Favorite/least favorite in the Archive

[Chiberty]

I'm very interested to see how other people rank the books, especially with how divisive some parts of them are. My personal rankings for them are:

1. The Way of Kings

This was my introduction to the cosmere, and it blew me away. Meeting all of these characters and being introduced to the epic world of Roshar immediately made this book become my all time favorite. This book might have an unfair advantage in my mind being the first in the series, but it has it's own epic moments too: see the entirety of Part 5.

2. Rhythm of War

I liked the reveals and twists in this book the best, considering all the Ishar stuff, Taravangian's ascension, and cosmere references galore. However, the Kaladin plot in Part 3 got a little repetitive/slow, so that holds it from first place.

3. Oathbringer

I think this book felt the slowest out of the 4, but a couple things keep it from dropping to fourth place. One: Szeth's plot. Szeth was my favorite of the four "main characters" in WoK, and Skybreakers are my favorite order, so it was great learning about them. Two: The Girl Who Stood Up. This is probably my favorite chapter in Stormlight; enough said.

4. Words of Radiance

In my mind, there's no such thing as a bad Stormlight book, but something has to take last place. It didn't have my favorite reveal, favorite scene, or mindblowing introduction, like RoW, OB, and WoK, respectively, but it is still my fourth favorite book overall. Stormlight over non-Stormlight any day.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Chiberty

[Robin Sedai]

1. The Way of Kings

2. Oathbringer

3. Words of Radiance

4. Rhythm of War

I didn't dislike Rhythm of War that much (there were some great moments) it just wasn't my favourite.

[Circumlocutions]

1. Way of Kings - It was just beautiful

2. Words of Radiance - It was enjoyable, a few scenes I disliked but not many.

3. Oathbringer - I enjoyed the battle at the end but the middle was a little harder for me to get through.

4. Rhythm of War - I had a hard time getting through the Shallan parts.  And Navani.  And Dalinar.  And Kaladin.  I still enjoyed it... but something about it just felt off.  

[Frustration]

1. Words of Radiance, despite being the flashback book of the only character in fantasy I can truely say I've hated, the action and combat at the forefront of this book brings it to the surface

 

         2.Probably Rhythm of War but the last three are all realy close, with this one and the third being closer. Rhythm of war has the most lackluster fights, and some horrible pretended stakes, as well as the worst handlings of Kaladin's depression in the whole series, but the sheer amount of worldbuilding, and Brandon finally learning how to handle Shallan make up for it.

 

            3.Oathbringer was possibly the best book for my first read, but rereading it is such a drag which really hurts it, from "The Spear That Would Not Break." on it's just impossible to put the book down, which is what gives it the slight edge over number 4

 

            4.The Way of Kings unfortunetly gets the bottom of the barrel, which is sad because it has a lot of things going for it, the best prolouge, an amazing Prelude and some genuine wonder and good fights. However, everything it does one of the other books does better, and Shallan spends the whole book messing up the flow of the story.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Ookla the Frustrated

[+SapphicSpren]

1. Oathbringer. The Sanderlanche is incredible, definitely my favorite of the series, and I love all the character growth and angsty moments for everyone. Shallan's scene with Hoid, for example, is one of the moments guaranteed to make me cry every time I read it. Dalinar's flashbacks tie in so well with the present-day story and make me feel so many things, and Vivenna is in it and I love her. Also, the scale expanded so much in OB, and we learned so much more about Roshar, the Rosharan system, and the entire cosmere. And so much Unmade lore!!

2. Rhythm of War. Close second in terms of emotional moments, just because reading Kaladin's character arc feels like being punched in the heart eight million times. I also love Navani and Raboniel's relationship and the excellent Investiture science that happens in their plotline. Some parts of it felt messy and unnecessary to me - Venli's flashbacks and Kaladin's node fights come to mind - but it had enough amazing moments to make up for that.

3. Way of Kings. I adore this book with my whole heart, as it was my intro to the cosmere as well. I have an unhealthy love for Shallan's arc and the angst it culminates in at the end of part three, and seeing Kaladin form Bridge Four is amazing. But it spends a lot of time on (necessary) setup that isn't quite as fun on rereads, and I find Dalinar and Adolin's WoK viewpoints to be a bit boring and repetitive.

