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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
I really wanted to love this book - while there are absolutely great highs, I think Wind and Truth contains the most concentrated amount of the things I try to ignore when reading Stormlight.
The characters are the highlight of the book, but I still found myself getting annoyed with how blatant and on the nose some of these lines are. Kaladin should not be talking about therapy. I think there’s a lot of random one off lines that completely take me out of the story if not make me grimace somewhat.
I also think that the pacing and near complete separation of these arcs is a great disservice in a lot of aspects. I Love the character interactions we get in these books, but everyone was essentially quarantined to their own little group for the entire story. I understand that it had to work that way for the structure to play out as it did, but perhaps the structure wasn’t the best medium for the story.
Jasnah also put up a very weak argument and that just felt unsatisfying to me. I wish we could have gotten more cool Taravangian scenes, but as it stands, I almost feel less scared of him as Odium then I was of him as a mortal.
The characters are the highlight of the book, but I still found myself getting annoyed with how blatant and on the nose some of these lines are. Kaladin should not be talking about therapy. I think there’s a lot of random one off lines that completely take me out of the story if not make me grimace somewhat.
I also think that the pacing and near complete separation of these arcs is a great disservice in a lot of aspects. I Love the character interactions we get in these books, but everyone was essentially quarantined to their own little group for the entire story. I understand that it had to work that way for the structure to play out as it did, but perhaps the structure wasn’t the best medium for the story.
Jasnah also put up a very weak argument and that just felt unsatisfying to me. I wish we could have gotten more cool Taravangian scenes, but as it stands, I almost feel less scared of him as Odium then I was of him as a mortal.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I trust Sanderson with endings and this lands again. Such a fun journey and will always love this story
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had to digest this one after reading, as it’s been nearly a week since I’ve finished Wind and Truth.
Upon reflection, this to me, was a masterpiece. The last book of the first arch of The Stormlight Archives, was (in my opinion), the best.
Seeing the characters grow during this series has been nothing short of wonderful, and seeing where they ended up in the book leaves both a sense of fulfillment and utter heartbreak.
All the world and character building that Sanderson developed in this series was put on display in W&T. This, to me, was the perfect way to end a series.
Upon reflection, this to me, was a masterpiece. The last book of the first arch of The Stormlight Archives, was (in my opinion), the best.
Seeing the characters grow during this series has been nothing short of wonderful, and seeing where they ended up in the book leaves both a sense of fulfillment and utter heartbreak.
All the world and character building that Sanderson developed in this series was put on display in W&T. This, to me, was the perfect way to end a series.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a good wrap up to the first era of the storm light archive. Great character development and all the good things I have come to expect of Sanderson are there. I have two larger critiques: the scope of this book is huge and the pacing is awful. I have read most of Sanderson's cosmere novels, although it has been a while for some, and this one had me down going back to look things up. I don't know how someone without an expanded Cosmere background would not be lost. There is a lot going on and keeping track of everything was a challenge. Which leads to the pacing. There were way too many breaks in between points of view. Each time a possible cliffhanger could be made, the point of view would change. It got really annoying and a lot to juggle. I wish more events were allowed to play out more before I was whisked to the next thing. Otherwise, I overall like how this era of the Stormlight Archive ended. I look forward to the next era but am happy to have a break after this one.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yep this is the greatest series I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Before I go into my BIG review I’ll give a short little basic version. This book was great (as expected) and somehow made 1300 pages feel like nothing. Probably my favorite conclusions to one of Sanderson’s books (keeping in mind it is TECHNICALLY not a full conclusion, but the end to this first major arc in this planned 10 book series). While I did really enjoy the book, I will admit it wasn’t perfect all the way through, but even in the moments where it wasn’t perfect, I was still enjoying it and the ending made up for it ten fold.
Now for the nitty gritty.
