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RoW does feature a lot more overt references to wider cosmere stuff than the previous Stormlight books, but definitely nothing that is required reading before getting into. Many people will recommend reading Warbreaker before Oathbringer, but you won't miss any major story things by not having read it first. I read up through Oathbringer before reading anything else from the cosmere and I have no regrets.
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Mar 1, 2024 04:58
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WoR - Chapter 84 "I will protect even those I hate..So long as it is right!" Chills. Literal. loving. Chills. Kaladin Stormblessed is a Knights Radiant. Ohhhhhhhh shitttttt. The way it all happened. My god. I see this scene playing out like Thor's transformation in Thor: Ragnarok where he suddenly feels worthy of his immense power because he realized he needed to be the person who would do what was right for all of Asguard (link for said scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_LZU7TdvWA.) Goddamnit, I love this book so much.
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Mar 2, 2024 05:33
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I finished Words of Radiance, and I have some thoughts, opinions, and predictions:
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Mar 2, 2024 12:29
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A Sneaker Broker posted:I finished Words of Radiance, and I have some thoughts, opinions, and predictions: Wow, these are some cool predictions. You're quite wrong on some, and quite close on others. I think you will really enjoy Oathbringer. I guess the Stormlight Archive books are your first Sanderson books? Sanderson has this big shared setting called the Cosmere. So his Mistborn books for example are set on a different planet, but it is possible to travel between these worlds, even if such travel is difficult and rare. There's some crossover, and SA is planned to be his big crossover series. But the books stand very well on their own, you won't have any trouble understanding things for not having read the other books. If you decide to try Sanderson's other works, I cannot recommend Mistborn high enough. And you should also definitely check out Warbringer, which you can read for free on Sanderson's website. Back to Stormlight Archive, after Words of Radiance, Edgedancer comes next, both chronologically and in publication order. It's about that girl who's Awesome. You can safely skip that novella if you want, but you might be interested to read it anyway. And between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War comes the novella Dawnshard. It's been a blast to read your posts. We always love to see new readers enjoy Sanderson.
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Mar 2, 2024 12:56
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Torrannor posted:Wow, these are some cool predictions. You're quite wrong on some, and quite close on others. I think you will really enjoy Oathbringer. I’m quickly breezing through Edgedancer. Then it’s off to Oathbringer.
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Mar 2, 2024 17:44
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Am I the only one who doesn't like Wit? Loved the bits where he was actually being the king's wit, but otherwise he's like if Tom Bombadil kept popping up throughout LOTR or some poo poo. It's probably because I haven't read any of the other cosmere stuff aside from Mistborn 1-3 and my assumption is that Wit is some broader cosmere character? Either way, characters who are seemingly well intentioned but act cryptic and withhold information for never-specified "bigger reasons" are one of my least favourite tropes in fantasy.
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Mar 2, 2024 20:32
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voiceless anal fricative posted:Am I the only one who doesn't like Wit? Loved the bits where he was actually being the king's wit, but otherwise he's like if Tom Bombadil kept popping up throughout LOTR or some poo poo. It's probably because I haven't read any of the other cosmere stuff aside from Mistborn 1-3 and my assumption is that Wit is some broader cosmere character? Either way, characters who are seemingly well intentioned but act cryptic and withhold information for never-specified "bigger reasons" are one of my least favourite tropes in fantasy. I'm on the fence. I think, at times, I feel like he seems too clever by half. But a lot of my opinion is being held until we get further progress in the Cosmere. Broader full Cosmere spoilers (view at your own discretion) - Wit is mainly known as Hoid (among many other names). He can be found in nearly every single Cosmere book in at least a minor role. You can kinda think of him as the Stan Lee of the BYU MCU. Except he is very connected to the past of the world. Specific Wit full Cosmere spoilers - Wit/Hoid was present at the Shattering of Adonalsium. Adonalsium was some cosmic capital G-God or cosmic force. Each piece of Adonalsium was taken up as a "shard" by one of the 16 people who committed the Shattering. Hoid was present but seemingly not pro-Shattering. He is clearly up to things behind the scenes and working to get the invested powers from each Shard. We do not know what his endgame is.
