Knights of Wind and Truth Predictions

 

I have just finished reading The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson and I liked how lore heavy this novel was. I knew I was going to write a post about this book, but as I set the book aside, I only thought about what will happen in Stormlight 5. So, unlike my other posts where I reviewed the novel and praised it, this post will be different. In this post I will go over my predictions on what will happen in Stormlight archives book 5. Most likely I will be wrong with my predictions, but I would like to know your thoughts. Also, who else is excited to read the best fight scene that Brandon Sanderson has ever written?

********

Warning this post will have spoilers on The Sunlit Man and Stormlight Archives

********

Illustrated by Ernanda Souza, Nabetse Zitro, and Kudriaken

Before we get into the predictions let us set the ground works with what we already know. In the Sunlit Man the main protagonist, Nomad, also known as Sigzil, Hoid's apprentice and Kaladin’s friend in Stormlight Archive. In Stormlight Archive Sigzil had an unnamed Honorspen, however in this book his spren, Auxiliary is a Highspren. Nomad mentioned in the book that he has was a knight in two orders: Windrunners from his Honorspren and Skybreakers from Auxiliary, his Highspren. 

Illustrated by Ernanda Souza, Nabetse Zitro, and Kudriaken

 

After the events of Knights of Wind and Truth (Stormlight 5) nomad must have become a Skybreaker. After that Hoid gave him a Dawnshard, giving him the ability to skip to other worlds, and not be able to physically harm others. Which sucks, because since he has a Dawnshard a group called Night Brigade has been after him wanting it. He eventually gives up the Dawnshard to someone else and broke his oaths, almost killing Auxiliary for reasons unknown. Even without the Dawnshard he still was being chased by the Night Brigade and therefore goes on the run for a very long time with his only companion being his nearly dead spren Auxiliary.

Now with the stage set, let's discuss what I predict might happen in Knights of Wind and Truth. From Rhythm of War, we know that book 5 will take place shortly after the events of book 4 since they have a short amount of time before the contest of champions. Since Kaladin chose to retire from fighting and help soldiers with PTSD, I believe that he will not be the champion for Dalinar. However, we know from Sunlit Man that something happens to Kaladin. Nomad talks about him in past tense and when he sees Hoid for the first time he thought he was hallucinating believing he was seeing Kaladin. So, something happened to him, but what. 

Mayalaran illustrated by Nozomi Matsuoka

 

Before I go into my predictions, I wanted to give you one more interpretation I made while reading the book. Nomad feels sorry for breaking his oath with Auxiliary nearly killing his second spren, but he never mentions feeling guilty about his Honorspren, his first spren. So, I believe that his spren never died or Nomad never broke his oaths with it. So, why did he get a new spren and what happened to his honorspren? 

Illustrated by u/Voidlantadd

 

********

Knights of Wind and Truth Prediction

********

I believe that after the contests of champions and at the end of the book Kaladin will become Honor/Odium, like Sazed becoming Harmony. We already know that Taravangian stabs Odium to take his power and place. No one has taken Honors place, but Honor has already died, so his power is temporary gone. For Kaladin to become Honor and bring “balance” to the Cosmere the honorspren will sacrifice their investiture to become the shard of Honor. That is why Nomad doesn't have any guilt pertaining to his honorspren. His Honorspren left Nomad to save his friend and leader Kaladin. After Kaladin becomes Honor and Odium looses during the contest of champions, Odium will give his power to Kaladin and he will become a different deity. But the question remains why will Kaladin become Honor?

Illustrated by Antti

I believe that Kaladin will start to die and, to prevent his death completely, he will become Honor. Like I stated earlier I don't believe that Kaladin will be in the contest of champions. I believe that will be Szeth since this book will focus on his backstory and it would be a good for his personal arc if he becomes Dalinars chosen fighter. So how will Kaladin die? I think Kaladin will sacrifice himself to protect someone he cares about: probably Dalinar, Adolin, or Szeth before the contest. Kaladin has shown to put the needs of others before his own and I feel like his character would be willing to sacrifice himself to save another. However, as foreshadowed by Moash "Kaladin can't be Killed" and will become the next Honor. and merge with Odium to become something greater.

There are countless other possibilities that could happen in Stormlight Archives book 5. What do you think will happen?

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Out of all the secret projects being released this year Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was the book I looked forward to the most. Last year I read all the teaser chapters and the inspiration Brandon Sanderson had for each novel and this one seemed the most colorful and I loved what inspired him to write it. His inspiration came by the movie Your Name and the video game Final Fantasy X. Your name is a great movie about two teens switching bodies and trying to solve a mystery while Final Fantasy X follows the protagonist as he helps Yuna (Yumi name being based off of her), a summoner, with her other guardians to release captured souls and defeat sin. This book definitely takes inspiration from both. 