I’ll get into the flaws first. While the pacing for this book is strangely really good, and the 1300 pages never feels like a slog to get through or boring to read, it honestly could’ve been shorter. And while I do love a super long book, and I’m more than thankful we got the 1300 pages we did, there were some moments that just felt a bit repetitive to me. This book serves as a final step for a lot of plot points that have been set up, and that in turn means that a lot of characters are going off and having their own stories be told. This means that a lot of the narrative is spread wide, and as opposed to the previous books dedicating one chapter to a single character’s pov, each chapter in this book swaps POVs constantly. While I can see how this helped the pacing never bog down, there were some instances in which a character would have their pov for about a page and a half, reflect on the situation they were in, and then switch povs, ultimately adding not much in that one moment. Instead of repetitive moments like that, I would’ve rather had chapters stay focused on the story, telling a large chunk of that character’s arc, then swap over to the next pov. The swapping povs mid chapter isn’t really a bad thing, and I think it worked really well for the final part of the book, but in earlier parts it just made the story feel a bit jumbled and repetitive at times. Another thing that I missed from this book was the character relationships. Sanderson’s strongest aspect by far is his characters and the relationships he crafted for them. And while this may not be the end of the story, it is the ending of the story for SOME characters. A big problem I had for a majority of this book is the fact that some of my favorite relationships in this series aren’t explored, and each character basically goes off to their own story arc and don’t really come together in person. This kind of felt upsetting to me, as I would’ve liked to see more of their interactions between characters I’ve come to love and care for, but instead everyone is off on their own. THAT BEING SAID, after having finished the book, I now understand what Sanderson meant when he said this is not a FINAL final ending to the story, and so I can accept to see these characters come together again in what will likely be the actual final conclusion of the story. Meanwhile some of the characters who unfortunately don’t make it to the end of this story, their lack of interaction with others is painted as a tragedy, and seems intentional, so I forgive them.
Now for the things I loved.
Once again Brandon Sanderson is a fantastic character author, but also an amazing plot author. The story of this book was very well paced, and while it may have slowed down a bit in the middle, “slow” is only relative in comparison to just how fast paced some of the stuff gets in this book. There is a constant building of tension, and you really do feel that until the end of the book when everything breaks loose. The characters remain some of my favorite in fiction, and this book actually does a really good job of fleshing out some of the more minor characters from previous books. I want to give a special shoutout to the standout of this book: Adolin, a character who has been a pov since the first book but has never felt like he’s had THAT much to do. Even in his pov chapters he felt like an outsider looking in. This book, he was probably my favorite character to follow along, and his character arc overall was probably my personal favorite within this story. Embracing the outsider looking in, and somehow clawing his way through past other characters to become my 3rd favorite character in this series. Sanderson’s depictions of other topics such as mental health and sexuality are also both fairly well done within this book. Therapy quite literally being invented before my eyes in this fantasy story was really nice to see, and as a psychology major myself it really resonated with me to see my personal favorite character embrace mental health and his desire to help those who struggle with it. Sanderson’s depiction of gay relationships (mainly the one he makes a major plot point in this book) was also incredibly tasteful and well integrated. The depiction of this relationship is not one of a forced agenda, or politics, or even just throwing one in there for brownie points, but genuinely a connection between two characters who have grown to understand and accept one another. It’s truly one of his better relationships that he’s crafted to this point I would say, and seeing these characters grow together in this book makes me excited to see where their story goes from here.
And for the final part, I want to just nerd out about how much more invested this book has made me into his extended universe of novels. Particularly in the last few chapters, seeing how this story fits into the larger universe he’s built, and how it sets up so much more stuff that will connect his future novels, just gets me so excited. With the final few chapters of this book, I can actually begin to see the threads that will lead to his stories to start connecting into one cohesive narrative in future books, which as someone who had read every single one of his books in this universe, fills me with joy.
Unfortunately I won’t be getting the next book in this series until 2031. But it’s ok because his next big series in between will be the new Mistborn trilogy which I can’t wait for. So uhhh
5/5 STARS BABY.
Now for the nitty gritty.
