Malazan Empire: Words of Radiance (SPOILER THREAD) - Malazan Empire

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Words of Radiance (SPOILER THREAD)

#1 User is offline   Obdigore 

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Posted 05 March 2014 - 09:03 AM

This first post isn't going to have any spoilers because something something preview something something ruin for everyone something something Abyss kills you and then bans you from the site.
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#2 User is offline   Obdigore 

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Posted 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM

So... just finished.

Initial Thoughts:

Epilogue made me mad. Nobody the reader likes can die, apparently.

I really liked Adolin losing his shit and killing Sadeas.

Now, I'll have to read it again but I'm absolutely bewildered at the byplay between the Ghostbloods, the Skybreakers (Who are Amaram's group as well as that god-guy at the end who kept Szeth from fully dying?) I'm still not sure what the Ghostbloods are all about. I believe the Skybreakers are another sect of ... whats-his-face's parents (the bridgeman who betrayed his family to the local brightlord)... that are pining for the return of the lost radiants? Then we have the supporters of the intellect-changing now-king of Jah Kaved, who are working against the others and for humanity, as they see it.

Anyone have a guess on what Gavilar told the Parshendi so that they killed him? I think it was that he was able to do surgebinding, which meant that the spren were returning and so would the darkspren, and so the Parshendi leadership decided to assassinate Gavilar and take credit for it in the hope that the Alethi would kill them all so they wouldn't return to the old ways. Unfortunantally, the Alethi kept all their leaders and killed them, and so this knowledge was somehow lost.

What is Jasnah's power(s)? Is she a lightweaver as well, which is how she made everyone think she was killed?

Sad that Dalinar became a radiant. I wanted him to remain a 'common' leader who would preside over the radiants to get them all to work together or something.

I totally think that Shallan and Kaladin have 'feelings' for each other and it's going to cause issues in the future.

I'm sad that Moash didn't turn on whats-his-face and fight him to protect the king after Kaladin went all Radiant, possibly dying in the fight but saving the king.

My favorite part in the this book was probably a 4v1 then 4v2 then 4v3 'duel' will Adolin, Kaladin, and Renarin. I thought it was some great action writing, especially when Pattern broke the one guys mind.

So, will Rloin (The parshendi bridgeman) change once the Everstorm washes over him? What happened to the group of Parshendi that didn't want to go super-storm-style and fled? Do they change? Will they be found later? What about the Parshendi War Leader that got head/shoulder butted off the spire? Dead, or a recurring enemy?

What about the guys going around killing the possible-radiants (cobbler and attempting to kill the girl thief), are they Skybreakers as well (I use that term as underlings of a god of justice). If so, why are they just straight hunting them?

Love to hear what everyone else thinks.

edit: Is Sanderson going to suffer from Erikson-syndrome for the first couple books? Where he keeps bringing people back to life after they die, either like Szeth by a god, or with Jasnah and I assume her powers? Will get very frustrated if so.

This post has been edited by Possibly Brent Weeks: 05 March 2014 - 09:22 AM

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#3 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 05 March 2014 - 07:46 PM

Only about 200 pages in so far...but

Spoiler

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#4 User is offline   Obdigore 

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Posted 06 March 2014 - 05:00 AM

HueHueHue.

Damnit Abyss. Finish the book. Or get it and read it and do your 'here is what I think along the way' posts.

Also, more spoilers;

Is the 'Ambassador' with the white mouse on his cheek (that is talking with the 'other' western ambassador about somebody having 'their lords' blade?) that Jasnah sees in the prologue before oil-man (who I assume is her spren) the same guy that is hunting down and killing the other radiants-hopefuls? If so, and if they are actual 'skybreakers'/justiciers, does that mean they were hunting Szeth? And, if so, does that mean that the 'god' who sorta-resurects Szeth is one of the original radiants? And if so, and he has that healing power, does that mean that Kaladin will get that kind of healing power? Jasnah said each Radiant Order had 2 (overlapping) powers. I assumed the regrowth/healing powers were the cobbler and the thief girl. Kaladins power is clearly flying and... what? Unless Kaladin and Shallan share 'change blade' power, that is going to work with all 'live' spren shardblades, although Renarins 'dead' blade changed sizes when put in the oathgate lock, but it didn't activate.

This post has been edited by Possibly Brent Weeks: 06 March 2014 - 05:13 AM

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#5 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 March 2014 - 02:10 AM

View PostBriar King, on 06 March 2014 - 09:51 PM, said:

Awe 1st chapter in and it's my least fav pov from bk 1 by far... Please tell me Shallan is actually good in this one.


Shallan was good in the last one.

