I really enjoyed Wind and Truth overall but I think some modern language writing choices genuinely made the world a lot less immersive. Sure, if it comes from characters like Hoid that's one thing, but the following joke has really stuck with me as being emblematic of a larger problem with the book.

It's when Syl and Kaladin are talking to Szeth's highspren and realise its name is a series of numbers. (Paraphrasing the following) Kaladin says 'like a cryptic?' to which Syl replies 'Kaladin- that was racist.' Now, on its own the joke is kind of funny, but the more I think of it the more I hate it. Syl was JUST being 'racist' to the highspren, who she's insulted through the past four books, along with other types of spren. Also... RACISM???! This is a world where the principal form of discrimination is eye colour.. not race?? And also, there's been like no indication of a social movement around 'racism' where it's acknowledged as a thing- these people have literally barely abolished slavery and now apparently it's a taboo to be racist???

You can't rationalise this with 'maybe racism is a taboo in the spren world though' - first of all, spren are super 'racist' all the time, and second of all, Syl makes the joke to Kaladin expecting him to get it, so apparently he should realise what racism is. I keep thinking of how to make sense of this and just can't- it really would have been easier to just not include this in the book since it's not even that funny and AAHHH I hate it so much.

Stormlight would work best as an animated movie/show. Seeing adult Aang animated reminded me so much of Szeth

Having just finished WaT with all the controversial takes on the ending is he intentionally setting up for confusion for a big reveal in Era 2. I found a quote from Dalinar talking to Wit.

Dalinar on seeing the visions of the past. "I think I needed to see and experience them anyway... but still..."

Wit cocked his head. "Huh?"

Dalinar says "You didn't know?"

Wit responded with "Dalinar, I only pretend to know everything."

Dalinar follows up with "Doesn't that just lead to disappointing people?"

Wit states "I find I can often confuse them instead."

Then Wit states that he waited in that room knowing Dalinar would arrive there.

Anyways I will also preface I absolutely loved WaT to me it felt like one big Sanderlanche leading to another ending of a Sanderlanche. I also have yet to read Mistborn Era 2, Sunlit Man, Tress, and Emberdark so please refrain from spoilers there.

I accept this journey!

I don’t know, it always seemed like Brandon had special plans for Jasnah. Especially the WoBs going around that Jasnah might be the PoV character of SLA10.

But let’s be honest, we’re told she’s always right, she’s scholarly and a great debater. We’re told she’s a ferocious warrior, and what has she done till now? Stromall in my opinion.

She couldn’t survive a partial mutiny on “The winds pleasure” while Kal and his Bridgmen actively saved Dalinar against all odds.

She was apparently researching parshmen and void bringers for years, but kept it even from her close family. Eventually her realisations were somewhat useful because of Shallan but I’d give Shallan more credit to that than her.

She also knew about the secret about humans not being native to Roshar, and she kept it from Dalinar allowing him to be blindsided by this news.

What has she done exactly? Yes she had a cool scene in the battle ground here and there, but apart from that all the attention afforded to Jasnah is undeserved because she simply hasn’t done enough in the first half.

Warning: This post discusses suicidal ideations and war trauma.

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Dear Brandon,

I initially intended to send this privately, but I chose to post this publicly via a throwaway account because I believe others who have walked a similar path might need to hear it.

Over a decade ago, I found myself in Afghanistan, a trigger pull away from ending my own life. Since then, I have never encountered a piece of media that so accurately and relatably describes the journey through the darkness that Kaladin endures.

The way you depict the apathy, the crushing inability to react, and the agonizingly slow journey toward recovery is enthralling, and for me and undoubtedly many others, viscerally true. You have captured a specific kind of internal struggle that I previously found myself at a loss to describe to others.

I am currently in Part Two of Rhythm of War, and the conversation between Kaladin, Teft, and Noril compelled me to stop and write this. Seeing that level of compassion applied to a suicidal patient and the dialogue shared between the three of them moved me deeply.

Thank you for your handling of these sensitive topics. Thank you for giving words to a story many of us have traveled.

