Eddie's Monthly

As stated in my previous reading summary, I hit a major reading slump in December. On top of that, I had to play a ton of video games to clear my backlog. I therefore decided, instead of reading one of the 20ish books in my backlog, to get something new. I went to indigo and moseyed on over to the fantasy section, looking at all the authors. I had heard good things about Brandon Sanderson, and decided to grab one of his books, which also had the merit of being cheap. Overwhelmed with choices, I resorted to looking at the stickers noting the staff's recommendations. “Marina”'s pick was The Rhythm of War, which is the fourth book in the Stormlight Archive series. Against her better judgment, I decided to start with the first book in the series.

The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson

I was gonna write a synopsis, but it was shit, and the one that comes with the book is better, so here you go:

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure...

VVoah, it's pretty good! It was kind of a gamble to try to get out of a reading slump with a 1200ish pages book, but the gamble paid off, and it only took me a week and a half to finish this guy. Although online detractors of this first book take jabs at its pace, I think its slowness is deliberate and works. It takes time to set up a world, and I hate being rushed by books; I will not remember anything if it goes too fast. Detractors also point out “bad writing”, but I disagree. Brandon's (yes, we are on a first name basis) writing is serviceable here, it is unassuming and gets the job done. It is easy to read and doesn't get in the way of the story. Sure there might be the odd choice of word or repetition here and there, but they are few and far between, and in this first book, it never took me out of the story. Taking about the story, well it's just good. The world building is great and very coherent, and the magic system also works very well and is explained comprehensively. I'm not a big fan of high magic, where there are no rules, or the rules can be broken my certain characters, and magic can do anything and everything... So this is a big plus. The book is divided in parts, and in between them interludes. It is during those interludes that we get a lot of world building that wouldn't really make sense in the main story. The parts usually wrap up nicely, so the interludes don't really break the flow of the narrative. Finally, detractors also have a gripe with the way Brandon handles character, I can understand certain aspects, but I disagree with others. We are very, very far from the horrendous characters from Michael Crichton. As one can expect from a book, the characters are introduced, their character reinforced, and then they slowly evolve. A lot of the development and explanation of the character's motivation is more tell than show, and I agree it might have been done better. Yet the characters are still interesting, multidimensional, and while being at the service of the story, don't feel contrived at all.

Words of Radiance – Brandon Sanderson

I was in such a haste to read the second book that I can't remember what events belong to either books. My synopsis is the following: the situations evolved and so did the characters. There are some new things, but also some old things. Plot points unfold and are resolved, although some aren't. You are welcome.

This is book 2 of the Stormlight archives. Everything I've said for the first one applies here mostly. Apart for the pacing, which like the previous book is slow but only at first. The multiple narratives pick up pace and gather momentum, and it is done well. There isn't one particular story line that is so much better than the other, that we can't just wait to get back to when the story shift pov. However, the interludes are still mostly the same, and some of them present a jarring contrast to the momentum of the main story lines. There is one of them that was particularly long that I sorta had to push through. The events of this one become relevant in book 3, but when I was reading the second one I couldn't have known, and it was kind of a drag. Those dull moments were, however, scarce. The main story gets great, and the 1300ish pages really allow the author to make some long as plot points and some twist which ramifications really have the time to be fleshed out. Although it's a tad longer than its predecessor, thanks to the solid foundations built in the first book, this second one can really accelerate its pace and build some momentum, and it only took about 8 days to finish.

That's it for this month, to books, although I would like to add that I'm 900pages into that third one, so it should kinda count. I have more things to say about that third one. You'll just have to wait until next month to hear about it.

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie