Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Слова сияния

and my new found hyperfixation continues with book two of the stormlight archives, which is just as much of a banger as the first one.

somehow with these books 1000 pages feels almost not enough. i cannot stop thinking about this world, its lore and, most importantly, its characters. this book series is ruining my social life and i love it. all i want is talk about every minute detail of this story and universe and i'm unreasonably angry at the people around me for not reading these books. I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK ABOUT ALL OF THIS WITH!!! please send help!!!!!

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elisaviihde's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

That was a ride. A great sequel to The Way of Kings. The cast of characters was well-developed and moved forward with the story. As with the first book, only negative I felt was that the pacing got really fast by the end. And a minor qualm with the actual writing - sometimes things happened and characters did things, moved to other places and you could’t quite place who had done or where. Still, as a story, it is marvellous.

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roaming_enn's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a super compelling follow-up to the Way of Kings!! I loved the character arcs for most, if not all, of these characters! The further worldbuilding done in this book, especially with the Parshendi, was just amazing! Although I do wish we got to spend even more time with them. The development of the magic system was really great too! I wouldn't say I liked Words of Radiance better than the Way of Kings, though. I think I liked them both equally in different ways.

I didn't much care for the racist side effects of the magic, though. And I'm glad that Kaladin is bothered by it too lol.

But I look forward to reading the next books as I advance in my reading project of getting all of the Stormlight books read before the final book comes out!

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chels_ro's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Words of Radiance is as much Shallan’s book as way of kings was Kaladin’s. as she is brought to the forefront her personality shines

along with her charming spren Pattern.

I found myself falling in love with her mysterious and at times heart wrenching story. As always, Sanderson is able to combine sweeping world building with lovable characters that feel undeniably real in their depiction.

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dnpatterson2's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

🎧
I really wanted to like this book and I didn't. I struggled with the first book as well. The worldbuilding, the lore, and the magic system are amazing. The characters were good and I thought the relationships were good.

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who_knew's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Now, for the record, a 4 star rating on a 1100 page book is a lot higher than a 4 star rating on a 300 page one, but yeah. It was good! It... I don't have much of a takeaway from this one.
I could have put this book down at a lot of points and really struggled to pick it back up again, so I'm glad I had the time to push through and binge a lot of it. It was a really good way to spend the time...

I think I've started taking Sanderson for granted after reading so much so quickly. I'm starting to have an eye for what he does wrong and am getting a bit desensitized to what he does right.

He's a master of multi POV. It's always interesting, the new perspectives being brought to each chapter.
He's not great at emotional impact. I didn't care when

Jasnah died

nor when

we found out she wasn't dead after all

Syl died and came back. Moash betrayed Kaladin. The dumb foreign king (Taravangian?) is... a lot, I guess.

. There's so much going on, and it's all so conceptually interesting, but the delivery on these Big Huge Moments feels underwhelming each time.
His world building is awesome. The world feels big and overwhelming in the best possible way. It feels silly but somehow still tangible and real.
I think I've been reading too much romance lately. Fantasy writers largely DON'T ever learn to build and break tension the same way as a person who can make you feel fully immersed and invested in just... whether two people kiss. But man, if someone could bring that energy to the fall of an empire like Sanderson's, it'd be a hell of a book.

I guess my takeaway overall is that you have to read this book because it's truly interesting, not necessarily because it makes you Care.

This was still a hell of a book.
I'll read the next one. It'll be great.

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microbemasher's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Extremely strong followup to Way of Kings. Fell in love with Shallan in this one. Main cast starts to really meet for the first time, and I felt their interactions were enjoyable and eal

Much more political intrigue than in the precious book. The dynamics of the world and its people are really starting to get fleshed out, and Sanderson balances politics/scheming well with danger/action, so the book never feels like the pace is slowed as a result.

Slightly more awkward dialog compared to the other books, but nothing egregious.

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