I read The Way of Kings Prime so you don't have to 

Pinning this for your comment about Amaram...I mean...like how did I miss that?? 🤦‍♀️ Like...it's literally the same name lol. I apparently went crazy while making this. Maybe it's because Amaram puts on this "holy face" where he's like "I'm such a nice guy!" and Meridas in Prime doesn't even try that threw me off lol.

Thanks 🦸‍♀️

It really is a great testament to knowing that hey...the first draft isn't everything.

That is very true.. 🤌🏽

Thanks for watching ☺️

Thank you! It made me wish more authors talked about the transformation of their novels - its such an interesting look into one of my favorite series.

I appreciate your commitment a lot...I know it's long 😂. I am VERY glad too - I found Renarin's storyline in Prime to be particularly depressing.

It's one of my favorite things about following him as an author! He's so open to all of his fans and you can tell he just honestly loves what he does.

So you gonna read this after Skyward or what? lol jk

I'm glad to hear the love for it because I feel like it often gets overlooked compared to the other books! Something and Kaladin's arc with bridge four just really speaks to me

Yess! I am also sad how they made shard blades feel less valuable as the series moves on. It was so powerful to have the shard blade traded for their freedom at the end, when it was worth a nation.

@@markmartin5817 That's interesting that you feel like they've become less powerful as the series goes on! Is that because so many people are radiant? I don't think it lessons the sacrifice any, because at the time Dalinar made the sacrifice it did matter a lot, which is probably the important thing.

Thank you so much for the support!

Thanks Lore ☺️

Yes someone else had just said that to me, and I think it provides SUPER important context. Like...he was still coming off of the "trying to be grim" and it really shows in the book once you know that.

Thanks 😊

Thanks for the support!

Thanks for watching Sean...also I think you are my first "real life" friend to ever comment on any of my videos which seems both weird and monumental at the same time ;)

I totally agree! Like...I'm not even a writer and I felt like it taught me a lot about even just reading books and how they can evolve.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you! I figured no one really wants to listen to an hour long video so might as well make it easy to skip around 😂

@@Bookborn I did, and it was awesome! It’s interesting to hear how he changed as a writer over time.

Thanks for the support!

Totally agree. He's admitted himself that he wasn't ready at the time he wrote it!

Thank you!

oh totally agree. As much as I love Mistborn, even the fact that Vin is basically the only female of note (and particularly in the crew) is so different to what he writes in Stormlight.

lol I don't mind taking one for the team

@@Bookborn always appreciate a good Cosmere video!

Very impressed! Thanks for watching!

That's definitely a huge factor that I didn't articulate correctly!

I figured there would be a lot of people in that position! Thanks for the support :)

I obviously didn't come up with it, but it's absolutely my favorite Sanderson term. Whoever did come up with it is a genius.

lol look it up in the Gif search engine on any texting app. You'll have a good time guaranteed

Sanderson has been very vocal about how much finishing WOT helped him! He said that he really just didn't have the skills to keep track of multiple viewpoints in a satisfactory way, and I think you can see the huge jump in that from Prime to official WOK. It was so interesting seeing how much he changed between the two books, but how his original ideas were always still there.

Glad I could help!

It was actually, thanks for noticing 😂

That's so funny, I have a friend who is just like that and so we always argue about books because I don't mind the clean tidy wrapped up endings, and she's like "but it's not as realistic!!" 😂

I tried to keep it shorter but...I failed lol

@@Bookborn it was perfect to listen to while I was working

Thanks for watching!

Everyone agrees with you. For some reason he just didn't give me "true" Vasher vibes! IDK why!

Oh TOTALLY AGREE. I actually found Taln's storyline to be super interesting, even if it was slightly ruined by the fact I knew too much going in since we've obviously read the "real" version. But the whole unreliable narrator thing is one of my favorites, and I think Brandon could do it really well even if it was used in a completely different setting/story.

Oh I almost mentioned that exact scene weirdly! When he reappears the shardblade in the guy it was freaking EPIC. Like it was the scene I was like "OK, this is where I'm seeing classic Sanderson".

I figured few people really want to devote the time to read a less-good version of a great book (especially when it's 900 pages long). I'm glad it's useful!

@@Bookborn Yeah. I've seen several hardcore fans of the 17th Shard say that they opened the book, read a few pages, and then were like "nah, I'm good" and put it away.😂

@@faultier1158 lol trust me there were several times I thought that during this book...mostly during Jasnah perspectives 💀

Finished the video now, thank you for making it! The fact that Brandon released this makes me appreciate him so much more. I don't think I would have the balls to do that. Glad I found your channel, liked and subbed

I figured a lot of people would be in your shoes!

Ah Ps. You are very pretty (I promise I'm not a creep, it's just an observation that I felt had to be said).

