Brandon Sanderson

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, a special gift edition of Edgedancer, a short novel of the Stormlight Archive (previously published in Arcanum Unbounded). Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Edgedancer (Novella) Oathbringer (forthcoming) The Mistborn trilogy Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series Alloy of Law Shadows of Self Bands of Mourning Collection Arcanum Unbounded Other Cosmere novels Elantris Warbreaker The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians The Scrivener's Bones The Knights of Crystallia The Shattered Lens The Dark Talent The Rithmatist series The Rithmatist Other books by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners Steelheart Firefight Calamity

Edgedancer

Alina

The original plan for this novella was for it to be 18,000 words. It ended up at around 40,000. Ah well. That just happens sometimes. (Particularly when you are me.)

They passed through a small forest, really just a corpse of trees, which was a strange term, since she never seemed to find any bodies in them.

Come to think of it, she’d never seen him act the least bit interested in consuming someone’s soul. Maybe he was a vegetarian?

Vicky  Nuñez 

I have a soft spot for Lift and I swear that if something happens to her later in the series I'll die.
Anyway, this is a short little story that explains more about who she is and what her magic is like. I for one, find her incredibly endearing. I can easily see people finding her annoying, but I just love her childishness and thought this was an incredible story that helped fill in some questions.

Cute little story and probably necessary for when the characters come back in later books… but honestly not super moving or noteworthy.

Terra Ganey

Tatiana

Really good short story & I'm very pumped to read book 3 in Stormlight. I loved Lift & she's an extremely unique character I can't wait to learn more about. Definitely a worthy installment in the Stormlight Archive.

Arianna

Jasper Hickox

I honestly didn’t really like Lift at through the first half of the novella, but I think that’s on purpose. It really concludes and wraps up nicely, even in the short time it has. 

It was super fun to see a part of the world not really explored in the other 2 main books. Where you can see the similarities in culture but also the differences. Also new types of spren which I will always love.

It's funny and more light-hearted than other books in the series, but it's still a gripping story and I liked gow it connected to the main story

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, a special gift edition of Edgedancer, a short novel of the Stormlight Archive (previously published in Arcanum Unbounded). Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Edgedancer (Novella) Oathbringer The Mistborn trilogy Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series Alloy of Law Shadows of Self Bands of Mourning Collection Arcanum Unbounded Other Cosmere novels Elantris Warbreaker The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians The Scrivener's Bones The Knights of Crystallia The Shattered Lens The Dark Talent The Rithmatist series The Rithmatist Other books by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners Steelheart Firefight Calamity At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From the Stormlight Archive

Gillian Rose

Still feeling a little burned out by this series, and I felt that there was too much "awesomeness" in this novella. Lift felt way too immature and I really didn't care what was going on.

Shay

This is probably my least favorite of Sanderson's novels I've picked up. I really loved Lift and it was refreshing to have a humor break and some lighthearted fun, especially when it comes to the really drawn-out, dark stories in the Cosmere.

I love the way Sanderson develops his supporting characters so thoroughly and getting to see little tidbits like Lift's story in Edgedancer adds so much to his series. With each new book I read from the Cosmere it's like the magnitude of this world keeps expanding and I love that element of epic fantasy. Sanderson executes it well.

Lift is such a cool character in her own right and I have so many questions about how she uses her power and what exactly is going on with her. I hoped to get a lot of my questions answered in this book but... no dice.

At the same time, I'm not much a fan of the way Lift's story is written in particular, and I know part of that is down to who Lift is as a character. She's fleeting and kinda all over the place at times. She struggles with commitment and has a lot of energy. All of that reflects in how Sanderson writes her as a character and in the narrative choices he made for this novel. 

Compared to the typical Sanderson, Edgedancer felt a bit hectic, which is pretty on-brand for Lift, but I don't think I liked that change in tone so despite loving the story itself, I struggled some when it came time to pick this novel back up.

