Words of Radiance

I read Way of Kings a little while back, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't really completely capture me and I put off reading this one. I'm glad I came back to it though, because I really got into this book.

I think it can be a little cheesey at times, but I love the idealistic characters and the way they learn about their powers over time. I will definitely get to Oathbringer sooner.

Het vervolg op The Way of Kings stond al een tijdje op de “te lezen”-lijst. Ik heb eerst in de rapte The Way of Kings herlezen, en dan hopla gewoon aan één stuk door Words of Radiance doorgelezen.

Redelijk letterlijk “aan een stuk door”, trouwens: ik lag met oorontsteking en koppijn te bed, en tot mijn verbazing lukte lezen wél deze keer – dus heb ik een halve dag en een nacht doorgelezen, en het boek was uit. Spijtig, vond ik. Natuurlijk is het nog altijd geen grote literatuur, en natuurlijk blijft het allemaal wat formulaisch, en soms wordt het zelfs wat kinderactig (die woordspelingen!), maar hey: een mens leest ook soms eens om te onspannen, en dat is bij deze helemaal gelukt.

De wereld van Stormlight Archive (tien! boeken gepland!) is typische Brandon Sanderson: een volledig uitgedacht geheel van in elkaar hakende rassen en samenlevingen en geschiedenis en magische systemen, bevolkt met personages die zowaar meestal ménsen zijn en geen karikaturen.

Voor sommige mensen, als ik het internet wat afspeur, lijkt het alsof er weinig gebeurt in deel twee van de serie, maar da's niet wat ik ervan vind. Het is Traag, maar op een vals plat-manier: het lijkt alsof er niet zo enorm veel gebeurt, maar er gebeurt eigenlijk wél vanalles. Zowel de wereld als de personages zijn een heel eind duidelijker geworden. Waar Shallan in het eerste deel bijna irritant was, met haar voortdurende grapjes, wordt ze in deel twee zowaar een tragisch personage. Waar het in het eerste deel nog voor een groot stuk raden was naar de motieven en de mechanismen, zijn er nu weliswaar nog altijd mysteries, maar het wordt min of meer mogelijk om een lijn te zien in de zaken, en stuk voor stuk te reconstrueren wat er gebeurd is, en te beginnen raden naar wat er nog gaat gebeuren.

Shallan Davar en Kaladin kunnen allebei iets magisch, hoera, en er is uitzicht op nog veel andere mensen die iets magisch kunnen doen, en er zijn zeker twee viewpoints van de andere kant van het conflict (Szeth de moordenaar en Eshonai de leidster van de Parshendi): dat bouwt allemaal naar epische dingen.

Oh, en natuurlijk is zelfs de serie van tien boeken maar een onderdeel van de Cosmere, het universum waar veel van Sanderson's boeken zich in afspelen, met een wezen dat in zestien shards uit elkaar spatte, en met onder meer Hoid, die van reeks naar reeks over en weer gaat en alles – ik zal dan toch nog Warbreaker moeten lezen, vermoed ik.

All in all: degelijk boek. Op naar nummer drie. Ergens in de lente van 2016, zegt één bron, nog voor het einde van 2015, zegt een andere.

what a book. felt shorter at 1200 pages than WoK did at 1000 pages.

the grand scale of the battles and conflicts in this book are incredible. i usually have a hard time picturing everything im reading in my head, but not so with this. sanderson paints such a clear picture of the story he's telling, and though there's a lot of information you're constantly taking in, it still feels manageable.

the magic system in stormlight archives continues to grow deeper, and im so excited to see how it expands further in oathbringer.

im thoroughly enjoying this series, and cant wait to start the next one.

2023 re-read 5⭐s!

One of the best fantasy books ever written.

Words of Radiance continues to build on the already great first entry of the Stormlight Archives.

Action, politics, humor, drama. This book has all these elements and more.

Even with this book being 1000+ pages, it reads so quickly as you do not want to stop.

Ready to dive into the next book for another re-read.

“Words are where most change begins.”

Spoilery questions after reading Part 1:

Serious spoilers for WoR ahead

- Was Szeth's spren taken from him or killed? How can he do Surgebinding if he has no spren?

- Can you physically go to Shadesmar or only mentally, since it's a cognitive realm?

- Jasnah's not really dead, right? Since her body not being there was specifically pointed out? Also, she had a spren sooo?! (confused)

- Uhhh WTH is going on with the Parshendi? They pokevolve? 😂

- Was that really a spren in the crystal that Eshonai used? Why'd she change so drastically?