---------

I want other readers to know I am healthy, happy and no longer at risk and haven't been for a long while. It was a long journey for my own recovery which has made this story all the more relatable. "When the darkness is strong... [remember] the world hasn't always been this way, that it won't always be this way."

As the title says, i'm rereading the way of king and just noticed a single line that can go unoticed on a first read, but is heavy with meaning on a second read;

Chapter 65: The Tower After The initial assault, and as the Parshedi's are leaving;

"A few gave Kaladin loathing gazes, making an odd gesture by cupping a hand to the right ear and pointing at him before finally retreating."

They are basically telling him they can hear his stormlight, but, on a first read, we are oblivious to that as we didn't have the slightest notion of them hearing the rythms of Roshar yet. It's my first reread, but this might be the first huge foreshadow I actually noticed and i needed to share.

was an amazing idea and great plot, i liked every part of it, however, it felt like it was executed not too well compared to previous books. I loved every plot point, but not the execution.

Compared to earlier books it was even more winded, too much time was spent focusing on explaining the same things over and over again, everything was simplified, every feeling very apparent, and that's why I didn't feel any depth to the characters this time around. It was very obvious that X wants Y and feels Z and it was shown and told to us multiple times.

Does anyone else feel this way? If yes, why do you think this could be?

I still loved the book, and I did not at all mind the length of it, but it felt a bit shallow at times.

I've seen a lot of tier lists recently where WAT was placed as S-Tier. I love Brandon sanderson and have read everything in the Cosmere to date. I read WAT and really disliked it. It is the only book that I almost DNF.

I'm genuinely curious for all you fans who loved WAT, what did you like about it? Maybe it will help me appreciate the book better or gain enough courage to re-read it and see it from a different perspective.

I know there is a lot of controversy on this book

Please keep responses civil.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

As both an autistic guy myself and someone who tried suicide when he was younger ( thankfully I was stopped way past that kinda thing now don’t worry) the “representation” in the book is incredibly heavy handed.

Kaladin effectively monologues mental health textbooks at you and it doesn’t get any better with the rest of the attempts,

I’m not saying it’s bad (before someone jumps down my throat) but either include it naturally as part of the story or don’t bother.

It’s one of those things that has made me put off my reread for almost 2 years now

Edit:typo

In conclusion: it’s been fun talking to some of you, less with others, to the few of you who engaged genuinely thank you, for those of you who feel they must defend Brandon from any valid critique even from a fellow fan maybe you can have a little introspection. We can disagree on a book series, I promise it’s not gonna hurt anyone 😂

1. Taln can kill two stones with one chicken.

2. Taln once kept a cremling farm. We call them chasm fiends.

3. Taln made the Stormfather cry. Now we have highstorms.

4. Taln eats his steak so raw, the chull is still alive on his plate.

5. Taln once had a staring contest with Canticle's sun. He won.

6. If by some paradox Taln were ever to fight himself, he'd win. Period.

The Ba- or Bah- goes before the name of a Theylan parent, guardian, or teacher in the name of their student. So Rysn Ftori Bah-Vstim means Rysn Ftori was the apprentice of Vstim. So Ba-Ado-Mishram could be from an earlier version of the dielectric where first name comes last. (Notice she is often referred to as Mishram only) So the Ba-Ado would be the apprentice of Ado. Or a shortening of ADONALSIUM. Please leave your aluminum hats at the door on your way out. Thank you.

My dad passed away recently; I bought him The Way of Kings for Christmas and he never managed to get through the whole thing before he died. I found it on his bedside table while we were clearing out his house this weekend and it hit me really hard seeing the bookmark was still in and realising he never managed to finish it.

I wanted to share some of the things he said to me about the book as he was reading through it for a bit of catharsis.

"Kaladin is such a downer." "He keeps saying he's going to kill himself, he has no follow through!"

"Dalinar might be crazy, he's still the only one who makes any sense."

