Review: Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson
Blurb:
The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.
Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.
Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah in Thaylenah. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.
At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiant killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
Review:
Reports are coming in of a massive Sanderlanche that crushed everything in its wake. More news on this to come as soon as we dig someone out of the Sanderlanche.
Brandon Sanderson is someone who no longer needs any introduction. He is fantasy royalty right now, and for very good reason, and no series is more emblematic of his titanic hold on the genre than The Stormlight Archive. It’s the series upon which so many threads in his larger universe converge and hinge upon, and in closing the first arc of the series, Sanderson has left me gobsmacked. Wind and Truth is many things: a behemoth, a marathon, a thrill ride…and a triumph.
In ten days, Dalinar Kholin is to clash with the evil god Odium in a contest of champions that will determine the fate of not only Roshar, but the entirety of the cosmere. Faced with the reality that Odium’s avatar is now former ally Taravangian, Dalinar and Navani must travel to the Spiritual Realm to uncover the secrets that may lead us to victory. But across Roshar, the Knights Radiant and their allies struggle to withstand and prepare for the onslaught of Odium’s forces. While Adolin offers his assistance to Azir, Jasnah to Thaylenah, and Venli and Sigzil on the Shattered Plains, Szeth-son-Vallano and Kaladin Stormblessed travel to Szeth’s native Shinovar to cleanse the land of its darkness, and Shallan is joined by Renarin and Rlain to uncover the prison of the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram—and stop the Ghostbloods from finding her first. In ten days, the battle for all of Roshar will begin. In ten days, the cosmere may forever change.
Wind and Truth is an exhausting read—but I don’t mean that to be taken negatively. It is an absolutely colossal undertaking, yes. Any book that approaches 500,000 words and eclipses 1,300 hardcover pages would be. But it is exhausting for all the right reasons. There is a tension right from the beginning of the book, a dense anxiety that permeates through the book as though something stalks through it, waiting to strike. It’s an unease that has lingered since the end of Rhythm of War, when Dalinar and Odium agreed to their contest of champions, before Taravangian had become Odium, before the stakes grew even higher than they already were. All the anxiety, the dread, the foreboding, it trails off the page as though the book was filled with real-life spren. Sanderson has always been a master of plotting and world-building, but there is something in Wind and Truth that he absolutely nails that is not always present in his other books, and even in the earlier Stormlight books.
Atmosphere.
The odds are so heavily against our heroes in this epic. The means by which victory can be achieved seems impossible. And with that, Sanderson takes one of his biggest literary risks: playing with that dread. While Sanderson’s books have largely been enjoyable for me—a couple exceptions here and there, of course—they have tended to follow a formula, and at times they could be predictable.
Not this time. Wind and Truth floored me with some of its twists—both during the trademark Sanderlanche and preceding it. Some of these twists are heavy, others are light, some crushing and some hopeful. But it’s a testament to Sanderson’s skills as a writer to make each of these moments feel earned. While I would argue that Wind and Truth didn’t necessarily need to be as long as it is, it justifies its length by making every moment it’s building toward pay off in spades.
All the major players get their time to shine here. Technically, this is Szeth’s book, and his flashbacks helped to illuminate the more mysterious people of Shinovar, and I found these chapters to be much more interesting than Eshonai and Venli’s flashbacks in Rhythm of War. His present-day journey through Shinovar with Kaladin makes for an interesting Odd Couple-style dynamic, and it culminates in some of the coolest moments of the book.
But while this is meant to be a Szeth book, in reality, it’s absolutely another Dalinar book, and that’s perfectly fine with me. Dalinar is by far the best-written character in Stormlight, and his journey through the Spiritual Realm, his fervent quest to emerge triumphant over Odium guiding him, offers incredible revelations about Roshar and the cosmere at large. It is not just about confronting his own past, but also the planet’s past, Honor and Odium’s past. His character arc through the first half of this series has been tremendous, and Sanderson does great justice to him here, as well.
Great and small, everyone’s arcs here work extremely well. Kaladin continues to combat his mental health issues and guide people toward a less violent future. Adolin needs to confront the devils of his father’s past and defend the people of Azir while recognizing he cannot lead in the same way as the Blackthorn. Shallan weaves through the tangled webs cast by the Ghostbloods while also coming to terms with the traumas of her childhood that led to her multiple personality disorder. Jasnah’s greatest strength is her intellect, but in fighting against Odium, she finds her greatest opponent. Renarin must rise above being seen as the “weaker” of the Blackthorn’s son. Moash can suck a butt. Everything feels incredibly well-earned here. Sanderson doesn’t cheap out on anything or anyone.
Everything is mapped and plotted well in Wind and Truth, but there still exists some pitfalls that have become more apparent in Sanderson’s recent work. I greatly appreciate that he has attempted to have more inclusive characters in his books, even if it takes him out of his comfort zone with what he personally knows. But how certain themes are presented, especially as pertains to mental health issues and neurodivergence, continues to not be a strong point for him. While he has shown he can write an autistic character like Renarin well, he continues to present something like Kaladin’s depression poorly. It was done much better in earlier Stormlight books, but in Wind and Truth—as it was in Rhythm of War—it feels very heavy-handed and lacking in subtlety, and Kaladin begins to feel more like Britta on Community when she changed her major to psychology and tried to be a therapist. Which is a shame because Kaladin is such a great character, but he gets saddled with some of the weakest dialogue. His “therapy” sessions with Szeth are just straight up cringe-worthy at times. Plus there’s still the usual hit-or-miss moments with Shallan and her multiple personality disorder, but it’s better than it has been in previous books. She still has the worst jokes in the books. Which is I guess meant to be somewhat intentional, but it’s also well-known by now that Sanderson and humor are not a good mix. Mercifully the humor disappears early on (around when Wit stops being plot-relevant, unsurprisingly), but it’s still an eye-roll whenever it comes up.
I still loved this book, though. I still love this series. I’m miffed that Stormlight 6 probably isn’t coming for a decade or so. But this journey has been incredible. The Sanderlanche obliterated me this time around. It’s been a day since I wrapped up the final pages and just stared off into the distance, contemplating it all, my heart still pounding and my hands still shaking. It’s a ride well worth it. The journey was long, the destination not at all what I expected, but the ride was amazing. I’m gonna be thinking about this one—and the implications of it all—for a long time.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go…fuck it, I’m still crying, just leave me alone, Radiants.
