ethanrc

An OK stormlight book is still amazing. Glad we got a lot of our questions answered, and I enjoyed a most of the character arcs. Some loosely categorized thoughts Mysteries Son of Honor / Child of Tanavast: was this just foreshadowing Heraldin? Dalinar also thinks about "Kaladin having a sliver" when he relinquishes the power of Honor; I expected this mystery to close in Arc 1, but it seems like there is more here. "The Wind / Ishar knows a way to separate mind from Braize for the Heralds" felt a little Deus ex Machina. Definitely could be some explanation here that would convince me (not up to date on all the Realmatic theory) Nature of Honor / our shame. Tied this up well Chana reveal was done well, and a great surprise for those who were not super super online Feels a little disappointing to not learn more about BAM, but I assume she'll be a key theme in Arc 2 Shattered Plains: just shattered bc of clash bt Honor and Odium? I hope there is more here, and the pool / 4th moon seem to promise a bit more As others have said, the fourth moon stuff was interesting. At the first mention of the moons, I assumed there was some tie in to the Mishim / Moons Wit story. But now, I have no idea. We will see in Arc 2! Ishar drinking from the pool of Odium does not seem like it's just going to be a Book 5 plot point Ditto Battar's interlude -- will we have good and bad heralds in Arc 2? Plot / structure Some of the early stuff (like the Book Quartermaster scene) seems really bad in hindsight. Reading along with the preview chapters, I assumed there must be some tie-in later in the book. Now it just seems like a dumb chapter that wasted our time and precious page space I enjoyed the Towers content / plot device. Helped pull the reader a bit more into the battle strategy without it being an info dump, nice foreshadowing of the end, decent character development I don't love the age up, and I don't love the Gav champion. But honestly, I'm glad BS is willing to stick to his guns on something that he clearly intended for a while/foreshadowed heavily. If we don't want authors to over fan-service, then we have to accept that somethings may not land (or at least not land initially) SR was great for lore Some of the interludes tying back pretty deep was a nice touch (17th shard, RIP Ym [the GOAT] but glad your granddaughter is ok [same spren?]) Characters Glad BS is having some characters exit, way too many who aren't able to get their fair share. I wanted more Venli and more Lift (I would never have believed I would say either of these after my first read). Jasnah was disappointing, and I hope BS gets better at writing her for arc 2. On the other side, I enjoyed the Renarin chapters a lot more than I expected. Bullied Renarin had me tearing up SR was good for Dalinar, good for Renarin, and pretty meh for Navani/Shallan/Rlain. Better for Rlain than the other two, but I feel like he could be so much more as a character. I assume he and Renarin will be the Navani/Dalinar of Arc2 In the macro sense, really happy with Kaladin conclusion. No other way to end than him realizing he wants to protect. In the micro sense: Therapy stuff was a little heavy handed, the Syladin stuff a little weird Not sure why Moash is still around, I have to assume this will be part of Gav's arc, seeking retribution for his father Misc Some weird phrasing that didn't match the previous world building -- some of the therapy talk, May saying she's Adolin's ex, etc