;)

But as much as the first book was Kaladin's for dominant chapters, this is one is definitely Shallan.
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#6 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 March 2014 - 11:24 AM

Actually my fave bit so far was one of the new characters intro-ed in the interludes. Rysn the Thaylen trader in the Reshi Sea...for some reason, TOTALLY riveting!
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

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#7 User is offline   End of Disc One 

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Posted 07 March 2014 - 01:13 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 07 March 2014 - 11:24 AM, said:

Actually my fave bit so far was one of the new characters intro-ed in the interludes. Rysn the Thaylen trader in the Reshi Sea...for some reason, TOTALLY riveting!


Rysn had an interlude in TWoK but yeah, that chapter was awesome.
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#8 User is offline   Kaamos 

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Posted 09 March 2014 - 09:53 AM

I'm 8/48 hours into the audio version and have tried to listen to it in bed while elsewise immersed into the enchanting world of a random cold and aches. Don't think it's working; I've fallen asleep x^n times on Kramer's all-too-soothing-for-his-own-good voice. ;) I agree that the magic's a bit ungraspable now and then.
May this prove helpful.

What semi-annoys me on a larger scale is Sanderson's use of mock-Jordan "swearwords". Storms! Colors! Sparks! Mists! ... Flowers! Beachballs! Pencils! Nightgowns! Intrawebz! Grumpycats! . . . Come on.
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#9 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 09 March 2014 - 01:03 PM

View PostKaamos, on 09 March 2014 - 09:53 AM, said:

What semi-annoys me on a larger scale is Sanderson's use of mock-Jordan "swearwords". Storms! Colors! Sparks! Mists! ... Flowers! Beachballs! Pencils! Nightgowns! Intrawebz! Grumpycats! . . . Come on.


This initially annoyed me too, but have you noticed it's only an Alethi affectation? I mean anywhere that Alethkar currently rules...but like Thaylen's and Horneaters, and such swear with their gods names? I think I didn't mind it as much once I got to tack it up to just another Alethi thing that they do that seems backwards/traditionalist (like the safehand thing).
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#10 User is offline   Baco Xtath 

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Posted 09 March 2014 - 08:56 PM

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.
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#11 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 09 March 2014 - 09:18 PM

View PostBaco 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'm nearly halfway through....

SPOILERS!!!

and so far my ONLY real complaint is that Shallan is disguising herself for long periods...like She meets Kaladin and lies to him EVEN though she KNOWS he's Dalinar's (her possible future father-in-law) personal guard Captain...That's bafflingly stupid to me....especially because she's kind of lost in the desert having to survive bandits and caravans and mercenaries and shit...You meet the Captain of the guard of the GUY WHO'S BROTHER TO YOUR DEAD TEACHER AND MAYBE FATHER-IN-LAW...and you DON'T ask him to bring you to the warcamps?! What...the actual fuck Shallan!?... And no one says what they mean to one another either.

Otherwise, quite enjoying!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 March 2014 - 09:20 PM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#12 User is offline   Stalker 

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Posted 10 March 2014 - 05:39 AM

Finished it, loved it. I tried to read it slower than my usual pace to enjoy it more, but it was hard to put down.



Spoilers to the end
Spoiler

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#13 User is offline   Imperial Historian 

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Posted 10 March 2014 - 06:35 AM

Finished this, ended up staying up to stupid a clock in the morning as I had to finish it (so it's good), but I had a few issues with it

Spoiler

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#14 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 10 March 2014 - 06:32 PM

Hit page 500 over my lunch hour.

Spoiler

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#15 User is offline   Stalker 

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Posted 10 March 2014 - 07:58 PM

Imperial Historian said:

Finished this, ended up staying up to stupid a clock in the morning as I had to finish it (so it's good), but I had a few issues with it

Spoiler



Spoiler




QuickTidal said:

Hit page 500 over my lunch hour.
Spoiler



Spoiler

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#16 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 11 March 2014 - 10:02 AM

SPOILERS WHOLE POST

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

Epilogue made me mad. Nobody the reader likes can die, apparently.

That also frustrated me, along with a few other things in the Epilogue. I feel like Brandon is at some weird stage in his career where he thinks fake-outs are cool, because he used the hell out of them in AMOL too, to the point that about halfway through the book you started expecting everything to be a fake-out. It's not just people coming back to life; it's also things like Kaladin losing an arm to a Shardblade, oh no it can't be healed, oh but it can, etc. Plot twists like that are only effective in moderation. And if Szeth and Jasnah hadn't "died", their survival at the end would not have ever led to a comment like "nobody the reader likes can die, apparently". It's the end of book 2. It's only the fake-outs that lead to that kind of reaction.

One other part of the end (and the lead-up) that I hated: the voice of Stormfather. Brandon's all-caps god-beings are very unconvincing to me. It always jerks me out of the story a bit, and Stormfather really put a damper on the end of the book for me in the same way that Almighty Odium-has-killed-me did at the end of TWOK.

