#just give me stormlight archives content

[levforfakes]

i need Ten Minutes of Shallan Being ✨Unhinged✨ and Kaladin is So Done With Everything (A Compilation) and Dalinar and Navani Being in Love for 15 Minutes Straight

[hahahahawk]

A Pattern

Words of Radiance re-read

I feel dumb as a cremling for not realizing until now that every book in the stormlight archive series is named after a literal book that exists in-world.

I’ve previously been annoyed that book 1 is called Way of Kings even though Kaladin’s story would make more sense titled “words of radiance”.

At the moment I’m having trouble remembering the supposed contents of both (in-universe) Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. Truthfully, I’m not 100% sure Oathbringer *is* an in-universe book. I thought it was Dalinar’s shardblade.

*checks the wiki* ok, it’s both his shardblade and his memoir. If pressed, that’s what I would have guessed.

And I suppose we’ll circle back to the contents of (in-universe) WoR soon enough in the book. Overall, the idea is cute and quirky, but I wish that WoK had a better connection to Kaladin. Though I guess that RoW isn’t Navani’s book either. It just feels out of step since WoR and Shallan are directly associated, as are Oathbringer and Dalinar.

***

I’m also bummed that the Book of Endless pages disappeared from the story.

Though I did think it was a magic book that Jasnah was giving to Shallan for her to sketch in, not anything (mundane and) religious.

***

When Syl (I think) talked about being uncomfortable with Cryptic spren, I thought she was just being snotty, that calling them liespren was a mild slur. (Or am I thinking of Jasnah talking to Shallan about Shadesmar/types of spren? Anyway, *someone* expressed those ideas)

But in this chapter it really struck me how Pattern *does* lie and engage in deceitful behavior. At several points he hides information from Shallan about her own past. In this chapter Pattern tries to hide his belief that Shallan will kill him, and they have a meta-conversation about him trying/learning to lie. And in RoW he executed the huge deception of communicating with Hoid behind Shallan’s back while they’re in Shadesmar.

It’s a shocking situation, since you’d think the Nahel bond would join beings so purely that lying between human and spren would be unthinkable. Adding on to that the contrast with Syl, who makes honesty a strict condition of her bond with Kaladin.

Sure, Syl is an honor spren and Patten is vehemently not, but it just seems like the nahel bond is a kind of intimacy that would preclude deception.

mmmmmmmmm! Fascinating!!

Does being a lightweaver mean you have to build a completely different kind of trust with your spren than most Radiants?

***

I have other thought about what Shallan is getting up to, but seems like it happens in her next (contemporary) chapter, so I’ll withhold my commentary until then.

[shakesthewizard]

Are y'all ready for my niche content

Deltarune characters as Knights Radiant from the Stormlight Archive let's go

Susie - "I will seek self-mastery." The Order of the Dustbringers. Susie is brash and self-destructive, and learns early on that her potential for harm won't keep her safe - it might just get the people she cares about killed. In the latter half of chapter 1 and the entirety of Chapter 2, we see Susie not only learning how to harness her great capacity for good, but we also see her defy the will of the narrative. Dragging ralsei away from time with Kris, and in the snowgrave route she even demonstrates the power to avoid a cutscene. The theme of self control (narratively and literally) is abundant for her.

As a Dustbringer, Susie controls the surges of Division and Abrasion, which are perfect to the point of redundancy. Do I even need to explain how they fit her character and themes?

Ralsei - Ralsei is tricky. You might say that Ralsei is a spren of some kind - maybe an honorspren, or even a highspren? This makes sense for a Darkner, being a kind of spirit that exists on behalf of human/monsterkind. If you go down that route you may even go so far as to call him a voidspren, or corrupted spren of some type. Maybe a corrupted Highspren? Serving the law of a malicious power against his will.

Ralsei has associations with both Knowledge and Healing, making him a good candidate for a Truthwatcher. He's even a lonely, bespectacled Prince! He fits the Renarin-alike bill pretty nicely - which would also make sense, given that his game-knowledge and apparent desire to tell secrets to Kris, but not Us, reminds me a lot of Renarin's future sight and its effects on Odium. Ralsei is undecided, largely because of how little we actually know about him.

Kris - "I will speak my truth." The Order of the Lightweavers. Kris has a LOT going on in terms of their identity, secrets, and fiction. Like Shallan, I think Kris is very close to a lot of powerful forces in the story that they're not showing us, and they know a lot more than we let them tell. Kris literally spends most of their time nowadays pretending to be someone else, even if they don't want to.

Here's the thing, though - I think Kris is possessed by a cognitive shadow, with Bondsmith powers. Whether through Ishi's honorblade or something else, Kris demonstrates the ability to bring people together for a common cause - but only while we control them. Otherwise, they're a weird, lonely kid who has historically struggled to make and keep friends.

As a Lightweaver, Kris commands the surges of Illumination and Transformation. This makes sense, given that they are our window into this world, and they shape our understanding of it. They also literally perform transformation on a number of occasions - opening at least one dark fountain, and seriously squishing their own identity around with all the stuff they pull with our SOUL.

Noelle - "I will reach my potential." The Order of the Elsecallers. Or at least, she will be at some point. I'm really tempted to assign her corrupted Truthwatcher, given her propensity to stumble backwards into knowledge and secrets, and her possible connections with HIM. But I don't think this resonates with her character very strongly. Rather, I think Noelle has a lot of potential stored within her, and she needs to learn how to access it and command it for herself. Right now, she's being controlled by a host of powers; her mother, Us, Queen, and the aforementioned HIM. Many of whom are in agreement - this kid is going places. They all want to harness her for their own gain, and Noelle will swear the second ideal when she finally musters up the courage to ask Susie out.

As an Elsecaller, Noelle will command the surges of Transformation and Transportation. Truth be told, I don't see these as especially relevant to her character, besides their enormous breadth of utility. Ignoring everything else, I'd probably give her Edgedancer surges, but ces la vie.

Berdly - "I will seek justice." Order of the Skybreakers.

Okay, hear me out. He's a lot like Szeth.

I swear I'm serious, just bear with me, okay? He begins his journey by blindly following the strange laws of a strange land. Eventually, after doing nominal bad guy shit for half the story, he realizes that the law he was following sucked ass, and that he has no excuse for his behavior. As a first step towards growing, he pledges his service to the goals of a more protagonisty leader type while he figures himself out. Do you see my vision?

Berdly cares a LOT about the metrics of those in power. Grades, IQ, the law. His fatal flaw, in fact, is that he uses them as a tool for measuring his worth. His arc will be about reconsidering those things, and finding an attitude towards power that seeks justice instead of order.

As a Skybreaker, Berdly commands the surges of Gravitation and Division. He's a bird who people tend to avoid. What do you want from me?

Lancer - Lancer is Susie's Dustspren. Fight me.

[milktearosethorn]

Just want you to know I always like your dsmp takes. I don't ask about it because you seemed to have moved on (not a problem, just don't want to bother) but know you'll always have my support if you share your takes :)

!!!! Anon you’re so sweet and sorry it took me a couple days to answer this

I have moved on from keeping up with ‘content creator’ side of the MCYT community. I still watch Dream on YouTube and interact with my friends in the fandom and support artists, but I only tuned into a livestream once in the past six months and I don’t follow anyone on platforms other than YouTube. I don’t even watch the Hermits anymore (maybe next season) 😭😭 For me, this was the best choice. I’m just a ~casual fan~ haha.

For Dream SMP though, I still love it dearly and I want to continue to write fics for it and be an active participant in the fandom. Special shout-out to the amazing @elmhat for keeping me motivated to create by being such a pillar of the community 🥲. Idk how I’d have been able to do it without you around. Ik it doesn’t look like much because I haven’t posted or updated a fic in a long time, but behind the scenes I’m chipping away at my ideas (some DSMP, some for other fandoms). I have a lot going on in my IRL life that had me super burned out, and I’m still trying to get over that. A lot of my fandom time was taken up with IRL activities last month, too (cosplay and general con preparation takes a lot of time and energy to pull together lol).

Just because I’m posting more about other interests like Stormlight Archive and Zelda that doesn’t mean I love the DSMP any less!! If anything it helps keep me from being burned out lol. Being a multifandom blogger is awesome and a lot less stressful :3 (and it gets me making weird ass posts like ‘which order of the Knights Radiant do different DSMP characters belong in’)

You’re never a bother! Even for things I DO move on from, like My Hero Academia, I’m happy to yap about it LOL. I am easily persuaded into giving my hot takes.

