#sanderson secret project 3 spoilers

[warrioreowynofrohan]

….how did Brandon write a story about ChatGPT before the invention of ChatGPT?

[llsnart]

POV you're Nikaro

I made Yumi in a kind of anime style (hope it looks like 😅) and experiment with certain scene on the book and the world palette color .

What do you think about?

[ultimateinferno]

"My coat rack killed God and now it's everyone's problem."

[i-fucked-your-milkshake]

I think it’s funny when people roll their eyes about all the time Sanderson spends on clothes and fashion, as if it’s not an integral part of the world building and character development. I did my undergrad thesis on fashion semiotics in Mistborn (primarily using Roland Barthes) and there’s a direct correlation between how Vin is dressing and where she’s at on the hero’s journey, but in a way that doesn’t feel obvious at first. So it’s interesting to read Yumi and see how Sanderson is utilizing the language of fashion to explore these worlds and characters. The changing room scene with Akane is more than just a cute romcom scene, it’s about the process of discovery. Which is obvious but I can’t help harkening back to Barthes, who co-opts De Saussure’s thoughts on language for the use of fashion.

De Saussure identifies two aspects of language and communication: langue and parole. Langue is the rules of a particular language (subject verb order, for example) and parole is how an individual uses those rules to express themselves. Barthes applies this idea to fashion. We’re given these arbitrary rules of fashion (even as simple as “one must be dressed in public”) and from there we learn to work within the parameters of those rules to outwardly express ourselves. There’s a difference between your favorite pair of jeans and the pair of slacks you wear to work; there’s a difference between the dress you wear to a job interview and the dress you wear on a date where you’re trying to fuck.

The changing room scene is Yumi shotgunning the concepts of langue and parole all at once. She is learning new rules (you can have your shoulders bare) while learning how to express herself within the parameters of those rules (you can wear a dress with bare shoulders and still cover your shoulders with another garment). It’s cute and sweet but also important. She’s learning not just how to express herself but also that she’s allowed to. There’s nothing frivolous about how Sanderson uses and describes fashion. It’s a direct outgrowth of the journeys he sends his characters on.

[madxmellon]

Yumi and Nikaro watching their little dramas

[kathhey]

nikaro, after dedicating his whole life to it, realizing he never even stood a chance at joining the dreamwatch 🤝 spensa, after dedicating her whole life to it, realizing that she never even stood a chance at entering the ddf

[wyndlerunner]

That’s where hion comes from???

I didn’t think Sanderson could make another magic system as horrific as hemalurgy but DAMN this one might do it

[wayward-wren]

I won't lie, when Yumi and Painter first touched each other and got the strange sensation my initial thought was: "is this part of the weird magic shenanigans or are these kids just really touch-starved?"

[probablycatastrophic]

Much further into Yumi and the Nightmare Painter! Some thoughts:

I don't know why but this book resonates with me more than a lot of the other cosmere ones. I feel like I can relate to the characters (even if I'm not a spirit summoning, chosen-one religious figure).

Yumi learning about the reform movement made me so happy and sad at the same time. Like a lot of this book.

Painter accepting that Yumi will learn the truth about him and he'll never get his friends back :(((((((((((

They mentioned a "hion blade." I heard someone joke about it being a lightsaber but my theory is that it's a sword that heats up by putting two opposite hion lines on it.

The rock-stacking machine! This is an anti-ai art thing, isn't it. Cool.

The "I know you're trying" scene broke me in half like a dry twig.

[astairwaytobooks]

When Sanderson planted that bit about some stories needing sad endings, I was a bit afraid this was going to be one of them (and I would actually have been okay with that, because this was definitely the sort of story for which a sad ending could have been fitting), but I was also secretly counting on this not being that sort of book, taking what I knew about Brandon's intentions with these books as a gift to his wife and me just trusting he wouldn't actually crush my heart like that.

