Nitpicking

If Kaladin went alone, the story would have been written differently. He wouldn't have been nearly as bumbling as he was here, for one thing. Yes, if you have the same video game series of minibosses and they were exactly the same as these ones and Kaladin was restricted to exactly what he was able to do here, you are totally correct.

Well, by definition ancient city-states didn't have "modern" anything. Roman (Republican) democracy was one of the two main things American democracy, for one, was based on. Why do you think we have a Senate? Separation of Powers? That was copied, with modification, from Rome, with the Tribal Assemblies and Tribunes elected by the plebes and the Senate elected by the aristocrats. It wasn't identical to any modern state, obviously, but it was more democratic in many ways than, say, Hungary right now (when it was working).

Let me take a moment to thank the volunteers who moderate these forums. I was a moderator back in the Dawn Times, before the WWW existed, so I know how much work behind the scenes goes on, and how rarely anyone acknowledges it.

It isn't that Jasnah should have won. It's that she's presented as suddenly incompetent at the exact things she should be good at. My mom was a philosopher. She would have effortlessly out-debated Taravangian. Jasnah was like a freshman who took one course on general philosophy and never had an argument in her lift.

I understand that this is a preference, as you said, but consider: Syl becomes a godspren like the Stormfather. Being bonded to her means that he becomes a Bondsmith, if the old oath system is maintained. Meanwhile he's still the Herald of Second Chances. Radiant and Herald status are separate.

Except with the Faceless Immortals, where 2 give control, but Harmony needs time to actually exert it.

I think he told them.

The other Shards, presumably.

The Listeners are not a subject nation of Retribution, unlike, say, Thaylenah. It isn't clear how the Thaylens get their Warlight.

That's exactly how I feel about Brandon's unfortunate tendency to play "Republic serial villain" and keep characters alive who narratively should be dead.

Given infinite monkeys typing, an infinite number of them would produce a Shakespeare play first thing. And given a finite number of searchers, you would need infinite years to find any of them. You can only check a finite number of monkey per day, or per lifetime, after all.

I'm pretty sure there are some transfolk who are mentally ill. That is, after all, true of every group of human beings. Part of what you're seeing, I think, is just that it's easier and more fun to criticize than to praise. I have criticisms of WaT, but I don't hate it. I'm just disappointed that it isn't as good as WoR or Oathbringer. Shallan was fine in this. I thought the Renarin/Rlain storyline was ... flabby. It would have benefited from another edit, it's just padded-feeling and repetitive. I've said elsewhere my two problems with the Kaladin through-line: it's the same plot arc as he's already done four times, and therapy was represented very poorly. Szeth ends up doing nothing of importance. If Kaladin had gone to Shinovar alone, he would have solved the problems by himself much more easily than the pair of them did in this book. Does any of that make the book bad? No. Would one more complete rewrite, ideally involving Tor editorial, have made it much better? Yes. Did Brandon feel he could spare another year of his life for this book? Obviously not.

Adolin's actual words here disagree with your summary: Chapter 135. Did you notice, by the way, how the Shardblades appeared around Adolin in a circle, deliberately (I assume) echoing how the Heralds stood when they renewed the Oathpact?

In mathematics, "infinity" is not a number. It's a statement that some sequence (of some entity) never ends. Since there is no largest counting number, the counting numbers are infinite. By the way, you can cut a finite piece off an infinite sequence quite easily. Consider the counting numbers 1, 2, 3 ... Now, cut off 1,2,3. That's a finite piece. The remaining piece, 4, 5, 6 ... is infinite, and of the same "size" (order) as the counting numbers. (The definition of "equal" for infinities is that you can establish a 1:1 correspondence that includes all members of both sequences. In this case 1:4, 2:5, 3:6 ... matches every member of both.) I'm sure Eric "Chaos, and also a math teacher at the college level" Lake could explain this better. I was a science teacher, not math.

I read it as the exact opposite. Adolin says that promises last even after oaths are broken. That's the whole point of the Forgotten deadeyes coming to help when no human expected or asked them to. Even with the Nahel Bond broken, the oaths renounced, they still feel bound by their promises.

I'm a biology teacher. My bachelors is in zoology. There are levels of intelligence between "single celled parasite", say trypanosomes, and us. Every level between. Caledonian crows make tools, carry them where they're needed, and understand and anticipate multi-level problems involving things they can't see. Orcas teach each other about threats (like harpoon-shooting boats), in a way that can really only involve language of some variety. Gray parrots can learn to plausibly speak English, in fact. What gap do you think Rhyshadiums fill that no Earth animal "can" fill? Brandon's statement as recorded makes zero sense.

@Trusk'our, as a biologist, the idea that "animals on Earth" can't be as smart as a Rhyshadium is weirdly oxymoronic. Animals on Earth, such as Brandon Sanderson, are much smarter than the magic horses already. What does he even mean? @Sophrosyne, but Harmony still can only talk as Ruin and listen as Preservation. Sazed complains about not understanding why that is the case.

He does look almost exactly like Elhokar.

@rabidhexley mentioning the epilogue made me realize something: I really hated the "Hoid applies for a coachman job" thing. It was about three times longer than it needed to be, even if I concede that it needed to exist, which I don't.

Doesn't all Investiture repel other (non-Connected) Investiture? The WoB linked above refers to sentience. In Brandon's use of the word, that doesn't mean thinking. It means self-awareness. Dogs are sentient to Brandon, I'm sure, but not necessarily sapient.

Thing Brandon won't write: Azir demands a trial, and their lawyers (advocates?) prove to everyone's satisfaction that it was illegal for the subject nations (Marat, Tukar, etc.) to secede in the middle of a war. The True Everstorm withdraws to allow sunshine within their borders as well. The Prime Aqasix, now backed by the Unoathed, quietly and effectively persuades them to become true components of the Aziri Empire, strong-arming the bureaucrats into accepting because he's a powerful, popular, and charismatic leader. El says, "This offers new opportunities." He's referring to Azir being a key part of Odium's space army in 400 years, but no one else except Taravangian understands.

Did I miss something? The only significant Alethi presence in Azir that I know of is the army sent to successfully defend the empire against the Singer attackers under the command of Odium. If you look at, say, the history of the Korean peninsula, they have a historic habit of taking invaders (China, the Mongols) and turning them into semi-allies. Right now, South Korea is holding its metaphoric nose to work with Japan to contain North Korea.

At some level, Brandon is a science nerd. Not a scientist, but he clearly is interested in science. It's also clear that the Cosmere was always going to have strong elements of science-meets-magic, going back at least to Dragonsteel Prime.

Is it worth mentioning that the Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is over 700 years old and counting?

Randomly today, this Veritasium video came up in my feed.