#also just because like ... a LOT of it felt out of character writing-wise for sanderson

[kbookblurbs]

Wind and Truth - Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #5)

4/5 - midseason-finale ass book; he needs to scrap this editor; this book simply never ends

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!! LIKE FIRST LINE!!!

We finally come to the end of the first arc of the Stormlight Archives and they are going to need a new name. Before we dive in, I want to clarify that I did enjoy this book! I think it tackled a series of very hard-to-conclude plotlines in a relatively good way, and I think it sets Sanderson up for success in the latter half of this series. With that said, I'll be splitting this review into four parts:

Kaladin, Szeth, & therapy speak

The Spiritual Realm plot

Azir

Book mechanics

Kaladin, Szeth, & Therapy Speak

Now first of all, anyone who's read anything I've written knows I love Kaladin - he's one of my favorite characters of all time and his journey through depression is one of my favorite parts of this series. That said. I find the whole timeline of this healing to be highly suspect, and his attempts at therapizing embarrassing at best and deeply annoying at worst. What context is there for him to go from literally attempting suicide in the last book to semi-competent therapist in no time at all? Need I remind Sanderson myself that there is no time skip between the end of RoW and WaT?

The language is also just bafflingly modern in a way that nothing in this series has been before, but we'll get to more on that later.

The flip side of this criticism is that Szeth's plotline was easily my favorite of the book. His completed arc might rise to rivaling Kaladin's (thus far) in terms of how much I enjoyed it. His backstory is so tragic (slay for the almost successful military coup though?) and I truly believed he wasn't going to make it through the book until the very last page. His moments with his father, in the past and present, brought me to tears more than once.

The Spiritual Realm Plot

This whole plotline took too long and frankly, it was boring. Watching Shallan slay her demons for the umpteenth time and deal with Formless again and kill her mother again was, and this may be controversial, not a very interesting plot point to me. She's done all this before. I feel that this book, as a whole, gave diminishing returns on her pagetime to character development ratio. I also don't feel that Shallan, with all her everything else, needed a Herald as a mother as another twist, but maybe that will be more relevant in the future. For that reason, and that reason only, I'll bite my tongue on criticizing it unnecessarily

While it was nice to see Renarin and Rlain get together, I have to admit that Renarin's POV didn't add much for me. I think Sanderson could have written the entire plotline for these two from Rlain's perspective and it would've been far more interesting since he is, in my opinion, the more interesting character between the two of them. Renarin's POV does not reveal anything that isn't already clear from other POVs.

I also just wanted more of Ba-Ado-Mishram. She was haunting the story but not present. I understand that's likely for later plot reasons, but it did make this section drag. Dalinar contributed to that but  we don't have time to get into that right now. I was happy he died though (long overdue, in my opinion).

Azir

Adolin #1 character of all time? The only one to save their assigned city and did it with 0 Radiants and the power of friendships? Nobody is doing it like him.

I loved the founding of the Unoathed and, particularly, Yanagawn's development. I'm really hoping that Yanagawn becomes a more important character in next major arc, since he was so sweet here.

I did not love that we spent probably 25% of the book in Azir fighting battles. Contrary to the opinion of Sanderson many fantasy authors, there is an upper limit on how many battles you can include before I get tired of reading them. There's only so many ways you can swing a sword or block a pike etc etc before I'm bored.

Book Mechanics

Overall, I find this concluding book to be much weaker than the other 4 in the series. Whereas it had seemed that the pacing was improving in Oathbreaker and Rhythm of War, here we were back to all over the place. While I liked that he split the plot into each day leading up to the contest, the timeline genuinely made no sense.

Beyond that, this entire book was filled with oddly YA-style prose that has never appeared in the Stormlight Archive until now. I think whoever edited this book must be different from the other four because, in my opinion, it was much too modern, not as tight, and frankly, not as good. And I know this might be controversial, but I did not think Maya calling Adolin a slut was funny. Why would she even use that word? Whore or prostitute would've been acceptable because they've been referenced here before but I found that example and others like it to be jarring.

Conclusion

I liked this book, but it's by a longshot my least favorite in the series. It was too long and frankly, some of the characters didn't even sound like themselves. I know that Sanderson can do better than this, but it leaves me a little wary for the next arc.

There's lots here I didn't cover (Jasnah my beloved, Sigzil! I'm in mourning) but this was already quite long. DMs / ask box are always open if you'd like to chat more.

[metalandmagi]

January Media Madness

It’s a new year, and yes I’m still keeping track of the stuff I watch and/or read. I really just like being able to keep track of everything that came out during the year, and I like to shout my thoughts into the void. And maybe someone will find something they like.

Movies!

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals: Okay, not a movie, but it’s the latest musical from Starkid so I had to include it somewhere. And this time it’s a horror alien/zombie take over that causes everyone to act like they’re in a musical, and humanity’s only hope is an average guy who happens to not like musicals. That may not sound bad, BUT THINK OF THE IMPLICATIONS! The plot could sort of meander at times, but it’s hilarious and also pretty dark for Starkid. If nothing else, watch it because Lauren Lopez is a goddess. 9/10

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Everyone’s favorite silly King Arthur searching for the holy grail story. I hadn’t watched this movie since I was a kid, and there was so much stuff I forgot about! And yeah it’s still pretty great. I do feel like it drags in the middle a little, but I still always enjoy the tomfoolery! 9/10

Three Identical Strangers: A documentary about a set of identical triplets who were separated at birth and the sinister intentions of the adoption agency who separated them. On top of being an interesting story, it is super thought provoking bringing up questions of scientific morality, nature vs nurture, and mental health...which does make it a little depressing. I love the way it sets up the mystery of the story, but it also makes you feel terrible for trying to plot out and guess the story of these actual human beings’ lives. So I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in crazy stories and scientific corruption! 9/10

Venom: A classic tale of a boy and his symbiote. In which the weirdest investigative reporter in the world is possessed by an alien parasite while trying to stop a corrupt corporation from constantly murdering people. Guys, I originally never planned to see this movie. I never cared about Venom. I was never big into the Spiderman universe, but then this movie came out and everyone was saying how weird it was...and how Eddie and Venom are like a thing...so curiosity got the better of me. And I’m kind of underwhelmed. I think I would have liked it more if I never had any expectations going into it, because it really wasn’t as weird as I thought it would be. The first 30 minutes were a slog, the dialogue was clunky, the plot was very predictable and basic, and I feel like Eddie and Venom didn’t have enough interaction. But it had its moments, I get why some people love it, and I did like what I saw of the symbiote relationship, so all in all it was just..okay. Oh well. 6.5/10

Mama Mia Here We Go Again: The just as ridiculous sequel to Mama Mia, featuring more dumb plots that don’t fit together, more dumb writing, and more over the top performances. Just like the first one, it’s a silly excuse to put some ABBA songs in a movie and make you have fun, and it accomplishes that in spades. Because if you’re watching a Mama Mia movie for the “plot” or anything other than the musical numbers and silliness, you’re making a huge mistake. It is a little clunkier trying to weave two timelines together, but who cares because they’re singing Dancing Queen! As an actual movie, we all know it’s barely passable as a 6/10 but just for getting drunk with your friends and having fun it’s a 9/10

Books!

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis: The fifth/third book in the Chronicles of Narnia in which a boy and a talking horse run away from the land of Calormen to get to Narnia...and find out about a plot to take over Narnia along the way. I know some people think this is the most interesting book in the series plot wise, and technically there is more plot...but it’s boring as hell. I really think Lewis’s normal interjections would have made it more entertaining, but he doesn’t use his author’s voice at all! Not only is it written in an incredibly circular and drawn out way (some people literally tell stories like they’re writing the bible), but it’s also SUPER RACIST and kind of sexist too. I was so excited because when the book first started I thought we were getting a canonical protagonist of color...and then he turns out to be a kidnapped white boy surrounded by “savages.” Yes we have Aravis...but I really don’t know how to feel about her. Also Bree the horse is really just an asshole, so it’s hard to like any of the characters. I did appreciate having adult Edmund and Susan around though, so it’s not a total waste. The truth is, this is the book that I could barely get through as a kid and would constantly fall asleep reading so I barely remembered anything besides the fact that I didn’t like it. 3/10

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson: In a distant future, humans are trapped on a wasteland planet where their only hope for survival are teenagers flying spaceships while fighting a mysterious alien race. Aka: local girl is constantly dumped on by society and makes friends with a talking spaceship. Okay this book definitely has its problems, but I mostly don’t care because 1. The world building is great. 2. Spensa is a fun main character. 3. All the side characters have distinguishable personalities and interactions *cough* m-bot *cough*. And 4. The plot could be predictable at times but I really liked following the mystery of it all...even if there’s some weird chosen one type of bullshit going on towards the end. It has a major season one Attack on Titan vibe with all the questions about humanity’s history and mankind uniting to fight a mysterious enemy. This is a super fun read that kept me theorizing and was also incredibly motivational. Did I like all of Sanderson’s decisions when it came to which characters died? Hell no. Do I think the government would have a lot more backlash considering its dumbass way of fighting wars? Yes. But I’d still recommend it, and I’m still looking forward to the next book! 8/10

TV Shows!

Aggretsuko: The most adorable musical comedy anime of 2018, where Retsuko, a 25 year old office worker is getting fed up with her job and copes with life by singing aggressive death metal songs...and by the way everyone’s a cute animal. I’m a little late to this party, but this show is so precious and also disturbingly accurate to real life. Retsuko is so relatable, Haida’s crush on her is well executed and not forced, there’s great working women solidarity (Gori and Washimi are the fucking queens of anime side characters) and the metal is so well integrated! Please watch this charming show and the Christmas special if you haven’t already! I NEED ANOTHER SEASON NOW! 10/10

A Series of Unfortunate Events (season 3): The final season of the Baudelaires’ tale of misery and woe. And man did they stick the landing. “But it doesn’t leave things vague enough, they didn’t leave the sugar bowl a mystery.” GOOD! I’ve had to deal with Snicket’s badly written ending to the books since 2006. I love that they explained as much as they did. The ending was bittersweet and more concrete while still delivering the message of how the world is morally gray. Also Quigley was amazing, Sunny was amazing, FERNALD WAS AMAZING! KIT WAS AMAZING! EVERYONE WAS AMAZING! And I almost cried seeing the kids in their outfits from the book covers. I wish Jacqueline was in it, but I think her character would have felt redundant with Kit in the mix. This was an amazing adaption all around, and this season did a great job at putting some of the more...difficult books on screen without it feeling out of place. Even if you haven’t read the books, I encourage anyone who likes mysteries and different forms of storytelling to suffer with the rest of us! 10/10

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K (season 1): Local overpowered psychic anime boy just wants to be ignored and blend in with society, but the universe constantly surrounds him with silly situations that cause him to use his powers. I finally got around to watching this show, and it’s hilarious. Kusuo is a great deadpan main character who is definitely ace as hell, and the English dub is actually pretty good! I don’t really want to watch the show in Japanese now because I feel like the dub does a better job at timing the comedic lines and distinguishing everyone’s thoughts. So now I’m upset that the second season hasn’t been dubbed (thanks Netflix). But yeah it’s a great silly show to binge watch. 10/10

Community: The misadventures of a wacky study group going to the world’s worst community college. You know, the one with all the memes? Okay, I know I’m the last one to watch this and ��technically I still have a season and a half left at this point, but I thought I’d include it anyway. This show is such a wild ride that I don’t even know what to think about it anymore. The first two seasons were pretty average with a few absolutely brilliant episodes thrown in. And then...the paintball episodes happened, and the show just became amazing. I do have a lot of questions though....like if the main character is a lawyer (sort of), why does he never sue the dean for sexual harassment? Why does Pierce, the resident old, sexist, racist, problematic baby boomer have an “arc” centered around a logical fallacy. No one wants to hang out with him because he’s terrible, but he’s upset because he feels left out and constantly does terrible things to get back at them? I literally almost dropped the show because I couldn’t take him anymore, and then the writers just magically dial him back in his last seasons...which I’m thankful for. And I don’t even know where to being with Chang. BUT this show is a testament to creative writing and innovative meta ways to tell stories. The rest of the study group is made up of hilarious well balanced characters that all have their distinct broken but quirky personalities. And I love them all...except Pierce. So, even though I haven’t finished it, I’d give it an 8.5/10 so far.

Superstore: A sitcom about the daily struggles of workers in a W*lmart-esque superstore. I finally caught up to it, and it’s still fine. It’s not great, but not terrible either. It is incredibly accurate though, coming from someone who works retail. The best parts of the show are the scene transitions because they show all the things customers are doing in the store. And most of the time I just nod and go “yeah I’ve seen that.” This is one of those shows to have on for the sake of just having something on. It has its moments. 7/10

Honorable Mentions

Because these are the reasons why I didn’t really read much this month...or watch many movies.

YOUNG JUSTICE is officially back with the long awaited season 3. And it’s still pretty great, but man I wish I had rewatched the original series.

Netflix released the Taylor Swift Reputation stadium performance. So now you all know how much of a slut for Taylor Swift I am. I can’t help it if her latest album is basically Captive Prince the musical!

