Philomath

Not a huge typo, but on my kindle ebook, the I for Isaac’s name is a 1 instead. And it is spelled 1zaac instead of Isaac. Unless he changed how he spelled his name…

You summed up so well why I loved this book so much too. I can’t even say how many times I wanted to screenshot (or did) one of Hoid’s asides because they were so meaningful to me.

Another possibility is that Autonomy just co-opted the aethers on this planet. That could explain why they are different from the core aethers. It seems similar to other things autonomy has done by investing not directly on a planet or people, but on the sun or moon causing the lichen, worms, and spores to be invested.

Ooh. Can it be Enola Holmes style so we can occasionally get the witty interjections and 4th wall breaks by Hoid. That would be one way to preserve the idea that he is telling the story without using the frame story idea just like Brandon did. I do feel like this would indeed make a great movie. I think that this might be one of the easiest of Brandon’s books to actually condense to a 2 hour timeframe while still keeping the spirit of it and not having the characterization suffer.

Okay, so I waited until now to get into secret project 1 stuff and so I’m just now hearing Brandon say he was inspired in some ways by Terry Pratchett and that he is a favorite author of Brandon’s. I am mildly ashamed to admit I have never read any Terry Pratchett, but have heard recommendations before. But I am highly interested in reading him now. So, do any of you have a good starting place for getting into reading his works?

While I don’t think that is actually the case, I had the exact same thought when I read that part. Ha ha!

I’m going to assume you mean the doctor? Ulaam is how you spell the name which would be tricky to know if you were listening so don’t worry. I’m going to spoiler my response because it is more cosmere aware.

Did anyone else feel like something was off in the epilogues when our characters were talking to Marsh about his treatments to stay alive? Were they just being vague to not mention that the kandra are replicating Wax’s harmonium experiment and get Atium? Or is something else funny going on here? I just feel like “treatment” is such a weird way to describe “found a new source of metal so I can continue to compound my age like I’ve been doing for centuries.”

This isn’t a big theory or anything, but when talking with my spouse after they finished the book, we discussed how some primitive space exploration is possible in Era 3. The 1980s real world had already seen people walk on the moon. The ISS was created only 20 years after that. So it is theoretically possible that there may be a budding Basin Space Exploration Association (BSEA). Plus, Kelsier seems to think that cognitive realm travel is becoming less efficient and more problematic so setting out in space in the physical realm seems like something the Ghostbloods might push for. (Though I can see this as a selfish move for Kelsier to try and use this as a workaround for his connection to Scadrial.)

Agreed. And Fiona Shaw goes on the list with the two from episode 10 of fantastic performances. Honestly, every person in this show acted it so well. It really was just phenomenal.

Hopefully it will either go up on Brandon’s YouTube channel or the Arcanum. He read it at the Spoiler Q&A at the convention on 11/14. I’m not sure if that one was recorded. It’s the first time I’ve been to a reading so maybe someone who’s more familiar with how those work will be able to answer.

Perhaps she convinced herself that not stamping every day will turn her into a fallen Elantrian irreversibly.

Has anyone else seen this yet? I saw it last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Is it the best MCU movie? Probably not. But I think it was still fantastic. I thought they did a fantastic job of honoring Chadwick Boseman while still looking toward the future. I think it portrayed grief so well. So many things hit hard in this movie. I was crying several times. Between this movie and Thor: Love and Thunder, I feel like they are exploring existential crisis and faith crisis which is really interesting to me. I enjoyed Namor as an antagonist. The conflict between him and the Wakandans was so hard for me because I didn’t really want either side to lose. I felt like both cultures were developed so well that I couldn’t stand to lose either of them. (Honestly it makes me a little terrified for the end of the Cosmere because I think I will feel similarly. So many different cultures and people I have grown to care about being in massive conflict with each other. I trust Brandon to pull it off well though.) Also, I really appreciate that this movie was filled with powerful female characters who were so well written that none of them felt shoehorned in. It was a feminist movie without it feeling contrived. (Edit: Wow this underlined part really didn’t make sense on a reread. What I mean was I disagree that the movies featuring marginalized people are bad. Despite people complaining. To be fair, I don’t think a lot of complaints about marginalized populations in media are actually bad, despite many people complaining. This movie just did extra well at presenting whole human characters.) A few more thoughts I’ll spoiler just in case anyone is peeking here without actually seeing it yet.

