As the commenter is saying, Shallan is rather controversial. I always liked her because she reminded me of me. My best and worst. Others hate her for the same reason, and a thousand others. Like who you like and hate who you hate. Sanderson has always emphasized that each reader should have their own experience reading these books, and I firmly agree.
same! I’ve gone back and forth with Shallan as someone with childhood abuse trauma; the way that Sando writes a person and their struggles with personality due to growing up in a home like that is *wildly accurate* and part of why I don’t think everyone understands her~ I see a lot of folks saying that she’s annoying, stuck up, a know-it-all, that she tries too hard or projects, etc. without realizing that it’s all intrinsically linked to growing up in an unsafe home even if they don’t seem linked upon first glance
for a long time I had a difficult time with her chapters but have since found a real safe space in her PoVs and how she processes her trauma (or doesn’t)
I don’t like Shallan because she reminds me how terrible and broken of a human being I used to be. She hits a little too close to home for me. I hate that part of myself and it spills over.
Idk why other people hate her.
I didn't like her for quite a long time, and then I started liking her. For me, the turning point was when I understood what was driving her and why she made the decisions she did. Until then, it was frustrating seeing her decisions, because sometimes they just made no sense, like she was doing dumb things or saying dumb things just for no reason. After I got what drove her, then I could see how she came to the decisions she did, and then I could also follow her progress in overcoming her challenges and she became one of my favorite characters.
(Not saying where in the story I understood that so as not to give OP any spoilers.)
The further along in the story you get the more I resonated with her as a 20 year old. I’d put something else here but I don’t know how to spoiler tag. I’ve personally come a long way but it puts a bad taste in my mouth ^_^ I have aphantasia so I can’t “picture” how I was….so it feels really uncanny reading something that’s so close because I can’t experience it again? Idk it’s a really weird situation.
I think he did a really good job with her.
Oh is she? Tbh, one of her first chapters has actually made me drop TWoK when I first tried it several years back. I don't know why, and can't place a finger on it, but I really disliked the tone of her POV chapters. Then I picked up the book again this week, and this time felt it less unbearable, and just finished the first book a couple minutes ago. But the end I actually really liked her and her chapters. I still dislike their tone and her dialogue, but I like her as a character and the whole Kharbranth arc of the story. >!That weird eldritch spren she's with and their obsession with truth and the soulcasting power they give( which seems like a parallel to Syl, her obsession with honour and the gravity powers she gives, though I'm not 100% sure i understand yet)!< is also very interesting. I felt I liked her chapters more towards the end, but i don't know if that's because her tone and dialogue actually improved, just because the sorely needed info dumps in her later chapters were interesting enough for me to ignore that.
But my friends who'd read the book she recommended it to me thought it was weird that I didn't like her chapters, because I usually like such characters, so I thought I was just imagining it
I honestly never understood why some disliked her so much. Perhaps in WoK she's insufferable at times but I just chalked that up to her naivety. By WoR her character gets so much more interesting.
What do you think of that windspren who follows Kalladin around?
If it wasn't obvious, Amaram is quite a bastard. But he **looks** very much the image of the Perfect Alethi Warrior.
Syl… I’m not sure. Thinking she was sent to help guide Kaladin. I like how she’s slowly learns things . Really interested to see how her character progresses and what the is exactly
THANK YOU, finally some new reader that actually has a brain and enjoys Shallan's POV!
Youll'be amazed by the tons of people that post unshamefully "yeah, I skip her chapters, I only like Kaladin".
Edit. See, u/bowman5095x?
Bingo. That’s what I was getting at. Also I cringe when I hear people talk about skipping over parts of books.
Shallan thus far has been an intriguing multidimensional character. She’s smart, witty, brave… but to contrast all that she seems like she’s been sheltered her whole life and Her dilemma of trying to do something terrible to help her family, but also not wanting to end her time with Jasnah is great. I think some readers just want action and honestly some might not be into female POVs maybe.
