A review by toggle_fow
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

All RIGHT. First of all, I have to say that I am only reading this by the grace of a very kind internet friend to whom I now owe a life debt.

This was, more than anything, a fabulous review for me, who did not do a Stormlight re-read in anticipation of RoW, and who is definitely not following the RoW teaser chapters, and will therefore be leaping in blind without any idea what the heck is going on anymore. So that was very valuable and fun.

Other than that, I don't know if it's because I just came off Bands of Mourning, but Lopen reminded me a LOT of Wayne in this. They might actually be the same person. But I really liked how he earned his shardblade. Rysn was a good character to see more of, too.

Also there are HELLA pan-Cosmere implications in this little book.

I say "implications" because it would take someone far more steeped in Cosmereology to actually tell you what all these things mean. But I caught the implications, all right. What is a Dawnshard? No idea. Who are the crab people? No idea. How will all this affect the future? NO idea. But I'm all revved up and ready for Rhythm of War now, so I'd call this a success!