Following the assassination of her father, the King, Jasnah’s world of Roshar has been plunged into war between the humans and the Parshendi, an enigmatic race who had their own reasons for the killing. Led by the Brightlord Dalinar Kholin, the human armies continue the struggle, while Jasnah and her companion scribe, Shallan, try to understand the magic which they thought had disappeared from the world. All the while the darkness closes in on everybody...

Words of Radiance: The Stormlight Archive Book Two (1080 pages) is the second in the series written by Brandon Sanderson and boy is it a massive tome, more door stop than novel. So, has Sanderson produced something which justifies the book's length?

The book is primarily told from four perspectives, that of Adolin, Shallan, Kaladin and Dalinar, although these are backed up with a plethora of minor characters. Sanderson uses these points of view to build up an intricate and detailed map of Roshar.

Much of the novel is taken up with world building; here the author has worked out an idea of how magic could work. Some of this involves what may be considered fairly average systems, but this is tied to a metaphysical model which sees the world split between the physical and another which is partially created by and moulded by human thought and activity.

Sanderson has tried to move away from the Disney version of medieval Europe, found in so many contemporary fantasy books, endeavouring to create a world and culture which is very much its own. Of course, there are certain genre cultural references still there; I’m not sure what can make the genre move forward; it’s a problem which seems endemic in most genre books regardless of their background. Whether you like the book will depend very much if you buy into and enjoy what has been created.

I had a real problem with this, not because the author has spent so much time world building, after all Tolkien produced a vast amount of information which supported his stories, what he didn’t do is place that information into the main body of the text. At times, characters have to break into lengthy exposition to bring you up to date with some relevant point, which, for the most part would, realistically, probably be common knowledge. Sanderson has gone some way to provide an appendix which covers the use of gemstone, but much more core information could have been moved here. Consequently the pace of the book is best described as leisurely.

If his world building is obsessive, there is little to fault with his characters or their development, especially with Shallan, who has a particularly satisfying story arc. Nor has Sanderson failed to learn the lesson of George Martin and you may find that a character that you have been attached to has been Nedded. This being a fantasy novel, not even death can hold back a good character.

Being the second book in the series, it suffers from that second book syndrome. With very little to set up Sanderson must move his pieces around the board to position them for the next part of the story. That said, there are a number of set pieces worth your time and a nice mixture of action and wit.

I had not read the first book in the series, or if I have, I’ve forgotten everything I knew, so heading into this tome was initially a confusing experience and its takes many pages for you to settle into whom everyone is and their relationships one to another. For this reason it does not make a very good stand-alone novel, but this criticism could be levelled at most second novels. It’s a fine balance between wanting to get on with the story for fans of the first and having to repeat information already revealed.

Fans who have invested time on the first book will undoubtedly love the second, but the investment required to read the novel may well turn away the casual reader.

7

Charles Packer