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#i love this part but I hate amaram
koravelliumavast · 2 years
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Screw the whitespine uncaged THIS is one of the best parts of words of radiance
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And I imagine Wit at this part being a whiny little child being like “do we have to go nowwwww??? I want to play a little longer!”
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sleepyartattempts · 3 years
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Stormlight Radiance - Words of Radiance Parts 1-3 First readthrough
So, already have a lot to say and I'm not even finished the book so I'll do the rest of the book once I'm done. Spoilers Below!
Shallan: Holy moly Shallan is incredible. Like, I had goosebumbs reading some of her parts. She's in a real tricky situation and she's doing a great job with what she has. I've really loved having her flashbacks scattered throughout like Kaladin did last book, and learning about her and her brothers' life with their father was heartbreaking. At least her interactions with Adolin have been hilarious. They are both such dorks. Also, I'm still not convinced Jasnah is dead. I might just be in denial though.
Kaladin: I'm worried for him. It's been building up that he's growing darker and darker and I'm hoping that can be resolved soon. It's understandable why though. Fucking Amaram. Anyway, looking forward to more and hope he doesn't do something he'd really regret.
Dalinar: Haven't seen as much of him this book, but all the parts he's in are great. You can tell he's really trying to hold everything together.
Adolin: I've really liked him this book! He's shown a maturity I didn't fully expect from him, agreeing to meet with Eshonai, agreeing with his fathers views. I've enjoyed it, and I think after that amazing duel (that gave me chills) he's going to trust Kaladin a lot more.
Renarin: So, I said before I knew some spoilers for him and by that I meant 'I'm pretty sure he can use some sorta magic', and that's as far as my knowledge goes. I think something is gonna happen with him this book. It feels like he's been on the edge of focus, and he's one of the few without a PoV part yet. I've enjoyed seeing more of him so far! Learning about what his illness is helped give some context and perspective, and his bravery was shown again when he joined the duel, though the fact that he sat there at the end ready to die (?!) was...concerning. Nice to see he's with Bridge Four at least.
Szeth: Still worried about this guy. He's questioning if he has to do this now, which is good, but I doubt this is gonna end with him being able to stop killing and hating himself. Still feel sorry for him a bit.
I also want to say that I've really loved the insight we've been given to the Parshendi. I've loved meeting them and learning about them. They're super interesting! Eshonai is also great, though the recent changes in her are...concerning. I'm hoping she'll be alright. The new info on sprens has also been super interesting! I have questions. But I'll read on for now I think.
For some fun, here are some of my thoughts I wrote down during my reading:
-Nope. Jasnah is alive. I don't care if she was stabbed through the chest, she's a magic lady
-Adolin, Shallan, you dorks
-Moash wants to kill the king. I still don't trust him
-Oh no Adolin
-Oh no Renarin
-Oh no Kaladin
I've really enjoyed this book so far, and the faster pace has made it easier to read. Looking forward to more!
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szethsmom · 4 years
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@kingjasnah I love how a good part of the fandom has collectively decided today is Hating Amaram Day.
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trustthechef · 5 years
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On Moash and morality
When I first finished Stormlight and finally got to delve into the fandom without fear of spoilers (mfw I realized they’re part of the Cosmere) one of the things that struck me was the level of hate out there towards Moash. For fans of a book series which thematically emphasizes second chances, the genuine vitriol really surprised me – particularly when Moash’s actions seem far easier to justify to me than some of what seems to have been forgiven and forgotten by other characters (Dal that’s you darling). I’d love to talk this through with people. There seem to me to be two central reasons to hate Moash: either for killing Elk, or for betraying and hurting Kala. Let’s take the first: Killing Elk. To Moash, this is justice. Elk was responsible for the indirect murder of Moash’s grandparents, his only living family and his caretakers. Certainly, without Moash’s intervention there will be no reckoning of any description for this crime, and there is no plausible option for Moash to seek a more legal or less extreme form of justice - the man’s the storming King. It’s assassination or nothing. With this in mind, it’s the injustice of Elk’s death that gets many people – he was trying to be a better person, he was young and misled when the deaths occurred, etc. These are generally reasonable and I don’t condone Moash’s actions. That said, I completely understand them. I wouldn’t accept character growth a reason to forgo traditional legal justice in our world, so why should I expect grief-ridden, justifiably angry-at-the-world Moash to accept them as a reason to forgo the eye-for-an-eye (only) form of justice available to him in his world. In addition to this, while Elk was developing and under constraints not instantly identifiable to an outside observer, he was still a King presiding over horrific injustices – some of which Moash suffered through (see: bridgemen). There’s a reason Kala nearly went through with the assassination himself. Again, this is not to say Moash was in the right, merely that I think his actions under this particular standard are both understandable and forgiveable in light of other second chances given (Gaz, Dal, Elk himself, etc). Is it simply that everyone else made their mistakes in the past, whereas we lived through Moash blowing his first chance? So, now to the other (in my eyes far more grievous) sin of almost killing Kala for getting in his way. Moash betrays the loyalty of the man who rescued him from certain death and devastating slavery. Not ideal. And yet. One of the reasons Kala was so close to Moash was because Moash never treated him as a saviour, but as a friend. Fallible. Human. Moash was not going to take Kala’s will or beliefs automatically as his own, and ultimately, Kala approves of that free will and independent thinking. And so, where Kala takes principled stands and is a “destination before journey” kind of guy, Moash is a consequentialist. The ends justify the means – again, not my philosophy, but also not an uncommon one societally. Certainly, an understandable one. When the clash between what Moash believes to be right and what Kala does occurs, they both actually make the same decision – you stand up for what you believe in regardless of who stands in your way. Moash tries to kill Elk even if he has to go through Kala and Kala defends Elk even if he has to hurt Moash to do so. If one has to choose between one's morals and one's friends, one should choose their morals, right? Altogether, I think what Moash did was wrong and killing Elk was wrong. But storms, I get it? Particularly given I don't object to the principle of the thing Moash did - if anyone killed Amaram (or indeed, when Adolin kills Sadeas) I'm perfectly willing to stand over that morally. The issue for me lies in the scale, directness, intent, likely future, etc of Elk's mistakes, rather than the lack of honour in the act of murdering him. Add to this that the hate seems so disproportionate to the crime in a fandom that adores Dal and deals well enough with Szeth and Tar, etc. There’s also something for me in the fact that his drive to avenge the only family he had was how he ended up in the bridge crews in the first place, so Kala saved him, but for what purpose, if not this? Bridge Four breaks Moash along with everyone else, and then Kala comes along and relights his purpose, and here is this guy who also hates lighteyes and wants justice and Moash trusts him, thinks he'll be on his side. And he's not. Devastating. Moash has also shown regret over hurting Kala, and you see from his perspective chapters how truly angry he was and still is to get to that point in the first place – Moash thinks /he/ was betrayed /first/. Incidentally, I’d also love to just overall debate the moral philosophy at play here: Ultimately, the reason Kala refuses to assassinate Elk is because it would break his oath to protect, rather than because he believes Elk’s death would certainly be wrong in and of itself. But lying/oath-breaking is a complex moral area (@shallan); isn't it preferable to break your word than to allow injustice like murder:slavery:torture to continue? Hmu people. I love debating moral philosophy and I'm a very amiable person to disagree with.
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paradoxcase · 5 years
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Ok, I’ve finished Oathbringer, so I’m going to try to sum up my thoughts.
I think it’s really neat how he made this entire world that’s sort of built around highstorms, where everything has a carapace and a gemheart, and everything is weird and foreign except for humans and a few familiar things like horses and chickens and grass that doesn’t retract, and it’s so satisfyingly explained by those things just not being native to this world at all.  I guess I should have realized that Honor is definitely native to Roshar, though, because he was associated with highstorms, and the highstorms were what sculpted everything else on the world to be the way they were.  And Shallan’s story about the wall makes sense.  I guess we’ll at some point learn how Odium became the parshmen/singers’ god?  That’s the part I’m really curious about now.  And I think I remember Venli or someone talking about how the singers used to have a relationship with the higher spren like the humans do now, or something, but the spren abandoned them?  I don’t remember where that was, though.  Maybe singers used to be able to bond with highspren the way they now bond with voidspren to gain forms of power?
This is probably Terrible, and a Bad Take and someone is going to tell me why, I’m sure, but the stuff about Odium taking away your guilt because he was the one who made you do bad things sounds really similar to the Christian idea that it’s not really your fault for sinning because you were born with sin/the devil makes you do bad things and Jesus took all the guilt away by dying.  Well, at least to me.  I don’t mean to be like, oh, your god is just like this evil god in this book, but it was all I could think about when I read that part.
I’m not sure if this is a problem or not but at this point I think we have run out of villains who are hateable.  We are left with Moash, who I can’t really make myself hate (and I actually gave him up for dead after the last book, so I’m no longer invested in him at all), and Taravangian, who is definitely now a traitor and therefore will probably die, but I think I will be sad when that happens.  I don’t know if that will be bad per se, but it’ll be different than when the villains were Amaram and Sadeas.
Speaking of Taravangian, something I don’t understand - one of his other iterations wrote words in the diagram for him to say to Odium that turned out to be exactly the right thing, but those words were about how Dalinar had challenged Odium to a contest of champions and that he therefore couldn’t encounter Dalinar again or he’d have to fight him.  Except, if the other Taravangian had known that, wouldn’t he have also known that Dalinar would still be around at this point and hadn’t been defeated?  He talked earlier about how the Diagram predicted Dalinar would fall, but doesn’t this contradict that?  Shouldn’t Taravangian have known that Dalinar wouldn’t fall when he wrote that?
Venli has really grown on me and I can’t wait to see what she does next!  I wonder what kind of spren Timbre is.
I really loved all the stuff about Jasnah being awesome with soulcasting, and making her queen was obviously the correct decision.  I’m really looking forward to the next book.
If I’m understanding it correctly, what happened in the epilogue was that Wit rescued the spren that had tried to bond with Elhokar, who was being hunted by the Fused, which I guess was a cryptic.  And Wit mentions that Rayse is looking for him.  I think there were some pretty big hints in the last book that the author of the first Rayse letter (from the first book) and the recipient of the second Rayse letter (from the second book) are Wit, but we still have no idea who Rayse, or any of the people or places mentioned in either letter, are.  The second letter mentioned Adonalsium, which was used by Ash as an oath, but other than that I don’t really remember it being mentioned anywhere?  Is Rayse just another name for Odium?  That seems unlikely because Wit talks about Rayse sending his forces to Kholinar to destroy it, but Odium’s forces have already occupied Kholinar.  But it seems impossible that Rayse could be anyone else, we surely would have heard about him before, from someone other than Wit, right?
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esseastri · 5 years
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Megan Reads Oathbringer (part last)
I said I’d finish this book before it had been out for a full year, and that’s the 14th, iirc, so I have tonight and tomorrow, but I will finish this book tonight if it kills me, I s2g, I’m ready to be done.
Part 13 encompasses pages 1054-1233 (previous parts)
WE ARE SO CLOSE, GUYS
OH, I wanted to talk a lil bit about the end of part 4, now that I’ve had a sleep and some time to think about it. I still don’t really like it, but I think I can better articulate why.
I feel like a LOT of it is personal preference for Really Not Liking It when my Heroes Turn Out to Have Been Bad Guys All Along. that’s. not fun for me. I don’t find it appealing in any way. 
and I know that Brandon is a big fan of his lil ~Sanderlanches~ of emotion, but tbf I think the Recreance bombshell got a little lost in Taravangian’s deluge of bad news. The major impact of that reveal SHOULD have been--yeah, the humans are and have been the aggressors all along. But instead it gets a little undermined and rolled up wholesale into Dalinar Has Been a Bad Before and We Guess He Is Now Too. It feels like it should have been a separate moment for everyone--for ALL the monarchs in the coalition--to realize that...THEY are ALL the bad guys. All of humanity is the bad guys. But it gets overshadowed by their belief that Dalinar has betrayed them and gets dumped squarely on his shoulders so that it’s less about Humanity and more about One Human--who has been our hero for 3,000 pages and now just utterly crashed which is ALREADY upsetting enough without everyone else ignoring THEIR part in it all.
So what I’m saying is that I still feel like the end of part 4 was really badly handled as there should have been two, separate focal moments that got overlapped badly (worldbuilding vs character moments). But I’ve talked to Lisa and Alyx about stuff and I’m a lot chiller with the actual CONTENT of the reveal, and actually looking forward to seeing how that plays out. 
tl; dr: feeling better about the content, still very unhappy with the execution.
ANYWAY:
INTERLUDES
“Her people couldn’t be completely gone....could they?” Ah, Venli has reached the Denial stage of grief. that’s. good?
or rather, I suppose...she’s been there all along.
mmmm, I wonder if the different rhythms were created because the Parshendi don’t really do facial expressions, right? like they are crustaceaous, regardless of which form they’re in, so it’s not like shells do a good job at. smiling. Idk, I just wonder if the different hums are bc they don’t really interpret body language the same way humans do.
“The strongest and most skilled of our number are yet to awaken” YOU MEAN THERE’S MORE AND WORSE OF YOU? Great.
You know what I want? An Edgedancer size “novella” about Rysn.
wait, I thought larkins were bad?
aren’t larkins bad?
nvmd, I asked Lisa, they eat stormlight, so Bad For Spren, but not inherently bad. I like having Lisa here to remind me of things I Knew At One Point But Have Since Forgotten Due To Reading So Many Other Things heheh
I love these two Thaylen nERDS
Vstim is a GOOD DAD AAHH
you know, that’s something that’s always sorta bothered me--how do Rosharans go around wearing jewelry that’s giving off enough light to see by? How is that not...overbright and distracting and uncomfortable?
