Notes from the Shelf

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This post will be my review on all the books in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson, which is a 10 book planned series. I will update the post each time I finish a book in the series.

I started reading this series in January 2024, thinking I would be done with the first four books before Book 5: Wind and Truth comes out early December, but that’s not looking too likely now. However, I will persist in reading the series in my own time.

Edit: I have read up to Book 3: Oathbringer, as well as the two novellas: Edgedancer and Dawnshard. Those reviews are below. I am currently reading Book 4: Rhythm of War, and I’m on track to finish that at the end of November, so I will be caught up to read Book 5: Wind and Truth in December!

Edit: I just finished Rhythm of War and have added the review to this post. I’m all caught up now and so excited to get Wind and Truth on Friday!

Edit: I finished Wind and Truth, and I have thoughts.

Book 1: The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings is a 1007-page high fantasy novel, mostly focusing on an Alethi man named Kaladin, on his journey from a revered spearman in a local town, fighting for a Highlord’s turf, to being a slave sent to the Shattered Plains, running bridges on the assault on the Parshendi, a group of human-like beings who took credit for the Assassin in White (Szeth) killing King Gavliar 6 years earlier, kicking off a war between the Parshendi and Alethi.

There is also some focus on Shallan Davar, a scholar girl from a minor household looking for Jasnah Kholin, daughter of King Gavilar, to take her on as her ward. However, Shallan’s real motive is to switch a broken Soulcaster, a device used to harness the magic of stormlight for various effects, for Jasnah’s to save Shallan’s family estate.

There is a lot of world building in this first book, setting up the future books. There is a magic system, mostly focusing on stormlight trapped in gems that are replenished during each highstorm and spren, spirits who are drawn to emotions and conditions. There are many different flora and fauna in this world, adapted to survive the brutal highstorms, as well as different nations with varying cultures and values.

That is a very very small summary of the world of Roshar in the first book, with many other characters also introduced in the first book, not mentioned here. If you’re a fan of high fantasy, I would recommend reading this series, although I have heard it’s not the best Brandon Sanderson series to start with if you’re unfamiliar with his work. It is the series I am starting with, however, and so far I’ve quite enjoyed it. I have read other high fantasy books by other authors before, so I’m not new to the high fantasy genre. If you are completely new to the genre, I’ve heard starting with his Mistborn series is perhaps better.

Overall, I really enjoyed this first book, and I’m excited to see more of the characters interact with each other. Also, I really enjoyed all of the creatures and plants in the world that are adapted to the storms, like the grass that shrinks into the ground when it detects movement so it won’t be ripped out by the storms’ hurricane-like winds.

I found it sad that at the beginning the Heralds, tasked with helping humanity survive world-wide destructions every couple hundred years, left the one guy to be in hell and they just gave up on protecting humanity. What are they doing on Roshar now? Where did they all go?

Szeth is definitely going to die, I think by Kaladin’s hand somehow since he seems to always survive in a mysterious way. I would like to know more about how Kaladin always seems to survive, and everyone else around him seems to die.

Also, I cannot wait for Shallan and Kaladin to meet. I think they would be a better match than her and Adolin, who is King Gavilar’s nephew. If Kaladin can get over his hatred of lighteyes (this world has a hierarchy where people with lighter eyes are above those with darker eyes) then I think they would be a good match. I just think Shallan and Kaladin are broken in a similar way, in a way that Adolin really cannot understand, and being understood makes a lot of relationships flourish. You can’t really be with someone who doesn’t understand the darkness inside of you, and it seems like Shallan has seen some bad things in her past, and definitely Kaladin has dealt with some horrible things, too.

I am glad Kaladin has found a better purpose in life. I was surprised when he was contemplating killing himself in the chasms, but at the same time he’s dealing with so much stress and hopelessness. It seems like he’s found a new charge in life by being bridge leader and trying to keep his men alive and liven up the area with camaraderie. I think he’s a good man, despite what he tries to project to the world.

I’m excited to continue the series and see where it goes. I give The Way of Kings 4 stars.

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Book 2: Words of Radiance

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson is a 1087-page book and the second book in the Stormlight Archive series. It mostly follows Shallan as she makes her way to the Shattered Plains, being attacked early on in the story on a ship, the only one to survive the attack. She must make it to the Shattered Plains safely, believing the secrets to stopping the return of the Voidbringers and the Desolation are there in an ancient city called Urithiru. Kaladin is also a big focus still as he becomes the commander of the royal bodyguards, tasked with protecting Highprince Dalinar and his two sons Adolin and Renarin. The Assassin in White, Szeth, is active again, killing the rulers all over Roshar, with Dalinar as a prime target.