4. Words of Radiance. I love the focus on Shallan's emotional growth, and it's satisfying to see all of our WoK viewpoint characters' storylines converge. It only earns its spot in last place because it's the least memorable Stormlight book to me (I can literally never remember what happens in the Sanderlanche). Also it doesn't have much Jasnah, which is very sad.

[Honorless]

Way of Kings at the top. All of Kaladin's moments were spectacular. And Shallan's story shone in the darkness of Kaladin's story. Kal's choice to fight at the Tower was a bit archetypical but still works.

Rhythm of War. It has the strongest Part 1 of any Stormlight book, tied with Book 1, imo. Some of my favourite moments in the Cosmere in this book: Kal and Tien, & the Dragon and the Dog. And oh those twists: The Sibling, Kalak, Shallan Taravangian, Cultivation,  Ishar, Hoid. Also Raboniel and Navani were so enjoyable here.

Oathbringer has the strongest backbone and the story comes together brilliantly, Dalinar carried this book like Kal did for Way of Kings. It's Sanderlanche though was way too disjointed for me. A lot of things were stretched out or didn't get as much weight as they should have: looking at the Unmade and Amaram over here. Some of my least fav moments were here like Bridge Four and Kal on Lighteyes and Darkeyes, Shallan's women and peasants comment

Words of Radiance. Don't ship Shalladin and way too will-they-or-won't-they, and also kinda very traditional fantasy for me. Not a big fan of one-on-one showdowns, so Kal vs Szeth was meh too. Some of my least fav moments were here too, like the boots scene, Kal's imprisonment, incessant usage of "Bridgeboy", did not like the framing of Kal's binary choice regarding Moash and Elhokar

Edited December 15, 2021 by Honorless

[LuckyJim]

1 Oathbringer: I really enjoyed how this book developed the singers and the focus on Dalinar and the Alethi by extension beginning to unlearn their traditions of conquest and imperialism. Seeing the Radiants begin to form and reach out to other countries to form the coalition was really fun, and the first real glimpses of the Unmade and Fused.

2 Way of Kings: Great underdog story and seeing bridge 4 come together is really uplifting.

3 Words of Radiance: Pretty good overall, though not a lot of really stand out stuff. Also I feel like the frustration Kaladin and Moash felt towards the way he was treated by the lighteyes was a lot more legitimate than the narrative made it out to be.

4 Rhythm of War: Increased focus on lore and relative lack of listener perspectives dragged this one down for me. The Fused don't even feel all that threatening despite this being the "True Desolation" to the point that Urithiru and the Radiants have to be completely shut down to even put them on equal footing. I'm sure the lore reveals of this book will be essential to the climax of book 5, but it just wasn't my favorite.

I'll probably switch tWoR and RoW when I reread the series.

[Morningtide]

Rhythm of War: I know a lot of people didn't like this one as much, but I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the Navani chapters

Oathbringer: Really good. It has my favorite climax.

Words of Radiance: Still really good, had some of the best quotes

Way of Kings: A good start to the series, but a little slow

[+Child of Hodor]

Way of Kings:  Some primacy bias here I was blown away by the world building. I connect with Kaladin's depression journey a lot. Arguably it's biggest weakness (aside from Lirin being in it  ) is that Shallan's story is barely connected to the rest, but she's studying the deep lore in a giant library and hanging out with Jasnah which I loved. Kaladin deciding to go back for Dalinar and "For the bridgemen. All of them." is still the best ending sequence in the series for me. It's such an earned happy ending. 

Oathbringer: Best flashbacks, great ending sequence. Loved Shadesmar. The Moash stuff drags for me, Amaram becoming a literal monster after being a more nuanced villain didn't work for me. Shallan, a noblewoman from a foreign land delivering food to poor people in a closed off city and unintentionally setting off gang violence is recycled from Elantris without any meaningful changes. It's like she needed to fail at something so Hoid could give her a speech. Jarring missing scenes like Navani and Jasnah reuniting after Navani spent all last book grieving, Shallan getting married and Szeth becoming Navani agreeing to have as a bodyguard the guy who killed her first husband and tried to kill her second husband twice.

