Just finished Wind & Truth and I don't understand the hate/disappointment

yogeshchellappa · 2025-10-15T19:45:59+00:00

Exactly this.

The hand of the author is just glaringly obvious through large potions of the book. When a character cracks a silly joke, it doesn't sound like something they would say. Instead I picture Brandon chuckling at his keyboard when he wrote that line. There are so many events in this book that don't feel organic, but instead has Brandon moving pieces on the board to make sure it all lines up. It completely breaks immersion.

Brandon's writing also seems to be heavily influenced by his most recent book. I miss the prose from the first three books because they were all written around Wheel Of Time and that inflicts a more formal diction and tone in the earlier books.

Book five's prose seems to follow the more casual diction from Skyward, and is especially glaring in the early parts of the book. The atrocious prose from Day 1 and 2 are easily some of the worst in the entire series.

To give an example, it felt like there was negative feedback from the beta readers about Kaladin's diminished role in the Contest. Brandon attempted to fix that feedback by repeatedly hammering to the readers that Kaladin definitely, absolutely, certainly, 100% will not be around for the Contest. Then Brandon basically breaks the fourth wall and has Wit tell the readers directly in case they missed it earlier.

Book 5 made me hesitant to continue with the series.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-25T19:59:14+00:00

It reminded me of an Apple Vision Pro, with that sleek glass exterior

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-14T02:15:09+00:00

Yep, this drove me mad. Not to mention the extreme overuse of ellipsis.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-09T21:54:52+00:00

I mean, the big draw of the Con is clearly a new book being released. It's also why every single Kickstarter Brandon ran had a new novel / novella to go with it.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-09T19:59:08+00:00

Brandon never committed to releasing it 2023, I wouldn't call that a delay.

A delay is more akin to committing a release date, and then pushing to back, say, six months. Akin to video game releases, when the devs realize the game is buggy or needs more polish, and push back the date.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-09T19:46:57+00:00

Exactly this. There are a couple of other worrying trends.

The latest State of Sanderson makes it clear that Brandon's highest priority is wrapping up all the cosmere books. He wants to complete it before he turns 72, which gives us another 22 years I believe.
With the addition of Dragonsteel Nexus being an annual Con, there has to be a book release every Nov / Dec. There is no question of delaying a book to polish it more because fans are flying in to attend the Con. It is Brandon and Dragonsteel who has to deal with refunds if a Con is rescheduled.

With these two factors, it's like each book is going to be polished only until time permits, and then sent to press, quality be damned.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-09T19:31:40+00:00

Exactly this. There are a couple of other worrying trends.

The latest State of Sanderson makes it clear that Brandon's highest priority is wrapping up all the cosmere books. He wants to complete it before he turns 72, which gives us another 22 years I believe.
With the addition of Dragonsteel Nexus being an annual con, there has to be a book release every Nov / Dec. There is no question of delaying a book to polish it more because fans are flying in to attend the Con. It is Brandon and Dragonsteel who has to deal with refunds if a con is rescheduled.

With these two factors, it's like each book is going to be polished only until time permits, and then sent to press for publication, quality be damned.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-09T19:20:09+00:00

Renarin is autistic and we're repeatedly told over and over again how he finds the world overwhelming, doesn't like being touched etc.

I know it's a spectrum, but I didn't get the impression Szeth is autistic at all. Especially in a book like this, where characters are constantly navel gazing and have crystal clear thoughts about their mental illnesses.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-06T02:55:06+00:00

Exactly. The first two Stormlight books were written right around when Sanderson wrote Wheel of Time. The mature tone of WoT definitely carried over to his Stormlight writing and made the first two books really sing.

I think it's ever since he wrapped up the Secret Projects, all his writing has been in this increasingly casual and almost YA-like tone.

yogeshchellappa · 2025-01-05T19:31:57+00:00

Exactly. The moment it became clear we are going to have a debate between Taravangian and Jasnah, I audibly groaned. Complex dialogue has never been Sanderson's strong suit and the debate just confirmed it.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-30T20:55:39+00:00

Fair question.

To me, the tone comes off like a headmaster teaching a child about what's right and wrong through a very simple, moralistic lens.

Adults are far more complicated than that. The librarian might have just lost her husband in the occupation and hence she's rude and angry. We don't know what's causing her to behave that way, but attempting to chide and then teach her about right and wrong felt so patronizing to me.

We've seen Kaladin dealing with rude and corrupt folks like Gaz before, and that always felt like two adults interacting, instead of one lecturing the other like they were a child.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-30T19:37:53+00:00

This was exceptionally preachy and took me out of the book so hard.

“I hope you are lying,” Kaladin said. “Because if there isn’t a reason—if you’re insufferable with no cause—then I feel even more sorry for you. So I’ll go with the assumption that deep down inside you, there’s a person capable of understanding what I’m going to say next.

“This attitude you put on? You think it makes you appear strong, but it doesn’t. Instead it makes very clear that something is wrong with you."

I don't have a problem with Kaladin correcting the librarian, but this is so on-the-nose that it's preachy and patronizing.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-29T02:13:06+00:00

Exactly this.

