Review : Words of Radiance - A masterpiece of Stormlight Archive

Recently I completed reading Words of Radiance. It's the second book of Stormlight Archive. It's been a while since I read the first one - ' The Way of Kings '.

Months actually. 8 months. I like to take a break before moving on to the next one in fantasy series like these. They come once in every 3 years or so.  It's good to read it in intervals till the next one comes.

 When I was reading Way of Kings, it took 15 days. And it was around 1200 pages. I enjoyed it a lot.

But at that time I wasn't obsessed with the series like I'm now. Words of Radiance was 1328 pages in mass-market paperback version and I finished it in seven days !!! I was so much into it. It was perfect. Brandon Sanderson deserves all the praise he gets for Stormlight Archive.
 There were several goosebumps moments in the book. I can't describe them here. It would spoil the book for you. Many times I had to stop reading for a few seconds, just to absorb it. And then resume it again.
  In truth, I enjoyed every page.  I took several photos of it.

  What I love about this series is, there are several characters that I really really like. Not just one or two. Dalinar, Navani, Kaladin, Wit, Adolin, Shallan, Lopen to name a few.

Kaladin and Shallan, of course, have an edge over others.
  But overall, great world, amazing characters, beautiful story. Since the cosmere world is very large, there might be some hidden clues that are difficult to catch for the first time readers.
 That's what all the great fantasy series have in common. They demand to be read again.

Take Kingkiller Chronicle for example. It's even more complex than Stormlight Archive. At first, it all seems simple to understand the world in it. But Patrick Rothfuss builds different layers of clues. I missed so many points on the first read, that at first seemed like a normal phenomenon and turned out to be an answer for events happening in future.

Coming back to Words of Radiance, it consists of five parts. In Way of Kings, it was in three parts.

Mass Market Paperback editions

Then there are interludes. I hate interludes.

Sometimes flashbacks are irritating too. But I shuffle through them quickly to reach to the main story.

I read the mass-market paperback version of this series. Pages are shorter and for the first 50 pages, I face some difficulty reading. But later it gets easier. I like hardcover editions since they have the beautiful illustration and the pages are a lot better. But they are a bit costly. Three times the price of Mass Market.

Now, I've one book left to read. ' Oathbringer '. The third book in the series.

I'm so much excited to read it. But I don't want that OMG... WHEN-IS-THE-NEXT-BOOK-COMING? WHY-IS-IT-TAKING-SO-LONG ??? kind of feeling right now.

Most likely I will read it after February.  And then the fourth book will likely come out in Christmas 2020. Sanderson has completed 73% of the first draft. So everything looks good.

Meanwhile, I have got lots of other books to read, that doesn't take a lot of time as a fantasy series.

Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card.

Inspector Morse series in a murder mystery. Heard that it's very similar to Agatha Christie's novels.

I'm also looking forward to reading ' Network Effect' (Murderbot Novel) by Martha Wells which is coming out in May 2020.

A final book in Vikramaditya Veergatha series that might be published somewhere around February 2020.

Then there are Kings of the Wyld, An absolutely remarkable thing, The Spinning Silver, Gaudy night and many (30) others.

Still, just one or two books per month are enough.

But you read this one, okay?

It's a really really good series. Check the reviews yourself on Goodreads. You'll know. Plus they will convince you to buy this book.