Words of Radiance: Better flashbacks than WoK and RoW, not as good as OB. Ghostblood stuff is cool. Too many fake deaths for me and it's the only one Brandon felt he needed to "fix" post-publication. 

Rhythm of War: It's a setup for the big finale of the front 5. Loved Raboniel and some individual moments. My issue is more with the structure of the novel as a whole.  It feels less focused than the others. The POVs are too fragmented including the flashbacks which don't work as well in part because they are split and because one of them has been dead for 2 books. Navani is the main character, kind of, but because she doesn't have flashbacks the book lacks the past-present resonance the others had. Venli chapters sometimes feel like they are to show us more Raboniel rather than show us more Venli. 

I think part of the problem may also be that I had a major surgery earlier in 2020 and read the entire series again in a month or so. Then there was a reread thread on here and I followed along for the first two books. Then Dawnshard and the sample chapters for RoW. I may have Stormlighted myself out. I am taking a break from reading Brandon this year because of that.  

[Jake Tenebris]

1. Rythm of War. Honestly, this is mostly because of Kaladin. My favorite character overall. Some of the book might have been  a tad depressing, but the ending more than makes up for it. Kaladin swearing the 4th ideal was one of the best moments, other than him swearing the 3rd ideal. And Adolin somewhat restoring Maya over the course of the book was amazing.

2. Words of Radiance. I just loved the 3rd Ideal swearing, and Kaladin coming to terms with his power, but him unbonding Syl and losing his powers does push this down a place.

3. Way of Kings. The first Book is usually one of the best, and this is no exception. Brandon Sanderson is one of the few authors I Know who continue to one up themselves throughout the series, making it continually better, instead of the series fizzling out. 

4. Oathbringer. A great book, but jut not my favorite. Keep in mind, these books are very close together. I love them all. I just love some of them a bit more than others. Oathbringer is still an amazing book, i just don't find it to be my absolute favorite.

 

These are just my opinions.

[Robin Sedai]

Huh, I never expected Rhythm of War to be winning (losing?) least favorite Stormlight book.

[+robardin]

Interesting, I would rank them as Words of Radiance > Rhythm of War > The Way of Kings > Oathbringer based solely on the number of times I've re-read either  specific passages or the entire book - but in general it's pretty close.

Of all of them, the two I actually found myself rather disliking on first read, for one reason or another, were Oathbringer and The Way of Kings.

In the case of TWoK, I picked it up and started reading it 2-3 times before pushing through around the halfway point when it "got me", or perhaps when I got it.

We are dropped in medias res not just into a sprawling epic fantasy with a lot of obviously "setup of unknown things to be revealed later" like in the Prologue, but a very alien world that you sort of have to pick up the context along the way. And I had so many mental objections or questions.

Everything liviing on Roshar is like a crustacean or mollusk? (Which image I find a bit repelling, like Hoid does when he later complains to Kaladin about having to recast his tale of a chick and a bunny rabbit for him as "a piece of wet slime and a disgusting crab thing with seventeen legs").

But it's not an ocean world, it's a world of regular (and unexplained but normal to the inhabitants) "highstorms"? Does that mean they do, or don't, have "regular" storms along with the highstorms? Are they regular, or not - they can mostly, but not entirely, be predicted? Oh and wait, there ARE some "normal" creatures like horses and chickens? What about trees, which are described often; if plants have adapted to the highstorms to curl up and whatnot, how is it they have wood and ships and so on, because trees can't do that? (And anything that bends to lie flat to the ground and later stands up, how would that be hard enough to build with?)

The main POV characters took a while to identify with as well. A mopey, betrayed slave in Kaladin, just getting further and further beaten down. That's not fun to read... A spoiled, scheming young woman aiming to pull off a heist, OK, ... An even more spoiled and wishy-washy king and his uncle general who's seeing things and may be going crazy, even he thinks so, plus his two sons, plus his brother's widow, and this guy Sadeas who seemed like a hero helping to protect the king from assassination when we first read about him, but quickly seems like a schmuck - and they're all the ruling group of the country...