[the-vibes-are-off]

The Stormlight Archive Volume 1: The Way of Kings’ Review: Chapters 5-8

link to contents page - https://at.tumblr.com/the-vibes-are-off/hey-hey/96xd9ohihrzs

Right, well, you know how I said in my previous post that my COVID test was negative? Yeah so I was swiftly clowned and I am now SICK right on essay season. I have dug out crusty dusty old HP Pavilion to do work but I’m essentially only using it for Tumblr so. My partner is officially in another country now (I know you’re going to read this so pls come back I am dying) so I cant even be babied 24/7 due to the time difference. On season 4 of Criminal Minds already tho so ....

In terms of reading, I am officially back and LOVING it. I am limiting myself to 4 chapters in one setting because that’s how much I want my review sections to cover and writing this takes longer than I thought it would tbh. Lets get to it! 

Spoiler Free Zone:

The split narrative is like definitely managing my problems with maintaining my attention. I will say that since Kaladin’s story line, although definitely interesting don’t get me wrong, would probably get boring if it was all I was reading. I’m more a magic and lore and pretty women fantasy enjoyer than a grr fight fantasy enjoyer since my like gritty lit enjoyment comes from different genres.

Loving the direction that Shallan’s plot line is going in, I’m glad Brandon doesn’t just give the characters what they want straight away and there is at least the illusion that they’re working for something even though its obvious they’ll achieve it eventually.

Mostly, I’m just loving the characters they’re introducing in Shallan’s story, maybe not so much SOME people (a certain person specifically I dislike is beginning, BEGINNING to grow on me) as they’re just so lovely and cute and nice and ugh we love to see it.

*** SPOILERS INCOMING ***

Spoiler Zone:

I’m saying it now, I did initially think Jasnah was just a bitch tbh like I get she’s all important and up her own ass or whatever but she doesn’t appreciate art??? I get Shallan like couldnt just get what she wanted but like .... come on. I was so mad when she just started shouting n shit when Shallan was waiting in the alcove like get a grip pls. However.... turning a boulder to smoke? I had to tab that as cool, like that was just a smart idea to clear it and a cool fckn power to have 

Shallan wanting to steal tho? I love her, a true icon as she should steal from the bitch. I literally just tabbed it love this bc ? Slay like what else could I do. I’d steal it too 

aaaaaaaaand then were back to Kaladin actually just getting fucking shit on at every turn yet again. mf has to carry a bridge?? and then get shot at with arrows?? my goodness give this man a break 

The spren getting a name tho like Syl is acc like carrying Kaladin’s arc for me I want to know what is going on there I am trying so hard not to spoil it for myself

From an arts and humanities student standpoint, I did tab Shallan describing how she views her art and the process of creation as like fleshy and human. Like in both studying and writing poetry I relate to capturing a person or a place or a moment on paper 

And then 2 cuties that I simply had to draw attention to in Brother Kabsal and Yalb. They are iconic and I adore them the end :*

Tab Count:

Cute: 2

Fights: 1

Sad: 1 

Death: 0

Cool: 0 

Wtf wow: 1

Wtf why: 0 

Slay Quotes: 0 

Love this: 2

Hate this: 0

Tab Total:

Cute: 3

Fights: 4

Sad: 1

Death: 2

Cool: 4

Wtf wow: 2

Wtf why: 1

Slay Quotes: 3

Love this: 5

Hate this: 1

PS: If anyone actually reads this far down comment (or post me if you’re feeling generous) your fave tea to drink when you’re sick because I’m going through maybe 10 cups a day and I am swiftly running out....

[mochacoffee]

Number 2 for the book asks!

HAHA okay first of all……….. evil. evil question. second i’m gonna do some fiction and some nonfiction but the list goes on for miles in both directions

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

this fucking book..... this is the final book in the original mistborn trilogy which i recommend to everybody. i struggle to describe why people should read it beyond JUST TRUST ME because the less you know going in the better. so what i will say is, short of lord of the rings, i have never read a more powerful story of hope and resistance in my life. and i named my cat after the main character.

p.s. the villain you meet in book 1 is called the Lord Ruler yes it's a stupid name but even King of Modern Fantasy Branderson Sando makes mistakes

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

the stormlight archive is the series you read when you've finished mistborn and want to be fed a constant stream of sanderson content with the slack-jawed fervor of a starving baby bird. PHENOMENAL character development and worldbuilding, rich in foreshadowing and detail for the eagle-eyed reader, excellent fantasy!representation especially when it comes to mental illness. this book is my favorite in the series because of A) the character interactions, and B) That One Chapter. if you know you know

do you ever read a book and think "wow i loved it. sure wish i could read more of it forever without compromising the quality of the plot" well THIS IS THAT. i'd highly recommend the audiobooks!

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske

i love fantasy and i loooove romance and this is book (also first in a series) is an INCREDIBLE example of both elements combining in the best way possible. as soon as i finished it i started right over. (i also did this with the kingdoms by natasha pulley which i would recommend for similar reasons). i don't want to give too much away but it presents themes of connection and vulnerability incredibly well, and not just in a romantic sense.

Entangled Life by MERLIN SHELDRAKE (best author name ever)

book about mushrooms and fungus. you cannot understand what nature is until you understand that fungus rules the earth and we're just living on it. this book will blow your FUCKING mind. the knowledge elevates and humbles you in equal measure, it astonishes, it creates the kind of book you need to read with someone next to you so every third sentence you can put it down and say "holy fuck listen to this"

(BONUS: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are by Frans de Waal. does what it says on the tin. i love it for similar reasons. if you have ANY interest in animal cognition you will get a lot out of this book)

Exposure by Robert Bilott

if you haven't seen the film Dark Waters first of all go watch it right now, and then read this book, which the film is based on. i will be honest i had a complete breakdown afterwards — because of capitalism, because of corruption, because of real life evil. but as powerfully as Exposure depicts those things, it even more powerfully highlights resistance, resilience, and the power of collective action. everyone on earth should read it.

THANK YOU LAZ FOR ASKING ♡♡♡ i hope at least one of these is of interest to you!!!

[meltotheany]

hello, friends! how are you doing? i know it’s been a little bit since i’ve done a blog post, but i went to michigan very improtu in august and stayed throughout september to be with my family! it was honestly a much needed, and very happy, trip! and i feel like it was just a much needed reset for me overall, too! but my family is doing well, and i feel so thankful i got to go into fall with them this year! but because of that, i haven’t been reading as much as i normally do! but i am still here today to talk about and review the eight things that i did read these last two months! ❤️ ✨ Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4) by Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (reread) 1.) Throne of Glass ★★ 2.) Crown of Midnight ★★★★ .5) The Assassin’s Blade ★★★ 3.) Heir of Fire ★★★★ “I’ll bleed whatever color you tell me to.” maybe it’s because i know the end of this story, but the way i was foaming at the mouth during the manon and dorian scenes. who am i? when did i become this? okay, that just had to be addressed whatever this feeling was quickly, but let me move on. QoS is the book i remember being my favorite in this series, so i went into it with some really high hopes, which all got met while also exceeding any and all expectations simultaneously. this reread truly was hitting differently, and i really am not sure why, but i am very tempted to give this five stars. i think what is holding me back is that part one feels like a three star read, and those three stars are completely because of manon and lysandra. but part two? now, that feels like a six star read to me. i feel like this is already treading on spoiler territory, so i don’t want to say too much more, but i really think sarah just writes such good characters that are a true joy to follow and cheer for. and i will always just love seeing girls get their revenge, even if that revenge comes in many different forms, and shapes, and ways. extra bonus moments i loved this reread: aelin saying manon is the most beautiful person she’s ever seen (oh, what could have been), asterin (also one of the best side characters sjm has ever written), chaol’s “you deserve to be happy”, elide’s heritage (and every scene with her and manon tbh), kaltain and her piece of a warm cloak in a cold dungeon (i am actually tearing up while typing that), a ghost leopard (and some much deserved territory). trigger + content warnings: possession, loss of a loved one, grief, slavery, violence, gore, blood, murder, death, vomit, captivity, talk of forced breeding / rape, a lot of insinuation of rape, talk of pregnancy, talk of still birth, torture, captivity, medical experimentation, a suicide mission (sacrifice of life) ✨ Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive, #3.5) by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐ .) The Way of Kings ★★★★★ 2.) Words of Radiance ★★★★★ 2.5) Edgedancer ★★★★ 3.) Oathbringer ★★★★★ 4.) Rhythm of War ★★★★★ i did this reread of this novella just for a little extra refresher before wind and truth drops this december, and i am very glad that i did! We follow some new and old characters on a new expedition going to an island, to heal one of the best creature companions, and maybe also looking for an oathgate, while someone on this sailing crew could maybe be sabotaging the mission as well. but my favorite part of this was reading about two characters with disabilities that have changed their lives, finding normalcy on their own, but also finding a bond and understanding on a different level together. for me, it was really beautiful, and i don’t want to go too far here, but i do personally feel like brandon is truly putting in an effort and consistently writing good disability representation (again, this is just my opinion but i do appreciate seeing it, and seeing a range of it both physically and mentally, throughout the stormlight series in particular) !! this is a really beautiful story, but this is filled with lots of cosmere lore, which is why i think i...