WHOA WHAT
I WAS NOT EXPECTING MURDER 
omg the larkin is eating the gemstone that’s been glowing for 200 years, CHIRI-CHIRI NOOO
o_o
right
it makes sense that the voidbringers would have lightweavers, the fused are basically windrunners, but tbh I didn’t think about. you know. evil people that could disguise themselves as ANYTHING #YIKES
yeEAAHH MY GIRL
COME ON BRANDON, GIMME A RYSN ADVENTURE NOVEL. RYSN AND THE LOST TREASURE OF SOMEWHERE-WITH-TOO-MANY-CONSONANTS! PLS.
anyway, on to the main event for the evening: Megan Sobs Her Way Through the Teft Interlude i’m SURE
“the men of Bridge Four would tire of digging him out of trouble” NEVER.
HE HAS A SPREN
SHE’S BEEN THERE A WHILE, APPARENTLY!!??
HELP
uh oh
no
hold on
WHY IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG AT THE BRIDGE FOUR BARRACKS
WHY IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG
NO
NO
ABSOLUTELY NOT
WHY ARE THERE BRIDGEMEN WHO ARE BLEEDING
I REFUSE
I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF HE KILLS ROCK I AM NOT FINISHING THIS BOOK
I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING
HE KILLED ETH???? AFTER HE KILLED MART IN THE LAST ONE HE HAD TO GO AND KILL OFF THE OTHER BROTHER? FUCK OFF, BRANDON
NO
I’ DON’T WANT THIS
PART FIVE, LET’S GET THIS DOOOONNNE
........there are thirteen, maybe (probably) more POVs in this part?
fuck, Brandon, if I wanted to hop around that much, I’d suck it up and read Martin. Uggghhhhh, I hate this.
HAHA whoops, I didn’t realize it was a flashback chapter and I was like “why is present!Dalinar in a stormWAGON?” and then I realized
“wild chickens range this far east” and I KNOW they mean crows or blackbirds or starlings, but. chickens. is still. such a good worldbuilding note.
“felt both an anxiety to be finished and--at the same time--a reluctance to progress.” B I G M O O D
Brandon: *describes the Nightwatcher* Me, whispering: “yiiiikes”
“What is your boon?” “Forgiveness.” CAN YOU IIIIMAAAAGIIIIINNE
OH SNAP
is that...actually Cultivation?
“I didn’t get what I wanted.” “You got what you deserved.” OOF. OOF. How does fifteen points of damage taste?!
“I control all things that can be grown, nurtured. That includes the thorns.” HM
OKAY
I like her.
HA I WAS RIGHT
EVI WAS THE COST NOT THE BOON. HA
tbqh, I’m still not entirely clear on the boon. I guess...she took away the guilt? or the memories that made the guilt? hm.
HE HAD NEVER DESERVED HER.
AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA DAMN FUCKING RIGHT, DALINAR. GOD. YUP. AMEN
merrgghhhh pov shits within chapters grumble grumble grumble
oh dear
big battle time.
yaassss
ok, but the army of spren at the Oathgate might be friend spren. have you checked?
I’m still hung up on Kholinar, ngl, someone, for the love of god, tell me if Skar and Drehey are all right. alive. s o m e o n e pls care about these bridgemen as I do.
(and don’t say Kaladin cares, I KNOW HE DOES BUT HE HASN’T MENTIONED THEM IN 200 PAGES/FOUR WEEKS OF TRAVEL TIME, MMKAY?)
heh, Jasnah being all “Amaram’s bad guys can soak up the arrows while the rest of us escape” and usually, I’m very against the lil foot soldiers getting slaughtered for the misdeeds of their commanders, but if people are still following Amaram, they have Bad Priorities and I’m with Jasnah on this one.
I’m confused
Renarin’s spren is weird?
Jasnah thinks he’s a traitor?
I’m??? CONFUSED AND UPSET???
LET! THE BOY! LIVE!
WHICH ONE OF THEM IS CORRUPTED, IS IT JASNAH? MAYBE IT’S JASNAH?
Me: “Maybe it’s Jasnah???? She spent a lot of time in Shadesmar!” Lisa: “Maybe it’s Maybeline.”
She’s rude and I love her.
OH WHAT HOLD UP
VENLI IS IN THE KNIGHTS RADIANT CHAPTER?
or is it just...anyone listed at the beginning can be in any chapter?
SHE IS NOT LISTED SEPARATELY. HO SHIT
WHAT
YEAH THAT’S THE THING THAT BOTHERS ME: The fused just. sending in regular parshendi parshmen signers whATEVER TO FIGHT. THEY DON’T HAVE TRAINING. THEY’RE GOING TO GET MASSACRED. THAT’S NOT! GOOD! MILITARY! STRATEGY!
ugh, I’m still just. mad about the Recreance reveal.
The humans are the bad guys, fine. But the FUSED ARE DEFINITELY, ABSOLUTELY NOT THE GOOD GUYS??? so what was the point?
SEE SHIT LIKE THIS: “You are here to do as you’re told. In return, you are rewarded with further opportunities to serve.” what the fuuuuuuucckk
like, they’re still BAD GUYS
Here’s the thing--the Recreance reveal doesn’t really change anything. The human heroes are still going to choose the options that are “good” or “right”--Dalinar was already suing for peace, Kaladin was already making friends with the listeners--so saying “these humans in the past were evil” doesn’t change their choices. It doesn’t change the Fused’s choices either--saying “these guys were good in the past” doesn’t make them good guys now--OBVIOUSLY, just look at that dialogue.
So why bother?
The whole series is about choosing to be better, to do better, but the characters were ALREADY DOING THAT, they didn’t need an extra, super depressing motivator to do that. It’s just there to....reinforce the idea? That’s already pretty solid?
idk, I’m still REALLY struggling with this
sigh
back to Venli
hm
so, Odium can CHOOSE what he looks like when he appears--obviously he doesn’t REALLY look like a parshendi, bc he’s not actually their god. If the humans were the voidbringers originally, then he’s theirs, no?
also, # y i k e s, there he is
TEFT IS IN THE RADIANT POV HELL YAH
“You don’t want me. I’m broken.” YES, DARLING, THAT’S THE POINT.
I love him so much I just want to hug this sad uncle of mine
AAAHHH FUCK  THE KHOLINAR GATE
WAIT, MAYBE SKAR AND DREHY WILL SHOW UP FUKIN FINALLY
“This is winnable” IS IT THO
BECAUSE LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE IN THIS BOOK HAS BEEN AND AIN’T THAT JUST FUCKING DEPRESSING
oh fun! the thing from the cover! finally!
Here’s the thing: three years ago, I would have loved this book. Three years ago, overwhelming odds and impossible battles and the downward, angst slide of all my favorite characters would have been SO MUCH FUN to read. But now? This year? I’m fucking over it. I’m done. Give me optimism or give me death.
I’m exhausted enough in the real world, I don’t need to be exhausted by the books I’m reading.
“You mind holds firm” UH HUH SURE. P SURE NONE OF THE FUSED ARE SANE, bUT THAt’S FINe
“Could he defeat six? Did he need to?” THE IMPLICATION THAT: IF HE NEEDS TO, OF COURSE HE CAN. I’M LOVE KALADIN SO! MUCH!
DO WE FINALLY GET TO STAB AMARAM!!!!!!!????? FINALLY!!!
DOES KALADIN GET TO KILL HIM? BECAUSE I WILL BE REALLY, REALLY MAD IF KALADIN DOESN’T GET TO KILL HIM
OMG I’M SO HERE FOR THIS
MY BOY
KALADIN RECOGNIZING HIS PROGRESS AND KNOWING THAT HE’S GOT SYL AND BRIDGE FOUR, AND PURPOSE AND THAT HE’S GONNA STAY ALIVE FOR THEM, FOR IT. THAT EVEN THO LIFE SUCKS HE’S GONNA STICK AROUND BC THERE’S GOOD PARTS TOO. KALADIN REALIZING HE’S STRONG AND STRONGER WITH HIS PEOPLE. I’M SO
MY HEART IS SO FULL AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH
OOOHHH NOO THAT”S HOT
where’s my Kaladin alone in combat stance facing down 6 fused and GLOWING ART BC I NEEEEEEDD IITTT
my soul
I love him
my soul
You know what? Kaladin never gets the Thrill. I bet it’s because he’s too good for this world.
ahhh fuck they got the thing
at least Rysn and Vstim are still alive! for now.
why do they want the thing tho
whose heart is it
WORRIED ABOUT RENARIN 2K18
heheheh Pattern, “I do not like being stabbed” no, you are usually doing the stabbing, huh? heheh
ADOLIN KISS SHALLAN! ! AHH!! YAY!!!
SOFT BEFORE BATTLE THIS GOOD
god, yup. “Um, hello.” SPEAKING TO THE OATHGATE SPREN WOULD BE SO SCARY
the Argonath spren. Oathgonath? Argonoath? Argonoath. heh
I’ll take Bad Lord of the Rings Puns for 300, Alex
COME ON, VENLI. SPEAK ME SOME WORDS, GIRL.
Oh hey it’s Gawx! Wacky fun.
aahhh shit, it WOULD look like the Alethi were betraying everyone else for real. SIGH.
come on, Lift, get them to help. come on, come on, come on
can we unforbid it? esp since Honor is fucking dead and doesn’t care what’s forbidden or not?
“A man can rule his lands until the citylord demands his taxes. The citylord controls his lands until the highlord, in turn, comes to him for payment. But the highlord must answer to the highprince, when war is called in his lands. And the king? He...must answer to God.” BUT DARKNESS--WHAT IS GOD TO A NON-BELIEVER?
“Don’t be stupid. Let’s go fight those guys.” AMEN, NIGHTBLOOD.
“But it had always been nothing more than a rock.” YEEEESSSS OMG. SZETH!!! FINALLY UNDERSTANDING.
KALADIN NO
goddamnit
UH??? WHY IS NAVANI POV IN THE RADIANTS CHAPTER???? BRANDON??? WHAT DO I NOT KNOW?
Dalinar continues to be an extra son of a bitch, and I love him.
ok, I’m betting it’s just anyone’s POV can be in any chapter, ‘cause the symbol hasn’t changed. so nevermind. I retract my questions about Venli and Navani.
HI LIFT
I LOVE YOU
“Did you forget to feed them?” I’VE MISSED HER WHY ISN’T SHE IN ALL THE CHAPTERS
“Wyndle doesn’t like hurting people” I !!!! LOVE! THEM!
PLS BE CAREFUL ADOLIN AAAHH
NO???
NOOOOOOOOO??
DON’T?? STAB THE SUNSHINE BOY????
I’M?
his sord
w
swor
d aah
she protec hiom
uuuuuhhhhjfghmgdh
hmfzngrsmkdc
oh snap hold on
Hello Darkness is gonna swap sides? Not that he was really ever on our side, but like. “will make the transition to obeying the Dawnsigners easier” OBEYING? I’m.
that’s Not Great.
“Leave me”? ????? EXCUSE?? NO!!!?? ABSOLUTELY NOT, SUNSHINE BOY, WTF
he has more words
WORDS
GASP
AAHH
LISTEN, DALINAR, ADOLIN IS THE DUELLING BOY. IF YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE A CHAMPION FOR A ONE-ON-ONE DUEL. YOU NEED ADOLIN. AND HE’S BUSY BEING STABBED AND ALSO NOT HERE AND I’M
YELLING
UNEXPECTED SZETH FALLING FROM THE SKY TO SAVE LIFT??? I’M HERE FOR IT
oohh szeth. honey bunches of oats. one day--one day--you will realize that you don’t actually need a master. and you will become something more.
even if you’ve picked dalinar as your new master, which is good, bc following good men is better than bad ones, buT STILL
also, how come we didn’t get to hear his Words??? I WANT TO KNOW ALL THE WORDS. BAD POV SWITCH MADE ME MISS OUT ON SKYBREAKER IDEALS. BOO.
UGH, STAB HIM, NAVANI
ah. ShalASH, got it
there’s Too Much going on, tbqh.
*quietest of wimpers*: taln
help
aahhh darnit, ok. it IS Renarin that’s corrupted. someone PLS let this boy have, like, A MOMENT of peace
oh for fuck’s sake
Let Dalinar fucking have a moment
COME ON
HE’S THE G O O D G U Y, PLS
I’m suffering
RESIST, DALINAR
AAHH
genuinely don’t think you should just be waving Nightblood around
sheathe that motherfucker
pls
also, if Szeth said his words, shouldn’t he have bonded a spren? Doesn’t have have a sprensword? so maybe he....could stop? using Nightblood? 
somebody help Taln, I AM TOO FAR AWAY TO HUG HIM PLS HUG HIM
THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T USE NIGHTBLOOD
JUST SAYIN’
BLESS NAVANI. SHE HAS INVENTED THE TAZER
or possibly weaponized the Cruciatas Curse, but EITHER WAY: NICE.
“Dalinar pulled the Way of Kings close to his chest, clutching it like a child with his blanket at night” MOOD ALSO SAME I FEEL THIS ABOUT MY COPY, TOO
STOP KILLING BRIDGE FOUR
I WILL YELL AT YOU, BRANDON
I WILL SEE YOU ON THURSDAY AND I WILL YELL AT YOU
“Dalinar Kholin is no more” UH HUH, SURE
That would be boring. We’ve already seen the Blackthorn. It’s boring unless we get something new.
fuck off amaram
gross? not recommended.
don’t swallow foreign objects
something GOOD HAS TO HAPPEN SOON OR I’M GONNA FUCKING SCREAM
I’M TIRED GIVE ME HOPE
IT’S BEEN, LIKE, 300 PAGES SINCE ANYTHING GOOD HAS HAPPENED
BRIDGE FOUR KEEPS DYING, ADOLIN GOT STABBED, DALINAR IS BEING TORTURED, FOR FUCK’S SAKE C O M E O N
(purposely forgeting Lift showing up and Navani tazing people in her assessment of how many pages it’s been since good things have happened)
NO FUCKING SHIT, KIDDO!!! THE FUTURE IS MALLEABLE!!! IT CHANGES!! OF COURSE IT CAN BE WRONG
oh
duh
even I had that wrong--the NEXT step, not the first
GOOD
STAND UP
AAAAHHH
“If I didn’t do those things, it means that I can’t have grown to become someone else.” AND YOU DID! YOU DID GROW! LOOK AT YOU! FINALLY YOU ARE REALIZING IT ONLY TOOK 3FUCKINGTHOUSAND PAGES AAAHHH
YAAAS
YOU’RE MY FAMILY
AAAHH
GOOD SOFT JASNAH!!! NOT A THING I EXPECTED BUT HERE WE ARE
“Maybe it’s time for someone to save you.” *MEEP*
hel p
that’s intense
AAAHHHH
EVI IS A GOOD AND I LOVE HER AND SHE DESERVED BETTER ALSO SOFT AND GOOD AAHH
# yikes
but like, a good yikes
yeah, you fucking better apologize to him
Taln deserves an apology form every single person on this planet, and that includes all the Heralds, and the Heralds owe him, like, a hundredbajillion apologies extra
I have emotions
and opinions
HE’S SO GOOD
AND SOFT
MY GODSON
OH MY GOD
OHHHH MYY GOOODDDDDD
HE’S SO GOOD
oh no I love him so much
TEEEEFFT
FINALLY
YES
GOOD WORDS I’M CRYING OH NO
HE’S
SO MUCH
all my soft boys
best boys
dominoes with crystal transformation? MORE GOOD YIKES
YEESSSSS
KALADIN!!!!!
