Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson | Spoiler-Free & Spoiler Review

[@UdyKumra]

I loved the part where Kaladin turned to Syl and went, "What are we, some kinda Knights of Wind and Truth?"

[@miraclemomentsweddings]

and then morbius came around the corner and was like, “it’s morbin time” and odium died

[@JEDSaje15]

Annnd "Roll Credits"

[@alecandro1958]

"The Knights of Wind and Truth will return"

[@Pizza21002]

My favorite part is when rock eats a rock while sitting on a rock

[@ericduey9556]

THE WIND AND TURTH WAS THE FRIENS THEY MADE ALONG THE WAY

[@Christian-ut2sp]

You are much more blunt with your criticisms than I would be if I knew Sanderson personally, lol. I appreciate your attempt at being fair-minded.

[@hitzkooler15]

Honestly his writing is becoming weaker and weaker and he either needs a a better editor or more people who are willing to give him contra

[@joshuatabor8755]

And yet he likes the WOT prime show

[@samroth7995]

Honestly this criticism feels a bit performative and contrary for the sake of being contrary - oh and it happens to be sponsored by.. his own book 😂. I’m sure his thoughts are earnest and are opinions genuine.. but he knows how KZbin works and what he’s doing.

[@nuangrobbelaar7659]

@@joshuatabor8755damned if you do, damned if you don’t

[@keyamazed1038]

​​@@hitzkooler15 I think it's because of the sheer amount of quantity he's put out in the past few years. Some of his habits with writing his secret projects, which were initially just casual projects he did for fun, have spilled over into his mainline books. It's a good thing he's taking a step back and slowing things down for the next half decade.

[@alecandro1958]

Sanderson has always said that Adolin was not initially created to be a huge part of the story, but he was mostly there to pick up some of Dalinar's original plot that wouldn't have fit within Dalinar's timeline/PoV. I think one of the huge reasons we've grown to love Adolin so much is that he has been the most organically progressed character in the series. He was never meant to be one of the big heroes at Stormlight's inception but obviously became one not just to us, the readers, but in his own perspective as well.

[@LostinDiscovery]

Loved this review and you honestly voiced so many of the feelings I had whilst reading this book. Despite its many flaws, I agree that it delivers those glorious character revelations and plot threads aligning moments in a way that Stormlight has always done. Time to mull this over for the next decade!

[@WolvenBolt]

Oh hey it's you! 👋😂

[@TheAndroidNextDoor]

Honestly, a lot of these issues sound like a result of him swapping editors since his previous one retired. Moshe knew him well before he became The Brandon Sanderson and probably felt a lot more comfortable giving him edits and knowing Sanderson would listen to them. Someone newer has the problems of being younger, less experienced, and having to edit someone with a reputation who's likely been in the business far longer than you. It's similar to a new editor being told they have to edit Stephen King. Even if you're a top of your class editor from Columbia, what edits are you going to feel comfortable giving to Stephen King? Probably not many. Maybe this will be something that gets ironed out as time goes on but I could easily see this being an issue of Sanderson not listening as much to a newer less trusted editor, or said editor's own inexperience, or said editor's own reservations about actually editing Sanderson. I might lean on the latter two options probably being the most true given what Sanderson has said on his podcast an in interviews. Overall, he might just need to to sit down with his editors and ask them to be as harsh and discerning as possible.

[@Mightyjordy]

Agree 100% with this. He said in the release event that he doesn’t think his prose is bad and that he’s just trying something different. I’m a huge Sanderson fan, but someone failed somewhere in the editing process here and I’m willing to bet it’s either the editor not willing to speak up to Sanderson or Sanderson thinking it was good enough and being beyond criticism. Or maybe he was just burned out after writing such a huge book and didn’t want to rewrite awkward sentences, dialogue and jokes. I don’t know, but it seems like this has been an overwhelming criticism of this book and hopefully will lead to getting some improved writing in the future.

[@TheDJ42]

@@Mightyjordy I also agree. Honestly from my experience with him and others who work with him I think he takes criticism rather well, I think it's someone not wanting to tell him what needs to be said out of fear. When you have The Way of Kings edited by Harriett McDougal (Robert Jordan's Widow, she also edited Ender's Game) down to Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth edited by a JV editor there's a huge difference in the prose of these books and the only thing that's changed is the editor.

[@sether_ton]

You’ve hit the nail exactly on the head. While less severe, it’s a lot like George Lucas and the Star Wars Prequels. When you have a career this legendary, there comes a point where everyone you’re working with is younger and less experienced. And through no fault of your own, they are intimidated by you, and will not push as hard on their feedback as they should.

[@RAMavy]

Yes, it for sure seems like the editor is less experienced. An only slightly better editor would have gotten rid of all (or most) instances of the word "somehow," which IMO would instantly improve the prose by at least 50%. I'd never really had any complaints about Sanderson's prose before. There were some clunky parts in the first chapter that bothered me, but the near-constant presence of that lazy term of vagueness drove me up a wall.

[@SupremeDP]

That's exactly what I was thinking. And Brandon has said on his podcast that finding a replacement for Moshe has been really damn difficult.

[@areeshaj2585]

I love how comments section is mostly spoiler free. I can't read it now due to busy schedule but was interested to see if people liked it

[@Morfeusm]

Yeah, people seem to complain about the same points (weird uneven editing, slow start, jokes, some controversial points about certain character (very minor though), weird rants in the first part, shoehorned and strange parts about feelings) while still loving the book and character archs. Only people who seem to hate the book is antiw*ke people and possibly very religious people.

[@areeshaj2585]

@@Morfeusm I am also religious but ik how to enjoy fictional stories and not take them too seriously

[@bp6942]

@@Morfeusm Setting up that strawman already? I havent read it yet, but if it's anything like the previous, I will hate it because Kaladin just keeps circling the same plot points every single book, each time having to reset all his progress in healing. Its done for terrible reasons too, its merely done because the power creep on Kaladin was too high as the first returning radiant, and Sanderson has to keep knocking him down, to keep up with the pacing he wanted. If Kaladin kept his mental health gains from book to book, many of the conflicts Sanderson wanted to handle in books 2-4 woulda have been instantly solved due to his power creep. For someone who struggles with their own mental health issues, thats not exactly a great message. I guess that makes me anti something or super religious. PS: I also agree with Daniel's complaint about the awful info dumps in book 4, and apparently in this book as well. Navani's entire plot was terrible, and such a wierd misunderstanding of physics shorehorned into pages and pages and pages of just sheer boredom.

[@Morfeusm]

@@areeshaj2585 yes makes sense. I am just writing what I already heard. Apparently *some* religious people are voicing the question of his faith integrity after this novel. I have nothing but respect and sympathy for religious people. Sorry if what I wrote was too generalizing.

