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eke out posted:re: sunlit man Would also tie in well with the people of Canticle fleeing from Threnody and the fallout of Ambition's wounding only for their exodus to lead them right to Ambition's future home. I also wonder if the ghosts of the dead being much better behaved and less murderous on Canticle compared to Threnody is a side effect of being near their shard's remnant where the magic can be better regulated. Also the final scene in the novella where Sig sees some Sho Del aliens on his next destination planet could also be a wink from the author because he's stated elsewhere that Ambition's shardholder was a Sho Del named Uli Da.
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Nov 28, 2023 02:27
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Subvisual Haze posted:My guess would be the core of the planet that keeps sucking up investiture is the remnants of the shard Ambition slowly reconstituting itself. We're told in the Arcanum Unbound that Ambition was the first shard shattered by Odium, and chunks of Ambition's power being torn off is what caused Threnody's magic to be such a mess with The Evil and murderous ghosts. We're also told though that Ambition was killed in a different unnamed location after being wounded. Maybe this planet is her graveyard/resurrection device. it would be a huge shame if Ambition didn't have some kind of crazy plans going in the cosmere, frankly, so i hope something like this ends up being the case i thought maybe it was them because the whole theming of the world, constantly having to build, move, change, etc. but it could just as easily fit Invention or probably others
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Nov 28, 2023 02:41
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pik_d posted:(Fake RoW spoilers since I haven't read it) This is absolutely amazing, you must come back to this once you've finished RoW! Mordiceius posted:
Luckily, this is Shallan's book, so you will get that time with Shallan  Great post as well. You and pik_d are really perceptive. I didn't know that Kramer uses the same voice for Lopen and Wayne, but it obviously makes sense.
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Nov 28, 2023 07:23
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Started Stormlight Book 1. Szeth is really playing Gravity Rush while everyone else is playing Dark Souls huh?
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Nov 28, 2023 21:59
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Nitrousoxide posted:Started Stormlight Book 1. Szeth is really playing Gravity Rush while everyone else is playing Dark Souls huh?
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Nov 28, 2023 22:05
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Last night, my wife and I were chatting about the audiobooks we've each been working through (we call them our "book report" check-ins) and I'm definitely starting to appreciate the world building in the Stormlight Archive more. She's working through Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga and so I get updates on that but most of what she hears from me is me bitching about Kaladin. Hah. She started asking more about the general setting of Roshar and such and it just made me appreciate the worldbuilding aspects of The Way of Kings a lot more. I still think the book isn't good. The plot itself drags and nothing happens over 90% of the book, but I feel like I appreciate The Way of Kings a bit more than when I first finished it. You can have a lot of good worldbuilding and still have a book where story happens. Regardless, I feel like I need to make a slight adjustment to my Sanderson Rankings. quote:CURRENT SANDERSON RANKINGS - Looking at this list, I know there's a lot of controversy for where I placed The Emperor's Soul but I feel like I just wanted more from that story. It's a good story! But I wanted more time with it. It was over far too quickly for me to get too invested in the story and characters. The list, in a way, is a bit of an unfair way to represent them as it makes it seem like the step in my affection for each book. In actuality, probably everything from The Final Empire to The Emperor's Soul, I would give either a 5/5 or a 4/5, then Well of Ascension would be a single 3/5, then the others are 2/5 or less.
