Name: Words of Radiance
ISBN: 9781473208995

Brandon Sanderson

From the bestselling author who completed Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series comes a new, original creation that matches anything else in modern fantasy for epic scope, thrilling imagination, superb characters and sheer addictiveness. Return to a planet swept by apocalyptic storms, a world tipping into war as aristocratic families move to control the shard blades and shard plates, ancient artifacts from a past civilisation that can win wars. As the world tips into a war for control of the mythical artifacts of power made from Shard, characters are swept up into new dangers which will threaten their integrity and their lives. Huge, ideas-filled, world-spanning fantasy from a master of the genre.

Words of Radiance

Better than The Way of Kings, in my opinion. Lots of threads connecting in unexpected, yet satisfying, ways.

Jesper Nellemann Jakobsen

Rachel Kanyid

March 10, 2014-- Oh my storms, this book was amazing.... review to come later...

Later:
I don't even know how to start with my review of this book, other than to say that it was 
  fan-freaking-tastic
.

I have been highly anticipating this book since late 2010, when I first discovered The Way of Kings. Words of Radiance was that one book that you eagerly anticipate, more than any other book, when you're an avid reader... 

Other avid readers, you know what I mean... When there's that one sequel that is taking forever to make it's appearance, and you cannot wait to get your grabby hands on it as soon as humanly possible, and you may even think about stampeding a book store at dawn(or amazon prime-ing it, I suppose), in order to get it. 

Well, this book was that book for me. Since December of 2010. Since before it had a name, and all I knew was that there would someday be a sequel. So, I built it up in my mind... I set myself up for a fall, if it was anything less than amazing when I did get it, and let me tell you... 

I did not fall.... I flew. With (view spoiler)[ Kaladin; like a Windrunner. (hide spoiler)]

There were so many things that I did not expect just waiting around every corner, and the story flow because of that was great! I absolutely adore how the story flows in this book. 

People who thought The Way of Kings was a bit slow should not be disappointed with this one. It was fast-paced--at least in my own opinion-- for the entire book, which made it one of those books that you absolutely do not want to put down, but when you do have to (such as when you have to go to work every day, plus church activities, etc..), you are left wanting nothing more than to pick it back up and continue.

It took me six days to read this book, due to working a 50 hours work week last week, and every minute of those six days that I wasn't reading this book, I wanted to be reading this book. And now that I've finished, I want to read it again, just to see if I catch more little things about it that make it absolutely wonderful!

Kaladin grew so much in this book. So many twists for his character that you might not have expected... Shallan, as well. In this book, instead of focusing on Kaladin's past, we learn about Shallan's mysterious family and her past, which is very interesting, as well as (view spoiler)[heart-breaking (hide spoiler)]. 

(view spoiler)[ I absolutely loved how for the whole book, Kaladin does not like Shallan one bit until they are trapped together in the chasms with Kal injured and then through that, he obviously grows to love her, and she becomes one of the people he needs to protect. 

My absolute favorite part of the book, I really feel I have to place in this review: 
Page 849
 He saw it in her eyes. The anguish, the frustration. The terrible nothing that clawed inside and sought to smother her. She knew. It was there, inside. She had been broken.
Then she smiled. Oh, storms. She smiled anyway.
It was the single most beautiful thing he'd seen in his entire life.
"How?" he asked.
She shrugged lightly. "Helps if you're crazy. ..." (hide spoiler)]

I love how the characters all grow, independently as well as in their relationships with one another. It really shows how relationships how relationships do actually tend to progress, which makes it seem very real.

I love how the story just keeps you guessing at what's gonna happen with each of the (view spoiler)[spren bonded characters (hide spoiler)] and with the Parshendi, and everyone else as well. 

All in all, this book is absolutely riveting and wonderful, and I do believe it just knocked it's predecessor, TWOK out of the "favorite modern book" slot on my shelf.

Rick Dobrowolski

Crazy long fantasy book. An incredible storyline. This is the first fantasy series I have started into in a long time, and I will continue reading this series until Brandon Sanderson stops writing it. 

He creates a mesmerizing world with intricate details and a thread of honor and commitment to one's oath. From the moment I picked up the first book in the series (A Way of Kings), I was glad that the whole series was not out yet. There would be some serious binge reading going on in my household if that had been the case. Now, I can patiently wait for Brandon's next book in the series.

Could someone exile Brandon to a remote island until he finishes the series?

Fraser Simons

2.5 rounded up

Pretty much the same thoughts as the first one, except that I expected more from this after the initial worldbuilding and character introductions were done. But yet again the aspects I find intriguing, ie: the overarching story rather than the myopic perspectives of the characters and the lore and magic system stuff, move at an even more glacial pace. Some of it is dropped at the start to bait the hook and then rationed out. 

I was happy to get more time with Shan and I really like Pattern. But then the narrative brought all the characters together to the least interesting aspect of the setting for me: the castle. Assassins are as common as candy in this thing as well. You are right an assassin or are an assassin. I wish this was far more sprawling. 

This combined with Kaladin being an absolute bitchy teenager for much of it so he can learn a lesson made his parts genuinely annoying to read. The culmination of the arc is only slightly satisfying and when his power is rooted in this Arthurian power fantasy reimagining with honourspren, I actually am pretty disenchanted with the magical aspects as well. 

Obviously Sanderson is trying to make relatable protagonists that are rooted in past trauma that they have to process and reconcile. Both of them have very overt things they need to confront and the Spren are there as hopeful little coaches that perceive the world through a different lens. The problem is that in a normal book half this size their entire arc would be like a sub plot. It can be truncated and it could have cut back and forth where each character is much more dynamic. It feels like it’s the same drumbeat over and over and over.

The prose remain sterile and serviceable, but the entire title feels again like a YA novel. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it does feel like Sanderson has bitten off more than he can chew. The sentence structure and prose are basically commercial fiction, and therefore pretty consumable - but it’s also so long that it gets very boring to look at. The characters become pretty samey and the dialogue that works are straight up YA interactions you see in Skyward. 

I appreciate that eventually this will build up to something more epic in scope—and hell, they did leave their little castle at the end—but the pacing is so, so slow on both fronts and Sanderson clearly is more interested in writing about these things at a granular level, and focuses on the things that just usually do not interest me. So, I am just pulling the ripcord on this series here and now.

Words of Radiance

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