Rushu42

Exactly! A well-known premise can lead to some really interesting trope reversal if done well. I remember really enjoying the book Ella Enchanted as a kid, which reimagined the Cinderella story but gave the protagonist a personality. And worldbuilding, too. (The movie adaptation was awful, though.)

Nice chocolate, ideally with around 70-75% cacao. This is a difficult question; I've never been a big fan of fairy tales in general, to be honest. Maybe the Emperor's New Clothes? I do have to say that I've always hated Cinderella; she's the least active protagonist I've ever seen. From my memory of the original story, the only action she takes on her own initiative is crying.

I've had a few sleepwalking stories, though nothing recent. A few times I would apparently run into my parents' room, eyes open, and talk to them about something nonsensical, or sit up and say something during a sleepover. The usual way that I can tell I was sleepwalking is if someone else saw me do it, but I didn't remember... which brings me to the most dramatic instance. We had gone to a cookout the evening before, and apparently there was something in the food that didn't sit right, as my brother got sick. I, of course, thought I was fine, but apparently I was wrong. I learned in the morning that I had gotten out of bed, walked into the bathroom, and thrown up in the sink. I then told my mom, who has heard the noise, that I was fine, then went back to bed. All without waking up.

Though startled, Aln quickly knelt as well. "You're absolutely correct, Folorian. As much as I value my own sanity, I would much rather be wrong about all of this." She started to inhale stormlight, then stopped, noticing the staff beneath the table. She had spotted his metalminds earlier - if he had been tapping bronze to stay up, it was unlikely that Progression would solve the problem. She carefully placed the metal in contact with his skin, then sat back. "I suspect he merely fainted, and should awake soon. Should that prove false, well, at least we'd have a legitimate reason to visit Eindalung." Aln sat silently for a moment, then met Folorian's eyes. "Listen, what we're doing right now, getting involved in this sort of thing - it's not a research project. I know that now. It's more like stepping into a war. The last time... I've done this before, or something similar. It didn't end well. It ended very, very badly, actually. I don't know..." I don't know if I can do it again. She didn't say that, instead changing directions mid-sentence. "...I don't know what Poller here went through, either, but from his reaction it can't be good. I'm just letting you know - I think this is our last chance to back out." @Ashbringer

I rather agree with you, here. I obviously don't want to make is appear as if I'm "bored" with Kaladin's mental illness or anything, and I realize that his representation of depression is really meaningful to a lot of people. But I also feel like Sanderson laid it on a bit thick with this book. It's like he has a list of "Bad Things I Haven't Done to Kaladin Yet" and he's just going through it one by one. Struggling with depression and survivor's guilt? I'm on board with that. It's made him a really interesting character. But when you go on to say "oh and then your old best friend tells you to commit suicide and your dad hates you and you're fired and all of your friends leave and you're having magical dreams in which the entire world hates you and now your other best friend has been killed by the first one and - " I mean, at some point enough is enough, right? In a similar vein to this, Shallan's revelation this book didn't really have an impact for me. I know this has already been discussed in this thread, so I won't go into too much detail, but it just wasn't very meaningful with everything else that was going on. My very first reaction when she dropped her first "I have another secret" thing in the book was "haven't we already done this?" I was legitimately frustrated upon learning that because I thought we had finished the whole "Shallan killed someone in her past but can't remember" bit. Plus, the beginning of the book really sold the Three as a workable solution for me - having her plotline then be about merging with them didn't seem nearly as much like progress as he clearly meant it to. There were parts of Shallan's arc that I really liked this book, but most of it was undercut by the fact that I really wasn't interested in hearing another mysterious secret about her past. Upon reflection, these aren't unpopular opinions so much as just my criticism, but there you go.

"If you happen to know some willing warriors, I wouldn't be one to turn down help," she replied. "However, I believe that the success of our investigation will depend on avoiding fights, not winning them." Her hand unconsciously slipped into her pocket as she elaborated, "If the DA isn't particularly concerned with us, and only sends a few operatives, then a Shardbearer would absolutely make a difference. The guild attack, for example, would likely have been repelled if we had had one or two skilled fighters there. But if we begin to draw close to something that they do not wish us to find, we will not be able to defeat their defenses. Do you remember PlasmaCore? In the other timeline, the leaders of the DA waited until the end, and then effectively defeated the entire Dark Horde with a wave of their hands." Aln hadn't witnessed it herself, being ... otherwise occupied at the time. There was no need to get into that, though. She forced a weak smile. "Of course, there's still the possibility that none of this is really, and I am just crazy." @mathiau @Ashbringer

Ooh, these are cool. What do you use to make them? Also, what about angerspren?

I'd like to make an Insight check to see if Kodwola picks up on anything strange about Lander (enough to go talk to him, for example). I got a 17. @Negative_Null @Chasmgoat

She holds up her hand to forestall the change, and gives him a nod. (It's clearly meant to be a reassuring nod, but with a 7 charisma it just comes off as sightly strained.) Taking her drink, she grabs a seat in a corner of the room, where she can keep an eye on things. It's not far from "Lander", actually. She doesn't roll high enough on perception to notice the transformation (12 total) but she's trying to pay attention to everyone in the room. You'd probably notice her watching you, @Chasmgoat

It was not confirmed, and I think it was intended to be somewhat of a revelation. But for anyone who's been theorizing about the Recreance, it seems pretty obvious that the Spren were complicit in some way. I kept waiting for someone to bring it up as I was reading - the whole time I expected someone to actually say why the Recreance happened, so I was kinda confused up until Maya's reveal, which made me realize that no one actually knew what caused the Recreance. I'd been thinking that people were just dancing around the topic or something, but no - it's still a mystery. Disappointing, in my opinion, that after this whole trial about the Recreance we still don't know why it happened.

