Words of Radiance: The Stormlight Archive Book Two

Sometime later on in Words of Radiance, during one of the many Interludes that appear between each of the behemoth novel's five sprawling parts, a character named Lift ambles up the side of a castle wall using powers we'll leave here unspecified on her way to steal. Soon thereafter, a boy joins her side and asks her how she managed to scale the wall, as there was no ladder for her to do so, and he himself needed a rope that she lowered down to him. "Gumption and spit," Lift replies, before traipsing onwards towards her destiny. Gumption and spit, indeed. Here is a marvelous combination of things that can result in magical things - even if the final product is a bit messy. Over one year ago, I wrote up my thoughts concerning Brandon Sanderson's entry volume to the Stormlight Archive, "The Way of Kings" and had a blast lauding the book, not to mention infuriating fans of Dune everywhere. The Way of Kings was (and is, upon re-reading) one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read - heck, one of the most best books I've ever read, period - and I gave it a 9.5/10 (a 5/5 by Amazon's star system) after desperately pruning it down from the 10/10 I initially wanted to give it by taking off half a point for Kaladin Stormblessed's face palm worthy emo moments and Shallan Davar being...well, herself. In short, The Way of Kings was one of my favorite books of all time, in large part because of the series it promised. So, the question I needed Words of Radiance to answer was, "Is the series still promising?" And the answer is "Yes." And that's a good, good thing - a relief, even. Following my tradition, the first paragraph of this review is about as closer to a spoiler as I'm going to get - fear not, wary reader. No spoilers follow for Words of Radiance...but if you haven't read the Way of Kings, I'd recommend not going any further than this. I will address subject matter you probably don't want to know. Come on back after you've read the first book and the series, and we'll talk. For the rest of you, we'll go ahead and get the brass tax out of the way up front here - Words of Radiance is a good book. I'd give it an 8.8/10 on my scale, or about a 4.5/5 on Amazon's star scale. Amazon doesn't seem to see the need for half stars in their options, so in an effort to not under-represent this book, I'm marking it as a 5/5. Technically, it's closer to a 4/5, but that 4 star rating just looks bad, doesn't it? Frankly, I don't have the heart to mark Words of Radiance down that far. It is, by all accounts, a better book than its predecessor, and Sanderson has clearly grown as an author, his prose and descriptive power reaching very good levels. So why the negative hullabaloo from the Way of Kings' self-professed biggest fan? Well, I guess it's just because I didn't like this book as much as the first one. Not by a long shot, actually. In fact, so long as we're being honest, I thought parts one and two of Words of Radiance were two of the bleakest, most "oh my God not Song of Ice and Fire syndrome please Sanderson no" pages I've ever trudged through. It was, for lack of a better word, a frightening time in my life, having been excited for this book since I first left Roshar so long ago. I had recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, and I had more wrapped up in the Stormlight Archive than a simple thirst for entertainment. It was the first book I read upon returning to the States, and there's something...special, maybe, about that. That, and this book series is going to be ten books long. I will grow up with it, in many ways, as will we all. I was pretty frightened that the Way of Kings might have been a fluke, and the nine books that followed it were destined to be more like the middle of the Wheel of Time or the last two iterations of Ice and Fire. Be at peace, readers. Parts 3, 4 and 5 of Words of Radiance are all truly wonderful, and Sanderson seemed to get his mojo back by the time I hit them. The book earns the five star rating I've awarded it, and its because of its moments of sheer brilliance that I find myself disappointed and genuinely baffled by the unnecessary moments of tedium that drag the book as whole down away from its predecessor. Ultimately, the Stormlight Archive is, at the end of Words of Radiance, in very good shape. There are places for it to go, questions for it to answer, battles to be fought and mysteries to be unraveled. That's all that matters, really. This was Shallan's book, and thus the book most of us were most wary of to begin with. She was a frustrating character in the Way of Kings, and in some ways she's even more frustrating here, but for very different