deddinty

That was very interesting.

I wonder about the possibility of Thinker not being the real Demoux, if there really is a kandra on Roshar. I know we have WoB that "Demoux" was in that scene, but if it's a kandra with his bones, that could be a misleading answer. I agree that as of now, Iyatil is our best candidate, but I thought I'd throw out this possibility.

I feel like we need options for Tarah, Laral, and Jenet since those three are favorites I see around the shipping fandom. I suppose they're covered in the other category though. And Lift isn't that bad, as long as you assume it happens in the future. There's nearly the same age difference between Adolin and Shallan as Lift and Kaladin. Personally I ship Renarin x Lift though. He needs someone to liven his life up and make him smile.

My new favorite ship is Renarin x Feather, Featharin? Something like that. Anyway, I cannot wait to hear more. And everytime you say you need a Renarin point of view, I keep wishing we had a video of your reaction to hearing Renarin gets his own book!

I just really want to see a Nalen vs Taln battle at some point, since Nalen seems to be going around killing people and Taln seems to come alive when defending someone, I could imagine a scenario later on (I'm thinking book 5 material) where Taln stands up for the radiants as they're developing against Nalen or other heralds. As he's the only one who didn't lie to the people and abandon the oathpack, he may be the best hope the radiants have to fight against the forces that want to destroy them. I don't necessarily believe it will happen, I just really want to see two heralds fighting. And Taln getting to beat up his old companions.

There could be other explanations as well. For example, maybe if we assume the Shin have the honorblade that would correspond to the bondsmiths, it could be possible to forcibly bond the honorblade. I think we need clarification from Brandon on this, but I'm willing to bet this is RAFO bait especially as book 3 is Szeth's.

To me it was partially because Kaladin was only focused on saving himself as he fell. Perhaps if he'd been focused more on saving and protecting others it would have been easier. Beyond that, we know his problem was only caring about protecting for selfish reasons. I could see your last line being plausible as well, that Syl did something to allow Kaladin that last breath of stormlight, and in doing so violated something that locked her away from Kaladin.

On the bridge run when Dunny dies, Moash saved Kaladin by pulling him back. Kal acknowledged Moash saved his life then.

This made me wonder about the queen's political and family connections. I had wondered in the past if she wasn't someone's powerful daughter, perhaps Sadeas even, but I would assume we'd have heard by now if she was. Since Jasnah wanted her assassinated right away, perhaps she has connections to one of our known or unknown secret groups? Alternatively I'm wondering if she might not be Taravagian's daughter now, sine her actions resulted in the chaos he wanted, and it's even implied that Taravangian might have been in Kholinar when Gavilar was assassinated I hope we learn a lot more about her in the next book. The queen (like Tarah) is one of those mysterious figures that we have no good information on yet. But if Kal does manage to make it to Kholinar, I'm betting we'll find out.

My first impression was this one: “Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.” And this one: “Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.” As for stealing storrmlight, I wonder if Zahel might not have stolen Kaladins when he went to charge Adolin on the practice field.

Personally I want to see a graphic novel version before anything else. I don't think a live action would ever be possible, since they'd have to either compromise on the story for a movie version, or the magic of the world and atmosphere for a TV series. It's not feasible. Even animated movies would have to compromise on the story. An animated series would be awesome, but it's still not really feasible as it's quite expensive to produce good quality animation, and the western culture sees cartoons as either childish or comedic (like Simpsons, Family guy etc). The only example of decent western animation would be the Avatar series, and even then they add silly things to make it more childish. An anime done properly would be great, but I doubt we'd ever see something like that.

I think it's necessary for Adolin to fall so he can be reforged. I think he has a long way to go until then though, and this was just the beginning. In the end I bet he'll end up a radiant, but not for a long time. What I'm more worried about is what will happen because of Sadeas' death. We've never heard about an heir, and if one does not exist, Amaram may be the highest ranking person to take the princedom. He could even try ans seize it, rather than working under Elokhar. Beyond that, the one who was there at his confession is dead, high prince Roion. I think we'll see a good deal of repercussions from this, and not just the effect on Adolin himself.

