#kell reads the cosmere

[hoids]

ngl kaladin and adolin’s relationship is one of the highlights of this book so far, it’s so fucking funny

Adolin: hey bridgeboy 😈😈 i bet you can’t [insert something incredibly stupid and dangerous that probably no one should ever do] 😈😈 people like you could never 😈😈

Kaladin: ok bet 🗿

Adolin: WH— NO, I WAS KIDDING, DO NOT, DONT DO THAT THING, AHHH GET BACK HERE BEFORE YOU DIE, KALADIN—

[kennabeth]

let's hear it for my favorite socialist mortimer moment

[kalessinsdaughter]

Mistborn – The Final Empire, Chapter 25

Kalessin reads cosmere

Prologue | Chapter 24 |Chapter 26

The epigraph… "realist" is another word I hate.

OMG! This failed even worse than I thought! Nearly three quarters of their army wiped out, for nothing.

And there's no denying that Kelsier is largely to blame, bolstering his men's, and especially Yeden's, confidence not just a little too much. And for the not-so-brilliant idea of having Yeden replace Ham, in charge at the caves, in the first place.

Speaking of Ham, he's not in an enviable position, but at least it seems he doesn't have to choose between fighting the men he has trained and fighting the men he has trained with, at least not now. But just how angry is he going to be with Kell when he finds out what happened?

Mennis isn't a bad man, but calling a failure and senseless loss of life like this a "victory" is… bleak, to say the least.

How do they go on from here?

After another tiny glimpse of Sazed's Feruchemy, I'm now trying to imagine how you save up speed. :D

With the warnings against burning and flaring pewter for too long, I admit I didn't think it was possible to do what Kell and Vin just did.

Another thing: how much sharper are Vin's Tineye abilities than Kelsier's? And why?

[koravelliumavast]

Well that’s a new one: Amazon Cosmere reviews Mistborn edition. (Snippets of two reviews)

Breeze, Dox, Ham, Clubs, most of Kelsier, and most of Marsh could be deleted from the book and you wouldn't be missing out on anything. You can skip most of the chapters of Kells and his "crew" bantering, and you won't miss a thing. That's the biggest problem with this book. Beyond that, the book actually has some above-average qualities that make the book a worthwhile read - IF you've already read all the better books in the same vein - (Wheel of time, {does op know that Brandon finished wot???}the first few Sword of Truth books, and I'd also recommend the Foundryside series) If you're going to read this book, I recommend you skip any text that features dialogue coming from Dox, Breeze, Ham, and Clubs. Oh, and also skip every passage where the characters are reading the Lord Ruler's journal, or where they're reading the history books. What an insulting waste of time. And none of it matters in the end. Oh, and skip all the first-person text at the beginning of every chapter because none of that crap has any bearing on the story either.

•••

Okay, Allomancy as an explanation for super-powers is new as a concept but so what? It turns the cast of very paper-cut out characters into the typical super heroes with one special magic trick or, rarely, into the super-super special hero with all the abilities roled into one stomach lining. The novel was also trying to be a slick super-crime such as Oceans 11's in its plot but obviously Sanderson doesn't have much insight into the sort of brilliance required for the supreme criminal mind nor much knowledge of the intelligence methods used by a totalitarian government. The meetings of the supposedly super-thieves were as dull as dishwater to read, a gloss-over of basic facts and illustrative of such shallow thinking that I was as bored as if it was a meeting with a low-level accountant. The conversations were as completely uninspired as the characters, their "plotting" so empty of sophistication or subtlety, and so full of holes, that I was unconvinced that these guys were really as slick as they were described; it certainly wasn't demonstrated.

