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Actually refreshing to see this perspective

Only read preview chapters so far but i did notice terrible monologue dialogue from some of the fused etc. Character moments seeming outof place or over the top like Kaladin scolding the librarian because she was annoyed with syl.... Im getting more and more concerned about his direction and quality of writing lately...

It’s no secret that I’m lukewarm on Stormlight. I relistened to WOK this year and the rating plummeted to 3.5 stars. I wanted to be inspired to read book 2. Nope. Still … not wanting to pick up the second book is telling. It’s in the worst place possible in my eyes … mid. I’m almost annoyed cuz I’m in the super minority and want to love it! The author seems very nice & I loved Tress (though now I’m afraid to reread my Dragonsteel edition). Thank you for your honest thoughts. I seriously should love these books. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I just finished, and I regret reading Wind and Truth. I have never been so let down by a book my entire life. Rhythm of War had it's problems but still had a great ending. This one was just BAD. I am so sad, because this series should have been his Magnum Opus.

I wish i'd dnf'd it, but like a massive car crash, I just could not look away despite my horror at regular intervals in this waste of a book. I agree with you man - and I can tell you, you missed literally nothing. Kal, the backbone of SA, was sidelined the ENTIRE book, wandering around Shinovar playing a bloody flute. And it only makes you madder as you go on lol so good on you! There were some cool moments, but it was so shit overall it was bewildering. Mental health went from being a theme to an Idol in this book, and this process started last book you are right. And it has destroyed his story, it's incredible. I'm also a huge cosmere nut, have read all the books, all the qna's, all the secret projects - ALL of it. 15 years man, wasted. And this is the only time ive ever felt so betrayed by what is supposed to be a concluding arc in a series. It has blown my mind, good to see i'm not alone.

Wind and truth solidified that I’m not a Sanderson fan. Feels YA and I can see the gears turning, characters moving to serve the plot --and it’s just too sanitized and mechanical.

I tried to get into this series last year. I read TWOK and about to finish WOR. These books take way too long to get going. 800 boring pages then 200 pages of fast paced good reads. I also feel like this book is more for readers aged 15- 25. I am 45 and huge LOTR fan. I don't think I'm going to continue storm light archive......

No problem at all other then being great 😊

Sanderson's writing has always been juvenile. But in the early days he was still that kid reading under his blanket with a flashlight saying "THIS IS AWESOME". Now he's an industry. The joy has been gone for a long time. I've always had a touch and go relationship with his books. I've DNF'd a bunch of them, but I've at least started a lot of them. I kept going back even though I had regular grievances (poor prose, YA feel, bad jokes, cartoony characters). When I DNF'd Oathbreaker I finally said I'm done with him. Also, fwiw, Stormlight Archive is by far the most overrated fantasy series of all time.

I am also a bit disappointed and we need to say it. The emperor has no clothes. The first 4 were excellent, but he failed to stick the landing. I really think the 10 days as a concept was a mistake as he wrote himself into a corner. I do wish you had finished wind and truth for the purpose of a more refined critique. It's more than the 9th grade level writing, there are several glaring problems with this novel that feel incredibly lazy and amateur for a writer like Brandon.

Just picked all 4 books in the series for $0.99 each, nice Amazon deal.

THANK YOU FOR KEEPING 💯 The series started out so amazing and epic fantasy. Now all of sudden we’re talking about “shit” and the private parts of a chull. And characters are saying “umm”. Just very weird…like give me a freaking break.

A two hour discussion on the Lord of Emperors & GGK. This is what makes booktube great and better than any tv show. It will be here now for future readers, that is “legacy” for ya…

I think I saw several of your criticisms early (like 30%? early) in Oathbringer and I decided it wasn't feeling like the series I began. There was something just so off about how the characters talked, on top of the "humour", it all felt just too modern. Too glib, sometimes. You know how people usually dislike Shallan's mannerisms? It seemed that everyone got a bit more like Shallan. And then that early on in Oathbringer Kaladin is just shoved to the side and we get Bridge Four chapters. "airsick lowlanders blah blah." Ugh, no. And... the man is not subtle. It became increasingly more of a problem, the mystical doesn't feel mystical, it feels mechanical in these books.

