I loved alot about it. Didnt like alot too. At some point I have to wonder if writing over a 1000 pages is more important than writing something shorter yet more solid...
I work at a bookstore in the Netherlands. I’ve been working there for about a year and a half. We’ve consistently been selling Sanderson’s books since my first day. Since Wind and Truth, however, his sales have shot up so significantly that all of his books have a shipping delay. Everything, especially Stormlight Archive and Mistborn, is flying off the shelves. Keep in mind that I don’t know how the rest of our stores are doing, but I’ve been hearing a lot of positive comments about our Sanderson section and his quality as an author. In my (limited) experience in the book world, his popularity seems to be growing. I’ve only seen comments about him losing steam online.
this book's problems will only reflect in next book's sales no?. i mean previous stormlight books goodwill is solid and it lead to success for this book but if people didnt like this they will not buy the next book.
There's stacks of his books at stores here in the US. Like I've no doubt they've sold a bunch, but...I'm talking 20-30 copies of the same book just sitting around on a table or display. Has been since its release.
To be fair, that's because the same people who complain about it are the ones who bought the book in the first place. We'll see how it goes with his next books, but if Sanderson continues with this trajectory, his star will fade.
I think he will see the reviews and reflect. If anything at all Brandon has always interacted humbly with his audience. I really hope he does take the criticism seriously but if any author I feel like would be open to that, I think it would be him.
Rhythm of War had problems and most people rate it significantly lower than the first three books. That being said, people were kinder in their critiques mostly because it was a middle book. Collectively, there was an understanding that the weakest plot threads from RoW were a necessary evil in order to setup the grand finale in book 5. In retrospective, that was completely wrong and I personally rate RoW lower than I used to. Wind and Truth (outside of the prose, which is another big point of contention) didn't end up using the setup from RoW and crammed a lot of new information instead. The ten day structure didn't help either. So much change happened in way too short of a time, both for the reader and for the characters. Brandon used Wind and Truth to cram the setup for the whole cosmere instead of giving us a satisfying finale for the first arc of the Stormlight Archives. And that was a huge disappointment for me.
I feel similiar as in Sanderson is trying too hard to focus on cosmere and setup for its future that he forgets to focus on the stories he is currently telling which wasnt the case early on and should be reversed. Also i think overall Sanderson latest works were fairly pretty weak, im talking about era 2 mistborn which was very lackluster and most people agree not as good as era 1, and Rhythm of war also was his weakest stormlight entry at that point. I loved the secret projects quite a bit but they werent meant to be part of mainline story and were never written as such and id argue they were better then any newer Sanderson.
Do you realize that this is also a middle book? This is supposed to be a 10 book series. The 5th book is the actual middle book. Like it or not, this is the middle.
@@multidinero We were promised an ending for the arc in Book 5. Rhythm of War was a bad book in my opinion, but it wasn't the promised payoff. So many people, including myself, were still waiting for book 5 to deliver on the promises of the books we fell in love with. And Brandon did deliver an ending in WaT, to be fair. Yet, it was very unsatisfying to me, because it didn't hang on the plot threads we had been following through the four previous books. Adding info dumps at the eleventh hour in a very crammed book isn't ideal. It felt like Brandon cared more about setting up his next series than in paying off the promises to his Stormlight Archive readers.
This wasn’t just a disappointment for me-it felt like a betrayal as a fan who has invested countless hours reading this massive series. Sanderson always promised that books 1-5 would form a conclusive first arc of The Stormlight Archive, not end on a somewhat cliffhanger. Instead, this feels like a rug-pull tactic, leaving fans stranded with loose threads and unsatisfying ending. I’m not willing to wait decades for an eventual ending in book 10.
The reason the next Stormlight will certainly not come out for another 9 years, is because the series has now become indistinguishable from The Cosmere at large, and the story is simply being continued in Mistborn-Era 3, which currently bears the title of Ghostbloods, a concept and faction initially introduced in Stormlight. The issue is that he recognized his success and wanted to prolong it. Now, if we want the resolution that Wind and Truth teased, the entire era 3 mistborn trilogy needs to be bought and read. And that’s not even counting the two Elantris sequels coming out which are, you guessed it, the next plot beat in The Cosmere. And it should be clear that at the end of that sequence, the true resolution will finally come in Stormlight 6. But at the end of that book, the true resolution will be promised in Stormlight 10… There is no Stormlight, Mistborn, or Elantris. It’s all just The Cosmere with different settings. We’ve witnessed the danger of this release strategy with the MCU. Not everybody wants to watch shows on Disney plus, and while there might be some great moments, there tends to be a huge amount of stalling and filler, and in the end the value of the creative property is watered down, and homogenized.
Is the hype dying? Maybe. The problem is that it should have been dying already with RoW, which I myself dnf'd. After that book, which in itself wasn't as well received as the earlier ones (and this probably also goes earlier for Oathbringer), there should have been some kind of decrease in the hype, but there really wasn't. In my honest opinon, I don't think that the aficionados have even noticed the decrease, as BS is the best thing since [whatever].
Trends come and go. Brandon's stuff, his fomula, approach and such was a kind of trend in itself, that many beginning writers follow. Maybe, it all just went on for a little too long, and now the iron is cold.
I've never understood the hype. I want to. A lot of Booktubers that I really respect rave about him. He is a very prolific writer so I would have a lot more in my TBR pile. I like him. He is very respectful and generous with his fans. I went into The Final Empire with the expectation of loving it. Sadly that was not my experience. I had to force myself to finish it. The only thing I really loved, and it was probably the reason I slogged through it, was the magic system. My geeky brain loved it. The rest not so much. I realize that I am in the minority.
I think what Brandon Sanderson provided that others don't or struggle to, was consistent, though not amazing, releases of new novels. He actually works and finishes on a schedule, and what he produces while not great, is better than some less consistent authors. The other reason I think he took off was that he writes in an extremely approachable and easily digestible way without testing your patience. This means the prose isn't great, and I hate his attempts at the poetic, but it also means you can get through his giant books pretty quickly. The magic as science stuff is another hook, but you covered that.
I actually didn't connect with Mistborn as much as most of the rest of his books, so it good be a matter of tastes. I also liked his non-cosmere works a fair bit.
I'm with you here, it seems to me his first books of a series, where he lays out a new framework how the world/magic works, are always his best. He's great at coming up with new magic systems that are coherent and simply put 'cool'. He then struggles in the coming books on how to keep it interesting and character development is one of his worst aspects. That's why you should try out some of his solo works, i think Warbreaker is BY FAR his best work. After struggling through Oathbreaker i finally decided i had seen enough of this series.
He writes mid pulp, with decent climaxes. Don't feel bad, he is literally the equivalent of the Dragonlance books of the 80's. There's such a dearth of epic heroic fantasy these days that BS has really stood out in contrast, but he is very middle of the line, even shockingly mediocre (prose), compared to the genre's greats.
I stayed up until 7AM finishing Wind and Truth. I was completely swept up in the hyp leading up to its release, and when it came in I simply couldn't put it down. For a 1,300+ page book, it went by quicker for me than most 300 page books. ... That doesn't mean I liked everything about it. Don't get me wrong-I liked quite a bit. I won't spoil anything, but the things I liked about this book, I REALLY liked: the big character moments, the cliffhanger ending paired with several smaller resolutions, and one Mr. Adolin Kholin. I've always loved him and thought him underrated, so it was great to see him (and the book's flashback character) have ample time to shine. The same, however, goes for the things I didn't like. That impression didn't quite hit me 100% as I was reading, but once I sat down and had some time to reflect, everything became clearer. Again without spoiling anything, I thought the prose was somewhat flimsier than usual (not that Sanderson was ever my favorite prose writer, but I came to appreciate his utilitarian "get out of the reader's way" approach over the years for what it is); the characters spent a lot of time repeating themselves; and there was a higher degree of bathos than usual, including from characters who don't usually quip. In the grand scheme of Stormlight's first arc, I liked WaT more than Oathbringer and RoW, but less than TWoK and WoR. I'm still thinking about it, though, so that could change; I could definitely see myself placing Oathbringer higher. RoW is... RoW. So, is the Sanderson hype on the decline? Not for me personally. He's written so many books I love so much, and that's not something I forget easily-despite WaT's flaws. ("Because it is flawed," anyone?) He's also written books I'm lukewarm on or outright dislike, but end of the day, the good outweighs the bad for me thus far. I also saw something promising: Sanderson interacting with fans on Reddit about their WaT thoughts. He seemed receptive to (constructive) criticism, though it's only a matter of time to see what he decides to implement. As a writer myself (albiet not a world-famous fantasy author), I understand the desire to see your vision through, as well as the value to listening to what readers have to say. No matter what, the next few years-even before Stormlight 6-are going to be very interesting for Sanderson, and for fantasy in general.
His response worries me because he basically denied his book being under edited. Which it is. I'm so sorry but it is heavily under edited. What do you think about that?
@MidnightChronicler I think it's normal for such a prolific author to have highs and lows with his books. I am pretty sure there are some Stephen King's books that are as crap as his best ones are good, but he is still a good author regardless.
A lot of people got introduced to the Fantasy genre through Sanderson, but now people have grown up and realized that there are other books and much better writers out there.
@@SevaineEmiyanope they are right. The majority of fans that hold him in high regard are those that started reading from him. That's what I've always observed. I like Sanderson but he is very average comparatively.
I appreciate that you gave Brandon his flowers, while also bringing up some interesting thoughts for discussion. As a fan, I genuinely love Sanderson as a person and I’m happy for his success-he deserves it. If he was getting picked on at the playground, I would fight for him. But as a critic and a writer myself-who has watched all of his lectures and podcast episodes-his recent works, especially his handling of Stormlight, frustrates me like none other because I feel like he’s capable of so much more. I really wish I could enjoy it as much as other fans, but Wind and Truth, to me, feels like “The Last Jedi” of the cosmere, and I can’t say I plan on continuing the series at this point. I don’t think the hype around his work will ever die off completely, especially with his devoted fanbase, but I do feel like people aren’t being as loud or excited about Stormlight as they usually are. The fact that more fans and booktubers are starting to voice criticisms is a good thing, in my opinion-it opens the door for meaningful discussion and growth for the genre.
Appreciate the kind words! I think that’s a fantastic way to put it and I don’t think you’re alone. The guy is very likable in many respects, and he deserves it. Just really interesting to see this sort of “straw that broke the camels back” moment for a lot of fans!
He's hit King status. No matter what he puts out, it will sell like hot cakes. It's probably harder to consider any critical feedback from his beta reader now. His ego has grown. I think he is a great guy as well. But, he made a billion on kickstarter on "secret projects." We didn't even know what the books were going to be about really....LOL.
@@Speed202 haha quite true. writing is not as easy as he makes it out to be. so I was skeptical when he cranked out all those secret projects. he certainly knew how to make a splash and market them!
I dont think i will keep reading his work after isles of the emberdark or SLA5. RoW and WaT felt like reading one piece. Too long for its own good and for the most part nothing happens. The final empire was such a gem that I just can't understand how Brandon has become this complacent with his writing.
After finishing WAT, I don't think I will read SLA 6-10. I don't like where this train is heading. I thought we were going to Paris France (epic high fantasy for adults), but feels like I'm heading to Paris Texas (self help young adult book).
As a reply, I’ve been doing more writing recently and going back through his 2020 lectures at BYU. Wind and Truth breaks a lot of the rules he tells the brand new writers in his class. It’s absolutely insane to me it got published in its current state.
I said this on another review, but I think that Sanderson unlocked the joy of fantasy to an entire generation, even more so perhaps. And I firmly believe many people can say because of him they simply love to read now...or read again. However, once people caught up with his works, and got cosmere-immersed eagerly awaiting his next book, they started to spread out and find other fantasy obsessions. As they uncovered other series that they fell in love with just as much or even harder than Sanderson, they eventually had to return to his newest book. And it likely just doesn't stack up for them anymore. They see Sanderson now more as a gateway rather a genre definer and don't latch onto his books as much. I'm only speaking as someone who has read Elantris, Emperor's Soul, Final Empire, and am about to finish Well of Ascension. But I can honestly say that people's criticism's that I keep reading are not brand new things. I see them in the books I'm reading of his now. This is what leads me to consider this as the reason the 'hype' is dying as you put it. People are just more realistic of their reviews of his books now than they were when they first discovered him, because they find other authors they discovered after him to be better.