Then the actual action had them doing things that even the most amateur of subversive criminals would never consider. One of my pet peeves, Sanderson either doesn't think about what the "opposing" forces might be doing in reaction or he succumbed to the "stupid enemy" contrivance. For example, the entire core of the elite team visit together the site of a hit by the dread Inquisitors, a place that was hit because they'd met there or because Vin, now a part of the team, had lived there; and they all show up to expose themselves in a world where, supposedly, everyone will rat out everyone else at the drop of a dime! But, not to fear, the totalitarian regime that made the hit has neglected to stake it out to watch who turned up to check out the mess afterward! And none of the crowd of spectators actually informs on them, either. It was juvenile mistake and I couldn't help but think that, trying to write this sort of plot, Sanderson was completely out of his depth. He should at least have read a few espionage and crime novels and gotten a clue before trying to write one himself. This team wouldn't have lasted five minutes in fiction, never mind real life...

•••

That said, I find it nice to read somebody acknowledge the fact that if you mistreat your comrades, they'll leave you. Granted, one of the 'heroes' said that. However, that was the only sensible "nugget of wisdom" aside from Slazed speaking about religion, or Ham trying to find a conversation. Speaking of Slazed, his name changes from time to time. {??? No it doesn’t}

On the other hand, there are several flaws. First off, for someone who's supposed to be insane, Keelsier sure does admit that a lot. Yeah, it should go without saying that unhinged people DON't do that. (That's coming from someone who's seen a stranger start squeezing her finger. So, his friend had to explain that the man thought her knew her.) Also, glares and flat stares don't even begin to look the same. That's unless you have some reason for being able to discern facial expressions.

[bibliophile-angst]

That boy had grown into more of a man than Kelsier had ever expected he would. Despite that stupid beard.

—Mistborn: Secret History

Brandon Sanderson

Part Six: Hero, Ch. 3, p. 134

[greatshell-rider]

spoilers for uhh part five

yeah so there’s a lot to be said about part five and how my throat is a little hoarse from crying and also laughing very hard but i just. i. i wanna yell. about.

FREAKIN KELSIER DANG IT

I’M SO ANGRY. I’M SO ANGRY. KELL I’M COMING FOR YOU WITH A BASEBALL BAT DANGIT IMMA BREAK YOUR KNEES. i don’t know why i’m so pissed at kelsier being the leader of the ghostbloods except that the way mraize referred to him just. boiled my blood like no no nooooooooo STOP THAT quit treating him like something to be worshiped please he’s just a little dweeb. he’s just a theater kid who eats metals and has way way too much time on his hands. please read era 1 dangit and realize that out of all the fools in the cosmere, you really don’t need to tie yourself to kell like that

haha when mraize mentioned the leader of the ghostbloods back in part 2 or 3 or whatever as having the same affliction as the heralds i was immediately suspcious “is this kelsier” which was immediately followed by “please don’t let this be kelsier” AND THEN IT WAS KELSIER. yall can’t imagine my rage when mraize said “lord of scars” or whatever kell’s new stupid title is. i threw things. i carefully placed the bookmark in row and placed it down and then i stomped around in my room and threw a few (soft) objects at the walls and stuff. @ hoid pls go and slap kell around some more. pretty pretty please. i’ll pay you twenty bucks to do it

also sldfjslfjdlfsjfldsjfdsdlfjsldfjslfjdsflsdjflsdjfsljf silly silly mraize. he’s trying to be so cool. “little knife” this and “i won’t give you the secrets of the cosmere” that. spooky spooky “just you wait until i tell my daddy about this” aww shallan’s so so scared look at her she’s got a cool new knife and an aon and her husband’s fine and she didn’t even have to commit a murder AND she’s coming for you so you had better run cuz did i mention the cool new knife and also all the anger she has at you and your entire organization i sure hope you tell kelsier she’s coming cuz he might just wanna run all the way back to scadrial where he belongs

[basket-of-radiants]

[In your opinion] Who was the most satisfying character in the Cosmere to watch die? (It was Kell for me but then I read M:SH and RoW. . .)

Gavilar in "To Kill" because that scene was great and badass and there was nothing about Szeth murdering him via balcony that wasn't satisfying. The whole chapter was a delight and is still a favorite. 

