Wind and Truth Full Book Reactions (Cosmere Edition)

[MagicMaggot]

The book pretty much met my expectations, so... yeah, I'm quite happy with that. And I don't mean that in the "my theories were confirmed"-sense, and more that after rereading Oathbringer, RoW and some other minor stuff from the cosmere, this totally fit in the lineup.

I still love the world. The characters mostly feel like themselves, and when they don't it's not too much of a problem. The characters that will be moving on to other things in the future mostly got nice sendoffs, and I quite like the hints I saw about the character arcs the second Stormlight arc will have in store for us, Some twists hit for me, some missed, as before. And I love much of the cosmere buildup.
I noticed pretty early how this book would be a bit more heavy-handed in forcing everyone to be where they were supposed to be at the right time to get to the right ending, but once things got really going I could pretty easily forget that and enjoy the ride.

The Adolin arc and the Tanavast stuff were my highlights, though I find something interesting to me in pretty much all of the storylines. Jasnah's adventures in T's classroom were my least favourite, and I also didn't particularly enjoy Sigzil's stuff, though not knowing the Sunlit Man might have made a difference. And I love how the ending so thoroughly flipped the table that we'll get to know the world as a wholly different place in book 6.

What I found a bit disappointing was actually how soft the magic got in this book. Some stuff will be around for future explanations, and that's fine, I guess, but Seth going around and literally lifting the shadows off Shinovar, or Todium just whisking cities to the spirit realm or aging people up, Nightblood just picking up how to grant surgebinding or Ishar just patching up the oathpact while taking away its biggest flaw in 5 minutes, or the unoathed mechanics... A lot of it felt so "mystical", which I don't appreciate so much in a Sanderson book.
I honestly missed the RoW-style science to actually work stuff out. I might be in the minority there, but I can't wait for Navani to come back and explain the new world to me in way too many years. 

[Nitpicking]

6 hours ago, Yomisma said:

Could be some bug when someone is reading a forum with auto-translation, for example from Spain, at the moment of quoting your post. Hola desde España, por cierto

  Sí, es posible.

Edited December 25, 2024 by Nitpicking
Bug duplicated my message 5 times

[Lacra Maldita]

22 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

If you're outraged because someone didn't like a book as much as you did ....

I'm curious, how did my text get translated into Spanish in your quote of me?

The problem is not whether she likes the book or not, but the "argument" she gave about the Kaladin and Szeth part, which missed the mark in everything she said. And she was the one who spoke the most in that segment, which was half an hour long.

[Lord Spirit he/him]

Kaladin: I’m very happy with how Kaladin ended. He had a very rough time in RoW, and I’m glad that he doesn’t die, even if it would have been really cool. It did feel a bit too easy, he’s learning the flute while Adolin and Sigzil are fighting for their lives, but I’m perfectly happy for Kal to finally get a break. I wonder if his fingers regrew. 
 

Shallan: eh, about as expected. She got set up to go explore the cosmere, although it seems like she’s more focused on getting to Adolin. I was a bit surprised that Mraize and Iyatil died, I have lost some respect for the Ghostbloods. Turns out Chana Davar was right. I feel like that didn’t get very much attention, aside from one or two sentences of “oops, guess Shallan is (partly) responsible for the return of the voidbringers.” 
 

Dalinar: Dalinar’s ending was a lot more complex than anyone else’s. I feel like he didn’t really grow in this book, his plot was just “history of Roshar” and then ascension and contest of champions. Overall I did like  it, although I am very interested at the implication that someone else has his soul. It also feels cheap that Taravangien can just borrow a spiritual realm clone. 
 

Szeth: for how cool he started out in WoK, I was pleasantly surprised by his backstory. Aside from slightly reminding me of buzz lightyear in Toy Story 4, it was really good. It annoys me that he got to the fifth ideal and then goes “I don’t like you” and releases his spren (also, the high spren need better names). I want to know what a fifth ideal radiant can do. I’m also suprised that he got to go back to his old life and got married, (although he has Nightblood, so he probably is still relevant).
 