@@Fuzzyfoot88 the criticisms you see in these works were always there, I agree, but there were a lot of other things that compensated those criticisms. Sanderson was not the first fantasy writer I've read, and WoR is still my most favorite fantasy book of all time. I still enjoy reading it and WoK after all this time and other books I've read by Brandon. The problem is he is really getting worse. All the problems are still there and getting bigger, but the good stuff is vanishing and replaced with an agenda and cosmere-wide plot instead of tightly wrapped up stories.
@@Sedside_real And what is this agenda and how have the good things dissapeared? The pay offs are still insanely good and feel deserved as the story builds up to them and the character progression is as good as the rest of the goods. I'll give you that it lost subtelty, but it hasn't really lost any of it's good parts. Plus, it's always been developing towards the cosmere wide plot, you simply cannot have stories set in a universe where there are 16 gods watching over different planets and not have it be connected, that would be like an unfired Chekhov's thermonuclear warhead.
@@rockargen9591 , I'm glad you find the playoffs insanely good. I don't. I find no payoffs whatsoever, only disappointment and disgust. Regarding the cosmere plot - when I was starting WoK I had no idea it was 'always heading towards the cosmere plot'. I got my book and started reading it. There were no warnings like 'don't read this unless you are not going to read 20 more books outside this series'. And I had no idea I had to research the author and his ideas before reading the book someone advised me to read. I wouldn't even know about the cosmere and other books if I hadn't started googling something like 'stormlight four release date'. How have the good things disappeared? I have no idea, you probably have to ask the author why he let it happen.
I was hugely disappointed by this book. I've been a big fan of Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance is probably my favourite fantasy book ever (for now at least), and Kaladin is my most beloved character. I wish I've stopped reading after OB though. WaT has ruined everything I loved about Stormlight, and everything I've tolerated for the sake of everything else, like bad humor or clumsy writing, has become enormous. This is not a book, it's a fanfic, and a particularly bad one. I swear, I've read fanfics that were written and wrapped up much better than this book, and had better characterization. Speaking of which, all the characters I loved, that were not ruined by RoW, were finished off by this one. Everything I liked and was inspired by in SA 1-3 is vulgarized, subverted and infantilized here. If you want an advice from a random internet girl - don't read after OB. Wait for SA6 to come and test pilots to give it a try. If it proves that Sanderson has come to his senses, read RoW. But even then - don't read WaT, find a summary somewhere, it will be enough, maybe even better than reading. This book is destination before journey, it's not worth wasting time on it.
As someone who just started A Way of Kings I'm talking not even in double digits chapter wise, I'm interested to know where this goes and why some are disappointed with Wind and Truth.
I was enjoying Oathbringer but there was a line to a male character, "you're literally courting a man." I just cringed a lot. Then I never finished the book..not sure why, it just felt so tacky.
Only reason I'm not that hype atm is because I realized I'm gonna have to wait four years for my next feature length Sanderslop... Gimme Ghostbloods damn it!
Thanks for being apart of the discussion everyone! Please consider subscribing for some more fantasy talk and book reviews/recommendations! Have a fantastic day.
Ive been a fan of Sanderson's writing up until this book, where it felt like he's on the verge of Flanderization of both his characters and writing style. Having 1 or 2 witty sarcastic characters is fun, but this book had them all crammed in a room together to the point there wasn't enough real dialogue, just jokes. I hope he can find it in himself and his team to really reflect and be willing to edit going forward or im afraid this series has Jumped the Shark to where its difficult to maintain that willing suspension of disbelief and feel immersed in Roshar. There were also too many places where the narrative felt like it was breaking the 4th wall so the author could bombard the reader with their opinions on their own work, and writing as a whole which is fine in moderation but made my eyes roll here at times with how much he was beating over the head with them
I.......... have never been so disappointed as I was to read this book. And i've read them all. Cosmere related anyway. He sold his soul, good luck to him - its very, very sad to watch.
No spoilers but I will mention books you might not have read yet Chronicler: You just said a lot that's been on my mind. I'm 80% done Wind and Truth. And I am disappointed. And it has nothing to do with Wind and Truth. Rhythm of War ruined the cosmere for me. The way that book was written you basically need to read most of cosmere. Sanderson said you don't need to read anything else, and that was true . . . up until Rhythm of War. In my opinion, it went too grand and epic in scope and the way some of the characters progressed (I also hated the backstory character for Rhythm of War) wasn't what I was hoping for and left me with such a bad taste I'm kind of done after I finish Wind and Truth, unless this Sanderlanche is amazing which I'm not sure of yet. Also the more I read fantasy books, the less impressed I am with the cosmere. Terms like Investiture and Realmatic theory sound complex, and I'm not saying the cosmere is dumb. But I don't believe it's this grand work of art that's never been done before. Most of these things you've seen before and cosmere just takes those old fantasy concepts and wrote it out in a new way, like instead of writing out a long number of something, it uses scientific notation or exponential form. I also think a lot of the booktubers I see who were big fans like Daniel and Merphy, they have moved away over time. Which is natural, but there wasn't this huge huge explosion of internet buildup like there was after the kickstarter and after the Rhythm of War release. Regardless, The first 3 books are some of my favorite books of all time, not so much Way of Kings, but Radiance and especially Oathbringer; Where I'm at in life, Oathbringer might as well be a self-help book. Most days I will literally quote some lines out of Oathbringer and I mean them seriously.
Personally, I thought the criticality of the Cosmere tie-ins for knowing what was going on was worse in The Lost Metals than in Rhythm of War or Wind and Truth, though perhaps that's because I was caught up on Cosmere when I caught up on Stormlight
I just finished Way of Kings and I am really bummed by the reactions of Wind and Truth. That being said, I know as a reader that an author is writing what they want to write. This isnt hollywood, just dumping as much junk into the same successful sphere to make the fans happy and fill their pockets. Brandon had stated, SPECIFICALLY FOR WAT, that this is the story he wanted to write. He has had a goal this whole time for Stormlight. I think its wild how much “ownership” fans think they have over this series and how they are due something different(what they think would be better). But hey maybe once I read WAT I am in the same boat.
I miss the day I just finished Way of Kings. I miss the day I finished Words of Radiance even more. I wish I've just stopped reading after I've read Oathbringer. RoW was not very good and it could get better in retrospective if WaT was good. Unfortunately, WaT is garbage.
Yeah, I absolutely agree that Brandon should write the stories he wants to tell. That said, I might be in the minority here, but sometimes I feel like his approach lately leans more toward prioritizing quantity over quality-kinda like the Disney+ and Marvel content post-Endgame. And with how large the Stormlight books are and the amount of investment they require, I think it’s fair for fans to expect a certain level of polish and refinement when it comes to the prose and editing-given the criticisms surrounding WaT. I think most readers just want to feel like they’re getting their time and money’s worth. But that’s just my take.
@@hollow3900 That's absolutely it, Sanderson is producing product/content, rather than really taking the time to refine. There's no reason for these books to be so big, there simply isn't enough substance, and that really shows on a (near) 500k word slog.
He has broken the "promise of the tone" with this book. I won't be able to trust what he writes anymore. I'm going to have to find out what the book content is before I read. Very disappointing that he is bringing nonsense into his books. I read to escape the real world. Now I run headlong into it in this book. Super disappointed
@All.Westeros the things that have only been ""relevant"" for humanity in the last 10 years after being irrelevant for hundreds of thousands of years.
As an absolute die hard fan of Brandon Sanderson I might just die this is one of the worst books I’ve ever read between the pacing the cringe dialogue the constant jumps between characters overly forced wokeness like I can put up with a bit I understand but when it’s this prevalent in a novel that it doesn’t make any sense it really takes me out of it
I have noticed a lot of popular booktubers are not posting reviews of wind and truth because they're not allowed to post their actual reviews, so Dragonsteel will probably send them a readout to post by mid-january.
@LDP-93 I saw his review first. It was pleasantly surprising, that's why I checked other popular fantasy booktubers and most of them have not posted a full review, just reading vlogs.
As a new subscriber I love your channel. Love that we both love name of the wind. It’s funny I would rather read a series that is unfinished than read a series with a horrible ending. Idk if I will ever try way of kings. But I will reread Name of the Wind.
In a recent interview with Esquire Magazine, it appears BS knew the effort to push modernism and LGBTQ would be upsetting to his fans, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He even had "sensitivity readers" go through the book to make sure it adhered to "THE MESSAGE." "I'm worried," he told the interviewer, "If my career is going to crash and burn, this is the book that will do it."
Maybe it should? Sorry but forcing real world issues and using real world language into your books in a fantasy setting is just lame. Personally I read fantasy books to escape the reality we are in, not reinforce it.
Jesus, even in a fantasy world you guys get triggered over the smallest things. Your perspective on life isn’t the universal one, certain characters existing doesn’t invalidate your (dated, low IQ) worldview bud. Grow a pair, there’s no need to btch about everything you “disagree” with.
@@jakecarlstad6192 There’s nothing wrong with characters that are gay. The issue is forcing lgbt characters into the plot for the sake of inclusion and modernity. They are usually poorly written and just thrown in to check off boxes for big publishers and studios. Sometimes if they’re brave enough they’ll take a character everyone loves and just say “Yeah this character that everyone likes it gay now”. It probably hurts the lgbt community more than anything because most of the characters representing them are so cheap and poorly written
@@austinhogan6031 Yeah, no. People will complain about whether a gay character is introduced from the start or if they're added to the plot for the sake of inclusion. They will complain about gay characters because they hate homosexuality.
I'm 400 pages in, a huge Brandosando fan for a long time. And yet there's FIVE pages that completely felt shoehorned into it. To the point where some of the Lines are Carbon Copies of the Left-wing Talking points. Brandon, being the Mormon that he is, injecting this Politcal agenda stuff into his work is rather disappointing. He was one of the holdouts, who I respected because he didn't try to implant a modern day message into his works. It Doesn't even feel earnest, It feels like a fresh out of college Line editor led him completely in the wrong direction. It's not Brandons Voice at all.
Listen, I am 76% into WaT, and so far I hate the experience. However, I think that despite seeing where you come from as some of those messages DO feel way too much in the reader's face and directly inserted into (terrible) dialogue, Stormlight *always* had pretty modern messages in its themes specifically when it comes to psychological issues with Kaladins depression, shallan's borderline behaviour etc. The thing that has ruined this book the most for me is the 10 day structure which made all the POVs have to be told synchronously so the cuts were all over the place from the very beginning of the book. There are many other issues that stem from this one and I could go on forever about those, but honestly don't think it's the fact that the book has modern messages or whatever that make it so bad. I do feel like there was little development done in the other books to prepare the reader for some of those character developments that touch on liberal ideas, so they do feel off putting and cheap, even out of place sometimes even to me despite agreeing with the idealogy brought up
I assumed he’d be more traditional in his writing because of his Mormon beliefs, but he’s to be rejecting those for some reason. I’m not against authors injecting their views into their stories, if they’re still entertaining (and readers can decide if they want that or not) but it’s a weird direction for him to take, especially as it’s against much of Western culture (other than a vocal minority).
Dude I don’t think it has anything to do with LGBT characters/woke agenda- that is a strawman argument in my opinion -Sanderson‘s writing has been YA level mid for a long time and the prose has just gotten to a point to be an unacceptable bloat that is in strong need for editing this slog outweighs any LGBT/sensitivity/modern-day writing that could’ve been forgiven in a better story written by a stronger author.
How do I, a taxpaying American, reconcile that the vast majority of the money goes to furthering colonialism and committing genocides around the globe?
Gonna be clear here, hate all you want. This book for me is a 3/5. It just felt… weak. There was a drop from WoR to Oath, and I feel like another one hit right now. Yes I’m also disappointed with the 🌈. Idk the ending kinda felt rushed a bit? Also the first books I REALLY was deeply invested on an emotional level, I truly was caring for the characters and story. WaT had practically none of that for me. Maybe just me idk. Also *SPOILER ALERT* I kinda feel like the blackthorn is actually still there in the end was a unnecessary addition from Brandon, like he wanted to make it better and pushed this out, but it didn’t deliver. The wind was introduced and included as an important aspect, but in the end it’s really wasn’t that big? From the positive tho, I loved the finishing of the character arcs. Szeths journey was really good. Kaladins was also, but the herald of second chances is kinda a “eh” title. Shallan story here tho, it was kinda in one chapter where she kills mraize. Her arc was AMAZING in RoW, and I feel like it finished there. Dalinars feels… cut off? I think the final moments where he realizes he shouldn’t always “punch” (like when he met stormfather as a man in spiritual realm) should’ve been more focused and fleshed out. Adolins story arc was also amazing, loved it. So overall 3/5, and once again, ending felt kinda rushed.