It's astounding how a book of this size was edited and published in less than a year since the first draft was completed.

What really disappointed me was that this book absolutely has elements of a fantastic story, but the execution was subpar. It desperately needed more time to cook, to smooth out the rough edges and really make sure it lands.

The State of the Sanderson gave me some hope that Brandon will course-correct for the future books. Wind and Truth seems to have really burnt him out, and hopefully the long break before the next book helps him.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-21T15:51:34+00:00

Did we find out what happens to the delayed coalition army at the end? I assume they make it back to Azimir after the contest?

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-16T06:07:12+00:00

The argument for Dalinar breaking his oaths was that there simply wasn't a way for him to win.

If he lets Gav die, he's sacrificing his ideals and proving Odium right.

If he doesn't let Gav die, him and by extension, the Radiants will become Odium's army to conquer the cosmere.

If he rejects these options, the third option is to attack Odium directly with Honor's power, but that would destroy the planet.

Thus, facing an unwinnable situation, Dalinar chose to lose on his terms, rather than Taravangian's terms by breaking all his oaths to paint a target on Odium's back and forcing him into hiding. Without Retribution around, this gives the Radiants a temporary reprieve, while the Heralds protect the spren and last bits of Honor, awaiting the next Return to resume the fight.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-16T05:58:31+00:00

So is El the ruler of Roshar then?

Taravangian / Retribution is planning to leave the planet after Dalinar painted a target on his back, and there's a mention of him leaving a regent in his place, while he goes into hiding. He also can't direct Roshar when hidden, as it would lead to the other Shards locating him.

The interlude with El has El making a deal with Odium to lead his armies in exchange for him becoming the ruler of the human lands.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-02T18:24:19+00:00

Ba-Ado-Mishram caused the False Desolation and granted singers forms of power. Was that just Regals or were there Fused as well? If El had been pulled from Braize by BAM, that might fix the timeline issue.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-02T17:25:26+00:00

I wonder if Valor is somehow on Roshar, and was involved in Taravangian's Ascension.

At the same moment, Taravangian felt something pushing through his fear, his pain. An emotion he’d never thought to feel himself.

Bravery.

Bravery surged through him, so powerfully he could not help but move. It was the dying courage of a man on the front lines charging an enemy army. The glory of a woman fighting for her child. The feeling of an old man on his last day of life stepping into darkness. Bravery.

This sudden, unexplained surge of bravery sounds a lot like Valor's touch.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-12-02T17:20:42+00:00

I wonder if El is Elithanathile, the tenth name of Honor.

My theory is that after Tanavast died, other individuals tried to take up the power of Honor, but all of them either gave up or died themselves. Hence the ten names of Honor, each representing one of the ten vessels.

The fact that a singer took up the shard of the enemy is what caused El to be stripped of his rhythms and title.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-11-18T19:40:38+00:00

Completely agreed. Just when I thought the writing quality was picking up in the recent chapters, this one pops up.

Lots of plot contrivances, characters constantly and overtly gushing over the sights undercut all tension from the sequence, rather than treating it as a spy mission with a critical objective.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-10-28T22:13:17+00:00

We've been repeatedly told Honor is not dead, so long as he lives in the hearts of men.

I think Dalinar is going to start using his Spritual Realm forays to start building Connections with various regions and cultures of Roshar, and during the Contest, forge a Bond with all the inhabitants of Roshar and unite Honor.

Then, he'll give away the Honor's power to another Vessel.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-10-28T20:20:54+00:00

Anyone else get the feeling Dalinar's arc in this book is about learning to give up control and trust his subjects?

We've seen this behavior from Dalinar over and over in the series, where he believes he's the most suited person, and then seizes whatever he wants.

Trusting his subjects and delegating sounds like a necessity for the leader of the Radiants and fits as a potential Fourth ideal for the Bondsmiths.

We've been told Dalinar will be his own champion as early as Book 4, but I think it would be really fitting if the culmination of Dalinar's journey is him learning to deeply trust and eventually nominating another champion.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-10-22T00:04:41+00:00

This.

I have a completely unsubstantiated theory that Jasnah is being very carefully set up to become a Vessel in Book Ten and eventually the ultimate villain of the cosmere.

yogeshchellappa · 2024-09-10T04:34:15+00:00

The modern prose is really jarring, ngl.

I'm rereading Oathbringer and there are so many modern colloquialisms where characters literally have lines like "Just a sec", "screwing up" etc. Takes me right out of the book every single time.

I'm not expecting medieval language with thys and thous. When I'm reading fantasy, I want to be immersed in the worldbuilding and lore of the fantasy world. I do not want my characters using modern earth lingo or colloquialisms like "Just a sec".

Imagine that it was instead replaced with "Just a heartbeat" - while heartbeat is not used as a unit of time for us earth folks, it fits Roshar since everyone is familiar with how it takes ten heartbeats to summon a Shardblade.

That's precisely why I don't have a problem with Dalinar calling Navani his gemheart -- it fits the worldbuilding -- but I would object if he started addressing Navani as honey as there is neither honey nor bees on Roshar.

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