reasons. I didn't particularly like her in the first book, and I liked her even less by the end of this one. I can't help but wonder if my relationship with the book was in large part due to my relationship with her. My biggest complaint about Words of Radiance is actually directly connected with its biggest strength. It is a massive tome - a sprawling behemoth of a book, and as a result we get to see more of Roshar than ever before. More of its politics, its mysteries, its religions, its cultures, its landscapes, its magic. Thank God for that, since I love this world and I never want to leave. But Sanderon's pacing here is...well, off. (The witty banter is also painful to read, at times, but it adds to the charm of the characters, in its own weird way.) What I mean about the pacing is this - parts one and two trudge along at a snail's pace, getting bogged down by high prince politicking (that ends up being unimportant come book's end), Shallan lying to herself and to the world, and Kaladin returning to his fantastically emo roots, and Adolin channeling a G-rated Jaime Lannister minus Cersei. Dalinar recedes into the background a bit here, but I don't mind this as much as I thought I would, Jasnah continues to be a great character, Lopen gets funnier, and Shen proves to be more elaborate than he originally seemed. Rock remains a good cook. We see much more of Parshendi culture, learn more about the lost city of Urithuru, and of Taravengian's evil plan to save the world. We learn about the nature of spren early on, and about the nature of shard blades late in the book. Part five of Words of Radiance is arguably the best part of the bunch, and is also the shortest - by a LONG shot - and could have easily been a hundred pages longer. Should have been, I'd venture to say, as the first 90% of the book leads up to the climactic final 10% - but when the revelations finally emerge, they're given maybe a page or two of attention. It startled me. The twists you came to find out - predictable or not - should have been given much, much more space to breathe. I would have loved that. In an effort to counterbalance this paragraph of nay saying, I will say that there are a couple of duels / battles in Words of Radiance that had me smiling like a blithering idiot. Sanderson still knows how to write a fight. Man oh man oh man. So does Words of Radiance reveal too much or too little? Both, I think - Sanderson shows us so much in this book, yet it feels like he's trying to fit in as MUCH as humanly possible into a tiny space, which baffles me, since he just spent a thousand pages building up to those reveals. It was like he lost a little faith in the fact that his world is interesting enough as it is without having to try and elaborate what makes it interesting, and as a result he worked and worked and worked on parts of little consequence, exposing the clues too neatly, and when it came to the parts that really, actually mattered, he was out of both time and space. There was no need to try and recreate the mind breaking ending of the Way of Kings, but I do appreciate the effort to do so. Maybe it'll be something we can expect in every book, a final hundred pages of twists and twists and twists. At best, this could set the Stormlight Archive aside from its contemporaries in wonderful fashion. At worst, Sanderson could...*lowers voice to a conspiratorial whisper* go the way of the Shyamalan. I know, blasphemy. Honestly, though, the Shyamalan effect is the deadliest enemy facing the Stormlight Archive on the whole right now. Hopefully the twists we find in book three of the Stormlight Archive are more satisfying. I wonder, honestly, if Sanderson himself is very aware of the book he has wrought. He's a very perceptive man, and being a professor at Brigham Young University has allowed him to organize his thoughts on writing with the clear efficiency only someone who teaches writing could muster. I cannot help but assume that, post publication, he looks at Words of Radiance the way a professor might. The world of Roshar is still here, still full of surprises, still full of characters who will do things that surprise you. The characters are still (thankfully) themselves, and the magic is still really, really cool. Yet something is lost when we come into this book expecting twists around every corner. It makes the moment when they finally come so much less remarkable - indeed, I actually predicted almost every twist before I ever cracked the book open, and I'm not always very good at that. I wonder, therefore, if part of the reason I didn't enjoy Words of Radiance as much as I had hoped I would is simply because I spent the whole book reading between the lines, searching