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Nov 28, 2023 23:38
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Mordiceius posted:Last night, my wife and I were chatting about the audiobooks we've each been working through (we call them our "book report" check-ins) and I'm definitely starting to appreciate the world building in the Stormlight Archive more. She's working through Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga and so I get updates on that but most of what she hears from me is me bitching about Kaladin. Hah. She started asking more about the general setting of Roshar and such and it just made me appreciate the worldbuilding aspects of The Way of Kings a lot more. I still think the book isn't good. The plot itself drags and nothing happens over 90% of the book, but I feel like I appreciate The Way of Kings a bit more than when I first finished it. You can have a lot of good worldbuilding and still have a book where story happens. You definitely went through the feels we all did relative to the whole "when are they going to get to the firework factory" vibe of TWoK and I was confident you'd find renewed appreciation of it once you got past the hump. It's a good book, just long, and unfamiliarity of the world that's supposed to span across ten 1,200+ page books means you're confused for the first 70%. I remember telling my friend "I'm on page 800 and I have no loving clue what's going on still". I also have the Green Bone saga queued up for eventual read, I've heard nothing but good things about it. Now that I've finished the Children of Time trilogy (phenomenal) and My Best Friend's Exorcism (not scary, but fun), I'm playing catch up with the last three secret project books. I'm only about 60 pages into Frugal Wizard and I think it's fun so far! I'm going in with zero expectations knowing people didn't like it very much but the general concepts are interesting despite the generic story so far. I forget how easy it is to read a Sanderson novel compared to Tchaikovsky or McCarthy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Nov 29, 2023 01:04
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TWoK is probably my 2nd favorite Cosmere book. If you could take out all the Shallan parts and add more Kaladin parts it'd be perfect
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Nov 29, 2023 01:17
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big mean giraffe posted:TWoK is probably my 2nd favorite Cosmere book. If you could take out all the Shallan parts and add more Kaladin parts it'd be perfect I'm glad that there are a variety of cosmere books to appeal to different people because this take, to me, is insane. Every time I get to a Kaladin chapter (even to the point I'm in with WoR), I immediately wish I was in a Shallan or Dalinar chapter. I find Kaladin immensely frustrating. Louisgod posted:You definitely went through the feels we all did relative to the whole "when are they going to get to the firework factory" vibe of TWoK and I was confident you'd find renewed appreciation of it once you got past the hump. It's a good book, just long, and unfamiliarity of the world that's supposed to span across ten 1,200+ page books means you're confused for the first 70%. I remember telling my friend "I'm on page 800 and I have no loving clue what's going on still". I also have the Green Bone saga queued up for eventual read, I've heard nothing but good things about it. Yeah, in a way, I almost feel like the best way to experience The Way of Kings would be to watch a 60 minute documentary/recap of the first 80% of the book and then go read the last 20%. Regarding Green Bone Saga - my wife describes it as 75% The Godfather and 25% Like A Dragon/Yakuza. If you're the kind of person that loves interpersonal drama mixed with crime families, it's the series for you.
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Nov 29, 2023 01:22
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Mordiceius posted:I'm glad that there are a variety of cosmere books to appeal to different people because this take, to me, is insane. Every time I get to a Kaladin chapter (even to the point I'm in with WoR), I immediately wish I was in a Shallan or Dalinar chapter. I find Kaladin immensely frustrating. There's something in it for everyone. I read WOK in December 2020, in the dark depths of the pandemic when I hated my job, my life, and didn't want to do poo poo. Kaladin's path really hit me, and even inspired me.
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Nov 29, 2023 02:34
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I'm like 10% into the audiobook of TWoK and I'm really digging it. It's got a ton of production value; being all done up like a radio play with several different VA's and music and some mild sound effects.
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Nov 29, 2023 02:38
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I love Dawnshard, excited to see what pik thinks
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Nov 29, 2023 02:44
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Nitrousoxide posted:I'm like 10% into the audiobook of TWoK and I'm really digging it. It's got a ton of production value; being all done up like a radio play with several different VA's and music and some mild sound effects. I'd be curious about the Graphic Audio version of the Stormlight Archive. I really liked their version of Warbreaker. The person they had for Lightsong was particularly fantastic.
