Words of Radiance - Spoilers for sure

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According to the magnificent Coppermind Wiki page on the Heralds:
The appearance of the Heralds is known to announce the coming of a Desolation. Between Desolations, the Heralds are trapped in an unknown place, apparently being tortured and/or fighting to keep the next from coming. If a Herald dies during a Desolation, they are sent back to this place, and if they survive, they are also supposed to go back.

The term Herald refers to the method by which they foretell the Desolations: by speaking through the dying people of Roshar. This perpetual experience of death is also part of what makes the period between Desolations so torturous for them.

So they're the source of the Death Rattles that Taravangian is so obsessed with. The "unknown place" they're trapped in could potentially be another world, but I think they'd be too distracted by experiencing Rosharan deaths to function much as a character in another book. Then again, the nine who abandoned the Oathpact, perhaps they either already knew or learned how to worldhop and ran away from Roshar to elsewhere.
 

Megana Vallentin

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I got halfway through my copy before my husband left for 10 days and took it with him. :cry

On the plus side, he flew through Houston and was able to get a Brandalized book with a Szeth inside. :joy

(On the down side, he now has TWO books with him and I have none. :grumble)

I love how much action there was right from the get-go. No slow build up, just right back into the thick of it! I'll have to come back after I'm finally done and open all these tempting spoiler tags.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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My copy of WoR arrived today :joy

I have read 166 pages so far.
One reaction:
There is NO WAY Jasnah is dead. There is way too much build-up there for her to just die like that off-screen. This is Sanderson, not GRRM :indifferent: I will consider hiring assassins if she turns out to still be dead when the book is done :indifferent: :look:
 
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Megana Vallentin

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That's what I keep hoping too, Aduiavas Sedai. :look:
 
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I wanted to share this art with someone because it's cool, so I'll post it here! It's taken from a scene pretty late in the book, chapter 85.

tumblr_n27rdeWjCy1s11lfko1_500.gif


What I am owed will come to me eventually! Every bit of it. I will drown in it, stonewalker!

Thank you for extending my agony by not dying easily.

Source.
 

Sabriane Diamodred

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spoiler for book end:

Brandon has confirmed that the sword IS Nightblood and Zahel is Vasher
 

Keelinnea Isyne

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I just finished the book last night. I think I was so surprised at how long it took me to actually finish it, and I cant figure out why. I did enjoy the ending and I look forward to where it is going.

I must be missing something because after reading some of your posts above it seems somethings have jumped in from other books. What book? I don't want to still be confused when the next book comes out. :)
 
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I'm not gonna read anything here, I just have to say that chapter 7 was the first part of any book in a long time that made me so upset I had to take a break from reading. One of my two favourite characters. I feel so empty.

:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry:cry:mad
 
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Aduiavas Ida

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Ok, book done!
Hah! I was right! Jasnah is not dead! :dance Or at least she isn't anymore :look: I really do wonder about what is going to happen now though... It's like everything happened in this book, and there is nothing left for the others.
Except of course, that tiny little problem of transforming parshmen :look:
Not sure what to think of that Diagram stuff... Either it is very good, or it is very, very bad. I think it is most likely the last :look:
Oh, and I suspect now that either Almighty or Odium is the one person who was "left behind" in the very beginning of WoK. You know, when the Heralds left their Blades and just quit.
 
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Raam Sho'am

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The person left behind is Talenel'Elin (the Herald who shows up at the end of WoK and the "madman" from WoR) - this is stated outright in the WoK prologue. Odium and the Almighty (AKA Honor, AKA Tanavast) are two of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium.

As for what's left... There's a ton. Gathering the new batch of Knights Radiant and training them; resolving the situation with all those competing factions - the Diagram, the Ghostbloods, the Skybreakers, the Sons of Honor and the 17th Shard, not to mention Wit/Hoid and other potential world-hoppers; everything to do with the Heralds - we know Talenel'Elin is back, and we've seen definitely seen Nin (who gave Szeth Nightblood, and Adonalsium only knows what that combination will do together), almost certainly seen Ash and might have seen others (one of the theories making the rounds right now is that Zahel/Vasher is actually Ishar); everything to do with the Parshendi/Parshmen - can they be saved/redeemed? Extra spoiler if you aren't digging into the information about this series:
The fact that the fourth book is going to be Eshonai's the way WoK was Kaladin's and WoR was Shallan's suggests there's a lot more to come about them
; whatever else Sanderson has yet to reveal, which I'm sure is extensive; and of course, the actual climax of the war against Odium.

Two books in, Stormlight Archives is already my favorite fantasy series ever. It's absolutely brilliant.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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You mean Eshonai is still alive? I thought they all died in that attack?
 

Raam Sho'am

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The last we saw of Eshonai, she'd been pushed into a chasm. And we all know that off-screen death = The character is still alive. Double spoiler again:
(and book four is definitely Eshonai's. That much has been confirmed)
 
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Aduiavas Ida

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ahh, right I forgot about that.

And now that I have digested the book a bit more, I start to feel a bit sorry for Adolin. In one moment he is an awesome duelist and one of the highest ranking persons around. The next moment, he is saved by a low dark-eyed BRIDGE-boy, and his fiancee AND his brother suddenly have awesome super-powers. And suddenly his father gets them as well. I wonder how he will handle that... I am afraid we will get some whining about that in the next book(s)
 

Taika Vinh

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Finished last night!

I must be missing something because after reading some of your posts above it seems somethings have jumped in from other books. What book? I don't want to still be confused when the next book comes out. :)

All Sanderson's books/series happen in the same universe (?), and there's some world hopping between them. The thing people were talking about was from his other book Warbreaker.

Btw, do we need to use spoiler tags here? Because the spoiler warning is in the header already...

And yes, still lots and lots to discover! Adolin's development will be an interesting one, for sure... I didn't much like Shallan in the Way of Kings, but now she makes a lot more sense. Also, loved to learn more about the Parshendi, the spren and Knights Radiant connection, and most of the characters. Did you others think Szeth was described very differently from the WoK? (I don't mean the ending, but before).
 

Raam Sho'am

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All of the epic fantasy books are in the same universe, yes (the Cosmere).

Szeth was different, but his change has been gradual from the beginning of WoK.
His descent into madness was pretty consistent, start to finish. Especially when you consider the glimpses we've gotten of just what the emergence of the Knights Radiant means to him (the Stone Shamans were wrong, he should never have been Truthless, all the murders are his own fault...). Book three is Szeth's. I imagine we'll learn quite a bit more about all of this.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yes, I think it will be very interesting to read about Szeth, and learn more about Shin culture :)

I for one think that spoiler tags is necessary, I for one started to read this thread before I had completely finished :look:
 

Megana Vallentin

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Yes please to spoiler tags, I'm halfway through so I've been following along but NOT reading the spoilers yet. :pleased-1:
 

Taika Vinh

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^ yes. With fire.

Szeth was different, but his change has been gradual from the beginning of WoK.
His descent into madness was pretty consistent, start to finish. Especially when you consider the glimpses we've gotten of just what the emergence of the Knights Radiant means to him (the Stone Shamans were wrong, he should never have been Truthless, all the murders are his own fault...). Book three is Szeth's. I imagine we'll learn quite a bit more about all of this.

Yeah, I see it too now you mentioned it. I guess it just felt a bit abrupt for some reason.
 
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