Epic Fantasy is a strong as ever and if any writer (who doesn’t have an HBO show to his name) is the standard-bearer, then one could make the case that Brandon Sanderson is that standard-bearer. With that, The Stormlight Archive may wind up being his magnum opus; it is after all his love letter to the epic fantasy genre. And epic it is, but for its sheer size, Words of Radiance might have the largest disparity between girth and intimacy. That is, for the 1,000 plus pages of the novel, Sanderson concentrates on four major characters for the majority of the novel Kaladin, Shallan Davar, Dalinar Kholin, and Dalinar’s son Adolin. Those four major characters are on personal quests (even if some of them don’t quite realize it) which are inextricably intertwined with the larger world conflict which plays out on the Shattered Plains.
Like many fantasy novels, such as The Way of Kings, Sanderson provides a prologue before launching into the novel full steam. This prologue features events already shown in The Way of Kings, the murder of the King Galivar, though from the viewpoint of Jasnah Kholin, Dalinar’s daughter and Shallan’s mentor. Through Jasnah’s eyes, we see things a bit differently, specifically the assassin Szeth.
Whereas the first novel, The Way of Kings, focused a great deal on the character of Khaladin, Words of Radiance (as has been mentioned by many who’ve read it) is Shallan’s book. She is apprenticing under Dalinar’s daughter Jasnah, learning about the history of the world and essentially practicing the magic of the world. In many ways, Shallan’s journey over the course of this novel reminded me a bit of the journey Daenerys Targaryen has been taking for much of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Shallan’s family is not what it once was, an event in the first third of the novel forces her to travel with, initially, very few companions until she begins to amass followers after making bold promises to them, and she is asserting herself in the world. Through flashback sequences to her life prior to her introduction to the series, Sanderson provides many tragic details about Shallan that inform the person we are traveling with on her journey to the Shattered Plains. The emotional resonance of her past echoes to her “current” journey, helping to make such large and epic novel feel so intimate and personal. As Shallan is a young woman not fully aware of the world at large, we as the readers get to learn about the world anew as she experiences and learns about it herself. This sort of world-building and storytelling is often the strongest kind giving the character a strong tie to the world and here in Words of Radiance, it is highlight of the novel.
Meanwhile, closer to the Shattered Plains we have Kaladin and Dalinar. As much as this novel can be considered Shallan’s novel, a great deal of character development and myth-building were focused on Kaladin who is still bitter (understandably so) about being branded a slave and having his friends killed in the previous volume. He became a respected leader of Bridge Four, and because of his bravery and leadership qualities, Dalinar (uncle to the king), raised Kaladin’s status and made him part of the honor guard.
A problem that arises as Kaladin begins trusting Dalinar after having forsaken trust for any lighteyes (the higher class of people on Roshar), is the arrival of Brightlord Amaram. As it turns out Amaram is a friend and ally of Dalinar’s, but Amaram is also the man who killed Kaladin’s friends and forced him into slavery. Kaladin’s growing frustration and wish to bring down Amaram does not sit well with his spren companion Syl; she continually warns him not to let his thirst for vengeance consume him. The nature of spren is not fully clear, but they come across as spiritual embodiments of ideals or virtues. For comparison, the bond between human and spren reminded of the bond between Liveships and their captains in Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders series.
Our third major viewpoint character, Dalinar, is dealing with threats to his nephew’s life and keeping a tenuous peace with the other princes of the land. Many feel he should be the king rather than his inexperienced, headstrong nephew Elhokar. One of princes providing the greatest problem is Sadeas, a brightlord who superficially is an ally of Dalinar’s, but is quite untrustworthy. This was one (minor) element of the novel I had trouble getting over – that such a smarmy individual like Sadeas was not kicked to the curb after his actions in the previous volume. While it made for some palpable tension between Dalinar and Sadeas, their respective camps and between Adolin and Sadeas, it felt a bit contrived.
A major element in the series, especially in this volume, is the notion of great heroes of the past being brought back into the world to face down a looming threat. That may ring familiar. These heroes of legend are the Knights Radiant and are in a sense, reborn. One of our protagonists is charged with leading them or bringing them together, or at the very least, acting as a catalyst for their return. One of these reluctant protagonists struggles with his destiny and heroic journey is Kaladin. For much of the novel, he is grim, unhappy, frustrated, but still supremely committed to his men of Bridge Four. The climax of his heroic journey at novel’s end is, along with the history of Shallan, possibly the best storytelling I’ve read from Brandon Sanderson.
