u/Graphica-Danger

I just hate when I know a character’s about to embarrass themself but there had to be a tradeoff for getting off easy from embarrassing Hemme how he did.

Kvothe is such a good depiction of young, capable men overflowing with intelligence but lacking even one ounce of sense. He could’ve waited a span or two to recover from the lashing but he has little capacity for patience because he’s used to finagling his way through things. Now he’s broke and Lorren might not let him back into the Archives! Goddammit dude you couldn’t have waited until after you got over the nahlrout withdrawal at least?

I think as well Pat does a subtle bit of characterization with the Ambrose interaction at the start of the chapter. Kvothe saw Ambrose being a creep to Fela but starts thinking of him positively once he (seemingly) does something for him personally. Don’t think that makes Kvothe a bad person, but it further proves Ben’s assessment of him as thoughtless. He’s selfish both by nature and because of his life in Tarbean. It’s difficult for a writer to portray that realistically but it’s done very well here.

So excited for what’s happening since everything is coming to a head at long last. AND for the additional 6 years of story they have planned since this is far from the true end of Nikke.

At the start of Yumi part 2. Finished Tress. Waiting on Fires of December later this year. There are tons of crazy hints inserted into both of these books but we know he's talking to somebody (or a crowd) that are from Roshar. They also know about Scadrial and (presumably) Nalthis along with maybe other planets, so some kind of space exploration besides cognitive Worldhoppers is at least established. These stories also take place far in the timeline but what's particularly interesting is Hoid's narration is even further than that.

I predict he's either with one of the protagonists of Mistborn's final era who happens to be Rosharan or, since he himself will be a POV character, is with a group of Rosharans for some reason. There's a good chance we'll get a scene in those final books, perhaps even right before the final battle, where Hoid sits down and tells some of his favorite stories about the people he's liked most in his millennia of existence.

Kelsier. He wants to be Mistborn again but he doesn’t have the Connection needed yet. So while the Set’s hemalurgy experiments are promising, they can’t be applied to him. Not yet at least. Something is blocking the Connection between the physical and cognitive realms, and it’s probably his imprecise hemalurgy letting him walk around in a body unlike Roshar’s Heralds or Nalthis’ Returned. Sazed won’t help him because he knows him too well, but I’m fairly certain Kelsier will regain his abilities at some point in this upcoming trilogy.

This will likely extend the conflict he has with Sazed, though I’m wondering if his transformation into Discord will make him agree to work with Kelsier again. That might be how he gets his powers back, but with an interstellar war looming, Scadrial needs some serious buffs if they wanna survive which might be accomplished with research that gives Kelsier what he desires.

Not one of my favorites from Brandon but it's clear this was written for his wife. Very warm and cozy read. Also some huge implications get dropped so casually that make me excited for Mistborn era 3 in particular.

This was a little out of the way for Sando's usual style but it was mostly successful. Benefited from being on the shorter end, too. Everything with the spore seas gave it this One Piece like type of danger I really enjoyed.

Yumi next! I have a feeling this is the Secret Project book I'm really going to enjoy.

Mods update fairly regularly. On my third modded run on PC now ever since I got the LE on Steam a few years ago and about to start ME3. Got the usual stuff like Diversification Project, EGM, etc. but now checking out Priority: Earth Overhaul which redoes the final mission with more of a Suicide Mission type of variety. Can’t wait to see how that looks.

Huge thanks to all the mod authors/developers improving so much about the games. The work you guys put in is insane.

The Reapers are a flawed creation that cannot exist without organics yet present themselves as superior. They're trapped in an endless feedback loop where they scrounge up new data into a vast, limitless aggregate, but are unable to solve the problem they were tasked with solving because they've gorged themselves so much that the knowledge is too vast to comprehend. They have no ability to self-reflect or change, and are doomed to repeat the same pattern without understanding the inherent fallacy in their thinking. This loop is only broken thanks to the determination and vision of a single individual learning to share their experiences and draw out the best in others instead of stay within the status quo.

This is all oddly prophetic, as it echoes data scraping and how desperately big companies and AI supporters prop it up as a miracle and not an inconsistent and unnecessarily costly technology. And how it encourages a mindless mediocrity in how people act and speak as data is made into a dull aggregate sum. Casey Hudson was forward thinking about this element, execution aside. The new game has a good opportunity to better explore what the endings presented to us, because with the geth likely playing a big part, we're probably going to see them building their future as Legion talked about instead of taking it from organics like the Reapers did. It can make something that was handled poorly and revamp it into something that feels consistent instead of out of place.

Aequa should not have died. I honestly think it should've been Lanistia's time to go, and it would sync up with the Concurrence reveal so well as Vis realizes his mentor is gone no matter what he does. Hoping the connection L-Vis has with the afterlife at least means Aequa comes back in some form.