I like the parallels here, and I agree that there's a lot of similarity between these concepts. I wonder, though, at how sentient these forces really are. As @Leuthie said, it's possible that over time the Dor could gain a form of sentience. However, we have a WoB that states that it doesn't currently have that [emphasis added]: It also seems like the Dor isn't nearly as divided as your theory would imply. All descriptions of it seem to be talking about it as one entity, and we know that the two Shards are combined: Obviously, the magic manifests differently in different places, but I suspect that that's instead being shaped by the consciousness of the people there. I mean, the power is completely in the Cognitive Realm, so it seems reasonable that the way it works is driven by the ideas of that place. So in Fjorden, where it's very much driven by the Dominion aspect of things, it could have been a self-reinforcing cycle; some people there form a religion that leans towards Dominion, so the Intent of the Dor there shifts toward Dominion, which affects the practitioners of the magic so they're more inclined toward Dominion, and so forth.

Aln nodded. "That seems like the best plan that we have, if you're willing. With Lightweaving, Folorian and I should be able to sneak off without too much difficulty once we're through the doors. Perhaps we can find some actual conformation of our theories there." "As for what we do after that... well, it will depend on what information we receive from the inhabitants of the hospital, of course. However, I do think that we should seriously consider attempting to end the Forgery. I don't know for what purpose it was created, but from what I remember of the Dark Alley, it's unlikely to be a positive one. Damaging the stamp itself is the most straightforward way to do that, but a frontal assault on the Worldspike will almost certainly end badly. If we could get back inside the Guild, I believe I have some old research about the factors that contribute to the gradual degradation of Soulstamps, which could provide some relevant information. Regardless -" She broke off, looking at the other two. "It's going to be dangerous. No matter what we do, that is inevitable." @mathiau

What about that innocent carriage driver they killed? Or the fact that they were openly given permission to kill non-members, or the fact that everyone they associate with seems to be some sort of thief, scammer, or murderer? There may be more examples, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

I don't think I need an insight check to tell that this guy is scared, but I got a 21 if that gives me any more information. Kodwola nodded. "Of course. If I may request a liquid refreshment, in addition, I must maintain that pretense for the others in the room." She sets some silver on the bar - deliberately too much for the price of the drink.

Oh, I forgot that Leeching is a touch effect! In that case, I doubt it'd be possible to leech a Radiant at all. Anyway, you're right that Soulcasting, creatively applied, is OP enough to negate a lot of the Fullborn's advantages.

Are we assuming that the Fullborn can already be burning metal before the battle starts? I assumed that they were going in cold, in which case the intitial move would be simultaneous (for a practiced Radiant most surges seem to be basically instantaneous). Listen, I absolutely agree that with a strong enough chromium flare, the Radiant is effectively neutralized, and the Fullborn wins. But if we were hypothetically to ban chromium, the Radiant would have at least an even chance.

Speed doesn't matter if the air is on fire and the Radiant is in the Cognitive Realm.

Okay, yes, I see your point, but a Radiant with 10 surges also has ridiculous potential for damage. We haven't seen a Radiant's abilities in as much detail as a Fullborn's, is the issue, but even what we do have tells us a lot. I mean, a Radiant can lash themselves at their enemy with (if you have enough stormlight) 50x the strength of gravity, since we're talking about making yourself a projectile. Or they could lash their opponent to the ground until they can't move. And that's just with Gravitation. You could Soulcast the air into flammable gas and ignite it with Division, or for that matter, Soulcast the metal in the room. Or the Fullborn themselves. Plus the Radiant has nearly invincible armor and a massive magical, sentient sword. I mean, I'm just scratching the surface of the possibilities, here! With Illumination, Transportation, Abrasion, etc. it would be nigh upon impossible to keep track of their position on the battlefield, and they have a lot more flexibility in movement without the restrictions of pushing and pulling on metal (assuming the metal survived more than a few seconds in a room with a Soulcaster). Would it be easy to do any of this? No. And chromium would break a lot of things. But I don't think it'd be the same one-sided fight that appears to be the general consensus.

Starsight wasn't that good. Skyward wasn't bad, but in my opinion Starsight failed to deliver. The 1 year timeskip cut a lot of the tension, for me, and then most of the plot on the alien planet just felt contrived instead of compelling. I'm not even very excited for the third one, at this point.

@Voidus Would you be willing to tell me about the Worldspike? Thank you.

Ooh, how to choose between the SA books? Maybe RoW. I haven't had very many rep titles myself, but of ones I've seen, how could you pass up "So 1337 Hoid can't compete"?

An important question to ask here is whether having all 10 surges also gives you the resonances of each of the Orders. If so, that negates the advantage of gold compounding; there's good evidence that the Truthwatcher resonance provides similarly enhanced healing. I mean, Renarin was crushed by a Thunderclast and popped up a second later like nothing had happened.

I'm going to be honest, I don't know a ton of exoplanets off the top of my head. That question prompted some really cool reading, though, so thank you! I may have to go with HD 80606b, just because it's such an extreme planet. That orbit is wild. Honorary mention to PSR B1257+12 (or Lich) and its planets for being the first discovered orbiting a pulsar, though.

Well, I like a lot of things. Reading, obviously, and writing, and generally trying to be a good person. But if I had to pick one, I'd say astronomy. I want to be an astrophysicist someday.