By Botanica

When I read the book it took me a while for it to draw me in, but it did end up sketching itself into my memory forever.

 

If I had to rate this book I would give it a 6.0/10 compared to all of Brandon Sanderson's works with 5.0 being his average. In this post I will go over emotional impact, characters, plot, dialogue / prose, and worldbuilding / magic systems and how they averaged to make this book a 6.0/10 for me.

 

Emotional Impact 5.0/10

The emotional impact between the characters was average for a typical Brandon Sanderson novel. Throughout the book we see Yumi and Painter learn to appreciate each other and turn that into love. It is what you expect from a book that takes inspiration from two love stories. However, there was a point in the book that had the potential to be more emotional impact impactful, but then the next chapter removed it. It was something that was foreshadowed throughout the book and when it happened I was emotional, but after reading the following chapter it made what happened meaningless.

 

Characters 6.0/10

Like I said previously, the emphasis of the book is a love story between Yumi and Painter. They are both late teenagers trying to live in each other's worlds. I thought Painter was a more interesting character than Yumi. We understand why he liked to be alone and how he had to overcome his depression and anxieties. While on the other hand, Yumi at first came across as a Mary Sue but as the story progressed she became her own person with flaws. 

For minor characters I thought Design was fun because she brought more lore to the Cosmere. But the other characters were forgettable. They each were distinctive, but I wouldn't be able to name them until I reread the book.

 

Plot 8.0/10

Usually, in a story where people swap bodies they are separated from each other. However, in this book they stay together. One is a spirit as the other inhabits their body. They live in each other world until they fall asleep then they switch to the other world. I appreciate that they see each other as themselves because that removes some awkwardness. The reason they switched bodies because Yumi agrees to help free a spirit and in order to do so the spirit connected her with Painter. They have to solve the mystery on how to free the spirit while learning each other's magic systems.

 

Dialogue/Prose 5.0/10

I think everyone agrees that Brandon Sanderson doesn’t write a story for Dialogue and Prose. His intent is to tell a story which he does so well. So for Brandon Sanderson this book is average for his style of writing. I personally like it. He makes everything clear and easy to read which give me more time to understand the magic systems he creates. 

 

by BotanicaXu 

Worldbuilding/Magic System 6.0/10

I think this world and its laws were most confusing even with Hoid explaining everything at the end. It is definitely something I am planning on rereading. I don’t want to say anything because of spoilers, but talking to others confirmed that I was not the only one that thought this portrait was confusing.

For the magic system. Painter paints to seal nightmares in canvases hence his name and all the art puns in the post, while Yumi stacks rocks very high in her own art form to call upon spirits to bless the citizens. When the body swap occurs Yumi has to teach Painter how to stack correctly while Painter teaches her how to paint bamboo. Making this magic system unique enough to give this category 6.0/10.

 

In conclusion, If you are a fan of Brandon Sanderson, Your Name, or Final Fantasy X, then I would recommend this book. It is colorful and the art in the book is the best I have seen from Dragonsteel.

Year of Sanderson Secret Project #2 PRE-RELEASE SPOILERS

If you don’t want your Year of Sanderson SP2 spoiled, this post is not for you.

We know just enough about this book to be dangerous,. You’ve been warned. Spoilers begin after the illustrations below, or within the links in the next paragraph. Choose wisely.

If you’ve come, eager to know everything available, join me as we dive into what Brandon has said so far, and what spoilerific tools we have to speculate with, which came from the first few chapters, which Brandon read out loud and a spoiler livestream he released on youtube during his record-breaking kickstarter.

For all backers the ebook and audiobook will be released on April 1st. The leatherbounds and boxes will ship some time in April, it seems that unfortunately, the delays that are affecting the first quarter's leatherbounds are a foreshadowing of similar delays with the second wave of leatherbounds.

SP2 is illustrated by Steve Argyle, and according a contributor on the r/Sanderson subreddit, will be narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading (if that turns out to be incorrect, I'll fix this bit, I had a hard time confirming the audiobook narrators for certain. It was probably mentioned on a Youtube video that I didn't track down). 

Oh, you're still here, eager for spoilers? You have chosen... wisely.

So the title of SP2 is The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England.

Sanderson is known for thoroughly outlining his books. FWHSME is the most discovery written of the SPs

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, or FWHSME, was a bit of Brandon channeling Terry Pratchett, and Doug Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy with distinctive "wackiness and satire." 