VS
FUCKFACE!!!
HERE WE GO
LOOK KALADIN, YOU DID SAVE HIM!!! YOU PUT THE SYLSPEAR IN JUST THE RIGHT PLACE TO BLOCK THE SWORD AND YOU DID SAVE DALINAR, LOOK AT YOU
NOW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STAB THE EVERLIVING FUCK OUT OF AMARAM
STAND UP AND DO BETTER
LOOK IT’S WHAT i’VE BEEN SAYING THE WHOLE TIME
yes good, heal Adolin, thank you
GOD FUCKING BLESS
LITERAL ORDERS TO STAB THE FUCKFACE
THANK YOU
ofuck he did swallow it
Not Great
every time Adolin talks to his sword, my heart leaps. he actually apologizes and also thanks her and I just! want her to know! how much he loves and appreciates her!
WAKE UP, SWORD! MAKE HIM RADIANT!
COME ON
FUCKING
YOU ABSOLUTE HOOKWORM I CANNOT BELIEVE
TWO SHARDBLADES. OF FUCKING COURSE HE NEVER GOT RID OF KALADIN’S. FUCKING
PIECE OF
ROTTEN SHIT I’m. hate him.
so
much
ooohh Shallan!!!!!! I’m proud of her!! She’d created them to be strong when she wasn’t but she doesn’t need them now aahh!!
OH HEY, FEN’S SON DOES HAVE A NAME and it’s a garbage Thaylen name. Kdralk? all right then
“Life could not be lived making decisions at each juncture.” Szeth.... Szeth that’s. that’s...exactly what life is??? That’s. how you do, actually, live life? I’m ???? ??
‘at the top, they found a jumble of Sadeas troops chipping at a door with hand axes. “I can probably get through that a little easier.”’ HEHEHEH
Lov me a sunshine boy
GOD FINALLY
LET! NAVANI! GRIEVE! THANK YOU
ADOLIN IS SUCH A GOOD COMMANDER, GOD
EXCELLENT TACTICS
I’M SO PLEASED
It’s very satisfying to get Kaladin fighting Amaram and Dalinar fighting the thrill Unmade at the same time
fINALLY something SATISFYINg in this book
listen, I love having the visual of Jasnah’s effortless airsteps from the cover, but I’m still REALLY Disappointed that the covers don’t match up with the flashback character.
It’s Dalinar’s book, it should be Dalinar on the cover, but WHATEVER, WHELAN, ugh.
THANKS FOR ALL THE BROKEN BONES, I HATE IT
It’s never fair when the bad guy brings so many friends to the party.
SHE FINALLY HAS A NAME YES
MAYA IS A GOOD SWORD AND I LOVE HER
eeyyyy GOOD JOB, VENLI!!!
PETITION FOR SUNSHINE BOY TO STOP GETTING HURT
ngl, his is the battle I’m actually most invested in rn, other than Kaladin, I just.
want him to be okay
“half expecting Skar and Drehy to be there to pull him to his feet. Storms, he missed those bridgemen.” ME FUCKING TOO, ADOLIN. WHERE ARE THEY ARE THEY OKAY 
AAHH!! Renarin gets to protect Adolin THAT’S SO NICE GOOD
I ADORE that Lift and Dalinar are besties. It’s the BEST dynamic, such an interesting combo, and I LOVE IT.
“Amaram was screaming in pain.” GOOD.
WONDERFUL. AMAZING.
BRILLIANT.
FRAME IT.
Overconfident fuckface took his own helmet off, bless hiS HEART
“I hurt, once...after I killed your squad, I hurt.” OH BOO HOO, POOR BABY FELT A TWINGE OF GUILT FOR A HOT SECOND I DON’T FEEL BAD FOR YOU, YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKWEASEL
oh, gross
thanks
THE SPEAR THAT DOESN’T BREAK AAAHHHHHH MY SOUL
OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE, WE WERE SO CLOSE
it’s ok, we just need one more good solid hit on that gemheart and we’re DONE WITH THIS LOSER
A DOZEN
RENARIN CAN’T FIGHT A FULL DOZEN BY HIMSELF? OH MY GOD
not good
uugghh fuck Malata, I DON’T TRUST HER
Renarin is very brave. A Good.
OH WAIT, TEFT CAN OPEN THE OATHGATE
YAAASSS
YAAAAAAAASSSS
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASASSSSSSSSSSSSS
I’M SO HAPPY
TEFT OPENED THE OATHGATE
LOOK AT MY BOYS
*SCREAMING CONTINUES*
PHEW ROCK IS ALIVE, I CAN KEEP READING
“YOU LOOKED LIKE PERSON WHO NEEDED HUG” ROCK IS THE BEST I LOVE ROCK I’VE MISSED HIM SO MUCH
Oh right, Dalinar’s still, like. doing stuff. I forgot, ‘cause it’s. Nothing’s happening with it.
Should be focal, but there’s. So much going on.
COME ON, KALADIN, YOU’VE GOT WORDS WEIGHING DOWN YOUR TONGUE.
COME ON, DARLING, PLEASE.
ok that’s acceptable
not ideal
but beautiful
a good, solid Rock.
I will accept this end.
Bridge Four is so, so, so important, I cannot express in words.
oh, quiet screaming:
Moash chapter
oooohhhh buddy
One day, you’ll wake up.
Until then, my very garbage brain will write fic, and it will be glorious.
how do people not ship this
he literally helped her remember herself
he recognized her in her sea of selves and pulled her out, cOME ON
THIS IS THE SOFTEST OF SHIPS AND I’M CRYING
AAHH VENLI!! PROGRESS!!! also what order, I must know
whoo Braize IS Damnation, called that shit, like, a book and a half ago.
“only Ishar survived with his mind intact” A RE Y O U V RE Y SU RE AB T T H A T? ???
oh. those are boring Words, but okay. makes sense, the Skybreakers are kinda. Meh.
ugh, we still have to deal with Hello Darkness My Old Friend? He’s going to come oversee training? ugh.
BEST KISS BEST KISS BEST KISS
OTP: NO MATING
OTP
BEST
KISS
YES
“You mentioned something about kissing me until I can’t breathe, but here I am, not even winded--”
B E S T K I S S BEST BEST BEST KISS
“I don’t think I loved her, Syl. I felt...something. A lightening of my burdens...” THE FEELING WAS FRIENDSHIP BUT NEITHER OF THEM HAD EXPERIENCED IT BEFORE.
“I knew you’d come for me.” brb crying forever
I don’t know if you know this, but I really love Bridge Four.
“We lift the bridge together, Teft. And we carry it.”
[cries quietly into that sentence for the rest of eternity]
TARAVANGIAN IS LITERALLY CONFESSING, BUT WHO WANTS TO BET DALINAR FORGIVES HIM AND STILL TRUSTS HIM
i s2g, Dalinar’s pure goodness is going to be the thing that kills him, in the end.
MOASH WHAT THE FUCK
JEZRIEN
I KNEW Ahu was a Herald, HA, but JEZRIEN HOLY FUCK  
actually dead or just bound in the sapphire bc it IS glowing, so. hm.
hm
god
Moash, plllleeeaasseeeeeeeee ugh
ahhh YAY LOPEN!!!
but it. should have been Moash. It was always supposed to be Teft and Moash and Skar and Rock.
And I love Lopen, really, I do. b ut.
I’m also:
~*~GARBAGE~*~
mmmmm ACTUAL FATHER? OR? HMM
I’M WORRIED ABOUT MY ANCIECT GODCHILDREN OKAY? HELP THEM.
OH THANK FUCK
SKAR AND DREHY ARE OKAY
SKAR AND DREHY PROTECT THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEMSELVES!!!!????
THAT’S!!!! THEY DID THE THING???!!! THEY’VE GOT THE WORDS!!!
LOOK AT MY BOYS GO! LOOK AT THEM ALL!!
TEFT AND LOPEN AND SKAR AND DREHY!!!!
I’M SO PLEASED
oh yeah they saved the kid that’s good
LOOK! AT! MY! BOYS!!!!!
Taravangian might be the ONLY fictional grandpa that I dislike
I always like the grandpas.
but noT THIS ONE
hm
by becoming king of the world and then asking odium to spare everyone he ruled, he was going to save everyone.
Not
actually a bad plan
Not a great one, obviously. but. not a terrible one.
Too bad it was NEVER GOING TO WORK
oh fuck off, he stole the Honorblade, which means Malata probably killed Eth, so GOOD NOW I HAVE A SOLID, CONCRETE REASON TO HATE HER, GOOD.
“Why would [Taravangian] work with the enemy? Everything he’s done so far has been to secure a safe Roshar--if through brutal means. Still, I have to wonder. I can’t afford to be too trusting.” I CAN’T BE TOO TRUSTING, EXCEPT TARAVANGIAN, I’LL DEF TRUST HIM OF COURSE, Dalinar, pLEASE
I’m dying, you gotta. ugh
he’s EVIL COME ON
ppppssssssst
*put Jasnah on the throne*
we need someone who’s good at diplomancy, who can inspire people and command them! GEE WHO’VE WE GOT WHO CAN DO ALL THOSE THINGS AND LOOK SHARP AF DOING IT?
I W ON D E R
oh holy shit, they actually did it
they actually did put Jasnah in charge
holy fuck
YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS
EXCELLENT
really moash
the stolen honorblade
HE WHO QUIETS --admittedly a great assassin epithet, but
Mooooooaaaaaaaassshhh
S I G H
okay, so we figured out that Sja-anat is anti-odium, that’s good. but HOW do we know that Renarin bonded one of her spren? just...’cause it’s corrupted and that’s what she does? or did I miss something more specific?
oh huh
ok
cool
OH!, he went to get Elhokar’s baby spren. interesting.
does that make Wit a Radiant? ‘cause I bet that’s not going to go over well heheheheh
WHOOOOOO I’M FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Defo not my favorite, but it did pick up at the end there. Part 3 was A TRIP that I enjoyed and I’m still pumped that Bridge Four got 1. POVs and 2. SPREN that was really nice. I’m ~*~GARBAGE~*~ and there was some good garbage Moash content, so I loved that. The roadtrip was Sure A Thing. I love my sunshine boy, Adolin Kholin with all my heart. Aaaaand I’ll circle back to Part 4 and the beginning of Part 5 when it’s NOT 4am!
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mxlxdroit · 6 years
Text
the stormlight archive high school au that audrey asked for (blame her)
- Bridge Four is marching band, and Sadeas is the band director who’s yelling at them all the time
- Kaladin plays trombone, Moash plays trumpet, Szeth is the master of the marimba (and other assorted percussion. audrey- kind of like milo. lol), Renarin plays piccolo (unimaginable power and rage in a tiny, innocent-looking instrument!), Rock doesn’t play an instrument and refuses to learn but he brings in cookies all the time and is an expert in music theory, and Hoid plays flute because of course he does
- When Kaladin gets put in band (because of course it’s a stupid, arbitrary assigned class), he hasn’t ever played a band instrument before, but he can march SUPER WELL and teaches all the band nerds how to march and deal with carrying heavy instruments for extended practices and things. He also has a background in uber-classical music theory and piano (like his background in non-battlefield medicine in the books) that he learns to apply to the music they play. Syl is his trombone
- Sadeas chooses the worst, most laughably outdated songs for them to play. His arrangments SUCK and everyone hates it (and him)
- Band has next-to-no budget, and at the story point that’s equivalent to the part in WoK where Dalinar frees the bridgemen, he diverts funding to save them from like... financial ruin
- The highprinces are the coaches of the sports teams- Dalinar coaches football (he was a huge football star back in the day, but he was super mean and aggressive and used underhanded tactics and stuff), Sadeas coaches lacrosse (because... lacrosse. ew), and Sebarial probably coaches golf (”coaches” is a generous term for what he does, which is sit on the sidelines with Palona, drinking a soda and providing a running commentary)
- Elhokar is the principal, and Aesudan is the vice principal who does most of the administrative duties
- Dalinar also teaches language arts despite not being able to read
- Jasnah teaches political science and history, and she is the advisor for both feminism club and debate team (and like, Model UN and 300 other clubs)
- Navani teaches computer science and everyone loves her
- Shallan is simultaneously an art kid and a theater kid- she loses herself in every role so much it’s kind of unsettling... ( :(( ) She transfers from homeschooling to going to public school after the ~mysterious incapacitation~ of her father. Her brothers are all graduated by that time
- Adolin isn’t in AP, but his grades are super great, he’s the football star, and he’s in feminism club because he RESPECTS WOMEN (and also is hoping that some of the girls in feminism club will date him. many of them are not into men. he has already dated and broken up with the rest of them. oh, Adolin)
- The AP cohort are the ardents, and they still all have shaved heads
- Renarin wants to play football with Adolin, but he can’t, and everyone wants him to go into taking AP classes but he is REALLY not interested in that
- Kaladin was a really, really good soccer player, but he got into a fight with the assistant coach (Amaram, of course) and got kicked out. The next semester, he got put in band to help him “develop anger management skills” and “learn how to be a team player”
- Jasnah serves as a kind of academic advisor/ tutor for Shallan after she transfers in
- The Parshendi are the neighborhood kids. When the school board (the Shards) re-zone the city (the Cosmere), a bunch of them get transferred out of the school (killed. whoops) to make room for non-neighborhood kids (the humans, in canon). Now outnumbered and neglected, they don’t get as many resources or attention as they need anymore, and they’re (understandably) pissed about it
- The Fused are parents and grandparents of the neighborhood kids
- The Heralds are from the first graduating class after the re-zoning, so they founded most of the clubs and were the original captains of the sports teams
- Hoid... i don’t know and neither does anyone else. He shows up in band sometimes, Principal Elhokar really likes him, you can’t really stop him from doing anything because he will roast you to high heaven, and nobody can tell if he’s an adult or a kid. He barely shows up to class, and there will be periods of several weeks or even months where nobody has any idea what he’s up to. Then again, nobody really knows what he’s up to even when they’re talking to him.