The Masked Singer (US version) is dragging me into a spiral of conspiracy theories. Please watch this ridiculous reality show where celebrities wear elaborate costumes and a super annoying judging panel tries to guess who they are. I’m in hell, because this show is set up terribly, but I also don’t want to leave.

Life is Strange 2: episode 2 was finally released. And I’m actually loving it. These games have a special place in my heart for some reason.

New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe came out and I hate myself for buying these stupid games because they consume all my time, and I don’t even really like them.

[tmcastandcrew]

Simon Baker reveals his coast connection ahead Breathe premiere on the Gold Coast

Ann Wason Moore, Gold Coast Bulletin April 13, 2018 10:00am X

Thank you  @SBaker_Ney !!

STARS, they’re just like us. Simon Baker, the guy they call Smiley, the Mentalist, calls my house on a Saturday morning from his mobile, no PR, no minders … but also no time.

“I’m so sorry,” he says. “Something’s just come up. If you’re not busy in a couple of hours, can I call you then for our interview?”

Of course, I concur. I have been stood up by far lesser than Mr Baker. When we talk again, he admits the reason he had to run was actually because he had to surf … with his son.

“I could see that look in his eye, the conditions were good and he wanted to get out.

“The alternative was he’d pick up a device and start playing games,” says the 48-year-old father of three. “I had to intervene and get him away from technology.”

Stars’ kids … they’re just like mine.

A lot more down the line > keep reading>>

We’re used to seeing Simon on screen — from E Street in the early 90s to his first American film, the acclaimed LA Confidential, to starring roles in The Guardian and The Mentalist — all trademark golden curls and crinkly eyes.

But as much as he’s every bit the leading man, there’s something so familiar about him. Deep inside there’s still that Aussie boy next door.

In fact, there’s every chance that if you grew up on the Gold Coast, he was the boy next door.

Born and bred in Northern New South Wales, he attended Ballina High and still owns a property in nearby Nashua.

In fact, he and wife actor Rebecca Rigg donated to the Rise Above the Flood appeal just last year to help their neighbours hit by the natural disaster.

But in between Ballina and Hollywood, Simon did a solid stint in Surfers Paradise.

“When I left home I did a year in Sydney, but then I came up to the Goldie,” he says.

“A bunch of mates and I moved in to this old fibro shack on Garfield Terrace. It was just after the bend in the road. It had a huge pine tree in the back and then just beach.

“It was the last house left in that stretch. We were evicted because they sold the land to build another high-rise. I’ll have to drive past it one day. They were some fun times. We all worked in hospitality and just surfed. I worked at the Hyatt Sanctuary Cove at that big beach pool.”

Yep, for those of us of a certain age, Simon Baker was our pool boy. In fact, he may well take that trip down memory lane this weekend. He’s on the Coast not just to attend the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, but to launch a project that’s not just dear to his heart but his surfer’s soul.

Breath is Baker’s feature film directorial debut, adapted from the 2008 novel by celebrated Australian author Tim Winton, and will have its Queensland premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival this Thursday.

The classic coming of age tale follows Pikelet and Loonie, two teenage boys growing up in a small coastal town in Western Australia in the 1970s.

Their love of surfing and adventure sees their paths cross with older, local surfer Bill “Sando” Sanderson, played by Baker, who describes the character as “a mentor, but pathetic in his own way”.

Having grown up surfing in Ballina, and with teenage sons of his own, Harry, 16, and Claude, 19, plus 24-year-old daughter Stella, Baker says he felt instantly connected to the characters and themes in Winton’s novel before adapting the storyline for screen.

“To me it’s all about identity. It’s about the boys, Pikelet and Loonie, trying to figure out who they are in this coming-of-age time of their lives,” he says.

“It’s about Sando and his sort of stunted identity. As much as he’s this mentor to them, he’s not a Yoda character. He’s more pathetic than wise. He’s stuck in the past and never learned to take responsibility. But it’s also about the identity of Australia.

“Our identity is tied to the sea, to the coastline, but our identity is also constantly shifting. We drift with the tide between our UK heritage, our ties with America and our indigenous history.”

Baker says the film helped shift his own definition of identity, from actor to director and filmmaker. Sando may be a father-figure of sorts to the boys, but the film was Baker’s own lovechild.

“We got the book option about eight years ago and the past three or four years have been really intense,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, getting a film made is a long, hard process. It’s a labour of love.

“I’d like to direct again though. I feel at home directing. I feel like I can contribute more when I’m in that role. It’s not easy but it’s immensely satisfying.”

The fact that the subject matter dealt with one of Baker’s other great loves, surfing, is obvious when watching the film. The poetry of motion writes a love letter to a time and place that, while changed, is not entirely gone. The boys who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, like Pikelet, Loonie and Baker himself, are the fathers of today, guiding their own children through ever-choppy conditions.

“That era of the 70s is still so familiar to us — I loved putting up the pictures from Copperart in the houses. Who didn’t have that in their home?” he says.

“I think I was a boy who was somewhere between those two adolescent characters, the sort of dreamy individual that is Pikelet and the wild, lost boy that is Loonie. But ultimately, I’m more Pikelet. Otherwise I never would have got this movie made.

“But the thing we all have in common is this love for surfing. I can’t really say what it is to me. It’s all different sorts of things and it changes every time I go to the water. These days it’s a great way to commune with nature and to catch up with old friends.

“It’s a break and a relief to be somewhere that no one can contact you, your phone doesn’t ring. Physically, it’s still exhilarating and meditative.”

For Baker, it’s an exercise that is still uniquely Australian. With his children having grown up both here and in the US, he says the surfing community in their Sydney suburb is an extended family of sorts.

“When we walked through the park on the way back from surfing today, I said to my son, ‘Do you see all the different groups hanging out? Do you see the different generations passing through?’ He thought it was so cool to see those little groms coming of age and hanging out with friends at the next level. It’s a rite of passage in some ways.

“Bec and I have always had such close ties to our country, to Australia, no matter where we have been living, and the kids feel that.

“There is something to say for being here and having a different perspective — or just having perspective — on what’s happening in the world.”

Baker’s not the only international star who still calls Australia home, with northern NSW neighbour Chris Hemsworth regularly spotted on our own shores — including at the Commonwealth Games.

“Is he there?” Baker asks. “I really don’t keep up.

“I’m not just saying that, I’m tragic in knowing who’s where and doing what. I am interested in the Games though. I’m really looking forward to seeing the closing ceremony. In fact, the kids are all quiet right now. I might just turn on the TV and watch a bit of the action. Maybe have a little nap.”

Dads … they’re all the same.

THE SHOW GOES ON

The Games may almost be over, but it’s time for the show to begin.

