"Words of Radiance" reactions
Based on comments from reddit, I expected this book to be a lull compared to book 1, but I didn’t really find that to be true at all. Being not the first in a series I don’t have much to say without spoilers, but if anything I enjoyed this more than book 1!
Spoiler review
I loved Shallan’s arc so much this book. I’m a huge fan in general of history & science in fantasy worlds, so that’s pretty unsurprising, I already loved her arc in book 1, but then her as a spy was pretty totally unexpected (her having to leave the academic world somehow was pretty expected cos characters in comfort never stay that way, but spying - I did not see that coming AT ALL and I love it).
Shallan+Adolin are just fucking adorable.
“What if you need to poop?” she asked instead. “Well, I put my back to the chasm and laid about me with my sword, intending to . . . Wait. What did you say?” “Poop,” Shallan said. “You’re out there on the battlefield, encased in metal like a crab in its shell. What do you do if nature calls?”
I love love love the Urithiru-is-a-portal-on-each-map mystery. Omg that’s just the coolest. Also makes the whole “walked to Urithiru” thing so much cooler of a feat. I retroactively laughed at them thinking that walking to Urithiru is instead of…riding on horseback. This is one of the coolest the-characters-discover-something-about-their-world mysteries I’ve ever seen in a fantasy novel. I love this so much.
Also cool how much of the characters' backstories turn out to be related - Kaladin killing Shallan’s brother is what started this entire thing!
Speaking of which, I do NOT want a Kaladin+Shallan romance or love triangle, though I did enjoy them as friends stuck in the chasms. Unfortunately I’m 100% sure we’re getting a Kaladin-Adolin-Shallan love triangle. I laughed at their explanation to Dalinar when they got back to camp:
Kaladin looked to her, frowning. He turned back to Dalinar almost immediately. “Yes,” Kaladin said. “That’s what happened.” He was a far worse liar than Shallan was.
Szeth isn’t Truthless! It hearkens back to Wit’s story from The Way of Kings about the emperor of the Uvara who turned out to be dead.
“Holding a blanket around herself, staring with haunted eyes at her lands, she replied, ‘Do you not see, Traveling One? If the emperor is dead, and has been all these years, then the murders we committed are not his responsibility. They are our own.’”
Poor Szeth.
Kaladin’s inner turmoil felt frustrating but believable, and his eventual acceptance of the Words was so satisfying. Also I love Adolin staying in jail with Kaladin…but taking baths and wearing cologne and talking to Shallan via spanreed hahahaha.
“I will protect even those I hate,” Kaladin whispered through bloody lips. “So long as it is right.”
Every time we got an Eshonai POV I was kinda disappointed because I wanted a not-Eshonai POV, but admittedly it’s pretty cool to see the Listeners' society and culture.
I can’t believe Adolin kills Sadeas. Hell yes. What a perfect ending. Along with Dalinar bonding to the Stormfather.
Yeah this book was way cooler than book 1. This series is awesome.
