Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

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Brandon Sanderson: Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) (2012, Orion Publishing Group, Limited)

English language

Published Oct. 1, 2012 by Orion Publishing Group, Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-575-09739-1
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5 stars (198 reviews)

Words of Radiance is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the second book in The Stormlight Archive series. The novel was published on March 4, 2014 by Tor Books. Words of Radiance consists of one prologue, 89 chapters, an epilogue and 14 interludes. It is preceded by The Way of Kings and followed by Oathbringer. In 2015, it won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel. The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.

11 editions

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This book is just..... wow..... So good! I'm blown away honestly. I wish this series were complete or would be complete soon. I know the fifth book will be considered an ending but I hate that there will be 5 more in a "sequel" series and it will most likely be a very long time before those are all complete and published!

This book/series is just so. dang. good.

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

An enjoyable read, but as someone that generally doesn't really read big fantasy series, I had some gripes with it. It makes it very hard to rate, but to name a few:

- A frustratingly long buildup, only for a fuck ton to happen in the end, at once
- Recycling characters (reviving characters is my top pet peeve in any story...)
- Bad guy plot armor
- Prose is kinda plain, but it's fantasy, and not the focus of the book

The positives:
- The cool moments are really fucking cool, Sanderson has a talent for one liners
- The intrigue and world building hit a very juicy sweet spot between overly complex and oversimplified
- Things are kinda thrown in your face, making it really easy to follow along on audio, I've never actually been able to follow fights so vividly before
- Some really cool interludes (Taravangian …

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

WHEW finally. Sanderson does it again with another fantastic, fast-paced, intriguing installment of the Stormlight Archive. If you liked Way of Kings, you'll get everything you wanted and more in Word of Radiance. Many of my same praises and criticisms hold true for this book, but both dialed a bit more up to 11. The setting and world building is just chef's kiss. I can't get over how in love with this world I am. The cultures and people are all fully realized and interesting. I really enjoyed learning more about the Parshendi culture. Sanderson did a phenomenal job at creating both a rich yet wholly alien society that was a joy to learn about. The characters are written well and have very solid arcs, even if I didn't find some of their voices to be fully distinct.

I'd say my biggest complaint is with pacing. Way of Kings …

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

September 2020 Reread:
You turned an attack in to a promise. The wisest of men know that to render an insult powerless, you often need only to embrace it.

I remembered more from this book than my last reread in 2017. There is still a wagon full of tidbits, insights and references I either missed, forgot or became relevant with later knowledge that made this a very enjoyable read.

Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results.

My previous comment indicated that the Shallan/Veil sessions were a bit tiresome but I didn't find that to be the case on the third go around...but I still can't justify bumping the star rating up from four to five. The book has some amazing sequences and highlights that stand out in the series but it lacks the cohesion or wonder that makes Way …

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

So, 2 books into the series (3 if you count Warbreaker), here are my thoughts on the Stormlight Archive so far: I would hesitate to call them masterpieces, the series' themes don't widen my perspective of the world, what they say doesn't feel particularly new or fresh, but. They're very competently written, I've come to really like the characters, the worldbuilding is extremely clever, Sanderson's writing fills me with confidence that the series is going somewhere interesting and the action sequences I have a very good time visualizing in my head in a way that feels very cinematic and rewarding. About Words of Radiance in particular, I appreciate the better, faster pacing compared with WoK (understandable, as that book had to introduce the world and characters) and the way some characters that felt under-developed got their chance to shine here. The last 150 pages or so of this book reach …

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Words of Radiance is exciting in ways that Way of Kings couldn't be for one simple reason: surgebinding. This book sees our surgebinders diving deeper into their powers and accepting what they are. There are many answers in this book, but more often than not they raise more questions. The climax of Words of Radiance comes at the end of a Sanderlanche of epic proportions, the momentum of which will launch you right into Oathbringer.

Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

sigh
I get it, I get it. Yours is a fully realized world, deep and well-considered, much as the Mistborn world was. I get it.
What I DON'T get is why keeping the full story of your world a secret until the VERY END of the damn series -- just as he did in the Mistborn series incidentally -- if considered such an accomplishment. Barraging the reader with unanswered questions isn't clever, it's just mean.
end grumpy rant Hmph.

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 :)

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.

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Subjects

  • Fiction, fantasy, epic