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Someone who's presumably meant to be Kaladin wearing armour... Then there 'a book one that has a medieval knight with a normal sword wearing standard plate but glowing to imply it's a set of shards , just totally wrong. I like curved swords but only when they're appropriate.

Moogle: on the word of Brandon, I'm sure I remember reading it but I don't know where so I could be wrong. From the books though we have the behaviour of other heralds we've seen certainly not being entirely coherent. A possible idea is that spren come in greater numbers when they know a desolation is coming -> more surge binding before desolations Add some confusion and you could in your mind at least turn the arrow around... To argue the other way, the blurb of Way of Kings which was an in world piece written by Brandon seemed to imply that the desolations stopped so that people wouldn't be ready for "the big one" that will wipe out mankind. If that's the case any resurgence of surge binding would threaten odium's plan hence potentially cause him to attack earlier than otherwise. Another matter worthy of consideration is that surely honour when crafting the visions for Dalinar knew what he was doing and he said they need knights radiant. Tangentially related (as he also considers surge binders a problem) I think Mr T has almost everything wrong.

My theory : cryptics checked out Elhokar and decided he wouldn't make a good light weaver so left him again . (at least I really hope this is true) TBH , I think more likely we'll find Elhokar as a radiant soon.

So yeah, I'm in the UK and hate the UK covers so get imports... I just don't understand the silly white and grey, they also seem completely unrelated to the story

I believe there's WoB somewhere that the heralds are all mad now, though the scale/type of madness is unconfirmed. I've seen several people suggesting that Nin/Nale is going to make Szeth a radiant which is a key thing I disagree with based on the above. Also, what makes you say that Shallan's brother left the "modern" Skybreakers?

I hope this isn't too big a plot point, whilst I like the interconnected-ness, I like each world to stand in it's own for those who haven't read everything + interviews/forums, if worldhoppers bringing the cold are a massive part of the story it will break that a bit.

I actually though a particularly interesting factor was that Jasnah seemed to soulcast with stormlight still in gems as opposed to breathing it in then using it.

I may have missed it but I don't think I've seen any discussion of this idea. I had just assumed it was the case but others seem to have just assumed the opposite. I believe that "Modern" Skybreakers are a group led by the herald Nin, they are not true radiants, they have no spren or powers except for dead-spren shardblades. I believe these "Modern" Skybreakers are the group Shallan's brother joined and are the group that Szeth has been brought into. I believe that Nin, who leads them, is mad (I believe all the heralds are mad), I believe that they think that killing surgebinders will help prevent a desolation BUT I think they're wrong. I think there may be an interesting dynamic later between true radiant Skybreakers when they re-emerge and these fakes. Thoughts? Has anyone else thought this? Do people agree?

Would Honour be sending bad advice via the visions?

Cayden: three points: i) the ghost bloods mentioned Jasnah assassinating various of their members, she 'a had an action packed past, i think it 'a a but hasty to assume she's never been in extreme need. ii) we don't know for sure that blades form only in a time of need. iii) in tWoK Jasnah wouldn't have wanted to show Shallan a blade this was before she knew Shallan was a future radiant and her soulcasting abilities were sufficient.

I'd definitely like Adolin to revive his sword, it seems pretty strongly foreshadowed, but we can't say it's certain. Him being radiant seems pushed by his attitude issues in the battle near the end, not getting the thrill etc. Hopefully this will happen in book 3 so we're not guessing for ages. Tbh the way things are going for humanity to survive I think they need large numbers if new radiants very quickly.

Cayden: Jasnah had a radiant blade in the epilogue we don't know when she first had it, she's had a spren since the night Gsvilar died though, so there's a high chance her spren "bladed" when she tried to open the kholinar gate.

A few points I feel I should add. I'm not going to draw conclusions here just raise some things for discussion on this topic. Jasnah says that the spren return when a desolation is coming. This certainly fits with their attitude, they knew it was coming, they didn't cause it by returning. The visions sent to Dalinar by Honour tell him that a desolation is coming and he must refound the knights radiant to have a chance. Nalan killing surgebinders, well he's insane, all the heralds are, I think he's got the link backwards, either that or there's something far more complex going on there. In Taln's interlude it ends by him asking how long it's been and then saying it's been too long, he's come too late, this 4.5k years gap is bad not good per what Taln thinks, relevance? Back of book 1 said that the enemy considered a new strategy of leaving men alone to weaken themselves (remember Brandon wrote the blurb). Mr T has good intentions but I think he's half mad and his extreme intelligence got away from him, imagine this line of thought: "I have capacity to save the world therefore I must rule the world to save it, the radiants would be a strong competing power therefore I may have to get rid of them". Brandon has said a few times that he likes to write about true heroes, not anti-heroes , if Mr T saves the works that would conflict with Brandon's style. I think Mr T is ultimately going to be a key villain of the piece, not a hero.

Gamma: in defence if Shallan, she killed her mother in self defence, I don't think any spren would be down with it if she were the aggressor there... Dustbringer is the best fit I think we can go for, "brave/obedient" are the attributes, Skybreakers per Brandon insist on strict law keeping, none if the other orders seem to have particularly relevant attributes. Adolin is a) brave and obedient to his father The only other attribute fit I can see is number 9 "dependable/resourceful", stonewards Hmm, he's also not a complete clash with 8 "resolute/builder" but I don't see it as a fit.

Kurkistan: we're not in the WOR spoiler board... In answer to your comment though: WOR spoiler

The heralds are insane. Nalan is horribly wrong, IMO anyway. He's doing this despite the fact that Dalinarvis already seeing the visions that say the desolation is coming. Per Jasnah the spren come in large numbers prior to a desolation to help men prepare , I think Nalan has the causal link backwards, due to his insanity.

Life before death doesn't mean never kill anyone, and Sadeas had just said that he intended to undermine and ultimately kill Dalinar, yes he wasn't expecting to be attacked, but I don't blame Adolin for what he did at all. Also it said that Adolin noted that Sadeas didn 't believe what he was saying but intended to stick to it anyway. I'm down with the idea of Adolin ressurecting his sword, probably to then become a dustbringer. That's what I want to see anyway...

Guess I'll just wait till the bookdepository stocks it, they do free shipping. A week or more after release and not signed, but still better than the UK version (changing the cover art omitting the end pages and writing inaccurate blurbs for Brandon's books should be illegal). And I think getting bit a couple of weeks later is better than spending $60 on shipping

Does anyone else know of anywhere else to buy the US version if one lives abroad (in Uk myself) was going to get a signed version but $60 on postage is insane. Still very much want the Tor/US version the UK version is just so ugly. Any help available?

I think you're likely wrong here, as when the heralds quit in the prelude the radiants were still around, the message to Dalinor includes the falling of the radiants, hence I think that the almghty must have not died untill more recently, or he wouldn't ahve been able to give memories of the radiants falling.

But Lerasium is just a bit of Sazed now isn't it? Doesn't make that much sense for people to be runnign around with that unless they want to be mistborn, or they want to weaken/strengthen Sazed. I can't see Hoid wanting to weaken him, maybe he's found a piece and wants to take it back to Sazed, but I can't really see that tbh. I think more likely it's something else entirely...

My idea was more that the shardblades we've seen are in some way cursed rather than them being orriginally from Odium. Possible problem is Szeth not having mentioned the thrill.

I wonder if it's something specifically to do with using a shardsword, because I think we've only heard it from shardbearers. Maybe most shardswords are in some way corrupted, remember Syl's hatred of them?