[@Morfeusm]

@@bp6942 not setting up the straw man. That was just a poor structured sentence by me. Of course I was generalizing what I read online so far Upon rereading what I wrote it does sound like only one who doesn’t like the novel is this or that. What I wanted to convey was that only ones who so far voiced their extreme displeasure with the book were from those two groups because he *did* kick into those wasp nests. So it was intentional from the author. You don’t liking the book doesn’t make you a bad person nor am I saying you must be this or that. Yeah, you are raising the valid point but you might be surprised where he does take that character in the 5th book.

[@ericduey9556]

"Did the Sanderlanch deliver?" The entire book is a Sanderlanch, and the ending is even Sanderlanchier.

[@Iluvatar196]

I am afraid while reading the book, because I know once I finish it I'll need to wait for (was it 10 years??) until I can get answers for the new questions that will arise

[@Boskibro]

@@Iluvatar196 that is my biggest issue with this book. I was expecting a conclusion to the story similar to Mistborn era 1 and it wasn’t that at all.

[@Quincyslayer]

@@Boskibro Yeah I do not know where this expectation of yours came from. The structure of the story has been outlined since The Way of Kings.

[@pretty5793]

@@QuincyslayerAgreed! The expectation was for main characters to change and for there to be a time jump where Lift, Renarin and Jasnanh are most likely still the main characters. I was fine with that but now I see Taravangian shine I hope there is enough time for him to grow. The weird time bubble might help resolve this issue. Let’s wait and watch.

[@finghinmccarthy5021]

the last qurtr was like sanderlanches within sanderlanches, a sanderfractal maybe

[@leonplaysinthebookverse]

“Didn’t feel the overall girth,” is an interesting phrase to choose 😂

[@joelmarin5890]

Fr 😂😂😂

[@puffpio]

He knew….

[@acerazorakjsflasjfka]

pause

[@LagrangeDanny]

'turned me on as a reader' is what got me haha, never change DG

[@ManCarryingThing]

another example of why you're one of the best book reviewers out there (you are sincerely great at your job)

[@CoffeeHead27]

Man Carrying Truth

[@michaelandrews117]

Man Carrying Thing has become Man Carrying Baby which has turned him into Man Carrying Softness I'm a fan

[@DanielGreeneReviews]

Wow Jake that means a lot coming from you :)

[@m4y013]

@@DanielGreeneReviews read lord of the mysteries please

[@jdshively]

I'm only at chapter 26 at this point in time. But I wanted to comment about the mental health aspect. Specifically with Kaladin. I am a combat veteran, and I thought what Sanderson is doing with Kaladin and his PTSD is spot on. I love what he's doing, and thus far appreciate the struggle he is having with Szeth. Getting your fellow combat arms brothers to talk can be difficult, unless they know you've seen and experienced it. Because if you don't know, you don't need to know. We don't want that burden on you or anyone else. My family doesn't know, my friends don't know, my dog doesn't know. But my battle buddy sure as shit does. My therapist only kinda knows. I think Sanderson nails it, albeit a little broadly. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say, he doesn't know either. So he's doing great with it. In my own unprofessional and unasked for opinion.

[@LagrangeDanny]

Hey man, I'd suggest letting your dog know, they're a great listener. All the best!

[@arnie0311]

Similar situation and I agree

[@notchbeard9007]

The representation of mental health is great. The 'therapy' anf 'answers' is like Freshman Psych 101 basic stuff and it feels out of place.

[@justinwalsh5521]

I loved wind and truth and have some critiques on it, but the mental health part I think resonated for me. That said. kaladin says a line related to mental health feel like an MCU quip. But overall I think he did great.

[@mrlaw2729]

At least let your therapist and your dog knows man

[@Bookborn]

Although overall the book worked better for me (I gave it a 9), we have many of the same criticisms. I have never been one to complain about Sanderson's modern prose, but it felt so...PRESENT in this book in a way that it hasn't in others. I think it needed a round or two more of editing - especially to remove the overexplanations. (Except that I loved all the interludes, they were some of my favorite parts lol)

[@spaceisspace1771]

I think is book was mildy rushed to meet a holiday deadline and could have used a harsher editor. Still on of my favorite books so far lol

[@Haxerous]

Yeah the amount of unnecessary explanation and the times "kind of", "like" "literally" was used by heralds was indeed kind of like literally annoying if you catch my drift.

[@danielarmstrong7944]

I'm with you. This one was an 8.5/10 for me, and the thing that would take it to a 9+ is sanderson trusting his readers more. If you ever read music reviews, you'll often get the reviewer trying to describe the artistry of the music analytically and it never does justice to the music itself. Sometimes it feels like that's what sanderson does to his own amazing characters. He gives us the artistry in their growth and heroism and then he cheapens it just a little by trying to analyze it for us. Still, probably my favorite stormlight book and sanderson is a genius when it comes to constructing these kinds of complex narratives.

[@Kryten52]

Much respect for putting out an honest review, and I totally agree that MCU humor needs to die and should have no place in a book series that's reaching for heights as high as this one. It sinks everything down.

[@joshuabenton3785]

the MCU humor is the reason I am still struggling to complete Mistborn Era 2

[@tywinderbaum5283]

Fully agree. I haven't managed to get myself to read edgedancer even though I love Sanderson's books and enjoy them so much and so much of his books is so crazy good, just because I heard Lift was the MC and went "oh hell nah". Almost exclusively because of the humour. I find Lift's existence as a character so goddamned frustrating in a book like this. Her character building feels so close to nonexistent (plus i think she's the main source of said humor). I'm sure Edgedancer remedies that, and there was a tiny bit in RoW there that I liked, but goddamn. The whole thing with Dalinar's ass back in Words of Radiance?? Seriously????

[@thegwynbleidd4202]

It doesn’t “sink” anything down. It’s a flaw for sure, but as Daniel clearly said in the last segment of the spoiler-free review, everything the book had to accomplish, it did successfully.

[@thegwynbleidd4202]

@@tywinderbaum5283That’s too bad, I love Lift 😅

[@tywinderbaum5283]

@@thegwynbleidd4202 yeah, I agree! His books are still absolute masterpieces to me, especially the stormlight ones

[@octavia458]

Im only on Day 4, but i agree completely about the humor and modern language. "Hat trick" is one thing, but "Syl is gonna Syl" is hard to swallow.

[@MarinaMeoli]

@@octavia458 ever since I started listening to intentionally blank, I get SO pulled out of the story when reading Sanderson. His prose is so weak.

[@octavia458]

@MarinaMeoli Why particularly after listening to Intentionally Blank?

[@aleczanderruggles7419]

@@octavia458 Because you can hear him talking in the podcast and you start to notice his voice more. It makes it harder to separate the author from the characters. I had to stop listening to intentionally blank in order to read these books.