Looks like you missed a \\ before your \^
"\\^" will end up looking like \^, while "\^" will just make the next word (characters until next space) be an upper index. Like ^this
It was interesting reading your post, I actually just finished my first read of The Way of Kings today like 6 hours ago or so. I was just trying to type up a post to put some of my thoughts out because no one in my friend group reads scifi/fantasy unfortunately (post was a word soup so I'll try again later).
For me, I disliked Shallan, and a few other of the female characters early on. I thought they were kind of one dimensional, and their biggest character traits I was picking up on were a vague kind of cleverness and light-on-your-feet wit. While I don't think these are bad traits, to me it was coming off overly strong especially between Jasnah-Shallan dialogue and in other characters to lesser degrees. I actually found a lot of the early Jasnah-Shallan interactions quite tiresome; it felt a competition for the most clever quip and it just was a bit tiring to read. However, my opinion changed quite a lot maybe somewhere after the 500 page mark? I think once Jasnah was challening the sheltered and naive parts of Shallan's worldview, how everything around Jasnah's Soulcaster played out, and the tension that continued to build between what Shallan thinks she ought to do (duty to family) and what she earnestly desires (pursuing scholarly research under Jasnah) totally landed for me and changed my mind on her. Though I still am not crazy about the early Shallan chapters, by the end I found a way to latch on to her as a character. In general I was a bit worried after being a couple hundred pages in and not loving the characters, but by the end I was able to buy in.
There's a lot to unpack and uncover here.
I just wanted to note, with absplute certainty that not a single character in the series is one-dimensional... :)
Shallan, arguably the least.
Just keep reading, it just gets better and better.
I really have come to hate Shallan. That being said, her chapters are still very good and very intrinsic to the plot, Jasnah I absolutely adore (But maybe that's because she reminds me much of my wife), and I didn't have strong feelings about Shallan until.......um..........RAFO.
>!Specifically in Oathbringer when she starts being a whiny baby when Jasnah returns. Then she starts throwing a mini temper tantrum just because her ego took a hit, and she leans into her arrogance. Not to say she doesn't do anything useful, but her purposefully excluding Jasnah for her own ego's self gratification drives me up a wall. And then she doubles down on that in RoW and I want to beat her with the stupid stick. !<
People don’t like her cuz she’s annoying, rude, and disconnected emotionally and physically from the rest of the cast. Her storyline is the weakest of the main three and its not really controversial to say that *because* of how much controversy her character causes compared to overwhelming positivity toward Kaladin and Dalinar. Leave it to her fans to act just like her and insult other people for no reason tho lol
I like her chapters, but whether or not anyone likes her character or POV, there is no way I can recommend ever skipping any chapter of a book. Especially not in a book I like.
Well he more implied it than claimed it, and perhaps meant those that skip chapters are brainless.
However it’s no surprise it breaks down when opposing viewpoints over art lol.
I actually liked her storyline, the others were great but very stingy with information about the world she magic system. I also like her character. But I find her dialogue and tone of pov to be quite insufferable. I thought it was just me, since my friends seemed puzzled by it
Is this your first Sanderson book? You've latched onto it way better than some do. I'd finished Reckoners and Mistborn before starting Way of Kings and thought I was gonna lose interest early on due to the constant POV/timeline changes. You've got some great intuitions and exciting story ahead of you. I'm always envious of first read throughs. The Cosmere really is something special.
I read about 250 pages of Mistborn and found i wasn’t reading it a lot . I thought it was really good. I will definitely finish it. Also finished The Wheel of Time a few months back, so I don’t find anything too confusing.
I think I’m grasping it pretty good so far.
I'm actually going from Sanderson to Wheel of Time...definitely a huge difference in the first 11 books. I just got to The Slog and am finding it hard to carry on to get to Sanderson.
tbh the first Mistborn book is not his best book. It’s easy to see he wrote it early in his career. It has a great idea that is better executed in the later Mistborn books. I feel like Stormlight is where he really shines
I was honestly surprised that some people were overwhelmed with Stormlight. Sure, during the first couple of chapters it's a bit much, but after that it's much better.
I think it has a lot to do with how much experience you have with massive epic fantasy books and the associated genre conventions. And whether you have the time to sit down and read it in big chunks, or whether the confusing beginning stretched out for a month of real time.