So much is packed into this book, it seemed so fast paced the whole time, which I appreciated. Kaladin reveals his abilities to Dalinar, which I’m glad he did. Dalinar does seem like one of the good ones, like he genuinely cares for the people. Kaladin fights and kills Szeth toward the end. I knew they would have to fight eventually, but I wasn’t sure it would be in this book.

I found it crazy that Jasnah died toward the beginning of the book because I thought she was an important tutor to Shallan, and Shallan isn’t ready to be on her own or take over Jasnah’s research. Plus, the knowledge Jasnah holds from researching for so long seemed too important to the story to lose so early on. I’m glad she was found to be alive at the end of the book. She had escaped the ship attack by slipping into Shadesmar, and it took a while to get back.

It does make sense to have Jasnah out of the picture for a while so Shallan can learn more about her powers and make her own way to the Shattered Plains. I think she changed a lot as a person because she had to take control of the situation. I’m very impressed with Shallan and how she’d dealt with everything in her life.

It was very exciting seeing Shallan, Kaladin, and Adolin coming together. I found the interaction between Shallan and Kaladin to be immensely funny. Since they met outside of the war camps, she lied about who she was and ended up stealing his boots, which is then referenced a lot as a joke between them later. I thought it was cute, and it would make sense she lied about who she was when she’s come across soldiers in a dangerous area. I think Kaladin didn’t trust her at first since she did lie, but I think they become somewhat like friends later on.

I think the three of them could make a great team. I still think maybe Shallan and Kaladin could be a good match, maybe better than Adolin, because Adolin seemed a little whiny. He is realizing he’s maybe not as important as he thought, although I think he is a little too down on himself. He is still an amazing duelist who knows how to use a Shardblade, and I would think that is needed for a Desolation. I hope he understands later that he’s important even if he’s not a Radiant.

I was a little surprised that Shallan is keeping Adolin’s attention since he typically never stays with a woman for long before moving on, but Shallan is so different and not worried about being proper that it’s refreshing for Adolin, and he seems actually smitten.

Toward the end of the book, they find Urithiru and figure out how to open the Oathgate on the Shattered Plains. The Oathgates are portals connecting other major cities, allowing for instant transportation between places with the use of a Knight Radiant. I cannot believe there was such an epic battle at the end with the Parshendi, and the Parshendi bring back the Everstorm, causing another desolation. I was thinking that would be in a different book, so I’m wondering what will be in the next three books.

I did not see Adolin killing Sadeas at the end, but I’m honestly glad he did. It was time for Sadeas to go, he was causing too many issues on the Shattered Plains. I just didn’t think Adolin had it in him to kill someone in such a way, and it was so quick, too. It was quite shocking to read. I’m sure someone else will fill the void that Sadeas leaves behind though.

Overall, a very fun read seeing all of the main players come together, and it was nonstop action. I give Words of Radiance 5 stars.

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Book 2.5: Edgedancer

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson is a 272-page novella, meant to be read between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. The book’s primary focus is Lift and her struggle of being stuck in one place. She asked the Nightwatcher three years ago to stop her from growing older. She thought the wish had been granted, but it seems she is slowly changing as she stays in Azir with the new emperor. She leaves for Yeddaw where she hears the executioner Darkness is hunting people there with powers like hers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.

I read Edgedancer after Oathbringer, so a little out of order but I don’t think it took much away from my reading experience of either book. Edgedancer does explain Lift’s motivations more in Oathbringer. It also explains why Szeth and Lift teamed up so quickly in Oathbringer, because they had already had an encounter in Yeddaw and were familiar with each other’s abilities. Also, there’s more understanding of the Herald of Justice Nale’s motivations in Oathbringer, because in Edgedancer he accepts that the Desolation has returned and his killing of people with abilities like Lift had been in vain.

Edgedancer is also the first time the Sleepless are mentioned, and the encounter Lift had with one of them was very creepy, even though it did end up being a good encounter. I’m interested to learn more about the Sleepless; I’m sure they’ll come into play more in the later books.

I really like Lift as a character, so I was glad to get more background on her. I wish her encounter with the Nightwatcher had more detail, but I understand it wasn’t that important to explain in this story. Reading Edgedancer made me like her character even more; I really like the oaths she’s taken.

