In 2019, I was in a relationship. The person I cared so much for, unfortunately, cheated on me. Thus began the era of depression, or so I thought. In late 2019, I got introduced to Brandon Sanderson. Thus began a magical journey that lasted until now.

"The question is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path."

Wind and Truth

The Positives:

It took me one year, but I did finish it finally. Honestly, I’m disappointed that this wasn’t another five-star. But there are definitely some positive things one shouldn’t ignore about this book.

A book's soul is its characters, and here few of them shined.

Characters:

I have been an Adolin fan from BOOK 1, even as he was mostly a side character, and in this book he shined! I genuinely am so, so, so happy for his development and how many of his POVs we got—a normal man in a world of Radiants! Nobody does it better than Adolin Kholin.

"He couldn't save the men he'd left behind. But storms. He could do better this time. He would protect Azimir, whatever it took."

World-building:

No one does world-building like Sanderson

• The scope is impressive. Roshar and the wider Cosmere are rich in details.

• Particularly, Sanderson does the biome and cultures so well.

• I love that Roshar has its own weather, climates, vegetation, landscape, and wildlife and that each country has its own political system, fashion, food, religion, language, etc. This level of detail gives the characters more layers, allowing us to place them within the world and understand their nature/nurture makeup that much better.

• The plot arc of this series has been so unpredictable, and Wind and Truth is no different. I couldn't tell where it was going, and I was so invested and stressed while reading. Then I noticed the cracks. The slog I went through is tough to digest.

That brings us to the next part.

The Negatives:

Halfway through this book, I was probably fighting myself over whether it was worth going further or quitting right then and there. What if I told you five books into a series, in the ultimate climax, one of your favorite characters, known for being one of the best fighters and most advanced magical warriors, retires to be a therapist and watch someone else do a side quest while the rest of humanity is fighting for survival?

Does that sound like a good finale to you?

Problems with the plot:

If you remove every POV from Shallan/Rlain/Renarin, does the plot change at all? Nope, nothing they did contributed to the ending in any way.

• The entire ghostbloods/mishram storyline was basically pointless, not to mention boring.

• The Adolin storyline was the only genuinely good storyline, but the ending of it was horrible. The “un-oathed” twist seemed like such a deus ex machina.

• We didn’t need all of those flashbacks in the spiritual realm. Leaving aside the fact that the spiritual realm feels way less impressive and way more gimmicky than it’s been hyped up as this entire time, we could have gotten the same information if all the flashbacks had been eliminated and we just got the Tanavast POV scenes.

• I'm frustrated with Moash. Navani's punishment, meant to break him—blindness, guilt over his friend's murder—felt meaningless. He was broken, yet less than a week later, he's back to his old self with no real consequences, except now he can see spren!

• It's absurd that Kaladin, who attempted suicide just one day ago at the end of ROW, is now suddenly the "therapist," especially amidst an apocalypse and war. This contradicts his character development.

Let's talk about writing, or should I say, where should I even begin?

The writing:

When you have the most interesting characters together going on a quest to find a demigod while another demigod is accompanying them, and still the writing feels boring? The only answer is the quality of writing, which keeps on decreasing throughout the series.

• Modernisms shatter immersion. The constant use of contemporary ideas, words (like "therapy," "racist," "shit," and "genetics"), phrases, and concepts (e.g., post-WWII therapy techniques, modern political/social themes, and time measurements like "back in fifteen") destroys the sense of antiquity and gravitas. I seek escapism, not a rehash of modern problems.

• Excessive internal monologue—three paragraphs on every feeling—is a major structural flaw. Over-explaining every character's feeling or motivation is boring and halts the book's flow. It makes the character feel shallow. Instead of showing actions and dialogue, forcing the reader to draw conclusions and infer motives, this technique spoon-feeds the audience. Less is more; this lack of ambiguity stifles deeper reader connection and imagination.

• Too many POV changes did not help me at all. I wish there was another way.

Final Thoughts:

I love the Stormlight Archive; up until WaT, it was my favorite series, and I would recommend Sanderson to everyone I knew. I cannot do that anymore. The first two books are phenomenal; the third is boring early on but sticks the landing. I really like RoW and everything that we learn and the character arcs. WaT is an unmitigated disaster. It's depressing for me to have to write this, because I love Sanderson as a storyteller, but this isn't it.