Wow - I didn't know that we were allowed to give balanced reviews of this book. I thought it was supposed to be either the best thing ever or the biggest disappointment ever! Thanks for the balanced review, Mike!
That was always his plan, and I was all in about worlds colliding in the Cosmere. But I feel like Brandon is doing a bad job of incorporating the wider Cosmere. I feel like he's catering too hard to die hard Cosmere scholars, and since I have adulting to do now, I just don't have the time to devote to theory crafting, Cosmere threads and Coppermind deep dives. I think a lot of us casuals are being left in the dust, while there's too much repetition and hand holding for the newbies. It's an awkward line to walk, but it's not working for me.
I think marketing this as the end of a part as opposed to just book 5 of 10 was a mistake. I don't think people would be as negative if this was treated like a middle Wheel of Time novel
@gnomishviking3013 no, I mean I think people went in with an expectation of a conclusive ending like Mistborn Era 1 vs Era 2. Getting something that was very open ended may have lead to disappointment. I never said it would change the quality
@@mcintyre0591 People are negative because the book clearly suffers in quality of writing, characters and obvious lack of editing resulting in a overly long slog of a book. Having a proper "ending" wouldn't change those issues.
@gnomishviking3013 I've seen a lot of people disappointed it was cliffhangery. And I think expectations can change how one feels about a book without impacting its quality. If you promise a Romantasy fan more of the same in LotR they are going to be disappointed. This does not somehow diminish Tolkien's work because someone was disappointed in it. I've been wanting to re-vist 1st law as I was disappointed in it after everyone said how great and epic it was. I was expecting a big lore revelation with Euz and Demons. And because I didn't get that I was a little disappointed. I want to re-vist it in the lense of a character study than a fantasy epic
This was such a weird read for me. I really did enjoy my time reading it. There were so many epic moments. Yet you're spot on with the YA/MCU analysis and it breaks my heart the first two books in the series turned out to be the outliers
This review nails it. Your breakdown of the larger problems with Sanderson’s work is absolutely spot on for me. I profoundly love these books, but WaT was disappointing and now I’m ready for a break from the Cosmere also.
I'm glad to see a book reviewer who's willing to criticise Sanderson, there are too many spaces where you can't say anything negative about him without getting obliterated by his superfans...
There are always those who leave and new people take interest. I am glad that there are a variety of stories and fantasy authors to read while waiting on a new book in cosmere. I plan to read as much as I can until as long as possible. I hope he does take some of the criticism and improve his prose. I want SA 10 to be better than AMOL.
It's insane to me that the guy that wrote way of kings wrote this. Stormlight was a great series for me because although it wasn't in any way shape or form grimdark it delt with mature themes while it had a whimsical world as a backdrop. Wind and truth feels like a full YA book to me with flat characters, predictable plot and sanitized writing. The next stormlight book will come in 6 years and honestly I couldn't care less.
@@beeman4266 Stop acting like Sanderson is pandering to progressives. He IS progressive lol, this is how he thinks. Criticize it for that reason, not because he's supposedly faking it or something.
16 min in that Dalinar comment I've been waiting for someone to talk about it! I actually like all the spiritual realm stuff but I needed way more Dalinar in this book.
the spiritual realm was by far the most boring oart of the book. I loved the lore we learned but the Spiritual Realm itself was lame as hell. it was just visions again. I was expecting some cool shit like "Everything Everywhere All at Once".
I absolutely loved this book. Maybe it is because I binged all 5 in around 2 months through audiobooks at work but this ending to part 1 was extremely satisfying to me. Surprised to hear a lot of negative opinions.
I’m glad for all the people who enjoyed this book but it was a huge miss for me. Such a big miss that it’s probably my getting off point for the Cosmere in general. Great video Mike!
I never cared about the Cosmere as a whole. Just give me good stories with great characters. I don't need a cohesive universe connecting all the books. Especially when it causes the author to become a revisonist just to cobble it together.
@@bbarnhouse9022 I like how it was before, that storys were good and sufficient on their own and if you read previous works then there would be little mentioned and snipets of it for more hardcore fans, but after his two most recent series conclusions The lost metal and Wind and truth its clear that not the case anymore its getting very heavy into the cosmere rather then just sufficient series on their own. And im not a fan of it especailly since i think a lot of cosmere concepts are kinda mid and not that exciting going forward
@@bbarnhouse9022 Cosmere is the worst idea ever. Just an odd way to connect books and worlds which have nothing to do with each other. Could as wel connect Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and state they're now in the same universe
Is so subjective hey, I enjoyed all of the points you mentioned. Im impressed at the polarisation on this book, seems like you either love it or hate it!
I liked it about as much as I liked the rest of the non-TWoK entries in SLA. Which is to say, it was pretty solid but doesn’t hold a candle to book one. I’ll keep reading but I think Mistborn will remain my favorite Sanderson series by a large margin for the time being. Thanks for the review Mike!
I personally liked parts of oathbringer including ending which saves the book for me. I think rhythm of war is better than oathbringer but most people hate it.
You hit the nail on the head at the end for me: Wind and Truth turned the Stormlight Archive into YA. There were signs of this in Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, but now it's on the nose. While it's also his characterisations recently, Brandon's prose has just fallen off a cliff in the last couple of books and thoroughly embraced YA. I liked most of Wind and Truth, great book for the worldbuilding of the cosmere, but the tone just mismatches what we started out with in Way of Kings. I think Brandon is the best when he writes in a nobledark setting/tone that is still thoroughly anchored in adult themes, as were Mistborn Era 1, Way of Kings and Radiance. Sadly, it doesn't seem that this is the way forward
Glad I saw this comment before watching. What a bummer! I loved the first book but then fell off after that when I learned it was such a long series. When I learned this book would be a natural pause, I wanted to catch up. But all I've seen are negative reviews so far.
@Yesica1993 There are thousands of people who absolutely loved this book and gave it 5 stars, including myself. It's apparent that it's not what some people wanted/like, and that's totally fine! But it's definitely not the majority even if that appears the case on UA-cam.
You and I were looking for the same things out of this book, and I agree with you 99%. I'm not a big Lift fan either, but I AM looking forward to the path Brandon set her on in this book. The first 3/4 of this book felt more like a middle Wheel of Time book, than a finale book for Stormlight.
Because it's not a finale, I think that people's expectations were set badly. Complaints about writing and stuff make sense, but a lot of complaints (a lot) are seemingly from people who think this is the end and they're complaining that they didn't get a resolution to x, y, and z, when those things have 5 more books left to get a resolution in. Or like, Kaladin didn't do much fighting but...given his ending...there's obviously going to be more fighting in his future.
@calebmauer1751 I don't see that complaint a lot, actually. I'm talking about the pace mostly. I think this needed another editorial pass or two. The Dalinar and Shallan portions of the book dragged for far too long, IMO.
I read this book after reading all 9 First Law books back to back. My god I have never bounced off a book so hard. Absolutely hated it. I think I’ve outgrown Sanderson.
Currently re-reading everything First Law. I take it I shouldn't attempt to read this one immediately after? 😅 I genuinely don't want to, but I just have to know what happens to the Kholins.
Immediately after finishing WaT (2/5) for me, I started with The Blade Itself. I wish I had as good of a time with WaT during my Christmas Holiday as I am with First Law. God damn Abercrombie is good, Sanderson doesn't even come close imo. It's like a veil has been lifted of what a good reading experience needs to be.
Tbf "Wind and Truth" by Brandon Sanderson is a really great book. it just needs to work on its plot, pacing, character development, worldbuilding, prose, twists, emotional impact, dialogue, and thematic depth.
I have not read Wind and Truth but everything I've seen online just confirms the downward trajectory that I thought was happening in Rythym of War. The things people are saying about it seems like he's leaning into the aspects of his writing that I'm not very interested in, like quippy dialogue, bloated writing and making the universe too connected. Unless I hear that book 6 seriously turns things around, I'm probably set on the Stormlight Archive, which is so disappointing because when I started reading them in high school they blew my mind, I thought it was the beginning of what had to be the greatest story ever.
**SPOILERS** - I waited so long and was sooo let down 😔. All these huge storylines that we all waited years and years for and Brandon just let it all sizzle and die... Some examples: - Kaladin is now a therapist. Solving complex mental problems that the Heralds suffered for thousands of years in an afternoon.The best fighter in all of Roshar save for the Heralds and.. just.. nothing... - Taln, many times foreshadowed to be the greatest fighter of the last 7000 years. Then he finally gets mad and lucid and into the fighting spirit, im screaming to my book YES! LETSGO! but again... just.. nothing... - Dalinar, the contest, the ultimate 1v1, and he fights against.... who??... really?... and then this poor poor boy isnt even allowed to fight and instead is a puppet for some moral decision for Dalinar to make... what?.... - Adolin was awesome!!!! only pov that i could stand. - Mraize, the final confrontation... It was over in what? 5 whole sentences? 4 books of a stoic, always in control, always a step ahead guy and just... nothing.... - Szeths whole origin arc was ok i guess... predictable but ok... - Venli... i mean who cares about Venli... Sorry for all you people that liked this 5th installment of The Stormlight Archive. I am happy for you, i truely am. For me, cause book 4 also had some serious flaws and parts where it took forever to get through, my opinion on Brandon Sanderson has dropped to a point where i wont be picking up any new books of him anytime soon ( also could not get through the Mistborn books but apparently everyone likes them). I hear book 6 will be here in 2033 (are you kidding me) so untill then im done. And yes, i WILL read book 6 even tho my whole body screams to me to let it be but i just love the world so much!! I cant believe brandon let it slide like this. I actually am sort of mad at him for it. I know thats dumb and i shouldnt be but i am... Glad to get that off my chest, its been weighing on me these last 2 weeks since i finished the book. Thank you random person for reading my rant. Im done now, gonna need something else to read that is a little more rewarding.
I have the same feelings. I read everything there is in Cosmere but the level went down hill. It became too YA and the prose oh god. I liked some scenes but over all the plot was quite predictable.
I REALLY struggled with W&T. The constant back/forth POV's really killed the flow and I just felt bored. I really had to force myself to finish it. The book feels rushed and every criticism levied at Sanderson was on full display. I came directly from "The God if not Willing" by Steven Erikson and honestly, he writes circles around Sanderson in terms of world building, character and prose.
