Dawnshard - By Brandon Sanderson - Discussion
Spoiler warning for Dawnshard and previous Stormlight Archive books (Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, & Oathbringer).
I'd seen mentions of the sleepless and Dawnshards when browsing the Arcanum and so was primarily hoping to learn more about these in this book. But in a short period of time I was surprised with how attached I grew to Rysn! In particular at the end of the book when the captain appreciates Rysn's role as Rebsk and allow here to steer the ship (showing their trust) for a few minutes, I let out an audible cheer. (Also when I noticed that she gained perfect pitch and perfect color recognition) Rysn and Vstim's interludes in the previous stormlight books were some of my favourite interludes and I'm so glad that we got to see more of them here.
The other thing I was surprised by was the set up for the two Winderunners swearing their third ideal here. Lopen says quite clearly that the third ideal is saying that you will protect even those you hate. And then a few chapters later we see Huio swear the third ideal in order to protect Lopen. I honestly thought this was just going to be played off as a joke since they have a fair bit of banter early in the book. But I was heart warmed to see that realisation that Lopen has that his jokes and teasing hurt people, and him swearing his own version of the ideal to protect other people from himself. It reminded me of some of the similar (but not same) character development moments we get with Wayne in Mistborn.
I'd love to hear what other people who read this book thought about it as well. Once I can get my hands on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter in paperback form, I hope to discuss that too with all you Cosmerenauts!
Dawnshard is actually my favorite Stormlight book. It’s absolutely overshadowed by the main ones, but it just does everything right. It has really good representation (there’s quite a bit of real-life story here, with a discussion about the difference in representation of physical and mental health in the cosmere, and Brandon subsequently getting several disabled beta readers on board to make sure he gets Rysn’s story right). Initially when it was revealed that Lopen would be a secondary character in the book I was quite disappointed, as I did not enjoy him in previous Stormlight books. Dawnshard changed that too, making him realize how he can be a bit too much and that not everyone shares his sense of humor. Cord, Rushu and Huio were also great, all in all a really strong cast of characters in this book that deserved a place to shine and finally got it. The plot itself is straightforward, but it’s really not the point of the book, so I don’t mind. My one complaint is the title itself: The initially suggested Wandersail would have been a much more fitting title, as the book really isn’t about the Dawnshards at all, it’s about the characters’ journey.
Do you hold the same opinion for "Rhythm of War"? 😉
Spoilers for RoW
IIRC we only learn about the pure tones and the various mixures of Investiture near the end of the book. And that's also around when the Rhythm of War is created by Navani. Similarly here, we only really learn about the Dawnshards at the end of the book. The book also isn't about the Rhythm of War. But a similar concept is used to create the anti-stormlight which is then used to kill Teft's spren.Eh, the mainline Stormlight titles have a specific theme and structure. None of them (maybe except the first one) are really described by their titles, those are the names of in-universe books that are vaguely relevant to the plot in some way. But far too much happens in each Stormlight book to be describable by a simple title. The novellas on the other hand follow a more conventional naming scheme where the title actually tells you what the book is about (Edgedancer is about the Edgedancer Lift, the upcoming Horneater will be about the Horneater Rock, and Dawnshard… is mostly about the journey of the Wandersail and the people on it, which was its WIP title.)
Good to see others enjoying the Cosmere here. Buckle up for Rhythm Of War, assuming you're going in order. It's a tall order but if you haven't read Elantris, Warbreaker, 6 Mistborn, and arcanum unbounded I recommend those first.
I loved Dawnshard myself. I know we are about a year from Stormlight 5 but I hope he has time for a novella in between 4-5 focused on Rock.
I've actually read all those other books! My entry in to the Cosmere started with Way of Kings (around the same time last year), and I read all the way through to Rhythm of War without realising that there even were novellas. The only books I have left to read in the cosmere are White Sands and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. At least based on this bibliography.
+1 to a novella about Rock. I'd love to learn more about the ways of the Horneaters. Also it was probably obvious from its earlier description, but I gasped when they spelled it out in this book that the Horneater Peak contains Cultivation's perpendicularity.
I’m confident we’ll get Horneater, probably on the Words of Radiance LB kickstarter, like Dawnshard was for Way of Kings.
I absolutely loved Dawnshard and I'm currently in middle of Rhythm of War. I agree that it's my favorite book so far. I hope we get to see more of Rysn soon.
I've never read a Sanderson book but I really liked the first season of Wheel of Time (have yet to start the second season but I'm hearing it's even better than the first) - so I might try to get into his books. However it seems kind of monumental!? Like, the book you're talking about is from a series that is part of a series, although can be read independently. So where might I begin? Is there a sort of guide to help people find out where to begin, and what they might like?
There are many opinions on where to start, but I find that the Mistborn series is one of the easier ones to get into first, as it has shorter books with somewhat smaller casts. The Stormlight series is where I started, but they are kind of long and very connected to the other novels from a pretty early point. This didn't bother me at the time, but now I feel the urge to go back through all of them to get all the references I missed.
+1 to what @doors_cannot_stop_me said. In addition, here's advice from Brando himself - https://www.brandonsanderson.com/where-do-i-start/
If you're fine with reading large books, I think you should read the prologues to Way of Kings to see if that has you hooked. Otherwise, Warbreaker I think is a great entry point.