r/Stormlight_Archive • u/BeOneOfUsMichael • 2d ago
Wind and Truth spoilers Hitting A Wall in Winds and Truth Spoiler
Starting earlier this year, I started the Stormlight series. I ripped through the first four books and was very excited to read the fifth book and be all caught up.
But I have hit a wall. I am just at the beginning of the 6th day and the story just is not working for me. Book 1 and 3 both hit a little slump in the middle for me, but did not take long for that slump to disappear. But this slump has been long. Day 4 and 5, with the exception of some parts felt like a slump.
Adolins chapters have been fantastic. There is clear tension building and the grind of trying to hold the line until reinforcements get there is brutal in the best way. Szeth background chapters have been very interesting and engaging. Kaladin and Syls bond growing has been wonderful to see.
But man there is so much exposition. Dalinar, Navani, and Shallan are all caught in a flashback episode. I get that this information is important and probably will have some big reveals coming. But good lord their chapters just feel like exposition. To be fair, Shallan chapters have some more intrigue with the Ghostbloods but I also have become uninterested in the Ghostbloods. I started to lose interest about them in book 4.
I also just feel like the book has a villain problem. Tarvanigan started interesting to me, but I do not care about him anymore. Even if he is Odium. Mosh started as an intriguing villain, and now I am tired of him. Mraize is tiresome too.
Sadeas was a fantastic villain. Tarvanigan started so interesting when his motives were being revealed. Raboniel in R&W was such a breath of fresh air. Yes she opposed our heroes, but I also felt for her and liked her. But this book has such a bad villain problem. I dont care about any of them. And the way some of them persist is laughable at this point. I think Mraize has escaped death three times already this book? It is boring to see him continually slip away with a smirk and a wink.
This is the first book in the series I actually want to stop reading. Just because the story is not clicking in to place for me. It does not seem to have those moments that kept propelling me forward like the first four books did. Because so much of the book is exposition or heavy handed therapy time.
I guess this rants purpose is to ask (with no spoilers for what is to come), is this a common feeling about the book? Does the book get better in the back 650 pages? Should I just take a break and come back to it?
I do not want to quit. But reading the book has started to feel like homework rather than something I am enjoying. Which is hard to say after how much I loved the first four books.
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u/BlazeOfGlory72 2d ago
Yeah, I found Wind and Truth to be an absolute slog to get through. Literally hundreds upon hundreds of pages of Dalinar getting exposition dumped on, Shallan playing Among Us with the Ghost Bloods, and Kaladin collecting Gym Badges and working on his therapy degree. Adolin was the only saving grace of the story for me.
To put it bluntly, Sanderson needs someone to tell him "no". There was no reason for WaT to be this long and tedious. For comparison, Wind and Truth is longer in page count than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's insane.
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u/BeOneOfUsMichael 2d ago
Yeah, I for sure am already feeling the page count is ridiculous. Trimming the book down and eliminating some view points would help quite a bit.
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u/Exotic-End9921 1d ago
Other comments sum up my own complaints rather succinctly. But I think this book's biggest issue is that it felt as though Brandon talked too much on Cosmere hype to carry it.
It almost reminds me of an MCU movie where the whole point of the movie is like
"woah look at this character from a different franchise that showed up woaaahh this storys getting so much bigger and grander now"
Book five did not spend enough time down to the earth for me to connect with most of the POV's outside of Adolin and Kaladin at times. Their povs were the only ones to really feel like they were still in a Stormlight book. The focus on Roshar relevant figures, and the fighting in Azir felt the most grounded out of all the POV's
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u/BeOneOfUsMichael 18h ago
Yeah, this book much more than the others, seems very focused on the Cosmere. And even though I am only half way through, seems like the second arc of this series is going to be much more about the Cosmere as a whole than Roshar. Which honestly may pull me out of the series.
It has started to feel very MCUish, which is a shame.
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u/Alcan196 2d ago
Chapters 60-100 were a bit of a slog, but it picks up after that.
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u/Pedittle 2d ago
Book 5 definitely struck me as an interlude rather than a grand conclusion to part 1. Certainly not my favorite, mostly set the stage for future story
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u/BlazeOfGlory72 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think this is what frustrated me the most about Wind and Truth. It’s still described as “The Epic Conclusion” and “The long awaited explosive climax to the first arc of Stormlight Archive” on Sanderson’s own website, and that just simply isn’t true. This book resolves nothing and instead is almost entirely focused on setting story threads up for the next Arc.
Hell, the tagline and central theme of this whole series is “journey before destination”, but this book really only seems to care about the “destination” (ie. Arc 2) rather than the “journey” (ie. telling a compelling story in the present). On a meta level, WaT betrays its own thesis.
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u/Saiyoran 2d ago
This is a common sentiment about the book, yes. It is easily the worst of the 5, and is way too long for how little actual time it covers. The events of the ending are pretty cool, and a lot of the lore you get from Dalinar’s PoV is interesting, but as a cohesive story it’s brutal.
