#i want to read the stormlight archive so bad

[renarin-spren]

#stormlight archive #cosmere #ive never read either of them but i want to so bad

[recallthename]

i feel personally offended that the kaladin beanie is sold out on the dragonsteel store

#kat reads the stormlight archive #i want it so bad #wtf

[cosmerelists]

The Most Annoying Things About Living on Roshar

Notice that I said annoying. I’m not talking about real problems like, uh, slavery and war crimes and a broken social system and etc etc. I’m talking about things that I think would just kinda be annoying about living in Stormlight Archive.

1. You can’t tell little white lies about how you’re feeling.

Thanks to those pesky emotion spren always showing how you’re REALLY feeling! As illustrated here: https://www.tumblr.com/taravangians-storming-balls/716486386153291776/me-if-i-lived-on-roshar

2. If you’re Alethi or Alethi-influenced, you have to be religious to get food variety.

Are you a woman? Sweet food only! Are you a man? Spicy/savory food only! Want the food of a gender not your own? Looks like you need to join the church! 

Like...what?

3. Nothing is fluffy.

Outside of Shinovar, everything on Roshar is a crab. Crab-dogs, crab-cows, crab-bugs, crab-crabs, you get it. Which is great if you’re an animal who wants to be protected from the constantly dangerous weather, but bad if you’re a human who, like me, wants to pet things that are fluffy. I just feel like petting an axehound isn’t quite the same.

4. If you’re an Alethi woman with naturally hot hands, life sucks.

Now, I wouldn’t understand this myself, since I have icy hands forever, but some women have hands that naturally run hot. And yet those same women must, if they’re Alethi or Alethi-influenced, keep one hand covered at all times. That must be torture for Lady Hot Hands.

5. If you’re an Alethi man, you can’t kick back with a nice book.

At least prior to Dalinar, Alethi men could never just, like, chill out with a lovely book...at least, not without joining the church. And just because many men didn’t realize their loss does not make it any less sad. 

6. “We’ve gotta get you a spren.”

Adolin is like the last main character to not have a spren. And I remember when someone said something like “We gotta get you a spren!” to Adolin in the same “jovial” tones as people keep saying, “You need a girlfriend!” to Kaladin. And that’s a lot of pressure. I think it would be annoying, especially to people who just don’t want to join the Radiants thank you very much.

7. You can’t share funny undertext with your guy friends.

If I were reading a book aloud to one of my guy friends and there was a funny undertext, I would be legitimately bummed that I was forbidden to share it with him due to a seemingly worldwide ladies agreement to hide the existence of the undertext from men. But, like, what if it was really funny?

8. The anxiety of constantly leaking Stormlight.

Gems constantly leak Stormlight, and they can only be renewed during storms. People are fairly casual about this in the books, but man, that would make me SO anxious, especially during the Weeping when apparently it’s just expected that all gems will just sort of run out. Like, in my actual life, if there’s a power outage, I’m there huddled like a little ferret nervously checking my phone battery every few seconds, watching the battery percentage tick slowly down and fretting about how I can’t recharge it until the power comes back on but who KNOWS when that will be.

...Okay, so maybe this one is just me. 

#cosmerelists #cosmere #Roshar #Stormlight Archive

[violet-snail-girl]

So I've had some Thoughts lately as I've been rereading Oathbringer about a post I saw at some point just after finishing reading the Stormlight Archive for the first time and starting to get into the fandom. The basic premise of the post was that both Elhokar and Jasnah would have both led better lives if they were trans and effectively switched roles.

I disagree with that in regards to Jasnah. Her problems are mostly from the strict gender roles put on her by Alethi culture and vorinism, not from just being a woman. Also, as an elsecaller her oaths are supposed to revolve around meeting her potential and becoming better, and she's shown to be at at least the fourth ideal in RoW. If she were trans I'd expect that to have come up at some point. Maybe I'm missing something because I'm transfem not transmasc but I don't see that for Jasnah.