- All the worldhoppers have a similar deal to Hoid. Who are they, where did they come from, and where do they go? Who knows
- Lift is in middle school but she’s always heely-ing down the halls and people either don’t notice (she’s good at hiding) or don’t care. She steals food from the cafeteria all the time
- The Shards are the school board. They mean well, or at least they used to mean well, but they aren’t very good at their jobs most of the time
Okay that’s all I’ve got for now
if people have ideas for this... i guess just tag it ‘SA HS AU’ or tag me? idk, man
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bookwormmads · 3 years
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(🇬🇧Scroll down for English) . . 🇵🇹Lembro-me perfeitamente que quando este filme saiu, causou furor. À semelhança do vinho, esta história foi amada ou odiada em partes iguais, mas a realidade é que não deixa de ser uma história impactante. Eu insiro-me na categoria de pessoas que amaram o filme “O Perfume”. Mas agora resta saber se o livro cumpre as expectativas! Vou ler este livro como parte da leitura conjunta de Abril com os rapazes do @literacidades e estou desejosa de ver as opiniões de toda a gente!! Quem vai participar na leitura conjunta? Quem já leu o livro?? . . 🇬🇧I perfectly remember that when this movie came out, it caused an uproar. Similarly to wine, this story was either loved or hated in equal parts. But the truth is that it’s still an impactful story. I belong to the group of people that loved the movie “Perfume”. Now all is left to know is if the book meets the expectations! I’m reading this book as a part of a joint reading with the boys over at @literacidades and I’m looking forward to see everyone’s opinions!! Who’s participating in the joint reading? Have you read it?? . . #leiturasconjuntas #literacidades #operfume #patricksuskind #amadalenadivaga #bookstagram #bookstagramsofportugal #bookstagramportugal #booklover https://www.instagram.com/p/CNmXaBErhme/?igshid=1ewrylwjafgot
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basket-of-radiants · 6 years
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OMG!! I DON'T HATE MOASH EITHER!!!! Like I saw Elhokar dying from a mile away and I wasn't that invested in him. Also, Szeth is annoying? Why do people like Szeth (who literally killed SO MANY PEOPLE! And the rock didn't compel him? It was a normal rock?) and hate Moash?
Oooooookay. There’s. A lot to unpack here. I know you were trying to be relatable, but I reeeeeally disagree with a lot of this. (Let’s see how comprehensible I can be this late at night.)
Like first off and most importantly, how dare you call Szeth annoying, he’s my favorite character. He is a massive murderous disaster with the most edgy and Extra™ POV narration I have ever seen and I love him. (You must be new here; this is basically a Szeth fan blog.)
As for Elhokar, I wouldn’t at all say I wasn’t invested-I quite liked him in Oathbringer and I certainly was not happy that he died. I found his arc to be quite compelling, and even though he was late to the game, I appreciate that he was doing his best to assume responsibility in whatever ways he could. Like I dunno, he admitted his mistakes and worked to improve. Maybe it was too little and too late, I don’t think there’s an objective answer to that kind of thing. I do tend to hold characters who are members of the aristocracy to a higher standard than other characters, and I wouldn’t necessarily say he was a good king yet, but he was certainly trying, and that I would have liked to see. (I wasn’t quite as interested in him becoming a radiant, but that plotline didn’t happen anyway in the end so w/e.) I’m not going to be talking about him much, but please know you don’t need to defend him as a person to me, I already appreciate him.
However I don’t see the need to pick Moash or Elhokar over one another. I can understand why if you liked a character then you would hate whoever killed them, but I’m not really like that. Actually I’m glad you brought up Szeth because he’s a great example of that. I have been in love with him since chapter one. In Words of Radiance he tried-and very nearly succeeded-to murder Dalinar, Adolin, and Kaladin. Of course I hoped he wouldn’t succeed. Of course I wanted them to survive. But even if he had killed one-or hell all-of them, I genuinely believe I would still like him as a character. Part of that is Szeth’s circumstances-I know that he never (welllllll) actually had ill will towards these people and I know he’s already going to suffer for any actions he takes. He knew what the right thing was, and he would have done the wrong thing, knowing it was the wrong thing to do. That’s honestly a lot of what attracts me to his character, he has this web of contradictions that he both hates and depends on and it can be fascinating to watch. I both want him to accept responsibility for his actions and find it hard to blame him for them. Moash on the other hand is in a totally different situation, but I feel like I can apply similar principles to him. If I can still appreciate Szeth’s character in spite of all he’s done, then I feel I can do the same for Moash. I happen to not think Moash’s actions were as objectively bad as a lot of people did, but I’ll get to that later.
One thing I do agree with you on is that Szeth is a worse person than Moash. No seriously, if you want to tell me that Moash is bad because of his actions in Oathbringer, you’ll have to convince me that his actions are so bad that they’re worse than all the killing and destabilizing of entire nations that Szeth has done. Again, I don’t entirely blame Szeth, but it is his fault. And if we’re going by actions alone, then he’s done a hell of a lot worse than quite a lot of characters. That’s fine though, because I don’t judge characters by their actions alone. There’s a reason these are told as nuanced stories with the points of view and feelings of different characters taken into account and not as history textbooks just stating the events that happened.
(Hopefully this all ties together. It’s after 2 am and I have no idea where I’m going with this. Be prepared for tangents.)
So! Let’s talk about Moash.
I’m sure I’m not fully representing all the richness of the anti-Moash arguments here because it seems people have spent a lot of time finding reasons to hate him. I’d guess there are a few main reasons? From what I can tell, they are (in no particular order) betraying Kaladin/Bridge Four, Killing Elhokar, Killing Jez, and the whole denying personal responsibility thing. There’s a also just a lot of general hate and calling him an asshole (which I really don’t get? I don’t think he’s ever just been needlessly cruel or anything, I mean he hates lighteyes but that’s about it) but that’s kind of hard to argue about so whatever. Anyway if those are absolute sticking points for you, and you cannot possibly like a character who did those things, then I guess that’s fine, you do you. I’m mostly just going to set out my interpretation of the character and talk a little bit about my beliefs. It’s not really a defense per se, but it’s how I understand him.
I want to talk about the Alethi. Moash’s character is clearly focused heavily on themes of revenge. We’re already not off to a great start here because I personally do not believe in revenge. I do believe in justice, and I think that for Moash the two are one and the same. I also think that for literally the entirety of Alethi culture the ideas of justice and revenge are one and the same. See, that’s something I am willing to blame on circumstance. It’s not just the Alethi, all across Roshar violent crimes (which I would consider the deaths of Moash’s grandparents to be) can be punished by execution, and while, again, I disagree, it’s indisputably the cultural norm. (The act of forgiveness that characters like Kaladin were showing is a radical thing.) In terms of Moash’s vengeance, I find it really hard to condemn that when he’s trying to kill just one guy, if we’re not also going to massively get on Dalinar’s case and Elhokar’s case and fucking everyone else’s case for waging a six year genocide war on the Parshendi for the sake of revenge. Violence is an Alethi cultural value-it has repulsed me since day one but it’s very much undenyable.
That’s just something to mull on, it’s honestly not even one of the more major factors in terms of how I view Moash. His revenge aspect in Oathbringer was less interesting to me than other aspects of him, but as that is a part of his character, I wanted to first set aside why I can…well, set it aside.
In Words of Radiance, Kaladin very much sympathized with Moash. Not only that, he legitimately felt Moash was in the right for a considerable amount of time. The turning point for Kaladin was coming to the realization that Elhokar was an important person to Dalinar, which is all well and good, but it doesn’t actually address these underlying contradictions. I actually found that very frustrating at the time when I read it, so I might not be the most objective judge when it comes to Moash’s betrayal. I do know that before Elhokar’s assassination attempt, Moash had not gone forward with anything until Kaladin was on board. And he didn’t know that Kaladin was “off board” until he was already in the middle of the act. Kaladin, to his credit, did offer him an out, but for someone like Moash who had been working tirelessly in anticipation of this moment…I can understand why he wasn’t that receptive then and there. Moash certainly threw the first punch, but he also felt betrayed in that moment. In Oathbringer, at the core of his anger, there was the thought “Kaladin was protecting a murderer” which was how the whole scene had seemed framed to him. Perspective is crucial for understanding Moash. I guess think if Kaladin’s best friend, after learning the truth about Amaram and all he’d done and acknowledging that it was horrible, had at the last moment put their life on the line to protect him. In the end, Moash still felt terrible about having hurt Kaladin and Kaladin had felt terrible about letting Moash get to that point. Both of them regretted everything having to do with the assassination attempt when they went their separate ways.
I don’t know if it seems like I’m taking Moash’s side here, because I’m honestly not trying to do that, I honestly don’t view it as “sides” I view it as two different characters deserving of understanding.
But again! I actually tend not to think about Elhokar’s death in terms of revenge as much as one might expect!
Next I would like to talk about the circumstances under which Elhokar was killed. Because…it was a battle, you know? People on both sides were killing people on both sides. Moash killed Elhokar, but someone else could have been the hand to hold the spear just as easily. I don’t think there was coincidence, I do think that Moash was intentionally seeking to kill Elhokar once he realized he was there. But here’s my super controversial take? In that kind of situation, revenge or not, I don’t even think he was wrong to do so. Moash’s goal was to help and serve the soldiers on his (the singers’) side. If Elhokar had lived, they would have had a shardbearer and another radiant to have to deal with. Lots of named characters in that scene (god that scene was so sad to read) killed lots of named characters on both sides. If Elhokar’s side had gained the upper hand, Khen and Moash probably would have died. In a situation like that, I’m not really sure I can be mad at him for doing a tactically correct move like that, even if his intentions were more personal.
That’s actually…kind of a big distinction between how I view Moash and how a lot of people do. I know there were a lot of people who were holding out for a potential redemption until Moash killed Jez, but I didn’t…exactly…see it as a thing that needed redeeming. I didn’t want Elhokar to die, of course I didn’t, but Moash was a soldier in combat, who just so happened to be faced off against someone he saw (and not necessarily incorrectly at that) as representative of all the discrimination and suffering he’d endured. What do you expect him to do?
Yes, it sucks that he killed Elhokar while he was in the middle of changing, but you can’t honestly expect Moash to know about that.
I mentioned Jez, so let’s start on him next. I will admit, when I was reading Oathbringer, the point at which Moash killed Jez was a very “what the fuck” moment for me. But…honestly the more I think back on it and try to understand him, the more it seems that that was the obvious course of action for him. After all, at that point in the story, I already knew and had accepted that he had defected to the singers’ side. (God his defection is another really fascinating thing actually! And it’s honestly such a huge part in why I care about him even now. I would love to talk a bit about Moash’s relationships with the singers vs the humans in more detail at some point, but this post is probably already way too long. Someone remind me later, I promise the post will be shorter than this one.) He was also literally a slave, but not just that, he was a slave who genuinely wanted the side he was working for to succeed. And also a soldier who had killed before. Honestly, if the fused had asked him to kill someone for them, it would surprise me more if he didn’t do it for them.
I think after he killed Elhokar, Moash was at his lowest point. He was already depressed and really fucked up, but the idealized idea of vengeance deep inside him still had somehow kept him going. Then when he finally got what he had been dreaming of he didn’t feel happy or satisfied or any of that. Not only that, but in having completed his goal he no longer felt he had any purpose. So why not do whatever the fused ask of him? He has no ambition of his own, but he truly believes that once they’re in power, they’ll make a better, fairer society for people in the future. Honestly the more I think about it, the fact that Jez was a herald is all the more reason for Moash to agree to kill him. It provided a very real tactical advantage in a war. I’m not going to touch on whether this act was right or not, but I know that I personally can understand why Moash felt that helping the side of the singers was the right thing to do. And I guess if I can accept that then everything else follows.
As for the personal responsibility thing, I…don’t judge him very much for that. He was a slave, he was dysfunctional and depressed, and his mind kept returning to how he had hurt Kaladin which I’m pretty sure also sort of makes him hate himself. If he needed coping mechanisms to stay alive in that situation, then I’m willing to accept that. Even if he hadn’t had that mindset, he would still be a slave in the exact same situation. And…honestly he’s really not the first character to be in heavy denial over personal responsibility and past actions. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you about the other examples.
When I was reading Oathbringer my sister and I talked a lot about this worldview, “Alethi society is bad so anything I did when I was a part of it can be written away, because being in that bad society is really what’s to blame.” I will admit I was sort of doing that earlier in this very post, although my intention was more to highlight hypocrisy than anything else. Moash’s denial of personal responsibility probably would have rubbed me the wrong way a lot more if he…didn’t actually take responsibility…all over the place… He stood up for Sah, Khen, etc. when they were being hurt and took it upon himself personally to risk his life to go talk to management and angrily give them constructive criticism on how to make their society fair. He definitely blames his past on the society he lived in, but in the present he was adamant that that had been bad and so the next thing has to be better. Flawed as it may have been, I think it was his way of putting his past behind him and accepting his new life.
Again, not saying that this mentality is good or even justifiable, that’s up to you. I feel that it’s at the very least compelling.
