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A review by capturedinwords
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
5.0
My video review: https://youtu.be/wa0pcdhK9X8
When asked which Stormlight Archive book is my favorite, I usually say the next one. Always the next one. And this has held true for me, each book I’ve liked a little bit more than the last, with Oathbinger being my favorite so far, bringing the series to its highest heights of epicness. But while it is my favorite, I do think Words of Radiance is the better book as far as the pacing and structure. I’d even say it’s possibly Sanderson’s very best so far.
Something I noticed during my first read through these books, but what has become increasingly more apparent now that I’m rereading them is just how much Sanderson has structured the crem out of this series and the progression of each character, arranging each volume around a single-characters flashbacks and growth. The Way of Kings walked us through Kaladin’s life, we got his flashbacks, we learned what drives him to want to protect those around him, and the failures that haunt him sending him into a deep chasm of depression. we’ve grown to know Kaladin, and while his character continues to grow throughout the series-- in fact he gets some incredibly badass moments in this one-- this book gives the spotlight to Shallan.
Art by DominikBroniek
Art by emmgoyer7
The prologue to this book, like the first, takes place 6 years ago during the day of King Gavilars assassination, only this time we see it from Jasnah’s perspective. This change of view grants us a lot of new information and if you’re a very perceptive reader than you may pick up on a conversation briefly overheard that holds some important details.
The story then hits the ground running, picking up immediately after the events of The Way of Kings, Shallan & Jasnah are making their way to the Shattered Plains to investigate their theory about the Voidbringers, while Kaladin & Bridge Four are getting accustomed to their new positions in Dalinar’s Army. Having the individual character arcs finally begin to overlap and interact with each other is such a joy to read and feels like a reward after most of the characters being separate from each other in the previous book. Going into this I was the most worried about Dalinar, after he was added to Szeths hit-list at the end of the last book, but don’t expect as much Dalinar page time in this one as we had in The Way of Kings, if you were hoping for lots of Dalinar point of views just you wait until Oathbringer.
Art by Caio Santos
However, Adolin is a character that I was glad to see get more page time than before and gains more of a personality other than just being the cocky son of Dalinar. I really started to like his character with this book. But Shallan & Kaladin definitely get the higher word count here, and i'm not complaining because their story arc never once got boring for me. I will say that Something I noticed is how much of the tension in Words of Radiance is derived by the characters’ unwillingness to talk to each other. This is a device i'm not too fond of, Kaladin’s trust issues while understandable, get a little tiresome as we see him often being too paranoid to admit his suspicions to anyone. This isn’t a major flaw by any means, lack of communication is used in many books to add tension, but something I thought to be worth mentioning. He still remains one of my favorite fantasy characters.
Art by Ziraelart
Now there is a lot more humor in this book than the first, which I really enjoyed however it is that sort of witty banter & bad puns sort of humor that I know isn’t for everyone (personally though, I love it). I think it’s important to keep in mind that since Shallan uses humor as a coping mechanism, more often than not the jokes are meant to be lame-- that’s what makes them funny. The humor seems to be a love it or hate thing for most people.
If you do want to keep a look out for Cosmere easter eggs, you could benefit from reading Warbreaker before this one or at least before diving into it before Oathbringer.
Now If you thought The Way of Kings had its fair share of intrigue and suspense, Words of Radiance cranks it up a notch or maybe several. This time around there’s a good dose of espionage and secret society shenanigans involving the Ghost Bloods who we learned about in the first book, not to mention a mysterious countdown that appears near the beginning of the book. I won’t spoil anything but things get fairly convoluted in the best of ways.
Art by Michael Whelan
Now I can’t mention a Sanderson book without talking about the worldbuidling, and Roshar becomes even more vibrant as the world-building is fleshed out and we see more mythology, creatures, and magic explored in detail. We get a much deeper look at the Parshendi’s culture, through the eyes of Eshonai one of their war leaders, which I found very fascinating. The interludes do a great job at expanding our view of Roshar and I found them to be much more improved and feel more plot important this time. The plot has raised the stakes much higher with Shallan bearing the burden of trying to somehow prevent the return of the Voidbringers and the oncoming Desolation.
In my opinion, this is the book where Sanderson proves himself a master of epic action scenes, there are just SO many storming moments that kept me up reading long into the night because of how adrenaline filled they were, I love it. Most enjoyable was the ending, which was one of the most epic things I’ve ever read. Once the Sanderson avalanche hits around The last 150 pages or so, there’s so much going on and it was just mind-blowing. It's also a very satisfying ending, besides some of the big plot threads that obviously span the through the series, this time we’re not left with a bunch of unresolved issues, most things are actually wrapped up very nicely.
Words of Radiance improves on its predecessor in almost every way and while the next book, Oathbringer, is my favorite I do feel like it struggles from some pacing issues and occasionally has too many things going on at once. Which is why I feel like Words of Radiance hits that perfect balance.
------------------------
I'll be doing a Year of Cosmere on my YouTube channel where I'll be making Cosmere lore, theory, and summary videos, so check it out if you're interested! :)
When asked which Stormlight Archive book is my favorite, I usually say the next one. Always the next one. And this has held true for me, each book I’ve liked a little bit more than the last, with Oathbinger being my favorite so far, bringing the series to its highest heights of epicness. But while it is my favorite, I do think Words of Radiance is the better book as far as the pacing and structure. I’d even say it’s possibly Sanderson’s very best so far.