[@MarinaMeoli]

@@octavia458 Because I can’t “unsee” how much of his voice comes through in his novels. He has a *ton* of words he uses often when talking and phrases he repeats often when talking - as all people do, we all have mannerisms. But he writes in his personal voice, with very little craft. It’s specially aggravating now that I have read books of his in which he put more effort in. For example, “amazing” is a word that every time I read in one of his novels I can clearly picture him saying it, because he says it A LOT. And it’s also repeated a lot in his books. It breaks immersion. I’d much rather he took longer writing stormligjt if it meant the prose would be better crafted.

[@octavia458]

@@MarinaMeoli Very interesting. At his best he reminds me of Orson Scott Card, with sparse clear prose interlaced with some nice turns of phrase. But at his worst, it's like reading the She Hulk TV show. Intentionally Blank actually helps me though, cause I like it, and I like him, and sometimes I HAVE to like him in order to forgive the text.

[@nagulkanna3931]

The entire book felt like one big sanderlanche, I loved it so much, especially the villain too.

[@omniboy-prime]

Yeah, the whole chapter with the debate between him and jasnah was glorious. It was in pair with some of the greatest dialogues in game of thrones

[@mrgreenguy5193]

I've only read a couple chapters so far, the one thing I've noticed is that a few of the characters seem unnaturally self aware of their unhealthy mental states and how they are recovering from them. It felt a litte jarring, but loving the book so far

[@Wyncrer]

I'm convinced there needs to be a shakeup in Sanderson's editing team. His last few books have felt 80% of the way to the book they can be and it's immensely frustrating

[@ryanratchford2530]

He has a new main editor since Rythmn of War. Maybe that’s why you feel the editing isn’t as good?

[@Zudovader]

Hmm I feel like beside rhythm of war all his new books are amazing. The lost metal was fantastic, all 3 if the cosmere secret novels were amazing. And now wind and truth is outstanding. His new editor is doing a great job i think.

[@undbiter65]

I think he listened to his focus groups too much. With the over explaining. They probably told him people wouldn't understand. Having met some of those people, highly unpleasant. Someone from his heat group spoiled stuff over a FB argument to prove they were right. Ridiculous.

[@undbiter65]

@@Zudovader huge down grade in prose. His new editor is doing a horrible job.

[@Colaman112]

I think WaT could have definitely used another editing round, but they couldn't give it that because the Dragonsteel Nexus locked in the release date.

[@altoguy16499]

Im almost done with day 9 but i have to agree with your assessments. Theres so much that i would say is 10/10 and so much i would say is 5/10 and its hard to actually make a decision on how i would rate this book. Book is werid yo. Also, Taln is just the best herald and we can all agree on that, right?

[@ArcherWillows]

Taln>>>>>>>>>>>>

[@angrychickengod3831]

Spoilers for the very last pages of the book: I am SO excited to see Taln at his full capacity in the second arc after having Kaladin heal his mental state. The Taln who looked at God and said “I’ve waited my whole life for this encounter and I don’t have my sword.”

[@ryanratchford2530]

Yeah I think you really overlooked the depth in Adolin that was there in Rythmn of War. He seemed to still be a positive supporting side character in your mind (based on your review & chill talks about RoW) But Adolin is so great and grows into his own in Oathbringer and flourishes in RoW and WaT

[@NaritaZaraki]

Agreed! And seeing how his growth is reflected in his relationships is really satisfying to track across books. Gotta say though, going from impulsively murdering a guy and then thinking about it for a book-length of time and arriving at "You know what? That was a good call actually." has got be one of my favorite ( and funniest) mini-arcs in the stormlight archive 🤣

[@BluesPoet]

@@NaritaZaraki the "you know what? fuck that guy" reaction the first time he tells someone was great. And the same energy in a certain vision in WaT as a final "eat shit" to that character made me smile.

[@rq2757]

10:30 It's a little frustrating that Sanderson still hasn't learned to trust his audience to understand his world and rules. This is a common criticism that goes all the way back to Mistborn. I have a feeling that if he hasn't learned to trust his readers over the last 20 years, he never will.

[@yvettelammers8148]

@@rq2757 could you give an example? The books also need to be accessible to a casual reader who last read SA 3 years ago. With that in mind, I do not see where Sanderson does not trust the audience (I did not understand Daniel Green on this point either

[@nathangodard3333]

I am with you, I wish Sanderson handled these thing with much more subtlety and less repetition. That being said, I think even though it’s not for me, it’s one of his greatest strengths as a popular fantasy author. My friends who shy away from fantasy because they bounced off of Tolkien, Erickson, or Jemisin fall in love with Sanderson’s stuff. I do think he could be better at it, but I think people who read a lot of fantasy are too hard on him for this, and often don’t see how it makes him accessible to people who haven’t read a book, let alone a fantasy book, in years. That being said this is book 5 of Stormlight, hand holding is definitely no longer required.

[@ArcherWillows]

I honestly believe the internet is to blame for it. And not the internet as a concept, but really just how his reputation has come through on it. When people recommend someone Sanderson, they say something like "he's got really complicated magic systems and they'll be hard to understand, so you'll have to learn it." I don't think Sanderson has noticed that we DO learn it. They're only complicated for a few books, and then we start predicting how it works. It's one of the things I love about the Investiture system, you can kind of predict how each facet of that will work after a while. I just don't think Sanderson has noticed that his magic systems aren't too difficult to understand as people say. They're just complex.

[@khamok6916]

​@@yvettelammers8148 "A Shardblade is the superior weapon. No amount of specialization for the situation can make up for the ability to slice through your opponent’s weapons, armor, even body as if they were water. I love wielding mine" this is said in character to another character that already has a shardblade, and just sounds like an ad read for shardblades lmao

[@codestusdy2962]

Honestly I don’t fully under the cosmere after looking into it

[@maedle99]

I sanderlanched all over the place

[@jramoo]

Wow! I was afraid BookTube might be hesitant to call out Brandon for drop in quality in this book. Glad Daniel proved me wrong. Honesty prevails!

[@the_writers_block]

The prose and dialogue were much weaker than usual. There were phrases there like, "Let's hash this out" and the way mental health is discussed is incredibly on the nose and modern. The first few books were much more subtle and the topic more gently handled. It all just felt so out of place for a society that is still in a feudal age.

[@anon300]

Yep Sanderson is afraid of going against a toxic fokus group. Then again he himself had a shit take on Arcane😅

[@TheSinghisking4ever]

@@anon300 what did he say about arcane? I'm a big fan so I'm curious

[@edgytypebeat781]

@@TheSinghisking4everIt was regarding Jinx’s mental health portrayal

[@anon300]

​@@TheSinghisking4ever he said jinx mental health was badly done. Apparently you need to talk about it constantly and have sit downs in story for it to be done correctly.