Elhokar on the other hand, I get the argument. There's not a lot of textual evidence, but more than for Jasnah. Like Jasnah, the strict gender roles of their culture seems to cause Elhokar distress, but he's way worse at making his own place despite them than Jasnah is. Elhokar was made king after his father's death due to being the only male heir, but as is shown throughout the series he's not good at being a king. Like at all. Jasnah does a much better job ruling Alethkar and that's during the apocalypse! Anyway, being a bad king doesn't mean he's trans, but it does help illustrate that the place he's put in life doesn't fit him.

The strongest evidence for Elhokar being trans is that he's attracted the attention of cryptics and if he wasn't killed he would have become a lightweaver. Lightweavers tend to be people who have deeply hidden truths about themselves that they refuse to admit even to themselves (assuming Shallan isn't a complete outlier). As someone who is trans, it's pretty easy to imagine that being a powerful truth someone would be reluctant to admit to.

Additionally, in Oathbringer when the team is infiltrating Kohlinar, Shallan suggests disguising Elhokar as a woman. Kaladin and Shallan both expect him to resist that idea, but he goes along with it eagerly and never seems uncomfortable with the experience or role while wearing that disguise. It seems like a similar thing to a lot of trans women dressing up as women for Halloween before realizing who they are/coming out because it gives them plausible deniability. I know I for one would have been delighted to have the opportunity to have an illusion that changes both my appearance and voice to be more feminine (I'm slowly working on that without the illusion, but anyways).

The last thing that's less directly evidence of being trans, but still contributes to the argument imo is that Elhokar seems to be kinda depressed most of the time. It'd be pretty easy to read the cut saddle strap situation in TWoK as a potential suicide attempt that could be explained away as trying to find assassins. In WoR after Dalinar sets off into the shattered plains Elhokar immediately starts drinking and goes to Kaladin to talk about how bad he is a being a king. On the night of the assassination attempt he's extremely drunk and moping in his rooms. In early Oathbringer he tries to abdicate the throne to Dalinar and constantly talks about how he always fails and makes a mess of things.

Anyway that's about it for my random thoughts and rambles about this that have been rattling around in my head for a while. I doubt this'll really persuade anyone, but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there

#stormlight archive #oathbringer #oathbringer spoilers #elhokar kholin #trans #transgender #jasnah kholin #rhythm of war spoilers #violet's rambles

[moghedien]

I've seen you say a few times that a lot of modern magic systems aren't really magic and are basically science or math (or sci-fi), and specifically mention Brandon Sanderson's systems. Maybe it's just because I'm not very familiar with his work (I've only read mistborn era 1 and the first 3 books of the stormlight archive) but it seems to me his magic systems are god-given, explained to death, video-gamey magic with basically an energy bar, and I don't really understand how that'd be science, math or sci-fi. Would you mind explaining that to me? (I also don't really understand the whole hard magic vs soft magic thing. E.g., to me classic spells and wot weaving seem functionally the same yet the former is generally considered soft and the latter hard)

Describing it as video gamey is actually exactly it, because video games and even table top games that use magic are basically the same thing, because they have to be. They have very specific rules that are always going to the constant. Once you know the rules, you can minmax and manipulate scenarios around those rules, but the rules are still very much in place and very constant.

Video games are like that because they have to be, they’re programs. Table top games are like that also because they have to be to be useable for a general audience, but a GM can in theory decide to throw out said rules and decide something else happens based on vibes. That’s the simplest example I can give on the difference between hard and soft magic. Magic that follows rules is hard magic. Magic that follows vibes is soft magic.

When it comes to Sanderson, I call his magic systems math because they’re so intentionally formulaic. Doing X thing will always cause Y action. You may be able to manipulate situations around that formula in unexpected way. You may be able to throw in unexpected variables or you may unexpectedly encounter something you didn’t account for that throws off the expected outcome, but the formula is always going to be the same. No matter how many times you do it. No matter who is doing it (as long as they have the basic ability to use the magic), x+y will always equal z

The reason why I say that isn’t magic is because it’s extremely orderly and predictable. If you look at like, most magical representations in antiquity, it’s very much a chaotic force. You can try to harness it and do things with it, but you can’t control chaos and you’ll probably end up with some unexpected outcomes even if you’re skilled and careful. Also it’s largely used in like stories just to like, deliver some moral or cause some problem so it’s literally just a tool to add chaos that can’t otherwise be accounted for.