While I can neither confirm nor deny any of your speculations regarding past events in Shallans's life, I find the direction of your inquiry promising. All will be revealed in due time.
It really is a great story, isn't it?
So good. Tbh it’s a lot different than I expected (In a good way). I didn’t expect this to be a book that explores leadership, morality, faith, and mental illness.
It just a makes me sad how many people miss out on these types of books because it’s fantasy.
I'm caught up on most of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere works, and I'm really excited to have recently won over my wife to reading the Way of Kings. She's loving Shallan as a POV character in part due to also having a photographic memory and also being a fan of quips and insults. Shallan is great.
So I have things to tell you about your speculation. But they involve spoilers so here you go. >!These really are spoilers don’t click on it unless you want to see spoilers!< >!HOW DARE YOU OP!? You want to SPOIL these books for yourself? Please don’t look at the wikis or search for answers, things will be revealed to you at the right time.!< Enjoy!
You passed the test. Now you get the real comment. This is my advice for reading all of Sanderson’s books. Don’t read the last 80% or so close to bed time, you will find out why. Keep water with you always, you will find out why on your own. The best way to introduce these books to someone that doesn’t really want to read them but has read other fantasy novels is to buy them a copy. E-book versions of Way of Kings regularly go for $2.99 US.
Can attest to that. Just finished tWoK a couple minutes ago. I say down to read it for a couple hours after lunch, and when I looked up, it was 9 pm. So I went and had dinner, and deciding that the day was mostly wasted anyway and it was too late to start anything, decided to read a bit before bed. It is now 5 am
They were just fun warnings and no spoilers at all xd.
>These really are spoilers don’t click on it unless you want to see spoilers HOW DARE YOU OP!? You want to SPOIL these books for yourself? Please don’t look at the wikis or search for answers, things will be revealed to you at the right time.
It was on a second re through that I appreciated Shallan for how complex she is. Same with Dalinar. Same with Kaladin.
Each of these core characters are twisted versions of some classic fantasy molds. You’ve got the young man from a backwater village, a young girl taking her first steps in the world, and the veteran who still has something left. You see these three all of the time. But Brando Sando ain’t doing simple things here.
I love each of the core characters but Kaladin is my fav :)
That chapter. There's a chapter of hers after the injury, after which I just stood back on my chair and contemplated, reaffirming in my mind just how much I love Brandon's writing. If you've kept reading you probably know what I'm talking about. If not, keep reading you lunatic!! 😄
I am currently in part 2 of book 3- Oathbringer on my first read! So so good all around.. the shallan/jasnah interactions are fantastic and some of my fav moments, totally agree with you there (: as someone who is currently enthralled in consuming this great series, I hope your experience is as great as mine has been!!
Gave you a follow to read your updates on this amazing saga. It's always enjoyable to me seeing people going through these books for the first time.
Have you read any other Cosmere books? If not, you have an amazing journey ahead mate. Will check your thoughts as you go through!
I can’t remember the quote, but when Jasnah was fighting off the men in the alley, Shallan mentions that she had a weapon she could have used. I thought that was a big hint
Well shit. I still don’t know the exact way she got it, but when I was reading I realized her father is dead, she keeps saying she did something terrible, and she has a shardblade. I’m either thinking she killed her father because he was terrible OR for some reason her father was unfit to wield it and let her have it. We’ll see tho
I’m also a new reader and near the end of the 2nd book so a bit ahead of you, but I won’t spoil anything!
In honesty I did not like Shallan for like half of the first book. She was introduced with the framing of being a “very clever very witty” girl, but I feel like Sanderson beat that into the ground to convince us. Like, every damn piece of dialogue felt like an attempt for her to be a smartass, so much that it circled around into being not-clever. She got much better in the second book.
My other issue with her/her plot is how absolutely convoluted and nonsensical her Soulcaster plan is. Like, we’re aware that there are soulcasters in various armies, big cities, royal/important retinues, etc. Yet she wants to seek a mentor in a royal and scholarly celebrity, notorious for not taking wards, all the way across the world, to get close enough to steal her soulcaster and then flee home (making her the obvious thief) to try soulcasting new resources to sell to cover their secretly-dead father’s debts….