[@mrlaw2729]

​@@anon300as if hes an expert lol what an arrogant sod

[@Frostbittenjam]

I hate how unsurprising this review is. Ive had similar criticisms about most of his recent work (was particularly disappointed by the last Wax and Wayne book). I've found his main works have been getting worse and worse (have really enjoyed some of his side projects though, so he's clearly still got the juice). He's in a similar position to that of 90s George Lucas. People on his team have stopped being as critical as they need to to push him to put out the best possible product.

[@ZachJones198]

I was just wondering if that’s become a problem where he’s surrounding himself with “yes men” or like I see all the time on forums that absolutely nothing can be taken out and it’s all perfect

[@Frostbittenjam]

@ZachJones198 I was trying refresh myself on rhythm of war and looked at Goodreads. Was shocked at the lack of criticism. Like in my mind, it's easily the worst of the 4 from an actual writing standpoint (haven't read this new one yet), but you wouldn't know it looking at most of the reviews

[@ZachJones198]

@@Frostbittenjam I often feel like whenever I talk about Sanderson I’m being critical(I do like his work I bought this day 1) but yeah everywhere u look it’s praise that he’s borderline perfect and I just can’t understand that. I’m almost 300 pages in and nothing has happened and telling people the next one of these won’t come out till like 2033 feels insane due to where the industry is with unfinished series.

[@Frostbittenjam]

@@ZachJones198 ha ya, totally understand. From what I've heard so far, I'm going to hold off on reading this for a bit. First one that hasn't been a day 1 buy for me.

[@Willy_Warmer]

@@Frostbittenjam Funnily enough, I actually really like Rythm of War. I though it was very good. But I agree about WaT. It's not bad, but it just flat out doesn't live up to the same standard as the other books in my opinion.

[@KingsGinger]

Selfishly, I am disappointed in how flawed this book is because I felt Stormlight had a chance to stand alongside the fantasy greats. I think we'll always wonder how different these books would have been if Sanderson wasn't stretching himself so thin across all of his works.

[@samwheaton8591]

Just finished and biggest take away is the pure tone shift in writing from book 1 to 5. We’ve gone to serious and grounded to almost MCU jokey meta? So many lines felt like they were thrown in as like a little wink wink and it doesn’t make much sense to the situation. Felt like 20% of the book could have been clean removed and the rest needed harsher editing. Always great ideas but increasingly poorer executions.

[@Sixteeb]

I had a visceral reaction when you hyped up Adolin's story. You validated my feelings about it that a bunch of other reviews have discounted as "boring". It's been driving me nuts.

[@isaacc8220]

For anyone who likes audiobooks- the chapter: "flute" is one of the most powerfully narrated sequences I've ever listened to, chills all the way through

[@akshayhere]

Oh Adolin was popping off back in Rhythm of War too.

[@danlupo4665]

Adolin has been the best boy in my heart ever since the prison scene in WoR - His arc in this book did such heavy lifting for me - I ended up loving WaT, but a big part of that was how much Adolin we got and how great it was

[@Severian1]

I’m at Day 3 (slow reader) and the amount of times I’ve read long dialogue sections where characters talk about their feelings is tiresome. But the pacing does rip along fairly quickly.

[@Morfeusm]

Good news: this will improve a bit. Yeah I remember there’s a part around day 2 and 3 where there was this weird part.

[@TheRoark]

I definitely resonate with your criticisms here. My main issue was with how well the characters were communicating their inner thoughts to each other. People do talk like that, but not as often as Sanderson has them doing here. Also Kaladin going from intense suicidal ideation to therapist of the gods in like two weeks is wild.

[@PhatPotatoe]

Agree about the prose. I’ve never been one of the detractors of Sanderson prose, thinking that it’s solid enough and even very good in some books, but yeah in this one I really felt it

[@RestingKitten]

Hats off to you for actually giving your genuine opinion. I’m only a couple of hundred pages in but everything you said is spot on for me. The mental health treatment feels very YA, the humour never makes me laugh and is often actually cringe worthy, and the realms aren’t that interesting. I’ll definitely finish it, but unless there’s a shakeup in the YA/marvel feel of Sanderson’s work, I might start looking elsewhere for epic fantasy. It’s a shame since the first two books in the series were incredible…

[@MrHaganenoEdward]

I’m 60-70% into WaT and so far it’s my favorite Stormlight Archive book. While I’m kinda sad that you didn’t seem to enjoy it as much, I LOVE how nuanced your review is. I think there’s just too much pressure in the booktube and reviews on KZbin in general to be absolutely uncritical and overly positive and I love how you want to strike a balance here. Plus I really like using the entire 1-10 point scale :D

[@batmanphone]

I loved the end. If you're enjoying it so far, don't take this review too hard.

[@louiesosa4668]

Yeah I’m a huge fan of the book and quite enjoyed it 😊

[@Exz84]

Haven't watched yet, but about 25% through the book and so far, my only real problem is it feels like we went from adult fantasy to YA fantasy. I don't mind YA writing at all, there's some really good stuff out there, but in this story, it really takes me out of the world.

[@Morfeusm]

What you are writing is problem of the first part of the book it weirdly changes tone almost completely after day 2 (end of preview chapters)

[@Exz84]

@Morfeusm that's good too hear, I didn't read the preview chapters as they released. Wanted to just be able to binge the book.

[@Hugo-qf1wb]

Yeah, those first chapters were definitively a thing

[@TheAmyrlinSeat]

3:50 I actually screamed aloud when that guy said "one sec", it took me out soooo bad, I had to put down the book for the rest of that day.

[@andrewhood4640]

Jasnah's storyline was BY FAR my least favorite. She has become wholly unrelateable since the first 2 books. I understand she is a growing character, but she felt very much like a self-righteous prick the whole book until she had to eat shit

[@beach_lion]

Omg the fact that you addressed the MCU-ness of Sanderson's humor... ok my faith in popular reviewers is restored ^_^

[@brandonarnold970]

I love Sanderson, don't get me wrong, but after reading all of Malazan between Rythm of War and Wind and Truth. . . It leaves me wanting more from Brandon. It's like comparing Faulkner to Hemingway, I know, but I agree in that, I know Brandon can write better. I wish he'd stop doing MCU and do more indie-like projects, if that makes sense. I wish he'd take more chances and stop hand-holding

[@chandlerholloway3900]

💯% I feel the same way. Malazan really set the bar higher for me because it’s so well written. It’s frustrating because I’m a big fan of Sanderson, but it feels like he’s giving me the bare minimum when I know he can do better like you said.

[@derrickpanciera5644]

Daniel Greene

[@beaverwithaforkv.26]

Me too dude

[@IanKernohan]

Wow spoilers

[@joshstatly9220]

@@derrickpanciera5644 poetic, truly

[@PeterB_]

Weird how chat GpT can't say his name.