Kaladin's challenge of Amaram, there was no way that would end well. I had to put the book down and psych myself up to read it.

I actually interpreted Wit's comment as referring to Cultivation. edit: ninja'ed As for hidden Heralds, I think it's pretty clear Shallan draws Shallash, and I'm wondering if it's not part of her abilities with the illumination surge, which might be shared with Renarin's order.

My own experience reading this: it was exactly the book I wanted to read, which is very rare with sequels. Normally I enjoy being shocked and surprised by how much a sequel is different from what I expect, but this wasn't and I loved it more for that. Also props to Brandon for at least making Shalladin plausible for a dedicated anti-Shalladin party. I just hope the love triangle gets about as much attention in future books as in this one, though if it makes Shallan and Adolin act less sickly sweet I'll welcome it. It's amazing how real the characters feel, in their bad choices. They're not being obstinate and closed mouthed for "we can't just move the plot along that fast" reasons.

That sounds awesome! Thanks for the clarification Peter.

Looking forward to Monday then! Overdrive had a two minute sample up, but it's just the first two minutes, only about 1 minute of it is the prologue. Still trying to decide if I can handle rationing myself so the book takes at least a week, or if I can't wait that long. Also if you're dying to share your thoughts, reddit has a read-a-long going on, with individual threads for each chapter where people have started posting if they got the book early. Obviously big spoiler warnings (so tempting to look at it).

My last couple of audible preorders have not been available until around 4AM EST of the release day. I also may have a hold on the audiobook from my library...just in case it's available a little early.

I don't have the space really for the hardcover, but I love the art. Do we know if either the kindle, or at least the ibook version will include the art this time? If I can know that I'd likely get the ebook as well as the hardcover and audiobook I've already ordered.

I agree completely, I merely wanted to reference the only direct quote we had about ardents and safehands. I would actually imagine it's a personal choice of the ardent herself, if she wanted to cover the hand or not. Geranid obviously had no desire to wear a sleeve and as an ardent would be allowed the choice, since the genders roles don't apply to ardents. At the very least I can't imagine that young women just entering the ardentia, raised to always cover their safehand would be immediately comfortable with it exposed.

From the Geranid interlude, I-8: It doesn't mention a glove, but it seems to imply she doesn't need to cover her hand.

For anyone curious Don Dos Santos was the artist of the Warbreaker cover: And he's quite good at armor, maybe we'll see some shardplate?

While it could be Brandon trying to throw us off (on mobile so forgive the lack of proper quote format): "When Jasnah and Dalinar meet, you can expect some discussion of what it means to be atheist if there was a God and God is now dead." Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=697#10 I suppose this doesn't rule out her disappearing early in the book either. I also got the impression Jasnah would be on the short list to die; she simply has too much knowledge even if she sees it as limited. Looking at Shallan being the one to travel the plains I could see Jasnah staying behind for other reasons than death. Perhaps Elokar/Dalinar won't allow it, or she gets injured, or she finally gets through to some people about parshmen and needs to be in communication convincing others etc.

And they're here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/01/excerpt-brandon-sanderson-words-of-radiance-chapter-six-eight-and-nine Interesting, seven is skipped. Well off to read now.

I was about to make the same comment Shardlet. I just double checked the whole passage, and there's no mention of the grottos having crystal in them. Thinking along these lines though, it could imply that a structure of stone, perhaps specifically stone in a natural cave formation (not cut, like the shin say?) could be what protects the speakers. Since Dalinar's room was soulcast stone, it could work. This is just speculation though, I'd want to know more about the holy grottos before making any claims, they very well could have natural crystal formations in them. If it does turn out to be "crystal" that could block the gods from hearing, that would make an interesting case for the Palanaeum, with it's crystal walls.