Time to do a bit of catching up on reviews for books.  It’s an odd thing for me, usually I try to have a review up within a day or two after I finish a book, and definitely before I finish reading the next book on my stack, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve gotten backed up.  I’ve actually finished 4 books that I haven’t written a review for (although three are very short).  Well, this book is the first of those that I’ve yet to talk about, and the rest will be posted in the coming days.

Book Stats

1080 pages

Fantasy

Second book in The Stormlight Archive, sequel to The Way of Kings

Setting

This book is set in the same world as The Way of Kings, although we’re shown a few more parts of the world, both through the Interludes throughout the book as well as in watching Shallan’s travels as she goes to the Shattered Plains.  As with the first book, everything involving the setting is very richly described and well thought out, without being obtrusive and overshadowing the characters and plot.

Characters

There are a few new viewpoint characters in this book, but we’re primarily focused upon the same characters from The Way of Kings.  In particular, while the first book focused on Kaladin, this book focuses more on Shallan, and several of the chapters are flashbacks showing her backstory.  I enjoy all of the characters in the series, but I particularly liked Dalinar in this book.  More than any other character he grew in the first book, and it really shows with his resolve in this book.

Plot

This book continues where The Way of Kings left off, with Shallan and Jasnah trying to get to the Shattered Plains to warn the Highprinces there of the possible threat of the Parshmen.  We’re also shown more of Kaladin and Bridge 4 as they adjust to being bodyguards rather than menial slaves, as well as the continued war for vengeance on the Shattered Plains.

Enjoyment

I’m was vague with the plot section, because it continues from the first book, and I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything in that book for anyone who hasn’t read it yet.  I enjoyed the book, I loved the story that was set up in the first novel, and I love reading the continuation of it here.  But I did have a couple of minor issues with it.  The first is Shallan’s backstory, it was interesting to read, but I don’t think that it really answered some of the questions that I had about her past.  In some ways I think that it would have been better had we started with the most recent flashback, and then moved further back in time the way that the movie Memento does (side note, if you haven’t watched this movie, go watch it right now, yes, even before reading the rest of my post).  I say this because the most important event of her backstory (in my mind at least) took place earlier than even the first chapter about her backstory.  But we’re not shown it, so Shallan is constantly referring to an event that we never really see, I think having her flashback chapters going backward in the timeline would have worked just as well to tell her story, while doing a better job of building tension within the story and leading to a much better punch towards the end of the novel.

The other main issue that I had with the book was the last section.  Like The Way of Kings, this book is broken up into 5 larger sections, with Interludes in between.  This is going to sound very odd when talking about a book that’s 1080 pages long, but the ending felt rushed.  With tWoK the larger story was mostly wrapped up at the end of section 4, with section 5 serving as a large trailer for what was going to happen in book 2.  In this book, it felt like there was a mad rush to get everything that needed to happen in this book in place done.  I thought that a couple of important details in the last section were glossed over too quickly.  And one of ideas that (I think) will be a central point of book three was set up in about 2 or 3 paragraphs towards the end of the book.

I think that both of my quibbles with the book are things that will be forgotten once the rest of the series is complete, especially since there is such a deep world and story set up by these first two books.  I’m still in love with the characters and world, and that is more than enough to get me to buy the third book on the day it comes out, just like I have with the first two.

Overall Grade

This is a step back from the first book, but even a step back from The Way of Kings is a great book that is well worth reading, especially if you enjoy Fantasy.

8/10

So after posting a quick update Monday about my blog’s anniversary and my bowling from last weekend, I decided it’s time to sit down and write up reviews for the books that I’d read during the 2 week hiatus that I had without posting.  I was reading during that time, as I almost always am, I just didn’t post a review of a book, and there’s a simple explanation for that.  I was reading 2 very big books, and I thought that I had already had a review up for the first book, only to find out that I was sadly mistaken in that regard.  That book of course is The Way of Kings, the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, and it’s a doorstopper like no other.

Book Stats

1003 pages

Fantasy

First book in a 10 book series

Setting

I’m going to start with the setting for this book, because it’s one of the most unique settings in any book that I’ve read, and also one of the most well thought out settings.  I talked about the setting in the list of questions that I had for my 30-day book list (I wrote about this book for topic #19, Most Interesting Setting).  Along with the things that I mentioned in that post, I have to talk more about the depth of the world.  Re-reading this book showed me just how well thought out the history of this world is.  Through the conversations that the characters have, you learn so much of the subtle history of the world, especially the differences between the cultures.  There are huge differences in how the different cultures view warriors compared to scholars and craftsmen.  But the best part about the depth of the world is that you’re never beaten over the head with it.  The differences in the cultures of the world also lead to dozens of conflicts between the characters.  Even if the characters and the story in this book weren’t as strong as they are, the setting depth alone would make it worth reading, and that’s very hard to do with a novel this big.

Characters

The book follows 4 main characters, within 3 primary storylines.  The main character of the book is Kaladin, a young man who has become a soldier despite having trained under his father as a surgeon.  Kaladin is a very rebellious young man, who sits on the border of respecting authority while constantly chafing against those above him.  I think that every young person (especially young men) can identify strongly with Kaladin and his struggle against authority.  Dalinar is a highprince who spends the larger part of this book going through a midlife crisis because of visions that he has been seeing.  He doesn’t know what the visions are, only that they are showing him scenes from the past that he believes are relevant to the conflict that his country is engaged in as the book goes on.  While Dalinar believes in his visions, his son Adolin believes that Dalinar is going insane.  This creates an interesting conflict as Adolin is torn between upholding his father’s honor while questioning his sanity.  The fourth main character is Shallan, a young woman who is a skilled artist and aspiring scholar.  Shallan’s story is the most different of those in this book, but it was still interesting to me as it worked largely to build the depth of the world that I talked about earlier.

Plot

6 years after King Gavilar is assassinated, the war to avenge his death has stagnated.  The highprinces who have agreed to destroy those responsible have settled into a familiar rhythm of seeking wealth rather than vengeance.  But while they play games, a much larger threat looms over the world.  Yeah, that sounds generic, but I don’t really want to spoil the plot too much.

Enjoyment

There’s an awful lot going on in this book, and while I talked in very vague terms above to try and avoid spoilers, it’s all very fun to read.  Another interesting thing about this book is the structure of the novel itself.  The book is broken into 5 sections, and between each section we’re shown several Interludes, smaller stories that feature various characters throughout the world.  The most interesting of the Interlude characters is easily Szeth-son-son-Vallano, the assassin who is responsible for Gavilar’s death.  He is a Truthless from Shinovar, a slave to whoever holds his Oathstone, and at the beginning of the book at least, the most skilled warrior on the planet.  Szeth is bound to do what he is told, but he resents his actions more and more as he is forced to kill most of the monarchs around the world.  As much as he’s a minor character, Szeth alone makes this book worth reading.

Along with the quality of the story, there are also illustrations throughout the course of the book.  Many of these are Shallan’s sketches of the world around her, while others are maps of the areas in which the story takes place.  The illustrations are all wonderfully done and add another layer of depth to an already wonderful book.

Arguably the only downside to the book is that it ends with several very big cliffhangers, but since the second book is out as of two or three weeks ago, it’s really not that big of an issue.

Overall Grade

An amazingly deep world filled with realistic characters, relatable conflicts, and a strong story makes this book a wonderful beginning to a series that I’ll be looking forward to reading every time a new book comes out.

10/10