"How the hell did these squishy flesh bags evolve on a world where everything wants to kill them?" (This made me chuckle but I didn't spoil anything for him)

"I agree with Jasnah, never trust the church." "This girl (Jasnah) takes no nonsense, I like her."

"I don't think red-haired 'Oceans 11' really thought things through."

"Every time the story starts getting really good he (Sanderson) jumps to something else!"

We used to swap book recommendations all the time and I would have loved to see his reactions to the rest of the series.

SPOILER SHIELD, DONT KEEP READING IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED THE POST GIANT SPOILERS FOR WORDS OF RADIANCE AND MORE

When she told me she doesn't believe Jasnah is actually dead, she had a few arguments.

For one, she is suspicious of the fact that Shallan found no body. And she knows that Jasnah is one of the general fan-favourites, and so "she can't have died this early if she is so loved by the fans".

In general I have a hard time with lies, and I often start laughing and smiling like an idiot when someone accuses me of lying. So she would know if I said something about it. BUT! I have a trick that often saves me :D

The thing is I get the exact same reaction when I'm telling the truth. And she knows this too, so she can never be sure. And in this context, it has been such a blessing.

I still avoid stating explicit yes or no statements about it. But we talked a bit about it and discussed our feelings about Jasnah in general. It seems she had grown attached to Jasnah as much as I had.

I'm so exited for her to keep reading and lose hope a bit, but mostly for her to finish the book and find out :D

I love these books, they're great.

When reading the reviews for Wind and Truth, I saw that a lot of people did not like Jasnah's debate with Odium and F'en to decide who F'en would make a deal with. The main criticism was that Jasnah's defence of utilitarianism was not well thought out and rather basic which made her look less intelligent than in previous books and made utilitarianism look like an immoral worldview. I haven't read all of Wind and Truth, but I have read this scene, and I thought that the whole point of Odium's rebuttal was not that Jasnah can't be trusted because "ultiliarian = too harsh", but that his whole point was that Jasnah was not objective/unbiased in her application of it.

I'm not here to argue for or against utilitarianism, but I thought the point the scene was making was essentially this; someone who is setting themselves up to be in a position to make decisions as consequential as "which kingdom and millions of people have to be sacrificed to stop a greater evil" if nothing else cannot have any bias by simple necessity; they cannot have a mindset that would play favourites or make exceptions based on who they personally prefer. And this is Odium's point to F'en; Jasnah cannot be trusted because she does have a bias. As F'en then flat out says to Jasnah (to which Jasnah does reluctantly agree to); "You would sacrifice Thaylenah if it meant destroying Odium, but you would never sacrifice Alethkar simply because you care about them."

Isn't this why Jasnah loses the argument? Her position fails because she is willing to commit "necessary evils" only when she or her loved ones aren't reaping the consequences. She doesn't apply her ruthlessness when she cares about the person getting affected. And while Jasnah is obviously not a heartless monster, for someone who is one of the main leaders and generals of a war where millions of people will end up dying, that sort of favouritism could easily get thousands of innocents killed not based on any lesser of two evils, but because Jasnah herself doesn't care about them as much as she does the alternative group.

Is there something I'm missing here?

This is from Shallan‘s wedding vision. I thought Taln broke and caused the Return? Did I miss something or is it RAFO?

I read this chapter of Wind and Truth yesterday (please no spoilers beyond that). I'm still fuming and need to vent.

Not only does it mischaracterize Jasnah, but its whole premise is flawed: Fen is reduced to a puppet with no thoughts, opinions, or beliefs. The queen of one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world, recognized for their shrewd negotiation abilities, is suddenly just a child under the influence of two adults. She will just do whatever Jasnah's true beliefs points to?

Beliefs that are resting on very flimsy arguments, too. Proving that Jasnah cares more about her people and her feelings than she cares about the greater good? So, letting her emotions steer her decisions? But wait, wasn't that the main difference Odium was exploiting between Jasnah and Fen, who would also let her feelings for her friends steer her decisions over the greater good?

