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socialsecurity posted:Those 3 are supposed to be the most minor of easter eggs I wouldn't dwell on those kinda things too much it'll drive you mad. The rest comes eventually which is not what you want to hear a billion pages/hours in but it is what it is. I will say the slog is worth it, although I could see how it could not be for everyone. It's the same thing he's always complaining about, he won't like Stormlight. Which is fine but I'm not looking forward to another 400 posts complaining about the same thing all over again. But I'm no authority, hope you enjoy the book Mord. e: I do think it's madness trying to listen to it instead of reading. Brandon uses SO many weird names and capital Nouns for *everything* I think I'd get so frustrated. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to listen to Stormlight esp when the only ones I've liked were WOR, Oathbringer, & Edgedancer/Dawnshard Barreft fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Nov 7, 2023 |
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Nov 7, 2023 00:55
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Barreft posted:It's the same thing he's always complaining about, he won't like Stormlight. Which is fine but I'm not looking forward to another 400 posts complaining about the same thing all over again. But I'm no authority, hope you enjoy the book Mord. Hah. For the record, I'm enjoying Words of Radiance so far. (I like Shallan) I think that knowing "hey a lot of this is easter eggs and doesn't loving matter" is something I'll have to keep reminding myself. I'm more used to his "tighter" (aka sub-600 page) stories where almost every little detail matters. I do think that his 500-600 pages novels are where he is strongest. But, my opinion could change post-WoR/Oathbringer. I'm not as much used to his books having chapters where "that's just for funsies, it doesn't matter to the main plot."
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Nov 7, 2023 01:08
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Barreft posted:It's the same thing he's always complaining about, he won't like Stormlight. Which is fine but I'm not looking forward to another 400 posts complaining about the same thing all over again. But I'm no authority, hope you enjoy the book Mord. I dunno I've actually only READ read one of the Secret Projects, everything else has been 100% audiobooks and it's been fine. Used to do a lot of driving for work and it was fantastic company. I do think the readers Michael Kramer/Kate Redding ruined me for other audiobook readers because I can't get on board with like 95% of them.
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Nov 7, 2023 01:09
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As an example of how withholding knowledge can result in enjoyable (reverse?) dramatic irony, I submit Szeth's intro TWoK At the end of his game tutorial style introduction, he has the conversation with the king who begs him to tell his brother something. Szeth has poo poo to do though, so he just writes it down on the ground and moves on. Only later do we learn that men in this world are forbidden writing, something neither we as readers nor apparently Szeth knew at the time. Our later knowledge transforms the significance of our previous experiences. Usually with dramatic irony, we as the readers/viewers know something the characters don't, and from that discrepancy derive some degree of interest. Conversely, often characters will know things they don't share with the audience, allowing for dramatic tension. It's not often where both characters and audience are ignorant in a way that results in dramatic irony after the fact, besides I guess mystery novels where that's the whole premise. Anyway, all this to say that my experience of reading SLA is that I'm a mind-reading ghost floating around this strange planet figuring out its whole deal even as I'm figuring out the characters themselves, and I find that kind of exploration enjoyable. It also makes rereads immensely satisfying and changes the story each time I go through it.
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Nov 7, 2023 01:10
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Stormlight is good about answers after Way of Kings, we know a ton of things now that most fantasy series would hold until the last book/minute.
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Nov 7, 2023 01:15
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Barreft posted:e: I do think it's madness trying to listen to it instead of reading. Brandon uses SO many weird names and capital Nouns for *everything* I think I'd get so frustrated. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to listen to Stormlight esp when the only ones I've liked were WOR, Oathbringer, & Edgedancer/Dawnshard Mordiceius is just a devout Vorin man and needs everything dictated.
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Nov 7, 2023 01:16
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Ojjeorago posted:Mordiceius is just a devout Vorin man and needs everything dictated. lmao
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Nov 7, 2023 01:19
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I think Szeth knew, he just didn't care.
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Nov 7, 2023 01:21
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Mordiceius posted:I think that knowing "hey a lot of this is easter eggs and doesn't loving matter" is something I'll have to keep reminding myself. I'm more used to his "tighter" (aka sub-600 page) stories where almost every little detail matters. Tunicate posted:I think Szeth knew, he just didn't care.
