Way of Kings Discussion (prelude, prologue & chapters 1-3) :SPOILERS:

[Peter Ahlstrom]

If you see any typos, please add them to the typos thread. 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).

[Valkynphyre]

Oooh! the spren are cooler than I imagined!

What kinda spren would you like to see in the book?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

So...are people still busy reading it? >_>

[Creative_Vortx]

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.

[kari-no-sugata]

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.

[Creative_Vortx]

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.

[Valkynphyre]

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.

[Creative_Vortx]

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

[Ipood]

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).

[Creative_Vortx]

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.

[Valkynphyre]

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.

[Creative_Vortx]

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.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

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.

[Creative_Vortx]

The calendar is not insane. It's very straightforward actually.

Now I'm sad. I wanted a really complex calendar that involved time travel.

[Valkynphyre]

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.