No more words needed. Sounds like we had the EXACT same reading experience. It's absolute insanity what Sanderson delivered here, regardless of the little quirks and clunkiness at the start. Loved hearing your thoughts!
I did a big reread for this book the last 3 months and read all of the cosmere works except sunlit, which I've read before. Cosmere lore aside I love your book and finished it over 3 days. Szeths journey with kal was probably my favorite part along with his backstory. I think this book is 2 or 3 on my list. I loved RoW for the science stuff and this had very little world mechanics but tons of cosmere stuff!
I gave it 4 stars. Cons: Too many characters. Some were ignored. Some villains were barely in this book. There was an argument that didn’t work. Too long. Pro: Great action sequences. Some strong characters. Some great flashbacks. Unexpected finale.
I finished the book last night and gave it 5/5 stars, too. It feels like the purest Sanderson novel, to me, in the sense that all of his strengths and weaknesses as a writer were dialed up to eleven. It's like he just put himself onto the page, in a sense, in all his ugliness and glory. Ultimately, the book is more than the sum of its parts, though--more than the peaks and valleys.
I have some conflicting feelings about this one. In terms of character, I think this is one of the strongest books to date. As someone who wasn’t really a fan of Adolin or Jasnah, this book made me LOVE them - and I’m excited to see where they go from here. The Szeth and Kal interactions also really hit for me. And the ending was a great capstone to this arc - thought the themes and conflicts were excellently handled and implemented. That said, the prose and dialogue themselves felt kinda clunky for a lot of the novel. Modern language was used far more than in WoK or WoR, which took me out of it a little. The depictions of depression also left me feeling slightly underwhelmed given how well I thought it was handled in RoW. Felt very handholdy and lacking subtext. Looking back - I also question how necessary Shallan’s plot line in this entry was; it felt very tertiary to the conflict at hand tbh. Overall, my gripes didn’t really affect my enjoyment of WaT too much, so it’s still a blast of a book imo. My rankings for the series are probably: WoR WoK WaT RoW O.
I was riveted! Couldn’t put it down. Enjoyed it very much. 8.75/10 for me. Pacing, character development, entertainment, big picture of the arc, fitting with the series, completing story lines, accuracy within universe… all very good. Only critique is I actually wanted more explicit details in the prose within fight scenes. This book had in my opinion, the worst fight scene descriptions despite having some of the coolest fights. Only other critique is the modern language such as “therapist” pulled me out.
@ Glad I’m not alone. It’s not even Kaladin’s role that is troublesome. It’s loaded language. Therapy can be good and it can also be politically or ideologically loaded language that we associate with over-medicating people and over-diagnosing what may be human faults rather than illness at times. It’s loaded language that is controversial and by using it, Brandon made people think of real world issues they tire of. I felt like that with Herald of “Second Chances” as well. Herald of Redemption would’ve carried more majestic weight given his new position. This turned into a long comment. The point is, really no one wants to see Kaladin through any ideological lense from real life. They just want to see a sacrificial hero.
Personally I did not like the direction the story took. It was written amazingly as usual but the plot choices left me shaking my head. I am biased though as he did my favorite character absolutely dirty in this book. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.
definitely agree with you! 5 stars! not sure where i'll rank it in the series, but i do think it's better than RoW and possibly Oathbringer, but WoK and WoR are still peak Stormlight for me haha
@bookishDrummer I'm the opposite! RoW and Oathbringer are my favourites, WoK and WoR least favourites, but they're all amazing. The new one I listened to on audio instead of reading so I'm not judging it until I've read the book, but it definitely has some awesome callbacks and character moments.
WoK and WoR and arguably the "best" but Oathbringer will always be my favorite. Dalinar's journey is just so good. He's such a profoundly well written character, feels so real.
Sanderson's writing has been regressing year after year. I guess the media one consumes has an effect on their writing. Obviously he used to read great fantasy previously. Like the elements he borrowed from Robin Hobb. Now most of his writings read like Manga, and nickelodeon animes. In this book Sezth is basically Aang. this book are
lol. First of all, put some respect off ATLA’s name. Borrowing from that show should be fine considering how amazing it was. Secondly, how is Sezth Aang? I don’t remember the part that where aang killed and killed and killed and killed until he decided he didn’t want to anymore? Edit: this came off far more confrontational than I meant it to. It’s meant with a lighthearted tone.
No more words needed. Sounds like we had the EXACT same reading experience. It's absolute insanity what Sanderson delivered here, regardless of the little quirks and clunkiness at the start. Loved hearing your thoughts!
I did a big reread for this book the last 3 months and read all of the cosmere works except sunlit, which I've read before. Cosmere lore aside I love your book and finished it over 3 days. Szeths journey with kal was probably my favorite part along with his backstory.
