Wind and Truth

“Wind and Truth,” the fifth volume of “The Stormlight Archive,” truly delivers a monumental journey, wrapping up the first half of this epic with unexpected pacing and lots and lots of satisfying character arcs.

I particularly loved Szeth’s flashback plotline, revealing his transformation from a boy finding a stone to the Truthless of Shinovar we all know so well. His plot in the present continues his journey towards a man choosing his path by rejecting his highspren and embracing a purpose beyond rigid laws—it is a deeply satisfying arc.
Another thing I adored is the inventive concept of the Spiritual Realm, where Dalinar, Navani, Renarin, Rlain and Shallan revisit Roshar's ancient past to uncover Honor’s demise. It show more beautifully intertwines history with their present character growth and Dalinar's search for the Words.

Odium's chilling introspections, especially Taravangian's cold calculus in destroying Kharbranth as proof of his vision for a unified universe and as a way of making himself free to go about his plans unhindered by human connections. They paint a complex and unsettling portrait of villainy. And then the ending, which undercuts this destruction in such a sweet and heartbreaking way… Beautiful.

Another highlight for me was the intellectual showdown between Jasnah, Odium and Fen, where Taravangian deftly challenges Jasnah’s philosophical foundation by leveraging Fen’s pragmatic decision for Thaylenah. Seeing Jasnah unravel in this way was both satisfying and unnerving at the same time, and it was, in my opinion, masterclass writing by Brandon Sanderson.
Shallan’s journey toward self-acceptance shines, too, as she triumphs over Mraize with cunning, bravery and anti-Light. The way she accepts her personas is a beautiful representation of DID, and the moment when she thrust her knife into Formless's face was a magnificent twist full of meaning. As I am not someone who participates in fan speculations, my jaw dropped to the floor when Shallan's mother was revealed.

Kaladin’s ascension to “Herald of Second Chances” offers a truly resonant completion to his arc. He learns to forgive himself and care for himself and accepts this as part of his mission, then making his final stand against Ishar. A powerful testament to personal growth and a profound understanding of depression. Ishar, by the way, was a great villain, and I loved his reveal.
Dalinar’s bold and unconventional resolution to the contest, by renouncing his oaths and allowing Honor and Odium to fuse into Retribution, was a stroke of strategic genius that, while strictly viewed as a loss, reshapes the landscape of the Cosmere.
Amidst these grand events, I really liked the understated peace secured for the Listeners. I really love Venli as a character and was a bit sad that she appeared so little in this book, but that doesn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying her parts and appreciating this ending for the Listeners.

The tragic complexity of Ba-Ado-Mishram, revealed as the cause of the deadeyes and the object of Honor's downfall, was quite unexpectedly touching for me. It adds significant depth to Roshar's and its Shards' history and makes me curious what lies ahead for the Unmade.

The romance between Renarin and Rlain, with their quiet, understanding connection and shared moments, felt genuinely earned and brought a tender warmth to the narrative. I am a sucker for gay romances, and I appreciate that Sanderson kept the resistance that lies within such a romance and even expanded it to an interspecies relationship.
However, as a Navani stan, I found myself longing for more of Navani's direct influence in the final chapters; while her intellectual prowess in the Spiritual Realm is undeniable, the grand finale felt too heavily weighted toward the male protagonists, an inappropriate imbalance given the series' strong female cast.

The narrative's frequent jumping between points of view was finally too much for me in this volume. It pulled me out of the deep emotional currents, making it a bit of a confusing whirlwind journey. Why not have one perspective per chapter? I'd love that.

Well, I can't have everything, but now—the ending… Though narratively a devastating defeat with Odium's victory and Stormlight fading, I think it masterfully delivers powerful character-level conclusions: Dalinar’s sacrifice, Kaladin’s new role, Shallan’s healing, Venli’s atonement, Sigzil's new quest, Jasnah's philosophical crisis, Adolin's new self-knowledge, … The pairing of these character conclusions and the very much unresolved plot makes for a wonderful tension. This is good because we are going to have to endure this tension for many years to come, until we hold Stormlight 6 in our hands. I can hardly await it, but there are always rereads for the time in-between. show less

If the Stormlight Archive could be summarized in one sentence, it is "journey before destination." This fifth installment serves not only as a climactic conclusion to the first arc but also as a deeply personal exploration of the characters' journeys, inviting the reader to reflect on their own path.

