Babybalrog

I'll defiantly support Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. They are one of the few books I've reread. If you've ever been over to JIm's forums you'll realize the world he's created is just as complicated and interrelated as Sanderson's and yet, it takes place in our world. People comb through every page of his books looking for details and foreshadowing. The first book is a little weak. I recently saw an interview with Jim, and he now recommends people start with book 6, Dead Beat. But I still prefer to go in order, because, God the spoilers! His other series, Codex Alera is a fun romp through many traditional fantasy troupes (remember Jim wrote it on a dare, where he advocated the skill of writing over the novelty of the story), and I've reread them. Book 3 several times. My other (living) author i would put up beside Brandon and Jim, is Patrick Rothfuss, and the Name of the Wind. This is an excellent series. With a deep, tragic main character. People complain that the character is too over the top, mary sue-ish. However I think it's pretty clear that's how the character is meant to be perceived, and the scenes at the inn bring that full circle. Tragic Flaw indeed. Now they all bring strengths and weaknesses. I find Brandon to be the master plotter, Jim to have really fun characters (Bob, Molly, Lash, etc), and Rothfuss is so elegant in prose, and story telling ability (the multiple references to the same event etc). And they all have different sub-genres they write in (Epic Fantasy, Heroic Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy). Between the three you have everything you need. EDIT: Also, still gotta push by Frank Herbert, DUNE fanboyism. I never need to read another sci-fi book in my life.

I may not be remembering my WoB correct, but I think Brandon said Sazed is stronger than Odium because two shards vs one, but he's not nearly as militaristic minded (?). This makes me think that Sazed is not able to leverage his power because he doesn't know what he would need to do with it. Therefor it seems like he's playing it safe leaving Odium trapped. It is also my interpretation that Tanavast was the one who trapped him. Oh and In "Alloy of Law" that mist are still there, and it's about the same time frame as WoR Further question, has anybody done a Mind/Body/Spirit breakdown of Tanavast, like what happened to Ruin and Preservation?

Well I haven't been able to find a better thread listing the clues so i'm going to add one here. In chapter 44 (page 500 hard back), the four bridgemen go to train with Zahel. When the walk up "Zahel had drawn a circle in the sand and was throwing little colored rocks into it" Then when he returns at the end of the chapter "Another ardent had piled his colored rocks there, which made Zahel scowl" This reminds me of the game Lightsong plays with the other gods called Tarachin. It was played on a field with brightly colored spheres, that were tossed and scored based on where they landed. Seems like Vasher is basically wasting his vacation playing shuffleboard by himself.