As excited as I am about every Stormlight release... it can be daunting to anticipate another thousand-page brick which I know, inevitably, will consuAs excited as I am about every Stormlight release... it can be daunting to anticipate another thousand-page brick which I know, inevitably, will consume my waking hours until I finish it. I've also still never managed to finish a full reread of prior books before a new volume comes out, so I find myself approaching them with a certain amount of trepidation.
The timing of Dawnshard was perfect to dispel that anxiety.
This book is a delightful little bite of so many things I love. I've said it before with regard to books like Skyward, but there's really a different quality to Sanderson's writing when he's just doing it for fun, and I feel like the delight he takes in telling stories shines through especially well. Dawnshard is refreshing, energizing, packed with great character development and intriguing tidbits (and larger portions!) of worldbuilding. It's got big Cosmere implications, yeah, and I know a lot of people are focused on that - but in my opinion the most important thing about it is that it's fun.
My absolute favorite detail, and the one I keep thinking about, is the way that Sanderson handled characters expressing themselves in different languages. It's honestly a very simple thing - obviously it's harder to articulate complex thoughts in a second or third language you're not fluent in - but seeing characters like Huio and Cord think and speak from two or three different perspectives added a certain dimension to the world as a whole, a reminder that every disparate culture we've seen across the Stormlight series has so much more to it than readers or the predominantly Alethi characters see at first glance.
Other highlights: - Aimia, finally! I still want to know more, but I've always found this location fascinating and I'm glad we got to go there. It reminds me of Vroengard from Inheritance, which was hands-down my favorite single element of that series. - I've loved Rysn's entire journey, and I like how her disability and adaptive technologies are being handled. I am not a wheelchair user myself, but my best friend is, and Rysn's perspective reminded me a lot of them in that regard. - Chiri-Chiri is a little dragon-cat and I love her. - I try not to think too much about the Sleepless lest I, too, become sleepless. They're fascinating but... so creepy. With that said, it's really cool to see a little more about how they relate to each other....more
It's hard for me to coalesce my thoughts on a Stormlight book into a coherent review, because these books don't feel like somethinSpoiler-free review:
It's hard for me to coalesce my thoughts on a Stormlight book into a coherent review, because these books don't feel like something I read - they feel like something I'm experiencing in a visceral and immersive way, verging on the addictive. I can't put them down; for 3/4 books in the series so far, I've finished reading within three days or less of release, because reading them becomes almost a compulsion. That sounds dramatic, but it's true - my wonderful, understanding girlfriend can attest to the fact that I was NOT a functional member of the household until after I finished, and had to be cajoled and argued with to take time away from reading long enough to figure out what we were going to have for dinner.
(It's not a problem if I recognize it, right?)
So yeah, the five-star rating was a foregone conclusion. The thing about this series is that I think each five-star rating I've given the books means something different. The Way of Kings evokes a sense of wonder and joy in me, even though I know it backwards and forwards now, and I adore the way it introduces and builds characters. Words of Radiance raises the stakes with incredible speed, delivers both character growth and backsliding, and ends with a world that looks completely different than it did at the start. Oathbringer is non-stop intensity, with existential questions for many of the characters, and is the first time we really see the scope of the conflict being sketched out.
So, what does Rhythm of War's five-star rating mean? Well, it's not as intense as Oathbringer, nor (in my opinion) as triumphant. It's a quieter book - granted, this is by comparison, so a LOT still happens in these 1,200 pages. The focus here, though, is more on character development and worldbuilding; action and battles fall briefly out of focus as we learn more about the planet of Roshar, its peoples, and its place in the broader universe of the Cosmere. Several major events of this installment were foregone conclusions, in my opinion: readers could easily predict that they would happen before the close of the first five-book sequence, and so it was more a matter of how they would happen rather than if. The narrative itself is still tense, but when problems are resolved my feeling was more 'ah, yes' than shock or awe. It's not a bad thing, to have a book that's something of a breather, especially as book five (which I think we should just start referring to as KoW now, since we know the initials will be symmetrical) is guaranteed to be one hell of a thrill ride.
The absolute best part of Rhythm of War, in my opinion, is Navani Kholin finally stepping into the spotlight. She is an incredible character: a woman in her 50s, a political power-broker, seducer of princes, mother of monarchs, and world-class engineer. In this installment, for the first time, she becomes one of the book's central characters (something which one of my college roommates has been predicting since Way of Kings) and it could not be more deserved. There are so few older female characters in speculative fiction, which makes it especially wonderful that this mature, complicated woman, full of regrets and drive and insecurity and intelligence, gets to occupy this book's center stage. Her emotional through-line is achingly relatable: despite everything, she consistently questions her worth and whether she is a 'real' scholar, in a way that hit very close to home.
I also loved Kaladin's arc in this book, though I do want to note that anyone prone to suicidal thoughts should be careful reading, as his depression takes a particularly bad downswing here and suicidal ideation is a major through-line. Kaladin has always been the heart of these books, in my opinion, and so it makes perfect sense that in a book addressing the exhaustion of a seemingly intractable conflict, he's the one we see struggle with the emotional/psychological fallout of the war. It hurts to read sometimes - a lot of the time. But it's realistic, and the depth of the lows make the highs so much sweeter.
One of the strengths of this series as a whole is the way that Brandon never lets you forget that the 'enemy' are people too. Rhythm of War pays more attention to the Returned, the vengeful reincarnated spirits who are spearheading the war against our protagonists - and yet even here, we're consistently reminded that they are not a monolith, that they have diverse motivations and goals, and that the line between friend and foe is not a clean one. This builds on a key theme of these books: that people are defined by the choices they make, and the choice to be better is always open.
By the end of the book (as usual), everything has changed. I don't know what to expect from KoW, when we eventually get it, except that it will probably hit me like a freight train and may, in fact, take place over just 10 days. The wait is going to be even more excruciating than usual.
