#i'd also like to say I enjoy dalinar too as a character and all the other characters too lol

[laraluu2]

Lol seeing a post about how people who like moash are all "moash did nothing wrong". As one of those moash enjoyers I think I can definitively say that anyone who is saying that is just fucking around and very much know his crimes. Counterpoint - Dalinar, Kaladin, Jasnah, Adolin, and Shallan have all done crimes that would warrant jailtime.

I've talked about this before but I really do think here on tumblr people can explore the paths less traveled in terms of character study. Sanderson has literally said he's not too much of a fan of moash but I think it's cool how you have people on here who show him a little more love. You take a character that has gone through the worst and has a literal evil god influencing him but I think he falls under the "would be entirely right if he didn't kill people" liberal leftist antagonist that gets pretty annoying to constantly see. When in the real world violence is a valid form of protest you have these constant depictions of people lashing out against their oppressors as a bad thing it's understandable to be a little annoyed with how moash is depicted.

Not to mention the tragic aspect is kind of cool too??? Not everyone is going to get redemption, some people make bad decisions and fuck up and won't make it out and it's cool to enjoy that aspect. I enjoy a nice tragic character foil - there's some real nice fanart too of him.

[beyond-far-horizons]

Halfway impressions on Stormlight 5 Wind and Truth. Minor spoilers but no major giveways...

Jeez I read all the preview chapters before the release and have been reading like crazy and I'm still only halfway through. That's 656 pages, folks, this book is a BEAST!

Overall all really enjoying it. Pace is breakneck, revelations, especially cosmere ones, are coming thick and fast. Alot of Shardic action, just how I like it!

Pros

Kaladin and Szeth's extremely awkward to the point of hilariousness, occasionally heartbreaking buddy cop pilgrimage.

Dalinar and Navani uncovering major secrets...

Shallan also undercovering major secrets whilst attaining major growth, thirdwheeling the cosmere's cutest ship and yes I'm sorry I can't help myself shipping her with Mraize (and Kaladin and yes before you ask her actual husband).

Need a prequel for the Heralds because damn. Also Taln is not only nice to animals, but has balls of steel. I'm surprised Odium didn't let him out early just because he was a badass.

Every Interlude so far has been great, which is a first.

Shards!

I don't want to speak for these communities, but I feel Brando's rep for neurodiverse and lgbt+ folks has really increased. I'm proud of him considering he started from a very prejudiced place and has really worked to inform himself in recent years.

We got a sweet, teeny-weeny love scene that also wasn't explicit or cringe. Go you, Brandon!

Cons

The use of modern American slang seems to be increasing and it takes me completely out of story every time. I know people will say 'it's translated' and 'it makes the story accessible', but to me (IMO) it feels lazy and is inconsistent, therefore severely undermines his characterisation and worldbuilding when we also get made-up words and customs, suffixes and other registers to build verisimilitude. Eg: 'Dating' (when they used 'courting' before) 'rookie mistake', 'it is what it is', 'I'm game'. And don't get me started on the sudden use of swearing...

The silly humour is still there at times and it's still eyerolling. It's gotten a bit better, but mileage will vary. I did love a certain character's armour though (if you know, you know.)

I know he says his prose is workman-like and he doesn't want to fake it, but I'd love more description. Brandon can create some beautiful turns of phrases when he wants too, so I'd like to see a little more of that.

Pacing is full-on, but you'll often wish to stay with a particular POV and then you'll get a quick change. All adds to the Sanderlanche, but I haven't been able to stop myself flicking ahead occasionally to my peril!

No offense to the shippers, but I feel Brando is def pushing Kal towards a particular ship that makes me feel uncomfortable. Not Szeth, someone else (no spoilers).

Very excited to continue, but I know it's going to break my heart!

[ciaran-archive]

SA anon here! I'd like to know how much you like Kaladin (if you do) and your thoughts on your favourite character, and how do you think gender is treated in this world

Sorry if this is too much, I don't usually get to talk to a lot of cosmere fans in my country, so I get excited. Of course, you can always ignore

Thank you!!

kaladin: i like him SO much. i am a kaladin liker enjoyer and fetishizer. i want nothing but the best for him and he makes me so happy despite (or because of) being a sad, sad man. he is trying his best all the time and i diagnose him with needs a friend that doesn’t fucking betray him. 100/10, also would die for syl but that’s a given.

my favorite character is kaladin but... i am gonna give a shoutout to shallan for just being the worst?? if kaladin is my best boy (affectionate) shallan is my best girl (derogatory). i love this lying cheating manipulating murdering lady. she makes me VERY happy. i want her to kill people and then feel awful about it. i support all her bad decisions and want her to make newer, badder ones. 

unsorted list of my other favorite characters: dalinar (especially post book 3) (i am a morally decrepit old man enjoyer, it is unfortunate but true), jasnah, talenelat, navani, and lift. 

gender on roshar is very interesting? there is A Lot going on here... especially with the vorin. brando sando has some word of god about homophobia not being a thing but i don’t buy that At All. that said, i kind of enjoy their take on gender relations? the sheer absurdity of some of the premises really highlights just how fucking weird gender is in general, but also 

i hate that the listeners/singers are divided in malen/femalen. there is NO reason for that to be the case; their biology is 100% set up in such a way that there is no reason to distinguish between the genders except in mateform, and while it can be the case that a listener/singer in mateform would be a single gender there is no reason for listeners in other forms to have that distinction.

syl notes at one point that spren only have gender because humans conceived of them as gendered, and also that there are spren older than humans who have 4 genders (an arbitrary number to be sure, and honestly i don’t buy syl’s explanation: she’s pretty sheltered for a spren, and while it makes sense that humans perceive spren as gendered and that their perceptions affect how spren manifest in the physical realm, there’s no reason for spren in shadesmar - who don’t even reproduce! to have genders. especially since most spren clearly have no intention of crossing over. it makes no sense and brando sando i would like words with you because this stupid insistence on 2 genders is killing the vibe)

anyway, back to the singers. the ancestors predate humans, from what i can tell? (i’m only at the beginning of book 4, no spoilers ty) and if they’re gonna be gendered, it makes a lot more sense for them to have 9 genders. nice, resonant number, number of the unmade, etc etc. look, i’ll even make the concession that the listeners who split off from their gods lost most of their genders (which! is a fascinating route to take) and only kept enough to reproduce but like. the genders make no sense. the thing that makes it so much more annoying is that a lot of stuff on this world is brilliantly internally consistent. just, this stupid fucking gender thing.

and like, is brando sando seriously gonna say he hasn’t read the left hand of darkness? like c’mon, the concept was right there.

anyway, all singers/listeners are genderqueer.