I don’t think it’s a must-read if you’re not interested in the novellas in this series because it really didn’t take away from my reading experience of Oathbringer, but I found it to be a very fun read.

I give Edgedancer 5 stars.

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Book 3: Oathbringer

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson is 1243 pages and the third book in the Stormlight Archive series. This book mainly focuses on Dalinar as he navigates politics, trying to unite the nations of Roshar to fight against the Voidbringers with the help of the strategic location of Urithiru and the Oathgates. Also, Dalinar slowly regains his memories of his dead wife, causing some confusion within him.

This book took me a little more time to read that the others. There is a lot of politicking in it compared to the first two. It was interesting seeing how the different nations dealt with each other, but there was definitely much less action than the previous two. I thought it became a lot more interesting when they went to Kholinar to see what was going on with the queen and then they were trapped in Shadesmar, and then there was the standoff with Odium at the end. Unfortunately, that all was occurring in the last 500 pages or so, so the majority of the book was a little bit more tedious to read with the politics involved.

I thought it was good to get more information on Shadesmar and glad that Adolin also was able to go and experience it, in addition to Kaladin and Shallan. I’m not sure why Azure was also sucked into Shadesmar with them. I’m a little confused what her role is in the bigger picture, but I’m sure she will be coming back in a future book.

I found it interesting that Kaladin was jealous of Shallan and Adolin. He didn’t seem to really like her all that much, although I do like at the end where he accepts when she chooses Adolin. He says himself he wasn’t ever really in love with her, just felt something for Veil maybe but he can’t really comprehend the different personas. I am happy Shallan and Adolin ended up marrying at the end. Adolin seems more understanding of her personas and seems like he can comprehend when it’s one or the other out and act accordingly. I like that he can tell if Shallan is being herself, and I think Adolin grounds her.

I did find it interesting how her personas are becoming more like dissociative identity disorder. I didn’t expect to see something like that in a fantasy, so that’s really cool. I think the main three, Shallan, Veil and Radiant make sense for her, although it’s sad that Shallan is thinking of herself as a persona, although I think that is fairly common in dissociative identity disorder. I wasn’t expecting her to take over the persona of the head lady when she infiltrated the castle though; I thought that was really fast for her to already be losing herself in another personality. I’m wondering if it’s in the nature of her powers or if it’s something specifically with Shallan and her past trauma.

I did not see Szeth still being alive. I wasn’t sure if he would be a good guy now or an antagonist still, but he swears himself to Dalinar. I think he and Kaladin could be a very good team if Kaladin doesn’t feel weird about being enemies once. I didn’t see the Skybreakers joining Odium’s side; I’m glad Szeth did his own thing for once.

I thought it was so sad when Elhokar died. I was thinking he would die soonish; it seemed like his usefulness to the overall story was coming to an end, but I didn’t think it would necessarily be in the third book. It ripped my heart out that he died when he was about to say the First Ideal. I also felt Kaladin’s anguish when he realized he knew all sides to the conflict in the Kohlinar palace and he couldn’t do anything to prevent his friends from killing each other.

I also felt really bad for Dalinar as he regained his memories and realized that he was the one to accidentally kill his wife. It’s such a horrible revelation, but I’m glad he was able to accept that part of himself instead of ignoring it or running away from it again. There was a moment where I thought maybe he would be Odium’s champion, but I was so happy when he was able to withstand that and seal the Thrill away. I’m also glad he’s no longer trusting of Taravangian. I think Taravangian started off with a noble cause, but it’s been corrupted beyond repair at this point, so it’s good to cut him loose.

I’m also glad they made Jasnah queen. I’m not sure why Adolin was next in line when Jasnah is Elhokar’s sister. She should’ve been next in line anyway with Elhokar’s death, so I’m glad that Adolin wasn’t forced to do it when he didn’t want to, or they didn’t try to make Renarin do it. Jasnah is perfect for it.

There was also another encounter with the Sleepless during an interlude. A ship goes to Aimia, which is an abandoned island, looking for treasures and encounters the Sleepless. Everyone on the ship ends up poisoned and dies to protect the secrets of Aimia from the world. It was an interesting interlude and makes me want more information on this island.

It was also such a wild reveal that the humans are actually the Voidbringers! It totally changes the stories around from to legends, and I can see that being a huge ethics question later on for some of the soldiers and Radiants. It does make more sense why the old Knights Radiant put down their weapons once they learned of that fact.