[butwhybother]

Speculation about KOWT (Stormlight Archive 5) after reading the sneak preview.

I'll start tagging posts that discuss contents of the prologue of Stormlight Archive 5 with #kowt prologue draft.

IF Gavilar could become a Herald, there are two possible people who could benefit:

One of the Heralds. By finding a replacement, maybe a Herald could get out of the Oathpact.

Odium. By getting Gavilar to go to Braize, Odium can hasten the start of the Desolation instead of just waiting forever for Taln to break. Taln has not broken for thousands of years, and Odium is very tired of waiting; Gavilar will break much, much sooner. (But it seems that death of one of the existing Heralds' death got that started anyway.)

And about the right words that Gavilar needed to speak:

Opposition, sometimes, is needed, the Stormfather said. You will need someone to fight, should you take the position I am offering you.

“Give it to me,” Gavilar said. “Now. I need it.”

The Stormfather turned a shimmering head his direction. That was almost them.

“What, those?” Gavilar said. “Those were almost the words? A demand?”

So close. And so far.

Maybe the words should have been more greedy? Like "What's mine is mine, and mine and mine, and mine, and mine, and mine! Not yours!"

Or more entitled? Like "That's mine and I'm taking it!"

Or if we're looking at other Shardworlds, perhaps "Your Breath to mine!"

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hello! Firstly, thank you for everything that you do- your meta is always fascinating and your fic may have gotten me into ballet. Secondly- She Who Became The Sun: why is that book so good? I went in with such high expectations and yet somehow it completely met them!

words cannot contain how excited I am that folks are enjoying She Who Became the Sun!!!! look I just want the best things for Shelley Parker-Chan, all the time, okay

I feel like the reason SWBTS is so good is because it's so goshdarned competent on multiple levels of fiction writing, like:

plot: did you see that second-to-third act twist coming because I sure didn't

character: I feel like a lot of epic fantasy (or historical epic!) can struggle with humanizing their characters and allowing them to be flawed, hesitant people beyond their epic, prophesied purpose, but SPC manages to strike that careful balance between human and legend

themes: sometimes you read a book with excellent plot and characterization but then you get to the end of it and you're like "well, guess that was that" because when you actually look at it, the ideas and concepts in the book aren't all that complex. and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! I love rollicking good yarns! but SWBTS deals with some very morally gray characters and situations, especially with its main characters (love it when authors make their protagonists morally gray in a morally gray world, instead of morally pure in a morally gray world), and that's what gives it staying power in my mind

language: I lost my goddamn mind over SPC's use of translation and style in this book, the absolutely mind-boggling thing is that SWBTS reads like it's in translation and I'm just. yelling

content/concept: I mean, just like "founding of the Ming Dynasty but make it queer/historical fantasy/not at all what you'd expect" is just. SPC your MIND. and the fact that SPC sets their novel in identifiably Ming Dynasty China, from material details (can we talk about the scene where Ma is repairing armor with pages torn from books because holy shit) to place names to twists of language is so fucking cool. look, I respect authors who take their East Asian inspirations and set them in secondary world SF/F. in fact, I prefer those works (Ninefox Gambit my beloved), but for SPC to go "nah, I'm going to set it in what is identifiably China" is super fucking kickass, okay

novelty: Brandon Sanderson wrote a wild epilogue in Stormlight Archive where one of his characters (Hoid, I love you) muses on the nature of art, asking what is the most important thing in establishing the greatness of a work? And he comes to the conclusion that's not quality, nor is it ingenuity--it's novelty. It's doing something before anyone else does it. And I don't think anyone is doing it quite like SPC is--not Ken Liu, not R.F. Kuang, not Zen Cho (though don't get me wrong, those three authors are also creating incredible content). SPC really was like "I couldn't find any cdrama-like stories in English so I wrote my own" and then proceeded to do exactly that

tl;dr SWBTS is a tour de force on multiple levels

[siena-sevenwits]

From @valiantarcher: 1-5, 7, 9, 29, and 30, please?

A book that drew you in right away.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison was one of the glories of my January. From the first page, the sheer confidence of the writing drew me in the way an actor with true stage presence captures you. The first scene of Maia dragged from his bed in the neglected hunting lodge to which his father the emperor has relegated him, to learn in the wee hours that he is suddenly emperor, brimmed with potential and interest. The viewpoint was immediately winning. Addison clearly had a foot in history, being unafraid and accurate in using "thou" as the informal rather than the formal mode of address. And Maia is just such a sympathetic, gentle-hearted yet stubborn character. The book went on to be a gem of worldbuilding and characterization and ideas about the nature of true charity. Highly recommended - even more so if you listen to the audiobook. Kyle McCarley gives one of the best narration performances I have ever heard.

A book that was difficult to get into, but turned out to be good.

Oh, so many. I am going to take a liberty and name a book I still have on the go, and am honestly not all that far in into. I've made a few attempts before at Dostoevsky's The Idiot, but all for naught until this round, despite the fact that I'd heartily enjoyed both The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. This time, however, I pushed through the opening, and am now on firm ground. All of Dostoevsky's pathos and humour is here, but best of all are the compassionate philosophical observations of Prince Myushkin - the way his thoughts on the execution led him to think about why we waste precious moments even when we've been through experiences that should alter our approach to life forever is particularly interesting, and one that I fully expect to tie into the further developing themes of the story. The cast introduced so far are fascinating and ordinary and wild. I find myself with much to consider after every session. It's slow and conversational and meaningful.

A popular book that you love.

Might I count The Stormlight Archive series as one work? My brother don't live far from each other, and when we get together one of the ways we bond is reading aloud (adult siblings, take note, this is a delightful way to enjoy each others' company.) Over the last nearly two years, we've read through the majority of Sanderson's Cosmere works (with a few we decided to skip because of content considerations.) They are all plotty and imaginative and have caused us many hours of theorizing, but the books of The Stormlight Archive are something more, I think, and deserve to outlast the others in anyone's heart. These books enliven my desire for holiness. They resonate on a deeper level. The characters and their struggles and triumphs are in my blood. Everything Sanderson does best is heightened in this work, his writing is more mature, and while he's not a master of all aspects of writing, there are aspects that I would not hesitate to call genius. The further one reads, the more your investment in the intricacy of the story and characters pay off. (I must in good conscience warn that there are very, very occasional crude jokes, but infrequent and mild enough that I feel comfortable taking a bit of whiteout to them and moving on.)

A popular book you dislike.

I am going to take "popular" not in the sense of pop culture, but as in widely read and approved of. That would be Candide by Voltaire, which I had to read for an Early Modern European history class. Such a cynical, despairing, vulgar, banal work that fancies itself funny and profound. I am certain Voltaire was possessed of a sharper mind that I am, but he took it in entirely the wrong direction and wasted his talents. At length it became so gross in its crudities that even the satire was obscured, and I violated my principles as a good student by reading the Sparknotes because I couldn't take it anymore. Two other students and I carried virtually the whole discussion of it in class, and I later learned that one of them had also been so displeased with it that she'd also resorted to Sparknotes. We were brazen, but decided. Down with Candide.