I’ll get into the flaws first. While the pacing for this book is strangely really good, and the 1300 pages never feels like a slog to get through or boring to read, it honestly could’ve been shorter. And while I do love a super long book, and I’m more than thankful we got the 1300 pages we did, there were some moments that just felt a bit repetitive to me. This book serves as a final step for a lot of plot points that have been set up, and that in turn means that a lot of characters are going off and having their own stories be told. This means that a lot of the narrative is spread wide, and as opposed to the previous books dedicating one chapter to a single character’s pov, each chapter in this book swaps POVs constantly. While I can see how this helped the pacing never bog down, there were some instances in which a character would have their pov for about a page and a half, reflect on the situation they were in, and then switch povs, ultimately adding not much in that one moment. Instead of repetitive moments like that, I would’ve rather had chapters stay focused on the story, telling a large chunk of that character’s arc, then swap over to the next pov. The swapping povs mid chapter isn’t really a bad thing, and I think it worked really well for the final part of the book, but in earlier parts it just made the story feel a bit jumbled and repetitive at times. Another thing that I missed from this book was the character relationships. Sanderson’s strongest aspect by far is his characters and the relationships he crafted for them. And while this may not be the end of the story, it is the ending of the story for SOME characters. A big problem I had for a majority of this book is the fact that some of my favorite relationships in this series aren’t explored, and each character basically goes off to their own story arc and don’t really come together in person. This kind of felt upsetting to me, as I would’ve liked to see more of their interactions between characters I’ve come to love and care for, but instead everyone is off on their own. THAT BEING SAID, after having finished the book, I now understand what Sanderson meant when he said this is not a FINAL final ending to the story, and so I can accept to see these characters come together again in what will likely be the actual final conclusion of the story. Meanwhile some of the characters who unfortunately don’t make it to the end of this story, their lack of interaction with others is painted as a tragedy, and seems intentional, so I forgive them.
Now for the things I loved.
Once again Brandon Sanderson is a fantastic character author, but also an amazing plot author. The story of this book was very well paced, and while it may have slowed down a bit in the middle, “slow” is only relative in comparison to just how fast paced some of the stuff gets in this book. There is a constant building of tension, and you really do feel that until the end of the book when everything breaks loose. The characters remain some of my favorite in fiction, and this book actually does a really good job of fleshing out some of the more minor characters from previous books. I want to give a special shoutout to the standout of this book: Adolin, a character who has been a pov since the first book but has never felt like he’s had THAT much to do. Even in his pov chapters he felt like an outsider looking in. This book, he was probably my favorite character to follow along, and his character arc overall was probably my personal favorite within this story. Embracing the outsider looking in, and somehow clawing his way through past other characters to become my 3rd favorite character in this series. Sanderson’s depictions of other topics such as mental health and sexuality are also both fairly well done within this book. Therapy quite literally being invented before my eyes in this fantasy story was really nice to see, and as a psychology major myself it really resonated with me to see my personal favorite character embrace mental health and his desire to help those who struggle with it. Sanderson’s depiction of gay relationships (mainly the one he makes a major plot point in this book) was also incredibly tasteful and well integrated. The depiction of this relationship is not one of a forced agenda, or politics, or even just throwing one in there for brownie points, but genuinely a connection between two characters who have grown to understand and accept one another. It’s truly one of his better relationships that he’s crafted to this point I would say, and seeing these characters grow together in this book makes me excited to see where their story goes from here.
And for the final part, I want to just nerd out about how much more invested this book has made me into his extended universe of novels. Particularly in the last few chapters, seeing how this story fits into the larger universe he’s built, and how it sets up so much more stuff that will connect his future novels, just gets me so excited. With the final few chapters of this book, I can actually begin to see the threads that will lead to his stories to start connecting into one cohesive narrative in future books, which as someone who had read every single one of his books in this universe, fills me with joy.
Unfortunately I won’t be getting the next book in this series until 2031. But it’s ok because his next big series in between will be the new Mistborn trilogy which I can’t wait for. So uhhh
5/5 STARS BABY.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
This one just didn't hit right for me. It was good, but I didn't feel a Sanderlanche or really get a good pace going. I hope he cools it on the switching story lines each chapter - the individual stories were never able to get momentum.