How Would You Rate the Stormlight Books?

[Teravangian]

This is a post to simply ask your opinion. Share any thoughts you want. For me I'd rate the books in the following order, though to be clear, I like them all:

1. Words of Radiance

2. The Way of Kings

3. Rythm of War

4. Wind and Truth

5. Oathbringer

I could see the last two going either way for me, and I still like them, just not as much as 1-3. How would you rate them?

[Treamayne]

58 minutes ago, Teravangian said:

This is a post to simply ask your opinion

See also - the most recent poll.

There are many others if you search, but most of those were from before WaT. 

[Teravangian]

14 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

See also - the most recent poll.

There are many others if you search, but most of those were from before WaT. 

Ah, oops, I was unaware that thread existed.

[Treamayne]

59 minutes ago, Teravangian said:

Ah, oops, I was unaware that thread existed.

It's fine to have more than one - and they are slightly different. Just pointing out the poll was there since you seemed interested in reading other opinions. 

[Highprince645343]

1. Wind and Truth

2. Words of Radiance

3. Oathbringer

4. Rhythm of War

5. The Way of Kings

honestly WAT as first is quite close for me, I love all these books but I really felt like WAT always had something interesting happening

[The-Rizzler]

1. The Way of Kings - 11/10

2. Words of Radiance - 7/10

3. Oathbringer - 6/10

4. Rhythm of War - 2/10

5. Wind and Truth - did not read because Rhythm of War was so god-awful I couldn't bring myself to suffer through more of Sanderson's derailment.

Edited August 15, 2025 by The-Rizzler

[Saint They/Them]

Way of Kings
Rhythm of War
Words of radiance
Oathbringer
Wind and Truth

To be clear I love all of these books, Wind and Truth is last purely because I feel I need another reread before I can judge it properly just haven't had the time

[Endnighthazer]

1. Way of Kings
2. Oathbringer
3. Rhyhm of War
4. Wind & Truth
5. Words of Radiance

All are good, just going on enjoyment

[Vatsug]

I'll leave out WoT since I haven't finished it yet, but: 

1. Words of Radiance 

2. Way of Kings

3. Oathbringer

4. Rythm of War

That being said - Oathbringer probably has my favourite moments in the entire series. 

[Teravangian]

10 hours ago, Endnighthazer said:

1. Way of Kings
2. Oathbringer
3. Rhyhm of War
4. Wind & Truth
5. Words of Radiance

All are good, just going on enjoyment

Putting WoR at the bottom is sacrilege

[The-Rizzler]

8 hours ago, Teravangian said:

Putting WoR at the bottom is sacrilege

While I agree it’s not the worst by far, I can see why some may think so.  Part 1 is an absolute slog and the focus on Shadesmar  can be a bummer given how boring Sanderson made the Cognitive Realm.

[Teravangian]

1 hour ago, The-Rizzler said:

While I agree it’s not the worst by far, I can see why some may think so.  Part 1 is an absolute slog and the focus on Shadesmar  can be a bummer given how boring Sanderson made the Cognitive Realm.

Your thinking of the wrong book lol

[Endnighthazer]

15 hours ago, Teravangian said:

Putting WoR at the bottom is sacrilege

It dropped a lot on a reread. A lot of the main plot, to me, feels like its in-between two more interesting plots (wok-era and ob-era) and focused on transitioning the characters, and I just find that less enjoyable. 

[The-Rizzler]

21 hours ago, Teravangian said:

Your thinking of the wrong book lol

Ah, it turns out I was thinking about Part 2, not Part 1.  But it's the right book.  All of Shallan's "travelling through the Shattered Plains" material was drier than the wasteland itself.

[Teravangian]

12 minutes ago, The-Rizzler said:

Ah, it turns out I was thinking about Part 2, not Part 1.  But it's the right book.  All of Shallan's "travelling through the Shattered Plains" material was drier than the wasteland itself.

But they aren't in shadesmar, that's my point. That's Oathbringer.

[The-Rizzler]

6 minutes ago, Teravangian said:

But they aren't in shadesmar, that's my point. That's Oathbringer.

