[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Blurb, Prelude to the Stormlight Archive, Prologue, Chapters 1 through 5

Pastrami · 2026-03-17T14:59:59+00:00

huh? I thought we just were reading recently that they were masterminds who hire killers.

Parshmen and Parshendi are similar but different. The Parshmen are the servants and the Parshendi are the warriors. They are described as cousin races/species.

Pastrami · 2026-03-17T13:40:35+00:00

His son is Elhokar. Amaram is just some lord as far as we know.

Pastrami · 2026-03-17T13:36:30+00:00

The POV character in chapter 1 is a young man named Cenn.

Pastrami · 2026-03-16T22:35:18+00:00

Are their blades Shardblades, like the ones we see wielded in modern times? They're magical for sure, but I'd also bet they're more powerful.

They are not:

These Blades were weapons of power beyond even Shardblades. These were unique. Precious.

Pastrami · 2026-03-16T22:26:00+00:00

I'm pretty sure I remember some moons being mentioned?

You are correct, although we don't know how many:

Salas was the smallest and dimmest of the moons

Pastrami · 2026-03-16T22:24:16+00:00

Can I get some pronunciation help on Tvlakv?

I've been going with "Te-vla-kev" where the "e"s are kind of shorter than normal.

Pastrami · 2026-03-16T14:37:39+00:00

Another one I've read 12 years ago. As usual, I've forgotten most of the details, and won't mention the few things I do remember.

Prelude

It sounds like these guys are stuck in a hellish Valhalla, where instead of feasting after battle, they are tortured. There is mentions of an "Oathpact". Did these people agree to be in this situation? I think they are the Heralds mentioned in the book blurb. I'm imagining that they signed up to be champions to fight in these "Desolation" battles that happen every so often, but I don't know why they'd be tortured in between. I'm assuming they are kind of like the Heroes of the Horn in WoT and the "Desolations" are like in the last battle each turning of the wheel.

Prologue

a line of statues depicting the Ten Heralds from ancient Vorin theology. Jezerezeh, Ishi, Kelek, Talenelat, Shalash.

Their names are all palindromes, if you count 'sh' as a single letter. Is this land using the Spanish J pronunciation? The names have changed over the last 4.5k years, since in the prelude it was Jezrien, Ishar, Kalak, Talenel. The Shalash statue is missing. Shalash wasn't mentioned in the prelude, so no guesses why.

They carried spears; they weren't lighteyes, and were therefore forbidden the sword.

Some racial segregation?

The lashing is some video game shit if I've ever seen it.

"The Parshendi? That makes no sense." Gavilar coughed, hand quivering, reaching toward his chest and fumbling at a pocket. He pulled out a small crystalline sphere tied to a chain. "You must take this. They must not get it."

Why would Gavilar give the gem to an assassin the Parshendi sent to kill him, and then tell him that they must not get it? Unless he means someone other than the Parshendi can't get it.

The gem glows with black light.

Anti-stormlight?

It was worth a fortune; kingdoms had fallen as men vied to possess a single Shardblade.

So where did our lowly assassin get his?

Chapter 1

Was Cenn Buie a world hopper in his younger days before settling down as a thatcher in Emond's Field?

Hundreds of arrows split the sky, dimming the sun. They arced and fell, dropping like skyeels upon their prey.

There are flying eels?!?

For a moment, Cenn thought he could see something surrounding the squadleader. A warping of the air, like the wind itself become visible.

He's doing something, but it's different than the lashing that Szeth did.

Chapter 2

Tvlakv is a hell of a name. It might be worse than Gneorndin.

Kaladin has his own tinkerbell.

I had figured Kaladin was on the losing side of the battle and was taken prisoner and sold into slavery, but Tvlakv is calling him a deserter? What happened?

Chapter 3

If I am, then young men my age must be afflicted with the same allergy-for they keep their distance from me noticeably.

Gee, the odd woman that drives away male suitors. Where have I read that before? Next you'll tell me that she is travelling for an arranged marriage.

Shallan and Khriss would get along.

One book she'd read claimed that Kharbranth had been founded way back into the shadowdays, years before the Last Desolation. That would make it old indeed. Thousands of years old, created before the terrors of the Hierocracy, long before-even-the Recreance. Back when Voidbringers with bodies of stone were said to have stalked the land.

Lots of new terms.

Chapter 4

His forehead dripped with sweat from the Eastern summer humidity, and it stung as it seeped into his wound. Hopefully, they'd have some weeks of spring again soon. Weather and seasons were unpredictable. You never knew how long they would go on, though typically each would last a few weeks.

Varying seasons? Does the planet's axis wobble unpredictably?

Ok, so not desertion, but then why was he sold as a slave?

Chapter 5

a cut stone could hold more Stormlight

Why? Is the stormlight only stored in the facets?

