It took me two months of reading every night for 45-60 minutes to finish Brandon Sanderson’s epic conclusion to the first half of the Stormlight Archives, Wind and Truth, but I finally did it! It was worth the time.
Sanderson “cosmere” spans many books, and the Stormlight Archives have become the backbone of this literary universe. Its scope covers an entire planet of empires and people, and in total it’s well over 6,000 pages.
As daunting as that may sound if you haven’t read it, I still recommend diving in. I particularly love the first 2 books and the novellas that preceded books 3 and 4, and book 5 does a great job of wrapping up this half of the series. It’s a distinct ending, and then Sanderson will return later for the second 5-book series, potentially to involve (and complete) the entire cosmere story. Sanderson very much considers writing to be a job, and he has consistently finished what he started in a timely manner.
I really enjoyed Wind and Truth. It’s a sprawling fantasy war novel told over 10 days that asks the question: What if you are facing a vastly superior enemy in both strength and smarts with the fate of the world in your hands?
The result is a series of battles that feel like puzzles (each in vastly different environments with different solutions), the story of each driven by key characters. I’m consistently impressed by how each character in these books has an arc within the book and across all 5 books.
No spoilers here, but I will say that I thought the conclusion of each character’s story was satisfying. Several were unexpected, but not in ways that felt untrue to the story or were completely out of left field. I do have some questions about one particular element at the end, and I can’t tell if I should have questions about it or if they were explained I just missed it. I’ll do some Googling.
Overall, huge thanks to Sanderson for crafting such an amazing series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. What are you reading these days?
I really love the idea of such a sprawling, 1300+ page book taking place in a week and a half (outside of a prelude and postlude). A Stormlight epic in 10 days was ambitious and a feat he pulled off really well! I have a fondness for stories (books, movies, shows) that take place in a single location or a short amount of time.
With that in mind, Dan Brown recently announced his next book in the Robert Langdon series, which is a guilty pleasure of mine. So I’m currently re-reading the first 5 ahead of book 6’s release in September, each of which typically take place over the course of a day or two!
There are 6 books in the Langdon series?! I did genuinely enjoy the first; are any of the others just as enjoyable?
I like the 10-day countdown as well. Really clever tough.
There are! in order: Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (releasing later this year). I think the series likely peaked for most people with The Da Vinci Code, but The Lost Symbol is likely my personal #1. Origin’s ending was possibly the most frustratingly disappointing ending of a book I’ve ever read, but I’ll still be checking out book 6 in September, despite it’s eye-rolling title haha
I know I’ve read The Da Vinci Code (that was my introduction to the series), and I think I read Angels & Demons. I’ll look into The Lost Symbol!
I am not surprised that you enjoyed the book (I did very much as well). The amount of hatred that it is garnering online is quite disappointing. Somehow, people missed the fact the central core of the series deals with mental health. I am curious what the “particular element” you were wondering about is. The amount of depth he has done in world/cosmere building is incredible. Things are foreshadowed in the first book that we think are resolved earlier, but it turns out they weren’t until now.
I stayed away from any hate (or even any love)–I was just enjoying the book in my own little bubble, including Kaladin as a therapist (and many other elements of mental health–they were insightful, thought-provoking, and inspiring).
Oh, the part I didn’t quite understand was the full impact of Dalinar’s decision at the end.
Fun fact, in case you missed it. Several of the chapter titles on Day 10 are references to Death Rattles from the earlier books. For example, the title of chapter 127 is a reference to the epigraph of Chapter 8 in The Way of Kings. Chapter 136 references the epigraph from Chapter 9 of The Way of Kings. So we get confirmation of what the people who said the death rattles were seeing.
No way! Wow, that’s impressive.