People can write “hard” magic all they want and I like Cosmere and all, but Branderson specifically as well as a lot of other fantasy writers have a problem with thinking that any magic that isn’t clearly defined for readers is bad. Branderson specifically seems to think that it’s poor writing and a mistake on the writers part if they somehow forgot to come up with never changing magic rules for the readers to obsess over.

If that’s the case though then the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit were the worst fantasy books every written because Tolkien is like THE best example of soft magic in fantasy. No one knows what the fuck the rules of magic are in those books, but somehow it still isn’t bad writing when Gandalf comes back from the dead or dropping a ring in some lava kills Satan. Like even when we get explanations it’s just like “accept this is the case for this one situation but apply it to nothing else.” A more recent example of soft magic is in the Poppy War, which is a book I would love to hear Branderson or his fans try to say is poorly written because of the magic

Wheel of Time has a sort of combination of hard and soft magic though, which is where a lot of the criticism toward Branderson came up because he seems to ignore this when discussing the books/show. Weaves and channeling and such are on the harder side and have rules that do largely remain constant (except when they don’t), but then there’s things like Tel’aran’rhiod and the Ogier and ter’angreal in general and the horn of Valere and the heroes attached to it and taveren where it’s just largely like “yeah this is how it is don’t worry about it”

Anyway, all this to say I really do actually hate the terms hard and soft magic but they’re the most useful terms we have

[sevenyeargap]

tagged by the most iconic duo @volaile and @sealnami thank you!!!!!!!

last song you listened to: black sheep - brie larson version (spto reawakened my love for this song... envy adams you will always be famous 🫶)

last movie you watched: last night in soho! i have mixed feelings about the ending, but it was a very enjoyable movie nonetheless!

currently watching: im rewatching atla... currently on s2... zuko my beloved. i was really sick two weeks ago and needed something fun and i never finished watching the third season.....

other things you’ve watched this year: BREAKING BAD.... wwdits (the series), spto, one piece live action, ive also rewatched p&p 2005 my beloved. i think thats all? to be honest im not a huge series/movies guy dkksgksg

currently reading: i am finally (finally finally!) digging my way through the way of kings by brandon sanderson! ive been wanting to read the stormlight archives for years but was always intimidated by the sheer size of the books... wish me luck!!

currently listening to: hawaii part ii album of all time

currently working on: my big 7yg fic aka my white whale.... yes ive been working on it for more than a year. no i do not know when it'll be ready to be published. also... two vk siblings wips AND The Proposal Casefic

current obsession: i am a dumb bitch with terrible taste (ive been so obsessed with octopath traveler 2. is it a good game? arguably. is it fun? oh YEAH. also lesbians???!?!?!??!??)

tagging @bitterqueenbean @caecilian-king @eliounora @frogs-in3-hills @mushroombo @zukkas @juliehoop and @mutxnts ! and anyone else who wants to do it!!!!

#🍭 : tagged memes

[litany-writes]

9 people you want to know better :D

tagged by @songsofsomnia, ty!! no pressure tags: @athenswrites, @shakespeare-smoocher, @like-pilot-lights, @windowgirlpoems, @theartisttoyourmuse, and anyone else that wants to join!!!

current read

words of radiance by brandon sanderson!!! it's the second book in the stormlight archives series and it is SO SO SO good and i've been too busy to sit down and finish it recently but the worldbuilding, the characters, just AAAA everything it's a masterpiece

most recent song

100 bad days by AJR. I may be cringe but I am free, it's catchy alright?? I'm a pop music girlie it's not my fault

currently watching

formula 1: drive to survive i understand the fandom has (understandably) mixed feelings on the show, especially some of the characterizations, but i love the drama and it's well-produced. been watching the 2023 season live as well, i promise i'm not one of those dts anti-max bandwagons <3

current fic i'm reading

also f1, rlly outing myself today but i just finished reading sunday morning; holding you till noon by autumnapricot on ao3. pt 2 to a MASTERFUL lestappen office au; if you like that kinda thing i highly recommend it. 10/10 shenanigans, tomfoolery, and chaos.

