bookspren

I loved TWoK without having read any of Brandon's other works so I tried to get my brother to read it. He made it to Chapter 3 and decided it was too overwhelming for someone who doesn't normally read fiction. I waited a while then convinced him to read Firstborn without explaining it was by the same author. He absolutely loved it and is now open to reading some more Sanderson stuff eventually. I figure I'll try Emperor's Soul since it is also shorter and tightly written. I hope that will convert him.

I like the idea that the glyph has a kind of dual meaning. "Broken/death follows" could be indicating that the Broken One (a.k.a. Odium) is coming to bring another Desolation. I wonder who or what put it there though. My first thought was Szeth but that doesn't make much sense to me. I'm leaning towards a Parshendi doing it. Also, did anyone else laugh when Kaladin thought Adolin was spoiled and cocky? I see some major conflict between those two. Especially if Kaladin and Dalinar start working together to bring back the Radiants.

It looks great. Very happy here. He looks right.

Sell for now. I don't think Hoid will die any time soon. The cosmere needs his awesomeness. Loony idea I had while reading Alcatraz: Alcatraz is actually...wait for it...Hoid; and he broke Adonalsium with his Talent. (And yes, I do realize Alcatraz isn't cosmere, still the offer stands. )

Here goes. My resolution: I will try to take occasional breaks. I gave myself a massive headache reading TWoK the first time. Yeah, ten straight hours is pretty hard on the eyes. My wish: I've got two. 1.) I don't want Dalinar to die, yet. 2.) I really want to see Kaladin take Amaram down a notch.

Oh. My. Word. That is so beautiful. It's just how I picture her. I think I found a new desktop background. How lucky are we to get another wonderful Whelan painting? In the endpapers! Wow.

When you look outside on a foggy morning and think "Oh no! Daymist!" When you see fireflies and think of spren. When you figure the days to March 4 every five minutes.

I like this way better than Rambodin (praise the Heralds the red bandana is gone, lol) since his face looks more normal and manly. I am sure we all picture him a little differently. For me, his hair and the left side of his face looks very close to my mental picture. The blue lighting on the right side of his face is kind of strange and makes him look old. I think the uniform looks better too. The pose is still rather awkward, though. Overall, I'm glad they changed it.

1. The Way of Kings. The first Sanderson book I ever read, and it was enough to make me a dedicated fan of me. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's too short. I have not read anything in contemporary fantasy half as immersive and mind-blowing. And I thought Syl was the most wonderful sidekick. 2. The Final Empire. Kelsier is one of my all-time favorite characters: on the good side, with good motives, but not always good methods. He really got me thinking. 3. The Hero of Ages. I really enjoyed Spook's POV and realizing how much was going on in his head all the time I had dismissed him as just another side character. And Sazed; he may not have many action sequences, but I loved the depth of his character. He has such strength and courage under a calm, gentle exterior.

With respect to the dust Wyndle leaves behind, I got the impression it disappeared after a while. I mean, a thief leaving a dust trail everywhere she goes would be a major problem. You wouldn't need to be Darkness to figure out where she went. That crem is Cultivations body has been discussed before in several threads. I think this is a real possibility. Here's why: 1. Crem is good for cultivating. Kaladin notes that crops given stormwater (which has crem) grow better. There's also been speculation that crem allows the crustaceans to grow stronger carapace. 2. I think it fits for Honor and Cultivation to be linked. IMO, the storms are Honor's body; the crem is Cultivation's. We know they were united, so why wouldn't they physically manifest together in something like a highstorm. 3. I don't see how any storm could carry that much matter along with it. It does not seem natural.

I had heard it was cosmere before I read it. Since there are magic birds, I assume there is at least one Shard on the planet. I wonder what its intent is? Foresight, maybe? Seeing possible futures is certainly helpful on such a harsh world. Also the creatures that hide deep in the oceans and come up to kill the poachers just horrify me. I literally bit my lip hard enough to make it bleed. So, yeah, if I lived there, I would want a few dozen birds and never leave land if I could help it. I also found it interesting that the world seemed partly modern--partly old-fashioned and ritualistic. Looks like an interesting story. Of course, I'm to the point where I'll read anything with his name on it. I've yet to be disappointed.