Spoilery commentary: (view spoiler)[- I agree with other reviewers that this really wasn't Venli's book; she didn't do much for a lot of it and we got very little real info from her flashbacks. I feel like flashbacks/interludes have switched relevance here. That said, the last flashback, with Eshonai and the highstorm? Oh, that hit me in the HEART. - I viscerally hate the Jasnah/Wit relationship for a couple of reasons. One, like many LGBT/queer readers, I've read Jasnah as either aromantic/asexual or attracted to women pretty much from the start, and Brandon's explanation on Reddit that it "didn't feel right" is hard for me to reconcile with what he's already written - Jasnah disdaining attachment to men, giving the assassin Liss the old up-and-down in the WoR prologue, etc. Two, they have no chemistry on page, and I feel like Brandon really misfired re: what alloromantic asexual relationships look like. I am an alloromantic ace, and the complete lack of affection in those scenes (especially Ch. 99) made me deeply uncomfortable. Their relationship reads less as romantic love and more as Jasnah making a calculated decision to sleep with Wit so she can study him. - There's a lot of debate in the fandom about Moash and... frankly, I've been Done with him since Oathbringer, when he repeatedly decided not to take responsibility for his actions. I have read some interesting arguments positing that, on a meta level, his character is a condemnation of oppressed people reacting with rage and violence. There's... something to be said there, but from the beginning Moash has been open about how he doesn't want to be better; he just wants to be in charge. In WoK, he essentially argues that he just wants to rule over the lighteyes and treat them the way he's been treated, and while that's an understandable emotional reaction, it isn't exactly a laudable goal. Can he still choose to be better? Of course. But he spent this book suicide-baiting Kaladin and then for his grand finale, killed his own friend without remorse, so I don't feel like he will. - That said, something about him going blind at the end there felt weird. Disability as karmic punishment is a bad look. - Do I even need to mention loving the scene with Maya at Adolin's trial? I think everyone adored that moment. - We need to talk more about Adolin thinking of himself as "nothing more than a uniform and a sword". That hurt. - I was really hoping that 'Venli's book' would dig a little more into the questions of colonialism and sovereignty that were opened up in Oathbringer. That didn't happen, and so I'm left hoping that Brandon plans to address that further in later books. These are big, messy issues with direct real-world parallels, and they should be handled carefully. (I have a lot of personal feelings about this; the revelation that humans were the original Voidbringers hit close to home. When I get to re-reading Oathbringer, I'll probably talk about this some more.) - "Journey before destination, you bastard" is the new "not my daughter, you bitch". - Fuck off, Kelsier. (hide spoiler)]...more
I've been putting off writing this review because it's damn hard to write anything about a fifth book that doesn't carry implied spoilers for the firsI've been putting off writing this review because it's damn hard to write anything about a fifth book that doesn't carry implied spoilers for the first four, so let me instead focus on something else for a bit:
Murderbot... is hot.
And I'm sorry, because I know it would be uncomfortable being seen that way, but this is one of the few instances where Murderbot not being real is a plus because Murderbot is hot, y'all. This has nothing to do with appearances - we don't have a canon appearance for it, though I am very partial to this person's art - it's just true of Murderbot on a conceptual level. I mean, it's a super-capable being who uses its abilities to help people and protect its friends, and every time it even contemplates doing something selfish its ridiculously high levels of compassion kicks in and it does the OPPOSITE of the selfish thing.
That's hot to other people, right? It's not just me?
Anyway. This book. Good book. Old friends, new worldbuilding, lots of conversations which gave me FEEEEELINGS. There was a bit where I thought things were going to end before a particular reunion and I was prepared to throw a tantrum on the floor (only slightly exaggerated for comic effect) but Martha Wells? She had my back.
I think basically what I'm saying is that if you already love Murderbot, you'll love this one too, which does rather go without saying. And if you don't already love Murderbot... I'm pretty sure that's only possible if you've never read it....more
I had to cry on Megan a tiny bit about this one, and hug her a lot about it, but don't worry - both came from a place of happiness. Murderbot's emotioI had to cry on Megan a tiny bit about this one, and hug her a lot about it, but don't worry - both came from a place of happiness. Murderbot's emotional awareness has come so far and I am very proud of it. This book had reunions and I made a lot of high-pitched noises.
It's also made it clear that I have a particular weakness for characters who hold themselves aloof from the world facing the slow, mortifying ordeal of being known; even more so if these are characters who are more powerful than the people who come to care for them, and convinced they must keep their friends at a distance to keep them safe. Gets me where I live, y'all.
Anyhow. The emotional catharsis of this book was heady, and I kind of wanna reread all four novellas just to get a hit of it again. Then again... we have an ARC of Network Effect... so we'll probably get through that first. ...more
You are not ready for this book. I was not ready for this book. I am pretty sure that even when I re-read it, I will not be ready for this book.
HarrowYou are not ready for this book. I was not ready for this book. I am pretty sure that even when I re-read it, I will not be ready for this book.
Harrow the Ninth is like being put through a series of bizarre emotional windsprints. I laughed. I keened. I was buoyed up by triumph which was, even then, bittersweet. I spent the entire book not knowing at all what was going on and I still don't. Pressing questions were answered and even bigger questions posed without answers. New characters were introduced, old characters returned, and some who were somehow neither of the above became people I cared about very much.
As with Gideon, my girlfriend read this one out loud to me when it was my turn to cook or clean the kitchen, and that meant that we stretched it out over months with plenty of time to theorize. I was right about a lot of things, which I am very proud of... but I was wrong about plenty of others, and my theories went through many, many iterations as each new baffling piece of information refused to fit into the puzzle.
I don't know what to tell you all about this book and honestly, I don't want to tell you very much at all. Just let it happen to you and savor every single moment of carefully, skillfully crafted confusion and know that Tamsyn Muir is absolutely holding your heart in her hand and you can only hope she will be kind to it.
P.S. There is an honest-to-god 'none pizza with left beef' joke in this book. I'm not over it, and that's the one bit of plain fact I'll give away....more
Listen, that synopsis is crazy vague and is 70% Skyward recap, and after blitzing through the ARC in two days I can tell you: that's really the best tListen, that synopsis is crazy vague and is 70% Skyward recap, and after blitzing through the ARC in two days I can tell you: that's really the best they can do.
I cannot tell you anything about the plot of this book, because it takes a hard left within the first 100 pages and from there, I hope you all get to experience all of the revelations and the delightful feeling of things coming together the same way I did.
What I can say is: - I love everyone in this book, new characters and old, but especially my Space Daughter Spensa, who has at least moved beyond her days of literally eating rats and is slightly less garbage now. She's still got a lot of room to grow, but that's why I love her. - The themes are really good, guys. I can't tell you what they are, but I like them a lot. If you're familiar with Brandon's body of work, you'll recognize some through-line ideology here. - There is SO MUCH more worldbuilding (galaxybuilding?) in this book, and I ate it all up with a spoon because that is what I am ABOUT. Including some neat aliens - and btw, if anyone else listened to that Writing Excuses episode about worldbuilding gender roles and got worried about alien gender, don't be; the idea discussed on the podcast has been refined and made way more alien/less parallel to human genders and reproduction, and I actually quite liked it.