The Gold Coast Film Festival comes hot on the heels of our greatest sporting spectacle — and it’s not about to play a minor role.

The city’s flagship film event will screen 40 feature films including one world premiere, seven Australian premieres and seven Queensland premieres, plus a host of short films, events, filmmaker Q&As, and an incredible Virtual Reality film experience.

The 16th annual GCFF will run for 13 days from Tuesday to April 29.

A highlight of the program is the Queensland premiere of Simon Baker’s Breath this Thursday. Baker and fellow actors Samson Coulter (Pikelet) and Ben Spence (Loonie) will be attending the screening at Pacific Fair, followed by a Q&A.

“I’m thrilled to have our Queensland premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival. The Gold Coast has long been a mecca for those that share a deep fascination and respect for the ocean, and the magnificent impact it can have in shaping who you are,” Baker says.

Gold Coast Film Festival director Lucy Fisher says the festival has also secured the Australian premiere of black comedy Brothers’ Nest to screen at the closing night on April 29, with brothers Shane Jacobson and Clayton Jacobson (Kenny), attending the event and Q&A.

“At its core, the Gold Coast Film Festival celebrates film and filmmaking,” Lucy says.

“The Film Festival will be the Gold Coast’s first major event following the Commonwealth Games and will continue to enrich the city through the dozens of special film events being held at 11 venues across the Gold Coast.”

[mariamuses]

Tumblr Friends

Chapter 2 ~ Usernames

My next few days could only be described with one word: spree reading.

Wait. That’s two words. Or is it hyphened? Whatever, you get what I’m trying to say.

I breathed and ate books. And pizza. And chocolate.

My days consisted on getting up, goin to my classes, coming back, eating and reading. I read everywhere. On the couch, on my bed, on the toilet, on the bathtub... My sisters put up with it because they knew what I was going through, and because they were too busy with their respective boyfriends to say anything.

You might be asking yourselves: why doesn’t she study?

Well, I’ll tell you. The day I caught Tamlin smooching Ianthe was actually the first day back from summer, so that meant that the professors hadn’t had enough time to dream about us and the way they wanted to torture us with projects and exams.

Another question that may be popping up in your head is: What is she reading?

Well, I’ll tell you. Only the best freaking sagas from the best freaking author in the world: Brandon Sanderson. I’ve already read the Mistborn Trilogy, but it is like my comfort food in books, so I reread it. And then I started The Way of Kings, the first installment of the Stormlight Archive saga, and then the second and third one, which just came out. Those will be Words of Radiance and Oathbringer.

I saw them a while ago in the book shop and just had to buy them, but Tamlin always said that reading was boring, so I never started them. 

And now I’m starting them just to spite him. Even though he won’t see me. Or talk to me. Crap, I really didn’t think this through.

That’s actually not the only reason. As one of my other favorite author says:  “It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.”

And I desperately needed not to feel alone right now. So, I binge-read all of them (they’re like a thousand pages each) and when I was finished, I swear I could breathe a little better and life felt a little brighter.

As I read the last page of Oathbringer and closed the book, all I could think about was that it couldn’t be over.

It’s not over yet silly. There’s going to be seven more books.

You get me, it can’t be over right now. I know the story continues, but I NEED more NOW.

Go to the internet.

I should, shouldn’t I? I’ve heard about something called...Tumble? Timblr?

Tumblr.

Oh, yeah right. My best friend, Mor, who’s into super weird stuff, like History-wise weird stuff, told me about it, and also said that there’s this thing called fanfiction, where people who read a book keep writing (non-cannon, but still) about it. She says that, sometimes, the fic is actually better than the book coming after it, and that the authors put in tons of work so their followers can get a weekly update, and maybe even more. Currently, she’s reading a fic about Aristotle and his secret lover Hades, god of the Underworld. Like I said, weird.

I opened my laptop and turned it on, getting on my browser and searching ‘Tumblr’. Then I clicked on ‘get started’ and typed my email and password in. The username was the tricky part, because so many of the were already taken. At last, I decided to go with fey-oathbringer, thinking that if I wanted to meet people of my same fandom, my user had to be somewhat related.

Then I got down to bussiness.

To defeat, the huns.

Ups, there we go with the puns.

No, the huns.

No, seriously. I typed ‘stormlight archive’ in and... search!

After hours looking through and reading everything I could find about Brandon Sanderson on Tumblr, I had two conclusions. The first one was that people really put a lot of time and effort into the fics. The second was less of a conclussion and more a person, more especifically, stormblessed-radiant. 

He was the epitome of all things good. Not only was he a hell of a writer, he was also a very nice person. I think so, at least. I mean, you can totally tell by his answered asks, no? 

He could be faking it... He could be a she.

No! He’s good. And a boy. And adorable. And possibly very cute... 

Okay, this got out of hand. Focus Feyre.

So I decided to follow him (definitely a him) and turned on the notifications so every time he posted something, I could be up to speed.

Now I just had to wait.

On Saturday, I woke up, had breakfast and pulled out my phone, only to see that stormblessed-radiant had uploaded a chapter of his latest fic, Alethkar Remembers. 

Inmediately I propped up my computer and started reading it. I loved everything about it: the way he wrote the characters and their development, how he wasn’t afraid of putting some romance into it, how loyal it was to the books... It was so fine that it inspired me.

So, when I finished, I decided I had to draw some fanart of the main characters, maybe even throwing in one of the few he made up, just to see if I could do it.

Motivated, I got to work.

Ten hours later, I had my “finished” product.

There were three pieces of art, depicting Kaladin (with Syl on his shoulder), Adolin and Shallan and finally, Aadya (stormblessed-radiant’s incredible creation).

They were only linearts, because I knew myself enough to be certain that if I started coloring it, I would never finish.

With the last of the retouches done, I uploaded the pictures with a little text that said that I was new to the fandom and that Aadya was a non-cannon character taken from stormblessed-radiant’s fics. I also added a few tags and... there.

Now all I could think about the reaction the art was going to have. 

I stayed glued to the screen of my computer until everything went black.

***

Here’s the next chapter!! I hope you all are enyoying it and ready for more.

Also, thank you so much for reading. I'll try to upload, at least, once a week. Scout's promise.

Read it on AO3

I’m tagging these lovely people @songbirdsbooks  @kaliejane26 @personpersonper @turtlesnook @highladyfxyre who are willing to read my rants.

[squid-that-reads-a-lot-blog]

Oathbringer Review

A while back, I finished the most recent entry into the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.  Haven’t gotten around to writing a review yet.  Starting off, I have to say that I have similar thoughts to my opinions of the previous two books.  Sanderson is rarely incompetent and he does many things very well.  Like the previous two entries, there are several small arcs throughout the story that make the 1300 page count a little more digestible.  There is also no shortage of action and each major character has their own story arc.

