A Slow Decline, But Still Good: Wind and Truth Review

[@oswinhull4203]

I have been watching a lot of reviews. It seems like on the more negative ones there is a general idea that Sanderson has changed somehow but there isnt really a consensus on the particulars. I don't really see it. I just listened to someone complaining the tone was too light compared to earlier installments and you are saying it is too dark. I feel like the tone is really similar. You didnt really complain about the sophmoric humor but a lot of people have. I feel like that is standard fair for Sando. The straightforward modernish prose is also very Sando to me. Just to nitpick some of your more specific criticisms, Kal doesn't invent therapy in 10 days. Him helping people goes all the way back to the very beginning with group therapy around Rocks stew pot. It becomes his primary focus in RoW. I thought the introduction of the word therapy by Wit was okay. We all know what he is doing. You might as well say it. The moment where he declares he is Szeths therapist is obviously meant to be funny. I thought it worked. You mention the chana mama theory being telegraphed. A lot of people didn't believe that theory. I thought it was a great example of Sando creating a cool plot twist that gave you enough information to see it coming if you were paying attention but not so obvious it was telegraphed. The SR time weirdness was set up. A lot of people saw the gav twist coming immediately because they already knew about child champion. There are places where time is passing more quickly and more slowly in SR. I agree the Blackthorn thing is a contrivance. Your point about RoW being the science book and WaT being the history book is spot on too. Overall I really liked it. I think WoK will always be my favorite but this one might be my second favorite just with all the really important events that happened and the additions to the lore.

[@rudyh721]

Honestly this one is maybe my favorite stormlight book. I’m gonna give it more time to simmer, but *spoilers* Adolins arc was incredible and full of great moments Dalinars choice makes for a genius ending that seems hopeless but leaves a bit of hope The flashbacks are imo the most compelling so far, they provide more context to szeth and tie in with the climax of his arc in this book so well So many cool moments. Shallan outsmarting the 2 ghostbloods and then trying to get mraize to choose a different path but having to kill him in the end, and now she’s permanently trapped in shadesmar! Even nightblood got some character development Multiple “full circle” moments that come back to book one. Taln forgiving the heralds Kaladin playing the song that wit played for him in book one. Gav seeing Dalinar attack elhokar all the way from book one, and that being very relevant is awesome The emperor going back to save adolin was great, adolin going in alone and crippled to fight a fused 1 on 1 and going back remembering his training with zahel was so heroic and hype. I could go on and on. It’s hard for me not to pick this as one of my favorite stormlight books

[@TrabensTomes]

I can't really see how someone could describe the tone of this series as too light unless they were specifically focusing on the humor, which as you pointed out does read as a bit juvenile at times. I agree that it is pretty standard for Sanderson. I came into his heavier titles off of a few of his YA series, in which this kind of humor is far more prevalent and heavy handed. Looking at the events of the series as a whole, it is laden with losses and pyrrhic victories for the heroes. The heroes have suffered loss after loss since Oathbringer and even at the conclusion of this book the world is at its bleakest point since the series began. There remains but a tiny sliver of hope and while, ultimately, I have faith that this will be a story where the heroes triumph, it is nevertheless disheartening to read book after book where things only seem to be getting worse. And your right that this is similar to the other books in terms of tone but I was hoping we'd get the shift here rather than having to wait until 2033 and beyond to start seeing the tide of battle turn. I think I would put Words of Radiance as my #1 and Way of Kings as #2. These were the only two so far that I rated 5 stars. This would likely be my #3 just for its reveals and tying up some of the many threads from earlier books. Appreciate your well thought out criticisms. Glad you enjoyed the book.

[@TrabensTomes]

I agree that Adolin and Dalinar had the best stories in this book. It was nice to see several plots come to a conclusion. As I mentioned in the review, I was pretty disappointed in Shallan's arc here, but really she and Kaladin kind of hit their peak for this first arc in RoW, so I get why her story wasn't as compelling for me here. Still glad you enjoyed the read!

[@oswinhull4203]

@@rudyh721 I have to agree with all of that. WaT has the all the biggest climatic moments of the series so far that we've been building toward forever. For me nothing can quite beat the magic of first getting introduced to Roshar in WoK. WoR and OB have a lot of the best character moments. RoW is really the only one I had trouble with but I sort of realized how good it was at the end and in hindsight.

[@oswinhull4203]

​@@TrabensTomes It's maybe a little darker. TBH I would have preferred it be even darker though. He should have left Dalinar and Karabranth completely dead. I don't like fake out stuff like that. It feels kind of cheap like the author is trying to get the emotional impact but then they chicken out and undo the consequences a couple chapters later. I guess I kind of trust Brando will do something cool with it though.

[@suuujuuus]

I felt Brando Sando was just trying to setup the next books with this one, resolving loose ends and delivering clumps of long awaited info.

[@TrabensTomes]

That's definitely how it felt with the Honor chapters and with Shallan. I've seen several comments referencing the "MCU-nification" of the story, mostly in reference to the humor, but the info dumps feel reminiscent of the scenes in Age of Ultron which only served to hint at future projects. There was a good part of this book that had to explain the lore we've been teasing at this whole time, and unfortunately that came at the cost of character development and smoothly written prose.

[@OhMyJoshy]

I share a lot of your feelings with this book and likewise rated it a 4/5. I think it’s right to say that this was equally one of Sanderson’s worst written books (from a technical writing perspective), and yet one of his best plotted and paced books. I think if he spent one more year on this one it could have been perfect.

[@TrabensTomes]

It did feel like this one dragged less than the last two entries, likely because we had so many characters to jump between and it always felt like it was building to something bigger even when an individual chapter was maybe not as engaging as it could have been. As much as I enjoyed the Book Quartermaster chapter, I'm glad those kind of filler or side story chapters were relegated to the interim chapters later on.

[@Altian00]

I've recently noticed how much I've been disappointed by things setting up so potential and possibility only to fail in the end. My biggest complaint about Sando all along is the purposeful vagueness. I get that other people love it, and it's great, when it works. But what we have here is exactly what I've been terrified of. So many secrets, big and small, so many plot points purposely hidden during the journey, only to be info dumped all at once, and even then they don't make sense. I HATE there even has to be Words of Brandon to get answers to questions. Why is Vasher even on Roshar? What is he doing? Why doesn't he have Nightblood anymore? Oh you get those answers at book signing events or youtube streams. They should be in the books. Stop trying to be clever and vague and just tell a clear story. If it's not important that Vasher is there (which its not as he is entirely irrelevant to the story, as is VIvenna) WHY is he there? I feel like this whole first leg of SLA is just questions, building hope only to have the bad guys win, and general disappointment. It's a lot of the worst parts of the MCU and it's so disappointing because it has so much potential.

[@TrabensTomes]

While I don't mind the vagueness of the cameos, I did find they added nothing of substance to the book, so I can see the argument of why even include them. I am getting frustrated by the constant throwing forward of information. A single book in a series still needs to be a satisfying story on its own and while I feel Wind and Truth does manage this, it is only because it is the last in this first arc. There are definitely other entries in the series that did not feel like satisfying books on their own.

[@sykoosi]

4.68 Goodreads would like to disagree.. 🤣😂😅🥲😁😄😃😀😵🤧🤕🤪