I may be the wrong person for this sort  of ask because I tend not to derive tons of satisfaction from character deaths, even characters who I dislike and who I'm happy to see gone (of which there are plenty, no I don't like literally everyone, unfortunately). I don't usually get enjoyment from seeing disliked characters suffering, I guess I'm not vengeful enough. Oh unless this is more a question of which deaths were the most painfully wonderful and sweet? I got the impression you're not a big Kelsey fan, but you might have found his death satisfying for its more heartwrenching factors. If this question is about which death was the hardest and best pull on my emotions then I think that honor is tied between two lovely red-clad individuals from the ends of two different novels.

[kingjasnah]

you hated secret history?? i thought it was really cool

allow me to put it this way: you know when you eat food so spicy you feel a bit of a heat high from it? like delirious regret? yeah.

mistborn secret history made me feel emotions ive genuinely never felt before. most of it was rage. i will literally never forget the process of reading it.....i was in a fucking bungalow in the mountains of south india (NO wifi and NO outlet to post abt it, just an ebook with arcanum pre downloaded) when i realized this wasn't a prequel after all. i had twelve tons of oil on my hair and water heating on the stove to wash it out when kelsier decked preservation. the whole experience was so distinct sensory wise i think i, very much like kelsier, achieved new levels of ?!?!?!?!?!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA by the time he ascended. my brain had already started breaking down by the hoid confrontation and specifically kell's im gonna feed you your own hand speech so finding out that he trusted his brother so much to leave the fate of the world up to Marsh being a good man and strong enough to break his mind control as well as kelsier literally breaking down and crying upon seeing vin again (and then she TOLD HIM OFF.....king shit). i was dead on sight. this isn't even taking into account the cosmere and khriss and all of THAT info

im so emotionally drained that it takes me until the LAST SCENE to Remember the Critical Part of bands of mourning..................to Put It Together.....To Understand that the BITCH i had been MOURNING for like SIX BOOKS (you know there was a huge part of me that thought HE would be the hero of ages when the plot twist happened) was still a major player and was now totally off the shit and had clung onto "life" for ambition and chaos and pride alone and i. it was 95 F in that bungalow that night but that was Nothing compared to the Heights Of Delirious Rage i hit so yeah....yeah i guess you could say i do hate secret history.....made me fucking cry four times but like i was mad about it....

[talesofanavidreader]

ℚ𝕆𝕋𝔻: Do you like when authors create a multiverse? ⁣ ⁣ I absolutely LOVE it. Brandon Sanderson is an excellent example of this with The Cosmere. Many of his fantasy books all take place within the same universe, known as the Cosmere. I’ve only read the Mistborn series of the Cosmere series, but I’m hoping to get to The Stormlight Archive soon!! (I’ve read Skyward but that is not apart of the Cosmere as far as I know). ⁣ ⁣ Sarah J. Maas and Laini Taylor have also created more subtle nods to their own multiverses . . . Aelin spotting some familiar faces while falling in Kingdom of Ash + the mention of seraphs, portals, and Eretz in Muse of Nightmares. I love the idea of parallel worlds. The limit does not exist (mean girls pun intended) to all the worlds and stories that can be created within one author’s universe! ⁣ ⁣ #tumblesoverbooks - wyrdgates: multiuniverse⁣ #booksarepugaliciousfeb21 - kell + lila: incredible world building⁣ ⁣ #mistborn #thefinalempire #worldbuilding #bookstack #brandonsanderson #multiverse #worldbuilding #readingismagic #talesofanavidreader #bookaholic #granniesofbookstagram #bookstagram #bookstalove #bookishcommunity #booklovers #instabooks #bookdragon #avidreader #bookwormlife #readersofinsta #bookblogging https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKNBiVA84h/?igshid=1bz78o8yfg1ek

[caviaaporcellus]

Until now, I thought that no book could make me cry more than the Stormlight Archive, or, well, Cosmere in general. That was until I started reading Kingkiller Chronicle. Good job, Mr. Rothfuss, I'm a crying mess again and this time it's (finally) not Sanderson's fault.

I can't believe it, but this is actually worse than that very, very bad week when I re-listened to TFE while studying for a histology exam. (Long story short - tears ruined my notes because Marsh "died" and Kell was sad.)