for assassins in every shadow, for twists in every ambiguous statement. If it's possible for the quality of the book to lie in the reader, then that has been exemplified here. This brings me, at last, to the part of the book that astonished me most. The character of Wit - who I am of the opinion acts almost as an avatar for Sanderson himself in the world of Roshar and Shadesmar - comments on the flaws and nature of the book surrounding him at the end of both the Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. He usually reveals the best twists in the midst of leaning on the fourth wall, and comments on what he perceives to be injustices in the world of art. In the Way of Kings, Wit argues that originality is what humanity values most, and in Words of Radiance, he argues that all art is subject to perspective. "Give me an audience who have come to be entertained," Wit says in the epilogue, "but who expect nothing special. To them, I will be a god. That is the best truth I know." Fellow readers, my advice is simple. Go into Words of Radiance looking to be entertained. Don't look for the twists. Looking for the twists is like sneaking a peek at presents the month before Christmas. Just wait, let the day come, and then tear the paper to pieces and scatter it all around, feeling the rush of not knowing what lies within. Sanderson is crafting for us a master series, and has eight more books to present. I for one am breathless for the continuation of the series, and have full faith in the author to turn this series into something very, very special. I'll see you all at the end of book three, which I am already hungry for. And, finally, to Mr. Sanderson himself. Thank you, sir, for welcoming me home. 8.8/10

And Brandon Sanderson is likely to stay there for quite a while. With his fertile imagination, his excellent wordsmithing and his willingness to tackle some thorny topics, I expect this man to be as prolific in fantasy as Isaac Asimov was in science fiction, although I do hope that he takes some time to try his hand more fully at writing science fiction, because with his eye for detail he could write some pretty hard SF and thereby run with the Big Boys in that genre. But on to WOR. The cast of characters remain pretty much centered on Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan and Szeth. Shallan is on her way to the Shattered Plains when something happens to derail the plans of her guardian, the princess Jasnah. Kaladin has taken over the job of making all those disgruntled and despairing bridgemen into true soldiers, as well as discovering how much he can do with his stormlight. Dalinar is still working to unite all the High Princes under Elhokar and begins this by encouraging his son Adolin to duel the sons of all the other High Princes for the prestige and of course, for their shardblades/plate. And Szeth is terrorizing Roshar by traveling the world and doing a very good job of leaving the governments of the world headless. In the midst of all this we get to know a bit more about the Parshendi and their former gods. We get to know a bit more about two particular Parshendi, the warleader of the Parshendi and Rlain, who finally is accepted without constraint as one of Kaladin's bridgemen. We also learn more about the StormFather, the Almighty, and of Kaladin's Syl. Of course there are plenty of applecart upsettings; for example when Amaram appears (the brighteyes who betrayed Kaladin and sold him into slavery) and when we find out that Jasnah was not the only one who feared that the void bringers were going to return. We also dig deeper into Shallan's past and wow! How did she survive such a dismal existence? And of course there are several interludes where characters make cameo appearances, perhaps setting us up for the next book. There's 1080 pages of spin-you-about-and-turn-you-upside-down in this book and its hard not to drop spoilers like rain in a highstorm, but I am not going to succumb. Suffice it to say that some grow, some receive their just desserts, some learn secrets of the universe and some accept new mantles of leadership. There are even a few who unexpectedly return from the dead and surprise us either not at all or enough to drop your jaw, depending upon your level of cynicism. And we find out that Wit has got to be more than just a man, though that revelation does not come until the epilogue, and what he is, is hard to say. And why I say that, well, that would be spoiling. As Robert Jordan used to say, RAFO. Should you get this book? Only if you have read the previous one. Too much that happens in this book depends on what happened in the last book. It cannot stand alone. But if you have read the first