MasterGhandalf

Hmmm... Brandon is basically the king of "hard" magic systems, I would say, but there are several writers working right now who are doing somewhat similar things. Seconding Weeks and Rothfuss, and Erikson's warrens are definitely cool (though I wish, as with so much about his books, that he wasn't so apparently allergic to explaining things rather than having the reader figure everything out). Jim Butcher has some cool ones, particularly Furycrafting from his Codex Alera books, and if I can bring in a YA author, Garth Nix is very good at this too (love his interpretation of necromancy in his Old Kingdom series).

I confess to finding White Sand extremely intriguing, for essentially the reasons you outline (and Silence Divine too, for similar reasons). However, it looks like a looong time before we'll be seeing either of them (based on what Brandon and co. have said, I'm not expecting WS or TSD in the next ten years at least, though if anyone's heard differently I'd love to be corrected), so I'm not letting myself get too excited.

Let's see- at the moment, I'm actually probably looking forward to Emperor's Soul the most, but that has less to do with the book itself and more the fact that it's about to come out . In terms of the actual content of the books, probably Stormlight 2- can't wait to see where the plots and characters WoK established go- but the second (and ultimately, third) Mistborn trilogy and Dragonsteel are definitely up there too. For purposes of the poll, I voted Stormlight 2.

Least favorite character? I despise Straff and think he's about the most detestable villain in the entire Cosmere (even Dilaf has insanity as excuse, and Zane I always found rather pitiable, in a repellant, Gollum-y sort of way), but since he's pretty clearly supposed to be a detestable villain, I'm not sure if he really counts for this purpose. In terms of "good guys", I find Raoden the least engaging, but it's less that I dislike him and more that I just think he's boring compared to Sanderson's other protagonists.

Hmmm- Vin is probably my overall favorite, with Elend, Sazed, and Lightsong also up there. Hrathen and Vivenna both have development I really enjoyed, even though as people I don't care much for either of them, and I do look forward to where Vivenna's arc ends up going when Warbreaker 2 eventually comes out. I'm rather fond of most of the principle cast of Way of Kings as well, but since we're going to be spending approx. nine more books with these people, I'm currently withholding judgment in terms of placing them with my favorites. That about covers it

^I believe that Brandon has said that while Atium can be used to steal any trait, the Steel Ministry believes that it steals temporal allomancy. Whether this is a legitimate mistake or deliberate misinformation from TLR I don't know. Anyone know the direct source for this info off the top of their head?

Assuming that the Broken One is Odium (which seems fairly safe, given what we know) I'd imagine it has something to do with his history or personality that we don't know yet. It might also be a poetic way of referring to how horrible he is (ie, he's "broken" spiritually) but that doesn't seem quite right to me- surely a Shard named Odium running around causing misery and destruction is perfectly fulfilling the purpose (or Intent, to borrow Chaos' terminology) of his existence, and therefore wouldn't qualify as "Broken".

Fascinating about investiture! Does the RPG go into any detail about the previously-unknown Hemalurgic properties of certain metals (like electrum, chromium, bendalloy, etc)?

If you start with book 12, expect to be utterly, hopelessly confused. You could, I suppose, read in-depth summaries of books 1-11 (I'm sure you could find them online) but even then you'd miss a great deal of the nuance. I wouldn't recommend doing anything but starting with book 1 and reading straight through. Essentially, keep in mind that Brandon is writing the concluding act of a very long, detailed ongoing story- it doesn't stand on its own, and was never meant to.

I though that Bavadin was on White Sands' planet, not Silence Divine's?

Hmmm... Final Empire: Kelsier vs. Bendal the Inquisitor. Well of Ascension: Vin figures out how to beat Zane, even though he has atium and she doesn't. Hero of Ages: Vin vs. the Inquisitors at Kredik Shaw, culminating in her smashing the palace and then ascending to become the new Preservation. Alloy of Law: Undecided; I'm particularly torn between Sazed speaking to Wax and the aftermath, or Marasi showing Miles how she can beat one of the most dangerous people alive with her "useless" power.

Makes sense. Thanks for the interview quote!

I think the bigger question is "did he burn it while still Compounding"- whether he used a metalmind or swallowed gold flakes isn't important to my question. Though that line of thought does lead me to another question- could you burn a metalmind to get the ordinary effect of the metal, as well as an enhanced version of its Feruchimical effect, or would it only be good for Compounding? Obviously it doesn't work that way automatically, or Miles would be followed around by his gold shadow all the time, but would it be possible?

I think you mean "Sliver" of Infinity And by the time of AoL, don't forget that his followers dropped the "of Infinity" part and just call him "the Sliver".

I've just been in a discussion about AoL on another board and the question came up of whether or not a Compounder can burn their metal for its allomantic properties while simultaneously having their Compounding going? So, for example, could TLR burn regular atium to see the future while also burning feruchemically-enhanced atium to keep himself young? I figured "yes", on the assumption that they would show up as distinct metal reserves, and also based on the fact that Miles burns regular gold in AoL and seemingly never turns his Compounding off, but I was wondering if anyone knew for sure/if Brandon had spoken about this?

Clubs knew- I don't have my book handy, but I *distinctly* remember him saying that even though he was immune, he didn't trust Soothers (or, presumably, Rioters) because they tend to be very good at playing people even without their metals.

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I assumed that "Brightness" and "Brightlady" were simply different terms that meant the same thing (a highly-ranked lighteyed woman) but that "Brightness" was more "correct" as it were, particularly as a form of address, so that's why it shows up more.

Jasnah's not on the Shattered Plains (yet) though, and I'm pretty sure Elhokar's wife's back in Kholinar (can someone confirm that? Don't have my book handy).

Probably In any case, we have at least one reference to the man by his surname.

Probably because there are at least four Brightlord Kholins (Dalinar, Adolin, Renarin, and the King himself) in the warcamps, while Sadeas seems to be the only one of his house who's actually there in person. And I definite reacall Kaladin calling Dalinar either Highprince Kholin or Brightlord Kholin at least once.

Thanks for clearing that up- I was thinking "Trunk" as in "Tree-trunk", which was making very little sense in this context.

Except that Elantris is mentioned as a "trunk" novel in that quote, as I understood it...

My two cents: my theory is that the Unmade were the most powerful form of Voidbringer and that they corresponded to the Heralds, and probably functioned for Odium similarly to the Forsaken for the Dark One in Wheel of Time (albeit, from the way they're referenced, probably significantly more inhuman). Whether they were empowered humans, some variety of parshmen/parshendi, or malevolent superspren is something that I think we can't figure out until we learn more about what being a Voidbringer means, though Dalinar's vision of Nohadon would indicate that they were recognized as having distinct identities. I also like the idea that they were the inspiration for the Ten Fools. About Yelig-nar him/itself, I have to wonder- attention is specifically drawn to this particular Unmade twice, and he's noted as being unusual for being able to "speak like a man". Was he the most important of the Unmade, a dark counterpart to the Stormfather and a sort of Voidbringer Ishamael? Or is it just the fact that he can talk and killed Nohadon's wordsmen that made him noteworthy? I can't imagine that he got referenced twice so comparatively early for no reason.

Out of curiosity (and I've probably missed something along the line) what is the meaning of a "trunk" Shard novel? I saw on the Reddit Q&A that Mistborn, Stormlight, and Dragonsteel kind of formed the "core" Cosmere arc; would I be right in guessing that the "trunk" novels are Elantris, Warbreaker, and others that aren't part of those three? Or does it mean something else? Sorry if this has been answered before