It’s a book where if you told me a bullet point list of what happened and all the things that were revealed, I’d probably say “yeah that sounds really awesome” but actually reading it is decidedly not awesome.
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u/---___------___----- 2d ago
For me the problem was the hundreds of pages of mental health advice. It all seemed so repetitive. In each book, each main character is defined by a mental health problem. Towards the end of the book they are partially cured by telling themselves some platitudes or remembering something, then in the next book it has to happen again.
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u/Wind-and-Waystones 1d ago
That's kind of real to life about mental health issues though
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u/---___------___----- 1d ago
Yes I agree but I don't want to wade through hundreds of pages of it with the same arc over and over again for every main character, who becomes a caricature of their mental health. And in real life I don't think these problems are helped by saying some nice sounding platitudes, you need proper medical help not some pop-psychology.
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u/LMc_Curios 2d ago
I felt a shift in the writing during Rhythm of War and it has only gotten more pronounced in book 5! Hats off to Sando for developing so many rich characters, but their arcs feel rudderless and the plotting a bit haphazard? Big universe, lotta stuff.
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u/OnePizzaHoldTheGlue 2d ago
I feel you. The book didn't quite jibe with ne as a cohesive piece of storytelling. But I did mostly enjoy the ending. Good luck getting through it!
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u/tickletaylor 2d ago
Yep, I did not finish. Didn't like it. Ive re read the other books dozens of times. I also struggled with the latest mistborn book. I guess im just not a fan of where Brandon's writing is going. To much superheroification, too much hope and good will always prevail. He has also shifted away from his insanely good character driven plots towards grander cosmer style focus. It just doesnt connect in the same way and im bored. I cared more about the smaller local struggles such as Gaz vs Kaladin, sapweed, sadeas betrayal, ect then these huge cosmer level events.
Also everything seems to be shifting into futuristic sci fi which i dislike. It feels forced and shoehorned
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u/coolcrowe 2d ago
It's funny how different people enjoy different things lol. For me, the Dalinar chapters were the ones I was looking forward to the most, and I was getting tired of Adolin's. Anyway definitely push through, the end is worth reading especially after the investment you've put in. But it's ok to take a break if you need. It's gonna be a while before we have book 6 anyway.
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u/robbie2232 2d ago
I mean feel free to stop reading if it’s not for you.
A lot of people didn’t like it. I thought it was great actually. I found the pacing to be very fast (maybe intense is the better word) tbh, & found the pov switching to be more suspenseful than annoying. I liked it being only 10 days, everything felt very do or die - to me at least.
Very similar feel to the end of Wheel of Time. Story slows down time wise, not narratively & everything is vital.
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u/awyseguy 2d ago
Bought this book when it first came out but it seems to lack the whimsy that came from the others. I still haven't finished it.
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u/Ripper1337 2d ago
The others had whimsy?
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 2d ago
Discretion is the better part of Valor. And Whimsy too apparently. No place for gods who make good decisions on Roshar
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u/jackjames_043 2d ago
Sorry to say but I had to stop reading this book towards the end. I've read the others around 4 times or more each, the first two around 7 or more times. However the ending of this book did not feel right to me.
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u/Interesting-Sea-1761 2d ago
This book is different from others and has pacing issues, but I didn’t hit a stump anywhere and read it faster than I did any other on this saga. I have my problems with some things but I still enjoyed it anyway.
I really liked getting lore answers and why some things happened, I was curious about shinovar and szeth and the Radiants and am satisfied with what I got.
Less satisfied with other things.
I don’t think Taravangian is a bad antagonist, I actually quite liked him.
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u/DemonAngel329 2d ago
It's going to be a long time until Stormlight Archive 6. I say just read like 2 pages a day.
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u/TrooperCX 22h ago
1-3 we're great.
4 & 5, especially 5, I think I will pass on the series until it's completed.
I call it the modern day Malazan.
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u/OutsideAd7440 4h ago
The absolute worst part is when a thread is getting really interesting and then there is a POV switch, and by the time you work your way back the tension and excitement is gone. Happened to me about every "day". Wish that we'd gotten the normal format. One POV then another then another all of them completing 90% of their plot before switching gears. All culminating in part 5 where it concludes.
Felt like too many ppl and too much exposition. I rushed through it
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u/New-Sympathy-344 2d ago
Yeah, this book is loads different from the others. The 10 day focus is a big thing. Time passing, even just a few days between stuff, made the stuff more interesting. Here? It’s one after the other and that’ll be the case for the rest of the book.
Adolin’s is my favorite arc in this book followed by Szeth and Kaladin. For me, it was when it hit Day 8 that I couldn’t put it down. The sanderlanch was falling for my at that point.
I don’t blame you at all for taking it slow or wanting to stop.