Argent

Well, finished Firefight. And Murder at the Kinnen Hotel by Brian McClellan before it. I hadn't read anything for about a month before those two (weird, don't know why), but I think I'll pick up Jim C. Hines' Unbound next. Or McClellan's Bound by Honor.

The superhero genre fits better on Earth. It's more relevant to us. Also, can't have Chicago in the Cosmere.

Dawnslight powers are kind of weird, and so are his situation and condition, but what he has done doesn't seem even close to the league Calamity is playing in. No, I find it more likely that Regalia petitioned Calamity to gift the kid in a way that would help her create her own utopia in Babylar; and with Dawnslight being in coma, he must've been a pretty safe bet for a receiver for powers greater (or more unique) that the average epic.

Huh, that makes a remarkable amount of sense, I can't believe how close to the answer I've been dancing. Thanks!

He wasn't the last few times Brandon came to visit. Obviously things can change, Peter has made it his life's quest to personally correct me when I get something wrong on the forums, so here's to me being very wrong and the upcoming month and warranting a personal visit

Not really addressing Jasnah's sexuality is probably a very good thing. She is a scholar, and that's all that there is to it. She is (maybe) not a lesbian scholar, or a hetero scholar, or an asexual scholar - her preference or lack of thereof in the kind of bits she likes doesn't, at least at this point, add anything to her character; it only takes a way by boxing her in a little into a stereotype (the cold and logical scholar who secretly longs for a man, or the woman with "unnatural" desires who finds solace in her research, or the woman who was sexualy abused as a child and so now forsakes her own sexuality, or any other stupid archetype men have created to rationalize the idea of a female scholar...).

Ha. Ha! I was on the weaknesses boat for a long time! Well, kind of hanging by the side instead of riding it, but still on the boat! As for the book itself... the ending didn't hit me as hard as I expected. Virtually every other book by Brandon had an ending more striking than this one (to me, and except Alcatraz). This... not that it was bad, but I think Regalia's death (or rather the triviality of it) undermined it a little for me. Prof's complete surrender to the Dark Epic Side was definitely top notch, Megan's return was foreshadowed beautifully, though not very subtly (it was only a few pages between David thinking that she will come back at sunrise and him remarking that the sun hadn't quite risen yet). The implications of Prof's vast knowledge of the Reckoners could be pretty devastating - though I suspect he and Tia must've come up with a contingency plan for situations like this; if not his weakness, then at least a way to quickly relocate all of the Reckoners to a location unknown to Prof. And still... this didn't have the same zing. But other than the ending, I was really happy with the rest. Megan's plan to shoot herself - brilliant. I thought David would end up being the one to take her out before the fire gets to her, but this works too; it might even work better, because yay for smart women! And on that note - Mizzy was such a joy to read! I knew a girl kind of like her in high school (also dark-skinned, interestingly), and while she was all sorts of not right for me (not as a friend, not as... colleague, not as a girlfriend), it was marvelous to see her effect on others. I want more Mizzy in Calamity. And speaking of Calamity - of course he is an Epic! I mean, not that I caught it before, but Brandon is nothing if not consistent - so with the two books' titles being Epics' names, in hindsight Calamity makes sense. But there is more here than meets the eye. Angelic references, his ability to communicate with (some?) Epics, his ability to create Epics, but only out of people with a deep, maybe even phobia-like, fear... I feel like the fear thing is going to be key in figuring out Calamity's nature, not just as a tool to disable the Epics' powers. Man, I've got some psychology research to do...

I use Podbay. Everything except the last dozen episodes or so disappeared a few weeks back (at least for me), but it might be a temporary bug.

The biggest question I have here is why his power didn't corrupt him - after all, Calamity doesn't necessarily choose people are already evil, it's the power that eventually corrupts them. The obvious answer is that his mental age granted him an immunity of some sort, and that explanation could still work, but remember that Megan explains the mindset of an Epic as that of a child - uncaring, selfish, unconcerned for other people. Dawnslight* was already in a child's mindset when he was given his powers, so why did his caring and benevolent nature prevail, and not his malevolent and selfish one? * The first couple of times I read his name, I read it as Dawn Slight and was very confused...

One thing I can't figure out - Newcago's name is obviously a short of New Chicago. So is there anything Babylar stands for? The "Babyl-" part is obviously from Babylon, but I can't think of anything for "-ar"... Babylon Restored > Babylo-R > Babylor > Babylar kind of makes sense, but it doesn't make me happy

Ask the Instabam question as an afterthought. It's not like there is a one-question-per-person rule. Since the answer is really short (unless there is a story behind it!), he'll most likely answer.

I feel that the Shards would follow very closely in their "father's" footsteps when acting as gods to their Shardworlds, at least in trait-independent matters (e.g. the creation of sentient beings is mostly independent from traits like honor, or cultivation, or dominion).

It does assume both things, indeed. Though the former is entirely necessary - Adonalsium's introspection-inducing surprise from my headcanon could come from relies on the idea that the Shattering was effectively a suicide; there might be other reasons. As for the latter, it's something I am strongly inclined to agree with. After all, we know that even partial aspects of Adonalsium's power, the Shards, can create humans, so I would be very very surprised if Adonalsium couldn't. And if he could, but didn't... I don't know, it sounds inconsistent worldbuilding.

I am pretty sure that's where the name came from.

Very interesting, though unfortunately not as enlightening. I halfheartedly support the idea that Adonalsium chose to Shatter itself as an indirect result of this plot. I imagine a good and almighty divinity might be pretty surprised the first time its creations try to kill it. It could potentially lead to some introspection and maybe even the decision that sentient beings should govern themselves and therefore SHATTER. ohgod, The Legend of Korra made me a shipper, now I spew headcanons left and right. What have you done to me, Internet?!

Raised awareness and elitism. Any adaptation, even a mediocre one (note: doesn't work for bad ones!) makes the original piece of art more popular. The HBO Game of Thrones might be a cliched example by now (and an extreme one too), but these days, years after its first season, I see people reading the books all the time when I take the public transportation; before the show's release and rise in popularity, I would be giddy to see one person reading any fantasy book every few weeks. The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit were in a similar boat, and so were The Hunger Games and (to a lesser extent) Ender's Game. And many more, I am sure. That alone is a reason enough in my eyes, but there is also the added benefit of being able to walk around and rub my hipster "I read it years ago" in people's faces.

If this is not a Chekhov rocket launcher, I don't know what is. Shai picking up another magic system is so confirmed in my eyes.

The number of copies sold in the first week after release determine how the book will do on the various bestseller lists. It gives bookstores an idea how many additional copies they will order. That's the short version.

But it's okay. There is yet time for you to forsake your mortal life and live and breathe to spread the Word. Of Brandon.

Sleep is for when there is no tour!

News, people, news! Feed us things!

Not mutually exclusive.

I am legally obligated to vote Jasnah in any and everything that has "Jasnah vs. X"