masaru

Apologies for rambling... Finished the book last night. I had muted all the subreddits and tried very hard to avoid any discussion. Came to 17th this morning to see what I missed. I'm getting the impression that this book is more controversial than Rhythm of War was. I found it to be a pretty fun adventure for the most part, with some hard truths, and a lot of things I'm sympathetic to (therapy, trauma, emotional learning). I find the complaints about Gavinor to be strange given that was the one theory I saw over and over again the past couple years. That brings me to theories and outcomes in general. Brandon's books are susceptible to theories and it's part of our culture going back to the WoT days. But theories can almost create a false reality for readers. Disappointment when theories don't pan out, or boredom when they do. I think it's one reason I scaled back from participating. Some of the enjoyment of the story is lost when I'm just looking for confirmations and secrets in the books. I think this was the first book of Brandon's I actively tried to ignore theories for in the lead up. YMMV. I thought the "debate" was interesting as a moral philosophy discussion (holla Good Place fans) but overlong. Just felt they were going in circles at various points, and T-guy was massively sealioning Jasnah at every turn. Made me think Brandon is pretty tired of the internet. The final confrontation with Odium and Dalinar's decision. Unexpected, clever, sad. Made me dislike Taravangian even more. He's the ultimate utilitarian who can justify anything. My moral philosophy tends more towards Dalinar's perspective where losing sight of actual people in favor of "greater good" is a failing. That said, Dalinar ultimately did serve a greater good by giving up Honor to turn the cosmere against Odium. It's going to take awhile to fully unpack the moral ramifications of his decision. Kaladin the therapist was great, although that plot line was a little bit of a slog at times, maybe because I just don't really care about Szeth that much. Adolin had the best storyline of the book. He's a good boy. Really enjoyed and was surprised by the "history of Roshar" bit. Brandon got his Shadow Rising sequence. I got the impression that he was talking directly to his own church through some of this. Pulling back the curtain on the reality behind mythology is illuminating. Now I really want to read the backstory to Ashyn. I loved the entire denouement sequence, seeing everyone picking up the pieces and set up their futures. Would love to see a novella following Shallan's adventures in Shadesmar. Very curious to see what happens in the dystopian time gap. Overall, I place this book after Words of Radiance in ranking. WoR > WaT > WoK > RoW > OB... I think. I'm kind of glad there is a big gap until book 6. Gives me time to do a proper reread.

Thoughts on the actual name for Wisdom/Prudence/Survival? I've been thinking something along the lines of Vigilance, Care, Discretion. The concept seems to be "being conservative or cautious."

The last one would be the "Wisdom/Prudence" one mentioned in WOBs.

This isn't Silence Divine.

The story (and Hoid by extension) says the Iriali vanished from this place. Why would they go here from Roshar?

Doesn't he just say "characters who haven't had their own books before"? Not sure he's saying worlds we haven't seen yet.

Doesn't he just say "characters who haven't had their own books before"? Not sure he's saying worlds we haven't seen yet.

there's no limit on the pledges. you've got plenty of time. stuff doesn't deliver until January 2023.

i like how he expressly asks to not reveal the secret, but everyone shouts it out

this guy lol

The idea that a movie ramping up is going to interfere with novels is a good one, but I don't think he would delay Stormlight 5. It may be more of a "Mistborn is happening (yay!) but I need to be ready to devote time to it later this year, so Stormlight 5 will be my last novel for a little while. This is my big chance to get my stuff adapted and I can't pass it up." Edit: rereading his reddit message, though, I do think it's either "no touring" or "offloading a lot of projects to co-authors."

Since we can take illness off the table, my guess is he's going to stop touring and just do Dragonsteel Con as his event every year. Touring takes a lot out of him: interrupts writing, doesn't see family, traveling is exhausting, etc. Co-authorship of non-Cosmere stories is also likely. I don't think he would co-author Stormlight, Mistborn, or Dragonsteel. Those seem too personal.

how about we hope he's okay first?

Theory: it’s made of Dragonsteel, hence it’s crazy value.

Yay! Thank you.

Any update on the Arcanum entry for this event (or any of the subsequent events)? There's so much discussion happening about OB and it's ramifications, but we may be operating with less information than Arcanum transcribers, hard to know what will be outdated theories when the WoBs hit those not attending the small amount of events.

Maybe he changed his mind and wanted to give her a new role in the book. I'm just baffled at the arc of your criticisms about this, I guess. Originally it was that you weren't convinced it was her and 17S shouldn't act like it was certain. Then posters gave you evidence that made it certain and you now say it's too obvious. Sorry if this is harsh, but that doesn't seem consistent, so maybe there's something else about Vivenna being in the book that is bugging you.

I’m really confused. What is trolling about it? And why is it sad?

This is basically what they teach in reading classes as "context." You are meant to infer something by surrounding text, not just directly. It's a way to circumvent obvious exposition, which tends to feel like an unrealistic information dump.

This raises a lot of questions. Whoa.

Well, that's interesting. Sounds like a bit of a bottleneck, but I guess it avoids misconceptions.

Arcanum entries are subject to Peter approvals?

I love the the entire Arcanum project...but I do miss being able to almost immediately see signing reports in these threads. BS never comes near my city, so it's fun reading them. This particular event has at least 208 entries, it looked like (before that info was hidden). But nothing is readable, yet. I assume posters are directly submitting there instead of in the forum threads for the most part?

Do some hunting about Autonomy. There are lots of indications and a few WOBs that Autonomy manifests as different personas, hence the "we" and "us" usage.

FYI: Khriss writes the Ars Arcanum, not Nazh.