I think the weird shadow is something that happens in the early stage of bonding like Syl playing tricks on Kaladin early on and sticking random stuff together. She quit that once their bond grew stronger. I imagine the same thing happened for Jasnah; once she bonded with her spren, it stopped playing tricks. By the time Kabsal came along, Jasnah had had six or seven years to develop a strong bond. I think the shadow abnormality is specific to her order. Syl was mistaken for a common windspren because she initially acted like one. What ever kind of spren Jasnah has could probably be mistaken for a...shadowspren or whatever because it initially acts like one. Make sense?

Thanks for the info, Natans. Can't wait. It will probably take me two days to read through it, then I'll turn right around and start a reread or two...or three.

Natans, I am on board with this theory for now. Though it isn't derived from the data, is certainly fits. It's reminiscent of Zane, the illegitimate child growing up to hate his father, only without any qualms about killing the one responsible for such a miserable life. I agree with marianmi and KiManiak that something's not right with Moash. I don't trust him; there's just an unsettling feeling I get when I read about him. He has a pretty obvious dark side. Where I disagree with you, KiManiak, is his loyalty to Kaladin. There is a self-serving aspect to it as you clearly pointed out but Moash said he would trust him with life. He is not the kind of man to give his respect easily and I believe his loyalty will be a tempering influence. He initially praised Dalinar, and though his enthusiasm seems to have waned, I doubt he will kill a Kholin ally without telling Kaladin what he's planning. An enemy house, however, could be an entirely different matter. He might strike without warning. I find myself getting really interested in how Moash and the other minor characters will play out and affect the protagonists.

Aargh! It deleted my post and I don't have time to retype it now. I'll get back to this later. Edit: Okay, technical difficulties averted. I have deleted the spoilery stuff. I'm sorry, I completely forgot we aren't supposed to mention it outside the special forum.

I completely agree with you that the highstorms are the body of a shard. I believe this shard to be Honor for several reasons. Stormlight fuels surgebinding which is at least partially of Honor; Cultivation was probably also involved. Kaladin's Child of Tanavast vision and the face he saw during his trial-by-ordeal No evidence tying Odium to the storms. My one problem with your theory about Desolations being predictable is IIRC that was only fan speculation not WoB. I would love to know where you saw that though. Nothing like being proven wrong . You are absolutely correct that highstorms are predictable to a certain degree. I never considered how that might relate to the Shards though. Then again, I totally missed the significance of sixteen in HoA until it was stated outright. Someone(Navani I think), mentions that the storms are getting stronger and/or more frequent. I forget the exact details and I don't have my book right now. Anyway, there is a connection between the Storms and the Desolations, so I think you could be right that they are both predictable. Symmetry is very important to Roshar after all. Thanks for posting this. It got me thinking. Have an upvote for your troubles.

@Morsk, You got me thinking again (starvin' dangerous, that is) and I have modified my theory. There is at the least a philosophical unity between Darkness (who I obviously believe to be Nalan) and Taravangian. They are both willing to kill innocents for the "greater good". Taravangian seems quite genuine when he explains his actions to Szeth; he really thinks he can save the world by murdering the destitute and defenseless. I don't know if Darkness was honest with Lift, but if he was, he would certainly approve of Mr. T's agenda. If they are not already allied (which is not impossible), I expect they will interact and consider uniting at some time. Darkness is uncannily able to locate surgebinders that don't want to be discovered, and I am sure he knows about Szeth's existence and powers but I seriously doubt he is aware of Mr. T's activities yet. In short, I still believe there will be a connection between Mr. T, Szeth and Darkness/Nalan.

