Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson Read Along: Week 10

I am hosting this final week, so you can head down to the links at the bottom of my post to see what everyone else thinks.

This week we read up to the end of the book.

Before I get to my answers, I just want to apologize to the other participants for my limited involvement in this particular read along. Circumstances have not been ideal, but I thank you for your tolerance and promise to be much more engaged with the next event.

1. Phew! Kal proves to be the honorable hero that we wanted him to be and decides to save Elhokar. Did you agree with his reasoning? Do you think the king can actually improve, or will Lopen’s mother need to beat him with a spoon?

In some ways it was much more important for Kal’s future that he make this decision: I doubt that Syl would have reappeared if he had chosen the less honorable path. However, I do think he made the correct decision to spare Elhokar.

The king is a very weak character and is plagued by self-doubt. Of course, seeing Cryptics in reflective surfaces would not have improved his state of mind, even after they vanished. The very fact that they were observing him makes me think that he is important for some reason. Perhaps he is yet another potential Radiant, which seems even more likely now that we know that three of his close family are all Radiants already. Alternatively, perhaps his potent lying fascinated the Cryptics, although I am not sure what he has to lie about. Whatever the reason for their interest, it marks him out as a significant character and so I am pleased that he has survived at least one more book.

One thing that we have already seen in this series is that characters can reinvent themselves and change. I think most of us were fairly unimpressed by Adolin in The Way of Kings, but he has matured significantly, as has Renarin. I hope that we will see a similar change in Elhokar. Some time amongst the ‘common’ folk will probably do him a world of good, especially with Lopen’s mother berating him at every turn. He needs to learn how to fulfill his role and stop feeling sorry for himself: and she might just give him the kick up the backside that he really needs! :D

2. Dalinar has bonded with a very grumpy Stormfather: I have to admit that I did NOT see that coming! Were you more surprised to find that the Stormfather is a spren or that he would agree to bond with Dalinar?

As with so much of Mr Sanderson’s writing, I can safely say that this surprised me. I had never considered that the Stormfather could be a spren, although we know that the Nightwatcher is one, and that she is also very powerful and godlike in her abilities.

I am intrigued by the increasingly complex world of the spren. It seems that they are all fragments of Honor, Cultivation or even Odium but their variety is fascinating. It seems as if Stormfather is a greater fragment somehow and so he is much more powerful than most of the other spren. He also wields some sort of authority over the other spren derived from Honor, as he has the final say over Kal’s final rise to be a true Radiant. This makes me wonder if the Nightwatcher fulfills a similar role for the spren derived from Cultivation. As always, the complexity and intricacy of the world leaves me amazed.

Syl says that Stormfather is broken somehow, which certainly explains his anger towards the potential Radiants. I am still confused about what happened during the Recreance and how it ‘killed’ so many spren, but it has had a very profound effect on Stormfather’s mind. He now has an instinctual distrust of humans, which is perfectly understandable, but it seems that his hatred of Odium is even greater and can override his despair. He seems very human in his personality problems, so it made perfect sense that he would bond Dalinar if he had to: I look forward to many grumpy discussions in the coming books.

3. Shallan is now a fully recognized Radiant and has saved pretty much everyone we care about. Then we discover that she killed her mother, but that her father took the blame. Were you surprised by this revelation? Does it make you more sympathetic to her father or not?

Damn you, Brandon Sanderson! Just as we seem to have everything sorted out, you manage to turn it upside down again!

I think it was fairly obvious that the final lie/truth that she needed to accept was associated with her mother’s death, but I had assumed that she simply needed to revisit it and accept her father’s actions. I had never thought that she might have been guilty of the killing herself. However, now that we know the circumstances, it does not really change my opinion about her. She was practically a child at the time and so reacted in an instinctive way to protect herself. Her inability to remember the details of what happened are a fairly typical reaction to such a traumatic event, so I can hardly blame her for not taking responsibility for what happened.

I am not sure that this makes her father more sympathetic. It is easy to jump to the conclusion that he lied to protect Shallan and that he always favored her over the boys. However, I think it is much more likely that she simply scared him. He knew that she had killed two people in self defense, which would make him very wary about pushing her to that point himself. I suspect that he was a simple bully, but had just enough self-control to avoid the very real danger that she posed to him.

