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I actually really like the reading style. Really works the story well

Love this kind of content. Please do updates with future books.

I had this video pop up in recommended when I bought the book 5 days ago. And after finishing it 20 minutes ago I came back to watch it. I’m confused by some of your criticisms of things being left ambiguously in certain chapters, particularly the one with the neighbor, it’s pretty obvious that she was murdered. Even if a body was decaying for weeks, her remains would still be in one piece or at least transported in one piece if she was just old in the house and died naturally. I do think it’s interesting though that the plot hole of Veronica’s phone randomly being missing is never mentioned considering that the narrator left the phone with her at the hospital. As far as the timeline, telling the story in a linear format would have not worked for the story at all. The narrator is a childhood trauma survivor. He is piecing together repressed memories.

For me, the pacing worked. When I read the story it really made it feel like you were remembering pieces of the past and it never felt fully put together until the end somehow tied it up and it all made sense.

In my opinion, Penpal does a phenomenal job of putting the reader into the perspective of the narrator. Throughout the story the narrator attempts to reconstruct the events of his childhood through his memories. As more time passes he remembers more and more but the memories are fragmented, messy and out of order. By presenting the story in the same order he remembers it, it forces you into his perspective. This not only improves the readers immersion, but also stimulates the reader into making connections in the plot the same way the narrator does with his memories. Alongside this, the "pervasive background dread constantly following the narrator" that the story imparts is the exact flavour of fear the narrator would feel. Penpal puts you into right into the driver's seat and being that immersed in the horror and the fear that it imparts is something I, a long time horror fanatic, crave.

I disagree with maps being filler. For me having the “penpal” pretending to the old ladies husband is horrifying as well as fleshing out the main characters

I think that the fact that the experiment in “Balloons” seems weird now is because of things like this happening. But growing up in smaller towns/cities where everyone knew everyone and the kids all knew each other we weren’t as concerned about things like this. Obviously now we are all a bit too wise to not have red flags go up. Also, it’s very heavily implied that the “penpal” is the one that killed poor old Mrs. Maggie. I agree, that it kind of came out of nowhere but my take on it is that now we have confirmation that the “Penpal” is actively okay with murder. The “why?” is what is actually scary, much like the ending. All we can do about the “Penpal” is speculate.

I just started RoW and have had the privilege of reading all previous in order without having to wait for the next book to come out. Still...this world and story is massive and I know I'm missing things. I didn't realize how much I was missing until I watched this video. I really also love how you gave no spoilers for RoW. It's hard to find non-spoiler stuff. Great explanation of all the radiantly and what we know so far. I had not put some of that together and now have a more solid understanding going into RoW. Great video. Thanks so much!

I’m about to pick up RoW after a several month Hiatus - thanks for the recap!

when he says a deus ex machina that is totaly false dfz is a spin off series and the god of the forgotten dead is a main character in the previous series hearstrikers it is established in that series that you can comunicate with ghosts especialy in the sea of magic and its also established that the god of the forgotten dead and the dfz kinda have a special relationship as both know marcy the first merlin well and the dfz kinda owes her a debt

Your video reached Brazil 🙌🏼 congrats ur internacional now 🎉

I absolutely agree with the points made about the weird pacing and timeline. I loved this story, but it was just SO hard to follow and felt more like one big annoying riddle than an actual story at times. Maps was really confusing to me, because it really felt like a filler chapter. Footsteps too, even after watching this video, I still have no idea what the purpose of footsteps was. Why does the penpal drag these little kids into the woods and leave them there? How does he do it without injuring them? What possible reason could he have for doing that? It makes zero sense to me and I feel like the story would be fine without that chapter as a whole.

Apreciation for Nale? HE MURDERED A CHILD!!!!

How do you only have 300 subscribers? Your presentation, insight, and knowledge on writing skills is incredibly well done.

