Singer

My major complaint was just how rushed and smashed together things feel in several episodes. Not enough time to sit in our feelings and make connections with characters. On the plus side, the cast is great, the practical effects, sets, and costumes are beautiful. If they can tighten up the writing and smooth out the editing next season could be great, but I am a bit nervous. I'm in a similar place as I was with The Witcher season one. I like it, I'll watch more of it, but it hasn't blown me away. I think the first 4 episodes were the best. In 5 and 6 the focus shifted away from the main plot so much, that while it wasn't bad per se, it probably wasn't time spent where it needed to be. I'd be interested to see some deleted scenes, maybe a director's cut, just to see what the episodes would have looked like with less strict requirements on time.

It's nice to find a little corner of the internet where people are generally being civil, even when they disagree. No joke, I say anything positive about this show anywhere and I get dogpiled by people who are dropping homophobic/sexist/racist gunk. I am enjoying the show, very much excited to see what the finale looks like. It isn't without it's flaws, some changes I wouldn't have made, and I could have done with an additional hour of characters interacting and Loial telling stories and a few more songs from Thom... Anyway, I'm generally positive on the show with some critiques. I get that people have their reasons for not liking it. Certainly many have expressed as much here, but I was starting to feel like the whole fandom had become as bad as Star Wars! Thanks for restoring my faith somewhat.

Fun discussion, guys! I enjoyed the book, I had fun reading it, and I really liked Spensa's character arc.

Super late to the game on this one! But...my dream arc for back five Kaladin: I cannot wait to see what Kaladin and Syl think of Nightblood! Also, Lirin drawing the shash on his forehead is like the equivalent of the dad making it to their kid's school play/baseball game at the end of a nineties movie. I am loving catching up on all the character Deep dives! They must take an insane amount of prep, thanks guys!

I haven't read it yet, but it's nice to hear your thoughts! While I don't like spoilers, I like to have some idea of the type of story I'm reading so I can give it a fair shake. I liked Starsight more on subsequent reads as I understood what the goal of the story is, but I do still really want more of Skyward Flight, so hopefully the novellas scratch that itch for me! I'm also hoping to have more characters come together in book four.

I suspect the anger issue is not intentional. I don't think Brandon is trying to claim that anger isn't justified for these characters, but I do think the writing doesn't completely follow through on their struggles. Maybe he feels he mentioned why they are angry and that it has a real cause and that covered it. Maybe Brandon's faith is a part of that, forgiveness is kind of a big deal in Christianity in general. There is an element of "don't let your anger control your life" in lots of his books, I think that is a perfectly reasonable thing to say, but I agree the issue is that the source of their justified anger isn't addressed as fully as maybe it should be. I am still hoping for Stormlight to follow this through more fully. Differentiating between healthy ways to use anger vs dangerous ones, resolving social issues, and different kinds of anger (interpersonal anger, social justice rage, and self loathing are all really different) would be awesome. I'm looking forward to these evolving in new in interesting ways in future books...I hope...

I definitely wouldn't have done better than either of you two. You guys chose reaaaally hard ones!

I do want to point out that Dalinar did in fact ask the Nightwatcher if forgiveness was possible for what he'd done. He wanted the pain gone, but he did actually ask for forgiveness.

Good thing the only swag I ordered was the playing cards then...

I am so interested in what the couple dynamics for human/singer couples might be. Since Singer forms can affect their behavior and attitude a bit I want to see how the human half responds. I want to see how emotional communication works when one can hear rhythms and the other can't. I'd love to see some scenes of Rlainarin domestic life in the back half!

Not exactly a meme but...my kid put on this costume and said "I'm a chicken!" Yes, my son. Yes you are.

The only question I have about Rhythm of War:

Spoilers + random musical musings...

Spoilers if you haven't finished the book, but I'm assuming if you're on the spoiler thread you either have or you don't care...

I think these issues fit the bill for Lift. I am another who was none too excited. It was pretty hard to be in front of a mirror hours a day in ballet class once I had clearly developed a, shall we say, much more mature figure than all the other dancers. I had to wear several layers of sports bras and it was still uncomfortable and embarrassing. By the time I was 16 I just quit and my self esteem improved greatly.

My hopes for Kaladin are now just that he survives book 5 so he can spend all the time in the gap between 5 and 6 becoming Roshar's first psychologist. I would love to see a mature mental health expert in the back 5, who maybe finds a lady love though I am way less invested in that as I am in him becoming the world expert on mental health.

I have been trying to figure out why those Tukari dudes attacked Notum in Shadesmar, that wasn't ever explicitly explained. I am theorizing that they were abducting spren for Ishar's nightmare evil scientist experiments. I would love to hear any theories y'all have. What is Ishar doing and why? What the crem is going on in Tukar??

I am sure I'm not the only person who was clearly reading this book waaaay too late into the night to notice one of the big reveals mentioned Yeah, I really have to blame the late night brain fog because anything else would be inexcusable.

Then you seriously deserve a pat on the back! Having theories about what Dabbid would be up to was not even on my radar.

I did not foresee, before reading this book, how much I would come to love Dabbid. I like that he was able to recover somewhat from his shock, but that wasn't just a cure-all. He has his own distinct set of challenges, and I do hope he bonds a spren eventually, he wants to so badly.

I give this podcast 4.5/5 hordlings, slight loss of points just because you didn't mention "the delights of distant Aimia," but I love getting lore, theories, and character chat all in one podcast!

Shallan does mention in RoW early on that she has been researching and reaching out to other people with alters and found that her experience didn't quite match theirs. I think this is Brandon's way of saying that she isn't going to perfectly represent real world DID because magic and plot and authorly reasons. It is really interesting to read all of the opinions and thoughts on this thread though! Thanks for sharing them!

I am really hoping to see a moment in book five where Hoid/Jasnah/someone realizes that Hoid's memories have been altered and infiltrated in some way. I would much rather that than Wit secretly outwitting TOd when he didn't even know about the TOd switch in the first place.

I thought the spren orgy was a little distasteful, but I really enjoyed when Bridge 4 presented their new team cheer and sang "We're all in this Together" from High School Musical. I guess I'm just into wholesome entertainment!

You're totally right. I guess I was thinking about the things that I had no expectations for. I had zero theories or thoughts about Dabbid, least of all that he was going to be a total hero and that I'd love him so much by the end. If anyone had theories about Dabbid, you get an extra pat on the back from me! And, let's face it, Taravangian? That was half "curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!" And half "What? Wait, WHAT?? OH MOTHER RUSTING STORM BALLS!! WE ARE IN SUCH DEEP CREM."