Jeff

I mean, if you find Lift annoying, you’re basically Wyndle, alright?

andrea

1st read: july 2021
2nd read: september 2022

i really liked how lift is a soon-to-be radiant different from what we have seen in kaladin and shallan in the main stormlight books. lift has a distinctive personality that stands out from the rest of the cast of main characters: she's a child, she's annoying, she's sweet, she cares about people and does small acts of kindness. deep down she has her own worries, and her encounter with the nightwatcher, her past, and her different way of using stormlight makes her, without a doubt, one of the characters with the most potential in the series. her relationship with her spren was also entertaining to read, very different from the kaladin-syl and shallan-pattern dynamics.

overall, i liked it because it was a light, short, little story where we can see another pov not so tighly involved with the main plot. lift's addition to the main storyline seems very promising, especially if you have in mind her own future book. i'm excited for her full character arc, i would love to see her grow into a more mature person at the same time she develops her powers.

Alejandro

Very interesting look at what's going on in Roshar just after Words of Radiance. The main character can be a bit annoying at first, but you endup liking her ^^ (but I feel sorry for the spren). 
As always when you get towards the end Sanderson pulls the curtain and starts throwing awesomeness (pun intended) at you!

Mikaela Iturregui

While I appreciate the story of this book and understand how it is likely setting up for bigger things in the next full novel, I was not in love with all the "awesomeness" going on in this book. At some points, the levity was really wonderful, but more often than not I found myself saying I wish Lift would calm down and not joke around quite so much. I did really love how honestly and humbly she treats the downtrodden. 

Overall, there are some really great moments and scenes in here, I just found they were very overwhelmed by the annoying narration of a "10" year old. I know a fair few 10-year-olds, none are quite so... manic(?).

James Eaton

Nice in-between for Stormlight series. 

Now, I’m going to go eat some pancakes (IYKYK)!

Lift is my fav Stormlight Archive character and a whole book of her is just amazing

Anna Campbell

** spoiler alert **
           A lovely little novella to get me back into the Stormlight Archive! I loved Wyndle, and his character development throughout the book. Lift is a very interesting lady, and I liked how Darkness and the Stump, and the old man in the amphitheater, turned out much differently than you’d expect.

Popuri

Lift certainly isn't one of my favorite Stormlight Archive characters, but I won't lie, she has potential. More than anything, I just don't love her internal dialogue, but I'm glad Sanderson wrote this novella. I loved being able to see her oaths as an Edgedancer and to understand her thought process better. She is a very well written character. Wyndle is a great spren, too! I'm excited to see what the rest of the series has in store for her.

Luna

Vitor Augusto Dal Molin 

Hannah

I don't understand the reviews I've read, I love Lift! And Wyndle.

Laura Pérez Jaraiz

I can’t wait to read more about Lift in the Stormlight Archive itself! The way Sanderson thinks and mulls over every single character he creates... that is the real magic ✨

Dani

It was a fun book, but most than anything I think the postscript helps understand where this is going. Also, I’m hungry now. (?)

Liz Griffin

A delightful (long) novella about Lift!! Her character voice is so pure. In a lot of ways, she shares similarities to Auri from Name of the Wind. Her obsession with pancakes is so precious. Definitely recommend this novella for Sanderson fans! Read after Words of Radiance!

Matthew Xu

** spoiler alert **
           Unequivocally loved this novella. I'm pretty upset by how many +1'd reviews on this site criticize Lift as an annoying, shallow, or unempathetic character, and could not disagree more (some people can apparently only read at face value and relate to characters that are similar to themselves??). 

I really appreciate Sanderson using Lift to lighten up the generally serious world of Roshar, and also give us a more "boots on the ground" perspective of worldbuilding. This novella did so much to broaden and diversify my sense of the entire world, and hit a great balance of simultaneously very low (Lift wants to eat) and very high (Lift convinces a demigod to stop being a psychopath) stakes. 

I can maybe understand why people find Lift unfunny - words like "awesomeness" are perhaps a bit cringe? but also intepretable as camp / YA-friendly, which I'm alright with. That said, I think she's written really precisely, with a lot of depth and vulnerability for the reader to extrapolate from a mix of her internal monologue, her actions, and others' responses towards her. Unlike other quirky characters in fiction that seem to exist only for that xD quirk, Lift actually progresses plot quite smoothly, and I love how the pieces of her (perhaps subconscious) plan fall together throughout the book. When the climax of the story arrives and shit hits the fan, it's also great to see Lift actually get moving and start addressing some of these fears (fear of the unknown, fear of changing, fear of not knowing who you are and what you want to do) head-on. I think this novella is actually pretty emotionally resonant, if you're willing to dig in and invest a little, and I just wish more people had the positive reading experience that I did.

Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.

Edgedancer

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