is to say who can't protect themselves ? What makes the Parshendi more worthy to protect than the humans or the humans more than the Parshendi? It's all a matter of perspective. Here is the dilemma that Kaladin encounters. Assuming you love both of your parents the same, if you were to choose between killing one knowing it will save the other, what would you do? Things are not always that black and white. Through Kaladin, I think one of the things Brandon tries to accomplish is to show a realistic portrayal of depression. I don't know if you've ever had experience with that, but depression is not just something that goes away one day and never comes back. You will always have it in you and you will have a predisposition to it and relapses, but you have to keep going. It's not as easy as someone telling you to get over yourself and there, you are fixed. Kaladin has to learn and accept some things, that he won't always be able to save everyone and he will fail sometimes, but he has to push through it.