I think that's about as specific as I can be, because the process of discovering and figuring things out in this book was so much fun for me that I really want everyone else to get to enjoy it the same way.
One last, more general note - as much as I love the Stormlight/core Cosmere books, I do think that Sanderson's shorter, faster-paced works are often better, whether in terms of sheer enjoyment (this series, the Wax and Wayne books, the Reckoners) or craft (The Emperor's Soul). It's nice to read something from him every now and again that isn't weighed down by a massive, complicated plot, and just feels like a storyteller giving himself a chance to play. ...more
4/18/20: Reread in a single day because guess who gets to borrow her gf's Kindle to read Oaths of Legacy five months early? This biiiiiitch. I'm excit4/18/20: Reread in a single day because guess who gets to borrow her gf's Kindle to read Oaths of Legacy five months early? This biiiiiitch. I'm excited and terrified in equal measure.
All of my original responses stand but also: Let Wen Say Fuck. Let Ettian say fuck too but especially Wen. ------------------------
This book kept me up until midnight, despite the fact that I had to wake up at 6 the next morning for work, because when Skrutskie gets a good grip on your heart and emotions she just DOES NOT LET GO.
So, yeah... it was good.
I expected nothing less. I've loved everything Emily Skrutskie's written so far, and I fully expect to love everything she writes in the future. Deft, nuanced characterization combined with stories so clearly written out of sheer enthusiasm is a winning combination every time. (I love her dedication to 'there was only one bed', and her abiding love of mecha/powersuits, and how much the joy of writing things she adores comes through.)
More than anything, I am repeatedly struck by the nuances of her characters and their relationships. Every main character in her books is multi-layered, with loyalties, beliefs, and dreams that often are pulling them in three different directions, and when they struggle it's not because they are resisting making the 'right' choice - it's because it is never clear what the 'right' choice is. Skrutskie does shades of grey spectacularly - law and order or protecting individuals? Redemption/revenge for the past or hope for the future? Ideals or survival?
And the relationships she writes. I love them not just because we need more explicitly queer characters, but because she writes queer characters who have to work for it. A dramatic kiss is not the endgame - instead, even a much-wanted romance adds another layer of complication to characters' motivations. There is no doubt that Ettian and Gal want to be together - that's made very clear within the first hundred pages, in a chapter so taut with tension I had to (gently) throw the book to the other end of the couch after reading it and sulk a bit. But being together isn't easy, even though they want it, even though it's good for them both, and they can't just rely on love to save the day. This is, I feel, a sort of 'next level' queer narrative; for so long our stories have been about self-discovery and the first flush of romance, but what Skrutskie brings (and what I am starting to see more of overall) are real, complicated relationships with just as much nuance as any hetero couple under stress would have.
I should be clear, too, that when I praise her relationship writing, I don't just mean romance. One of the best aspects of this book is Wen and Ettian's friendship, which is a sort of... 'found sibling' bond that I just loved. (view spoiler)[(In my Homestuck days, I would have called this a moiraillegiance. Listen, don't judge me; quadrants are useful.) (hide spoiler)] Again, it doesn't come easy, but the result is really beautiful, and so clearly platonic that I am in awe. There are a lot of writers who don't have the skill to write characters this close to each other without it feeling even a little bit romantic, but Skrutskie does it.
I haven't addressed the plot much, and that's for a few reasons. One, I really do think the characters and their relationships are the stars here; and two, when it comes to plot, I am largely focused on where things will go in the second and third book. I have... hesitations about any story which hinges on support for the 'divine right of kings' and the idea that parentage can somehow make someone fit to govern, but I trust Skrutskie implicitly, so I'm withholding judgement on that aspect until the story has developed further. So far: it's a fun SF romp to be sure; I was hoping for a bit more space dogfighting (that initial space combat scene was great!) but was perfectly happy with where the story went instead.
If you're out there looking for something to get super emotionally invested in during this time of trouble... pick up this book. You won't be able to stop thinking about it. Now, the struggle of waiting patiently for book two......more
I had a hurdle with this book that I also had with Geekerella, which is that it's hard for me to get into theASHLEY POSTON IS GOOD AT BOOK
news at nine
I had a hurdle with this book that I also had with Geekerella, which is that it's hard for me to get into the flow of fiction about fandom because I spend a lot of time bracing for secondhand embarrassment. The thing about Ashley Poston's writing is that she gives us a very authentic rendering of fandom - the sheer joy of community and the spiraling toxicity, and the comfort of loving what you love honestly above all - so that secondhand embarrassment never really comes; it just takes me at least a hundred pages to remember this and fall into the story.
But once I got there, I was devouring this book. It's a fun, light read, that swept me along pretty much effortlessly as soon as I had time to give it. I do think I enjoyed Geekerella more, for a couple of reasons - one, the romantic relationship builds over a longer period of time, and that's my preference; and two, because Imogen (one of this book's two protagonists) is... unsympathetic at first. At the end of the day though, the romances here are cute anyway, and Imogen gets better.
The ending was immensely satisfying on several levels, and there were some great undercurrents in the story re: the entitlement people feel towards actors and creators, and especially towards actresses, which weren't always explicitly explored but grounded this fluffy romcom firmly in the dirty reality of Hollywood and of fandom alike.
Fave quote: "What I am built for is to fall in love slowly, page by page, like reading a favorite book. I am built for the nearness of someone, the quirk of their lips, the sincerity of their smile, the dreams just underneath their skin. I fall in love moment by moment, collecting who they are, who they were, who they want to be, into a kaleidoscope of colors."
Also, I got a little emotional that Elle's dad's voice is played at the end of every ExcelsiCon....more
Do you like your heart? Do you like it to remain inside your body, unbroken? Do you hate laughing and crying in the same reading experience?
This book Do you like your heart? Do you like it to remain inside your body, unbroken? Do you hate laughing and crying in the same reading experience?
This book is not for you.
If, however, you would like to be taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride through a bizarre, hilarious, dark, touching, incredibly powerful story... you should get on that pre-order, friends. Trust me: this is unlike anything you've ever read, and you need it in your life....more
Listen I know I'm technically on review hiatus but I have to call out my favorite part of this book: the absolutely perfect balance between sexy conteListen I know I'm technically on review hiatus but I have to call out my favorite part of this book: the absolutely perfect balance between sexy content and emotionally complex content. This book is sizzling hot, don't get me wrong, but Casey subtly transitions away from focusing on physical chemistry as Alex and Henry's relationship develops new depths, in a way that felt... respectful of their intimacy, if that makes any sense?