…WHICH! To tie it all together, here’s why I like Moash. In Oathbringer he is a mess of a person, but I still find a lot of nuance and this broken sort of humanity in his actions. I can tell that he still cares about right and wrong, he just feels it’s impossible to find justice in the preexisting human society. (I wanna talk more about his opinions on the singers later.) He definitely did bad things, but he’s not so far gone that I don’t think he’s worth understanding. I don’t necessarily like characters just because they’re good or nice people, they can even be irredeemable people, and maybe Moash is just that. I don’t know. I understand why people would feel that way about him, I really do. But I still find his story compelling, I’m still interested to see what he does next, and against all reason, I’m still hoping he somehow makes it out okay somehow.
It’s like after 3:30, jesus, I need to sleep. Um. Reeeeal quick end notes. This post was mostly me rambling about the bad shit he did in Oathbringer, but I think he did good stuff too! He is a morally grey character and I would go into that more if I weren’t so tired. Uh. I’m sorry for writing so much, I know this probably isn’t what you expect from this kind of blog. If you actually read all this then 1) wow and 2) lmk how comprehensible it was. Also if there’s anything I’m wrong about lmk I do not mind criticism.
Yeah. G’night.
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preservationandruin · 6 years
Text
Moods of Reading Oathbringer
Collected from me and @murderandcoffee screaming throughout the course of the book. Completely separate from my actually intelligent screaming in the liveblogs/
Gavilar I was willing to like you and then you went and trashed it in your literal first real scene
LET! SYL! SAY! FUCK!
Kal is Too Perfect and its Not Fair
MY PARENTS ARE  M A R R I E D
LIRIN CALLED KALADIN HIS LITTLE BOY
KALADIN! PUNCHED! ROSHONE! FUCK YES!
I trust DALINAR just not his OPINIONS OF PEOPLE
on this episode of Stormlight Archives: Syl tells Kaladin he needs to get laid
I love my dad but I hate my dad's past self
NO!!!! DALINAR! DOES! NOT! NEED! KING! TARAVANGIAN! ANYWHERE! NEAR! HIM! FUCK!!!!!!
SHALLAN AND ADOLIN'S DYNAMIC IS SO GOOD
I love my current dad but sometimes in flashbacks I m 500000% willing to fistfight the Blackthorn with my bare hands
DALINAR! REMEMBERS! HIS! WIFE!
AMARAM AND JASNAH ARE IN THE SAME SCENE AND SHE IS ROASTING HIM ALIVE GOD FUCKING BLESS
WHERE THE FUCK IS URITHIRU'S WATER COMING FROM
me, hugging Renarin and Adolin: MY TWO SPECIAL BOYS
IALAI! IS! GIVING! THE! SADEAS! TITLE! TO! AMARAM! I'M! GOING! TO! SHIT!
JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK  JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK  JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK  JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK JASNAH'S BACK
KALADIN IS DOING MORNING PUSH-UPS I HATE THIS MAN
@ Brandon what have you done to me
Lift??? just told Dalinar he has a nice, "tight" butt?????? I'm fucking shitting?????????????????
sometimes I forget that Elhokar has been lectured by Lopen's mom and then I remember and my day gets so much better
Elhokar is a Gryffindor but one with an identity crisis and the world's worst impulse control
Shallan is the human embodiment of that "good luck I'm behind 7 proxies" meme
oh dear jesus dalinar (in the present) is trying to pick a fight why is he like this
midwife: hands newborn Adolin to Dalinar Dalinar: LION KING POSE, HAPPY YELLING
christ, young Dalinar did not deserve Evi
THESE DRAMATIC KHOLIN MEN WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME
HIGHMARSHAL AZURE JUST SAID “LIKE WHITE ON BLACK”
I didn’t expect Wit and Shallan to have the relationship they do, but I really appreciate it.
Adolin cares so much about things like people and spren and horses and swords and I love him
Dalinar better have fucking apologized to Renarin. A hundred times. I honestly do want to go back and fistfight young Dalinar
also, Adolin just gave Kaladin the Bridge Four salute I LOVE THESE BOYS
ok so I forgot that Nightblood would be there in Szeth chapters now and holy shit I love my shitty magic sword child
GOD DAMN IT MOASH
HOW DARE HE GIVE THE FUCKING BRIDGE FOUR SALUTE TO KALADIN
I WANTED A MOASH REDEMPTION ARC BUT FUCKING HELL THIS IS WHAT I GOT
don't think about elhokar and shallan being the weirdest lightweaving buddies. also don't think about elhokar making a disguise so he can sneak out and actually just be a normal person for a while
I want to date SO MANY OF THESE CHARACTERS
hey uhhhhhhhhhhhhh FUCK Taravangian
half of the cast has a type and that type is "kaladin" 
I feel like with the Kaladin-Adolin-Shallan trio of people, whenever two of them are fine and stable, the other is bound to be launching themselves headfirst into Drama
I! LOVE! RYSN!
fucking motherfucker Brandon putting nine viewpoints in this part like an ASSHOLE
how does Brandon manage a setup like this EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN BOOK
FUCK! MOASH!
I AM SHITTINGMYSELF OHMYHDOOHMYGODMOHMYDHODHKSKSK
okay okay okay okay I Adore Shallan
Cultivation: god fucking dammit honor you DIE AND LEAVE ME TO DEAL WITH YOUR WEIRD KISMESSESSITUDE CHILDREN
I'm gonna cry, all of these characters have come so far and I'm so proud of them
JASNAH IS SUMMONING HER SHARDBLADE NOO NO NO NO NO
of fuckin course Odium has to appear as a gold and white parshman god forbid he look like a normal fuckin parshman this pretentious asshole
fucking Moash asshole I BELIEVED IN HIM
FUCK ME THE TITLE OF THE NEXT ONE  IS CHAMPION WITH NINE SHADOWS
Dalinar hauling The Way of Kings around for this whole battle is way too funny
I trust nothing and no one in this world
IM GONNA SHIT GOD DAMMIT KALADIN
Meanwhile,  Kaladin is apparently drowning in beads, of fucking course God forbid this trio keep their shit together for more than three seconds
Wyndle has to deal with So Much
SZETH!!!!!! RENARIN!!!!!! KALADIN!!!!!!! D A D
DON'T TOUCH MY DAD!!!
HOLY SHIT, NAVANI, I SEE WHERE JASNAH GETS HER STONE-COLD DETERMINATION FROM
is amaram about to eat a fucking rock
DALINAR FUCKING STAPLED ALL THREE REALMS TOGETHER AND REOPENED HONOR'S PERPENDUCULARITY
amaram vored a magic rock to fight kaladin better. great.
LET! NIGHTBLOOD! SAY! FUCK!
SHE TOLD HIM HER NAME. MAYALARAN
AMARAM IS LITERALLY HALF-CRUSTACEAN AND GLOWING WITH VOIDLIGHT AND HE'S STILL TALKING ABOUT HONOR
ADOLIN TRIED TO STEP BACK TO "LET KALADIN HAVE SHALLAN" ASFONSDOFINAOFEDGVKSKJDNG:KB
WHAT THE FUCK MOASH
LOPEN ACCIDENTALLY SWORE THE SECOND IDEAL AND PUT OUT ALL THE LIGHTS IN THE SURGEON"S TENT FUCK
LET! RUA! SAY! FUCK!
oh my god Veil and Adolin are DRINKING BUDDIES
THAT'S WHO VYRE IS. FUCK
some tiny part of me is so happy that Dalinar's having pronoun problems when trying to write about himself because WHAT A NONBINARY RELATEABLE FEEL
Kholin women are ice-cold competent ladies and Shallan is joining a proud tradition of women who seem like nerds and are revealed to be stone-cold pragmatists with their backs against the wall
JASNAH AND DALINAR'S RELATIONSHIP MEANS SO MUCH TO ME
Adolin needs to get control of his fucking illiteracy
Adolin and Gavinor are the only two illiterate Kholins now and Gavinor has the excuse of being THREE
Venli is 'bout to be running the longest fucking scam on Odium
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shinylitwick94 · 3 years
Text
Finished Oathbringer, third in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series.
Phew, finally caught up!
I liked this one less than Words of Radiance, but better than Way of Kings.
SPOILERS for everything up to this point.
Under cut because this is a LONG post and my poor mutuals have suffered through enough of these.
Like all SA books so far, it suffers a LOT from being far too long. This monstrosity is 1200 pages long in the hardback version.
I know I keep complaining about this, but that’s the length of the entire LOTR. And it doesn’t accomplish even as much as Fellowship.
Look, I get it, I’m a fantasy fan too, I understand why we like long books. But having a 1200 page novel where for 50% of it virtually nothing happens should not be as easily accepted as it is. I said I’d shave 500 pages off Way of Kings and 300 off Words of Radiance. This one? Could stand to lose 700 pages. And it would be better, not worse for it.
Case in point - the entire sequence where for no apparent reason Sanderson decides to give us a POV chapter from what feels like every single member of Bridge Four. Does it add something? Yes, a little bit, we get to learn more about those characters and there are things that I imagine will be relevant for future setup. Does it need to be ten chapters long? Hell, no! If it had been done in one chapter it would have been a fun interlude, instead of a massive drag, but Sanderson just has to indulge in every little thing and doesn’t have an editor apparently.
A few other sections in this book stand out for how much they drag - Shallan walking around as veil in both Urithiru and Kholinar, and the entire Shadesmar section.
The first is important for Shallan’s development but could definitely have been trimmed a bit. The second...I get why it’s there and I get that it’s worldbuilding that needs to be done at some point, but again, it could have been much, much shorter.
I won’t go too much into specific character arcs this time, but I did like Shallan’s a bit, even if it was repetitive, Kaladin was fine and occasionally relatable, but still mostly quite boring, Adolin is still adorable and he picked up a guilty conscience this time around.
But the star of the book, is, of course, Dalinar. I was really excited to learn that Dalinar would be the main flashback character for this book, since he’s been my favorite since the beginning. And the book really doesn’t let down in this part. The flashbacks are both illuminating for his current character, shocking at times, and heartfelt, and the journey he goes through here is by far the most interesting part of this book. Honestly, I’m glad I’ve read it for this alone. He and Navani are also still adorable. (I  always love seeing happy older couples)
Of the side characters I liked Pattern, Jasnah, Elhokar and Szeth. I continue to dislike Wit (too out of place, too convenient, too unfunny), but Lift is far less annoying from the perspective of other characters.
I did enjoy the plot in the second half of the book and I liked the ending, especially Dalinar’s part, even if it was a little cheesy and over the top.
Which does lead me to my final criticism of this - the Marvel Effect.
This book was too easy. Yes, the characters suffer, but a lot of things that I feel should be much harder come far, far to easily, and a lot of things that should have major consequences, don’t.
The major sticking point for me here is the alliance. Yes, it falls apart a bit at the end, but really, it shouldn’t be this simple. The politics just feels very amateurish and with no real depth to it. And that extends even to  the worldbuilding of these other cultures - they come off as Planets of Hats. Personally I love some of them, in particular the Azish (bless their little bureaucratic hearts), but a lot of them don’t feel convincing as real cultures - it feels shallow, somehow. And that’s part of what makes the negotiations come off as cartoonish.
And speaking of cartoonish, Amaram. I hated him in the first book in the way that you should hate villains but by this point I was so utterly uninvested in that fight I skipped most of it. It’s similar to Sadeas, in that I guess I just expected more, but it actually really was that basic.
Finally, I get that this is supposed to be a bit more lighthearted when it comes to fantasy, but more named characters should have died. And I don’t necessarily mean main characters, I mean that there is no reason why Shallan and Kaladin’s buddies from Kholinar should have survived that.
All this combined with the way the magic works is giving these books a distinctly superhero movie feel. They’re meh for the most part, with some interesting bits here and there and some spectacular action that desperately tries to make up for the lack of meat.
That being said, I did enjoy this book, especially the bits about Dalinar, and I like the setting and characters, and I will go into Rhythm of War next, since that was the point of this whole exercise.
But I won’t pretend I won’t be glad to have to wait a couple of years for another one.
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warrioreowynofrohan · 3 years
Text
Stormlight Archive Character Thoughts - Kaladin
I’ve got piles of thoughts about the Stormlight Archive, and I want to start getting them written down in the lead-up to Rhythm of War.
For people who haven’t read The Stormlight Archive yet - spoilers! (For the first three books only.) If you’re interested in reading the books in future - or, for that matter, if you’re not interested at all and would rather not have them clogging up your dash - you may want to apply some kind of filter to skip these posts.
Kaladin is easily one of my favourite characters, and a lot of that comes from how deeply he cares about people, even people he doesn’t know, and his astounding level of determination. More than any other character in the books, he has to fight for every inch he gets, he has people placing roadblocks in his path literally every time he takes a step forward, and he powers through it all.
Let’s recap. First, at only fifteen years old, he joins the army to protect his younger brother, only 13-years-old, who has been forcibly conscripted due to the town’s brightlord having a grudge against Kaladin’s family. It’s like a sadder version of The Hunger Games, where he can’t even volunteer in place of his brother, just go with him and hope. Soon after their conscription, his brother is forced onto the front lines and killed in front of him.
Kaladin keeps going. He excels in the army and is made a squadleader before he is out of his teens. He spends all his pay bribing officers to send young people who are unprepared for war to his squad, and he protects them; he bribes the support staff to prioritize his men when taking injured soldiers from the battlefield, so they will live. He becomes a legend to his men, who call him Stormblessed. His men are slaughtered by a Shardbearer, a terror that no ordinary soldier could hope to overcome. Kaladin kills the Shardbearer. His commander, the one lighteyes Kaladin still trusted, steals the Shards, slaughters his men to cover it up, brands Kaladin as a slave, and sells him.
Kaladin keeps going. He tries, time and time and time again, to escape, alone or with others. Sometimes he succeeds, briefly. But he is always recaptured, his companions killed. He breaks. He thinks he’s given up. Despite having given up, he tries to save another ill slave, offering medical advice on how he can be save. The slave-traders kill the man anyway. Kaladin is sent to the Shattered Plains as a bridgemen, an existence that is nothing but a painful journey to inevitable death.