Loved how constructive you are even if SL is not going to be for you from now onwards! Great point also with the characters for the second arc- I guess I didn’t think about it before but by the end of this arc I am still more hyped about our current main characters rather than the ones for arc 2- perhaps we did not see enough of them (especially Jasnah! Who I am super hyped about, i don’t believe she has it great here)
I've been struggling with Sanderson from my first book by him but this was a DNF and I've decided to just drop out of the Cosmere entirely. I don't feel the magic/love people feel for his books.
I stepped off the train originally with Oathbringer, just didn’t enjoy that book for my reasons but thought I need to finish it. But with this closing the arc I think I’m fine stepping off entirely
So many people in the comments acting like they didn't really enjoy his last 16 books. Guy has one miss and everyone is acting like they will never try another one of his books lol
It was ass and almost read like callously cobbled together amateur hour YA. I didn’t enjoy all 16. I enjoyed HOA - phenomenal. Enjoyed all of mistborn. Enjoyed Sunlit man. Warbreaker was corny. Couldn’t get past a few pages of yumi.
@@abhJOKA WaT was very mid, yea. Agreed on warbreaker. I personally loved yumi. All Im saying is half the people here being like "Im never reading reading sanderson again" is a bit of a overreaction. The cosmere is still fun. It is just more fun to hate on sando right this second
It's not just any book, it's the final book of the first arc of his magnum opus. If he can't write a good ending for that, why should fans care about his other books?
@ It's not the final book, it's a mid-series cliffhanger. It's very good at what it is, and I think most fans understood that. I get where the confusion comes from, but I think you need to try to understand where your confusion comes from.
@@calebmauer1751 for me it was getting the cosmere era 2 set up. All it was meant to do. Yea, wasn’t the best book. Sando getting so much hate for no reason though.
No closure. Didn’t feel like an arc at all. Dalinar and Kaladin are complete but nothing else. Absolutely terrible handling of Moash. There is no reason for him to still be around. I don’t care what grand plans he has for him. His role in the book is so inconsistent. And it’s an absolute crime that Odium still gets “evil” Dalinar as his general. That is a great disservice to his character.
I agree with everything you said except that I do not think the book has a pace issue. I appreciated actually the lightness of first few 300 pages because the main characters are really get separated at the end so having those moments where we spent time with them while they were together were important to me.
I'm still on the struggle bus, not sure I've crossed the halfway mark yet but I haven't read in 2 or 3 days. Glad that it picks up at some point as it's been pretty rough thus far.
The first half of this book was ROUGH. The second half is relatively better. But I was already so sour on this book that it overshadowed some of the better moments. Still, the second half didn't redeem the book or anything, it was extremely disappointing. My rating went from 2 to barely 2.75 and I think I'm being generous. Just what the hell happened to Sanderson?
I love how pretty much every review of this book-positive, negative, or somewhere in between-makes note of how awesome Adolin is. Had the same experience as you: he was a top 5 Stormlight character, now he's #1. Absolute GOAT. As for my least favorite Stormlight character (and yours, it seems), Lift... well, based on her big interlude chapter in this book (as well as Navani's comment saying she remembers what it was like to be Lift's age), I'm hoping Sanderson takes her in a more mature direction going forward. Ultimately, I liked the book despite all the problems I had with it (some similar to yours, others quite different). I understand the desire to want a break from or even get away from Sanderson, but despite how prolific he is, there IS time between books to read other things. I read so many other great fantasy/sci-fi books last year before I got to Wind and Truth (Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, the first four Dune books), and I have plenty more slated for this year before I read Isles of the Emberdark. That, for me, keeps me interested in the Cosmere while allowing for room to breathe. Anyway, great review as always. Appreciate your candor and perspective. Happy reading!
Nice review as always. This is probably the most dividing book of Sanderson, but personally it is good enough, like a 3.8 out of 5 for me. Definitely wouldn't want to miss it though. Some really great scenes and revelations that gripped me better than many other authors’ book. In terms of how connected it is to the rest of the Cosmere, I like that a lot actually. Feels like a grand universe thing that you really don't get from any other series.
Sorry Sanderson, this is where I exit. It feels like we went from reading amazing fantasy (which I love) to reading the literary equivalent of crossover comics. Coupled with the lackluster writing, the blunt force repetition of every message he was trying to push through to the reader (and I'm not even talking about the political stuff!), and the seriously unsatisfying bate and switch at the end, I have no real interest in continuing. It really doesn't feel like his writing anymore, which is likely due to the fact that he claims to have let "beta readers" change things. That makes me wonder if we even got the book he originally intended to write, or whether there were last minute changes that threw the entire story out of joint.
Hey man, I just wanted to say thank you for not using the political stuff as a scapegoat. I agree it was done wrong and felt out of place, but not that it is inherently awful. All the comments thinking this wasn’t just a bad book and just using the messaging solely as the cause is uninspiring.
I love this book so far! I agree that the language is a bit modern and some of lines are weird but I still love it! I have 140 pages left and hope that the ending will be great
I'm pulling a "heaven's to murgatroy, exit stage left" on the series. the last 2 books dropped stormlight off my top 10 all time series list. excellent breakdown of your thoughts, as always, Mike-sama!
i was so disappointed with this book. the writing took a huge step down from the rest of stormlight. I wish he would have just focused on finishing and editing this rather than writing any secret projects. I loved the destination for almost all of the characters but the journey there was rough. I hated kalladins arc, szeths flashbacks could have been so much better. like why not line up his flash backs with each person he was about to fight so we actually knew who they were and gave a shit?? the entire shattered plains arc could have been cut, Jasnah omg dont even get me started on that farce of a scene. Ba Ado Mishram. wtf.
I just finished Oathbringer and I think that's where I stop with SA. It makes me sad as I have loved Sanderson, but I know that I will bounce hard off the next two books based on what I've heard.
@@Daniel-xy9tv eh there's too many other books that I want to read. If these were half the size I'd give them a go, but it's too much of a time commitment.
I'm never reading this after the reactions I've heard of the later books. I prefer to form my own opinion on things but not when that requires me reading a few thousand pages of questionably paced books. I hope some good spoiler videos come out covering where it went wrong because I just dont find these non spoiler reviews very useful.
Sanderson has become to mainstream and corporate. I loved the days of mistborn era 1, Warbreaker, and first 3 Stormlight books. Now he cares more about check list of inclusion and mental health, kickstarters, and podcast. The inner monologue of the characters and preachy voice have become unbearable. It was never like this in way of kings. It’s become almost unreadable.
Sanderson has always been preachy....The Knights radiants ideals and oaths are pseudo religious/spiritual ideas, they just dont sound super preachy because Sanderson used to have a much better editor. Not to mention in Mistborn Sanderson having a scene where Vin wanted to wait tell marriage to have sex. Sanderson has always been preachy with his beliefs and religion. He was just much better at writing it in the past. As far as the mental health stuff goes, Kaladins character has always been about mental health and his depression while he continues to have to be around horrible events. But I will agree making him therapist Kaladin was super dumb and came off very cliched. It felt like he asked Chat GPT for a bunch of therapist tropes and hamfisted them into the book.
@gnomishviking3013 I DNF'd Wind and Truth (I'm an audiobook listener) and to me, Kaladin's "Therapy" felt painfully hamfisted. Like Kaladin was forcing Szeth to be better, and CALLING Kaladin a Therapist actually bothers me. It feels like an incredibly modern and Earth term to use and feels so out of place. Yeah, Hoid introduced it but it feels wrong.
@@WildWolfGod Not to mention in reality a therapist that deals with PTSD patients has 6 years or more of education and many years of practice. Suddenly Kaladin is the best therapist that ever existed and cures people almost instantly. It was stupid.
@@gnomishviking3013 Agreed the editing was just awful. As mike even said. It could of been much better at 800 pages and lot of the over preachy stuff could of been edited out. And yes I still love Kaladin character. I actually thought the best storyline is Kal/Seth. But before it was show not tell. Now Brandon has to do long inner monologues. There is a decent book inside of Wind and Truth. Just so much needed to be edited.
@gnomishviking3013 what's wrong with having a good religious order in a fantasy novel? I feel like any fantasy that doesn't have an evil, power hungry church or religion in it, then people think it's preachy. Having moral characters isn't preachy. Everything doesn't need to be nihilistic.
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head… think this is the point I shuffle off. To be honest I haven’t finished WaT yet… got to the end of Day 5 and saw my TBR pile staring at me and have been grabbed my something else. I’ll be back for the other 5 days and then done
The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely muted in its response to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who'd never met, yet - as with Weinstein - tell remarkably similar stories J KRowling
Therapist Kaladin was never on my wish list. Kicking ass and taking names while overcoming personal trauma and struggles, now there’s my hero. I get it, different paths for different stories but man, can we get back to fantasy being fantasy?
Im sure Kal WILL get back to the battlefield, and I think the story very much set that up to come in clutch later! (Probably the later half of the series like bk7 or 9) But I think there's something very beautiful and admirable about a hero who COULD go out and charge at the front lines, but chooses to stay behind to help those who fell or can't get up themselves. We've never really seen a hero like that... Kinda a big brother superman-esc type character
Agreed completely on the editor comment, I enjoyed the book a lot but its hard to find a reason it couldn't have been cut down a few hundred pages. We could have even pulled some side characters out of the book and sold it as a novella next year, anything to make this book flow better
I agree - I really want to finish the Cosmere, but I'm not able to read many books (maybe 1 to 2 a month) so the idea of reading NOTHING but Cosmere is daunting and makes me a little sad. That's why I'm so behind everyone else! I just now started Oathbringer.
Yeah, the consensus is looking scary for me as someone who’s on book one still (slow reader LMAOO) so these reviews are making me really contemplating continuing the series if the downgrade is as bad as everyone is saying (Rhythm of War & Wind and Truth).
Keep at it and see whatvyou think, at the end of the day it is entirely subjective what each person thinks of a book. I personally loved wind and truth as did several of my cosmere reading friends. By all means move on to something else if that's how you feel but dont necessarily let other people's subjective opinions put you off.
There are plenty of people who think the time spent with Stormlight is worthwhile. Even if this book wasn't his best writing, the conclusion and the story lines are satisfying IMO. I agree with much of the criticism, but I also enjoyed the book.
Rhythm of War isn't bad, it just has different aspects of fantasy that some people love and some people dislike. It's still good overall, even if it's mid compared to the others. At least Rhythm of War is SOMEONE's favourite book in the series, Wind and Truth won't be anyone's favorite.
