This review is on book 5 Wind and Truth, midway between the entire series, which is supposed to be 10 books long.
Journey before destination. Sure, if you can live that long. And buy more books full of overindulgent wankery like books 4-5 in The Stormlight Archive. I didn't invest in 7,000 pages of intriguing, strong characters to become consumed by their grief, to be trapped in their heads while a beautiful world falls apart. I love Sanderson when he isn't damning his creation to storm ash and transforming his heroes into patients for a PTSD group therapy session. Half the time it felt like I was reading Dalinar watch the History Channel, or Shallan confusing herself for a new persona, or Kaladin getting blown further off course by his nervous breakdown. The dude's arc went from unsung hero to the sidekick shrink of someone with even bigger issues, and as far away from the main action as possible. But hey, at least he can cook and play the flute now, right? Adolin seemed like the only one who kept his head straight, yet even he had chapters serving no other purpose than ruminating on self-doubt.
Most of the book has no relation to the core series of events. It shifts POV so prolifically, and with so much inner dialogue riddled by impossible questions, that it meanders like a teenager's diary. Despite its flaws, even at page 1,200 it still had potential to be one of the greatest series ever written. But instead of concluding it simply like he did in the first two (more successful) books, Sanderson chose to make it even more complex, a la the George Martin syndrome, where the ending should be simple, but gets confounded by trying too hard to be unpredictable. There are twists that oddly kill off all that made the heroes of Roshar great, typically through resolving an unnecessary character arc, or by introducing some weird new magic trick to move things in a more convenient direction (there is a deus ex machina every 50 pages). I was so anxious from all the repetition and hype surrounding the Contest of Champions that I found myself begging for an old-fashioned resolution but got "Retribution" instead.
The biggest surprise though was Sanderson's attempt to justify this utterly sad ending- which Wit calls brilliant- as if he needed some way of soothing his die-hard fans or keeping their mojo going for another five books. The payoff for sticking with this, if there is one, isn't worth it for me at this point in the series. The Stormlight Archive is so brilliant that it became a victim of its own success; full of fantastic ideas that are so drawn out that they ultimately fail to keep the reader interested, especially after a dismal pause in events.
8/7
Now that some time has passed, I have come to appreciate more where this wild journey has taken me. There is a dark ending to this one, something he is not known for. I believe I've been a bit spoiled by him in that regard. In the long run it is no less of a shattering outcome than The Empire Strikes Back, Avatar: Earth, or Game of Thrones. Though I still believe these tragic arcs should have taken place much earlier in the series, it was wrong of me to think it has lost its place among the greats. So long as Kaladin is alive, there is still time for a real retribution. I also believe that by the uniting the shards, Odium will never be the same, for the power of honor will compel him to consider better options. Odium will now be torn between what's right and what's wrong, as indicated by his last thought in the book, the one where he realized Dalinar had torn down his philosophy. Though he has more power now, I'm not sold that he'll always use it for destruction. Plus, he needs to hide from the other shards since they've been alerted to his perversion. So at least the war is over, for now. But 90% of Roshar is still scorched and run by the Fused, and many of our friends could not reunite. Still a sad ending.
The way I see it now, two individuals who are already very powerful effectively doubled their power: Taravangian, who doubled it with the power of honor, and Kaladin, who doubled it by becoming King of the Heralds. If Taravangian attacks, Kaladin is Roshar's only hope.
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