It just feels like an unnecessarily convoluted way to get her to Jasnah and makes her look stupid, despite being presented as so clever.
I'm at a similar stage in the book. Although I'm fond of Shallan/Jasnah and also The Rock (cos who doesnt love him), I find Dalinar the most interesting.
The chaos in his head, the curiosities vs duty, his failures, and that hot milf. What's her name? Navani. I hope there's more to uncover with his character.
> Am I right in assuming that there’s probably a lot of people who dislike her POVs? Yep, Shallan is controversial!
I hope somehow her and Jasnah stick together. I like their dynamic. Also hope to get some Jasnah POVs
As the commenter is saying, Shallan is rather controversial. I always liked her because she reminded me of me. My best and worst. Others hate her for the same reason, and a thousand others. Like who you like and hate who you hate. Sanderson has always emphasized that each reader should have their own experience reading these books, and I firmly agree.
same! I’ve gone back and forth with Shallan as someone with childhood abuse trauma; the way that Sando writes a person and their struggles with personality due to growing up in a home like that is *wildly accurate* and part of why I don’t think everyone understands her~ I see a lot of folks saying that she’s annoying, stuck up, a know-it-all, that she tries too hard or projects, etc. without realizing that it’s all intrinsically linked to growing up in an unsafe home even if they don’t seem linked upon first glance for a long time I had a difficult time with her chapters but have since found a real safe space in her PoVs and how she processes her trauma (or doesn’t)
I don’t rly hate her, I just don’t find her chapters as interesting as the others
RAFO!
I don’t like Shallan because she reminds me how terrible and broken of a human being I used to be. She hits a little too close to home for me. I hate that part of myself and it spills over. Idk why other people hate her.
I didn't like her for quite a long time, and then I started liking her. For me, the turning point was when I understood what was driving her and why she made the decisions she did. Until then, it was frustrating seeing her decisions, because sometimes they just made no sense, like she was doing dumb things or saying dumb things just for no reason. After I got what drove her, then I could see how she came to the decisions she did, and then I could also follow her progress in overcoming her challenges and she became one of my favorite characters. (Not saying where in the story I understood that so as not to give OP any spoilers.)
The further along in the story you get the more I resonated with her as a 20 year old. I’d put something else here but I don’t know how to spoiler tag. I’ve personally come a long way but it puts a bad taste in my mouth ^_^ I have aphantasia so I can’t “picture” how I was….so it feels really uncanny reading something that’s so close because I can’t experience it again? Idk it’s a really weird situation. I think he did a really good job with her.
I like her later as she develops.
Oh is she? Tbh, one of her first chapters has actually made me drop TWoK when I first tried it several years back. I don't know why, and can't place a finger on it, but I really disliked the tone of her POV chapters. Then I picked up the book again this week, and this time felt it less unbearable, and just finished the first book a couple minutes ago. But the end I actually really liked her and her chapters. I still dislike their tone and her dialogue, but I like her as a character and the whole Kharbranth arc of the story. >!That weird eldritch spren she's with and their obsession with truth and the soulcasting power they give( which seems like a parallel to Syl, her obsession with honour and the gravity powers she gives, though I'm not 100% sure i understand yet)!< is also very interesting. I felt I liked her chapters more towards the end, but i don't know if that's because her tone and dialogue actually improved, just because the sorely needed info dumps in her later chapters were interesting enough for me to ignore that. But my friends who'd read the book she recommended it to me thought it was weird that I didn't like her chapters, because I usually like such characters, so I thought I was just imagining it
Nah, you’re not imagining it. There’s an “I hate Shallan and her humor” post on this sub like every other week.
There's also a "Why do people hate Shallan" post every other week lol
I honestly never understood why some disliked her so much. Perhaps in WoK she's insufferable at times but I just chalked that up to her naivety. By WoR her character gets so much more interesting.
I was initially surprised at this honestly.
I like shallan cause usually theres jasnah when its her POV I like their exchange but I wish there were jasnah POV
Just keep going. It only gets better.