book, as hard as it was on your psyche, then you absolutely must get the next book. This one is much faster moving, nowhere near as hard on the readers or characters, and has so many surprises in it that the reader will become dizzy at their rapid appearance. And besides, this is just plain good literature. As for me, I have the hard copy and the Kindle version. I intend to get the Audible version to complete the set. This is one thrilling story and I cannot wait until the next volume comes out. BTW, does anyone know how many books Sanderson plans to write in this series? I have a boss who is threatening me with the loss of a paycheck if I cannot find out that information. It's my own fault, I guess. I got him addicted to this series. (grin)

This was amazing! You were all right! I have no words in me to review this book, but it certainly was radiant. Every time I think I can’t possibly become more impressed with Sanderson, I find out I was wrong. He is brilliant, and I am in awe with what he is achieving with Cosmere as a whole. I love that Sanderson leaves enough clues for us to guess little pieces of story, but it never compromises our satisfaction, because there is always something more. It just makes me feel smart, while You can always be sure <i>“there is always another secret”</i>! What an emotional roller coaster! This was fantasy perfection! The world building is amazing, the magic system intricate, and the characters are complex, flawed and profound, and they never read as the typical fantasy heroes. The way Sanderson writes his characters just feels different. He explores something in them in a deep level, but then you see another layer, and get to explore it on a deep level as well. Sometimes you like the first layer and relate to the character immediately, sometimes you need to see more of them, and go deep into another piece of their soul. Words of Radiance was stellar in exploring more layers of SA characters and, at this point, I’m invested in all of them (and I hated several in WoK). This is a very long book, but everything on it feels necessary, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Having everyone together, and several POV in the same chapter increased the pace of the story, and left me hanging on every written word. I wanted to scream every time I reached the interludes, but I loved all of them, and what they add to the story. Shallan’s humor was a great addition to the story, bringing a new light to it. It was certainly needed to balance Kaladin moods. I expect she will change a bit with the admission of the past, but I hope she gets to keep at least a bit of her older self. I loved the duels, the chasms, the storms, bridge four, discovering Adolin’s heart and Taravangian brain, the fights and, as usual, Hoid. <i><b> Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves. I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.</i></b> <b>Side note</b>: for everyone who says it is necessary to read Warbreaker before this book… I honestly don’t think it is. It’s a nice Easter egg, but it doesn’t really impact the story (yet?). I was actually disappointed because I was expecting more of that particular character. Read Warbreaker because it is great, because you love Cosmere, because it is an easy entry to the Cosmere or because you want to read Sanderson without the commitment of a whole series. Stormlight Archives is already a huge commitment with 4 ginormous books, 2 “novellas”, and more than half of it yet to be published. Let’s not add additional restrictions please.

I enjoyed this book and had trouble putting it down, but did feel like this book struggled with pacing in a way "Way of Kings did not"; however, this book is still a must read and the series intriguing. The series makes you celebrate heroism and honor in a way that doesn't feel contrived or hokey, centering around dark broken characters that are complex, in a world that is increasingly complex - all from the brilliant mind of Brandon Sanderson. The book continues to be a marvel of imagination as from thin air Sanderson continues to build on a world with shardeblades, surge binders, and radiants. Though many of the twists are predictable, the characters are painted in such a light that you can't help rooting for them and stopping your reading to cheer when they succeed. I can't think of the last time a book made me do that. At 1,081 pages, it's a bit shorter than Way of Kings, but certainly worth the ride with narrative draw as every time you get an answer to a character back story of of the world, you're presented with new questions. Strongly recommend if you have read way of kings and love fantasy. This series lives up to the stellar reviews.

