Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Creative_Vortx on April 01, 2010, 09:34:48 PM
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First of all, I just think there needs to be a thread created for discussion, so that way we can keep it all in one place instead of having a few dozen threads that I know are going to start popping up now that the prologue is out in the open. If somebody disagrees and thinks discussion of WoK is too early then feel free to wipe this little thread from the face of the forums.
START OFF! SPOILER ALERT! AHHHH!
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed the prologue. It definately did what it was supposed to do, slap me in the face with awesomeness and make me ask what just happened. Brandon, I gotta say that you've created another really imaginative magic system. Gravity is something that is SO structured in the world that seeing it manipulated so freely brings feelings of what if to my mind. I can't wait to see what other magic systems are there and what else can be done with lashings.
I'm wondering if the number 10 plays a big part in the series. We've seen 16 played out many times in the Cosmere. 10 heart beats for a Shardblade seems like a structured number to me. Or it is just structured for Szeth that way. MAYBE! Other Shardbearers can call their blades with more beats if they are weaker, don't possess high amounts of Stormlight?
Just something to spark conversation. I really want to see some speculation and hints coming out at some point. Atleast, imo, speculation can't ruin a book before it's out. Only enhance the experience.
Who's with me? :D
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I'm with you! I was flipping out like a kid in a candy store as I was reading it.
The Stormlight.... WOW. That is sooooo cool. And the setting. We often rave about Brandon's magic systems, the fight scenes, etc. But I like the setting, at least what little was described in the prologue. I felt like I could see it.
And, ok, the Shardblades materializing out of thin air? How cool is that? Szeth didn't take the Shardblade, but could he have taken it if he wanted? Also, is the 's' silent in the pronunciation?
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The pronunciation is supposed to be like "Seth".
As far as if he could have taken it where he already had one I'm not sure.
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Huh... you know, somehow I never got around to asking if two blades was even possible.
Good lord, if there were no limit to how many you could carry, that would be scary as hell.
Shardplate is also awesome cool. I'm actually torn between which is cooler, the blade or the plate. Of course, both is best. ;D
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I think Blade + Lashing is a better combination.
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The pronunciation is supposed to be like "Seth".
It's about time Brandon used my name in a book. :P (Of course, it being coincidence, I can't really take credit for it.)
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I think Blade + Lashing is a better combination.
This was my favorite. I now have a better understanding of what Miyabi said to me a long time ago. "Remember when Goku went super saiyan? It's that awesome!" LOL
Having two blades would be pretty awesome. Most civilizations that used swords for weapons depended on a main sword with a back up shorter sword or knife. Imagine having a Shardblade dagger. That would be a fight. The only issue I see with having two Shardblades is making the third (if I recall correctly) type of lashing where his hand would need to be on it at all times.
But, it seems like he does consider taking the sword for a second and the only reason he didn't was that "he had no use for it".
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So, let's see if I've got this straight. Partial Lashing: Binds an object or person to a point in space, so that that point becomes "down" for that object. Full Lashing: Binds objects to a point or other object. (I'm a little fuzzy on this one.) Reverse Lashing: Maintaining contact with an object, makes that object "down" for anything free to move in the vicinity. I just got why it's called Reverse Lashing as I was writing that. :D
I'm wondering if the number 10 plays a big part in the series. We've seen 16 played out many times in the Cosmere. 10 heart beats for a Shardblade seems like a structured number to me. Or it is just structured for Szeth that way. MAYBE! Other Shardbearers can call their blades with more beats if they are weaker, don't possess high amounts of Stormlight?
Szeth mentions that he's the only one able to do what he does, so I don't think amount of Stormlight makes a difference in calling the Shardblade. If more people could use Stormlight like that, they wouldn't use it for illumination.
Also, Spren? Little creatures attracted to emotion? Harmless? Dangerous? Important? Not important? I'm gonna bet important, and hold off on whether they're dangerous. Szeth doesn't seem concerned about the Fearspren at least.
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Szeth doesn't know everything.
Lashings are fully explained in the book's annotations. Trust in Brandon, he's got the angles worked out.
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Szeth doesn't know everything.
Lashings are fully explained in the book's annotations. Trust in Brandon, he's got the angles worked out.
I always trust Brandon! :)
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Wait- in the book's annotations? How on earth did you get a hold of those!?
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Wait- in the book's annotations? How on earth did you get a hold of those!?
He's an alpha reader :)
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Gah, alpha readers. A pox upon them all and their cursed good fortune!
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He meant the Ars Arcanum. Which is also from an in-world perspective and may have some things wrong.
And the preview is a non-final version of the prologue. Some things will be different in the final book.
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So when Brandon said there were 20+ magic systems, is Lashing just one of those, or are all magic systems different types of Lashing?
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Lashing is not involved in most of them. But remember the first book only scratches the surface.
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Is it just me, or was anyone else a little underwhelmed by the prologue? I was ready to be mind-blown by a crazy new magic system, but it all just came across as Diet Allomancy, to me.
Plus, I'm curious as to what point in the prologue Brandon would stop reading and everybody would be like "OH MAN DONT STOP." Right as he sees the other Shardbearer?
All that being said, I was very intrigued by Szeth's curse, and the sense of the world's...largeness. Something Brandon does here that he doesn't do in his other books is immediately start name-dropping proper nouns like nobody's business without offering a scrap of exposition. And I think that works, because the reader only has guesses at the differences between all these proper nouns, but they're very much filled with a sense of epic-worldness (which is a word you can look up in the Zarepath Family Dictionary).
Anyway, I'm intrigued by the setting and at least one of the characters, but my first taste of Stormlight tastes too much like the fizzy, unsatisfying flavor of Allomancy Lite. I'm sure there's lots more to it in the final book, but did anybody else feel the same way?
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Actually, no, not at all.
Right off the top, Allomancy is internal; it only affects the person using it. It can make you stronger, it can pull or push you towards or away from metal, it can enhance your senses, it can show you the future, but it doesn't let you do anything to someone else.
Szeth's ability is external; he uses it to affect the world around him, and while he can use it on himself, it doesn't really change him any more than any other target he uses it on.
Past that, what Szeth appears to be doing is essentially manipulating gravity, whether he recognizes it as such or not. That's unlike anything in the Mistborn books, whether it's Allomancy, Hemalurgy or Feruchemy.
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I'm also expecting Szeth in the prologue to be like Goku at the beginning of DBZ, where his power level is in the 400s and by the end of the series even the kids have power levels in the millions.
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Actually, no, not at all.
Right off the top, Allomancy is internal; it only affects the person using it. It can make you stronger, it can pull or push you towards or away from metal, it can enhance your senses, it can show you the future, but it doesn't let you do anything to someone else.
Soothing and Rioting.
I'd have to disagree that the shown magic was underwhelming. My problem is I'm a little annoyed, because I had something very similar to Lashing in one of my stories. That's the only thing really worrying me about a series with 30 different magic systems - how many are going to be similar or the same to things aspiring authors are currently working on or have developed? I know there are more than just thirty ideas for magic systems waiting to be discovered, but anyone who has something similar is going to be seen as copying Sanderson...
And about Lashing feeling like Allomancy Lite.. didn't even consider it until it was brought up, Lashing feels completely different than Allomancy simply because it feels different. We get to see three Lashings in the prologue, and I can't remember completely (brain's a little fuzzy from just waking up) but two of them affected the user and the third the people around him (if it was all three affected the user, refer to the 'fuzzy brain' comment). I can see how this feels like Pushing and Pulling with Iron/Steel, though. I saw it kind of like taking both much further - not Pushing or Pulling yourself with Allomantic anchoring, but Pushing and Pulling the world around you to reorient yourself or disorient opponents.
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Actually, no, not at all.
Right off the top, Allomancy is internal; it only affects the person using it. It can make you stronger, it can pull or push you towards or away from metal, it can enhance your senses, it can show you the future, but it doesn't let you do anything to someone else.
Soothing and Rioting.
Whoops! You're right, I missed those two.
Although those powers affect someone's emotional state, rather than their physical one, so I still feel like it's a far cry from Lashing.
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Actually, no, not at all.
Right off the top, Allomancy is internal; it only affects the person using it. It can make you stronger, it can pull or push you towards or away from metal, it can enhance your senses, it can show you the future, but it doesn't let you do anything to someone else.
Soothing and Rioting.
Whoops! You're right, I missed those two.
Although those powers affect someone's emotional state, rather than their physical one, so I still feel like it's a far cry from Lashing.
Ima go with Ink on this one, I actually really like the magic system in the prologue. Can't wait to see what kind of creative things can be done with lashings. I wonder if you can lash to water. Since it's all connected could you turn the entire ocean into a gigantic gravity magnet? :D
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Okay, you're right, it's not just like Allomancy, or some knock-off of it in any way. I think what I was trying to describe was my dissapointment in it being just another martial magic system--one seemingly designed to just make for cool fights. (You can make up examples of how Lashing can be used for other things, I'm sure, but it does seem to be focused a lot around how it can be used in battle.)
Allomancy was a martial artist's magic system, and made for intriguing and beautiful battles. I guess I just didn't want the New Magic System (which I've only seen a little of, and is only one of 109234912 magic systems in the series) to be another "fighting" magic, because Sanderson's already written the most compelling "fighting" magic. We don't have to reinvent Jedis every two seconds.
Again, I've just read the prologue, and I won't say I know exactly how Lashing works and is gonna play out in the narrative; it'll probably be fine. I just know I wasn't as excited about it, when I first came upon it, as I thought I'd be.
But when Kelsier first burnt tin in Final Empire, I was like "Woah, this sounds like an awesome magic system." This time, I was like "Okay, so his magic makes him beat up lots of guys like a Jedi." Szeth lands in the middle of a ring of armed soldiers sworn to die to defend their king, and he kills all of them without any of them landing a blow with a spear? Does the arm holding his sword swivel 360 degrees around his body in less then a second, or did half the ring decide to wait their turn before they stuck Szeth in the gut? That's really nit-picky of me, and I love me a dramatic "one awesome guy kills lots of extras in battle" scene, but it shows that this is all about making certain people seem really cool in battle, a lot like Jedis with lightsabers, at the expense of a little realism.