I will answer the others another time. Thank you so much for the ask! The original ask post is here. My asks aren't working, but if you'd like to ask, feel free to tag me in a comment!

[hunxi-guilai]

state of the hunxi (12.20)

hello friends! good ol’ bsandy recently released his State of the Sanderson for the year (don’t worry about it if you don’t get the reference, I’m just on my Stormlight bullshit again), so it seemed time for me to give everyone an update on this blog!

as always, it is a delight to hear from you all as I sporadically poke my head into tumblr nowadays; thank you all for being patient and generous as I vanish for weeks on end.

Firstly, I’ve had a good number of folks ask if I would write meta for [insert media here]. I’m honestly super happy with the way this blog has become something of an archive of, well, everything I’ve ever written on CQL, so as a result, I’m not planning on taking questions about TGCF or LYB on this blog. HOWEVER, if that sounds like content you would be interested in, you should stay tuned because I’m planning to 1) read TGCF, 2) re-watch LYB, 3) liveblog both, and 4) okay, yeah, fine, write some meta on these (and anything else that strikes my fancy) as well. Which is to say -- yet another sideblog, forthcoming!

Secondly, I’ve been spending my hours away from tumblr working on annotated translations of the entire CQL companion album, which I’ll start posting soon! I know, I know, I said back in June that I wouldn’t do line-by-line translations of the character songs, but I’ve been 食言而肥 getting fat on my words all year and really needed a non-fic project after time war wangxian. Since I’m annotating these lyrics as best as I can, it’s a pretty intensive process (I feel entitled to say that because there is a spreadsheet involved). I’m super excited to share these with everyone because the companion album is a treasure trove of para-canonical CQL material that, as far as I can tell, the Anglophone fandom has barely touched. I’ve had to restrain my meta instincts multiple times already, and I’ve only translated half of the album so far.

that’s all from me for now! tl;dr stay tuned, more translations coming your way, hope everyone is doing well, staying warm, and getting lots of rest <3

much love,

hunxi

And of course, quick links to the masterlists:

linguistic meta

historical/worldbuilding/cultural meta

moment-specific meta

thematic meta

character meta

other links

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2021: The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

I have a few things to acknowledge here before we get into the proper review - this is REALLY LONG and VERY CRITICAL. I promise you I do genuinely love The Stormlight Archive, but if you are someone who doesn’t like to see criticism of Sanderson or Stormlight, then please don’t read this.

This review has spoilers for The Stormlight Archive - you have been warned.

I’ve made no secret of my love for the Stormlight Archive - it’s my favourite ongoing fantasy series. I’ve also avoided reviewing it, and I’ve been putting it off since I first read it back in 2016 (could be 2017? It was a while ago.) How could I review something I love so much? How do I approach reviewing a 1,100 page epic fantasy novel? I just didn’t know. To be honest, I still don’t. I adore this series, it’s become part of my identity - if you asked any of my friends what’s Lizzie’s favourite book they would probably say Stormlight. Maybe Lord of the Rings but that’s a different kettle of fish.

I’ve reread The Stormlight Archive annually for the last five years. I promise myself I won’t reread it and let myself come back in anticipation for the next book. I’ve failed miserably every year. And these aren’t small undertakings - they’re each 1,000 pages and there’s four of them now! For context I usually only read 2,500 pages a month. 

So, I’ve finally decided to review these doorstoppers dressed up as fantasy novels. These reviews are mainly for myself, they’re going to be self indulgent, long, and focus on what I want to discuss like characters, structure, and prose - rather than reviewing the things I should probably talk about (like the actual plot…) I want to work through all the things I love about this behemoth of the modern fantasy genre, but also focus on its flaws. The praise for Sanderson is everywhere, so I want to work through my honest opinion of these books, work out why I love them, and I’ll invite you on this journey of self discovery with me. 

Structure

I’m yet to work out why I’m starting with structure but we are, I guess it helps with the framing. In case you’re reading this having not read The Way of Kings, each book in the Stormlight Archive is made up of 5 main parts that follow major viewpoint characters, and the parts are split up with small interludes that expand the worldbuilding, follow important secondary characters, or foreshadow future moments. Everybook is centred on a key character - in The Way of Kings it’s Kaladin - who we follow in the present day as a major viewpoint character and explore their backstory through a flashback sequence. Each book also has a prologue which retells the assassination of the Alethi king, Gavilar Kholin, and an epilogue from Wit. 

Firstly, this book takes FAR too long to get going and even longer to get into as a reader. I’m not joking when I say there are FIVE introductory chapters: the prelude, a prologue, Cenn’s second prologue (technically the first chapter but it’s a prologue), Kaladin’s introduction, and Shallan’s introduction. It’s too much. We’re jumping around, nothing really makes sense, and we’re not sure how these characters are related. They could be taking place in different worlds for all you know on a first read.

When I first read this book I was a lot more patient with long introductions and multiple false starts - I had the time to dedicate to getting into the story. I could, and did, forgive the THREE false starts to this story before we get to Kaladin’s first chapter. However, the opening structure of this novel is a mistake. If someone gives up in this section I honestly don’t blame them - if I was reading this for the first time in 2021 I probably would too.

The prelude and prologue are both excellent. The prelude in particular is weird and confusing but also sets up a clear mystery and sense of the sheer scope of this story. Szeth’s prologue, the first time we see Gavilar’s assassination, is flawed but still wonderful. The fight scene needed a bit of cutting, for my tastes, and I think the introduction to the magic system is clumsy - there’s far too much obvious info dumping and it needed some serious editing, especially as the complicated use of the magic that Szeth uses is barely relevant in this book. However, I think the Herald’s giving up the Oathpact and a magical assassin is great! They’re a bit weird and you’re not sure what’s going on, but it’s engaging. 

Then there’s Cenn. Poor, innocent Cenn. I’m sorry but he’s completely unnecessary. Independently of the rest of the introduction to the Way of Kings Cenn’s chapter would be a pretty good prologue as he’s there to set up our main hero Kaladin from an outside perspective. We love Kaladin and Cenn’s chapter is fine for establishing him as a typical fantasy hero – he’s a warrior, cares about the people, and so forth.

However, Cenn’s chapter in the context bogs down the opening too much. It’s too long, not particularly relevant, and adds yet ANOTHER prologue to this already enormous book. Cenn’s chapter offers nothing to the reader that we don’t learn later on in the text when the content of Cenn’s chapter makes more sense. We even see the exact same sequence of events from Kaladin’s perspective in a flashback! Not having Cenn’s chapter would add more interest to Kaladin’s character and add more weight to the flashback sequence because we wouldn’t have met Kaladin at his peak (sort of…?) 

Kaladin’s flashbacks aren’t that engaging as it is, he’s a fairly standard fantasy hero from a small village who ends up leaving his happy family to go to war. So leaving a small mystery around him in addition to ‘how did he become a slave’ would help with my engagement. It would leave me wondering how reliable is Kaladin as a narrator, is he really as good with the spear as he claims? I wouldn’t know but Cenn’s chapter removes all the mystery apart from ‘how does Kaladin become a slave’. It needs to go to make Kaladin more interesting and cut down on some of the unnecessary page count.

While we’re at it… Just cut out ALL the interludes in this book, except for the Szeth through line. I KNOW they are here for the Cosmere connections and to foreshadow things much later in the series. However, new readers and Stormlight only readers don’t know this and, quite frankly, they SUCK. In later books the interludes make sense but here they add so much tedious, pointless crap to an already bloated book. They’re too much and add next to nothing – other than seeing Szeth lose it as he kills people, that was fun (in a disturbing, creepy way… Can you tell I like Szeth?) Either this stuff needs to be relevant to the book we’re in now, or painfully obvious that we’re coming back to this stuff in later books. I still don’t know why we got Ishikk’s interlude with the Worldhoppers, and I completely forgot Nan Balat had an interlude. I’ve read this book 5 times… THAT IS HOW POINTLESS THEY ARE! Sanderson should weave the necessary foreshadowing into the main text, intersperse the perspectives we do need for THIS story into the main sections, or cut them out. When I get to the interludes I physically sigh and sometimes put the book down - now I just skip everything but Szeth - but on a first read they’re really off putting. 

