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The worst Stormlight book is EASILY the wait for the next one.
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Jan 7, 2024 01:24
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I’m doing a reread of the Stormlight books now. The first 25% or so of book 1 was a bit of a slog but then I found myself hooked again and was actively looking forward to stuff I knew was coming. I’m about 10% of the way into book 2 now and kinda going through the same thing but I’m worried what I’m looking forward to is in Oathbringer.
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Jan 7, 2024 01:34
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ConfusedUs posted:The worst Stormlight book is EASILY the wait for the next one.
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Jan 7, 2024 04:12
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The Lost Metal I blasted through this book, it was so much fun. There's definitely a ton of things left open or unanswered and I'm a little upset that we've got to wait the end of 2028 for Era 3. Most prominently, what the gently caress was up with the Bands of Mourning and the Southerner that seemed to expect things to go like they did. I'm baffled, but maybe we'll see them show up in another book. I really liked seeing Shai again, as well as Kaise and her seon. Knowing that Kaise may be one of the POVs for a second Elantris book, and seeing her here, makes me all that much more interested in that story. I've also got to say that Shai Forging herself into an Elantrian was one of the coolest things I've read in the Cosmere, even if TwinSoul has to now go convince Shay-i to effectively give up her life to return Shai back to her. I also feel bad for TwinSoul because his roseite mech moment was very cool, but immediately was overshadowed by Shai's transformation. It's also really interesting to see Hoid here, and seemingly permanently as he is Wax's driver. It makes me think a bit about the timeline between Stormlight and Era 2. My understanding is that Stormlight 1-5 are a bit before Era 2 and 6-10 will be after Era 2? I guess Autonomy (who isn't technically Trell after all, which is loving weird since that name shows up in White Sand.) was more interesting during this time period? Speaking of Autonomy, I really thought the army of Gold and Red was going to show up. I thought that it was a bit too easy that Marasi closed Autonomy's Perpindicularity. I figured there would be more than one, or they'd have more Dor or something. It felt a bit anticlimactic, even if it was nice that it mirrored Elend and Demoux's "eat all the Atium" plan at the end of Era 1. That was cute. Marasi working with, but ultimately rejecting, the Ghostbloods was fun. They absolutely have a different feel here than in the SA books, I'm curious how hands on Kelsier is with that crew given the difference. I'm also fully behind Marasi telling Kelsier to gently caress off given how slow he was to act against Autonomy. I'm also glad she got to wrap up the mystery of the kidnapped people from Alloy of Law. The Community was really loving weird though, and I wonder how many of them lost kids to suspicious deaths, so they could be used for Hemalurgy. The non-lethal Hemalurgy seemed like a new thing. I'm also glad Marsh showed up again, and had a few separate scenes, but also that there was a legit reason that he wasn't a "press to win" button. When he was looking older I figured that Atium was definitely coming back, but he's just "fine" at the end based on some undisclosed "treatment". I'm wondering if it's Dor, or some new use of Hemalurgy. It's also pretty cool that Khriss apparently got to talk to him, makes me wonder when we'll see Hemalurgy outside of Scadrial. Harmony has it rough, and it was even mentioned that "Discord is near", which I assume is the dark ghost Sazed? But at least Autonomy has hosed off for a while, and Sazed can maybe do some things? Kelsier still seems unhappy with him, I kinda love that Kelsier thinks he knows better than a Shard Vessel, and I'm a little worried that he might be right, given how sketchy things were. Wax and Wayne were so much fun. Wax had a similar "larger than life" feeling that Kelsier had, but I think he kept his head on (literally and figuratively) better. I really wanted him to become a Mistborn, and was hoping the red vial was Lerasium. I was half right with that, I suppose. Wayne got to be the Mistborn, if only for a few minutes. When MeLaan left Wayne, and he got his affairs in order