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Nov 29, 2023 02:50
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Some of y'all wanted me to go back and look at some of the epigraphs from the previous books, I've done WoK today, might do WoR tomorrow. I'm going to start Dawnshard tonight so this set is pre-Dawnshard but the others will be some amount of having read it. The skipped chapters are only the flashbacks, and I haven't copied the epigraph in as this is already going to be super loving long. I also didn't go back and edit anything if I changed my mind later based on other epigraphs, it's all just in the moment first reaction thoughts. Spoilers up to Oathbringer: Death Rattles Prologue Seems to be predicting the Everstorm is 1000 days away, but the years are 500 days and the Everstorm started at the end of 1173/beginning of 1174 so I'm not sure the math maths since this was recorded in Shash (7th month) of 1171, that puts it more like 1225 days away. Am I being too specific? Maybe. Chapter 1 "You've killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die!", Either t he subject is aware of what's going on, or I have no idea. Chapter 2 Talking about the ten orders of the Radiants and the disappearance/death of Honor. "shard of my soul" seems tied into the fact that Ash felt Jezrien die in her heart. Chapter 3 Potentially referring to Nohadon, or possibly Daliner watching Alethkar fall to the Parshendi. Chapter 4 Subject is aware he's being killed, and can see into Shadesmar. Chapter 5 Simply fortelling the True Desolation/Everstorm. Chapter 6 I wonder if the rain is the weather getting fucky when the Everstorm starts? Chapter 7 Describing the Parshendi as Voidbringers with their multicolored skin. Chapter 8 Describing the early desolations where the Voidbringers are sent away to Damnation/Braize, and the humans have taken over the Parshendi land. Chapter 9 "Ten people, with Shardblades alight", might be the Heralds with Honorblades, or maybe one of each Order, or even simply ten Shardbearers, definitely facing off against an army of Parshendi. Chapter 11 There used to be three Shards, but now Odium "the Broken One" is in control as Honor is dead and Cultivation is in hiding. Chapters 12-28 Hoid's missive to... I still don't know for sure. As Sazed learns of Hoid in a later epigraph missive (and I hope these things are vaguely in order) I don't think it's him. It is someone at least somewhat associated with the Seventeenth Shard obviously, possibly also a literal reptile. I also don't know what "the element" is. It could be an individual, one of those perfect gems (though that's recency bias since I just learned of them), or maybe even a Dawnshard (I'm about to read that book!!) But it is someone Hoid consider's a friend which does seem to narrow it down to... some Shard that I don't know. Jasnah's notes Chapter 29 The Parshendi, duh. Chapter 30 Describing the Desolations as things that happened suddenly in the past. Chapter 32 Sounds like the Parshendi used to live in Urithiru, and possibly built it (with the help of spren/Shards) Chapter 33 Describing how the Parshendi changed forms. Chapter 34 Nohadon's walk that he did somehow literally make on foot? Maybe he was Invested, a surgebinder, to make an "impossible" trip like that? Chapter 35 Seems to contradict Chapter 32 if my thoughts about the Parshendi living in Urithiru is true, if many wish it built in Alethela. One of these could be a fabrication, or Chapter 32 is about some other city high up in towers? Chapter 36 Dawnshards are "known to bind any creature voidish or mortal", very good information given what I'm about to read. Chapter 38 I think Jasnah wants this to be about Parshendi, and it might be, but I'm not 100% sure. Chapter 39 Alezarv traveled a distance that would have taken four months on foot in a heartbeat. Probably Oathgates? Alezarv isn't mentioned anywhere else. Chapter 40 Parshendi. Chapter 42 Describing the timing of Desolations. Chapter 43 Some Parshendi stuck around around, obviously they weren't all killed, waiting for the Voidspren to come back. Apparently they were the boogeymen. Chapter 45 Yoooooo Yelig-nar mention. Sup bud. Chapter 46 Probably reflecting on Radiants/Urithiru from shortly before the Recreance. Chapter 48 This could be a few things, burned skin sounds like Parshendi, but taking away the light sounds like the Churi-Churi bugs. Or metaphoric light, I suppose. Chapter 49 Jasnah's note summarizes it well enough, a ketek about Urithiru being the home/"birthplace" of the Radiants. Chapter 50 