AquaRegia

Yes indeed. Wandersail was the original title of Dawnshard.

I remember feeling the same way as I finished RoW: "wait, so all of Book 5 will happen in 10 days, wrapping up with the Contest?!?" I share your concern; I don't think I've ever read anything with a big time jump in middle that didn't feel vaguely unsatisfying, and sometimes the whole "fifteen years later" thing just completely dumps my brain right out of the story. Usually, "Epilogue, fifteen years later" is the WORST - I feel completely cheated. Here are my thoughts at the moment. Please keep in mind I'm nowhere near the most knowledgeable or insightful Sanderfan. 1) Szeth and Kaladin are going to Shinovar. Presumably, Szeth knows exactly where he wants to go, and they can both literally fly, so it shouldn't take long for the important action to start. Once there, A LOT of stuff can happen in ten days. 2) Shallan and Adolin, I'm guessing, will be searching for Ba-Ado-Mishram. They don't the ability to travel as quickly, so I'm less confident about how long it will take... but there is at least the possibility that a lot can happen in ten days on that front as well. 3) I expect Navani will stay at the Tower, and Dalinar has Oathgates and Windrunners to fly him around if he needs to be elsewhere, so important action can begin quickly for them. 4) TOdium, being a god, can provide us with multiple chapters worth of experiences which take only seconds in-world. I hope we see plenty of his Champion-choosing process. This, along with all the other characters available (coughGavilarKholincoughcough), looks to be enough for Parts 1-2-3, maybe even 4. Then the rest of the novel is post-Contest of Champions, dealing with the fallout. Frankly, I hope there is no big timeskip. I should probably watch the Shardcast, but right now I don't see a compelling need for an in-book time jump. One thing I find really interesting is the possibility that Brandon himself might be wrestling with the same issue. I know he's got the whole story outlined already... but each novel still requires decisions about the details of how the action is shown. Is he wondering right now whether a time jump is the most effective way to show the events that need to happen in Stormlight 5?

That is really interesting. I LOVE AoL, I think it's my favorite single novel also; the first of the "new era" of Mistborn, returning to a world we already knew and loved, plus the joy of discovering everything new. I find every character to be fantastic. But I also really enjoyed SoS and BoM, especially the deeper understanding we get of the magic system and the beginnings of connections to the Cosmere as a whole. I was amazed at how much more I got out of BoM the second - and even third - time I read it. I'd love to hear the reasons behind your feelings, but it should probably be in the Mistborn forum... make a topic and I'll join you there!

Welcome (back)! Do you have a favorite (book or series)?

That's a good question. My take would be of two parts: We know that Ruin and Preservation, each alone, could not CREATE Scadrial; they had to make deal and cooperate to create. So to me, that's one aspect. The other aspect is what he tells Wax he's going for - the most freedom of choice for the biggest number of people.

Welcome! I look forward to your insights regarding the specific skills and qualities which Brandon has that make him so storming good at his job. I find his work to be head and shoulders above just about everything else I've ever read.

@AonEne thank you and congrats, you have inspired me to start reading HPMOR and it is SO GOOD. As a HP fan and a science nerd, it really speaks to me in so many ways. I'm planning to take it slow, only a few chapters a day, so I can savor it... which means I won't be reading or posting here until I'm done, maybe in a month or so. But I do want you to know I'm following in your footsteps and look forward to talking about it!

HEY we just landed some robots on Mars! That was pretty exciting. I'm not big on feeling "pride" in something I didn't personally do... but I'm proud of my species right now.

I thought the same thing when I read that. Just like rare or valuable coins, e.g, pre-1964 silver quarters, most people would simply spend them like any others... but the few who realize they are different would gradually remove them from circulation. I agree with your interpretation: we are supposed to think that SOMEONE has been removing the high-quality spheres from the Rosharan money supply. And the Ghostbloods were also the first suspects who came to my mind.

Excellent, more books to read. Nora Jemisin is the only name on your list I'm familiar with. I'm a big fan of Larry Niven, Joel Shepherd, Vernor Vinge and David Brin (I'm more of a hard SF guy).

Welcome, fellow geezer! I'm 53 and started with Mistborn about 10 years ago. I've always been a fiction reader, and Brandon has clearly demonstrated that he's simply in class of his own - head and shoulders above everyone else as far as the craft of writing goes. My son might be very interested in your Stormlight/RWBY mashup. Who are some of your other favorite authors?

Just reread Interlude-5, where we hear Lift's recollection of her visit to the Nightwatcher and Cultivation. "I asked not to change," Lift whispered, opening her eyes. "I said, when everything else is going wrong, I want to be the same. I want to stay me. Not become someone else." Obviously, what she meant was that she wanted to remain a child forever; equally obviously, Cultivation chose to interpret her words differently. What exactly HAS Cultivation given to Lift, beyond the ability to convert food into Lifelight? I can't help but think that a god-given ability to "stay the same" will turn out to be extremely important at some point in the future. But how? Is it related to the Realmatic concept of Identity somehow? Any ideas, 17th Shard?

Not sure if anyone else saw this... but I enjoyed it.

Indeed this is true - I learned some stuff today! From Wikipedia: "Red Brass (85% copper, 5% each zinc, tin and lead) is an American term for the copper-zinc-tin alloy known as gunmetal, and an alloy which is considered both a brass and a bronze." I remember, after reading MB E2 for the first time, being surprised to learn that all those new alloys were real things. I had never heard of nicrosil, for example, and I knew the term "Wood's metal", but not "bendalloy".