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Mar 2, 2024 20:46
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voiceless anal fricative posted:Am I the only one who doesn't like Wit? I find that Sanderson's comedy is usually some of his worst output, particularly when it comes to the characters who are supposed to be funny, so Wit is usually where my eyes glaze over in these books. He does have some good appearances though, particularly secret novels 1 & 3, where he's a useless idiot and a piece of furniture respectively. Also more seriously I liked his appearance in The Sunlit Man and I liked his cameo in Warbreaker.
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Mar 2, 2024 22:19
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voiceless anal fricative posted:Am I the only one who doesn't like Wit? You are not alone. I find his presence generally grating but I assume that’s intentional both on the character’s part and the author’s part.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:54
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voiceless anal fricative posted:Am I the only one who doesn't like Wit? Loved the bits where he was actually being the king's wit, but otherwise he's like if Tom Bombadil kept popping up throughout LOTR or some poo poo. It's probably because I haven't read any of the other cosmere stuff aside from Mistborn 1-3 and my assumption is that Wit is some broader cosmere character? Either way, characters who are seemingly well intentioned but act cryptic and withhold information for never-specified "bigger reasons" are one of my least favourite tropes in fantasy.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:52
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Mordiceius posted:Specific Wit full Cosmere spoilers - Wit/Hoid was present at the Shattering of Adonalsium. Adonalsium was some cosmic capital G-God or cosmic force. Each piece of Adonalsium was taken up as a "shard" by one of the 16 people who committed the Shattering. Hoid was present but seemingly not pro-Shattering. He is clearly up to things behind the scenes and working to get the invested powers from each Shard. We do not know what his endgame is. lol "present" is underselling it just a bit.
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Mar 3, 2024 02:05
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Mordiceius posted:
There's a good chance you know more than me and may well be correct, but my impression was he wasn't necessarily anti-shattering, he just didn't want to take a shard
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Mar 3, 2024 04:53
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It feels like more people than not dislike Wit in the series itself on some level.
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Mar 3, 2024 06:16
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He's got a lot of really great scenes especially in Stormlight, but there are definitely times where comes off as a self-indulgent author insert. His deeper character is really interesting and creative and I really enjoy basically every scene where he's being sincere with other characters. But when he's trying to be witty and quippy he gets really tiresome really fast, and any time he waxes poetic about how "stories are everything" I can't help but roll my eyes. It gives the same vibe as movies made about making movies, where everyone involved is just fellating themselves about how cool and awesome they are for making movies.
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Mar 3, 2024 06:39
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Taffer posted:He's got a lot of really great scenes especially in Stormlight, but there are definitely times where comes off as a self-indulgent author insert. His deeper character is really interesting and creative and I really enjoy basically every scene where he's being sincere with other characters. But when he's trying to be witty and quippy he gets really tiresome really fast, and any time he waxes poetic about how "stories are everything" I can't help but roll my eyes. It gives the same vibe as movies made about making movies, where everyone involved is just fellating themselves about how cool and awesome they are for making movies. I could not agree more. This is a great description and is basically where I stand on things.
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Mar 3, 2024 07:07
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Mordiceius posted:I could not agree more. This is a great description and is basically where I stand on things. 
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Mar 3, 2024 16:02
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I like Wit principally for two reasons. 1. I agree with him about how pivotal stories are to our lives. 2. He's the one character I wonder about most. I wonder just where he'll end up and why. I've seen some folks say he'll be a villain of sorts but I don't think so. His interactions with Shallan in WoR and OB are so incredibly sweet. It shows that he does actually care and that this isn't simply a personal vendetta for him. This is totally unrelated, but I've mentioned before in this thread I love Red Dead Redemption and see a lot of similarities between my favorite character there (Dutch van der Linde) and Kelsier. I was discussing this on reddit yesterday and when assessing their similarities or differences, Dutch's ego and his need for others to worship him came up. But there is a scene from Final Empire which has endlessly fascinated me and I've never forgotten it: quote:Kelsier said as the crowd began to make way for parents bringing their children forward. It seemed like everyone in the room wanted their sons to meet Kelsier personally. Vin watched with mixed feelings. The crew still had reservations regarding Kelsier’s rising fame with the skaa, though they kept their word and remained silent. It's kinda funny how reversed they are. Kel mostly didn't put on airs with his crew, he was only a messiah to the people he didn't really know. Dutch was a messiah to his crew and had no real interest in what wider society thought of him. But anyway, I've talked in the past about Sanderson's silly pronouncement that Kel is a psychopath. but I think it's more than likely a narcissist, same as Dutch. Narcissists are not incapable of feeling or caring about others, they just have a strong sense of self and their superiority to others. Kel seems to clearly view himself as a cut above the common folk. He might have dedicated himself wholeheartedly to helping the ska but he doesn't think of himself as being anything really like them, even now. Granting of course that Vin's observation is 100% accurate and reliable. It's kind of a danger when reading the assessment of the main character. Is their opinion identical with the writer's? In this instance, I feel comfortable in saying that it is given Word of Brandon and also the fact that this scene only really exists for Vin to make this appraisal. It also just helps to contrast Kel and Vin even more.
