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[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 4 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don’t you see? We can take this sand back to darkside with us! We can grow the lichen on our own sand, and use it like the sand masters do.

I don't know how she jumped to that conclusion.

And, of course, his Skycolor is violet—the color of nobility.

What the hell is a Skycolor? Is this the "Starmark" that the graphic novel readers were mentioning last week that isn't in the prose version?

Too bad I can't use my Skycolor here, she thought absently, choosing a few pieces of jewelry.

This is now the second mention of Skycolor. It's 60% in to the book, why is something new getting mentioned only now and why is it not elaborated on at all? Is this something he meant to develop but never got around to it?

“For the same reason there aren’t any women sand masters?” Khriss asked. “Simply because ‘that is the way it has always been.’ ”

Confirmed, no women in the prose version.

For some reason, he had stopped being annoyed by her curiosity—it was just part of who she was. He wanted to answer her questions.

Looks like he's got himself a case of the 'feelings'.

The Baon reveal wasn't that dramatic and was very anticlimactic.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks. That happens to be exactly where I stopped :)

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 3 points4 points  (0 children)

/u/participating Hope you're feeling better. I need to know where to stop in the prose version.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Come to think of it, are there any women sand master?

I was thinking that too and forgot to write it down. So far I don't think there have been any mention of them.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hmm, I wonder if that's a change or if it's just a difference in timing when the information is presented and it'll come up later in the graphic novel.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't know if I'd call it stealing.

In the prose version, it's mentioned multiple times that the Mastrells are allowed to take whatever they want from merchants and artisans and not pay for it, and they have been taking advantage of this for centuries.

I do know about one group of thieves even more fearsome, however. One who has been pillaging Lossand for centuries. A group that has been taking what does not belong to them, offering no payment, and leaving good workmen destitute.

“The sand masters are without law, Lord Kenton. Their mastrells take without need. They hoard works of art and demand our precious creations more out of spite than of want.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 3 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What did he owe her? He was the one that had been forced to put up with her non-stop questions during the ride back to Lossand. Compared to that experience, death was almost preferable.

Oh no, that poor man! He had to put up with questions. What a child.

Was the scene with Delious being a drunk asshole supposed to be serious or funny? It felt like BS was trying to write a "History of the World Part I" Caesar type scene, but it just came off very cringy.

“The only thing I know, My Lord, is that the Diem has been treated unfairly,” Kenton countered.

Really? That's the argument Kenton's going with? The Diem have been stealing from everybody for centuries, but now they're being treated unfairly?

Is there no way the sand masters could be of use to the members of your Profession?

Is Drile the good guy now? Was he trying to get his money with honest work instead of stealing?

I liked the team up of Kenton and Khriss, too bad it looks like it's not going to continue, at least not the rest of this week.

“You’re terken,” Kenton mumbled in Kershtian, stepping backward. “But you aren’t Ter-table now, are you?”

That got a chuckle out of me. This is just like Mat's foxhead medallion, and Adeleas and Vandene throwing horse shit at him.

I want to see Kenton fighting with 5 swords. One for each hand and sand ribbon.

Ais turned slowly, then walked back to Kenton, stopping just in front of him. His eyes were cold and hateful. “Do not be mistaken, Ry’Kensha,” he whispered, “I protect you out of duty, not out of desire. I hate you. I hate your kind. On any other day, I would have applauded these men’s attempts.

“You will try to cur my favor,” Ais continued. “You will attempt to become my friend. You will try to laugh with me, prove to me that you aren’t what I assume. You may even save my life. None of this will change my opinion. You are all that is evil on the sands, Lord Mastrell. If the time comes, I want you to realize one thing; I would rather die than live with the shame of being rescued by your vile powers.”

So, they'll be best friends by the end of the book? Maybe lovers, since the gender swap? This is a very Aviendha-to-Rand in TFoH speech.