Adolin: Adolin has been a great character, but this book, I just found him frustrating. He learned his father wasn’t perfect and refused to forgive him. Furthermore, he tries to avoid acting anything like his father, which I think might be part of why he doesn’t become radiant (although it might just be plot convenience because he’s bonded to Maya). He rejects oaths, but the way I read it, the only difference he saw was that oaths are absolutes, whereas promises are ok with failure as long as you tried. It doesn’t feel like the different matters (unless you’re holding Honor). I liked the external part of his story, with the siege and Talns rampage and Yamagawns past turning out to be useful. I like him, but he needs to just grow up, like all the radiants did. 
 

Venli: still boring to read, but hey, the singers get some land and we have Retribution’s perpendicularity.
 

overall, I think it’s very well written, even if some of the characters frustrated me. It sets up a lot for the future and is definitely not the end of the series. Can’t wait (at least six years) for book six. 
 

EDIT: Moash: How did Brandon make me hate this guy even more? He needs to die. Also, he’s destined to kill Sig? Or did that death rattle get messed up by him renouncing his oaths. 

Edited December 28, 2024 by Lord Spirit

[Letryx13]

Finished listening to the audio book this morning.  Almost nothing I predicted before it came out ended up happening. The only thing I got right was that the capital cities of countries ended up being important. 

 

Overall, I'd have preferred that Odium were just taken care of in this half of the series and a new threat be the problem going forward.  I suppose technically a new bigger threat has emerged now the Odium is Retribution, but still.They definitely got some things right. A lot of good call backs to earlier books, Kaladin and Szeth in Shinnovar, the dead eyes coming to save Adolin, Lyft discovering she has potential as a warrior, and finding out about Shallan's mother. But possibly my favorite aspect of the story was Dalinar managing to get the better of Taravangian in such an unorthodox way.  

I assumed that the contest of champions combined with Odium being required but unable to return Herdaz was the way to be Todium by winning the contest and forcing him to break his word.  I was convinced of this theory all the way up to the interlude with Dienno.  I don't think the Mink died in that chapter, so there's a chance we'll see him again, but time will tell.  

However, having Dalinar manage to turn the entire game board on its side and escape the trap Taravangian set was very well planned on Sanderson's part. A lot of people consider this last book to be Odium's win. Understandably so, since he has been freed from Roshar and his forces and allies control most of the planet, but I don't see it that way.  I would say that Dalinar got the better of Taravangian, similar to how he got the better of Sadeas at the end of WoK with his shard blade.  Taravangian now has more power, but that very power has become a liability.  Dalinar knew that Taravangian wouldn't be able to resist taking up more power, and played him perfectly. And Dalinar managed to make the one thing that neither Odium ever wanted; the spurring to action of the other shards and forces in the comsmere.

Overall, I'd call the end of WaT to be a draw.  It's a loss for Roshar, but a loss for Taravangian too.  The Radiants and their allies are separated, but there is peace between the nations, for now. On the other hand, the other shards are (finally) taking action, in fact Autonomy probably made the move against Harmony that she did in MistBorn era two in order to prepare to deal with Retribution. And just because Taravangian now holds two shards, that isn't necessarily a good thing for him.  Harmony himself both admitted and proves that combining shards doesn't always lead to greater power. And if the power of Honor continues to gain more self awareness and comes to a more mature understanding of what honor is, then Taravangian could have as much trouble controlling is as Rayse did with the shard of Odium. 

[cosmeredoug_30]

I just finished Wind and Truth and I won't comment on how much I liked it because I'm biased (it was a lot, I really liked it, let's be honest most of us will like anything Brandon writes). I found a few things weird though so maybe someone has some insights.