This is a huge, meaty, fantasy novel for lovers of fantasy novels. I have a habit of diving into books and forgetting to come up for air. The bigger a book is, the longer I can immerse myself, so the size of this >1000 page novel is a high point for me. It took me three days of solid reading to get through it, during which I pretty much only stopped to feed myself and walk the dog. There are some people who say they managed it in one sitting, and I am stupefied by the sheer amount of posterior fortitude that must have taken. The story is vast, encompassing hordes of characters, side plots, and rich with details and hints that allow the reader to puzzle and theorize about how everything fits together. The world itself that the story is set in continues to be unlike any other world I've read about in fantasy, with a well thought out history and unique ecosystem that are important to the plot. There are a lot of answers given to questions raised in the first book that lead to a lot of wonderful AHA! and I KNEW IT! and SHOULD HAVE SEEN THAT COMING WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT? moments. One of the things I love about Sandersons books is that the magic systems are very detailed and practical. Instead of , "It's magic, DUH." there are logical explanations and rules which fit within the context of the story, and you can be sure that every angle and possibility has been considered and will probably be addressed eventually if it hasn't been already. In short, it's written by a geek for geeks, and the plot will hold up to scrutiny. Everything from the technology to the philosophy, at least from my inexpert point of view. I've heard some complaints about the side stories and characters being unnecessary, but I think half the fun is trying to figure out how they fit in to the overarching story line. It's a ten book series, people. There are still a lot of mysteries left, and we get to guess and wonder in the meantime. There are hints. Once again, this is obsessive geek territory, and that's not a bad thing. There are obvious plot twists and shocking ones, and Kalladin is emo but heroic, and Dalinar gets his groove back and Shallan is given more depth and we get to see inside the parshendi culture. It's better to just read it. I won't get into the plot details. I took off one star for a few issues I have that may be just because I am an irritable person. It might just be me and my curmudgeonly view on life, but this is my review, so be it. Here they are: (warning: rant follows) 1)STOP USING THE WORD 'TAD'. It's not a good word in the modern vernacular, and it has no business in a quasi-medieval fantasy novel. I understand that there are artistic licenses with dialog, and I'm even being forgiving of the use of 'awesomeness', because for me it wasn't nearly as jarring as 'tad'. Every time I read it I was completely thrown out of the story. Tad. REALLY? 2) I WOULD RATHER LISTEN TO A DOZEN NAZIS FILING THEIR NAILS ON CHALKBOARDS THAN HAVE TO READ ANY MORE WORDPLAY Half of the characters imagine themselves to be very clever. They call themselves clever repeatedly, and so does everyone else. They're not. They're obnoxious. There are some genuinely funny moments in the vast tome I just read, but the dialogue, it does not scintillate. There are some moments, if someone had picked Shallan up and tossed her into the jaws of the nearest chasm fiend I would have considered it a job well done. Apparently on Roshar, the height of incisive ridicule is to call someone stinky. (I'm looking at you, Shallan, Sebelius, Kalladin, Wit and Adolin. Yes, every single one.) During the painful banter sessions I'm reminded of a bunch of dweebs giggling at their own smug cleverness. (Not that there's anything wrong with dweebs. I fall into that category myself, but I don't think that's what the author was going for, and there's so MUCH of it!) It doesn't help that Wit, who's name is descriptive of his JOB for chrissake, has speech patterns eerily similar to the comic book store guy from The Simpsons. Behold: "It's also hilarious on people who aren't deaf, OBVIOUSLY. What, you think I'd torment someone just because they're deaf? That would be immoral. No, I torment all people equally, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." (Emphasis mine. I can't not read it that way. I can't un-hear it.) 3) NIGHTBLOOD Why did Brandon Sanderson bring that awful talking sword cartoon character into this story? WHY?? It was the worst part of Warbreaker and now it's a crossover! It's a TALKING SWORD. Aaargh! Get off my lawn! Other than those three issues I loved this book. LOVED it. I'm going to read it again to catch anything I might have missed, because I'm already going through the separation anxiety that comes from finishing a good book. I can't wait for the next one.