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Mar 3, 2024 16:12
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Ugh, it’s too hard to make arguments about Wit when we have so many readers in this thread who are at different places in the Cosmere. I can’t remember what comes up when, so the only tag I can safely use is “everything currently published”: I agree that there are similarities between Hoid and Sanderson, in that they both are clever individuals with long term plans, who ask those around them for trust while those plans come to fruition. I just see that as more accidental than intentional. And hasn’t Sanderson said he considered a different character as his self-insert? Maybe I’m conflating Sanderson with Jordan again. In any case, I’m also on team “Hoid will be a villain”. Either Hoid is collecting power to stop some heretofore unknown threat to the Cosmere, or he’s collecting power for himself. It feels like he’s being set up for a run at becoming a new Adonalsium, when the “good ending” would be the shards losing their personhood and becoming forces of nature that can no longer be held by individuals. Of course, the fact that I am guessing this means that Sanderson has something else planned, that still fits with available evidence we’ve seen.
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Mar 3, 2024 19:21
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I really enjoy Wit’s quips toward regal people but in Tress as Hoid he was really annoying as a narrator, and his jokes fell a bit flat or were so meta that it took some additional thinking to understand them.
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Mar 3, 2024 20:13
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roshar is arrakis send tweet
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Mar 3, 2024 21:10
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Just finished Words of Radiance part 3 - folks, I am hooting and hollering. Was yelling in the car during my audiobook listen like I had a football game on. I knew it would be Kalladin coming in to save the day for Adolin, but it was still a blockbuster moment. Kalladin gets owned again, does the right thing but ends up in jail. So excited to see where this goes.
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Mar 3, 2024 22:40
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81sidewinder posted:Just finished Words of Radiance part 3 - folks, I am hooting and hollering. Was yelling in the car during my audiobook listen like I had a football game on. This is still my favorite scene in the series. There are lots more that are amazing, that have more emotional moments, that have better action, or whatever. But nothing makes me smile more than that scene.
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Mar 3, 2024 23:11
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Yep agreed. That one's an all-timer
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Mar 3, 2024 23:29
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ConfusedUs posted:This is still my favorite scene in the series. There are lots more that are amazing, that have more emotional moments, that have better action, or whatever. Totally agreed
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Mar 3, 2024 23:33
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HEKnswsy0
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Mar 5, 2024 01:52
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So is it just the WoR leatherbound or do you think he'll announce something else too?
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Mar 5, 2024 02:04
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Synesthesian Fetish posted:So is it just the WoR leatherbound or do you think he'll announce something else too? No clue. I have no idea what's going on.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:07
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Maybe he wrote the Words of Radiance Edgedancer/Dawnshard equivalent novella?
