The fourth book of The Stormlight Archive is every bit as good as the first three. It is set a year after the events of Oathbringer and the story continues the development of our favorite characters, as well as sharing some insight into the Singers.
The main characters are Shallan (her adventure with Adolin in Shadesmar), Kaladin (his story is mostly set in Urithiru), Navani (her experiments and the tower), and Venli (her role in the new Fused society and the flashbacks of how her choices caused her to betray her people). Naturally there also the Interludes, appearances by Wit, focus on Dalinar, and all the other things that make one of these books incredibly deep, but also very fun.
From this point on there will be spoilers…
-I love the personal journeys of Shallan and Kaladin. Shallan has completely embraced the three personality aspect of her mind, but it is probably not the most healthy way to deal with things. I liked that she is still split by the end, but that she understands she needs to reconcile herself. I think she will be saying the Fourth Ideal soon. Kaladin’s journey was much darker. I loved it though, and honestly, I love that these characters are not perfect and they struggle so much. I am not going to lie, the vision at the end with Tien may have brought a few tears to my eyes.
-Adolin’s story continues to go in a different direction. I keep expecting him to bond a spren and become a Radiant. Or maybe that his Shardblade would cease to be a Deadeyes and he would bond Maya. Instead, he continues to grow as a person. He went to Shadesmar with a goal and ended up discovering that the Radiants never betrayed their spren, that it was a mutual agreement.
-Teft’s death hit me fairly hard. He was always one of my favorite characters and I knew deep down that he would die at some point, but that did not make it any easier.
-When Kaladin says the Fourth Ideal, it was one of those shout out loud in joy moments.
-Who will Odium (especially now that it is Taravangian) choose as his champion to face Dalinar? I do not think this contest of champions will turn out the way we expect.
-From what I understand, the next book will end this particular cycle. Even though it is a ten book series, I think Sanderson has said before that it would be two sets of five, which makes sense because it feels like this story is coming to an end (the war between the listeners and humans, the rise of the Radiants, etc).
Anyways, if you are reading this series, what are some of your thoughts? Should I be reading all the other books that take place in the cosmere?