To finish up with my complaints about the structure, and this is a big one for me - why do we have huge chunks of this book without major viewpoint characters? I’m biased here but Dalinar is probably the most important POV character in the story because he introduces the real stakes of the story. He has the groundbreaking visions of the past, he is the viewpoint we get into the politics of the war, he is the character who does and continues to have the most impact on the development of the story on his own.Yet, we don’t meet him until we’re 190 pages in… 

Sanderson alternates Shallan and Dalinar’s chapters between the five different parts and that means they vanish for 400 pages at a time. Why? I ended up caring about them right as we’re about to lose their viewpoint again for the next part. We needed to see the three major POV characters interwoven together throughout the five parts, not randomly dropped and picked back up again. The structure of this book was a mistake. 

Okay, I promise I do actually like this book…

Worldbuilding

Something I do love is the worldbuilding of Roshar, and I usually don’t care that much about worldbuilding. I can really appreciate good worldbuilding, especially on the history side of things, but for most novels it’s just fine? If I roughly know what’s going on with the world then we’re good, I can just get on with the story and not worry about it. However, Roshar is genuinely beautifully built! It takes A LOT to get me to visualise a world as I’m not a visual reader. I can feel the atmosphere, get to know characters, but can I imagine a face or setting? No.

There are three fantasy worlds that have allowed me to actually see the world and it’s landscape: Middle Earth, Discworld, and Roshar. The bleak, storm weathered landscape of the Shattered Plains is so embedded in my mind it’s ridiculous, the only place I can picture more is the Shire – and Lord of the Rings has a film to help it!

Now, to be fair it’s hard for me to separate the worldbuilding in The Way of Kings from the rest of the series, so I now have 4,000 pages worth of worldbuilding in my head… However, it’s certainly strong and I distinctly remember having a vivid image of understanding this world, the atmosphere, landscape, and so forth, on my first read. Although it did take me until Oathbringer to realise that everything, except humanity, was basically a crab… (I think that was just me being dense.)

I do think Roshar needs much more of its history to be expanded on. We don’t have much between the Last Desolation (don’t ask me to spell it's in-world title!) and it shows at times. I don’t expect something on the level of The Silmarillion for Roshar, however, I do think we need to see something more substantial in the period between the Desolations and the present day. We know about the Recreance, the attempted takeover of the Vorin Church, and the Sunmaker? That’s 4000 years! To put it into context it’s the distance between us and Jesus’s birth TWICE, it’s like we know about the end of the 11th Dynasty of Egypt, the Reformation, and the British Empire in our own history... We need to find a balance, especially as we get so much development of science in the later books. More history please - but this is a personal issue and a series wide problem, not just The Way of Kings.

Magic System

Now, this is controversial for Sanderson, but I’m going to skip this for now. This review is already well over 1,000 words long and I’ve not even started on the meat of the novel yet. The magic system isn’t really fleshed out in The Way of Kings, we only really know stuff about the Windrunners (in an abstract kind of way) and the very basics of the Knights Radiant in general. So I’m going to discuss the magic when I get around to reviewing Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War, basically whenever I have the energy and more space.

Safe to say I actually really like the magic system in the Stormlight Archive. I usually dislike hard magic systems (I think I’m the only person who dislikes Mistborn’s Allomancy - while very well developed, it’s a bit silly and is far too much for my tastes...) as they often take some of the wonder, mystery, and excitement of fantasy out of the story for me. However, I think surgebinding is a fun system and there is a lot more of it for use to discover, preserving some of that mystery. Oh and, if you were wondering, I would be a Skybreaker!

Prose

Okay if you read the structure section and were wondering - why is this woman still reading these books, you’re in for another head scratcher. 

If you’ve ever talked to me about literature you’ll know that there are two things I look for in a really good book: characters and prose. Now characters are something Sanderson does phenomenally well in the Stormlight Archive, but that’s not something you can tell 100 pages into a 1,000 page tome. You have to sit with the characters for a long time and give the author some page time to familiarise you with the people you’re following. If you trust him, Sanderson pulls off some stunning character arcs, especially in the long term and I’ll talk more about characters later on (or you can just skip this section? Up to you really!).

However, prose is something you notice immediately, and Sanderson’s is…utilitarian at best. At worst it’s abysmal. These days I’m very picky about prose, a utilitarian style is fine but a book is unlikely to become a new favourite of mine without good writing. This doesn’t mean I want or expect the writing to be flowery or elaborate, but it does mean I want, and appreciate it when, the prose suits the tone of the narrative and world. I must acknowledge that I’m in a (vocal) minority here, a lot of people either don’t notice Sanderson’s style or like it - I certainly didn’t mind it when I first read ther series - so this is definitely a subjective opinion but one I’m certainly not alone in. 

Nevertheless, for me Sanderson’s prose is overly simplistic, repetitive, and very American. Okay so the American is probably only noticeable if you’re not American. However, I’m used to fantasy having a certain Britishness to the writing style, even when the author isn’t British, but to me (as a Brit and fantasy reader) the Americanisms are painful at times… There is no way in hell I’m ever going to acknowledge that aluminium is aluminum no matter how many times Sanderson uses it! 

Yet it goes beyond a spelling issue because, let's be honest, in this day and age American English is widely spoken and regularly used in fantasy literature - you can’t escape from it as much as I want to. It’s in the style of writing and construction of sentences. The entire narrative reads like an American has decided to tell me a story using their colloquial, everyday speech. It’s a deliberate choice on Sanderson’s part to make things accessible and digestible, and for some people this works. I do think he has a fantastic style to get readers in, especially readers who are getting to grips with high epic fantasy as it’s one less barrier to entry in an already difficult novel. But it does mean rereading isn’t always the best experience and sometimes the writing can jar me out of the story. 

In places it’s too simple and colloquial, so much so the writing becomes clunky, clumsy, and unrealistic to the world he’s creating, especially in descriptive passages and dialogue. It reads like Sanderson could have used more lyrical or formal writing but deliberately chose not to - at the detriment of the prose. This is particularly noticeable with characters like Jasnah Kholin. Jasnah is a princess, brilliant scholar, and political mastermind, she’s known for her poise, elegance, and intelligence. Yet she often speaks like an everyday 21st century American and other characters who haven’t had the same education or training as she has? I can’t believe this for a moment, her dialogue is so egregious in places that it’s like I’ve been hit over the head with my own book! I physically cringe when she says things like ‘“scoot over here”’ (chapter 70, p.1083). WHY is Jasnah talking like this?! It doesn’t make sense to me – Shallan maybe, but Jasnah? No. It doesn’t fit with what we’ve been told about her character.

(Just as an aside, I loathe the word ‘scoot’ – it should be burnt from the English language as an abomination!)

Part of the issue with this is Sanderson usually doesn’t distinguish between the character's voices, both in the dialogue and prose. Most of the time if you dropped me into a random section of the Stormlight Archive with no context I honestly couldn’t tell you who’s speaking or narrating without the signposts Sanderson gives us. This isn’t a huge issue as he’s writing in third person limited, and with context and the chapter icons we know who we’re following. However, it does mean we don’t have any idea of character voice – in the general prose, internal narration/thought, or speech. What’s the difference between Kaladin’s dialogue and Jasnah’s? I have no idea from the sentence construction or speech patterns. Certain descriptions of how characters speak help to differentiate (Jasnah is commanding, Shallan squeaks, Kaladin grunts, etc.) but from their speech patterns I wouldn’t have a clue.

All of this comes back to Sanderson’s overly simple and Americanised style. It’s his choice and it does work for many people, but personally it doesn’t always work with the characters or story. I’m not expecting him to write like Robin Hobb or Guy Gavriel Kay, but some finesse and awareness of character would be appreciated, especially if it helped to differentiate character voices.

I’m also going to throw this out as a very personal issue because I’m not sure where else to put it… Sanderson has the worst sense of humour I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. The comedic moments are occasionally amusing… However, Shallan’s puns are worse than my Dad’s jokes. Every time she says something apparently ‘witty’ and someone else remarks how clever and funny she is I want to hit them... At best she’s mildly amusing, at worst she’s cruel. It’s never funny. (This only gets worse with Lift, I almost DNFed the entire series because of the Lift interlude in Words of Radiance. And don’t get me started on Lopen.)

