The Way of Kings

[Dawn, Dawnerys, Mother of Modding]

I didn't try to line it up. I'm guessing right hand is free hand. Should have been more careful with the order I listed in my comment.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

You might be right. It wouldn't be the first time I got mixed up about something. Heh

[Lee]

Right. Left. Safe. Free. To be honest I payed no attention to the order in the book.

[Luke]

Nienna wrote: "Right. Left. Safe. Free. To be honest I payed no attention to the order in the book."

Yeah, I'd be surprised if knowing the specific hand that's supposed to be the safe-hand will ever be important.

[Paolo]

Right hand is the freehand. Presumably because most people are right-handed - but what of the lefties? Are they allowed to use their left hand as freehand or are they condemned to a life of clumsiness? ;)

[Luke]

Just fyi to those of you that haven't started WoR yet, there is a specific Cosmere book that comes into play. Read on to know which book has the most crossover, but not what the crossovers are: (view spoiler)[Warbreaker has at least 3-4 important points of crossover, 2 are fairly easy to catch, the last are not, and are a point of theory right now. (hide spoiler)]

[Chris , cookie guilt]

What? Not important? Oh jeez.

Don't you people know I have OCD? lol

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

The right hand being safe and left being bad makes sense and has various cultural analogues - such as in the Middle East and India you don't use your left hand for food or touching people because it's used for bodily functions.

And, of course, in our own culture there was the long standing idea that the left-hand - or sinister hand - was unlucky or, even worse, the devil's hand - and in Catholic schools, at least, left-handed people were often forced to use their right hands.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

I was going to mention that, Colleen. When I was stationed in Saudi Arabia, one of the first things we learned was to never wave with our left hand. Hehe

[DavidO]

Hmm, what if you use your right hand...and then (gasp) wash your hands!

[Lee]

That's really interesting. And actually does make sense.

[Emily]

I just finished part 2. Man, this is slow going for me this time. Maybe I'm just not quite in the right mood for it, but I will definitely continue to push through as I am enjoying it.

[Lee]

It was slow for me too. I suggest taking breaks. That's what I did. I read shorter and easier books in between. Took me longer to finish it but I didn't get too burned out.

[Paolo]

Ch 36 - (view spoiler)[ Jasnah is a badass! She just took Dalinar´s spot as my favorite character. And Soulcasters are a lot more powerful than I thought. (hide spoiler)]

[Jackie]

Paolo wrote: "Ch 36 - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I love Jasnah! I think the lesson was a bit harsh for Shallan, but also necessary. But, I do like the way Jasnah teaches Shallan.

The whole scene made me wonder how Soulcasters get their power. Is it merely through the fabrial or is there something internal that triggers the fabrial?
(hide spoiler)]

Looks like I may have passed you, Paolo. I'm on 46 now. The upcoming chapters for you are going to be interesting. lol. I didn't want to put it down last night.

[Paolo]

Yeah, I´m lagging behind a little... last night I didn´t want to put the book down either but I fell asleep. And I´d like to catch up this weekend but I´ll have little reading time - mountain hiking trip in a few hours! (see profile pic). I usually like to take a book with me but there´s no way I´m taking TWOK, it weighs like a pound. I think the smallest/lightest book in my "supposedly currently reading" pile is Slaughterhouse-Five so I´ll try to finish that one.

[Jackie]

Those mountains are gorgeous! I rather be seeing that than reading. TWOK can wait. lol. Have fun.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Funny thing is, if he sets the book down it will block the mountain from view.

[Paolo]

Jackie wrote: "Those mountains are gorgeous! I rather be seeing that than reading. TWOK can wait. lol. Have fun."

Thanks! Sure will.

Chris - LOL. it´s a big book.

[Paolo]

I found this on one of the many TWOK posts over at tor.com and found it interesting:

Vorinism in its current form is an interesting religion because it’s entirely centered around achieving goals you set for yourself, optimizing a specific ability, and using that to form your own, personal, barely-mediated relationship with the Almighty. It’s a heavily hands-off religion, with ardents functioning not as prayer-leaders or determiners of doctrine, nor as keeper of arcane knowledge, but as guides along your path of self-actualization.

This is a pretty nice way to structure things, in my opinion, but in practice the structure of callings is still a heavy determining factor in Vorin cultures. Being a soldier is, doctrinally speaking, the highest Calling, because soldiers are needed to fight alongside the Heralds and take back the Tranquilline Halls. Farmers are next after this, because without farmers everyone is hungry. Very practical. But what this means is that Vorinism enforces warlike tendencies. Soldiers can only achieve their callings during times of war. What’s more, this religion has an inherent bias towards menfolk, as women aren’t allowed to be soldiers.

[Paolo]

Finished part 3! Read the interludes this morning too, made me a little late for work...

(view spoiler)[I have a hard time feeling bad for Shallan. Her plan to steal the Soulcaster wasn´t a very good one, and anyway I like Jasnah better so I´m glad she got her Soulcaster back. Anyway Shallan failed at her main objective in this book but she´s alive and whole, and presumably she learned a lot. I´m not sure if we get more Shallan in this book but I´ve heard Words of Radiance really focuses on her and her background, so looking forward to that.

Szeth - poor dude. I really like him as a character but man, his current position sucks. I want to know a little more of his background, specifically what the deal is with his oathstone and his "Truthless" title.

(hide spoiler)]

[Jackie]

Whew! I finished! Feel like I need a glass of wine or something to celebrate. :)

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Congrats! I got no reading done on this today, but I can blame the kidney stone.

[Eon Windrunner]

Woohoo! How good were those last few chapters Jackie?

Ouch. You feeling better Chris?

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Yeah, feeling better. Still sore and wore out, but much better than it was.

[Eon Windrunner]

Cool. All those cookies?