next on my to watch list

the PJO show coming out next month!!!!!! gonna watch it w the bf <3 I don't rlly watch a ton of shows in general but I am SO hyped for this one. it's gonna be good. i can feel it in my bones.

current obsession

...formula 1, if that wasn't clear yet. not sure how i got this far in life without knowing about the 20 most dramatic people ever in their silly little car-go-fast sport, but i sure am enjoying it now. watched yesterday's literal circus GP live w my bestie who was there definitely 100% totally of her free will, and i've been subjecting my bf to all of my dumb little rants about it too !!!

#tag games!! #mayyyyyy be a bit biased about words of radiance bc my NOW bf recommended the series to me #still very very good tho <3 #also in the time it's taken me to survive college apps szn and actually start reading the book again #said boy has gone from crush -> unrequited (??) -> requited (???) -> dating so i just think that's funny #ALSOOO IF ANYONE WANTS TO YELL AT ME ABOUT F1 (or about anything in general tbh) MY DMS ARE ALWAYS OPENNNNNNNNNNNNNN #i need to start fandom posting on here i've been holding back

[purpleeivy]

Day 23 of my Daily Drawing. Accomplished Psychiatrist, Loving Dad (who pretends he doesn’t love his family, but only to himself), Westalis’ best Spy, and absolutely hot as fuck, Twilight! Now known also as Loid Forger.

I love Spy X Family it’s so good. I even wrote a story that essentially stole the ending of Season 1 (Cour 2) for part of it. (Not saying what specific part cus i don’t wanna spoil it, but it’s to do with Loid meeting someone). I loved that story i’ve just not been able to write anything for ages. I really wanna. Sorry rambling I’ll do that in a bit. Critic time.

Negatives - I instantly noticed when I uploaded the image that Loid’s left eye is angled left and up, while his right eye is angled right and up. Idk how I didn’t notice that when checking over the drawing lol. Also his head shape is a teeny bit off.

Positives - Literally everything else. I love Anya’s one (shameless self reference), and it is fitting that her father’s drawing be just as good imo.

Rambles time.

I know I said yesterday I am gonna do a thing about Shallan and the stormlight archive, but I realised that that’s gonna take a lotttttt of effort, so I’m just gonna do it when I reread the books. I really want to get that perfect, even if no-one reads it, because I just think it will help me with my mental state a lot. And I’ll probably also rewrite it to be a character essay on Shallan (if I can figure out what those actually are). So if that goes well then I could potentially do the same for other Stormlight characters. (And maybe characters after that.)

Random manga recommendations. If you’re gay and or into manga, then you should read

(Yuri, and i’m 99% sure these are both completely SFW, though I haven’t read the latest chapters)

- Kimi To Tsuzuru Utakata/The Summer You Were There

- The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All

and

(Not Yuri but I love it anyway, it might be nsfw at some parts, I don’t really remember)

- Ikemen Joshi To Josou Danshi/While Cross-Dressing, I Was Hit on by a Handsome Guy!

I’ve been meeting up with friends more and it’s been nice, but it’s also made me realise how… not great, i’ve been feeling when im alone. I sort of got used to it so it didn’t feel as bad, but now I’m actually enjoying myself with people I like I’m seeing just how bad it is, cus im comparing this feeling to the good feeling. Idk. It’s weird, I’m not gonna go into it here (in this post, maybe i will in the future)

I’m getting super into One Piece so I’ll probably draw some of those characters. I’m only up to episode 220 or smth, so I won’t be drawing anyone from after that. (and only the Going Merry for now)

Idk if I have anything else to say, so as always.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, and goodnight from me.

love you all <3

(ref image)

#sketch #my art #quick sketch #my artwork #sketch art #my art <3 #artwork #drawing #ivy draws #loid fanart #sxf loid #loid forger #loid forger fanart #twilight fanart #spy x family #spy x family fanart #spy x family loid #spy x family twilight