for Allriandre, and forgave himself enough to use a gun again, I think Brandon wanted to let us know he wasn't going to make it. I hoped, for sure, but that was rough. When Wayne was stumbling into being rich midway through the book, he felt like a slapstick Batman. Named Wayne, philanthropist while not considering that his true self, uses disguises to fight crime, avoided guns, both orphans. Does that make Wax Superman? Is Marasi Wonder Woman and Allik her Steve Trevor? The Lost Metal is still loving lost though  They can't really make enough Atium (or any Lerasium) for it to not be "lost". And Wax is maybe sorta a Mistborn? But who fuckin cares, he'll be dead by Era 3 so what was the point of that?All I've got left are the Secret Projects, but being finished up with all current Stormlight and Mistborn books feels like a pretty big milestone. Edit: Oh yeah RIP Telsin I guess, she went out like a wet fart. Harmony severed the Connection and Autonomy just left. Full Stormlight/Rhythm of War spoilers (@Mordiceius more like NOrdiceius): Just fuckin lmao that RoW ended with Raboniel blowing herself up in a lab experiment with opposing Investitures, and TLM started with Wax blowing himself up in a lab experiment with opposing Investitures. Also Mraize is a fucker and Kelsier needs to clean up his Roshar crew. I feel like Shallan would like a crew like Shai and TwinSoul. Mraize can do one and Iyatil was cool, but just disappeared in the SA books (though is apparently still around, according to this book). I really thought the men of Gold and Red would be corrupted Iriali, but that doesn't fit really. And were the red haired people that MeLaan saw in her epigraph Horneaters?  Progress so far: 
pik_d fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Jan 7, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 04:15
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pik_d posted:The Lost Metal Having read the Lost Metal prior to starting Stormlight, it certainly makes a come situations in The Way of Kinds read incredibly different. Majority of my "no pik_d" spoiler bars when going through Stormlight have just been me hootin and hollerin in excitement for the Ghostbloods
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Jan 7, 2024 05:01
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Tunicate posted:Why do you say that when RoW isright there big mean giraffe posted:I used to think you were a good poster but this is the worst opinion I've ever read big mean giraffe posted:Hoid was a normal human birthed pre-shattering so there's about a 0% chance this is accurate, considering he was a key player in the Shattering itself
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Jan 7, 2024 05:05
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Mordiceius posted:Having read the Lost Metal prior to starting Stormlight, it certainly makes a come situations in The Way of Kinds read incredibly different. Yeah I went back and looked at them! Pretty wild that Thaidakar is namedropped in the first Stormlight book back from 2010. Brandon really dragged that one out. Makes me wonder how your experience with the Ghostbloods will continue to evolve over the next few Stormlight books.
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Jan 7, 2024 05:07
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pik_d posted:Yeah I went back and looked at them! Pretty wild that Thaidakar is namedropped in the first Stormlight book back from 2010. Brandon really dragged that one out. Makes me wonder how your experience with the Ghostbloods will continue to evolve over the next few Stormlight books. Just wanted to let you know, it was possible to figure out that Thaidakar was Kelsier after RoW. Wit gave Shallan a message for Mraize: The Ghostbloods should be careful, or he (Wit/Hoid) would come back and beat up Thaidakar again. Now, there's only one person that we saw Hoid beat up on-stage, and that was Kelsier in Secret History. Coupled with the fact that Mraize revealed that Thaidakar was suffering from something similar as the cognitive shadow Heralds, and the fact that the Ghostbloods were a non-Scadrian organization, it was pretty clear who Thraidakar was. But fandom took a bit to connect the dots. But based on Hoid's threat to Mraize/Kelsier, and the fact that Hoid was already kind of screwing with Kelsier in Bands of Mourning (by giving out that coin that made Wax see Kelsier with the Southern Scadrians), it seems like at least some more conflict between the Ghostbloods and Hoid is in the cards for Era 3.