I mean, I have to admit, I kinda like that. But I just hoped that the first magic we'd be seeing would have a little more depth to it than "Use this to kill guys." At the same time, there are traces of a lot of other interesting magical elements in the world, like the Shardswords and the mysterious nature of the Stormlight, that I did very much like. Also, maybe Lashing only seems like too much of a martial magic to me because the entire prologue followed the steps of an assassin.
Maybe nobody else felt the way I did, and maybe it's very clear for everybody else how Lashing is nothing like Allomancy. I just wasn't scrambling to sign my name onto the subscriber list for the Official Lashing Newsletter, and I kinda wanted to be.
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Again, I've just read the prologue, and I won't say I know exactly how Lashing works and is gonna play out in the narrative; it'll probably be fine. I just know I wasn't as excited about it, when I first came upon it, as I thought I'd be.
I can see it being very useful for changing a lightbulb. Just make the ceiling 'down' and bam! Crouch down and change the bulb.
Maybe nobody else felt the way I did, and maybe it's very clear for everybody else how Lashing is nothing like Allomancy. I just wasn't scrambling to sign my name onto the subscriber list for the Official Lashing Newsletter, and I kinda wanted to be.
Well, the Official Lashing Newsletter is an entirely different thing that the topic in question, and... oh, wait. Uh, you were talking about Lashing as in the magic system... weren't you...
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Allomancy was a martial artist's magic system, and made for intriguing and beautiful battles. I guess I just didn't want the New Magic System (which I've only seen a little of, and is only one of 109234912 magic systems in the series) to be another "fighting" magic, because Sanderson's already written the most compelling "fighting" magic.
I can see your point. BUT! If the world is as expansive as BS has led us to believe. I doubt that all the magic systems in this series will be fighting. I very much hope to see magic systems used for every day life. If every one of these magic systems is a fighting system. It could get a little tedious.
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Though, y'know, if there's an Official Lashing Newsletter authored by pirates or maritime sailors, count me in.
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I think some sort of martial-magic-arts action is going to be a part of any Sanderson series, but it's not all that he does with it. And discovering how that magic can be used in more creative ways than just beating people up is part of what keeps it interesting.
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On topic: Loved just about everything in the prologue
derail: I was thinking about the shardblades, and because I'm thoroughly obssessed with Hoid, SoA, and shadesmar, my mind kept wanting to automatically assume something.
I'm fully aware some alpha readers post among these boards, but for the rest of us, has BS stated anything about where shardblades come from through the summoning (10 heartbeats)?
I know Szeth refers to it as "condensation" iirc on the blade, and it took me rereading it several times before I realized I was taking a leap of imagination. But my mind kept assuming that he had summoned it through/from the shadesmar (and in case I'm remembering it wrong, I'm talking about the near perfect reflection that is made up of water), and that's why it was wet.
Once I corrected myself on that, I couldn't stop thinking about Hoid and how BS said he's very adept at manipulating shadesmar (paraphrase). Maybe he just summons himself around or something. Which of course made me crack up laughing picturing him soaking wet everytime he shows up on a new planet.
Did I miss something in a hint about the shardblades, or could that be possible?
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Up until the preview, I don't think Brandon has talked much about Blades or Plate at all. It's probably all cached under RAFO (Read And Find Out).
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I liked it, but I was a little underwhelmed as well. (Sorry.) Out of Elantris, Warbreaker, and Mistborn TFE, I liked this prologue the least, for a few reasons.
Here, we're getting a *lot* of information dropped on us -- kingdoms and castes and religion and glimpses of complicated backstory, and in the middle of it all, a complicated fight and magic system we don't know. This resulted for me in a choppy flow, because there were pieces that I picked up fast, but other pieces that were just confusing. (And that's not why I read Brandon -- if I feel like reading something arcane-and-confusing, I pick up some China Mieville or Steven Erickson.) So overall, for me, it made the fight and the magic system much less of a "wow" moment than either Mistborn or Warbreaker. Sorry 'bout that.
One thing that I thought Mistborn TFE did perfectly was the gradual magic system reveal. It starts out with just glimpses -- Kelsier burns down the noble's house, and we don't know how. We realize that the magic is awesome, and then we're drawn into the world, and we're slowly primed to understand the back story, and ready to enjoy the magic system when it hits us. Warbreaker does jump right in with the magic, but the flow and the new information rush seems more carefully calibrated. We get glimpses of backstory, but it's not a drink from the firehose. Here it just seemed like a little too much going on. I'm vaguely hoping that this isn't really the prologue, but one of those fake-prologues that often come up as teasers. (As I recall the paperback teaser that was used for Martin's ASOS was something like 8 chapters into the actual book.)
I'm looking forward to the series, though -- it sounds like it's going to be very interesting.
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Anyone think that the drunk with the black and gray beard sitting in the doorway of the Servant's Quarters looked vaguely familiar? I think that if I was a planet-hopping shard-searcher, I'd want to be there at the treaty signing/king's assassination.
Of course, I'm probably jumping to conclusions. But he have heard that Hoid will be around quite a bit in the Stormlight Chronicles (something about 'not being able to put all his appearances on the forum')
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Anyone think that the drunk with the black and gray beard sitting in the doorway of the Servant's Quarters looked vaguely familiar? I think that if I was a planet-hopping shard-searcher, I'd want to be there at the treaty signing/king's assassination.
That was my initial thought as well, but I dismissed it. Doesn't he usually have a white beard? Then again, it is odd that of all the people there, he is actually described. Maybe I'll rethink this.
Here, we're getting a *lot* of information dropped on us -- kingdoms and castes and religion and glimpses of complicated backstory, and in the middle of it all, a complicated fight and magic system we don't know. This resulted for me in a choppy flow, because there were pieces that I picked up fast, but other pieces that were just confusing. (And that's not why I read Brandon -- if I feel like reading something arcane-and-confusing, I pick up some China Mieville or Steven Erickson.) So overall, for me, it made the fight and the magic system much less of a "wow" moment than either Mistborn or Warbreaker. Sorry 'bout that.
One thing that I thought Mistborn TFE did perfectly was the gradual magic system reveal. It starts out with just glimpses -- Kelsier burns down the noble's house, and we don't know how. We realize that the magic is awesome, and then we're drawn into the world, and we're slowly primed to understand the back story, and ready to enjoy the magic system when it hits us. Warbreaker does jump right in with the magic, but the flow and the new information rush seems more carefully calibrated. We get glimpses of backstory, but it's not a drink from the firehose. Here it just seemed like a little too much going on. I'm vaguely hoping that this isn't really the prologue, but one of those fake-prologues that often come up as teasers. (As I recall the paperback teaser that was used for Martin's ASOS was something like 8 chapters into the actual book.)
I'm looking forward to the series, though -- it sounds like it's going to be very interesting.
I guess that with the scope of a project like this, the names of these kingdoms and treaties and such IS gradual exposition. And we've got three things to do with Lashing. There might be more to it than that, also making this relatively gradual. I tend to ignore confusing things as I read, assuming I'll pick up on the details later. The important part was Szeth and the King, and I'll figure out the rest as it comes into greater focus.
Also, I'm pretty sure Kelsier burned down the manor with fire. Killing everyone inside is another thing.
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I guess that with the scope of a project like this, the names of these kingdoms and treaties and such IS gradual exposition. And we've got three things to do with Lashing. There might be more to it than that, also making this relatively gradual.
I agree. With how big this story is going to be, I don't think that BS can take us on that gradual reveal we are used to with his writing. We know that this is only one magic system and not even a complex one with what we've been shown so far (that's not saying it can't get more complex obviously, but the system seems relatively simple), that being said if say, BS showed us three different metals all at one time WITH explanation at the time, it would have been too much. With how it is in WoK three lashings does not three metals make.
As far as the religion and kingdoms go, yes I consider this veeery gradual. Imagine how many different cultures are going to be in this series. Hearing a little background about a treaty between two kingdoms being torn to shreds by one of the parties only gives me a small tickle to my brain about what will be revealed next.
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Don't worry, the being thrown into the magic system doesn't follow that course all the way through. You get that more progressive feel later on.
As you can see in the prologue Szeth isn't used to this place he's in and the prologue kind of pushes that same feeling on you. I think it was intentional. Most of the chapters are written in a way they make you feel (as the reader) like the character feels in the world.
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As you can see in the prologue Szeth isn't used to this place he's in and the prologue kind of pushes that same feeling on you. I think it was intentional. Most of the chapters are written in a way they make you feel (as the reader) like the character feels in the world.
Wow, that... makes sense. You do feel confused while reading it but so is Szeth. Oh Braaaandon, you did it again sir! :D
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I was confused at first at the summoning of the Shardblade. But then, when the king died and his blade materialized and fell, I realized it is nothing new. Just as Ruin and Preservation's bodies fell when they died, so do Shardblades. Anyone else catch the parallel?
Obviously the Blades are stored in another Realm, most likely the Spiritual.
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Anyone think that the drunk with the black and gray beard sitting in the doorway of the Servant's Quarters looked vaguely familiar? I think that if I was a planet-hopping shard-searcher, I'd want to be there at the treaty signing/king's assassination.
That was my initial thought as well, but I dismissed it. Doesn't he usually have a white beard? Then again, it is odd that of all the people there, he is actually described. Maybe I'll rethink this.
In Warbreaker, Siri says that the beard looks bleached so that he looks older than he really is.
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In Warbreaker, Siri says that the beard looks bleached so that he looks older than he really is.
Now that you mention it, I recall that as well. I'm kinda of surprised by the idea that BS might have put Hoid right there in the prologue though. That's my only thought process to discourage the idea.
Obviously the Blades are stored in another Realm, most likely the Spiritual.
I agree with this. Spiritual makes the most sense.
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You have to think about it. - Mental
You hold your hand out and wait ten heart beats. - Physical
Makes sense you could be using the physical and mental to affect the spiritual.
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You guys astonish me.
Of course, now I can't say why.