Okay. Sorry, this is going to be long. I really enjoyed this book. I do agree a little with what some of you said along with Chaos in his video about it not being perfect. Thinking more about it, I think it has to do with this. You don’t technically need to have read Era 1 to understand the story of Era 2. Sure you miss some references and don’t get the cool cameos like Marsh and Ten Soon. But it is not absolutely essential. Where you definitely need to read Era 2 I think before Era 3. This is doing some heavy set up for Era 3 which isn’t bad, but just makes Era 2 feel a little too open ended and incomplete. Like how in the world do we get Wax as a Mistborn (even if not a strong one) and not actually get to see him be one?! It is something I want so badly now. And Marasi is going to be the best rusting governor Elendel and the Basin have ever seen and we won’t get to see that either. Or how things go with her and Allik. I’m sure we’ll hear things about it come Era 3, but I want those stories for real too. Not just as mentions. Overall though I really loved this book. I read the physical copy super fast and I am already planning on listening to the audiobook soon. Something this book did well for me was make me want to reread all Sanderson stuff since there were so many crossovers. Instead of being too much for me, it just makes me really excited. I think for the rest of my reactions I am going to break them out by character. Wax: Again, Mistborn and we hardly see it?! Dang it. Also, I love that he and Steris have kids. This was a really big deal to me. I loved his interactions with Steris and Max and you could really tell just how much he cherished them. So wonderful to see. I love how he learned to become a whole person. He didn’t need to be pieces for different situations. He could be them all and I think that allowed him to be stronger. Wayne: Wow. What a way to go. His whole arc was beautiful. I loved his growth and learning. Loved seeing his more controlled use of his bendalloy. Love the good he kept doing unintentionally by trying not to be a millionaire. This really was a fantastic conclusion for his character. Steris: She’s still one of the best. Seeing more from her POV was great even if it was small. As a parent of a child who is mildly on the autism spectrum, I loved seeing her neurodivergence shown as something that was always a strength. And seeing her love and accept herself and being loved by others just as she is. She didn’t need to change and she always was more valuable than 7/100. Marasi: I love how she aligned in some ways with the Ghostbloods, but differed in others. She is a character who knows herself well and knows where she is best suited. I love that she is curious and wants to understand the greater cosmere, but won’t do it in ways that compromise her values. But she doesn’t shrink herself as a character by not joining the Ghostbloods. It isn’t settling for her. She is still ambitious and I think she will do amazing things. Sazed/Harmony: Ooh, this one hurts. I am very scared for him. Sazed is one of my favorite characters in all of Brandon’s works. I thought his conclusion in Era 1 of seeing Ruin and Preservation as 2 important and needed pieces together was really beautiful. So I hate seeing him struggle so much now. I really don’t want to see him become a villain or die! One bit of comfort I have SA5 reading from Dragonsteel 2022 Also, weird things are happening with Kelsier. I’m not entirely convinced he is completely in the physical realm yet. I’m going to have to reread his parts more. And since I have already declared my love for Sazed, I will admit that while I love Kelsier as a character, I don’t love him as a person and would rather he be a villain than Sazed. Anyway, if you made it through my novel, thanks, and I cannot wait until Era 3. And also the Elantris sequels since it seems more apparent now why we need those around the same time.

I would be fine with something like that. I just really want to hear firsthand stories about Wax as a rusting Mistborn! Not some accounts in broadsheets or comics or history books that may not be fully accurate. And I figure his kids/grandkids would have the best shot of telling some decent stories about him. But either way works for me.

That is true.

Well to be fair, most of the Skybreakers on Roshar swore oaths to follow Nale and he is just a tad bit insane… and Szeth is sworn to Dalinar who is doing pretty okay right now, but has a seriously messed up past and to our current knowledge may have a messed up future. My thoughts on this while reading that scene were “Oh! Knights Radiant! Oh wait, Steris didn’t comment on their flight being different… hmmm…” I could see it going both ways. I’m pretty sure the flight styles of a coin shot vs radiant would be much different, and Steris tends to notice those things but I still lean towards radiants though. It could be a Windrunner too though, not necessarily Skybreaker. Gravitation could also sink a ship.

Does anyone else think the time skip to Era 3 is going to be much much shorter? Real world time between Brandon’s proposed technologies is less than 100 years. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this one is like 50 years or less. With the ghost bloods actively wanting and working toward better tech to defend the planet, the remnants of the Set’s work, and Wax being something of a scientist himself with a lot of new personal powers to work with I could see things developing fairly quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of Wax’s kids is one of the main characters.

After doing a reread of all of Era 2 leading up to this, I was kind of surprised to realize that every book of Era 2 takes place in like 3 days or less. This particular series has always been a short time period in world.

This just might be the best thing I have watched in a very long time. I am generally not too picky about my entertainment. I don’t need things to be deep or nearly perfect to enjoy them. But this is just on a whole different level. I am on the edge of my seat for the entirety of every episode. The character development is absolutely incredible. What they were able to do in just a few episodes with Andy Serkis’ character was just wow. He and Stellan Skaarsgard have delivered incredible performances in this. And really, so is everyone. I think I am gushing now, but I really am just very impressed with how this show is going.

I am a fan of basically all her books. I had Goose Girl recommended to me for years before I got around to reading it and I couldn’t believe it took me so long to read it. I also am actually a big fan of how she talks about sexism in how we recommend literature. She has some great stuff out there about how we are doing our society a great disservice by telling boys that books with female main leads are only for girls. It makes me really want to work to be more representative in what I introduce to my kids. And definitely get my oldest reading her books since he is a big fantasy fan.

YKYASW you know your brother (who hasn’t even read any Sanderson) and his fiancée are sitting in Brandon’s theater room by the single picture the sent. And then you proceed to be incredibly jealous. Ha ha. At least I get to go to the convention in 2 months. (And yes this literally just happened. They are there right now and I don’t know how, what, why, or why I wasn’t invited. Ha ha.)

This comes out on one of my kids’ birthdays. Maybe they won’t mind us spending the day playing? Ha ha. Super excited!

That trailer for Wakanda Forever was incredible. I keep watching it over and over. Very excited for this one. And honestly, I still look forward to just about everything MCU. I know some people are feeling burnout. But I guess I’m not too picky about my stories and entertainment. I’ll like some of the offerings more than others, but I’ve never disliked something enough to make me stop watching other things from the same studio. So bring on all the MCU stuff.

My questions after this episode. Did Nightblood have any affect on Odium? Can they eat enough to have made a difference in Odium’s level of investiture compared to another Shard? Like how Ruin wasn’t at full strength without his body. And thoughts about Shallan breaking her oaths differently. Or how Brandon answered. It has been theorized that the capturing of Ba-Ado-Mishram is what led to dead eye spren and that broken oaths prior to that didn’t cause as much damage. I wonder if there were other radiants early on in their oaths who decided like Shallan to back out and be done. That probably didn’t happen often. But it’s also not outside of the realm of possibility that someone didn’t like what they had gotten themselves into and essentially quit. And this might not have come up as much because it didn’t affect the spren like it does now.