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Jan 7, 2024 07:20
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Torrannor posted:Just wanted to let you know, it was possible to figure out that Thaidakar was Kelsier after RoW. Wit gave Shallan a message for Mraize: The Ghostbloods should be careful, or he (Wit/Hoid) would come back and beat up Thaidakar again. Now, there's only one person that we saw Hoid beat up on-stage, and that was Kelsier in Secret History. Coupled with the fact that Mraize revealed that Thaidakar was suffering from something similar as the cognitive shadow Heralds, and the fact that the Ghostbloods were a non-Scadrian organization, it was pretty clear who Thraidakar was. But fandom took a bit to connect the dots.
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Jan 7, 2024 07:35
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CapnAndy posted:I'm sorry but I stand by this, at least by RoW everyone has their superpowers .? That is kind of the opposite of row's plot. But worst flashbacks by far we learn essentially nothing about the listeners, except that the racist alethi in book one were correct that they had no art or culture and anything they had that looked like it did was looted from human ruins, very repetitive main plot, featuring the type of villain you'd see in an anime filler arc. Also, one of the more interesting antagonist characters lost all nuance and became a brainwashed zombie offscreen Tunicate fucked around with this message at 11:18 on Jan 7, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 11:11
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Torrannor posted:Just wanted to let you know, it was possible to figure out that Thaidakar was Kelsier after RoW. Wit gave Shallan a message for Mraize: The Ghostbloods should be careful, or he (Wit/Hoid) would come back and beat up Thaidakar again. Now, there's only one person that we saw Hoid beat up on-stage, and that was Kelsier in Secret History. Coupled with the fact that Mraize revealed that Thaidakar was suffering from something similar as the cognitive shadow Heralds, and the fact that the Ghostbloods were a non-Scadrian organization, it was pretty clear who Thraidakar was. But fandom took a bit to connect the dots. CapnAndy posted:Thaidakar was also referred to as the Lord of Scars. Yeah, I caught the (RoW/TLM spoilers)Lord of Scars thing, but missed that Hoid mentioned kicking his rear end again in connection to Secret History. pik_d posted:And Thaidakar is the "Lord of scars" according to Wit, which feels very much like a Kelsier "scars on my hands" thing to be called. With the Ghostblood connection to Scadrial, I'm pretty sure about that one, guess I'll find out in The Lost Metal?
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Jan 7, 2024 16:31
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Hoid, pre-shattering
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Jan 8, 2024 16:05
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I've dubbed this year my year of fantasy and nonfiction, and I've started it by reading Elantris. I have Mistborn on my shelf for later and I read Warbreaker last year. I'm enjoying Elantris so far about halfway through. It's a super quick and digestible read. One question I have is about Sanderson's writing. I've lost count of how many times characters have regarded things "with a critical eye." There are critical eyes all over this book. I've read that his writing improves in later books (as to be expected), but please, tell me that his editors realized how often he uses this expression because it's become a fast pet peeve with how often it occurs. You don't even need a critical eye to notice it. Besides that, it's like reading an RPG campaign and I'm quite down with it.
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Jan 9, 2024 08:24
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Fun Times! posted:I've lost count of how many times characters have regarded things "with a critical eye." There are critical eyes all over this book. I raised an eyebrow at this. Honestly never noticed the critical eye before.
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Jan 9, 2024 08:40
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Fun Times! posted:I've dubbed this year my year of fantasy and nonfiction, and I've started it by reading Elantris. I have Mistborn on my shelf for later and I read Warbreaker last year. The writing definitely improves as the books go on, but he still has very utilitarian prose and repeats certain phrases like this fairly often. The main things that improve over time are pacing, characters, and plot.
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Jan 9, 2024 09:11
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OK, I searched the ebook with a critical eye and found barely 7 references. No wonder nobody drinks for it.
