NameIess

Alright, longer thoughts here. Keep in mind that it's been a bit since I've reread/relistened to the books, so I might be a bit rusty. Also, I apologize in advance for rambliness. WoK: Not much except setting up for WaT's deal loophole as I mentioned earlier, this could be done in any of the books, but ideally I would set it up here or in WoR. But there's nothing in this book that I think needs changing. Shallan's theft plot was a really stupid plan, it truly would've been better to get into Jasnah's good graces and try to fix the soulcaster. It makes sense for her plan to be stupid though, given her sheltered and traumatizing upbringing. WoR: Also not much. This book is awesome. I would change Jasnah's fakeout death to be not a fakeout, as Brandon himself thinks would've been a good idea. A chapter with her in Shadesmar would solve this issue, while leaving Shallan's plot mostly unchanged. OB: Some actual changes this time. Actually... maybe not. The Kaladin/Shallan/Adolin love triangle is not great, but it has an in-universe reason for Kaladin to act that way, and it ends the right way, so yeah. I don't know how anyone could think Elhokar survived, Moash stabbing him, then stabbing him again until he stopped glowing was a very obvious "Yeah, this guy's dead" in my mind. And there were consequences for it. Adolin, Kaladin, Jasnah, Dalinar, and Navani had consequences in their character arcs. His death wasn't too impactful to the war effort, but wasn't that the point? Dalinar had sidelined Elhokar so much that him dying in Kholinar had little more effect politically speaking other than to put Jasnah on the throne. I do think Jasnah acted a bit illogically to try to kill Renarin without actually discussing anything with him, but we don't see the full context of what Renarin saw. Maybe in that possibility she did talk to him, or maybe he tried to defend himself by attacking her. And it is still within the bounds of her philosophy to carry out such actions. We already saw her kill fleeing robbers in the alley in WoK, we know she considered assassinating Aesudan, it makes sense for her character. Actually, maybe one change. Elhokar would've been a thousand times better as a champion than Gavinor. Put some indication in there that Odium grabbed him as a backup champion, just in case. RoW: Hm. This book is my #3, close behind the first two. Navani's arc is good. Kaladin's is awesome. Adolin's trial and Maya speaking is incredible. Dalinar starts more Bondsmithing. Shallan and Venli are there. (Actually I thought Shallan and Adolin were really sweet in this book.) @Frustration, you mentioned Shallan's reveal not living up to her fears, and I think that's intentional. We, the readers, know that no secret from her past will stop Adolin from loving Shallan. But Shallan does not. At least, she doesn't believe it. I do agree that the Fused could be a bit more scary. Part of this I think comes from following Kaladin around all the time, so the Pursuer, who would probably be deadly to just about any other Radiant, is defeated in the course of a single book. We could see more Radiants actually dying to them. Actually, having Raboniel kill off a lot of the captured Radiants could lead into WaT, maybe helping to explain why they were so short on Radiants that they couldn't send a SINGLE ONE to Azir. Like, not even Lift, whose healing could've been quite useful even if she wouldn't be allowed into the fighting, was sent. But more on that below. WaT: For real this time, some actual changes! At least one Radiant gets sent with Adolin's task force. Maybe a Stoneward or Edgedancer. They can get targeted and killed off early, maybe by Abidi or some other Fused, but seriously, send one Radiant that can actually fight. Would one Radiant really have made such a difference on the Shattered Plains? They ran out of Stormlight, not Radiants. Kaladin and Szeth... I don't know, it was pretty nice to see Kaladin get to relax a bit. The whole book could use another draft to polish dialogue and delivery. I liked a lot of the things that happened (Kaladin becoming a Herald, Dalinar's gambit, Ba-Ado-Mishram being released, the Unoathed) but they didn't hit as hard as they could've (actually, I take that back. The Unoathed were awesome). I think this book suffers a lot from the dilemma of being both a final book and a middle book. Because it's a final book, we need a climactic final battle. Because it's a middle book, we need to set up side characters for later plots. A traditional last book (look at something like A Memory of Light) kills characters off in that climactic final battle. But here? Kill someone like Adolin and you lose the punch from the Unoathed plot and Shallan's later story is seriously negatively effected. Kill off too many cool side characters and now you don't get to use The Lopen ever again for the next 5,000+ pages left in the series. Heroic noble sacrifice is basically off the table for any important characters whose arcs do not conclude in WaT. This is exacerbated by stuff like TSM, which looking back at I really wouldn't have read before WaT. Knowing Sigzil would survive really took the punch out of the 'death rattle says you'll die' thing. So, the Contest of Champions: Yeah, it should've been Elkhokar. That would've been way more impactful, because Elhokar and Dalinar actually have a history of conflict. Gavinor is an innocent child Dalinar loves and a reminder of the bad things he did to Elhokar. Put Elhokar in there instead, and bam. A character who wants the best for Alethkar just as Dalinar does, who has been wronged by Dalinar, a man who genuinely wants to do the right thing. And it doesn't have to feel like a Diabolous Ex Machina that he's even of an age to fight Dalinar. Well, those are my thoughts. I'm certain that if I reread the books with changes in mind there would be a bunch of other things I'd think of.