The story focuses on the journey of each of our beloved characters. We get to see where they came from and who they are now. Each character has a unique journey with a unique destination. Their paths are fraught with guilt, trauma, and impossible expectations, and at times, taking the next step becomes the greatest act of courage. It is in these moments where they shine the brightest, and we see how, guided by love, decency, and the desire show more to help, to protect, and to make the right choice, they keep walking, step by step.

For each of the characters, one of the most difficult parts of this journey is realizing that they deserve to be happy. Something so trivial to state yet so difficult to realize. If not, ask Szeth, as he was used as a tool for murder and destruction, truthless and plagued by the voices of the ones he had killed, whether he deserved to be happy. Ask Kaladin as he balances on the edge of a ravine after failing to protect one more friend. Ask Shallan as she kills another of her loved ones. Ask Dalinar as he burns a city and his wife to ashes. The answer can't possibly be yes. And yet, somehow, it is. As people, they are all capable of mistakes, yet worthy of redemption. Discovering this truth is deeply moving.

At its heart, this book is a eulogy to journeys and a deserving conclusion to the first arc of the most epic series I have read. This book celebrates not only the triumphs of the characters but also their struggles, showing how each failure, each moment of doubt, and each act of perseverance is integral in shaping them. As readers, we get to walk alongside them, sharing and witnessing their journey and marveling at who they become. For on reaching their destination, they and we, find that their destination is not a place but rather the people they have become along the way. Witnessing this journey is beautiful and offers many profound ideas and lessons to ponder for our own lives.

In the end, this book is not just a story—it is an invitation to reflect, to grow, and to embrace the beauty of our own imperfect journeys. As someone very witty once said, "The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon." show less

“A man sat on a couch and watched his favorite fantasy series end. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.”

My thoughts on this book are lengthy. For one, it completely dominated the past two weeks of my life, as all I could think about was reading it, and the "What's going to happen next??" feeling hadn't hit me so hard since I was a little kid. It was weirdly humbling, and I kept trying to look at the book more critically and I just...couldn't. It means too much to me to criticize it. The characters, the world, the words on the page feel alive to me in a way that's tangible, and the bulk of my 20's has been spent with them. I think it's a special piece of art that touches you in such a way.

On the other hand, this show more book is DENSE. And its weight often doesn't feel equivalent to its density, if you catch my meaning. It juggles a variety of plotlines and some of them feel distinctly connected to the core story arc of the series, and others feel a little more distant, just focusing on some characters reaching the end of their individual arcs. Certain ones were more impactful than others, but each of them felt satisfying and entertaining to me as a reader. It just makes me wonder if Brandon was as efficient with his pages as he could be (though I devoured every word eagerly). I felt Moshe Feder's absence much more heavily here than with Rhythm of War, just in terms of my personal preferences in book editing. Brandon's research into mental health also feels the most mature and respectful it's been with this book, and a lot of it felt personally meaningful to me. It was the first Stormlight book that didn't make me cry, but the first one that made me feel more whole, if that makes any sense.

This book felt like a culmination of the entire Stormlight series, but also sets up everything else Brandon will ever write, in a literal and metaphorical sense. It's suitably much more about the journey than the destination. If you've made it this far with the Stormlight Archive alone, I highly doubt you won't feel the need to check out anything else he's written. And if you're a dedicated Cosmere enthusiast, then there's little you won't adore about this book. From a craft perspective, I would give this a solid 4/5, but as a dedicated fan I can't give it anything less than full marks.

I love this series. I'm glad I read it. What else is there to say, really?

Strength before weakness. 'Till next time, Mr. Sanderson. show less

What a behemoth of a book.

Expectations were high for this culimination of the first arc of The Stormlight Archive, but although finishing the book left me feeling as though I had experienced something momentous, ultimately it did not land as convincingly or as powerfully as some of the earlier entries in the series.