4. Eshonai has fallen into a chasm and the Parshendi seem to have been defeated on the Shattered Plains. What do you think of their chances for the future? Will the Parshmen rise as an army of Voidbringers because of the Everstorm?

I suspect that we will see Eshonai again. However, I would hope that she begins to listen to that voice screaming inside her head and works to destroy the voidbringers. It would seem that the Parshendi numbers have been significantly reduced by Dalinar’s attack. However, there are an awful lot of Parshmen out there. Somehow I doubt that we will find that the Parshmen remain unchanged and everyone lives happily ever after . . . otherwise they will be very bored in the remaining eight volumes of the series!

5. There were plenty of revelations about plots and plans. Do you have a clearer picture of how it all fits together and who is doing what? Do you think that Moash will survive far into the series?

Perhaps I was reading too quickly, but I am quite confused over all the plots and secret groups. I am not sure that everyone within each group is working to the same goals, which adds to my confusion. However, I think we can safely say that there are plenty of people who are going to be a nuisance in the rest of the series.

Characters like Taravangian are intriguing because I think that he genuinely is trying to do the right thing. His methods are deplorable and ruthless, but they do have a certain logic behind them. Of course, we have no idea whether or not Odium influenced his day of inspiration when he drew out the Diagram. His subsequent actions are certainly very questionable, but his intentions could be pure. The same is true of Amaram and all the others that we have encountered.

I think Moash has a good chance of surviving, but only if he abandons his new friends and returns to the honorable life of the Bridgemen. However, I am not sure that he is smart enough to see this.

6. Yay! Syl has returned, and now Kal is a full Radiant. Please discuss the epicness of his transformation and subsequent fight with Szeth.

I love Mr Sanderson’s writings for so many reasons, but his ability to create breath-taking visuals is definitely one of my favorites. Kal’s ‘splash down’ in a wave of stormlight would look so good on the big screen! Of course, I doubt that anyone could really recreate the epicness of the writing to my satisfaction, but I would love to see someone attempt it. I fell in love with this aspect of Mr Sanderson’s writing in Mistborn, and I have to admit that I think that this confrontation was even better. The scale of their battle was awesome, with the emotional context only adding to the tension.

Poor Szeth: his entire worldview was being dismantled before his very eyes. I believe that we learn Szeth’s backstory in the next book, and I look forward to understanding how he came to be the Assassin in White and what we will learn about Shin society.

7. The strange man in black is revealed to be the Herald of Justice. Any comments upon him, his nasty talking sword and his decision to resurrect Szeth?

Oh dear, this was not a good revelation at all. It seems as if Nin is just as crazy as Taln, but in a different way. I assume that he has been wandering the world ever since he and the other Heralds abandoned their oath, which means that he has had plenty of time to go very, very insane. I guess that he is so obsessed with Justice that he sees everything in black and white, ignoring the important shades of grey that exist in reality. We saw this when he killed the cobbler who had been a criminal many years earlier but had since reformed and was now a genuinely good person. This uncaring judgmental attitude is entirely self-righteous and extremely dangerous.

I wonder if his creepy sword is his original one. We know that nine swords were left behind as the Heralds wandered off, but we do not know if the Shin have all of them. Certainly, the sword seemed different from the other Shardblades that we have encountered. On a side note: it seemed very similar to the evil sword Nightblood that we encountered in Warbreaker . . .

I can only assume that Szeth is a suitably amoral person who could help Nin to bring righteous vengeance to the world. Yay! :(

8. Argh! Jasnah is back from the dead! Discuss, with many exclamation marks!!!!

What the heck!???!??!

How? What? Why? Where? When? And, I say again, HOW????

Just when we had all come to terms with her untimely demise, she reappears twice as awesome as she was before. The fact that Wit is there to meet her only confirms my belief that he is some form of godlike entity trying to intervene in the fate of this world. Otherwise, how could he possibly know where she would appear?

I look forward to hearing about her escape, although it seems that she shifted herself into Shadesmar to escape the assassins. How this is possible, I have no idea, but it seems that she has been doing plenty of research by chatting to the spren: typical Jasnah! :D

9. Finally, this book ended with lots of questions. Will killing Sadeas alter Adolin? Why is he called THE Lopen? Why are the other Oathgates locked?