[libralita]

Repetitiveness: Clare VS Sanderson

Spoilers for:

[Major] All of Brandon Sanderson’s work (including his non-cosmere stuff)

[Major] Cassandra Clare’s work up to Lady Midnight

[Very Minor] PJO on world building

[Very Minor] Harry Potter on world building

Now if you’ve been looking at my blog recently, you’ll know that I have fallen in an absolute love with Brandon Sanderson. But I subscribe to the philosophy that if you love something then you should mercilessly make fun of all its faults. One of the faults being: Sanderson’s writing is unbelievably repetitive. And no the excuse “well it’s all in the same universe” doesn’t work. Reckoners is not in the Cosmere but it’s a pretty shameless (yet hilarious) rip-off of Mistborn. The only difference being is that Mistborn is adult and Reckoners is YA. Which, apparently, means that everything is exactly the same but main characters don’t die. Also, to a much lesser degree Rithmatist rips off elements of Stormlight Archive but it’s nowhere near as bad as Reckoners. I’m pretty sure they’re going to outlaw drinking games made out of the Cosmere because of dangerous they would be.

I also use to read Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series but decided to stop because it was too repetitive. Now that sounds incredibly hypocritical and at first I didn’t understand why the repetitiveness didn’t bother me in Sanderson’s work. And the repetitiveness was the reason I found myself not wanting to continue after Lady Midnight. I know that Clare is going to pull some reason Jules and Emma can bonk out of her ass, Emma is going to suffer little to no consequences for her actions and they day will saved by bunch of stupid teenagers. At first these franchises seem completely different and pointless to compare but I’d argue they’re more similar than you think. Both authors were started off riding the coattails of other authors (Clare with the Twilight hype and Sanderson finishing up Wheel of Time), there’s a lot of talk of religion and there’s generally a neon sign pointing to which characters are going to die. Ironically, they both have a country called “Idris” that we barely care about unless it’s being under attack (Fun Fact: City of Glass was published in March of 2009 and Warbreaker was published June of 2009, go figure). They obviously have the same flaw. They tend to tell the same story with the same characters over and over again. However I figured out two reasons why I still enjoy Sanderson’s work and have given up on Clare’s.

1. Character Arcs and Group Dynamics:

Let’s take Raoden from Elantris and Elend from Mistborn. They’re essentially the same character. They’re young royals who take a position of authority even though they’re a bit naïve. They have badass girlfriends. Their girlfriends also have something to do with their clearly evil fathers’ deaths. Raoden even had a crazy brother in a draft of Elantris and Elend actually had a crazy brother. It sounds annoying that Brandon has characters with such similar backgrounds but there are some key differences.

One interesting way Brandon avoids the reader immediately realizing how similar these characters are is when their stories begin. Raoden’s story is basically Elend’s story but only through Well of Ascension and maybe a bit of time gap between Well of Ascension and Hero of Ages. In Well of Ascension you have the former ruling god dead, Elend is trying to deal with the authority that he’s accepted in the last book, dies and then comes back with awesome powers. Ditto for Raoden. But we get to see Elend grow from this naïve bookworm just trying to piss off his father into the badass emperor. Raoden’s already got some leadership skills from growing up with the assumption that he’s going take the thrown before he got zombie-afied and develops much faster than Elend in Elantris. It’s not immediately recognizable that this is the same arc. While in Shadowhunters Clary and Tessa basically go through the same story arc. Girl who thought she was average discovers Shadowhunters and that she’s magical, but even more super special than all the other magical people. She meets jerky guy and obviously better nice guy but chooses the jerky guy because he’s tortured. She discovers stuff about the Shadowhunter world and Clave continues to be useless dicks. She’s the only one who can save the day despite having very little to no training because she was born the right way. Bangs her boyfriend right before the climax because…I have no idea what Clare loves that trope to be honest. Anyone who was even remotely rude to her dies, even if they get quickly redeemed before the end and there are a few good guys who die, but honestly their deaths don’t really matter to the MC or the audience. End of trilogy! It’s boring. I will give Clare this, she did realize that the audience didn’t need this world explained for the third fucking time in TDA which a good step forward. I’m sure that every asshole is going to die by the end of the trilogy and right before the climax Jules and Emma will equip those stupid birth control runes and have a climax of their own. However there’s still the problem that they’re still fucking Shadowhunters.

