Words of Radiance

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.