I was excited to read the Way of Kings, but I had to quit 500 pages in. It was incredibly boring, and the story was very repetitive and was not progressing at all. I don’t care how long a book is so long as the plot moves, WOK is as insufferably slow

I really agree with the points you've made in this video

Very good assessment. I had anticipated this book for years but couldn’t finish once I got certain parts that were completely uncharacteristic of Sanderson and very forced to support an agenda. I’m very sad because I was so looking forward to finding out what happens to characters I have fallen in love with.

This is why stories produced for nerds and geeks, on whatever medium, die on the vine. I really wanted to get into Sanderson, but all I keep seeing is how bad they have become. So, not gonna waste my time. It’s almost as bad as ASOIAF. Martin will never finish and all we will remember is the last season of the show.

Did you get the enormous, gigantic, tremendous Lion of Al Rassan easter egg!

If you take both books together it is a sandwich with the best french bread but Spam in between! Begins with 5 stars, 3 stars in the middle & 5 stars at the end!

Looking back on these now that I had a little more time, I think what blew me away was more the way GGK phrased things than the actual story itself, lol. His prose for scenes like the chariot race is among some of the best things I've read from him. But overall yes, these are at best upper mid tier GGK.

While its not my favourite GGK, its the work of his I look forward to reading again the most, aside from Lions and Under Heaven, which I might do next year. Admittedly my memory of Lord of Emperors is mostly fuzzy (I was going through stuff irl at the time) but I loved the ending.

Brave video, Niko! I haven't started Wind and Truth and won't likely get to it until the middle of next year, but have had similar issues with Sanderson. Namely that I feel that like you mentioned at the end of the video, that his earlier works FAR surpass his later works. Stormlight 1&2>3&4, Mistborn Era 1>2 as two examples. Back when I reviewed The Lost Metal, I wondered how much longer I'd follow him as an author. I appreciate your thoughts!

Did you pick it back up again and tough it out? At this point i'm considering just reading the Wikipedia and then stop caring about his books altogether. He's leaned into 'Marvelising' the Cosmere and I hate it.

I can understand what you're saying because it is a completely different feel from way of Kings. But I'm fine with it. I'm ready for a Fantasy space age tale.

I could and did finish the book but agree with most of ur concerns. Except for Lift, she's a great change of pace character for me. (Spoiler warnings) I Disliked the pacing from the 10day structure. Felt like early days just had less suspense and devalued some of that. The ending without an actual battles of champions seemed to make ending of the last book pointless and makes me kinda dislike it. If instead in the middle of a battle dalinar was losing, and then he gave up his powers and oathes it would have made more sense to me. If that also caused other spren oaths to be Invalid and thats how sizil lost his spren i think it would have worked (though could cause other issues, stormlight is already gone so most radiant powers are gone anyways). I hated 3 characters renouncing oaths. ALSO not a fan of idea of his death not being a thing potentially in the next book. Jasnah parts didnt live up to my own admittedly absurdly high expectations. Loved szeths story and flashbacks that part worked really well for me. Adolins chapters also worked for me I love that he got spren in the end out of respect sorta instead of oaths since oaths seem to be devalued now anyways. (Though being able to renounce oaths with little negative impact seems so broken mechanically) Inclusive type stuff as well as the modern lingo and therpaist type stuff also didnt work for me. Dont hate its in the book just felt out of place the way it was written almost like it was added after the fact instead of naturally part of the story. Renarin cross species love story felt rushed in 10 days to be a thing that could be real. It just seems so fake and forced. It worked better for the flashback as we can assume it happened more organically. Gohstblood story line didnt work for me as shallan stopped them, but it happened anyways so felt like a waste and only served purpose for shallans arc not a factor in the plot itself. Also had bit of an issue with Wit. This was his whole big plan and he was no where around for 99% of this and turns out really had little to no plan. Pros being not fantastic doesn't bother me like it does many. I speed read or listen to alot of these so I tend to undervalue great pros anyways. All this said, I hated RoW until I reread and I will reread this again, but im at like 2.7/5 and shocked at seing it at a 4.5-5 everywhere else. Seems like the gripes are acknowledged by most reviews then they still give it a 5 anyways. Feel like that just devalues a rating system.