It was really deftly done, is what I'm saying. Also, avoids the problem that a lot of m/m books have where women are The Gender Not Appearing In This Book, with really fantastic and well-realized female secondary characters who I'm excited to hopefully read about in the future....more
With all due respect to other authors debuting in 2019: A Memory Called Empire is the belle of the debutante ball this year. Its rich worldbuilding, lWith all due respect to other authors debuting in 2019: A Memory Called Empire is the belle of the debutante ball this year. Its rich worldbuilding, layered characterization, and philosophical musing on identity and nation is absolutely marvelous; it rests at the Lagrange point between Aliette de Bodard’s Xuya universe and Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor - multicultural galactic politics full of poetry and intrigue, centered on a deeply sympathetic protagonist who’s not as out of their depth as they first seem.
SPENSA NIGHTSHADE IS MY FRAGILE GARBAGE ASSHOLE DAUGHTER ALSO THIS BOOK WAS A LOVE LETTER TO CLASSIC SCI-FI I LOVED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND I'M NEVER GONNA SPENSA NIGHTSHADE IS MY FRAGILE GARBAGE ASSHOLE DAUGHTER ALSO THIS BOOK WAS A LOVE LETTER TO CLASSIC SCI-FI I LOVED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND I'M NEVER GONNA BE OVER IT
not-capslock review to come. possibly closer to release date. idk. depends on how much time I spend rereading 80s sf to write an essay about Skyward as commentary on touchstone works of the era. alternately, I might just replace this review with a series of HTTYD gifs. time will tell....more
While I agree with other reviews that Haven was often hard to follow... honestly, the quality of craft in every volume of Monstress is so high that I While I agree with other reviews that Haven was often hard to follow... honestly, the quality of craft in every volume of Monstress is so high that I still can't deduct a star. Even when I only understand half of what's going on, I don't really mind, because in this case it just feels like further evidence of the astonishing richness of the world and story, and I absolutely trust Marjorie Liu to help me make sense of it somewhere down the line.
I did definitely leave this book wanting to binge-reread all three currently released volumes, though. I'll have to do that eventually and see how much makes sense with more immediate context.
(also, dear Sana Takeda: if you ever sell poster-sized prints of Monstress art, I will throw so much money your way.)...more
2023 update: Reread in anticipation for the movie. I'm ready for my heart to be broken by seeing this onscreen, and I mean that in a good way. (view s2023 update: Reread in anticipation for the movie. I'm ready for my heart to be broken by seeing this onscreen, and I mean that in a good way. (view spoiler)["You're not the first one who thought you could CARE about me until you saw how bad it really was" comes for my throat every time. (hide spoiler)] I'm gonna cry on Friday, and I can't wait.
2021 review: I first read Nimona in its online format, but while poking through a bookstore with my girlfriend it came out that she hadn't read it at all and I, already considering buying it, used that as my excuse. (She finished it this morning, and enjoyed it!)
There's a lot that I love about this story, and a lot that I find hard to put into words. At first, it drew me in with its humor - N.D. Stevenson has a knack for charming silliness - but what keeps me coming back to it is the relationships between the characters. It's a story about people trying their best to be good, who for one reason or another aren't always sure they can qualify as good. It's a story about a girl who can be monstrous, and who may also actually be a monster, and what that means for the people around her. It's a story about overcoming harm done to you and believing people when they say they care for you.
It's also a fun fantasy jaunt, with a side of SCIENCE! because why not, and it's got a perfectly poignant ending. And let me tell you, you're all terribly lucky to be able to read it in full whenever you want, because when I caught up it was still updating and that climax, oh my god....more
After three books, somebody’s gotta say it: Emily Skrutskie is a gold mine of storytelling that Hollywood really, really needs to discover. She writesAfter three books, somebody’s gotta say it: Emily Skrutskie is a gold mine of storytelling that Hollywood really, really needs to discover. She writes with a kind of raw clarity, telling stories about characters – and especially women – who want things fiercely and will do anything to achieve their goals. Her portrayal of emotions, mistakes, and arguments is explosive, and makes most other writers look timid by comparison. Hullmetal Girls is a superb example of this, telling a complicated story about loyalties, ideals, and the messiness of trying to build a society in a plot that would make a magnificent action movie.
This would have been an effortless five stars if not for some confusion over syntax and blocking; I was repeatedly flipping back and forth between pagThis would have been an effortless five stars if not for some confusion over syntax and blocking; I was repeatedly flipping back and forth between pages and even chapters to track who was who and where they were placed.
That said: excellent. Morally complex, beautifully diverse, and tense to the very end.
Longer review to come.
(P.S. can we get a prequel? pretty please?)...more
Stories about artificial intelligence are, universally, about what it means to be human.
I mean, most stories are about that in some way, but AI bringsStories about artificial intelligence are, universally, about what it means to be human.
I mean, most stories are about that in some way, but AI brings a particular sort of laser focus to the subject. If human science can create sentient life, what responsibilities do we have to that life? What distinguishes it from us, and what rights is it entitled to? Or the reverse: if it becomes possible to upload consciousness, is the resulting entity as human as when they were flesh-and-blood? What gets lost in the shuffle from neurons to ones and zeroes?
It’s this angle that I particularly loved about The Swan Riders, though I enjoyed pretty much everything about it. Given that The Scorpion Rules showed us a world which, despite being ruled by an all-powerful supercomputer, was still fundamentally broken, it makes perfect sense for the next question to be: what is Talis’s grand design lacking? And that, in turn leads to the question of what Talis himself lacks, and whether or not that loss is inevitable for those made AI.
This also creates the perfect opportunity for Greta to continue her character arc from the first book: she is learning to carve her own path, even in messy situations when everyone around her insists there is no option C. (Incidentally, I love the fact that a character whose development is so much about realizing that there are more paths available to her is also canonically bisexual - in romance, as in the rest of her life, Greta rejects the idea that she has to make the expected binary choice.)
Plot-wise, The Swan Riders seems sedate right up until it’s not. Talis and two human Swan Riders escort Greta across Sasketchawan, as her newly modified brain struggles to deal with what it’s become. Interspersed with this we get flashbacks in Talis’s perspective, describing the early existences of other AIs and the desperation with which he tried to keep them sane. It explains the unhesitating and sometimes harsh methods he applies when Greta falls into a destructive memory spiral - most of those who would have been his kin died in the process, and he’s determined not to lose another one.
And here is the crux of it: Talis, scarred by history and loss and the horrors of war, has stopped being able to see more than one option in a given situation, and that option tends to be the harshest. We see, through his recollections and his dialogue, a bit of what the apocalypse looked like for this world:
She was quoting from the Utterances. The full verse was: Shuttles can be shot down, and you won’t always know who to blow up afterwards.
Reaching down the weapons platforms was like putting one finger on top of an ant. When he did it for the first time, he could almost feel the tiny crunch. Sensory feedback in the finger he didn’t have. From the exoskeleton that Manila didn’t have.
“Would you be happier if I kicked puppies? I’m complicated, okay? And I like horses. Horses don’t pump sarin gas into each other’s preschools. Horses don’t use hunger as a weapon. Horses don’t - you have no idea what I’ve seen, Elian Palnik. And no right to judge me.”
Ultimately, though, Talis’s methods are failing. There are more uprisings against him, more challenges to his authority, and the child-hostage structure has been doomed all along. And he doesn’t change. Until Greta, the proverbial bit between her teeth, starts to demand that there has to be a better way.
Bow’s AIs inhabit the extremes. They remember everything in minute detail, or nothing at all; they are completely knowledgeable, or completely oblivious to a blind spot. Humans, though, dwell in the muddy middle, living and loving and remembering imperfectly, and that allows us to grow and change and make mistakes and make better mistakes. Messiness - in life, in choices, in relationships - marks Bow’s human characters (and to an extent, the AIs as well, though they struggle to deny it).
“It changes you,” I said. “Caring for someone. Being cared for.”
The ending, fittingly, is also messy. Nothing that touches on the fate of an entire planet can be tidly wrapped up in two books - and yet, the way it ends is deeply satisfying.
This might not be the beginning of a happy story. But one way or another, it was a new beginning.
Change. New mistakes. Better mistakes, hopefully - and sometimes, I think, that’s all any of us can really hope for....more
Alright, I'm gonna say it: you really shouldn't read this book unless you've read most, if not all, of the rest of the Cosmere. I know Sanderson's intAlright, I'm gonna say it: you really shouldn't read this book unless you've read most, if not all, of the rest of the Cosmere. I know Sanderson's intentions are that no book be completely dependent on understanding the full universe, but honestly I can't imagine how swamped with new information a reader would be if they came into this only knowing the Mistborn series. At the very least, in addition to Mistborn up through The Bands of Mourning, I recommend having read Elantris, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, and the Stormlight Archive through Words of Radiance. If you're not inclined to dig into fan theories for explanations, you'll want to have The Emperor's Soul under your belt as well to understand some foundational concepts. So... you can skip Warbreaker and Sixth of the Dusk, but that's basically it.
As you might expect, the rest of this is all spoilers. Sorry, folks. That's just how it goes. If you are not 100% up to date on the Cosmere, or if you consider information revealed at signings/other events to be spoilers for future books, the rest of this review is not for you. The first line under the spoiler tag will ruin things, I swear. Don't click it.
First things first: feelings on his 'resurrection' in the Cognitive realm. Ehhh? I've seen it said that this is a very Kelsier thing to do, and I agree, but I also kind of wish Sanderson would let a few more characters stay dead. We had three 'oh no they're dead SURPRISE! they're not' moments in Words of Radiance, and while I knew Jasnah wasn't dead from the beginning and had no doubts about Syl, Szeth's return felt a little... rule-breaking. (heh. Because Naln? Anyone else laughing?)
If any character besides the Immortal Indomitable Jasnah Kholin was going to come back from the dead, it would be the Survivor of Hathsin. And yet... I don't know. I see it, but I don't actually like it. The Final Empire surprised a lot of people by killing him off, and while Brandon's been hinting to fans that he was hanging around on the Cognitive through Hero of Ages for literally years, the loss of Kelsier as a focal character seemed like a certainty. And don't get me wrong, I enjoyed him in the first book, but not nearly as much as I liked seeing people's expectations of who the hero would be get completely overturned. In the long run, seeing Vin take people by storm is worth more to me than Kelsier being around. And that's another thing - one of the most valid complaints about the original trilogy has to do with the end of The Well of Ascension, wherein Vin takes up the power of Preservation, gives it up, and then saves Elend's life by giving him the last bead of Lerasium - and the outcome of this is that she's doomed the world by freeing Ruin and made Elend a more powerful Mistborn than her. Now, Brandon did a good job showing that finesse and technique are as important if not more so than force, but that still had the effect of letting Elend overshadow Vin in the role that was originally hers and hers alone, and it left a sour taste in many people's mouths. Now, Kelsier's done much the same thing to her, and he gets to live through it while she passes on. Kelsier, who died in Book 1, ends up having more long-term influence than the woman who survived to Book 3 and saved the world. That... doesn't sit quite right with me.
The thing about Kel is that he is essentially a selfish character, sometimes to the point of near-villainous acts. (In fact, Sanderson has said that Kelsier and Denth, from Warbreaker, are almost the same - just in different contexts.) Part of why his original 'Plan B' was emotionally resonant was that over the course of the book, we saw him change somewhat - from someone who hated all nobles to the man who saved Elend's life, and from someone whose stated intention was theft to a man who ended up sacrificing himself for the sake of a revolution. In this book, he backtracks.
I don't feel like I should need to say this, but apparently there's been argument in the fandom about the end of the book: Hemalurgy is bad, folks. It's an end-negative magic which depends on death... and Kelsier deliberately reintroduced it to Scadrial so that he could regain a physical body. Spook's book about the subject? Pretty clear now that that came from Kelsier. Which means that Edwarn and Telsin's Hemalurgic spikes - which allowed the Set to gain control of a city-destroying weapon and literally killed Wax - are the result of Kelsier's decision.
"But he helped the southerners!" you say. "He did it for a good reason!" But... no, he didn't. He didn't know the southerners existed when he hatched his plan. Moreover, he chose Spook - the kid who was very, very traumatized by being spiked and manipulated by Ruin - as his partner in crime. Really, Kel? Really?
Vin called him out on this; Vin understood.
