Wind and Truth

It is worth pausing to reflect on the past 6,200+ pages of epic fantasy we are dealing with here. I will do so without any mention of specific character or plot spoilers.

Wind and Truth deserves a five star rating. While I am no Cosmere scholar, the Stormlight Archive's raw scope and cultural reach secure it in the canon of 21st-century fantasy literature.

Wind and Truth represents a very uncommon qualitative turnaround in a declining series. While The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #1 and #2) are also five star reads, Oathbringer and Rhythm of War (#3 and #4) most certainly are not. To put it another way, I haven't enjoyed a Stormlight novel to this extent in ten years in spite of reading 4500 pages in that time. I can't think of another series with this kind redemption.

If you haven't read Wind and Truth or any of the Stormlight Archive, I have to recommend it as it is the best modern epic fantasy out there. Epic fantasy is the genre of Fantasy in which the central conflict is "epic" in scale and involves an entire world, gods, and or forces of nature.

Stormlight is certainly epic. Sanderson is an incredible world-builder. He creates mechanics, lore, and cultures that are unique and compelling. He is great with magic systems.

Unfortunately, Sanderson falls short when it comes to character-driven writing and often his humor, inner-character conflict and certainly romantic writing often fall flat for me. There is a 90s sitcom vibe about it some of these awkward attempts at characterization. A lot of it just reads like a nasally, "Did I do that?"

The scale of Stormlight can also work against it. A friend put it simply, I've read over 6,000 pages and I still can't clearly explain the fundamental mechanics of the story. I kind of agree, with the addition that while I may not be able to explain it clearly, I still find it compelling. There are so many characters (many have their own side novels) and systems to keep in mind that it is easy to get lost. The series needs diagraming.

Visualize horizontal plot bands. Each band can get wider or narrower with page volume. The "main" plot bands are excellent, but I'd be lying if I said that all bands were created equal.

What's difficult about Sanderson is that he is so pedantic and such a methodical planner. All bands contain sprinkles of plot and story that are easy to overlook at first, but become very important later (like 1000s of pages) on. A minor character from book 1 has their own chapters in this last installation. I really should have paid better attention to the one sentence he said 5000 pages ago.

At the same time some of the bands play to Sanderson's world building, action, and plot strengths. Others highlight his deficiencies. But given the complexity, focusing on the best bands and skimming the rest is not an option.

No one edits Sanderson. I don't mean he does not have editors. One very cool thing about Sanderson is how transparent he is about his process and operation. But still, no one edits Sanderson. It's not like there are not plot bands that could be narrowed (or cut completely). But, he's just too successful and popular at this point.

The payoff of these horizontal bands all merging and intersecting climactically should not be underestimated.

I will hazard a prediction that many years and even decades from now, nerds will still reach for the Stormlight Archive in the same way that people still read Wheel of Time.

This is all why we must bend the knee to King Nerd Sanderson.