king of nowhere

yes, next set of interludes. or maybe even the one aftrwards, anyway around halfway through the books.

all those little discrepancies you're correctly noticing have perfectly good explanations; indeed, most of them will be key revelation to a story arc or another. as for szeth, you'll see him in the next interlude. for now he's running - and yes, there's a very good reason he hasn't killed kaladin and is running away instead. you'll see it in this book. as for tyn... tyn was cool, but she was a totally horrible human being. good riddance. also shallan is pretty unlucky with the people she meets. the first guy she befriends is an assassin, then as she's shipwrecked she's rescued by slavers, and then she rescues some people and it turns out there's another assassin in there. and you still don't know about her family... it's like she can't take two steps without tripping on a hidden blade or soemthing

I'm a bit disappointed by this state of sanderson. no, not that there's anything disappointing in there. it's been a good brandon year. it's just that i already knew it all. i was hoping for some new nuggets. other years it happened. instead, no big announcements, no new secret projects, no preview chapters. it's like waiting for a christmas gift, and then it's something you already have.

while the op takes it a bit too far, i am also worried about radiant power creep. especially their healing ability; in his first fight, szeth thinks he can heal broken bones in hours. the fist he takes to the face is severely debilitating, and he was at serious risk of losing. that's a good power level to have. now radiants can be skewered by multiple spears and aren't even being slowed by it, regenerating the worst wounds in seconds. it removes a lot of suspence from the fights

in the italian language the neuter gender fell out of use and we somehow assigned genders to every object (bed is male, chair is female, closet is male, different kinds of lamps have different names some males and some females... we just go by ear, there's no logic. it mostly depends on the last letter in the word). so, assigning a sword as a he is not weird. having to think in terms of "it" is what's weird. (p.s. sword in italian is female, though greatsword is male)

a macahuitl is not bulky. no more than a regular sword. it can be wielded easily; there's a reason in the ancient times, people who could afford it would carry a sword and not a knife. and sure, it's harder to conceal. if you're going to a ball in your gown, you can conceal a glass dagger underneath, not a bigger weapon. but if you're jumping in the mist, carring a macahuitl it not a problem. it's not like you're trying to hide it. a shield could pose aerodinamic problems, but strapping it on your back should minimize them. and if you have to fight another mistborn, a shield would certainly give you an advantage.

the glass dagger is a very impractical weapon. sure, it cuts really well, but it is extremely fragile. using it for anything other than slashing flesh is likely to result in a broken dagger. it has a short reach, putting you at a disadvantage against any other weapon. conversely, the macahuitl would have been a great weapon for mistborn era 1. the aztec sword equivalent, it is made of a wooden board studded with obsidian shards. it cuts extremely well, being as good as a sword on most instances except for lacking a good stabbing point. in the real world, the macahuitl was defeated because when glass hits steel, glass shatters, and so the macahuitls were useless against the steel armor of the europeans. gunpowder and disease also were part of it. but in mistborn there is no such problem, nobody wants to wear a metal armor anyway. so a mistborn would have really gained in effectiveness by wielding a macahuitl and a wooden shield. he'd have greater reach, more cutting power, and better defence than a mistborn with standard equipment. even hazekillers with staves would have gained a lot in lethality if those staves were studded with glass shards. kelsier was hit a few times in his fight against hazekillers, as was vin when storming cett keep. in both cases, if those hazekillers would have been equipped with macahuitls, the fight would have left the mistborn in a much worse shape.nand in both cases, if the mistborn had himself a shield and macahuitl to parry blows and compensate for reach, he'd have done much better. I think simply sanderson didn't think of that weapon when writing. though i am a bit surprised that a man who likes swords would not think of a macahuitl during the writing of a full trilogy.

mistborn, inquisitors, feruchemists, none of them was powerful enough to derail a plot. harmony is powerful enough to derail a plot. so is marsh. we though kelsier was also way too powerful, but apparently he lost his powers somehow, that simplifies matters

the problem is, once you establish that harmony is there, and that the kandra are there, and that scadrial risks complete destruction, then it would not make sense for harmony to not intervene. the problem with the niffugams is that they should intervene in the plot. you can't just ignore a plot/worldbuilding element because it's inconvenient to the plot. hence why you need to provide a reason for the niffugam to not interfere with the plot

i felt that one was ok because i don't think vasher could have taken the tower all by himself. he can whip up a small army with stuff lying around, but the tower hosted dozens of fused and thousands of soldiers. the only reason kaladin lasted as long as he did is leshwi's insistence in playing fair. not clear. yes, i am familiar with the source, but what does it mean exactly? iirc, marsh became old all of a sudden, something that would be covered by feruchemical atium. in general, there are very few ailments that could not be healed by some feruchemical healing, which marsh should have.

as the cosmere progresses, it's gradually being filled by immortal people with awesome powers. I worry that could pose narrative problems, of the "why don't they intervene" variety. oh, for a story about something relatively unimportant that's not an issue. everyone could read alloy of law and accept that harmony is not going to personally intervene against a band of robbers, no matter how dangerous. however, when there is a threat to the world - which is what happens near the end of most sanderson books - brandon has to find ways to remove those powers from the action. he did so in tlm, and his touch was... less than subtle, mostly because of how many of those he had to cover - harmony could not interfere because his vision and future sight were conveniently blocked - nor could he send kandras to fight because their most battle capable member was conveniently removed from the planet few days before - marsh put in an appearance, then he got conveniently sick (not really clear, by the way; he still had age stored, otherwise he'd have died in minutes, so there was nothing preventing him from tapping more youth) - kelsier was conveniently placed on an airship in the middle of the ocean - the ghostbloods apparently have tendrils everywhere, except near the area of operations. all those coincidences were fine, taken individually. But all together, they become noticeable. and the more superpowerful immortals gather around, the more people will have to be conveniently written out of a plot. do you think this is going to become a worse and worse problem as the cosmere goes on? as a possible solution, the future age with the industrialization of investiture will give great powers to the common man, so that those superpowered people are less powerful by comparison. certainly giving common soldiers aluminium gear and allomantic granades would work nicely to threaten wax, but it will still be a hard sell against a radiant or a full mistborn/feruchemist.