Wow. I don't know where to even start with this one. Admittedly, though Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author, I wasn't the biggest fan of The Way of Kings, the first book of the Stormlight Archives. I mean, the story was good and the world was interesting, but for some reason it did not hook me the way his other books had. Now, with Words of Radiance, I may have a new favorite fantasy novel(and optimistically, new fantasy series). Words of Radiance mainly continues the storylines of the major characters from Way of Kings - Kaladin, Shallan, Jasnah, Dalinar, Adolin, and Szeth, the assassin in white. The way that these characters eventually come together is nothing short of genius, culminating in an ending that the word "epic" doesn't seem to begin to cover. Basically, what Way of Kings made me think this series was ultimately building towards served only as the climax of book two. Out of a planned ten. Yeah. The world in the Stormlight Archives is rich, unique, and awe inspiring. Sanderson has crafted a world which has been shaped by violent storms called highstorms. All facets of life and the evolution of plants, animals, and humans are tied to the deadly power of these forces of nature. It may be cliche to speak of the world within a fantasy book being a character in itself, but that truly applies here. I cannot imagine the amount of work Sanderson put into crafting the adaptation of life to live in this storm-torn existence. The magic in this world, powered by stormlight(basically an energy that originates in the highstorms) is complex and creative, a Sanderson staple. There are enough interweaving plots to potentially tie your brain into knots, yet Sanderson pulls them off deftly, throwing twists and surprising revelations at the reader left and right. Even predictable plot points are given an injection of Sanderson ingenuity. And never do these twists feel as if they exist to further the story or to simply throw off the reader. Each is crucial to the story, and completely believable in the context of the story. I know I'm a little biased in this regard(as I've mentioned, Sanderson is my favorite author), but he has really outdone himself with the story this time. The characters all possess an amazing amount of depth(Sanderson seems to have evolved past the criticism of having two-dimensional characters in his prior works . . . maybe an effect from finishing Roobert Jordan's Wheel of Time series). Every main character is wholly believable(in a swords and sorcery fantasy sense), each with their own personal demons and motivations. Not one of the dozens of main and side characters blend in with another. Each is unique and interesting. The action in this book, as with any Sanderson book, is exciting, fast-paced, and brilliant in its creativity. Now, I know I haven't said much about the plot, and I don't feel I can without giving more than I'd like away. Instead, I'd like to express that this is an AMAZING epic fantasy novel. The hardback version is over a thousand pages(I read that it's the biggest book published by TOR page wise . . . not 100% sure if that's true)and 300K+ words, yet it reads like a book a quarter of its size, keeping you glued to the pages from the first to the last with little to no filler. Some of the biggest names in epic fantasy(Tolkien, Jordan, Martin) are/were unable to pull off such a feat. When I finished the last page, I wasn't ready to put down the book. I wanted more, so much so that I found myself actually hating the thought of the series coming to an end 8 books from now. Yeah, I enjoyed it that much. I can't remember the last time I was this satisfied with a book in a series. The end is still stuck in my head as I write this, and probably will be until book 3 is released a year or more from now. Again, I know I have a bit of a Sanderson bias, but I still feel that this is a book that needs to be read by any fan of epic fantasy. Heck, just fantasy. I do not recommend going into it without reading Way of Kings, but know that if you even sort of enjoy Way of Kings, I guarantee you'll LOVE Words of Radiance.

10 stars. 100 stars. This is the best book I’ll read in 2021. I’m calling it right now and it’s only January. “Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.” This book. This book! I cannot express how much I love this book and this series and whole universe of the cosmere that Brandon Sanderson has created. There is so so so much depth and lore here that I’m positive I missed so many details. It’s probably impossible to pick up everything on the first read. It is truly amazing how detailed and intricate Words of Radiance is. There is soooo much witty banter and underlying humor in the dialogue in this book. I was literally laughing out loud what felt like nearly every chapter. Especially during conversations involving Shallan—she is so clever and I love her personality so much. She’s definitely my favorite character. I love the use of fabrials to mimic modern technology in this series. How do you have modern technological advances in a medieval setting? Magic, of course! It’s very cool to see, and I love seeing the characters’ reactions to things we take for granted, like Shallan having warm running water for a bath or the stormlight-infused spheres providing light in a darkened room. I do not understand how this book was so good. Brandon Sanderson is so talented, and Words of Radiance was perfectly crafted. It has so many reveals at all the right moments; it has in-depth world-building and explanations of the magic systems; it has dynamic character arcs and hilarious dialogue; it paints the most vivid picture in your mind to the point that you’re sure Roshar is real, it has to be, because there are so many layers to this narrative that it seems almost impossible it’s a fabricated story and not a true history of a real planet out there somewhere. I’m in so much awe. And I keep hearing that Oathbringer is even better! I literally do not understand how that is even possible when this book is already perfection. And that ending! During the last eighty pages I was completely losing my crap, simultaneously hyperventilating and jumping up and down. Ugh. So good. If you’re a fan of epic fantasy, do yourself a favor and read the Stormlight Archive because there is nothing out there that even comes close to its quality and depth and amazingness. It is hands-down the best fantasy series being published today.

