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v171's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
WHEW finally. Sanderson does it again with another fantastic, fast-paced, intriguing installment of the Stormlight Archive. If you liked Way of Kings, you'll get everything you wanted and more in Word of Radiance. Many of my same praises and criticisms hold true for this book, but both dialed a bit more up to 11. The setting and world building is just *chef's kiss*. I can't get over how in love with this world I am. The cultures and people are all fully realized and interesting. I really enjoyed learning more about the Parshendi culture. Sanderson did a phenomenal job at creating both a rich yet wholly alien society that was a joy to learn about. The characters are written well and have very solid arcs, even if I didn't find some of their voices to be fully distinct.
I'd say my biggest complaint is with pacing. Way of Kings had some minor pacing issues, but I couldn't help but feel that the pacing was very lopsided in this book. For being almost 1100 pages, it is almost comical how much action was packed into the final 50 pages. I found many chapters in the beginning and middle of the book to be needlessly drawn out and uninteresting. In fact, entire chapters likely could have been cut without anything critical lost. The final 100 pages had a lot of non-stop action, which was great and very much understandable for any adventure book. But the final pages also had a TON of exposition that I feel would have been better suited peppered throughout than offloaded all at once. It was jarring to switch between fast paced scenes with long exposition conversations that didn't need to occur in the final pages. For this reason, some of the character decisions felt rushed and undeveloped at the end when it could have easily been addressed in the slower chapters earlier on.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book. I supposed I was just expecting more of an improvement on the issues that the first book had. Regardless, I'm super excited to dive into the next one
I'd say my biggest complaint is with pacing. Way of Kings had some minor pacing issues, but I couldn't help but feel that the pacing was very lopsided in this book. For being almost 1100 pages, it is almost comical how much action was packed into the final 50 pages. I found many chapters in the beginning and middle of the book to be needlessly drawn out and uninteresting. In fact, entire chapters likely could have been cut without anything critical lost. The final 100 pages had a lot of non-stop action, which was great and very much understandable for any adventure book. But the final pages also had a TON of exposition that I feel would have been better suited peppered throughout than offloaded all at once. It was jarring to switch between fast paced scenes with long exposition conversations that didn't need to occur in the final pages. For this reason, some of the character decisions felt rushed and undeveloped at the end when it could have easily been addressed in the slower chapters earlier on.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book. I supposed I was just expecting more of an improvement on the issues that the first book had. Regardless, I'm super excited to dive into the next one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Minor: Trafficking
adarain's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This is my favorite Sanderson book by far. I loved it, which after reading and being disappointed by Way of Kings, was a pleasant surprise (it literally felt like this book was written by a completely different author in a lot of ways).
Everything about this book was just more solid and tighter in plot and characterization. I definitely connected to the characters a lot more in this book than the previous book.
This book picks up right where Way of Kings left off and just continues to expand on the world and characters we met in the previous book. I can't really tell you too much about the plot without spoiling parts of the first book, but it's once again full of political intrigue, unique magic and relationships of all kinds. This book does focus a bit more on Shallan as a character though and it was great getting to know more about her and her past.
The writing of this was so solid and the pacing was good. It flowed better and just was all in all a tighter and well written book.
The plot was also really good this time. We got to learn a lot more about the Knights Radiant which I loved and I loved getting to see certain interactions between characters and how their stories continued.
The world building was also really strong in this. That's been a pretty consistent element throughout all of Sanderson's books for me, but I definitely found it particularly well done in this book. The world was just richer and has so many fascinating things about it. I also loved learning more about the magic system as well.
Finally, the characters. I was definitely able to connect to them better in this. I still love Shallan the most I think, but everyone really grew on me in this book I loved them a lot by the end. Kaladin is the one who ended up surprising me the most. I really didn't connect to him in WoK, but in this book it's like he did a 360. I love him now. I also loved Adolin a lot more as well. The three of them and their interactions were just delightful. I liked Dalinar as well. He's a very interesting character. I'll be interested to see where their storylines go in the next book.
Overall, I loved this book a lot - everything was expertly written. I'll be interested to continue on to the third book.
Everything about this book was just more solid and tighter in plot and characterization. I definitely connected to the characters a lot more in this book than the previous book.
This book picks up right where Way of Kings left off and just continues to expand on the world and characters we met in the previous book. I can't really tell you too much about the plot without spoiling parts of the first book, but it's once again full of political intrigue, unique magic and relationships of all kinds. This book does focus a bit more on Shallan as a character though and it was great getting to know more about her and her past.
The writing of this was so solid and the pacing was good. It flowed better and just was all in all a tighter and well written book.
The plot was also really good this time. We got to learn a lot more about the Knights Radiant which I loved and I loved getting to see certain interactions between characters and how their stories continued.
The world building was also really strong in this. That's been a pretty consistent element throughout all of Sanderson's books for me, but I definitely found it particularly well done in this book. The world was just richer and has so many fascinating things about it. I also loved learning more about the magic system as well.
Finally, the characters. I was definitely able to connect to them better in this. I still love Shallan the most I think, but everyone really grew on me in this book I loved them a lot by the end. Kaladin is the one who ended up surprising me the most. I really didn't connect to him in WoK, but in this book it's like he did a 360. I love him now. I also loved Adolin a lot more as well. The three of them and their interactions were just delightful. I liked Dalinar as well. He's a very interesting character. I'll be interested to see where their storylines go in the next book.
Overall, I loved this book a lot - everything was expertly written. I'll be interested to continue on to the third book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Sexism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Minor: Ableism
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