Elegy

Kaladin is definitely a perfect person to protect and destroy. But as of now, Kaladin can't leave Roshar (because of his spren bond, he's bonded to the system) and even if he could, he wouldn't have a reason for it. He'd rather stay with his friends and his family (he's a very rooted person). He would need to be on Scadrial to permanently act as Harmony's sword though, and I honestly don't see how or why he would get there. Mistborn Era 2 has very good hints at who the sword might be, since one of the characters in there is literally refered to as a sword. I'm pretty sure that's him (although there's some ambiguity about it). On a side-note: Voidlight is actually violet, as is the flame in Odium's core that Dalinar sees when Rayse makes him see into his Spiritual aspect (or well, whatever he does in the vision in Oathbringer). The red glowing eyes of the Fused are because of corrupted Investiture. It's the same reason why red Investiture is seen on other occasions that are most probably not connected to Odium, for example at one point in Mistborn Era 2. (Just as an aside, I'm aware that this doesn't add anything to the main point.)

I think one of the main points of Navani's storyline was that two perspectives are always more efficient than one. Raboniel needed Navani's insight and vice versa. Only in this way could they discover the things they did. Now Taravangian has access to Rayse's plans - ones that he worked on for millennia - and can see their problems and his predecessor's biases. What I'm trying to say is ... TOdium's works will be to Rayse and Taravangian what anti-Light was to Raboniel and Navani. Something neither of them could have done on their own.

I think this is a natural outgrowth of the fact that this book always throws everything it can at Kaladin ... He's traumatized from the Kholinar battle and still has to fight in Urithiru, alone, without his powers, against a whole enemy force, while being depressed and having nightmares by Odium himself, showing him the very things that traumatized him, and the very real possibility that people he loves will die (and one of them does). And then there's also a super annoying macho Fused who really wants to kill him, relentlessly. No character can plausibly pull through this, it's just so insane, so unreasonably much. He just couldn't make it without some trickery along the lines of "and then he pulled himself together and struggled on, although it, well, defies human physis". I think what you mean is a very real thing, and it's a result of Brandon going over the top on how much he wanted Kaladin to hit rock bottom. And he obviously wanted that in order to get to that huge jump from Urithiru at the end, and his Oath as a super emotional moment. And I get that this was an important thing to work towards. But ... well, he kinda piled it on this time.

Edgli doesn't seem to have any larger plans:

There's this WOB with a question about Kelsier hearing a voice while almost dying (when he snapped) ... I couldn't find the passage in the book that mentions this, and Brandon's answer doesn't seem to hint at a Dawnshard, but there might be something there? Does anyone have the exact quote in the book? Because that sounds like a Command in a way. (Although I guess him using Allomancy without any spectacular enhancements makes it kinda unlikely that he had one during the first book.)

So, I'll try to keep this as short as possible... Raboniel is my favorite Cosmere antagonist now. She's amazing. The whole Shadesmar arc was fantastic and very satisfying. Brandon really worked on making the place feel much more alive than it did in Oathbringer, and I loved how it all came together at the end. Definitely one of my favorite smaller arcs of the whole series. I understand why there isn't a lot of Dalinar. I really enjoyed what we got though and the climax with Ishar was fun to read - especially how lost Dalinar was with an insane Szeth and an insane Herald battling. The Urithiru story was good, but tiring. I think it's because they go through all of this pain with just the aim to regain what they already had at the start of the book. It's not as much about progress as it is about reversing regress. That kinda bothered me. (Edit: I am, of course, aware that they gain so much more, with the tower coming alive, the new Sibling Bondsmith and anti-Voidlight - but that's all things that happen at the end. The middle of the book felt like an immense uphill battle for a proportionally small award.) Eshonai's last scene is one of my favorites in the entire series. The flashbacks overall were a good read, but ultimately rather pointless. That chapter however ... wow!!! As a whole, this was basically the Stormlight book that wasn't really meant for me: I always thought that Venli was an uninteresting character, the fabrial mechanics descriptions are tedious, and Navani ... well, while I like her a lot as a person, I think she's kind of bland as a POV. At the same time my favorite non-main characters were nearly ignored (hardly any Szeth, but most of all, Renarin is hardly there!) ... So it was pretty much clear from the get-go that this wouldn't be my favorite. Most of it was very satisfying though, and I'm happy with the greater things that happened! Now that we're at it - the T bomb was one of the most unbelievable scenes I've read in a long while. It felt completely surreal ... This can't be happening! I can't wait to see how book 5 will wrap this all up. (As a side-note: Taravangian being the actual main antagonist in hindsight makes so much sense, given that he was introduced in the first book and had POVs in every book after that. Rayse, on the other hand, always struck me as very tame and kinda boring as an antagonist. Now I know why - it wasn't ever about him! Which means that one of my main problems with Oathbringer - Rayse being kinda bland - doesn't have much weight anymore!) Of course, there's much more to say about it. It's basically a bunch of books interwoven, as always. But I'll leave it at this for the moment. A lot of the other things have been said a few hundred times already, I'm sure (like how amazing the emotional moments in the last part were). All in all, my least favorite of the big books, but still great, and I'm satisfied with the larger developments of the main plot!

As of now, Raboniel is my favorite Sanderson antagonist. She's just an amazingly well-done character! Though it might be possible that Taravangian - if book 5 sees all the right opportunities - might surpass her eventually ... but not yet.