[sweetlywingedcreation]

got tagged by @aaitwo Nine People I'd Like to Know Better:

last song: I am literally in the middle of rewatching "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals" so "What do you want Paul?" :}

fave colours: Used to be the biggest yellow lover but now I'm an orange lover 5ever

currently watching: At this very moment? The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. Show wise? rewatching Final Space before its taken down forever, Heaven Official's Blessing Season 2 (the moment i can get my lil hands on it. I need it so bad but Crunchyroll spensive)

currently reading: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive B1), too much fanfiction to name :}

sweet/savory/spicy: Savory, I can and WILL fuck up an entire plate of fries. I like a lil mild spice (love Sweet Chili Thai sauce) but mostly savoury.

relationship status: Very recently single :/ Both from a relationship AND a flirtationship.

current obsession: The Hatchetfield Trilogy/Universe (Starkid musicals), Baldur's Gate 3 (Specifically Astarion), Ensemble Stars!! (Mostly Valkyrie :})

last thing googled: When does Ghastly spawn in Pokemon Soul Silver (Spoilers. Someone lied to me saying it was 6pm. it is in fact 8pm >:{ )

currently working on: My novels Time and Again and Strange Souls, an Astarion/Tav fic, a few fanart pieces for Nerdy Prudes Must Die, and a Pokemon SoulSilver Nuzlocke with accompanying fic

tagging (no pressure!): @raining-anonymously @magicalnursekomugi @zethetta @asexualautistic @amare-luna @chosenbap @lateuponarrival @chthonic-clown @sunnymatsu

#I hope yall are okay with me tagging you! <3 #Feel very free to ignore this! If you ever don't want to be tagged in future tag games just dm and I'll add you to a list for next time!

[hesitantlyhopefulspren]

Sorry for the odd question:

Do you have a favourite book?

Normal question I think.

But difficult to answer.

RAMBLED A LOT, REALISED ANSWER IS NO. But. I can't delete the ramble.

To start with. Since I was a kid I devoted myself to hp. Went along with a few comics (Asterix, Tintin, Geronimo Stilton ✌🏾). Jk Rowling stuff made me crash and stop reading for a while. Because. I'd put a lot of eggs into that basket, and suddenly the basket made me feel incredibly bad carrying it.

Started thinking more about the reasons I want to care about books.

Always have a soft spot for magnus chase series because made me realise I'm bi. Rick Riordan books are good in general.

Love artemis fowl.

Read bunch of the fantasy books. Tried out sci-fi, classics, thrillers, mystery, wasn't too interested. Liked hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy a lot, though I didn't understand a lot then.

Hunger games, lotr, bunch of standalone books as I started to realise there are good non-fantasy books which are not a series.

Then stopped reading since lockdown started.

THEN started reading again towards end of 2021. Starting with Cosmere.

Stormlight archive is more of a favourite than other Cosmere books, because kaladin. Also extremely good mental art from that whole series. Also plenty of fanart.

Good omens.

Recently started Discworld, finished guards! Guards! yesterday. have to actively force myself to stop reading because I know i have work. BUT ITS GREAT and I'm loving it. And I'll start Earthsea at some point. So.

Yeah. Which is a lot to say that I don't have a favourite. Different books occupy different shelves in my heart because they ended up being what I needed at the right times, I think.

#plus a bunch of other books which probably grabbed my attention to its fullest #but then i reached the end and realised i didnt. feel much. #eg. dan brown books . Michael Vey series. Agatha Christie. Divergent. and others i would remember if someone mentioned them.

[sylvasa]

Tag game

Tagged by @dangerliesbeforeyou to list five things I can talk about for an hour without preparing. Thank you for the tag!

