I have now finished the behemoth task of reading The Stormlight Archive: 5 books, more than 5000 pages. And I was informed that the fifth book which is a little over 1300 pages is more of an interlude than a book? Only Brandon Sanderson would write 1300 pages as an interlude.
Anywho. I want to try to encapsulate the experience of reading these 5 books. I don’t even know where to begin. Should I start by saying I have copious notes and highlights for all 5 books? Should I say that because almost everyone was disappointed by book 5 but also kinda understood why it was written the way it was, I made so many notes while reading it, almost as if I was preparing for a viva?
Or maybe I should tell you I want to go back to book 1, where it all began and read it with the information I now have. Because I think that prologue from book 1 would hit harder. Because I think I would pay more attention to the assassin in white, who I now know more about thanks to Wind and Truth. It would be interesting, as a writer more so, to see how the groundwork was laid out right from book 1 to make sure a tiny detail in book 5 would make sense.
But let me start by talking about three of my favourite characters from the series. The first is Kaladin who has one of the most brutal hero’s journeys that I have read. Brutal not just because of what he goes through but also because of the guilt he carries.
He is the guy that you root for even before you know who he is or why he is important. There is a naivety to him, which makes sense since he’s only 19 when we meet him for the first time in The Way of Kings. He also has a child-like stubbornness that I found equal parts adorable and frustrating.
The second is Adolin who I adore. On the face of it, he is just a soldier, forever in his father’s very tall shadow. But then as you go along the series, you see his heart, his vulnerability and the amount of love he has to give. In the beginning, I thought of his care for his sword, armour and horse indulgently, like a parent indulging a child’s whim.
But then I read what that care leads to in Rhythm of War and I was stunned. Because something that came across as a personality trait actually builds to a devasting climax. A man and his sword…what a pair they make.
And the third character I want to touch upon is Shallan. She was perhaps the most difficult character for me to read, maybe because I empathised with her so much. Every time she would falter, I would feel like I am faltering. Every time she would use her cunning to get out of an unsavoury situation, it would feel like my triumph.
The way she grows from being a smartass to a broken human to a person coming into her own power was…chef’s kiss.
The thing I also love about the above three characters is, while Kaladin and Shallan have insane power – literal and political – Adolin is “just a human.” And yet, the three of them are friends. They have drinks together. Adolin helps the two of them relax. Kaladin helps them never lose faith. Shallan comes up with the most fantastical strategies. They just match each other’s freaks and I enjoyed reading their friendship so much.
Another thing I want to talk about is the power play. When I started The Way of Kings, I had no idea what was happening but by Words of Radiance, I felt like I could understand all the factions that were involved in snatching power from whatever source available. But then Oathbringer happened and I realized I knew nothing. The only thing I could do was to simply be present for the ride.
What I found fascinating was how power gets transferred from one section of people to another – and what it costs. Taravangian is a stark example of this: a man so convinced he knows best that he will do anything to prove himself right. The consequences of thinking “I know best, so what I say is how it works” is something that is thread through every character and the series.
The world, the magic, the power and the intricacies of what Sanderson has built is a pleasure to sink into. I love when a fantasy series is able to make me forget that a world outside of it exists and each of the books in The Stormlight Archive did that beautifully. It took me no less than 2 weeks to finish each book and roughly 2 years to finish the first arc.
I cannot believe that I get to read 5 more books in this world.
For Letter S, written as part of #BlogchatterA2Z
tales of Suchita 
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