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Dawnshard Audiobook
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Plot Summary
Brandon Sanderson’s Dawnshard is a novella in the Stormlight Archive series that follows the story of a Thaylen merchant, Rysn, who features in the author’s previous novels such as The Way of the Kings and Words of Radiance. The story also follows Lopen, a previously one-armed character. The book explores themes of language proficiency, disability, and superstition.
Language proficiency is used to delve into perceived intelligence and prejudice in Dawnshard. For example, Rysn finds herself dismissing another character’s intellectual capabilities as the character, Chord, speaks in broken Altheni. Rysn wrongly determines Chord to be a character with crude and superstitious motivations. But when they finally speak together in Vedan, a language they have in common, Rysn realizes Chord is a clever, political individual. Sanderson illustrates the consequences of linguistic prejudices, which is a form of implicit bias based on the way people speak. Different dialects, especially in English, can tell others where you are from, who you are, and your role in society. Regional accents and slang words can determine how someone reacts to or treats another person. Sanderson, therefore, implores his readers to think about the consequences of prejudices, and how they do not determine a person’s intelligence or worth.
Another interesting theme Dawnshard discusses is disability, and how people with disabilities navigate their environments. Rysn uses a wheelchair after an accident that left her paralyzed in Words of Radiance, leaving her in a society that sees her as less than, or smothered by well-meaning people. Despite her limitations, she fights to earn her position as a traveling merchant. She uses her strength and resilience to navigate the story’s conflicts, without the use of magic to “fix” her disability.
Dawnshard is described as a gift to fans, bridging the gap between Sanderson’s latest volumes and adding yet more story and depth to his fantasy worlds. This quick, action-packed novel will certainly satisfy any fantasy-lover’s palette.
Publisher Summary
From Brandon Sanderson—author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive and its fourth massive installment, Rhythm of War—comes a new hefty novella, Dawnshard. Taking place between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, this newest story (like Edgedancer before it) takes a deeper look at several characters in the saga, and brings them to the forefront.
When a ghost ship is discovered, its crew presumed dead after trying to reach the storm-shrouded island Akinah, Navani Kholin must send an expedition to make sure the island hasn’t fallen into enemy hands. Knights Radiant who fly too near find their Stormlight suddenly drained, so the voyage must be by sea.
Shipowner Rysn Ftori lost the use of her legs but gained the companionship of Chiri-Chiri, a Stormlight-ingesting winged larkin, a species once thought extinct. Now Rysn’s pet is ill, and any hope for Chiri-Chiri’s recovery can be found only at the ancestral home of the larkin: Akinah. With the help of Lopen, the formerly one-armed Windrunner, Rysn must accept Navani’s quest and sail into the perilous storm from which no one has returned alive. If the crew cannot uncover the secrets of the hidden island city before the wrath of its ancient guardians falls upon them, the fate of Roshar and the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
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About Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy, including New York Times bestsellers and the #1 New York Times bestseller Words of Radiance. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor’s Soul, set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® sequence. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.
About the Narrators
Kate Reading, named an AudioFile Golden Voice, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks across many genres, over a thirty–year plus career and won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. Among other awards, she has been recognized as an AudioFile Magazine Voice of the Century, Narrator of the Year, Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and winner of an Publisher’s Weekly’s Listen-Up Award. She records at her home studio, Madison Productions, Inc., in Maryland.
Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area’s theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.