Overall, this is my favorite in the series by a long shot.  The first two aren’t bad, the style just is not my cup of tea.  However, this book did a lot of things that I liked.  The part that I liked the most is the fact that the book focused a lot on Dalinar.  Dalinar is my favorite character in the series and the fact that he is so much older than the other two previous leads made his story arc so much more enjoyable.  Sanderson puts his characters through a lot of shit but it felt more natural in this book.  I feel like the backstories aren’t as important as who the character is, and when the characters are as young as Kaladin or Shallan, their inner monologues about their pasts can’t help but feel... whiny…

It could just be me, and they aren’t terrible characters, but I think this story arc is far better than the others.  It’s full of some fantastic emotional moments that crank it up to eleven.  My personal favorites have to be the flashback of the attempted assassination and the burning of the rift.  The first one made me laugh because it’s so insanely badass and over-the-top.  It’s like a scene straight out of a crazy 90’s action movie.  The burning of the rift is a whole chapter that I found grimly entertaining.  I was reminded of stories of those ancient Roman emperors who would drag their enemies behind their chariots after they surrendered.  Everything about it is so brutal and shocking that you feel a whole mix of emotions while reading.  Honestly this is where Sanderson is at his best.  It’s when really insane shit is happening that his talent truly shines.  

A few smaller things that I liked included some of the other characters.  While I felt like it was too late to make him really heroic, Ellokar felt a little less useless in this book.  He had some nice moments in the spotlight throughout the book.  Shallan also had a few good moments but I honestly think that Sanderson is not good at writing very feminine characters.  Every time he has a female character with a tough, masculine edge he does great but if they like pretty dresses instead of punching people he tends to falter.  While some of the choices that he makes in this book could be explained with the trauma that Shallan herself has experienced, it feels a little out of touch to me.  He often misses the mark a little bit when it comes to writing women like this and it is very noticeable in this book.  

As for a few other characters, I have some mixed feelings.  Adolin is obviously being solidified as this awesome, likable guy that does badass things with a sword but something feels a little off.  There are a few times where I feel like the book is going out of its way to say how likable he is and it makes me feel like he is going to die.  It’s sticks out to me because nothing has really come out of it and he is so wildly different from the other members of the main cast.  This seems like an odd choice to me but there’s nothing we can do about it for the next four years.  Other than that, I love the fact that he is a total diva.  It’s rare that I get a Legally Blonde vibe from a male character.  

A character that got kind of shafted in my opinion, is Jasnah.  I guess that she’s supposed to be this sort of mysterious character because she’s so smart but I have a hard time getting that.  It feels like she does very little and there are few times when her intellect is really shown.  We’re just told that she’s one of the smartest women in the world while she is busy doing… stuff…  I’ve been waiting for her to be cool and I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer.  She could be a really awesome character but I just haven’t seen that yet.  

Now let’s get to the problems I have with this book.  A lot of these boil down to my personal preference so some people might not be bothered by these as much as I was.  

One small but glaring problem I saw in the last book had to do with Lift and it shows up again in this book when Lift returns as well as the introduction of Szeth’s overpowered sword.  The way that they are written really rubs me the wrong way.  The vast majority of the books are written in this old style that you see a lot with epic fantasy.  You are stepping back in time in this alternate universe.  People don’t use all the colloquialisms that we do in everyday life.  Against this backdrop, modern words and phrases are rather jarring.  Sanderson sometimes does this in this series.  Usually it’s not bad enough to take me out of the story but with Lift and the super sword it is pretty egregious.  The sword is not all that bad save for a few moments but the constant use of the word ‘awesomeness’ with Lift gets on my nerves.  It is so out of place and jarring.  It reminds me of L.E. Modesett Jr. where they would use modern curse words and it was really out of place.  I wish he wouldn’t use words like that but ultimately it is a small part of the story.  

A big grievance that I have with this book that may not seem all that bad to others is the whole murder plot.  I read that scene in the last book where Sadeas is murdered and I was really waiting to see what would happen.  Ialai is set up as this incredibly dangerous woman earlier in the series.  The last time she saw her husband alive was when he walked off with a guy that hated his guts.  There’s no way she doesn’t know exactly who did this.  It might have been my expectations being too high, but I felt like this was such a lame story arc in the end.  This was one that could have had some real consequences for our characters.  Imagine how much trouble Adolin would have been in with this woman for an enemy.  Not only that, but his rash decision would have some serious consequences on Dalinar’s budding political career.  Does he punish his son for his crime or does he risk looking weak in front of his political opponents?  It would add some legitimately serious consequences to Adolin’s story arc and this sort of thing sounds like it would be right up Sanderson’s alley storytelling-wise.  But things didn’t go this way.  Ialai doesn’t do anything in this book.  There were so many chapters that talked about her extensive spy network and how dangerous it is to get on her bad side but it all seemed like it was for nothing.  In fact, the whole treatment of the Sadeas characters has been disappointing to me.  Toral’s betrayal in the first book didn’t really make any sense to me.  I felt like he really was warming up to a friendship with Dalinar again.  Politics had driven them apart but I believed that he could come over to the good side.  I think he could have made a great anti-hero with his crooked approach to the things that the team good-guy is trying to accomplish.  Appearance-wise, I also think that they are very well designed.  I always like it when an author gives the faces of their characters some character itself.  I have a clear image in my head of what these people look like.  The fact that they’re both really ugly but really happy together is kind of unique as well.  Team good-guy wouldn’t just be comprised of a bunch of pretty people if these two had the potential for some redemption arcs.  The fact that he just died and his wife is just sitting like a bump on a log just feels like a waste of two potentially great characters.  Sanderson could have something planned for Ialai, but I felt like this was a huge waste of potential and her potential time in the spotlight has passed.

The other big problem is just an extension of a complaint that I have with the other two books.  Sanderson doesn’t seem to have the knack for making characters seem quite as alive as other authors.  The coldness in his writing is one of the few things keeping him from being one of my favorite authors honestly.  He’s introduced this vast and expansive world but it feels strangely small.  I think a big contributor to this is that the plots rarely take the characters outside of one area.  It’s a problem that’s seen in the original Star Wars trilogy.  Action packed plots and fun characters in this massive universe but it feels so small because we just see this handful of people.  The whole Kolinar arc made the world seem a little bigger but that went away as soon as the characters left.  It’s strange because we get so many POV chapters from characters all over the map but they feel incredibly disconnected.  It’s a strange problem to have, especially when this series is compared so closely with the Wheel of Time series, where this was one of its strongest parts.  