Thanks so much for the support! It really means a lot!

Yeah I definitely vacillated back and forth on whether to do it or not and I'm glad I went for it. I'm nervous for the WoR leatherbound kickstarter...I feel like even more people are going to want that one and I'm going to have to sign on and be decisive immediately to get one 😂

@@Bookborn Me too!! It took me daaaays of deliberation on these leatherbounds. My wallet is shaking in terror lol

Possibly! I was just saying I wasn't sure if it was *warbreaker* Vasher. He may still have been a worldhopper, but was he nightblood wielding? Hard to say.

@@Bookborn I don't think Nightblood was a thing yet. I reckon when he moved Awakening to Warbreaker and started Cosmere building more it all started to become more.... familiar xD

I haven't done it yet, but I've considered it for sure! I think I'm going to do recaps for Mistborn Era 2 first since Wax and Wayne 4 is coming out soon-ish. I'll probably do Stormlight ones closer to #5's release date!

@@Bookborn awesome! I could use a refresher on Wax and Wayne too!

Totally. And interesting that he's still related to the Taravangian character / messing him up, but just in a different way. I think the Diagram as it is in the official version is more interesting, though.

JUSTICE FOR SHALLAN (can you imagine a multiverse scene for her. It'd probably be pretty depressing)

Here's a 🌟 for actually making it to the end! lol

Thank you 😊

For sure. It seems like a lot of things were just moved over to Warbreaker. Someone in the comments told me that originally, Warbreaker was going to be a prequel to Way of Kings.

Yeah I just find it so fascinating that by missing their struggles, they become so much less interesting. Or, I should say, more relatable struggles - I think more of us understand depression than "hmm gotta go from commoner to noble" lol

@@Bookborn yeah.... though i haven't been in a situation like Kaladin, well not anywhere close, but i find some of his traits so relatable and frustrating tbh. I like that and him without that frustrating mental health is just....bland

Oh the Jasnah one is purposeful - I know it isn't a hard J, but I read them initially with that in mind and now I refuse to change because I'm stubborn and don't like "ya-snah".

​@@Bookborn Jasna (without the H) is an actual Slavic name though. It means light or bright (👀) and is pronounced Yas-nah.

Also, yes, I made it to the end!! hahaha :P

It's actually *Elin* which I probably should have thrown up on the screen haha. Supposedly Sanderson said that he thinks even though he was trying to get out of being pushed to write dark like GRRM, it still influenced Prime a lot, and I'd agree with him. Like you said, it's pretty dark - I find especially Renarin's storyline to be messed up haha. Thanks for watching the whole thing 😂 I'm very impressed

First I'm extremely impressed you made it to the end lol. And I totally agree. I'm actually surprised at how some very random details - like Kholin's wearing blue - survived. For some reason that was super interesting to me to see those little things. And even the title - the difference in the "in world" books of Way of Kings give SUCH a different feel to why the title is the title, if that makes sense. Although, like you said, the story was painful in some places, overall it was a very cool experience.

I felt that there energies were different lol. I guess I made the assumption he wasn't a worldhopper, but I realize I def do not have enough information to definitively say that.

@@Bookborn Yeah, I doubt that Nalthis existed in this iteration of the proto-cosmere, but _maybe_ Brandon always intended him to be from a planet other than Roshar. He did feel the need to write a prequel for Vasher seven years later.

From what I read of Prime, it felt like the bad ending for the Stormlight Archive. Especially the end of the book. Taln’s dead, Jasnah loses her political power, Shinri is captive, Merrin loses his shardblade, Jek is about to escape, Alethkar is in ruins, it just feels so bleak

Oh that's so interesting about Shallan! I'm loving all this WOB that you guys are giving me about Prime, I need to find a way to collect them all in one place. Makes sense to me that Shallan was almost a new invention. There are clearly influences from Shinri, but so much is different - especially her role in the novel. I do want to know what the plan for Merin was after book 1 since he goes back to be a farmer, and supposedly Bridge 4 was going to come in somewhere?

lol thank you! Yes Prime was crazy dark. That death toll...like somehow all of Dalinar's sons being dead was particularly gruesome.

I think the issue is that since many main viewpoint characters don’t deal with their inner darkness and struggles, the outer struggles and plot got really dark to make the narrative feel weighty and as an attempt at making us care about all the characters knowing the stakes are high.

It's really cool to see the growth. A good reminder that being good at anything is just dedication and practice. I personally LOVED RoW!

I think it's just really hard to read this as just a book. Like...If I had never read the real version, would I be so critical of this one? Probably not. But when you see what it became, it becomes a really stark contrast that's super hard to be neutral about, you know?

@@Bookborn for me, having read a lot of fanfiction, (though not of Sanderson works) I enjoyed my listen immensely.