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Curse you, and curse all the times you have pulled an Ook!!!
-Ookla the Mok
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Whoa, where'd this guy come from? I hope nobody gets confused about the difference between Peter and the new Ookla. Anyways, are you astonished by our amazing theorizing skills, or by our ability to get things completely and utterly wrong?
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/me knows who the impostor Ook is.
Now the hard part is deciding if Peter's post was an actual "you're on the right track" or a red herring.
>>'
[/color]
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Hey, that's a good avatar.
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Curse you, and curse all the times you have pulled an Ook!!!
-Ookla the Mok
A CHALLENGER APPEARS!
You guys astonish me.
Of course, now I can't say why.
Ooo, so we're either really close, or we're waaay off. Those are the only reasons Peter would give us such praise! (or.. non-praise)
Hrmm... :D
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I'm inclined to believe that we are very close. For a multitude of reasons.
Realmatic Theory works that way something that happens on one realm affects the others.
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The imposter Ook is whoever set up the original "alt_account" for the Elantris thing.
I think Way of Kings is going to have plenty subtle clues for us theorizers to pick up, and many more for me to deliberately misinterpret.
I'm stoked to be theorizing again.
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There are a few things that if you have read Dragonsteel it will change how you look at it. Whether it ends up being a canonical consistency or just a current coincidence I'm not sure, but there is one HUGE magic thing that is shared between the two.
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The imposter Ook is whoever set up the original "alt_account" for the Elantris thing.
I think Way of Kings is going to have plenty subtle clues for us theorizers to pick up, and many more for me to deliberately misinterpret.
I'm stoked to be theorizing again.
I'm happy to be theorizing for the first time on BS's forums. Unfortunately I wasn't here before Mistborn came out. How I wish I could change that. BUT NO! We will not look back! For it is the future we now theorize!
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There are a few things that if you have read Dragonsteel it will change how you look at it. Whether it ends up being a canonical consistency or just a current coincidence I'm not sure, but there is one HUGE magic thing that is shared between the two.
Oh, ah, uh... Dangit! I'm trying to figure out what it is you're talking about. Certainly a basic understanding of Realmatic Theory comes from reading Dragonsteel, but I can't recall anything from the prologue that made me think of Dragonsteel. Maybe if I read Dragonsteel again...but I just started the WoT. :P
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Not from the prologue necessarily.
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Ah. Okay then. I'll just wait until August.
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Curse you Alpha Readers!!!
And I think that Peter may be astonished by the fact that we have gotten the Prologue, and we're already searching for/found Hoid.
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And I think that Peter may be astonished by the fact that we have gotten the Prologue, and we're already searching for/found Hoid.
It's what we do. :D
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Hey, I just reread the prologue, and I noticed flame(fire?)spren. Looks like emotions aren't the only things that attract these guys. Hmm... They seem to be everywhere. I am now going to attach great significance to these little guys in my mind, and keep it there until the book tells me otherwise, and maybe even if it does tell me otherwise. What are these things?
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Hey, I just reread the prologue, and I noticed flame(fire?)spren. Looks like emotions aren't the only things that attract these guys. Hmm... They seem to be everywhere. I am now going to attach great significance to these little guys in my mind, and keep it there until the book tells me otherwise, and maybe even if it does tell me otherwise. What are these things?
Spren?
Awe, don't worry about them.
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Hey, I just reread the prologue, and I noticed flame(fire?)spren. Looks like emotions aren't the only things that attract these guys. Hmm... They seem to be everywhere. I am now going to attach great significance to these little guys in my mind, and keep it there until the book tells me otherwise, and maybe even if it does tell me otherwise. What are these things?
Spren?
Awe, don't worry about them.
That's what Brandon WANTS you to think.
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Hey, I just reread the prologue, and I noticed flame(fire?)spren. Looks like emotions aren't the only things that attract these guys. Hmm... They seem to be everywhere. I am now going to attach great significance to these little guys in my mind, and keep it there until the book tells me otherwise, and maybe even if it does tell me otherwise. What are these things?
Spren?
Awe, don't worry about them.
That's what Brandon WANTS you to think.
So now Brandon is controlling my mind?! AHHH!
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You guys (and girls) are talking about the Prolog thats printed in the Warbreaker Paperback?
If not, pleeaaase tell me where I can read it.
Dragonsteel? What did I miss here?
Amazon says this about Dragonsteel (http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Dragonsteel+)
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DRAGONSTEEL was the book Brandon wrote after ELANTRIS. Some of its concepts have been moved to WAY OF KINGS.
We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
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We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
Bigger than TGS... Holy bejeezus. I think I may need a new bookshelf to hold all this awesome!
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We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
I didn't know Brandon was writing encyclopedias now. LOL Well the larger it is the better (that's what she said), that way I don't have to finish it in one day. Thanks for the info Peter, now give us a new blog update! lol. I'm drowning in lack o info at the moment.
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We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
I didn't know Brandon was writing encyclopedias now. LOL Well the larger it is the better (that's what she said), that way I don't have to finish it in one day. Thanks for the info Peter, now give us a new blog update! lol. I'm drowning in lack o info at the moment.
Haha. If you finish it in one day you have super human reading abilities.
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I'm planning on savoring it... Also, I'll be taking notes ;)
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I'm extremely busy on the galleys and probably won't update the blog until they're done. I'm thinking...Tuesday?
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I'm planning on savoring it... Also, I'll be taking notes ;)
Oh that's a good idea. I will definately start taking notes when I get my hands on WoK. Time to get a new composition notebook! :geek mode:
I'm extremely busy on the galleys and probably won't update the blog until they're done. I'm thinking...Tuesday?
Oh fine. I will wait until Tuesday.
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We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
I didn't know Brandon was writing encyclopedias now. LOL Well the larger it is the better (that's what she said), that way I don't have to finish it in one day. Thanks for the info Peter, now give us a new blog update! lol. I'm drowning in lack o info at the moment.
Haha. If you finish it in one day you have super human reading abilities.
I read the 3.0 version in a day...
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But then again, Steve, you are superhuman. You already knew that.
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We got a spine width on the book today that may be final: 2 7/16". That's almost 1/4" wider than TGS.
I didn't know Brandon was writing encyclopedias now. LOL Well the larger it is the better (that's what she said), that way I don't have to finish it in one day. Thanks for the info Peter, now give us a new blog update! lol. I'm drowning in lack o info at the moment.
Haha. If you finish it in one day you have super human reading abilities.
I read the 3.0 version in a day...
That's insane. ha ha. That's a LOT of reading to do.
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as lame as this sounds i have all the first addition hardbacks of these books and consequently spending extra money on paperbacks is difficult. Is there a place i can find it electronically printed? It's not on Sanderson's website.
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Edition****
You can get them on many ebook stores. The Kindle store has it.
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as lame as this sounds i have all the first addition hardbacks of these books and consequently spending extra money on paperbacks is difficult. Is there a place i can find it electronically printed? It's not on Sanderson's website.
Do what I did. Go to a bookstore, grab a copy, sit down, read the prologue, then put it back.
Don't look at me like that. I'm a college student. I've got excuses for my cheapness. 8)
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Dragonsteel? What did I miss here?
Amazon says this about Dragonsteel (http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Dragonsteel+)
Dragonsteel is a not yet published book that Brandon wrote a while back. Some of its elements have been incorporated into Way of Kings. Others may be cannibalized for other books, and at some point he will probably rewrite the whole thing for official publication. Until then, none of it is canon and there is exactly one copy in existence that is publicly available. If you want to read it (and keep in mind that this is early, relatively low quality, stuff and subject to comprehensive revision before any of it becomes official), you will have to request it on Inter Library Loan from BYU.
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I thought the prologue was really interesting, but I was a little underwhelmed, I suppose... I was kind of expecting something as epic and brilliant as 'Dragonmount', the prologue to Eye of the World. In my opinion, it isn't as exciting, but certainly my favorite Brandon Sanderson prologue. <shrug> Reading through the Wheel of Time right now, so everything else is a little bad in comparison. <grin> That's probably all it is.
Anyway, I thought the lashing system seemed really interesting, and I'm curious how it will be developed further. Also, I really loved all those names that got thrown at us - I always like it when a lot of things get introduced, and I can't quite know what they are the moment they are mentioned.
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Brandon will probably put 8 or so chapters on the site in the two months leading up to the book's release.
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AHHHHHHH *dies*
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I was kind of expecting something as epic and brilliant as 'Dragonmount', the prologue to Eye of the World.
OK, woah. I have to disagree here. I thought Dragonmount was the most blah, gouge out my eyes prologue I have ever read.
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AHHHHHHH *dies*
:revives: Don't die man! You have 8 chapters of WoK coming at us in the next few months!
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The new prologue is even better. I feel so smug.
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The Prologue is the prologue for book one. There's a Prelude before that which is like the prologue for the whole series. If you want a "Dragonmount" look there, though its ramifications won't be clearer until several books into the series. And Brandon would be hesitant to make any comparisons. So I'm not saying you'll think the Prelude is awesome if you also thought "Dragonmount" was awesome. Or that you'll hate the Prelude if you hated "Dragonmount." But the thematic and structural role "Dragonmount" plays for the Wheel of Time, the Prelude plays for the Stormlight Archive.
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I thought the prelude brought up a lot of good questions. I would say it's similar in fashion to Dragonmount, but I liked it better because there was actually a sense of knowing what was going on rather than a blatant. "Oh you're the dragon and you killed everyone." "Oh no, now I'm going to kill myself."
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I find it interesting that passing through realms is cold (note: condensation on blade, frost on clothes), however, this may be an effect of wielding stormlight.
I hope stormlight isn't too similar to the One Power.
Also, the reasons he was given for wearing white: BOLD BRAZEN AWESOME.
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Is the prelude to the series available? Or is it only for alpha's?
Just wondering cause I love his books and drink in as much as possible; except they still won't send Dragonsteel to my library--Grrrrrr...
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Is the prelude to the series available? Or is it only for alpha's?
Just wondering cause I love his books and drink in as much as possible; except they still won't send Dragonsteel to my library--Grrrrrr...