Ooh, this is fun. Feels much more doable than the Cosmere Wordle. I got today's Cosmeredle in 6 tries! Try and beat me at https://cosmeredle.net/

True. An attempt to totally conquer Roshar would inevitably turn into guerrilla warfare if the nations couldn’t be convinced to surrender in exchange for not having their populations decimated, assuming the US would have the will to do that. A more realistic scenario, I think, is the US discovering the portal, sending spies through it, realizing soulcasters and other potentially useful fabrials exist, and offering military aid (we’ll bomb the enemy army into oblivion next time you both march out to war and equip your guys with guns) in exchange for Soulcasters making extremely rare and hard to get materials for them.

There are microscopic organisms living on the sand that the Koloss might be able to metabolize.

Eric's eyes snapped open, a gasp of pain escaping his lips. His shoulder had taken the brunt of the damage, with some fairly serious burns covering it. The boy squeezed his eyes shut, face pale as Kingslayer slowly healed his wounds. "I... well, alright." The woman cleared her throat. "I'm not sure if we'll be fine. But that's mostly because of your presence. I've heard... rumors about your like."

The Venusaur fired its own attack, a beam similar to solar beam, but made from darkness instead of sunlight. Oddly, it did not attempt to clash with Pikachu’s thunderbolt, but instead targeted the tree behind which the young boy stood. Venusaur-possessed used Shadow Beam! It’s super effective! Young boy Eric is knocked out! Pikachu used thunderbolt! It’s not very effective… A critical hit! Venusaur-possessed is knocked out! Pikachu gained 3870 exp. points. Both attacks landed, the Venusaur’s attack plowing through the tree and clipping the boy, sending him to the ground with a cry of pain. Pikachu’s thunderbolt landed as well, electrocuting the Venusaur and knocking it into the air. It hit the ground on its back with a crash and a burst of dark mist, and lay there unmoving. “We don’t need your protection.” The woman said stiffly. “We’re perfectly fine on our own, right?” @KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren

Maybe I’ll post more thoughts here later, but here’s my biggest problem with anything in the series: the whole premise of the conflict in WaT, that capturing capitals means capturing an entire nation, is never established and feels stupid. At least set that up as an Alethi custom or law first, rather than bring it up from nowhere to justify the (admittedly very cool) entire plot of most of the book.

The woman gulped. “Oh. I don’t know where we are. An island somewhere.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the munitions expended were only a sizeable portion of the most advanced munitions. They had plenty of simpler missiles and bombs, which would suffice to destroy any target against an opponent with no air defenses beyond Windrunners and Skybreakers. And I feel that for the purposes of coercion, threatening to destroy population centers, burn farmland, etc. would be impactful.

“A pool? Like the one on- The woman raised a hand to her chest, trees quivering in response to her shock. “Who are you?” She asked.

Different situation, I would say. Roshar can’t threaten any global (earth) supply routes and has no air defense systems capable of shooting down US aircraft. If we’re assuming this is a total war between Roshar and the US, there’s also the distinction of bombing major population centers.

The woman nodded, and set off along the branches of the tree, moving in the direction they’d been going earlier. ”So, what is it you’re looking for here?” Ahead, more branches moved to create a path. “Something important, to come somewhere so dangerous.”

“They can’t climb trees, can they?” The woman pressed her hand against the tree branch on which she stood. “That’s why we’re up here.” As she spoke, branches moved, shifting to interlock with those of another nearby tree. “It might be slower than walking below, but I can get us through the trees.”

The boy did not respond, pulling further back behind his tree. The Venusaur stopped a short distance from Kingslayer and the Pikachu, darkness gathering around the flower on its back. The woman paled at the glimpses of the falling object. "I think... maybe we should keep moving. Whatever that is... it doesn't sound good." She glanced at the shadowed forest floor beneath them. "How far is the place you wanted to get to?"

The woman followed Viridis up the tree, making her way up into the branches. "Should we take watches?" She asked, settling down at the base of one branch, leaning back against the tree trunk. "You mentioned there being monkeys in these trees, and if the snake was anything to go by... I wouldn't want to meet a monkey from this place." The boy remained firmly behind his tree, just barely peeking out. He eyed the obviously insane man with suspicion, perhaps wondering if the man could really understand Pikachu, or if it was merely part of his aforementioned madness. I'm assuming Pikachu is speaking in Pokémon language? He did not get long to consider. At the far side of the plain the boy had run from, a Venusaur burst from the trees. A faint dark mist rose around the creature, and its eyes were blank. The Pokémon bellowed in anger and began running towards the group.