Thank God Taravangian never found out about hemalurgy. Like, that would be ridiculously easy for him to abuse if he knew about it. And really, knowing about it is all it would take. Cause you can use it anywhere in the cosmere.
Especially since copper can steal intelligence. You just *know* he’d be out trying to recreate his Big Brain Day
im sorry but. what lmao. getting this email notif was like top ten most surreal moments of the morning can you imagine DRINKING through this book???
Update- they are trying to kill us
i really do recommend taking a look at the entire list because there are some really interesting choices here. imagine finishing your drink after the jaswit harsher chapter
I just had an idea for a Stormlight AU. Elhokar still dies in Kholinar, but it’s not Moash who kills him. Maybe it’s aesudan, maybe it’s one of the fused. But Moash ends up in Shadesmar with everyone else, because he tries to protect Kaladin or something.
the Battle of Thaylen City is so wild? The Assassin in White drops out of the sky and is like, “I’m here to help.” “Go get that ruby,” says Dalinar, who is busy having a mental breakdown. Szeth dashes off on this assigned miniquest and is joined without question by a 12-year-old he’s never met, who casually zooms around like she’s wearing socks on polished hardwood. Jasnah is turning people to fire while chatting with her mother, Odium can possess humans now? or something? and Adolin is halfway through befriending his sword back to life, while Shallan creates an army out of her multiple personality disorder. What a day.
Renarin is fighting a Thunderclast while getting repeeatedly crushed and popping back up like nothing happened and Kaladin is facing a super-powered version of the very man that ruined his whole life, simultaneously keeping the Fused off of Dalinar and having his own mental breakdown about the fourth ideal.
two heralds like, are there. rysn temporarily saves the aforementioned ruby while her pet energy sucker helps kill some singers. the alethi army gets to finally beat up sadaes soldiers. teft is a radiant now. adolin literally looks at jasnah while she’s busy turning things to sand and killing people and goes, ‘oh, nvm, she’s good.’ dalinar ascends.he combines the fucking realms. like 24 hours later they crown the first female ruler of alethkar. rip the poor lady who has to write THAT chapter of a history book
Sanderson tells us in interviews and loose WoBs on Reddit that we’re supposed to be skeptical of the system that the Knights Radiant are gathering behind. He should put his money where his mouth is and have characters rebel against it. It doesn’t have to be overt—so far, every character that has criticized the system has been painted in the harshest antagonistic light. Every character that has opposed the Kholin monarchy has committed some kind of crime against humanity.
@patrickdiomedes Oooh honestly, I’d be okay with this, and, actually, I have about a modicum of faith that Sanderson could pull this off. We’ve seen him subvert fantasy timelines before (the prophecy coming true in book 2, the final duel being ten days after book 4, etc.): I’d actually really like to see the back half books focus more on human (“street-level,” if you will) plotlines dealing with the aftermath of the desolation. It’d be a strong thematic tie-in to the interludes, which set out to accomplish the same in lesser detail. I’d also rather see that than gradually build up to a crazy Avengers: Endgame style final fight where fucking Kelsier and Vasher forge Super Nightblood to kill Mega Odium and Reverse Kaladin or whatever.
Okay girlies Sanderson crit moment. I’ve been making jokes about comparing the Stormlight characters to superheroes, but I realized that the fundamental conflict between Kaladin and Moash in Words of Radiance would be more compelling and make more narrative sense if it took place in a superhero setting. Kaladin’s “No… I can’t kill… it’s not who I am… this isn’t justice” just doesn’t work when sandwiched between his butchering hundreds of listeners and singers. He cuts through singers like it’s nothing, and he only ever feels bad about it once, in Oathbringer, and then I guess just resolves that guilt and decides to keep killing them, telling himself he’s honorable because he doesn’t kill the Fused fliers. Literally if you put them in a setting where Kaladin refused to kill, and Moash proffered the idea of killing Elhokar as their one exception, and that created a schism between them, that would be so much more compelling than what we got, which was a handwave when Kaladin brought up that he’s killed a lot of more innocent people. You could even incorporate his time as a soldier and having killed then, in a Rurouni Kenshin type “the man so good at killing, so skilled with a spear, refuses to kill again.” Instead, Kaladin’s nonviolent ethos comes up with the people in positions of power and the literal single white character in the story.
I wish Moash and Venli had gotten a chance for a conversation in ROW. Cause I don’t think there will be a good opportunity for it now, and I think they’d have some good stuff to talk about.
They’re both characters who outside forces might expect them to side with the kholins, moash as part of bridge four and venli as a knight radiant. And they’re both characters who I don’t think could ever really do that, given their past with them.