Rhythm of War really wasn’t that terrible - the problem was it was super long and if you’re not into science / research then the Navani chapters aren’t going to be that exciting. If you’re not a fan of Venli and/or the singers then you’re going to find some of the book tedious or uninteresting. I also don’t think the Mink was that interesting of an addition. That being said that concluding parts (4 and 5) are very exciting and I love certain key moments.,
The main issue with venli i think was that we already knew her story and story of singers before RoW, and when you pair it with her character being controversial it will end up as the worst flashback in the series. I personally really liked Navani chapter they were the best part of me but i can see why someone wouldnt. I also think RoW story was purposely stalling itself so the final chapters could have things happen it felt more present then most of Sanderson book atm. Many people also didnt really enjoy Shallan story. The other realms also were not that interesting and that includes Shadesmar which was major plot line in the story, and the Adolin reveal was the most obvious plot reveal for stormlight until that point. So RoW definitely had a lot of problems and it made sense it had way bigger mixed reception compared to other entries up to that point I also think a major part is that Mistborn era 2 being cosnidered much weaker by most people then era 1 also influnced the reception WaT would got.
I actually wonder if making them too like people was a mistake. The Rhythms made them like more tedious people, instead they should've been more mystical and strange with more flowery language to describe them and their interactions.
@@techsoul5590 personally Venli is the second most fascinating character to me in the Stormlight Archive. She’s grey and has so many shifting emotions and desires. I find her struggle to be good while also realizing she wants power and respect so compelling
I'm grateful to Sanderson for finishing WOT. Ironically, since WOT is infamous (to some) for "the slog", it was Sanderson's original works that were far more of a slog for me. I've tried unsuccessfully multiple times (Elantris, Mistborn, Stormlight) and could never get invested in the characters, plot, or settings.
WaT for me was a disappointment and my reading circle feels more or less the same. most struggle to even finish the book, while devouring anything related to Sun Eater in record time. That said, there are parts of WaT i absolutely love. And then there's the rest of it, that I would be comfortable seeing dying in a ditch somewhere.
He didn’t have an ending. It ends on “buy the next 5 book series to see the ending” And the writing has gotten awful. The characters stopped talking like characters in the setting, and started talking like modern day Californians. And that’s before how woke it got.
In my opinion the hype that built up over the last few years has caused some people to be overly critical of WAT. Not to discount the problems they had with the book, but to me it seems largely overblown. I finished the book about two weeks ago and enjoyed it. not to say I didn't notice some of the things that people list as major flaws. for me they were just either not that big of a deal to me or overshadowed by the other great stuff going on.
I was really looking forward to this book but had to opt out after 150 pages, the writing was atrocious, like it fell off a cliff, and I kept being pulled out of the storey. I don’t think I’m going back to Sanderson unless I hear his quality of writing ramps up.
Well, there's a lot of things I wanna say about this one but it would be a massive comment and I'm kinda lazy rn lol I didn't like this one very much, it's definitely a weakest one of his books I've read on many levels. Whoever said that he needs long vacation from Cosmere after this is totally right cuz that's exactly how I feel.
The philosophy advertised has changed, the characters act against how things were written before and sometimes against what fits their character, the storytelling itself was much worse in this book. Definitely drank the woke modernist koolaide. And is pushing that in wind and truth.
When Brandon said this book could make or break his career, I thought he was joking, but the more time that passes since I've read WaT, the more I think he's right. A few of his secret project books were pretty good, but the last 3 of his full novel Cosmere books were big misses for me. Maybe in a few years, I'll be hyped for another Cosmere book, but right now, I have no interest in reading them.
I am sorry but that wheel of time finish was a foreshadowing of Brandon’s weakness …that was wack. Love Brandon but misborn ending was okay but cuz it didn’t actually end lol 😂
I’m going to be honest; I do think Brandon is a bit overrated. Note, I do enjoy his work, notably MistBorn and Tress and the Emerald sea, and the Alcatraz Versus the Evil librarians. I’ve never read Stormlight. But Booktube( who I overall find quite mixed in terms of content) I think really inflated him due to consistent content and being friendly. Which I’m not knocking. Those are good. But here’s the thing; nobody, I mean nobody is above to criticism. Especially when you produce bad work. Yes, you may have your fans who will lack of a better phrase, ride or die with you; but if you have any sense of self awareness or integrity you’d listen to those who are critical and providing constructive feedback. Less you end up like a George Lucas. And finally, speaking personally, I’ve found authors who I like a bit more than Sanderson. Will Wight is my favorite ongoing author. He did the Cradle series which was great. And while I had issues with the Knight, his short stories, based on Cradle, were great. I’ve found plenty of other writers who aren’t talked about as much and deserve so much more love. All in all, I do hope this is a wake up call for Sanderson. He takes a look at the latest Stormlight, actually listens to the constructive feedback and gets to work. Our failures teach us more than victories. The reason is failures can give us the drive needed to do better whereas victory can eventually make you complacent and stagnant.
I think that WaT was a 10/10 book...….if you ignore about 100k words worth of text, the entirety of the Rlain and Renarin storyline was unnecessary, with a really small amount of rewriting you could have easily given their part to Shallan. While I love Adolin as a character, his part was also way bigger then it really needed to be, and the ending was a lot worse than it could have been. Kaladin's part could have been shorter, but the problem is that there's a lot of new characters that have to be characterized in it, which piledrives the pacing, despite being really good over all. Dalinar's was good, Navani's was good, Jasnah's was good, Shallan's was good, despite me usually being down on her character, Sigzil's was also good, if a bit aimless. Everything else is a 10/10.
No. White girls on tik tok are just now running out of romance to read so they are only just getting into it now and already overhyping mid brandon books. I listened to what people said about Brandon. "Read Mistborn Series first and then read Stormlight". They said Mistborn was great but stormlight is even better. After finishing Wind and Truth all I can is the whole journey has been mid, I don't remember anything, and I don't feel any more emotionally or spiritually fulfilled after reading these books
i just finished and I enjoyed it. I do think you get alot more out of it if you read the whole cosmere and even if you have it's still possible to get lost in parts. This may have been too ambitious for one book. some of the things it brought up should have been seeded a little better in earlier books. but I'm overall happy with the unexpected ending.
Yeah I kinda feel that too, been feeling it for awhile. I feel like for the most part, Brandon is losing his voice as a storyteller and reducing himself to the idea of being the mcu of fantasy for better and for worse. You can appreciate him for his worldbuilding and magic systems, but the books are kinda feeling more like content or installments of a bigger universe just instead of brilliant works of fiction just like how a lot of mcu movies feel like chapters in a book instead of an actual cinematic film. It’s even worse that he also leans alot on the comedy which is arguably worse than the MCU’s as it ranges from young characters like Shallan making dad jokes… to people actually talking about how they poop. It’s really weird. I also grow to become even less of a fan of Sanderson’s prose in these books. I said awhile ago that I got into the Cosmere because of the immersive artwork, and I gotta say? Brandon needs them, because his prose cannot do his settings or scenery any justice. I haven’t finished Wind And Truth yet, but man… it’s been a drag since Rhythm of War. As much as I love the Worldbuilding of Roshar, that’s not why I got into the Stormlight Archive. I came here for the characters, whose stories always seemed to be bogged down for Brandon to give us a history lesson on the planet or in depth look into how all the sciences work. I can appreciate he put in a lot of work to make a truly alien world, but if I wanted to just learn about Roshar then I’d read an encyclopedia or something. So yeah, I definitely think Brandon has reached the end of his honeymoon phase. However, I don’t think he’s in trouble in the slightest… Brandon is still one of the most successful authors in history with a stupid amount of money and fandom backing him… despite none of his works being adapted yet. That’s a HUGE feat! Something you didn’t really see in the fantasy landscape since Harry Potter, and even that franchise gained most of its popularity through the films rather than the books. Brandon stands toe to toe with these legends through his books alone. Plus the dude writes like crazy. It would be one thing if it was an average author getting slammed after releasing a book it took them nearly a decade to write, but for someone like Brandon who can release 3 books a year if he wanted to, I’m sure even he understands that not all of his works can be a hit. He can take an L and keep going because he knows he’ll still have thousands of people hyped for what he has planned next. If I was Sanderson, though? I would pull a George RR Martin and take a break from writing and focus on getting my works adapted to build the cinematic Cosmere motion picture universe. Actually dedicate himself to those and make them right so he can just live off of that and teach classes on the side.
This is a completely fair thing. I agree with a lot of your points. I personally don’t care for the people saying things like “OMFG BRANDON’S GONE WOKE” but I do agree that the cracks are beginning to show, especially with WaT. I personally loved it but I respectfully think that Brandon does need to make a course correction or else risk ruining the series.
@@TylerCraigNixon-hc5si thank you, and yes I’m not really aware of the whole “he went woke with book 5!” Stuff. Book 1 and 2 aren’t woke but I can’t speak for the others. I’m glad you loved WaT though-as I stated, the different opinions on this is what makes it all so fun to talk about
There is definitely some of things people would call WOKE in WaT a lot more then he did before but that is far from the main problems of the book, his writing style and wanting to focus not on stormlight but on cosmere would prabobly be the 2 main issues i had with it.
@@Sealwithwificonnection but that’s not the problem it’s a strawman argument the real problem is the fact that he needs an editor and he needs someone that’s not afraid to tell him no on his team- his prose is very weak and his bloat has become disrespectful to the time of the reader. I love a long book but it has to be long for a reason and a lot of what he’s written can be cut without loss to the story - all of these things are more problematic then becoming woke when it comes to tolerating his books and a lot of these things have been an issue since early on but are just now becoming more Notable.
@@amber88565 that's a personal one for me. Almost every mainstream thing is woke to some extent nowadays. Some are just better at not being annoying about it. I'm just saying that regardless of the problem of editing (which, from the excerpts I've read, I totally agree) Brando has still embraced woke talking points like a spren unironically going, "Erm, that's kinda racist?"
Never understood why this mediocre writer with admittedly lazy pros was so Overhyped, like Swift who can't sing and writes the most moronic lyrics ever
Brandon Sanderson shines the most when his endings pay off. I haven't read Wind and Truth yet, but Mistborn Era 1 and the first 3 Stormlight books were phenomenal. He even won a Hugo award for The Emperor's Soul. I still think he has it in him, but he needs a huge return to form. Taylor Swift shines when her song writing comes from the heart and not out of spite. Folklore from 2020 is one of the best albums of the decade, but every album she's released since then has been getting progressively worse. Evermore was also great, but not to the heights of Folklore. Midnights was good, but I wish it could've had more production value. The Tortured Poets Department is her newest and easily her worst album to date. A massive disappointment. No production value and a significant downgrade in her song writing. I think both Sanderson and Swift got so huge this decade that their popularity within their genres caused them to try to appeal to a larger audience while sacrificing quality. It's kind of funny how both of them released their most disappointing works in 2024. I still have hope for them though.
@@RealAndyOriginal I like Classic Literature, namely Homer and Virgil, when it comes to contemporary, again, I prefer writers who are followers of the tradition of Classic Literature like Tolkien and Milton, since they are like the standard bearers, Of course Shakespeare as well when it comes to poetry, which all pros should strive to be somewhat poetic.
I was thoroughly disappointed in this book. And I love this series and many other of his books. I almost DNFd it. I returned it right after finishing it and felt hollow..until I discovered that I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I'm not going back to this series. It's depressing, but I have lost trust in him.
Personally I loved it and thought it was an amazing ending to the series. That said, more than any other Sanderson book, I totally get why other people hated it and I don’t even disagree with them. I think to me the big moments just worked and I didn’t mind sitting through the lesser ones.
I didnt like the pacing, especially since in the spiritual realm time moves differently, he couldve done ao kuch with that. But nothing paid off, Shinovar was a slog, Shallan was a slog. I dont want to wait 9 years for the new era for more threads to close or pay off. Im tired of books promising stuff in the future. This didn't deliver, I'll pass future books
You can read the first 2 books of storm light archive. That's what I did. It's fantastic as a duology and ends perfectly at the end of book 2. Those are his best books apparently. No need to read further in my opinion.
I was a mega Sanderson fan. I stopped reading Wind and Truth with chapter 30. I will never ever read anything by him ever again. If he wants to go woke then he can do it without my money.
Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. Going into it, I was neither a rabid fan nor an ardent detractor - I mostly enjoyed Sanderson's works, and appreciated that he could typically write more books at a decent pace. But this latest Stormlight Archives entry...well, it's certainly proof that a good concept and interesting hook can be retroactively undone. Books one and two were actually a treat, with the creativity Sanderson is known for on full display. But as the page count and number of POV characters has ballooned, my enjoyment has waned. This last entry made the previously enjoyable and interesting characters boring, unimpactful to the story, and just unworthy of the time spent on them. And the new POV characters were mostly ho-hum. It felt like the ten day structure bogged everything down and the fact that the pace didn't really pick up until 1,000 pages in made this book quite easy to put down, and quite difficult to pick it back up. It was disappointing, and as someone who doesn't want to wade through another 10,000 pages of increasingly-bloated Cosmere to get a decent story (and even then only at the 10,000 foot level; the jokes and prose are middling at best and a slog at worst) I feel like this might have been the book to help me free up some of my previously spoken-for reading time.
I read The Way of Kings and enjoyed it, but I didn't care to find out what happened next. Sanderson wears his influences on his sleeve, and I've read those influences, so I felt like there was nothing of interest to be found further down the Cosmere road. Brandon Sanderson is a cool guy and a talented writer, but his writing is gateway drug material. That's not a bad thing if it gets you through the door, but if you've already gone through the door and been around the block a few times, Sanderson books don't scratch the itch in a satisfying way.
I love everything about Brandon except his writing. If we could give Rothfus or Martin his organized work flow and transparency that would be amazing. But Sanderson’s writing always feels superficial. A mile wide and an inch deep. It’s not literary, just a marvel movie in book form. Even when he’s exploring topics like “mental health” or patriarchy, the takes seem so wrote and unoriginal. Somehow he takes all the magic out of fantasy and instead gives the reader a fantasy simulation, which is always at least one step removed from true immersion.
This ^ I hate that some people are turning this into a problem about LGBT characters when really his writing in strong need for an editor that’s not afraid to put their foot down has been an ongoing issue since before this book it’s only worsened to the point that now people are not afraid to speak up on it. Also the mob mentality of his fans have caused a lot of reviewers to fear talking about these issues that were in earlier books
@@amber88565 Hold on, there is an issue with the LGBT stuff for the religious audience he gathered by being a "wholesome" and "clean". Now instead of having LGBT characters which is fine (because yes we all know gay people literally exist), the issue is that a gay romance takes center stage with one of the main characters. And through the eyes of the narrator this is effectively held up as "good" and "right" because its a positive thing that is happening to one of our main characters. Putting it front and center without the framing of moral opposition is tantamount to condoning and a lot of his religious audience is not going to want to read that. And no amount of opinions from everyone else who is pro LGBT and the certainty of how "right" or "ok" it is will change the fact that these audiences DO NOT WANT to read this. The more he leans into that and putting it front and center the more backlash there'll be from the audience HE HIMSELF cultivated. It is a betrayal of his original audience. And regardless of if you or anyone else thinks LGBT is fine does not mean this previously cultivated audience will feel that way.
@ and that can be an issue that they choose to have- what I’m trying to say is that the LGBT character ( even if it is a shock for homophobic people ) is a drop in the bucket of literary issues. And we shouldn’t let the LGBT issue ( which is not legitimate however, in this scenario, we can consider it legitimate to them) become bigger than the fact that these books are poorly written because at the end of the day it’s a critique on a book. for example your couch can have a stain on it, but the couch can be sitting inside of a house that is on fire. It seems stupid spend time complaining about the couch when the entire house is burning down. - that’s what it feels like to watch people complain about a LGBT character in a book that can have easily 200 pages of editing removed because of how much bloat it’s filled with
@@amber88565 lol hell yeah amber good stuff. I agree, take the LGBT stuff however you want, the real problem is that his writing is just not particularly insightful. It’s funny that he thinks he’s this great “character writer” when all of his characters are so one dimensional. Frankly, I suspect his life experience is rather limited, particularly since he’s become wildly successful and wealthy which probably separates his realm of experience from regular people even further. So with that limited experience, he’s simply not able to write interesting/believable/meaningful characters. And don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for the guy because I really respect his work ethic and his efforts to stand up for authors against publishers and the way he goes above and beyond to connect with his readers. I just wish he was a better writer! It’s like, I know what you *think* you’re achieving and it’s just so cringe when you completely fail to deliver on those ambitions. And I know I’m getting rambly here, but there was that interview he did where he said Henry Cavill wanted to play Kaladin but Sanderson said he couldn’t because he’s not Asian. And I’m like dude first of this is a fictional universe so Asia doesn’t exist, and even if he supposedly “appears Asian”, that’s literally such a superficial way to shoehorn “diversity” into your book. Like don’t you get that diversity isn’t just about physical appearance, it’s about the point of view that people who look like that cultivate. Like how does he not get that???
Could not have said it better myself. I want to like Sanderson the writer cause I really like the guy but I can’t. He’s gotta get an editor that is in all seriousness an asshole
Amen, there are so many areas with need for improvement they’re blaming it on being woke is just ignoring the root of the problem he needs an strong editor and people Around him not afraid to him no. I also think that his books lean more toward young adult versus adult fantasy I don’t know how he has been managing to market his books as anything but for so long
I haven’t read Brandon Sanderson but for me the hype is strong and I want to start reading Sanderson. I just need to find out where I can get the U.K. editions as well as where to start with Sanderson. I am trying to decide between starting with Tress and emerald sea, Skyward, Mistborn, Warbreaker, even The Way of Kings. 😅 Also do you annotate your Sanderson books and if so what is your annotating process ?
The first two books of the Stormlight Archive are his best work. I would start with those. W&T was so bad though I’ve lost all interest in his future books.
@@logann-mackenziefroste563 The book is just very underwhelming AND it has way more woke stuff than any of his previous books. I’ve read all his non-YA books. Really though, the first two of the Stormlight Archive are his best books. I would enthusiastically recommend those books to anyone before WaT. I think they are still worth reading even if I think the story is going in a bad direction with the latest book.
@ thanks for tip. I have a long way to go on reading his books and especially WaT. I don’t mind the woke stuff. For me it’s more where to start and deciding between the ebook or paperback and finding the audiobooks that have the U.K. cover because I don’t like the U.S artwork. I would highly recommend Robin Hobb books thats a 15/16 book series that is completely finished.
Bro, I don't like Renarin and Rlain's story in the fifth book. Uniting their people because he wants to have a gay relationship with Rlain is such a lazy idea. And saying it's the most difficult path just because they're going to be their leaders and a gay couple, in a world where true desolation has already begun? Like, what?! 😅
I don’t like Sanderson at all. I read Warbreaker and it took me 3 tries to finish it. I hated it. It was one of the worst things I have ever read. I read Way of Kings and have so many issues with it that I never went on to the other books. It’s the worst, most illogical world I have ever come across. Nothing in it makes sense if you just think it through for a second. It’s trash. I live in Florida and have been through many hurricanes. This civilization could not exist in the environment he describes. Period. The End. It’s asinine. The guy clearly never experienced a hurricane. I’ve heard too many people say Mistborn is YA and trash so I will probably never read that. I don’t read YA. Considering Sanderson did the LMNOP garbage in the last book, I doubt I will ever read it now. I have the first three Stormlight books and will probably bring them to the used bookstore and get them off my shelves. If you want to read fantasy, Malazan is the one. It makes Sanderson’s writing look amateurish.
I read Steelheart and it was fine, a solid YA novel. The sequel novella was rubbish, though, a blatant cash grab - poor quality writing, and nothing really happened. I’ve found a few Mistborn books so will try those, and see if I enjoy them more.
Which makes sense because statistically, your biggest audience is going to be in the Grade 6-9 level of reading. So a 10th grade prose is pretty much in line with that.
Wind and Truth wasn't my favorite novel. There were definitely aspects that could have been much better (ie. Modern swearing? Overly lengthy, Jasnah overall) but I also think it's important to remember this is the middle book, even if it closes out this arc of Stormlight. We won't have a full scope until the other books are done. That being said, I do love the Stormlight Archives as a series. It's become one of my favorite in recent years.
I understand some of the criticisms for sure but to me this really isn’t much different than any of the other stormlight books so I don’t really get all the hate. And the big switch up on Brandon after so many people loved the secret projects just to act like he’s a terrible author with one books they didn’t like.
You’re deliberately avoiding the issue: He added woke nonsense into the book. The majority of people do not want woke nonsense in their enertainment, plain and simple. Period. For him to do so and capitualte to the mob was a mistake, and something his fans are not happy about. So he’s getting a lot of deserved pushback.
It’s crazy to me that people are reacting so negatively to this book. I wouldn’t call it my favorite stormlight book but I still absolutely loved it. With its problems it was still a fantastic book in a fantastic series. I’ve seen people even saying that they’re done with the series now, that’s insane to me
I think most of them were expecting a "Hero of Ages" ending, instead of a book with a really strong conclusion that leaves a lot of things open for future entries, so their expectations where very different. I had these expectations as well, but I found the twists to be extremely good and the book to be incredible as well. (then there are those who don't like it because gay people exist)
@ honestly, people not liking it because of gay people is an extremely small amount of people. Like, next to no one. I do think you’re probably right about the expectations though.
Personally i've always thought Sanderson was a pretty mediocre ya author. I mean for god sake the bloke's prose literally feels like it was ai generated
The books are just too damn long. Give me some good short fantasy and science fiction novels, and tell an epic story in 350 pages or less - then I'll be impressed.
I loved alot about it. Didnt like alot too. At some point I have to wonder if writing over a 1000 pages is more important than writing something shorter yet more solid...
"A lot" is two words, not one.
I disagree, I think what was chosen to be included in the book as well as the writing was the problem, not the length.
@@thomasdelaney4898 why be that guy?
He just tryna flex but he failed imo. No reason to write something this long if it’s not as good
Haven't read it, so keep that in mind.
A book only ever needs to be 1000 pages if the story requires 1000 pages. Most stories don't need half that.
I work at a bookstore in the Netherlands. I’ve been working there for about a year and a half. We’ve consistently been selling Sanderson’s books since my first day. Since Wind and Truth, however, his sales have shot up so significantly that all of his books have a shipping delay. Everything, especially Stormlight Archive and Mistborn, is flying off the shelves. Keep in mind that I don’t know how the rest of our stores are doing, but I’ve been hearing a lot of positive comments about our Sanderson section and his quality as an author. In my (limited) experience in the book world, his popularity seems to be growing. I’ve only seen comments about him losing steam online.
this book's problems will only reflect in next book's sales no?. i mean previous stormlight books goodwill is solid and it lead to success for this book but if people didnt like this they will not buy the next book.
There's stacks of his books at stores here in the US. Like I've no doubt they've sold a bunch, but...I'm talking 20-30 copies of the same book just sitting around on a table or display. Has been since its release.
To be fair, that's because the same people who complain about it are the ones who bought the book in the first place.
We'll see how it goes with his next books, but if Sanderson continues with this trajectory, his star will fade.
I think he will see the reviews and reflect. If anything at all Brandon has always interacted humbly with his audience. I really hope he does take the criticism seriously but if any author I feel like would be open to that, I think it would be him.
This is also coming from someone who is really enjoying wind and truth. (Halfway through)
I 100% agree!
Rhythm of War had problems and most people rate it significantly lower than the first three books. That being said, people were kinder in their critiques mostly because it was a middle book. Collectively, there was an understanding that the weakest plot threads from RoW were a necessary evil in order to setup the grand finale in book 5. In retrospective, that was completely wrong and I personally rate RoW lower than I used to.
Wind and Truth (outside of the prose, which is another big point of contention) didn't end up using the setup from RoW and crammed a lot of new information instead. The ten day structure didn't help either. So much change happened in way too short of a time, both for the reader and for the characters. Brandon used Wind and Truth to cram the setup for the whole cosmere instead of giving us a satisfying finale for the first arc of the Stormlight Archives. And that was a huge disappointment for me.
I feel similiar as in Sanderson is trying too hard to focus on cosmere and setup for its future that he forgets to focus on the stories he is currently telling which wasnt the case early on and should be reversed. Also i think overall Sanderson latest works were fairly pretty weak, im talking about era 2 mistborn which was very lackluster and most people agree not as good as era 1, and Rhythm of war also was his weakest stormlight entry at that point. I loved the secret projects quite a bit but they werent meant to be part of mainline story and were never written as such and id argue they were better then any newer Sanderson.
Do you realize that this is also a middle book? This is supposed to be a 10 book series. The 5th book is the actual middle book. Like it or not, this is the middle.
@@multidinero We were promised an ending for the arc in Book 5. Rhythm of War was a bad book in my opinion, but it wasn't the promised payoff. So many people, including myself, were still waiting for book 5 to deliver on the promises of the books we fell in love with.
And Brandon did deliver an ending in WaT, to be fair. Yet, it was very unsatisfying to me, because it didn't hang on the plot threads we had been following through the four previous books. Adding info dumps at the eleventh hour in a very crammed book isn't ideal. It felt like Brandon cared more about setting up his next series than in paying off the promises to his Stormlight Archive readers.