"How much of what you've done was about love, and how much was about proving something? That you hadn't been betrayed, bested, beaten? Can you answer that, Kelsier?" He met her eyes, and saw the implicit question. How much was about us? it asked. And how much was about you?
All that aside - this was a bonanza of new Cosmere information. Physical descriptions of Ati and Leras, to start with, including clothing that struck me as very interesting. Whether Leras's attire has been shaped by his time on Scadrial is up for debate, but it's possible we got a tiny glimpse at the pre-Shattering culture he came from:
...a thin wool coat that went down almost to his feet, and beneath it a shirt that laced closed, with a kind of conical skirt. That was tied with a belt that had a bone-handled knife stuck through a loop.
We also got to see Leras's personality and... as it turns out, he's a nerdy historian. A very nerdy historian. Again, it's unclear what here is the original material and what's Shardic influence, especially since we know from the Letter that Ati used to be a good man and he's... very not, here, but it's interesting.
Hoid! is... doing Hoidy things, which is to say mucking around in planets and then leaving. It was interesting to see the 'behind the scenes' of his life, for once, and even more so because the way he treated Kelsier was positively vicious. It's good context to have given his statement to Dalinar that he would willingly watch Roshar "crumble and burn" to achieve his goals - and while his actions in the series have largely been helpful to the protagonists, I would not be at all surprised to see him perform a face/heel turn and act against some of them in the future. Whatever Hoid wants, it's got more to do with the whole of the Cosmere than the parts. ...and one last thing: it's been confirmed that Cephandrius is not, in fact, his real name. So there goes that theory, before it even really got off the ground.
I mentioned my excitement over Khriss in my Bands of Mourning review, but really - getting to see her 'in the flesh', so to speak, and her interactions with Nazh, explained a great deal about what her goals are. For the moment, she seems to be a scholar of Investiture, researching magic systems and Shards across the worlds. Even her brief appearance here yielded more concrete information than we've had before about Adonalsium and the Shardholders:
"Anyway, there was a God. Adonalsium. I don't know if it was a force or a being, though I suspect the latter. Sixteen people, together, killed Adonalsium, ripping it apart and dividing its essence between them, becoming the first who Ascended." "Who were they?" Kelsier said, trying to make sense of this. "A diverse group," she said. "With equally diverse motives. Some wished for the power; others saw killing Adonalsium as the only good option left to them. Together they murdered a deity, and became divine themselves."
Obviously, this is to be taken with a grain of salt - some of it is Khriss' speculation, and no historical record in a Sanderson book can be read literally. Still, the concept of Adonalsium being a living being is new, to my knowledge, and I can't help but suspect Sanderson deliberately introduced this idea. It may be a red herring, or it may be a grain of truth. The comment about some of the sixteen seeing killing Adonalsium as the 'only good option' is likely to have more truth to it, and that's rife for speculation.
Kelsier's experiences with what is essentially soulcasting emphasized something important about the Cosmere: that the history of an object affects its ability to be soulcast. This is why the famous Stick in Words of Radiance resisted Shallan - having been in the wilderness for its entire existence, there was nothing in its cognitive aspect that could be turned towards combustion. Had the forest around it experienced a wildfire, I would guess Shallan would have been successful. We also saw that cognitive 'units' look different on different planets: mist on Scadrial, spheres on Roshar, both of which are mirrors of Invested substances in the Physical Realm of that planet. This raises some questions about Sel and Nalthis, which don't have consistent physical vessels for power.
One of the fascinating things about Ruin is that he's always made a terrible sort of sense. He does here, too:
"You realize that if he were in control, nobody would age? Nobody would think or live? If he had his way you'd all be frozen in time, unable to act lest you harm one another."
This casts some of Sazed's decisions in an interesting light, since he holds both Ruin and Preservation. He's made the argument to Wax that if he started interfering to preserve life, there's no good place to draw the line - and that the consequences of Preservation can be Ruin. ("Spare a man, live with the ruin he creates.")
Threnody is far more important than I'd expected, judging by the fact that the Ire assume that Threnodites are the most likely to attack them. Possibly this means Threnody is close to Scadrial, but even then that suggests that shades can travel away from their home planet via the Cognitive, which is interesting.
The Ire themselves intrigue me the most. They're obviously Elantrians; that much was clear from the physical description alone, and the names just made it more clear. However, Elantrians aren't supposed to age, and these ones have and what's more, are known for it, since their organization's name means 'age'. The obvious explanation is that distance from Sel's Investiture weakens the Reod's life-preserving effects, since all Selish magic that we've seen is highly location-dependent (and most Cosmere magics degrade with distance from their Shards anyhow). But what are they up to, trying to take control of a Shard? Is this perhaps an attempt to heal Devotion and/or Dominion and restore Sel's Cognitive Realm? All we know about it is that it's dangerous; it could be that there is no way for the Ire to return home. Or they could have more nefarious purposes. I'm curious about this whole affair, but even more so about Raoden and Galladon's perspectives on it, if they're still around.
Names mentioned: Senna, Vax, Fortune. Senna and Vax seem to be people known to Ati and Leras, and likely are relationships that predate their Ascension. They don't have to be Shards, but I wouldn't be too surprised: we don't know Cultivation's name, and there are still 7 unknown Shards out there, any of whom could be Senna or Vax. Fortune sounds more like a Shard power to me; in fact, that's what a Chromium ferring stores. Given that we've seen Connection, lightweaving, and soulcasting across the Cosmere, this could be another universal power type.
As with most things which delve heavily into Realmatics and the entire Cosmere universe, this book left me with more questions than answers... but thankfully, Sanderson'll be on tour again in February, so maybe I'll get to change that balance somewhat. (hide spoiler)]...more
This review will be split into several parts, organized by spoiler level. If you do not meet at least a given level of spoilers, do not read that sectThis review will be split into several parts, organized by spoiler level. If you do not meet at least a given level of spoilers, do not read that section. I'm really very serious about this.
For the Sanderson-uninitiated: If you read fantasy, or talk to people about fantasy, or have followed me for a while, you've heard of this guy. Bands of Mourning does all the things Sanderson is famous for: it has fast-paced action, carefully applied rules of magic, expansive worldbuilding, and engaging characters. It also, as his latest work, shows clear improvement on many fronts from earlier books: there are more female characters, both in the cast and filling a variety of background roles; the society is clearly multi-ethnic and -racial; and the almost overwhelming ending style known as a 'Sanderlanche' has been significantly smoothed out. (The end is still nigh-impossible to put down, but it's spread out over a longer section of the book, and with a more gradual transition between the rest of the book and the climax.) Also, the main romance is the cutest dang thing.