Characters

At last! Something I genuinely love and the reason I read these books! Sanderson has created some of the best characters in modern fantasy in this series and they are the only reason I’m still going. I like the worldbuilding and plot, but I adore the character work in this book and the series as a whole. The characters are generally so good that, even when I dislike them, it's because I dislike them personally, not that they’re badly written characters! Usually I love Sanderson’s characters though, even when they’re incredibly flawed (looking at you Dalinar!) because he’s particularly good at complex character arcs. 

Szeth – I love Szeth, slightly irrationally for how much he’s in both this book and the series as a whole, but he’s one of my favourite “secondary” characters in the series! Szeth is actually the character who made me fall in love with the series in the first place, which feels weird to say because he only has five or six chapters in the entire novel. However, a magical assassin with a strong, if morally dubious, sense of duty and obligations? Sign me up! The opening prologue from Szeth’s perspective is wonderful - it’s far too info-dumpy but it’s highly engaging and one hell of a way to open the series. 

What really intrigued me about Szeth was his role as the interlude throughline character for The Way of Kings. His internal conflict between his obligation to follow the Truthless’ laws and his personal morality is fascinating. Szeth’s character development has been one of the highlights of the entire series for me, especially as we explore his personal morality, questioning of power, and commitment to law and justice. This conflict is one of the reasons I love the Skybreakers in general and I sincerely hope we get to see more of this (and their conflict with the theoretically similar, although realistically very different, Windrunners) in book 5. However, Szeth is a promise that Sanderson hasn’t kept yet. So much has been built up around his character and we haven’t explored him properly (as of Rhythm of War) and I’m mad about it! He’s an incredibly interesting character, morally and thematically, and I hope Sanderson can live up to the hype he’s built up around him in the first four books of the series. 

Kaladin – Okay the real reason we’re all here, the shining beacon of the Stormlight Archive, everyone’s favourite heroic bridgeman: Kaladin Stormblessed. Confession time – I didn’t love Kaladin the first time I read The Way of Kings. Don’t get me wrong I liked him but I’m generally not a massive fan of underdog superhero narratives. (I’m still not a fan of Bridge Four in general for the same reason, I would apologise but I’m not sorry…)

Kaladin spends most of this novel running bridges for Highprince Sadeas on the Shattered Plains. Unjustly enslaved by a corrupt member of the aristocracy, Kaladin is fighting to keep himself and his bridgecrew alive during one of the most pointless “wars” I've read in a fantasy novel - the pointlessness isn’t actually a criticism. He’s facing systematic oppression and disregard for human life, as well as battling his own depression and forming a bond with a spren named Syl (I absolutely adore Syl! But I want to talk about her in my review for Words of Radiance.)

So… I’ve always been frustrated with Kaladin’s fundamental drive to save people and take responsibility for people’s deaths, even when there was nothing he could have done to save them. This book is probably the worst for it out of the four currently published and I just found it a bit much because I personally struggle to relate to his attitude. This level of personal responsibility is a completely alien concept to me, at least to this level, and it’s Kaladin’s entire thing - his driving personality trait - and I just didn’t get it. Kaladin and I are very different people and for a long time I really struggled to relate to him on the same level everyone else seems to in this book. It also didn’t help that the main plot around Kaladin running bridges, struggling with his depression, and trying to keep his men alive is very repetitive… So when you’re in the midst of it and struggling to connect quite so deeply with Kaladin this book can become a slog - yet, the pay off for his struggles is so satisfying and it is very much worth it for making the end feel earned. 

However, my issues with connecting to Kaladin is definitely on me and this is by no means to say Kaladin is a badly written character, I’ve always admired how well Kaladin is drawn in this book. Within a few chapters I understood who Kaladin is, and really loved the conflict he had with his depression and role as a fantasy hero. It's beautifully painful to watch and, even when you’re a bit ambivalent about Kaladin, you really care about whether he and Bridge Four are going to survive the bridgecrews – and the climax sequence with Kaladin becoming Stormblessed again at the Tower is still one of my favourite moments in the entire series!

However, on this reread of the series I had a completely different experience to what I’ve had on previous reads, and a lot of this is down to Rhythm of War. I don’t want to say too much here because it’ll involve spoilers for Rhythm of Warm but having seen Kaladin confront his, as Ron Weasley would say, “saving people thing” and really struggle to keep functioning as Stormblessed, I was so much more on board with this book. Rhythm of War’s much more personal approach to Kaladin really helped me understand him as a person, not just the underdog hero. The struggle with his sense of self, the way his depression impacts his ability to act, and the way he’s moving forward in Rhythm of War let me appreciate the character work for Kaladin in The Way of Kings. The struggle, graft, and determination, especially given his mindset, is much more admirable when I can strip away the focus on doggedly protecting everyone no matter the personal cost. 

Kaladin and I are very different people, but that’s okay and I’ve come to appreciate him a lot more in the last 7 months. Now I can happily adore him alongside everyone else, and not just nod along with the rest of the fandom because I understand he’s objectively a well written character. Also Kaladin’s mental health rep is some of the best I’ve seen in an epic fantasy series. However, I would approach this book, and series, carefully if you’re sensitive to depression.

Shallan – confession time round two: I hate Shallan. I really loathe her on a deeply personal level. And I’m still bitter about it because I used to love her, when I first read this book she was my favourite character! This was partly due to relating to her and partly due to my frustration with Kaladin. However, as I read Words of Radiance I grew uncomfortable with her and by Oathbringer it became a full on HATED of her…and it’s never gone away.

I first met Shallan when I was a shy 18-year-old, budding historian and scholar. I got Shallan, I loved her plotline, and found Khabranth a lot more interesting than the endless bridgeruns with Kaladin (sorry Kaladin!) I connected with her because she represented (projected) a lot of what I was at the time - and still am today, just an older version of that person. She was the main character that really drew me into the story - yes I loved Szeth and thought he was brilliant, but Szeth is largely absent from this novel and Shallan is the main female lead. 

And then I got hit in the face by the infamous Words of Radiance “Boots” chapter, and I immediately got iffy vibes, then there was the Chasm sequence, and so many other moments that made me uncomfortable. I’ll avoid spoilers and, for now, just say I got hit in the face by Shallan’s innate privilege, her causal abuse of social rank, and complete lack of social and self awareness. To top it off the narrative gives her no consequences for this and even rewards her for her behaviour, rather than making Shallan work through the issues around classism (something I, as a Brit, am hyper aware of and it SHOULD NOT under ANY circumstances be ignored, especially with Kaladin’s narrative running parallel to Shallan.) However, this is later book issues and a major dropped theme that I’m fuming about, but I still found I liked Shallan in THIS book when I reread the series.

Not this time. 

There are moments in The Way of Kings where we can already see Shallan’s privilege and complete disregard of anyone who is remotely lower than her in the Vorin hierarchy. The scene with the book merchant stands out. No one in that scene is innocent, and I’m much less annoyed by it than I am at the “Boots” scene, however, it shows an early form of Shallan’s complete inability to reflect on her own behaviour towards those with less power than herself. She’s casually abusive and manipulative, but no one really calls her out on it. The few moments when someone does confront Shallan about it, and the narrative consistently forgives her because Sanderson allows her to come across as the victor in each of the arguments. This isn’t to say Shallan’s causal abuse of the Vorin social system shouldn’t be present in the book. It’s actually very realistic, in our world white people (especially white women) have behaved like Shallan for centuries. However, what does matter is the narrative framing. However, I’ll dig into this when I get to reviewing Words of Radiance because a lot of my planned review for that book is centred around this issue.

I’m also resentful that Shallan’s character in The Way of Kings is a complete lie – we don’t know her at all, but not in the same way as Dalinar? We KNOW something is off with Dalinar, we KNOW he was a terrible person and a warmonger from the way people talk about the Blackthorn – but Shallan’s reveal largely comes out of nowhere in some respects and I HATE that the person I loved so much 5 years ago was a complete lie. I’m a bitter person and I will continue to hold a grudge until Shallan dies or the series ends, whichever comes first.

Jasnah – my problematic QUEEN. Is Jasnah a shitty person? Yes. Do I love her anyway? Yes. Difference is I knew Jasnah was shitty from the start… I like problematic characters, I just hate being lied to (*cue insincere smile at Shallan*)

Jasnah is a difficult character to talk about in this book because we don’t know much about her other than her public persona, however, she’s a large part of why I love it so much. I just like brilliant women who would kill me, okay? It also helps that she's an historian, I have a soft spot for murderous historians. I’ll talk more about Jasnah when I review Oathbriner, hopefully that won’t be in another 5 years…! I just wanted to highlight that I do love a female character in this book!