[@tserrano1100]

I really liked the 10 day structure, helped push the sense of urgency for me

[@NoMereRanger73]

Majoras Mask-core

[@samthestache8]

I had plenty of sense of urgency already. I liked the 10 day structure because it gave me points where it was possible to put the book down and sleep

[@yasspanda2559]

It's like a built-in marker for me 😅

[@michaeleggimann106]

I love how fair your reviews are. I’ve made big decisions about my bookshelf because I’ve come to a genuinely trust you. And because you’ve been around so long, I know where our tastes differ.. and can still use your reviews as a baseline. Not that I wasn’t going to read Wind and Truth lol

[@DarkNomad347]

On your Adolin comments, I have hear Brandon say he was meant to be a side character, without any real main plots, but by the time he got to book 3 or so knew he would be more important than that. His story in this book proved that. His was easily my favorite in this book, even with everything else going on.

[@patrickwycoff9382]

you talking about adolin got me thinking and i think we dont get alot of adolin progression cuz hes normally with shallan and dalinar and renarin and kaladin. and they would over shadow him but with no notable radients we actually saw him for what he is, a prodigy duelist and a gifted general teaching his friend and it was done incredibly

[@agirlhasnoname7910]

This was actually great review. Also, Adolin has been my favorite character since the beginning. He's a such a solid guy, but he absolutely has flaws like anyone else. I love the way he's written.

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

I really appreciate having someone with skills as a writer breakdown the problems with the story. I don’t see them on my own, and I’d like to learn to read with a more critical mind. Thank you so much!

[@rosssoyka860]

I really appreciate your accurate ratings. There’s a lot of fantasy out there and a 7/10 is definitely worth reading.

[@Sam-jx8tv]

I'm going to push back on how Kaladin expresses himself in the book. As someone who has worked through a lot of the issues that Kaladin does in the Stormlight archives and who went to therapy for them, that is kind of how you need to talk to yourself at first. It is a very tedious process for some people and really that simplistic but in my case effective. Realistically as Kaladin goes through his life he probably won't have such overt thoughts about his mental state but it's only been 10 days since his breakthrough.

[@peeporiot9948]

The best way I can explain my feelings is like this: I'm watching my favorite football team trying to win a game in the final seconds and the kicker doinks a feild goal off the upright while still making it. While I'll complain that the kicker should've just made it no problems it's also something I could never dream of accomplishing. I appreciate what he was going for here but man it was rough getting to that end

[@hugosiu656]

@@peeporiot9948 Agreed! I like the book generally but it really coild use an edit and not all the endings are really all that satifying :(

[@Daimondz1239]

Exactly. I wanted to love it, but I think I ended up just (really) liking and respecting it. Just like the rest of Stormlight for me… I’ll go back to my precious mistborn and secret projects, now

[@salinimuthirackal8947]

@@peeporiot9948 please dont use the word kicker again

[@311connorf]

Not done yet but I find myself having the same experience I did with book 3 and 4, in that some of the perspectives felt like homework. Where I was just so tempted to skip ahead to the next chapter that I actually cared about

[@alexweisz7759]

Sig and Venli weren’t as interesting, but I didn’t find them nearly as intrusive as Venli’s POVs in RoW. They were useful in communicating how badly everything is going

[@Bighomie39]

​@@alexweisz7759I really liked Sig, but that's mainly because I read Sunlit Man before WaT came out

[@Willy_Warmer]

So do that. Ngl, I don't know why people feel so bad about it. I assume you're not renting to book or anything, so you've have competely free reign over how you read it. _You_ spent money on it, _you_ get to decide how you read it. If that means skipping entire POVs and coming back later, in a reread for instance, to see them, more power to you. Frankly, a lot of the POVs in the book weren't that important.

[@tyresw1381]

I loved Renarin in this book but lord Sanderson doesnt need to center his autitistic traits in every POV, autistic people have more depth than that

[@trace_minerals]

Yes. We do.

[@XBullitt16X]

As an autistic person I agree, its too kak handed the way his autism is handled, very on the nose and blunt.

[@mackerelmafia2898]

I'm kind of ambivalent on the mental health language critique. I agree that by our standards, it's very basic and by-the-books as it were. On the other hand, this is a setting where the de facto treatment for people suffering from mental health is 'oh we'll lock them in a dark room until they get better'. I think B$ could have done better on that front, but I think it's excusable in the text because it's Kaladin *talking* about those things, communicating ideas to the other characters and not just for the audience. Characters who have *absolutely* never heard these things before. He's inventing therapy, it's bound to be basic at first. Definitely agree about Adolin CARRYING this book, but I also want to give a shoutout to Renarin! Him finally getting POV chapters was a delight (in case you can't tell, Renarin is and always will be my favorite Stormlight character).

[@Zudovader]

Kal us learning too, I think it's ok that he doesn't know what to say and says odd things. He is learning to help while everyone else is learning that people can be helped. So to me that part didn't bother me as much as it seems most.

[@tylerhildebran3479]

If Renarin is your favorite, you should know that I read somewhere else that he's going to be one of the focus characters of one of the books in the second arc!

[@6Rock6God6]

I think the point is that Kaladin shouldn't have such a textbook approach to things, it should be more messy.

[@Prene16]

Yeah totally agree. There were a couple of times it felt a bit repetitive but overall the way kaladin talked about these issues reflected his understanding. He had a few weeks to realise those truths himself and he is taking to a person who, for the biggest part of his life, believed and was told he shouldn't think for himself and than later was treated like an object. I agree that the prose in general felt weaker than Sanderson's usual level but I had no issues with characters handling matters they barely understand in a simplistic way

[@DarkClaw0912]

One of my favorite parts of the Kaladin and Szeth arc in this book was the use of Kaladin making the evening meals and how he starts to breakdown Szeth’s walls with them. It brought me back to the bridge four in WoK and reminded me of Rock.

[@jackperales1076]

I thought I was going insane thinking the over-explanations, middle-school humor, and laid-bare understandings of mental health topics were especially jarring this time around. I started to feel this at the end of the last book, and particularly in the last Wax & Wayne book - so much time is spent explaining the why and how of things, and almost justifying its own existence that it feels like it doesn't give my emotions or imagination much room to breathe.

[@OtherWorldAmbience]

“Chull head” is honestly the worst thing Brandon Sanderson has ever written

[@ZachJones198]

And for it to be right in the beginning was ROUGH

[@GrandKandor]

8:36 in a world without time to sort out mental illness, i feel like they would have the most basic understanding at this point since is Kal starting the reform. Hell, they thought keeping people in the dark and alone would keep them from getting worse until RoW.

[@allastra347]

Honestly for me, Jasnah felt like a different character for me? Her voice seemed more like Shallan, maybe it's been too long since i've heard her POV but though i liked her struggle and trial near the end felt right, a lot of her chapters felt like someone else.