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

I really liked Adolin losing his shit and killing Sadeas.

That seems to me like a set-up for a drama. He'll be caught out and charged with murder, I figure, and that will be the catalyst to break up his engagement with Shallan so that she can hook up with Kaladin (which was none-too-subtly foreshadowed throughout the book).

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

Anyone have a guess on what Gavilar told the Parshendi so that they killed him? I think it was that he was able to do surgebinding, which meant that the spren were returning and so would the darkspren, and so the Parshendi leadership decided to assassinate Gavilar and take credit for it in the hope that the Alethi would kill them all so they wouldn't return to the old ways. Unfortunantally, the Alethi kept all their leaders and killed them, and so this knowledge was somehow lost.

It appears as though he, like Amaram, thought that bringing the Voidbringers back would also bring back the Radiants, and the Parshendi were desperate to prevent that (until stormform). I may be remembering something wrong, though.

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

What is Jasnah's power(s)? Is she a lightweaver as well, which is how she made everyone think she was killed?

She's not a lightweaver; she said that she and Shallan are different orders. I suspect she survived via stormlight/Shadesmar, and I forget the name of the other order with Soulcasting ability.

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

Sad that Dalinar became a radiant. I wanted him to remain a 'common' leader who would preside over the radiants to get them all to work together or something.

What was sad about it to me was the way in which it happened. "Hey storm dude, I can has powerz too?" / "Uh...sure, why not." Couldn't it have been a bit more interesting?

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

So, will Rloin (The parshendi bridgeman) change once the Everstorm washes over him? What happened to the group of Parshendi that didn't want to go super-storm-style and fled? Do they change? Will they be found later? What about the Parshendi War Leader that got head/shoulder butted off the spire? Dead, or a recurring enemy?

It was strongly implied in Eshonai's POV that the group of people who didn't want to go stormform would be killed.

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 06 March 2014 - 05:00 AM, said:

Is the 'Ambassador' with the white mouse on his cheek (that is talking with the 'other' western ambassador about somebody having 'their lords' blade?) that Jasnah sees in the prologue before oil-man (who I assume is her spren) the same guy that is hunting down and killing the other radiants-hopefuls?

Szeth also saw him in the prologue of TWOK, same scene from his POV, of course. I just noticed that because I just started a reread so I can sort out a few things in my head.

View PostPossibly Brent Weeks, on 05 March 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:


If so, and if they are actual 'skybreakers'/justiciers, does that mean they were hunting Szeth? And, if so, does that mean that the 'god' who sorta-resurects Szeth is one of the original radiants?

One of the Heralds, as introduced in the Prelude to TWOK. (Nin)

View PostBriar King, on 06 March 2014 - 09:51 PM, said:

Awe 1st chapter in and it's my least fav pov from bk 1 by far... Please tell me Shallan is actually good in this one.

In my opinion she was much less annoying in this book, partly because Brandon moderated her a bit, and partly because "why she is that way" was explained.

View PostStalker, on 10 March 2014 - 07:58 PM, said:

That was definitely hinted at in TWoK. There was one scene where she recalled holding a silvery blade and another where she was counting heartbeats. No definitive proof until now though. Very cool scene.

I thought it was a bit more explicit than that. I spent half the book wondering when she was going to use it again. Didn't she say near the end of TWOK that she killed her father and stole his shardblade? Turned out to be only partly true, but I seem to recall it.

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#17 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 11 March 2014 - 11:16 AM

View PostTerez, on 11 March 2014 - 10:02 AM, said:

I thought it was a bit more explicit than that. I spent half the book wondering when she was going to use it again. Didn't she say near the end of TWOK that she killed her father and stole his shardblade? Turned out to be only partly true, but I seem to recall it.


I don't think so. I investigated after realizing I missed any mention on my first readthrough.

The two mentions are about "ten heartbeats" and "hidden weapon"...there is no direct mention of her killing her father with a Shardblade, nor a direct mention of the blade itself, just the telltale signs of the things associated with one.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 11 March 2014 - 01:11 PM

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#18 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 11 March 2014 - 09:30 PM

For the record, I didn't think she killed her father with it...just that she had thought about killing her father and stealing his shardblade in the same thought. But since I don't feel like hunting down that passage I will take your word for it.

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#19 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 13 March 2014 - 12:39 AM

Finished!

Loved it mostly.

Had a few issues, but overall as solid a read as TWoK.

Spoiler

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 13 March 2014 - 12:39 AM

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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#20 User is offline   A Demon Llama! 

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Posted 14 March 2014 - 03:10 AM

Very enjoyable.

Spoiler

This post has been edited by A Demon Llama!: 14 March 2014 - 03:12 AM

No Touchy.
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