Cultivation: Top of my list is Cultivation and my only question is what was the point of her? Maybe I read her wrong but for me, she was built up over the entire series to be a slightly more neutral, morally ambiguous entity who was made out to be mysterious and powerful, manipulating events for who knows how many years to 'cultivate' Roshar and the Shards and allow for growth. At the end of RoW she seemed like a major player, yet in WaT her attempts at steering Todium were kind of pathetic, her manipulation of Dalinar to go after Honor was extremely obtuse and the minute her clumsy plan to blackmail Taravangian failed she crawled away and never came back. At the end, instead of showing up again and revealing more plans, she instead just runs away from the system and is presented as scared and weak. The one thing she seemed to do right was Lift, seemingly the only Radiant whose powers will work outside of the Urithiru dome since she doesn't use Stormlight. But then, with Cultivation gone, will her powers even function the same anymore? She was probably one of the things I was most excited to see in this book, yet she ended up being weirdly underwhelming.

Moash and El: Kaladin absolutely deserved a break this book and I'm glad he kind of got that but Moash, as much as I still loathe him, basically did nothing the whole book. He showed up ominously for a short time to kill Leyten and almost Sigzil while wielding his fancy new crystal Hemalurgy eyes. I get that showing off the new eyes was probably his main function but he also was slightly underwhelming. El feels the same to a lesser extent. At least we got the mystery of his Shardblade, which I'm assuming he is probably a Dustbringer. Outside of that, we got very little from him and considering he was made out to be a particularly scary and intelligent Fused, he was fooled quite easily by the Listeners which was a little weird.

Gavinor: I think most can agree that Gavinor being the Champion was extremely expected but that how it was done was a little clumsy. It could have been just as harsh had Dalinar been showed to little Gav's sleeping form and the message that Dalinar needed to kill an innocent to save the world would have gotten across without all the weird time stuff. Gav could have been willing to be Champion if Todium had asked him as Elhokar and also because the kid thought it was just play pretend the whole time. And it could have been great development for Gav to have simply seen Dalinar consider going through with it.

Night: What is it? What happened to it? Probably something reserved for the back half of the books but still, we got a lot of Wind stuff, some Stones stuff with Venli, so it felt weird that we didn't get some crumbs about Night, who easily seems to be the most interesting.

[PAS]

On 12/9/2024 at 2:48 AM, The Stick said:

Dalinar singlehandedly chose the worst option. He essentially destroyed the planet through the new storm, and he destructing of Roshar's ecosystem, the outcome of plan 3. He gave Taravangian an immortal general to lead his armies in the form of the Blackthorn, plan 2, and he also kicked the can down the road like plan one did. He did not solve the problem, he just made it other people's problems, as per plan 1. I mean, how did he think giving Taravangian more power was a good idea, and how would that help Honor to become more than oaths. 

Agreed. Teravangian and Hoid called Dalinar's choice a stroke of genius, but it's really hard to swallow, despite the justification provided -- that it'll force other shard vessels to act. Teravangian is now the most powerful shard vessel in the cosmere, and what can the other vessels do, especially without damaging Roshar?

 

[Lord Spirit he/him]

38 minutes ago, PAS said:

Agreed. Teravangian and Hoid called Dalinar's choice a stroke of genius, but it's really hard to swallow, despite the justification provided -- that it'll force other shard vessels to act. Teravangian is now the most powerful shard vessel in the cosmere, and what can the other vessels do, especially without damaging Roshar?

 

The way I see it, Dalinar forced Taravangian to keep his end of the contract (because he had honor) without putting any restrictions on humanity. The biggest downside is the end of Stormlight, which is pretty bad, but if radiant can use towerlight, then maybe they can use warlight too. Things were going to be bad either way, but Dalinar essentially freed Roshar from Odium, which is good for their world. 
plus, shard plans are often very complicated and hard to understand until far in the future. I doubt many people would have been happy with preservation setting up the lord ruler, but we see how that went. 

[PAS]

1 minute ago, Lord Spirit said:

The way I see it, Dalinar forced Taravangian to keep his end of the contract (because he had honor) without putting any restrictions on humanity. The biggest downside is the end of Stormlight, which is pretty bad, but if radiant can use towerlight, then maybe they can use warlight too. Things were going to be bad either way, but Dalinar essentially freed Roshar from Odium, which is good for their world. 
plus, shard plans are often very complicated and hard to understand until far in the future. I doubt many people would have been happy with preservation setting up the lord ruler, but we see how that went. 