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Nov 7, 2023 03:06
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I feel like some of the interludes are used not because the characters in them are important, but because they introduce you to some mechanic or aspect of the world that will matter later. Will that specific guy on the Purelake matter? I really don't think so, but the fact that people were looking for (WoK) Hoid/Wit? Yeah that seems important. (WoK again) Hoid was writing to someone in the epigraphs that "I am being chased. Your friends of the Seventeenth Shard, I suspect." That's the connection that matters, I think.
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Nov 7, 2023 03:20
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Mordiceius posted:First to the Eshonai point - at no point in the story is the name ever uttered or even referenced. I know that Eshonai is a character due to discussions I've seen here (I assume it was the Parshendi Shardbearer). This is such a minor hang-up, but it still bothers me - why name a chapter with a word that is never used in the narrative at all. At the point of reading that chapter, "Eshonai" might as well be a gibberish word. No one speaks it. No one addresses it. And furthermore, it is not like the word gives any hints or clues to the reader. So there isn't even the excuse of "Oh, well Brandon was putting in clues of future things." It feels so... unnecessary in a way that his stuff usually isn't At least in print form, suddenly getting a viewpoint from her was a huge tonal shift and the chapter title and new logo made it apparently something different was happening. Suddenly you're in their viewpoint and the chapter is named after them. Made sense to me on my original reading. Barreft posted:e: I do think it's madness trying to listen to it instead of reading. Brandon uses SO many weird names and capital Nouns for *everything* I think I'd get so frustrated. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to listen to Stormlight esp when the only ones I've liked were WOR, Oathbringer, & Edgedancer/Dawnshard I'm a big audiobook guy and while Stormlight is well narrated it reads so much better, so I agree with you.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:13
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M_Gargantua posted:At least in print form, suddenly getting a viewpoint from her was a huge tonal shift and the chapter title and new logo made it apparently something different was happening. Suddenly you're in their viewpoint and the chapter is named after them. Made sense to me on my original reading. You don’t get her viewpoint in that chapter.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:14
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Ojjeorago posted:Mordiceius is just a devout Vorin man and needs everything dictated.  Mordiceius posted:You don’t get her viewpoint in that chapter. I am mixing up my chapters then. drat.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:16
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Mordiceius posted:I think that knowing "hey a lot of this is easter eggs and doesn't loving matter" is something I'll have to keep reminding myself. I'm more used to his "tighter" (aka sub-600 page) stories where almost every little detail matters. Sanderson is really good at a lot of things, but the main things are: A) Really tight character storytelling with big payoffs B) really intricate worlds full of mystery that you're invited to uncover by putting together all of the clues, that then gets a big payoff at the end I'm surprised and a little bit confused that you find B annoying, since that was also a very dominant aspect of Mistborn, though it's larger in scope with stormlight. Like if you only care about characters that's fine, but how did these things not bug you in Mistborn? That aspect of his writing is very similar between the two series. Lots of hints, details that don't make sense, subtle references to things that don't feel quite right, etc. Putting that all together is a ton of fun! Also to your previous question about "the most important words a man can say" - you have all the information you need by the end of WoK to answer that, though it might not be obvious yet. It will become more obvious over time.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:27
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Barreft posted:e: I do think it's madness trying to listen to it instead of reading. Brandon uses SO many weird names and capital Nouns for *everything* I think I'd get so frustrated. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to listen to Stormlight esp when the only ones I've liked were WOR, Oathbringer, & Edgedancer/Dawnshard Stormlight audiobooks are some of my favorites, the narration quality is great and the pronunciation and emphasis and voice acting are strong enough that everything that needs to stand out does. Still after reading basically everything from the cosmere (sorry elantris), the only ones I've read without an audiobook are Dawnshard (e-book, since it had no audiobook on release), and Sunlit Man, because goddamn it's a nice physical book.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:57
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Ojjeorago posted:Mordiceius is just a devout Vorin man and needs everything dictated. Haha
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Nov 7, 2023 05:10
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I'm playing a video game which reminded me of (Well of Ascension spoilers) Zane and Ruin. In the game, a malevolent god also drives a young boy to think he's crazy by speaking only to him. But it got me thinking...Ruin's final comment to Zane is the definition of sadistic villainy. It's not something I could even see Odium doing. Rayse is a prick but he isn't doing stuff just to be evil. Telling Zane he wasn't crazy at that dying moment served no purpose except cruel amusement on Ruin's part.