I'm about 1/3 through Rhythm of War on my prep-for-Wind-and-Truth journey. I maybe shouldn't have gone the route of rereading all of Stormlight back to back in preparation. I'm totally fried and want to read something else entirely. Rereading The Road. Maybe after that I'll be able to jump back in, but all the lukewarm reviews of WaT give me pause.
Loved the video Mike - now that there won't be any new stormlight archive books till 2033 (or that's what we've been told) can we hope for more crumbs of Michael Crichton content now and then?
"Remember what they took from us" lol, jk but the fact that that one Eshonai chapter with the Stormfather was better than all the Venli scenes combined. Lift is a character who would have been a LOT better if we had far less exposure to her and she had a more compacted storyline (and was less annoying). The fact she doesn't grow at all until this book is why she's unlikeable.
I agree with the ranking. I hated Shallans stakeout of Mraize's place that lasted several chapters. it felt like BS didn't know what to do with her on day 2. This book also had the worst dialogue of the 5. Shallan - 'storms, i think i am growing' kal to ishar - 'you are a bad person, but you have mental issues, which is an explanation and not an excuse, but you still deserve help' Abidi - 'i bathe in the blood of radiants, which renews me.' probably didn't need the, 'which renews me' part. Shallan - 'thank you for listening and changing' In chapter 74 there is this weird point where both Renarin and Rlain are saying humans and singers need to be involved in freeing Misharam and they both agree, but are still arguing about it for some reason. This book needed serious ediitng which is odd because he said he worked on editing this book the most.
I mean this book is just one big problem. The book undermines its own premise in the first 100 pages. Spoilers ahead Why would odium agree to a contest at all when he gets basically nothing if he wins and he has the military strength not only to launch 3 offensive at once and win, and already in position to attack within a few days of the agreement? Its just nonsense. And dont get me started on the ending that is a plot hole ridden mess. Just to take an obvious one, why is odium not his own champion? If honor can compete so can hatred. Szeth and adolin are the only good parts. Book 4 is way better
It’s interesting that I feel so similarly to you about book 5, but so different on book 4. Rhythm of War is my favourite of the SA, though I do agree Venli flasbacks are the weakest. 2) Words of Radiance 3) The Way of Kings 4) Oathbringer 5) Wind and Truth (enjoyed the destination but less so the Journey of this last book but still overall positive on it)
Thoroughly enjoyed finally hearing your thoughts on WaT. After I had bought Way of Kings during COVID, I had found your YT page discussing Stormlight Archive. But man I wanted WaT to be something more than we got at times. There were many things I really liked about it and others not so much. I agree it is starting to feel like YA and I don't like that because the first two books dealt with more adult and darker themes. We'll see how I feel in 6-8 years when Book 6 comes out and if I'll read it...which I hate contemplating if I'll read it or not.
This was one of the most boring and worst written books I have read in a VERY long time. Calling someone a tool? Patent law? I was waiting for Kalladin to lecture the reader on the importance of HIPPA laws. His scenes with szeth felt like CBT alright, but not the kind Brandon intended.
Thanks for the nice review Mike! I’m halfway through and I agree with you on so many points. It seems it’s taking way too long for anything interesting to happen I hope it gets better! This book could totally be shorter than it is.
I'm currently on Rhythm of war and loved last 3 books. I'm into around 500 pages in ROW and in starting I was loving it but I'm feeling a bit disconnecting from the thrill it used to give me...hoping it'll get better with pages
Hm... while we disagreed on some specific points, and I felt overall more positive than you, I appreciate the candor as always, and very much enjoyed this review! That said, I really don't think it's fair to keep making assumptions on how much of other series you'll need to read to "get" the 6th Stormlight book. I get where you're coming from, and the general concern, but I think Sanderson has earned some trust by this point, and I really don't get making these assumptions. Or planning not to read it based on these faulty assumptions. Just wait and see!!
Mike, thank you for articulating what has put me off Sanderson in general and I didn't have a name for it. Homework. That's it, that's the thing, he wants the reader to treat his books like they are The History of Middle Earth and for the reader to know every bit of minutiae and how it connects to other bits of minutiae. I'm sorry for ole Brando Sando, but the Cosmere just isn't that world where I want to memorize every dang thing. Also, again, hail meets head on the YA direction. We're definitely not the demographic for it. Why tho, why do you have to mention Adolin being MVP??? Now I have to read this monster. 😅
Adolin definitely the mvp by a longshot the second best would prabobly be szeth but im mixed about him being paired with kaladin it kinda works well but then Sanderson does some thing that make it fairly painfull in parts,
@Abunchaponys I'm considering waiting until all the chapter summaries are uploaded and then reading only the chapters with characters I am actually interested in. Though, from the couple of chapters I skimmed through already, I have no memory of many characters or places. Rhythm of War was so heinous, my brain has erased it completely.
@Abunchaponys that's good, then... I don't have to wade through all the other tedious stuff, I'll just check up on him and his lil bro, they are my favorite characters in this series.
The whole ethos of this series is "Journey before destination." And yet, I absolutely hated Kaladin's journey in this book, but I loved the final destination. So I feel he failed on the overall promise of this series as a whole.
@@svendragon8139 Ngl I just finished Oathbringer and gave it a 3 star. I was very disappointed. and that seems to be the book most people love! I haven't seen too good of a reception to RoW or WaT so now I'm nervous lol
Yes............... RoW was the beginng of Brando Marvel Phase 4ing Stormlight, this book was like by the time we hit She-Hulk on Disney. Im out, i couldn't stand it, the subversion of what 'Honor' is was gross imo, he did Dalinar super dirty and uinlike you I was left bewildered and dismayed at the waste of Kaladin for the end of his SA story. In my mind 'cleansing of Shinovar' with Kal and Szeth was gonna be epic af, nuking fused all the way there riding the storm then some kind of guerilla warfare but no, it was flute playiong therapist Kal being led around by the nose. Completely different 'journeys' that i feel like were promised in books 1 and 2 - which will remain my favourite Fantasy books of all time - but even Shallan i felt was on a side plot of a side plot in this book and I was not at all a fan. You're a good man Mike, much more gracious than I :-)
Wind and Truth was a massive disappointment for me. Brandon Sanderson is among my favorite authors. The entire reason I got back into fantasy as an adult is thanks to the Mistborn series. Then I read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I consider them to be two of the best fantasy epics ever written. They are two of my favorite novels of all time. Oathbringer and Rhythm of War were two more solid entries in the Stormlight Archive series, though not quite as strong, in my opinion. But I eagerly awaited the fifth and final entry of this arc of the series. Brandon Sanderson is, after all, known for the strength of his endings. Unfortunately, this book was extremely disappointing. It’s not a total loss. There are a handful of good scenes and decent character moments. But overall, this book pales in comparison to its predecessors. It never comes close to approaching the unforgettable emotional heights of the first four books in the series-scenes that were truly thrilling and filled with catharsis. There is none of that here. The book lacks focus. There are entire storylines that go absolutely nowhere or feel as if they don’t matter at all (the spiritual realm, Shallan, Moash…) and thus there are little or no payoffs. There are novel-length sections that are pure exposition about the past, which are incredibly boring and full of information we had already inferred from previous books. It all felt un-Sanderson-like. What happened? Whereas the first few entries in the series dealt with mental health in a more expert, subtle, yet effective way, this book absolutely bungled the mental health element. Everything is extremely on the nose. Kaladin nearly killed himself at the end of book four before swearing the Fourth Ideal. Book five takes place immediately after book four, and suddenly Kaladin is ready to act as a trained therapist for characters who have dealt with complex mental health issues for decades-even centuries in some cases-and he successfully treats these issues within just 10 days. The modernisms and anachronisms are unbearable. In a world that is essentially still a feudal society, what are 2024 understandings and terminology around mental health doing in this world? And the dialogue. These are actual lines from the book: * “Let’s hash it out.” * “I’m his therapist.” * “That’s racist.” * “Let’s kick some fused ass.” These modern lines are jarring and tore me right out of the story. And Kaladin. What happened to the great warrior Kaladin? In the early books, Kaladan was a warrior who happened to battle depression. But he never gave up and continued to fight while lifting up those around him. He was not defined by his depression. It was inspiring. That is no longer the case. He is solely defined by mental health in this book. And now, when the entire world is at stake, he isn’t there to fight when the stakes are so high? In my opinion, a more satisfying (albeit obvious) arc for Kaladin would have been making him Dalinar’s champion in a final showdown against Odium’s champion-Moash. Who wouldn’t want to see that? But instead, we get… Gavinor?! This “twist” did not work at al. It felt rushed and unsatisfying. Then there is the whole Renarin-Rlain gay romance. Why is Shallan acting like a giddy high school girl on TikTok, bursting with barely contained applause upon seeing the surprise of her friend kissing another male? Where would she have adopted these modern attitudes in an essentially medieval society where the futures of entire kingdoms and nations depend on marriages to galvanize political alliances and ensure lasting dynasties through the production of heirs? I get that this is supposed to represent the union and reconciliation of two societies and peoples that have been at war with each other, but wouldn’t such a romance actually cause more harm and be rejected by both humans and singers? Doesn’t representation of this sort where everyone is accepting and supportive actually diminish the discrimination that minority groups have experienced throughout history? I read an article in which Sanderson mentioned that he worked with “sensitivity readers” to ensure all the mental health and LGBTQ+ representation was properly handled. And therein lies the problem. The book tries so hard to be politically correct that it loses its soul. It really does feel as if it were written by a committee and that every line about mental health has to be hedged with correct modern understanding. I fear that Sanderson has become a quantity-over-quality author. He’s pumping out more books than ever, but his efforts don’t stand up to the outstanding works that launched his career. It seems possible that he has reached such astounding heights in popularity that he no longer listens to beta reader feedback, believing he knows best, and/or is surrounded by yes-men-people who praise him and do not challenge him because they only see his work through rose-colored glasses, believing he can do no wrong. This book needed serious revision. This does not feel like a finished product. It feels many drafts short of a great novel. Instead of slavishly keeping to his publication deadline, Sanderson ought to have done the hard work of gutting this book and rewriting it, even if that meant delaying it a year or two. I would have rather waited longer and received a great novel than this disappointing one. Sadly, his magnum opus is tarnished by this, and it makes me greatly worried for his future works. I sincerely hope he course-corrects. I originally gave this three stars but revised it down to two because of what this book should have been and how great the first few books were.
