AngelDeath

Warbreaker, Elantris, and Way of Kings all take place within pretty confined areas as well. But they don't feel as limited as Era 1 Mistborn. I totally agree that a larger world is hinted at. It's just not hinted at enough. Like I would have loved to see more Spook flashbacks, of what his life was like in a street gang. Also I'm not saying the world building is bad, just that I think it's over hyped. So what I mean by magical feeling is; with surgebinding how the magic works is tide in with the user Ideals, and with their perception of really. Not only do they have to act a certain way, but they have to view their actions in a certain way as well. Surgebinding is deeply connected with the rest of the world. To me that makes it feel magical. Allomancy, and to lesser degree feruchemy feel disconnected from everything else. Like their just tacked on. Though I think it could definitely get better in later books.

So i love the Mistborn books. But it seams I like them for much different reasons then most people do. Everyone else raves about the magic system, and world building. To me they're the weakest parts, and no where up to standards set in Brandon's other books. The magic system is so simplest. You drink the metal, you gain the power. I am I fan of video game like 'hard' magic. But all of Brandon's other magic system are much more 'mystical', and 'magical'. Allomancy just feels too much like a video game. And the world building. All of Brandon's other books feature a wide array of different cultures, subcultures, peoples, and religions. In Mistborn there are skaa, and nobles, no one else. I know there's an in world reason for this; An oppressive government which has enforced the same culture, and religion on everyone. But it still feels like the world is just a back drop for the story. Rather then a living place full of other stories. I do really love Mistborn for it's story and characters. I've read era 1 twice, and will probably read them again. And i think the world building in era two is a lot better.

I was just thinking about how those books are similar to the Cosmere. In that the magic is mixed in with real science, and there are a bunch of interconnected books that can be read independently of each other. I finished Crown of Stars and loved it right up until the end. The ending felt too rushed. As long as the series was it still seamed like it needed another book. Or at least a sequel series. Still one of the best completed fantasy series I've read though. I was thinking I liked it more then Stormlight, then that I liked it less. But now I've realized I can't really compare a completed series to an ongoing one. I tried reading Throne of Glass and found the writing style too painful. So I just went straight Crown of Midnight and enjoyed it, but don't think I'll be reading anything more by Sarah J Mass. I might have liked them when i was younger, but; nope not now.

I just had this crazy idea. What if Nomon is blue because it's made out of water. (I don't know how it keep from freezing) If so; it would be land in Shadesmar. The the Siah Aimian might actually have lived on the moon, just on the Shadesmar side. Might be why their shadows point backwards; from living many generations in Shadesmar. Alternately Nomon might not be water, but some other liquid that freezes at a lower temperature.

Would lanceryn/larkins count as a third race? They're not humanoid, but they still might be super intelligent.

He powerful enough, he could stop groups of normal soldiers from killing each other. Especially if he got other Windrunners to help him.

Kaladin realizes he can't remain an honorable person if he picks a side in the war. Instead he decides to protect all innocent people, no matter which side their on.

Way too many of the 'good guys' (Jon Snow, Ned Stark, Rob Stark, others I can't remember the names of) do incredibly stupid things, for seemingly no other reason then to manufacture a plot. Like I know people being stupid is realistic, but it happens so mechanically. Also there are waaay too many bad guys who are total psychopaths( Geoffrey, The Mountain, Ramsey Bolton, lots of minor bad guy) with zero complexity. They exist only for the reader to hate them. Over all I think ASOFAI is an example of weak, divisive storytelling, with a few really good parts.

It's cuz i tend to shy away form anything with a YA label on it. So far i haven't read any YA that I'd put in my top ten.(maybe Earthsea) But that won't stop me from checking it out again. Just as soon as I'm done with Crown of Stars. Only two and a half books to go!

Right now i'm reading Crown of Stars, by Kate Elliott. I think it's replaced (or least equaled) Stormlight as my favorite fantasy series. I wouldn't recommend it to every Sanderson fan though, it isn't as heavy on action, and is a lot harder to read. But it has the same intricate plot, complex characters, and well for shadowed plot twists, and revelations. The world building is really cool too. On the surface it looks like a standard alternate midevil Europe, but it's way more imaginative, and detailed then similar series' like ASOFAI, or Realm of the Elderlings. The Broken Earth series is another one, that to me almost equaled Stormlight. It' a whole lot like something Sanderson would write, only darker, more sex, and waaaay better written. I should check out Throne of Glass again. I got it from the library a few months ago, but then didn't read it cuz of all the bad reviews on Goodreads

I think that the 'god beyond' is the closest thing in the Cosmere to the god that Sanderson himself worships. And there for is never going to be a major part of the story.

So here's my theory; The Dawnshards are the 16 shards of Adonalsium. After the shattering some, or all of the shards stayed on Yolen and fought each other. Resulting in the near destruction of the planet. Once the shard vessels see what they have done most of them make an agreement to all go to different planets, so that their powers would never be used against each other again. Odium decides to stop it from happening again by destroying all the other shards. And lastly (t When human refugees on Roshar found out that two Shards(Honor, and Cultivation) have broken the agreement and came the Roshar together, they become afraid that their new home will be destroyed. So they contacted Odium to come save them by destroying Honor, and Cultivation. It's possible humans were more Cosmere aware back then and knew that Odium had defeated Devotion, and Dominion without harming Sel. So they thought the same thing would happen on Roshar. When the fight with Odium turned into a long lasting conflict they sided with Honor. My evidence for this mostly come from the word 'Dawn' implies the start of something, or the first. So the Dawnshards would be like the first Shards; the Shards of Adonalsium. Whereas Shardblades, and Shardplate are newer smaller pieces of Adonalsium. Also the fact that Honor seams to have felt reasonable for the destruction of the planet Roshar humans first came from. If the planet humans came from only had Odium on it, why would Honor feel guilty?