Overall, this book did make me feel a lot of emotions compared to the first two. There were a lot of crazy reveals and developments, and I’m excited to see where book 4 goes after that first clash with Odium. Hopefully more nations can band together to fight him.

I give Oathbringer 4 stars.

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Book 3.5: Dawnshard

Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson is a 171-page novella, meant to be read between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War. This novella explores Aimia, searching for the hidden city of Akinah. When a ghost ship is discovered, Navani Kholin creates an expedition to make sure the island is unoccupied by the enemy. Windrunners flying over the island suddenly lose their Stormlight, so the expedition must be by sea.

Rysn Ftori takes the call, offering her merchant ship and crew to carry Windrunners Lopen and Huio as well as Chord, Rock’s daughter, to the island. Rysn has a selfish reason for wanting to go: her pet larkin Chiri-Chiri is sick and it seems the only hope for recovery is taking Chiri-Chiri to the larkins’ ancestral home: Akinah. The crew must uncover the secrets of the hidden island city before the wrath of its ancient guardians falls upon them, with the fate of Roshar and the entire Cosmere hanging in the balance.

Dawnshard definitely felt like a must-read, more so than Edgedancer. There is so much added to the overall story of the series that I’m surprised some of it wasn’t included in the main books.

First, the ghost ship that’s discovered at the start of the series is the same ship that went to Aimia in Oathbringer, where the crew encountered the Sleepless and died from poisoning. The ship that found the ghost ship included Yalb on the crew, which I was surprised by. I had thought everyone besides Shallan and Jasnah had died on the Wind’s Pleasure when it sank, but apparently Yalb and two other sailors survived, so that was interesting to learn.

I was disappointed Rock wasn’t going on the expedition, but we already know quite a lot about him I suppose, and it was nice to learn more about his daughter. I found it funny only Lopen, Huio, Rock and Chord know how to swim, so they were the only Windrunners eligible for the expedition.

I learned a lot about Huio in this; he’s really smart. He accidentally finds a way to use spanreed gems to make Rysn’s wheelchair levitate, which I think is so cool. Such a huge breakthrough in technology, and it’s included in a novella. Also, I can’t believe aluminum can block Shardblades in this world; it seems crazy to me Shardblades can cut through steel and rock, but not one of the softest metals.

The Sleepless are a huge part of the novella, with Rysn’s assistant ending up being one of them. He tries to prevent the crew from making it to the island in order to protect the secrets there, but he’s unsuccessful. It’s revealed there are 24 Sleepless on Roshar, which is a lot more than I expected. At first, they were going to kill all of Rysn’s crew to keep the secret, but Rysn is able to negotiate to keep their lives and help the Sleepless blend in more with humans. I’m impressed with Rysn being able to negotiate with the Sleepless and actually help them out, too, but it also helped that her assistant was one and he started to empathize with the humans while they were on their voyage.

I think there’s going to be a lot in the coming books with the levitation technology being discovered as well as the Sleepless being a bigger player. Plus, the Dawnshard ends up going into Rysn with unknown consequences, so that has to become a bigger part of the story later.

Dawnshard packs a lot into a small book. It’s a very quick read and I highly recommend reading it.

I give Dawnshard 5 stars.

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Book 4: Rhythm of War

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanders is the fourth book in the Stormlight Archive series, coming in at 1232 pages long. This takes place a year after Oathbringer, and it’s main focus is Eshonai and Venli, although there’s some focus on Shallan and Adolin as they enter Shadesmar to hopefully persuade the honorspren to join the war, as well as focusing on Kaladin while he is left behind in Urithiru when Dalinar and others leave for a war effort in Emul. Navani is also highlighted often in the book, with her inventions and research into different types of Light.

I really loved this book! I read it the fastest out of the series so far, although that was also because I was determined to finish before Book 5 comes out. I think so many different threads coming together in this book made it a very satisfying read, and there were also a lot of interesting developments and finally some answers in Rhythm of War.

First, Shallan had a lot of character development. She comes to realize that Radiant killed Ialai for Shallan because she didn’t want to burden Shallan with the death on her memory. I had figured maybe a persona of Shallan’s had killed Ialai, but I was thinking it was Formless, so it was interesting that it ended up being Radiant! It also comes out that Formless is Shallan pretending to be the best version of each persona wrapped into one, and it was her way of pretending to be hardened and not make connections with anyone.

