Words of Radiance: By Brandon Sanderson

WORDS OF RADIANCE

SUMMARY

Six years ago, the Assassin in White, a hireling of the inscrutable Parshendi, assassinated the Alethi king on the very night a treaty between men and Parshendi was being celebrated. So began the Vengeance Pact among the highprinces of Alethkar and the War of Reckoning against the Parshendi.

Now the Assassin is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

REVIEW

My level of excitement for this book knows no bounds.

Yes I was look forward to it, but I thought it would be good, but how could it be as good as the 1^st book, which was one of the best epic fantasies, nay one of the best books I had ever read.

With that in mind, Words of Radiance is even better.

I honestly have no idea how Sanderson has done it. The second book in the series is supposed to be drier, build characters, but usually it just elicits more questions than answers and helps build the tension for later books in the series. Sanderson sidesteps all of this and delivers a book that not only will keep you reading night after night (it’s a big book), but manages to build on everything in the 1^st in the series. The characters back stories are grown, the tension between the High lords AND with the void bringers are addressed, there’s so much action that even easily bored readers will not be able to put the book down, and he does it all while delivering so much surprise that readers will audibly gasp when certain events happen (I don’t want to spoil anything but let me just say I went back a few times and made sure I read things correctly the first time.)

All in all this book and this series is incredible. I don’t know how else to put it. If you can only read two books this year I’d recommend The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, yes these books are that good. I can’t wait to see what Sanderson does next with the series but do yourself a favor and go out and buy this book right now.

INFO

Publisher: Tor Books

Published: March 4, 2014

Price: $28.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Brandon-Sanderson-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395679038&sr=1-1&keywords=words+of+radiance