EC11

Ontario, Canada.

After going through so many threads on the web with acrimonious debates about religion let me just say this is a refreshing one! On a personal note I identify as a Methodist myself, but I enjoy reading the holy books of other faiths (the Qur'an is a particular favorite). Theology in general fascinates me and it is one of the things which fuels some of my own random story ideas.

Interesting. That might be an apt comparison though (the altitude training). Though now I'm curious if this is an issue which affects worldhoppers a lot, or whether there is some way of magically adapting to it. Freuchemists might be well suited to such expeditions.

Would it be possible though for a world hopper to stave off some of those effects by going back and forth do you think?

Would the idea be applicable? Though that's something that might benefit current world hoppers if South Scadrian tech was utilized like that before Mistborn Era 2.

The War of Reckoning is something of an oddity. The Parshendi didn't need to take credit for the assassination, but they did (for reasons I'm sure will be explained at a later date). However, they killed Galivar for the reasons Iron Eyes points out. The Listeners wanted to stop the Unmade from returning at any cost, and if killing Galivar would accomplish that, they were determined to do it by stopping the plans of those who hoped for the Heralds to return. Which Galivar was determined to do,the Sons of Honor want the Heralds to return to bring the Church back to its rightful place, which means bringing back the Heralds, which means starting a new Desolation. It's sort of like Nale's plan to kill surgebinders in order to stop the return of the voidbringers. All the plans moving against each other are related to preventing or starting up or preventing a new Desolation in some way.

I was thinking recently, according to Arcanum Unbounded, Roshar only has a gravity of 0.7 Cosmere standard while places like Sel have 1.2 cosmere standard and Scadrial is 1 cosmere standard. Now if anyone remembers (or has heard of) the story John Carter of Mars then they will understand the premise I am getting at. According to this idea, someone not from Roshar would be stronger than a native Rosharan as they come from a world with heavier gravity, would that not make a big difference in strength or interaction with the locals to a world hopper?

I'm not a fan of love triangles so I hope nothing comes of that (but because each of these characters is actually interesting and not overtly fawning over Shallan it could be a fun exercise in its own right) but I do think that Shallan will end up with Adolin.

I think its more referring to Hoid, but it's vague enough with enough hints scattered around so that Mraize could be a World Hopper, but we have a few problems in pinning that down: 1) We simply don't know enough about the Ghostbloods or who they are (even if they are one united faction) to actually make a stab at their origins and motivations 2) Mraize is enigmatic enough that he could just be a well traveled man from Roshar 3) His reference to 'human species' could simply of course be referring to the many diverse races on Roshar I'm tentative about calling him a World Hopper for that reason.

Shallan's winning over of the deserters to her side was pretty awesome The flying fight between Szeth and Kaladin though was just WOW! I was engrossed, I mean I couldn't sleep!

It's Nightblood alright, but that raises the question of how Nalan got his hands on it in the first place. Is it possible that some of the Heralds can world hop?

Well it seems

Just finished it. Loved it, an easy 9/10 for me! Overall I fell in love with Shallan, she is an amazing character! Her growth was just fascinating and I was quite pleased to see the direction her character took. I liked Kaladin's final evolution (and his decision to finally become a Radiant ) The fleshing out of Adolin was pretty fun too, he's a sturdy character, but his ruthless streak is something that's going to have to be explored... The only thing I was disappointed by was the lack of Dalinar in this book. Oh well makes me look forward to book four! The revelations which floored me most: -Parshendi are really voidbringers! (this raises the question of whether they have to have voidspren transform them and whether they can hide from the transformation storm) -Jasnah's 'death' and her sudden reappearancewith Hoid I'm looking forward to what those two get up to -Amaram's activities which apparently involve the Church -the Nature of Mr. T's gift (I knew it was a boom from the Nightwatcher) -The Ghostbloods, still more not revealed about them -Shallan having access to Pattern since youth (I'm assuming either her mother was a Ghostblood or a member of Naln's faction) -Naln being around (if that's really who Darkness is, but whoever he is he is cosmere savvy) Things really have seemed to speed up though, I mean its book two and already the Everstorm comes? How is this gonna stretch into 10 books I'm forced to wonder.