It also came out that Shallan had a Cryptic before Pattern when she was a young child, and she accidentally killed it by saying she didn’t want to be in a bond anymore after some trauma, which is when Veil was created. It was very interesting that Veil had been around so long since she didn’t seem to come to Shallan’s consciousness until she became involved with the Ghostbloods. From what I know, it seemed accurate to how Dissociative Identity Disorder behaves. I was so proud of Shallan when she integrated Veil into herself, but makes sense Radiant is still with her for the time being.

I found it interesting that Pattern had been talking to Wit through the communication cube Mraize gave Shallan. It seemed Pattern was consulting Wit about what to do with Shallan, and I would like to know why specifically Wit is interested in helping Shallan. I haven’t read any other Brandon Sanderson series besides Tress and the Emerald Sea, which is a stand-alone novel, so I don’t know much about Wit’s overall character and motivations, but it’s interesting he’s taken a more central role in this book with helping Shallan, Jasnah and Kaladin at different points.

I also liked the development with the deadeyes. Adolin has always treated his sword as a person, which it ended up being a dead-eyed spren, so somewhat like a person, but everyone else has always told him it’s useless to talk to his sword or respect the dead spren. I have always liked that Adolin still does it despite being told over and over that it doesn’t matter, and I love that there was a payout for that in this book. During Adolin’s trial with the honorspren, they call Maya as a witness on the last day, and she ends up being able to talk! I had chills when she said “you cannot have my sacrifice.” I absolutely loved that moment!

There was also a duality of Odium and Honor battling but also being brought into harmony throughout the book. While Urithiru is occupied by Fused, Navani does research into different Lights to see if she can make the anti-Voidlight that she had discovered Gavilar had before his death. However, she is also tasked with proving if Stormlight and Voidlight are opposites to the Fused in charge. She ends up working with the Fused, Raboniel, to have Stormlight and Voidlight mixed together into one gem, proving they are not opposites and can be in harmony. In order to do this, she had to learn to sing the proper tones of Honor, similar to the tones to remove Stormlight from a gemstone, which was so wild she actually did learn how to do this. Up until this point, humans seemed the interloper on Roshar, since Parshendi could hear the rhythms of Roshar and do the proper tones to remove Stormlight, but humans so far couldn’t hear the rhythms of Roshar and had to use tuning forks to do the same thing. Navani proves humans are just as natural on Roshar as everything else at that point.

“Humans could sing the correct tones. Humans could hear the music of Roshar. Her ancestors might have been aliens to this world, but she was its child.”

It also proves there is a way for humans and Parshendi to live in harmony, since Navani was able to accomplish this with the help of a Fused. Venli is also an example of how this can be achieved. She is a Radiant, and by the end of the book, she chooses to side with the humans to defend the other fallen Radiants. She is starting to take on Eshonai’s will, coming into her Radiant title. I liked that there were flashbacks to show Venli and Eshonai when they were younger. I also appreciated that we saw how Eshonai died, that she was able to become Radiant, even if that wasn’t enough to save her. I also thought it was beautiful that she was taken by the Stormfather and flown in the highstorm so she could finally see the world.

The last thing I didn’t really see coming was that Taravangian became Odium by killing Rayse to take the Shard, although in hindsight all the signs were there leading up to that moment. It was very concerning to see that he could remove some of Wit’s memories when they first interacted, so he wouldn’t give away that Rayse is no longer Odium. I’m interested to see how that plays out in the fifth book.

Overall, I give Rhythm of War 5 stars.

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Book 5: Wind and Truth

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson is a 1344-page fantasy novel and the fifth in The Stormlight Archive series. Dalinar Kholin has challenged the god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar in the line. They only have ten days to prepare, and the sudden ascension of Taravangian, former king of Karbranth, to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into chaos.

Desperate fights take place simultaneously worldwide—Adolin in Azimir, Queen Jasnah in Thaylen City, and Sigzil and Venli in the Shattered Plains. Szeth, with Kaladin and Syl, go to Shinovar to save his homeland from the dark influence of an Unmade.

At the same time, Dalinar and Navani travel to the Spiritual Realm, looking for an advantage against Odium’s champion, but are unwittingly followed by toddler Gavinor as well as Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain, who work to solve the mystery of the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. However, the Spiritual Realm is where memory and possibility combine into utter chaos, and it’s easy to lose weeks or even months inside. Will they make it back in time for the contest of champions?

