wotbibliophile

@Prelude This seems to be a trend with Sanderson. His male characters seem totally uninterested in sex. His female characters are more interested. I think this has been the case in all of his books. It makes me go hmmmm this is rather unrealistic. It makes me laugh. I'm talking specifically his main male and female characters. @Mistbornwithakitty You make some good points. It is just that if that is what Sanderson meant to do, he still wrote it very badly. I do not believe Shallan made a healthy choice at the end of OB. There are two reasons for this. 1. She hates herself. I don't believe you can love someone (romantically) when you hate yourself; you just have nothing to give. 2. She is insane. She thinks she is three people. No sane person thinks this. At the end of OB when she talks to Veil and Radiant (just before the wedding) does she know she is talking to herself or does she believe she is talking to two other people (sort of like bride maids)? I think she doesn't know she is only talking to herself (there is no one else in the room after all). I could get behind Shallan's choice if I thought she chose out of a sense of well being instead I feel she is totally dependent on Adolin ("without you I fade") and that is a bit gross to me.

@Humming Yes wot does mean Wheel of Time. Reading WOT is what made me really love reading. Sometimes I accidentally call Kaladin Rand (not that I think they are at all alike) I just got in the habit of always thinking about Rand. @ILuvHats I am really hoping for better resolution for Shallan. The end of OB was not at all satisfying. Sanderson just did not set up for it. The Girl who stood up (the chapter with Wit) made me think the best resolution for Shallan is that she forgives herself. There is no hint of that at the end of OB but she gets married and I am pretty sure she hates herself. I think something drastic has to occur for Shallan to confront her problems. I expect another break down like what happened in Kholinar when Grund died. (Was his name Grund? I mean the boy she was trying to feed.) About Adolin. I do like him. I like Maya and I hope he revives her. He seems on his way. He's a side character and I'm fine with him staying that way. His character would be better if he struggled with anything at all. I am trying to imagine that Shal and Ado have a good marriage in the future books. I think Sanderson means for Shal and Ado to stay together, but it really does not work for me. If Shal and Ado have a really good marriage in the next book with zero problems much like their relationship so far I think this will bother me enough that I will drop SA. Not sure. It will depend on what else is in the books. I read SA for Kaladin. He is my favorite character. It may be I'll keep reading for his sake and just downgrade Shallan to another female character Sanderson has written poorly.

Hi I've been lurking for a long time. Here is how I see it. In WOR I thought Shal Ado was cute but I preferred Shal Kal. My big problem with Shal Ado was that Shallan was not honest with Adolin. In the beginning of OB when Shal thinks "maybe I can explain" I thought oh man Shal Kal is over it's going to be Shal Ado. But Adolin cuts her off and she doesn't explain anything she makes Radiant instead. There were two things that Shal could have said 1. Vague: I have killed before and holding the shardblade causes me pain I just can't practice right now 2. Specific: I killed my mother. I hate my shardblade and want nothing to do with it. It hurts. So with the vague option I would have been meh. With the specific option I would have thought that Shal Ado was it and Shal Kal was wishful thinking. By the end of OB Shallan is still not honest with Adolin and I don't think she has any plans to be. She's a liar that's what she does best that's what she is comfortable with. She plans to tell Adolin about the Ghostbloods but not until after they are married. This to me is manipulative. She is maneuvering Adolin to marry her she is using him. I really dislike this. She seems to think Adolin will not care about her connection with the Ghostbloods (I think she's probably right) but if so why didn't she tell him before marrying him. Maybe because he would object to her close connection with a group that has tried repeatedly to assassinate his cousin Jasnah and Shallan herself and overall kills innocent bystanders. I got the impression Shal Ado were spending every moment together leading up to the wedding. There was time and privacy for Shallan to be honest with Adolin. She's not. More important than the Ghostbloods is the fact that Shallan has killed both her parents and she had a horrible childhood. (Adolin also had a horrible childhood though he may not see it that way and I don't think Shallan knows this and I don't think she is curious. What do they even talk about???) She has no intention to tell Adolin this. This is again manipulative. Even if Adolin's opinion of Shallan does not change because she's connected to the Ghostbloods his opinion of her would have to change after learning she killed both her parents and the circumstances around that (unless he is brain dead). We know Shallan hates herself. She calls herself a monster and worthless. She says she doesn't matter. With all that she probably thinks Adolin would think less of her if he knew her history. So she doesn't tell him or plan to tell him, but she does manipulate him into marrying her. She is using him. My one big objection to Shal Ado was that Shal is not honest with Ado. This is not resolved and yet they are married and apparently most readers are happy with the two of them together and believe they will solve any problems that they have in the future. *I am now banging my head against the wall* On top of all this I think Shallan is insane. I thought she was sane in WOK and WOR but OB convinced me she is insane. I do not believe she is mentally competent to agree to marriage. Short answer I was really disgusted with the rushed ending of OB.