More then likely it's just Alphas. I haven't heard anything about it. Can't wait for it tho.
I find it interesting that passing through realms is cold (note: condensation on blade, frost on clothes)
Don't most books and movies represent time travel/realm travel/other sci-fi travel with some form of frost or cold. Takes energy to travel through these barriers and energy is heat, so it makes sense that heat would be the cost of moving through a realm like that. Just speculating, I don't have any references just recall always things it was true.
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They do the cold thing in Stargate. In the TV series they dropped it after a few episodes for convenience and said that their machinery was now better calibrated.
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They do the cold thing in Stargate. In the TV series they dropped it after a few episodes for convenience and said that their machinery was now better calibrated.
I am currently re-watching SG-1 from the very beginning. I loved that it used to THROW you out of the stargate, then they just stopped doing it and said nothing... cold stopped. My favorite is that the Zat'nik'tel (zat) used to disintegrate the body, then they stopped mentioning it and in later seasons everybody can get zapped 10 million times and live. Built up an immunity or something.
Sorry OT but I like Peter more now that we have something else in common. Lol
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The disintegration thing was retconned along with Hathor. They made fun of it in the "Wormhole X-Treme" episode.
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The disintegration thing was retconned along with Hathor. They made fun of it in the "Wormhole X-Treme" episode.
Awesome episode.
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Is the prelude to the series available? Or is it only for alpha's?
Just wondering cause I love his books and drink in as much as possible; except they still won't send Dragonsteel to my library--Grrrrrr...
Grr... Same here.
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Is it just me, or are shardblades remarkable similar to The Subtle Knife? (Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy)
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Is it just me, or are shardblades remarkable similar to The Subtle Knife? (Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy)
I think of a shardblade as a lightsaber minus the sounds and light. It appears to do just about the same thing, at least from what you get from the prologue. (I'm sure it'll get much more complex in the book.)
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Trust me, they aren't that similar. The Shardblade doesn't cut through matter if it's living, it simply cuts the soul.
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Shardblade>Lightsaber.
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Shardblade>Lightsaber.
Yeah... I guess so...
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Shardblade>Lightsaber.
I personally never thought anything.. ANYTHING.. could beat a Lightsaber. But I do believe BS has won the battle. That could be the greatest compliment a sci-fi/fantasy writer ever receive about their creativity.
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Also Shardblades are like six feet tall, so Szeth could totally kick Mace Windu's butt.
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You blaspheme!
No way is that possible. Mace Windu would beat Szeth, despite how much I love Szeth, Mace would still win. That's a hard decision. My favorite shard bearer vs. my favorite Jedi. . . . . hmmm.
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I'm thinking pure length of the Shardblade, Szeth wins...
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I'm thinking pure length of the Shardblade, Szeth wins...
:insert dirty joke about length beating width any day:
You blaspheme!
My favorite shard bearer vs. my favorite Jedi. . . . . hmmm.
The real question is would Shardblade and Lightsaber ever make contact? If a Shardblade slices through everything but living matter.. could it ever really lock up against a Lightsaber's diatium cell powered light blade since it isn't living nor hard surface?!
Oh my.. the fight would be... all... no blocking just dodging. One hit by either would end the fight. :D
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I can't remember offhand what it says about blades in the prologue, so we should really table this discussion for a few months. But we can totally get into it afterwards.
I like Shardblades more than lightsabers for a variety of reasons. :D
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Based off what I can determine from this discussion, a Shardsaber would be the coolest weapon ever.
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I don't know if this has been asked yet or not, but is there any Way of Kings book tour scheduled for Brandon?
Edit: Whoa! Did I read that right on Amazon? It has 1008 pages listed for Way of Kings. For hardcover??
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Yes. Well, page 1007 is the end of the Ars Arcanum. 1008 is blank.
I know tentative tour dates and places but this is not yet public info.
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Ok, I think that's the biggest harcover book I have seen. :) Would hate to see what that will be in paperback, I am guessing two volumes.
As for the tour dates, can I assume will they be posted in the 'Events' section on Brandon's website when they are available to the public?
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Based off what I can determine from this discussion, a Shardsaber would be the coolest weapon ever.
You sir, just blew my mind.
Yes. Well, page 1007 is the end of the Ars Arcanum. 1008 is blank.
:o wow :o
Now I'm just a little scared.
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:o wow :o
Now I'm just a little scared.
Yes, I know what you mean. :)
But I stand corrected, the only other book I know of that is this long is To Green Angel Tower (Tad Williams). And that definitely was split up into two books.
But really, it doesn’t bother me too much. I actually like that it is long. I was just surprised because you rarely see that.
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:o wow :o
Now I'm just a little scared.
But really, it doesn’t bother me too much. I actually like that it is long. I was just surprised because you rarely see that.
I'm happy that it's long. The more time I can spend in the world the happier i'll be. Just seems so daunting, I usually prefer books that are a bit shorter. Take for example all of Orson Scott Card's stand alone novels. They are all around 300 pages and are still really immersive.
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I'm happy that it's long. The more time I can spend in the world the happier i'll be. Just seems so daunting, I usually prefer books that are a bit shorter. Take for example all of Orson Scott Card's stand alone novels. They are all around 300 pages and are still really immersive.
Yes, same way I feel for the Drizzt novels from R.A. Salvatore. They are around 300 pages (give or take) and I find them very immersive as well.
But again, I like the long, epic novels/series, also, as long as they are captivating. And I’ve been pretty lucky in that regards with the epic series’ I’ve picked.
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The book is a little shorter than the page count indicates, for various reasons. You'll see when you get it.
Though some of those pages that make it shorter for some people will make it longer for other people, depending on how long you spend staring at them. And two of the pages could provide certain people HOURS of distraction and frustration.
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The book is a little shorter than the page count indicates, for various reasons. You'll see when you get it.
Though some of those pages that make it shorter for some people will make it longer for other people, depending on how long you spend staring at them. And two of the pages could provide certain people HOURS of distraction and frustration.
I hate you so much Peter. I mean, I like you.. but I hate you. I think. Hours of distraction and frustration is wonderful.
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Peter, which pages are you refering to?
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They're not in the ABM. In the book they're pages 762 and 856.
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Is it the maps?
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The book is a little shorter than the page count indicates, for various reasons. You'll see when you get it.
Though some of those pages that make it shorter for some people will make it longer for other people, depending on how long you spend staring at them. And two of the pages could provide certain people HOURS of distraction and frustration.
What, you mean the theorizers? :P
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In the ABM it would be pages 758 and 852 if they were there.
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In the ABM it would be pages 758 and 852 if they were there.
??? Oh wait... ;) Thanks, Ook.
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Evil place holder text on pages without things. Grrr. But now I'm super curious.
It's amazing how he still manages to Ookla us. xD
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The pages will be on display at CONduit tomorrow. Or, err, Brandon will show them off.
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Can someone snag pictures? Or is that allowed?
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Last time Brandon showed art it was not allowed.
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Last time Brandon showed art it was not allowed.
Makes sense. Unfortunately :P
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Last time Brandon showed art it was not allowed.
Makes sense. Unfortunately :P
Eh. Someone just needs to commit them to memory, then redraw them later.
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Where is CONduit?
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in Salt Lake City: http://conduit.sfcon.org/
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in Salt Lake City: http://conduit.sfcon.org/
Dirty Pigeon Poop!
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As opposed to the clean pleasant pigeon poop? So WoK is another shards book? Hrrrrmmmm I was hoping he might be branching out a bit.
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There's about 32 different shardworld books that are planned. There are other books, such as Scribbler, which aren't shard world. However, the shard books each have their own flavor and style.
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There's about 32 different shardworld books that are planned. There are other books, such as Scribbler, which aren't shard world. However, the shard books each have their own flavor and style.
So, what exactly is shard world? Are Brandon's early books part of shardworld and do I need to read them before starting Way of Kings?
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Nope-y nope. Basically all of the books are related through these things called shards (see Ruin and Preservation in MB). We aren't exactly sure how they're related, but they are. However, you can read each series for their own things and not worry about it if you want.
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Basic easy run down of the Shards of Adonalsium.
Adonalsium was something/someone that at some point shattered. It is now what we call the Shards.
The Shards seem to have affects on people and things.
A character named Hoid was present when Adonalsium shattered. He is seen in every Sanderson book which contains a Shard of Adonalsium.
Any book referred to as a Shard World is a book which takes place in the Cosmere, the universe in which Adonalsium existed.
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Basic easy run down of the Shards of Adonalsium.
Adonalsium was something/someone that at some point shattered. It is now what we call the Shards.
The Shards seem to have affects on people and things.
A character named Hoid was present when Adonalsium shattered. He is seen in every Sanderson book which contains a Shard of Adonalsium.
Any book referred to as a Shard World is a book which takes place in the Cosmere, the universe in which Adonalsium existed.
These include: Elantris, The Mistborn Trilogy, and Warbreaker, with The Way of Kings and the rest of The Stormlight Archive coming next. All these books are in the same universe and connected, but in the background of the story. (We're talking a few paragraphs per book so far, and always very subtle.)
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That changes dramatically in WoK.
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Yes and no. Brandon said that those who don't know about Shards and junk just glossed over that type of stuff. So you don't have to understand the cosmere to read it. If you do though...
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It's like drinking an amazing bottle of wine. If you don't drink it often, but like the flavor you enjoy it, but if you really know how to taste it then you're in heaven.
[/badAnalogy]
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Slightly more relevant analogy: It's like reading the Chronicles of Narnia without realizing It's an allegory for Christ. Still enjoyable, but a little less depth.
How you can possibly miss it after the Last Battle is beyond me, though.
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Does anyone have an idea when sample chapter(s) will be released online. I live in Australia, and we don't even have Warbreaker here. We've had Mistborn for a while (which I thought was excellent), but it seems that the Elantris and Warbreaker books here won't be coming out for a little while. I've ended up ordering those two from overseas just so I can read them.
But I've preordered The Way of Kings, and basically I'm just about bursting at the seams with excitement waiting for it to be released. SO any idea if/when sample chapters are going to be online?