He keeps going. He decides, against all odds, to save the men of his bridge crew, who are too beaten down to even want to be saved. He tries to order them to train; they ignore or laugh at him. He tries to inspire them to train; they look at him like he’s crazy. The man in charge of the bridge crew hates him and wants him dead, but is also afraid and in debt; Kaladin puts some of the minimal pay he recieves into bribing him to leave him alone. He tries to buy antiseptic to prevent injured brudgemen from dying of sepsis. He can’t. It costs more money than he will ever have. When the crew go on brudge runs, he stands in the most dangerous place, where he is most likely to die. He runs onto the battlefield, unarmed, to rescue wounded bridgemen from his crew. He heals them as best he can with his limited resources. When the commanders refuse to bring the injured men back to camp because their lives have no value to them, he finds a way to bring them back. The commanders refuse to feed the injured men. He gives up his own rations to feed them, but he’s going to run out of food, money, and medical supplies.
He keeps going. Acting on information from the apothecary, he gets his men assigned to heavy manual labour (which doesn’t make them happy with him) outside of camp and gathers antiseptic from a grass that grows there, to tend his men’s wounds and to sell to the apothecary for profit. He works nights to extract the antiseptic, with the help of a couple other members of his bridge crew. He keeps trying to train his bridge crew so they’re stronger, more practiced, and less likely to die on bridge runs, but many are still too beaten done to have anything to do with it. When he goes to sell the antiseptic to the apothecary, the apothcary tries to cheat him and buy it for a pittance.
Kaladin sees through it the apothecary’s deception, pushes him, and gets a decent price. He uses the money to buy food for his men, Rock makes them stew, and the group finally start to bond. The next day, when he starts training, most of them are willing to participate. Throughout this time, bridgemen kerp getting wounded, keep dying on runs. If this continues, there won’t be enough people left yo carry the bridge. This is intentional on the part of the commanders: they want him to fail, want to deny him any more crew members to replace the ones he’s lost. And then, when he demands more men and can pick one - he picks a one-armed man. Because the man would die immediately in any other bridge crew, and Kaladin is still the person who, when he was a squadleader, had unprepared soldiers sent to his squad so he could keep them alive.
He keeps going. He trains his squad to carry the bridge at their side, so they can use it to block arrows and not be defenseless on bridge runs. He tries this on the next run, because it’s the only way they won’t all die. It works. It also causes the army’s attack to fail, because enemy arches fire at the soldiers and the other bridge crews instead of his crew. And he’s finally told why his men are sent running into battle unshielded and unarmoured. Killing them distracts the enemy from soldiers who have value. He’s been labouring and striving with all his strength to save men whose only military purpose is to die. The commanders string him up in a highstorm to die.
Miraculously, he lives. And he keeps going. Secretly, he begins training his men to fight, in the slim hope that they can excape from the camp, fight off pursuers, and find freedom. On top of this, he starts rescuing and healing wounded men from other bridge crews. Because their lives have value, and no one else values them. And finally, they have a chance to escape - if they walk away and let a losing army be slaughtered by its enemies.
They turn back. A group of people who, months ago, were hopeless, apathetic, and waiting to die, sacrifice their chance at freedom to save men they do not know, soldiers of armies who have never shown any value for bridgeman lives. Men who barely know how to use a spear fight in a battle, a battle against unbelievable odds. (In organizing the retreat, Kaladin manages to take command of men who are stratospherically higher-rank than him, through sheer force of will and level-headedness.) And they win. And thanks to this, they win their freedom. Kaladin’s begun to realize he has powers he doesn’t fully understand.
He’s given immense new responsibilities. Where one he was in charge of maybe thirty or forty bridgemen he’s now in charge of hundreds of brudgemen and soldiers. He learns to identify other leaders. To inspire. To delegate. He considers telling Dalinar about his new powers, and then, just as he’s almost decided, the man who murdered his crew and branded him as a slave comes to the camp, and Dalinar wecomes him as a dear friend. Kaladin tells Dalinar the truth. Dalinar tells Kaladin he has no proof, and all the evidence and testimony is against him; and to all appearances, Dalinar does nothing. Dalinar appoints the man as the new head of the Knights Radiant, the group that Kaladin’s powers genuinely make him one of.
Kaladin keeps going. Despite all of this, he throws himself into a fight against four Shardbearers to protect Dalinar’s son, a man Kaladin doesn’t even like. Against all the odds, he wins. Sering a chance for justice, he demands the right to duel Amaram, his betrayer. Instead, he’s thrown in prison and narrowly escapes the king having him executed (note: Kaladin had previously risked his life to rescue the king from posdibly the most dangerous man in the world). For the second time, he has defeated a Shardbearer, an act that is supposed to instantly make you one of the highest-status people in the kingdom. For the second time, he’s been betrayed and punished for it instead. And then he finds out that the king is also responsible for ‘exiling’, to Kaladin’s hometown, the brightlord respinsible for his brother’s death.
And this is the point where he breaks and decides he’s okay with the king being assassinated. And then, because of that decision, he loses his new abilities and he loses Syl. And he still keeps going, and fights (and kills) a monster out of nightmares to save someone he doesn’t particularly like, and nearly dies doing it. And then, over a space of weeks, he pulls himself together, realizes he was wrong, and stands in defence of the king while still severely injured, about to pass about from blood loss, in a fight he has no chance of winning.
And, oh yes, he does all this while having clinical depression (in addition to some serious situational depression due to the absolute hell that his life is for a lot of the time).
Yes, I’ve skated over a lot of things here, and the involvement of a lot of other characters, but when you put all this together it is amazing. And that, not his powers, is what makes Kaladin a wonderful and intensely admirable character to me. His bond with Syl, and his abilities, are a result of the person he’s continually chosen to be, against constant, unimaginable obstacles. They’re not something that was just handed to him. Do I love his epic moments? Yes. But they work because they’re grounded on the foundation of everything else he’s chosen to be and do.
(I’m hoping to do a separate post focusing specifically on his arc in Words of Radiance, and on Moash’s arc, because there are a lot of nuances there that I want to dig into.)
And in Oathbringer, I love his scenes with the Singers in the first part. He meets people who he expects to be monsters, who both legend and personal experience has told him are monsters, and he empathizes with them and helps them. Because they need it, and because he cares. And I believe that on the long run, that will be a major and important strength, not a weakness. Throughout the books he’s struggled with the question of how you draw a line between the people you’re supposed to protect and the people you’re supposed to kill when there’s no obvious moral difference between the one and this other. I think that’s going to be resolved, and that his capacity for empathy, inspiration and leadership is going to be involved in helping the humans and the Singers to find peace.
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neuxue · 6 years
Text
Oathbringer thoughts
I was hoping to be able to liveblog Oathbringer, but it turns out I was too optimistic by half. Well, by about 5/28 anyway, given that I have two and a half WoT books left. I thought about just waiting to read Oathbringer (if there’s anything liveblogging WoT has taught me it’s patience) but I’m going to the Sanderson signing tomorrow so I was running out of time. Anyway, here are some thoughts upon finishing, for the 2 or 3 of you who are interested. I was reading probably a little too fast, so probably missed everything and will at some point need to reread, but here you go.
LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW. ALL THE SPOILERS. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. 
In no particular order (but there are 10: a nicely Vorin number to go with my coincidentally Vorin username)
1. Talenel. Taln. Talenelat’Elin. Stonesinew, Herald of War, Bearer of all Agonies. 
That guy.
Taln was a Problem for me literally from the moment he was introduced in the Prelude (offscreen! He didn’t even show up on-page! Why am I like this?!) with the line “Taln had a tendency to choose seemingly hopeless fights and win them. He also had a tendency to die in the process”. A doomed last stand in the form of a character. Why would you do this to me. 
So I’m sure you can guess that Chapter 38 (‘Broken People’ what a chapter title) thoroughly broke me. I mean, it wasn’t even anything we didn’t already know, really. But... “The nine realised that one of them had never broken.” And “The Bearer of Agonies. The one abandoned in Damnation. Left to withstand the tortures alone.” And the fact that it took four and a half millennia for him to break.
I’ve long had a fascination with the idea of ‘everyone has a breaking point’ (when I was 11 I tried to write a novel based entirely on the concept of someone who does not - or cannot - break; the ‘cannot’ turned out to be a rather interesting thing to explore, but the story overall was terrible because, amongst other reasons, I was 11) and with the idea of breaking characters, and what it would take to break certain characters, and what the result would be. 
As I mentioned, I also have a thing for doomed last stands, so basically Talenel was created to be my breaking point, it would seem. (“Herald Talenelat during several of his many, many last stands...” just @ me next time)
And then. And then 
“Four thousand years?” She held his hand tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” [...] “Four thousand years?” Taln asked again. “Ash...” “We couldn’t continue--I...we thought...” “Ash.” He took her hand again. “What a wonderful thing.” Wonderful? “We left you, Taln.” “What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had a chance before. But this time...yes, maybe they do.”
And then...lucidity abandons him, because he is broken, and it’s been four thousand years. But in that one moment, in the moment when he is briefly himself, it’s as if he isn’t broken at all. The fact that this still exists within him, even if the rest of the time he’s found a refuge in madness or forgetting or in the recitation he gives over and over, the advice he needs to give to humanity, the duty he has to them. It’s like name, rank, serial number. It’s very probably the thing he held on to throughout those four and a half thousand years, the thing he could not allow himself to let go of or forget, even as he broke. And the thought that the one point he fixed on, the thing he held fast to even as he broke, was his duty to humankind, is...a lot.
2. Speaking of Taln, let’s talk a little bit about Kaladin
There are plenty of things I could say about Kaladin, but I mostly just want to throw a few quotes out there For Your Interest. Because...I don’t know if there’s anything to this but here.
Quotes about Taln:
“The one who wasn’t meant to have joined them in the first place, the one who was not a king, scholar, or general” 
Um.
“One of them had never broken.”
Quotes about or by Kaladin Stormblessed (surgeon’s son, neither king nor scholar nor general):
“That granite will, that warrior’s poise.” 
(As an aside, how do granite and obsidian exist on a planet with no tectonics? How???)
“Ten spears go to battle” [Kaladin] whispered, “and nine shatter. Did that war forge the one that remained? No, Amaram. All the war did was identify the spear that would not break.”
One unbroken, of ten. 
Eight months. Eight months as a slave, eight months of slop and beatings. It might as well have been an eternity. --from Way of Kings
An eternity of torture? Also Taln’s Scar is high in the sky during Kaladin’s time as a slave. Maybe meaningless. 
Why were they going through all of this? What was the point? Why were they running so much? They had to protect their bridge, the precious weight, the cargo. They had to hold up the sky and run, they had to... --Kaladin’s thoughts, WoK
Take that just a little out of immediate context and that last part especially sure sounds like someone tasked with endless agony for the sake of the world
Yet the sheer glory of what he did seemed at odds with the desolation he caused --Kaladin’s thoughts, WoK
Somewhat less relevant to the thing I’m sort of vaguely postulating but still an interesting choice of words, and the Desolations happen when the Heralds break and return, so.
“His body dead, but not his will” --Hoid, WoR, telling the ‘Fleet’ story
Taln dies a lot. It’s sort of his thing. But his will takes four millennia to break.
“Then I hope I end up in Damnation.” --Kaladin, WoR
I’m just saying.
Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s leftover from one of the things I got hilariously wrong when first reading WoK - obviously Kaladin was gaining the powers of a Radiant but I really, really wanted him to somehow be Taln. (Amusingly, I read Way of Kings before I started Wheel of Time, otherwise it would be easy to see where this notion came from). Maybe it’s Maybelline. Regardless, it’s an interesting set of possible parallels.
3. Wow, he just up and told us what caused the Recreance in book three. 
And it felt like the perfect time for it. It’s the sort of thing you’d normally expect an author to sit on for more or less the entire series. I was tentatively prepared to wait for at least the first five books before getting this much stated outright on-page. 
I’m so glad Sanderson gave it to us now, instead. For one thing, it felt oddly refreshing to have such a big question answered so early. Playing the long game with reveals can work, obviously, but it’s fun to mix things up a bit. It also plays into some of what I ended up talking about in the ‘Dalinar’ section of this list regarding plot twists and the execution thereof. The Recreance is a good example, because it was revealed in full at the point in the story when it could have the impact it needed to have. In-story, it was both the probable and logical time for the secret to come out - it would have started to strain suspension of disbelief if that many characters had some knowledge of it, and none of them ever put it together on-page either in their own thoughts or for the other characters. For the reader, it brings everything together at a point when it’s all very relevant, and at a point when there’s enough information to figure it out if you’re careful and lucky, but not so much that it loses all surprise value whatsoever (For the record, I was close about a lot of it, but there were some pieces I missed and/or put in the wrong place. It did, however, satisfy the one thing I was really hoping it would). 
Narratively and thematically, it makes sense alongside the other questions that are being asked or otherwise addressed - the issue of colonisation and ownership and agency, the question of war and protection and the justifications for either or both, the contrast of unity and division, and of course the question of oaths and honour and betrayal.  
Answering this question now also makes the whole story suddenly feel so much bigger, because when something set up to be this much of a central question is almost just handed to you, it serves to put it into perspective. It makes the rest of the story, and next set of questions we’re starting to ask, and the questions we don’t even yet know to ask, seem so much larger, and the story so much vaster. 
4. OH THANK THE LISTENING GODS THE LOVE TRIANGLE SPUTTERED AND DIED BEFORE IT COULD EAT EVERYTHING 
I breathed an actual literal sigh of relief. I hate love triangles so much, mostly because I usually struggle to maintain ‘bored indifference’ rather than outright irritation at romance subplots in general, so love triangles are almost always intolerable because not only do they double the romance but they turn it into a point of conflict and miscommunication and angst and I cannot fucking stand it. If I had a dragon for every unnecessary love triangle I’ve had to read, I’d have been able to take over the world a long time ago. Or have the world’s most epic bonfire. 
Anyway. Through WoR (and I guess WoK but to a lesser extent) I was torn between trusting Sanderson to avoid or subvert that particular cliche and...not trusting him to do that. There are a lot of things I do trust him with as a storyteller (especially one who has clearly evolved in his writing, storytelling, and awareness) but I wasn’t sure if I could trust him on this. He earned quite a bit of trust from me for how he ended up writing this, actually.