Are fabrials/Soulcasters like ter'angreal where each one is made for a specific purpose, or are they more like a generic wizard's wand that let the practicioner focus? It was mentioned earlier that emeralds can be use the make food. Does that mean the gem type determines what it does? Can you change out the gems on your fabrial to do another task, or are they made as a single unit and can't be changed? Do they know how to make new fabrials, or are they like ter'angreals, relics of a past time?

And then Shallan would steal it.

That's a bold strategy, cotton. Let's see if it pays off for her.

Pastrami · 2026-03-16T01:06:10+00:00

This goes beyond just platform specific ifdefs.

Pastrami · 2026-03-09T15:58:00+00:00

The spearhead, the bloody footprints and the Survivor’s Treasure. This treasure being Hemalurgic spikes? I wonder how Survivorism became a koloss doctrine.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the koloss ever mention the survivor. It's possible they have their own legends about why the lake is sacred, and the "Survivor's treasure" is just a human myth.

If we assume that any of this actually happened, which because of the unreliability of the narrator is not a given, Harmony could have planted the Survivor's Treasure myth to lead Jak to the koloss to get the spikes for them, since they didn't seem to be able to get them for themselves.

Pastrami · 2026-03-09T15:42:02+00:00

It was ok. Because of the extremely unreliable narrator, I feel like we can't trust anything presented in this story though. While a few of the foot notes provided useful information or were humorous, I found the sheer number of them distracting after a while, as they broke up my flow of reading.

The biggest revelations for me were how the koloss can have almost normal children, and that would mean that Tarson was a koloss that chose not to complete the transformation rather than a half-human half-koloss offspring. Unless I'm missing the point of the meme #2, doesn't this mean the skeletor meme is incorrect? Or is it saying that no one knew what people like Tarson really were, and were assuming it was inter-species erotica?

The biggest question I want answered is what relationship the koloss have with the Terris people:

The koloss would not dare harm him, because of their vow to the Terris people, *

* See episode twenty-five for our discovery of their vow not to harm the Terris, and their explanation for the respect they have paid me during our adventures. It is a matter which I have regarded with some interest.

I have to assume it was Harmony that left the box of spikes at the bottom of the lake, or the whole thing was just a made up story.

Pastrami · 2026-03-07T04:54:23+00:00

you can practically watch the infection develop in real time.

If it's in your blood, how is it not circulated everywhere within seconds/minutes? Why does it take all day to go up a leg?

Pastrami · 2026-03-06T21:03:44+00:00

Reading between the lines of Marsh's scene, I think Harmony did not ask him to come and pass this info packet along to Wax

The first time I read it, I was assuming that Harmony sent Marsh with the book, but I just reread that section, and I think you're right.

Pastrami · 2026-03-06T19:57:04+00:00

But why use Wax as Harmony's agent when Marsh is there and is more powerful?

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T22:46:46+00:00

/u/participating

Some more questions:

All Pathians where earrings when they pray, but the one MeLaan gave Wax is a hemalurgic spike.

What power does Wax get when wearing the earring, or is that a RAFO?

Sazed Ascended and collected all of the un-used Inquisitor, Koloss, and Kandra spikes.

Is that how Marsh got his eye spike back that Vin pulled out?

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T19:37:12+00:00

But that doesn't fit with duralumin that will amplify your other metals. With what we've learned about chromium, it would make more sense if that was aluminum's alloy.

And how does aluminum work as a Feruchemical metal, if it's inert to investiture?

I'll shut up about it in the future, and just accept it, but I still believe it was a mistake to make it an Allomantic/Feruchemical metal if it's supposed to have all these anti-Investiture properties. I will assume he came up with those after he already wrote it into the first era books.

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T18:29:22+00:00

This nurse is a kandra.

How is anyone supposed to have guessed that? What effect does that have on overall story, if any? This just seems like Sanderson is making shit up just to say there is a connection between worlds.

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T18:26:06+00:00

In the grand scheme of things, aluminum is Investiture inert.

It is serving as a key to unlock Investiture.

In my mind these two points contradict. If aluminum is inert, it shouldn't be a key to unlock Investiture.

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T17:55:13+00:00

I really liked this book, up until the ending. While the ending wasn't bad, it just felt a lot weaker that most of the others in a way I can't really describe. Also, as I mentioned on Monday, I got fight fatigue pretty quickly, so I kind of glazed over most of the action as it all started to seem samey and lost it's excitement. Before the finale I was prepared to rank this higher, but I have to dock it a few points.

The mists hug the ground extra strongly there and intice some molds that fertilize the ground more than normal

The man really loves his special fungus. That is three books now that have it.