Yeah it’s not just you Mike. Sanderson turned the SA series into a YA slog fest. I was disappointed with what happened with Jasnah and Kaladin. He has a real “editor” issue. I almost DNF’d several times because of the cringe humor and info dumps. Not for me! This is definitely not the same series that I grew to love.
Adolin is my favorite Stormlight character, but he might be married to my least favorite (I like their dynamic when they are together. Just feel like a lot of the Shallan stuff is redundant to me). I liked the book overall, though. I didn't leave this one as excited for the next one. SPOILERS. The twist with Gav was something theorized online, and once he ended up in the spiritual relm, I knew it was going to happen. However, I didn't see him being aged 20 years. That did catch me by surprise.
I agree that I won't be returning to Roshar. I knew eventually he would merge his stories, but I'm not a fan of this new direction. It definitely is aimed at a younger demographic.
Thanks for this. I was thinking about starting Way of Kings this year. I had the first 3 paperbacks in a box set. I've not given Sando much of a chance yet mostly because it feels like a commitment and I am OCD about completionism with stuff, so... guess we'll see.
4.56 Stars on Goodreads but this comment section would have you believe it’s the worst book of all time. Not everything has to be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. This book is excellent with a few minor editing issues and controversial story points - but this continues to be amongst some of the strongest active fantasy around!
The internet is rage-reviewing in mass. Nit this guy, he's pretty balanced out between opinions. But even he admitted to piking it. He said he might not stick with it but im sure he will
I enjoyed WaT. Some things were a little jarring but not in a way that made me feel very irritated. Overall I feel like the implications of the story and what’s in store for the next era are better than the book itself, if that makes any sense
I have always had issues with Brandon Sanderson but really enjoyed the first two books of the Stormlight Archive. Then had some issues with Oathbringer but a major drop off in Rhythm of War. So now with these reviews and issues people have brought up with Wind of Truth I am not surprised one bit. I feel like Brandon has become too mainstream and big and with that comes mediocre to poor quality. Just look at Disney.
I wasn't aware you didn't like Lift and as someone who REALLY likes her, and is Has been a One Piece fan for over almost 2 decades, let me just say part of it is because she reminds me of Luffy.
@@danielbroome5690 idk, serviceable just doesn't feel like enough. Joe Abercrombie is able to get his point across and then some in a third of the word count. I just don't think Sanderson is as interesting as he thinks he is. Like we don't need 600+ pages leading up to a climax, characters dying in the lies of locke lamora hit me way harder in 500 pages than characters 3000 pages into stormlight. Like he's able to pump out so much because quantity is clearly more important than quality and with how many amazing books/series there are out there, quantity over quality just isn't good enough.
Thanks for the balanced review, Mike. I think WaT has the weakest beginning of all the books and that part could have been edited down and just needed another rewrite to rework some weak dialogue and info dumps. Actually, and I haven’t heard this much from others, I found myself feeling like the last 1/3 or so, and especially the very end of the story, felt rushed and needed to be filled out a bit more. It would have been a good opportunity to get our characters back together again in some way before wrapping things up, and there were a number of other side characters that I wish got a little more conclusion/resolution to make including them at all make more sense. In many ways this wasn’t the book I wanted it to be, but I still think he stuck the landing as far as the character arcs go and there are many fantastic scenes throughout. Like some others, I worry his beta readers might not be giving him the best feedback (or he is trying to please too many betas at the expense of his own vision) and/or the change of editor might be blinding him to some faults that should be an easy fix for him. But, I also wonder if Brandon sees the breadth of the task in front of him to complete the Cosmere before he either dies or gets too old and is perhaps not so concerned with writing the perfect book anymore. He just needs to have it be “good enough” and move on. I obviously wouldn’t want him to become a Rothfuss or Martin, but personally I’d prefer waiting a bit longer for a more polished end result. Still, I love what he’s trying to do and I’m here for it, even if some things fall flat sometimes. I don’t understand the comments about “wokeness.” It doesn’t seem to take much to set people off these days. Thanks again, Mike, and keep up the good work!
This has always been my concern, but mostly because of the church he's a part of. It's always hard to tell between him as a creative person and the fact that the Mormon church itself loves to have authors within it because it's a good way of proselytizing by having high-profile people.
@@danielbroome5690 do you honestly think any meaningful number of people have converted to mormonism because of Sanderson's writing? His books have religious undertones, but it's not even specific to any religion, in fact Mistborn's big twist is that all religions are important.
It's starting to seem like he is the owner of a book production company. I think he has like 60 people working for him. If someone told me the last book was written by multiple people, I wouldn't be surprised.
Wow! So many people love warbreaker. I thought it wasn’t very popular because Sanderson has never shown interest in writing a sequel. He always talks about mistborn and stormlight.
Everything I've heard about Sanderson's recent stuff has made me not want to go any further with him. I read Mistborn era 1 and it was good but not great. I don't think I'll start a massive series like Stormlight if books 4 and 5 are as bloated as most reviewers say. I'll stick with Abercrombie and reread Ice and Fire. I'm already on the fence about finishing books 8-14 of Wheel of Time which I'm losing interest in. Everyone also compares Sanderson to the MCU, which I have no interest in.
Same. Mistborn was fine. I had no serious problems with it but here I am several years later and haven't felt the need to pick up another Sanderson book. I too will stick to First Law and ASoIaF. Much more my style anyway.
Definitely make sure you read wheel of time's ending. It IS good. Sanderson had a shitload of notes from RJ about it. You're in a spot in that series known as the slog right now where RJ started doing wide-worldbuilding rather than deep worldbuilding/plot. Book 8 is probably the worst one, and Book 9 has a very boring Perrin story that takes up a lot of the mid part, but I ASSURE YOU that book 9 (Winter's Heart) has an amazing climax and conclusion and Rand is very interesting in it. Then you get book 10 crossroads of twilight which is where it starts to improve and then you get book 11 which is RJ's last masterpiece. Then Sanderson does a very good job emulating that RJ style for the last 3.
the more I've let the book simmer after finishing the more I hate it - this book, R&W, and the Lost Metal have all ruined the Cosmere. I'm completely done with Sanderson now. all good though, Suneater is wrapping up this year!!
I’ve felt the same way. I was like hmmmm idk if this hit for me when I was reading it and at the end. A week or so after I think I actually dislike it. Which I usually don’t feel that way towards books. It’s like oh that’s not for me or hey I like this book usually.
Wow - I didn't know that we were allowed to give balanced reviews of this book. I thought it was supposed to be either the best thing ever or the biggest disappointment ever! Thanks for the balanced review, Mike!
Well, if you read the comments I was both too negative and too positive, somehow.
Ah, the internet
Like we say in the news business, if both sides are mad, then you did somwthing right. LOL @@mikesbookreviews
What I have discovered with Wind and Truth is that the Cosmere is basically the MCU of Fantasy. I'm over it.
Sanderson has never denied that Cosmere kind of is like the mcu
No faster way to lose me.
Wind and Truth is literally just a worse version of Endgame. It ended with a dry fart, not very satisfying.
That was always his plan, and I was all in about worlds colliding in the Cosmere. But I feel like Brandon is doing a bad job of incorporating the wider Cosmere. I feel like he's catering too hard to die hard Cosmere scholars, and since I have adulting to do now, I just don't have the time to devote to theory crafting, Cosmere threads and Coppermind deep dives. I think a lot of us casuals are being left in the dust, while there's too much repetition and hand holding for the newbies. It's an awkward line to walk, but it's not working for me.
@@svendragon8139oh no, what will he do now
I haven’t started it yet. Still using it as a ladder to take down my Christmas lights.
😂
Ha!
That is storming hilarious 😂
I think marketing this as the end of a part as opposed to just book 5 of 10 was a mistake. I don't think people would be as negative if this was treated like a middle Wheel of Time novel
Agreed
The book has to be judged on its own. You can’t say a book isn’t bad because it’s a middle book.
@gnomishviking3013 no, I mean I think people went in with an expectation of a conclusive ending like Mistborn Era 1 vs Era 2. Getting something that was very open ended may have lead to disappointment. I never said it would change the quality
@@mcintyre0591 People are negative because the book clearly suffers in quality of writing, characters and obvious lack of editing resulting in a overly long slog of a book. Having a proper "ending" wouldn't change those issues.
@gnomishviking3013 I've seen a lot of people disappointed it was cliffhangery. And I think expectations can change how one feels about a book without impacting its quality. If you promise a Romantasy fan more of the same in LotR they are going to be disappointed. This does not somehow diminish Tolkien's work because someone was disappointed in it.
I've been wanting to re-vist 1st law as I was disappointed in it after everyone said how great and epic it was. I was expecting a big lore revelation with Euz and Demons. And because I didn't get that I was a little disappointed. I want to re-vist it in the lense of a character study than a fantasy epic
This was such a weird read for me. I really did enjoy my time reading it. There were so many epic moments. Yet you're spot on with the YA/MCU analysis and it breaks my heart the first two books in the series turned out to be the outliers
This review nails it. Your breakdown of the larger problems with Sanderson’s work is absolutely spot on for me. I profoundly love these books, but WaT was disappointing and now I’m ready for a break from the Cosmere also.
I'm glad to see a book reviewer who's willing to criticise Sanderson, there are too many spaces where you can't say anything negative about him without getting obliterated by his superfans...
I'll always be honest with my opinions, no matter how popular/unpopular a stance might be.
What spaces lol? Even cosmere mega fan channels/forums are full of vitriol and hate now, just like it was back in 2017 and 2020
I remain enthusiastic about Scadrial and pleasantly willing to spend time on Roshar and in the rest of the Cosmere while I wait.
Certainly don't want to be a wet blanket! Glad others are still all in.
There are always those who leave and new people take interest. I am glad that there are a variety of stories and fantasy authors to read while waiting on a new book in cosmere. I plan to read as much as I can until as long as possible. I hope he does take some of the criticism and improve his prose. I want SA 10 to be better than AMOL.
It's insane to me that the guy that wrote way of kings wrote this. Stormlight was a great series for me because although it wasn't in any way shape or form grimdark it delt with mature themes while it had a whimsical world as a backdrop. Wind and truth feels like a full YA book to me with flat characters, predictable plot and sanitized writing. The next stormlight book will come in 6 years and honestly I couldn't care less.