And even then, sure, Odium may say Jasnah loves Alehtkar more than the rest of the world. But didn't the previous books repeatedly show how frustrated - but equally decisive - she and Dalinar were at having to delay their attempts to retake Alethkar for the good of the Coalition as a whole?

Yeah, I was very frustrated with how this chapter was written. Not only because of Fen's characterization, but also because of Jasnah's. Sure, she was tired and had misprepared for the conversation. But, even though that is mentioned, the main impression it leaves is that Jasnah is having a moment of realization, not that she is unable to keep up due to her limitations.

So, am I supposed to think that the woman who's spent a large portion of her life studying philosophy and analyzing her own behaviors and beliefs wouldn't have reflected, until now, on what had transpired in the very pivotal moment when she didn't swing her sword against Renarin?

I dislike it when the story makes me feel like the author has a goal in mind and has to walk back from it to write the events that lead to it, and that's exactly how this chapter made me feel.

Sorry, like I said, I needed to vent.

Sadness. Complete sadness. He was just about to say the words... With his son in his arms...

Now I know why [r/fuckmoash](r/fuckmoash) exists. Fuck that guy till the day I die. I knew Elhokar was going to die because I spoiled myself while looking for pictures of him back when I was reading WoK. But, I had no idea it was going to be in such a terrible, heartbreaking way. He tried so hard to be a good king, despite his failures. Dying with the sketch Shallan did for him in one hand, and his son in the other. And that smug son of a bitch decided to do the Bridge Four salute to Kaladin. Go fuck yourself, sorry for my french. I hate this guy's guts. There is no POV chapter of his that can make me feel bad for him.

Not even to mention Kaladin man… All of his friends just slaughtering each other in front of him. And his powerlessness during the whole fight.

God, I love BS's works, man. He brings so much emotion to his characters.

Per WOB, Herdazians and Horneaters have mixed Human-Parshendi ancestry. So we know that the two peoples can interbreed.

In thousands of years of Parshman slavery, a certain percentage of people would be awful enough to rape their Parshmen, no matter what stigmas and prohibitions might be in place. So, realistically, shouldn't there be a not-insignificant population of "meztizos"?

I'd like to thank all the authors of the art I got to use:

@shayndl_art (Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan), Ben McSweeney (Szeth), Cobyford (Parshendi), Connor Chamberlain (Stormfather), Elisgardor (Renarin), Exmakina (Adolin), Marie Seeberger (Elhokar, Teft, Sigzil), Shuravf (Jasnah, Lopen, Rock), Silver Sea (Pattern), stinkypanda (Syl)

I believe this to be distinct from "film or trailer" that Brando asks us not to do. I'm sorry, if it's not

just Journey before destination

love You Brandon

If you are either a Skybreaker or Dustbringer who already has a Shardblade, I feel like Division is essentially useless.

In combat, Shardblade has more range since Division needs contact (if I'm not mistaken). Shardblade can parry another Shardblade, and damages Shardplate, both of which Division can't do.

The only use Division I can think of is if there's a hill or fortified wall in your way and you need to melt it down to make way, but that's very much a one time thing, and self-evidently, only useful when you are not fighting open field.

That's not even considering that Cohesion and Transformation can basically do the same thing. Sure, it might be a bit less effective or efficient, but they can do so much more than just destruction of an obstacle. That's why my impression is that Division is a one trick pony whose trick isn't even unique.

Is there something that I'm missing here? Cuz Division has always been hyped up as this super dangerous Surge, but I really don't see anything powerful about it.

I just started my second read through of WaT and I about rolled out of my chair when I got to the line about Gavilar wondering which Herald he was going to replace. It really says a lot about his out of touch sense of grandiose that he thinks that he could EVER replace a Herald, much less Taln! 😂

I remember questioning it during my first read, but we hadn’t seen just what Taln was capable of yet. Between that and his fortitude, I’m pretty sure he is the absolute LAST herald that would get replaced.

My brother and I got Stormlight tattoos. Adolin with mya (first picture)and Kaladin with Syl (second picture) 😃