Another difference is the different power sets that the characters. I know Tessa doesn’t have the exact same power set as Clary or Emma. Tessa is a Warlock-Shadowhunter, Clary has a bigger amount of angel blood than your average Shadowhunter and Emma is banging her Parabati which gives you magic powers apparently. Clare couldn’t have these take place on different planets with completely different magic systems like Sanderson can. But Tessa, Clary and Emma hang out with people and it wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t all Shadowhunters who come from the same culture with the same values and same personalities. Even the same family lines, which I guess means that family members have exact same personalities. At least when Sanderson families are from the same bloodlines he makes an effort to change up the personalities. Breeze is fancy asshole with a heart a gold, Wax is a social inept cowboy with a heart of gold. Tessa barely explores her Warlock side in TID, she talks to Magnus and maybe exchanges a couple of words with Ragnor. All three MCs hang out with Shadowhunters. It’s especially obvious when you look at Tessa and Clary’s groups. Tessa hangs out with Jace-Clone-With-Half-Decent-Reason-To-Be-An-Asshole, Simon-Done-Better, Crazy-Izzy (Jessamine) and Characters-That-Would-Make-Much-More-Interesting-Protagonists (Henry, Charlotte). TDA isn’t that much better. Emma and Jules are basically the genderbent versions of Jace and Clary with minor differences and being more pissy. They hang out with Less-Insufferable-Izzy, Evil-Crazy-Magnus, Expendable-Siblings, Siblings-I-Don’t-Care-About, Siblings-Waiting-For-Their-Own-Spinoff and Love-Geometry-Fodder. It would be better if they weren’t all Shadowhunters. Clare created a bunch of really interesting cultures and species that we never really get to see in full. We don’t know what it’s like to be a normal Vampire because Simon was a Daywalker (or whatever) and he wasn’t even a vampire for long, we had Maya the werewolf but she barely got any screen time. The non-Shadowhunter character we get the most of is Magnus because he’s a fan favorite but we still don’t really know much about Warlocks. I know this series is called Shadowhunters but why did it have to be? It would have been a better series if Tessa was a full on Warlock and she was exploring that aspect of Clare’s world and she could still interact with the Shadowhunters. Hell it might even be interesting to see how other species see the Shadowhunters. We know Downworlders hate Shadowhunters but they probably have different histories with them. Maybe Werewolves were used as manual slave labor while Warlocks were used as prostitutes for people who wanted to fuck demons but didn’t want demon STDs. I don’t know! Make Emma a werewolf, she’s aggressive. Culture does a lot, Clare already has the intriguing cultures that I want to learn about. She just has to DO something with them. Brandon loves having crews and it helps that they all come from different planets with different cultures. Even if he’s reusing a character they’re also either just different enough to not be a complete clone (unlike Jace and Will) or they’re surrounded by completely different characters. Raoden’s old crew has two old cranky farts with a rivalry that ends with my heart broken, a soldier, the hot guy, the big strong man with a family and the badass girlfriend. Elend’s crew he inherited from the Kell has the badass girlfriend, the fancy asshole with the heart of gold, soldier who’s a philosopher, Average Joe accountant, religious dude, cranky old fart and love-triangle-fodder. There’s some overlap between all the series’ crews but they’re just enough that you accept it. In Shadowhunters, especially with Tessa and Clary their friend groups are basically the same.

2. World Building:

The thing that keeps Sanderson’s work from becoming dull is that he is a master world builder. So good in fact that while you’re trying to figure out how the hell each world works and exactly how amazing it is that you completely miss all the repetitiveness along with the foreshadowing and references to the Cosmere. It’s only after you give yourself to think about the overall picture that you realize how similar they are. It’s essential a parent sneakily feeding their child vegetables by hiding them in cheese. Clare doesn’t have that. Seeing how Shadowhunters is the same exact world in every series, you never feel the confusion in any of the spinoff series. Once you’ve read a couple of the books you have a feel for the bland world.