Moash is definitely stuck in very binary thinking though- he knows he doesn’t want to side with the kholins, and so he turns to odium and the fused who he sees freeing the singers. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. But he figures they’re better than the kholins in his mind, and “good” doesn’t seem like an option so he’ll take better. Venli, meanwhile, knows that Odium’s forces are not a good thing for the singers by any means, and is forging a third path of actual freedom for them. Not slaves to humans nor to odium. Moash is too caught up in hatred right now to act on any of this (due to the odium and all) but I think it could have set up great seeds for later.
This could also be used to reinforce Venli’s decision to not join the main group of Knights Radiant, when she hears Moash’s side of things, if she started to have doubts about it.
I’m probably going to laugh when Kaladin reaches Shinovar and sees soil and plants that don’t move for the first time. I just want a moment of confusion or something that shows just how alien an earthlike environment is to most Rosharans. I also want it to be contrasted with Szeth’s reaction to being back in his homeland for the first time in 9ish years.
It’ll probably be a very small moment in a book that will be filled with a lot of much more important things, but I still want it
Fan art! Sketches done on post-it notes at work. The first two are, in order, Shallan and Adolin from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive books. The third drawing is Korra from The Legend of Korra.
One thing I’ve really appreciated about this series is the wide spectrum of religious beliefs throughout this book. Jasnah is an atheist, Shallan holds onto the tradition of religion. Most of the characters believe and follow the Almighty. Other cultures have their own beliefs.
Szeths culture believes rocks are holy and the Alethi use rocks as a tool in just about every aspect of their lives.
In Words of Radiance, the characters Ym has a conversation with a local boy about religion. He claims, “Iriali need no preaching, only experience.” He believes people came from one consciousness and live seperate lives that will be reunited later on.
Brandon Sanderson himself is a Mormon but he poses realistic debates about if there is a God, and other perspectives on religion. These conversations aren’t the author screaming their opinions, it’s realistic worldbuilding. I’ve read some books that either don’t touch religion in their worlds, or force their worldviews on the reader every other page.
The debates and practices of religion in these books seems very realistic to me and I’ve loved learning about them.
I have actually managed to finish The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Although, I don’t think I would’ve managed it without the audiobook…
I loved the world-building and the diverse array of cultures and people we get to experience through many perspectives.
The characters are deeply flawed in the best way. They have great inner character development and you clearly see their growth from beginning to end. Every one of their stories ends differently than how you thought they would. I won’t spoil it but he ending had me rooting for them and so excited.
That being said…. I have nitpicks
Possibly the biggest nitpick is some of the dialogue is just laughable. Particularly Shallan’s early conversations which were supposed to be witty just felt childish and awkward. her character I found to be a bit annoying because of this but I don’t think it’s the actual character, but the dialogue I didn’t like. There were other instances with Dalinar and Kaladin which also had some unnatural and awkward dialogue.
The “interludes” were a bit jarring the first time reading this. They felt completely unnecessary and you never revisited the characters shown in one chapter. I’m partway listening to this a second time and now I can connect the dots and see how SOME of these flow to the current story. I’m sure they will be more relevant in later books.
The story itself I didn’t find all that interesting. The Alethi culture I find confusing and annoying to be honest. That is the point of them but why would a group of people who have a great many ardents that study history, philosophy and everything else not look into the Parshendi?? Why would they not discover more about their battle tactics and how their culture works?
A huge point of Dalinar’s character is that he is apparently the ONLY one who realizes the war has to end at some point. Not one other person does anything to help this war to end. I still don’t understand how Brandon managed to make 60% of this story about going and getting gem hearts because it’s not that interesting… at all. We don’t know if there are any true consequences if they don’t have enough. They are living in wealth and comfort… the only reason they are doing “battle” for these gem hearts is because of status. It’s dumb.
The beginning and middle of the story I begrudgingly listened through but the ending made me want to read the second book. It all came together but I don’t think it needed 45 hours (or 1000 pages) to get there.
We’re centered on a scene where Jasnah confronts the invaders. A giant has smashed a breach in the city wall, and Jasnah is called upon to restore it.
After dispatching several invaders with her Shardblade sword, she covers the gap with a brassy wall of magical metal. It’s a very visual scene, in which I saw a lot of possibilities for good images. (From: Michael Whelan)
Super hyped!!! Ready to change the desktop image!
Literally had a chill run up my spine when I saw this! JASNAH IS LIFE! JASNAH IS EVERYTHING!!!!
![[XIII] Shallan, Shalash, shash, garnet, the blood…](https://64.media.tumblr.com/5b7ba06fd6b46acb9c93ec0922ee3d55/tumblr_of2lgsOm411td30h9o1_1280.jpg "[XIII] Shallan, Shalash, shash, garnet, the blood…")