One more small gripe I have has to do with the pictures.  All of them are great but I wish there was just one landscape in there.  The world is so alien to what we’re used to seeing that it would be cool to really see it through the character’s eyes.  I hope he gets one of these in a future addition to the series.  

I haven’t mentioned a lot of things about the book either because I’m not sure what to think about it, there’s not enough information, or the fact that it’s just good.  The good far outweighs the bad in this book and I could not put this one down (not easy when I got the huge hardcover copy).  Even with all my complaints, this is still a fantastic book that I would highly recommend. Full of action and badassery at every turn, this is something that I see people enjoying for a long time.

[kvotheunkvothe]

What the fuck am I reading: Elantris and Authority

I finished two books today.

First: Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson. A lot of this will be complaints, so I’ll start off by saying it was a pretty decent read. I’d tried to read this once before but had run out of patience within the first few pages. Because my sister gifted this to me, I wanted to finish it this time. It’s a high fantasy book with kings and castles and what felt like thinly-veiled references to our history’s holy wars. So. That’s original... There is a city (Elantris) of once-magic-users who now are afflicted with a kind of zombie-like disease and now unable to use magic. The ability to use the magic and become an Elantrian seemed to strike at random, so people would wake up as “gods” (or, now, as monsters) and get chucked into the city. Their concept of magic was very similar to the alchemy you might see in Fullmetal Alchemist, (cough cough), but it didn’t seem as well fleshed-out. I detest the party-split style of writing wherein three separate groups are being written about but rarely interact, and yet that’s what I had here. The most interesting of the main characters was the prince, Raoden, who becomes an Elantrian at the start of the book. I liked him, I was interested in his discoveries, and he was kind of at the center of the whole point of the book. But every 10 pages or so he’d disappear and I’d be stuck with a princess who seems to detest or belittle most of her sex (oh what a silly nattering queen, and oh these poor aristocratic doves who need the princess to guide them because who cares about the skill involved in embroidery when we could be learning much more important fencing), or with a priest who was just frustrated with the illogical or greedy assholes who surrounded him (I was too--I actually didn’t really have a problem with the priest, despite him being set up as the main antagonist, because he wasn’t bloodthirsty, stupid, or pointless, so imagine that!). The author seemed to have little concept of how to do much actual political intrigue. A lot of their motives were laughably transparent or stated outright. People patted themselves on the back for being clever or wise when they were neither. It was just... not great, those parts. Reading this book probably took me a lot longer because I kept rolling my eyes and setting the book aside, just to pick it back up days later and slog through the rest of those conversations. The princess herself got better as time went on, but I really don’t appreciate books that put down traditional womanly pastimes or else make other women look inferior just to bolster another. It feels cheap. Why the sexism was so rampant in this world also just felt completely unnecessary. Sure, it’s possible the sexism would be there, but god is it fucking boring. I had some major criticisms of the worldbuilding in general, some of which goes into spoiler territory, so I’ll mostly leave it at how fucking quickly they seemed to have implemented a serfdom system (despite a bloody revolution not TEN years prior), how ridiculous their feudal system was even among the nobles (who apparently can’t hear themselves being mocked, constantly, by others within the same damned room in most scenes)--but anyway. It wasn’t bad, I just felt rather nitpicky. Ultimately, it was an okay book, although a lot of it felt rather rushed and unfinished by the end. Like, people were just spouting backstories left and right. If felt like when a D&D campaign is drawing to an end and the players are like “oh yeah, and btw, my character had a cool storyline we never got to explore about a betrayed brother, but nevermind that!”  And Jesus fuck I wish they’d shut up about the food. There’s this absolutely horrid little girl who stuffs her face constantly. No wait, there’s two little girls like that. One literally just howls for food day and night (she has no other characteristics, I am not joking). The other is apparently an expert in architecture, fencing, cuisine, and languages. She probably fucking flies when no one is watching. Oh isn’t she so perfect. When she isn’t shoving food down her gullet after whining at her father to be served for five pages. Fucking Christ.

Next, Authority, by Jeff VanderMeer. I listened to this one on audiobook while I was doing other things. It’s a sequel to Annihilation, which I reviewed before. I definitely liked the first book better. It had a bit more plot to it, for one thing. For another, I liked the Biologist better than Control. I didn’t get the same sense of connection with him, despite also feeling quite real and having a pretty rich backstory. Although this book also gave a little more insight into Area X, it didn’t have many real earth-shattering revelations, and I think I preferred a lot of the information actually kept behind the curtain. There were some parts that were suitably horrifying and intriguing. But it was a bit of a step-down as compared to that thing in the Tower from the first book. If the Biologist had come upon just some of this information, instead, in one of those journals in the first book, maybe, I might have liked it more. This book was just a little too much about the banal bureaucracy of it all. Because I liked the Biologist more, I also just spent a lot of this book wishing Control could go spend more time with her, which rarely happened. I did like seeing her from the outside a bit, I suppose, but I missed her observations and thoughts and memories. I’ll go on to the last book, and if you read the first you might like this second. But to me it felt less like a  Lovecraft-Ellison-Kafka creation than just something more like Stephen King, Firestarter-era. Again, not bad, but know what you’re getting into.

[neuxue]

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 3

In which Aviendha is confused.

Chapter 3: The Ways of Honour

Wow, it’s been a while since we had an Aviendha PoV. Not since The Path of Daggers, I think. It seems like that would be the hardest for an incoming writer to pick up from – if there are lots of existing PoV chapters, you at least have a solid base to work from. If there are none, then you have a bit more of a blank slate, depending on how established the character is. But if there are just a scattering of viewpoint chapters or sections here and there, it may not be enough to comfortably match tone, but it’s enough to potentially get it noticeably wrong. So…no pressure?

Anyway, she’s in Arad Doman, which is unsurprisingly not a particularly happy and thriving nation at the moment.

Aviendha did not fear death, but there was a very big difference between embracing death and wishing for it.

Would you care to share that wisdom with some characters in dire need of it, Aviendha?

If those refugees had been accustomed to travel and had learned to use their own feet, rather than relying on horses as wetlanders so often did, then it would not be so difficult for them to leave their towns.

Alright, let’s try not to blame the victims here, okay? Not their fault they don’t come from a desert wasteland.

Turns out she feels sorry for the refugees but can’t figure out why she feels sorry for them because they’re not her problem.

There was ji in caring for those who could not care for themselves.

Well hello Stormlight Archive, fancy seeing you here!

(I don’t actually have a problem with this line, I just find it amusing).

