Words of Radiance

Book Two of the Stormlight Archive The Stormlight Archive, #2

by Brandon Sanderson

Hardcover, 1087 pages

English language

Published Sept. 4, 2014 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-2636-2
OCLC Number:: 867184929
Goodreads:: 17332218

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(271 reviews)

The eagerly awaited sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Way of Kings.

Six years ago, the Assassin in White, a hireling of the inscrutable Parshendi, assassinated the Alethi king on the very night a treaty between men and Parshendi was being celebrated. So began the Vengeance Pact among the highprinces of Alethkar and the War of Reckoning against the Parshendi.

Now the Assassin is active again, murdering rulers all over the world, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status darkeyes. Now …

The eagerly awaited sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Way of Kings.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status darkeyes. Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and their civilization-ending Desolation. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but even arriving there proves more difficult than she imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The consequences for Parshendi and humans alike—indeed, for Roshar itself—are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

11 editions

Daniel Darabos reviewed Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Everything that was great about the first book continues being great in the second book. I don't think anyone can find disappointment here. It is fantastic how the plot can keep developing at such a high pace. 1,000+ pages and nothing feels like filler.

I really appreciate this generosity of the author. Many novels seem to be built on the idea of making the reader desire a piece of information and then figuring out how to withhold this information as long as possible. It makes sense as a mechanism to draw the reader through your pages. Brandon Sanderson instead gives you the information right away. He has so much plot that there is no reason to hold back. For example:

“The king!” Natam said, puffing. “An assassin.”

End of chapter 22. Do we now get a flashback? Switch to a different POV character? "15 years later"? No. The first …

“The king!” Natam said, puffing. “An assassin.”

End of chapter 22. Do we now get a flashback? Switch to a different POV character? "15 years later"? No. The first sentence in chapter 23:

The king was fine.

Perhaps the only change is that Sanderson at this point can rightfully assume that the reader has fallen in love with the characters, and he can have a bit more fun with them. It is done subtly enough that the overall tone of the story is not hurt. (“I wasn’t complaining,” Pattern complained.)

I started reading Oathbringer right away at www.tor.com/2017/08/29/oathbringer-brandon-sanderson-chapter-1-3/. We will see if I can read slowly enough to get to the real release without a gap.

fallaciousreasoning reviewed Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

Review of 'Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Brandon Sanderson writes really good books, of which this is another

Vedang Manerikar reviewed Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I think that the Stormlight Archive is the new Fantasy series that I'm going to look forward to. Step aside Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicles.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

A small spoiler rant: I really hate this tendency in new fantasy books to bring back the dead. If you've killed someone, please let the person be dead. cough Jasnah, Szeth cough.
I am super excited about Nightblood jumping over from Vasher in Warbreaker to Szeth in Words of Radiance though :)

matt reviewed Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I absolutely ripped through Words of Radiance. While it has many of the same problems as Way of Kings, in general it's a bit better in all respects. While the middle of the book does stretch a bit, I didn't get the feeling that it was meandering. The pace varies, but with the exception of the interludes the plot is always moving forward. I can see why some may not like the interludes as much, they do break up the action a bit, but some were pretty fun (Lift, Eshonai), and others set out some threads that I'm sure will get picked up in later Stormlight books.

Sanderson's prose is workmanlike, nothing to write home about, but it does the job and I got to the end of 1300 pages wishing I had more. That is a feat deserving of 5 stars.

kholerik reviewed Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

None

4 stars

Very nice sequel. It was good to learn more about Shallan and there was some unexpected progress in the story.

state_electrician reviewed Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Very nice sequel. It was good to learn more about Shallan and there was some unexpected progress in the story.

Geekess reviewed Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

Review of 'Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Loved it, but it wasn't as stunning as The Way of Kings.

Yashima reviewed Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

Review of 'Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I was vaguely disappointed with the first part of the series ([b:The Way of Kings|7235533|The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388184640s/7235533.jpg|8134945]). It was too slow and had two more or less separate plots. It was slow reading and took me a while to finish.

I devoured Words of Radiance. I just could not stop reading. The only chance to put the book away, was at the start of each of the interludes between the different parts of the book. I now understand much better why so much exposition (first book) was necessary for this story to work and I am looking forward to re-reading The Way of Kings to find and remember details that might only make sense now.

I love the world, the characters, the concepts and the surprises and yes I was surprised, several times. And I still do not know what to make of Wit. Who is he? What is he? Have I missed something?

And I keep wondering how much detail planning is necessary to pull of stories like these.

If you did not like The Way of Kings or have not started to read the series, Words of Radiance is a reason to continue or start! For those of you, who will only start reading once he is finished ... you will have to wait a long time. And to think that I'll have to wait years for the next book ...

This one went straight to my all-time-favorites list!

RxBrad reviewed Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

Review of 'Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Something tells me that the atmosphere of the next books will be VERY different, given all of the things that happened near the end of this book. Very DC Comics-y... which could be good, or could get boring fast.

And the epilogue... I saw that coming a mile away.