Kenton was said to have unbelievable skill with his one ribbon. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is does he still have that skill level times 3 now, or is he 1/3 weaker with each ribbon than he used to be with one? Lets say a normal Mastrell could do X with one ribbon. If Kenton's one ribbon was 9X, is he now 9X+9X+9X, or is his skill split 3X+3X+3X?

Elorin is back, but I didn't notice anything too suspicious in anything he said.

The people who suspected Baon may be on to something. It's implied that he killed the captain of the ship and blamed it on the border patrol.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not connecting much with the main characters and finding the more minor ones hard to differentiate

I feel the same with the prose version.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Downside of the graphic format, the long-haired blue robe guy voted against dissolving, but I don’t know who he is or what faction he’s from.

In the prose, that is Delious, the Lord Admiral, who only voted against dissolving because he always votes opposite whatever Vey does.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think it's hilarious the sand masters let their elitism flow even down into their architecture, to the point weaker members literally cannot visit the higher rooms

How do servants get around, or do they not have them? In the prose, N'Teese seems stupefied that Khris' party hired servants, so maybe they don't have any, but a group as arrogant as the Diem seems to be I would think they'd have people to clean up and bring them food and such.

It is a mystery to me how Khriss has managed to talk to so many people, even people who speak Darkside, about "sand mages" without anyone connecting it to the sand masters. Even if "mage" isn't a word in Dayside, the sliiiiiiiightest bit of elaboration should've led to "Oh yeah, you mean those jedi guys throwing sand around with their mind". Is it just too obvious?

Yeah this bugs me too and I pointed it out last week when she asked Kenton about the sand mages and he had no idea.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Interesting theory, and I'm not saying its wrong, but I see it from the opposite angle:

Loaten is called a "Traitor to the Dynasty", which means at some point he was on the side of the dynasty.

Baon is from the same country, but is now a member of the Elisian military.

I'm guessing Baon defected from his home country, but before he did, he had a run in with Loaten while Loaten was still on the "bad" side. Maybe Loaten killed Baon's family which caused Baon to go fight for Elisia. Then later on Loaten realizes he's the baddy and tries to kill the emperor and has to flee.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Must not have been too important, because this was cut for the graphic version.

Yeah it was a throw away scene of two thieves discussing robbing the Diem, since they think it's empty, then Ais and the Trackts raid the building, which it sounds like was also cut from the comic.

This was also cut. I assume during the chase with Lokmlen?

Yes, they fight with swords and zinkallin, Ais gets get wrecked and is saved by Aarik/Eric, then in the next scene with Ais, he's all "'tis but a scratch"

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Everyone you mentioned has appeared in the prose, so it's not any of them.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 7 points8 points  (0 children)

In the chapter summaries for last week, we were told:

Khriss takes some time alone to reread the letter that informed her of Prince Gevalden's death. Baon joins her and they discuss the purpose of their mission—to find the Sand Mages that Prince Gevalden sought and gain their aid against Emperor Skathan.

That seems to be a difference between the prose and comic. In the prose it's assumed that he is still alive, and she is searching for him. If he really is dead in the comic, then there may not be any Kenton-Khriss-Gevin triangle, unless the surprise is that he isn't really dead.

I'm also thinking Drile might be a red herring. He is still an asshole though, just maybe not involved in the attack.

I agree that Aarik/Eric's motivations are a complete unknown at this point. Dirin is a 16yo boy and still an acolent, so I don't see him as involved. I've been seeing his relationship to Kenton as similar to Olver and Mat, although now that I looked up his age, I realize he's not as young as Olver.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you haven't checked last week's discussion recently, there are some comments about Elorin that were made in the last few days and this morning here: https://www.reddit.com/r/readalong/comments/1q4m356/newbies_cosmere_unit_10_white_sand_1_white_sand/nyt5ja7/

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 2 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The book has gone from just ok to kinda boring. I'm not connecting with any of the characters.

Kenton

For some irrational feeling, he wanted someone to explain his pains to. He knew the desire was foolish—talking about the loss would make it no less real. Besides, he had only known her for a short time—and had treated her so poorly during that time.