1. Ateez.

I only discovered them last year, when Bouncy came out (June 16th, a day after Yeosang's birthday). I was still in the middle of recovery, and wasn't able to game much yet. So I was lying in bed or on the couch all day, scrolling through various social media apps, amongst which tiktok. And when I did find them, I fell hard. I watched any content I could find on them for the past 5 years, bought so much merchandise, made my husband like them too.. up to the point where we got up early last Saturday to watch their coachella performance live through YouTube. My husband was even unable to sleep, scared I wouldn't wake up form the alarm and miss it. What a saint.

2. Doctor Who

I've only ever really seen new who. My all time favourite doctor is 10, but I really love all of them. I even have a huge airbrushed artwork done of the 50th anniversary episode, my favourite episode ever. Also arranged by my husband as a gift, commissioned from his friend and their airbrush teacher helped too! Okay my husband is great at supporting my obsessions. Did I tell you that I'm meeting David Tennant this summer!? We got tickets to comic con, including meeting and getting pictures with him! Just two more months to go!

3. Stormlight Archive

I've read this several times. First I read it by myself, then I read them out loud to my husband who is really into the series as well. Then, while I was recovering and couldn't properly use my eyes so I couldn't read, we listened to them on audiobook. I love everything about the world. I can probably rant for over an hour about my favourite character alone, honestly. If you like reading, read the stormlight archive series!

4. Elden Ring

This was the first souls game I ever played. My husband loves the dark souls series and I watched him play it a lot, but I never though I'd be able to because I can have a bit of a temper when things don't go my way while gaming. So he'd gotten the game for himself and when I watched him play, I was really amazed by everything about it. So before he finished (he doesn't game nearly as often as I do), I started the game instead. Then I cleared it before he did, and 4 more times after that, before helping him clear his run. After that I started to really like souls games, and I'm actually pretty good too!

5. World of Warcraft

I started playing WoW since 3 days after its European release on February 11th 2005. I have had periods where I didn't play much, but since a few years I'm back to raiding with some friends and I love it! I also push mythic keys, and of course have AotC every patch since then. New patch coming next week!

There are probably more, but these are my biggest obsessions, especially Ateez currently.

I am really bad at tagging so if you see this and want to do it, please do!

#tag game #ateez #doctor who #stormlight archive #world of warcraft #elden ring

[slpytired]

10 11 12 and 30!

10. i really liked Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series! waiting eagerly for the fifth book and looking to read other Cosmere stuff in the meantime

11. i wanted to be an author writing fantasy novels as a kid, but life happened, and i both fell off on my writing and got into other hobbies that i wanted to pursue as potential careers, but eventually i realised that nothing i wanted to do were particularly conventional or stable jobs, so idk i’m just fucking around at this point

12. i want a cat so bad but my dad doesn’t want pets at home :(

30. nope

#slpytalk #in the culture that i live in all the stuff i’m interested to do as a job are frowned upon and deemed unconventional #my family is generally supportive but the society as a whole is not #at least not enough that i can make a living off of it

[recallthename]

please someone come in my ask box and spoil a very specific part of rhythm of war for me because i’m really fucking struggling

#kat reads the stormlight archive #rhythm of war #it's about kaladin #it's not that i find it bad or wrong or out of character or unnecessary or whatever #it's just that it really fucking stresses me out to read #and i want to know when it's gonna change #these books are fucking long #and none of these issues have quick fixes #so i wouldn't be surprised if this continued in some form the rest of the book #(i mean the actions not the emotions #trying to keep this spoiler free but also have it make sense is complicated)

[cosmerelists]

The Most SHOCKING Moment in Every Cosmere Novel

[Spoilers! Spoilers for Everything!]

In this list, I will talk about what I thought was the most shocking moment in every Cosmere novel, in publication order. I tried to be fairly vague in the entry titles so that you could potentially skip around to just the books you've read, but please know that this list is just ridiculously laden with spoilers.

1. Elantris: The Head Injury

So this one is shocking in terms of gruesomeness rather than surprise. For me, the most shocking moment in this book was when Raoden tried to feed the small, "dead" child...and then some other men came along and literally beat the child's head in. This being Elantris, the kid wasn't actually dead, but just suffering horribly forever. The scene HAUNTS me.