Admittedly, it's been a few months since I read it, but I don't remember Elhokar acting oddly ( glowing, soulcasting, whatever) during the attack. I think it's possible taking in Stormlight could be misinterpreted as feeling the Thrill, but I don't see any evidence that he felt anything other than his usual mix of reckless and scared.I am also unconvinced that Dalinar was drawing on Elhokar's gems. Plate is Invested and should block that, especially from a beginning Surgebinder like Dalinar. I do think Elhokar will become a Radiant, I just don't see enough evidence to conclude that he is surgebinding yet. On a side note, he said he didn't put weak gems in his Plate or orchestrate the chasmfiend's unexpected method of arrival. I think that is significant. Even if he did infuse during the attack, he was not responsible for the chasmfiend. I think there's far more going on under the surface than we are aware of yet. March is not coming fast enough!

Just to prove how awesome TWoK is, I had never heard of Sanderson until I read it. After I read the first few chapters, it was already in the top three books I have ever read. So here are a few of my favorites things: 1. The writing. It just pulls me in every time. Sanderson manages to communicate very visually without pages of tedious description. It's not every book that can make me spend three days neglecting real life because there's no dull place to take a break. Also, Tien's death. A book that makes me put it down and cry for fifteen minutes instantly wins me over, because I don't cry easily. 2. The characters. Kaladin is one of the most three dimensional characters I've read. He is truly good, which is refreshing in a genre that is moving towards morally grey characters. I like grey, but I also like some solid heroes I can count on. Dalinar standing firm when even his own son tells him he's going crazy made me cheer. Even Shallan, who I intitially didn't care for, developed and made me want to see more of her. 3. The world. Spren, highstorms, lighteyes, safehands, crazy dietary rules. The originality blew my mind. 4. The battle at the Tower. I had been reading so long I had a headache, but I just couldn't put it down. When Sadeas withdrew, I hit the book really hard and yelled "YOU JERK!". There are no words for how off-the-charts-awesome Kaladin saying the Second Ideal is. I could go on and on. TWoK impressed me so much I instantly read Elantris, Warbreaker, and Mistborn. Sanderson is one of very few authors that I will buy anything that has their name on it.

Exactly! I mean I like a good redemption once in a while, but Gaz (shudders) I really just want something bad to happen to him. Although if anyone could pull it off it would be Brandon.

Back to the OP, I think you're on the right track. My opinion is that the storms themselves are of Honor, like the mists were of Preservation, but crem is linked to Cultivation. Like you said, crem is good for cultivating so I don't think it's too far of a stretch to make the connection. We know Honor and Cultivation were united and even lovers. I think the storms carry crem because the two powers were linked in some way. It's like some spren being purely of Honor, some purely of Cultivation, and some a combination of the two. I have no idea how this is possible (or if it even is), but it feels right to me. So I kind of blend this theory with this one: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4588-crem-is-the-body-of-cultivation/ But it would fit nicely with her intent, even better IMO than it does with the others. It isn't proof, it just goes along with what I would expect to see if this theory is correct.

Buy, because it would be really cool. Lift will meet Kaladin and annoy him to no end.

I just read the new steelhunt chapter. I was right , Dalinar is still alive, for now. @Riceloft, I also wondered if Mr. T was being controlled by Nalan, but there is not really any solid evidence. Another interesting theory that has been put forth is that Vedeledev is a nurse in the room where the terminally ill are being killed. I think this could be right since it would be a twisted version of her attributes: loving/healing. Like how Darkness/Nalan is legally murdering surgebinders. Anyone agree that Darkness is going to be super important in the next books? I can totally picture him going after Kaladin.

Every time I see Taravangian referred to as Mr. T. I break out laughing. Please, everyone, keep it up. I think the Lift interlude takes place before Szeth is sent after Dalinar. I can't picture him leaving Dalinar alive, going back to Mr. T. and then going on more assasinations. I don't think his sense of honor would allow it. The Primes' deaths could be afterwards, but I think that would mean Dalinar is dead, which I do NOT want to accept.

Gloom, why do you think Tanavast died during the Sunmaker war? Is it because the Vorin authorities became dishonorable when they tried to conquer the world? That interests me since Teft's family apparently followed Old Vorinism and he is teaching Kaladin about the Radiants. By the way, I agree that the Radiants disbanding did not kill Tanavast since they were relatively recent though surgebinders were around for a long time before.