For obvious reasons, this is not a book you can start with. It is at bare minimum the sixth book set on the world of Scadrial, and there are benefits to having read other books in the Cosmere as well. However, if you do pick up one of Sanderson's earlier books and find it weak in some areas - as with the very legitimate criticism of The Final Empire having only one major female character - know that those flaws are corrected over time, and that each book is better than the last.
If you've read all of the original Mistborn Trilogy but haven't made the jump: (view spoiler)[I know, I know, it's jarring to move forward 300 years, but trust me, it's worth it. Not only do we get to see Scadrial rebuilt and rejuvenated, but there are new uses for the Metallic Arts which were impossible in the era of the Final Empire. The original trilogy had a much tighter focus than this series, focused on the overthrow of the Lord Ruler and the aftermath of that conflict. Here, we see a whole society growing and struggling to determine itself, even as outside influences begin to pose a threat. Some original characters are still around - Sazed, of course - and the rest are remembered in interesting, if not always accurate, ways.
Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris are a compelling new cast, with a new dynamic, but the same sort of wisecracking and competence that Kelsier's crew had. And even if Alloy of Law isn't your cup of tea, I suggest you read it anyway, because Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning both explore different scales of conflict, and it's almost guaranteed that you'll find something here that catches you the way the first books did. (hide spoiler)]
If you're caught up to Shadows of Self, but haven't read this one: (view spoiler)[This is a very, very different book. SoS was essentially focused on Wax's personal internal conflict, with hints of broader implications; while Bands of Mourning does address his continuing grief/recovery process (and does it beautifully), the focus is mostly on much, much bigger things. Where the first two books stayed focused on the city of Elendel, Bands of Mourning shows the wider Basin and some of the conflicts in it, which Elendel ignores. Everything is tied together: Wax's uncle, his sister's abduction, the resistance of the outer cities to Elendel's control, and the continuing push forward of technology. (Well, almost everything: if you're waiting for an explanation of Trell, keep waiting.)
Somewhat unfortunately, as we'll be waiting a while longer for The Lost Metal, this book leaves off at a point of greatest change for the characters and world. I don't think Scadrial's been this shaken up since the Catacendre, and whatever comes next will be fascinating. (hide spoiler)]
If you're all caught up, but still figuring out this Cosmere thing: (view spoiler)[I'm sure not everyone's on the Wax/Steris train even now, but I sure am. Bonding over studying accounts ledgers? Kissing in midair over the mists? Steris finally getting the honeymoon she wanted? It was pretty much perfect. I also love the way they build each other up, as any good couple should - Steris supporting Wax through his grief, being ready to help with whatever's next; Wax trying his best to contradict her self-deprecation and show her that he thinks she's valuable and worthwhile.
Steris started sniffling. She pulled her hand free of his and wiped her eyes. "Is that... good crying or bad?" Wax asked. All these years dealing with women, and he still couldn't tell the difference sometimes. "Well, this wasn't on any of my lists, you see."
(sounds of me sobbing in the background.) I can't wait for them to be happily married forever.
Marasi was a champ in this book, from the very beginning. I love that she told Wayne off for his treatment of Ranette - it's about time someone did that - and seeing the way she's learned to handle a crisis is fascinating. She's still a little unsteady, which is understandable, but she's so courageous. I'm also particularly interested in her relationship with Vin, or rather the mythology of Vin - Marasi at the outset of this series seemed to be a straightforward Action Girl, but in the last two books we've seen her actively questioning that role and whether it's right for her. This is both excellent characterization and an exploration of how history affects societal expectations. Vin was just one woman, but her example has become an ideal, even in the face of Alrianne and Tindwyl's examples. Moreover, Vin's human failings have been erased by time and popular belief:
"Were you ever insecure?" Marasi asked. "Or did you always know what to do? Did you get jealous? Frightened? Angry?" If Vin had been an ordinary person at any point, the stories and songs had forgotten.
The culmination of all of this, of course, is when she takes up the power of the Bands of Mourning. I'll freely admit that I was about in tears in this scene, and that I was kind of disappointed when she gave the power over to Wax (though I saw it coming), but thinking over it I'm okay with this, because:
She hovered in the sky, flush with power. In that moment, she was the Ascendant Warrior.
Marasi has been struggling with a society that demands she follows Vin's example, and holding the Bands would be the culmination of that - of all of these pressures she's been pushing against. In that light, letting it go was definitely the right decision for her. I'm not a fan of how it echoed the end of Well of Ascension - female lead takes up godly power, but gives it up to save the life of a man who then becomes more powerful than her - but since Wax gave up the Bands in turn, I can live with it.
Wayne and MeLaan getting together was something I'd kind of seen coming, though I didn't expect it as soon as it happened. They fit, but I'm not as invested in it as I am in Wax and Steris - there just hasn't been enough development. There's potential, but I still wouldn't be surprised if Wayne and Marasi became an item. (I'd be perfectly happy to see Marasi stay solo, or for all three of them to form a triad, but there's some foreshadowing there.)
Wayne in general was much better this book than last book. For one thing, he got called out twice - once by Marasi, and once by Wax - for his treatment of Ranette and Steris. He seems to have made a... generally good-faith attempt to apologize to Ranette, crassness aside, and I'm hopeful that for Wax he'll learn to treat Steris with actual kindness. After all, as we saw clearly, his relationship with Wax is his lodestone:
"Wax," he said, shaking his head. "No. No. I can't do this without you." "Yes you can. Fight." "Not that part," Wayne said. "The rest of it. Livin'."
Wayne has PTSD, among other things he's dealing with, and this books' climax gave us a crystal clear view of what Wax means to him: Wax is quite literally Wayne's redemption. Without that - without the one man who believed he was worth saving more than he ever did - Wayne doesn't know how to keep going. That's... really deeply heartbreaking.
MeLaan's complete lack of understanding human conversational mores remains hilarious. The entire hotel arrival conversation was hilarious. For a book which threatened civil war and city-destroying weapons, this was a damn funny read.
Steris continues to be fantastic, in so many ways. It was confirmed during the Shadows of Self tour that she's on the autism spectrum, and this keeps showing up in little, subtle moments:
"Sometimes it amazes me that people like Wayne, or even those kandra, can be so startlingly human when I feel so alien."