At this point, Words of Radiance has been out for a year and a half, and I suspect most of Sanderson's fans have read it. I've bumped into them at cons, book stores, signings, and, frankly, almost every other place where you might find readers. I bump into them at the most unlikely of places and find them in the people I would least have suspected of being fantasy fans. In fact, for a lot of them, this is the only fantasy that they read--indeed, to them, fantasy IS Brandon Sanderson. There are a lot of explanations for this, but the simplest one is really this: Sanderson writes some pretty awesome stuff. Broad appeal, female protagonists, good writing, high productivity, the absence of foul language and "on-screen" sex, and highly creative world building are all parts of that, but really, Sanderson has a formula that instead of being predictable focuses on storytelling fundamentals and innovative plot, character, and world-building... But enough rambling: let's get to Word of Radiance. It merits its own dose of praise. When the first book in The Stormlight Archive was released (The Way of Kings) back in 2010, I found myself waiting at a midnight release to get Sanderson's signature--and yes, I still shake my head that I did it, but I digress--he had just finished the last three books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. While I agreed with most readers that Sanderson's touch had actually improved the Wheel of Time, I wanted assurance that I wouldn't have to wait a generation to see the end of the next epic fantasy series I would start, of which Sanderson was at that moment signing the first installment in front of me at the table. "There will be ten books," he said. "And I promise not to die on the way." All of this is just to say that after finishing #2 in the series I am more than even after the first eager to read the next. And I would read as many as Sanderson writes, be they a thousand pages or more... Words of Radiance surpasses The Way of Kings and sets a path for the series that hints at as much, or more, as it actually reveals. As Words of Radiance opens, our two heroes--Kaladin and Shallan--find themselves moving towards a purpose, having over come the obstacles that they surpassed in The Way of Kings. Kaladin is no longer a slave, but wields the power of the Knights Radiant, if secretly from all but a few of his closest soldiers of the newly formed military unit he heads in their task to protect the King. Shallan finds herself en route to the Alethkar war camp on the Shattered Plains, learning but slowly to recognize her own growing powers. And yet, neither will foresee what they must do--what they must become--if they are to survive the coming storm, as well as the treachery that awaits at every turn. Meanwhile, the mysterious Assassin continues to spread chaos across the land, killing heads of state across the continent, commanded by an unseen hand, a shadow power manipulating the nations. Sanderson has learned how to develop his characters, good and evil, and to make them hurt in a way that accrues sympathy from the reader. For example, it's hard to see Kaladin's choices, watch him pay the price, and see how he digs himself out of the results. Yet Sanderson finds a way, proving that he is in command of the story, not the other way around. At a thousand plus pages, building one character might seem easy, but he does it with every character who earns any time on the pages, even during one of the shorter interludes that fill the gaps between sections, both with color and hints of what is going on across the continent beyond where our main story is happening. Every character is individual, creatively rendered, and vibrantly alive. Just when I think Sanderson couldn't possibly make Roshar more real, he creates another culture, unique and colorful, and adds another layer to what is also a highly developed interplay of characters, countries, cultures, and mythologies. It's a 'wow' factor that makes Sanderson's writing--already carrying a strong story--that much more gripping and hard to put down. Words of Radiance is fantastic, and almost anthropological at points, in its scope. I can't wait to read Oathbringer (hinted for a 2017 release, which is so far away as to be almost a depressing thought), as well as anything that Sanderson manages to punch out in the intervening time between his finishing writing and the publisher's release to shelves.