And the non-human people they're fighting against, the "Parshendi" or "listeners", they have multiple forms, more than two genders, "gemhearts" (like the chasmfiends?), "spren" (what exactly are these things?), etc., etc., it was a LOT to take in. I had no idea where it was going, and no one or two likeable characters to latch onto for the ride coming out of the gate.

And after such a detailed, suspiciously expository self-dialog from Szeth in the opening scene about using "the Three Lashings" to do stuff, which I re-read a few times to make sure I got what the mechanics were about... nothing more like that again. For over a hundred pages. Hundreds! Why did I just do that?

So yeah. I got through the first 3-4 chapters or so of the book and put it down the first time, got through about a quarter of it the next time, and finally just said to myself "Trust Brandon" and pushed on through... And then when they hang Kaladin out in the storm "for judgment", that was the hooking point.

As for Oathbringer, I made what I now consider to be a mistake of reading all the Dalinar flashbacks pulled out of context in anthologies like "Unfettered", months or years before OB was released, and then skipped or rapidly skimmed them when I encountered them in the novel. I think that ruined the pacing for me quite a bit. And at first I was really annoyed by how Lopen reached the Second Ideal - I thought it was way unfair that it was being played for laughs when it should be an epic thing. Only later did I realize the Stormfather wasn't capable of pulling a practical joke on Lopen, and in fact what Lopen was doing at the time was significant.

On re-reads I find OB satisfying, and of course, TWoK "makes sense", though reading all the POVs of Dalinar and Navani dealing with Sadeas and the other highprinces politically still feels like the worst slogs of reading, say, Dune and the scheming between the Great Houses. But then... Of course! Then shall we...? Yes!

Words of Radiance has no epic moment? I can't imagine a more epic one than Kaladin's reaching the Third Ideal and Syl's "return". I also found (and still find) Shallan's initial interactions with Kaladin and Bridge Four extremely amusing. Especially when they arrive to Dalinar's camp and her two attendants are Vathah and... GAZ. Oh, that was fun to imagine, Kaladin's eyes bugging out to see Gaz there, at that time, in that place, backing away furiously down the hall he came in. And even funnier in that it was from Shallan's POV, who has no idea of the past between the two.

And Gaz STILL can't help addressing Kaladin as "Lordship" at first! LOLOL.

In fact, I was impressed that Gaz even remembered Kaladin's name to correct himself, as nobody in Bridge Four used their names originally, and Gaz certainly doesn't ask for or use their names individually when assigning them to bridge squads. I'm not even sure when he would have learned his name. Maybe overhearing the other members of Bridge Four addressing him?

EDIT: I just went to re-read that scene and of course, Kaladin had just given his name to Shallan as "Kaladin" a few moments earlier, as Gaz started trying to escape Bridge Four. It's almost certain he didn't even know Kaladin's name until that very point!

Edited December 15, 2021 by robardin

[Boomerang Guy]

My favorite is Oathbringer. I am not sure I can choose a least favorite. I love them all.

[Rashekin]

1. Words of Radiance, GOAT
2. Rhythm of War
3. The Way of Kings
4. Oathbringer, sorry

[XaliaStormblessed]

My favorite was Words of Radiance, it has some of my favorite scenes and quotes- but I'd only put it slightly above Way of Kings and Rhythm of War, which I liked about equally. Oathbringer was great, but I found it very frustrating, mainly because of Shallan. 

[XaliaStormblessed]

On 12/15/2021 at 9:47 AM, robardin said:

Interesting, I would rank them as Words of Radiance > Rhythm of War > The Way of Kings > Oathbringer based solely on the number of times I've re-read either  specific passages or the entire book - but in general it's pretty close.

Of all of them, the two I actually found myself rather disliking on first read, for one reason or another, were Oathbringer and The Way of Kings.

In the case of TWoK, I picked it up and started reading it 2-3 times before pushing through around the halfway point when it "got me", or perhaps when I got it.

We are dropped in medias res not just into a sprawling epic fantasy with a lot of obviously "setup of unknown things to be revealed later" like in the Prologue, but a very alien world that you sort of have to pick up the context along the way. And I had so many mental objections or questions.