Something I noticed during my first read through these books, but what has become increasingly more apparent now that I’m rereading them is just how much Sanderson has structured the crem out of this series and the progression of each character, arranging each volume around a single-characters flashbacks and growth. The Way of Kings walked us through Kaladin’s life, we got his flashbacks, we learned what drives him to want to protect those around him, and the failures that haunt him sending him into a deep chasm of depression. we’ve grown to know Kaladin, and while his character continues to grow throughout the series-- in fact he gets some incredibly badass moments in this one-- this book gives the spotlight to Shallan.
Art by DominikBroniek
This time we get her flashbacks, and as her heartbreaking backstory slowly leaks out on the page like stormlight from battered shardplate, I found myself gaining a large amount of respect and understanding for a character that often seems to get a fairly mixed response from the fan base, in fact I’ve seen a lot of people outright hating on Shallan which I really don’t understand. At times she can be childish or naive, and often says some pretty lame jokes as humor is one of her coping mechanisms, but despite all that or maybe because of it I find her character to have a lot of depth. Her insecurities and conflicted self-image really bleed themselves out in this book, and through all of her flashbacks we begin to understand just how broken she really is. As the tension and pressure of her backstory builds up, she also faces challenges from every direction in the present.
Art by emmgoyer7
The prologue to this book, like the first, takes place 6 years ago during the day of King Gavilars assassination, only this time we see it from Jasnah’s perspective. This change of view grants us a lot of new information and if you’re a very perceptive reader than you may pick up on a conversation briefly overheard that holds some important details.
The story then hits the ground running, picking up immediately after the events of The Way of Kings, Shallan & Jasnah are making their way to the Shattered Plains to investigate their theory about the Voidbringers, while Kaladin & Bridge Four are getting accustomed to their new positions in Dalinar’s Army. Having the individual character arcs finally begin to overlap and interact with each other is such a joy to read and feels like a reward after most of the characters being separate from each other in the previous book. Going into this I was the most worried about Dalinar, after he was added to Szeths hit-list at the end of the last book, but don’t expect as much Dalinar page time in this one as we had in The Way of Kings, if you were hoping for lots of Dalinar point of views just you wait until Oathbringer.
Art by Caio Santos
However, Adolin is a character that I was glad to see get more page time than before and gains more of a personality other than just being the cocky son of Dalinar. I really started to like his character with this book. But Shallan & Kaladin definitely get the higher word count here, and i'm not complaining because their story arc never once got boring for me. I will say that Something I noticed is how much of the tension in Words of Radiance is derived by the characters’ unwillingness to talk to each other. This is a device i'm not too fond of, Kaladin’s trust issues while understandable, get a little tiresome as we see him often being too paranoid to admit his suspicions to anyone. This isn’t a major flaw by any means, lack of communication is used in many books to add tension, but something I thought to be worth mentioning. He still remains one of my favorite fantasy characters.
Art by Ziraelart
Now there is a lot more humor in this book than the first, which I really enjoyed however it is that sort of witty banter & bad puns sort of humor that I know isn’t for everyone (personally though, I love it). I think it’s important to keep in mind that since Shallan uses humor as a coping mechanism, more often than not the jokes are meant to be lame-- that’s what makes them funny. The humor seems to be a love it or hate thing for most people.
If you do want to keep a look out for Cosmere easter eggs, you could benefit from reading Warbreaker before this one or at least before diving into it before Oathbringer.
Now If you thought The Way of Kings had its fair share of intrigue and suspense, Words of Radiance cranks it up a notch or maybe several. This time around there’s a good dose of espionage and secret society shenanigans involving the Ghost Bloods who we learned about in the first book, not to mention a mysterious countdown that appears near the beginning of the book. I won’t spoil anything but things get fairly convoluted in the best of ways.
The biggest weakness of the first book was its pacing, with the amount of worldbuilding and setting up that was needed for the first book in a planned 10 book series, it's understandable it was a tad slower. Words of Radiance improves upon the strong foundation laid down by the first book in almost every way, bringing us a much quicker pace. Despite being longer than the first book, I found that it reads much faster which is always appreciated when it comes to a hefty book like this one.
Art by Michael Whelan
Now I can’t mention a Sanderson book without talking about the worldbuidling, and Roshar becomes even more vibrant as the world-building is fleshed out and we see more mythology, creatures, and magic explored in detail. We get a much deeper look at the Parshendi’s culture, through the eyes of Eshonai one of their war leaders, which I found very fascinating. The interludes do a great job at expanding our view of Roshar and I found them to be much more improved and feel more plot important this time. The plot has raised the stakes much higher with Shallan bearing the burden of trying to somehow prevent the return of the Voidbringers and the oncoming Desolation.
In my opinion, this is the book where Sanderson proves himself a master of epic action scenes, there are just SO many storming moments that kept me up reading long into the night because of how adrenaline filled they were, I love it. Most enjoyable was the ending, which was one of the most epic things I’ve ever read. Once the Sanderson avalanche hits around The last 150 pages or so, there’s so much going on and it was just mind-blowing. It's also a very satisfying ending, besides some of the big plot threads that obviously span the through the series, this time we’re not left with a bunch of unresolved issues, most things are actually wrapped up very nicely.
Words of Radiance improves on its predecessor in almost every way and while the next book, Oathbringer, is my favorite I do feel like it struggles from some pacing issues and occasionally has too many things going on at once. Which is why I feel like Words of Radiance hits that perfect balance.
------------------------
I'll be doing a Year of Cosmere on my YouTube channel where I'll be making Cosmere lore, theory, and summary videos, so check it out if you're interested! :)