Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive [Book Review]

I've been waiting for this book since September 2010... which is roughly when I finished the Way of Kings, Book one of the Stormlight Archive. The wait was worth it.

The Way of Kings was 1008 pages long. Words of Radiance outstripped it by almost a hundred pages. 1088 pages of sublime fantasy fiction.

And not a single boring page between the two books. Not one.

Words of Radiance covers 89 chapters, 14 interludes, a prologue and epilogue. It overs numerous character view points, but most noteably it primarlily covers the view points of Dalinar Kohlin, Kaladin Stormblessed, and Shallan Davar. These three comprise the central characters of the Stormlight Archive so far.

5 out of 5 stars

I absolutely do not want to spoil the book. Not one bit. And yet I will spoil just a touch, because I have a a guess about the content of book three.

Ok. The minor spoiler.
In The Way of Kings we learn of Kaladin's past, everything that made him who he is. How his past shaped his views, warped them, broke him.
In Words of Radiance we learn of Shallan's past. We learn the story of her youth, of her household, of her brothers and father. We knew a little of it from The Way of Kings, but now we get it in greater detail.
I have this feeling that in the third book we will have a similar occurrence. Some character, I would hazard a guess at Dalinar Kohlin, will have their past laid out before us. I have no proof of this, but the evidence as it stands is greatly in my favor.

Shallan Davar and her sketchbook.

And that is it. I'll spoil nothing more.

Words of Radiance is an amazing book. Fantastic from cover to cover without being boring. As I read I would sometimes flip back a page or two to confirm something, then read on. There is so much information I know I need another read through. Brandon Sanderson has an amazing ability to craft a visually stunning scene in words.

And I was thinking about that.

Stance (#10) in one of the Shardblade Forms.

Game of Thrones by GRRM is another very popular fantasy series, one that has recently been translated to TV (on HBO is somehow you have been living under a rock and did not know this).

The Stormlight Archive would be amazing television. Absolutely amazing. The visuals of a battle between Surgebinders and Shardbearers would be, and I hate to use this word, epic. The expertly crafted world; a world where grass retracts to protect itself from being trampled or being blown away by high storms, a world where crustaceans are the primary animals, a barren wind swept world, a world ruled by storms... this would be amazing television.

Finally, a Chasmfiend.

Enough about that. It would be awesome if that could happen... but then again I've long hoped for Wheel of Time movies or a TV series, and I think the chances of that happening are a touch low.

I read Words of Radiance.
I loved it. Every page of it.
I cannot wait for book three. Hopefully, since Sanderson is not finished with the Wheel of Time series, there will not be another four year gap between books. Fantasy novels never seem to come out quickly - GRRM and A Song of Ice and Fire are perfect examples of this.

Meanwhile I have the entire Mistborn series to read. From my understanding they occur in the same Cosmere. So I'm not without some good fantasy to read.

My advice.

Read this book. If you have not read The Way of Kings, read it first. It is a must. Then read this book. The Stormlight Archive has easily become my favorite fantasy series. Yes, I enjoy it more than Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm not saying those are bad (they are the opposite of bad), but this is better.

Read this book.