Everything liviing on Roshar is like a crustacean or mollusk? (Which image I find a bit repelling, like Hoid does when he later complains to Kaladin about having to recast his tale of a chick and a bunny rabbit for him as "a piece of wet slime and a disgusting crab thing with seventeen legs").

But it's not an ocean world, it's a world of regular (and unexplained but normal to the inhabitants) "highstorms"? Does that mean they do, or don't, have "regular" storms along with the highstorms? Are they regular, or not - they can mostly, but not entirely, be predicted? Oh and wait, there ARE some "normal" creatures like horses and chickens? What about trees, which are described often; if plants have adapted to the highstorms to curl up and whatnot, how is it they have wood and ships and so on, because trees can't do that? (And anything that bends to lie flat to the ground and later stands up, how would that be hard enough to build with?)

The main POV characters took a while to identify with as well. A mopey, betrayed slave in Kaladin, just getting further and further beaten down. That's not fun to read... A spoiled, scheming young woman aiming to pull off a heist, OK, ... An even more spoiled and wishy-washy king and his uncle general who's seeing things and may be going crazy, even he thinks so, plus his two sons, plus his brother's widow, and this guy Sadeas who seemed like a hero helping to protect the king from assassination when we first read about him, but quickly seems like a schmuck - and they're all the ruling group of the country...

And the non-human people they're fighting against, the "Parshendi" or "listeners", they have multiple forms, more than two genders, "gemhearts" (like the chasmfiends?), "spren" (what exactly are these things?), etc., etc., it was a LOT to take in. I had no idea where it was going, and no one or two likeable characters to latch onto for the ride coming out of the gate.

And after such a detailed, suspiciously expository self-dialog from Szeth in the opening scene about using "the Three Lashings" to do stuff, which I re-read a few times to make sure I got what the mechanics were about... nothing more like that again. For over a hundred pages. Hundreds! Why did I just do that?

So yeah. I got through the first 3-4 chapters or so of the book and put it down the first time, got through about a quarter of it the next time, and finally just said to myself "Trust Brandon" and pushed on through... And then when they hang Kaladin out in the storm "for judgment", that was the hooking point.

As for Oathbringer, I made what I now consider to be a mistake of reading all the Dalinar flashbacks pulled out of context in anthologies like "Unfettered", months or years before OB was released, and then skipped or rapidly skimmed them when I encountered them in the novel. I think that ruined the pacing for me quite a bit. And at first I was really annoyed by how Lopen reached the Second Ideal - I thought it was way unfair that it was being played for laughs when it should be an epic thing. Only later did I realize the Stormfather wasn't capable of pulling a practical joke on Lopen, and in fact what Lopen was doing at the time was significant.

On re-reads I find OB satisfying, and of course, TWoK "makes sense", though reading all the POVs of Dalinar and Navani dealing with Sadeas and the other highprinces politically still feels like the worst slogs of reading, say, Dune and the scheming between the Great Houses. But then... Of course! Then shall we...? Yes!

Words of Radiance has no epic moment? I can't imagine a more epic one than Kaladin's reaching the Third Ideal and Syl's "return". I also found (and still find) Shallan's initial interactions with Kaladin and Bridge Four extremely amusing. Especially when they arrive to Dalinar's camp and her two attendants are Vathah and... GAZ. Oh, that was fun to imagine, Kaladin's eyes bugging out to see Gaz there, at that time, in that place, backing away furiously down the hall he came in. And even funnier in that it was from Shallan's POV, who has no idea of the past between the two.

And Gaz STILL can't help addressing Kaladin as "Lordship" at first! LOLOL.

In fact, I was impressed that Gaz even remembered Kaladin's name to correct himself, as nobody in Bridge Four used their names originally, and Gaz certainly doesn't ask for or use their names individually when assigning them to bridge squads. I'm not even sure when he would have learned his name. Maybe overhearing the other members of Bridge Four addressing him?

EDIT: I just went to re-read that scene and of course, Kaladin had just given his name to Shallan as "Kaladin" a few moments earlier, as Gaz started trying to escape Bridge Four. It's almost certain he didn't even know Kaladin's name until that very point!

I loved Words of Radiance, it's probably my favorite in the Stormlight Archive, for the reasons you mentioned.

