adri_enne's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. Just wow. I was enjoying the character development and stories throughout the book, but those last 200 pages were AMAZING! I swear, I couldn’t put the book down. The pacing picked up so quickly that I’m still sitting here wondering what the hell just happened! The war scenes were incredible, the world-building was out of this world, and the reveals were mind-blowing—I mean, I’m perplexed. 

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nightmarelized's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's difficult to articulate words for a review on this because of how much I want to say. 
I loved it, and will continue following the series from now on.

When it says "High Fantasy," it means it. If you are not a full on fantasy nerd yet, you might struggle with this book. It constantly switches in POVs, timelines, flashbacks, with 5 main POVs and 18 total. Insanely large scale worldbuilding with several detailed cultures, languages, and life styles. Thousands of years of histories, multiple magic and political systems. It's a lot to handle at once, but never once I felt like the book is info-dumping. The page count is totally justified. 

It starts slow, REALLY slow. I can see many people unable to get through it due to the sheer amount characters and information it tries to present. You either love it or hate it.
It is the first book in a massive 10 book series, and it sure does settle the ground for your entry to this whole new world. The "payoff" really only starts at the last 100 pages, the ending is a rapid fire of resolutions that felt so satisfying, yet still leaving for more to be desired on the next book. I read the book across a month, but read the last part in one day. That says something.

Favorite highlights: Leadership. Justice. Trust. Overcoming mental health and grief. Exploring real world problems in a fictional world. And, of course:
"Journey Before Destination."

If you are planning to step into this series, be ready for your brain to be rewired. Now everything you see will be a Stormlight reference!



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caitlinemccann's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Listened to this on audiobook during our work commutes, so it was a long slow read with that restriction. But it was fun to have something to look forward to and get sucked into during LA traffic. 

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sinaprst's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this was the best (fantasy) book i've ever read!!!!!

i literally could not put this down. i spend EVERY SECOND of my freetime reading this book. i forgot to eat, drink, sleep, live, because all that mattered was what happened next!!! i thought all of the people praising Brandon Sanderson must be exaggerating, but somehow he made me read over 1000 pages in just a few days and then immediately jump into another 1000 pages. i fear this might be my next hyperfixation...

6/5 stars honestly

recommended reading ambience: https://youtu.be/l-hQi0XISXU?si=2-hy8f0szQ4eRFRq

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bakerindale's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s a more than a thousand page long study of worldbuilding and character creation.

The world is lively and characters are their own people; all done without any sign of lore dumps or sacrificing the story in any way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, though I understand how it can be overwhelming; at times a diagram of character dependencies was needed, especially at the start of Part Two: The Illuminating Storms.

Looking back, not that much has happened in this book, but while reading everything seemed so important. Even the smallest details were significant and that made the journey of discovering Roshar along with the characters so thrilling

Can’t wait for more of the Girlboss Duo

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teyn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

3.75


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bcrowes11's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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that_person_logan's review against another edition

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4.25

Captivating. Great world building. Inspires me to get back into my own worldbuilding.
Wish there was a glossary or something with a names of people and places and how to say them. I think it would make the reading experience easier and more enjoyable for a wider audience.

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yrioona's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Meh. A competently put together genre tome. Very long, fairly cheesy, lots of fantasy racism. Consistently readable, but sometimes just barely. I think I would experience this as ~feeling~ mormon even if I didn't know Brandon Sanderson was mormon. Some of the worldbuilding details really stretch credibility (a currency system based on glass spheres of equal size???). I did appreciate all the critters though.

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otakatoe3's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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