[Cause]

Mentalist, on 09 April 2015 - 05:33 AM, said:

Another random bit I noticed- one of the epigraphs implied that the Desolations were back, b/c Talenel "snapped" in his purgatory. Supposedly his sanity gave the world the millenia of peace....and his "snapping" maybe triggered teh spren to start seeking out humans again? (like Pattern coming to Shallan when she was still a child?)

Between Desolations the Heralds appear to suffer torture. I would hazard by odium. I got the impression that the longer they can endure the longer the calm before the next desolation. Eventually Talinel could cope no more and released himself but began the next desolation. It appears to be something about honour and oathpacts etc which somehow constrain odium but must have consequences. The other 9 had already broken and so refused to return to be tortured. There breaking of the oathpact appears to have inspired all the knights later abandoning their oaths as well. At least that's my current reading.

[Vaddon Ra]

Baco Xtath, on 09 March 2014 - 08:56 PM, said:

Yeah, the swearing is annoying though I've grown used to it. My hardest thing to deal with has been Shallan's "wit". The humor all around seems very childish to me. I guess it's because my last couple fantasy books have been Psalms of Isaak, Emperor's Blades, Bakker, Bobby Dollar, and authors that target adults rather than all ages.

I liked this and WOK quite a lot, although it's clear he is writing fantasy to be accessible to anyone from young teen and up, hence the distinct lack of strong swears, sex, and truly brutal violence; this I have no real problem with (or I'd worry I had a problem XD) I just find that I enjoy his writing from purely a popcorn viewing point of view, much like I would enjoy a summer blockbuster film. Really great fun, often quite engaging and emotional, but it wont change my life or really speak to me long term. And if Sandersons work really effects the reader that's great I just felt very aware every time someone "cursed" that I was reading a book and it lost some of it's escapist appeal, I also was really not too happy with the final finale. I thought for the most part the final chapters were good fun and pretty exciting but wasn't happy at all with being only 2 books into yet another projected 10 volume mega series (why do authors feel the need to declare such huge intentions when it may be they haven't really thought out the full plot???) and having no truly satisfying ending to such a big book...

ah well, I will read the next ones of course, just not with quite so much love as some of my friends XD

[Dolmen 2.0]

Good book this.

Finished it two nights ago, im still ruminating over the overall story.

I Really hope to get more of the void bringers. If this turns out to be a 10 book series I'd love to have a character captured by them, witness how they go about re-establishing themselves under the guidance of odium.

[Abyss]

Just listened to the duel... yeah, THAT duel.

The plot device to get there was clunky .... Adolin didn't use his words right.... seriously? ...but the actual fight..... fuck but that was great fun to read.

[Abyss]

I knew it was coming, but even so, at the end, i squeeled like a little girl....

Spoiler

SHARDSPEAR!!!!!

Hell of a finale.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 25 September 2015 - 08:43 PM, said:

I'm curious if you got the edited version or 1st version. They have differences which I don't like at all.

Earbook actually.What are the differences?

[Andorion]

I sincerely hope he is not going to repeat this. It really does not sit well with me.

This post has been edited by Andorion: 26 September 2015 - 01:23 AM

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 26 September 2015 - 12:27 AM, said:

Don't read if people haven't finished book!


One of the biggest changes is

Spoiler

kalidan no longer kills szeth in the finale battle. Instead the Storm kills him

.

BS changed this cause he didn't feel the character would act this way. There's a few other things that you'd have to look up. I just don't like when authors do this especially if I'm paying for HC books. If he changes anything in future books then I ll be waiting the yr for PB Ed which will suck.

That's a seriously odd change. My earbook didn't have that change. Did a little googling and

Spoiler

while I figured it was bcs it's easier to accept Szeth's resurrection if he's killed by the storm and impact rather than Kal's honorblade, it appears it was done to make Kal look more honourable. I can see why, but I prefer the original. .

The other changes are typos and minor phrasing corrections.

[Andorion]

I don't really care for this idea that honourable means no killing. Kaladin was in a serious fight, against a ferocious foe. Frankly his killing szeth was way more plausible

[Abyss]

Bumping some older discussions...

Blend, on 25 March 2014 - 06:56 PM, said:

...

I'm excited to see what kind of Radiant Lopen is going to be, as well as the other Bridgemen who were hinted at having powers (someone mentioned offhand that they saw some bridgemen glowing during the big final battle).

May just amount to some of the additional strength and healing that stormlight gives... hence Scar and the other bridgeman being able to keep up with Adalin throughout the battle.

Quote

Dalinar ... I'm certainly interested to see what it means to be a Bondsmith.

There was a chapter quote about the Bondsmiths that vaguely suggested something related to the spren specifically.
The fact that Dalinar bonder Stormfather against the spren's will says a lot!

Quote

Re: the Parshendi who did not want to take on Stormform - Thude basically took off with them, and they went down into the chasms. I think they're going to pop back up later, though whether they end up on the Alethi side or not is going to be interesting. I have a feeling that Rlain will end up bringing them into the fold to fight the Voidbringers. I certainly think the Voidbringers and the Everstorm are going to be a little more complex than 'all Parshmen/Parshendi will become Voidbringers as soon as an Everstorm passes.'