Mind = BLOWN. AGAIN. How many times can Brandon do this to me? Hopefully many more LOL

I had completely forgotten about this scene. The first time through I simply gobbled up the book, in too much of a hurry to process everything. I knew in the back of my mind that there were things I didn't get, things I was missing... but I needed to get to the end!!!! I'm rereading slowly now, savoring it, but I'm only on ch. 44. I didn't even remember that this had happened. Thanks for posting it! I know I didn't figure out Testament until Shallan did. I'm not the mystery-solving type generally, preferring to wait and be surprised along with the characters. And this WAS a delicious surprise. It's almost heartbreaking now to see how tortured poor Pattern was; all he ever wanted to do is help his Radiant, but Shallan is so afraid of her hidden memories and doesn't know what she needs. He TRIED to tell her the truth, but he could see how much pain it was causing her. So he decided to go along with the lies. Now he finds that he has to talk to others behind her back, keep secrets from her, SPY on her, in order to try to help her. You can tell it's hurting HIM to have to do these things, but he's in a box and sees no other way out. And suddenly, there is Testament, in Lasting Integrity! Maybe seeing her will be the thing that allows Shallan to get past the lies. Maybe THIS what it will take to make everything all right. He makes the incredibly difficult and brave choice to show Testament to Shallan, hoping it will help, but KNOWING it will hurt. My eyes are literally tearing up right now, because I've been in that situation, fighting to make the right choice about how to help someone I love, someone who's in pain, and who may need to go through MORE pain before they can get better. When the person you love thinks you are hurting them, rather than helping them, it's agony like no other, and I think Pattern knows exactly what he is risking. Nobody can hurt you like the people you love most. Pattern knows Shallan can easily KILL HIM, simply by saying the wrong words. In this moment, Pattern is a storming hero. He chooses to risk his own life - AGAIN - in an attempt to help Shallan. But it doesn't work. Shallan bolts, choosing to run from the pain again. Pattern cuts his losses - Shallan is still in denial, but at least she didn't kill him yet. He lives to fight another day. Such a beautiful scene. Thanks for reminding me of it.

As a chemist, I applaud your self-motivated efforts to create an Allomantic Periodic table. As with the "real" Periodic table, many different schemes can work. Just because theirs is different does not make yours wrong! I will point out that your statement in bold above is not quite true. Alloys are complex and can be difficult to classify... but in general, brass = copper + zinc, and bronze = copper + tin. Some bronzes do contain zinc, but almost no brasses contain any tin, and for the ones that do, it's only like 1%.

I like all of your ideas, and hope we learn more about ALL those characters, especially Leshwi and Sja-Anat. I'm not a betting man... but if you forced me to bet all my spheres, I'd bet on Gavilar. Here's why:

Yes, it has been noticed and discussed, but without any particular resolution.

Present-day (RoW) Shallan does not see Testament until the trial - and does not recognize her at that time (ch. 90). Shallan realizes that the deadeye from the trial is HER SPREN only after Veil integrates, immediately before she decides not to kill Kelek (near the end of ch. 93).

I think this is incorrect. It's in Ch. 29 of RoW if you want to check again. Only Adolin and Maya see Testament in the town; Shallan stays on the barge to use the cube to talk to Mraize. There is no evidence of Shallan seeing Testament until the trial in Lasting Integrity.

I don't understand what ship you are talking about, and I see no reason to think Testament was in Lasting Integrity. The first time we see Testament is when Adolin and Maya notice her in the market, after the barge makes port. Her Inkspren friend says he has been caring for her here for a year or two, after finding her on an island far to the east - i.e., near the Shattered Plains.

I don't think there is any evidence of Testament being in Lasting Integrity until Adolin's trial. Her (unnamed) Inkspren friend found her - on an island far to the east (in other words, near the Shattered Plains, where Shallan had been) - and said she seemed to want to travel west (in other words, towards Urithiru, where Shallan then was). He is taking care of her, in the (unnamed) settlement on the shore where the expedition made port, when Adolin and Maya first see her.

I thought the same thing you did - the deadeye spren would end up in Shadesmar in the place corresponding to their location on the Physical realm when dismissed. However, it has been pointed out - correctly, I think - that this is likely not the case. First Captain Ico, then the Honorspren in Lasting Integrity, describe how the deadeyes are kept confined to prevent them from wandering off, in search of the human who is bonded to their corpse. There would be no point to such a confinement (in fact, it would be impossible) unless the spren reappear in the same place they left from when summoned. However, if I recall correctly, the number of known Shardblades is in the hundreds, while the number of Radiants (and thus Radiant spren) at the time of the Recreance was in the thousands. I suppose it's possible that there many hundreds (thousands?) of deadeye spren whose Blade form has been lost in the Physical Realm in the 4,500 years since, no longer bonded to any human, so they never get summoned anywhere.

Same for me - I got it just slightly before Sazed gets it. Kudos to your sis for her amazing SanderSkills! It's gotta be frustrating to have another whole book to wait before you can really talk to her about how awesome she is LOL I'm looking forward to hearing how she does on Era 2 reveals... because some of those blew my rusting mind.