christianrapper

We can definitely judge book 5 by the characters’ actions and choices. We can also judge it for the writing quality. Dalinar’s whole trip to the spiritual realm was pointless. He learned nothing that helped him fight Todium. He could have just gotten all that information from Hoid. His trip only let Todium get Gav and make deals with Dainar’s allies. Cultivation also could have just given him the exact same visions the way the Stormfather did in books 1-4. Dalinar could have lived through all those events in a second if Cultivation had just given him the visions instead of suggesting that he go to the spiritual realm.

It’s not a consistency error. Lift meant “how do people know that?”

I don’t get your point about Nightblood not being able to restore it because he took it. That doesn’t make any sense. However, the lack of Stormlight is probably the biggest reason that Nightblood can’t restore his arm.

Going by that logic, they aren’t from America but they speak American English. Also, they don’t know what alcohol is, but they drink Horneater white, Horneater Lager, and other forms of Alcohol. I don’t get your point.

I wouldn’t mind that. He can take that plot amor shard from Taravangian. He got more plot armor than all the heroes put together.

I don’t think that Dalinar’s plan was that complicated. We saw Jasnah literally suggest it herself. I also don’t get how releasing Todium when he is super uber powerful is somehow a genius plan, but releasing him earlier and much weaker was a danger to the Cosmere. This book was just so contrived to make Taravamgian a Cosmere level threat that it nearly ruined it imo. I could see if Taravangian had arranged any of these things. He didn’t. Sanderson just had all the main characters except Adolin act like morons. I agree. That Hoid chapter was just pure exposition for explaining how genius Dalinar’s plan is.

Honestly, I don’t even understand why Odium originally stayed on Roshar to begin with. Why didn’t he just leave and find another planet? Was it to get revenge on Honor? There were two other shards on Roahar. I am going to have to find those chapters and reread them. I must have either missed or forgotten something. We had so many flashbacks. Then we had the Sormfather’s/Tanovast’s flashbacks which made everything that the Stormfather ever said a lie. He literally said that he didn’t remember everything and that he didn’t control Dalinar’s visions. However, he remembered everything that Tanner did and his thoughts.

Taravangian didn’t do anything. He only was able to choose Gav because Dalinar went to the spiritual realm for what eventually turned out to be absolutely no reason. Todium also was only able to conquer most of the world because of that spiritual realm side quest. Taravangian didn’t out smart Dalinar. It’s not like he tricked Dalinar into going there. Gav snuck in with Liift at the wrong time. Todium had nothing to do with that or the Ghostbloods being there at the wrong time for Dalinar. He also had nothing to do with the winnd runners acting like complete morons and letting the captured ghost bloods escape. Todium had Mary Sue type luck in this book. I don’t get why people are doing mental gymnastics to make any of Dalinar’s decisions in this book make sense. After book 4 he was in a position of strength. In 10 days he managed to squander all of that away. Sanderson turned Dalinar into a complete moron in one book. He sent all of his best fighters except Adolin away on side quests. He goes to the spiritual realm which deprives his armies of stormlight. Then he sacrifices himself so that Todium can’t use him, but that too was pointless. Somehow Taravangian was able to find a fake spiritual realm version of him and was able to use that. That’s some crappy writing. Imo book 5 just made everything that Dalinar did in books 1-4 completely worthless. Elhokar would have done a better job than Dalinar. Sanderson could have Taravangian win without turning all the good guys into idiots.

Ok. I have a lot of problems with book 5, but one complaint that I have heard that’s just baffling is the use of “modern” language. We are explicitly shown that the use of so called modern language is taught to the Rosharans by world hoppers. The language that is used is native to the Cosmere. It has been used in other books in the Cosmere. It’s not just modern language. You are supposed to imagine that these people are real. Real people pick up words that are used by their friends and colleagues. For example, Wit literally tells Kaladin that he’s inventing therapy. Kal had no idea what Wit was talking about until Wit explained it to him. What is Kaladin supposed to call the concept of therapy that had no previous Rosharan word? You also hear “modern” swears which are just swears used in other Cosmere books. When it’s used then you hear someone remark that you have been hanging around Zahel. This integration of “modern” words,which are really just words that we have read in other Cosmere books, is one of the most realistic things in this book. Roshar is populated by visitors from other worlds. Rosharans didn’t even know what investiture was until book 3, but they now use the term. That’s literally how foreign words and concepts are introduced into language in real life.