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Nov 7, 2023 06:00
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NikkolasKing posted:I'm playing a video game which reminded me of (Well of Ascension spoilers) Zane and Ruin. In the game, a malevolent god also drives a young boy to think he's crazy by speaking only to him. But it got me thinking...Ruin's final comment to Zane is the definition of sadistic villainy. It's not something I could even see Odium doing. Rayse is a prick but he isn't doing stuff just to be evil. Telling Zane he wasn't crazy at that dying moment served no purpose except cruel amusement on Ruin's part. Mistborn Era 2 spoilers Makes me wonder how strict the definition of Ruin is, can Harmony help maintain balance by ruining someone's wedding by making it rain or ruin someone's weekend by making their boss force them to work overtime?
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Nov 7, 2023 17:17
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Isn’t it IRONic, don’t you think?
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Nov 7, 2023 17:33
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socialsecurity posted:Mistborn Era 2 spoilers Makes me wonder how strict the definition of Ruin is, can Harmony help maintain balance by ruining someone's wedding by making it rain or ruin someone's weekend by making their boss force them to work overtime? further speculation on how it works: Ruin wants to break things apart, not just stop you from getting it, it might prefer to cause several parts of your weekend to spoil progressively. Flat tire on your trip to six flags. And when you get to six flags? Koloss army burns it down
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Nov 7, 2023 19:57
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I read Tress of the Emerald Sea and really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of Stardust. Ending: For a second I thought it was a bold move to have the resolution be that Tress realizes that Charlie was kind of a dud, and he was just the least boring guy on an island of boring people. Then I remembered it wasn't that kind of book.
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Nov 8, 2023 07:37
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Does anyone remember about which page number we were on when Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was released? I just finished and now I want to go back and read all the spoiler bars I skipped over back then. I liked Tress, didn’t really care for Secret Project 2, and now that I’ve read Yumi I genuinely can’t envision how some people are saying Sunlit Man is the best of the lot. I just don’t know how Sanderson can top the story here. (That may be sleep deprivation talking, since the Sanderlanche kicked in at the 5-10% mark of Yumi and I read the remainder in one ill-advised session lasting till the wee hours of the morning.)
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Nov 9, 2023 10:59
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The Stormlight box wasn't bad, I like the satchel and the bottle opener. Not super excited about an air freshener, though. And I was way off on my pin guess, with it being Syl.
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Nov 9, 2023 21:23
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Echophonic posted:The Stormlight box wasn't bad, I like the satchel and the bottle opener. Not super excited about an air freshener, though. And I was way off on my pin guess, with it being Syl. Both bags (toiletries bag and satchel) that I got from the boxes are of absolutely amazing quality, given that they came in lootboxes.
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Nov 9, 2023 21:27
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ConfusedUs posted:Both bags (toiletries bag and satchel) that I got from the boxes are of absolutely amazing quality, given that they came in lootboxes. Oh yeah, I took the previous one on vacation and it's super nice.
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Nov 9, 2023 21:38
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The boxes overall should be lauded for the sheer quality of everything they shipped. Everything being bespokely created for the boxes meant there was none of the usual "hey, throw this away for us, will you" garbage that plagues most lootboxes, and nothing was cheaply made, with a lot of the stuff going above and beyond what would have been an acceptable quality level.
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Nov 9, 2023 21:50
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CapnAndy posted:The boxes overall should be lauded for the sheer quality of everything they shipped. Everything being bespokely created for the boxes meant there was none of the usual "hey, throw this away for us, will you" garbage that plagues most lootboxes, and nothing was cheaply made, with a lot of the stuff going above and beyond what would have been an acceptable quality level. Absolutely. Every single box had at least one thing that made me say "holy poo poo that's nice." And so much of it is just genuinely useful. Like coasters? Everyone needs coasters. The coasters I got for the Warbreaker box are absolutely gorgeous and well-made. They didn't have to be, but they are.
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Nov 9, 2023 22:22
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Grundulum posted:Does anyone remember about which page number we were on when Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was released? I just finished and now I want to go back and read all the spoiler bars I skipped over back then. Here's the first SP3 post halfway down page 454 on July 1st. Leng posted:OK I have finished reading Secret Project #3. Enjoy!