That's what happens when you start pandering to a certain sect of people out of fear if being canceled.
That wasn't the only problem of this book. @@beeman4266
@@beeman4266 Literally not a single criticism they brought up has to do with what you're talking about.
@@beeman4266 Stop acting like Sanderson is pandering to progressives. He IS progressive lol, this is how he thinks. Criticize it for that reason, not because he's supposedly faking it or something.
@asimhussain8716 then why does he hang out of with racists & homophoes all the time ??
Another solid and balanced review, sir. Always excited to watch a book review video from you.
Appreciate that, man.
16 min in that Dalinar comment I've been waiting for someone to talk about it! I actually like all the spiritual realm stuff but I needed way more Dalinar in this book.
He literally benched his best character.
the spiritual realm was by far the most boring oart of the book. I loved the lore we learned but the Spiritual Realm itself was lame as hell. it was just visions again. I was expecting some cool shit like "Everything Everywhere All at Once".
I absolutely loved this book. Maybe it is because I binged all 5 in around 2 months through audiobooks at work but this ending to part 1 was extremely satisfying to me. Surprised to hear a lot of negative opinions.
I’m glad for all the people who enjoyed this book but it was a huge miss for me. Such a big miss that it’s probably my getting off point for the Cosmere in general. Great video Mike!
Ugh this book was make or break definitely. Shouldn’t have been the cut off point it’s such a bad cut off point.
I never cared about the Cosmere as a whole. Just give me good stories with great characters. I don't need a cohesive universe connecting all the books. Especially when it causes the author to become a revisonist just to cobble it together.
@@bbarnhouse9022 I like how it was before, that storys were good and sufficient on their own and if you read previous works then there would be little mentioned and snipets of it for more hardcore fans, but after his two most recent series conclusions The lost metal and Wind and truth its clear that not the case anymore its getting very heavy into the cosmere rather then just sufficient series on their own. And im not a fan of it especailly since i think a lot of cosmere concepts are kinda mid and not that exciting going forward
@@bbarnhouse9022 Cosmere is the worst idea ever. Just an odd way to connect books and worlds which have nothing to do with each other. Could as wel connect Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and state they're now in the same universe
Same
Bad writing, bad editing, bad pacing, bad humor. This one wasn’t for me
Is so subjective hey, I enjoyed all of the points you mentioned.
Im impressed at the polarisation on this book, seems like you either love it or hate it!
I liked it about as much as I liked the rest of the non-TWoK entries in SLA. Which is to say, it was pretty solid but doesn’t hold a candle to book one. I’ll keep reading but I think Mistborn will remain my favorite Sanderson series by a large margin for the time being.
Thanks for the review Mike!
I agree 100% the best part of this series was the end of Oathbringer! I’ve been wanting it to get back to that level and it just didn’t.
Oathbringer was already a huge step down. Marvel movie.
Oathbringer sucked. I dont get some people.
I personally liked parts of oathbringer including ending which saves the book for me. I think rhythm of war is better than oathbringer but most people hate it.
You hit the nail on the head at the end for me: Wind and Truth turned the Stormlight Archive into YA. There were signs of this in Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, but now it's on the nose. While it's also his characterisations recently, Brandon's prose has just fallen off a cliff in the last couple of books and thoroughly embraced YA. I liked most of Wind and Truth, great book for the worldbuilding of the cosmere, but the tone just mismatches what we started out with in Way of Kings. I think Brandon is the best when he writes in a nobledark setting/tone that is still thoroughly anchored in adult themes, as were Mistborn Era 1, Way of Kings and Radiance. Sadly, it doesn't seem that this is the way forward
Glad I saw this comment before watching. What a bummer! I loved the first book but then fell off after that when I learned it was such a long series. When I learned this book would be a natural pause, I wanted to catch up. But all I've seen are negative reviews so far.
"Now, let's kick some Fused ass".
@@BrennanWestI'm his THERAPIST!
@Yesica1993 There are thousands of people who absolutely loved this book and gave it 5 stars, including myself. It's apparent that it's not what some people wanted/like, and that's totally fine! But it's definitely not the majority even if that appears the case on UA-cam.
It's super YA and then he writes a sex scene just to explain how a character got pregnant. It was pretty disappointing.
You and I were looking for the same things out of this book, and I agree with you 99%. I'm not a big Lift fan either, but I AM looking forward to the path Brandon set her on in this book. The first 3/4 of this book felt more like a middle Wheel of Time book, than a finale book for Stormlight.
Because it's not a finale, I think that people's expectations were set badly. Complaints about writing and stuff make sense, but a lot of complaints (a lot) are seemingly from people who think this is the end and they're complaining that they didn't get a resolution to x, y, and z, when those things have 5 more books left to get a resolution in. Or like, Kaladin didn't do much fighting but...given his ending...there's obviously going to be more fighting in his future.
@calebmauer1751 I don't see that complaint a lot, actually. I'm talking about the pace mostly. I think this needed another editorial pass or two. The Dalinar and Shallan portions of the book dragged for far too long, IMO.
I read this book after reading all 9 First Law books back to back. My god I have never bounced off a book so hard.
Absolutely hated it. I think I’ve outgrown Sanderson.
Once I discovered Abercrombie (and Stephen King) Sanderson just isn't the same
Currently re-reading everything First Law. I take it I shouldn't attempt to read this one immediately after? 😅
I genuinely don't want to, but I just have to know what happens to the Kholins.
Damn im on my 5th Abercrombie book (absolutely love them) and Im afraid Im going to bounce off Sanderson too
@H4is3nberg The Heroes is his a absolute best book, to my mind.
Nothing Sanderson ever wrote can compare to the least of Joe's books.
Immediately after finishing WaT (2/5) for me, I started with The Blade Itself. I wish I had as good of a time with WaT during my Christmas Holiday as I am with First Law. God damn Abercrombie is good, Sanderson doesn't even come close imo. It's like a veil has been lifted of what a good reading experience needs to be.
Tbf "Wind and Truth" by Brandon Sanderson is a really great book. it just needs to work on its plot, pacing, character development, worldbuilding, prose, twists, emotional impact, dialogue, and thematic depth.
@@Jaeno311woosh
@@Chu9947 so pretty much everything that makes a great book 🤭
The cover art isn’t terrible, though!
@@jamesonsupan7865uk version cover art was ass.
This is what booktubers sound like trying to avoid the pitchforks of his fanbase.
I have not read Wind and Truth but everything I've seen online just confirms the downward trajectory that I thought was happening in Rythym of War. The things people are saying about it seems like he's leaning into the aspects of his writing that I'm not very interested in, like quippy dialogue, bloated writing and making the universe too connected.
Unless I hear that book 6 seriously turns things around, I'm probably set on the Stormlight Archive, which is so disappointing because when I started reading them in high school they blew my mind, I thought it was the beginning of what had to be the greatest story ever.
**SPOILERS** -
I waited so long and was sooo let down 😔. All these huge storylines that we all waited years and years for and Brandon just let it all sizzle and die...
Some examples:
- Kaladin is now a therapist. Solving complex mental problems that the Heralds suffered for thousands of years in an afternoon.The best fighter in all of Roshar save for the Heralds and.. just.. nothing...
- Taln, many times foreshadowed to be the greatest fighter of the last 7000 years. Then he finally gets mad and lucid and into the fighting spirit, im screaming to my book YES! LETSGO! but again... just.. nothing...
- Dalinar, the contest, the ultimate 1v1, and he fights against.... who??... really?... and then this poor poor boy isnt even allowed to fight and instead is a puppet for some moral decision for Dalinar to make... what?....
- Adolin was awesome!!!! only pov that i could stand.
- Mraize, the final confrontation... It was over in what? 5 whole sentences? 4 books of a stoic, always in control, always a step ahead guy and just... nothing....
- Szeths whole origin arc was ok i guess... predictable but ok...
- Venli... i mean who cares about Venli...
Sorry for all you people that liked this 5th installment of The Stormlight Archive. I am happy for you, i truely am. For me, cause book 4 also had some serious flaws and parts where it took forever to get through, my opinion on Brandon Sanderson has dropped to a point where i wont be picking up any new books of him anytime soon ( also could not get through the Mistborn books but apparently everyone likes them). I hear book 6 will be here in 2033 (are you kidding me) so untill then im done. And yes, i WILL read book 6 even tho my whole body screams to me to let it be but i just love the world so much!! I cant believe brandon let it slide like this. I actually am sort of mad at him for it. I know thats dumb and i shouldnt be but i am...
Glad to get that off my chest, its been weighing on me these last 2 weeks since i finished the book. Thank you random person for reading my rant. Im done now, gonna need something else to read that is a little more rewarding.
I have the same feelings. I read everything there is in Cosmere but the level went down hill. It became too YA and the prose oh god. I liked some scenes but over all the plot was quite predictable.
My opinion on it has soured some more the further I get from my reading. More of the down notes have stuck with me.
Overhyping is what is going on here @ this point.
That's true of sanderson himself. He lost his allegiance to the Light and his Muse left him.
I REALLY struggled with W&T. The constant back/forth POV's really killed the flow and I just felt bored. I really had to force myself to finish it. The book feels rushed and every criticism levied at Sanderson was on full display. I came directly from "The God if not Willing" by Steven Erikson and honestly, he writes circles around Sanderson in terms of world building, character and prose.
Loved how constructive you are even if SL is not going to be for you from now onwards! Great point also with the characters for the second arc- I guess I didn’t think about it before but by the end of this arc I am still more hyped about our current main characters rather than the ones for arc 2- perhaps we did not see enough of them (especially Jasnah! Who I am super hyped about, i don’t believe she has it great here)
I certainly begrudge no one if they're still excited for what's to come. I want people to be excited for things they love.
This is the book I exit the Sanderson train.
I've been struggling with Sanderson from my first book by him but this was a DNF and I've decided to just drop out of the Cosmere entirely. I don't feel the magic/love people feel for his books.
Me too.
I stepped off the train originally with Oathbringer, just didn’t enjoy that book for my reasons but thought I need to finish it. But with this closing the arc I think I’m fine stepping off entirely
@gstokker same here lol
Same
So many people in the comments acting like they didn't really enjoy his last 16 books. Guy has one miss and everyone is acting like they will never try another one of his books lol
It was ass and almost read like callously cobbled together amateur hour YA. I didn’t enjoy all 16. I enjoyed HOA - phenomenal. Enjoyed all of mistborn. Enjoyed Sunlit man. Warbreaker was corny. Couldn’t get past a few pages of yumi.
