Achren - glad I'm not the only one who loved Dragonsteel. I think the story has more potential than Mistborn, but that's just my biased opinion. (I love the originality and magic system in Mistborn, but for some reason I didn't LOVE the Mistborn world. Maybe because it was always dark, ash-covered, and depressing.) Maybe Dragonsteel's potential is why Brandon decided not to publish it, publish a quick trilogy instead (Mistborn), and then include some of the Dragonsteel concepts in a much larger epic series. (I think I've read blog posts and forum posts suggesting that's what Brandon was planning.)
I really hope at some point he publishes some books that are similar to Dragonsteel, because I would love them, and I'm sure they would be very popular.
I loved the idea of the Eternal War - and the fact that the war isn't even about what most of the people think it is about. The scenes of fighting over dragonsteel on the shattered plains are awesome!
What are some of my favorite parts? Hmmmm... Maybe this is weird, but I really liked the parts where Jerick was being educated and developing his character in the palace. It was kind of sad that Brandon had to skip ahead so much through that time, since it was almost 4 years. I guess I'm a romantic, but I enjoyed every time Ryalla and Jerick got to see each other. Every scene with Topaz is great. He's such a crazy character. From the very first time we meet him, everything he does just has to be over the top.
I thought Topaz and Bat'Chor made a great (but very unlikely) pair of adventurers. When I was reading the book I sometimes thought "ya, ya, ya ... get back to Jerick's story". Now when I think back I really did enjoy Topaz and Bat'Chor on their crazy side stories. Having Bat'Chor dress up like a pregnant bride is classic!
You wanted Ryalla to hook up with Prince Yoharn and Jerick to hook up with Princess Courteth? Interesting idea. I have to admit the thought never crossed my mind. From the very first scene where Topaz has Ryalla introduce Jerick to the palace I just assumed those two would end up together. I REALLY didn't like Courteth, but you are right. There towards the end she was having a change of heart. You know - that would have been an interesting twist if the story kept on going. Somehow Jerick and Ryalla end up being related so they really can't get married (ends up more like a brother/sister relationship) and then Jerick does end up with Courteth and the Prince ends up with Ryalla. That would have definitely been a good plot twist. (But Courteth would definitely have had to somehow redeem all the mean things she did growing up.)
Jerick's abilities were REALLY cool, he just never really developed them. He became an awesome Tzai, but his Microkinetic abilities never developed much. That's one reason why I think Brandon might want to use an epic series to explore these concepts more. It seems like people develop their micronetic abilities pretty slowly, so it's going to take much more than one book to really get to some cool stuff.
I loved the part where Jerick finally became a leader of Bridge Four and started developing his leadership skills and the groups camaraderie. That's one thing that didn't feel right about the end; what happens to Jerick's army and Bridge Four. But I've already mentioned there are a lot of things there at the end that didn't seem like they fit.
But when I read the last line of the book my first reaction was, "huh?". Then a second after thinking about it I was like, "OHHHH!". That line would definitely be a classic if he used something similar in one of his published works.
Edited to remove explicit spoilers - Thanks Ookla
