Smokestone

Yay to Venli flashbacks

boo to cosmere mysteries

the books are better when the cosmere stays mostly mysterious in my opinion. Mistborn era 2 was doing great until the Kandra had their powerpoint on Investiture and Khriss was all "oh hi Wax magic is really just weird science" bit. The books need to breathe on their own and not have some overexplainer drop in to break the immersion.

OK I guess what I'm saying is, cosmere mysteries are cool just show don't tell plz,

My gut feeling (along with the rough pattern in Stormlight 1-3) is there's going to be a bigger mic drop event to raise the stakes at the end of Part 3 or so from what you outlined.

Dalinar dies. Crisis of leadership ensues among the Radiants, just as Odium makes his next move. Cue Rlain stepping up to fill his new role as Bondsmith. Crisis of nature ensues as the Stormfather reels in response to the lost bond (though, have we seen yet what happens to bonded spren when their people die? I'm assuming it would hurt, but maybe not since the oath itself wasn't forsaken as in the Recreance).

Szeth in particular is hit hard due to his oath mandating he rely wholly on Dalinar's moral compass to guide him. He has to choose for himself what to rely on, which then makes his confrontation with Nale that much more fraught in the end.

OK chaps, I need advising from those of you who have preordered Shadows of Self already and will be at the BYU release event.  I'm processing my order on the BYU bookstore, selected the "Pick Up Signed & Numbered Copy at Oct. 5 Event" option, but it's still asking me for a shipping option that will tack on another $7 or so.  What gives?

My 8th-grade math teacher liked to say, "Gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math."  So apparently Canada uses sweepstakes law to discourage their citizens from being bad at math...I like it.

I can't put my finger on what it is exactly, but I feel like the writing in Shadows for Silence, Defending Elysium, and Firstborn seems to come from one author, and all the other Cosmere stuff (including Emperor's Soul) comes from someone else.  Does anyone else get that vibe?  What I mean is, I'm sure they're all by Mr. Sanderson, but the way he approaches the story arc, the characters' relationship with magic and the world feels completely different.  It didn't surprise me that this was the case for Elysium and Firstborn since they are sci fi, but it's odd to me that Shadows feels the same way.

Don't get me wrong - I think Shadows is a great piece!  I'm just puzzled, and as a Sharder I'm drawn to solving puzzles...

I've read the draft of White Sands that Brandon has previously sent out, and think it is at least as good as Elantris.  I definitely look forward to this series!

hmmm...any chance I could get me one of these?

There's so much potential for Mistborn to be an awesome movie and I hope hope hope that it will be, but I can see plenty of ways that it could also be a total flop.  What comes to mind is the film adaptation of The Last Airbender.  They had awesome source material, but they lost the soul of the characters going to the big screen when they condensed a season of episodes into a single movie.  For a Mistborn movie to succeed, it can't be about the magic, awesome though it may be.  It has to be about Vin, about learning to trust and love and believe and fight for a better life in a world of ruthlessness, betrayal, hopelessness, and oppression.  The real heart of both a good fantasy novel and a good fantasy movie is what you learn about humanity in the real world.  When I first read the Mistborn trilogy, I was taken aback at just how much there was to learn from these characters.  I just hope any potential director realizes that.

Sorry for the long post, but really, this is why I love Sanderson's works - I come for the fun, but stay for the soul.

I'm soooooooo glad Whelan updated the cover art.  The book was going on my shelf regardless, but man is it nice to have a less-girly Kaladin to grace the cover.

Assistant Peter has stated on an Amazon.com comment thread (Oct 22, 2013):

"I like this version of the cover quite a bit-but Michael Whelan was not satisfied with it, so he repainted it. The new one looks much better. I'm not sure when it's going to be revealed."