I don’t think that Dalinar got the best of Taravangian. He just broke his oaths and released Odium. The only reason that the other shards ignored him is because he was stuck on Roshar. That was explicitly written in the books. He could have released him without giving him Honor. Taravangian still would have had to flee once he was released. Honor didn’t immediately leave Tanovast when he betrayed Bah Ado Mishram. He could have held one Honor until after Todium fled the planet. He just made Todium twice as strong. We literally see Jasnah suggest that Dalinar release Odium in a vision in that debate. This ending just didn’t make any sense to me. I don’t mind Todium winning but at least make him earn it. Have him out smart Dalimar. Don’t have Dalimar act like a complete idiot. Sanderson took all the good guys most powerful players off the board so that Todium can win. The more I think about it the worst this book gets to me.

For me book 5 dropped this series from being a 9-10 to about a 6.5. I don’t even know that I can recommend Stormlight to anyone anymore with this 8 year break in between books. Book 5 was way too contrived for Todium to get the win. We got to see two radiants take the 5th oath and we didn’t see them do anything. They turned Szeth into a moron for one scene. What was the point in taking the 5th oath and then giving up the bond? That only happened so that Szeth could lose his arm. He could have easily done that after he finished fighting his last fights.

That battle of champions took this whole series down from 9-10 to a 6.5 for me. Choosing Gav as the champion made absolutely no sense. Todiium was lucky that Dalinar even decided to pointlessly go into the spiritual realm. What was he going to do if Dalinar didn’t go there? That won the whole battle for him. Taravangian didn’t do one thing to earn that win. It’s like Sanderson needed him to win so he made Dalinar and Navani idiots for this book. This was some crappy writing. Then all Dalinar wound up doing is freeing Odium which is what Jasnah suggested in the first place.

If he does another time skip then he will be just throwing away money. A Stormlight book in between his second 5 book series would sell like crazy. He could do it as another secret project.

please don’t get upset if my opinion differs from yours. the way that book 5 ends, I think that it would be a shame not to show these characters growth in real time. the status quo of the whole freaking planet just drastically changed. I hope that I am not the only person that wants to see these characters grow in real time. I want to see how Shallan handles Shadesmar. I want to see the development of Adolin and the unoathed. I also want to see Lift’s development. I hope that Sanderson shows how they got to the situation that they are in when Sanderson resumes this series. Bah Ado Mishram was just released even though she threatened to destroy all of humanity. Will she keep her promise? That’s one immediate and possibly world ending threat that should be dealt with in real time. Heck, a huge part of the world is in perpetual darkness. How will they handle that? It’s totally different between seeing these things in a flashback and actually going through it with them. It removes all of the tension because we know how their situations will eventually end. We are caught up with our characters. Doing the whole flashback again would seem like a needless crutch to me. I am really invested in these characters now. I definitely want to see their real time journey. I want to experience all their joy and pain with them as they do.

Ok. Thanks

I really don’t understand that comment either. It doesn’t make any sense.

Taking up Honor did absolutely nothing but make Todium twice as strong. He would have been better just leaving Honor to its own devices. Dalinar lost 90% of the rest of the world. I am not talking about breaking the truce. Dalinar could have blown the truce without making Odium Retribution. Heck, he could have done that from the start. The book literally says that the only reason that Odium was ignored was due to the fact that he was stuck on Roshar. The heralds going crazy and the stormfather deceiving Dalinar had nothing to do with him just handing Taravangian the power of Honor and making him a Cosmere level threat and making up for Taravangian’s lack of experience with Odium’s Shard. That was some contrived writing. Dalinar could have broken the truce and kept Honor until after Todium was forced to flee. Honor didn’t immediately leave Tanovast even though it was angry at him for his betrayal. I am not doing mental gymnastics to make this ending make sense. Sanderson needed Taravangian who was new at being a shard to be a threat to the rest of the Cosmere. The only way that he could do that was to give him Honor. The world wouldn’t have gone on a singer purge. They were already trying to negotiate peace as far back as book 2. The only reason peace was impossible was because of Odium’s and the unmade’s influence.

Please, Dalimar didn’t do anything except release Odium. He could have done that from the start. It’s literally stated in the book that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium is because he was trapped on Roshar. All Dalinar did was make Todium twice as strong. Both Dalinar and Navani going to the spiritual realm crippled their armies because it cost the armies their access to stormlight. It gave Odium a champion. It also gave him time to make deals with all of Dalinar’s allies across the world and basically win even if Dalinar did find a way to somehow win that fight without killing his grandson.

What was the point in Jasnah debating to begin with? Why not just take the win without debating?