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Mar 5, 2024 02:08
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He's been trolling us with 631 showing up in the background of the most recent videos, and tomorrows is the 631st video on his youtube channel, so it may just be that, but I think he's got a set of 631 Secret Projects to announce.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:11
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pik_d posted:He's been trolling us with 631 showing up in the background of the most recent videos, and tomorrows is the 631st video on his youtube channel, so it may just be that, but I think he's got a set of 631 Secret Projects to announce. Turns out in the time it took for this video to get posted, he's now up to 638 secret projects
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Mar 5, 2024 02:14
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pik_d posted:He's been trolling us with 631 showing up in the background of the most recent videos, and tomorrows is the 631st video on his youtube channel, so it may just be that, but I think he's got a set of 631 Secret Projects to announce. That's a reasonable guess, I think.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:15
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pik_d posted:He's been trolling us with 631 showing up in the background of the most recent videos, and tomorrows is the 631st video on his youtube channel, so it may just be that, but I think he's got a set of 631 Secret Projects to announce. Stormlight Netflix adaptation launching on June 30th confirmed
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Mar 5, 2024 02:24
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I really like Wit. But I think at least part of that is the actor who played him on the audiobook. He's got a lot of charisma. That plus mystery surrounding him is probably the most interesting plot thread I've encountered in the Cosmere. Whenever Wit's not on screen everyone should be asking "Where's Wit?"
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Mar 5, 2024 02:41
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I decided to read TWoK to give it another fair chance, and the Prologue is interesting in two respects. First, it's hilarious how Szeth is an overpowering force of nature for the first two books, but looking at him with four books' worth of knowledge, it's obvious just what a weak reflection of a Radiant he is. He can't hold Stormlight worth a drat and spends too much to do too little (he says it'll take him hours to recover from a broken jaw, and couldn't recover if a Shardblade took out a limb), needs ten heartbeats to summon his Blade, can't shapeshift it, and couldn't wear Plate without it interfering with his powers. All he has going for him is being an out-of-context problem and his superior training. Second, and more disappointing, is that Sanderson is cheating, which is something he very rarely does if at all. The narration repeatedly and frequently refers to Szeth's Shardblade. He knows drat well that's not what he's using. It's a cheat.
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Mar 5, 2024 03:19
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CapnAndy posted:I decided to read TWoK to give it another fair chance, and the Prologue is interesting in two respects. First, it's hilarious how Szeth is an overpowering force of nature for the first two books, but looking at him with four books' worth of knowledge, it's obvious just what a weak reflection of a Radiant he is. He can't hold Stormlight worth a drat and spends too much to do too little (he says it'll take him hours to recover from a broken jaw, and couldn't recover if a Shardblade took out a limb), needs ten heartbeats to summon his Blade, can't shapeshift it, and couldn't wear Plate without it interfering with his powers. All he has going for him is being an out-of-context problem and his superior training. Second, and more disappointing, is that Sanderson is cheating, which is something he very rarely does if at all. The narration repeatedly and frequently refers to Szeth's Shardblade. He knows drat well that's not what he's using. It's a cheat. It's strange that it takes him ten heartbeats to summon the honorblade, what possible justification could there be for that? We know why dead shardblades need the ten heartbeats, but honorblades shouldn't require any time to summon.
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Mar 5, 2024 04:03
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CapnAndy posted:I decided to read TWoK to give it another fair chance, and the Prologue is interesting in two respects. First, it's hilarious how Szeth is an overpowering force of nature for the first two books, but looking at him with four books' worth of knowledge, it's obvious just what a weak reflection of a Radiant he is. He can't hold Stormlight worth a drat and spends too much to do too little (he says it'll take him hours to recover from a broken jaw, and couldn't recover if a Shardblade took out a limb), needs ten heartbeats to summon his Blade, can't shapeshift it, and couldn't wear Plate without it interfering with his powers. All he has going for him is being an out-of-context problem and his superior training. Second, and more disappointing, is that Sanderson is cheating, which is something he very rarely does if at all. The narration repeatedly and frequently refers to Szeth's Shardblade. He knows drat well that's not what he's using. It's a cheat. they're all subsets of shardblades, yes even that one.
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Mar 5, 2024 04:08
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10 minutes until this starts
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Mar 5, 2024 17:35
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pik_d posted:10 minutes until this starts Had it open in a separate tab all morning, can't wait to spend a lot of money on books. Having read twok prime and the sample chapters for dragonsteel, I am really excited to get my hands on dragonsteel prime. Hopefully, since the WoR are already signed and made (I believe?) there should be a short turnaround on this campaign.
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Mar 5, 2024 17:43
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Perfect timing, saw the new posts, clicked the link, 20 seconds on the timer.
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Mar 5, 2024 17:46
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So what is it? Another kickstarter?
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