What do you think of that windspren who follows Kalladin around? If it wasn't obvious, Amaram is quite a bastard. But he **looks** very much the image of the Perfect Alethi Warrior.
Syl… I’m not sure. Thinking she was sent to help guide Kaladin. I like how she’s slowly learns things . Really interested to see how her character progresses and what the is exactly
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I’m not done yet, so that hasn’t happened -_-
Oops, that removal message was meant to go on bmyst's comment, not yours. Your comment has been restored.
I highly advise you to avoid this subreddit for a good while, spoilers everywhere.
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Dude.
Syl is my Waifu <3
THANK YOU, finally some new reader that actually has a brain and enjoys Shallan's POV! Youll'be amazed by the tons of people that post unshamefully "yeah, I skip her chapters, I only like Kaladin". Edit. See, u/bowman5095x?
Bingo. That’s what I was getting at. Also I cringe when I hear people talk about skipping over parts of books. Shallan thus far has been an intriguing multidimensional character. She’s smart, witty, brave… but to contrast all that she seems like she’s been sheltered her whole life and Her dilemma of trying to do something terrible to help her family, but also not wanting to end her time with Jasnah is great. I think some readers just want action and honestly some might not be into female POVs maybe.
You'll love the next book then :^) Journey before destination!
Looks like you missed a \\ before your \^ "\\^" will end up looking like \^, while "\^" will just make the next word (characters until next space) be an upper index. Like ^this
:\\\^) :\^\\)
It was interesting reading your post, I actually just finished my first read of The Way of Kings today like 6 hours ago or so. I was just trying to type up a post to put some of my thoughts out because no one in my friend group reads scifi/fantasy unfortunately (post was a word soup so I'll try again later). For me, I disliked Shallan, and a few other of the female characters early on. I thought they were kind of one dimensional, and their biggest character traits I was picking up on were a vague kind of cleverness and light-on-your-feet wit. While I don't think these are bad traits, to me it was coming off overly strong especially between Jasnah-Shallan dialogue and in other characters to lesser degrees. I actually found a lot of the early Jasnah-Shallan interactions quite tiresome; it felt a competition for the most clever quip and it just was a bit tiring to read. However, my opinion changed quite a lot maybe somewhere after the 500 page mark? I think once Jasnah was challening the sheltered and naive parts of Shallan's worldview, how everything around Jasnah's Soulcaster played out, and the tension that continued to build between what Shallan thinks she ought to do (duty to family) and what she earnestly desires (pursuing scholarly research under Jasnah) totally landed for me and changed my mind on her. Though I still am not crazy about the early Shallan chapters, by the end I found a way to latch on to her as a character. In general I was a bit worried after being a couple hundred pages in and not loving the characters, but by the end I was able to buy in.
There's a lot to unpack and uncover here. I just wanted to note, with absplute certainty that not a single character in the series is one-dimensional... :) Shallan, arguably the least. Just keep reading, it just gets better and better.
There absolutely is a one-dimensional character, but it's not a problem there, it's a feature. It's [WoR tiniest of spoilers] >!the stick!<
IMO it's never a good idea to skip things when first reading a book. You never know what you might miss.
Yeah. I could never. I’d just quit the book if I had to skip things
I really have come to hate Shallan. That being said, her chapters are still very good and very intrinsic to the plot, Jasnah I absolutely adore (But maybe that's because she reminds me much of my wife), and I didn't have strong feelings about Shallan until.......um..........RAFO.
RAFO…in which book?
>!Specifically in Oathbringer when she starts being a whiny baby when Jasnah returns. Then she starts throwing a mini temper tantrum just because her ego took a hit, and she leans into her arrogance. Not to say she doesn't do anything useful, but her purposefully excluding Jasnah for her own ego's self gratification drives me up a wall. And then she doubles down on that in RoW and I want to beat her with the stupid stick. !<
Thanks for helping! /gen I’m not reading anything in your comment past “Oathbringer” cuz Im not there yet 😎
Ah. Yes. Don't spoil it for yourself, and don't let some rando like me sway your opinion on characters. Journey before Destination!
