Brandon Sanderson has released a deleted Interlude from an important minor character in Words of Radiance.
Words of Radiance Deleted Interlude: Stick
Also at brandonsanderson.com the latest Shardhunt unlockable is up: the deleted prologue to Sandersons Hugo Award-winning novella The Emperor's Soul.
Showing posts with label Words of Radiance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Words of Radiance. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson is the second book in the Stormlight Archive series, where The Way of Kings built a great world, and a fantastic story, Words of Radiance (WoR) soared to new heights and depths in fantasy, and genre fiction.
Words of Radiance is NOT a stand alone, this is one where you do have to read the first book.
Read my review of the physical book and artwork: The Words of Radiance: A Work of Art.
Synopsis review of The Way of Kings Book one in The Stormlight Archive:
The Way of Kings (TWoK) is a brilliant start to a proposed ten book epic fantasy series. It has all the epic essentials and archtypes; a young boy, and a young girl, a Hero's Journey, and a Heroines Quest, A Fallen Hero, Good vs. Evil and the expected fantasy huge cast of characters.
But Sanderson doesn’t stop there like any fantasy there is detailed world-building. Sanderson's world is vibrant and teeming with; diverse flora and fauna, fantastical beasts, unique cultures, court intrigue and politics, history, mythology. Oh and he manages to expertly add in foreshadowing, red-herrings, Chekov's guns, plot twists (Well, more like twists, turns, twirls and flips).
What is missing from TWoK is much of the epic fantasy pitfalls. The story, characters and world have depth and are full, without tedious exposition. There is a lack of info-dumps, long descriptive 'journey' chapters, and no characters feel flat or there just for plot effect.
TWoK was full, it took all the tropes of epic fantasy and turned them upside down, pushed them to new levels, it was epic it was amazing.
Words of Radiance (WoR) is the second book in The Stormlight Archive where The Way of Kings (TWoK) built a great world, and a fantastic story, Words of Radiance soared to new heights and depths in fantasy, and genre fiction.
On to a No Spoilers Review of Words of Radiance:
WoR has everything mentioned above in the TWoK review synopsis, and then more times 10. WoR is an intense read. Sanderson has delivered with Words of Radiance. WoR goes above and beyond expectations, this is an action packed fast paced book(All 1088 pages of it!) with intensity and depth.
Where TWok was a book that hooks a reader to the story and the world, WoR is a character book. In the first book we are introduced too and learn to really like one, all or many of the characters. WoR immerses the reader in an emotional tension filled relationship with the main characters, and many of the non-POV characters. Sanderson takes the reader beyond the interest and standard fan-squeee for the story of his heroes and heroines, to the point where as the reader you are emotionally invested in their lives, struggles and successes.
I could write paragraphs on each of the different characters and how awesome and brilliantly they are written. It would probably take a research paper to describe all of the literary and fantasy tropes, that Sanderson has used brilliantly while completely changing them and making them new and exciting.
In addition to pushing epic fantasy into new and exciting directions,(including genre publishing) Sanderson has broken long held canon on fantasy character portrayals and world building. This is no orphan goes on a journey and saves the world fantasy, it is oh, so much more. The Stormlight Archive is an obvious must read for any epic fantasy fans, but I would recommend this book to anyone that likes an in-depth story with great characters.
Read Brandon's article, Words of Radiance and the Art of Creating Epic Fantasy
"Whether you've been hyped for Words of Radiance or not, you are not prepared for how fantastic it is." - Rob Bricken
Read more of this fantastic review over at io9.com: Words of Radiance puts the "epic" back in epic fantasy
Links:
View all my reviews
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Random Musings on Words of Radiance.
Words of Radiance Debuts at #1 on the NYT Bestseller list!
More details can be found here on Tor.comBrandon's talks about Epic Fantasy, and The Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance and the Art of Creating Epic Fantasy
Words of Radiance
by Brandon Sanderson
(The Stormlight Archive #2)
Published by Tor Books on March 4, 2014
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Length: 1088 pages
Goodreads
Reviews:
"Whether you've been hyped for Words of Radiance or not, you are not prepared for how fantastic it is."Rob BrickenRead more of this fantastic review over at io9.com: Words of Radiance puts the "epic" back in epic fantasy
This has to be one of the best lines I have read in any review of Stormlight Archive: Combat Tinkerbell.