I was shocked that Adolin did this. It is not as if I do not think that Sadeas deserved it, just that Adolin lost control of himself. I am pretty certain that this will bar Adolin from joining the Radiants because of the effect that it will have on his psyche.

That was really strange, as was the hint about the king of the Herdazians showing up at the end. It was great to see him regain his arm, though I am sure he deserves it for putting up with his mother! :D

The only unlocked Oathgate was in the Shattered Plains: how convenient? Of course, this might explain why the Parshendi were in the same place: perhaps they were the remnants of a force left to stop anyone using the gate. But this is only one question in a giant list that need to be answered in the later volumes of the series, so I will let it go for now!

Dab of Darkness

Musings on Fantasia

Lynn’s Book Blog

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson Read Along: Week 9

You can head over to Musings on Fantasia to see what everyone else thinks.

This week we read up to the end of Chapter 81.

1. What did you think of Dalinar's tactics, proving Kaladin correct by catching Amaram in a lie? What will happen, do you think, when they attempt to "try" him?

Just when I think that Dalinar cannot possibly get any more perfect . . . he does! I almost cheered at this moment, but that is because I am easily manipulated by cynical authors who like to play with my expectations and emotions! :D

As well as keeping me massively entertained, one thing that Mr Sanderson seems very good at doing is letting his characters change and develop. I love the way that Dalinar has gradually become much more thoughtful and less trusting of his old judgments. Of course, he has had some fairly harsh lessons in this area, but it is great to see him learning from his mistakes and modifying his behavior: something that is heavily mirrored by Adolin. These two men are slowly becoming more admirable and heroic, but it has cost them dearly. Perhaps I am strange, but I like my heroes to have to work for their successes!

It felt wrong for Dalinar to dismiss Kal’s story out of hand, and not just because we knew that it was the truth. Dalinar has started to follow his instincts and Kal has done nothing to prove them wrong, so he should have been very concerned by the account of Amaram’s betrayal. However, I can understand why he would want some form of confirmation before creating a political mess. I am just pleased that it is now out in the open, even though I imagine that it would be almost impossible to take Amaram to trial: he is Sadeas’ man and it could even lead to war between the two Highprinces.

2. Navani offers her services to Shallan with her mission to find the Oathgate. What do you think Navani's intentions are? Will she help or hinder Shallan's mission?

It was good to see Navani begin to emerge from her grief and take more notice of her final link to Jasnah’s genius. It makes perfect sense that she would have had a lot of difficulty with Shallan and found it hard to see the woman who survived when her beloved daughter perished. However, it also makes sense that Shallan could help her in the healing process, once Navani had moved past that initial period of pain and anger.

I loved their discussion about Jasnah: especially the comment about her being born at thirty years old and having to grow into her age! :D

I do not detect any deception from Navani: I think that she is honestly trying to fulfill Jasnah’s wishes by helping Shallan in her research. Her subdued reaction to the revelation about Jasnah being a Soulcaster makes me wonder if Navani had already suspected this. She would be the perfect person to fabricate a fake fabrial, so it makes sense that Jasnah would have confided in her. Perhaps this explains why she has been so supportive of Dalinar: she already had an inkling that the Radiants were returning. She is a very capable woman, with a great deal of resources at her disposal, so I expect her to be an enormous help to Shallan.

3. Moash's group is still planning to assassinate Elhokar. Do you think Kaladin will allow him to go through with it? 

I certainly hope not. I think we all agree that Elhokar is a bit of a prat, but that does not mean that he should be assassinated. Whenever I think of how bad he COULD be . . . *cough* Joffrey *cough* . . . I feel a certain amount of hope that he could develop into a half decent king. However, he suffers from a massive problem with his self-esteem and is very negative about his abilities. I am not sure how to work around this, but being treated like an idiot by everyone is not helping: and Dalinar is as guilty of this as anyone else.

However, Elhokar’s suitability as king is not really the issue in this case. I strongly suspect that Syl will vanish forever if Kal allows this dishonorable act to go ahead. I am already worried sick because she is holding herself away from him and letting him suffer, especially as we know that Szeth is on his way back to the Shattered Plains and the Parshendi are trying to unleash a Highstorm on Dalinar’s army . . . arghhhhh!!!!!