When Kaladin says the third ideal, it's pretty epic, but one of my favorite scenes is when he jumps into the arena with Adolin during the brutally unfair duel with the other Shardbearers.

And yeah, I was laughing out loud at the interactions between Kaladin and Shallan and loved the scenes with them after they fall into the chasm. There were so many great moments in my opinion.

[Forts Board]

Man I loved Words of Radiance. Seems like I fit in with this crowd .

I'm really surprised with all the dislike Rhythm of War got. I really enjoyed that book. I really enjoyed the back and forth between Raboniel and Navani.

[XaliaStormblessed]

2 hours ago, Forts Board said:

Man I loved Words of Radiance. Seems like I fit in with this crowd .

I'm really surprised with all the dislike Rhythm of War got. I really enjoyed that book. I really enjoyed the back and forth between Raboniel and Navani.

Right? It was really good, and yeah I grew to really like Navani as a character and am actually disappointed that we won't see any more of Raboniel in Stormlight 5. I loved Kaladin's story arc in Rhythm of War too, even though apparently some people thought it was too dark  

[CuratorOTL]

1. Words of Radiance- By far my favorite SA. The character development was incredible, and Kal swearing the third ideal literally sent shivers down my body. Absolutely impeccable.

2. Way of Kings- This might be simply because it was the first one and introduced me to all of the characters. The action and setup for the rest of the series was great

3. Oathbringer- This book is lower because it felt like it was just everywhere for a good portion of the book, with no real direction. The Sanderlanche was great, especially with Dalinar renouncing Odium("You cannot have my pain!" Is one of the most profound lines in the series imo) but the rest of the book just didn't do it for me like the others. It was still good, but no WoR.

4. Rhythm of War - I don't like Navani's PoVs, and there were just WAY too many of them. Give me more Kal fighting Fused, Adolin politicking his way through the honorspren capital and bonding with Maya, more Shallan(I know THAT'S controversial) edit: put RoW at the bottom.

Edited March 7 by CuratorOTL

[Ravenclawjedi42]

Mine are actually in publication order:

1. TWoK
2. WoR
3. Oathbringer
4. RoW

So far I’ve liked the preview chapters of KoWT, I’m curious to see how that’ll fit into my rankings.

[The_Milkgod]

1. WoR
2. WoK
3. RoW
4. OB

[The Sibling]

I think that mine might currently be in reverse publication order. But it changes all the time for me. 

[Aredor]

Right now my order is

1. Rhythm of War. I loved all the Adolin scenes, Maya's declaration, Navani truly becoming a scholar, and, of course, Kaladin. I've seen a lot of criticism about the repeated node fights, but I absolutely loved them. Shallan's plot was also good, but wasn't as good as WoR. 

2. The Way of Kings. This one was amazing, being introduced to the world of Roshar. The introduction of Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Adolin as viewpoint characters was really good. The bridge runs were also really good. Kal's flashbacks made this a lot better, too. 

3. Words of Radiance. Not a lot to say about this one, but it was phenomenal. 2 and 3 on my list could probably be swapped, but I did prefer the emphasis on Kaladin in TWoK. 

4. Oathbringer. Parts 2,3,4, and 5 are all phenomenal, but I feel like part 1 is quite lacking. I also disliked Dalinar in most of this book, until part 4 (excepting the flashbacks). 

Keep in mind, all 4 of these are in my top 5 favorite books of all time. Some are simply more enjoyable for me. 

[ShufflingSpren]

I had to vote for Way of kings as my favorite and least favorite. Favourite because it’s the introduction and entry point to our story and in the first read through at least, brings all the intrigue and magic of Rodger and of the Stormlight Archive world to us fresh, fo rage first time and it really inspired a wonder and fascination in me.

It’s also our introduction to Kaladin who is probably my favorite character, especially as I find his struggles very relatable. 
his journey towards discovering his power as a surge binder and his roller coaster story is inspiring.

On the other hand, Way of Kings can feel very long at times and occasionally a little clunky in parts as it tries to emphasize certain elements within the story and to familiarize the reader with the world. I do remember being frustrated at times, especially on my first read through.