@@abhJOKA WaT was very mid, yea. Agreed on warbreaker. I personally loved yumi. All Im saying is half the people here being like "Im never reading reading sanderson again" is a bit of a overreaction. The cosmere is still fun. It is just more fun to hate on sando right this second
It's not just any book, it's the final book of the first arc of his magnum opus. If he can't write a good ending for that, why should fans care about his other books?
@ It's not the final book, it's a mid-series cliffhanger. It's very good at what it is, and I think most fans understood that. I get where the confusion comes from, but I think you need to try to understand where your confusion comes from.
@@calebmauer1751 for me it was getting the cosmere era 2 set up. All it was meant to do. Yea, wasn’t the best book. Sando getting so much hate for no reason though.
No closure. Didn’t feel like an arc at all. Dalinar and Kaladin are complete but nothing else.
Absolutely terrible handling of Moash. There is no reason for him to still be around. I don’t care what grand plans he has for him. His role in the book is so inconsistent.
And it’s an absolute crime that Odium still gets “evil” Dalinar as his general. That is a great disservice to his character.
I agree with everything you said except that I do not think the book has a pace issue. I appreciated actually the lightness of first few 300 pages because the main characters are really get separated at the end so having those moments where we spent time with them while they were together were important to me.
Super balanced review. Basically everything I’m feeling you covered.
I'm still on the struggle bus, not sure I've crossed the halfway mark yet but I haven't read in 2 or 3 days. Glad that it picks up at some point as it's been pretty rough thus far.
The first half of this book was ROUGH. The second half is relatively better. But I was already so sour on this book that it overshadowed some of the better moments. Still, the second half didn't redeem the book or anything, it was extremely disappointing. My rating went from 2 to barely 2.75 and I think I'm being generous. Just what the hell happened to Sanderson?
Good luck!
I love how pretty much every review of this book-positive, negative, or somewhere in between-makes note of how awesome Adolin is. Had the same experience as you: he was a top 5 Stormlight character, now he's #1. Absolute GOAT.
As for my least favorite Stormlight character (and yours, it seems), Lift... well, based on her big interlude chapter in this book (as well as Navani's comment saying she remembers what it was like to be Lift's age), I'm hoping Sanderson takes her in a more mature direction going forward.
Ultimately, I liked the book despite all the problems I had with it (some similar to yours, others quite different). I understand the desire to want a break from or even get away from Sanderson, but despite how prolific he is, there IS time between books to read other things. I read so many other great fantasy/sci-fi books last year before I got to Wind and Truth (Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, the first four Dune books), and I have plenty more slated for this year before I read Isles of the Emberdark. That, for me, keeps me interested in the Cosmere while allowing for room to breathe.
Anyway, great review as always. Appreciate your candor and perspective. Happy reading!
Nice review as always. This is probably the most dividing book of Sanderson, but personally it is good enough, like a 3.8 out of 5 for me. Definitely wouldn't want to miss it though. Some really great scenes and revelations that gripped me better than many other authors’ book. In terms of how connected it is to the rest of the Cosmere, I like that a lot actually. Feels like a grand universe thing that you really don't get from any other series.
Sorry Sanderson, this is where I exit. It feels like we went from reading amazing fantasy (which I love) to reading the literary equivalent of crossover comics. Coupled with the lackluster writing, the blunt force repetition of every message he was trying to push through to the reader (and I'm not even talking about the political stuff!), and the seriously unsatisfying bate and switch at the end, I have no real interest in continuing. It really doesn't feel like his writing anymore, which is likely due to the fact that he claims to have let "beta readers" change things. That makes me wonder if we even got the book he originally intended to write, or whether there were last minute changes that threw the entire story out of joint.
Hey man, I just wanted to say thank you for not using the political stuff as a scapegoat. I agree it was done wrong and felt out of place, but not that it is inherently awful. All the comments thinking this wasn’t just a bad book and just using the messaging solely as the cause is uninspiring.
Will you have the spoiler talk in a separate video like the other Stormlight books?
Unlikely. Way too much negativity surrounding this one.
@@mikesbookreviews😢 I see your point. Would’ve loved to find out your thoughts on many of the events 😢 Maybe, once the raucous dies down a little? 😊🤞
I love this book so far! I agree that the language is a bit modern and some of lines are weird but I still love it! I have 140 pages left and hope that the ending will be great
I’m subscribed and haven’t been notified you uploaded in a year lol. Happy to see you’re still doing your thing!
I'm pulling a "heaven's to murgatroy, exit stage left" on the series. the last 2 books dropped stormlight off my top 10 all time series list. excellent breakdown of your thoughts, as always, Mike-sama!
I'm thinking my 2026 update may have some changes, as well.
i was so disappointed with this book. the writing took a huge step down from the rest of stormlight. I wish he would have just focused on finishing and editing this rather than writing any secret projects. I loved the destination for almost all of the characters but the journey there was rough. I hated kalladins arc, szeths flashbacks could have been so much better. like why not line up his flash backs with each person he was about to fight so we actually knew who they were and gave a shit?? the entire shattered plains arc could have been cut, Jasnah omg dont even get me started on that farce of a scene. Ba Ado Mishram. wtf.
I just finished Oathbringer and I think that's where I stop with SA. It makes me sad as I have loved Sanderson, but I know that I will bounce hard off the next two books based on what I've heard.
Wish I stopped there, or after Radiance, really. At least I didn't give this book my time or money.
@@svendragon8139 unfortunately I own Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth.
At least try them, it wouldnt hurt you.
@@Daniel-xy9tv eh there's too many other books that I want to read. If these were half the size I'd give them a go, but it's too much of a time commitment.
@@richwar2417 completly understandable, stormlight takes a long time to read, especially when you have other books you want to read.
well thought out review as always. We share quite a few thoughts on this one.
I appreciate it!
Totally agree about the MCU comparison. The ending really seemed to setup that you’ll have to be a Cosmere completionist moving forward…
I'm never reading this after the reactions I've heard of the later books. I prefer to form my own opinion on things but not when that requires me reading a few thousand pages of questionably paced books. I hope some good spoiler videos come out covering where it went wrong because I just dont find these non spoiler reviews very useful.
Sanderson has become to mainstream and corporate. I loved the days of mistborn era 1, Warbreaker, and first 3 Stormlight books. Now he cares more about check list of inclusion and mental health, kickstarters, and podcast. The inner monologue of the characters and preachy voice have become unbearable. It was never like this in way of kings. It’s become almost unreadable.
Sanderson has always been preachy....The Knights radiants ideals and oaths are pseudo religious/spiritual ideas, they just dont sound super preachy because Sanderson used to have a much better editor. Not to mention in Mistborn Sanderson having a scene where Vin wanted to wait tell marriage to have sex.
Sanderson has always been preachy with his beliefs and religion. He was just much better at writing it in the past.
As far as the mental health stuff goes, Kaladins character has always been about mental health and his depression while he continues to have to be around horrible events. But I will agree making him therapist Kaladin was super dumb and came off very cliched. It felt like he asked Chat GPT for a bunch of therapist tropes and hamfisted them into the book.
@gnomishviking3013 I DNF'd Wind and Truth (I'm an audiobook listener) and to me, Kaladin's "Therapy" felt painfully hamfisted. Like Kaladin was forcing Szeth to be better, and CALLING Kaladin a Therapist actually bothers me. It feels like an incredibly modern and Earth term to use and feels so out of place. Yeah, Hoid introduced it but it feels wrong.
@@WildWolfGod Not to mention in reality a therapist that deals with PTSD patients has 6 years or more of education and many years of practice. Suddenly Kaladin is the best therapist that ever existed and cures people almost instantly. It was stupid.
@@gnomishviking3013 Agreed the editing was just awful. As mike even said. It could of been much better at 800 pages and lot of the over preachy stuff could of been edited out.
And yes I still love Kaladin character. I actually thought the best storyline is Kal/Seth. But before it was show not tell. Now Brandon has to do long inner monologues. There is a decent book inside of Wind and Truth. Just so much needed to be edited.
@gnomishviking3013 what's wrong with having a good religious order in a fantasy novel? I feel like any fantasy that doesn't have an evil, power hungry church or religion in it, then people think it's preachy.
Having moral characters isn't preachy. Everything doesn't need to be nihilistic.
I didn't miss the avenger's assemble moment because the book told us from the start that some characters wouldnt be there.
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head… think this is the point I shuffle off. To be honest I haven’t finished WaT yet… got to the end of Day 5 and saw my TBR pile staring at me and have been grabbed my something else. I’ll be back for the other 5 days and then done
TBR Mountain does tend to call out to us and say climb me read me😂
I feel validated by these comments!
The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely
muted in its response to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who'd never met, yet - as with Weinstein - tell remarkably similar stories
J KRowling
Im really hoping what lift gets up up in the time slip matures her enough to the point she’s bearable
Lmao! I literally said out loud “are we doing Holtz and Connor right now?!” Glad that wasn’t just me
I've only heard terrible things about this book-from an incredibly wide range of reviewers.
Therapist Kaladin was never on my wish list. Kicking ass and taking names while overcoming personal trauma and struggles, now there’s my hero.
I get it, different paths for different stories but man, can we get back to fantasy being fantasy?
Im sure Kal WILL get back to the battlefield, and I think the story very much set that up to come in clutch later!
(Probably the later half of the series like bk7 or 9)
But I think there's something very beautiful and admirable about a hero who COULD go out and charge at the front lines, but chooses to stay behind to help those who fell or can't get up themselves. We've never really seen a hero like that... Kinda a big brother superman-esc type character
Sanderson has turned writing into a soulless commoditization.
Not really! He is telling his story. Like it or hate it this is what he wanted to put into the world.
you may have problems with it but i think its a little unfair and untruthful to say his works are soulless
Sorry to see you go. I enjoyed your reviews! Take care!
Agreed completely on the editor comment, I enjoyed the book a lot but its hard to find a reason it couldn't have been cut down a few hundred pages. We could have even pulled some side characters out of the book and sold it as a novella next year, anything to make this book flow better
I agree - I really want to finish the Cosmere, but I'm not able to read many books (maybe 1 to 2 a month) so the idea of reading NOTHING but Cosmere is daunting and makes me a little sad. That's why I'm so behind everyone else! I just now started Oathbringer.