Besides pop culture references, I don’t see much of a point in this being an urban fantasy. If the TV Show did one thing right, it’s that it mixed the Shadowhunter tech with modern tech. Why? Because it’s cool and gives it a little bit more of a reason to be set in modern times with modern pop culture references. If you took out all references to modern society it wouldn’t matter what time period any of these series took place because Shadowhunters seem to rarely let their society be affected by Mundane society. Shadowshunters have a very stagnant culture and it’s taken 10 books for them to start to realize that the Internet is awesome. This is an urban fantasy series but it doesn’t seem to have any effect other than pop culture references. You don’t need to completely blend Normal and Magical worlds; JK Rowling did a pretty good job of making a world where the wizard world very rarely interacts with the real world. This was successful because Harry Potter was a world with wizards who can do basically anything and had no real need to interact with Muggles. Shadowhunters for one don’t have any magical powers so they either have to do it themselves, get Warlocks to do it or get some Mundanes. They also have to protect Mundanes, you’d think they’d be interacting more and since there’s no Mist like Percy Jackson you wonder how Mundanes don’t figure it out by now. Speaking of PJO, on the flip side Percy Jackson works mixing the two elements because it’s fun to see Greek Gods and Monsters updated. Riordan took his concept and ran with it. He uses the modern setting to get out pop culture references but there’s still mortal interaction with characters like the demigods’ mortal parents and Rachel. The only other thing Clare uses the modern setting for is to introduce the Shadowhunter series to noobs. Which is fine for a series but after three, it gets tiresome. Also she picked the most stagnant and boring species out of the bunch.

Then there’s Sanderson, which I won’t compare Shadowhunters to the entire Cosmere because that’s unfair but I will compare it to Mistborn. In less than 200 years Henry Branwell made a few inventions like the portal and sensor; Clary made some new runes. So only Branwells can advance this society for some reason. In 300 years, Scadrial got cars, electricity, image projectors and fucking airships. I get that Shadowhunters really don’t like change but seriously all of humanity rests in their hands. I would want someone to create better ways of killing demons. Apparently witchlight can double as a power source so you can use it for computers and WiFi. Use that shit to make a car that works in Idris or some better tech. Find some better way to communicate to each other! That way the next genocidal maniac that Clary creates goes around to Institutes creating the next protagonists for another spin off series, you can warn people! Instead of relying on references to TID. This is why you’re always dying off, because you refuse to advance! This’ll be a never ending cycle of Shadowhunters using glow-y swords and arrows to kill all hell’s got to offer! Maybe this is all just a conspiracy and Clave has been stopping advancement in Shadowhunter society because once they defeat all the demons they’ll lose all their purpose in life.

One of the problems with Clare’s writing is that she often gives her main leads this amazing magical power that no else uses or can ever use. In 200 years or in the entire history of the world we never hear of another Warlock-Shadowhunter other than Tessa. And there will probably never be one because that’s what makes Tessa special. In Mistborn, the magic system is organically evolving. Throughout the first trilogy you always get new metals and new information about how the magic works is revealed. By Alloy of Law yes we have all 16 metals but we now discover that Mistborns don’t exist (which is a great way to keep any character from being too OP) but now there’s Twinborns. It’s a completely different type of magic user much like Tessa but Brandon expanded on that. Imagine the different types of Warlocks and Shadowhunter combos you could get and how that would manifest. Or how this would affect Shadowhunter society as a whole. Instead of Luke just becoming full on werewolf what if there was some sort of hybrid Werewolf-Shadowhunter. It’s the same with Twinborns. There’s so many combinations and possibilities for different powers. Then in Bands of Mourning there’s people being able to artificially give people powers. It’s so organic and just makes the world feel so much bigger because of how much you have to explore. The Shadowhunter magic never really evolves. It’s the same and once the main character uses their super-mega-ultra forms they got from the Angel to defeat the current bad guy threatening all of humanity, the power up just goes away. Like, you never want to see if other people can do that mega-awesome-thing? Why? Maybe they could use it to get rid of demons!

