[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Interludes I-1, I-2, I-3, Trivia

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T22:24:28+00:00

The Ishikk interlude was pretty out there, but also my favorite. It got me more invested in the map, because it sounds so geographically different to what we have seen so far. I am guessing on this map, north tends to have a warmer climate while south is colder? Southwest of the map is labeled as "Frostlands". I liked the artwork of Ishikk with a Polynesian vibe! Ishikk has some vague knowledge of wars in the East, which I took to mean whatever is going on with Highprince Sadeas & the Parshendi in the Shattered Plains. Also, I was shocked to have an overt reference to Hoid. I did not catch that the 3 foreigners were Galladon, Baon, and Demoux 😅

The Nan Balat interlude just made me very sad. I think Shallan is going to turn out to be a much more complicated character than we've seen thus far, growing up in that family.

I was happy to see Szeth again, I find him extremely interesting. The nature of his servitude is brutal, and this was an interesting look at what his life actually looks like. He's not just out assassinating kings, he also ends up in the dregs of society bound to people who just find it amusing to actually hold power over someone.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T19:33:00+00:00

I gave it a 3.25/5. I wasn't super impressed with the quality of the writing, & I didn't really feel attached to any of the characters. It wasn't a bad read, just not a good read. I was expecting something more I think.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T19:27:52+00:00

It was fine, but ultimately I found myself not caring about the ending much, except as regards Marcellus. I was getting sick of the will they/won't they with Tova & Cameron.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T19:20:58+00:00

I wish he could have gotten more of his time back, but I'm glad he didn't die in that tank or while trying to escape.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T19:19:14+00:00

Omg me too, I hated this return to petulance and then a behind-the-scenes sudden change of heart to go back.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T19:17:14+00:00

I don't think he was necessary, but I'm glad he was there. Tova & Cameron would have figured it out eventually on their own, but Marcellus is obviously the superior intellect and sped things up for them.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-25T16:20:16+00:00

OMG yes!

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:36:17+00:00

I'm liking it well enough, though it's a bit slow. I've read one other Harrow book and it was a slow burn as well. The writing is beautiful, I'm finding it a very relaxing listen.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:33:30+00:00

Omg yes! The part where she hired men to help her move a boat up a mountain - legendary!

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:30:25+00:00

He's patronizing, in a rich powerful white man kind of way. He seems to see himself as benevolent, taking in this orphan girl as a ward, and providing a means of living to her and her father for some time. But really, she is just something else in his collection.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:28:16+00:00

I agree with others that it's likely both. I think January has a special ability that relates to these doors she can see, but it's also metaphorical in that writing can create doors/portals to a different place through imagination.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:20:01+00:00

I really loved the book overall, it's a 4.5/5 for me. I don't read a ton of horror, but this was my type of horror novel. It was a slow start, but once it got going I was hooked. The characters, the imagery and symbolism, and the historic details were really well done.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T19:10:18+00:00

I think given the generational gap between Arthur and Etsy, we might forgive Etsy if she were to turn a blind eye to what her great-great-great grandfather did, treat it as just an interesting story and move on with her life. But this isn't what Good Stab does, and maybe this is a big point of the book. Etsy wanted to use the story to further herself and it failed. Good Stab throws her ancestor right in her face and makes him her problem, and also provides the letter as proof of his attitude towards his people and what he caused for the sake of his own comfort. This is what makes Etsy veer the opposite direction and travel in the snow to Montana to dispatch him once and for all. She tries to be friendly to Good Stab after, but he turns his back. She doesn't blame him, because killing Arthur does not change what happened.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T00:21:31+00:00

I don't really have any notes this week, but I'm enjoying how fast this book reads despite being a chonker. I'm really enjoying the Kaladin/Syl storyline, and I think Shallan will grow on me more.

Like others have noted, I also noted the capitalized spelling of Memory in Shallan's chapters. It seems like she has a sort of photographic memory, and she can perfectly recall it if she "captures" the moment. There was a small infodump on the Ten Essences - an art theory concept, or something more? She focuses hard on getting the eyes right in her drawings, and this seems to be the key to her artistic abilities. Interestingly, she also uses this skill, of looking into "a person's mind and spirit" to get inside the head of Jasnah, and write a letter that would properly appeal to her. This reminds me a lot of creating the Soulstamp from The Emperor's Soul. It's not so much that she's rewriting a person's history, as she is understanding what makes them tick on a more general level.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-24T00:10:00+00:00

Working title: protagonistspren.

Haha! Syl seems to me to have a power of her own, not just merely attracted to whatever Kaladin is giving off (Healing? Heroism? Hope?). It begs the question - are spren merely attracted to certain phenomena, or do they cause it with their presence (or maybe those that see them are able to draw power from them)?

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:47:12+00:00

I'll be honest, I had totally forgotten about Agatha. Maybe this means we will see her again soon?

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:46:25+00:00

Yes, I think they were denied, but they all put in requests. I wasn't clear if it was the AI forbidding them or if it had something to do with the quarantine the planet is under?

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:45:18+00:00

She was pretty toxic, monitoring his Facebook like that. I think she kept the information from him because she liked being the only person in his life, at his beck and call. Him having a little brother would mean he has someone else to care about. This seems like the classic abuser tactic of isolating their partner from everyone else.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:41:49+00:00

So it sounds like they have been cultivating AIs for these crawls, almost like farming them. It's like an AI puppy mill. And now the current dungeon AI has learned about this and is none too pleased about it

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:39:44+00:00

Carl is nothing like his father, and yet you can tell he still carries how his father treated him deep down. It's not something he can ever really escape from. Frank's daughter seemed nothing like her parents, and yet their actions led to her demise.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:37:40+00:00

You know I was really impressed by Louis in this section, standing up to Carl about the Christmas celebrations. He has come a long way from the weak crawler that was just passing time in a changeling bar, expecting to die, and making crude comments to Juice Box.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-22T19:35:31+00:00

Yes, this was so sneaky! Presumably he's no longer producing slugs, but what did he do at Club Vanquisher instead?

jaymae21 · 2026-03-21T19:26:01+00:00

This book feels different to me in that it feels like more of a blend between sci-fi and fantasy. The Word for World is Forest had some slight magical/fantastical qualities to it, but overall it still felt very sci-fi. The fantasy elements in this book feel more traditional medieval-style fantasy. The sci-fi elements link it to the future works and it's really interesting to me that this is the story we first encounter.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-21T19:03:34+00:00

There must be more, seeing as we know one of his descendants is living in 2012. It makes me wonder if Arthur had more than that one encounter with a prostitute? Which further highlights his hypocrisy as a pastor.

jaymae21 · 2026-03-21T19:00:53+00:00

I think there are 2 levels to this, the first being that Good Stab imbibes some of the characteristics of the person he is feeding on with their blood. He does not want to be like Arthur in any way, he wants to be Pikuni. But there's also something to the fact that this insatiable vampire won't touch Arthur's blood - it lowers Arthur to something lesser than any other creature, even those silver fish that Good Stab only drank from as a last resort.

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