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Nov 10, 2023 00:15
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ConfusedUs posted:Absolutely. Every single box had at least one thing that made me say "holy poo poo that's nice." And so much of it is just genuinely useful. Like coasters? Everyone needs coasters. The coasters I got for the Warbreaker box are absolutely gorgeous and well-made. They didn't have to be, but they are. Agreed! I use them daily! And I love the bookmarks and all the stickers. I'm slowly turning everything I own cosmere tagged
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Nov 10, 2023 00:36
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Fezz posted:Here's the first SP3 post halfway down page 454 on July 1st. Thanks! I intend to.
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Nov 10, 2023 00:57
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Oathbringer Prologue & Chapters 58-76 (1st half of Part 3) The epigraphs are the stones that Renarin unlocked, and very quickly it became apparent that each stone signifies which Radiant Order the author was. Seems to be mostly about the time right before the Radiants left Urithiru, though Nalan's Skybreakers didn't care for that idea. Interesting that one of them even said Honor himself is changing. I'm curious if the capital 'S' Sibling is one of the siblings the Stormfather later mentions as the other Bondsmith spren. Either that or it's Honor's sibling Cultivation. And more recently, the cities protections failed, allowing the Unmade to enter. I'm curious if this is related to the false Desolation but I need more information. Dalinar is making some strides in his surgebindings, both in putting a building back together and the Stormfather mentioning capital 'C' Connection, which I know about from the Wax & Wayne series. Dalinar can do their "learn the native language through Connection" trick with just some Stormlight. I so happy that Dalinar finally has some actual allies and not just Taravangian who wants to displace himm, and I especially loved the image of Dalinar just handing Gawx's people more papers to convince him that he's worth their trust. It's a perfect mirror to his brutality in the flashbacks. I'm also very intrigued in Bridge Four having Jezrien's Honorblade. Rock holding that feels pretty fantastic. Dalinar also gets told that there can only be three Bondsmiths has me wondering who the others might be, and who the spren are. It would be cool if it was Fen and Gawx, or maybe Navani since she'd figure out some way to make a Connection to the Dawnchant. And the other spren, I could see it being the Nightwatcher, Cusicesh the Protector, or maybe Moelach and Nergoul (though I'm suspicious of them being Unmade if they're not Bondsmith spren). Some of Dalinar's flashbacks were a bit boring. He was a bloodthirsty monster in his youth, then Evi is doing her best to be a good Vorin wife despite being horrified by her husband, but at least I've got the context of her death now. Tanalan was just a bit early on the "Sadeas is betraying your king" accusation, and Dalinar goes quite literally scorched The very last page I read had an inlay of Sja-anat, the Taker of Secrets. Interesting that I get to know who the Unmade in town is before the characters. This makes two Unmade out of nine that I know, after this and Re-Shephir. Since she can corrupt spren with a touch, that puts Syl, Pattern, and our other bonded spren in actual danger for the first time. "Her admiration of the spren" makes the whole Cult of Moments make a lot of sense, since they also admire the spren. I am curious who the Cult reminds Hoid of though. In addition to Sja-anat, Shallan has to wwrry about herself... herselves? She's parkouring from new identity to new identity, letting them envelop herself really loving quickly, from an old cranky lady to Swiftspren (I really thought I was getting a cool new spren too) to Veil basically being the dominant personality. And I even thought she was doing better when she admitted that she was Veil to Ishnah and Vathah, until she found a way to hide it from Kaladin shortly after. I'm wondering if this is just something that Lightweavers suffer from, with their ability to disguise themselves and their focus on truth and lies. The sneaking about was pretty fun though, even the two (2) times she nearly died. Good to know a Radiant can take a crossbow bolt to the head though. That might be important facing the Fused soon enough. At least she's smart enough to pay the homeless for info, which eventually gets her that Swiftspren moniker. I can't wait for more subterfuge with the Cult of Moments, who will she be next? She even got to talk again with the master of this art, Hoid. Hoid does some Sand Mastry I think? And likely some emotional Allomancy? At least the black and white jar (of sand) is a giveaway. He also tells Shallan just how old he is. I am curious how he saw through Shallan's illusion, maybe aura/life recognition from the Heightenings? Elhokar seems to be entering a very goals oriented state. Personally he obviously values his wife and child, but at least he's saying that the Oathgate is most important. I am worried for him when/if they eventually find the Queen. I feel like she'll be in some horrible state from whatever Sja-anat is doing to control the people in the palace. I'm also curious about Elhokar recognizing Pattern, he did see things that looked like Cryptics in mirrors and the corner of his eye. I'm guessing the Cryptics considered him as a Radiant