Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson review (partial)

Like Kaladin, I feel lost

*Image from Goodreads.com. No copyright infringement intended.

January 24, 2025

Categorization: Fantasy

Where read: On Kindle

Where to begin with Brandon Sanderson.

Well, for me, it literally began with the Mistborn series (loved it!), then The Reckoners series (It was like an X-Men detective novel! obsessed.), and then finally, The Way of Kings (the first book in The Stormlight Archive).

You know, I always thought the way Brandon Sanderson writes is quite like a good video game. He’s got it down to a science- his stories slowly reveal more and more about the universe they are set in at just the right pace, just enough to keep the reader hooked but never too much to overwhelm, until there is a final ultimate secret revealed that concludes the story beautifully and explains the essence of the world he had been building up until that point. He is also excellent at plopping his reader down smack dab in the middle of an ongoing plot point and yet keeping them fully entertained and invested within two pages. He is a gifted writer, and a master universe-builder. I felt the same way reading all the series he has written, I wanted nothing more than to be in the world he created, and to learn and experience the lore that he expertly weaves and to befriend the characters he invented.

Until Wind and Truth. (Some spoilers ahead).

I started Wind and Truth and put it down a month ago about 40% in and have sadly, felt no urge to pick it up again. Eventually I will, undoubtedly, as I am first and foremost a Branderson fan and I do think he is a genius and I hope he will soon bring me back under his spell.

But. There is no gainsaying the fact that Wind and Truth feels so much lower stakes than The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance (which, if you have read it, is ironic of course! It is the fight against Odium! The god of the universe threatening to wreak havoc in… universes!) I still haven’t completely understood why it feels that way, and why I am starting to lose interest in Kaladin, and Adolin, and their stories. I am now following Kaladin and Szeth on their journey together and it is like, is Szeth bad or good, is Szeth bad or good, is Kaladin okay in the head or not, is Kaladin okay in the head or not, will they or won’t they, will they or won’t they. What I had expected to be a grand fantasy opera has become, despite all the excuses I have tried to make for it, one of those sitcoms that have run past their time and all the characters have already dated each other and there is no one left.

And I hate feeling that way. Because I think Brandon Sanderson is a genius. But I had truly not loved the books after the The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance as much as I loved those, and his lore is starting to lose me. I recall that this is similar to how I felt reading the Malazan series (read The Wertzone’s excellent review, I won’t attempt now as any review would be unfair, myself having put the 8th book down more than a decade ago).

So let’s go back to The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, which I would still recommend everyone read!! Even if I don’t love the next books. There is no other series I would give this sort of weird half-and-half recommendation.

But those two books are absolutely brilliant. The story of Kaladin is everything great Fantasy is and should be – a journey though suffering that leads to self-discovery, though an incredibly vibrant, exciting world, with flesh-and-blood-and-sidequest-complete companions that round out your quest party. The Way of Kings is only one of three books that were not mandatory university textbooks that I ever spent the whole night reading without a wink of sleep (the others being The Godfather and The Da Vinci Code), as I feverishly needed to make sure Kaladin was still alive and had not given up! Being the embodiment of Hope that every closet quester follows like a beacon in the night. And to a lesser degree Shallan, as I love her plucky weirdness in the first books (now the secret of her past has dragged on so much I have stopped caring about her except vaguely for her general well-being, like an acquaintance I met at a party three years ago and whom I see on Facebook goes on holiday every summer).

I don’t know what to tell you, Brandon Sanderson. It’s just that I’m tired of Odium (is he intent on destroying the universe or saving everyone, will he or won’t he), I don’t care so much about Renalyn and Shen’s love story, or the fate of the parshendi, and worse, I have completely lost track of the history of the Dawnsingers. Their convoluted history makes me feel like I am just not smart enough to remember all their names (and all the variations of their names) and the names of their swords and whether or not they are still holding onto their oaths or had given up and are wandering the world dressed as normies.

So I ask plaintively, could we bring back and focus on some of the characters we loved? Whatever happened to the Horneaters? Rock? I loved Rock! The original Bridge Four? Does Pattern have any other story other than being an appendage of Shallan?

Do I just have to finish the book to get some closure to these questions? I will feel awfully silly if that’s the case.

I guess I better get cracking. I’ll update after.