The exact moment I breathed that sigh of relief? It was the conversation Shallan and Kaladin had about her particular coping mechanism. Specifically: 
“No. No, Shallan! I wish I could do the same. [...] How nice would it be, if I could simply shove it all away? Storms.” [...] “This way, I’ll never face it,” Shallan said. “It’s better than being unable to function.” “That’s what I tell myself.”
Because this was the moment when it became exceedingly, abundantly, absolutely clear that Sanderson was doing this on purpose. I had hoped he was, because this was something that felt off about Kaladin and Shallan during their chasms conversation in WoR as well (the ‘she smiled anyway’ thing), but then there was the possibility that it was...accidental. Now, though, I have significantly more faith in Sanderson, because this is a really...I can’t think of the word but I’m glad he did this the way he did.
And I am SO INCREDIBLY GLAD THE LOVE TRIANGLE DIED. And the way in which it died. And the fact that everyone involved respected its death. And that it didn’t stop the characters involved from communicating with and trusting one another. And also that said death included the line “Shallan. he can literally fly.”
(Adolin Kholin is not straight. Just tossing that out there).
(Shallan consistently using the word ‘passion’ when thinking about or describing Kaladin is interesting, though, in light of certain other reveals. Not sure if there’s actually anything to that, but it’s just a thing that stood out).
5. Dalinar
So the identity of Odium’s Champion was one of the things I saw coming as soon as the champion idea was mentioned in this book. (It was brought up in previous books and this was one of my theories but I definitely wasn’t certain, and I was also Distracted by what I wanted to have happen, which is not something that would ever actually happen. I’ll write the fic at some point). 
Anyway, it was predictable...but that didn’t matter, because it was beautifully executed. “You cannot have my pain” is a cool line out of context, but in context it was magnificent. 
I like the way Sanderson does plot twists, because unlike with some authors, it doesn’t feel as if his sole intent is to be able to say ‘ha ha, tricked you, aren’t I so clever’. His goal, it seems, is to tell a satisfying story. Rather than withholding all of the information relevant to the ‘twist’ to make it actually impossible to guess (which doesn’t make you a master of the plot twist so much as it makes you an asshole), he includes the necessary and sufficient foreshadowing to allow the ‘twist’ to make sense and not feel like it came out of nowhere. 
This means, of course, that some readers are going to guess it in advance. That’s just how it works. If you put the information out there, some people are going to put it together correctly and completely. Some people are going to put some of it together, and have a sense of where things are heading. Some people are going to be absolutely sure of where it’s heading...and then be completely wrong. Some people are going to have absolutely no clue. The truly impressive plot twist, I find, is the one that can satisfy people in all of those categories. YMMV of course, but having been in each of these positions at least once while reading Sanderson’s books, I feel like he manages this impressively well. It’s fun if it’s at least a little bit of a surprise, but even when it’s not, it’s satisfying because it’s written as part of the story - as a point of emotional or narrative impact, or a turning point for the characters - well enough that it still has the desired effect. Mostly because ‘gotcha’ isn’t the (only) desired effect.
I digress somewhat.
So before we move on, I’d also like to point out that Dalinar Kholin and Lews Therin Telamon clearly need to form a support group for men who murdered their wives in a fit of madness and fucked with the psyche, memory, and identity of their future selves.
6. “The apocalypse is coming; we don’t have time for bullshit gender roles”
Adolin being absolutely here for Shallan-with-Shardblade. Kaladin going ‘yeah okay’ to women joining the Windrunners. Dalinar learning to read. Jasnah as queen because honestly was there ever actually another choice? 
This is another one that’s just so refreshing to see, especially because it’s clearly something that’s being deliberately examined and played with, but is also integrated into the story. It doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb the author didn’t know what to do with, but it also plays a very real role in the story. It’s not just there so the author can point to the one sword-wielding woman in a cast of thousands of dudes and say ‘but I gave you a Strong Female Character’. 
This ties into something I really appreciate about Sanderson, which is his demonstrated ability and willingness to learn and grow when it comes to issues of representation - not just in terms of including it, but in how he includes it. 
7. Venli
I don’t have a lot to say about her except that I was genuinely surprised by this one. So well done on that, Sanderson.
Also, given his propensity for writing brothers in love with the same woman, I’m almost surprised we didn’t get some sort of reveal about Venli and Eshonai loving the same person.
8. Cosmere convergence
There was a lot more than I expected at this point in the...series? Continuity? Mass of interconnected stories that have evolved into a semi-eldritch being? I enjoyed it and had no problems with this, but I’d be curious to know what someone who’s only read Stormlight thought - does it still work? Do they just play as intriguing and mysterious characters alongside all the other intriguing and mysterious characters, or has it reached a tipping point where you actually need to have read some of the other books?
Also Cosmere-related...Hoid. He’s sure getting more and more screen time, isn’t he? I’m Interested. I have Thoughts. I need to think about them more but I definitely have some Thoughts on who and what he is. Regardless, any character who can say “if I have to watch this world crumble and burn to get what I need, I will do so. With tears, yes, but I would let it happen” is going to Interest me. Not to mention the sheer number of times he tells various characters not to trust him. And then there’s “you turned your back on divinity.” Which is...um. Yeah I’m fine this is fine.
9. Odium
Has to be number 9, because of reasons. Odium was great. Nice subversion of imagery there, and to great effect. 
10. Ideals and Oaths
I mostly find it amusing how a book called Oathbringer is the first to plainly exhibit failed Ideals. Elhokar. Kaladin. (My best guess at the Windrunners’ Fourth Ideal would be something along the lines of “I will protect those I can, and forgive myself for those I cannot” but I’ll have to reread and see if that holds up). The broken Oathpact (there’s a part of me that really wants the gem-encrusted probably-a-fabrial-of-some-sort pillar to be the Oathpact; its manifestation or sealing or what-have-you. Not sure that holds up though). It’s a fun little irony.
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cyborg-squid · 6 years
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My Oathbringer Review
First of all, Oathbringer spoilers to follow. Second of all, I was sort of thinking about what I’d talk about in this while I was reading it, focusing mainly on some of the complaints, but then I reached the finale and it was great, and that really makes up for the flaws. Some of the flaws I have might be tradition sorta ‘sequel fatigue’ or that this is the first Stormlight Archive book that I am reading at release, and thus I have expectations for it. 
So, my biggest complaint for this book is that, compared to the other books in the Stormlight Archive so far is that it felt a lot less cohesive as a story. While the other books seemed, to me, to focus more on journies and progression up to events, this book felt more like a collection of events, rather than a journey. Some of the stuff ended up feeling stuffed in, or sort of out of place.
Granted, this is not for the whole book. The gang being transported to Shadesmar definitely felt more cohesive than other parts of the book, along with the SPECTACULAR finale. 
Shadesmar as a whole makes a lot more sense when we learn more about it and that it’s actually a nation/land filled with its own peoples, who just happen to live on another Realm of existence.
I also feel that Kaladin’s homecoming could have been better, it just seemed kinda underwhelming to me, and overshadowed by other events in the books. I feel that more time should have been devoted to that. 
Same with Jasnah’s homecoming. 
I really expected to see more about Malata and the Order of Dustbringers, but she only really ended up getting 2 scenes. 
At least Nin said he would be teaching Szeth about the Surge of Division, so that may give us a bit of secondhand insight into the Dustbringers. 
I know Brandon has said that Stormlight Archive (and his other current serieses) can be enjoyed individually and seperately from the cosmere, it really doesn’t feel that way with SA. Like, I can deal with Shards+Adonalsium being introduced early on in the series (as opposed to Mistborn) and with worldhoppers like Hoid, Vasher, Vivenna,etc…, but the real problem is with some of the chapter forewords. It’s great that they have ones about the Death Rattles, or the Mythica, or The Diagram, and so on, but my problem is the ones that are letters between Hoid and his associates, one of whom is apparently a dragon?! Like it’s hard to just enjoy SA as SA when you have cryptic information about a character who hasn’t been formally introduced yet talking with characters who haven’t been named yet (to the audience) talking about events we know very little about. Bad Analogy: It’s like saying we only need to pay attention to the actors onstage, but occasionally we can see the theater techs moving around in the back and occasionally one of them will come onstage and tell us about their day. It just seems counterproductive. It’s not like a big problem for me, but it does kind of grate on me. 
Overall, while the book was really great, it’s not really as good, in my opinion, as the other Stormlight Archive books. While I was originally writing this as reading, I had it at 8/10, but the finale was so good and well written that I’ve bumped it up to 9/10. And I guess this is sort of a good revelation, that while the Stormlight Archive and the Cosmere books are great, and form parts of great serieses, not every one is 10/10. 
Well, that’s it for complaints time to move on to what I loved about it, such as the finale/climax! It was so good! Honestly, I really reeally liked it though I guess I don’t really have anything specific to say other than I immensely loved the “I am Unity” line so much, and loved the resemblance it had to the iconic “I am hope”. Now I wish I could do art of both those scenes right next to each other. 
but if they ever met im pretty sure Kelsier and Dalinar would absolutely hate each other 
My boy Szeth!!! At first I though he got done a dirty since he didn’t appear in the first 3 parts, but he appeared in the 4th and he was so good! And Nightblood and Lift, all 3 of them have great chemistry.
Also, he can ice skate?! That’s amazing?! I don’t know what to do with this information?!
Amaram is such an awful (in a good way) villain, and he could not have turned into a cooler one. Dual wielding Shardblades, crystals jutting out of him, partially possessed, and having a dramatic conversation with the hero, A+
Azure was really cool, and I’m pretty proud of myself for figuring out she was Vivenna early on. 
I really liked the Kaza interlude. I’m a fan of the SA interludes in general, and while some of the ones in Oathbringer were different, this one really stuck out.
Gosh I hope Rysn is okay. 
There was a lot more that I liked, but these were the ones that stuck out most to me. And while I wouldn’t exactly call some of my complaints minor, none of them are deal breakers or huge problems for me, and didn’t really hurt my enjoyment of the book or series overall. 
Personal complaint: While I was fine with how Shallan/Adolin ended up, I will admit I kinda preferred Shallan/Kaladin, but that’s just really a matter of opinion. 
Review over! Also, I’ll be going through the tag now, so there’s some SA content incoming. 
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rainy-apple-autumn · 6 years
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My Post-Oathbringer thoughts:
LIFT IS TOO GOOD, TOO  A W E S O M E  FOR THIS WORLD
Her interactions with Dalinar were the BEST, and I loved the way she dealt with Nightblood. it was so deevy
Also, when she got hit by that boulder and it snapped her legs, I was physically pained. LIFT DOESN’T DESERVE THIS!!!
I absolutely loved seeing more of Wit in this book. We’ve gotten to see him being helpful before, but in Oathbringer he was downright selfless
That scene with the little girl and the doll???? I’m not crying you’re crying!!!!!
aLSO WHEN HE HUGGED SHALLAN AND TOLD HER THAT SHE WASN’T A MONSTER AHHHHHH
also also that scene where he was first talking to Shallan and making her eat??? Like, he’s such a mom and it’s killing me
ANOTHER ALSO, he has a spren now???? A cryptic, no less??? A part of me was surprised that he didn’t already have one. But now I’m just super excited to see what he does with it
I was REALLY hoping Azure was going to be Vivenna, and now I’m worried because I’m pretty sure it’s not her, but... then... what happened to Vivenna??? If she’s dead I will riot
I actually teared up a little at Rysn’s chapter?? Disabilities are no joke, man, and Brandon Sanderson did a nice job explaining some of the feelings that come along with it.
Every one of Shallan’s chapters was basically me screaming SHALLAN NO! while she ran in the opposite direction, wearing yet another identity, screaming SHALLAN YES!
Her panic attack after nearly dying was OW and I thought that was going to be the worst of it, but then the whole thing with the kid and the food and MY HEART
The way she tells Adolin that he’s marrying 3 different people was ridiculous but also heartwarming
Adolin is going to revive a Shardblade I know it and I’M SO EXCITED
I really, really liked Jasnah in books one and two... but she seemed really off in this book for some reason? I mean, as I understood it, she’s basically never shown affection to anyone, ever, but in Oathbringer she 1) cried when she saw her mother 2) actually stopped to ask Shallan to be honest with her, 3) didn’t kill Renarin and hugged him instead, 4) smiled at Dalinar, 5) was openly crying and mourning at her father’s funeral, 6) got into a heated argument with her ex... and anyways. I mean, those aren’t bad, by any means, and it’s kinda nice to see Jasnah being more open, but it just kinda seemed too rushed and forced and I didn’t love it. 
ALSO! How on earth did Shallan react when Jasnah walked into the room at the end of Part One??? Sanderson just kinda... skipped over that part!?!?! I mean, it almost sounds like Shallan either fainted or that Jasnah just walked in, said hi, and then turned on her heel and walked away, either of which is just super weird
OKAY AND, DESPITE MY OTHER RESERVATIONS, I NEED TO EXPRESS HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE THAT JASNAH IS OFFICIALLY A QUEEN NOW. I MEAN, SHE ALWAYS HAS BEEN, BUT. IT’S OFFICIAL. I’M SCREAMING.
Before this book, I honestly had no idea what the Unmade were or how they worked. And... I still don’t. I mean. They’re spren?? Big spren?? Evil?? Where did they come from?? What are they?? I need to do some serious wiki-searching. I do feel like I have a somewhat better idea, but there’s still a lot of vagueness.
Alright. So, I firmly believe that Elhokar was a cinnamon roll and I really do love him, but at the same time... he kinda makes no sense as a character??? Like, other than the whole “Kaladin wants to kill the king” plot in WoR, it feels like he didn’t serve a lot of purpose. Pretty much everything that he was used for, plot-wise, could have been done by another character. Maybe that doesn’t make a lot of sense? But like, take Elhokar out of Stormlight and I feel like almost nothing changes. So, him dying was pretty eh to me. I mean, what was the point?