Callidus and the other half of Vis' family being back on Res was a nice surprise, though I think Justice of One will have Vis come to terms with letting them go as even past the danger of the Concurrence network, the dead being brought back is shown to be a unnatural act. O-Vis unintentionally working against his counterparts, with L-Caeror seeming to have cut himself off from O-Caeror who is either being manipulated himself or with the Concurrence, sets up a killer sequel.

I have a weird feeling only L-Vis is going to survive in the end out of his counterparts. O-Vis I think is doomed no matter what. R-Vis I'd like to see gain some peace but he keeps making steadily ruthless decisions and giving up who he was that it might be better he sacrifice himself to die as the man he started the series as.

Biggest problem with the book was the supporting cast were given next to no time to develop. Many moments didn't hit as hard because I wasn't as attached to everybody as I was in WOTM. Enjoyable book, but not on the level of the first. Hope the third makes some improvements.

Honestly this was weaker than Elantris. That book at least dealt with more mature topics in a more believable way. You can tell White Sand is Brandon's very first novel because a lot of the core ideas are solid but I was let down by their execution. The religion angle in particular felt very undercooked, Ais' contempt for Kenton felt more of an annoyance than a well rounded character arc. Changing her mind about him only after he saved her family was the cheap way out instead of her actually confronting how messed up her religion is. She's sort of starting to but not in a way I found rewarding.

Kenton himself had so little pathos, he was a generic underdog I didn't feel was too cut up by any of his losses. He just kept cracking jokes and remarking on things with polite interest after his earlier prickliness. I was more interested in Khriss and her mission to find her fiancee and overthrow the emperor on Darkside. Kenton's quest basically amounted to solving a bunch of petty nuisances.

Still, I'm happy to hear a significant rewrite will come eventually. Not sure I want a full trilogy of this but I think Sharezan needs to take a more prominent role and become the active antagonist tying it all together, or otherwise introduce the A'kar in person. Seed more of Autonomy's influence into the story, and then follow up on what's established there in another Cosmere book.

Okay there's still some dark stuff going on with the sand masters being set up and all that but while Brandon is on record about not writing grimdark, his stories do tend to be pretty heavy. Instead what I'm listening to in the Graphic Audio production doesn't sound that different from Indiana Jones or Brendan Fraser's The Mummy.

Honestly it might be even more lighthearted than Alloy of Law, which had a fair amount of time spent on Wax's trauma (though so far I think AOL is better). By comparison, Kenton doesn't seem that torn up about his dad since he barely knew him, but then his friend also died and he doesn't dwell on that too much before cracking one liners against assassins. Even with changes, you can tell this was Brandon's first fully completed book. Taldain's a brutal world, but it amuses me to know Khriss has her origins in probably the campiest Cosmere adventure I've been through so far.

I've had this feeling ever since Words of Radiance, but my gut tells me the series is culminating in a confrontation between Kaladin and Taravangian. Taravangian is an inverse of Dalinar and his most immediate foil, but I've been thinking he's the inverse of Lirin as well. Right from when he was a boy, Kaladin was meant to go to Kharbranth where Taravangian is king of a city of surgeons. Big T's supposed to embody the ideals Lirin adheres to, yet perverts every single one. He is destination before journey, death before life, callous even when he feels overwhelming compassion.

Everything with Kaladin begins with his father. His courage, his self-doubt, his kindness. These are all bestowed to him by Lirin, and even if Lirin didn't do a perfect job he still holds his father in the highest regard. Taravangian is a foil for every major character, but the fact he ruled over a city of medicine while destroying lives feels counter to Kaladin's experiences in particular. Now that Taravangian's taken up Odium, that indicates he's probably gonna be around for the rest of the series.

I do have another book to go, maybe there's more about this in W&T. I'm gonna read the remaining Cosmere books before it aside from Emberdark, but I think Taravangian embodies a long term conflict that challenges Kaladin's particular journey. And ROW also well establishes how firm Kaladin is against anything Odium. It was the reasoning he gave Leshwei about why he can't join the singers. Taravangian is Rayse but even worse, and he's inherited his predecessor's memories so he now knows Kal is a prominent threat against him. He was the factor in the Diagram he hadn't foreseen that prevented Szeth from assassinating Dalinar, which feels similar to Renarin obscuring Odium's Future Sight. I don't know if Sanderson will end up having those two work together in the future, but aside from Dalinar it seems like them and Lift are the other biggest dangers to Odium for where I am right now.

Taravangian will undoubtedly keeping having significant interactions with every protagonist. But as the antithesis to both Dalinar and Lirin, I'd like to see Kaladin face him directly, at least in the back half. I don't think it'll be just him and there will be many others involved, but over the course of the series these two are the center of their respective storms. They probably have to clash eventually.