Parshendi description. Chapter 52 I wonder if this is someone reflecting on what they've done after fighting for blades after the Recreance? Or maybe one of Amaram's/Sadeas's army at the end of Oathbringer after the Thrill leaves them? Chatper 53 Dalinar must pick up the fallen title (Radiants), the tower (Urithiru), the crown (Highking??), and the spear (...Kaladin?) Chapter 54 Taln upon realizing he's alone among the Heralds in Damnation. Chapter 55 Ash destroying the artistic depictions of herself Chapter 56 I wonder if the Everstorm will actually be making the world darker? Will Odium and his forces actually change the world like that? Chapter 57 If this child is old enough to talk (I don't think so if they're still suckling) then it may be someone killing them for a death rattle. If the child is not old enough to talk... no clue. Also in this chapter Maps of Bridge Four had a death rattle about Thunderclasts. Chapter 58 Sup Re-Shephir. Just doin your violence mimicing thing Chapter 59 The words and oaths are obviously Raidant stuff, but the "feast I must drink clings to their faces"... Stormlight? Investiture of some kind? Chapter 60 A sort of "I'm done now" version of the first Ideal Chapter 61 Is... is that Szeth? Chapter 62 More stuff about darkness, feels like Odium might be turning the world dark at some point? Chapter 63 Hah, someone who had a death rattle told Taravangian to go gently caress himself. Nice. Chapter 64 Kaladin and Shallan returning from falling into the Shattered Plains after killing the Chasmfiend. I definitely talked about this one before, maybe here, maybe with others. Chapter 65 Thunderclasts again. Chapter 66 Another clue that the Parshendi are the "Voidbringers" Chapter 67 Dai-Gonarthis is the Unmade I know the least about, but it seems to consume this person's emotions. Chapter 68 This mentioned "Final Desolation" is the one where the Heralds did their thing, this person sees the Everstorm. Chapter 69 (nice) Again Szeth, he stands against Nale, he protects Dalinar. Interesting that the storm responds to him raising his hand. Progress so far: 
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Nov 29, 2023 02:58
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Chapter 59: remember that the Listener warriors in the Shattered Plains fought with imbued gemstones woven into their beards. Chapter 69 epigraph is actually Kaladin reviving Syl and gaining his blade. Read it again. You will, in fact, notice that basically every important event in Kaladin’s journey is foreshadowed.
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Nov 29, 2023 03:26
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Not that I'm not loving all the Stormlight read through notes, but has anyone read Defiant yet? I've been putting it off because Tor wants $10.99 for the ebook and just, ugh, it's not that much more than the $10 per ebook for the secret projects but somehow that extra digit in the price just puts me off. Please tell me he nailed the ending and it is not as meh as Starsight and Cytonic were. I'm hoping for a return to the things that made Skyward awesome which, speaking of, I'm currently reading to my daughter after I somehow found myself explaining the Fermi paradox to a six year old and was asked what we should do if aliens turned out to be real and tried to destroy the planet. So far she's digging it.
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Nov 29, 2023 11:48
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Mordiceius posted:I'd be curious about the Graphic Audio version of the Stormlight Archive. I really liked their version of Warbreaker. The person they had for Lightsong was particularly fantastic. Funny… Warbreaker is ok, but I feel like it was the worst of their Cosmere audiobooks. It and Elantris were very early productions (4 years before they started on Mistborn and 7 years before Stormlight). The audio balance between voice actors, narrator, music, and sound effects is a bit off. There are frequently bits where the music or other sounds drown out the voices too much. (In fairness this may not be as much of a problem with headphones vs listening in the car like I usually do.) Stormlight was done better, so if you liked Warbreaker, you should definitely like it. I think I mentioned here a few weeks back that they really get Lopen right. There’s a big caveat though, which is that the series has been going so long they’ve started losing voice actors and the replacements in later books are sometimes not as good. In particular I dislike the new narrator in RoW.