Favorite parts:
* Adolin's first duel 😎
* Kaladin and Shallan's bickering!!
* Adolin and Kaladin at the training grounds.
* The 🐎 riding lesson was unexpected and hilarious.
* Shallan asking Adolin weird questions about the Shardplate 😂
* Learning to use Shardblades.
* Shallan being a spy.
* Pattern being a voice recorder 😆

Brandon Sanderson has quickly risen to be one of my absolutely favourite authors. With the second book in the Stormlight Archive, he hits it out the park again. The world of Roshar is an intriguing one of storms and archaic social orders based on some seemingly arbitrary physical attributes (light eyed people are the rulers). The world building here is second to none, and the epic scope that was begun with The Way of Kings is amply followed up and even increased in this. Stormlight #1 spent most of its length establishing the backstory and motives for its main protagonists, Dalinar, Kaladin and Shallan. This book final unites them and the results are spectacular. All of these characters have grown over the course of the 2000 odd pages of the first two books (yes, these books are HUGE). The characters are all interesting, likeable and flawed - always an engaging mix.

I cannot praise the brilliance of the magic systems that Brandon Sanderson uses enough, and this is another system that is cleverly constructed. The currency in the world of Roshar are gems which can store energy recharged in the frequent storms. This energy is what drives the magic, but the energy is used up by the act. The religious undertones behind the magic are facinating too, along with the concept of ‘spren', beings of thought/emotion/ideas/natural forces.

This series is rapidly becoming one of my top 5 fantasy series of all time, and I have only read the first two books. Oathbringer, Stormlight #3, is high up on tbr and I cannot wait till book 4 comes out later this year.

Shallan was amazing in this. I loved her already in the first book but she barely in it and very timid. I loved her attitude in this book. I was a bit frustrated with the characters, no one knew about each other and they kept everything secret, which is the most annoying thing. But it did make the ending more satisfying, for sure. Good these books are long, but they are always worth it. 

I'M DONE. FINALLY.

This book was my white whale this year, it took me so long get through and I almost didn't finish in 2020. I really enjoyed it though!

If you liked the Way of Kings then you'll also really enjoy this one. The cast of characters is amazing, there really isn't a single person that was a drag to read about. The story also keeps an excellent pace and actually ties up a number of lose ends from the first book.

The only issue with Words of Radiance is essentially what was “wrong” with The Way of Kings: it throws a ton of lore at you and you need to be okay with not knowing what the big picture is. Once you're invested in the characters and their adventures you'll be pulled through the bits that don't make sense or maybe go over your head.

Damn, this really was a great book!

Felt a bit long and plodding. Some cool character developments that felt like they should have happened hundreds and hundreds of pages earlier. Overall it was enjoyable but nowhere near as good as the first book in the series. The end is great and sets up some potentially awesome story arcs for the next book or two. The duel in the middle of book was fun (but the rules seemed really contrived). Chop out 200 pages of blah and I would have given this book 5 stars

It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did it a race to find out what happened next. I loved the character development in Shallan. Kaladin was a bit frustrating to me until the end. In the next books we're supposed to get more than just an interlude of Szeth, and that can't come quick enough. At some point how this series and all the other Cosmere series tie together is going to make sense to me. I can't wait for that.

Well, Stormlight Archives have not been disappointing so far. I'm so excited to be invested in this series as it's coming out, and be at least a small part of the fandom madness and speculation. It's like a mix of that excitement and all the speculation over Harry Potter, and the number of easter eggs and cameos as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has. Anyway.

Way of Kings was great because it did such a great job setting up this amazing Stormlight world but Words of Radiance even better because we're finally expanding on what we had and things are developing and happening at last. The pacing, the absolute ridiculous intricacy of the plot, the complexity of the story, the layers upon layers upon layers of storytelling, and the tremendous interweaving of plotlines and backstories and characterwork... I really wonder how he keeps everything straight in his head.

I'm almost at a loss of how to review this honestly. This was a 1,310 page chonker but it went by faster than books less than a quarter of its size. I was speculating every step of the way and I had comments for almost every single chapter.

Kaladin was pretty infuriating for most of this book. He reminded me so much of a hormonal teenager that is just stuck in his “oh, woe is me” rut all the time. In fact, he reminded me of Harry Potter in Order of the Phoenix, where he just mopes for the entire book feeling like the whole world is against him. Kaladin was pretty much like that. The only times I enjoyed his scenes was whenever he was with Shallan, because she's the only character that actually bothered to call out his bullshit and which helped him snap out of his misery jerking for a bit.

Shallan has fast become one of my favourite characters this book. She was okay in the first book but I think I liked Jasnah better. Well, Jasnah was pretty much gone for most of this book (I called it halfway through that she hadn't actually died), so Shallan took over and boy did she grow. She's been through some shit but she still gets up and tries to make it through everyday with a smile on her lips and a quip at the end of her tongue. We spend most of this book thoroughly hating her abusive dad, Lin Davar, only to realise that he had been maligned and that it had actually been Shallan who had killed her own mom instead. It was a truth she had to confront in order to take the final step to becoming a Knight Radiant. What is it going to mean for her development in the next book? What would it mean for her that she had basically murdered both her parents, one of them when she was just six years old? This complicates her character even more and I'm really here for that level of complexity.