I enjoyed books one through three and have reread them a couple times. Lots of interesting ideas and characters. Books four and five though, I can’t bring myself to reread. The series really went downhill in the last books, especially book 4. Way too much girl bossing if I remember right. I didn’t bother to read his new series because I saw there was a transvestite as the main protagonist. I just have no interest in reading about that. Sorry not sorry.

I agree with you. I started reading Sanderson last year and for the most part all of his recent stuff has been unappealing. I loved stormlight up through oathbringer. ROW and WAT were disappointing.

can't wait until you get to the White Order. Such a great shift in world perspective!

I loved it! but to be fair I’m the wider audience he was trying to appeal to lol.

I just stumbled across your review. I will say that this is my all time favorite author. I will say that if you try any of his Sci-Fi stuff, it is full of details and in-depth explanations that many will find slow and not needed. That said, I have aphantasia, and for me the more in-depth the explanations, the easier it is for me to relate to the characters and the wold. So for me, his way of writing both fantasy and sci-fi, it just can’t be beat. Glad you enjoyed the book for what it is and didn’t hate it for what it is not…

i get where you're coming from, to a certain extent. there are more and more objections that I see crop up that I really can't completely rationalize away. That being said, I still loved Wind & Truth. I think it had a really strong ending, I think a lot of the characters had really great endings. You have some good points. Does he need a better editor to cut out a lot of weird writing decisions and challenge him on using real world words like therapy in a really clunky way? absolutely Does he need new alpha and beta readers to tell him all his humor is starting to sound the same? absolutely But can he still deliver a damn fine story with a absolutely fire ending? also absolutely, from my perspective I was really worried leading up to W&T, worried he couldn't stick the landing, worried he'd lose the plot because of cosmere influences or weird modern day writing, and the preview chapters didn't do much to put those worries to rest, but after that... he delivers. As to the representation stuff, that's all him going on a journey. I'd be curious about which points you read that sounded like Brandon thinly disguising his own philosophy with the Mormon church, though.

insert mature and respectful response here

While I agree with some of your points, I do think it’s worth doing some introspection about why things that have always been part of stormlight have started to bother you now (lgbt characters, exploration of mental health, the books being broadly appealing). I’m not sure Sanderson has changed as a writer so much as you’ve probably changed as a reader, which is totally fine.

This book broke me. Such an utter failure. I’m a cosmere god in my friend group. I’ve reread every cosmere book multiple times. But WaT is analysis paralysis at its worst. By the start of WaT we’ve read over 4,000 pages of stormlight books, you dont need to explain a characters reasoning for every action, we know. You don’t need to say why this moment matters, we KNOW. For one who writes about broken characters who embrace setbacks but strive to change and be better - it’s unbelievable how little he’s invested in trying to be a better writer or find a capable editor. Quantity > Quality by Brandon Sanderson.

I’m a big Brandy Sandy fan I’m caught up on everything apart from Alcatraz, and i can 1000% see and agree with your argument that WaT is catering to the masses and the editing process suffers by Sando’s stardom (we’ve seen the same happen Stephen King) I watched a Q&A where the audience was asking Sando for more LGBT representation so absolutely now its sudden inclusion does look like catering to the fans. I don’t think any of this is bad necessarily, like you said, all just an observation. 👍

I just finished Wind and Truth and oh boy. I was conflicted about the direction of the story during the beginning and middle parts but the end floundered tremendously. Just wow. So much of the initial draw for me has been thrown out with that ending. Honestly it’s not shocking as I felt the shift in RoW but this is so disappointing. I started reading Stormlight in high school and I can’t say even teenage me would have enjoyed this conclusion. I did enjoy some of the book such as Szeth’s flashbacks and Adolin’s chapters but unfortunately that isn’t enough to save it for me. So baffled at the stark drop in quality even from RoW.

I find audio super low, I have everything turned and its still quiet

It feels like books 1,2 are different entities from 3,4. Ofc that is my opinion, i will still love WoK till my last breath but 4 and 5 are just not my cup of tea, thank you for the video 💯behind you. :)

Reading the word "therapist" in the books really makes me cringe.

