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A review by nataliestorozhenko
Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
«We watch the others. The assassin. The surgeon. The liar. The highprince. But not you. The others all ignore you… and that, I hazard to predict, is a mistake.»
This short novella is a must-read for those who want to delve deeper into the SA3 book. It follows the character arc of one of the Radiants, Lift. She is a hilarious little orphan girl who has bonded with a whiny cultivationspren named Wyndle. She refers to her surgebinding abilities as "awesomeness", draws her powers from food instead of stormlight, and summons her shardblade in the form of a fork to show off. Despite its brevity, Sanderson does an excellent job of depicting her character and displaying her heart of gold. She has a strong desire to feed and heal people, which is likely what attracted her spren to her in the first place. So when she names her next oath, it feels powerful and sincere: «But I will listen to those who are ignored, she thought. Even people like Darkness, whom I’d rather never have heard. Maybe that will help.»
This novella serves as a link between books, displaying the horrors that are yet to come and depicting how the people of Roshar are affected by unfortunate circumstances. The saddest part is seeing how other countries perceive Alethi. While some refuse to believe Dalinar's appeal regarding the Everstorm and the Voidbringers, others blame the Alethi people for causing it: «Nobody is ready for a storm that blows the wrong direction. Almost as bad, though, are the Alethi. How do the Alethi know so much about it? Did that warlord of theirs summon it somehow?» They are not entirely wrong, but Odium would have found a way anyway.
And also poor Szeth who always ends up with the worst company ever. Gosh, I hope the next SA books are kinder to him, but who am I kidding?
One important aspect of this novella as part of the Cosmere and Rosharan system is that the antagonist we face is Nale - the Herald of Justice himself. He is the only Herald to join his own order and become a Skybreaker. Nale is a delusional man who was killing off all the Radiants of other orders in the hope that it would prevent the upcoming desolation. However, he was unaware that the desolation had already begun. I loved how Lift handled the situation, and these lines made me tear up a little: «And then, by instinct, she did something she would never have thought possible. She hugged Darkness.»
So yes, it was both amusing and entertaining, and I found it fascinating how Sanderson was able to depict the world from a child's POV. But what I am even more excited about is the next SA book because I saw some fan art depicting an interaction between Lift and my beloved Daddinar, and I can not wait for this collision of great minds
This short novella is a must-read for those who want to delve deeper into the SA3 book. It follows the character arc of one of the Radiants, Lift. She is a hilarious little orphan girl who has bonded with a whiny cultivationspren named Wyndle. She refers to her surgebinding abilities as "awesomeness", draws her powers from food instead of stormlight, and summons her shardblade in the form of a fork to show off. Despite its brevity, Sanderson does an excellent job of depicting her character and displaying her heart of gold. She has a strong desire to feed and heal people, which is likely what attracted her spren to her in the first place. So when she names her next oath, it feels powerful and sincere: «But I will listen to those who are ignored, she thought. Even people like Darkness, whom I’d rather never have heard. Maybe that will help.»
This novella serves as a link between books, displaying the horrors that are yet to come and depicting how the people of Roshar are affected by unfortunate circumstances. The saddest part is seeing how other countries perceive Alethi. While some refuse to believe Dalinar's appeal regarding the Everstorm and the Voidbringers, others blame the Alethi people for causing it: «Nobody is ready for a storm that blows the wrong direction. Almost as bad, though, are the Alethi. How do the Alethi know so much about it? Did that warlord of theirs summon it somehow?» They are not entirely wrong, but Odium would have found a way anyway.
And also poor Szeth who always ends up with the worst company ever. Gosh, I hope the next SA books are kinder to him, but who am I kidding?
One important aspect of this novella as part of the Cosmere and Rosharan system is that the antagonist we face is Nale - the Herald of Justice himself. He is the only Herald to join his own order and become a Skybreaker. Nale is a delusional man who was killing off all the Radiants of other orders in the hope that it would prevent the upcoming desolation. However, he was unaware that the desolation had already begun. I loved how Lift handled the situation, and these lines made me tear up a little: «And then, by instinct, she did something she would never have thought possible. She hugged Darkness.»
So yes, it was both amusing and entertaining, and I found it fascinating how Sanderson was able to depict the world from a child's POV. But what I am even more excited about is the next SA book because I saw some fan art depicting an interaction between Lift and my beloved Daddinar, and I can not wait for this collision of great minds