2. Mistborn: That One Death

I mean, what could I pick for this particular novel other than the shocking death of a main character. I was NOT expecting Kelsier to actually die...and yes, I know, he's still an active character but it's not like he didn't die. He did! Main character--killed off in Book 1 of a trilogy! I didn't see that coming.

3. Well of Ascension: It's Better To Be Selfish, Actually

Faced with choice of whether to take up supreme power to save the love of her life or let Elend die to save the world, Vin made the heroic choice and let the power go. And that was...the wrong answer?? I did not see THAT coming. Like, "letting the power go" meant releasing Ruin, whereas taking the power for herself would have contained it. So for once, it would have been better to take the selfish road rather than going for the heroic sacrifice.

4. Hero of Ages: The Atium Solution

To be fair, the end of Hero of Ages is pretty much just one shocking moment followed by another, especially with the chain of ascensions and deaths. So this may be controversial, but for me, it was the solution of just eating all the atium that surprised me the most. Like, I think I was braced for everyone to die because the book just had that vibe, but I never expected a group of people to just sit there and chow down on all of the atium until it was all gone to keep it from Ruin.

5. Warbreaker: Villain Reveal

Specifically, for me it was Denth & Tonk Fah that really got to me. They were so likable! Until they weren't. There was also Bluefingers for that matter, whom I had also liked up until it was suddenly Human Sacrifice Time. Honestly, Warbreaker did do a pretty good job of obviating who the bad guys were and what was actually going on.

6. Stormlight Archive: Way of Kings: The Trade

There were plenty of shocking moments in this book, to be fair. I could have chosen the whole Sadeas betrayal. The reveal that Jasnah's soulcaster was fake. Elhokar being his own assassin. But I think for me, it was the moment that Dalinar traded his shardblade for the bridgemen. Sanderson had done SUCH a good job of building up the shardblades as, like, the ultimate item of priceless value, the sort of thing that everyone wanted and no one (other than Kaladin) would give up. So when Dalinar gave his shardblade to Sadeas of all people to save the bridgemen, I was legitimately shocked.

7. Mistborn: The Alloy of Law: What Was Lost

Honestly, I was shocked right out of the gate by the fact that there wereren't any mistborn anymore and the atium was gone. Those had been such staples of the original trilogy!

8. Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance: That One Death

Again, there's always plenty of shockers in a Stormlight book, but in terms of open-mouthed, did-not-see-that-coming reactions from me, it was Adolin stabbing Sadeas to death. Like, what? I had assumed Sadeas was going to be the recurring big bad, and I also didn't think that little scene was going to end in just a quiet back-alley stabbing.

9. Mistborn: Shadows of Self: That Villain Reveal

Anyone else noticing a pattern? Anyway, I was definitely shocked by the Bleeder-is-Lessie reveal in this. Very deeply shocked! Again, I thought it was just one of those classic the-shapeshifter-takes-on-the-form-of-your-loved-ones-so-you-won't-be-able-to-hurt-them moments but, uh, what a devastating deconstruction of the trope that was!

10. Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning: The Spikes

So again, this one may just be me. But I was just really shocked when MeLaan lost her spikes and dissolved. I know there was a villain reveal and the shocking location of the Bands of Mourning and the whole "there's another continent" thing but somehow it was MeLaan dissolving that really got me.

11. Stormlight Archive: Oathbringer: What Wasn't Said

Listen, I thought I knew the pattern. Put Kaladin into a dire enough situation, he'll say some new oaths and fly to everyone's rescue while glowing. So when the situation got real dire, and it looked like our heroes were all doomed, and Kaladin got ready to say his next oaths...and then he didn't? He didn't say them? He couldn't? I was really shocked!

12. Rhythm of War: The Experiments (Not the ones you're thinking of)

I don't know man, what really got me were those super gross spren experiments Ishar was doing with the embodied spren. The whole mass-of-tentacle-head for the cryptic spren was especially horrifying, not to mention vivisection is just intrinsically shocking for me. It's all heads, villains, and deaths for me, huh? (And listen, I read this before I read any Mistborn, so the Thaidakar reveal was TOTALLY lost on me.)

