#edgedancer is so fitting for syl i could cry

[soloavengers]

edgedancer syl and cultivationspren winnie who likes to wrap around his head and shoulder to look like a flower crown will never leave my head until i draw them i know but i cannot. confidently. yet

[mistralrunner]

Running Reads Oathbringer: Part III.III

This part was a lot. I’m kind of drained. In a good way?

Spoilers for pages 686-751 below.

Free food is a good thing.

So stuff in the tower was failing before the Radiants left hmm

"The storm was a primal dance, an ancient song"

I really love these hints at music being deeply rooted in the magic of the world

Oh dear lashing is detectable not good

Same Kaladin same re: appreciating the long spear

Seriously the floating Voidbringer aesthetic

Oh no

Not a party

Sanderson needed an excuse for his fancy party scenes

I guess this is where Adolin will wear something other than a Kholin uniform

Adolin is freeee

Adolin calls him Kal?

Oh right Skar and Drehy saved Adolin after the battle with Eshonai glad to see they're friends now

Heh Kaladin's uncomfortable with false faces

Kaladin's feelings are relatable. I'm glad he is having more good days though. But it is hard to think that on the bad days.

Punchy guys pfft

I support Adolin and Kaladin being friends

Ah Kaladin being uncomfortable with being lighteyed

Oh no Kaladin you're ditching the plan already?

Is the Identity tied to Kaladin's brands so strong that the illusion failed or did he take in the Stormlight? Or something else took it? Or do you simply have to want the illusion for it to work.

Well, Kaladin actually may accomplish his mission but no one knows where he is oops. Oh wait Syl's around.

The Sibling? Division among the Radiants that was more significant than before? Perceived worthiness? Give me all the Radiant backstory.

Now will the Highmarshal actually be cool or is Kaladin going to be horribly disappointed

Well that's uncomfortable. “I'm going to avoid the lighteyes tent cause “ don't feel comfy there but hey this place is nice...and is also full of lighteyes”

It was said that the cities had a lot of low nahn lighteyes

It does make me more suspicious of this group though

Ooh the Cult of Moments tried to seize the gates

Hmm Radiant or something else odd about Azure

If he's not even from around here

Ugh I want to believe he's good but suspicion is healthy

Highmarshal Azure is female?

I LOVE HER ALREADY

Silver basket sword?

A Herald? Or a Radiant? Or a Worldhopper?

Well I'm glad Lyn and co got armed

So Azure knows her stuff about the Alethi wars prior to the Everstorm

Aaaa Kaladin thinking of Sah and co

He's going to be hurt so much if/when he finds out what happened

I'm guessing she's a Stoneward? I mean it’s not like the orders beyond Windrunners and Stonewards didn’t fight but those two are the best candidates

Woah did we actually skip a party scene? Or will there be more

“A Sign of Humanity” is a promising chapter title but I don't trust it

Nuuu Evi crying

Well at least Dalinar feels bad but still

Evi. Deserves. Better.

I keep forgetting that rockbuds can grow that large

Dalinar it's not about Evi admiring you. It's about her crying and being miserable because of your choices and deserving better

Go Evi for being the one with a conscience and praying for the rebels

Ugh rule by the sword cause clearly the Almighty favors battles ugh

"If they don't want to fight, they should give in to our rule"

Ughhhhhhh

How much does she notice of the Thrill

How much does the Thrill really have a grip on Dalinar

"Do not feed it."

She understands his duty but knows there's something deep soul wise at stake

The Thrill is not natural

Well at least he's talking first. It's been implied an atrocity happens here so probably not going to work.

"He builds. I destroy."

Oh dear

This is peak Blackthorn threatening

But he's trying!

A duel?

Wait

Oh that's why Sadeas was part of this memory

What game is he playing 

What game is Tanalan playing I'm confused

Well good for Edgedancers focusing on the displaced workers

Kholinar has a heartbeat? I mean it is ancient

Oh. Veil. Bleh.

Ooh Rockfall is pretty

Lightning should not do that yikes

"Veil took a deep breath, then let Shallan bleed back into existence"

That phrasing isn't worrying

Even with impersonating people she just met Shallan is going too deep this isn't good

Oh no even NPC is replacing her name pov this is aaaaaa not good

Ah food acquisition for the Cult infiltrating

Oh god she got tempted to entirely impersonate 

Shallan this is not good not good

Chulls aren't the best getaway vehicle

Well this is creepy and messed up if creative. 

I do find the voice impediment and the imperfect healing interesting cause I’m fond of fantasy healing that requires some degree of thought to work properly in certain cases

Aww Shallan is caring about people and not just greater good. I mean Veil. Ugh. Shallan.

Yay Wit is still in contact!

Aww the urchin she's in contact with also draws

Evernight is what they're calling Everstorms in the evening?

So the tower used to be protected from the Unmade? That does seem to be an important feature.

Yeah it is concerning that the protagonists are working so hard just to repel Unmade but they’ll probably just go somewhere else important

I like Beard

Kaladin joins yet another party but not as leader this time

So he has to periodically keep summoning Syl to keep the eye color?

Pfft disguised Adolin

Chouta!