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Well, the American release date is August 30th, so sometime before that. But you probably already knew that. :P
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Chapters will most likely be released on Tor.com first, possibly starting this month.
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Thanks a lot Peter. Much appreciated.
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link- If you want to, while you wait for your books to come, you can just read Warbreaker on his website!
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/Warbreaker/page/20/WARBREAKER-Rights-and-Downloads
(It's near the bottom, Tor hardcover)
Also, I'll now add Tor to the list of websites I check daily.
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Chapters will most likely be released on Tor.com first, possibly starting this month.
How many chapters is he planning on releasing? I could possibly go into shock if I start reading and can't finish. Eep.
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Chapters will most likely be released on Tor.com first, possibly starting this month.
Question for my fellow betas: Does this count as Alpha reading?
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Chapters will most likely be released on Tor.com first, possibly starting this month.
Question for my fellow betas: Does this count as Alpha reading?
Nope. If it's released in any form to the public, it is open to the Beta readers.
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That's not beta reading. Beta readers are like Miyabi and fRR who read almost the final draft. To be a beta, you have to read at a stage where you can still give feedback that gets acted on.
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That's not beta reading. Beta readers are like Miyabi and fRR who read almost the final draft. To be a beta, you have to read at a stage where you can still give feedback that gets acted on.
MY BAD! Omega is what I ment. Thought he was joking around about the new self proclaimed Omega readers. Mind fart.
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I don't think so. Omegas read stuff that is available to the general public. This means anything publicly posted on his website is fair game.
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oops, I meant Omega.
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oops, I meant Omega.
WOOT! It wasn't my bad! :D
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Omegas aren't masochists. I'm not going to refrain from reading publicly-released excerpts!
Like this one: http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2010/06/teaser-excerpt-from-brandon-sandersons.html
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Now that the prelude and chapters 1-3 have been released, this thread is open to discussion of them.
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THIS IS A WARNING THAT SPOILERS OF CHAPTERS 1 THROUGH 3 & PRELUDE AWAIT BEHIND THIS POST
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If you see any typos, please add them to the typos thread (http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=6911.0). Already reported: "off ended" (this is just in the preview, not in the book) and "thigh rough" that should be "thigh wound" (hope we can get this fixed).
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Oooh! the spren are cooler than I imagined!
What kinda spren would you like to see in the book?
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So...are people still busy reading it? >_>
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I'm actually starting my notes of all cultures characteristics and countries and list of questions I want answered. Plus i'm doing it at work so I get like 1-2min at a time every hour. LOL Slow process is slow.
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Ooh, I seem to be able to join in this discussion early. I hadn't been able to read what had been previewed before so I had ignored this thread. Being able to join in the fun early made me feel like registering - so, first post!
Firstly, on typos and such, I haven't spotted anything beyond what's been reported so far (here or on the comments on the Tor site).
I don't have time for much in the way of comments since I need some sleep (1.30 am local time). Just some quick random thoughts: starting each chapter with a death is rather interesting, particularly with the curiously precise time to death. Brandon seems to like main female characters who also blush a lot - doesn't feel odd for Shallan considering her background (ditto Siri) but felt a bit out of character for Vin. Looks like Shallan's sketches will be pad out the book a bit - sweet idea, and doesn't seem forced. I have this vague feeling that spren might be a bit like the mist from Mistborn (ie semi-intelligent distributed part of a god-like being), and that maybe we shouldn't necessarily assume that how the people of the world categorise them are how we should ultimately categorise them.
Overall pacing felt a bit like start of Warbreaker, but more intense and greater sense of depth.
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First thing I gotta say to spark conversation would be that Spren are awesome. I want one to follow me around wherever I go. Besides the one encounter of a Spren being intelligent which we currently don't know if it was real or just his imagination. I'm more inclined to assume it was real. Anybody think we will see more intelligent Spren throughout the book? I want to see a Spren that is considered a scholar with it's knowledge that it doesn't know how it got it.
Quick write up of the descriptions of Spren because I want to keep a log of all of them mentioned in the book.
- Fearspren: Blobs of purple goo. Violet.
- Painspren: Small orange hands with overly long fingers.
- Windspren: Amorphous, vaguely translucent.
- Hungerspren: Brown flies almost too small to see.
- Rotspren: Tiny & red.
List of all the quotes of each chapter. I like to keep these together so that I can quickly find any similarities. You know Brandon and his love of secret information in the top of each chapter.
Prologue:
“The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather… we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”
- Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.
Chapter I:
“You’ve killed me. Bastards, you’ve killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die!”
- Collected on the fifth day of the week Chach, Month Betab of the year 1171, ten seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed soldier thirty-one years of age. Sample is considered questionable.
Chapter II:
“Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?”
- Collected on the second day of Kakash, year 1171, five seconds before death. Subject was a lighteved woman in her third decade.
Chapter III:
“A man stood on a Cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneat, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.”
- Collected on the 4th of Tanates, year 1171, thirty seconds before death. Subject was a cobbler of some renown.
Thank you Brandon for making a character that is an artist. For me as an artist it brings me even more into the story to connect with something I know to be real right off the bat.
My first big assumption of the book: Kalak is Kaladin. I know, basing it off name is ridiculous but it just feels like the same character at the beginning. That's assuming that the 10 are immortal still after they give up their Oath-pact.
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Very nice. I like these... prophecies... but I wish I had access to the ars arcanum, so I could tell when the world is going to end. And look forward to it as I read.
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Very nice. I like these... prophecies... but I wish I had access to the ars arcanum, so I could tell when the world is going to end. And look forward to it as I read.
I think that would ruin the book. Knowing exactly when the world ends. Lol
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Do you have to read the prolouge to read the prelude, the prolouge as in the one in the Warbreaker papperback? I'm a bit strapped for cash, as the expression goes (And I already have the Hardcover).
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Do you have to read the prolouge to read the prelude, the prolouge as in the one in the Warbreaker papperback? I'm a bit strapped for cash, as the expression goes (And I already have the Hardcover).
The prelude, prologue and chapters 1-3 are all included in the preview on tor.com.
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Prologue:
“The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather… we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”
- Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.
1000 days until the everstorm... I just want to know how far away it is at any given time in the book.
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Prologue:
“The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather… we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”
- Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.
1000 days until the everstorm... I just want to know how far away it is at any given time in the book.
I was under the impression that the Everstorm had already happened. Isn't that what caused the Spren to appear when the connection wasn't completely closed to the spirit realm? Which had made me assume that all these quotes were from way in the past... maybe near the time of the prelude. But then that would make the current year somewhere around 5676 (as of chapter 1).
We could take that same theory and reverse it. Say it's currently 1171.. the prelude happened in -3334 (can't really call it BC now can I? Lol) which means we're looking at a 1000 days until the Everstorm comes, which means that the woman who died was in someway seeing the future. "Who was she?" is now the biggest question in this theory in my opinion. Such a claim isn't just speculative, she knew.
I want to see the calendar system laid out. I'm hoping it's pretty insane.
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The calendar is not insane. It's very straightforward actually.
And if you want to read the prologue it's on Tor.com. The one at the back of Warbreaker is an earlier revision. If you have the paperback you can play spot-the-differences.
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The calendar is not insane. It's very straightforward actually.
Now I'm sad. I wanted a really complex calendar that involved time travel.
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Prologue:
“The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather… we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes.”
- Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death. Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.
1000 days until the everstorm... I just want to know how far away it is at any given time in the book.
I was under the impression that the Everstorm had already happened. Isn't that what caused the Spren to appear when the connection wasn't completely closed to the spirit realm? Which had made me assume that all these quotes were from way in the past... maybe near the time of the prelude. But then that would make the current year somewhere around 5676 (as of chapter 1).
We could take that same theory and reverse it. Say it's currently 1171.. the prelude happened in -3334 (can't really call it BC now can I? Lol) which means we're looking at a 1000 days until the Everstorm comes, which means that the woman who died was in someway seeing the future. "Who was she?" is now the biggest question in this theory in my opinion. Such a claim isn't just speculative, she knew.
I want to see the calendar system laid out. I'm hoping it's pretty insane.
let's see... It looks like that prophecy was made in 1171, 4500 years after the prelude. Or maybe it happened in the year 1171, a long time before the prologue. By a pregnant lighteyed lady.
It seems these prophets die almost immediately after prophesying. Perhaps they have to be dying to prophesy. Agh! I wish I knew when these chapters took place.
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let's see... It looks like that prophecy was made in 1171, 4500 years after the prelude. Or maybe it happened in the year 1171, a long time before the prologue. By a pregnant lighteyed lady.
It seems these prophets die almost immediately after prophesying. Perhaps they have to be dying to prophesy. Agh! I wish I knew when these chapters took place.
The dates for all of them are in the year 1171. But between them we have "x years later" and "y months later" and the like. So, I think it's intended to be clear that they are independent of the 'real' time of the 'current' story. To me, they feel like achieves of some major world-wide catastrophe... though personally, I'm rather curious as to just who is doing this and why... and how do they have second accurate precision on time of death, considering the technology level of the world? I would not be surprised if this is some recording of "the enemy".
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let's see... It looks like that prophecy was made in 1171, 4500 years after the prelude. Or maybe it happened in the year 1171, a long time before the prologue. By a pregnant lighteyed lady.
It seems these prophets die almost immediately after prophesying. Perhaps they have to be dying to prophesy. Agh! I wish I knew when these chapters took place.
To me, they feel like achieves of some major world-wide catastrophe... though personally, I'm rather curious as to just who is doing this and why... and how do they have second accurate precision on time of death.
I would not be surprised if this is some recording of "the enemy".
I don't think it's the result of the world-wide catastrophe, but a precursor to it. The Everstorm is the catastrophe, I'm pretty confident of that. Which is what is mentioned in the quotes.
Getting the accuracy down to the second is easy. If you are a higher power looking down on the scene of the world and recording everything. I believe whoever is recording these is looking for somebody specific, or that fits a specific criteria maybe.
This line out of Chapter I's quote slightly supports that theory:
Sample is considered questionable.