Book 6 won't be out until 2033. You've got plenty of time.
Yeah, the consensus is looking scary for me as someone who’s on book one still (slow reader LMAOO) so these reviews are making me really contemplating continuing the series if the downgrade is as bad as everyone is saying (Rhythm of War & Wind and Truth).
Keep at it and see whatvyou think, at the end of the day it is entirely subjective what each person thinks of a book. I personally loved wind and truth as did several of my cosmere reading friends.
By all means move on to something else if that's how you feel but dont necessarily let other people's subjective opinions put you off.
@@simonorourke4465On the bright side, there’s still adaptions.
The first three books are great. The fourth book is OK. The fifth book drives off a cliff.
There are plenty of people who think the time spent with Stormlight is worthwhile. Even if this book wasn't his best writing, the conclusion and the story lines are satisfying IMO. I agree with much of the criticism, but I also enjoyed the book.
Rhythm of War isn't bad, it just has different aspects of fantasy that some people love and some people dislike. It's still good overall, even if it's mid compared to the others. At least Rhythm of War is SOMEONE's favourite book in the series, Wind and Truth won't be anyone's favorite.
I'm about 1/3 through Rhythm of War on my prep-for-Wind-and-Truth journey. I maybe shouldn't have gone the route of rereading all of Stormlight back to back in preparation. I'm totally fried and want to read something else entirely. Rereading The Road. Maybe after that I'll be able to jump back in, but all the lukewarm reviews of WaT give me pause.
Loved the video Mike - now that there won't be any new stormlight archive books till 2033 (or that's what we've been told) can we hope for more crumbs of Michael Crichton content now and then?
"Remember what they took from us" lol, jk but the fact that that one Eshonai chapter with the Stormfather was better than all the Venli scenes combined. Lift is a character who would have been a LOT better if we had far less exposure to her and she had a more compacted storyline (and was less annoying). The fact she doesn't grow at all until this book is why she's unlikeable.
I've been looking forward to this review haha
Great 👍🏻 video as always!
Also congratulations on your Texans advancing.
Still shaking from my Commanders winning last night. 😂.
Keep it up good sir!
The fact I would need to read two Elantris sequels to keep up has made my decision to step back from the Cosmere easier
My most disappointing book of my adult life
This book was a major disappointment for me.
I agree with the ranking. I hated Shallans stakeout of Mraize's place that lasted several chapters. it felt like BS didn't know what to do with her on day 2.
This book also had the worst dialogue of the 5.
Shallan - 'storms, i think i am growing'
kal to ishar - 'you are a bad person, but you have mental issues, which is an explanation and not an excuse, but you still deserve help'
Abidi - 'i bathe in the blood of radiants, which renews me.' probably didn't need the, 'which renews me' part.
Shallan - 'thank you for listening and changing'
In chapter 74 there is this weird point where both Renarin and Rlain are saying humans and singers need to be involved in freeing Misharam and they both agree, but are still arguing about it for some reason. This book needed serious ediitng which is odd because he said he worked on editing this book the most.
I mean this book is just one big problem. The book undermines its own premise in the first 100 pages. Spoilers ahead
Why would odium agree to a contest at all when he gets basically nothing if he wins and he has the military strength not only to launch 3 offensive at once and win, and already in position to attack within a few days of the agreement? Its just nonsense. And dont get me started on the ending that is a plot hole ridden mess. Just to take an obvious one, why is odium not his own champion? If honor can compete so can hatred.
Szeth and adolin are the only good parts. Book 4 is way better
Rothfuss and Martin ruined their series’s by not writing. Sanderson decided to write till he destroyed his work. The book sucked.
It’s interesting that I feel so similarly to you about book 5, but so different on book 4. Rhythm of War is my favourite of the SA, though I do agree Venli flasbacks are the weakest. 2) Words of Radiance 3) The Way of Kings 4) Oathbringer 5) Wind and Truth (enjoyed the destination but less so the Journey of this last book but still overall positive on it)
Thoroughly enjoyed finally hearing your thoughts on WaT. After I had bought Way of Kings during COVID, I had found your YT page discussing Stormlight Archive. But man I wanted WaT to be something more than we got at times. There were many things I really liked about it and others not so much. I agree it is starting to feel like YA and I don't like that because the first two books dealt with more adult and darker themes. We'll see how I feel in 6-8 years when Book 6 comes out and if I'll read it...which I hate contemplating if I'll read it or not.
This was one of the most boring and worst written books I have read in a VERY long time.
Calling someone a tool? Patent law? I was waiting for Kalladin to lecture the reader on the importance of HIPPA laws. His scenes with szeth felt like CBT alright, but not the kind Brandon intended.
Yeah like did Kaladins 4th ideal also give him the ability to regurgitate the DSM-5?
Are those opening backrounds from wallpaper engine and if so how'd you find them? Great video, keep em up.
Thanks for the nice review Mike! I’m halfway through and I agree with you on so many points. It seems it’s taking way too long for anything interesting to happen I hope it gets better! This book could totally be shorter than it is.
I'm currently on Rhythm of war and loved last 3 books. I'm into around 500 pages in ROW and in starting I was loving it but I'm feeling a bit disconnecting from the thrill it used to give me...hoping it'll get better with pages
The ending is amazing. Middle is the hardest to get through (not for me i liked the whole book)
@andreww4751 okay
i am nearly done with words of radiance and i really enjoy the books so far.
The first two are the best with the third book being very good as well. The fourth books is ok. The fifth book just kinda drives off a cliff.
Hm... while we disagreed on some specific points, and I felt overall more positive than you, I appreciate the candor as always, and very much enjoyed this review! That said, I really don't think it's fair to keep making assumptions on how much of other series you'll need to read to "get" the 6th Stormlight book. I get where you're coming from, and the general concern, but I think Sanderson has earned some trust by this point, and I really don't get making these assumptions. Or planning not to read it based on these faulty assumptions. Just wait and see!!
I think I'm done reading Sanderson from here on out. I enjoyed the run up till now. But I'm burned out and the books just aren't as good
Mike, thank you for articulating what has put me off Sanderson in general and I didn't have a name for it. Homework. That's it, that's the thing, he wants the reader to treat his books like they are The History of Middle Earth and for the reader to know every bit of minutiae and how it connects to other bits of minutiae. I'm sorry for ole Brando Sando, but the Cosmere just isn't that world where I want to memorize every dang thing.
Also, again, hail meets head on the YA direction. We're definitely not the demographic for it.
Why tho, why do you have to mention Adolin being MVP??? Now I have to read this monster. 😅
Adolin definitely the mvp by a longshot the second best would prabobly be szeth but im mixed about him being paired with kaladin it kinda works well but then Sanderson does some thing that make it fairly painfull in parts,
Ain’t worth reading the book just for adolin.
However he did have a great time in this book. Was nice to see him grow.
@Abunchaponys I'm considering waiting until all the chapter summaries are uploaded and then reading only the chapters with characters I am actually interested in. Though, from the couple of chapters I skimmed through already, I have no memory of many characters or places. Rhythm of War was so heinous, my brain has erased it completely.
@@annarien4333 that would be a good idea. Adolins story in this book could have been his own novella.
His story is pretty self contained.
@Abunchaponys that's good, then... I don't have to wade through all the other tedious stuff, I'll just check up on him and his lil bro, they are my favorite characters in this series.
i wish i liked the book. I just didn't.
The whole ethos of this series is "Journey before destination." And yet, I absolutely hated Kaladin's journey in this book, but I loved the final destination. So I feel he failed on the overall promise of this series as a whole.
Sanderson has entered his "Slog".
That was Oathbringer and RoW. This is an atrocity
@@svendragon8139 Ngl I just finished Oathbringer and gave it a 3 star. I was very disappointed. and that seems to be the book most people love! I haven't seen too good of a reception to RoW or WaT so now I'm nervous lol
Yes............... RoW was the beginng of Brando Marvel Phase 4ing Stormlight, this book was like by the time we hit She-Hulk on Disney. Im out, i couldn't stand it, the subversion of what 'Honor' is was gross imo, he did Dalinar super dirty and uinlike you I was left bewildered and dismayed at the waste of Kaladin for the end of his SA story. In my mind 'cleansing of Shinovar' with Kal and Szeth was gonna be epic af, nuking fused all the way there riding the storm then some kind of guerilla warfare but no, it was flute playiong therapist Kal being led around by the nose. Completely different 'journeys' that i feel like were promised in books 1 and 2 - which will remain my favourite Fantasy books of all time - but even Shallan i felt was on a side plot of a side plot in this book and I was not at all a fan.
You're a good man Mike, much more gracious than I :-)
Wind and Truth was a massive disappointment for me.
Brandon Sanderson is among my favorite authors. The entire reason I got back into fantasy as an adult is thanks to the Mistborn series. Then I read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I consider them to be two of the best fantasy epics ever written. They are two of my favorite novels of all time. Oathbringer and Rhythm of War were two more solid entries in the Stormlight Archive series, though not quite as strong, in my opinion. But I eagerly awaited the fifth and final entry of this arc of the series. Brandon Sanderson is, after all, known for the strength of his endings.
Unfortunately, this book was extremely disappointing.
It’s not a total loss. There are a handful of good scenes and decent character moments. But overall, this book pales in comparison to its predecessors. It never comes close to approaching the unforgettable emotional heights of the first four books in the series-scenes that were truly thrilling and filled with catharsis. There is none of that here.
The book lacks focus. There are entire storylines that go absolutely nowhere or feel as if they don’t matter at all (the spiritual realm, Shallan, Moash…) and thus there are little or no payoffs. There are novel-length sections that are pure exposition about the past, which are incredibly boring and full of information we had already inferred from previous books. It all felt un-Sanderson-like. What happened?
Whereas the first few entries in the series dealt with mental health in a more expert, subtle, yet effective way, this book absolutely bungled the mental health element. Everything is extremely on the nose.
Kaladin nearly killed himself at the end of book four before swearing the Fourth Ideal. Book five takes place immediately after book four, and suddenly Kaladin is ready to act as a trained therapist for characters who have dealt with complex mental health issues for decades-even centuries in some cases-and he successfully treats these issues within just 10 days.