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Nov 29, 2023 12:55
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its HIM posted:Funny… Warbreaker is ok, but I feel like it was the worst of their Cosmere audiobooks. It and Elantris were very early productions (4 years before they started on Mistborn and 7 years before Stormlight). The audio balance between voice actors, narrator, music, and sound effects is a bit off. There are frequently bits where the music or other sounds drown out the voices too much. (In fairness this may not be as much of a problem with headphones vs listening in the car like I usually do.) Ah. That makes sense. Yeah, there were definitely a couple points in the mix in Warbreaker where the dialog got lost in the other audio. Luckily, it wasn't too bad. I guess it says something for the Warbreaker solo narrator that I prefer the Graphic Audio version. I don't think the Warbreaker narrator is necessarily bad, but she just didn't have much range when it came to masculine voices. But I've often found that male narrators are better at having a range of feminine voices than female narrators are at masculine voices.  Though neither are as bad as the Elantris audiobook. I loathed the audiobook narrator and his self-satisfied sing-songy voice. On an unrelated note, I'm back to contemplating my feelings on The Way of Kings. On my commute today, I think I finally puzzled out one of the main reasons that TWoK didn't land for me - it's an antagonist problem. For me personally, I need books to have antagonists that get bested by the protagonists. That's not to say I need every antagonist to be bested. I just need there to be someone who gets defeated at the end. WoK Spoilers: The book spends its entire length setting up antagonists but never knocking down any of them in any meaningful way. Out of curiosity, I made a list of all of the people who could be seen as an "antagonist" role - Szeth - Kinda not really a direct antagonist. Still at large. Sadeas - His plan isn't successful, but he ends up with a Shardblade for it, so it was successful in a different way. Still at large. Amaram - Barely in the story. Still at large. Gaz - Disappears from the story at some point. No resolution. Lamaril - Very little presence and then gets one line about being executed off-page. Hashal - Disappears from the story at some point. No resolution. Kabsal - Only revealed to be an antagonist after he is killed. Taravangian - Only revealed to be an antagonist at the end of the book. Odium - Receives like two lines of mention across the entire book. Now, don't get me wrong, I love setting up antagonists for the long game. I'm sure, at some point, Sadeas is going to get gutted and I'm going to be hootin' and hollerin' when that happens. That being said, no antagonists get defeated by the three protags of WoK. And I personally found that deeply unsatisfying. I also think this is one of the elements that leads to some people having the sentiment of "WoK is a prequel to the Stormlight Archive." The character work they do is good, but I never felt "satisfied" during my time with the book. Even the Sanderlanche felt underwhelming. Compare this to each era of the Mistborn books - each era has an era-level antagonist but each book has book-level antagonists. I don't know if people like Gaz or Hashal will reappear, but I feel like they would have made good "book-level" antagonists. Mordiceius fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Nov 29, 2023 |
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Nov 29, 2023 18:53
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Leng posted:Not that I'm not loving all the Stormlight read through notes, but has anyone read Defiant yet? I liked where story ended, it’s satisfying but still gives him plenty of room to do more stuff in the universe. He could continue on with existing characters or start from scratch and both could work. I would still put Skyward and probably both novellas over Defiant. There is character growth that I think takes way too long which is annoying to read. Some it feels very Charlie Brown trying to kick a football.
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Nov 29, 2023 19:57
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Kaladin's actual antagonist is Kaladin
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Nov 29, 2023 20:29
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acumen posted:Kaladin's actual antagonist is Kaladin While true, I like when heroes punch dudes and slay villains!
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Nov 29, 2023 20:36
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Mordiceius posted:While true, I like when heroes punch dudes and slay villains! I mean the Conan series is decent.
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Nov 29, 2023 20:43
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TWoK had lots of antagonists, they're just not explicitly labeled as Big Baddies vs. Kaladin. Beyond Kaladin vs. Kaladin, wasn't there a Parshendi he and Adolin scuffled with (can't remember off the top of my head)? I'd also consider light eyes are general antagonists as well. Maybe even Szeth too.
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Nov 29, 2023 20:54
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Louisgod posted:TWoK had lots of antagonists, they're just not explicitly labeled as Big Baddies vs. Kaladin. Beyond Kaladin vs. Kaladin, wasn't there a Parshendi he and Adolin scuffled with (can't remember off the top of my head)? I'd also consider light eyes are general antagonists as well. Maybe even Szeth too. The amount of antagonists in the book isn't the problem. For me, I would have liked for even a single antagonist to get defeated. Instead the entire book is the antagonists dumping on the protagonists and the protagonists do not get a single victory over any of the antagonists. The closest thing to a victory is Dalinar not dying, but Sadeas got a shardeblade out of the deal. Obviously, this is a long series and majority of the antagonists are going to span multiple books. I would have just liked the satisfaction of a single antagonist getting any sort of comeuppance. None do.