Totally agree, and I mention that a little in my opinion portion. It more just surprises me since his current books don't suffer from that at all - but like you said, he got married after which probably helped lol

Yesss TOTALLY agree. I had such a hard time imagining how the magic would end up being very "cool" because it had such a steep cost. I think the stormlight solution is much more elegant for the purposes of the novel. Oh yeah, there was! I totally forgot to mention that. We aren't sure but he probably WAS going to be a Herald...or a Wit. Something was up. If he was originally supposed to be Hoid, I feel like he was much more "switch sides-y" then Hoid usually is. Hoid certainly isn't necessarily GOOD, but I feel like he's more subtle.

Congrats, I'm impressed lol! I know, it was so much darker and just doesn't feel like Stormlight at all.

Hi and welcome! No, I don't own a goodreads. It's a long story 😅 But I'm working on a strorygraph account right now so that people can see what I'm reading/what I've read easier!

It actually does get quite confusing. It's interesting because in the process of this video I found the characters starting to relate less and less (like in the beginning I'd always be subbing in "Kaladin" in my mind for Merin, but by the end, it felt like such different books those characters almost didn't relate any more for me.)

Yeah someone else pointed this out 🤦‍♀️ Like...it's literally the same name, how did I miss that?? I think the reason I went to Sadeas is that Meridas in Prime doesn't come off as the "I'm such a good person" way that Amaram pretends to be. IDK, it was a huge brain lapse lol

🌟 Take my gold star because I'm impressed you made it!

I'm currently rereading WOT and I'm going to be so interested to reread that scene. I think it's going to hit me VERY differently than it did when I first read it. It's possible he was influenced, although I think they read differently: in Jordan's case, I think it was "haha men can't be assaulted" whereas in Sanderson's case it felt more like he didn't understand how to write the trauma correctly.

@@Bookborn Don't disagree, but I feel like it was also handled poorly...but then I'm known as anti-WoT. 😉

Probably! I did a recap of Era 2 for the Lost Metal, and I may do them as other cosmere books come out.

@@Bookborn that’s gonna be perfect. I still need to read the lost metal. And the video is gonna come in clutch. I’ll search for it now.

Nope, nobody said it! While I was writing this I honestly couldn't remember if some of them were different and for the life of me i couldn't find any mention in the book when I was flipping through.

I personally NEVER read Kelsier/Vin as a romance but purely as a mentor/mentee relationship, and it drives me crazy that people read romance in that. It's interesting that you think Sanderson has hedged on that, I feel like he's been pretty clear that it was a father/daughter sort of thing, but he also does so many interviews I may have missed the one where you felt he was hedging it haha. I think Wax and Marasi get a pass from me because they aren't together; Wax never views Marasi in a romantic way, only Marasi views Wax that way. I agree that I've never loved Breeze and his girl, and probably no surprise that Mistborn was written shortly after WOK Prime. I'm really glad we have Dalinar/Navani - I've always so appreciated an adult relationship where both individuals are similar in age. Media in general seems to be obsessed with Older men with younger women and nothing could drive me more crazy. I find YA in particular uses this trope so much and I'm just like...PLEASE STOP.

Let me know what you think of it! Not many of us have read it yet, I feel like haha

Honestly I had a hard time using the name "Kaladin" when talking about Merin in the plot. They feel so different to almost be unrelated. Merin is a good guy, but he doesn't come close to Kaladin's charisma, leadership, or overall character.

@@Bookborn Thankfully Branderson knows his limits. He has said that before he wrote the wheel of time, he knew the way of kings wasn't ready and the characters 'fell flat'. After WoT, he called up his publisher and told them he is ready. And oh boy are we lucky he chose to wait because kaladin is my favourite fictional/fantasy character

AHH OK. That makes a LOT of sense. I knew there had to be something going on there, but it was given so little attention in this book.

I think nale and the other herald identify balenmar as Ishar at the very end. And might I say, there has never been a character that was clearly a more powerful figure than they let on more so than balenmar.

@@Aplesedjr Ahh, just didn't write it down/remember. Sanderson made it pretty clear there was something up with him lol but I missed it

Oohhh that's a super good catch! What an easter egg.

C R O M D A L E N A R

In all seriousness tho, great video as always!

Look, I know my audience. I know how I've hurt them in the past.

@@Bookborn Honestly I was more upset by how you pronounce "Shinovar" than anything 🤣

@@ElijahStormblessed My husband literally HATES how I say it. He's like "no...no stop. How could you say it that way?"

Glad I could help :)

For whatever reason I found the struggles of real!Szeth more compelling, but I can see how his less-conflicted self in Prime might appeal to people. I agree that it was great hearing from Taln's perspective. I hope we get to in the future - I think he's slated for one of the back five books if I remember correctly. I wonder how much will be taken from NOT Taln.