Ah nuances of social stratification

Pfft Kaladin “It sure is nice being lighteyed as I, of course, have light eyes-like you, my eyes are lighter than the dark eyes of darkeyes”

Ah yes he does do the multiple summoning thing

And yet despite Kaladin not being great at lying he’s somehow pulling it off?

They're just all "you sweet summer child" to Kal

I feel like this is the book of Kaladin learning more perspectives and perhaps the next Windrunner ideal has to do with reconciliation cause protection isn't just fighting

Yeah the guard is disconnected from the people they supposedly protect

Yikes the cultists are self flagellating

They talked to the spren of the night?

Spren of changes and a new storm trying to supplant?

Yeah, really feel like Odium’s trying to replace all spren with his own

Would fit with his whole stance that he can’t leave the remnants of Honor around even though he already killed Honor

Ah Azure’s blade could still be an Honorblade

So is the Highmarshal just hiding identity or does Azure identify as a he?

Is there something deeper going on with Beard?

Oh god when you get close to the palace you hear voices beckoning you to join them and they can't take you unless you listen this is creepy

Pfft Kaladin's commander instincts

"Keep your head, and I suspect you'll end up as a squad leader before too long." He said it like a proud parent.

If only you knew Noro

Swiftspren? I like that name

Ooh are the gem colors related to the orders speaking cause sapphire is Windrunner that’s the only corresponding gem I know

Need to go back and look

Oh dear Shallan got a reputation

And of course it's attributed to a spren with the spren cult

I did not expect Shallan to become Robin Hood

Hey Pattern helping a few people is still good even if it's wrapped in a lie would be better if it wasn’t a lie of course

Although that does raise some concerns again about how the spren aren’t really about morality but about following oaths and how those limits can pose dangers even if they’re generally good guidelines

Shallan no what are you doing becoming Swiftspren in a city where things are already going weird with spren aaaaaaa

Like okay the costume is pretty cool

“A broken girl who lies” Who achieves so much and is so much more but only thinks it’s due to her not being herself.

Revel but of giving up and lethargy? That’s weird.

It's possibly anti Identity definitely anti fight against it

Oh no she's letting the voices in isn't she

Oh good she snapped out of it

I do think she's going to be vulnerable to this guy

But it knows her name not good

Oh nice one Shallan

Shallannnn "sometimes she felt like a thing wearing a human skin"

Aww Wit's leading cheerful songs

Why is he here though

Bad Veil no. No love triangle

There are different kinds of chouta?

Heh Elhokar finds Pattern familiar so it was Cryptics lurking around him in WoK

Aww giving Elhokar an inspiration drawing

“Only Red” does not bode well as a chapter title

Long distance runner elite archers are pretty cool

I want to know more about the Shin invasion

I'm concerned but I'm too happy and distracted about the description of these distance runners

30 miles a day is crazy. I mean I don’t know how different a Rosharan mile is from an Earth mile but still. That’s 210 miles/week. 100 mile weeks are crazy mileage. I’ve never crossed 50 miles/week without getting injured. But there are ultra runners around who I suspect do similar high mileage so it’s probably not unrealistic.

Anyways back to plot

Yeah about the trap I suspected

Well, that’s about the only way to make Dalinar's resolve to give into the Thrill worse

Nuuu not the distance runner elites

You were so cool even if your appearance was only for a few pages

But this took planning how did Tanalan know Dalinar would talk instead of fight

Is Evi involved? It doesn’t feel like she would do something like that.

Oh no Tanalan's men's eyes seemed to glow?

Thrill everywhere

Oh if the gemstone is cracked the Blade can't be dismissed?

Oh god he's going to go battlefrenzy with stab wounds and only a neck brace

Oh god the visions of armies of red mist

Like this is kind of cool cause any dramatic scene that has to do with traveling, walking, or running I have a weakness for but it’s so wrong and twisted

Oh scouts traitors

Oh shoot men, women, and children at the site of his great mercy yikes

l....

This is so horrible

I guess this is why we haven't heard of anyone from this place

Massacre

Just….

I should have known it was the logical

Conclusion of extreme after all

Boo Sadeas for encouraging it

Gavilar may not be the type of cruel to massacre a city of Alethi but he wanted to bring back a Desolation interesting how there are different kinds of evil

*hisses at Amaram being present here*

They're doing the bridgem-I mean ladder men here too really Dalinar

It really comes full circle from the Teleb scene and it's fitting Teleb is the one questioning this plan

The flamespren are altered? Not good.

Glad to know Dalinar had some shred of a conscience

The Thrill will never be satisfied

....

He actually did I suspected that was why he but I wasn't sure and aaaaa

You are nothing to the monster you unleash

Dalinar please take responsibility

He can hear screams

Like Szeth?

It's so poetic though

The warning signs when Dalinar slew some of his own men by accident

The fact that it shows how each person he slaughtered had meaning and weren't just faceless

I had suspected Dalinar killed Evi and that’s what messed him up so much about he death but I couldn't see Dalinar killing her by intent but couldn't think of how it would come accidentally on the battlefield

Dalinar killed his wife in the very place where he spared Tanalan and seized Oathbringer wtf

We haven't had a present day Dalinar pov since those memories came back and all of this came back didn't it ouch just as he was about to talk to his new wife

Yep I'm done for the night

Kind of just feel this deserves a pause in reading.

Wait one more thing

EVI. DESERVED. BETTER.

Okay now I’m done.