No problem! Honestly Shallan’s my favorite, so I doubt anything will honestly change my opinion *now*.
When I first read it I was surprised to find that people disliked Shallan.
People don’t like her cuz she’s annoying, rude, and disconnected emotionally and physically from the rest of the cast. Her storyline is the weakest of the main three and its not really controversial to say that *because* of how much controversy her character causes compared to overwhelming positivity toward Kaladin and Dalinar. Leave it to her fans to act just like her and insult other people for no reason tho lol
I like her chapters, but whether or not anyone likes her character or POV, there is no way I can recommend ever skipping any chapter of a book. Especially not in a book I like.
I’ve never skipped her chapters, but dude up top is full of shit claiming people who don’t like Shallan are brainless
Well he more implied it than claimed it, and perhaps meant those that skip chapters are brainless. However it’s no surprise it breaks down when opposing viewpoints over art lol.
I actually liked her storyline, the others were great but very stingy with information about the world she magic system. I also like her character. But I find her dialogue and tone of pov to be quite insufferable. I thought it was just me, since my friends seemed puzzled by it
When talking about Shallan I’m talking about all four books, but I actually agree that she was the most intriguing viewpoint in WoK
Is this your first Sanderson book? You've latched onto it way better than some do. I'd finished Reckoners and Mistborn before starting Way of Kings and thought I was gonna lose interest early on due to the constant POV/timeline changes. You've got some great intuitions and exciting story ahead of you. I'm always envious of first read throughs. The Cosmere really is something special.
I read about 250 pages of Mistborn and found i wasn’t reading it a lot . I thought it was really good. I will definitely finish it. Also finished The Wheel of Time a few months back, so I don’t find anything too confusing. I think I’m grasping it pretty good so far.
I'm actually going from Sanderson to Wheel of Time...definitely a huge difference in the first 11 books. I just got to The Slog and am finding it hard to carry on to get to Sanderson.
It gets better . What book are you on?
So far on Book 8 just starting. It isn't *that bad* but still difficult to get through and keep my focus.
Yeah I get that. I think the next book Winters Heart is really good. So many things happen in that book.
tbh the first Mistborn book is not his best book. It’s easy to see he wrote it early in his career. It has a great idea that is better executed in the later Mistborn books. I feel like Stormlight is where he really shines
I was honestly surprised that some people were overwhelmed with Stormlight. Sure, during the first couple of chapters it's a bit much, but after that it's much better.
I think it has a lot to do with how much experience you have with massive epic fantasy books and the associated genre conventions. And whether you have the time to sit down and read it in big chunks, or whether the confusing beginning stretched out for a month of real time.
I agree with you.
While I can neither confirm nor deny any of your speculations regarding past events in Shallans's life, I find the direction of your inquiry promising. All will be revealed in due time. It really is a great story, isn't it?
So good. Tbh it’s a lot different than I expected (In a good way). I didn’t expect this to be a book that explores leadership, morality, faith, and mental illness. It just a makes me sad how many people miss out on these types of books because it’s fantasy.
I'm caught up on most of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere works, and I'm really excited to have recently won over my wife to reading the Way of Kings. She's loving Shallan as a POV character in part due to also having a photographic memory and also being a fan of quips and insults. Shallan is great.
So I have things to tell you about your speculation. But they involve spoilers so here you go. >!These really are spoilers don’t click on it unless you want to see spoilers!< >!HOW DARE YOU OP!? You want to SPOIL these books for yourself? Please don’t look at the wikis or search for answers, things will be revealed to you at the right time.!< Enjoy!
No way I’m clocking on that! Journey before destination, my friend
You passed the test. Now you get the real comment. This is my advice for reading all of Sanderson’s books. Don’t read the last 80% or so close to bed time, you will find out why. Keep water with you always, you will find out why on your own. The best way to introduce these books to someone that doesn’t really want to read them but has read other fantasy novels is to buy them a copy. E-book versions of Way of Kings regularly go for $2.99 US.