so many spoilers... i won't say anything on the matter, least i inadvertently give something away

indeed, i believe the sole reason for that scene is to set up such an encounter...

well, all I can say is that there is so much going on, so many secret societies plotting, it requires the wiki to keep the facts straight

I normally dislike crossovers. they feel like hamfisting together stuff that don't belong for pure fanservice. however, the cosmere is not giving me those kind of troubles. basically because of how well brandon has laid the groundwork for all of this. gotta say, when I read that marasi was going to become a worldhopper, I was expecting poor allik to die, because he's one strong anchor binding marasi on scadrial. luckily for our masked friend, brandon does not write stereotipes. same goes for marasi trying to trick entrone into a public confession. I was also expecting wax or wayne or both could bite the dust. since this is the end of era 2. but what a way to go! finally, i was expecting allomancer jak to show up in person for the last book. could have been a good cameo.

so, harmony decided to tell wax clearly what he needs to know.... but he gives 16 metal vials of extra powers with no explanation for how those works? i get that the story requires it, but it's a stretch. and it's the epitome of irresponsibility and shooting oneself in the foot. telsin continued her shining career. she was a sequence, while the leaders of the set are series. and we were led to assume the series led by consensus. now she outranks them too. i would have liked to see who the series were. if somebody as powerful and influencial as suit was only the third rank at best... well, it's like seeing someone using the pope as a driver and the president as a butler, and you wonder who they could possibly be to be so powerful

the simple explanation is that kelsier killed all the guards and freed all the prisoners. that's the kind of event that hampers production

i always assumed that they are long enough to cover his forehead, but not long enough to go over his eyes. as for not taking care of them, in the past - before the invention of hot water taps and cheap detergents - it was normal to not take care much of one's hygiene. and yes, we'd find that gross. progress does not just means cars and mobile phones, it also means the common people are able to wash regularly. this premise gives the best clue to what is likely kaladin's haircut: a rough hack-and-saw job done for practical reasons. when he has a lock of hairs going over his eyes, that lock is cut. aside from that, nope. at least, that's how he was as a slave; now that he's important, i guess he has access to good care.

the wayne chapters are the best wayne chapters so far. and that was already a very high bar to clear. and, people talking science and being scientific-minded! reacting appropriately to hazards! in a book! that's wonderful. I'm always put off by science in books being garbage. sanderson is a rare exception i doubt that. wax is stated as owing a few % of all the real estate in the city. that's a tremendous amount of wealth.

it's not stormlight itself. do you remember the stuff about radiants and oaths?

the passive abilities of stormlight - regeneration, mild physical enhancement - are common to everyone who can use stormlight. the specialized uses - kaladin's gravity manipulation, shallan's illusions - are specific for orders.

the kandra being strictly carnivorous is really strange. in the final empire meat was very rare and very expensive; even the food described in noble meals was mostly vegetable. how would they maintain cover if they needed to eat meat regularly or starve? wait, they can rearrange their digestive system. it means that they can eat human food. they could copy a cow's digestive system and eat grass if they wanted. i'lll put it down to vendell being a snob. wayne banter was even better than usual for him. absolutely fantastic. i wonder, though, it was mentioned he was hit by a cannon and ripped in two. How much healing would it have taken to recover from that? also, I wonder if the days he spends sick charging his metalmind are considered working days and paid accordingly. Considering that he uses that healing as part of his job, it would make a lot of sense

Something I considered as I'm rereading mistborn. Kelsier is known as the survivor of hatsin. he's a legend. his scars are famous, and a thing of mystery. because nobody knows what happens in the pits. Because nobody else survived. But! when kelsier snapped, he killed (according to the annotations) every noblemen and guard in a radius of kilometers. there were other prisoners in the pits at the time, so it's likely they also escaped. so there should be several dozens, possibly hundreds of other people who escaped from hatsin. all survivors of hatsin. all with the scars. and while some of them may have wanted to not talk about the experience, many more would have. and kelsier shouldn't have had such an air of mystery around him. unless they were all caught and executed in a short time, but it doesn't seem likely.

i'm thinking people like adolin, or lan in the wheel of time. people who can't go toe to toe against magical foes, but who still manage to be pretty useful. even marasi in book 1 qualifies, as she got to use her power only once. and she was useful for a bunch of stuff. including killing Pull

vin and elend managed against an inquisitor who ran out of speed before completing the blow. sazed was mopping the floor with marsh before he run out too. paalm could have killed wax very easily had she wanted to. and no, it won't let you move midair. if the mistborn goes flying, you just speed yourself up, take out your aluminium gun, take aim leisurely and shoot a very easy target. being exposed in midair like that is terribly dangerous; it's generally a bad idea to leave cover to fly around when somebody is aiming for you. it's long been my opinion that feruchemical speed is overpowered. to try and balance it, brandon tries to remove it from the equation whenever possible. sazed used up all his stockpile to return to luthadel quickly. the inquisitor run out fast. paalm didn't actually want to kil wax, and she ran out. that's the problematic power. mistborns are ok.