Sample of the recording of history? Sample of the person being looked at doesn't quite fit what he/they/it are looking for?
While on the subject of the quotes.. The number 10 is coming up way too frequently to be nothing. Ten orders. Ten gods mentioned in the prologue (which correspondes to the 10 beings in the prelude).
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Man, you guys are gonna like this book. You're just scraping the surface.
:D
Goes to show how Brandon puts a lot of flavor in even a bite-size portion.
Peter, are they still planning to use Shallan's drawings as chapter bookends or are they interlacing them with the pages, now?
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A couple of random thoughts...
When I heard about a world so afflicted with storms that everything living had to shelter to survive, one of the things I wondered about is food - the humans in this world are clearly living above the subsistence level, but what's the source of their food? It seems like the topsoil is mostly gone, so intensive farming would be impossible. However, enough plants seem to have adapted that basic grain crops might well be practical, though it's hard to imagine that working above a subsistence level without some kind of special locations / technology that can protect the soil and the crops from the intense storms. Foraging would be similarly difficult. Of course, there's more to food than crops - I wonder how much of the world's food is fish and seafood in general? The seas would likely be reasonably protected against the storms (though hurricanes can do a lot of damage), so those living by the sea should be able to make a living off it. Maybe raw fish would be rather popular though, since if plants are scarce then so would be wood and hence fire, unless there is some magic alternative. And then, on page 13 we learn that "Emeralds were the most valuable, for they could be used by Soulcasters to create food"! Magic created food? Well, that sure can change some things though I'm sure there's some complications. But, if they're the most valuable then that still implies that food availability is a major problem.
On a related note, Shallan has been chasing Jasnah for nearly 6 months but during that time has only gone to 6 different places where Jasnah might be during that time. ie on average 1 month's travel is required between what are presumably major places, which also gives a feeling of a sparse population to me. Though maybe I'm reading too much into things.
I like the imagery of Shallan having to strain her neck looking up at the top of Kharbranth. Rather than simply describing the height, it gives the feeling of looking up at a skyscraper from the base.
Maybe I'm being too picky, but I kinda wonder about the practicalities of the skyeels. I don't have a problem with 'flying fish' - after all birds are descended from dinosaurs, and it's not hard to imagine evolution turning today's flying fish (gliding fish to be more precise) into true fliers. However, from the drawings, I wonder about the power-to-weight ratio of the skyeels - would they be able to generate enough lift to take off even? Unless there's some trick they're using specific to the world it doesn't seem very practical. They'd also have to be warm-blooded to have enough endurance to fly for more than a few minutes a day. Some of the text seems to imply that they don't exactly fly like birds though - they 'undulate' rather than flit about. Fast enough to be predators though. Still, it definitely feels like I'm being too picky when we're using to flying dragons in fantasy ;D
On a more general note, I think Brandon's prose has improved (for me at least). One problem I had with his prose initially (in earlier books) is that it tended to feel at times like something a Hollywood scriptwriter would produce. To me, this tended to "break the spell". From this point of view, "The Gathering Storm" was a big improvement and it feels like Brandon has recycled his efforts there into "Way of Kings", and quite possibly improved again.
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When the picture is blown up to a decent size, the biology of Skyeels may make a bit more sense. That notation ain't just for show.
There's a lot of plant life that has evolved to survive the highstorms, and some of it is edible and cultivated. That too will make more sense as more is revealed.
C'mon guys, there's one thing Brandon is pretty good about NOT doing, and that creating a world that relies on "magic does it" as an excuse for new and cool things. I'm not saying the man's a hard scientist, but he thinks stuff out better than that.
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On a more general note, I think Brandon's prose has improved (for me at least). One problem I had with his prose initially (in earlier books) is that it tended to feel at times like something a Hollywood scriptwriter would produce. To me, this tended to "break the spell". From this point of view, "The Gathering Storm" was a big improvement and it feels like Brandon has recycled his efforts there into "Way of Kings", and quite possibly improved again.
Don't forget that Brandon has been working on Way of Kings for a lot longer then he was with The Gathering Storm. I don't doubt that he learned a lot from working on the epic TGS but there wasn't such a long time between him finishing TGS and WoK that i'd make the assumption that that's the reason for the change in writing style. Style is hard to change when you're set in a certain way. Ask any artist.
Man, you guys are gonna like this book. You're just scraping the surface. :D
I'll take that as confirmation that something in somebodies post is relatively close to some form of truth! BWAHAH.
C'mon guys, there's one thing Brandon is pretty good about NOT doing, and that creating a world that relies on "magic does it" as an excuse for new and cool things. I'm not saying the man's a hard scientist, but he thinks stuff out better than that.
Oh trust me, I've come to trust Brandon when it comes to his uses of magic systems. The guy is a genius.
There's a lot of plant life that has evolved to survive the highstorms, and some of it is edible and cultivated. That too will make more sense as more is revealed.
I've yet to see any reason why the plants can't be cultivated regularly. Just because they hide underground doesn't make them impossible to get to. Just.. difficult. Nice to know these people don't live off of just meat, fish and spren soup.
Thanks for the info Ink. Yay for more people to spoil things for us!
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The drawings are all put between chapters. I think they put that one in the text in the preview just because they could and there was a good place for it. In the book that picture comes right before chapter 3.
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Iam going out on a limb, and I think it is way too early to say, but I think that Dallet is Hoid. Just something about him smiling against all odds, it just seems like him.
Then again, Dallet is a warrior, which we haven't seen Hoid being yet.
EDIT- and Cenn as Ruin. (He is the red-haired shard from HoA, right?)
EDIT EDIT-
Never mind. I was writing as I was reading, and am displeased to learn that Kaladin thinks Dallet and Cenn are dead.
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Thanks for the info Ink. Yay for more people to spoil things for us!
Aw, I think I've been quite good about spoilers. I was reacting to the suggestion that Brandon would rely on magical magic rather than logical magic, when logical magic is one of those things he's earned a reputation for.
But I suppose folks will find that out for themselves after August.
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Sample of the recording of history? Sample of the person being looked at doesn't quite fit what he/they/it are looking for?
While on the subject of the quotes.. The number 10 is coming up way too frequently to be nothing. Ten orders. Ten gods mentioned in the prologue (which correspondes to the 10 beings in the prelude).
I think that "sample" refers to the quote itself. They were calling the people "subjects", and I can't think of anything else that "sample" could logically apply to. They could have changed their terminology mid-statement, but I just don't think they did.
Also, on the subject of the orders, what do you guys think that means? Ten orders, like ten things someone told him to do? Orders, like ten groups of people? The first time I read it, I thought about it meaning the latter, but the second time, I assumed the former. What do you guys think?
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Iam going out on a limb, and I think it is way too early to say, but I think that Dallet is Hoid. Just something about him smiling against all odds, it just seems like him.
Then again, Dallet is a warrior, which we haven't seen Hoid being yet.
EDIT- and Cenn as Ruin. (He is the red-haired shard from HoA, right?)
EDIT EDIT-
Never mind. I was writing as I was reading, and am displeased to learn that Kaladin thinks Dallet and Cenn are dead.
gunna have to dissagree on the dallet part. Hoid is a small charecter with a key task in each book so far.
Cenn does not have red hair. The man to his side did.
"The soldier on the other side of Cenn nodded. He was a lanky, redhaired Veden, with darker tan skin than the Alethi. Why was he fighting in an Alethi army? “That’s right. Kaladin, he’s stormblessed, right sure he is. We only lost . . . what, one man last battle?”
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These prophecies sound to me like they were recorded by priests or scholars of some kind. Think about it, an order of monks that collect people's last words and determine if they are, in fact, prophecies. As for one of them being unreliable, wasn't she a darkeyes?
Depending on who these priests are, it could just be discrimination.
But this is just me assuming things, carry on.
NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED this book.
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I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned by Alphas that Hoid is going to have much more screen time in Way of Kings.
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Also, on the subject of the orders, what do you guys think that means? Ten orders, like ten things someone told him to do? Orders, like ten groups of people? The first time I read it, I thought about it meaning the latter, but the second time, I assumed the former. What do you guys think?
From the summary on amazon,
"It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them."
So that pretty much confirms that they are not word orders, but group orders. Though you probably already knew that.
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Lurker here, just wanted to play "Where's Hoid" after reading the sample chapters. I'm thinking the porter that took Shallan on the ride through the city is a candidate.
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I think it's more likely that Hoid is going to be a viewpoint character. And that we may not even be able to tell it's him immediately. ;)
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I was reacting to the suggestion that Brandon would rely on magical magic rather than logical magic, when logical magic is one of those things he's earned a reputation for.
I have some good news - that's not what I intended to mean with my post at all. I very much appreciate the detail and in-world logic Brandon goes into - it's a luxury readers rarely get in fantasy. I was wondering out loud, not complaining. I'm also fully aware that those who have only seen the publicly available preview (like me) have only read a tiny percentage of just the first book, and that it would be unreasonable to have everything explained fully on introduction. I regret not being able to convey this earlier.
If there's any interest, I could re-explain what I was getting at.
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Hello all, new to the forum. Seems to be a nice place for discussing some Brandon. I finished reading the 5 chapters yesterday and was favorably impressed. I thought it was interesting that quite a bit of ancient history was already revealed (at least the links with what would seem to become the main timeline), especially in the case of the "regents". In most novels I read this sort of info gets revealed progressively a lot later on in the book. Of course, it probably means there is a lot more "ancient history" to discover.
Although I can never stop myself if 'previews' are available, I also hate the inevitable wait after....
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We've only got three chapters and there's already Hoid speculation?? Ah, this is going to be a fun read...
Seriously, after just that, wow. I felt the SCOPE.
This is supposed to be something like a 10 book series, right?
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Yep, 10 book series. As for Hoid speculation, I know for a fact that Hoid is in fact a viewpoint character. Brandon told me so when he signed my Mistborn paperbacks at Life, The Universe, and Everything at BYU a few months ago.
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Although from what it sounds like, he may not be Hoid the plannet hopper yet. I think that he might be an everyday person (such as a Kelsier instead of a Lord Ruler).
