As always with Sanderson's books, this is a compelling and fascinating read. The incredibly complex worldbuilding is bolstered by strong characters faced with more or less interesting and compelling conflicts. As with The Way of Kings, I found some parts of the read frustrating - the arc the characters have to go on is occasionally a bit predictable, especially with Kaladin, and it takes so long to happen that it gets really hard to take. However, I don't think that is a flaw; I think it's a strength in character writing to showcase a character's stubbornness and conflict that way.

The parts I found more difficult were the interludes, as with the Way of Kings, because the plot just draws to a grinding halt to focus on characters we don't know. In some cases, it's easy to come around on, like with the Eshonai bits that are unmistakably important to the plot. With bits like Lift and Rysm and Ym it's kind of...I mean there are parts that tie in to the major plot threads, but it's also like having to re-attune yourself to a whole different book midway through. I kind of read this as the inevitable downfall in the massive, massive undertaking Sanderson has started here. These books are massive and he wants to write ten of them; after book two, the major plot thread just keeps sparking more mysteries than resolutions. The overarching thread has to be intricate and massive to sustain that amount of content, but it can be frustrating to read and know that it will take seven books that haven't even been published to reach resolution.

I really liked Shallan's narrative in this book. It gave her so much depth and conflict that wasn't quite there in the previous one, and it also explained why she had such an easier time becoming a Radiant than the others. When she gave her "truth" at the end of Way of Kings, I was sure it was going to be a cop-out and she just felt guilt for things that weren't her fault, and boy was I wrong. I also think, and this is maybe a spoiler, this will be why she and Adolin are end-game and while there might be a love-triangle, Kaladin will end up being to Nobler-Than-Thou for her (but god I hope there is no love triangle I hate love triangles). Adolin kind of proved here towards the end that he has a certain amount of darkness in him. I also think the next book is going to involve a lot of Adolin feeling left out of the Radiant thing. Additionally, the implied suspicion between Shallan and Renarin makes sense with what is revealed about their roles as Radiants. Also, I really liked how what happened to Jasnah at the beginning of the book gave the rest of the book intense tension, because it really felt like anything could happen; it really upped the suspense. Actually kind of disappointed me with that last chapter featuring Wit.

My biggest issue with this book is Kaladin's storyline. For one, as indicated above, I do think his conflict is well-written and compelling, but it is ultimately very very predictable. The tension results from waiting on him to do some stuff you know he's going to; I only briefly thought he might fail for about 50 pages towards the back, and while I didn't want that to happen it also might have been more interesting because it would pretty much imply that the whole cosmic system is racist. Because, uh, that's my big issue with the Kaladin story. Reading it in this particular political hellscape we are currently inhabiting is kind of...sorry for using this word...problematic. So yeah, killing people is wrong, and Kaladin's role is to be a protector. On a character level, this totally works and is well-executed, except that I hate revenge plots so much but that's just a personal foible. On a story level it reads basically like the dark-eyes must forgive the light-eyes their sins and be the bigger person in order to win, which is the same rhetoric white people have been using for years to discourage civil disobedience and make non-white people feel like they need to constantly turn the other cheek to oppression and violence, and it's wrong. I mean, it might be more effective as a political strategy because we white people are shit at taking criticism, but it's wrong to take away people's right to anger. It's a legitimate and correct response to oppression. To have the POC-coded hero of your story basically abandon his anger and desire for revenge because he meets a Nice White Person is lame. And probably pretty insulting.