No they don't, Rhythm of War is miles better than Oathbringer, which is the consensus.
This wasn’t just a disappointment for me-it felt like a betrayal as a fan who has invested countless hours reading this massive series. Sanderson always promised that books 1-5 would form a conclusive first arc of The Stormlight Archive, not end on a somewhat cliffhanger. Instead, this feels like a rug-pull tactic, leaving fans stranded with loose threads and unsatisfying ending. I’m not willing to wait decades for an eventual ending in book 10.
The reason the next Stormlight will certainly not come out for another 9 years, is because the series has now become indistinguishable from The Cosmere at large, and the story is simply being continued in Mistborn-Era 3, which currently bears the title of Ghostbloods, a concept and faction initially introduced in Stormlight.
The issue is that he recognized his success and wanted to prolong it. Now, if we want the resolution that Wind and Truth teased, the entire era 3 mistborn trilogy needs to be bought and read. And that’s not even counting the two Elantris sequels coming out which are, you guessed it, the next plot beat in The Cosmere. And it should be clear that at the end of that sequence, the true resolution will finally come in Stormlight 6. But at the end of that book, the true resolution will be promised in Stormlight 10…
There is no Stormlight, Mistborn, or Elantris. It’s all just The Cosmere with different settings.
We’ve witnessed the danger of this release strategy with the MCU. Not everybody wants to watch shows on Disney plus, and while there might be some great moments, there tends to be a huge amount of stalling and filler, and in the end the value of the creative property is watered down, and homogenized.
Is the hype dying? Maybe. The problem is that it should have been dying already with RoW, which I myself dnf'd. After that book, which in itself wasn't as well received as the earlier ones (and this probably also goes earlier for Oathbringer), there should have been some kind of decrease in the hype, but there really wasn't. In my honest opinon, I don't think that the aficionados have even noticed the decrease, as BS is the best thing since [whatever].
Trends come and go. Brandon's stuff, his fomula, approach and such was a kind of trend in itself, that many beginning writers follow.
Maybe, it all just went on for a little too long, and now the iron is cold.
😂😂 sounds like a lot of people in this comments are bitter people who don’t like Sanderson much.
Throughout WoT, I felt like Sanderson was telling us what as happening versus letting readers experience it through the story
I've never understood the hype. I want to. A lot of Booktubers that I really respect rave about him. He is a very prolific writer so I would have a lot more in my TBR pile. I like him. He is very respectful and generous with his fans. I went into The Final Empire with the expectation of loving it. Sadly that was not my experience. I had to force myself to finish it. The only thing I really loved, and it was probably the reason I slogged through it, was the magic system. My geeky brain loved it. The rest not so much. I realize that I am in the minority.
I think what Brandon Sanderson provided that others don't or struggle to, was consistent, though not amazing, releases of new novels. He actually works and finishes on a schedule, and what he produces while not great, is better than some less consistent authors. The other reason I think he took off was that he writes in an extremely approachable and easily digestible way without testing your patience. This means the prose isn't great, and I hate his attempts at the poetic, but it also means you can get through his giant books pretty quickly. The magic as science stuff is another hook, but you covered that.
I actually didn't connect with Mistborn as much as most of the rest of his books, so it good be a matter of tastes. I also liked his non-cosmere works a fair bit.
I'm with you here, it seems to me his first books of a series, where he lays out a new framework how the world/magic works, are always his best. He's great at coming up with new magic systems that are coherent and simply put 'cool'. He then struggles in the coming books on how to keep it interesting and character development is one of his worst aspects.
That's why you should try out some of his solo works, i think Warbreaker is BY FAR his best work. After struggling through Oathbreaker i finally decided i had seen enough of this series.
He writes mid pulp, with decent climaxes. Don't feel bad, he is literally the equivalent of the Dragonlance books of the 80's. There's such a dearth of epic heroic fantasy these days that BS has really stood out in contrast, but he is very middle of the line, even shockingly mediocre (prose), compared to the genre's greats.
He”s a super mediocre writer who only had a good editor to cover up his bland middle grade level prose.
I stayed up until 7AM finishing Wind and Truth. I was completely swept up in the hyp leading up to its release, and when it came in I simply couldn't put it down. For a 1,300+ page book, it went by quicker for me than most 300 page books.
... That doesn't mean I liked everything about it.
Don't get me wrong-I liked quite a bit. I won't spoil anything, but the things I liked about this book, I REALLY liked: the big character moments, the cliffhanger ending paired with several smaller resolutions, and one Mr. Adolin Kholin. I've always loved him and thought him underrated, so it was great to see him (and the book's flashback character) have ample time to shine.
The same, however, goes for the things I didn't like. That impression didn't quite hit me 100% as I was reading, but once I sat down and had some time to reflect, everything became clearer. Again without spoiling anything, I thought the prose was somewhat flimsier than usual (not that Sanderson was ever my favorite prose writer, but I came to appreciate his utilitarian "get out of the reader's way" approach over the years for what it is); the characters spent a lot of time repeating themselves; and there was a higher degree of bathos than usual, including from characters who don't usually quip.
In the grand scheme of Stormlight's first arc, I liked WaT more than Oathbringer and RoW, but less than TWoK and WoR. I'm still thinking about it, though, so that could change; I could definitely see myself placing Oathbringer higher. RoW is... RoW.
So, is the Sanderson hype on the decline? Not for me personally. He's written so many books I love so much, and that's not something I forget easily-despite WaT's flaws. ("Because it is flawed," anyone?) He's also written books I'm lukewarm on or outright dislike, but end of the day, the good outweighs the bad for me thus far.
I also saw something promising: Sanderson interacting with fans on Reddit about their WaT thoughts. He seemed receptive to (constructive) criticism, though it's only a matter of time to see what he decides to implement. As a writer myself (albiet not a world-famous fantasy author), I understand the desire to see your vision through, as well as the value to listening to what readers have to say. No matter what, the next few years-even before Stormlight 6-are going to be very interesting for Sanderson, and for fantasy in general.
His response worries me because he basically denied his book being under edited. Which it is. I'm so sorry but it is heavily under edited.
What do you think about that?
Him talking on "reddit" could very well be part of the problem. As only a skewed minority of readers are on that site
@@verigumetin4291 No idea tbh. Hard to really know what his editors are/aren't saying. We can only guess and/or take him at his word
Time to fully embrace Sun eater as the best leading modern sci-fi/fantasy epic
100%
Yes!
The way you put a black and white picture of him as if he was dead lmao 😂
@@lizzy7651 I kinda died laughing at this honestly
@MidnightChronicler I think it's normal for such a prolific author to have highs and lows with his books. I am pretty sure there are some Stephen King's books that are as crap as his best ones are good, but he is still a good author regardless.
A lot of people got introduced to the Fantasy genre through Sanderson, but now people have grown up and realized that there are other books and much better writers out there.
Wind and Truth had issues but that's such an immature take
@@jpch8814 100% agree
I call this the Paolini effect lol !
@@SevaineEmiyanope they are right. The majority of fans that hold him in high regard are those that started reading from him. That's what I've always observed. I like Sanderson but he is very average comparatively.
I appreciate that you gave Brandon his flowers, while also bringing up some interesting thoughts for discussion.
As a fan, I genuinely love Sanderson as a person and I’m happy for his success-he deserves it. If he was getting picked on at the playground, I would fight for him. But as a critic and a writer myself-who has watched all of his lectures and podcast episodes-his recent works, especially his handling of Stormlight, frustrates me like none other because I feel like he’s capable of so much more. I really wish I could enjoy it as much as other fans, but Wind and Truth, to me, feels like “The Last Jedi” of the cosmere, and I can’t say I plan on continuing the series at this point.
I don’t think the hype around his work will ever die off completely, especially with his devoted fanbase, but I do feel like people aren’t being as loud or excited about Stormlight as they usually are. The fact that more fans and booktubers are starting to voice criticisms is a good thing, in my opinion-it opens the door for meaningful discussion and growth for the genre.
Appreciate the kind words! I think that’s a fantastic way to put it and I don’t think you’re alone. The guy is very likable in many respects, and he deserves it. Just really interesting to see this sort of “straw that broke the camels back” moment for a lot of fans!
He's hit King status. No matter what he puts out, it will sell like hot cakes. It's probably harder to consider any critical feedback from his beta reader now. His ego has grown. I think he is a great guy as well. But, he made a billion on kickstarter on "secret projects." We didn't even know what the books were going to be about really....LOL.
@@Speed202 haha quite true. writing is not as easy as he makes it out to be. so I was skeptical when he cranked out all those secret projects. he certainly knew how to make a splash and market them!
this book did not deliver. 2/5
I disagree, I think it totally delivered. 4.5 /5 for me . Loved it .
@@darthjason7019 4.5 is insane lol. Everyone has their own opinion ofc but I can't possibly see what you could be satisfied with from this book
Im stopping with the first two. Unless the second arc blows everyone away.
I dont think i will keep reading his work after isles of the emberdark or SLA5. RoW and WaT felt like reading one piece. Too long for its own good and for the most part nothing happens.
The final empire was such a gem that I just can't understand how Brandon has become this complacent with his writing.
After finishing WAT, I don't think I will read SLA 6-10. I don't like where this train is heading. I thought we were going to Paris France (epic high fantasy for adults), but feels like I'm heading to Paris Texas (self help young adult book).
He’s burned a lot of people with Wind and Truth. I donated all of my Cosmere books to the used book store in my town yesterday. I’m done.
As a reply, I’ve been doing more writing recently and going back through his 2020 lectures at BYU. Wind and Truth breaks a lot of the rules he tells the brand new writers in his class. It’s absolutely insane to me it got published in its current state.
I mean, good for you. For us non-snobs, its a pretty decent book.
I said this on another review, but I think that Sanderson unlocked the joy of fantasy to an entire generation, even more so perhaps. And I firmly believe many people can say because of him they simply love to read now...or read again. However, once people caught up with his works, and got cosmere-immersed eagerly awaiting his next book, they started to spread out and find other fantasy obsessions. As they uncovered other series that they fell in love with just as much or even harder than Sanderson, they eventually had to return to his newest book. And it likely just doesn't stack up for them anymore. They see Sanderson now more as a gateway rather a genre definer and don't latch onto his books as much.
I'm only speaking as someone who has read Elantris, Emperor's Soul, Final Empire, and am about to finish Well of Ascension. But I can honestly say that people's criticism's that I keep reading are not brand new things. I see them in the books I'm reading of his now. This is what leads me to consider this as the reason the 'hype' is dying as you put it. People are just more realistic of their reviews of his books now than they were when they first discovered him, because they find other authors they discovered after him to be better.
@@Fuzzyfoot88 the criticisms you see in these works were always there, I agree, but there were a lot of other things that compensated those criticisms. Sanderson was not the first fantasy writer I've read, and WoR is still my most favorite fantasy book of all time. I still enjoy reading it and WoK after all this time and other books I've read by Brandon. The problem is he is really getting worse. All the problems are still there and getting bigger, but the good stuff is vanishing and replaced with an agenda and cosmere-wide plot instead of tightly wrapped up stories.
@@Sedside_real And what is this agenda and how have the good things dissapeared? The pay offs are still insanely good and feel deserved as the story builds up to them and the character progression is as good as the rest of the goods. I'll give you that it lost subtelty, but it hasn't really lost any of it's good parts.
Plus, it's always been developing towards the cosmere wide plot, you simply cannot have stories set in a universe where there are 16 gods watching over different planets and not have it be connected, that would be like an unfired Chekhov's thermonuclear warhead.
@@rockargen9591 , I'm glad you find the playoffs insanely good. I don't. I find no payoffs whatsoever, only disappointment and disgust.
Regarding the cosmere plot - when I was starting WoK I had no idea it was 'always heading towards the cosmere plot'. I got my book and started reading it. There were no warnings like 'don't read this unless you are not going to read 20 more books outside this series'. And I had no idea I had to research the author and his ideas before reading the book someone advised me to read. I wouldn't even know about the cosmere and other books if I hadn't started googling something like 'stormlight four release date'.
How have the good things disappeared? I have no idea, you probably have to ask the author why he let it happen.
Those books don’t have to be THAT big. A quick 600 pages with a solid story wrapping up the first arc of this saga.
I've never been hyped for Sanderson.