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Haha...could be..Might have to cut back.

[Jackie]

Eon, they were pretty awesome! The reveals were really interesting. I kind of felt a bit blindsided by all the twists and turns, but I loved it. Couldn't read anything else after and didn't really know what to do with myself. LOL. I ended up re-reading the prologue and going through some of the notes I took.

Chris, glad you're feeling better. I think you should rest up though. Take off work, read and let your harem take care of you. ;-)

[Jackie]

Paolo wrote: "But what this means is that Vorinism enforces warlike tendencies. Soldiers can only achieve their callings during times of war. What’s more, this religion has an inherent bias towards menfolk, as women aren’t allowed to be soldiers."

This passage is interesting. One of things that struck me about the world were the gender roles. For the most part it seemed like women were the creators. Women are into arts, reading, writing, inventing and experimenting. While, men were the destroyers or protectors, depending on what your viewpoint is. But, the women are pretty strong and respected in their own right. Without the women, men can't communicate, so the way the society is set up the genders are very co-dependent on one another.

What's interesting too is that (view spoiler)[ there were women Radiants at one point. Dalinar was surprised when he saw one in his vision. So, I wonder when in history did women's roles changed. (hide spoiler)]

[Eon Windrunner]

Jackie wrote: "Eon, they were pretty awesome! The reveals were really interesting. I kind of felt a bit blindsided by all the twists and turns, but I loved it. Couldn't read anything else after and didn't really ..."

Lol. Thats exactly how i felt and feel again now that I have finished book 2. Can't read anything else :(
Sanderson just knows how to do epic.

Very excited on your behalf as you still have to read Words of Radiance!

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Jackie wrote: "Chris, glad you're feeling better. I think you should rest up though. Take off work, read and let your harem take care of you. ;-) ..."

Yes, that's the plan! Hehe

[Lee]

I've been giving some thought to the safe hand thing. Its funny that this always gets brought up when I see a discussion about WoK. And it was one of the few things I remembered before my reread. But what about men not learning to read or write? To me this is more of a handicap than having to keep my hand covered. No choice. I would pick reading/writing. Its as much as a handicap than not having the use of one of your hands - I would argue that it would actually be more of one really.

[Eon Windrunner]

Agreed!

[Paolo]

I have like 200 pages left to go... gonna try to read them tonight.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Well, haven't read a page all week. We have the baby this weekend, and the next week is the closing on the house (supposedly).

Might just need to move this to the Paused/On Hold shelf.

[Paolo]

Finished! whew.

[Lee]

Thoughts... ?? Lol.

I love the end. :)

[Jackie]

Whoohoo! Watcha think?!

[Eon Windrunner]

I love the end too. Thoughts?

[Paolo]

I loved the ending! Lots of reveals in those last few chapters. Puts the entire book in perspective as really just the introduction to the whole series. Dalinar was my favorite character, I really like his entire arc and who he sees himself as at the end. I hope (view spoiler)[his life expectancy doesn't fall now that he has no Shardblade and is on Szeth's kill list (hide spoiler)]. I like that Shallan (view spoiler)[is back with Jasnah, I didn't see that coming. (hide spoiler)]

Some things were kinda predictable, like (view spoiler)[Kaladin freeing the bridgemen (hide spoiler)] but it was pulled off so well that it doesn't matter.

Now that I'm done with the book I jumped into the spoilery online discussions about it (like http://www.tor.com/features/series/th...) and now I'm only more confused. Shards, Ruin, Preservation, Harmony? Odium was briefly mentioned in Dalinar's last chapter but I have no idea what this stuff is. Is this the Cosmere stuff some of you were talking about before?

[Lee]

Yeah. The only thing I'm sure of is that all of Sanderson's solo books (not WoT) are connected in some way. The biggest connection that I know of is that the character Wit (his name in WoK) is in most (or all of them - not sure).

[DavidO]

I'm not sure the Alcatraz or Infinity Blade serieses are part of his Cosmere.

[Lee]

Never heard of that first one... I forgot he did children's (or ya) books before he became popular, didn't he?

I was including the Mistborn trilogy, Alloy of Law, Warbreaker, Elantris, Emperor's Soul,... Did I miss any?? I've been told that Steelheart doesn't count but I suspect it's going to.

[DavidO]

Steelheart's set on Earth, so I'd be a little surprised.

[Lee]

DavidO wrote: "Steelheart's set on Earth, so I'd be a little surprised."

Who says Earth can't be a part of the Cosmere? ;)

I don't follow authors or read interviews so obviously if Sanderson has said it doesn't I believe him. Mostly. But it's still fun to guess.

[Chris , cookie guilt]

The short story in Dangerous Women is set in a Cosmere world.

[Davide]

Am I the only one who hasn't finished it yet? :(

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Davide wrote: "Am I the only one who hasn't finished it yet? :("

Hahaha...no..

[Eon Windrunner]

Guess what came in the mail today...WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!

Proud new owner :)


(direct link for mobile - Pic 1)


(direct link for mobile - Pic 2)

Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.

Yep, I'm very excited lol.

[Luke]

Awesome man! I so excited for Wednesday myself. I'm taking Alloy of Law, WoK, WoR, and The Gathering Storm (WoT) for him to sign.

The cosmere can be really confusing when you first get into it. It's very involved. Just think of Honor and Cultivation as the "good gods" and Odium as the "bad god" if you don't want to dig into all the info.

Steelheart, Alcatraz, and the Infinity Blade stuff are not set in the Cosmere. There will be something like 36 cosmere novels total by the end: 10 SA books, 9 Mistborn books (3 trilogies), at least 2 Warbreaker books, Elantris and Emperor's Soul, and a series about Hoid along with a bunch of short stories/novellas (like Silence in the Forests of Hell in GRRM's anthology).