While I agree that changing the timeline could make the story even more enjoyable, I think I understand why Auerbach left it the “confusing” way, and the answer he kinda gave us in the first few pages of the book: it’s just the way memories work; you remember the big things first and what led up to it or was related to it plops up in our minds after. And it also fits him describing how a child’s memory of their life works, that it is more singular events that a coherent story - and the main character was a child for the entirety of the story. But no matter what order you prefer or would prefer, I thing “penpal” is a very intriguing story and Auerbach’s writing style is very mesmerising.

My dude, please finish the video series i BEG. I am reading the series for the first time and you are by FAR the BEST creator doing reviews. I watch them as I finish the books and I am gonna be real sad to not have Should you read Cradle: Wintersteel? | Quick Review not ready to go for me to enjoy. Big sad. Please finish series. Love your videos.

Is there an encyclopedia for all of this stuff?

I just finished Penpal and loved it but the timeline was sooo confusing so this was super helpful thank u!!

The fact that tons of Cosmere lore is not explained in the books but instead must be gleaned from Q&As and various online sources is infuriating

This was amazing! Please keep making these videos.

Good video, will sub !

Great details, thanksman!

Yo why’d you stop making videos! Your content is gold. Some other book RUclipsrs are unbearable and seem to be sniffing their own butthole, your awesome!

Thanks for going through the effort of compiling this :)

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You know, even though I am team Windrunners (because come on, Bridge 4), I find the Edgedancers oaths to be the most beautiful. It gave me huge goosebumps when Lift swore them

I'm a big fan of the whole series. It's great & gets even better as it goes along.

Skipping anything the first time through a book is insanity

this is such a well made video, please make more content. you have great potential

Great series. I'm very thankful to have it before I jump into RoW. One quibble; at 13:56 you say that Taravangian was cursed by Preservation. Did you mean Cultivation, or is there a Mistborn connection I've completely missed here?

Thanks for this recap man. I agree naming stuff the same or close combined with my Adhd is a mess.

I dont recall if its from this book or the second, but just an example of its strange worldbuilding; A middle-eastern terrorist, who is possessed by a minor deamon with a thick german accent, because its "realm" had been invaded by nazi third Reich, and thus had learned to control and communicate through german humans, and so it had a German accent when it was overheard

I've been an avid reader for about 20 years and in early December I heard about this crazy author that actually finishes his books named Brandon Sanderson, so I thought instead of reading all these books I wanted to try audible, so I did and I went through almost the entire series on audible, only elantris and lost metal left, it took me about 90 days, I didn't realize book readers look down on audible, listening is absolutely no different from reading, You still have to pay attention and think about what you're consuming, I don't get it

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First I'm going to give you an example of the ideas behind the villains in this book that you might not have figured out at the time of reading this. I mean you're a kid obviously and likely have never considered the possibility of what the driving force in this book is because you've never had to think of the issue. and if you have thought of it and had to deal with it but missed the meaning, that's on you for not thinking. The issue that's shown is in both the Streetwolves and the Hexenwolves. Harry describes it after using the belt he got off of Roger. It's addiction, sir. THe Streetwolves are addicted to the power they have when killing people and the Hexenwolves are addicted to the belts - as they were designed to be addictive. The theme of the book is addiction to power, that's why the Alphas are taught control and restraint from over using their power. That's why the Feeb wanted to replace Marcone with the Streetwolves, Marcone is about restraint and control in the face of wild and abandoned violence, we learn how that kind of violence negatively affected him later in the series and became his driving force against allowing it - and making an example of the person who was that wild and without thought. Second If you're gay and you don't like hearing that men like women's bodies that's fine, but don't sit there and say it's wrong and objectification when there's plenty of Harlequin Romance Novels that do the exact same thing that you will most assuredly not sit there and go 'its wrong that Sally Anne on the Ranch objectified Barry the Sailor who was always without a shirt on' You'll sound like a loser incel for saying that. What you'll do is ignore one side and pretend it's an issue with the other, when the reality of it is you are either not into women or not brave enough to talk about women like that while desperately wanting to.

