A good ending to this arc of the Stormlight Archive. In classic Sanderson fashion, the end of the book moves at a million miles per hour, is amazing, and leaves you hyped for the next book in the Cosmere.
Some great character development from Szeth, Kaladin, and especially Renarin. Plenty of Cosmere-awareness thanks to Hoid. I love Sandersons effort to write authentic representations of characters struggling with mental health. There were a few very emotional moments in the Hoid -> Kaladin -> Szeth therapy arc which I adored.
I couldn't help the feeling that the book was just too long. I felt like Sando had so many characters to follow, and so many threads (some of which I'm not sure matter at the moment?) that it did feel less of a cohesive story and more a compilation of shorter stories woven together. I don't think I enjoyed that too much, but when they came together at the end it was great.
Dalinar is one of my favourite characters, and I was shattered by his choice at the end and what it did to Honor and the Stormfather. I'm glad he's still about, but there's no way he'll be the same. I don't think anything will top him opening Honor's perpendicularity in the last book, but this was close.
Disappointed with Jasnah - one of my other favourites - I think this book terribly underserved her, unless it's being set up to be "just as plannedTM" - there must be more to it. The debate with Odium seemed mishandled.
I think it's always going to be hard to connect the worlds of the Cosmere together so that the future books exist in the same time/space so I'll forgive any awkwardness that might be due to that.
Sanderson still blows my mind with the scope of what he's achieving with the Cosmere. Any criticism I have pales in comparison to the epic scale of this story.
“Welcome, Kaladin Stormblessed. Herald of Kings. Herald of the Wind. Herald of…”
“Herald,” Kaladin said, “of Second Chances.”