Sanderson basically took off a few points off of all the main characters’ intelligence stats in this book. Dalinar went to the spiritual realm for what turned out to be absolutely no reason. He didn’t learn anything that could help him defeat Taravangian. Heck, going there secured Todiun’s victory. Dalinar didn’t show any sense of urgency at all. The dude had 10 days until his final battle and he spent it learning useless information in the spiritual realm. What he learned was good backstory for the reader, but useless to Dalinar. He could have gotten all that information from Wit. That spiritual realm side quest was just a huge waste of time. It was lucky for Todium that Dalinar went to the spiritual realm because he would have been hard up for a champion. This book was just the most contrived piece of writing just to get Taravangian to win. The dude is a god and supposedly a genius. At least let Todium earn the victory. He doesn’t need any help from the author. Don’t have characters doing dumb stuff when they have been smart all along. This book had some great character moments with Kaladin, Adolin, and Szeth. However, for a midpoint book with an almost 10 year break Sanderson made some odd choices imo.

Thanks

What am I missing? How do you respond to people in a particular thread? I tried clicking on their name and the box just said that I was posting on their timelines instead of just this thread. I know the answer is going to be something simple that I missed. Lol.

To me the debate was pointless. Todium gained absolutely nothing from the debate. He actually lost some things in the agreement. Taravangian admitted that he was just going to kill and replace her anyway if she didn’t agree to his demands at the end. I don’t get the purpose of it in the narrative except to have Jasnah do something.

Full Stormlight spoilers…Here are my feelings about this book. If you respond please don’t just ignore all the POSITIVE things that I mention and focus on the negative things. I also want to know if you enjoyed the things that I liked. For starters I loved Kal’s and Szeth’s character moments. They are definitely along with Adolin the baddest human fighters on the planet. Adolin got some great character moments. That new unoathed development is pretty interesting. I loved Adolin’s story line…except for the loss of his foot. This book was just attack of the side characters to me. Sanderson sent every main character except Adolin on a side quest. I would have much rather seen Szeth and Kal fight in the main battles instead of going on a road trip during a fight for the fate of the whole freaking world. I don’t want to hear crap about either of their trauma. We saw both of them fight when they had to in book 5. They could have easily done that on the battlefield for the fate of this world and all of the other worlds in the Cosmere. Imo Dalinar, Navani, Shallan, and the rest of the spiritual realm crew were wasted. Dalinar learned absolutely nothing to help him fight Odium. It was kool finally learning what actually happened, but a lot of that we already knew. The only thing that we learned was that Honor betrayed Ba Ado Mishrak. How was that supposed to help him fight Odium? Also, Hoid could have just told him everything instead of sending him to the spiritual realm. That side quest led directly to Odium winning. Their absence just gave Taravangian time to make deals with all of their allies and flip them. It also crippled their armies because of lack of stormlight. Even if Dalinar had found a way to win without killing Gav, Odium still would have basically won because he controlled 90% of the world. Oh yeah, let’s not forget all the wind runners leaving Mraize and company instead of just leaving some behind to watch them. The explanation given for that was insufficient. The wind runners were made to look pretty dumb at times. They acted way out of character. Then there’s Dalinar sending his air troops away when the fate of the world is at stake. All Dalinar did was make Todium twice as powerful. It’s literally stated in the books that the only reason that the other shards ignored Odium is because he was trapped on Roshar. Dalinar could have just released Odium from the beginning. It seems like that was the best choice from the beginning. So what was Todium going to do if Gav hadn’t sneaked in behind Lift? It seemed like he had no plans for a champion. Todium didn’t really out smart anyone. They beat themselves. All of their best fighters and most powerful people were sent away from the battlefield. Todium had absolutely nothing to do with any of those decisions. He also had jack to do with Gav winding up in the spiritual realm. However, I did love the humor in this book. Everyone got some good jokes in. Szeth “a spoon” had me crying. I loved how Szeth’s family initially had his back. They stood 10 toes down with him. It was kool that Szet’s sister was able to defy Ishar and restrain herself from killing him. I just didn’t like his father’s or sister’s ending. This was definitely the funniest book that I read in the Cosmere. Almost everyone got some great lines in. Szeth “a spoon?” during that fight in shadesmar had me crying. Ishar “yeah, I wrote it” was hilarious. Sanderson actually gave the community some fan service. He put in the one joke that the fandom has been joking about for years. He gave Shallon a cheering section after an intimate moment. Lol. “Shallan!” “Shallan!” There were a lot more lines that had me laughing out loud, too. I am going to have to go back and reread them. I can’t wait to see what happens to Adolin and the unoathed. I am wondering what is going to happen with Vasher. I also can’t wait to see what happens with Lift. I am still deciding how I feel about this book, but I will definitely keep on reading this series.