Has anyone here been watching these films? I just purchased the extended edition of the first film and saw the second recently and was mildly annoyed the delayed the final film until December of 2014 However, that being said I loved the film, it will probably make Tolkien fanatics weep in more than one way but it was a top notch film overall! Beautifully put together and beautifully coordinated with a wonderful use of CGI. I've got to say I haven't seen a better film in ages! This is one thing I have to give producers credit for. (sigh)

Actually I found it fascinating, though that's probably the history buff in me who loves these kinds of historical accounts. It just expands on the world which ASOIAF fans love to devour and gives us insight into something which killed most of the Targaryen dragons. To me it was wonderful and really fleshed out the world that I've come to love and had all the great hallmarks of dark fantasy that I enjoy. This of course is also something that would be divisive to normal readers of ASOIAF who love his story telling (which I don't think suffered at all for the style he put it in) and not the history, and those who love reading about Westeros and its history. To me it just makes them like what I would imagine dragons to be like if we actually had to live with them, gigantic terrifying monsters that breathe fire and are capable of really doing as they please the fact that they even let people ride them should seem unbelievable!

I recently read a Cracked article about some upcoming remakes coming on us in the next few years. Needless to say this is one of the reasons I'm hoping to see a Mistborn movie come out. Hollywood needs some fresh material and new blood in it. Seeing the same thing get remade over and over again is dragging on. I'm looking forward to something new and exciting from the movies and I'm just not feeling it from the early 2014 season.

His family did indeed own a small publishing company, but it would appear that without all the hard work he put into getting it known it really wouldn't have taken off otherwise. I mean he was getting it known, but without the backing of a major publisher it probably wouldn't have been nearly as successful as it ended up being. I for one admire the effort he put into it, if not the writing.

Upvoted because this theory is great. Also loving the 'love triangle' idea! However, my own theory with Cultivation is that while she is devastated by Honor's death, she hasn't completely abandoned helping mankind in some form (her shard won't let her) though I don't see her as lashing out against mankind either since that is totally the opposite of her shards intent (unless of course it allows her to cultivate grudges as well) and she is in fact still indirectly helping them somehow with her booms. I mean look at Lift, she has gained power from the Nightwatcher (I'm betting the 'curse' was being forced to metabolize stormlight and thus always be ravenously hungry, but this also resulted in one of the spren being sent along to aide the girl either through as yet unknown means or Cultivation realized that it could inadvertently kill her) and it is certainly a boon in some way as well. I think she still has a part to play in bringing back the Knights Radiant somehow, even if it is indirectly.

Personally I really sympathized and admired the journey through disbelief that Sazed faced, and how he weighed and examined all the religions methodically. He realized that they all had holes, and even the Terris religion he had long looked for wasn't perfect, but then he saw that the Terris religion was true in the sense that all the prophecies were passed down by a higher power for a reason. Then when he became god (I guess for a lack of a better term) he forged a new shard (which is awesome in so many ways) and adapted his personality to fit it. His position of choice is one which is also fascinating, and the fact that many of his personality quirks shine through is pretty hilarious Also on a more fuzzy angle it appears that Kelsier is still hanging around somehow and affecting the corporeal world in some way. I'd be interested to know how that is working out. On a Jasnah related note she reminds me of the many positive experiences I have had with atheists in my life and I was quite happy to see him pull of her personality so well. I personally think that when she discovers the existence of the Almighty she will concede that he did create mankind, but won't quite he is what matches the Vorin religions conception of god (seeing how he is dead and all).