[@Unknown-qj9sm]

I know what you mean, because I had this same criticism about Oathbringer. I really love Jasnah in the first book, I think what she has in the second book is fine. The third book is feels to me like she becomes a completely different character even though it’s hard to pin what exactly shifts. To me this book feels like a shift back to book 1 after book 3 and 4 shifted her so much, and it has to try and wrestle two slightly different versions back into one by confronting her about her own consistencies.

[@RaptieFeathers]

Favorite character in the book: Nightblood. The journey from Warbreaker to here has been outstanding growth. As someone who unironically enjoyed every single part of Homestuck, my judgement may be flawed haha I have a problem in that I love every book I read. If I _had_ to pick a favorite of the SA series, though, it would be Rhythm of War. It terms of modern fantasy author with the strongest writing and characterization, it's 100% Jim Butcher for me. Dresden Files is incredible and memorable.

[@jparish1987]

I think that writing Sunlit Man helped him keep the pace in this one. I appreciated in, I believe his release party speech Sanderson slapping back at critics saying he likes his prose! I finished the book today so I'm still sitting with everything. Adolin was definitely a highlight I expected his story to go another way. There was one more reveal I would have appreciated, for now it will be a pebble in my boot until book six.

[@lonebattledroid4474]

I do have one problem with Adolin's story *SPOILER* For me personally, I thought Adolin's philosophy about oaths and promises wasn't explained well. Like a promise is an oath. Idk. Maybe I missed something

[@silverx_1848]

A promise keeps the spirit. An oath is more about the technicalities. That's how adolin saw it. He realised oaths are meaningless when they're so often counterintuitive. You're not bound to fulfil a promise. Only to try. So when the promise starts leading to evil it can be abandoned without actually abandoning the promise.

[@mercurydylan899]

If a booktuber is reviewing a book in a series and it’s not book 1, isn’t it TOTALLY fine to assume that anyone watching can’t be “spoiled” on earlier books? I ask because I’ve seen this before where there’s a shred and sometimes more than a shred of concern for readers to be spoiled on earlier books. And well… huh?

[@mrlaw2729]

Not evrryone is done reading book 5 yet

[@Unknown-qj9sm]

@@mrlaw2729I think they mean about earlier books

[@menghao737]

This is a sentiment I can get behind. If you're worried about spoilers for books 1 through 4, then you shouldn't be clicking on any videos about book 5. I don't like being spoiled either, but I take responsibility for my own spoilage. If there is something coming out I know I don't want to be spoiled, I take precautions about what media I look at, social or otherwise.

[@jkenoly]

I get people’s feelings about the “herald of second chances”, but I don’t mind it because at the beginning of the book when Wit and Kaladin are talking Wit says he was drawn to Kaladin because Kaladin gave himself a second chance. I’m assuming he’s talking about when Kaladin almost killed himself but didn’t in the WoK.

[@pretty5793]

But that is partly because of the wind pushing him back. I liked the title associated with wind. It defines Kaladin to me. Herald of second chances was meh!

[@imhim9989]

Most of his readers probably shouldn’t be trustee

[@Hugo-qf1wb]

I personally like it, but like not that much. I think it somewhat suits him but at the same time there are other titles that would have worked better imo

[@jkenoly]

@@pretty5793 yeah I feel you cause it goes into how Kaladin always felt the wind with him through everything. I’ve seen people saying herald of redemption would’ve sounded better and I think that does flow better

[@Vinflowerfield]

Kaladin's journey felt unsatisfying to me Going from a knight radiant commander to Roshar's first therapist just didn't work for me

[@eusociality]

This book has solidified my opinion that Sanderson is a brilliant storyteller but not a great writer. I loved it, of course, but it’s not my favorite Stormlight.

[@wlot28]

He's kind of like the George Lucas of fantasy books lol

[@Dil-DoeShaggings]

Sanderson has a writing style I would call serviceable. Which is fine when you in consider that he puts so much work into his world building and magic systems. You don't need Patrick Rothfuss style prose in order for a series to be good. Jim Butcher is far from a high brow prose guy, but that's by design. He writes in a simple way so people enjoy the read. Overly flowery and complicated prose is off putting for many readers.

[@TylerKadle]

Honestly the stormlight archive is written in a way that would make it sooooo easy to turn it into a banger animated series in like the style of arcane or castlevania since his magic systems, descriptions of world building and powers would make such a good 5 season series.

[@eusociality]

@@TylerKadle Suuuuuuuper agree. I do think that it would need to be 10 seasons for all of the planned books, though, which would be hard to get any studio to agree to.

[@eusociality]

@@Dil-DoeShaggings I've personally never minded Sanderson's prose, but with WaT, it did take me out of the story a little bit. Not enough to majorly impact my enjoyment of the story, but enough to be noticeable. Having read books with on both sides of the spectrum as it regards to prose, I like both a simplistic style and a more complicated style. I just think that Wind and Truth was too far into the "understandable" category.

[@medomai]

You were honestly way nicer about this book than I am. Nice review and incredibly validating. I agree with alllll of your criticisms and even have more - even a lot of the things in your positives were huge bugbears for me. (I didn't think Kaladin's character arc worked for me at all from day one to day nine (loved his stuff in day 10 tho) and I HATED the Jasnah debate, and I had MAJOR "why didn't you say this" for that debate, I thought it was terrible - just terrible.) I think Sanderson's humour landed for us in the same places, Wit works. Wit in the moment before getting vaporized had me wheezing out loud. And it was Adolin's book!! My guy.

[@DorDr]

@@medomai this was Adolins book, Kaladim writing was a solid 1/10, not great fan fic for me

[@justinwalsh5521]

My main critique on book five is that there is too much contemporary conversation and humor type shit in it. It felt like his prose inserted more non fantasy dialog (and I mean in his style) than usual. So I was taken out of the immersion that the book generally had me totally locked in the story. I love the story, I love the twists, the lore, the character development, etc. I just…why so much contemporary prose?

[@justinwalsh5521]

I also think that these are the best flashbacks of the series, the best character plot of the series (Adolin), and the best “let’s bring in the cosmere baybeeeeeee” stuff in the whole series.

[@justinwalsh5521]

I’m sure he will get these critiques and I hope that when it’s stormlight six time he doesn’t do so much modern and contemporary humor and dialogue

[@VillaDish]

I havent read the book yet but it seems a lot of people are commenting that! What do you mean with contemporary conversation? Is it the use of language?

[@Mawlivander]

I took a week off work just to listen to the audible version (storming busy guy am i) nonstop in my waking available waking hours (bless the understanding of my patient wife) and am still reeling in the inertia of the Sanderlanch. Veddy excite! Much splendid!

[@IamHattman]

I think part of the reason for how clumsy the mental health stuff around Kaladin comes across as is less due to Sanderson's writing and more to do with the fact that the concept of therapy and mental health doesnt even exist in the setting yet. And the person spearheadding it's development is a solder not a scholar. I do agree about the herald of second chances thing.. it should have been herald of redemption.

