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A review by ambarbaq
Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson
3.0
They could never make me hate you, Brandon Sanderson, and by they I mean myself, because I have fallen out of the honeymoon period with him and find myself criticizing him off handedly in other reviews... yet I still really enjoyed this book.
But why three stars Alejandro? You ask. My love for this book comes not from its own attributes but from the tying up of several storylines from the past 5 (seven with novellas) books. On its own this book is bloated, has some crazy pacing issues in the middle, it is clunky, it has Sanderson's worst prose in a LONG time. Probably a residue from spending the last 3 years writing YA novels, who knows, but some of the dialogue in this is so childish, and he undercuts the hard hitting moments with frankly shitty jokes more than a few times, like this is an MCU movie. Which if we are being honest, Sanderson is the MCU of modern fantasy, not just from all the different tie ins and nods to other projects within the Cosmere but also his highly sanitized and bland writing. The Stormlight Archive got me back into reading seriously about two years ago, and I loved those books so much (I have no reviews for them but you can look at the star ratings) but now with the benefit of time and having broadened my horizons just a little bit more I can see the flaws in Sanderson's writing a lot clearer. He doesn't have the visceral action and character writing someone like Joe Abercrombie has, he doesn't do that grandiose philosphical melodrama the way Pierce Brown does either, but for all those flaws, I cannot bring myself to not actually enjoy this book and this series as a whole.
Wind and Truth is a fun ride. The cast of characters are some of my favorites in modern fantasy. It shines the spotlight on so many favorites. Adolin and Yanagawn's plot will probably go down as one of my favorites in this series. Kaladin, Szeth, and Syl going through Shinovar had so many heartfelt moments and so many moments of incredible character growth for both of them that were incredibly satisfying after 5000 pages of build up. I also appreciate Sanderson's willingness to deny us certain expected satisfactions. The only plot line that I think sagged and wass a legitimate drag on the story due to how long it went on was. I feel like this has happened in his other books, where because all storylines have to culminate at the same time, they all have to last the same amount of time, even if some of them devolve into repetition or just plain boring sequences. Much like Shallan and Adolin's trip to Lastin Integrity in Rhythm of War. Except this time it was much worse, yes we learn some very important stuff in this storyline, like world changing stuff, but the way it is presented is so overly expository. Another minor gripe that maybe someone with better understanding of this series can explain to me but how come whenever Kaladin ascends to the next ideal he has to be in the most harrowing moment of his life about to kill himself or some shit, and it is something that is incredibly hard for him to achiever but . I also hope that in the next 5 books Sanderson will stop the I get that it is part of her character but come the fuck on, there have to be otherwise to express those themes.
I won't go into details about the ending, I bet there's a lot of implications for the entire cosmere, but nuh nuh nuh Mr Sanderson, you will not get me to read Mistborn or Warbreaker or even the fucking Sunlit Man. You cannot make me and if my experience is actively made worse in the back half because of that then I'll be a little mad because how come you're writing 1100-1300 page tomes but I still need to read 7 other books just to semi understand who the fuck Thaidakar is. This whole review is coming off as overly negative, but I promise I still enjoyed this book. I had a lot of fun. I laughed, I got angry, I got teary eyed. It played with some very interesting concepts regarding growing and healing trauma, as these books always do, but this time they felt a lot more front and center, particularly in the Kaladin and Szeth plot.
And going back to the ending real quick, I do believe that flaws and all this did make for a very good wrap up of the first half of the series. It feels like a reset of the board, going forward the series will look much different, but it still gave some very satisfying answers and conclusions to characters. Yes I immediately want to read Stormlight 6, but it’s more because Sanderson left some great plot hooks dangling for the rest of the series, not so much because it ended on an unsatisfying cliffhanger. This doesn’t end abruptly like a “Part 1” of a movie (Across the Spiderverse sends its regards).
See you all in 2031
...Fine maybe I'll read Mistborn
But why three stars Alejandro? You ask. My love for this book comes not from its own attributes but from the tying up of several storylines from the past 5 (seven with novellas) books. On its own this book is bloated, has some crazy pacing issues in the middle, it is clunky, it has Sanderson's worst prose in a LONG time. Probably a residue from spending the last 3 years writing YA novels, who knows, but some of the dialogue in this is so childish, and he undercuts the hard hitting moments with frankly shitty jokes more than a few times, like this is an MCU movie. Which if we are being honest, Sanderson is the MCU of modern fantasy, not just from all the different tie ins and nods to other projects within the Cosmere but also his highly sanitized and bland writing. The Stormlight Archive got me back into reading seriously about two years ago, and I loved those books so much (I have no reviews for them but you can look at the star ratings) but now with the benefit of time and having broadened my horizons just a little bit more I can see the flaws in Sanderson's writing a lot clearer. He doesn't have the visceral action and character writing someone like Joe Abercrombie has, he doesn't do that grandiose philosphical melodrama the way Pierce Brown does either, but for all those flaws, I cannot bring myself to not actually enjoy this book and this series as a whole.
Wind and Truth is a fun ride. The cast of characters are some of my favorites in modern fantasy. It shines the spotlight on so many favorites. Adolin and Yanagawn's plot will probably go down as one of my favorites in this series. Kaladin, Szeth, and Syl going through Shinovar had so many heartfelt moments and so many moments of incredible character growth for both of them that were incredibly satisfying after 5000 pages of build up. I also appreciate Sanderson's willingness to deny us certain expected satisfactions
Spoiler
I don't think we ever get a real fight scene for Kaladin, and frankly I can see why some people find that disappointing but I thought it was an inspired choice for the character, as well as Szeth giving up fighting/killingSpoiler
everyone stuck in the Spiritual Realm, Shallan, Rlain, Renarin, Dalinar, Navani, and to an extent GavSpoiler
Shallan swears the 4th Ideal and she doesn't even fucking notice, and yes I know she was in grave danger but still it cheapens the impact of saying the wordsSpoiler
Shallan remembers some traumatic thing from her past that she repressedI won't go into details about the ending, I bet there's a lot of implications for the entire cosmere, but nuh nuh nuh Mr Sanderson, you will not get me to read Mistborn or Warbreaker or even the fucking Sunlit Man. You cannot make me and if my experience is actively made worse in the back half because of that then I'll be a little mad because how come you're writing 1100-1300 page tomes but I still need to read 7 other books just to semi understand who the fuck Thaidakar is. This whole review is coming off as overly negative, but I promise I still enjoyed this book. I had a lot of fun. I laughed, I got angry, I got teary eyed. It played with some very interesting concepts regarding growing and healing trauma, as these books always do, but this time they felt a lot more front and center, particularly in the Kaladin and Szeth plot.
And going back to the ending real quick, I do believe that flaws and all this did make for a very good wrap up of the first half of the series. It feels like a reset of the board, going forward the series will look much different, but it still gave some very satisfying answers and conclusions to characters. Yes I immediately want to read Stormlight 6, but it’s more because Sanderson left some great plot hooks dangling for the rest of the series, not so much because it ended on an unsatisfying cliffhanger. This doesn’t end abruptly like a “Part 1” of a movie (Across the Spiderverse sends its regards).
See you all in 2031
...Fine maybe I'll read Mistborn