Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #2) - Re-read Reactions

“Strength Before Weakness….”

Way of Kings sets a pretty high bar (& page count) so the pressure on Words of Radiance is pretty high. Let’s see how the re-read shapes up (Spoiler: It shapes up really well)

Here is Way of Kings re-read reaction post

How I remember this book (a 2014 Read) – 3 incredible & awesome set pieces are what I remember from this book and a storming ton of exposition in what is supposed to be Shallan’s book – 4/5

How I see it now – The 3 set pieces are as immense as ever but this is a much deeper book that revels in building a lot of tension & excitement outside of the action sequences as well. The plot developments & the world-building get richer & re-reading this book immediately after Way of Kings highlights a lot of the interconnecting blocks that were not as obvious when the books were released 4 years apart – 4.5/5

Reactions

• How do you follow up a 1000 pager book – why, with another tome almost touching 1100 pages – but unlike Way of Kings, this one just went incredibly smoothly & no signs of any drag at all

  

• Starting the book off with the same assassination that kicked off things in book 1 but with a different PoV is quite a masterstroke

  

• This is Shallan’s book and Sanderson absolutely makes it stick. While Kaladin gets the meaty action sequences, Shallan is the prime mover for the developments in this book. If the last book was about depression, this one is about repressed trauma

  

• Shallan’s journey is quite incredible and is a testament to how well Sanderson has written this character – Shallan starts discovering her power but at the same time, also starts to remember the past she wants to forget – the abuse and the trauma. Her self-journey is what makes this an engrossing read

  

• It is also fun to see the smaller characters from previous books making their appearance here with other characters

  

• The Adolin & Shallan sequence and flirtations are rather cute & in a way, the only way that it could have happened

  

• The unexpected assassination at the start & the shockingly brutal murder at the end are interesting bookends for a book that packs in a LOT

  

• Kaladin goes through a frustrating journey in this book – almost Daenerys in Meereen. You know what he has to do but the pieces have to come together for him to do that and it takes a lot of the book to do that (almost similar to what I said about his journey in book 1 as well, just that it’s a different journey now)

  

• Dalinar continues his journey of a man trying to do the right thing over and over again despite the odds against him & again, easily the most intriguing part of the book

  

• The book also does a fabulous job of bringing forth some of the throwaway sequences of the first book into some powerful plot elements

  

• The midpoint duel is absolutely incredible & pulse-pounding

  

• The interludes remain as enigmatic & irritating as ever but Sanderson introduces a fun interlude in Lift and a powerful interlude in Eshonai

  

• Taravangian is a fascinating character – you could almost say he fashions himself after Hari Seldon

  

• If we ever get a movie or a TV series, I hope they do justice to the highstorms – this force of nature is just incredible & the description is surreal and powerful

  

• Also if we ever get a movie or a TV series, I genuinely hope they don’t all dark as recent shows have gone for the climatic confrontation (looking at you Rings of Power and the OG Game of Thrones)

  

• Sanderson ups the ante & the climax significantly over Way of Kings (which already had a phenomenal one) - it again is a heady, breathless rush all the way through