Odium is now free (which, as Sedside pointed out, was supposed to be the worst thing that could ever happen, then is suddenly OK), but that doesn't mean that Roshar is free from Odium, who rules over most of the planet. Odium is part of Retribution, and unlike Ruin and Preservation, Odium and Honor don't necessarily hobble each other.

[Lord Spirit he/him]

21 minutes ago, PAS said:

Odium is now free (which, as Sedside pointed out, was supposed to be the worst thing that could ever happen, then is suddenly OK), but that doesn't mean that Roshar is free from Odium, who rules over most of the planet. Odium is part of Retribution, and unlike Ruin and Preservation, Odium and Honor don't necessarily hobble each other.

The difference between releasing Odium and retribution is that the other shards would have ignored Odium, where they are now forced to confront retribution because he’s too powerful. Also, unlike ruin, Taravangien does not want to destroy Roshar. While he still was influence, he can’t take too much action without revealing himself and exposing himself to the other shards. 

[Letryx13]

4 hours ago, PAS said:

Agreed. Teravangian and Hoid called Dalinar's choice a stroke of genius, but it's really hard to swallow, despite the justification provided -- that it'll force other shard vessels to act. Teravangian is now the most powerful shard vessel in the cosmere, and what can the other vessels do, especially without damaging Roshar?

 

It's true that Taravangian got nearly everything he wanted, freedom, more power, control of most of Roshar, but he also gained the one thing that he really, really didn't want. The attention of the other shards. It's why I consider it more of a draw than an outright win for Taravangian. One thing Taravangian has in common with Rayse was that they like to be patient and play the long game. Taravangian was planning to bide his time a little and build up his forces on Roshar for a while longer before unleashing them on other worlds. Now, not only is pretty much every other shard out to get him, but he can't take his time to come up with the perfect plan. 

 

It's like the scene where Yanagon, Adolin, and May were playing towers. Yanagon was the strongest at the start, but still lost since the other two teamed up against him. Except in this case, there are ten other players in the game. And they all know he's coming for them.

2 hours ago, Lord Spirit said:

The difference between releasing Odium and retribution is that the other shards would have ignored Odium, where they are now forced to confront retribution because he’s too powerful. Also, unlike ruin, Taravangien does not want to destroy Roshar. While he still was influence, he can’t take too much action without revealing himself and exposing himself to the other shards. 

Exactly. The best possible outcome would have been to bind Odium completely; trapped in one place and unable to act or send minions and forces out to other places. I had a theory on how that could happen, but that's out the window. Barring that, they need to find some way to check him. And despite the fact that he'd killed three shards before getting to the Rosharan system, none of the other shards were willing to do much against him.  Now that he's tied for the most powerful being in the cosmere, they can't ignore him any more. That's why Dalinar's move, painful as it is, was the best possible decision. 

3 hours ago, PAS said:

Odium is now free (which, as Sedside pointed out, was supposed to be the worst thing that could ever happen, then is suddenly OK), but that doesn't mean that Roshar is free from Odium, who rules over most of the planet. Odium is part of Retribution, and unlike Ruin and Preservation, Odium and Honor don't necessarily hobble each other.

True, Ruin and Preservation balance each other better, but based on the ending with Retribution, I think it's safe to say that the power of Honor is still developing self awareness, despite having a new vessel. That will likely play a huge part in the story going forward. And depending on what the power grows to be, it could end up being a huge hindrance for Taravangian. Dalinar likely planned for that.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Letryx13

[Blackthorne]

On 12/25/2024 at 12:23 PM, MagicMaggot said:

What I found a bit disappointing was actually how soft the magic got in this book. Some stuff will be around for future explanations, and that's fine, I guess, but Seth going around and literally lifting the shadows off Shinovar, or Todium just whisking cities to the spirit realm or aging people up, Nightblood just picking up how to grant surgebinding or Ishar just patching up the oathpact while taking away its biggest flaw in 5 minutes, or the unoathed mechanics... A lot of it felt so "mystical", which I don't appreciate so much in a Sanderson book.
I honestly missed the RoW-style science to actually work stuff out. I might be in the minority there, but I can't wait for Navani to come back and explain the new world to me in way too many years. 

