Argent

My impressions and thoughts, moved to their own reply: Prologue: To Question Jasnah announced her religious (lack of) beliefs during the feast? Apparently the misbehaving shadow is not the only symptom of... whatever. Probably Jasnah's spren manifesting itself. Interesting, Gavilar talking with Amaram in secret... Meridas Amaram, for the record. "Is it terribly difficult for you? Living with the rest of us, suffering our average wits and simple thoughts? Is it lonely to be so singular in your brilliance, Jasnah?" -- Ouch. Having been asked pretty much the same thing for pretty much the same reasons, ouch. There is no right answer. Hmm, I wonder of those shadowy creatures Jasnah sees come from the shadows are the equivalent of Shallan's Cryptics... Yep, that's so it. Why the sword though? And, boy, is Jasnah's experience in Shadesmar completely different from Shallan's... I don't even know what's going on. She is manipulating... the "Cognitive beads" of everything around her by arranging them in shapes of her design? Reminds me a little of Wyndle, actually, and his talk about mind gardens. Wait. The Parshendi drummers. I thought Eshonai's viewpoint established that the Parshendi were incapable of creating art due to their... predicament. But what we see during the feast sure looks like something that would require a form. Did they lose their forms soon after the treaty went south? Heh. For some reason I am reading the conversation between Jasnah and Liss in Brandon's voice. damnation those readings. Jasnah saw her father's death and heard the Parshendi confess to the assassination. But we are no closer to learning what it is that Gavilar was about to do that made him dangerous! Huh, horses are apparently nearly priceless. Chapter 1: Santhid Banter, banter, banter... Aha, Realmatics! "Spren are living ideas" - well, that's a damnation good definition. Interesting, looks like spren are every bit the people we are - in their own world. Cities, societies - I wonder if they have things like families, social order... Probably. Wyndle's Ring might be a very real body of government. This is interesting for several reasons. I've been thinking about Shadesmar and the Spiritual Realm as... support for the Physical one. Not surprising, but it looks like that's a false idea. Shadesmar might end up being a world of its own right - a world with people, societies, history, cultures, goals, plans, and everything else. Not a shadow of our own, but an independent (well, mostly) reality that sometimes intersects ours. Oooh, we betrayed the spren, broke some oath to them? I wonder if we had a pact with them... Huh, Soulcasters break a lot. This makes them feel more like modern fabrials and less like artifacts of the past. Aaaaw, for a moment there I was all like "looks like Shallan will get betrothed to Renarin, the fandom is going to absolutely lose it!" Then Adolin's name popped up - "people will weep," I though. But wait, this is a fandom like any other, everyone who ships Shallarin will be even more convinced that things won't work out with Adolin and the ship will sail anyway. Heh, this was fun. Heh, nice conclusion to the chapter. The whole cycle with the santhid appearing, Jasnah and Shallan talking about power, and Shallan finally applying the lesson. Maybe a little classic, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Bah, how did the formatting die... Tor.com just release the full prologue (To Question), as well as chapters 1 (Santhid) and 2 (Bridge Four). I am reading them right now, so I don't have anything interesting to say. I'll edit or respond when I am done. Link

So much awesome. I do have to wonder what's burning in the Plains though...

In my experience, actually, it's fans of epic fantasy in general. Brandon breaks the rule and spoils us pretty hardcore with his frequent releases (though, in support of my original thought, it does take a look time between releases in the same world) I am okay waiting year and a half for this. We know virtually nothing about it, so the hype hasn't kicked in just yet.

NewChicago, IL. Though I only moved to the US in '06 when I was 16. I am originally from Bulgaria.

I too liked it better than the first one. Though the whole love triangle thing didn't quite work for me - I am willing to close my eyes to it, however, because of how few female characters Tolkien has, and even a shallow one is better than none. One thing I liked very very very much - the Necromancer's appearance. One of the things the Tolkien fandom likes to poke fun of is how Sauron, the great demi-god villain hellbent on conquering the Middle Earth, takes the shape of a burning eye. Not very intimidating, and kind of weird. I mean, an eye? A ball of fire, identical to the eye but without the "iris" would've looked much better. The Desolation of Smaug addresses this quite nicely I thought. The idea that the eyeball is really just a ball of fire/energy/power, and what looks like an iris is actually the vague and distant outline of Sauron as we see him in the opening scene of The Fellowship of the Ring. I thought this was an extremely nice touch.

Fun fact: I was in a bit of a rush, so I didn't read the replies before mine. I remember thinking something along the lines "man, I hope has mentioned Tapatalk before, 'cause, boy, would I look like a dumbass."

Dwarves. In barrels. That's all I need to say. For now.

Perhaps through Tapatalk?

Either I am horrible judge of age (which, by the way, is a known fact), or that illustration is NOT of a thirteen ten years old, three years in a row, kid. Even accounting for the difference between a Rosharan year and an Earth one (which would make Lift about 14-15). But I am happy everyone gets to have access to this now. Also, I spent only about 2 seconds looking at Lift in that illustration - my gaze moved almost immediately to the palace to make sure that it does indeed look like breasts.

Sounds reasonable.

Non-US publishers sometimes release things early. And at different prices. I got my copy from Barnes & Noble on Dec 3 for about $25

This one is quite nice. Only the middle line bothers me - in my head, it sounds better as "changing winds change" or something like that. Verb forms and tenses are irrelevant for keteks, as we know.

My comment was in response to Trevalion's hypothesis that the source of the Epics' weaknesses lies in what they hate. I am sticking with my original "something they have a negative association with" theory. Fortuity could've been dumped by a model sometime, and that could've broken his heart pretty badly. I should make a thread and attempt to explain all of the Epics' known weaknesses through this. I wonder if their strengths are similarly related...

I didn't move to an English-speaking country until I was 16, I know But her English looked far too grammatically correct for a foreigner who claims difficulty with the language The vocabulary is a little... flamboyant, I guess, which is something I tend to see from native Asian and Slavic speakers, but the grammar was pretty spot on. Don't kill me just yet

Regarding the broken soul - the blurb can be read in a way that makes it look like it refers to a very specific broken soul (it's not an idea I fully endorse, I see it as a possibility). If that specific soul is Honor's, it could explain why using Surgebindings could potentially lead to another Desolation (widening the fissures, etc).

*chuckles* So, in essence, we are all disappointed, but we all think the movie was worth the $10 or so we spent on it.

Iax and Heliax being the same person is a popular idea, yes, but my recent reread. Here's why I think it's wrong: If Bast is to be trusted on this, Jax/Iax and Lanre/Heliax are definitely different people. Furthermore, Felurian is pretty adamant about not speaking of the Chandrian (and thus Heliax), but she does mention Iax once or twice, I believe. More evidence that the two are not the same.

The Way of Kings, hands down. That book is a piece of art.

No, I wouldn't say Fortuity hates women. Nothing suggests that.

Absolutely stunning visuals though, it has to be said.

Fishing for the surge?

Wait, where is that from?

Another vote for Dalinar being Bondsmith. Also - waaaaaaaat

I am now more convinced that the subjects of negative emotions end up being the Epics' weaknesses. Fear, hatred, embarrassment, anxiety...