I think this book is 2 or 3 on my list. I loved RoW for the science stuff and this had very little world mechanics but tons of cosmere stuff!
I gave it 4 stars.
Cons: Too many characters. Some were ignored. Some villains were barely in this book. There was an argument that didn’t work. Too long.
Pro: Great action sequences. Some strong characters. Some great flashbacks. Unexpected finale.
Agree and some pov plots fell flat. A few shined.
I finished the book last night and gave it 5/5 stars, too. It feels like the purest Sanderson novel, to me, in the sense that all of his strengths and weaknesses as a writer were dialed up to eleven. It's like he just put himself onto the page, in a sense, in all his ugliness and glory. Ultimately, the book is more than the sum of its parts, though--more than the peaks and valleys.
So glad you enjoyed it in the end!
Waymaker? haven't read it yet, hope it's good
He is probably writing it now. 😂
I have some conflicting feelings about this one. In terms of character, I think this is one of the strongest books to date. As someone who wasn’t really a fan of Adolin or Jasnah, this book made me LOVE them - and I’m excited to see where they go from here. The Szeth and Kal interactions also really hit for me. And the ending was a great capstone to this arc - thought the themes and conflicts were excellently handled and implemented.
That said, the prose and dialogue themselves felt kinda clunky for a lot of the novel. Modern language was used far more than in WoK or WoR, which took me out of it a little. The depictions of depression also left me feeling slightly underwhelmed given how well I thought it was handled in RoW. Felt very handholdy and lacking subtext. Looking back - I also question how necessary Shallan’s plot line in this entry was; it felt very tertiary to the conflict at hand tbh.
Overall, my gripes didn’t really affect my enjoyment of WaT too much, so it’s still a blast of a book imo. My rankings for the series are probably:
WoR
WoK
WaT
RoW
O.
I was riveted! Couldn’t put it down. Enjoyed it very much. 8.75/10 for me. Pacing, character development, entertainment, big picture of the arc, fitting with the series, completing story lines, accuracy within universe… all very good. Only critique is I actually wanted more explicit details in the prose within fight scenes. This book had in my opinion, the worst fight scene descriptions despite having some of the coolest fights. Only other critique is the modern language such as “therapist” pulled me out.
I had the same complaint about the therapist thing!
@ Glad I’m not alone. It’s not even Kaladin’s role that is troublesome. It’s loaded language. Therapy can be good and it can also be politically or ideologically loaded language that we associate with over-medicating people and over-diagnosing what may be human faults rather than illness at times. It’s loaded language that is controversial and by using it, Brandon made people think of real world issues they tire of. I felt like that with Herald of “Second Chances” as well. Herald of Redemption would’ve carried more majestic weight given his new position. This turned into a long comment. The point is, really no one wants to see Kaladin through any ideological lense from real life. They just want to see a sacrificial hero.
3 out of 5 still decent but definitely the worst Sanderson book I've read.
Worst in the series, then you take into account that it is meant to be a conclusion and the next book is a decade away and it leaves a bitter taste
Sorry to hear it was a let down for you!
Personally I did not like the direction the story took. It was written amazingly as usual but the plot choices left me shaking my head. I am biased though as he did my favorite character absolutely dirty in this book. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.
It definitely wasn’t a favorite for a lot of people for similar reasons!
definitely agree with you! 5 stars! not sure where i'll rank it in the series, but i do think it's better than RoW and possibly Oathbringer, but WoK and WoR are still peak Stormlight for me haha
It’s hard to rank, for sure!
@bookishDrummer I'm the opposite! RoW and Oathbringer are my favourites, WoK and WoR least favourites, but they're all amazing. The new one I listened to on audio instead of reading so I'm not judging it until I've read the book, but it definitely has some awesome callbacks and character moments.
I actually like RoW better than WoR and OB
WoK and WoR and arguably the "best" but Oathbringer will always be my favorite. Dalinar's journey is just so good. He's such a profoundly well written character, feels so real.
The first few hundred pages are the worst. I can’t speak to the rest yet
Yeah, I get that! It took me a bit to get fully into it.
I had this experience in day 1, I enjoyed the book more the further I got into it
Worst. Terrible conclusion
Bummerrrr!
Sanderson's writing has been regressing year after year. I guess the media one consumes has an effect on their writing. Obviously he used to read great fantasy previously. Like the elements he borrowed from Robin Hobb. Now most of his writings read like Manga, and nickelodeon animes. In this book Sezth is basically Aang. this book are
lol. First of all, put some respect off ATLA’s name. Borrowing from that show should be fine considering how amazing it was. Secondly, how is Sezth Aang? I don’t remember the part that where aang killed and killed and killed and killed until he decided he didn’t want to anymore?
Edit: this came off far more confrontational than I meant it to. It’s meant with a lighthearted tone.