The modernisms and anachronisms are unbearable. In a world that is essentially still a feudal society, what are 2024 understandings and terminology around mental health doing in this world?
And the dialogue. These are actual lines from the book:
* “Let’s hash it out.”
* “I’m his therapist.”
* “That’s racist.”
* “Let’s kick some fused ass.”
These modern lines are jarring and tore me right out of the story.
And Kaladin. What happened to the great warrior Kaladin? In the early books, Kaladan was a warrior who happened to battle depression. But he never gave up and continued to fight while lifting up those around him. He was not defined by his depression. It was inspiring. That is no longer the case. He is solely defined by mental health in this book. And now, when the entire world is at stake, he isn’t there to fight when the stakes are so high?
In my opinion, a more satisfying (albeit obvious) arc for Kaladin would have been making him Dalinar’s champion in a final showdown against Odium’s champion-Moash. Who wouldn’t want to see that?
But instead, we get… Gavinor?! This “twist” did not work at al. It felt rushed and unsatisfying.
Then there is the whole Renarin-Rlain gay romance. Why is Shallan acting like a giddy high school girl on TikTok, bursting with barely contained applause upon seeing the surprise of her friend kissing another male? Where would she have adopted these modern attitudes in an essentially medieval society where the futures of entire kingdoms and nations depend on marriages to galvanize political alliances and ensure lasting dynasties through the production of heirs? I get that this is supposed to represent the union and reconciliation of two societies and peoples that have been at war with each other, but wouldn’t such a romance actually cause more harm and be rejected by both humans and singers? Doesn’t representation of this sort where everyone is accepting and supportive actually diminish the discrimination that minority groups have experienced throughout history?
I read an article in which Sanderson mentioned that he worked with “sensitivity readers” to ensure all the mental health and LGBTQ+ representation was properly handled. And therein lies the problem. The book tries so hard to be politically correct that it loses its soul. It really does feel as if it were written by a committee and that every line about mental health has to be hedged with correct modern understanding.
I fear that Sanderson has become a quantity-over-quality author. He’s pumping out more books than ever, but his efforts don’t stand up to the outstanding works that launched his career. It seems possible that he has reached such astounding heights in popularity that he no longer listens to beta reader feedback, believing he knows best, and/or is surrounded by yes-men-people who praise him and do not challenge him because they only see his work through rose-colored glasses, believing he can do no wrong.
This book needed serious revision. This does not feel like a finished product. It feels many drafts short of a great novel. Instead of slavishly keeping to his publication deadline, Sanderson ought to have done the hard work of gutting this book and rewriting it, even if that meant delaying it a year or two. I would have rather waited longer and received a great novel than this disappointing one. Sadly, his magnum opus is tarnished by this, and it makes me greatly worried for his future works.
I sincerely hope he course-corrects.
I originally gave this three stars but revised it down to two because of what this book should have been and how great the first few books were.
@@walternate2914 you left this well-written and reasoned comment here, and all I want to say is that I love your user name! Lol
You absolutely nailed it. I couldn't agree more. I just pray Sanderson takes all this criticism on the chin and rights this ship.
Yeah it’s not just you Mike. Sanderson turned the SA series into a YA slog fest. I was disappointed with what happened with Jasnah and Kaladin. He has a real “editor” issue. I almost DNF’d several times because of the cringe humor and info dumps. Not for me! This is definitely not the same series that I grew to love.
Adolin is my favorite Stormlight character, but he might be married to my least favorite (I like their dynamic when they are together. Just feel like a lot of the Shallan stuff is redundant to me). I liked the book overall, though. I didn't leave this one as excited for the next one. SPOILERS. The twist with Gav was something theorized online, and once he ended up in the spiritual relm, I knew it was going to happen. However, I didn't see him being aged 20 years. That did catch me by surprise.
I agree that I won't be returning to Roshar. I knew eventually he would merge his stories, but I'm not a fan of this new direction. It definitely is aimed at a younger demographic.
Thanks for this. I was thinking about starting Way of Kings this year. I had the first 3 paperbacks in a box set. I've not given Sando much of a chance yet mostly because it feels like a commitment and I am OCD about completionism with stuff, so... guess we'll see.
Latest entry into the Panderverse.
4.56 Stars on Goodreads but this comment section would have you believe it’s the worst book of all time. Not everything has to be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. This book is excellent with a few minor editing issues and controversial story points - but this continues to be amongst some of the strongest active fantasy around!
The internet is rage-reviewing in mass. Nit this guy, he's pretty balanced out between opinions.
But even he admitted to piking it. He said he might not stick with it but im sure he will
Since you are thinking of reading mistborn era 3, are you also thinking of reading the lost metal?
I enjoyed WaT. Some things were a little jarring but not in a way that made me feel very irritated. Overall I feel like the implications of the story and what’s in store for the next era are better than the book itself, if that makes any sense
I have always had issues with Brandon Sanderson but really enjoyed the first two books of the Stormlight Archive. Then had some issues with Oathbringer but a major drop off in Rhythm of War. So now with these reviews and issues people have brought up with Wind of Truth I am not surprised one bit. I feel like Brandon has become too mainstream and big and with that comes mediocre to poor quality. Just look at Disney.
I wasn't aware you didn't like Lift and as someone who REALLY likes her, and is Has been a One Piece fan for over almost 2 decades, let me just say part of it is because she reminds me of Luffy.
Sanderson has jumped the shark. No Sanderson for me. 👎
Sandersons writing isn't good enough for 1300 pages.
I DNF'd after about 500 pages and at that point felt like absolutely nothing happened.
His writing prose has always been serviceable, he just needs his editor to brutally cut down his manuscripts
@@danielbroome5690 idk, serviceable just doesn't feel like enough. Joe Abercrombie is able to get his point across and then some in a third of the word count. I just don't think Sanderson is as interesting as he thinks he is. Like we don't need 600+ pages leading up to a climax, characters dying in the lies of locke lamora hit me way harder in 500 pages than characters 3000 pages into stormlight. Like he's able to pump out so much because quantity is clearly more important than quality and with how many amazing books/series there are out there, quantity over quality just isn't good enough.
@@bugtrapper 100%. Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Rothfuss etc. all write circles around Sanderson.
Thanks for the balanced review, Mike. I think WaT has the weakest beginning of all the books and that part could have been edited down and just needed another rewrite to rework some weak dialogue and info dumps. Actually, and I haven’t heard this much from others, I found myself feeling like the last 1/3 or so, and especially the very end of the story, felt rushed and needed to be filled out a bit more. It would have been a good opportunity to get our characters back together again in some way before wrapping things up, and there were a number of other side characters that I wish got a little more conclusion/resolution to make including them at all make more sense. In many ways this wasn’t the book I wanted it to be, but I still think he stuck the landing as far as the character arcs go and there are many fantastic scenes throughout. Like some others, I worry his beta readers might not be giving him the best feedback (or he is trying to please too many betas at the expense of his own vision) and/or the change of editor might be blinding him to some faults that should be an easy fix for him. But, I also wonder if Brandon sees the breadth of the task in front of him to complete the Cosmere before he either dies or gets too old and is perhaps not so concerned with writing the perfect book anymore. He just needs to have it be “good enough” and move on. I obviously wouldn’t want him to become a Rothfuss or Martin, but personally I’d prefer waiting a bit longer for a more polished end result. Still, I love what he’s trying to do and I’m here for it, even if some things fall flat sometimes. I don’t understand the comments about “wokeness.” It doesn’t seem to take much to set people off these days. Thanks again, Mike, and keep up the good work!
Fantasy therapist is definitely not the right direction.. the 4th book suffered because if it
I feel like Sanderson is more of a corporate entity that churns out “products,” rather than a creative who writes great books for their own sake.
This has always been my concern, but mostly because of the church he's a part of. It's always hard to tell between him as a creative person and the fact that the Mormon church itself loves to have authors within it because it's a good way of proselytizing by having high-profile people.
no as much as I am lukewarm on Sanderson every interview seems to indicate he absolutely loves writing fantasy
@@danielbroome5690 do you honestly think any meaningful number of people have converted to mormonism because of Sanderson's writing? His books have religious undertones, but it's not even specific to any religion, in fact Mistborn's big twist is that all religions are important.
@@ataridc Plus Hrathen's whole arc in Elantris isn't exactly pro-conversion or pro-church.
It's starting to seem like he is the owner of a book production company. I think he has like 60 people working for him. If someone told me the last book was written by multiple people, I wouldn't be surprised.
Wow! So many people love warbreaker. I thought it wasn’t very popular because Sanderson has never shown interest in writing a sequel. He always talks about mistborn and stormlight.
Everything I've heard about Sanderson's recent stuff has made me not want to go any further with him. I read Mistborn era 1 and it was good but not great. I don't think I'll start a massive series like Stormlight if books 4 and 5 are as bloated as most reviewers say. I'll stick with Abercrombie and reread Ice and Fire. I'm already on the fence about finishing books 8-14 of Wheel of Time which I'm losing interest in. Everyone also compares Sanderson to the MCU, which I have no interest in.
Same. Mistborn was fine. I had no serious problems with it but here I am several years later and haven't felt the need to pick up another Sanderson book. I too will stick to First Law and ASoIaF. Much more my style anyway.
Definitely make sure you read wheel of time's ending. It IS good. Sanderson had a shitload of notes from RJ about it. You're in a spot in that series known as the slog right now where RJ started doing wide-worldbuilding rather than deep worldbuilding/plot. Book 8 is probably the worst one, and Book 9 has a very boring Perrin story that takes up a lot of the mid part, but I ASSURE YOU that book 9 (Winter's Heart) has an amazing climax and conclusion and Rand is very interesting in it. Then you get book 10 crossroads of twilight which is where it starts to improve and then you get book 11 which is RJ's last masterpiece. Then Sanderson does a very good job emulating that RJ style for the last 3.
the more I've let the book simmer after finishing the more I hate it - this book, R&W, and the Lost Metal have all ruined the Cosmere. I'm completely done with Sanderson now.
all good though, Suneater is wrapping up this year!!
I’ve felt the same way. I was like hmmmm idk if this hit for me when I was reading it and at the end.
A week or so after I think I actually dislike it. Which I usually don’t feel that way towards books.
It’s like oh that’s not for me or hey I like this book usually.
Wind and Truth was my biggest disappointment of 2024. I even like RoW better.
😬