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Nov 29, 2023 20:59
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acumen posted:Kaladin's actual antagonist is Kaladin This isn't limited to Kaladin, although it's most blatant with him. Stormlight is, ultimately, a series where the self is the enemy as much as (or more than) any external force. This manifests in many forms: mental illness, disability, PTSD, and neurodivergence are prominent in our protagonists. The fact that they're drop-kicking brightlords off horses, battling giant enemy crabs, staving off invasions, and raiding their enemies' all-you-can-eat buffets doesn't mean those things are the point. They're not. They're awsome, they're exciting, but they're conventional or mundane to us, the readers. I have read countless series where the ultimate badasses discover hidden powers and combat bad guys. Stormlight gives us an allegory into the struggles of everyday people that all the giant enemy crabs in the world cannot. A pile of laundry is to my partner as a party is to Dalinar. Both have to sack up and overcome their own self before they can do it. Not because the external enemy is hard, but because the self gets in the way; ADHD for my partner, his past as a warlord for Dalinar. Think about Kaladin. The only time he ever, ever loses a physical fight is when his self gets in the way. That's because the true enemy, the key antagonist, is the self, and the self is not defeated with force of arms, anime poses, and magic spirits. And every time he's come back from a loss to an external foe, it's because he's conquered himself. He's beaten that antagonist, yet again. The war is not over, but the battle was won.
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Nov 29, 2023 21:00
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Mordiceius posted:The amount of antagonists in the book isn't the problem. For me, I would have liked for even a single antagonist to get defeated. I hear you, the book effectively serves as a "part 1 of 3" type of setup ends on a "next time on Dragonball Z" cliffhanger with the promise of more to come. For me, the comeuppance was Kaladin overcoming the societal prejudices (and, y'know, the whole slavery thing) and finding something to live for. It's a more nebulous antagonist, I really liked it.
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Nov 29, 2023 21:10
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tWoK Antagonist talk I'd say Sadeas was beaten really, he lost the bridgecrews, his gambit to destroy Dalinar failed all he got was a hollow victory of a shardblade. Shallan started the book wanting a way to end her families dire straights and she ends the book very close to that goal so she defeated the antagonist that is poverty sorta.
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Nov 29, 2023 22:39
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As promised, my thoughts about the Words of Radiance epigraphs. Spoilers through Oathbringer. WoR Epigraphs Chapters 1-12 Just Navani talking about the buildup to the Fight that spawned the Everstorm Chapters 13-21, 29 The "old" listener forms, the ones not of power. Artform requires a creationspren, cool to get one of them confirmed to not just be a spren of the same name as the form. Interesting that Artform gets two stanzas, one about the form and one about the fact that it was lost. Chapters 22-25, 31 Stormform obviously was stronger than warform and was used to call the Everstorm. Nightform, Decayform, Smokeform, these are the new forms of power that haven't necessarily been called out. I assume these (and others) make up the "Regals" along with Venli's Envoyform. There are nightspren and decayspren, so those are probably used for those forms, not sure about the others though! Chapter 26 "They blame our people for the loss of that land" I assume this is about the Fused/Voidspren and the land is the Shattered Plains since "our gods" did not shatter them. Was it Odium then, or the Dawnshards? Chapter 28 Referring to the fact that the spren and listeners were both of Roshar and the humans were foreign invaders, yet the spren went with them. Chapter 30 Humans slowly conquering Roshar and the listeners seemingly being generous and caring towards them. Chapter 32 Spren betraying the listeners for humans because the bond was easier. The "smartest spren" are probably the spren that can form the Nahel bond. Chapter 33 There are various ways for listeners to bond spren too, from the storms, and whatever the gently caress happened with Venli's Timbre joining the Voidspren inside Venli. Chapter 34 The listeners (new?) gods were splinters of Odium, and nightform once again is mentioned as having some kind of future telling, and a mention of a champion. WoR excerpts Chapter 35 I've always been a little confused about whether the Heralds decided which bonds each spren would give, or if they simply