No offense bt if u Tell me this is the guy that wrote hero of ages i will disbelief We have fallen from inspiration to mediocrity From Vin's sacrifice to just giving up. I think this is the destination for me,continue on guys bt i can assure u this series aint worth waiting for 10 years

You complain that the books are too focused on internal character issues instead of the world, which is funny because I have the opposite complaint. I see too much focus on the world, lol. And to the extent that characters are focused on, I find that poorly done. Enjoyed listening to your thoughts.

Just a heads up, your audio volume is low!

I read Way of Kings and jumped off once I saw he was going to start releasing novellas in between books and tying things into the broader cosmere too much. Out of curiosity when each book is released I check out the reddit and try to keep up with the main events. This has become absolutely impossible. People are basically speaking a different language. All the terminology is just exhausting. Sanderson may have simple language in his books but they are the opposite of newcomer friendly. People just getting into fantasy will be turned away by the bloated complexity of it all. He's a fantasy author for fantasy fans. You can speculate about how every tiny bit of his worldbuilding relates to each other in new and interesting ways. But if you don't keep up with all of it, then it's just impenetrable. I need to make notes, charts and do do homework to read his books. They are no longer for me, and unfortunately, many other fantasy authors have taken Sanderson's success as a licence to also write their own books this way. I read less and less fantasy every year.

I think one of the key points you said about the core heart and feel has changed. Part of it is forcing in modern ideas and perspectives without blending them naturally into the story. I agree it feels like his circle while it has grown with beta readers and others, I think there are fewer people pushing back on some ideas and there are more influences pushing him to add more and more modern ideas just to have them in there. I finished the book after reading it nonstop for 2 days, and I thought part of the letdown was just that I read it too fast, but I also think some of it is that truly the book was a bit of let down in and of itself, partly just because the anticipation and expectations practically always are higher than the actual experience, but also because it is losing some of that soul it seemed to have. Adding real world curse words, some scenes and themes is shifting Sanderson from being an author I can blanket recommend to needing to add some qualifications and flags especially when talking with younger cousins or others. I also agree that the length was unnecessary, and it dragged on at times. I liked the last little bit with Kaladin. Some of the developing story and the associated themes around Adolin are odd considering how oaths play such an important role. (I don't want to spoil, so I'll leave it vague).

Great perspectives! This has been the most conflicting book I’ve read in a while. Not sure if I’m reading a story or a spur of the moment idea that an author wrote in a napkin and decided to publish it without any formal editing process. The language and prose is a major step down from TWOK, which was a superior book in terms of presenting ideas with a clear yet sophisticated use of the language. The prose in WaT is suffused with modern vernacular, which strangely affects the story’s quality. Rather than enjoying the story by completely immersing in it, I find myself constantly asking why good prose decided to go goodbye.

Not sure how much sense this makes but I have no plans to DNF and I’m enjoying it more than not but also I agree with almost everything you said at the same time.😂

I'm about a third of the way through the book right now, with no real motivation to continue (other than tearing into it in my own review), so videos like this are really refreshing to see. I too have been a massive fan of the cosmere for years and years, and I've read everything, but this has been a noticeable decline in quality to the point that I doubt I'll continue with the cosmere at all. What a shame.

I agree with most of what you're saying. I managed to get through about 30% of the book before I decided to DNF it and only read the rest of Kaladin's chapters because at that point I just wanted to know how his (and Syl's) arc ended and didn't give a shit about anything else anymore. I'm still kind of in disbelief that half a year of looking forward to the release of this book lead up to this: massive disappointment. Every character has become a shell of their former self, the book reads as fanfiction at times due to the modern/YA language use, and the attempts at humor are just so painfully cringy. Don't get me wrong, The Way of Kings will always hold a special place in my heart and I still respect Sandersson for having created this captivating world and intriguing story, but I'm so glad I only started reading Stormlight Archive in February so I didn't waste years of my life being invested in this series. Apologies for the rant, I needed to vent a little lol.

I liked Wind and Truth but it would have benefited for some more revisions before release. I agree that editing of this book wasn’t as good as it was for previous releases. However, I love the story and character arcs. I hope to see more from Taravangian in other cosmere novels. Hopefully, someone from Sandersons team sees your video and does something about quality control.