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Jan 9, 2024 10:23
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Fun Times! posted:I've dubbed this year my year of fantasy and nonfiction, and I've started it by reading Elantris. I have Mistborn on my shelf for later and I read Warbreaker last year. Elantris is his first published novel and it shows. Most people recommend starting with Mistborn for that reason. Elantris does have one of the best characters ever in it, though
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Jan 9, 2024 15:00
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I’m reading (and really enjoying) The Well of Ascension. I’ve only read Warbreaker and TFE before this, and I read both of them about a year ago. I just want to confirm something: I got to a part just now where OreSeur is telling Vin about Kandra prophecies, and he says something like “yours are people of Ruin, mine are of Preservation” (with the capitalization). I’m almost certain based on what I’ve accidentally read about the rest of the Cosmere that this means something pretty significant (not sure exactly what, though), but based on what I’ve read so far I have no reason to assume this means anything other than the literal definition of ruin/preservation, right? I haven’t missed/forgotten anything significant?
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Jan 9, 2024 15:19
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That is the first time those words have come up, but capitalized words are important and that alone says that the words mean more than their dictionary definitions.
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Jan 9, 2024 15:25
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Cheers
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Jan 9, 2024 15:32
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Now pik_d is the one who has to be careful with spoilers to not spoil the new readers, welcome to the club!  For something completely different, let's talk about Stormlight 5. Rhythm of War and Lost Metal spoilers:The current speculation situation for Stormlight 5 is pretty interesting. Even thought it hasn't come out yet, we can infer some things just from the fact that there will be a time skip, that Mistborn Era 2 takes place after SA5 but before SA6, and that we will see some characters get a lot more focus in the second half, meaning that time-skip can't be too long. So it will be a few years to perhaps two decades at most, imho. But Wit/Hoid did leave the planet to mess with Kelsier, so that's suggestive in some way. Now some Secret Projects spoilers, plus Sixth of the Dusk sequel spoilers, plus Stormlight 5 prologue spoilers:So the fact that there are some people on Roshar that Sigzil still cares about suggest that certain people have attained some form of immortality/longevity. And for me the most obvious method would be if we got a new set of Heralds. Which is very possible, as both Ishar in RoW, and the Stormfather (but maybe Ishar again??) in the SA5 prologue made clear. There's also the Rosharan/Scadrian colonizing conflict in the future, which maybe suggests Dalinar might become Taravodium's champion after all? I'm more or less still collecting my thoughts, but the amount of meta-knowledge we have to make informed speculation is pretty unusual, imho. But it's fun!
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Jan 9, 2024 21:42
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I still have the Secret Projects, reading Tress now which is fun and full of links to other worlds, but yeah I'm done with the "main" stuff and I'll be done with these in like 2 weeks
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Jan 9, 2024 22:01
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Torrannor posted:Now some Secret Projects spoilers, plus Sixth of the Dusk sequel spoilers, plus Stormlight 5 prologue spoilers:So the fact that there are some people on Roshar that Sigzil still cares about suggest that certain people have attained some form of immortality/longevity. And for me the most obvious method would be if we got a new set of Heralds. Which is very possible, as both Ishar in RoW, and the Stormfather (but maybe Ishar again??) in the SA5 prologue made clear. There's also the Rosharan/Scadrian colonizing conflict in the future, which maybe suggests Dalinar might become Taravodium's champion after all? I think the only thing that goes against "new Heralds" as a theory is that it's so clearly spelled out and almost necessary from what we know right now and maybe Brandon zags on us and does something completely different as a surprise. I am also officially casting my lot and hoping for "Dalinar's the baddy but he's not Taravangian's." I think rather than some uncomfortable long-term indentured servitude, it'd be a lot more fun and interesting for Dalinar to Unite Them and Wield Them With Honor, so to speak, and hold both Honor/Odium himself. This is perhaps just personal preference, but I would not look forward to a long-term plot about how Dalinar Is Forced To Do Evil Things compared to, say, Dalinar being 100% rational and "honorable" and doing things for justifiable reasons and becoming the bad guy anyways. Like, historical imperial conquest is full of people who claim the best reasons and believe in their moral justification, even when they're monsters, and I want that for Dalinar more than I want him tragically struggling to defy Taravodium or whatever
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Jan 9, 2024 22:07
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Torrannor posted:Now pik_d is the one who has to be careful with spoilers to not spoil the new readers, welcome to the club! As for the timeskip, I'd guess at a decade or so, if only because Lift has been walking around with a great big I'm Important In The Back Half sign on her forehead in every book. Maybe 15 years, just because it seems a bit weird to introduce Oroden if he's not gonna be a thing later.