Actually on the topic, Sanderson is still a shitty author for female friendships – he has included more female characters in Stormlight but why are there no female friendships that aren’t rooted in backstabbing and lies?!

Dalinar – if Jasnah is my problematic Queen then Dalinar has to be the problematic King. Dalinar is my favourite Stormlight Archive character. I could wax lyrical about what a BRILLIANT character he is. You may not like Dalinar, you may not forgive him, but you have to admit he is the best written character in ANYTHING Sanderson has written, and one of the best in modern fantasy. Nevertheless, much like Jasnah I’m going to wait until I review Oathbringer before I talk about Dalinar because I can’t do him justice without his flashbacks. However, I will tell you a story about the time I first met Dalinar Kholin.

So, I first read The Way of Kings on my commute back and forth to Worcester Cathedral because I had a work placement in the Cathedral’s archives. I’d been doing this commute for months and reached the point where I knew when to get off the train by feeling, no need to check the stations (this is relevant).

 I was on my commute home, and as I was walking to the train station I started part two. I met Adolin and he was fine. I was a bit confused because this was a whole new perspective and set of characters, but I was doing okay. (Yes I was walking and reading, no I do not recommend this arrangement for health reasons.)

And then I met Dalinar. As I got on the train we got into his own head, with the mystery of the visions just starting, the hints towards his complicated relationship with Elhokar, and the amazing fight with the Chasmfiend. Bearing in mind I was automatically doing my commute through this – I’d become so invested in Dalinar, I missed my transfer on the train. I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. I’m paranoid about it! But I was so engrossed in this aged general, who was potentially going mad, that I missed the stop on my train and didn’t even notice until we hit Birmingham New Street.

I was so in love with Dalinar Kholin that I travelled to the wrong city… And my love for him has only gotten stronger*.

Conclusion

Overall I have a complicated relationship with The Way of Kings, and The Stormlight Archive in general. I love this series, I particularly adore the characters and character work Sanderson is doing as the books continue. However, it is severely overhyped. There are a lot of flaws in this book, especially with the writing and structural aspect of this novel. It’s poorly paced, clumsily written, and lacking finesse. For me Sanderson is an okay writer but a wonderful storyteller. As a storyteller he’s made a huge contribution to the fantasy genre and I’m here for the major improvement he’s made in popularising more complex character work and the inclusion of mental health representation. We’re just seeing the start of this shift in the fantasy genre and I’m excited to see where Stormlight and fantasy are going to go with this movement. 

However, as a writer he has a long way to go in improving his craft of writing. These are big books, and I will often forgive mistakes with narrative structure in books of this size because they are so huge. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge them when reviewing the novel. Mistakes were made, especially in The Way of Kings, and are still being made but Sanderson has been slowly improving with the later books.

There’s a lot to love in The Stormlight Archive - the worldbuilding is insane, the characters are incredible, and the plots are gripping. I love them, and I will continue to eagerly await the next installments! But they’re far from perfect, and that’s okay. Sanderson has captured the imaginations of thousands of fantasy readers and I would highly recommend you give these books a go, despite my critical review. This is a fabulous time to be a fantasy reader and The Stormlight Archive is one of the most exciting reasons to be reading the genre!

*Dalinar and I are going to be on thin ice if Sanderson continues with his character as he did in Rhythm of War, but again I’ll address that when I review Rhythm of War.

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The Stormlight Archive Volume 1: The Way of Kings’ Review: Chapters 16-19

link to contents page - https://at.tumblr.com/the-vibes-are-off/hey-hey/96xd9ohihrzs

FINALLY I woke up this morning with some semblance to get out of bed before 8am and actually make the most out of my day. Essays are going hella slow and I honestly think the weight of dealing with them is just draining me hard, I cannot wait to get them tf out of the way; not to mention I’ve just spent £70 on Shakespeare for the coming semester :’) yay so excited for them to arrive today ;-;. 

Unfortunately, as the next semester approaches I imagine the frequency of these posts will decline as I’ll have to reduce my TWOK reading to 1 chapter a day at most in order to fit in all my uni reading. Which I am so gutted about because honestly I have enjoyed reading this chunk so much and the thought of having to slow down makes me so sad :(((.

Spoiler Free Zone:

This section does so much in the way of widening the scope to fill out the history of the plot and I’m living for it. Seeing more about Kaladin’s history AND like fckn ancient history as well???? I am so in.

I feel like this section has really got me into the swing of things more. With TWOK largely lying outside of the genre I normally read and not having the motivation of reading it like out of necessity for my degree, I was worried that I’d lose motivation but this section has really solidified my interest to the fullest !!

*** SPOILERS AHEAD***

Spoiler Zone: 

I have loved finding out more about Kal in the flashback sections and this has not changed. 1. Ofc Mr. Edgy Boy is a simp and fought to impress a girl just ofc 2. and on top of that, ofc he’s secretly soft round the edges, especially for his brother. The bit when Tien gives him a sick rock ??? Bye I would smile too what a cute interaction. Bit of a RIP that he then like immediately got into a fight, over some juicy Shardblade lore nonetheless? Brando feeding us fr. 

I love that he has Kaladin also thinking what everyone else is thinking in observing Sadeas as a pompous ass xD. It read so similar to what I love about some of my fave English Lit books in the critique of the upper classes and I will forever appreciate it (fuck the tories :p).

Then again tho, as ever, Brando refuses Kaladin a break and has his men dropping like flies bro. Ik he was trained as a surgeon but mf is not a miracle worker cut him some slack. 

Then onto the Kholins and my goodness these have to have been my fave chapters so far. Starting off with the slightly less preferred, but still great, chapter of family revelations like Dalinar not remembering his wife and Renarin’s feelings of inadequacy. My little heart breaks for them :((

BUT THE VISION CHAPTER?????????? Oh my goodness I loved this chapter so much I lit had the whole chapter tabbed as a love this fro the start bc I just knew it was gonna slap so hard. You’re telling me, all in one chapter, I have been given an epic fight with shadow creatures, WITH some of the knights radiant, AND one of them is a woman, all wrapped up in sick fucking lore in a vision of the past brought on by a storm that ends in a mystical voice giving vague advice. Jesus take the wheel.

Tab Count:

Cute <3 - 1

Fights - 3

Sad ;-; - 2

Death - 2

Cool - 1

Wtf wow - 1

Wtf Why - 0

Slay Quotes - 2

Love this! - 2

Hate this >:( - 0

Lore - 3

Tab Total:

Cute <3 - 8

Fights - 8

Sad ;-; - 4

Death - 4

Cool - 6

Wtf wow - 3

Wtf Why - 3

Slay Quotes - 10

Love this! - 10

Hate this >:( - 3

Lore - 5

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Stormlight Archive Character Thoughts - Szeth

I love Szeth, to a degree that is hard to rationally explain. I’ve loved him since the prologue to The Way of Kings. He’s at the top of my list of characters I just want to take home, wrap in a blanket, and give hot chocolate and a warm meal to. (And hugs!)

It frustrates me when he’s characterized as “just following orders”, because on the one hand I do get why they would feel that way, and on the other hand...no. People who use that excuse are ones who want to give up their moral responsibility because it’s easier and more convenient for them. Szeth very much does not want to be in the position he is placed in. He is miserable, and he is horrified, and he is not in a position of trying to give up choice or responsibility, but of percieving himself as someone who does not have the right of choice, no matter how much he may want it (but who is nonetheless responsible for his actions).

To the extent that he can, within the bounds of the choices he percieves as available, Szeth is willing to make any personal sacrifice, however great, to prevent himself from doing harm. In the first of the Interludes to The Way of Kings, he’s been living as a slave for five years. This is the life that Kaladin spent years desperately trying to escape from, some of the worst years of his life...and for Szeth it’s a best-case scenario. He’s content with it because no matter how miserable, degraded, dirty, or abused he is (they tell him to cut up his own arm, as a joke! and he does it!), at least he’s not being told to kill people. That’s what he would outright want the rest of his life to be - an existence that anyone else would percieve as hellish. And he doesn’t even get that.