Oh yeah, right!  Yeah, that part of Oathbringer sucked.  But those Dalinar chapters?  Amazing.

[Lord Stormer]

My ratings:

1. Words of Radiance

2. Way of Kings

3. Oathbringer

4. Wind and Truth

5. Rhythm of War

Have seen lots of best to worst 5 arrangements. What's interesting is that I can categorize a large portion of readers according to their listing order. The pattens can be extended to the greater Cosmere (but I haven't read everything). So there's a way to know what kind of reader are you depending on your list 

Remember that I can be wrong, and this list doesn't apply to all.

Pattern #1: Oathbringer on top, WoK and WoR vie for #2 and #3, then the series goes downhill in RoW and WaT

Serious readers who love heavy themes and emotional depth. The first two books are incredible, but Oathbringer's ending is an absolute epic of a literary legend. No one cares how slow is that book. However, momentum is lost afterwards. I feel it too.

Pattern #2: #1 goes to either Way of Kings or Words of Radiance (though the latter comes more often), #3 is usually Oathbringer

I'm quite a match for this category. I think we are kind of readers who loves all aspects of the story in a balanced way. Love the character work, plot, pacing, lore, and of course the Sanderlanche. Words of Radiance may be one of the greatest books of all time (not just fantasy). Not an overstatement, evident with a 4.76 star rating on Goodreads (not a definitive verdict, but very much convincing). Rhythm of War is often the worst because it has the least in common with WoR.

Pattern #3: Wind and Truth is high on #1 or #2

Dedicated readers who love lore and Cosmere connections, I say. It's hard to resist thinking of how Stormlight is setting the stars to align for the greater conflict. All of you embody Journey before Destination.

Edited August 29, 2025 by Lord Stormer

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

3 minutes ago, Lord Stormer said:

Pattern #1: Oathbringer on top, WoK and WoR vie for #2 and #3, then the series goes downhill in RoW and WaT

Serious readers who love heavy themes and emotional depth. The first two books are incredible, but Oathbringer's ending is an absolute epic of a literary legend. No one cares how slow is that book. However, momentum is lost afterwards. I feel it too.

I feel like these kinds of people would really like HoA.

Hero of Ages has, in my opinion, an even better ending than OB.

[Lord Stormer]

2 minutes ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

I feel like these kinds of people would really like HoA.

Hero of Ages has, in my opinion, an even better ending than OB.

Yep, right, but that's universal regardless of the type of reader. One of the most reliable constants in the Sanderson community is HoA being S-tier.

[Nitpicking]

3 hours ago, Lord Stormer said:

Yep, right, but that's universal regardless of the type of reader. One of the most reliable constants in the Sanderson community is HoA being S-tier.

Enh. It had a good ending, but the middle was quite boring for me.

[TacoBellChoutaMeal]

Oathbringer is my favorite book, but I think it does have its flaws. 
 

1. Way of Kings

2. Words of Radiance (honestly this one could be in the number one spot as well, both of those first two books are so good, I just liked TWoK a teeny bit more. But maybe WoR is the better book, idk, I gotta re-read it. 

3. Oathbringer

4. Wind and Truth

5. Rhythm of Bore

i think WaT is a mess but at least there’s stuff going on. And it made Nale into one of my favorite characters, fella did nothing wrong. Ishar can piss off, though

[Ripheus23]

W&T is my favorite individual fantasy book out of all I've ever read. And I like the whole Archive to date anyway. So:

1. W&T

2. WoK

3. OB

4. WoR

5. RoW

[Akimikoisthecutest]

I love all the books but here is my ranking.

1. Wor

2. W&T

3. WoK

4. OB

5. RoW

[Ink and Embers Any pronouns]

1 - Wind and Truth (some of it was brilliant and that outweighs the terrible bits for me)

2 - Words of Radiance (just generally great)

3 - The Way of Kings (cool worldbuilding and characterisation)

4 - Oathbringer (the only part that sticks in my brain is the end, but that was absolutely epic)

5 - Rhythm of War (I still really liked it, the tone just felt more grim than previous books)