Well to give my own opinion I'd say much of it has to do with both luck, and audience. For instance, look at Paolini, he was a kid who wrote a book at 16 and through luck, managed to get it published. The big appeal of that series to many readers was a) it was written by a kid which people found cool and the familiarity (and some might say generic feel) of the plot. You didn't need to ponder out too many details and the plot was refreshingly breezy with some fun ideas to follow. I for one liked it but I'll also say it wasn't the pinnacle of good literature Then look at JK Rowling, it was marketed for kids, and the books really matured with the readers, an entire generation grew up on those books and it practically followed the kids from pre-school to highschool. You can see how that would stick with people, and it will probably make the books stick in peoples minds for ages. As for Stephenie Myer...well moving on. We can see though that each book is marketed to a specific audience and one which just seems to hit a nerve with said audience. This is partially through both luck and skill. Say what you will about the authors but its clear they have skill to do things and write characters (no matter how flawed they might be). One good example is that of David Weber, he writes books about big honking space battles and that's what made him famous so he keeps pumping those books out. One might say that the entire plots of the novels are really just window dressing for the gratuitous space carnage that gets thrown around, and that's fine. He knows his audience and his books sell. Brandon Sanderson too is a man who knows his audience, but remember, he's also a fairly new author whose been writing for years but in terms of some authors (like Rowling or Weber) has only just broken into the market and is still generating a sizable and devoted following.

Anyone catch the veiled reference to Cultivation? I had to re-read it twice before I got it Interesting tidbit to say the least though. The shout-out to all the trouble Szeth has caused is interesting too. I love how these little tidbits aren't necessarily plot relevant but give us so much backstory information!

The second trilogy will be interesting but I hope it has some sort of preamble into the futuristic trilogy by talking about space travel and plans to go into space. W&W trilogy is already setting up that sort of preamble into the modern trilogy with guns, cars, and electricity. The idea for a 2.5 trilogy would be neat, but you'd have to pick some really clear circumstances for it to make it a kind of 'period' piece lest it look like you're delving into the sci-fi aspect too early.

Acrobatics stunts fueled by metal studs into the arena, tumblers preforming tricks in mid air as they 'walk' across nothingness carrying non allomancers on their backs who preform juggling feats.

There were a number of things which drew me to this book: 1) The artwork, I mean you just don't see such beautifully detailed art in books! It was wonderful to see the world just pop into my eyes like that, I have a good imagination so seeing things isn't a problem, but having those beautiful illustrations and drawings from Shallans note book and other sources was wonderful! It just gave me a real sense of scale in the world and showed me what things were like, even for a relatively unimportant creature like a skyeel to be shown was amazing! I can't wait to see what else they draw as the series moves on! 2) The writing, which is of course obvious. Sanderson has never failed in this regard and he has really only grown. 3) The epic scale of the intrigue. This is something that is going from a scuffle between princes, to battles between nations, to the fate of the world and a grudge between gods! How cool is that? You are watching things build up from the most cosmic perspective (with a wonderful little aside for us readers in the know seeing a world which is really cosmere aware!) and coming to see the most apocalyptic battle of this series time 4) The worldbuilding, as others have mentioned this world building is simply amazing. Refreshing, unique, and set on such an amazingly detailed world that I feel I could step into it some times! The construction of cultures, peoples religions and ethnicity was fantastic! I was so impressed by the level of detail Sanderson managed to include, almost as beautiful as Robert Jordan! As an aside to #4 I would often stop while reading the book and wonder how on earth HBO could ever do a series on this, imagine trying to find a real set like the Shattered Plains 5) The magic and all the complicated and logical systems there in. Need I say more?

True I think my comparison may fall apart there. However, I do think that Odium must have seen an advantage in making some agreement with Honor (maybe something that prevented Cultivation and Honor joining forces against him) and using it to bring on the Desolations. True, but it did have some effect. I'm merely curious how Honor (outside of using the power of his intent to compel him) to lure Odium into this series of apocalyptic wars on Roshar.