Wind and Truth

The strength of this series 100% rests on the shoulders of these characters, with some support by the world building and lore, and that is the strongest part of this book along with the plot ending/semi-ending we are given—and while I love what was shown and given to us here, I do think there was something lost in diluting the cast with so many constantly-changing POVs and the condensed timeline this book takes place within. I love these characters, but condensing everything to 10 days and short 1/4-chapters-per-POV at a time with them did not feel like the best version of structure for this story to me. Additionally, I think this is the first time I have been genuinely distracted by the more modern-colloquial prose this series has taken on. I re-read TWoK this summer, and there is a noticeable shift in the linguistic atmosphere that I don't really enjoy as much in comparison to the first book.

That all being said, I still feel this is a solid 4 stars for this series. My favorite part of TWoK was Dalinar's visions of the past, and my favorite part of RoW was the explorations in the Cognative Realm—so getting multiple characters exploring the Spiritual Realm and the history of Roshar and the Cosmere were excellent. Additionally, I absolutely loved Renarin and Rlain's storyline through this book (I was literally Shallan in that one scene, jumping up and down clapping at their union), and very very much still enjoyed following Dalinar's journey from beginning to end.

Shallan, despite being one of my favorite characters in the series overall, definitely feels extraneous in this volume in particular—especially because I have never cared for the Ghostbloods subplot, and that was quite literally all she did this book. Honestly, a victim of the 10-day timeline this story takes place over.

On a different side of things in this map, if anything is true throughout this first 5 books of this series, it's that Kaladin's arc is the strongest and best overall. His character has grown, and regressed, and grown, and regressed, and grown—all in such believable fashion that I feel like, despite diluted POVs in this volume, he is still the heart and soul of this series. His and Syl's progression of whatever their relationship/dynamic is was beautiful, and his kindness and empathy with Szeth and the Heralds was so well realized after everything that he has been through and learned. A+ there.

Overall: I feel for sure that this is more of a Part 5/10 than it is a Part 5/5, and genuinely hope that in the years before BrandoSando starts on Part 6 that something reverts back to TWoK-era prose and pacing/focus within POVs, but there is no denying that this was a strong and interesting chapter in the Stormlight's overall plot and progression. I'm curious to see how it it eventually looks in retrospect once it is truly only the halfway point in the series, but for now I feel that it was a satisfying semi-conclusion to this part of the story.