Shallan didn't hear the Shardblade scream when she summoned it, did she? If not then I doubt it was a Deadeye.

This is amazing! Thank you for being as awesome as you are, guys! Nazh would be proud.

Yes, that one also fits Halloween extremely well! The Masque of the Red Death as well. I'm still amazed at how atmospheric these stories are given they're all just a few thousand words..

A controversial opinion that's loosely linked to some things that were written earlier: Breaking logic in a story can be used to great effect when committing to it. It's probably not really controversial. After all, artists like Franz Kafka, David Lynch and Haruki Murakami are all among the most acclaimed of their respective art forms. But I'd reckon that it might be on this site to some degree, since high fantasy books are better off having a working internal logic in most cases. I guess what I'm wanting to say is: Magical realism ftw! (That said, this is not a defense of illogical plot points when plot matters. If you commit to creating a conflict that calls for an understandable solution, you need to deliver on those.)

That's my plan as well, at least one or two of them! The Raven has become kind of a Halloween tradition for me. I might also read one of my two favorite works of prose Poe, The Black Cat or The Fall of the House of Usher. Both are fittingly halloween-y, to say the least!

My Halloween read this year is Stephen King's Salem's Lot. Fifty pages to go. I'm mostly lukewarm on it. I guess it's a neat, strikingly traditional spin on the vampire mythos. But then again, it takes the first half to really get going and takes some easy ways out once it does. Not really a strong opinion on this one. After that, I'll retreat to reading short stories only, so I don't have to drop anyhting once Dawnshard is released. *trembling intensifies*

Just rewatched the whole thing in one go, what a ride. Reminded me that it's just one of my favorite things ever. The characters, the general density of ideas (both cute and suitably creepy), the music, and it all fits so well - I can't praise it enough. And it accomplishes all that in just 2 hours. At this point, it's safe to say that it's a Halloween staple for me.

Thanks for reminding me to rewatch it on some October evening! Such a lovely, well-rounded little show, I love it

Yeah, this is a very Potter thing ...Thinking about the actual implications of its statements, metaphors and depictions leads to very strange places! It's probably better to ignore stuff like that, but I personally like thinking about it, and thinking about the broken workings of the Wizard World - it's like finding weird glitches in a video game, there's some twisted kind of fun to it

I love electric guitars and the possibilities that come along with them. But the rock music I listen to is mostly of the dreamy, reverb-heavy kind. Like Radiohead, The Cure, Cocteau Twins. Or the exact other way, the metal stuff.

Listening to Sufjan Stevens' new one for the second time right now. It's a nice record. Definitely tame though. I'd consider it one of his lesser main solo releases. The title track (The Ascension) is a gem though - such a beautiful song. It sounds like an electronic take on the minimalistic, melancholic song-writing style of Carrie & Lowell. It also reminds me of Mercury, which is another one of his most moving songs of the last years, in my opinion.

The Return of the Jedi

Finally watched Dark, and it was fantastic! I thought the third season was weaker than the others in general, but the final episode is easily one of my favorite series finales ever. What a ride.

Emperor's Soul is on par with most of his big novels. Feels kinda bad to not give it to Shadows for Silence though, given how well-rounded, atmospheric and relatively under-appreciated that one is. It's Emperor's Soul either way.

As far as I know, they want to make it two movies, like what was done with It. So it will probably be 4 hours at the very least in total.

Yes The D&W song I mean is "Final Warning", it's about the prologue of Way of Kings, and there's even the word "stormlight" in the lyrics (also, here's the interview I refered to). I got into Blind Guardian in 2011/12 and started reading Stormlight/Sanderson in 2010/11, so given the amount of fantasy books they covered, I had been hoping to hear a song about a Sanderson story for 8 to 9 years (other than Wheel of Time, of course, but that one hardly counts). And there it was, albeit only a D&W song, but still! I hope there will be more. I also agree that Emperor's Soul is fantastic and a good place to start! It's a novella, yet very character-based rather than action.

Stormlight is definitely a possibility, mostly because of some single words ("bridgemen"), but then I don't know why they chose Skydancer (although I guess the word is not unfitting...). That said, Hansi Kürsch has recently released a Stormlight song called "Final Warning" with his side-project Demons & Wizards, so he could very well go on with Blind Guardian. He also called Stormlight "one of the two best books" he read "in the last 20 years" (which is insane, since he seems to be a major bookworm - but hey, I agree!), so there's a good chance. If it isn't Stormlight, I don't know. The "lionheart" line confuses me. The Blind Guardian song "Lionheart" is about the Odyssee. Stormlight has kind of a slow start, so you have to trust the author to deliver the pay-offs. If you're patient, you can start there, but in most cases, I recommend the Mistborn trilogy as an entrypoint. The books are also way shorter (still very long) and have more of a focus on action. I also recommend Warbreaker as a great stand-alone book - if you don't want to commit to a huge story. In general, it fits nicely between Mistborn and Stormlight, I think.

Finished a bunch of books recently: Stephen King - The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: Great book, very minimalistic in terms of story, but extraordinarily atmospheric. Not as uneven as other works by Stephen King! Walter Moers - A Wild Ride Through the Night: It's been ages. Just as imaginative as I remembered, and pretty funny at that. A lot of allusions that went over my head last time I read it. Terry Pratchett - Going Postal: Another imaginative book. Took me a while to really get into it (and the start felt slow), but once it did it was a lot of fun.