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I think it's safe to assume that most people won't know Hoid until he reveals it himself.
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Just to be on the safe side, is stuff like the product description here considered to be spoilers?
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353
I wanted to do a start a discussion on the characters but I haven't seen this posted yet.
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Thanks for posting that! Everything new I hear about this book makes me more excited.
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The Way of Kings is a book instead the book. I love it. :D
Sample of the recording of history? Sample of the person being looked at doesn't quite fit what he/they/it are looking for?
I think that "sample" refers to the quote itself.
That's what I was referring to. But what is the quote, history? study? prophecy? Until we have a date in which the current chapters are based in, we can't know for certain.
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First thing I gotta say to spark conversation would be that Spren are awesome. I want one to follow me around wherever I go. Besides the one encounter of a Spren being intelligent which we currently don't know if it was real or just his imagination. I'm more inclined to assume it was real.
You should take into consideration that Kaladin is a looney.
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First thing I gotta say to spark conversation would be that Spren are awesome. I want one to follow me around wherever I go. Besides the one encounter of a Spren being intelligent which we currently don't know if it was real or just his imagination. I'm more inclined to assume it was real.
You should take into consideration that Kaladin is a looney.
I didn't know he was officially a looney. :D Hey Spren could have been intelligent but I guess not now that Miyabi went and ruined that theory. Garsh. :writes Miyabi's name next to Ink's for spoiler sources:
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First thing I gotta say to spark conversation would be that Spren are awesome. I want one to follow me around wherever I go. Besides the one encounter of a Spren being intelligent which we currently don't know if it was real or just his imagination. I'm more inclined to assume it was real.
You should take into consideration that Kaladin is a looney.
You sure you mean Kaladin, Miyabi?
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Something about the word hoid screams achronym H. O. I. D. No idea what it would be.
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Hopping arOund Inter-Dimensionally.
Yes, it's a perfect acronym.
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Something about the word hoid screams achronym H. O. I. D. No idea what it would be.
Don't start this again. LOL there like 3 pages of this HOID acronym stuff in another thread. Don't destroy another thread! T__T
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No more Hoid acronyms! It would just be a bad idea.
I am so looking forward to this! So much cool stuff going on and we haven't even seen the third viewpoint character yet!
The prologue with Szeth is officially my favorite of Brandon's so far. Lashing is awesome! Gravity control has always been intriguing to me and he's executed it so well!
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The prologue with Szeth is officially my favorite of Brandon's so far. Lashing is awesome! Gravity control has always been intriguing to me and he's executed it so well!
I thought the prologue was really well done and laid a good basis for me to ask "What the hell did I just witness?!" Would that make Szeth your current favorite character as well? I think Kaladin is my favorite character so far in WoK, even if Shallan strikes closer to home for me since we're both artists.
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I love Szeth's internal conflict and his general awesomeness, but I don't know. I really like Kaladin.
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Bit later than I had intended, but here's some initial thoughts on the characters, based on only a tiny percent of the book. Also see the typos thread for the source of some clarifications I discuss here.
The "production description" bit on the Amazon page on the book suggests the main characters are: Dalinar Kholin (who we see "slumped drunken at a small table" in the prologue), Kaladin and Shallan. Doesn't seem like we'll be seeing too much of Szeth in this book - quite interesting how he's so powerful yet so constrained at the same time and clearly has a rather different culture.
Not much to say about Dalinar yet. Is he on the Shattered Plains, with the Alethi king? (Or at least, where the king was in chapter 1). Who's the Shardbearer at the end of chapter 1 - anyone we know? Meanwhile, his niece Jasnah is off on some major journey and is considered to be both brilliant and a heretic. Jasnah seems like someone to cause big upsets and it seems quite likely she could drag Shallan into something much bigger, whether by accident or deliberately.
Kaladin's situation is certainly easy to grasp quickly. A branded slave waiting to be sold. Just about hit rock bottom mentally, physically and socially. But he also has significant experience as a soldier and has some kind of training in medicine. I wonder how he will connect up with the other characters - not sure where he is located in relation to the others, but I can imagine Shallan finding his experience and knowledge interesting, for example. Normally when you start with a major character starting from the "bottom" you rather expect them to rise up to great heights. If this is going to happen with Kaladin, it looks like he's going to be carrying a lot of baggage for some time - his last attempt to make a difference didn't end well.
I find Shallan's situation pretty interesting - she has a certain amount of freedom, certainly more than the other characters we've been introduced to so far. Normally in fiction, you'd expect to see her situation from the "start" (ie her father dying) and then her setting out, but given that it's taken 6 months for her little quest to get anywhere worth mentioning, maybe such an introduction would come across well. It also gives me the feeling she won't be returning any time soon because we're not presented with an in-depth introduction to her family and manor. I suspect she will be lucky to be returning home by the end of the book.
That Amazon page says "Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war." I would guess that this theft is from Jasnah - a heretic princess from a different country, and outside both their own countries, could make a decent target. I wonder about a couple of things - could survive her family's predicament simply by sticking with Jasnah? (ie don't take any risks and simply give up on her family) If so, then maybe Shallan could find her bridges burnt for her - that bad news about her family could catch up with her. After all, it's been 6 months - a lot could have gone wrong in that time.
The cultural situation women are in, at least with Shallan and others (related to the Vorin faith?) is rather interesting. I can't think of any historical equivalent to this freehand / safehand cultural thing for a start. Pretty rare to have such blatant asymmetry as well in everyday dress, as far as I'm aware. I wonder what kind of historical events led to this. I also wonder how carefully covering / protecting your "safehand" is "modest"? What kind of immodest things are possible without it being protected...? Also, is it always your left hand that's your "safehand" - in which case, left-handed women might be forced to become right handed. It looks like in the Vorin culture, with the exception of "ardents", only women study reading and writing apart from glyphs. Looks like a lot of clerical type work is women only - notice the "women in red coats tracking cargos on ledgers" bit. Looks like research and the like is considered a profession for women only - I wonder if this is global, mostly global, or specific to the Vorin faith. I wonder how educated noble males are in this world, and how common highly educated males are - Kaladin and his father have some medical knowledge and they're Alethi. Is this an exception for doctors (no women on/near the battlefield). What about the opposite - have there ever been women Shardbearers?
Shallan herself seems quite interesting - lots of scope for development. There seems to be a "real" Shallan in there somewhere, ready to throw off the constraints of "proper" behaviour. Considering how unfamiliar this all is for her she seems to be handling things quite well. Will be interesting to see how Shallan's tongue fares against a noblewoman :)
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Also, is it always your left hand that's your "safehand" - in which case, left-handed women might be forced to become right handed.
I made a comment about this in my notes to Brandon as well. Also about the safe hand atrophying from non-use. I would assume he found a way to address it, unless it's something important in a later book.
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Also, is it always your left hand that's your "safehand" - in which case, left-handed women might be forced to become right handed.
I made a comment about this in my notes to Brandon as well. Also about the safe hand atrophying from non-use. I would assume he found a way to address it, unless it's something important in a later book.
I don't know if he changed anything on this since then but I did notice that Shallan does specifically use her left hand on several occasions, so I guess the cultural side of this is more about keeping the arm+hand covered rather than not using it at all. We don't see Shallan being hesitant or uncomfortable in using her "safehand" to carry her satchel, to hold her sketchpad and so on. I wonder how far keeping the arm/hand covered goes - all hours of the day? In the bath...? Or is only in "public"...? If we ever do see enough of her to be able to tell, her right arm/hand should be more tanned than her left.
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Well I sent it to him months ago so there is a good chance he looked at it.
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How exposed the opposite arm would be depends a great deal on what the person does and wears. Full sleeves on women's clothing are common in this particular society, and often flowing, loose sleeves that allow the hand to slip in and out of coverage.
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I wasn't trying to create a HOID acronym or start such a negative reaction. I just think that unless one of three people say otherwise, it seems like Hoid isn't really a name, just something he labeled himself with.
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It is a name, but perhaps not originally his.
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It has been a while since I posted on here but here are my thoughts on the prologue and the chapters so far.
I really liked the lashing system in the fact that it completely changed gravity for the person or object it was being used on. It wasn't just having my feet be pulled to the cieling by a magnet but having my whole body orient that way as well (i.e. No blood rushing to your head when hanging upside down effects).
We also see a glimpse of what I think is going to be a second magic system with Kalidin where he seems to glow and move faster. This one does not seem to be related to stormlight as there was non mentioned on the battlefield. However, I could be mistaken because the currency is clear beads with gems in them and the gems are frequently infused with stormlight and soldiers could easily be carrying money.
One of the things I really want to see is the first storm. So far we have only seen hints of its affects on the enviroment and locations of citys.
Now for the part everyone will complain about. After reading what is available so far I find it very disjointed. I dont mind the point of view changes in most books but this seems to happen way to quickly. The chapters are so short and unrelated because we are going though character introduction. I expect this to change later in the book or series as the characters meet up and there storylines connect.
This is most likely a personal thing. In most books I read the point of view starts with a main character or characters and then the point of view switches as the characters seperate and new characters are added. From the beginning you have more of an idea on how the stories relate together. Right now it feals like I am reading three books at one time, a few pages from each, then on to the next in hope that in the end they tie together.
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One of the things I really want to see is the first storm. So far we have only seen hints of its affects on the enviroment and locations of citys.
I can't wait to see this as well. It's going to be epic as far as the description of the land coping with the storm. It would be like a shock wave of plants sucking into their shells as the storm runs through the area.
This is most likely a personal thing. In most books I read the point of view starts with a main character or characters and then the point of view switches as the characters seperate and new characters are added. From the beginning you have more of an idea on how the stories relate together. Right now it feals like I am reading three books at one time, a few pages from each, then on to the next in hope that in the end they tie together.
I felt the same regarding the chapters being a little too short, but I didn't think it detracted from the whole YET. I think he made the stories so distant for the sake of the story as a whole. This is his epic, his masterpiece and the fact that the story lines are so singular makes it really feel like these people are seperate, their own book merely combined in one. Which is really what our lives are, our own stories which when we connect with another person, becomes a single story.