Hoyt and Jasnah's conversation at the epilogue suggests that the Everstorm's effect won't be as clearcut as simply transforming all parshmen. And i doubt Brandon would both having that thousand escape and Rlean back with the Bridgemen if it wasn't going somewhere.

Quote

Re: Taravangian and the Diagram - I really enjoy the idea that they've become somewhat of a religious order. I get the impression that the Ghostbloods are part of this group, but I'm not sure whether I read that correctly or not. It's certainly piqued my interest, and I look forward to that story developing more.

The Diagram is one f my favorite concepts from the book. I loved the chapter quotes and how they were attributed to bits of the room. It's a great original take on the prophecy trope.

Quote

Then there's Amaram's crew, which tied to Gavilar, and they were trying to bring on a Desolation (or something close to a Desolation) in order to bring the Heralds back. I'm interested to see where that's going, but their motives are still pretty murky to me. I mean, why risk a Desolation just to bring the Heralds back? What do they expect having the Heralds back will do?

Very unclear. In theory you need the Heralds to have the Desolation, and/or survive it. Could go either way and their relationship to the Ghostbloods was very murky as well.

Briar King, on 30 March 2014 - 12:10 AM, said:

...
My fav character HAS to be Lift though. She's gonna be important for sure.

I started out hating her interlude but ended up loving it. The character and her interaction with her spren really grew on me.
The food/stormlight thing is a massive gamechanger.

Quote

I had a feeling Jasnah survived but was expecting Yalb and some of the ship crew to be with her.

Just wait. At some point in the future when Shallan's life truly sucks, she's going to find them.

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 31 March 2014 - 08:04 PM, said:

Is the next book out yet?

EDIT: Seriously, is it out yet?

EDIT2: Now?

EDIT3: What about now?

EDIT4: I'm jonesing for my Stormlight Archive fix!

EDIT5: Just saw a post on the Sanderson fan forums that said the last book in the series (book 10) is expected around 2025. I don't know if I can wait that long — I might be dead by then!

I swore i wouldn't start another ten fucking volume decade long epic until it was done and now... fuck.

Briar King, on 31 March 2014 - 10:27 PM, said:

Lift was the best thing in that book lol. I didn't mind her terms since she's what 12? Also I guess having a 10 yr old daughter saying the same type stuff everyday IRL coulda made it more tolerable??

Pretty sure she was older than ten, she just couldn't/wouldn't count any higher.

Mentalist, on 09 April 2015 - 05:33 AM, said:

Just finished, stayed up till 1 AM, the usual.

With the Stormlight Archive Sanderson seems to be developing a habit to be mostly dull, and then deliver the 100+ pages of pure awesomeness at the end.

Szeth's hit on Dalinar, the 4 v 1 duel and the Chasm Fiend didn't wow you at all? AT ALL?

Quote

-there's the crazy intellect king who hired Szeth to create chaos to become the saviour. Graves was working for him and now Moash is too. My gut is pushing me to think that's it's all a big con, a la what Ruin did with the histories in Mistborn. (edit: forgot to mention I totally feel that Moash will rise up far in Theravangian's org, then 2 or 3 books in, at a final showdown, he'll "see the light" and backstab him to save Kaladin. Or to monumentously screw things up while thinking he's fixing them.)

It certainly seemed like Graves was a Diagram follower, but i'm not even sure Theravagian's group are the only ones.

Quote

-Nan the Justice Herald, who rescues Szeth--aka- the guy who hunted Lift and killed Ym--...

Are you sure they were the same guy?

Quote

Amaran's crew--seem to be working for the Church, which is trying to make its own comeback (i forget which country host the Rome equivalent)

Interesting possibility i hadn't considered.

Quote

Kaladin had his moments of awesomeness, but the "break him down to build him up to OVER 9000!!!" thing was really grating the second time around. I understand why, but, please, Mr. Sanderson: never again.

Please please please. Between the two books i've have six Mhybe's worth of Kal.

[Illuyankas]

It's definitely the same guy, and haha like fuck is Kaladin finishes his whinging this half of the series

[Gabriele]

Abyss, on 30 September 2015 - 09:11 PM, said:

I swore i wouldn't start another ten fucking volume decade long epic until it was done and now... fuck.

I totally blame it on TOR.com and their evil posting of teaser chapters when Way of Kings came out. At least Sanderson will likely not take as much time as a certain bearded guy from New Mexico, another even bearded-er guy from Wisconsin, and a certain J.V. Jones about whom I'm not even sure she's still alive.

[Mentalist]

@Byss: I did say "MOSTLY" dull, haha. Although the 4 v 1 duel, whilst cool and all, didn't really take my breath away- I had a gut feeling that BS wouldn't do anything unpredictable there (though the facepalm-inducing Kal moment afterwards was a bit of a surprise, but not the pleasant variety).
Ditto the chasmfield chase-I was convinced Kal wouldn't die, and the awkwardness b/w him and Shal (? I'm terrible with names) grated a tad.

Diagram is the absolutely coolest concept in the series so far. Shardplates are great for the "wow" factor, but the Diagram is what fires up the thikymeatz. If we get more diff types of Knights, I expect it'll be more interesting piecing together the cosmology and history, but so far, for all his imaginative world-building, BS is lagging behind in the depth of the world category.

That epilogue gives me hope that BS will soon come up with smth MoI-level good that will make me a convert and lead to me buying the books on release (the way it happened with MBotF), but I haven't seen it happen yet.