Elegy

Just to put this into perspective, this book is 380,000 words, so 4 times the length of your average book. Reading this thing in one day means you technically could read 4 books that day. Though this thread makes it appear like it's normal to finish it in a short time, you have to keep in mind that this is a site for huge Sanderson fans. I don't think it's representative for how long people need to read it in general at all. Like, the average reading speed might be 280 words per minute, in that pace, you'd need over 22 hours to read it without ever pausing, which is, like, 5 hours more than people are usually awake on a day. And Way of Kings is easily the shortest in the series.

Words of Radiance is the only fantasy book that's better than Way of Kings in my opinion, so there's that

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this what happened at Fadrex City when Ati took over the koloss? Sure, he was a Shard, but I feel it should work like this on a way smaller scale as well, theoretically.

Sounds like you could enjoy Downton Abbey - although it's not a book series but television. It's set in the first quarter of the 20th century and the dresses and characters are fantastic. The first 3 seasons are among my favorite things

I've got a degree in German Literature, so that has definitely had an influence on my list: The Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson): No need to introduce it haha! Words of Radiance is probably my favorite novel of all time. Just peak story-telling, character-writing, world-building. The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien): Also no introduction necessary. The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka): A novella, but a very powerful one. It encapsulates the feeling of depression very well I feel, and it's written with very precise prose. In general, I love Kafka's way of writing. It's very "German", in a way that I can't really explain. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky): Already mentioned in this thread, it's huge, it's psychological, it's philosophical, and it's also just a really enjoyable (albeit at times heavy) read because of what a brilliant writer Dostoevsky was. The City of Dreaming Books (Walter Moers): This is more on the comedic side of things, but also with a lot of references to literature in genereal. I just love the tone of the narrative voice so much. Stunning how many ideas he put into one book, and this wasn't even the only one where he did it (with Rumo being my second favorite, maybe even tied with this one). Moominland Midwinter (Tove Jansson): Perhaps the most thoroughly melancholic children/YA book I've ever read. Very "Scandinavian" (I mean, it's Finnish), but besides the general winter atmosphere, it also has a lot of heart-warming stuff, as usual with the Moomins. I've probably missed a few, but these are those that came to mind right now.

Not quite sure now since it's been a long time reading it the first time, but it definitely took me well over a month. I was kinda busy then and I struggled with some parts of it (the interludes mainly - I legitimately love the interludes of the two novels after it, but I wasn't sold on them in this book), and I'm also kind of a slow reader. That was 11 years ago. The re-read I did a few years ago was a bit under one week though! That said, I personally would hate to finish a Stormlight book in one week on the first read-through. All that waiting for such a short experience - I do not envy anyone who does it like that, haha. A new Stormlight book has to be milked for every last drop! I can still breeze through it on re-reads.

I don't think it does, he just states that the Investiture is not gone forever. It being incorporared would still mean that it is "inside the system", as in, it could theoretically be restored. Other WOBs imply that Nightblood keeps the Investiture it eats (apart from what's leaking, of course): ... which would only make sense if it keeps a considerable amount of Investiture it consumes.

Nale is a fifth Ideal Radiant, so yes.

I would guess that this is the best explanation. Just like Dalinar had once understood the nature of the Thrill, Shallan and Renarin understand the nature of the Midnight Mother. She is, after all, called the Mother of Lies. Maybe they are more sensible to her influence/aura since they are both extremely secretive. Shallan is the obvious one, being refered to as "the Liar" by the Sleepless on at least one occasion, and Renarin also has had a lot of secrets over the course of the books - he didn't tell anyone that he was a Radiant in WoR, and when it was out, he didn't tell them that there was something wrong with his spren. Come to think of it, he and Shallan are probably the two main characters in Stormlight who have lied the most. (In contrast to, say, Dalinar, who didn't know the truth about his past, so he couldn't lie because he didn't know better.)

Yeah, spren are formed by thought, but their Investiture is not created out of thin air in the process. It has to be present to then be molded into a being. That's one of the reasons there's spren on Roshar rather than on Scadrial or the likes, since there is so much left-over Investiture on that planet (for a lot of different reasons, not all of them fully explained yet). This Investiture becomes sentient over time (which naturally happens when you leave Investiture lying around) and reacts to human thought by being shaped into concepts (the storm, honor, pain, glory etc.). Adonalsium was huge, to get that much Investiture to one place, you'd have to literally get all Shards together, so you'd already have a new Adonalsium anyway.