4. The king approached Kal and asked Kal to teach him to be a hero? Do you see Kaladin attempting this? Does this change your opinion of the king? How?

I am not sure that you can actually learn to be heroic, but Kal could certainly help to improve Elhokar’s self-esteem by showing him how to relate to his men. We have seen Renarin becoming accepted by Bridge Four, and he is even stranger than the king. I am not sure if Kal is mature enough to see this as a possibility, but it certainly something that could happen in the future.

This exchange did make me a little more sympathetic towards Elhokar, who is a decent bloke trying to make the best of a terrible situation. Just like Adolin he was forced to accept greater responsibility much earlier than expected: I hope that we can see him begin to mature in a similar way to his cousin. The very fact that he realizes that he is inadequate gives me hope for his future improvement.

I was intrigued by his comment about the Cryptics leaving him alone now that Kal is in the warcamp. Is this because Pattern revealed himself to Shallan or because they found Elhokar inadequate in some way? Or is it because Syl’s presence is abhorrent to them because of the Cryptic-Honorspren ‘war’?

5. Dalinar tells Shallan to find the Oathgate, and that he might need to use the pathway as a retreat for the army. (No pressure or anything, though.) Do you think Shallan will find it? Do you think Dalinar will need to make use of it. Where do you think it will lead?

I have a horrible feeling that she will need to get the gate open and lead the army through to safety. However, I accept that this will not be an easy task, what with the Parshendi calling a storm and everything else going on. I am quite certain that Jasnah was right to think that it will lead to Urithiru. Of course, we do not know what will be waiting for them . . .

6. The battle action is very high where we left off. What do you think will happen when the Parshendi song ends? Will the high storm show up in full force and destroy the Alethi army? Will Dalinar's troops manage to interrupt the song? Other predictions?

The end of the song will trigger a Highstorm, I am pretty sure of that. At the moment it seems that the Alethi cannot disrupt the singing so I hope that everyone is ready to jump through the Oathgate as soon as possible. I suspect that we will be chewing our fingernails away before our heroes get to safety.

However, the Parshendi in stormform do not seem to be quite as deadly as we might expect. This might give the Alethi a tiny chance of survival.

Other Thoughts

How epic is Shallan now and how epic is it that Dalinar just accepts her as a Radiant?

Aww . . . Gaz is all cute now that he is helping Shallan and not trying to kill Kal.

Dalinar finds his new Shardblade distasteful for some reason. Is this because it is associated with a ‘dead’ spren? Does this mean that he is a potential Radiant and so should have a blade created a different way?

What has happened to the ‘good’ Parshendi? How many more spies like Shen were there in the warcamps and would they have ‘activated’ during the expedition?

It seems that the Shin hold some important artifacts that they give to those named as Truthless . . . it seems likely that these are the Shardblades left behind by the Heralds. This would explain why Szeth and Kal seem to use stormlight in different ways and why the Assassin does not have a spren.

What is Venli up to and why is she so familiar with the abilities of the stormform? Could she have been getting visitations from Odium?

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson Read Along: Week 8

You can head over to Dab of Darkness to see what everyone else thinks.

This week we read up to the end of Chapter 74.

1) What did you think of Adolin voluntarily being locked up while Kaladin was locked up? Then Adolin's little reveal of trust later while marching on the plateaus. Do these two have a chance at friendship?

I am very pleased to see that Adolin is maturing quite spectacularly. When we first met him, he came across as a spoilt brat with a wandering eye, but now he is starting to show some really good character qualities. He has developed an ability to think beyond his immediate emotional response, and that bodes very well for the future books in the series.

At the beginning of this week I would have said that they have an excellent chance of becoming firm friends. However, the hints being dropped about Kal’s feelings for Shallan make me very uneasy, but more of that later on . . .

2) Kaladin turns down the Shards, instead giving them to Moash. How do you see this affecting his friendship with Moash in the future?

This is tricky to predict. In theory, it should bind Moash to Kal much more closely because of the gratitude he feels about receiving such an unimaginable gift. However, we have already heard that Moash is starting to treat the other Bridgemen slightly differently and I see that as a bad sign. I fear that he will finally ‘forget’ his origins and reject Kal as well.

