The Sanderlanche Podcast

We are starting in on a new novella this week. It's time for Dawnshard. What will we learn about the mysterious objects for which the story is named? Well, not much this week - that's for sure. Still, some very interesting stuff as we seem to be setting up a story centered on Rysn and Lopen, an unlikely but highly entertaining pairing.

We've reached the end of another one, and what a trip this one was. Not to mention the wild Sanderlanche. In this episode we finally meet the Sorceress, find Charlie, and see Hoid's most dynamic ensemble yet. You really couldn't ask for much more. See how the crew feels about wrapping their first Secret Project on this week's episode of The Sanderlanche!

Jaymee is back for our second-to-last episode of Tress. There are some pretty wild reveals in this one. Successful negotiations, presents for the crew, and sudden but inevitable betrayal! But it's the predigments that really go nuts this week. There are some big shots being taken, and some of them might even land, who knows? Me. I know. Probably most of you do as well, but I'm allowed a little drama!

Jaymee is out again, which is a darn shame because her prediction paid off! Things have begun to kick off for Tress and co. There's an attempted mutiny and then a foiling of said attempted mutiny and then there's ... what was it again? Oh, right, a huge freaking dragon. So, yeah, that's a thing. 

Jaymee missed this one, and that's a shame because like me she's usually a big fan of Cosmere Science! We're finally back in Tress of the Emerald Sea. We get more details about how spore technology works, and Tress begins to science the heck out of this stuff, coming up with some ingenious ideas of her own. 

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.