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Jan 9, 2024 22:59
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I can't remember exactly how I found this video—I may even have seen it in this thread—but even if it's been posted here before it's worth posting again. A fan made a 90-second animatic opening for a hypothetical Stormlight anime (the first 20 seconds are disclaimers and acknowledgements): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RHFf4QPCMA I love everything about it, but my two favorite parts are 1) that the animator timed the action so that Oathbringer materializes in Dalinar's hand exactly 10 seconds after we saw him put his hand out for it, and 2) the shot of Syl flying circles around Kaladin in midair, complete with the zoom in to her expression.
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Jan 10, 2024 07:43
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Yeah, I'm sold, I'd watch that Netflix Anime.
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Jan 10, 2024 08:36
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Torrannor posted:Now pik_d is the one who has to be careful with spoilers to not spoil the new readers, welcome to the club! I've got some thoughts on where the cosmere could be going, I don't think it would happen in Stormlight 5 but its just where I kinda see the series heading at some point Up to date cosmere spoilers: So we know there's a lot of Scadrian/Rosharan tension going on and conflict between them feels kinda inevitable at this point.Taravangian as Odium is going to be a lot of fun which is why I think he's going to survive and pull off at least a partial victory in SA5. I feel like the back half of the SA is going to have Odium and Honor combine into War with Dalinar as shardbearer, and this is going to set the stage for War/Roshar vs Discord/Scadrial. Sazed and Dalinar are both good dudes and depending on how far into the future the cosmere goes after SA2/the next Mistborn era there's plenty of time for them both to be changed or corrupted by their shards as we've already see happen with Sazed. It sets up a fun conflict dynamic, idk if I could see Sanderson turning either of them into outright villains but that's an option and you've also got them teaming up against Autonomy.
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Jan 10, 2024 10:41
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All Cosmere spoilers: Dalinar is my favorite Sanderson character, and Sazed is in the top 10. I would be crushed if one or even both of them become villains 
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Jan 10, 2024 14:23
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That anime opening is cool as hell. Also, all Stormlight Spoilers (including SA5): I think I'm misunderstanding the timeskip under discussion - RoW spends the entire interminably long book setting up to the contest of champions in just a few days after the book ends, Sando's not going to timeskip right past that, right? the 10-15 year timeskip is between SA5 <--> SA6?
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Jan 10, 2024 18:32
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zombienietzsche posted:Also, all Stormlight Spoilers (including SA5): I think I'm misunderstanding the timeskip under discussion - RoW spends the entire interminably long book setting up to the contest of champions in just a few days after the book ends, Sando's not going to timeskip right past that, right? the 10-15 year timeskip is between SA5 <--> SA6?
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Jan 10, 2024 18:37
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Nah he's skipping 20 years into the future and the whole plot of the book is Kaladin waking up from a coma nd trying to figure out who won.
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Jan 10, 2024 18:43
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Speaking of Stormlight - after 60 hours across two books - Shallan has finally met Kaladin on the outskirts of the Shattered Plains. Also, I really don't like Tyn. I do not trust her at all. She seems like a distraction and I don't like characters who it seems like their whole purpose is to slow the plot from moving forward.