Another potential problem is Moash’s proximity to Elhokar. Given that he is now a Shardbearer, he is in an excellent position to assassinate the king with relative ease. I sincerely hope that Kal does not allow this to happen because I am not sure that Elhokar should die. We know that he can see the Cryptics, so I am inclined to think that he is a potential Radiant and I think that the world will need every one of them that it can find.

3) Amaram tries to discredit and embarrass Dalinar by releasing modified versions of his visions. Do you think Dalinar handled it well? Do you think a religious sect will arise from this? And what did you make of Dalinar's conversation with Wit?

I totally missed Amaram as the source of the leak, but I guess it just adds to our impression of him as a total jerk. I thought Dalinar handled the situation with dignity and grace, making the best out of a potentially disastrous situation. However, I am not sure if the other Alethi will read and understand his visions in a way that is useful. They will still find it much easier to dismiss him as a lunatic than to act as if he really is receiving important information from the Almighty.

I love Wit! He is so rude and hilarious that I want to be him! However, we know that he is not simply a court jester and that he is waging his own quiet war against Odium, so his praise for Dalinar was very welcome. I love the way that he and Shallan are so similar in their sense of humor.

4) Kaladin starts noticing some issues with his Stormlight abilities. Then Syl points out that he made promises to both Dalinar and Moash that conflict with each other. How do you see this resolving? Will Syl be OK?

I am seriously worried about Syl. Where has she gone and why is she unwilling or unable to answer Kal’s calls for help? What did the Stormfather mean when he said that Kal had killed her???? Argh!!!!!!

Whilst I am very concerned about Syl’s disappearance, this has certainly shown that Kal’s surgebinding abilities are completely related to her and her presence. Without her he is helpless. I hope that Kal can choose the right path and persuade Syl to rejoin him, assuming that she can even do that at this point.

5) We got to see Shallan on a field trip: moss, bugs, chasm fiend, etc. What do you think of how she handled herself both on the plateau march and later in the chasms?

As a professional Biologist, I see a lot of myself in Shallan. She reacts to the wonders of nature in a way that I find totally understandable, even though it seems crazy to other people! :D

She is also very practical and not bound by societal norms, which I can also relate to. As with Adolin, we have seen her mature quite significantly so far in the series and she has the potential to be an even more impressive woman than Jasnah. I am particularly impressed by her ability to react calmly when confronted by a massive man-eating monster!

6) We learn some very interesting bits about Teft's childhood. What do you think of the punishment meted out to the Envisagers? Too harsh? Correct? Do you think some of the Envisagers survived?

As Teft says, it does seem a little bizarre to execute people for trying to put their own lives in danger. However, I can understand perfectly why their society wanted to prevent the spread of such crazy ideas into the general populace.

Unfortunately, we have not yet seen a potential Radiant manifest because of danger. They have all attracted their spren in a gentle way by showing certain aptitudes or character traits. This suggests that, even if they were potentials, the Envisagers were unlikely to spontaneously attract and bond with a spren rapidly enough to save their lives. What a waste!

7) Shallan and Kaladin learn several things about each other during their time in the chasms. What was the most interesting to you? How do you see their relationship evolving after this?

Assuming that Mr Sanderson does not pull the old “they were actually twins separated at birth” trick, I have to say that I suspect a romantic relationship is in their future. Their banter has certainly read like the love/hate bickering that is so common in Romantic comedies and Kal is most definitely beginning to notice Shallan’s feminine charms. As I said earlier, this could cause a massive problem with Adolin and I really, really hope that we do not go down the love triangle route with these three.

I think that the way their relationship develops will depend a great deal on whether or not they admit their abilities to each other. It seems like they are both suspicious of the other’s miraculous survival, but that they automatically assume that they are fairly unique. I would expect Shallan to be more open to the idea of meeting another Radiant because she has already met Jasnah.

Other Thoughts

We all knew it was coming, but I found Shallan’s father’s death very, very sad. Not for him, because he deserved it all twice over, but for her. We saw how his behavior broke her and drove her to behavior that could be considered psychopathic.

We still do not know where Shallan’s Blade comes from!

Were the spren that left the chasm fiend the same ones that the Parshendi are capturing to create stormform? Does that confirm the chasm fiend as a Voidbringer?

Was the chasm fiend glowing because it was converting the food into stormlight in a similar way to Lift?