 

Reading your comment has really helped me identify something that bothered me throughout the latter half of the book. I totally agree with you on Nightblood/Ishar. Sanderson is careful enough to not have characters do things that were technically impossible based on earlier rules, but the rules definitely feel far looser in the latter half of the book. Nightblood in particular functions as a Deus Ex Machina that is quiet for most of the book then in the moments it's needed the characters seem to remember it exists.

An additional problem that I felt with this book is that it has just become hard to believe information is lost so easily in the Cosmere. I can buy that the Lord Ruler was able to impose a top-down suppression of information on a portion of Scadrial, but it just seems unlikely that the Shin can maintain such a vastly different understanding of human history than the rest of Roshar. There are portions where Brandon is clearly trying to show why characters don't share information. For example it seems like Hoid was very active on Ashyn which led to a terrible outcome and Vasher has good reasons for not wanting to share his knowledge, but it just doesn't work for me in other instances. I just feel like at some point Dalinar/Navani should've rounded up all of these suspicious individuals (Szeth, Nightblood, Zahel, Wit, etc.), put them in a room, and asked them to tell them everything they know. 

 

 

 

[Master Silver]

Three things that really bother me about the book is the cheapness of the 5th oath. It seemed like nothing. You got a bunch of stormlight, whooptedo. It was never explored at all. 

 

And then in terms of holding/winning territory. The battle of the Shattered plains would have been very winnable if Dalinar had not gone into the spiritual realm. And honestly it is truly for selfish reasons. Yes, you get Alethkar back if you win, but considering you could lose everything else, it truly was selfish. Aside from that, if he didn't go into the spiritual realm Gavinor would have been safe and Odium wouldn't have leveled up. And then then Tanavast actively making things worse the whole book. Sigh

 

Finally, I am not even sure if Taravangian is a true big bad. I thought for a bit he was, but then how he saved his city and then took up another Shard and actually brought about world peace. He actually has made the Shard Odium less dangerous. 

[Scoop1407 he/they]

I really liked Kaladin's role here, but I must admit that Nightblood's scene at the end didn't feel believable. I did enjoy him talking with the Honorblades.

We got some details on Ashyn, which is fun. Hopefully Ash's and Taln's books have more of the backstory there. I'm especially looking forward to Jasnah's flashbacks — but that will have to wait…

Moash. Is this actual, honest-to-Discord Hemalurgy or just something similar? Some kind of Voidbinding?

It looks like the second half will be nearly contemporaneous with Mistborn era 3. We might have some interesting bits there.

Overall, there were some disappointments, and I consider this book to be somewhat worse than WoK, WoR and RoW. But it was still good and enjoyable.

I had some predictions that were fulfilled:

Ba-Ado-Mishram is released, and deadeyes heal
This seemed somewhat obvious in the last book, but in this one the Spiritual Realm team seemed more undecided about freeing her.

Kaladin swears the fifth Ideal (obviously)
Though we didn't get to see a full-powered Radiant.

One or more of these:

1. Dalinar dies
2. Dalinar ascends to Honor
3. Taravangian combines Honor and Odium

It actually ended up being all three: I was spot-on. Wow.

It seemed that Dalinar had essentially completed his character arc before WaT, so I thought he might ascend to Honor and take more of a back-seat role in the second half, or just die. Regardless, I thought something must happen with the power of Honor, and Taravangian seemed a good option.

Szeth swears the Ideal of Law

I didn't expect him to renounce the oaths immediately, though.

We see Chanaranach in the modern day

This kind of happened? If Shallan's vision counts. I was aware of the Chana-is-Shallan's-mother theory, but I was actually quite sceptical of it, until Gavilar's prologue all but confirmed it.

And some which didn't come to pass:

Szeth completes the Ideal of Crusade

I wasn't aware you could skip Ideals!