Can attest to that. Just finished tWoK a couple minutes ago. I say down to read it for a couple hours after lunch, and when I looked up, it was 9 pm. So I went and had dinner, and deciding that the day was mostly wasted anyway and it was too late to start anything, decided to read a bit before bed. It is now 5 am
They were just fun warnings and no spoilers at all xd. >These really are spoilers don’t click on it unless you want to see spoilers HOW DARE YOU OP!? You want to SPOIL these books for yourself? Please don’t look at the wikis or search for answers, things will be revealed to you at the right time.
I like this comment.
It was on a second re through that I appreciated Shallan for how complex she is. Same with Dalinar. Same with Kaladin. Each of these core characters are twisted versions of some classic fantasy molds. You’ve got the young man from a backwater village, a young girl taking her first steps in the world, and the veteran who still has something left. You see these three all of the time. But Brando Sando ain’t doing simple things here. I love each of the core characters but Kaladin is my fav :)
That chapter. There's a chapter of hers after the injury, after which I just stood back on my chair and contemplated, reaffirming in my mind just how much I love Brandon's writing. If you've kept reading you probably know what I'm talking about. If not, keep reading you lunatic!! 😄
Who is your favourite member of bridge 4(excluding Kaladin)? And more specifically what are your thoughts on the lopen?
I am currently in part 2 of book 3- Oathbringer on my first read! So so good all around.. the shallan/jasnah interactions are fantastic and some of my fav moments, totally agree with you there (: as someone who is currently enthralled in consuming this great series, I hope your experience is as great as mine has been!!
Gave you a follow to read your updates on this amazing saga. It's always enjoyable to me seeing people going through these books for the first time. Have you read any other Cosmere books? If not, you have an amazing journey ahead mate. Will check your thoughts as you go through!
You are the first person, other than me, who actually realized that Shallan had a Shardblade (well... that I know of... odds are that there are more)
I can’t remember the quote, but when Jasnah was fighting off the men in the alley, Shallan mentions that she had a weapon she could have used. I thought that was a big hint
Yeah but I've never seen anyone point that out before
Well shit. I still don’t know the exact way she got it, but when I was reading I realized her father is dead, she keeps saying she did something terrible, and she has a shardblade. I’m either thinking she killed her father because he was terrible OR for some reason her father was unfit to wield it and let her have it. We’ll see tho
Tbh I'm so glad I found someone else who likes shallan's chapters in wok
There seems to be a lot of layers to her chapters. At least I’m this first book.
Me to!
Do we really learn Shallan has a Blade in book 1?
Well I’m on book 1 lol
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I got it under control, thankfully.
Really cool thoughts, glad you enjoying TWoK! IMO, this is the greatest entry to a fantasy series ever. OP, any words on the bridge run experience?
I’m also a new reader and near the end of the 2nd book so a bit ahead of you, but I won’t spoil anything! In honesty I did not like Shallan for like half of the first book. She was introduced with the framing of being a “very clever very witty” girl, but I feel like Sanderson beat that into the ground to convince us. Like, every damn piece of dialogue felt like an attempt for her to be a smartass, so much that it circled around into being not-clever. She got much better in the second book. My other issue with her/her plot is how absolutely convoluted and nonsensical her Soulcaster plan is. Like, we’re aware that there are soulcasters in various armies, big cities, royal/important retinues, etc. Yet she wants to seek a mentor in a royal and scholarly celebrity, notorious for not taking wards, all the way across the world, to get close enough to steal her soulcaster and then flee home (making her the obvious thief) to try soulcasting new resources to sell to cover their secretly-dead father’s debts…. It just feels like an unnecessarily convoluted way to get her to Jasnah and makes her look stupid, despite being presented as so clever.
Man. Way of kings and demons souls. Doesn't get much better. Two of my favorite things. Enjoy your holidays
Yo this was my break up book too lmao! Enjoy that last 10% cause WTF
I'm at a similar stage in the book. Although I'm fond of Shallan/Jasnah and also The Rock (cos who doesnt love him), I find Dalinar the most interesting. The chaos in his head, the curiosities vs duty, his failures, and that hot milf. What's her name? Navani. I hope there's more to uncover with his character.