Brandon did not write Moash as homosexual and Moash does not really have a sexuality right now since he doesn't feel anything: So no. /thread

Exactly! Brandon was told this exact thing in a livestream some time ago. It's not intentional, but it is what was happening:

It's confirmed that there are stars visible on the night sky that are not in the cosmere: More relevant WOBs: The WOB that mentions 50-100 stars: It's part of a galaxy: And some have tried to (unsuccessfully) leave the cosmere cluster:

It's possible - he definitely doesn't exclude soft magic in the cosmere on principle; in fact, he seems to consider the Old Magic as a take on just that:

Cultivation and Virtuosity! Although it's important to note that I wouldn't have picked Virtuosity based on my initial interpretation of it (something like Perfection). But then Brandon described it as the Shard of Artistry instead and that made it a no-brainer. It's kind of surprising how easy this has become for me, given that there are 16 of them (well, 15 for now). When I first learnt about the Shards, I was certain it would be impossible to decide, but here we are.

I will never understand anyone who calls Oathbringer bloated or drawn out, like, it's easily, far and away, the most eventful Stormlight book by a huge margin, if anything, it's overstuffed. Leading the story from the Shattered Plains (where it was all about one conflict between two nations/cultures) to a huge apocalypse spanning the whole world and then ending it on that epic note, it's basically a book series in one volume. In part 1 alone, you get two complete novellas. (Shallan finding Re-Shephir and Kaladin travelling through Alethkar.) Part 3 is a whole different book with its Kholinar story which could have been as long as, say, Elantris (note the similar premise with the haunted city), with Shallan and Kaladin having separate stories within that story, akin to how full-length Cosmere novels (especially Elantris or Warbreaker) tend to work. The battle is the first really huge mid-book climax in the series, with a lot of interchanging POVs like is usually done at the end of a Sanderson book. It's literally a Sanderlanche in the middle of the novel. Then the journey through Shadesmar is yet another story in itself. All of this is held together by Dalinar's central arc. But it's also accompanied by little story arcs about Venli (interludes), Moash (part 2), Szeth (part 4) plus the Dalinar flashbacks, with all of them becoming relevant within the same book (as opposed to Szeth in Way of Kings, where his interludes were build-up for his role in Words of Radiance and didn't actively influence the main plot lines). At the beginning, you have seen no Unmade, no Odium, no Fused. By the end, they're at full-on war against the Fused, Dalinar has talked to and overcome Odium, and the reader has seen five Unmade on-page (more than half of them all!). This isn't even all at the end of the book: Dalinar first meets Odium in part 2, the war against the Fused really kicks off in Kholinar, and by the end of part 3, out of these five Unmade, you have actually seen all of them except for Nergaoul, who only appears in part 5). I do not understand. If Oathbringer drags to you, that's fair - but the reason is not that it is drawn out or anything like that.

Yeah, that's this one: But there's still a bit of room to interpret it as "they are told in the future" - it's not the most plausible way of reading it, but still possible (but then the other WOB seals the deal that it's all told and also actually happening in the future).

Yeah, but the WOB I linked proves that him having held a Dawnshard in the past still has immense consequences. Again: I don't think we need Dragonsteel to know he's beyond pretty much anyone we know of, except for Shards and maybe huge Splinters, in terms of what he's theoretically capacle of. He just can't actively hurt people, that's his problem.

We know because of this WOB:

Easily my favorite of the four, although I'm not a fan of the pseudo photo realistic art style when it comes to book covers. (That said, it does fit the pulpy style of the stories.) The characters definitely look like themselves though, and Wayne doesn't have a gun this time around, which is also worth something The fact that there's sparks in the sky makes me a bit concerned for Elendel though!

Hoid though!

As much as I (Kelsier fan for 12 years now) would love to say it's him, he's significantly restricted by the fact that he can't leave his planet. Same goes for Ishar, to some extent. It's probably Hoid from what we know, at least now that he's a Rosharan Lightweaver plus the Dawnshard business, he can do all sorts of dangerous stuff: If you count Shards, it's Harmony in terms of raw Investiture, but he can't really use it, so I don't think it really counts. If you go for "powerful" as in "most influential", it's easily Bavadin right now, from what we know and can guess.

Good point about the influence of human perception on these things! That probably means that a culture with less strict gender concepts would generate more spren with a less strict concept of their own gender. Some revlevant WOBs: A lot of spren identify with one gender: Apart from Nightblood, the other spren who's confirmed non-binary is of course The Sibling:

They did not lie, Everything Everywhere All at Once really is one of the most insane and ambitious films I've ever seen. It completely escalates after less than half an hour and does not calm down until the credits roll. Still trying to wrap my head around some of it. It's an explosion of ideas, tropes, genres and styles, just too much to comprehend all at once, true to the title. Mostly, I'm just happy that stuff like this is being made, exploring new ways to tell a story/film a movie.

For a movie that's not too scary but very interesting and thought-provoking while still being very digestible, I recommend The Others. For older movies I second The Thing (the 1982 one - although it feels more like a thriller for me), Alien, and to an extent The Shining (1980 - the 80s were an amazing decade for horror), but that one is really creepy, in contrast to the others I mentioned, which are comparatively tame.