Shivertongue

Honestly, I liked the original version you had better. The way it seems to be shifting is making it seem more like standard magic, and it's making a bit less sense. I like the direct proportion thing - the more you cut, the stronger the results - but now it seems like any other blood magic. Slash your palm, throw a fireball, try not to get any blood in your mouth as you yawn from boredom. Leeching was a really, really cool idea. It was a system with far more limits and far more potential for conflict. You worry that it seems to much like the Metallic Arts, but that matters little. It had enough of your own ideas in it to make it your own, and until you said something, I hadn't even thought of the resemblance to Hemalurgy, and I still don't see the similarities to Feruchemy. With Commands, however, the first thing I thought of was Awakening... Also, on the commands... before, with Leeching, the power made more sense. Leech from the foot or another, you gain speed; arms from another, you gain strength; temple gives your memories. There was a direct correlation between the things you were doing, and the use of blood to do it made sense; establishing a direct connection between the humours in order to Leech from them. The revisions to the system lack this connection, and seems more centered around combat and causing damage. Which brings me to my next point, which is not specifically inspired by you, but by - what I consider - a common mistake that I see in magic systems. Some people build them to be specifically about killing other people or causing massive amounts of damage. Wizards can throw fireballs and conjure storms and heal death, but they can't help bring in the harvest, or construct a new building. One of the reasons, I think, that Sanderson's magic systems seem as interesting as they do is because, even though we see Allomancy used for combat a lot, each of those powers has just as much, if not more use, outside of combat. When you can conjure fire, there is only a small number of things you can do with that flame, most of which involve throwing it at something so that it catches fire. When you enhance your strength, you could use that to punch somebody into a wall, but you can also use that strength to build a wall. That's just my thoughts on it. Hope it made sense, and that it was helpful.

Metallurgy does not work that way!

Happy birthday, Em!

What happens with the magic store in the amulets and staffs? Can non-magical people use it to some degree?

Atium, if I remember correctly, was the body of Ati. I don't remember if Lerasium was the same for Leras. That's where my previous comment comes from, and I think why they were God Metals - because they were pieces of an actual god.

Brandon said before the book came out that there was a lesbian character in Alloy of Law, although I don't know if he ever said who it was. I do recall hearing that it was, for lack of a better term, kind of obvious.

Would it be possible for an Auger or a Mistborn to burn the One Ring, and if so, what would happen?

Very interesting topic. Welcome to 17th Shard, as well! In terms of lesbianism, there is a lesbian character in The Alloy of Law. It doesn't exactly seem to be a secret, and nobody really seems to mind (save for the man who has a crush on her) so however things were under the Lord Ruler, 300 years later, at the very least, Elendel seems relatively accepting. Then again, we don't get a very large glimpse of this aspect of the world.

...Sazedium is a thing now? Did something happen to Sazed's body?

Update! And yes, I am totally allowed to double-post. 'Sel' is 'salt' in French. Coincidence? I think NOT!

I like the audiobook's narrator...

It's true. Eric is crying now, and I don't think Josh will ever recover.

I might have read it, and it might be incredibly awesome, and it might have the coolest giant monster I've ever seen, and it might have some utterly wicked twists and characters, and Elvis might be involved, and I might be frothing at the mouth to see it published so I can hug it to my chest like a long-lost child, and it might be the only time I've ever seen a Spider-Man analogue that wears a top hat and speaks Olde English and it makes complete and total sense. And half of what I said might be lies. But I'm not gonna claim anything specific.

Clearly, it's his secret recipe for cremling waffles. He had to memorize it, since he was illiterate, and recite them every time he made them. They are thus the most important words a man can say, as the waffles were what united Alethkar and brought back the fabled syrupspren.

Gaiman's books are fantastic. Stardust, Neverwhere, Good Omens - a collaboration with Terry Pratchett- and above all others, American Gods. American Gods is one of my all-time favorite books, and I reread it about twice a year. I highly recommend it. Of Scalzi, I've only read Old Man's War. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it had moments that were really funny, but it wasn't a humor book. Still, if you enjoy scifi with a somewhat classic feel to it, it's definitely worth it. Edit: I have determined that Aethling and I have very different tastes in books.

As long as they didn't go overboard, and got only very good writers to do it, I wouldn't mind too much if other people wrote in the Wheel of Time universe. I personally would love to see some of the history played out. Stories from the Trolloc Wars, or the rise of Artur Hawkwing, could be a lot of fun. WoT has a very rich, very developed history just brimming with untold stories. The problem with this, is if it turns into something like Dragonlance or Star Wars, with a sea of mediocrity and only a few islands of fantastic stories among the dross.

I recognize all but the last one. Sounds like a hack.

You do realize that getting one book from an author in a year is amazing, right? Most writers don't put things out so consistently - the wait is much longer. Don't get spoiled.

Welcome, welcome! Happy to have you with us, Kalystia! Ignore Joe, he doesn't know what he's talking about. The Admins do not turn people into spikes - we give them waffles!

It's both. In some religions, the smell of the burning flesh of an animal sacrifice was said to be pleasing to the divine, and the smoke carried the scent to the heavens. At the same time, it literally is a sacrifice - giving up something to the gods and losing it yourself, as you said. A burnt offering was important for both reasons, showing devotion through giving something up, and by giving a gift to a deity. So the smoke and the destruction are equally valid in terms of significance.

The Hemalurgic properties of Sodium have been discovered. A Sodium spike will steal ideas. Not individual ideas, but the ability to have ideas. Additionally, it will remove the last awesome idea the person had, although if you don't use the spike quickly enough, that idea will fade. Oddly enough, the impaling of a Sodium spike isn't what kills the victim; it's the massive amount of salt suddenly introduced into their system.

Burning offering is a factor of many real-world and fictional religions. The presumption that the Almighty can only see burnt prayers is ludicrous, and more than likely based in a cultural belief that burning it was the only way for the message to make it to the Almighty. The reason real-world religions did it are many, but often come back to a result of the burning - that being, smoke. The smoke rises into the sky, up to the gods, because the gods are not going to come down to earth to get it themselves. The fact that Ruin and Preservation could not see metal clearly does not indicate anything about any other Shard. Assuming this is the case would be too simple, for one thing, and quite boring, for another. By this logic, Endowment cannot see Breath or color or commands (whichever is the focus for Awakening), each of which strikes me as dumb. For another thing, I don't think Brandon would use the same idea twice like that - again, too simple.

I always figured that line had to do with the idea that Shardblades were made to fight Voidbringers. It could be in the Shin culture, that picking up a Shardblade is acknowledgement that you think that Voidbringer's are real, as the only reason to wield one is to fight them. But Shin culture denies the existence - so Szeth's punishment, to become Truthless, is to remind him that he believed a lie, and so his honor demands that Voidbringer's be real. That is all pure speculation, of course.