Maya heals fully

She's way better now, but not completely normal.

Adolin either dies or becomes an Edgedancer

His Unoathed are way more fascinating, though.

Venli and Navani swear more Ideals

I'm a bit disappointed in that.

[Nitpicking]

On 12/30/2024 at 2:53 PM, Master Silver said:

Three things that really bother me about the book is the cheapness of the 5th oath. It seemed like nothing. You got a bunch of stormlight, whooptedo. It was never explored at all.

I have my criticisms of the book, but this is unfair. Two people swore the Fifth Ideal, one immediately gave up his oaths, and then like half an hour passed before the book ended. Presumably we learn more about the Fifth Ideal in the back half.

[Azyrian]

Personally, I really liked the book, and the ending strongly reminded me of this awesome moment, my favorite, from "Aladdin". Only in "Wind and Truth" did "Jafar" win, although he received some restrictions from "Aladdin" - which Kaladin and Dalinar perform at the same time) Well, the appearance of Retribution is one hundred percent the moment when Jafar becomes a genie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iNaR1ie7YA

Edited January 2, 2025 by Azyrian

[Nitpicking]

7 hours ago, Azyrian said:

Personally, I really liked the book, and the ending strongly reminded me of this awesome moment, my favorite, from "Aladdin". Only in "Wind and Truth" did "Jafar" win, although he received some restrictions from "Aladdin" - which Kaladin and Dalinar perform at the same time) Well, the appearance of Retribution is one hundred percent the moment when Jafar becomes a genie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iNaR1ie7YA

It's great that you enjoyed the book!

What's funny is, your analogy points to one thing that some readers didn't like: it reads like a Young Adult book for them. It feels like it's aimed at "younger readers". Some adults love YA, and that's great, but some of us do not.

Edited January 3, 2025 by Nitpicking
typo

[Lord Spirit he/him]

7 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

It's great that you enjoyed the book!

What's funny is, your analogy points to one thing that some readers didn't like: it reads like a Young Adult book for them. It feels like it's aimed at "younger readers". Some adults love YA, and that's great, but some of us do not.

Didn’t feel like YA to me, aside from a few modern terms that were thrown in.  I was more suprised by the amount of philosophy. After the science of RoW, it felt like a book written for older readers. 

[Maeldun]

On 12/16/2024 at 7:26 AM, eriwancoselyn said:

Rhythm of War gave more cosmere info than any of the books before it. But it's considered to be far and away the worst stormlight book. 

These answers only have any value to us, none of the characters or conflicts have been meaningfully changed by the info you listed. It's interesting, but it's not important.

I am very upset with the general comments in this section, but this is by far my least favorite.

I thorougly enjoyed every bit of information that BS gave on Roshar, its history, how Honor died, etc.

You guys probably should read something else. I do not understand when the bar got so insanely high.

[eriwancoselyn]

46 minutes ago, Maeldun said:

I am very upset with the general comments in this section, but this is by far my least favorite.

I thorougly enjoyed every bit of information that BS gave on Roshar, its history, how Honor died, etc.

You guys probably should read something else. I do not understand when the bar got so insanely high.

I totally get that you may have thoroughly enjoyed all of those things but your enjoyment is a totally subjective metric. The bar was set by the first two books.

[Asininity]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:44 AM, Maeldun said:

I do not understand when the bar got so insanely high.

Near the ending of The Way of Kings

[Ahriman he/him]

Parts of this book were enjoyable but I can't give it higher than a 5/10.

My favourite parts were the debate with Jasnah and Venli's plotline. Those both felt well done and satisfying. I'm also fascinated by this fourth moon and look forward to finding out more.

The drops of information he feeds us every book about other Shards are a big reason I keep reading, and we got those in this book. I was happy with that, although didn't really need whole chapters in all caps. I like the developments at the end with Retribution and the larger cosmere, but it did feel like Dalinar ended his storyline by betraying everything he'd stood for previously. I know there was no way to win, but I'm getting tired of people taking a third option every time an awful choice presents itself. From the standpoint of the wider cosmere, I'm excited to see what happens with Retribution. From the standpoint of Roshar's story, I would have preferred he'd killed Gavinor. I was expecting some things to be answered in his plotline (Unity, "we killed you") and while that might come later I think that not having that in the first semiseries was a mistake.