Then here’s my biggest grip with the Shadowhunters’ world: we’re never given an explanation on exactly the world works. I’m less invested in this world because I don’t feel like I can live there and then immediately die because I would not survive in any fantasy world. First is Idris: how does Idris get it’s food or clothing? Shadowhunter culture makes a big deal on how it’s shameful to not be anything but a demon hunter. But…y’gotta eat and someone has to make the sexy black leather you wear. Looking at the map there’s the lake, forest, plains and that’s all there is. Where are the farms? Are there Shadowhunter farmers? How are they treated? Or do they just rely on Warlocks to conjure it all up? Which Warlocks? Before the Accords did they just have Downworlder slaves do all this? If so then what happened after the Accords? And don’t give me that “well maybe it’ll be answered in a future book” or “it was answered in Lord of Shadows and/or Shadowhunter Academy” because it’s been 10 fucking books and a collection of short stories and Clare hasn’t given me the answers on how this society functions. I tried looking at Wiki but it was either such a throw away line that no one decided to put it or Clare hasn’t addressed it. Sanderson shows that worlds can distract from very glaring problems. I don’t expect to know exactly how the Cosmere functions because its not important at the moment, just like you don’t expect to know how Idris works in City of Bones. But after 11 books and still don’t know how anything works, I get frustrated and then I start getting annoyed at the other glaring problems. I know how the Camp Half-Blood functions. Mr. D grows strawberries, they harvest them, sell to them to the mortal world and get mortal money to pay for shit. Then golden drachmas are circulating around to buy magic stuff. Which also brings me to questions about the Institutes like: How do the Institutes have Mundane money? Is it the Clave that gets the money and then distributes it to the Institutes? How do they get the money? Do Shadowhunters really go out grocery shopping or does Idris just ship each institute supplies from wherever the fuck they get it? If so then how did they do that without the portal? How did they pay their Mundane servants back in the day? I go could go on the questions, Clare’s world just feel so small. Like nothing else is happening unless it’s relevant to the plot, while everything Sanderson creates such amazing worlds that you write…well a stupid post like this. It’s just there are so many unanswered questions that it becomes annoying.

Which is not to say that Sanderson never had this problem of not answering questions that probably should have been answered about the world. I can see myself beginning to lose my patience with getting answers to questions about the Cosmere, only to have new ones pop up. He has to walk that very fine line between leaving his audience wanting more without making them give up from frustration. While I didn’t hate it, Calamity left me with a lot more questions than answers. Yes, I know there are questions that are going to be answered later, especially around Calamity (the character) and I’m sure it’ll all make sense in about 10 years when we get Reckoners: Secret History or whatever. But there are questions that I feel should have been answered in this book and normally Brandon would but for some reason he didn’t. Like if Calamity made more Epics before he pissed off? Because if I were an Epic who went on a psychopathic rampage every time someone coughed in my direction, killed everyone I loved and random strangers and then suddenly snapped out of it; I would probably kill myself out of guilt. How exactly did other-universe David die exactly? I know it had something to do with Steelheart but how exactly? What’s it like for Firefight to come to our universe? Did Prof ever go to the other universe and say sorry to that Tia for killing her in our-universe? Could he just live there? Does Meg ever let him go there like she lets David see his dad? Why in this Earth do we have such piss-pour abilities to name shit? No, I’m not over how fucking stupid the name “Newcago” is. I’m actually glad Brandon didn’t attempt to name the two universes because they probably would have been stupid. Ultimately these questions are kind of annoying that I don’t have the answers to but I still know how this world functions. It was stated that the Epics leading their small territories in the…Fractured States (sigh) needed to have servants so they found some way to keep them alive. Yes it’s a “magic” answer but it works because you’ve got people who can come back from the dead and kill with bubbles. It doesn’t work with Shadowhunters because Shadowhunters don’t have magic and their better-than-you culture makes it hard for me to come up with any logical conclusion.