Taln is described as looking like someone from Makabaki only tall and broader, and more muscular. Galladon who is form Sel is described the same way. As far as i know they are the only characters in Stormlight described this way. I could be that the Heralds came form Sel. And they went to Roshar to get revenge on Odium after he splintered Sel's Shards.

Floating cities with reversed gravitation seams to be a way more advanced use of technology/investiture then anything else we've seen in the Cosmere. It also seams like they've bin there for a long time. Meaning that Ashyn is the most advanced (known) planet in the Cosmere. I wonder what that indicates.

I voted other because Dalinar wasn't on the list. I think he's boring, self righteous, and commits genocide, but still gets to be the hero. As far as badly written character i would say Lift. I've known many people who are or were homeless teenagers. And Lift is a really bad representation. Also i love Moash. I think he's one of the best done characters.

It's pretty understandable that the Dawnsinger want revenge on humans. But why would they side with the human's evil god to do it? It would seam like they would hate Odium as much if not more so then humans. Maybe the original human Voidbringers did something to the Dawnsingers they killed that bonded them to Odium.

My guess would be that Recreance happened right after the Listener Voidbringers were defeated, and sent into slave form. The KR knew that without a common enemy to unite them their conflicting ideals would lead them to fight each other. Which might be as bad as a new Desolation. They also killed their spren on purpose so that spren would not want to bond with humans. Stopping any new surgebinder from appearing.

There is this So the Listeners refer to Voidbringers as something other then themselves. It could be that 'voidbringer' is just a general term for anything supernatural and bad. Sort of like 'demons' in the KKC.

Warbreaker was one of the first Sanderson books i read. I had heard so many good things about it. But i only get a hundred or so pages in before i got sick of it. All the characters were annoying. The plot was pointless. And it wasn't written vary well. I tried a few times to read it, but couldn't do it. Only after reading and loving most of Sanderson's other book was i able to make myself read Warbreaker. By the end i was totally in love with it. And was thinking it was one of the beat books I'd ever read. The two things that really blew my mind were: i don't think there's any other book that i've hated so much to start with, but ended up loving.

I really like this theory. And even tho i like Adolin more then Amaram i would still love to see Adolin get taken down a peg.

So when a spren has progressed far enough in a bond with a human it's able to manifest in physical form as a shardblade. Nightblood is a spren who is in the form of a sword without being bonded to a human. Dose that mean that if he bonds with someone and progresses far enough he'll be able to turn into something more like other spren? And sorry if this has bin brought up already. There so many Nightblood posts.

Is there any word on how big the continent of Roshar is? It's referred to as super-continent, so i'm guessing it's bigger then any earth continent. If so that would make Alethkar really huge.

That still leaves the possibility that she is a small part Horneater, and therefor part listeners. But probably not enough to make her much different then other humans. That was actually my theory to began with. But while rereading for more info to back it up i came across the part where she couldn't talk. And thought wooH! maybe she not just a small part listener, but half. Also; Can i post Oathbringer spoilers here if i tag them as spoilers? There is a small part in Oathbringer that add to the mystery Shallan becoming surgebinder at such a young age. My theory was that Shallan's mother raped one of her slaves, not that Lin was a parshman.

So, my theory is that Shallan's biological father is actually a red, and white colored parshmen in slaveform. Here's my list of evidence. Horneaters are mix of humans and listener. And Shallan looks a lot like a Horneater. Enough so for her to trick Kaladin into thinking she is one. In order for someone to become a surgebinder they need to undergo a lot of trauma. The trauma cracks they're spriteweb. A spren then fits into the cracks, and establishes a bond with the person turning them into a surgebinder. Shallan has gone through a whole lot of trauma. But all of it after her mother tried to kill her. There is nothing to indicate that she had anything other then a normal happy childhood. At least until her mother tried to kill her, and her father went crazy. And yet at the age of 11 she was able to lightweave, and from a shardblade. The only other preteen surgebinder we've seen is Lift. And she didn't become a surgebinder the normal way. Instead her spriteweb was(probably) rewritten by the Nightwatcher. Listeners don't need to undergo trauma to bond with a spren. It's just a natural part of who they are. It's really hard( maybe impossible) for a listener to become a surgebinder. But if someone was half listener, and half human it might mack it way easier then it would be for a full blooded member of ether species. After Shallan kills her mother she becomes unable to talk. A whole lot like a Listener in slaveform. She is only able to talk again right after drawing a picture. Now lets assume Shallan is half Listener. And that she bonded with Pattern as a baby. He was possibly attracted to her because of the 'lie' that she was seen as fully human. Because of the damage to her spiritualDNA passed down form her slaveform father she wouldn't be able to talk, or function as a normal child. But because of her bond with Pattern she is able to talk and grows up thinking she is normal. When Shallan uses Pattern to kill her mother it traumatizes her and damages her nahel bond sending her into slaveform. Pattern sees Shallan's drawings as lies. So when she draws for the first time after killing her mother it reestablishes the bond and enables her to talk aging. This is totally the sort of thing Brandon would do I know this theory is totally out there. And probably not true. But there is evidence for it, and it's fun to think about. Also one of the biggest flaw in this theory is that; if Shallan needs a bond with a spren in order to talk then why don't Horneaters. I think this might be because Horneaters are descended form listeners form before they're were forced into slaveform. And therefor don't have damage to they're sDNA. (Horneaters are probably descended from listeners in workform. They are really big, strong, and dislike violence. All aspects of workform.)

But if she was afraid of others gaining power that implies she still had free will. When Marsh was controlled by Ruin he wasn't able to act in his own interest, or ambition. He just did what Ruin wanted him to.