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uhm, hi. Long time lurker here :)
I've read the preview a couple of times now, and it looks like we're in for a real treat with the Stormlight Archive. Can't wait for the whole book.
Now for the prologue, I'm struck by the "drunk"' guy's comment when Szeth meets him; "Have you seen me?" . Then later in the same paragraph, we're made aware that one of the statues picturing the Ten Heralds are gone, Shalash's to be exact. Now, this is probably just coincidence, but I'm kinda connecting this to Hoid as well (I'm aware others have a "Hoid" feeling about the drunk as well). I think it's mentioned somewhere on these forums that Hoid witnessed the breaking of Adonalsium. If the start of the war in the prelude is somehow connected to the breaking, Shalash would have been there, being technically immortal and having somewhat special abilities right?
Now, feel free to tear apart my theory here, Shalash = Hoid = drunken guy in the prologue. (Sorry for my bad English btw :) )
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Haven't read the thread yet.
First, WTF kind of tech level do they have that glass can be used as currency but don't have guns? I'm going to assume they have magical techniques for making a lot of glass very cheaply, because glass is hugely expensive.
Other socio-economic observations: females are the intellectual class and eye color has an influence on rank. This is interesting. I'm unsure how that kind of hierarchy is stable, since dark eye colors are dominant RL, but we don't have yellow eyes RL so I'm guessing these guys aren't exactly baseline human.
Now then.
Magical Powered Armor! Yay!
Assuming General Relativity has any relevance in the Cosmere, Lashings seem to have more in common with Iron Pulling than any sort of gravity manipulation. Basic seems to pull a specific object in a specific direction, based on how Szeth could run on the walls. Full seems to be a mutual attraction between two objects. And Reverse is making something an attractor.
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Those are all pretty good observations. ;D
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Those are all pretty good observations. ;D
Infact, Lashings seem to be a much more apt description than any sort of gravity manipulation.
Also,Lashing isn't a fighting magic system. It's much, much more useful for engineering than fighting. I can give some examples of how if anyone wants me to.
Just realized something. What kind of gem the stormlight is stored in changes what these "Soulcasters" can do with it.
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I didn't notice that. I thought the type of gem just affected the amount of stormlight that could be stored within it, not what could be done with it. Of course all I have seen done with stormlight so far is the lashings.
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I didn't notice that. I thought the type of gem just affected the amount of stormlight that could be stored within it, not what could be done with it. Of course all I have seen done with stormlight so far is the lashings.
They said emerald was the most valuable because Soulcasters could use it to make food. This implies that they can't use diamond held stormlight for foodmaking, otherwise it's rarity compared to emeralds would make it more valuable. Unless emeralds are actually rarer than diamonds on Roshar, but I'm going to assume they aren't.
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One of the things I really want to see is the first storm. So far we have only seen hints of its affects on the enviroment and locations of citys.
I can't wait to see this as well. It's going to be epic as far as the description of the land coping with the storm. It would be like a shock wave of plants sucking into their shells as the storm runs through the area.
This is most likely a personal thing. In most books I read the point of view starts with a main character or characters and then the point of view switches as the characters seperate and new characters are added. From the beginning you have more of an idea on how the stories relate together. Right now it feals like I am reading three books at one time, a few pages from each, then on to the next in hope that in the end they tie together.
I felt the same regarding the chapters being a little too short, but I didn't think it detracted from the whole YET. I think he made the stories so distant for the sake of the story as a whole. This is his epic, his masterpiece and the fact that the story lines are so singular makes it really feel like these people are seperate, their own book merely combined in one. Which is really what our lives are, our own stories which when we connect with another person, becomes a single story.
The chapters do get longer as it goes which helps a lot.
Haven't read the thread yet.
First, WTF kind of tech level do they have that glass can be used as currency but don't have guns? I'm going to assume they have magical techniques for making a lot of glass very cheaply, because glass is hugely expensive.
Other socio-economic observations: females are the intellectual class and eye color has an influence on rank. This is interesting. I'm unsure how that kind of hierarchy is stable, since dark eye colors are dominant RL, but we don't have yellow eyes RL so I'm guessing these guys aren't exactly baseline human.
Now then.
Magical Powered Armor! Yay!
Assuming General Relativity has any relevance in the Cosmere, Lashings seem to have more in common with Iron Pulling than any sort of gravity manipulation. Basic seems to pull a specific object in a specific direction, based on how Szeth could run on the walls. Full seems to be a mutual attraction between two objects. And Reverse is making something an attractor.
When you read closer you can tell that it does change the pull of gravity for an individual person or object.
So instead of falling towards the ground at ten feet per second per second, you fall towards whatever object at ten feet per second per second.
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When you read closer you can tell that it does change the pull of gravity for an individual person or object.
So instead of falling towards the ground at ten feet per second per second, you fall towards whatever object at ten feet per second per second.
Which is nothing at all like how gravity works. Basic Lashing has some similarity to Physics 101 approximations of gravity, but nothing else. Gravity is mutual attraction. While the Basic and Reverse Lashings may look similar to gravity to someone who doesn't have an education in physics, the Full Lashing is the only thing that makes any sense as gravity manipulation. Basic Lashing has coordinate system issues that make me think there's something altogether different than gravity causing the acceleration, and Reverse Lashing should make something extremely heavy which wasn't in evidence.
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Another observation hinting at the people not being baseline human: eyebrow hair that grows as long as the hair on the top of your head.
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Aran - 0.0 Well you got me there. haha.
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Aran - 0.0 Well you got me there. haha.
Eyebrows or gravity?
:)
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Aran - 0.0 Well you got me there. haha.
Eyebrows or gravity?
:)
Gravity.
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I'll have you know that my eyebrows are magnificent.
I'm trying to remember if any of the "humans" in the Cosmere (so far) would be considered "baseline". The Skaa and Nobles of Mistborn certainly weren't.
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I didn't notice that. I thought the type of gem just affected the amount of stormlight that could be stored within it, not what could be done with it. Of course all I have seen done with stormlight so far is the lashings.
They said emerald was the most valuable because Soulcasters could use it to make food. This implies that they can't use diamond held stormlight for foodmaking, otherwise it's rarity compared to emeralds would make it more valuable. Unless emeralds are actually rarer than diamonds on Roshar, but I'm going to assume they aren't.
Technically, Emeralds are much rarer than diamonds here on terra firma. But diamonds are more expensive. Go figure.
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I didn't notice that. I thought the type of gem just affected the amount of stormlight that could be stored within it, not what could be done with it. Of course all I have seen done with stormlight so far is the lashings.
They said emerald was the most valuable because Soulcasters could use it to make food. This implies that they can't use diamond held stormlight for foodmaking, otherwise it's rarity compared to emeralds would make it more valuable. Unless emeralds are actually rarer than diamonds on Roshar, but I'm going to assume they aren't.
Now that you mention it I remember that when they were explaining the values. Which makes me wonder if lashings can be pulled from any stormlight or only certain gems. Also can someone use all gem types or are they specifice to certain people. If they are specific, are there people the equivalent of a Mistborn.
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I didn't notice that. I thought the type of gem just affected the amount of stormlight that could be stored within it, not what could be done with it. Of course all I have seen done with stormlight so far is the lashings.
They said emerald was the most valuable because Soulcasters could use it to make food. This implies that they can't use diamond held stormlight for foodmaking, otherwise it's rarity compared to emeralds would make it more valuable. Unless emeralds are actually rarer than diamonds on Roshar, but I'm going to assume they aren't.
Technically, Emeralds are much rarer than diamonds here on terra firma. But diamonds are more expensive. Go figure.
I'll take your word for it. But food making was singled out as why emerald was the most valuable.
I also noticed that Rubies and Sapphires were different denominations. I wonder if Brandon meant specifically blue sapphire, because sapphires come in a lot of colors (red sapphires are rubies).
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Aran - 0.0 Well you got me there. haha.
Eyebrows or gravity?
:)
Gravity.
Ah, happyman could explain it better than I could. Although, thinking back, the Reverse Lashing was used on a doorframe, so it could have become heavier.
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So there are new chapters up. Will discussion continue in this thread or will a new one be created for ch. 4-6?
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Why not go ahead and create a separate topic? This one is getting long as it is.
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Alright, I just want to get this out there in writing before the book comes out:
After reading the Prologue, I'm guessing we see someone or something Lashed in two opposite directions, pulling them/it apart. Szeth used multiple Lashings on the balcony, so we know it's possible to use multiple Lashings on the same thing.
I don't want to see any confirmation or denial from alpha readers, just had to post this. ;D
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Cruel but possible. It would make a good scene but very, very graphic. So put multiple lashings on each arm and leg to quarter them. I looked up Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered but that would be way too graphic. I will stick to just quartered.
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Now that this has been mentioned I keep thinking about decapitation by lashing. With enough exerted force it would just... pop. :shutter: I honestly don't think Brandon would get that graphic though. Or maybe he has a darker side we haven't seen that he must bring out in his epic.
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It is a pretty graphic and disturbing , but I've heard that Way of Kings was going to be a bit darker than his other books. Could be wrong though.
Perhaps it won't be done to a person, but an animal or a monster? Thunderclasts maybe? Although for some reason it seems to me that they are probably immune to Lashing. I don't know why.
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Haha... you guys are gross. ::)
But I think some bits of the first book are grosser than that, one aspect in particular. I'll be interested in seeing how it rates with other readers.
I won't tell you what it is, but I'll tell you that it wasn't about Lashing (wasn't really about anything in these chapters, which is why I'll shut up now).
This sort of speculation is perfect for gaming though, which is why I think his books will make great RPG settings.
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Seriously, I could see an MMORPG made out of his Cosmere. I'd dump WoW in a second for that. I'ma start doing some character design and modeling Brandon! I'll send you the bill. (if nothing else I'll just mod Counter-Strike: Source or Baldur's Gate into "The Cosmere")
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Hey, just wanted to post that they just put up chapter 9 and 11 (They're focusing on Kaladin). Go over and read them!
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Very nice.
One last try.
One last month 8)