The Sanderlanche Podcast

Sorry, everyone, things went badly at the last minute, and we were unable to record the episode we had planned continuing with Tress of the Emerald Sea. So instead I've got a second week of special episodes for you. This time Joe and I are talking about one-star reviews of our most-recently-completed-book, Oathbringer. And then, as an extra treat, I've got something else as well. Hope you all enjoy!

This week I've got three guests who came on to talk about Dragonsteel Nexus. There's lots of interesting information about what the convention is like. Great for anyone who's thinking about going, anyone who has gone, and anyone who just wants to know more about the convention. Cassie, Jerika, and Sam each bring an interesting perspective as three people who attended DSNX25, though each with a very different experience of the convention. It really highlights just how much there is to do. Also several links based on this week's discussions:

The Sanderson Collector's Guild Discord server: https://discord.gg/4ScEN47wbR

The Worldswappers website (including link to Discord server): https://worldswappers.com/

Cassie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frugal.fantasy/

Jerika's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmere.carmen/

In this week's chapters things go really well for Tress! Her plans work out perfectly to get everyone on the ship going where she wants to go ... and then she realizes how that's really not a good thing for her. Yay? Boo? Something like that. Also some interesting discussion of the audiobook version which sounds frankly hilarious. 

Jaymee didn't make this one, but we've got some real worldbuilding going on this week. Deepening the characters, the mysteries of spores and seas, not to mention the origins of Huck and the motivations of Captain Crow. Until now it's been a bit of a breakneck adventure story. We've slowed down long enough to learn some stuff about the world around us, and really that's some of my favorite parts. How about you?

Joe is out this week, but we're getting to know the crew of the Crow's Song as Tress decides to stay aboard the pirate ship to help the crew and possibly herself along the way. It may be dangerous. It may even be a terrible mistake, but she IS getting her own private room out of the deal. So I guess it can't be all bad.

Our second episode of Tress, and things are really moving quickly. It turns out that the ship she worked so hard to board isn't a great place for her, but that's ok because it sinks quite quickly, and she is forced to join up with a pirate crew. Who saw that coming? 

We're starting a new book this week! After making these folks sit around with these lovely Dragonsteel versions of the secret projects on their shelves for years now, it's finally time to crack one open. We get to meet Tress and see our reluctant heroine set off on her adventure to save her loquacious love on this week's episode of The Sanderlanche!

We have completely finished Oathbringer! That's 3 ginormous Stormlight books in the can. It is kind of crazy how long we've been on Roshar now. We're going to head elsewhere for a little break with Tress starting next week, but in the meantime we had a little fun by taking the radiant order quiz on Brandon's website. If you want to take it along with us, here is the link: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/pages/official-knights-radiant-order-quiz

And then, while I'm linking things, here is the episode of Cosmere Chronicles that I did a guest appearance on. So enjoy that as well! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/83-the-way-of-kings-chapters-26-28-ft-data/id1732938119?i=1000746701051

The final two numbered chapters of the book, and things are wrapping up, leaving our crew with overall very positive feelings and, of course, lots of questions. 

Joe is gone, and we read exactly one chapter this week, but oh my what a chapter. The Battle of Thaylen City plays out in The Spear That Wouldn't Break, and pretty much everyone gets a chance to shine (some more literally than others). After this there's only a bit more left to finally wrap up book 3 of the Stormlight Archive. It's very exciting!

The Battle of Thaylen City is really taking some unexpected turns this week, and things are looking quite grim for most of the chapters. There's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, though, and it's one of the most emotional moments in the entire series. See how the crew handles it on this week's episode of The Sanderlanche!

We're back from our break, and it's time to dive into Part 5. It's ... a lot. The Sanderlanche is clearly kicking off as things begin to move out of control very quickly. In addition to the chapters we touch on a few other things including Dac's upcoming Cosmere RPG game and some of what I saw at Dragonsteel Nexus. 

For those interested, you can find the details on the Shards of Creation game we talk about here: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/451772/shards-of-creation

This will be our last episode for a while. December is just going to be too chaotic to get much recording in. So we're taking a 4 week break after this. Jaymee couldn't make it for this one, but we got to the end of Part 4, which is a downer, for real. Some of the interludes are quite interesting though!

We develop a few interesting theories here, but for the most part these are some really front-loaded chapters that seem to be setting us up for the finale as we approach the end of Part 4 of the book. So it's tough to get much solid theorizing done. Some top notch digressions in this one, though, as we go down a couple of classic rabbit holes. 

Joe is out this week, but we've got some interesting chapters. Nothing with the Shadesmar crew, which has Dac and Jaymee a little disappointed, but a lot of Dalinar, which I love. So I guess at least one of us wins. Though the Navani perspective is also a very popular one. 

We arrive at Celebrant, and the crew is excited to get some real details of a spren city. Then we leave almost immediately. I mean, there's a lot of meat in that "almost." Some very cool stuff shows up, but the newbies are still a bit disappointed. Meanwhile Dalinar is ... not having a good time, and no one is thrilled about that. Kaladin being depressed is par for the course at this point, but when our rock Dalinar starts to crumble, it's a bit tough.

Things really start to get interesting in Shadesmar while back in the physical realm things are also coming together, everything except Dalinar who has begun to fall apart. The crew has some interesting ideas this week, but predictions are becoming more difficult the further we move into the Stormlight Archive.

Shadesmar is not quite yet everything we were hoping for, but the story makes up for that with some terrific Szeth stuff in this section of chapters. We're all happy to see everyone's favorite Shin back on the scene, though what his relationship with his new sword means is still anyone's guess. 

5 chapters and 5 interludes on this one. So a fair amount of text we're covering. The Mem and Sheler interludes in particular were big hits with the newbies. Meanwhile Adolin continues to impress despite being completely unprepared for what's going on. When the pressure is on, the real man shows through. Check it out on this week's episode of The Sanderlanche!

This episode starts out hot and goes from there. These were some significant chapters, and we're not even to the end of Part 3 yet. There's battle, death, not one, not two, but three unmade. Did I mention death? Yeah, there's a lot of that. It's intense. Find out how our crew is dealing with it all on this week's episode of The Sanderlanche.