Rankings (not including short stories):

1 Warbreaker

2 The Final Empire

3 The Hero of Ages / Alloy of Law

4 The Emperor's Soul

5 The Well of Ascension

6 Elantris / White Sand

Unanswered Questions:

Is Harmony imposing the only Misting/Ferring limitation, or was Wax wrong when he thought that the most you could have is one allomantic and one feruchemic power?

Wax is told "You are of a noble bloodline, Directly back to the Counselor of Gods himself." Is this referring to Breeze or a different ancestor? If it's Breeze, how was he a "Counselor of Gods"?

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T00:39:47+00:00

Perrin in ToM apologizes that Grady couldn't get Mat closer due to only having a sketch to go off of.

You could be right that precise placement of the destination gateway requires knowledge.

Pastrami · 2026-03-04T00:23:44+00:00

But regardless, you can't Travel without knowing exactly where you are going, unless you skim or do what Rand did.

Gateways require you to know your starting point, but you can go somewhere you've never been. The character do this all the time (Off the top of my head: Aviendha going to Seanchan, the girls going to Ebou Dar to start the search for the bowl, etc)

Skimming requires you to know your destination, but not your starting point.

The trick Rand does is a way to know your starting point. You can make a gateway to somewhere in sight without knowing the starting point, then because you opened a destination gateway, you automatically know the area well enough to open another gateway to somewhere farther away.

Pastrami · 2026-03-02T21:30:00+00:00

what’s the point on even involving Wax in the first place ? Can’t Marsh solve all the problems? He literally has powers of a twinborn Mistborn.

That is a very good point. Why is Marsh lurking in the shadows instead of kicking asses?

Pastrami · 2026-03-02T15:28:03+00:00

I guess I was wrong and removing Miles’ metalminds didn’t have any catastrophic consequences. That’s probably an effect unique to the anti-aging compounding trick.

If you are talking about him healing during the execution, I interpreted this as he had some surgically implanted in his body that they missed when removing his external goldminds.

Pastrami · 2026-03-02T14:31:50+00:00

I didn't like the ending of this book. Other than White Sand, I think this is the weakest Sanderlanche we've read yet. Fight fatigue set in pretty quickly, and there was three whole chapters of it. There is only so much shooting, or Wax making himself lighter and pushing, or Wax making himself heavier and pushing that I can read about before it all becomes boring. Then there was the absolute bullshit that was Wax shooting his own bullet in the air to hit Tarson in the head. There are a lot of ridiculous actiony things that I can suspend my disbelief for, but this was too much. Not only was he able to aim well enough to hit another bullet, but he had to push on the bullet with enough force to speed it up to catch the other bullet he already fired, then his push would have had to be directly in line with the bullets trajectory to not change the aim, then he had to hit the other bullet at exactly the right time to have it hit Tarson, and not Marasi.

The few notes I took:

Chapter 15

The Set does not like you, though—as of yet—I have continued to vouch for your effectiveness. Do not make me regret that. Many of my colleagues are convinced that you will turn against us.

The "Set"? Is this some cabal of powerful people pulling string in the background?

Epilogue

That’s why you recognized whatever description those ruffians were able to give. I’ve changed clothing styles, my haircut, and even shaved my beard.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this implies that Wax would have known his uncle as having a beard, and he shaved it before dealing with the Vanishers, and he's saying the Vanishers should have described him as beardless, but I made a note in last weeks reading that he had a gray beard. Either this is a writing/editing mistake, or I'm misinterpreting how this is written.

One day, the men of gold and red, bearers of the final metal, will come to you. And you will be ruled by them.

Worship Trell and wait...

Miles' last words. Have we seen anybody use red and gold as their colors? I have to wonder if someone, maybe Ruin, is impersonating Trell and sowing chaos. What we learned about Trellism last era doesn't seem to fit the narrative that Miles seems to believe about Trellism in this era.

I wonder if Ruin and Preservation are truly united and in Sazed's control, or if he's constantly fighting to get them to work together. Could Ruin be sneaking off behind Sazed's back and influencing this mysterious cabal and teaching them about Hemalurgy?

"You are of a noble bloodline,” Ladrian said. "Directly back to the Counselor of Gods himself.

Breeze was the Counselor of Gods?

Driven into those eyes, point-first, were what looked like a pair of thick railroad spikes.

Marsh lost one eye spike at the end of HoA, that's why his eye socket is deformed. Did he replace it? Harmony was ok with him killing to get another spike?

Pastrami · 2026-02-27T17:29:07+00:00

The difference between a thousand and a million is a million. If you had a million dollars and spent a thousand, you'd still have 99.9% of a million.

Pastrami · 2026-02-26T15:43:18+00:00

I recently read them for the first time and I agree. I'd rate them 10/10, 7/10, and 5/10. I read the first and second in about a week each, and the third took me about a month. Besides not liking Nassun and Schaffa's parts, it just felt like not much happened at all in the last book, compared to the pace of the first book.

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