But she wasn’t a Maiden any longer, and she had accepted that. She now lived under a different roof. She was ashamed that she had resisted the change for so long. But that left her with a problem. What honour was there for her now? No longer a Maiden, not quite a Wise One. Her entire dientity had been wrapped up in those spears, her self forged into their steel

One of the interesting things about Aviendha’s character development is how so much of it has happened…not quite off-screen, but off-viewpoint and slightly out of focus. We get bits and pieces of it from her perspective, but most of her arc is seen through the eyes of other characters. Yet it still comes through, and we’ve watched her try to find her way along this path, while she and her entire people are having to change. She doesn’t know where she fits in, and it’s made even harder by the fact that her home and people and society are changing all around her.

And it’s been interesting to watch that largely from an outsider perspective, because it sort of mirrors the way the Aiel are shown – there are two books that deal with them fairly closely, but otherwise they are a strong presence and yet most often just out of focus. Yet their entire existence is changing – as it has been changing since the Breaking of the World – and there’s an undercurrent of that in nearly every scene they’re in, even when it’s not the direct focus.

But the ending is drawing close now, and Aviendha needs to take whatever her final step(s) is/are going to be, so it’s time to focus back in on her. And possibly on the Aiel as well? We have seen their past and their journey of constant and difficult change, and we’ve seen their present of accepting their prophecied destruction while fighting for everything they can save and still changing always changing, but what does their future hold? What final steps must they take to meet the ending, and whatever comes after?

She would have served her clan and sept until the day when she finally fell to the spear, bleeding her last water onto the parched earth of the Three-fold Land.

But she is no longer a Maiden, no longer holds a spear. She is no longer in the Three-fold Land, and there is a vast lake where once there was nothing but desert there. So much has changed, not to mention the fact that their duty and honour is now tied up in facing the end of the world, rather than anything remotely familiar.

She didn’t trust change. It couldn’t be spotted or stabbed

Don’t trust something you can’t stab.

I do find this opening part of the chapter thus far to be a bit…awkward, I guess. Sanderson tends to be more direct and straightforward when writing characters’ thought processes and emotional states and important turning points or characterisation moments – it’s not necessarily a bad thing; in his own books and with his own characters and style I think it often works, and he creates some really impactful scenes that way – but it stands out here, a bit. I think a lot of it is the removal from context – Aviendha begins by glancing at and thinking about the refugees, but the prose very quickly moves away from that and spends what feels like a little too much time in blank headspace.

And maybe I’m being unfair to Sanderson here. This is the frustrating part, where I don’t want to complain about every tiny little difference, and so then I end up wondering if I would even be bothered by something like this if Jordan had written the whole thing, or if it just stands out because I’m expecting it to. But then, there were a few noticeable differences in Rand’s most recent chapter, and those didn’t really bother me because they felt like they fit with where he is at the moment, more or less.

No doubt there is an element of bias here; I’m trying very hard not to let that colour all of my impressions, but if I’m writing my honest thoughts and impressions, that’s just going to be a part of it sometimes I guess.

No author is perfect, but I think it’s going to take a bit of time to adjust to a new and different set of authorial imperfections within a single story.

Aviendha really hates cities. Cities, apparently, are the root of all evil. As a Londoner, I’m going to have to wholeheartedly disagree and also agree.

The nearest [cities] were too distant from this location to make it a good spot for a wetlander farmstead.

Yeah, well, no one ever bothered to tell the Two Rivers that.

She remembered the scent of him – wetlander soaps, which smelled of oil, mixed with that particular earthy musk that was all his own.

So Jordan goes for fanfiction-cliché eye descriptions, and Sanderson apparently opts for fanfiction-cliché scent descriptions. I’m torn between cringeing and laughing.

(Descriptions of how people smell are also just a weird pet peeve of mine, even when written well. Maybe because I do not ever pay attention to what a person smells like unless it’s particularly unpleasant and I cannot think how I would describe the scent of a single person I know. But that’s just me.)

I’d suggest saving the wedding plans until after the apocalypse, if I were you. Though as far as she knows that would mean necrophilia so...maybe not.

Couldn’t he understand that a woman must bring honour to a marriage? What could a mere apprentice offer?

Aviendha. Please. You give him far too much credit. Rand al’Thor is a woolheaded sheepherder who understands approximately nothing of how romantic relationships work, despite having stumbled (or jumped through ice, or fallen out of a tree) into three. I hear communication is supposed to work wonders, though.

He must not have understood. She did not think him cruel, only dense.

Well you are not wrong. (What is the density of steel, exactly?) (I realised as I typed that that I actually know the answer, which is just downright sad).

She would come to him when she was ready, then lay the bridal wreath at his feet. And she couldn’t do that until she knew who she was.

It’s a fair point, but then you remember that Rand is having his own identity crisis of epic proportions and Aviendha, you can probably cut yourself some slack.

So Aviendha’s being punished rather than taught by the Wise Ones, and she can’t figure out why, or what she has done to lose so much honour in their eyes.

Until she sorted out this problem, she would remain an apprentice

Is this some kind of final test?

She would find honour again

Never let her meet Zuko.

And she would marry Rand al’Thor before he died at the Last Battle.

Okay but…why? They’re already joined by the Warder bond, they’ve slept together, they’ve declared love for each other…why is marriage so important? (Then again, this is a question that puzzles me in real life as well, absent things like tax benefits, so I guess I can’t really judge).

“The clans are uncertain what Rand al’Thor wishes of them. […] His intentions are not clear. He asked for us to restore order. Are we then to be like wetlander city guardsmen? That is no place for the Aiel. We are not to conquer, so we do not get the fifth. And yet it feels very much like conquest, what we do. The Car’a’carn’s orders can be clear yet ocnfusing at the same time. He has a gift in that area, I think.”

I like the parallel drawn here between Aviendha’s uncertainty of her place as an individual, and the Aiel’s uncertainty of their place as a people. Something is expected of them but they do not know exactly what, or what it entails, or how to define and quantify what they are meant to do, because the rules of honour and obligation have shifted in the face of new duty, or so it seems. They are facing change yet again, and so the story held in the glass columns continues. But if seeing it is enough to break many of them, what will living it do? Their past was hard enough to face, but what of their future?

Her arc is - and has been - really nicely paralleled with the Aiel’s arc as a whole, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where exactly that goes.

As Rhuarc said, the Car’a’carn had sent them to Arad Doman to ‘restore order’. But that was a wetlander concept; Aiel brought their own order with them. There was chaos to war and battle, true, but each and every Aiel understood his place, and would act within that place.

Until something changes, of course, and then one is left alone on a wind-scoured hillside, veiling his face from the ones who once called him family, calling out desperately that ‘I am Aiel!’

I’m reminded of the approach to Cairhien, in TFoH. Rand gave them the right to take the fifth, then, but demanded other concessions to a different sort of order. Now, the fifth is no longer theirs, and the instructions are even more alien to them. It’s rather ironic how instructions to ‘restore order’ can cause such uncertainty and potential chaos in the people sent to do the restoring.