I was hugely disappointed by this book. I've been a big fan of Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance is probably my favourite fantasy book ever (for now at least), and Kaladin is my most beloved character. I wish I've stopped reading after OB though. WaT has ruined everything I loved about Stormlight, and everything I've tolerated for the sake of everything else, like bad humor or clumsy writing, has become enormous. This is not a book, it's a fanfic, and a particularly bad one. I swear, I've read fanfics that were written and wrapped up much better than this book, and had better characterization. Speaking of which, all the characters I loved, that were not ruined by RoW, were finished off by this one. Everything I liked and was inspired by in SA 1-3 is vulgarized, subverted and infantilized here. If you want an advice from a random internet girl - don't read after OB. Wait for SA6 to come and test pilots to give it a try. If it proves that Sanderson has come to his senses, read RoW. But even then - don't read WaT, find a summary somewhere, it will be enough, maybe even better than reading. This book is destination before journey, it's not worth wasting time on it.
As someone who just started A Way of Kings I'm talking not even in double digits chapter wise, I'm interested to know where this goes and why some are disappointed with Wind and Truth.
Honestly, the first two books are hard for me to get through. Like they’re good, but so, so slow.
I was enjoying Oathbringer but there was a line to a male character, "you're literally courting a man." I just cringed a lot. Then I never finished the book..not sure why, it just felt so tacky.
Only reason I'm not that hype atm is because I realized I'm gonna have to wait four years for my next feature length Sanderslop... Gimme Ghostbloods damn it!
Thanks for being apart of the discussion everyone! Please consider subscribing for some more fantasy talk and book reviews/recommendations! Have a fantastic day.
You mean "a part of the discussion". "A part" and "apart" literally mean the opposite things to each other.
Ive been a fan of Sanderson's writing up until this book, where it felt like he's on the verge of Flanderization of both his characters and writing style. Having 1 or 2 witty sarcastic characters is fun, but this book had them all crammed in a room together to the point there wasn't enough real dialogue, just jokes. I hope he can find it in himself and his team to really reflect and be willing to edit going forward or im afraid this series has Jumped the Shark to where its difficult to maintain that willing suspension of disbelief and feel immersed in Roshar.
There were also too many places where the narrative felt like it was breaking the 4th wall so the author could bombard the reader with their opinions on their own work, and writing as a whole which is fine in moderation but made my eyes roll here at times with how much he was beating over the head with them
I.......... have never been so disappointed as I was to read this book. And i've read them all. Cosmere related anyway. He sold his soul, good luck to him - its very, very sad to watch.
No spoilers but I will mention books you might not have read yet Chronicler:
You just said a lot that's been on my mind. I'm 80% done Wind and Truth. And I am disappointed. And it has nothing to do with Wind and Truth. Rhythm of War ruined the cosmere for me. The way that book was written you basically need to read most of cosmere. Sanderson said you don't need to read anything else, and that was true . . . up until Rhythm of War. In my opinion, it went too grand and epic in scope and the way some of the characters progressed (I also hated the backstory character for Rhythm of War) wasn't what I was hoping for and left me with such a bad taste I'm kind of done after I finish Wind and Truth, unless this Sanderlanche is amazing which I'm not sure of yet.
Also the more I read fantasy books, the less impressed I am with the cosmere. Terms like Investiture and Realmatic theory sound complex, and I'm not saying the cosmere is dumb. But I don't believe it's this grand work of art that's never been done before. Most of these things you've seen before and cosmere just takes those old fantasy concepts and wrote it out in a new way, like instead of writing out a long number of something, it uses scientific notation or exponential form.
I also think a lot of the booktubers I see who were big fans like Daniel and Merphy, they have moved away over time. Which is natural, but there wasn't this huge huge explosion of internet buildup like there was after the kickstarter and after the Rhythm of War release.
Regardless, The first 3 books are some of my favorite books of all time, not so much Way of Kings, but Radiance and especially Oathbringer; Where I'm at in life, Oathbringer might as well be a self-help book. Most days I will literally quote some lines out of Oathbringer and I mean them seriously.
@@Pandybears great points all around! It’s an interesting topic at the moment it seems.
Personally, I thought the criticality of the Cosmere tie-ins for knowing what was going on was worse in The Lost Metals than in Rhythm of War or Wind and Truth, though perhaps that's because I was caught up on Cosmere when I caught up on Stormlight
I've only read Stormlight, and never felt like I was missing anything with Rhythm of War.
I just finished Way of Kings and I am really bummed by the reactions of Wind and Truth. That being said, I know as a reader that an author is writing what they want to write. This isnt hollywood, just dumping as much junk into the same successful sphere to make the fans happy and fill their pockets. Brandon had stated, SPECIFICALLY FOR WAT, that this is the story he wanted to write. He has had a goal this whole time for Stormlight. I think its wild how much “ownership” fans think they have over this series and how they are due something different(what they think would be better). But hey maybe once I read WAT I am in the same boat.
@@di3s3l44 Yep. Brandon has every right to make this series into whatever he wishes.
I miss the day I just finished Way of Kings. I miss the day I finished Words of Radiance even more. I wish I've just stopped reading after I've read Oathbringer. RoW was not very good and it could get better in retrospective if WaT was good. Unfortunately, WaT is garbage.
Yeah, I absolutely agree that Brandon should write the stories he wants to tell. That said, I might be in the minority here, but sometimes I feel like his approach lately leans more toward prioritizing quantity over quality-kinda like the Disney+ and Marvel content post-Endgame.
And with how large the Stormlight books are and the amount of investment they require, I think it’s fair for fans to expect a certain level of polish and refinement when it comes to the prose and editing-given the criticisms surrounding WaT.
I think most readers just want to feel like they’re getting their time and money’s worth. But that’s just my take.
I liked Wind and Truth a lot. It had flaws, but overall I'm happy and looking forward to the continuation.
@@hollow3900 That's absolutely it, Sanderson is producing product/content, rather than really taking the time to refine. There's no reason for these books to be so big, there simply isn't enough substance, and that really shows on a (near) 500k word slog.
He has broken the "promise of the tone" with this book. I won't be able to trust what he writes anymore. I'm going to have to find out what the book content is before I read. Very disappointing that he is bringing nonsense into his books. I read to escape the real world. Now I run headlong into it in this book. Super disappointed
What about the real world came into the work of Stormlight that you disliked?
@All.Westeros the things that have only been ""relevant"" for humanity in the last 10 years after being irrelevant for hundreds of thousands of years.
I agree. The promises and expectations he had set up in WoK and WoR are broken in terms of escapism and immersion.
What you refer to was done very lightly, I don't personally think it impacts the book very much.
@@Kuvantorare you referring to the inclusion of a m/m relationship? Cause honey, that's been important in society for WAY longer than 10 years 😂
As an absolute die hard fan of Brandon Sanderson I might just die this is one of the worst books I’ve ever read between the pacing the cringe dialogue the constant jumps between characters overly forced wokeness like I can put up with a bit I understand but when it’s this prevalent in a novel that it doesn’t make any sense it really takes me out of it
I have noticed a lot of popular booktubers are not posting reviews of wind and truth because they're not allowed to post their actual reviews, so Dragonsteel will probably send them a readout to post by mid-january.
I've read some lukewarm and even negative reviews of this book and some from some of his biggest cheerleaders.
Me too, but most of the fan booktubers seem to be waiting to post their reviews.
Apparently you don't watch Daniel Greene? One of the biggest BookTubers and a friend of Brandon Sanderson?
@LDP-93 I saw his review first. It was pleasantly surprising, that's why I checked other popular fantasy booktubers and most of them have not posted a full review, just reading vlogs.
or maybe it the fact that these are big books, and take a long time to read. There's plenty of reviews out there from booktubers who got ARCs.
So Wind And Truth is like Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department....
Look at his initials. You see that people are finally discovering the BS
As a new subscriber I love your channel. Love that we both love name of the wind.
It’s funny I would rather read a series that is unfinished than read a series with a horrible ending. Idk if I will ever try way of kings. But I will reread Name of the Wind.
I appreciate that a ton, very impressed with your own work! And agreed!
In a recent interview with Esquire Magazine, it appears BS knew the effort to push modernism and LGBTQ would be upsetting to his fans, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He even had "sensitivity readers" go through the book to make sure it adhered to "THE MESSAGE."
"I'm worried," he told the interviewer, "If my career is going to crash and burn, this is the book that will do it."
Maybe it should? Sorry but forcing real world issues and using real world language into your books in a fantasy setting is just lame. Personally I read fantasy books to escape the reality we are in, not reinforce it.
Jesus, even in a fantasy world you guys get triggered over the smallest things. Your perspective on life isn’t the universal one, certain characters existing doesn’t invalidate your (dated, low IQ) worldview bud. Grow a pair, there’s no need to btch about everything you “disagree” with.
What's wrong with having a gay character?
@@jakecarlstad6192 There’s nothing wrong with characters that are gay. The issue is forcing lgbt characters into the plot for the sake of inclusion and modernity. They are usually poorly written and just thrown in to check off boxes for big publishers and studios. Sometimes if they’re brave enough they’ll take a character everyone loves and just say “Yeah this character that everyone likes it gay now”. It probably hurts the lgbt community more than anything because most of the characters representing them are so cheap and poorly written
@@austinhogan6031 Yeah, no. People will complain about whether a gay character is introduced from the start or if they're added to the plot for the sake of inclusion. They will complain about gay characters because they hate homosexuality.
I'm 400 pages in, a huge Brandosando fan for a long time. And yet there's FIVE pages that completely felt shoehorned into it.
To the point where some of the Lines are Carbon Copies of the Left-wing Talking points.
Brandon, being the Mormon that he is, injecting this Politcal agenda stuff into his work is rather disappointing. He was one of the holdouts, who I respected because he didn't try to implant a modern day message into his works.
It Doesn't even feel earnest, It feels like a fresh out of college Line editor led him completely in the wrong direction. It's not Brandons Voice at all.
Listen, I am 76% into WaT, and so far I hate the experience. However, I think that despite seeing where you come from as some of those messages DO feel way too much in the reader's face and directly inserted into (terrible) dialogue, Stormlight *always* had pretty modern messages in its themes specifically when it comes to psychological issues with Kaladins depression, shallan's borderline behaviour etc.
The thing that has ruined this book the most for me is the 10 day structure which made all the POVs have to be told synchronously so the cuts were all over the place from the very beginning of the book. There are many other issues that stem from this one and I could go on forever about those, but honestly don't think it's the fact that the book has modern messages or whatever that make it so bad.
I do feel like there was little development done in the other books to prepare the reader for some of those character developments that touch on liberal ideas, so they do feel off putting and cheap, even out of place sometimes even to me despite agreeing with the idealogy brought up
I assumed he’d be more traditional in his writing because of his Mormon beliefs, but he’s to be rejecting those for some reason. I’m not against authors injecting their views into their stories, if they’re still entertaining (and readers can decide if they want that or not) but it’s a weird direction for him to take, especially as it’s against much of Western culture (other than a vocal minority).
It's over, the last two books are so bad he needs to retire his pen.
Dude I don’t think it has anything to do with LGBT characters/woke agenda- that is a strawman argument in my opinion -Sanderson‘s writing has been YA level mid for a long time and the prose has just gotten to a point to be an unacceptable bloat that is in strong need for editing this slog outweighs any LGBT/sensitivity/modern-day writing that could’ve been forgiven in a better story written by a stronger author.
His very, verrrry vocal Cult would disagree
I wanna know how Brandon Sanderson, a Mormon, reconciles supporting LGTBQ+ while the church does not.
If you actually want that, go find the interviews where he talks about it.
How do I, a taxpaying American, reconcile that the vast majority of the money goes to furthering colonialism and committing genocides around the globe?
Just read Malazan Books of the Fallen.
Gonna be clear here, hate all you want. This book for me is a 3/5. It just felt… weak. There was a drop from WoR to Oath, and I feel like another one hit right now. Yes I’m also disappointed with the 🌈. Idk the ending kinda felt rushed a bit? Also the first books I REALLY was deeply invested on an emotional level, I truly was caring for the characters and story. WaT had practically none of that for me. Maybe just me idk. Also *SPOILER ALERT* I kinda feel like the blackthorn is actually still there in the end was a unnecessary addition from Brandon, like he wanted to make it better and pushed this out, but it didn’t deliver. The wind was introduced and included as an important aspect, but in the end it’s really wasn’t that big? From the positive tho, I loved the finishing of the character arcs. Szeths journey was really good. Kaladins was also, but the herald of second chances is kinda a “eh” title. Shallan story here tho, it was kinda in one chapter where she kills mraize. Her arc was AMAZING in RoW, and I feel like it finished there. Dalinars feels… cut off? I think the final moments where he realizes he shouldn’t always “punch” (like when he met stormfather as a man in spiritual realm) should’ve been more focused and fleshed out. Adolins story arc was also amazing, loved it. So overall 3/5, and once again, ending felt kinda rushed.