I actually do know she's pronounced "Yasnah", but I didn't find out until years after I read it so it's just sooo hard for me to change, you know? But, thank you for saying this in such a kind way!

@@Bookborn Totally understandable! I first listened to the Way of Kings audiobook and then picked up the books and it was so weird to see "Szeth" in the book when i heard it like "Zed" in the audiobook haha

I'm dying DALE 💀 💀 💀 Can you imagine. Also I'm super impressed you watched until the end lol

@@Bookborn it's good content, so not really that tough :P. I think you have the production quality and charm of some of the bigger fantasy youtubers, but probably a touch more detail oriented. I expect this to really take off at some point. If the WoT show is any good that could be an in to a larger audience, though I can't remember your feelings on the series. More people can also result in toxicity too. Oh, and yeah. Big bad Dale and his magic sword. All I can think of is Nascar and grilling lol.

Ahh I must've just missed it

I received it as a part of backing the kickstarter for Way of Kings leatherbound. So, I'm unsure if the physical copies will ever be sold outside of that...

@@Bookborn well I don’t have the letherebound but I do have the pervious stormlight archive right up until oathbringer, here in the uk the books are split into two parts the rhythm of war was sold separate and I got dawn-shard edge dancer and mistborn era 1 and two physical copies mind you I’m still waiting for mistborn 7 to come out, I can wait iv got 191 books plus another 4 comeing for my birthday in June the 5th this year. I’d rather read books than anything else keeps me sane in life.

Glad I could help 😄

Oh shoot, I originally had who wrote WOK in Prime in my notes but forgot to say it. I didn't remember though that bit from the official Way of Kings, though, and I love the easter egg.

I found the bit I was talking about from Words of Radiance-I remembered it mostly because of Pattern's reaction: ‘Behardan King . . . something I do not understand . . . order, perhaps . . .’ Pattern said. ‘Map? Yes, that would likely be map. So the next is perhaps to draw . . . draw . . . something I do not understand . . .’ ‘You’re _reading_ it?’ ‘It is a pattern.’ ‘You’re _reading_ _the_ _Dawnchant.’_ ‘Not well.’ ‘You’re reading the _Dawnchant!’_ Shallan exclaimed. She scrambled up to the map beside which Pattern hovered, then rested her fingers on the script at the bottom. ‘Behardan, you said? Maybe Bajerden . . . Nohadon himself.’ ‘Bajerden? Nohadon? Must people have so many names?’ ‘One is honorific,’ Shallan said. ‘His original name wasn’t considered symmetrical enough. Well, I guess it wasn’t really symmetrical at all, so the ardents gave him a new one centuries ago.’ ‘But . . . the new one isn’t symmetrical either.’ ‘The _h_ sound can be for any letter,’ Shallan said absently. ‘We write it as the symmetrical letter, to make the word balance, but add a diacritical mark to indicate it sounds like an _h_ so the word is easier to say.’ ‘That - One can’t just _pretend_ that a word is symmetrical when it isn’t!’ -Words of Radiance, Chapter 47 And then from TWoKPrime: “Do what is right. Be honorable, even to your enemies. Study _The Way of Kings._ Have the monks read it to you often, until you have it memorized. Remember what Lord Bajerden wrote: ‘Nobility is service. Rank is a privilege, not a right.’ Do these things, Merin, and even the jealous ones will admire you.” -The Way of Kings Prime, Chapter 3

Hmmm I'm not sure, if you got the leatherbound Way of Kings kickstarter, I think this was one of the stretch goals. But maybe it came with the tier I chose - it was a few years ago, so I don't remember. I think you can get it digitally though even if you didn't do the kickstarter, just not the physical cop.

Was there a rebellion in the original books? Maybe I'm misremembering it but I thought it was just Szeth who thought that, so he was turned truthless. Here in prime it seemed like they already believed it and were using it for their own gains...

@@Bookborn No the rebellion is in prime. In the original he is alone in stating the return of the radiant. But essentially in both Szeth became truthless because he believes the return is coming.

Thanks for the support! Yeah my pronunciations are literally terrible and I even practice them before filming and my mouth just...doesn't comply 😆

Merdias is absolutely supposed to be Meridas Amaram lol. Just had a little brain blank lol

😁

I’m not sure what you mean? I chapter my videos to be useful to people watching so they don’t have to watch an hour video if they just want something smaller… but maybe you’re talking about something else?

@@Bookborn oh yeah, no shade on your game you're great at making things as enjoyable as you can! I just mean RU-vid should be better at recognizing/letting creators tag portions the parts of videos designed for orientation so viewers familiar with your model can get right to the action. That way the stuff intended to get new viewers used to your model gets to them, but the initiated can get right to the juicy bits.