I loved Wind and Truth! I thought it was perfect how everyone was fighting their own fights in tandem for the fate of the world, and they all used their strengths and find their own unique way to contribute for their assigned tasks. The book is structured by each of the ten days leading up to the contest of champions, which is fairly different from the other books so far in the series. I didn’t mind the difference though, and it allowed for more interludes, which I personally enjoyed. I liked seeing what other people in the world were experiencing in those ten days and not just at the main battles.

While it does focus on the warfront for those ten days, it was also Szeth’s story. I liked finally getting more information on Szeth and what he’s been through, and more on the Shin culture in general. I found it interesting that the Shin use “son-father’s name” and “daughter-mother’s name” for the character’s last name, like for instance Szeth-son-Neturo and his sister Elid-daughter-Zeenid. I liked that it keeps the legacy of both parents alive as long as they had at least one daughter and one son. I also liked learning more on why they worshipped stones.

I didn’t realize Szeth was 27, I thought he was closer to Kaladin’s age, like mid-20s. I cried when Kaladin realized Szeth was like Tien, a little boy forced to fight. Through Kaladin’s help, Szeth really came around by the end, and I was proud of his transformation to trust his own judgements. Also, I liked that Kaladin called himself Szeth’s therapist without knowing what a therapist is; it made me laugh, and I just love when fantasy novels have an everyday thing introduced where it’s mundane to us but to them it’s something wild or unknown. I also liked that it said Szeth has a wife later in life through the Wind and Truth epigraphs. He definitely deserves to be happy after the trials he’s been through. I also was proud of Kaladin for being able to help not only Szeth but many of the Heralds, even though he was hard on himself for not knowing exactly the right thing to say.

A lot of people had to fully confront their pasts to grow. Shallan and Dalinar did it through revisiting painful memories in the Spiritual Realm. Kaladin did it by being with Szeth and making the connection to Tien, and Szeth did it through sharing stories with Kaladin on their journey. Jasnah did it when she was had to debate Taravangian for the fate of Thaylen City. And Adolin did it through the battle for Azimir.

I thought Adolin grew immensely as a character. He comes to terms with not being a Radiant and learns he still is useful in his own way in the new world. When he told his squad to suit up and then the plate and blades of the deadeyes appeared, it gave me chills! It was such an epic scene. Maybe my favorite scene of the whole book, I could just so clearly see it in my mind and how amazing of a moment it was.

I did not see Chana being Shallan’s actual mother! I thought they were distantly related because Shallan’s hair and Chana’s hair are repeatedly mentioned throughout the books and they’re the same, so it would make sense to be a distant relative, but for Chana the Herald to be her actual mother was insane to me. No wonder Shallan had so many issues growing up.

I also loved Renarin and Rlain’s developing relationship and found it poetic that they both helped free Ba-Ado-Mishram from her prison. I’m interested to see how their relationship unfolds in the next books and what kinds of issues they’re going to have to face together from both the humans and the singers.

I’m happy Venli found a way to help her own people as well as the humans and broke off from Odium completely. It was smart for them to take over the Shattered Plains and be free to trade with both sides later on. I wonder if Ba-Ado-Mishram will go to her to make some kind of deal.

For the ending, I found it crazy that Gavinor was stuck in the Spiritual Realm for 20 years and trained to become Taravangian’s champion. I thought that was a bit far-fetched, but I guess time is different within the Spiritual Realm and Taravangian is basically a god, so he could do it. It’s also concerning that he was able to take the Blackthorn as its own entity to use later. I guess ideas do create substance, but it’ll be wild for everyone to face the Blackthorn when Dalinar himself is dead. I thought it was interesting that Taravangian took more power and is now a bigger threat and therefore a target for the other worlds to now intervene. I’m interested to see the other worlds that become involved in the next arc.

Overall, I loved the Wind and Truth and give it 5 stars. It felt like a satisfying wrap-up to the first arc and left enough in the air for the next arc to begin.

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The next arc will take place 10 years after the first arc, which is not as much time as I had thought. I’m interested to see the next generation come up. Will Shallan and Adolin have any kids by then? Will Shallan even make it back to Adolin before the time gap? Or will Shallan go off-world and come back older than Adolin? Will we meet Szeth’s wife and will they have any children? How long until Kaladin comes back and will the others just be 10 years older or will he be coming back even later than the 10-year gap?

The next book is currently scheduled to come out in 2031, so plenty of time to ruminate.