FWHSME takes place outside the Cosmere. This is likely because of Brandon's desire to contain interdimensional hopping within certain parameters. FWHSME throws caution to the wind, as the first six chapters indicate that a corporation is able to provide access to limitless dimensions, and provide a curated experience. Although time travel is not existent in the world of the book, one can find a dimension which exists with near exact characteristics of, say, 12th century England, shielded from technological advances in the same way that rural Nebraska is shielded from the coastal regions of the United States. These alternate dimensions simply took several more centuries to give birth to Chaucer in the same way that Napoleon Dynamite was an effortless throwback to the eighties, while being filmed in rural Idaho in the 2000s.

A foundational seed of the book is the "Bourne Identity" trope, in which the main character discovers himself in a strange place with a case of amnesia. This also occurs in Andy Weir's project Hail Mary. This is mixed with the idea of an adventure in 13th century alternate dimension version of England. Brandon's sneak peek revealed the main character is astonished to recall that medical nanites make him impervious to blows from a sword, as long as he blocks with his arms. The fact that FWHSME takes place outside of the Cosmere also means the Brandon has more latitude for freedoms like this, without needing to worry about larger ramifications for future plot lines, which I find fun and refreshing.

There is an in-world handbook, eponymous to the book itself, written by one Cecil G Bagsworth III, a famous interdimensional traveler who has previously appeared in Brandon's "Alcatraz" books, and was the editor in Dan Wells' Night of blacker darkness

To be honest, I'm not much for speculation. But here's a little bit for you, just for fun. Brandon also has talked on his Youtube channel and podcast about the idea of a book with an "Attack on Titanic" plot (not my idea, I think Isaac or Brandon mentioned "Attack on Titanic after a viewer put it in a comment during the live stream). The idea was that two time travelers compete in the middle of a historic tragedy. One of these time travelers would, for example, be tasked with preventing the titanic from sinking, while the other would simply work to thwart this individual's every rescue effort. Although this is not what Brandon went with in the end, from his sharing of this idea, I suspect there will be plenty of secrets from the home dimension hidden from our main character stricken with amnesia. As he makes discoveries about his strange new world, and about the life he left behind, and has doubly lost to amnesia, these home-dimension interferences may be some of the biggest sources of danger and conflict within the story.

Have you read SP1? I loved it personally, and am so excited for FWHSME. I opted out of the leatherbound copies, and I am happy with my choice of ebook and audiobook. But, it would be neat to talk more with people who took a higher tier, to see what they think of the year of Sanderson so far.

Take care, talk to you next time.

Emerald in the Cosmere

Illustration by Howard Lyon

On a rating of 10 stars being  "I must own" to 1 star being "boring and a waster of time", I give 8 stars to Tress of the Emerald Sea. It was beautiful book, and I very much enjoyed every moment of the book, and I am glad I purchased it before reading it.

The following are the categories on how I ended up giving this novel 8-stars:

Emotional Impact – How the book made me feel while I was reading it.

Characters – How did the protagonist and supporting characters develop on their journey

Plot – How did I enjoy the plot, was it unique?

Dialogue/Prose – How did I enjoy the writing

Worldbuilding/Magic System – how unique is the world from standard fantasy worlds.

Emotional Impact: 8 stars
Tress is searching for her loved one and its emotional the journey she goes through to find him. One of my favorite parts is when she rescues Charlie and realizes that she has changed so much during the journey that she is not the same person she was while living on the rock.

To me this has great emotional impact, but since it mimics a fairy tale, I didn't feel emotional attached as I have with other books.

Characters: 10 stars
The characters are the best part of the story. I love that they have desires, and they have trails, but they are not traumatized like most characters the Sanderson writes.

I would say most characters are 2 or 3 dimensional characters. The cast has their own motives. The 1-dimensional characters were Dougs who was comedically made to be 1 dimensional. The other would-be harlie's father, but he has only two scenes.

Plot: 6 stars
I enjoyed the plot I admire how Brandon Sanderson takes well known plots like a traditional fairy tale story with a talking side kick and changing it to be unique. I like how Tress progresses in the story and how her passions change while rescuing Charlie.

Dialogue/Prose: 5 stars
The Dialogue for me was average for Brandon Sanderson. The Narrator of the book is Hoid and even though I enjoy him as a character I found his interjections in the story to be distracting at times. At other times I found it humorous.

Most memorable line: "He was six and a half feet tall and had a jaw so straight it made other men question if they were."

Worldbuilding/Magic System: 10 stars
This is one of the best worlds in the Cosmere in my opinion. It might be because of the artwork by Howard Lyon, but I thought it was unique magic system that fits well for pirates. There are twelve moons and the sea (spores) come from the moons. Each spore has a different color which causes the environment to change. Also, Different spores have different effects when given water.

 

**Spoilers**

 

 

Images by Isaac Stewart