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Jan 10, 2024 18:47
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Tunicate posted:Nah he's skipping 20 years into the future and the whole plot of the book is Kaladin waking up from a coma nd trying to figure out who won. That could be a sick short story idea to take place before SA6
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Jan 10, 2024 19:03
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Lt Jon Kavanaugh posted:I've got some thoughts on where the cosmere could be going, I don't think it would happen in Stormlight 5 but its just where I kinda see the series heading at some point Future Cosmere speculation: Since we're probably going to have Discord and War, do y'all think any other Shards will combine to oppose them? I feel like there's too much obvious Autonomy setup for her to be the final boss and she's going to end up getting ganked by Whimsy or something.
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Jan 10, 2024 20:57
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Ojjeorago posted:Future Cosmere speculation: Since we're probably going to have Discord and War, do y'all think any other Shards will combine to oppose them? I feel like there's too much obvious Autonomy setup for her to be the final boss and she's going to end up getting ganked by Whimsy or something. I think one of the biggest questions of that scenario is what is Cultivation doing? Are they working with War or against them?
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Jan 10, 2024 21:04
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I don't find the speculation that combining Odium and Honor would result in War persuasive. By the same logic, combining the shards of Cultivation and Honor would result in Tower, which is nonsensical. War is a much more limited concept than either emotion (which is what Odium really is) or honor.
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Jan 10, 2024 21:12
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CapnAndy posted:I don't find the speculation that combining Odium and Honor would result in War persuasive. By the same logic, combining the shards of Cultivation and Honor would result in Tower, which is nonsensical. War is a much more limited concept than either emotion (which is what Odium really is) or honor. all cosmere I do think this is a good point, while the bearer's intent matters and someone might think of that as War and effectively become it, it's hardly necessary. It's easy to imagine something more like the Skybreaker 'Crusade' deal: God's Divine Anger being used with Honor to fight wrongdoing, for instance. That might, to someone like Dalinar, be something more like "Justice" or something along those lines where he's really not a bad guy -- but it could still result in a lot of war anyways eke out fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jan 10, 2024 |
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Jan 10, 2024 21:23
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Torrannor posted:All Cosmere spoilers: Dalinar is my favorite Sanderson character, and Sazed is in the top 10. I would be crushed if one or even both of them become villains always have been
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Jan 11, 2024 01:51
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Tress of the Emerald Sea Done with the first of the Secret Projects, and it was quite a fun story with a million references packed into it. From the Iriali having lived here at one point, to Death with nails for eyes, to the Aethers and Elantrains. And dragons. Tress was quite fun, as Hoid put it she was unique because she had the capacity to sit back and think about her actions, which led to her being a mini-Navani style scientist of making things go boom but also inventing some really cool tools. I don't think I was ever worried about a sad ending, since I knew this book was a gift for his wife, but it was very nice to see things work out. I do also feel like one of the lessons here was a rehash of "let others save you too, Kaladin," but I'm OK with that. I have to admit I didn't see the two big twists coming. Didn't see that Huck was Charlie, nor did I guess that the Sorceress was going to be an Elantrian. I thought maybe the Sorceress was doing what Tress was doing with controlling the vines, but was way better at it. Hoid also got another level up, finally achieving his goal in Elantris. And I guess now Elantrians can just induct others into their radioactive lookin rear end club? Why not. That, plus Riina (guess she split from the Ire) having a laptop and rocket ship push this pretty far forward in the timeline. I know it'll have to be a while, but I'd like to see Tress, or someone else from this world, pop up in Mistborn Era 3 or 4, or in the back half of the Stormlight Archive. I assume if she keeps experimenting with spores she'll become a real powerhouse. Progress so far: 
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Jan 12, 2024 01:09
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I don’t think there were any hints about your second big twist, but Sanderson dropped enough crumbs that the first twist was guessable. I also enjoyed how connected Tress was, and even though I didn’t care for the narrative *style* I enjoyed the non-narrator characters and the story.
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Jan 12, 2024 01:28
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