Also I’d say this is my least favorite stormlight book, WoR as first, then WoK RoW Oath and then WaT
Herald of redemption was right there goofy ahh title
@ yep
Rhythm of War really wasn’t that terrible - the problem was it was super long and if you’re not into science / research then the Navani chapters aren’t going to be that exciting.
If you’re not a fan of Venli and/or the singers then you’re going to find some of the book tedious or uninteresting. I also don’t think the Mink was that interesting of an addition.
That being said that concluding parts (4 and 5) are very exciting and I love certain key moments.,
The main issue with venli i think was that we already knew her story and story of singers before RoW, and when you pair it with her character being controversial it will end up as the worst flashback in the series.
I personally really liked Navani chapter they were the best part of me but i can see why someone wouldnt.
I also think RoW story was purposely stalling itself so the final chapters could have things happen it felt more present then most of Sanderson book atm.
Many people also didnt really enjoy Shallan story.
The other realms also were not that interesting and that includes Shadesmar which was major plot line in the story, and the Adolin reveal was the most obvious plot reveal for stormlight until that point.
So RoW definitely had a lot of problems and it made sense it had way bigger mixed reception compared to other entries up to that point
I also think a major part is that Mistborn era 2 being cosnidered much weaker by most people then era 1 also influnced the reception WaT would got.
I also liked Rythym of War, though Venli was a little flat.
I actually wonder if making them too like people was a mistake. The Rhythms made them like more tedious people, instead they should've been more mystical and strange with more flowery language to describe them and their interactions.
@@techsoul5590 personally Venli is the second most fascinating character to me in the Stormlight Archive. She’s grey and has so many shifting emotions and desires. I find her struggle to be good while also realizing she wants power and respect so compelling
I'm grateful to Sanderson for finishing WOT. Ironically, since WOT is infamous (to some) for "the slog", it was Sanderson's original works that were far more of a slog for me. I've tried unsuccessfully multiple times (Elantris, Mistborn, Stormlight) and could never get invested in the characters, plot, or settings.
WaT for me was a disappointment and my reading circle feels more or less the same. most struggle to even finish the book, while devouring anything related to Sun Eater in record time.
That said, there are parts of WaT i absolutely love. And then there's the rest of it, that I would be comfortable seeing dying in a ditch somewhere.
Sanderson will not see one more red cent of my money. I returned Wind and Truth to Amazon. I am done with this series and him as an author.
He didn’t have an ending. It ends on “buy the next 5 book series to see the ending”
And the writing has gotten awful. The characters stopped talking like characters in the setting, and started talking like modern day Californians.
And that’s before how woke it got.
In my opinion the hype that built up over the last few years has caused some people to be overly critical of WAT. Not to discount the problems they had with the book, but to me it seems largely overblown. I finished the book about two weeks ago and enjoyed it. not to say I didn't notice some of the things that people list as major flaws. for me they were just either not that big of a deal to me or overshadowed by the other great stuff going on.
I was really looking forward to this book but had to opt out after 150 pages, the writing was atrocious, like it fell off a cliff, and I kept being pulled out of the storey. I don’t think I’m going back to Sanderson unless I hear his quality of writing ramps up.
Well, there's a lot of things I wanna say about this one but it would be a massive comment and I'm kinda lazy rn lol
I didn't like this one very much, it's definitely a weakest one of his books I've read on many levels.
Whoever said that he needs long vacation from Cosmere after this is totally right cuz that's exactly how I feel.
The philosophy advertised has changed, the characters act against how things were written before and sometimes against what fits their character, the storytelling itself was much worse in this book. Definitely drank the woke modernist koolaide. And is pushing that in wind and truth.
Incredibly disappointed with Wind & Truth. I am positive about the ending but the journey? Which is what is meant to be most important, nope.
When Brandon said this book could make or break his career, I thought he was joking, but the more time that passes since I've read WaT, the more I think he's right. A few of his secret project books were pretty good, but the last 3 of his full novel Cosmere books were big misses for me.
Maybe in a few years, I'll be hyped for another Cosmere book, but right now, I have no interest in reading them.
I am sorry but that wheel of time finish was a foreshadowing of Brandon’s weakness …that was wack. Love Brandon but misborn ending was okay but cuz it didn’t actually end lol 😂
I’m going to be honest; I do think Brandon is a bit overrated. Note, I do enjoy his work, notably MistBorn and Tress and the Emerald sea, and the Alcatraz Versus the Evil librarians. I’ve never read Stormlight.
But Booktube( who I overall find quite mixed in terms of content) I think really inflated him due to consistent content and being friendly. Which I’m not knocking. Those are good. But here’s the thing; nobody, I mean nobody is above to criticism.
Especially when you produce bad work. Yes, you may have your fans who will lack of a better phrase, ride or die with you; but if you have any sense of self awareness or integrity you’d listen to those who are critical and providing constructive feedback. Less you end up like a George Lucas.
And finally, speaking personally, I’ve found authors who I like a bit more than Sanderson. Will Wight is my favorite ongoing author. He did the Cradle series which was great. And while I had issues with the Knight, his short stories, based on Cradle, were great.
I’ve found plenty of other writers who aren’t talked about as much and deserve so much more love. All in all, I do hope this is a wake up call for Sanderson.
He takes a look at the latest Stormlight, actually listens to the constructive feedback and gets to work. Our failures teach us more than victories. The reason is failures can give us the drive needed to do better whereas victory can eventually make you complacent and stagnant.
O man, the Cradle series from Will Wight is so much fun to read. I didn’t like first book of his new series, but Cradle was amazing
I think that WaT was a 10/10 book...….if you ignore about 100k words worth of text, the entirety of the Rlain and Renarin storyline was unnecessary, with a really small amount of rewriting you could have easily given their part to Shallan. While I love Adolin as a character, his part was also way bigger then it really needed to be, and the ending was a lot worse than it could have been. Kaladin's part could have been shorter, but the problem is that there's a lot of new characters that have to be characterized in it, which piledrives the pacing, despite being really good over all. Dalinar's was good, Navani's was good, Jasnah's was good, Shallan's was good, despite me usually being down on her character, Sigzil's was also good, if a bit aimless. Everything else is a 10/10.
I appreciate seeing the different opinions on this! Glad you enjoyed it
No. White girls on tik tok are just now running out of romance to read so they are only just getting into it now and already overhyping mid brandon books.
I listened to what people said about Brandon. "Read Mistborn Series first and then read Stormlight". They said Mistborn was great but stormlight is even better. After finishing Wind and Truth all I can is the whole journey has been mid, I don't remember anything, and I don't feel any more emotionally or spiritually fulfilled after reading these books
i just finished and I enjoyed it. I do think you get alot more out of it if you read the whole cosmere and even if you have it's still possible to get lost in parts. This may have been too ambitious for one book. some of the things it brought up should have been seeded a little better in earlier books. but I'm overall happy with the unexpected ending.
This book left me so flat. 2/5. I was looking forward to it so much also!
Yeah I kinda feel that too, been feeling it for awhile.
I feel like for the most part, Brandon is losing his voice as a storyteller and reducing himself to the idea of being the mcu of fantasy for better and for worse. You can appreciate him for his worldbuilding and magic systems, but the books are kinda feeling more like content or installments of a bigger universe just instead of brilliant works of fiction just like how a lot of mcu movies feel like chapters in a book instead of an actual cinematic film. It’s even worse that he also leans alot on the comedy which is arguably worse than the MCU’s as it ranges from young characters like Shallan making dad jokes… to people actually talking about how they poop. It’s really weird.
I also grow to become even less of a fan of Sanderson’s prose in these books. I said awhile ago that I got into the Cosmere because of the immersive artwork, and I gotta say? Brandon needs them, because his prose cannot do his settings or scenery any justice.
I haven’t finished Wind And Truth yet, but man… it’s been a drag since Rhythm of War. As much as I love the Worldbuilding of Roshar, that’s not why I got into the Stormlight Archive. I came here for the characters, whose stories always seemed to be bogged down for Brandon to give us a history lesson on the planet or in depth look into how all the sciences work. I can appreciate he put in a lot of work to make a truly alien world, but if I wanted to just learn about Roshar then I’d read an encyclopedia or something.
So yeah, I definitely think Brandon has reached the end of his honeymoon phase. However, I don’t think he’s in trouble in the slightest…
Brandon is still one of the most successful authors in history with a stupid amount of money and fandom backing him… despite none of his works being adapted yet. That’s a HUGE feat! Something you didn’t really see in the fantasy landscape since Harry Potter, and even that franchise gained most of its popularity through the films rather than the books. Brandon stands toe to toe with these legends through his books alone.
Plus the dude writes like crazy. It would be one thing if it was an average author getting slammed after releasing a book it took them nearly a decade to write, but for someone like Brandon who can release 3 books a year if he wanted to, I’m sure even he understands that not all of his works can be a hit. He can take an L and keep going because he knows he’ll still have thousands of people hyped for what he has planned next.
If I was Sanderson, though? I would pull a George RR Martin and take a break from writing and focus on getting my works adapted to build the cinematic Cosmere motion picture universe. Actually dedicate himself to those and make them right so he can just live off of that and teach classes on the side.
Even Mistborn didn't exceed my expectations. Good book, but not GREAT. It didn't feel like "This is the next tolkein/Martin" like everyone is saying.
This is a completely fair thing. I agree with a lot of your points.
I personally don’t care for the people saying things like “OMFG BRANDON’S GONE WOKE” but I do agree that the cracks are beginning to show, especially with WaT. I personally loved it but I respectfully think that Brandon does need to make a course correction or else risk ruining the series.
@@TylerCraigNixon-hc5si thank you, and yes I’m not really aware of the whole “he went woke with book 5!” Stuff. Book 1 and 2 aren’t woke but I can’t speak for the others. I’m glad you loved WaT though-as I stated, the different opinions on this is what makes it all so fun to talk about
There is definitely some of things people would call WOKE in WaT a lot more then he did before but that is far from the main problems of the book, his writing style and wanting to focus not on stormlight but on cosmere would prabobly be the 2 main issues i had with it.
I mean, he HAS gone woke
@@Sealwithwificonnection but that’s not the problem it’s a strawman argument the real problem is the fact that he needs an editor and he needs someone that’s not afraid to tell him no on his team- his prose is very weak and his bloat has become disrespectful to the time of the reader. I love a long book but it has to be long for a reason and a lot of what he’s written can be cut without loss to the story - all of these things are more problematic then becoming woke when it comes to tolerating his books and a lot of these things have been an issue since early on but are just now becoming more Notable.
@@amber88565 that's a personal one for me. Almost every mainstream thing is woke to some extent nowadays. Some are just better at not being annoying about it. I'm just saying that regardless of the problem of editing (which, from the excerpts I've read, I totally agree) Brando has still embraced woke talking points like a spren unironically going, "Erm, that's kinda racist?"
Not for me, more hyped than ever.
And that’s honestly great!
Never understood why this mediocre writer with admittedly lazy pros was so Overhyped, like Swift who can't sing and writes the most moronic lyrics ever
Both are respectful and generous with their fans. Even though I am not a fan of either of their work I do like them for that.
Sanderson was definitely not mediocre. But he is now too focused on his business than his books. Which is fun t as his business is his books.
Brandon Sanderson shines the most when his endings pay off. I haven't read Wind and Truth yet, but Mistborn Era 1 and the first 3 Stormlight books were phenomenal. He even won a Hugo award for The Emperor's Soul. I still think he has it in him, but he needs a huge return to form.
Taylor Swift shines when her song writing comes from the heart and not out of spite. Folklore from 2020 is one of the best albums of the decade, but every album she's released since then has been getting progressively worse. Evermore was also great, but not to the heights of Folklore. Midnights was good, but I wish it could've had more production value. The Tortured Poets Department is her newest and easily her worst album to date. A massive disappointment. No production value and a significant downgrade in her song writing.
I think both Sanderson and Swift got so huge this decade that their popularity within their genres caused them to try to appeal to a larger audience while sacrificing quality. It's kind of funny how both of them released their most disappointing works in 2024. I still have hope for them though.
So who do you like for fantasy writers ?
@@RealAndyOriginal I like Classic Literature, namely Homer and Virgil, when it comes to contemporary, again, I prefer writers who are followers of the tradition of Classic Literature like Tolkien and Milton, since they are like the standard bearers, Of course Shakespeare as well when it comes to poetry, which all pros should strive to be somewhat poetic.