Adolin... I didn't like him for the first half of the book but after he finally stopped being a prick to Kaladin and decided to buddy up with him, he grew a lot more tolerable. Poor dude though. He's so intricately connected to all of the Knights Radiant, but isn't one himself. My jaw also dropped when he suddenly, randomly murdered Sadeas in broad daylight at the end. What is that going to mean for him in the next book? Not that I minded what happened to Sadeas, of course. He really had that coming for him.

I'm really excited also at the introduction of Lift. She was oozing awesomeness throughout and I'm excited to see if she's going to turn out as one of the Knights Radiant too, even though she's, what, 13?

I mean, what's there to really say? If you liked Way of Kings, you'll probably enjoy this one even more. If you didn't like Way of Kings, then this one is going to be even more confusing for you. If you haven't read Way of Kings then it's a bit of a no-brainer - go read that one first! If, like me, you need a refresher before going into this one, check out the chapter summary of Way of Kings on Coppermind (fan wiki). It takes a while to get back into the stride of things especially if you haven't read it for a while, but once things get going, they really get going. Couldn't put this one down.

5.00/5.00“You have a chip on shoulder the size of a boulder”.

I think reading Words of Radiance should give us a chip on our shoulder. This chapter of the Stormlight Archives is already a part of fantasy's greatest works, a masterpiece of storytelling, featuring fantasy's greatest characters, bringing the cosmere to reality. Kaladin will go down as the most beloved characters in fantasy history. He is superman, while being a serious and interesting character. Dalinar's wisdom evokes the weight of leadership in ways no other story has done before for me.

"The Knights Radiant, have Returned""I choose him, he's mine","I promise to protect even those I hate""Honor is dead, but I'll see what I can do".Plot -> Words of Radiance is one large book plus several short stories woven together in one giant novel. The story weaves into the characters in the most satisfying ways, in ways only the Lord Ruler can do. Its similar to how the plot weaves into the worldbuilding in The Wheel of Time books. The best parts, in the order of decreasing awesomeness -> Kaladin protecting Elhokar and speaking the third oath after realizing that Elhokar is Dalinar's Tien, Sadeas's death, Kaladin jumping in to the arena to protect Adolin, Shallan killing Tyn, the Listener's POV, Dalinar demanding surgebinding from the stromfather, Dalinar asking Wit if he is a Herald! OMG. And Adolin-Kaladin Bromance yay!Worldbuilding -> The listeners society is the crowing jewel of worldbuilding in this book. It makes them such interesting bad guys, who are forced to become so when cornered. Roshar's flora and fauna impresses in this book as well. Windrunner and Lightweaver magic system is probably the most interesting magic systems in all of fantasy, although I think WoT worldbuilding is better. I still throw a perfect 10 here, cause I think it is done so well. Shardblades being dead spren, wow, I did not see that coming. And who are these Cosmere gods! Charaters -> Kaladin, Kaladin, Kaladin, enough said. The lessons he learns in this book, the growth he goes through in this book are second to none. Shallan comes in with her complex layered personality the part with Kaladin-Shallan in the chasms is gold. (budding romance?, not sure how I feel about a love triangle)Prose -> Not much to say here, better than the way of kings, but still no where close to the best. I think the book needs more poignant and quotable lines. The story is so impactful, but the writing is so forgettable that the book suffers a disadvantage when compared to other fantasy prose. Emotional Impact -> Screaming, cheering, roaring and crying. Words of Radiance is an emotional ocean. Plot twists, satisfying magic systems, satisfying character arcs, satisfying character deaths and the unmistakable awesomeness of a sanderlanche. Perfect and rare 10 for me.

4.0 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Brandon Sanderson's follow-up to The Way of Kings is an ambitious and impressive display of epic fantasy storytelling. This is an expansive and detailed world that keeps growing with each additional book. Speaking of growing, this 1,000+ page monstrosity would certainly benefit from a tighter edit, but at this point Sanderson can publish whatever and however many words he chooses. Luckily, the story moves along at a decent pace, and I was never left bored with the book as it progressed, but it did take several hundred pages for the story to grab me.

The story features characters in a Good vs. Evil struggle, and almost all of them want to be on the Good side, but some attempt to better the world through Evil means. This adds an interesting wrinkle to a classic trope. While I've enjoyed following the heroic journeys that many of these characters are on, it seems that they lack the depth or authenticity that would allow me to truly care about them. I think I was spoiled by reading so much Robin Hobb in between books in this series.

My qualms aside, this is another enjoyable installment in an epic series that I'm excited to move forward with.