Ultimately Brandon Sanderson knows that if he can distract you enough with shiny bells and delicious cheese, he can get away with his repetitiveness that may be just slightly different. Clare seems perfectly fine with lazily not explaining a goddamn thing and just using whatever works over and over again with it being slightly different. That’s what it is. It’s lazy. Clare doesn’t seem to try. There’s no exploration it’s just a random girl who is super special and the entire universe revolves around her until the next protagonist comes along. Which makes me sad in the end. Oh well, at least I have the TV show to eventually catch up on. Despite my snarky commentary, Shadowhunters is actually gaining my respect by actually killing off characters that matter to Clary.

[hoids]

this entire chapter of kaladin accompanying shallan and adolin on their date is so funny. kaladin’s more annoyed at his third wheeling than the couple is, they’re legit including him in their conversations and answering his questions happily while he’s sitting there wanting to punch them.

meanwhile wit is in the front like ‘you should all flirt 😌’

[kalessinsdaughter]

Mistborn – The Final Empire, Chapter 34

Kalessin reads cosmere

Prologue | Chapter 33 | Chapter 35

"Fear is the tool of tyrants." And the Lord Ruler uses it to the full, long after it can be justified by his own standards.

Alright, I was wrong: the Inquisitor actually focused on Kell, not Vin. And damn, Kelsier is good at Pulling and Pushing metal. But why does the Inquisitor smile all the time? Just to get on Kelsier's nerves? Also, what's with the clawlike hands?

The irony of Kelsier saving Elend is not lost on me.

"Renoux" is dead. But I'm pretty sure the look Kelsier shared with the kandra means that the kandra, whatever a kandra is, survives, just not as Renoux.

The end of Kelsier's fight with the Inquisitor is magnificent! Everything about it, from pinning him by hammering his spikes into the wood, to using his own weapon for the killing blow. Truly the stuff of legends, and this time Kelsier really deserves the crowd's awe. But of course the Lord Ruler has to spoil it.

Oh no! No, no, no, Kelsier!

Dammit, I knew his interest in Sazed's legends about dead leaders meant he was planning something like this! And I hate it!

But his final words. "You can't kill me … I am hope." And then he dies. A legend, yes, but what good is that, when you're dead?

What is the plan now, Kelsier? How is the crew supposed to be able to deal with this? How is Vin supposed to be able to deal with this?

Some thoughts about the first real look at the Lord Ruler: I'm sure the description is significant.

The rings, we knew about those, but I wasn't expecting there to be so many! The nobility only seemed to wear a few pieces of jewellery.

And also, tall and thin, are we talking tall like Kelsier, or tall like an Inquisitor or a Terrisman?

And young… I don't know what to make of that. He's immortal, more or less—as evidenced by the skaa's futile attempt to kill him— so I guess he doesn't age. It's hard to say if his age matches the impression from the logbook: I hadn't thought much about the narrator's age, but he seemed to have a lot of life experience. So yeah, probably unexpectedly young-looking.

The oddest thing to me is the accented voice, though. I would have expected his language to be the same one everyone else in his empire speaks. Or is his accent from a more archaic version of the language?

Finally, about the kandra, I'm still wondering if those mimicking abilities are connected to mistwraiths. But also, what will the kandra do now? Leave with their job done, or stay with the crew? A mimic could be useful still, right? Plus, "Renoux" was deep in their plans, especially … with … Kelsier … waaait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Ok, I'm very not sure about this, but: what was that nod between Kelsier and "Renoux" really about?

[hoids]

Just started The Way of Kings and I’ve only known Kaladin for half a chapter but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone on Roshar and then myself

[hoids]

Lightsong and Kelsier should meet so they can talk about how much they don’t believe in gods while being literally deified

[hoids]

adolin is the anti-malfoy, instead of ‘wait till father hears about this’ it’s ‘please don’t tell father about this’