It rained all day when I started this book. Luckily, it wasn’t a highstorm.

In Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, we continue the Stormlight Archive series with Kaladin now elevated to the head guard of Lord Dalinar and his family. It’s a better life, but he struggles with learning to control his new magical powers—and then there’s Amaram, the man who betrayed him and got his brother killed, who’s back in his life. Meanwhile, Dalinar still grapples with his role in this world, how he can bring back the Knights Radiant, and if he can perhaps end the war with the Parshendi. And Shallan has set out for the Shattered Plains, where her mentor has arranged a marriage to Dalinar’s son—but Shallan has a new companion, a spren with secrets, who will help her along a new path she never imagined.

This book was really good, but I also feel like it was a little exhausting. It’s just so long, and I know that it’s not even the longest one in the series. But I’ve committed to the series now, of my own free will, so who cares! Because it’s also really good!

The character development in this one is fantastic, as well as the expanding lore of this world. Kaladin gets to learn more about using Stormlight, as does Shallan, and both grow as people. Especially Shallan, who goes through a lot in this story and is forced so far out of her comfort zone that she nearly becomes a totally different person (well, in a way, she does do that quite literally). And I have to hand it to Sanderson for making everyone’s gradual development feel so organic and realistic.

And regarding these two characters, I didn’t expect that the Shallan-Kaladin corporate team-building exercise would take the form of 127 Hours (Brandon’s Version) but I’m not mad about it. It was a thrilling few chapters, especially since it involved a chasmfiend. But more on that later.

I also enjoyed Adolin’s perspective. He’s such a fun character, his bond with Shallan is delightful, but the standout for me is his dynamic with Kaladin. Watching their friendship develop and grow is possibly my favorite part of this book, and I really hope I get to see more of it in Oathbringer. It’s just a pleasant experience to see these characters getting to know each other when, for the entire first book of the series, they never interacted at all. The disparate plotlines now converging makes for a rewarding read.

However, speaking of disparate plotlines, I was incredibly tempted a couple of times to skip the Interludes (for non-Stormlight readers, these are the short chapters in between “Parts”, which is how the overall book is divided). It really took the wind out of my sails to abruptly have to read several scenes from the POVs of characters I didn’t know, whose experiences didn’t have any bearing on the current plot. And I know they will all be relevant in later installments in the series, but I didn’t like having to pause reading about Kaladin et al. However, I persevered and read them all, and I did quite enjoy the scenes from Eshonai’s perspective especially. Seeing her view on the conflict on the Shattered Plains was fascinating.

Another fascinating element of this book is definitely the animals and plant life. I don’t think I brought it up in my Way of Kings review, but it’s so cool how the wildlife have evolved to have protective shells to be safe from the highstorms. And who doesn’t love the idea of crustaceans as megafauna? That’s so cool! I (predictably) found myself thinking that I want more scenes featuring creatures like the chulls—and then, as if sensing my desire, a chasmfiend arrived. These things are so cool and impressive, and I want to befriend one. How to Train Your Chasmfiend, if you will.

However, chulls and chasmfiends aside, there were a couple of things I struggled with. Okay, it’s mostly Elhokar, the whiny, self-pitying bane of my existence. I often jot down notes for these reviews, especially for books of longer length, and at one point I just said “Elhokar is a menace to society” which was hilarious in retrospect, since that ended up being a plot point. A plot point which at one stage made me want to slap Kaladin for being a fool. However, there were some wonderful moments even in that subplot, so this isn’t even really a criticism. In fact, this subplot brings up a lot of intriguing questions about leadership and power dynamics, which were thought-provoking.

Another thing I wanted to lightly criticize is the quotes at the start of each chapter. Some are quotes from the Parshendi’s traditional songs, and the inner English major in me must have emerged, because I kept analyzing the meter of these songs. I’m not great with poetry analysis, but I’m pretty sure the meter in a lot of these is inconsistent. Not that it matters, but I kept noticing it. Plus, sometimes the quotes from the in-universe text “Words of Radiance” read like the driest academic-style text imaginable and I am so grateful that these snippets don’t seem to matter. (I suspect that hardcore fans will tell you they do matter, because they definitely give context to certain things in the bigger picture of the full series, but I challenge those fans to tell me any aspect of these snippets’ content offhand.) Like, what is this, the Silmarillion? I don’t LIKE the Silmarillion, Brandon! (I can say that; I read the Silm about 10+ years ago and suffered basically the whole time. I wouldn’t even recommend it to fellow Tolkien fans, I’m sorry. But I digress.)

Anyway, I probably forgot to talk about several dozen things, but in the end, Words of Radiance was fantastic. The characters, the world-building, the magic system are all full of such life and detail. It’s not an easy read, but it’s so brilliant and entertaining, and a wonderful second installment in this ambitious series. It’s hard to talk about this book with friends and family, though, considering they’re all 1–3 books ahead of me. It’s not my fault I’m chronically late to things! (Okay, yes it is.) I guess this just means I need to get to Oathbringer soon!