The Gavinor thing itself was fine. When he talked about hearing his father sometimes I figured Odium was prepping him, but I didn't expect him to be aged up. Sanderson got me with the fake kid. It could have been more compelling, but I think the point that Odium could have picked any random victim worked well enough.

I enjoyed the visions in the Spiritual Realm for the most part, but even though they were interesting a lot of them felt like answers that weren't necessarily revelations. We learn interesting things about the Oathpact and human history, but they don't seem to have much impact on things. This, like most sections, could probably have been edited down a bit.

I was disappointed by Ba Ado Mishram and El. Both are very interesting, and the ending of the last book seemed to set El up as a major figure for this one, but neither character got to do very much. Mishram's backstory was interesting and important but she was released so late that she didn't get to do anything. El did things but I don't think the story would have been different if he'd been replaced by another Fused. Seemed like a waste.

The Shallan's mother thing was odd. I guess it was a common theory, but in the book it felt odd that it had never come up, especially her suddenly having been at Shallan's wedding. It seems strange to put such a big twist so late in the first semiseries, when it doesn't have any meaningful impact on the narrative and there's no space for a reaction to it, or to the fact that Taln didn't break, despite what everyone thought.

I liked Szeth's flashbacks. Did not like his present. The therapy arc was awful, in my opinion. I'd liked where it was going in the last book but the quality of writing seems to have taken a dive for this part. It also bordered on feeling like a video game with the boss fights. I'll echo what others have said about things like Szeth skipping an oath feeling jarring, though since he immediately renounced it I don't much mind.

I've never been a huge fan of Sanderson's writing style, but it's never annoyed me to the level it did in this book. There's always been slang but it seemed more pervasive, and it ruined the mood of some dramatic moments. The italics and ellipses felt much more melodramatic than usual. It also felt like everyone talked in the same "Standard Stormlight" voice. I noticed that especially with the Sibling and Maya, who went from unwilling or unable to speak much in the last book to sounding as quippy and teeny as everyone else in this one, and in Szeth's spren, who switched to the standard voice the second his air of mystery was broken. The writing has gotten grating to the point that I'm not sure I'll want to read the next book.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:44 AM, Maeldun said:

I am very upset with the general comments in this section, but this is by far my least favorite.

I thorougly enjoyed every bit of information that BS gave on Roshar, its history, how Honor died, etc.

So do I. So do most people, most likely.

That has not been the issue with the book. The problem is the lack of the rest. The revelation of this information is most of the plot. It is a very indirect book. It is about people viewing stuff essentially.

[Nitpicking]

31 minutes ago, Ahriman said:

I liked Szeth's flashbacks. Did not like his present. The therapy arc was awful, in my opinion. I'd liked where it was going in the last book but the quality of writing seems to have taken a dive for this part. It also bordered on feeling like a video game with the boss fights. I'll echo what others have said about things like Szeth skipping an oath feeling jarring, though since he immediately renounced it I don't much mind.

It occurs to me, the entire "Szeth's quest is formulaic and repetitive, and feels imposed" problem could be fixed by hanging a lampshade on it. Just have Kaladin or someone call out Ishar for insisting on this weird, pointless, arbitrary series of trials, and after the Big Revelation it turns out that it's because of his insanity that he did something so bizarre.

[Ahriman he/him]

4 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

It occurs to me, the entire "Szeth's quest is formulaic and repetitive, and feels imposed" problem could be fixed by hanging a lampshade on it. Just have Kaladin or someone call out Ishar for insisting on this weird, pointless, arbitrary series of trials, and after the Big Revelation it turns out that it's because of his insanity that he did something so bizarre.

That would have been perfect honestly. Weird, pointless, arbitrary rules are a big part of the Skybreaker philosophy he breaks away from too so it would even be all literary and thematic.