13. Mistborn: The Lost Metal: The Meat Grinder

The big death in this one was spoiled for me, so unfortunately, I wasn't shocked. Also, I'm not sure I would have been shocked just because I was expecting either Wax or Wayne to die. What did shock me was the meat grinder hotel scene, when Wax killed his way to the top floor of that building (was it even a hotel? That's what it is in my head) and just slaughtered everyone on the way.

13. Tress of the Emerald Sea: The Dragon Scene

I was not shocked by the Huck reveal; I'm proud to say I figured that out for myself (woo-hoo!). But I didn't think Tress would get out of the whole being-traded-to-a-dragon thing but trading the person who was supposed to be trading her.

14. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: The Non-Solution

This one is almost certainly going to just be me. But listen. There is a part of the book where Painter & Yumi are trying to figure out how their separate lives are connected and I don't quite remember why, but I distinctly remember the moment I thought, "Ah ha! It's time travel!" And then. The next sentence. The very next fucking sentence was Design saying, "Well, it's definitely not time travel." And my shock was partly Sanderson reading my mind, and partly that my idea was shot down so quickly!

15. The Sunlit Man: The Fucking Name

I was eagerly reading this book in my office, and when Sigzil was given his new name, I just quietly set my phone down and stared into the distance for like an entire minute, unmoving, unthinking.

This may be the greatest shock in the whole Cosmere, for me.

#cosmere #cosmere lists #cosmere spoilers #I won't tag to help with spoiler control

[its-elvish-for-two]

Book Babbles - Stormlight Archives

(I've only read book 1 so bear with me)

Ok so...

This is the first book in a while where I've been invested in it for the plot and not the characters. Don't get me wrong, the characters are also very good, I love them dearly. But I think because there were so many of them at the start, following so many different tales before they began to converge, it was hard to immediately connect with them.

But the world building was so intriguing and the details laid so intricately that it pulls you in more subtly, until the end when it does it more aggressively - swapping povs in the midst of the action made it so frantic but so apt for the chaos of the battle, and the desperation of you're going back for them, right, Kaladin? Right? Right?!

The flashbacks and swapping around annoyed me to begin with, I won't lie, but then it got intriguing, teasing you with multiple cliffhangers, but also with hints of things the reader knows from one pov that the other characters don't (the mentions of Kaladin always feeling lethargic during the weeks of no storms as a child, the throw away mention by Elhokar about the figures in the mirror etc) It makes you want to scream at the characters, but it draws you in

Normally, I can't get into a series (TV or book) unless the characters really make me invested, normally the plot isn't enough. The old saying good character can carry a bad plot, but bad characters can ruin a good plot, and all that. Particularly true for keeping my interests.

But this one, the world building and the plot points which that alone brings with it kept drawing me back. It look a while to get into but I was still always curious, and then the second half completely absorbed me whenever I sat down and opened it.

It will take me a little more reading to become really absorbed by some of these characters I think, but their stories, if not yet their personalities, will keep me coming back.

Anyway, that's my little ramble, and I will fully be making fanart of these characters when I have a minute.

Also whatever I said before about investing in characters, I would 100% kill for any of Bridge Four

#stormlight archives #book 1 #no spoilers please #bridge four my beloveds #the way of kings #book babbles

[duckkappa]

Pinned post

Mostly reblogs of cosmere shit (everything except secret projects 3 and 4, yumi wont be long though aaaaa) Also: One Piece The First Law (one book left but the floodgates will open after that) The Locked Tomb (Read Gideon, started Harrow) The Owl House (will keep this updated)

Spoilers: will be spoilers for stormlight and probably other stuff, everything will be tagged by book and series so filter tags if you want to avoid spoilers for shit. Added tag "spoilers" to everything with spoilers in it or maybe ill do something else i have no fucking clue what im doing

(cosmere, stormlight archive, way of kings, rhythm of war, mistborn, tress of the emerald sea, the owl house, mistborn era 2, the age of madness, the trouble with peace)

Also Kaladin is the best and if i hear anything bad about him there will be consequences smh