(...I made myself sad.)

Here is my interpretation of what it means to be Truthless, based on the word itself, the punishment, and the nature of Shin culture. Szeth is made Truthless for claiming that the Desolations are returning, the Knights Radiant are returning, or something along those lines. The return of the Desolations means war. The Shin are a deeply peaceful culture (aside from what they did to Szeth, I like their ethos a great deal, going by Rysn’s interlude) who value growing, farming, creating; honesty and humilty; not scheming and killing. Thus, warmongering - claiming that war is needful when it is not - would be the greatest of crimes to them, and that is what they percieve Szeth as having done. And, for that matter, what Szeth percieves himself as having done.

The idea of being Truthless, the rationale behind the punishment, is that literally anyone, any random petson off the street, would have better moral judgement than you. No matter who gets the Oathstone, good or bad, they by definition at least have the ability to order your actions and your life better than you would. As a fundamental tenet of your being, you cannot choose rightly. Szeth has effectively been very powerfully gaslit by his entire culture. I don’t blame him for not being able to see that as a stricture that can be broken.

And he’s so, so desperately unhappy and self-loathing every time we see him. His chapters in Oathbringer are fascinating because they show him trying to recover, trying to think and act justly, when he’s so out of practice that he can barely even conceptualize how. And the moment in the Skybreaker paintball fight when he realizes that - for the first time in how many years? - he’s actually enjoying himself, and then immediately resists it because he feels that he has a moral obligation to his victims to be continuously miserable and that redemption is something he doesn’t even have a right to think of, breaks my heart. (As I’ve said in a previous post, I think the symbolism of that chapter’s ending deliberately contradicts his thoughts. Anyone can be redeemed, if they’re willing.)

Also, on a lighter note, Szeth chapters now mean Nightblood chapters, and Nightblood is a continous delight and one of the funniest characters in the series.

I’m greatly anticipating Book 5 - Szeth-Kaladin road trip! (oh my goodness, Nightblood and Kaladin, this is going to be amazing) - and seeing Szeth grow into someone who’s able to make and trust his own choices, and hopefully able to find some kind of peace. I’ve been looking forward to a Szeth book ever since back when I thought it would be Book 3, so it’s been a long wait.

[shipmistress9]

D E F G H I J K L M N O P, Q R S T U V, W X Y and Z 😇😉. I sung the alphabet while writing this as well 😂. You don’t have to answer all of them though, just pick which ones you want 😊.

🤣🤣🤣

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

My fandom life would be easier if I liked Heathstrid at least a little bit... But I can’t and I don’t really want to, either...

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

The oneshots Spin The Bottle and Pick Me Up.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Given that I only learned about the existence of fandom as a concept in late 2016, the longest I’ve ever been in a fandom is roughly 4,5 years.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Many! Currently it’s Hiccstrid and Hicretstrid. And maybe a little Zelink. But thinking back, I think my very first OTP was when I was around five years old. From the Captain Tsubasa anime series, Tsubasa and... I don’t even know her name... 🤣 There was this girl who always cheered him on and was his no.1 fan. ANd in hindsight, I think I also shipped Tsubasa... with nearly all other players, mainly, Taro Misaki, Jun Misugi, and Kojiro Hyuga. 🤣

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

TV-shows, mostly. I prefer the visuals over books and I prefer the slower development over those in movies.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Not caused me to stop liking them. But in some cases (ATLA and TDP, to name two) it raised my expectations so high that, when I finally got to dip into them, I was rather underwhelmed. It also didn’t help that I already knew the ending and some major plot points. If there’s one sure way to dampen my excitement it’s spoilers.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

Supernatural. Pretty much all other fandoms I dip into occasionally, I knew at least a little before. But literally everything I know about Supernatural is from seeing posts here. 🤣

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

I can’t think of an individual character right now, but in general an arc I like is someone (re-)learning to trust.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Snotlout has a great relationship with his dragon. Valka, too. Gobber and the twins are always fun, in their own ways.

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Already answered before.

Hmm... First, I wanted to say Astrid. And I'd enjoy having her as a friend, as someone to challenges me to be more active, to work on my skills and someone to talk.

But I think, I'd enjoy being friends with Hiccup, too. I'd like to brainstorm ideas, ponder over inventions and exchange ideas. Geek out about dragons!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

Acceptance, respect, and some common sense. But that’s not just fandom...

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

My very long list of favoured songs randomly gave me 9 Crimes by Damien Rice. There once was an absolutly stunning AMV with this song about the TV-show The Legend Of The Seeker, The Sword Of Truth (based on the books by Terry Goodkind). I was deeply in love with Richard’s and Kahlan’s relationship, and with Cara on a general level. That AMV featured them all, and I loved it!

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Oh, oh, oh, oh! I just thought about this modern meet-cute AU for Hiccstrid a few days back, might as well write it down here. (And will also copy it over into an individual post, I think...)

Hiccup is a single father of a three-years-old daughter. One day, he meets Astrid in a supermarket; she’s in front of him at the check-out and when he hears her voice, he’s stunned. Because he knows her voice, hears it every day. Because she lend her voice to one of these talking toys for toddlers.His daughter’s favourite toy.

Hiccup always liked that toy best, too, because it didn’t sound as annoying as most others. Pleasant even. When he sees and hears Astrid, he recognises her voice in an instant. He jokingly thanks her for making his days more bearable. She’s confused, who is this weirdo? So he tries to explain. “The toy. My daughter’s toy. It’s your voice. A pleasant voice. I listen to it every day.” He keeps getting weirder, stammers, turns red like a tomato, until he eventually just flees, wishing a hole would open up to swallow him, that was so embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Astrid is touched. Knowing that there is at least one little girl who likes the toy she helped create. And her father, apparently. Who had been cute. In how shy he’d been. And how excited. She’s sorry he left before she was able to talk to him and thank him.

Over the next days, Hiccup would think of her a lot. Every time he hears her voice again, he’d think of her. Her face. Her smile. Until they, eventually, meet again... ^^

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Answered before

None, really. There are several fandoms I grew out of, like Sailor Moon or Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. But I wouldn't say I abandoned them. I still enjoy seeing content about them.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Those of the rider with their dragons. Hiccup&Toothless. Astrid&Stormfly.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Pretty much all of my headcanons are about Hiccstrid in one way or combination. One of my personal favourites is that Astrid has a tiny birthmark on the back of her neck. She doesn’t even know it’s there, she can’t see it and it’s almost always covered by her hair anyway. But Hiccup knows it’s there. And he loves to place a kiss on it. It tickles and would always make her giggle. And she smells so nice.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

*snorts* No. If there are people who don’t share my headcanons, then... they don’t have to? I can live and be friends with people regardless of whether we share the same headcanons or not. And if people keep attacking me for mine, I’ll just block them and walk away. Arguing about something like that is not worth my time.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Astrid. HTTYD.

erm...

uh...

I really have difficulties thinking of favourites from any other fandoms here! xD

uhm...

Princess Zelda from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Kaladin Stormblessed from the Stormlight Archives.

I might have a type here. Brave, strong, not always easy to deal with. Fiercely loyal. Stubborn. Proud. Honourable. that’s all three of them. ^^

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Same answer as the above, mostly. I think I already wrote a long answer to a similar question once. 🤔 I relate to Astrid in many ways. Loyal and reliable, not always easy to approach, often prefers to deal with her problems on her own instead of asking for help.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

Anything jealously, especially it being portrayed as a sign of love or dedication. But also love triangles. Unnecessary.

Another thing I don’t like is when there’s a misunderstanding and they argue about it and get angry and yell and have a huge falling-out... when it all just boils down to them not listening.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Answered before.

Forbidden Romance. In any form. I just love the angsty tension it brings without the characters fighting or arguing about misunderstandings.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Supernatural, ATLA, TDP, MCU.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

With all the critical thinking that’s encouraged in fandom culture, I wish more people would remember Ratatouille and this quote by Anton Ego.

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.”

-- Anton Ego (Ratatouille)

Or at least respect it. It’s called entertainment and not lecture about every little detail that is wrong with other people’s opinions. I get why it’s important to look deeper and question meanings and intentions, I really do. But sometimes, I’d prefer to at least occasionally just enjoy something without getting lectured by others for it.

_____

Thank you! 😘💜