I expected Rayse to lose the shard of Odium eventually. I didn't expect him to just... be gone like that.

Part of me is slightly disappointed if I'm being honest. We didn't really get to see Rayse do much of anything himself. Everybody was so scared of him and then he just got taken out in a comical stroke of bad luck. Then again, he got fooled consistently at every turn and I suppose this is the purpose of both the Dragonsteel trilogy Brandon will write and to show the shards are always more powerful than their vessels.

Now I'm wondering how Taravangian is gonna deal with Kaladin in the future. Part of Rayse's plan to stop Kaladin's future threat to him was to make him his champion, but he failed because Renarin obscured Dalinar's ability to connect the souls of the living and the dead. Now Taravangian has both the established contract to his advantage and understanding of both Renarin and his Future Sight.

The confrontation with Dalinar is first. Their promise to embrace like old friends from earlier in this book felt a little ominous at the time, but now it feels like a real omen in retrospect. But shit man, I was in disbelief seeing Taravangian feel proud of himself for his "bravery." That wasn't bravery, that was desperate greed. And when he acted on it, he then got the chance to end everything like he claimed he wanted. He could concede defeat to Dalinar and be on his way. He could free the Fused, the singers, everybody. But he's not going to do it because he thinks his ruthlessness and ego are what's right, not the actual "goal" of saving Roshar. But maybe Cultivation is playing him? Idk I'll have to RAFO.

Odium might be the shard of hate but it's just the amplifier of what Taravangian's always been: a self-righteous, arrogant bastard who hates others accomplishing great things because he's lived a lifetime of shame with people believing he's an incompetent fool for how he was born. And now that I think about it, this is much more personal for Dalinar. Fighting an ancient god from a world you've never even seen is easy, but fighting a former friend always hurts.

Great set up for Wind and Truth. Overall this was probably my least favorite of the series but it was still great. I'm gonna shoot for White Sand's graphic audio version next, especially since that's become pretty important for the Fused trying to kill spren.

(Reposting because my previous title was apparently too spoilery which I think is silly given Moash being hated isn't exactly obscure but I don't make the rules so)

I didn't feel much antipathy towards Moash... up until the part I've just reached. I understood what happened to Elhokar. I don't think it was justified, but I understood it. What he did to Jezrien was even worse, but that's not really a character we spent enough time to care about.

But Teft? TEFT? The death flags were popping up like crazy for him in this book, but man they were brothers in arms. And even under Odium's orders, Moash really did it to break Kaladin and to satisfy the disdain he feels for people trying to improve themselves. He wants everything to burn to validate his misanthropy.

I've wondered if Moash could have some kind of redemption arc but this might've nixed that outside of a last minute Darth Vader thing. Even Dalinar at his absolute worst realized he couldn't drag people down with him and it wasn't what he wanted. Moash reminds Navani unconsciously of Gavilar, who similarly had a narcissistic compulsion to drag people down to his level. Like Gavilar had to die for his arrogance, Moash eventually has to get what's coming to him.

Even so, I'm so proud of Teft. He could've shut down and despaired when Phen got torn from him, but he remained firm and died knowing he was loved. Free of the moss and his own self loathing. Beautiful arc, and his premature destination doesn't invalidate the journey he underwent.

I've said in previous posts about my readthrough that I didn't like Lirin in TWOK but, oddly enough, despite him saying objectively far worse things to Kaladin in ROW, I actually understand him better and feel more sympathy. But that doesn't change that he's an irritating character to read... but for the right reasons.

Lirin is realistic not so much in what he's arguing with Kaladin about, but why. Many parents are good people who measure the success of their children off what they want them to do instead of accept they are their own individuals who will follow different paths. Kaladin was always treated as a vicarious means of redemption for Lirin, and I'd say he somewhat is that because Lirin has raised the man who's probably going to stop Odium in the end. Once his father gets a better idea of the larger picture (which Hesina is finally able to get through to him for where I am), I expect that to make him more flexible. He does admit people have to fight as that's a reality of life. He just wishes it didn't have to be Kaladin.

On top of that, Lirin's a pretty confrontational and even judgmental man like I've known many people in real life to be. It's a combination that's all too common. The inability to see other viewpoints, both because of conviction and to feel a sense of security, which Lirin is terrified to see evade his grasp again and again. People like Lirin aren't bad for having these flaws, but they do get in the way of their goodness.

Something also struck me as Sanderson shifted back to Lirin in parts 3 and 4: we've only seen Lirin at his very worst. With five more really long books to go, I expect us to one day see Lirin at his very best where he'll become a fan favorite. You can see the man he once was, still is in a lot of ways. I think more than Syl or Dalinar or Teft or anybody else, the person who's kept Kal alive and a good man has been Lirin. So I really hope he learns to take after his son to grow, improve, and just keep taking that next step despite his failings.