Sanderson brought the four viewpoints together quite well; though considering Dalinar, Adolin, and Kaladin were in the same geographical area this was a fairly straight-forward task. That said, the interaction between Kaladin and Adolin was quite enjoyable. What began between the two as bitterness and some jealousy, turned to begrudging respect. Adolin continually referred to Kaladin with the derogatory term “bridgeboy,” but by novel’s end it becomes if not a term of endearment, a term used with respect and fondness. Adolin was not the most likeable character at the outset of his introduction, he was cocky and overconfident, but the path Sanderson put him on turned me. In this respect, only two other writers have made me like and respect a character I initially wasn’t fond of: Robin Hobb with Malta Vestrit and George R.R. Martin with Sansa Stark.
Words of Radiance is a conundrum, though. For all its “epicness,” not very much happens in it when measured against its size. The characters go through their journeys and a major conflict occurs at the conclusion of the novel. Breaking up the more leisurely intimate pace of the major viewpoint characters are the interludes featuring side characters who appearances are minor, but whose impact is quite major. For example, one of these interlude characters is Szeth, the Assassin in White whose actions in the opening of the series was the lynchpin for much of the action.
If anything can mar the otherwise thoroughly enjoyable nature of the novel it is that sometimes, the relaxed and intimate pace felt too leisurely. That is, the immediacy / momentum of the action in the world at large didn’t feel quite as urgent as the characters became more familiar. The pending threat of the Parshendi and Voidbringers felt almost distant and not as near as the threat actually was and that may likely be due to the fact that for the two novels, much of the main action takes place in the same place, the Shattered Plains. However, despite the same locale as the focus for both novels, through Shallan and Kaladin, Brandon still manages to evoke a sense of awe and wonder as they discover and travel through some of the unexplored nooks and crannies of the Plains and the true nature of the region is revealed.
Like many readers who’ve been following Brandon’s writing, I’ve been anticipating this book since I read The Way of Kings, about four years ago. Not as long a time as the wait between other epics, but still not an immediate follow-up (Brandon Sanderson wrote and published a few books in that time). While I read through the very helpful recaps at Tor.com (brief overview, index of chapter-by-chapter re-read of The Way of Kings), Brandon’s storytelling managed to transport me to Roshar quite quickly and would have done so even had I opened the pages of Words of Radiance without scanning those posts at Tor.com.
In the end, we have a very large book, which at times is quite majestic in the themes that are evoked; heroism, duty, loyalty, strength, conviction of character. Those large themes are writ over the characters and the balance of intimate and epic was quite satisfying.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beautiful package/piece of art this book is. The US cover (Tor) is by the legendary Michael Whelan, front interior art is a character study of Shallan by Michael Whelan (above, which in my opinion should be the cover), and back endpapers of a map. Brandon posted all the artwork from the book here. Each chapter has an icon denoting on whom the chapter will focus and scattered throughout the book are full page illustrations which come across as creature illustrations, character studies, and the like. Irene Gallo and the whole Tor art and production team should be highly commended.
Many of Brandon’s readers are aware that most of his novels are connected in a multiverse he’s come to call The Cosmere (Link to Adam Whitehead’s impressive and exhaustive “rough guide to the Cosmere”). While that connection is hinted at through the character of Wit/Hoid who appears in some ways in all the books. Here as the equivalent to king’s jester, he comes across as merely a traveler, an observer with the occasional bit of advice. Here in Words of Radiance, the connection between Brandon’s books becomes quite explicit. The moment this connection arrives is rewarding for those of us who have read all of his work in this Cosmere, but by no means is this plot point contingent upon such an understanding of the loose connections of these books.
Words of Radiance was a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience for me, it delivered what I’d hoped it would deliver, and has me very excited for where Brandon is taking this series. Much as I thought The Way of Kings was an excellent Epic Fantasy novel, Words of Radiance is even better. I happened to attend a signing for the book shortly after finishing reading the book and Brandon’s feverish and excited talk about his plans for the series (with the plan of releasing a Stormlight Archvie novel every 18 months) was very infectious. If the remaining novels in the series deliver the same way Words of Radiance did, I suspect novels in The Stormlight Archive will be the highlight Epic Fantasy novels of the year for quite a while to come.
Highly Recommended, with the caveat that you read The Way of Kings
© 2014 Rob H. Bedford
Tor, March 2014
Hardcover 978-076-532636-2 1080 pages
Book 2 of The Stormlight Archive (http://www.tor.com/features/series/the-stormlight-archive)
http://www.brandonsanderson.com
http://brandonsanderson.com/books/the-stormlight-archive/words-of-radiance/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Tor