"The fact that Kaladin is running around with his own version of Combat Tinkerbell on his shoulder makes me think that Sanderson knows what he’s doing. I choose to believe that Syl’s placement was a deliberate literary nod to the boy who won’t grow up." See more at: Dan & Sally's Digital Domain
"The second book of The Stormlight Archives, WORDS OF RADIANCE, comes crashing down on us after a near four year absence. And ooh boy, does book 2 deliver on what it's promising" See more at:
Elitist Book Reviews: Words of Radiance
Words of wonder: Brandon Sanderson seeks, delivers 'something big' in epic fantasy | By Michael De Groote, Deseret News
Shallan's Lullaby from Words of Radiance
Sunday, March 9, 2014
The Words of Radiance: A Work of Art
Before I review the story I want to
comment on the book itself.
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The Way of Kings
Cover Art by Michael Whelan @Tor.com
|
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Words of Radiance
Cover by Michael Whelan @Tor.com
|
This is more than a book it is a work of art. Tor outdid itself when they published the first book in The Stormlight Archive and like The Way of Kings (TWoK), Words of Radiance (WoR) is an elaborate beautifully embellished massive tome.
The Way of Kings stood out, with stunning cover art by Michael Whelan, and wonderful color endpapers it had the most extensive and best interior art I've ever seen in a fantasy or any novel. Whelan exceeded himself with the Cover Image for Words of Radiance.
Words of Radiance goes one step further Tor has pushed the
limits both on the size of the book, (apparently the largest book they can
publish) and on the scope of the interior art and of course the amazing cover
and front endpapers by Whelan. Sanderson and Tor have pushed fantasy books into a new territory where the art goes far beyond the typical fantasy, gotta have a map mentality.
The interior art enhances the experience of reading both books in The Stormlight Archive. The images are not just pictures, they are in-world depictions adds a depth that flows with and is a part of the story.
The in-world sketches from Shallan and Navani's Journals are an integral part of the story and help the reader to immerse themselves in the diverse and varied world that Sanderson has created. The phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" rings true here. One image is able to replace chapters of worldbuilding descriptions, allowing Sanderson to move the story along without losing that depth of understanding and detail.
An in-world Alethi script on some of the images in TWoK gave hardcore fans the chance to try their hand at deciphering and translating this script to find out additional information. In WoR an different version of the script was added for another language/ culture. We also see an expansion of the Glyphs, and their execution and possibilities. WoR even includes an Easter Egg Cosmere artist, (Now that is sneaky). This brilliance by Sanderson to include Easter Eggs, codes, scripts and challenges deserves its own evaluation and post!
The detailed maps, symbols, and icons throughout both books play a far deeper role than just chapter illuminations, they are part foreshadowing, part worldbuilding, and part mystery.
Well done Tor and thank you for pushing fantasy to the next level in book publishing.
For anyone that reads e-book
versions, or wants to see details for the images Sanderson provides all of the
interior art for the books on Sandersons website, see book art links below.
* Read Brandons words on Epic Fantasy and The Stormlight Archive books:
Words of Radiance and the Art of Creating Epic Fantasy.
Interior Artists:
Ben McSweeney - Inkthinker. (TWoK, WoR)
Isaac Stewart (TWoK, WoR)
Greg Call (TWoK)
Dan dos Santos (WoR)
The Way of Kings Art Links
Read about the Cover Art for TWoK on Tor
Words of Radiance Art Links
Read about Whelan’s Endpapers for Words of Radiance,Featuring Shallan on Tor.com
Links:
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Epic Reading Marathon Ahead
That is a large book.
Words of Radiance is Here!
March 4th is right around the corner, and I am really looking forward to a reading immersion of this 1088 page monster.
With this planned 10 book series and Book 1 "The Way of Kings" nearly as large with 1007 pages, I am going to have to build a reinforced book shelf before this series is done!
If you have run out of time to re-read the first book check out the Tor.com re-read articles of "The Way of Kings", by Brandon Sanderson.
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