Book Review: Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

Wind and Truth is the 5th novel in The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderon. This series is a 10-book series, but told in two 5-book arcs. This makes it the novel the conclusion of the first arc of the story. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Dalinar Kholin has challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions, and the Knights Radiant and the nations of Roshar have a mere 10 days to prepare for the worst. The fate of the entire world—and the Cosmere at large—hangs in the balance.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This is the ending of the first arc of The Stormlight Archive and it is quite an impressive book. It's very long, and the plot does suffer a bit in the middle parts, but the setting and characters are well established so I felt drawn to it all the way. Overall, it was a great book and a fitting conclusion to this arc. I really want to know what happens next, but suspect it may be several years before we return to Roshar.

Plot

There is a lot going on in this book, with multiple threads spread across multiple characters. There's a few times towards the middle of the book where the action feels interrupted by having flashbacks scenes. Szeth has a big role to play in this book, but there is a lot for his backstory to cover and it sometimes feels like there are too many swaps to keep things moving along. That said, the book has an explosive finish. Without spoiling much, it really feels like the end of an arc, somewhat like The Hero of Ages ended the first Misborn era. Whatever books follow in The Stormlight Archive will be very different from these first 5.

One minor aspect of the story is that in prior Stormlight Archive books there would be 5 parts, which would result in a line of ketek poetry at the end. This book breaks that pattern as each part is one day going up to the deadline established in Rhythm of War. It's not a huge deal, but it is a shame that the pattern is broken and it does lead to the back and forth I alluded to earlier since everything is going on in the same day.

Characters

We see the same cast of characters we've come to know and expect, with maybe a few new minor characters popping in from time to time. Prominent characters that I felt had some interesting growth include Szeth, Renarin, Rlain, Adolin, and Jasnah, but all the usual ones are there too and we get to see them in new situations and strengthening their understandings and bonds. Renarin was particularly interesting as it's rare in fantasy to portray a primary character on the autism spectrum. It'll be interesting to see how Renarin and Rlain progress further. Adolin had some very interesting things happen that will be curious to read more on and we're technically still missing on Jasnah's flashbacks. She's mentioned several times her troubled youth, but we haven't yet fully seen that.

Setting / World Building

One of the big things of this book is the Spiritual Realm. We've already seen the Physical and the Cognitive, also known as Shadesmar, but now we get to see several characters go into the Spiritual Realm for several reasons. Shallan is chasing after the Ghostbloods and an Unmade, while Dalinar is looking for answers and an edge in the upcoming contest. That place is very confusing for all of them, but it allows us to see events of the distant past and thus get much needed answers.

The Surge of Connection is quite prominent in this book. Though it's not clear to me if it is an actual Surge or just a concept, like Identity. While the Bondsmiths are particularly skilled at this, other characters also remark on it and "use" it. Perhaps it's that the Bondsmiths are able to strengthen or forge Connections as opposed to just use them? Regardless, it's through these Connections in the Spiritual Realm that we get to see some fascinating visions of the distant past. We get a lot of things answered but still more questions remain...

One thing I felt was missing a bit was the miscellaneous art that is present in the other novels. We do have some art at the end of each part, but a lot of the ones I remember are posters warning about the Fused. That's good to help visualize some of them and the nature of the struggle, but I do miss Shallan's nature sketches of Roshar and the spren.

Final Thoughts

This is an incredible conclusion to the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. The plot is a bit messy with pacing, but otherwise the setting and characters are great. And the implications of what happens in the story will keep Sanderson fans theorizing until we get the next installment in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably re-read some of the other Cosmere novels, like Mistborn or the short novellas, to remind myself of what else has been going on in this universe.

Speaking of the Cosmere, this book has a connection to The Sunlit Man, which I recommend reading before even though it happens some indeterminate time after. I also wonder how this connects to other Cosmere books like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and the Mistborn series in terms of a timeline, though there are some hints in the epilogue. Regardless, a big shakeup in the Cosmere has happened now so future books that touch on the Shards may need to acknowledge it.