figured it out. It seems like the Heralds dictated to the spren how it should work? Chapter 36 RIP Malata still being called a Dustbringer instead of Releaser, sucks for her I guess. Chapter 37 A lot of the "devine attributes" of the Orders do line up to the modern characters, though Shallan is definitely 50/50 on creative and honest. Chapter 38, 40 Sounds like the Windrunners were busy with something when knowledge of Odium's connection to humanity came out, but then they were very quick to start the Recreance when they learned? And who is Avena? Some Radiant or a historian? Chapter 41 The one that didn't abandon their arms is surely Nale's Skybreakers. Chapter 42 Ishi was given credit for heading the Orders and organizing the Surges. Makes sense given his was the Bondsmiths. Maybe he was able to forge together the blueprints for the bonds? And he currently wants to destroy all the Radiants, fits with his warning back then! Chapter 43 What the gently caress is a Revv toparchy? Chapter 44 I still sorta think there are three Bondsmith spren because there are three Shards of Roshar, one for each. What's the "time of Madasa" though? Chapter 46 Who is Simol? Honestly there's so many random names here it's sort of annoying. Chapter 47, 49 The Lightweavers providing "spiritual sustenance", are they the Therapy Order? Let's all ask Shallan to fix out problems. Chapter 50 Who is Invia and why is she so rude to the Willshapers? I haven't even seen any yet unless Venli has become one. Chapter 51 More random names. Sounds like Kazilah bonded a corrupted spren though? Chapter 52 Saying that the Truthwatchers don't talk of what they do is 100% Renarin, even with his corrupted Glys. Chapter 53 Makes sense that the Elsecallers are better at traversing through Shadesmar since both of their Surges seem to be related to that. Chapter 54 The Winderunners and Skybreakers seem to have a history of being at odds with each other? Being honorable and following laws not being the same?? Say it isn't so. Chapter 55 This makes me really interested in seeing what Szeth can do as he says the 4th and 5th Ideals. Chapter 56 It occurs to me that while Syl does seem to do more the more Ideal's Kaladin says, Pattern is still Pattern. He's smarter sure but his increase in abilities, if any, seems more like Shallan's increase in technique with her Illusions. Chapter 57 Sounds like Malchin was in the wrong Order if his Truths weren't right for his Cryptic. Chapter 58 Melishi's name came up again in the gem drawers in Urithiru. He had some kind of plan to trap Ba-Ado-Mishram. Not sure exactly how he leveraged the Bondsmiths though. Chapters 59-75 Surely just a return letter from the "old reptile" that Hoid messaged in WoK. Not sure what gemstone (there's a lot of them around!) he'll have given up on. I also wonder at what point someone outside of Roshar with a truely awesome amount of power will have a look in and say "hmm actually Rayse might break free, we should do something", but where's the fun in that? Diagram excerpts Chapter 76 The Radiants, clearly. Chapter 77 Talking about using Radiants, and the "dangers" of them. I think the introduction of Surgebinders has made the Diagram less accurate. Chapter 78 The Honorblades! Szeth got made Truthless over them. Chapter 79 Preservation!? Oh wait no just regular preservation, probably. This does give us Taravangian's most basic motive though. Chapter 80 You must become king. Of Everything. Why is Everything capitalized? Is it a place? That's probably a bit silly but still, I cannot accept that the ACTUAL way forward is Taravangian becoming the kind of Roshar (which technically isn't everything). Taravangian went to the Nightwatcher for this boon, but I do always wonder if Odium had something to do with the direction he took when authoring the Diagram. Chapter 81 Minimizing the possible use of the Unmade? Seems misleading. Chapter 82 Moelach and the death rattles are described as a distraction here, yet Taravangian spent a ton of effort on them. Chapter 83 "They" might be the Sons of Honor/Envisagers. "Ancient of Stones" is a phrase I glossed over and haven't seen elsewhere. Chapter 84 Well he's tried this, releasing the secret about Odium and humanity. Don't think it worked though, similar to when Sadeas leaked Dalinar's secrets before. I swear if one more idiot tries to lead Dalinar's secrets... Chapter 85 The wanderer has got to be Hoid, thought Adrotagia thinks it's Mraize. Could be either I guess! Either way it points at the fact that there's other worlds. Chapter 86 "One is almost certainly a traitor to the others." from the same drawer as the Unmade stuff, clearly talking about Sja-anat. Chapter 87 Lmao get hosed, the Blackthorn dies when he's ready. Chapter 88 The random dates one, I'm not even gonna try and figure that out. Chapter 89 Venli!!! It's Venli. Venli has the power. Venli will be the bridge. gently caress yes Venli.