My favorite are probably Edgedancers

Thanks for this. Definitely need a recap.

I think this channel went dormant several months ago but I just want to say this recap is exactly what I needed

As someone who hasn't really been involved with comic books and hasn't really been excited about superheroes that much since Lois and Clark was airing (yeah... it was something my parents and I watched when I was really young), I will say that this series of graphic novels are my first real foray into DC comics in general and have really been a nice easing into the comic book world in general. I think the alternate earth of this series of graphic novels would likely be good for those of us who are on the border lands of superhero appreciation as it puts the colorful world into a slightly more realistic setting which allows for those who might be turned off by how ridiculous superhero designs can look at times (I've seen images of the Discowing in my developing interest of the Robins and Batfamily... it's stuff like that which is a bit of turn off), to look past all that and just appreciate the characters. And if the stories decide to go more in the favor of being character studies like this series is proving to be--even better. I'm more interested in how these people grapple with their powers and their lives as regular people. It's probably the legacy of Lois and Clark on my mindset. How do superheros balance their lives and their "super lives"? Can they balance the two? What does it mean to have to sit with that duality day in and day out. That's interesting to me. So in a weird way I'd say this series is a good way to get folks like me to allow comics a second chance. Heck, I'm looking at getting some Nightwing books in a few paychecks, simply because everything I've read about Dick Grayson, he seems like the kind of character I'm interested in learning a bit more about.

I just finished the Blackflame audiobook and had to immediately start Skysworn. Will Wight has a talent for pacing that, thus far, makes you want to jump headfirst into the next book while being entirely satisfied with the story you just completed. Truly underrated despite its popularity.

I am reading the book at the moment, and as an Egyptian, Egyptian culture is described very very well in the book. It is the real world Cairo in the book . The places in the book are real in today's world . I am thinking about doing a review for the book from an Egyptian reader point of view

Hi , since i just finished all the book (not the last one is yet) and I loved it can you recommend a serise as fun as this one ? Any fantasy , and I really love an honest character like Lindon and the many plot twist in the books , recommendations any one?

Minor Spoilers: . . . But a large section of this book turns into Die Hard. It is literally Die Hard.... in the Stormlight Archives. The Die Hard Archives. It even had a revenge plot because the hero killed one of the villain's... well, not his brother, but himself. Anyway.... How can that be a negative? Seriously there is a ton more in the book, and the exploration of the mental disorders many of the characters are going through I found refreshing and much more realistic. Going through stuff like this is scarring, and seeing it being portrayed in the book I find to be highly impressive. This is my favorite book in the series so far, and possibly in the Cosmere as a whole. To think that reviewer was thinking "Those characters have mental problems, so they should die," that review was complete BS. As for the books being slow... yeah. They're big books, and Sanderson's works did fall into that pattern of slow until the Sanderson Cascade hits at the end where everything goes off at once. I can see the slow build being an issue for some, but in truth, I thought Way of Kings was MUCH slower to get going. If anything I feel like since halfway through Oathbringer, everything has been consistently moving faster and faster. (Yeah, I know I'm a few years late for this video; but I only finally had a chance to catch up in the Cosmere with Oathbringer/Dawnshard/Rhythm in the last few months.) Loved the review reviews, btw.

the jokes tho .........😂 the unmade that made dalinar barbeque his wife 😂😜💀

Thanks for the video bro

I love you

I HATE the art in this. Terrible anatomy, boring composition and literally every background is a blank void. Lazy lazy lazy

Dross and Eithan laughing maniacally was the best moment in this entire series lol

Definitely missed a few of those! I believe Brandon confirmed Vasher "retired" to Scadriel to stop needing to take souls to get Investiture (and then lost Nightblood there)

This came out in May. It is now July. Where are the rest of these?! lol.. Not too many youtube channels talking Cradle so I appreciate these a ton. Keep it up!