Plus, it doesn't scream when a Radiant touches it. Well, I can't recall if Kaladin or Shallan touched one, but Renarin had one on for the majority of the book, and only had a problem with dealing with the Blade.
He used the one guy's helmet as a shield during the same duel where the blade screamed at him when he grabbed it. Nothing really weird happened when he touched the plate.
On top of that, I believe it was Jah Keved that was making advances into making Shardplate, but nobody has figured out how to make Blades (because, you know, the whole dead spren thing). I'm assuming that it's technology from the Herlads/Radiants that was lost during the Desolations.
edited 16th Mar '14 3:15:31 PM by Funden
Oh Right, The Words of Radiance code was solved. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6398-wor-chapter-84-code/page-21#entry110247
Yeah, I found myself thinking the same thing several times as I read it. Admittedly, part of it might have just been a minor case of Hype Backlash since the three or four (spoiler-free) reviews I read for it beforehand all said that they found it better than Way of Kings.
It definitely picks up from Kaladin and Shallan falling into the chasm all the way through the end, though. Although speaking of which, a Kaladin/Shallan/Adolin love triangle is seeming rather inevitable now, and I'm kind of dreading that.
On the other hand, I'll be quite interested to see the Gambit Pileup that ensues with the Ghostbloods, Diagrammists, Sons of Honor, Knights Radiant, and Nalan and Szeth all showing up.
edited 16th Mar '14 4:41:16 PM by beorc
Welcome to th:|Yeah, in particular I definitely got the sense that Sanderson just didn't know what to do with Sadeas, now that he had fulfilled his purpose in Way of Kings. He gets some viewpoints and we see all his little schemes and everything, but they never really seem to amount to much and they aren't especially interesting. Seems like the only particularly notable thing he did is die, and even that's only interesting because of what the murder means for Adolin's development, and not because of Sadeas himself.
edited 16th Mar '14 4:48:40 PM by beorc
Welcome to th:|
I'm looking forward to seeing what she does.
The Alethi politics only matter insofar as they're what Dalinar and co. have to work with in trying to save the world. With Sadeas out of the way, they might run more smoothly, or they might... not. I'll be disappointed if straight up murdering the guy turns out to solve the problem he represents, as gratifying as that scene was.
@ Code: So that brings up two important questions. One, what is the secret that broke the Knights Radiant? I've kinda been assuming that they discovered the Heralds abandoned their oaths and that the world was still doomed, but it seems odd that every single one of them, to a man, would give up their oaths at that revelation. Second, why does the Diagram insist on fighting against everyone, including the newborn Radiants? I understand taking over the world to present a united front, but the Radiants are the sticking point. Is it a flaw in the diagram? Are they afraid the Radiants are going to turn again? Or was Taravingian, at his most brilliant and thus least empathic, actually so far off the deep end that he decided to write a plan that favors Odium?
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.Oh no, Jasnah's dead. Goddammit :(. Talk about Too Cool to Live.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.New theory:
The Desolations seem to be a repeating threat throughout Roshar's history. Even if the Knights Radiant win the coming battle, they'll only be preserving humanity until the next Desolation comes along. Eventually, given enough time, one of those Desolations is bound to succeed and destroy the world. Therefore the Diagram, which Taravangian wrote while supremely intelligent but with little regard for humanity except as an abstract concept is meant to stop the Desolations permanently, but will cause unbelievable damage to Roshar in the process, something the Radiants, with their devotion to "journey before destination", have to oppose.
Well, if the kinds of laws that King T tries to get passed when he's more "intelligent" are any indication, the Diagram is completely doomed to failure. Not only is it likely a plan to end the Desolations without regard for damage to Roshar, as Raven suggests, but it probably involves getting great masses of people to do stupid, heartless, counterintuitive things because surely they're smart enough to see his wonderful reasoning!
I don't think it's going to fall apart so easily. People have been following it so far. Precog!Taravingian seems to have accounted for the fact that people wouldn't follow coldly logical proclamations, and decided to compensate by putting himself on the throne in his more empathic days, trusting he'd be able to handle ruling. Remember in his POV chapter, when he managed to cleverly advance the plan despite his average intelligence? "I think we need to revise the tests; you are hardly average today." "You just underestimate the average man."
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.While reading, the only point in the book that I felt was going too slow was Shallah traveling with the slavers. I also did not like Lift. Theres something about people who refuse to listen to what others are saying that annoys me. I was also put off by the constant use of the word "awesome". It felt weird in a fantasy book.
As far as Mr.T's code, I read it as more of a contingency plan. Something he might need to do if things get out of hand.
Eh, the slavers sequence didn't take too long. I will admit Lift's felt like a slog at first, but it's short, and it picked up at the end.
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.

Does that mean Odium's Champion needs to be a Spren?
edited 16th Mar '14 2:58:24 PM by Nonus