[@LagrangeDanny]

Mostly agree, particularly the mental health comments. It felt very a-typical at times and generic. Kaladin went from a badass to a therapist with a cape kind of pointing at people going 'you get therapy!', 'you get therapy!', tell me how that made you feel! Etc etc The humour line of 'what are you' and Kal responding 'I'm a therapist' during a high stakes, pretty awesome scene just threw me out of it. I loved Sigzils arc and conclusion, and 12124 likely being Auxillary was a super cool twist. I really don't mind the now potential Dalinar v Dalinar, my first guess is that Valor nicked his soul before passing on and will slap his cognitive shadow back into the physical realm for a conflict later Anyway..

[@realbenactually]

His lore dumps in this book might be less complex and more hand-holdy, but I guarantee you and I are both going to benefit from that in the reduced number of explanations we have to give reader friends for certain points.

[@Daimondz1239]

I think I disagree pretty heavily on a lot of the things you said - especially the mental health stuff and that first thing you mentioned in the spoiler section - but I’m glad you’re always honest with your reviews :)

[@abhinandanpatil8168]

(Spoilers) I really loved the scene where kaladin played the flute to Nale, alsow i guffawed when Kaladin replied " I'm his therapist!" while fighting lmao.

[@socialcockroach3307]

To be fair, the spren being juvenile about their nethers is pretty on-brand. In book 4, Syl even has an interlude where it talks about her wanting to play and recognizing that this is a child's mindset but accepting that side of herself. Most of the spren behave like this around these types of topics. Now, whether or not you enjoy that is up to you but I personally found that this immature nature of spren to be both amusing and endearing.

[@LagrangeDanny]

I agree that it is pretty accurate to them and how they would be, i guess I just feel it's not necessary to have Syl talking about her parts being a chull head, surely we can convey their nativity and nature another way lol Overall enjoyed the book a lot though

[@arenkai]

That comment you had about the use of modern language and how the mental health element read like a list of things to say rather than organic conversations are also some of my problems with the writing in here. Sometimes it felt like in the outline it was written "In this scene Kaladin says X Y and Z", and then when writing he just copied back the template without adding Kaladin's personality into the mix to create something unique.

[@vaildog1]

Mad respect to Daniel for being so critical, when so many other reviewers seem to act as cheerleaders only.

[@BuggysNose]

Gonna be honest, Renarin chapters were up there with flashbacks from rhythm of war

[@kidort4601]

Daniel, I may disagree with your more "negative" takes on this book and Sanderson as a whole, but man, I respect how you deliver it so professionally. Sometimes it's hard seeing a person in the space disagree with something you love so profoundly, but I just respect you so much and it's good to disagree. Thank you for reminding me of that. WIthout you, I would have never given reading or Sanderson a try all those years ago. We may have some different tastes, but I'm glad to know I can always count on you to be you.

[@finghinmccarthy5021]

the thing that annoyed me most was the insistence on using the word therapist, its use just feels clunky in the setting, just let him say " Im just a friend who listens" or something. Thats the only example of "modern language" that consistently bothered me

[@LordPerrin]

I forget which spren did it, but one called someone else a tool and i rolled my eyes so hard. That and a spren saying yeah really took me out at points

[@Prene16]

The only reason I didnt mind this one was because Wit told him what its called, so I was fine with kaladin just using it even though he and everyone else didnt understand it. And considering kaladin had been trying to understand wit and even tried to imitate (maybe not as successful) his humor and tone while talking to Szeth and the others, it made sense.

[@mrlaw2729]

It was said by WIT whos a world hopper. The word Therapist exist on other more advanced planet

[@finghinmccarthy5021]

@@mrlaw2729 I'm aware of that, but one of kaldadins major character moments being to exaltentlt say I'm his therapist just don't don't got the sauce

[@XBullitt16X]

agreed, so cringe hearing it in the setting.

[@armaanthadhani293]

You pulled a few punches but in fairness If I knew Sandeson personally I would have just pretended this book didn't exist so huge props for being honestly critical. Oh and this was definitely written as an audiobook, I can’t imagine anyone actually sitting down every night to read a chapter or two.

[@TravisChalmers]

13:37 you gotta go back to the other books. Adolin has always been a top notch character.

[@alexderksen1213]

He was a little one dimensional until he killed sadias.

[@voidsabre_]

Yeah, I agree on Sanderson's humor. I think he gets too many jokes from his middle school sons

[@trace_minerals]

I love Sanderson, but I've not met a lot of truly funny religious persons.

[@wlot28]

@@trace_minerals *mormons. Plenty of religious people are funny, but mormons? Lol

[@DanielIbanez]

My elementary age son doesn't even find the humor funny

[@mandrias]

I didn't finish the video and I'm not going to read the comments as I'm not quite finished with the book yet (perhaps a fifth left at the moment.) But, Oh. My. God. do I love your spoiler free portion of this review. You have put into words almost EXACTLY how I feel about Sanderson's writing - both why I love love love it... and why I, in some ways, do not. (especially in some of his more recent writing.) It took courage to be so honest and I deeply respect and appreciate that. And I hope Brandon does as well. (and I hope he reflects a bit on your points as I truly believe you've nailed what he should develop / work on going forward.)

[@trinketspirit]

I love Sanderson’s previous work with Stormlight but I struggled with this one. It’s incredibly frustrating to see the glimmers of brilliance roped in with crass/mediocre humour, poorly executed plot progressions, and ham-fisted Cosmere references. Even the emotional beats really lacked for me. I hope this turns around in the almost decade he has to write book six.

[@surgetheband]

Great review! (also amazing you got it out this fast). I agree with your thoughts here, I really did love the overall story and what it sets up but there were definitely parts of the book where I cringed a bit. I personally give 90% of the book a 10/10 and 10% a 5/10. Per usual with Brandon, I couldn't put it down but when I had to, I listened to it. I just got one of my friends to start reading Sanderson, and he's starting with Stormlight so I am curious what he thinks of this book when reading the first 5 for the first time all together with zero other Cosmere knowledge.