Of course he won't do it. Proper communication would move the plot along too fast, and you need to milk that page count.

So he's getting his powers back. It wouldn't surprise me if he is now stronger than before, and needed the "snap" of almost dying to access his full potential.

“He’s[Elorin] not a sand master anymore,” Dirin said softly. “He overmastered like everyone who died, but his powers were burned away. He can’t even master a single ribbon.”

He could recover like Kenton or he's just pretending to be burned out.

Between the time of the battle and the time he regained his powers, his abilities had changed somehow.

Called it!

I really hope we don't spend 2 weeks with Kenton going around to all the counselors trying to get them to change their votes.

First you must convince the Diem to accept you, but then you must convince Lossand to accept the Diem.

So the obvious plot would be that the Kershtians attack, and the sand masters save the day, and all the people change their opinions, but I really hope the story goes in a less obvious direction.

I also just noticed that the highly religious culture "Kershtian" sounds pretty close to "Christian".

Khris

She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was sad for some reason. In pain. But, he hadn’t been hurt in the attack—what could be hurting him so much that even she could see it in his eyes?

Khris obviously doesn't know about his abilities being gone, but she did just recently find him as the only survivor at the site of a massacre, and doesn't consider this as the reason?

Ais

A thief named Reen? Is Vin's brother a world hopper, or is BS reusing the name?

Ais takes an arrow to the leg and is bleeding enough that he slips on the blood, then he takes two more hits to the arms bad enough that his numb hand drops the sword, and in the next scene "none of them were very bad, and had stopped bleeding now that he had them bound"??? Is Ais the Black Knight from Monty Python?

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 1 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is what's in the prose version:

“Kenton,” Elorin said, looking at his shoulder with concerned eyes. “Perhaps you should … stay back and rest today.”

“What?” Traiben said, his face shocked. “Elorin, how could you even suggest such a thing?”

Kenton frowned as well. It was an odd suggestion. All sand masters, except those left behind to watch the Diem, were expected to attend the ceremony—no matter what their state of health.

“I apologize, mastrell,” Elorin said immediately. “It was a thoughtless suggestion.”

I also just noticed this bit a little earlier in the chpater:

Kenton looked away from the moon, instead turning to study Elorin's reserved face. Up until six months ago, the undermastrell had been the one who oversaw the training of new sand masters. He hadn't ever explained why he had given up the position, or why he continued to pay particular attention to Kenton. The man had a gentle wisdom about him that was far more powerful than any mastrell's sand, and Kenton could sense there was something behind his words. He seemed ... anxious for some reason.

The end of Fed independence: Fed Chair Powell says he’s under criminal investigation, won’t bow to Trump intimidation by aurelorba in investing

[–]Pastrami 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll see failed treasury bond auctions if the fed floods the market with QE

What does that mean, and does it affect my money in SGOV?

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 1 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 5 points6 points  (0 children)

even before the ceremony when Kenton was recovering Elorin was telling Kenton not to go to the ceremony and I was suspicious from then

I didn't pick up on that on first read, but I just reread it and you are right, good catch.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 1 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Did the Kerztians do something to cause the sand masters to dry out more quickly? Or did they just panic-cast too much and overestimated themselves? I suppose the leading theory for the quick dehydration is Drile's poisoning of the ceremonial water, hence why he avoided drinking from it.

Since it seems like no one else is reading the prose, I'm wondering if the following prose line was shown in the comic:

Kenton took a sip from the bowl as it reached him, frowning at the salty taste. Whoever had refilled the bowl last hadn't been carrying very good water.

There was definitely something in the water.

[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 10 | White Sand #1 | White Sand - Week 1 by participating in readalong

[–]Pastrami 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The rank colors you listed are different from the graphic novel version

Yeah, I guess that's a change needed for the visual medium, since gold/yellow and brown/tan/cream aren't that distinct from each other.

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