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Nov 30, 2023 01:43
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Mordiceius posted:The amount of antagonists in the book isn't the problem. For me, I would have liked for even a single antagonist to get defeated. good god we get it
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Nov 30, 2023 03:09
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Mordiceius posted:The amount of antagonists in the book isn't the problem. For me, I would have liked for even a single antagonist to get defeated. I see your problem, and this is certainly one reason some people call TWoK a prologue for the whole series. Personally, I was quite satisfied with the two big victories at the end, surviving the Tower for Dalinar and Kaladin, and forcing Jasnah to accept her as her ward for Shallan. But I understand where you're coming from. I can reassure you, the other three books don't have the same issue as TWoK. pik_d posted:As promised, my thoughts about the Words of Radiance epigraphs. Spoilers through Oathbringer.[/spoiler] Did you notice the death rattle when Taravangian became king of Jah Keved?
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Nov 30, 2023 05:13
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He's right though, even Kaladin doesn't ever beat himself, I too find that unsatisfying in tWoK, but I find it greatly satisfying when paired with WoR and Oathbringer.
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Nov 30, 2023 05:36
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Apparently they did a run of secret project character pins? Annoying that wasn't really announced anywhere on the Kickstarter, I'd have probably grabbed a set. I'm sure they'll do another run, though. That Tress teacup is super cute, too.
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Nov 30, 2023 06:18
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Goddammit, I still want the book ones 
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Nov 30, 2023 06:59
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Louisgod posted:You definitely went through the feels we all did relative to the whole "when are they going to get to the firework factory" vibe of TWoK and I was confident you'd find renewed appreciation of it once you got past the hump. It's a good book, just long, and unfamiliarity of the world that's supposed to span across ten 1,200+ page books means you're confused for the first 70%. I remember telling my friend "I'm on page 800 and I have no loving clue what's going on still". I also have the Green Bone saga queued up for eventual read, I've heard nothing but good things about it. Echoing children of time ruled
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Nov 30, 2023 07:13
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Torrannor posted:Did you notice the death rattle when Taravangian became king of Jah Keved? WoR/Oathbringer quote:The king heaved a final gasp, eyes glazing over. “So the night will reign, for the choice of honor is life . . .” The choice of Honor is life, maybe that some choice that Honor made led to Odium reigning? Honor chose the life of humans? Clearly not his own since he gave up his life. Of course it could be honor and not Honor. Maybe the honorable decision being to live caused Odium's reign somehow?
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Nov 30, 2023 20:12
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He misheard. It's actually the 'knight' that will reign.
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Nov 30, 2023 20:29
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Maybe it was the evening weather forecast
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Nov 30, 2023 20:32
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One thing that's cracking me up in these books is how much characters bend over backwards to not say important details. This poo poo makes me laugh while rolling my eyes every time. "We had to kill the king because what he was going to do." "Yes, if he did that everything would be ruined!" "Kaladin couldn't forgive them for what they did to Tien." "Shallan refused to about that memory."
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Nov 30, 2023 20:50
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Rhythm of War definitely doesn’t have a problem with that /s
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Nov 30, 2023 20:52
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Mordiceius posted:One thing that's cracking me up in these books is how much characters bend over backwards to not say important details.
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Nov 30, 2023 21:01
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