[@jessi4894]

I enjoyed WaT, I think it's my 3rd favorite overall. The pacing was much improved from RoW, considering how much the time frame has decreased. So much happened in 10 days, my head is spinning. What I didn't like is that there was too much modern day vocabulary. I specifically remember in RoW was the use of the word "cringe worthy." I do not care about whatever in-universe rational for this there is (i.e. the characters are all speaking Alethi, and it's been translated into our language via Connection) IT DOES NOT FIT. The humor bothers me as well, this is an epic fantasy, supposedly for adults, and there is way too much juvenile middle school humor going on for that. Put it in Skyward, where it would make sense! Third, off of the modern vocabulary complaint, I despise that Kaladin invented talk therapy, and decided to call it that. Oh, and that scene where Syl wanted to be a scribe came off like a bad 90s after school special. I almost put the book down then and there. Major "And everyone clapped," vibes. It was ham-fisted and awkward. I'm sick and tired of reading the DSM V: The Epic Fantasy. Re: editing. Brandon's original editor Moshe Feder retired before Bands of Mourning, and it shows. Moshe had a unique knack for bringing out his best qualities and bringing a polish to his work. Re: Robin Hobb: Nobody will ever be as good of a character writer as her. Her characters had a human quality about them that was so real it hurts. Sometimes, you just have a Kyle Haven in your life. They're a shitty person, no past traumatic story, some people are just narcicistic monsters because that's who they are.

[@linkle123]

I don’t share many of your criticisms, but I loved this review. Good job!

[@OliveDrabCrusader]

Should have been called "Wind and Therapy", or "Brandon Really Needs to Stop Reading Reddit".

[@eX13Eugene]

Weep and Therapy

[@DarkClaw0912]

I don’t remember “unbound.” I think Adolin said “unoathed” which I do like.

[@MrSiKO12]

3.5 Stars is kinda disappointing. Looks like Bookborn was right about calling it a “Divisive” book.

[@mrlaw2729]

You cant expect 5 star everytine

[@dingerdoo11]

Gavilar dying in a stormlight book = Bruce Wayne's parents dying in a Batman movie

[@134Waffle]

It’s funny you mention that this book feels like a continuation of Sanderson’s seemingly new writing style, because while reading it, to me, it felt more of a return to form for The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Oathbringer and Rhythm of War didn’t “do it” for me like those books did, but Wind and Truth definitely did.

[@charlesspires8196]

Same here!!! It brought the spark back for me. I quit book three a quarter or the way through when it came out. Did a re read when RoW came out and got locked in again. This book made me happy.

[@jadencasto]

Totally agree, I think Daniel acknowledges this in his review, but the problem with most people in these comments and fans of Daniel is that many are diehard epic fantasy fans. Sanderson has been and I think always will be an author who writes to a broader audience - trying to provide the epic fantasy elements, but also in a way that people who only read fantasy occasionally can still love and resonate with

[@patrickrosenthal2211]

I feel so validated right now Daniel, thank you. I love the Cosmere, but Sanderson is just not funny despite really trying to be. I feel like it is something he has grown into with raising his kids. He just started telling bad Dad jokes in his stories.

[@louiesosa4668]

13:09 Fully agree, Adolin absolutely stole the show. Loved every scene. Ya boi is awesome.

[@patrickboyle1135]

Your biggest criticism that I agree with is probably the one about the overly modern language. I imagine it's related to other editing issues in that Brandon's original editor at Tor retired. I can't imagine stepping into that role, editor on your label's biggest author, who also writes the biggest books, following up a guy who had worked with him for nearly 2 decades, isn't easy. But the language stuff, and the book being overly heavy handed at times definitely stand out that something is different in the creative process, and that's the most obvious thing to point at; Sanderson at least doesn't seem to be the type to get the ego to ignore input offered honestly(or you might not keep getting invited to stuff). Also, most of Brandon's humor works for me on at least some level. Comedy is, to a point, subjective; maybe I'm just getting old like he is. I don't find it particularly MCU like, it's more dad joke level a lot of the time, which works for me, I guess. I will agree though the chull face bit towards the start was a bit mystifying as to why it was there, and how it got past gamma/alpha/beta reads. Some mysteries we'll never know the answers. Hopefully whatever the issue is gets ironed out over time. It was fun meeting you at Nexus, thanks for scribbling in my copy of your book, it's next on my list after I get back to, and finish, Wind Through the Keyhole.

[@thekingofmars8858]

This book was a real disappointment for me. I can't honestly call it bad because it had some real moments but it felt like reading a first draft sanderson novel. There were so many plot points that felt poorly promised and his prose was just not there. The quality of his prose feels like it's gone down with each instalment as he explains people's mental health problems at me while I connect with them less and less. Also (minor spoiler): there's a setup where Jasnah says something really, really dumb and out of character. It felt weird and bad at the time and it felt even worse when we got to the conclusion of her story and you find out why it's there. Never seen a favourite character done so dirty. Oh and one last point - I really don't recommend the binge experience. I went through this in a weekend because I kept expecting the next page to be something big and the end result was constantly being underwhelmed.

[@TLhikan]

You put well into words a lot of the issues that I had with this book but couldn't quite explain. Still really enjoyed it but I hope Brandon reassesses how he handles things like humor, mental health discussions, and exposition.

[@Googlrr]

I cant listen to the whole thing cuz im only like 20% through but big agree on Sandersons humor. His funniest character is Wayne and I like how he writes hoid but every other attempt at humor just feels weird. Feels like it would be better if he avoided it. No one will ever make me laugh like Tehol Beddict :(

[@Mightyjordy]

Oh man I can’t stand Wayne. I think Hoid in this book was actually quite funny, but that’s about the only character I’d give a pass

[@Florfilm]

Wayne is awesome. But I think the funniest is Lift.

[@Googlrr]

@@Florfilm Honestly you're right I've gotten a bit farther in WaT and Lift has been my favorite so far

[@vigilantScrivener]

I also just finished it. The comparison I kept coming back to was The Last Jedi as the sort of deconstruction of the narrative and audience expectations. The comedy also fits TLJ for better or worse. Unlike TLJ where I had no idea where we were going afterward (and it turned out neither did Disney), I am confident in the future for the cosmere and SLA. Given Sanderson’s willingness to experiment and challenge himself as he did with the Secret Projects, I think some of the awkwardness will get buffed out in time. All that said, I did enjoy this book and it felt like a proper ending to the first arc. Adolin has been my favorite since Words of Radiance.

[@TBFjourney]

Coming off of Arcane, whos major criticism is that it leaves too much to subtext to keep a breakneck pace, the Kal segments were killing me with how overt they were. The funniest parts were definitely Lift swearing or even Maya swearing, less because they were funny and more because its written by Brandon who is the fantasy swearing guy. Cant wait for the decade long time skip where Lift finally says fuck. Actually scratch that, theres a scene where Shallan fujos out and that was probably the funniest to me. There was a certain relationship payoff that i wish was handled, not with more grace necessarily, but with a slower pace. Hes never been great with getting characters together but established romances are fine when he gets past the love triangle.

[@MetalheadSapling]

I appreciated that self-reflection that a 9 year gap could mean you aren't here for the next Stormlight. Hope you keep enjoying what you do, your video used to keep me company on long work days. Thanks for the review!

[@HaHa-fn9iq]

sanderson is a YA author... that is all that needs to be said. the very first book was good but all of his writing in recent years is just watered down, bland, for-kids drivel.

[@Chu9947]

bingo