The structure of Wind and Truth was essentially set up by how Rhythm of War ended. The book would need to cover 10 days, and there would be a gradual build-up until the final showdown at the end of that period. However, it was difficult for me to come to terms with how much the characters do and go through in this book (the longest of the series so far) with it being the shortest overall time period. It didn't feel slow in show more the sense that not enough was happening, but rather the opposite, in that there was so much going on with the detail of each perspective throughout the 10 days, that the momentum of the ultimatum felt a bit lost. This was not helped by a number of the perspectives involved the characters going through somewhat repeated experiences.

As others have also pointed out, the 'therapy' aspects of this book also felt a bit heavy handed to me. The way that Sanderson interweaves the realistic mental and emotional struggles of the characters with their personality development and their experiences in the plot is to me one of the most masterful aspects of the earlier books in the series. In Wind and Truth, this is a lot less organic, with a number of plotlines involving characters largely talking either others or themselves through psychological issues, and this more 'tell' rather than 'show' approach made the emotional breakthroughs less rewarding, as well as feeling more unrealistic given the short timeframe of the plot.

That is not to say the book as whole was not enjoyable - there are some spectacular moments for all of the main character perspectives, and I especially thought the Adolin storyline (which was probably the most grounded) was very engaging and provided a compelling viewpoint from a non-Radiant in a world where powers have become dominant. The continued worldbuilding through the visions in the Spiritual Realm were also engrossing, and I enjoyed learning more about this history of Roshar and what led to the present day state of affairs. The stakes feel appropriately high and there are momentous occurences across all the points of view with a lot of unexpected results leaving the fate of many of the main characters as well as the world as whole truly uncertain. I'll still definitely be coming back for the rest of The Stormlight Archive when Sanderson picks it up again, but hoping that he can recapture some of the more nuanced storytelling magic from the earlier books. show less

I love Sanderson, but I found this to be truly a slog (which took me about 3 months to get through). Especially early in the book, it felt like hundreds of pages went by with little advancement of the plot, leaving me convinced that some aggressive editing would have made for a better book. While I enjoyed finally getting to learn more about Szeth's backstory, I found myself feeling ambivalent about many characters who I loved in the earlier books, especially Shallan.

I finished listening to Wind and Truth after I read a blog from Brandon on how book 5 isn’t a political commentary, how he was trying to write people honestly. I’m calling BS. It’s like half political commentary and half actual story. It is a HUGE margin.

I've been thinking about the relationship with oaths in book 5 and what Brandon is wrestling with/trying to communicate about covenants.

Adolin who has been hurt by oaths and by those who make them, and achieves a high order, power, and honor without making oaths.

Renarin and Rlain who walk a parallel covenant path that looks different from and is not accepted by those of the mainstream/accepted covenants.

Szeth and Dalinar and perhaps others who renounce their oaths as part show more of their journey, in full confidence that they are acting in right and truth. Both pay dearly with mortal consequences, but seem to gain eternal honor.

Then Taravangian trying to claim Dalinar's soul for his broken oath, but his soul continues on because it's been claimed.

Sigzil renouncing his oaths to save his friend's life, the rending that causes in him and his spren, the loss he experiences, and what he becomes in Sunlit Man--a nomad, adopted, and then a hero with echoes of former oaths.

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the life, choices, and internal/eternal and faithfulness to it as higher than any specific order (religion, truth). show less

I put this book aside for a while because I LOVE Brandon Sanderson's writing, but it has been years since I have read the previous book in the series and it took me a while to catch up. There is very little backstory or catch up.

The other thing that pissed me off a bit about the book was that they have multiple characters and they take you a bit with each one and then leave you hanging. Does he have to do that SO FRICKEN' OFTEN! I understand how it builds suspense and gives you different pieces of the puzzle slowly but just saying it annoyed me.

As I still continue my bitching, you would also think with such a long book that it would finish this series, but it doesn't. As I was listening to the book on audible, I keep thinking, it will show more be worth it, it will end all the storylines. But no! It doesn't.

Ok, bitching over. Brandon Sanderson's writing and characters has some of the best wisdom and unique story ideas. I put the Stormlight Archive as one of the best fantasy series, but as he keeps expanding the story to be bigger and bigger you keep expecting it to have one nice big finish... and not yet. show less