So it was that when I read this bit in the epilogue that I started laughing and crying and kind of cursing Sanderson for playing with my feelings that way. It was brilliant. I loved this book.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

In anticipation of Secret Project 3 - here is my single least favourite person in the Cosmere. It isn’t Gavilar. It isn’t Sadeas. It isn’t Amaram. It isn’t someone who’s killed thousands - or killed anyone - or committed a single act of physical violence.

It’s effing Liyun.

“How did I do today, Liyun?” Yumi finally asked.

“You did your duty,” Liyun replied, voice soft, yet rasping. Like ripping paper.

“I…have never heard of a yoki-hijo summoning thirty-seven spirits in one day before,” Yumi said, hopeful. It wasn’t her warden’s job to compliment her. But…it would feel good…to hear the words nonetheless.

“Yes,” Liyun said. “It will make people question. Were you always capable of this? Were you holding back in other cities, refusing to bless them as you did this one?”

“I…”

“I’m certain it is wisdom in you, Chosen,” Liyun said. “To do as you did. I am certain it is not you working too hard, so that the next town in line gets a much smaller blessing, and therefore thinks themselves less worthy also.”

Yumi felt sick at the very thought. Her arms dangled at her sides, because moving them was painful. “I will work hard tomorrow.”

“I am sure you will.” Liyun paused. “I would hate to think that I trained a yoki-hijo who did not know how to properly pace herself. I would also hate to think that I was such a poor teacher that my student thought it wise to pretend to be unable of reaching her full potential, in order to have an easier time of her job.”

Yumi shrank down further, wincing at the throbs of pain from muscles in her arms and back. It seemed that even in great success, she did not do enough.

“Neither is true, fortunately.”

“I will tell Gongsha Town,” Liyun said. “They can look forward to a visit from a strong yoki-hijo tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

“May I offer a reminder, Chosen?”

Yumi glanced up, and kneeling where she was, the perspective made Liyun seemed to be ten feet tall. A silhouette against the night, like a cutout with blank space in the middle.

“Yes,” Yumi said, “please.”

“You must remember,” Liyun said, “that you are a resource to the land. Like the water of the steamwell. Like the plants, the sunlight, and the spirits themselves. If you do not take care of yourself, you will squander the great position and opportunity you have been given.”

“Thank you,” Yumi whispered.

“Sleep now, if it pleases you. Chosen.”

It takes real talent to use an honorific as an insult. I’ll give Liyun that much; it’s professional courtesy, from one hideous bastard to another.

The worst freaking person in the Cosmere.

[skyisawalker]

2 and a bit chapters into Secret Project 4 and so far we have

. Planet with weird weather cycle

. Mysterious magic system that needs to be solved over the course of the novel

. Sad protagonist living in the shadow of their former self

. Magic that lends itself to cool action scenes but depletes and runs out ready for dramatic moments

Yep, this is a Sanderson book

[ultimateinferno]

*[chanting]*

Anime Hoid! Anime Hoid! Anime Hoid! Anime Hoid

[thatsastepladder]

"Time lost meaning to her. This was her meditation. This was her purpose. This was creation. Hundreds of stacks, born from a sublime flow. Sculptures working together on the grandest scale, yet still fascinating in the smallest detail. This was art. Something the machine, however capable in the technical details, could never understand. Because art is, and always has been, about what it does to us. To the one shaping it and the one experiencing it." - Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was meant to be a pushback from Brandon against AI art and its cheerleaders. It can't be, because the Secret Projects were written before the AI art boom of 2022, but this sums up the way I feel about it pretty well.

Machines can create works that are technically very good, but they're not art. They have no soul, they'll never be art, only a rough approximation of what the human artists who came before the machines created.

[nemmiril]

I love how every Cosmere Secret Project book puts Hoid into a Situation^tm

The man used up all his mystique during the Calamity and is now spending most of his time getting stuck on remote colorful planets.

[beginnerblueglass]

Brandon you evil, mad genius.

This is one of the best things I’ve ever read.

I’m not gonna be able to sleep.