but decided against it when Shallan proved useful with Pattern. I wonder if they'll go back for him, even if he might end up a "squire" first. Kaladin is a Brightlord now, with land of his own. Think he'd rather have his face punched a thousand times. Oh well, no time time to worry about that with potential new Radiants around. Azure is certainly interesting. Kaladin describing her blade as "otherworldly" has me doing loops between Herald/Radiant/Honorblade holder and worldhopper who might also be one of the first group? I need Kaladin to talk to her more to figure out her deal. Also the fact that her name is a color makes me think Warbreaker/Nalthis. I also low-key feel like Syl is shipping Kaladin with Shallan while Shallan's boyfriend is right there. Pretty dishonorable imho. This weird love triangle there is still spinning its wheels, especially with Veil also thinking about Kaladin in the same way Shallan thinks about Adolin. It's not the most important thing going on, but it's been a thread in their storylines for a while now. Progress so far: 
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Nov 13, 2023 03:05
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pik_d posted:Oathbringer Prologue & Chapters 58-76 (1st half of Part 3) There are very strong hints of at least one of the ways he figured it out, though it might require some knowledge of Taldain/White Sand DarkHorse fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Nov 13, 2023 |
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Nov 13, 2023 03:15
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pik_d posted:
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Nov 13, 2023 03:45
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DarkHorse posted:There are very strong hints of at least one of the ways he figured it out, though it might require some knowledge of Taldain/White Sand White Sand spoilers: I get they can overmaster to get more ribbons, but there was never anything that explained how someone gained the ability in the first place that I saw. Some kids could, some couldn't, and at least one darksider could do it so that throws out a bunch of other ideas. It's all good though. CapnAndy posted:Yeah, that is just about the opposite of low-key. Although Syl basically ships Kal and any attractive woman who looks twice at him; she thinks that having a girlfriend will fix his depression, and also she seems to believe that "get your Knight laid" is just part of the Radiant Spren duties, for reasons that doubtlessly make perfect sense in her head and nowhere else. OB Ch 76 Honestly that's fair. And yeah Syl is a bit overzealous but I guess she's had to put up with grumpy Kal for years at this point.
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Nov 13, 2023 05:45
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I'm 2/3 through Non-Frugal Wizard and . . . it kind of sucks. I'm hoping it has a good ending, but I'm doubting it.
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Nov 13, 2023 07:31
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Tokelau All Star posted:I'm 2/3 through Non-Frugal Wizard and . . . it kind of sucks. I'm hoping it has a good ending, but I'm doubting it. Yeah it is by far my least favorite of the secret projects, I'm not sure what he was thinking overall here but I guess kickstarter books are the place to fail.
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Nov 13, 2023 14:26
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Frugal Wizard is probably his worst book since Elantris. He just didn’t land its premise. I read some self published thing on Kindle Unlimited called Off to be the Wizard a few years ago, and it did the concept better. It still wasn’t good, but better than frugal wizard.
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Nov 13, 2023 14:50
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pik_d posted:White Sand spoilers: It's simpler than that. Hood has a jar of sand on the table he's using for his illusion, and it's apparently from Taldain because one side of the jar facing Shallan changes color, which indicates that someone is using Investiture in that direction
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Nov 13, 2023 15:43
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DarkHorse posted:It's simpler than that. Hood has a jar of sand on the table he's using for his illusion, and it's apparently from Taldain because one side of the jar facing Shallan changes color, which indicates that someone is using Investiture in that direction Surprise! Malazan is now in the cosmere!
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Nov 13, 2023 16:55
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DarkHorse posted:It's simpler than that. Hood has a jar of sand on the table he's using for his illusion, and it's apparently from Taldain because one side of the jar facing Shallan changes color, which indicates that someone is using Investiture in that direction (White Sand, OB) OK, so the sand is changing color because it feeds off of the Investiture of Shallan's Illumination, Hoid is surprised his sand is changing colors, then sorta sees it "pointing" at her by looking at which side is changing color? I'm curious then if he logics out that she's Veil based on what is possible, or if he can somehow sense her (Aura Recognition from Warbreaker is the method I originally theorized).
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Nov 13, 2023 17:29
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