“How many Wise Ones went with Rhuarc to scout this refugee train?” “None but me,”  Aviendha admitted. “Oh, and are you a Wise One now?” Bair asked. “No,” Aviendha said, quickly, then shamed herself further by blushing. “I spoke poorly.” “Then you shall be punished,” Bair said. “You are no longer a Maiden, Aviendha.”

...huh. I think maybe I see where this might be going.

Did they think she had grown soft by spending time with Elayne?

Pretty sure that’s not it. Though the fact that she thinks they think that, and that she herself thinks it, is very likely part of the problem, I think.

So she’s running with Amys now, who asks for an analysis of Rhuarc’s conversation with the Wise Ones, and seems to approve of Aviendha’s answers. Definitely a test.

“And al’Thor himself?” Amys asked. “What do you think of him?” “I love him,” Aviendha said. “I did not ask Aviendha the silly girl,” Amys said curtly. “I asked Aviendha the Wise One.”

Aviendha the Wise One. It was Aviendha herself who responded to Bair’s question in the negative, and I think perhaps that question was less rhetorical than Aviendha thought. Is she being punished for doubting herself, then?

“He is a man of many burdens,” Aviendha said more carefully.

Including at least one mountain.

“I fear that he makes many of those burdens heavier than they need be. I once thought that there was only one way to be strong, but I have learned from my first-siste that I was wrong. Rand al’Thor…I do not think he has learned this yet. I worry that he mistakes hardness for strength.”

This is definitely going to come to a head soon; it’s come up in Rand’s chapter, Egwene’s chapter, and now Aviendha’s chapter already. And Rand is rapidly approaching a breaking point, perhaps in a rather literal sense. Something is going to snap, or shatter, and I’m…really looking forward to seeing how that plays out.

Marriage, Min, sisterhood, etc. Amys is like ‘seriously what is going on with the lot of you’ and Aviendha’s like ‘WE’LL MAKE IT WORK, OKAY?’ Best of luck to you all.

But she was just an apprentice, and while she could not be forced to speak

So you could say that apprentices have the right to…take the Fifth?

Regardless, the viewing was a comfort. But it was also bothersome. Aviendha loved Rand al’Thor because she chose to, not because she was destined to.

It’s all well and good to say that, but it would have been better if this were actually shown throughout the development of the relationship(s) in the earlier books. Even something as small as Min’s viewing showing that Rand would fall in love with the three of them as well as the three of them falling in love with him, rather than just the latter, would have helped. It’s not that the women aren’t given agency, exactly, because on an individual level they do all choose how to act upon their feelings and they do all genuinely love him, and he loves them, and it’s all fine (well, except for the impending doom). But narratively it still feels like they have to fall in love, whereas he gets to. Prophecied love really doesn’t do it for me, basically, and I’ve never felt that this instance of it was executed particularly well.

“Very well, then,” Amys said, watching the path ahead of her. “Let us discuss today’s punishment.” Aviendha relaxed slightly.

Ha. It does make this chapter fit nicely with the previous one, which in turn fit very well against the one before it. Like Egwene, Aviendha is being punished daily. There’s also a…not quite a parallel but at least a degree of overlap in their aims, in that Egwene is trying – amongst other things – to be seen as Amyrlin, while Aviendha is trying to become or be seen as a Wise One. They’re both trying to claim their place. But so much else is different, and the punishments themselves are very different, but both relate to the issue of understanding, it would seem.

All in all it creates a lovely sequence from Rand to Egwene to Aviendha, with the various parallels and overlaps smoothing the edges between the rapid PoV changes.

Wetlanders often seemed confused by Aiel ways with punishment, but wetlanders had little understanding of honour. Honour didn’t come from being punished, but accepting a punishment and bearing it restored honour.

Take what you want, and pay for it. It’s not about atoning so much as it is about accepting consequences, it seems. And here again it sort of links back to what Egwene realised, about understanding being the key to embracing pain. It isn’t enduring a punishment that makes it effective, and it isn’t enduring pain that gives strength. Instead, it is about understanding the pain or the punishment or the greater aim, and about understanding and accepting consequences.

Amys, rightly, wouldn’t tell Aviendha what she had done wrong.

Well, no, because that would entail communication. Though in this case there is a certain logic to it – having to figure out for yourself what you’ve done wrong can be more effective than simply being told, and here we are back at the issue of understanding. In this case in particular, I think part of Aviendha’s ‘test’ is figuring out why she’s being punished.

“My time in Caemlyn threatened to make me weak.” Amys sniffed. “You are no more weak than you were when you carried the spears, girl. A fair bit stronger, I should think.”

There’s a compliment in there somewhere. It’s true, though; Aviendha has grown so much from who she was when we first met her. She may have felt more certain then, but it was the certainty of limitation. She knows and has seen and has experienced and has begun to understand far more now, and wisdom does not always mean certainty. Lan said it well –“You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.”  Aviendha has learned much of both.

When Dorindha and Nadere had come for her, they had said she needed to continue her training as an apprentice. Yet in the time since the Aiel had departed for Arad Doman, Aviendha had been given no lessons.

So her training is finished, then? This definitely seems like a Final Test, and I like that she has to work out not only what it is, but that she is being tested in the first place. It seems fitting, for her and for the Aiel way of things.

It was almost as if the punishment was the thing the Wise Ones wanted her to learn, but that could not be.

Except I think it kind of is. It’s as if she’s being punished for…doubting herself, basically. She’s trying to figure out who she is and where she fits, but she is the only one who can do that.

Sorting seeds by colour. Ouch. It’s like what Melaine made Cowinde do, to try to get her to admit that she was no longer gai’shain. Which means it’s pretty harsh, by the Aiel way of measuring punishment.

But this…this was useless work! It was not only unimportant, it was frivolous. It was the kind of punishment reserved for only the most stubborn, or most shameful, of people. It almost…almost felt as though the Wise Ones were calling her da’tsang! “By Sightblinder’s eyes,” she whispered as she forced herself to keep running. “What did I do?” Amys glanced at her, and Aviendha looked away. Both knew that she didn’t want an answer to that question. She took the bag silently. It was the most humiliating punishment she had ever been given.

Poor Aviendha. I think I get what’s going on, but she clearly doesn’t yet, and it has to hurt. She’s already feeling lost and uncertain of where she belongs – and has been dealing with that for a long time now – and then this. Punishment that, by her culture, is utterly humiliating and usually reserved for those who are despised. So that’s fun. You can figure this out, Aviendha, I believe in you!

That only meant she had to be more determined.

Well…sort of. Know who you are, Aviendha, and make them see.

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