AMARAM IS DEAD!! HE’S DEAD!! AHHHH!!
Dalinar basically forgetting about Renarin all the time when he was a kid BREAKS MY HEART
I really like Queen Fen? Nothing more to say here but I really like her
Szeth getting his powers was incredible and I love that he’s officially on the team. 
When he was playing around with his peers and getting hit by dust pouches. That was Very Good
Also his casual respect for Nightblood and pretty much everyone is so pure
I love that Kaladin didn’t have to say the words, in the end. I’m sure that’ll come up in the next book, but like, it’s nice that for once he doesn’t have to save everyone, all the time. 
Also Syl was amazing in this book. I can’t really think of all the things I loved about her, but there was a lot. She’s such a good friend to Kal.
I know a lot of people might argue with me for this... but I actually didn’t love Evi that much. She just felt kinda bland? Nice, definitely! But she felt more like a plot device than a character, you know?
On the subject of Dalinar’s love interests, Navani puts up with so much?? My word
Also, Navani’s fabrials are wonderful and I love that she’s such a subtle, underestimated genius
Okay. and. the way that Odium was finally presented to us was really, really cool. 
I was definitely expecting Odium to be the literal embodiment of hate, but the fact that he’s passion, and emotion, and justice, and all these things that we all kinda consider to be good to some degree? It’s kinda cliche, but I appreciate that it wasn’t so black and white.
But more than that, there was a really strong emphasis on Odium himself wanting to take responsibility for people’s anger and hate. Which seems generous, right? But like Dalinar kinda hints at, taking away guilt and shame robs humans of an essential part of their growth and learning. That’s a fundamentally Mormon idea, and I straight-up fell in love with the way it was presented.
And... those are my thoughts for now. I’m sure I’ll come up with more things to scream about later, but for now I just need to sit in a quiet room and take some deep breaths because WOW. That was intense.
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esseastri · 6 years
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Megan Reads Oathbringer (part 9)
Happy New Year, y’all.
“Heavy Fuel” by Dire Straits is a punk!Dalinar song, sorry, I don’t make the rules.
Part 9 encompasses pages 666-753 (previous parts)
Pray for the mountain internet, please, that it lets me do this liveblog without dropping tumblr every five minutes.
okay, but Elhokar is drawing a map and I’m suddenly vaguely desperate for Elhokar/Eshonai map buddies.
I s2g every time someone calls him “the bridgeman” I just hiss protectively. HE HAS A NAME
oh snap his baby’s name is Gavinor. that’s... listen bud, your dad doesn’t deserve to have anyone named after him, sorry.
“Nice work, Elhokar.” *Gloryspren* THIS CHILD NEEDS MORE ENCOURAGEMENT, PLS, HELP HIM. BE KIND TO HIM. HUG HIM.
“Storming lighteyes, Veil thought as she watched [the food distribution].” YEAH HON, THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, NORMALLY.
Okay, no, not quite--Shallan would probably not go so far as to send her servants to get food that could be given to the poor instead of rich people, but like... the principle stands. Shallan does not recognize her own privilege half the time, and I guess?? that “Veil” noticing it... might? be a step in the right direction? But... probably not until she fuses her multiple identities back into one person.
And that doesn’t seem like it’s happening any time soon.
HOID
WHY ARE YOU WEARING SADEAS COLORS? 
aw yis. storytime.
Aight, can Hoid see through Lightweaving, or can he just recognize Shallan by like... her stance and the way she moves or? HOW COOL IS HE, IS WHAT I’M ASKING HERE.
“You look like you could use the opportunity to buy me something to eat.” HOID, PLS.
“I’m not stupid enough to get mixed up in religion again.” Again. Hoid, wth does that mean.
but dear god, Hoid as a Herald would be hilarious.
THE LAST SEVEN TIMES HE’S TRIED IT. WTH, HOID, OH MY GOD.
“The sum total of stupid people is somewhere around the population of the planet. Plus one.” “Plus one?” “Sadeas counts twice.” GOD BLESS, WIT.
wait, so he wasn’t lying about the promise? About “always being there when needed” but not always knowing where or why? hm. Interesting concept. That I kind of love and wish I’d thought of first.
“Who came with you?” “Kaladin, Adolin, Elhokar, some of our servants.” I thiiiink the other bridgemen would take offense at that, but sure. Whatever.
I’m...intensely amused that chapter 69 is titled “Free Meal, No Strings.” Because I’m eleven and crude as fuck.
Idk, Kaladin, they have a point: the world is ending, so you might as well party. You can be miserable and afraid, or you can be partying and afraid. I’d go with the second.
OH OOOHHHHH OH ADOLIN CALLED HIM “KAL” AND I DIED A LITTLE BIT INSIDE
MY BOY’S GOT FRIENDS AGAIN AND HIS FRIENDS ARE ADOLIN AND I’M CRY
(but dear god, the Kadolin is real)
Also, Adolin being stupidly happy about getting a new wardrobe is giving me life, I LOVE THIS RIDICULOUS FASHION BOY
HEHEHEH Adolin is going to bring Skar and Drehy pastries from the lighteyes party, that’S SO CUTE I LOVE THIS
“What?” “What what?” “You’re going drinking with bridgemen?” “Sure. Skar, Drehy, and I go way back.” “We spent some time keeping His Highness from falling into chasms.” I’M LIVING MY CROPS ARE FLOURISHING MY SKIN IS CLEAR THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME I LOVE THIS I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS.
“He felt good lots of days. Trouble was, on the bad days, that was hard to remember. At those times, for some reason, he felt like he had always been in darkness, and always would be. Why was it so hard to remember? Did he have to keep slipping back down? Why couldn’t he stay up here in the sunlight, where everyone else lived?”
The Megan-and-Kaladin-Think-the-Same-Exact-Way-and-It’s-Both-Comforting-and-Terrifying Trend continues. 
Sometimes people ask me why he’s my favorite and I just. Have literally never related more strongly to another person ever, real life or fictional. It’s wild.
ADOLIN COMING TO CHECK ON KALADIN WHEN HE FALLS BEHIND WORRYING.
THERE IS TOO MUCH. STORMING. KADOLIN. IN THIS BOOK.
I love that the phrase “and you’re lighteyed today” is a normal thing now. That it changes and he can just. change it. and they’ve all accepted it. I love it.
PUNCHY GUYS.
IT’S THE ACADEMIC TERM
SWORDY FELLOWS OR SPEARISH CHAPS. AXALACIOUS BLOKE.
bless these two nerds
“Adolin Kholin was simply a good person. Powder-blue clothing and all. You couldn’t hate a man like him; storms, you kind of had to like him.”
YOU REALLY REALLY DO. He’s infectious, this sunlight boy. And I adore him.
oh no
“Should have just gone to the party” YES YES YOU SHOULD HAVE. I’M WORRY.
also, why did the illusion wear off????? Shallan, what you do?
“The stew didn’t smell anywhere near as good as Rock’s.” HEHEH Nothing does, I’m sure.
I loooooove that Kaladin gets to tell the truth about Amaram now. Drag him, my boy.
the over-friendly wall guards are makin me nervous
I’m sure there are some good men here, and a lot of good soldiers, but... who are they and where did they come from and why are they all lighteyes and.... I have sooo many questions.
......I don’t remember if the squires’ eyes turn light when they’ve been flying with Kaladin.
I don’t think they do, but I don’t remember, and now I’m thinking...maybe the highmarshal is. some kind of Radiant whose squires are all...lighteyes?
hm
AAHH!!!!??? AAAHH!!???? A LADY SHARDBEARER!!!!!?? A LADY!!!!
Okay. That was a pretty dang good speech.
But who is shhheeee
Is she a radiant or is that an Honorblade???
Mmmmmm, Kaladin also thinks she’s a Radiant, but WHICH KIND? If she’s got a bunch of squires, it could be Windrunner, but... dangit, I just... really want to meet a Stoneward.
“In every way, she was the perfect Alethi wife--and her unhappiness crushed his soul.” IT SHOULD. SHE DESERVES BETTER.
I’m reaaaally glad that Evi recognized the Thrill as a bad thing. A monster crouching in her husband’s body.
“...the Thrill was your reward.” Reward? Dalinar, listen to your wife. Please. That is not a reward.
Dalinar, look at you go. You did try this before, the talking thing. You are talking to this angry kiddo, and you’re bad at it, but you’re trying. This isn’t very punk!Dalinar of you. I like it. I can see the bits of presentday!Dalinar poking through the Thrill-encrusted shell of punk!Dalinar. I like it.
This is such interesting character movement, gaahh.
Evi still deserves better though. “Because of a good woman’s tears” ugh the fridge doors are slowly swinging shut, aren’t they?
whhhhhhhhaaaaat
I mean, I’m not surprised, because it’s Sadeas and he’s Sadeas and of course he’s a fucking traitor, but
whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaat
...........gross.
Shallan needs to stop getting killed, please. This is really gross.
NO, DON’T TRY TO TALK WITH A CROSSBOW BOLT IN YOUR FACE PLEASE THIS IS REALLY UNNECESSARY
I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS LEVEL OF HORROR NOVEL PLEASE TAKE IT BACK, BRANDON.
Kaladin “Good at Making Friends” Stormblessed being all sheepish at making friends easily when it took so much effort to make friends with Bridge Four, like... listen, buddy. YOU are excellent at making friends and these guys were all ready to be friends with you. The Bridge was not ready and you had to wear them down with your charm, and you did, and doesn’t that make it all the more precious that you are friends with them?
Also, I miss them. Are my boys okay, Brandon? How are they doing?
omg, Adolin, pls. Yellow?
The Wall Guards making fun of Adolin’s new wardrobe is DELIGHTFUL.
Kaladin: HELLO, FELLOW LIGHTEYES, FOR I AM SURELY A LIGHTEYES, YES INDEEDY, LOOK AT MY VERY LIGHT EYES.
Hi, I love Kaladin, I am not sure you know this about me.
“Yes, his suit was a little bright--but if they would merely spend five minutes talking to him, they’d see he wasn’t so bad.”
Kaladin.
Babe.
You’ve come. So. Far.
I’m so proud of him, oh my god.  
mmmm this food shipment stuff is so weeeiiirrd. where is it coming from? why is it going?? uuugghhhhh
Part of me is like, “I love that they call Azure ‘sir’ and use male pronouns because there is no gender on the battlefield! Everyone gets treated equal!” and most of me is like “fuck this, she’s a fucking lady in command and she deserves to be known.”
also, wtf, she had them attack a monastery? Okay, I get it, you want to control the Soulcaster, but like.... you didn’t just go in there a kill a buncha monks for it, did you?
OKAY, SO MAYBE IT IS AN HONORBLADE THAT WAS DEF MY THOUGHT
but which one.
We have the Skybreaker one.......so whose is this?
Unless it’s not.
I’m
confused. and worried.
Tell me things, Brandon!
OH. But then she wouldn’t need the Soulcaster...if she had an Honorblade for Soulcasting... so she went and got the Soulcaster to...keep up appearances? Hm.
....is it awkward that Stormlight Archive has, so far, been the story of several people slowly becoming atheist (Jasnah, Dalinar) or agnostic (Kaladin) as their lives fall to pieces around them and they slowly rebuild?
Kaladin is a Good, guys.
The best.
omg, okay, but the Swiftspren is just.... LISTEN, BRANDON, YOU CAN’T GO MAKING SHALLAN A ROBIN HOOD. DON’T DO ME LIKE THIS.
I feel so bad for Elhokar.
Buddy just needs some hugs, okay.
Okay, I know logically that Roshar is Bad At Horses, but somehow it never occurred to me that they wouldn’t have archers trained on horseback. Mounted archer is just... such a very Alethi thing, especially non-Shattered Plains Alethi. I didn’t realize, but of course they wouldn’t have that. Horses are too rare.
aight, I didn’t really think Sadeas had betrayed them THIS early on, but STILL, I was so hoping...
Still, rockslide ambush is... a pretty solid strategy for dealing with a Shardbearer.
Sucks for his elites tho. They did not deserve that. That’s shitty.
“They must know the punishment for broken oaths.” Huh. Even back then...
“for none shall remain to weep.” #YIKES, my dude. y i k e s.
punk!Dalinar needs to take a chill pill.
And maybe get some sleep.
Listen, if the Thrill is telling you not to sleep, yOU SHOULD PROBABLY SLEEP.
also, any time you are actually LISTENING to SADEAS? You should probably rethink your life and your choices.
Just saying.
So... presentday!Dalinar had a conversation with Taravangian, about sacrificing the few to save the many. That’s...sort of what Taravangian’s entire plan for world domination salvation rests on. But now here...at the Rift. This is 100% Sadeas’ argument: sacrifice the ten thousand commoners living in the Rift to make an example of their highlords to stop any rebellion further down the timeline that might result in more soldiers’ deaths. Which gives ...a really fascinating insight into just how incredibly far Dalinar has come. past!Dalinar is literally employing the exact plan that Taravangian is trying to do on a worldwide scale, and so he knows it. He understands the consequences that Taravangian can’t know and can’t anticipate and refuses to consider. And present!Dalinar learned from this, and knows what end these means lead to and...refuses. To do it again.
It’s SUCH an interesting character progression. And it’s absolutely fascinating to see it laid out in this order--to see the good, honorable man we know and love first and to see this...monster that he was and see exactly how very much he’s grown... It doesn’t excuse this bad period, the good he’s doing now, but maybe it explains it a little bit. Dalinar is getting a redemption arc and we didn’t even realize that he needed one until he’s almost done with it.
And that’s some badass non-linear storytelling for you.
Also past!Dalinar can get fucked by a cactus, holy shit, what an unbelievable fuck.
nooooo wonder Kadash leaves and becomes an ardent.
hoooooly shit.
“We’ve gone too far.” YA FUCKING THINK??
Meanwhile, Sadeas: “Nonsense!”
Fuck Sadeas, uuugghhhh I’m so glad he’s dead. UUGGHHH
what
the
fuck
THAT JUST HAPPENED.
Fun facts, y’all, the refrigerator is now on fire.
hoooollly fucking shiiiiiiit
WELP
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