I got into a discussion regarding The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time as a representation of autism recently, and in light of that it's striking to me how well and how sensitively Sanderson builds his ASD characters. They're not caricatures or sensationalizations, but individuals with desires and stumbling blocks like any other characters - and they get to stand in the spotlight like anyone else, too. It's telling to me that the people who have picked up on Sanderson's ASD characters are on the spectrum themselves, and seeing representations of their own experiences in fiction for, sometimes, the first time ever. If you're looking for stereotypes, you won't find them, but if you're looking for people - here they are. Also: Steris getting more accustomed to the bizarre events of Wax's life.
The carriage lurched into motion, and Steris leaned out the window, waving farewell to the poor innkeeper. "Framed for murder!" Steris called to her. "It's on page seventeen of the list I gave you! Try not to let them harass our servants too much when they arrive!"
For the record, I expected Telsin's betrayal - though I thought she was being impersonated by a Kandra and long-since dead. I have a little labelled sticky note over her first appearance to this effect. Half credit for predictions?
AND NOW: The southerners. I didn't even guess until I got to the line about 'burned maps' in Chapter 18, but as soon as I read that I knew. Brandon's been teasing this contact for years, but I honestly didn't expect it until the 1980s trilogy, and I certainly didn't expect it to happen in a series which started off as a lighthearted side-project. I am thrilled. Allomantic/feruchemical technology! Societies that are doing exactly what Harmony said the Basin isn't - adapting to the pressure of immediate needs by using what they have in new ways. (Someone on Tumblr recently made a post complaining that they couldn't see new uses for Mistborn's magic system and found it boring for that reason - I'd love to tell that person about this book's revelations.) I'm also super excited about their social system. The way Allik treats Wax (while awkward to read) speaks to the rarity of Allomancers/Feruchemists in their culture. (It's still unclear to me how that happened. We know Kelsier was involved in saving their society after the Catacendre, but that doesn't answer two big questions - one, why didn't Harmony help them; and two, how did the Metallic Arts get to their population in the first place?) As I mentioned in my pre-review, that social system is going to be completely upended by the trade deal Wax and Steris struck at the end of this book. All of a sudden they'll have access to a relative wealth of magic, provided by people who won't (all) demand obeisance the way their native Metalborn seem to. They're going to have to question a fundamental element of their hierarchy, and I can't imagine the southern Metalborn will be too happy about that.
By the time this series is done, we're going to see a completely different Scadrial. I still wouldn't rule out civil war in the Basin, particularly as the Set seems invested in creating strife. (Does it strike anyone else as strange that Edwarn Ladrian, advocate of predatory loans on impoverished workers, was advocating against Elendel and in favor of the outer cities?) And of course, there's the threat of weapons which... seem like nothing less than magical nukes.
I'd say I hope it doesn't come to that, but this is Sanderson. The safe bet is that it will. (hide spoiler)]
For the Cosmere-literate and the unspoilable: (view spoiler)[HMMMM GODDAMN DID WE LEARN SOME STUFF HERE.
Some of it was little and subtle - this isn't really spoilers, but the word for the gold symbol is 'mah', which I thought was neat; I'm not sure if it's the word for gold or the letter name, but either way, cool. The confusion in the account books told us that the numerals for 3 and 4 are visually similar, in a way they aren't in our Roman script, which was a neat detail.
Worldhoppers! Hoid was obvious - he's generally not subtle, though I'm surprised Wax didn't recognize him as his former coachman from Shadows of Self. More interesting to me was the woman who was asking Wax about his abilities during the party. Minor spoilers for Secret History but: it's Khriss! At long last, we meet the person the Ars Arcanums are written for! And she's a black female scholar of Investiture! Apparently she figures prominently in the upcoming White Sand graphic novel, and I'm really excited for that. Sanderson also used this scene to deal with a question which I imagine he's gotten a lot of versions of from fans - what does storing weight actually do? (Actually, I think I might have asked a variation of this myself at one point.) I'm not very good at physics, but if I understand her questions and answer well enough, we just learned that storing weight is actually reducing mass in some way. (It's entirely possible I've got this backwards, but the scene seems to point to physics rather than magic, and that is the physics explanation... I think.)
We finally know what Connection is good for, and it works exactly like Selish magic systems. Previously I'd assumed the place-dependence of Sel's magic was due to Dominion's influence on the planet, but I was wrong: it's much more related to the Cognitive Realm, apparently. This hints a bit at how worldhoppers can move from planet to planet and still communicate with the local poppulation, though I'm sure they're all using different methods to access it. It may also suggest that some properties of Investiture are innate across all systems - Connection would be one, Lightweaving maybe another (we've seen it on both Roshar and Nalthis), and there's a potential third mentioned in Secret History. More on that when I get to my review of that novella.
And last but far from least: Trell.
"But you need us!" Suit said. "To rule, to manage civilization on-" "No longer. Recent advances have made civilization here too dangerous. Allowing it to continue risks further advances we cannot control, and so we have decided to remove life on this sphere instead. Thank you for your service; it has been accepted. You will be allowed to serve in another Realm."
Fan theories about Trell, to my knowledge, have mostly been focused on Paalm's unknown metal spike from Shadows of Self. Personally I'd advocated for it being Endowment, but that got jossed; the prevailing theory was then that it was Autonomy's godmetal. However, after reading this, I don't think Autonomy could be Trell. Aside from the fact that we know Autonomy's Shardholder's name (Bavadin), this statement focuses on control and service to a larger goal, which is the opposite of autonomy. There's a marginal argument to be made that Autonomy preserves its own independence by regulating others, but I'm skeptical of that. Right now, my bet is that Trell is a currently-unknown Shard, since there are nine unaccounted for. HOWEVER. Brandon has been up front about the relevance of color in his works, particularly the significance of red. We've seen it in the Stormlight Archive associated with Odium and the Voidbringers, in "Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell" associated with the spirits flying into a killing rage, and in space as Taln's Scar/the Red Rip, which may be the same formation of stars. Given that, we can assume that Trell is either associated with through larger motivation or directly related to these other factors. I doubt it's Odium, but wouldn't rule it out; if it's a Shard whose influence we've seen, though, it seems that Threnody might be the place. Their 'Fallen World' could be another society who became 'too dangerous' for Trell's liking - and the strict control of people's actions by the Simple Rules would be in line with this emphasis on service and regulation.
If you'd like to discuss Cosmere speculation in the comments, please put it under a spoiler tag: < spoiler > like so. (hide spoiler)]...more