I was thoroughly disappointed in this book. And I love this series and many other of his books. I almost DNFd it. I returned it right after finishing it and felt hollow..until I discovered that I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I'm not going back to this series. It's depressing, but I have lost trust in him.
Wheel of Time definitely went through the same ups and downs.
Personally I loved it and thought it was an amazing ending to the series. That said, more than any other Sanderson book, I totally get why other people hated it and I don’t even disagree with them. I think to me the big moments just worked and I didn’t mind sitting through the lesser ones.
I didnt like the pacing, especially since in the spiritual realm time moves differently, he couldve done ao kuch with that. But nothing paid off, Shinovar was a slog, Shallan was a slog. I dont want to wait 9 years for the new era for more threads to close or pay off. Im tired of books promising stuff in the future. This didn't deliver, I'll pass future books
It's because he insists on inserting LGBT and too much Mental Health stuff into his books.
I had not started on Sanderson yet. I will probably hold off, sounds like he has gone down the Disney please the weirdos sort of themes.
You can read the first 2 books of storm light archive. That's what I did. It's fantastic as a duology and ends perfectly at the end of book 2. Those are his best books apparently. No need to read further in my opinion.
I was a mega Sanderson fan. I stopped reading Wind and Truth with chapter 30. I will never ever read anything by him ever again. If he wants to go woke then he can do it without my money.
It wasn’t good sorry to say. Really wanted to love it but I didn’t and it’s going to effect my interest going forward.
Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. Going into it, I was neither a rabid fan nor an ardent detractor - I mostly enjoyed Sanderson's works, and appreciated that he could typically write more books at a decent pace. But this latest Stormlight Archives entry...well, it's certainly proof that a good concept and interesting hook can be retroactively undone. Books one and two were actually a treat, with the creativity Sanderson is known for on full display. But as the page count and number of POV characters has ballooned, my enjoyment has waned. This last entry made the previously enjoyable and interesting characters boring, unimpactful to the story, and just unworthy of the time spent on them. And the new POV characters were mostly ho-hum. It felt like the ten day structure bogged everything down and the fact that the pace didn't really pick up until 1,000 pages in made this book quite easy to put down, and quite difficult to pick it back up. It was disappointing, and as someone who doesn't want to wade through another 10,000 pages of increasingly-bloated Cosmere to get a decent story (and even then only at the 10,000 foot level; the jokes and prose are middling at best and a slog at worst) I feel like this might have been the book to help me free up some of my previously spoken-for reading time.
Wait! No, I'm being entirely serious here when I ask when was there ever hype over Sanderson???
I read The Way of Kings and enjoyed it, but I didn't care to find out what happened next. Sanderson wears his influences on his sleeve, and I've read those influences, so I felt like there was nothing of interest to be found further down the Cosmere road.
Brandon Sanderson is a cool guy and a talented writer, but his writing is gateway drug material. That's not a bad thing if it gets you through the door, but if you've already gone through the door and been around the block a few times, Sanderson books don't scratch the itch in a satisfying way.
I love everything about Brandon except his writing. If we could give Rothfus or Martin his organized work flow and transparency that would be amazing. But Sanderson’s writing always feels superficial. A mile wide and an inch deep. It’s not literary, just a marvel movie in book form. Even when he’s exploring topics like “mental health” or patriarchy, the takes seem so wrote and unoriginal. Somehow he takes all the magic out of fantasy and instead gives the reader a fantasy simulation, which is always at least one step removed from true immersion.
This ^ I hate that some people are turning this into a problem about LGBT characters when really his writing in strong need for an editor that’s not afraid to put their foot down has been an ongoing issue since before this book it’s only worsened to the point that now people are not afraid to speak up on it. Also the mob mentality of his fans have caused a lot of reviewers to fear talking about these issues that were in earlier books
@@amber88565 Hold on, there is an issue with the LGBT stuff for the religious audience he gathered by being a "wholesome" and "clean". Now instead of having LGBT characters which is fine (because yes we all know gay people literally exist), the issue is that a gay romance takes center stage with one of the main characters. And through the eyes of the narrator this is effectively held up as "good" and "right" because its a positive thing that is happening to one of our main characters. Putting it front and center without the framing of moral opposition is tantamount to condoning and a lot of his religious audience is not going to want to read that. And no amount of opinions from everyone else who is pro LGBT and the certainty of how "right" or "ok" it is will change the fact that these audiences DO NOT WANT to read this. The more he leans into that and putting it front and center the more backlash there'll be from the audience HE HIMSELF cultivated. It is a betrayal of his original audience. And regardless of if you or anyone else thinks LGBT is fine does not mean this previously cultivated audience will feel that way.
@ and that can be an issue that they choose to have- what I’m trying to say is that the LGBT character ( even if it is a shock for homophobic people ) is a drop in the bucket of literary issues. And we shouldn’t let the LGBT issue ( which is not legitimate however, in this scenario, we can consider it legitimate to them) become bigger than the fact that these books are poorly written because at the end of the day it’s a critique on a book. for example your couch can have a stain on it, but the couch can be sitting inside of a house that is on fire. It seems stupid spend time complaining about the couch when the entire house is burning down. - that’s what it feels like to watch people complain about a LGBT character in a book that can have easily 200 pages of editing removed because of how much bloat it’s filled with
@@amber88565 lol hell yeah amber good stuff. I agree, take the LGBT stuff however you want, the real problem is that his writing is just not particularly insightful. It’s funny that he thinks he’s this great “character writer” when all of his characters are so one dimensional. Frankly, I suspect his life experience is rather limited, particularly since he’s become wildly successful and wealthy which probably separates his realm of experience from regular people even further. So with that limited experience, he’s simply not able to write interesting/believable/meaningful characters.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for the guy because I really respect his work ethic and his efforts to stand up for authors against publishers and the way he goes above and beyond to connect with his readers. I just wish he was a better writer! It’s like, I know what you *think* you’re achieving and it’s just so cringe when you completely fail to deliver on those ambitions.
And I know I’m getting rambly here, but there was that interview he did where he said Henry Cavill wanted to play Kaladin but Sanderson said he couldn’t because he’s not Asian. And I’m like dude first of this is a fictional universe so Asia doesn’t exist, and even if he supposedly “appears Asian”, that’s literally such a superficial way to shoehorn “diversity” into your book. Like don’t you get that diversity isn’t just about physical appearance, it’s about the point of view that people who look like that cultivate. Like how does he not get that???
Could not have said it better myself. I want to like Sanderson the writer cause I really like the guy but I can’t. He’s gotta get an editor that is in all seriousness an asshole
I didn't like the book. But I it definitely wasn't because it was "woke". All you losers who are saying that need to get a life
Amen, there are so many areas with need for improvement they’re blaming it on being woke is just ignoring the root of the problem he needs an strong editor and people Around him not afraid to him no. I also think that his books lean more toward young adult versus adult fantasy I don’t know how he has been managing to market his books as anything but for so long
I haven’t read Brandon Sanderson but for me the hype is strong and I want to start reading Sanderson. I just need to find out where I can get the U.K. editions as well as where to start with Sanderson. I am trying to decide between starting with Tress and emerald sea, Skyward, Mistborn, Warbreaker, even The Way of Kings. 😅 Also do you annotate your Sanderson books and if so what is your annotating process ?
The first two books of the Stormlight Archive are his best work. I would start with those. W&T was so bad though I’ve lost all interest in his future books.
@ why was it bad ? I have heard that W&T got woked. Or did it become just another cash grab like the Red Rising series after book 3?
@@logann-mackenziefroste563 The book is just very underwhelming AND it has way more woke stuff than any of his previous books. I’ve read all his non-YA books. Really though, the first two of the Stormlight Archive are his best books. I would enthusiastically recommend those books to anyone before WaT. I think they are still worth reading even if I think the story is going in a bad direction with the latest book.
@ thanks for tip. I have a long way to go on reading his books and especially WaT. I don’t mind the woke stuff. For me it’s more where to start and deciding between the ebook or paperback and finding the audiobooks that have the U.K. cover because I don’t like the U.S artwork. I would highly recommend Robin Hobb books thats a 15/16 book series that is completely finished.
The hype for Sanderson has never been bigger... ever. So, no I don't think so
I don't read gay stuff.
Why? You afraid it’ll awaken something?…
@@amber88565 I know I know, this is how you people write gay fan fic
@@zimtage1744 lmao, it’s not my fault you’re a cliché at this point
@amber88565 lol, there's nothing more cliché than gay
Bro, I don't like Renarin and Rlain's story in the fifth book. Uniting their people because he wants to have a gay relationship with Rlain is such a lazy idea. And saying it's the most difficult path just because they're going to be their leaders and a gay couple, in a world where true desolation has already begun? Like, what?! 😅
I don’t like Sanderson at all. I read Warbreaker and it took me 3 tries to finish it. I hated it. It was one of the worst things I have ever read. I read Way of Kings and have so many issues with it that I never went on to the other books. It’s the worst, most illogical world I have ever come across. Nothing in it makes sense if you just think it through for a second. It’s trash. I live in Florida and have been through many hurricanes. This civilization could not exist in the environment he describes. Period. The End. It’s asinine. The guy clearly never experienced a hurricane.
I’ve heard too many people say Mistborn is YA and trash so I will probably never read that. I don’t read YA.
Considering Sanderson did the LMNOP garbage in the last book, I doubt I will ever read it now. I have the first three Stormlight books and will probably bring them to the used bookstore and get them off my shelves.
If you want to read fantasy, Malazan is the one. It makes Sanderson’s writing look amateurish.
I read Steelheart and it was fine, a solid YA novel. The sequel novella was rubbish, though, a blatant cash grab - poor quality writing, and nothing really happened. I’ve found a few Mistborn books so will try those, and see if I enjoy them more.
I certainly hope so.
I never understood the hype. Dudes prose is like a 10th grader
Which makes sense because statistically, your biggest audience is going to be in the Grade 6-9 level of reading. So a 10th grade prose is pretty much in line with that.
@ so why is it advertised as adult fiction when it’s clearly Y.A?
@@matt984 Your guess is as good as mine. If I cared at all about his work, I'd probably have some answers. Sadly I don't, so I don't.
Is the hype dying? well, is he dead? then no.
Wind and Truth wasn't my favorite novel. There were definitely aspects that could have been much better (ie. Modern swearing? Overly lengthy, Jasnah overall) but I also think it's important to remember this is the middle book, even if it closes out this arc of Stormlight. We won't have a full scope until the other books are done.
That being said, I do love the Stormlight Archives as a series. It's become one of my favorite in recent years.
Hey, I seriously enjoyed Wind and Truth.
I understand some of the criticisms for sure but to me this really isn’t much different than any of the other stormlight books so I don’t really get all the hate.
And the big switch up on Brandon after so many people loved the secret projects just to act like he’s a terrible author with one books they didn’t like.
You’re deliberately avoiding the issue: He added woke nonsense into the book. The majority of people do not want woke nonsense in their enertainment, plain and simple. Period. For him to do so and capitualte to the mob was a mistake, and something his fans are not happy about. So he’s getting a lot of deserved pushback.
Doubly true for an author that started out being so wholesome and clean. There's NOTHING wholesome about wokeism. Normal people DESPISE it.
Nothing wrong with gay people you weirdo
What does woke even mean to people like you? Things you dont like? Just say you hate gay people and move on
He’s always been way overrated though…
When you write so many books, they will start to blend together since one person only has so many ideas.😂
Look at Stephen King.
It’s crazy to me that people are reacting so negatively to this book. I wouldn’t call it my favorite stormlight book but I still absolutely loved it. With its problems it was still a fantastic book in a fantastic series. I’ve seen people even saying that they’re done with the series now, that’s insane to me
@@justinjosie5417 much the same as you, that’s what prompted this video for me.
I think most of them were expecting a "Hero of Ages" ending, instead of a book with a really strong conclusion that leaves a lot of things open for future entries, so their expectations where very different. I had these expectations as well, but I found the twists to be extremely good and the book to be incredible as well.
(then there are those who don't like it because gay people exist)
@ honestly, people not liking it because of gay people is an extremely small amount of people. Like, next to no one. I do think you’re probably right about the expectations though.
Personally i've always thought Sanderson was a pretty mediocre ya author. I mean for god sake the bloke's prose literally feels like it was ai generated
The books are just too damn long. Give me some good short fantasy and science fiction novels, and tell an epic story in 350 pages or less - then I'll be impressed.
Read Sun eater instead
He needs to fire his editor and and the weird groupie yes “they/thems” from the 17th shard.
I sure hope so
I was concerned about the last book but hearing all this anti-woke bs gives me hope that the backlash is more political then anything.
It’s both. Bad writing and woke stuff