Cortez

Yes. I could probably read the entire thing in three hours. (I'm not kidding by the way. I'll probably have read the book twice by the end of the first day.)

The book is also out two days earlier in the US. Its not out until March 6th in the UK, so it would be nice if a separate section could be created.

Do the Alethi even have the understanding of engineering to even make an arched bridge? With soulcasting there may well be basic principles that we take for granted that they've never had reason to discover. It would take a lot of wood to make a proper arched bridge that would have to all be shaped and fitted together before being soulcast. That's a lot of expense as the wood would probably have to be soulcast first. It would be much easier to make a flyover style bridge out of soulcast metal girders.

I've been waiting to find out Shallan's backstory for over three years. She obviously has a lot of skeletons in her closet and appeared in WoK to be actively hiding from her own past, which makes her backstory much more interesting than any of the other characters (except perhaps Szeth). Dalinar's backstory is to me largely irrelevant, his story is about where we go from here, not back in the past. As for Adolin and Renarin I've not seen any hint that there have been any events in their lives that require a backstory. Navani at the moment also doesn't interest me in the same way as Shallan although her backstory could be used to give us insights into Gavilar's mindset and actions before his death. Jasnah's backstory could be interesting, especially regarding her actions with the muggers and how she became an atheist (in a world chock full of the supernatural). So for me I'm glad that this book is Shallans. I'd have been extremely disappointed if another character had been chosen over Shallan, possibly even to the point of not reading the book.

I will probably get all three versions eventually. My favourite format is still a proper book though despite the usefulness of having every book on one small device. I like audiobooks for when I'm working and I also find I pick up different and new things when listening to an audiobook that I either missed or overlooked as I tend to speed read things.

I'll probably end up skipping to chapter seven and reading from there. I speed read these books the first time round anyway (if it takes me more than 3-4 hours to read it the first time I'll be surprised). I'll then re-read the whole thing again slower and in more detail, it's entirely possible that I'll have read the entire thing twice by the end of the first day!

I'm going with Shallan for this. I'm certain she will reach at least the second ideal by the end of the book. It wouldn't surprise me if other potential radiants progress also (if they haven't already). I wonder where Jasnah is at?

The faceplate only becomes transparent to the wearer;

The visor is only transparent to the wearer. Pretty sure Adolin mentions that in his preview chapter as he states Renarin can't see him smiling.

Transformation is far more than any simple chemical change or even fission/fusion. You're changing things on the subatomic level, you're actually changing the elements themselves and not just a straight swap of one element into another but into complex structures. For example Shallan transforms a glass goblet (probably silicon) into blood; which is a complex chemical structure containing carbon, water (ie. hydrogen and oxygen) and a large number of other elements arranged into complex structures.

It would have to be a pretty big safe to fit an shard or honour blade inside.

ok the missing chapters are really annoying now. I'd rather not have had any chapters if you are going to leave out all the interesting ones.

I'm pretty sure Shallan is referring to herself as the monster as she states at the beginning of the excerpt that she's to blame. One of the most interesting things in this scene is that it sounds like her mother may have been killed with a shardblade; Which leads to the question of who used the Shardblade. One of the assassins? her father? or possibly even Shallan herself? (The last sentence by Brandon refers to Shallan using the phrase ten heartbeats which may be a hint that Shallan already had the shardblade in this scene.) A question that I have about this scene is how old is Shallan in the flashback? Much of the language and tone as well as comments like the monster in the safe sound like she is quite young yet the comment that her father was singing her to sleep as he'd done when she was a child suggests that she is older, possibly close to her current age.

I doubt that Odium's champion is going to be Shallan or Szeth. Despite their actions both characters are acting out of a sense of duty and honour. Szeth follows the rules of being Truthless to the letter despite being tempted to abandon them. Shallan is currently acting out of duty to her family and we don't know enough about her backstory to determine why she killed her father etc.

The facts in this situation are actually quite slim, which gives us plenty of scope for fun speculation. We know that Shallan has a Shardblade and that she calls it the 'fruit' of her greatest sin. We know that she confesses to the cryptics that she killed her father. It is logical to assume that these two events are one and the same however, as you have noted, the damaged Soulcaster throws a spanner into this theory. The Soulcaster is descibed as being a; and that it was; This suggests that it was damaged by a Shardblade especially as the word Sheared is often used in reference to cutting with a Shardblade. It is hard to see any other way that the damage could be achieved. Shallan also states that the Soulcaster was found in his [her fathers] jacket pocket, on the body after he was dead. Which suggests that her Father was killed with a Shardblade damaging the Soulcaster at the same time. Another thing to consider is that Shallan doesn't appear to be particulary remorseful or upset about killing her Father. She tries to hide from the memory and the circumstances surrounding her death but she seems almost proud when confessing to the Cryptics. So the question is where did Shallan get her Shardblade from if she didn't get it from her Father? If you read the Words of Radiance reading Red Carpet, Once White you'll see that their may well be more that one skeleton in Shallans closet

The 9/10 dead is pre-Radiants. A better piece of evidence to consider (regarding their track record) is that 9/10 of the Heralds survived with the Radiants present. I get the impression from the prologue that usually most, if not all, of the Heralds died in a desolation prior to the creation of the Knights Radiant.

I hope Kaladin tells Dalinar. It's information he needs to know and I certainly don't want this series to end up like the Wheel of Time with key characters withholding information for irrational and arbitrary reasons.

Jez seems the most likely. He certainly had the best opportunity to do so. The next question for me is, does the herald who took back his blade still have it?

My favourite has to be Way of Kings. A fantastic and original world, excellent magic system, intricate plot and good character development make this probably the best opening book to a fantasy series that I've ever read. Second favourite is The Final Empire, I just loved the whole Oceans Eleven feel to it with the most awesome magic system ever. It's a shame that the other two books weren't anywhere near as good. Third favourite is tricky as I think the rest of his books (that I've read) are much of a muchness with only WoK and tFE really standing out. So I'd probably have to pick Alloy of Law as my third favourite, because it manages to recapture some of the feel of the Final Empire, unfortunately I think its a bit short and ends just when it starts to get really interesting.

Judging by this tease, I think Ookla is Odium.

I wish I hadn't seen this now. I'm going to spend the next couple of months worrying about what he's done to provoke those reactions. Has he killed off one of the key characters GRRM style? has he turned Shallan into a shardblade wielding parricidal maniac who makes Szeth look like a fluffy bunny? Does Kaladin turn out to be Odium? aaargh! Someone pass me the brain bleach or a copy of this book.

The description of the Larkin sounds similar to the creature used by Darkness to drain Lifts stormlight. I wonder if they're the same or related?

I'm a scout leader and for some girls it can be very difficult to tell when you first meet them what age they are from purely physical appearance alone. I've known girls of 13-14 who look like they're 18 and girls of 17-18 who still look like they're 12. What normally gives there age away is the way they act and behave (although not always). The girl in the picture here seems to have too much poise, confidence and maturity in her bearing to be 13-14 year old. The face to me looks older too (no baby fat more defined bone structure).

I'm terrible at puzzles like Steelhunt. I can never get my head round them.

I blame myself. I knew it was a risk buying Way of Kings before he'd finished The Wheel of Time, unfortunately after reading Mistborn I couldn't resist. I wonder if there's any chance of us getting a proper sneak peek of the prologue and first chapter (like some authors do) in order to further whet our appetite?