Wind and Truth SPOILER-FREE Review (Stormlight Archive 5)

Wind and Truth (book 5 in the Stormligt Archive by Brandon Sanderson) Is the LONGEST, most addictive, fulfilling, fast-paced and shocking book in the series so far! In this SPOILER-FREE review, I go through the main points of the story (structure, worldbuilding, characters and general thoughts), adding what I believe you can do NOW to prepare for Wind & Truth!

· 🐉 Myth Minders: Dani, Zuzka, Kimberly, Ana, Elaine, Ana, Etienne, AR Witman, Nerdy Jess
· 🦊 Prose Protectors: Jess (Honest Fiction), Scott, Stacy, Wendy
· 🐭 Story Stewards: Andrea, Ina, Jenn, Kiala, Ini, Lisa, Mirka, Jozsef, Oz, Parker, Dalene, Luke, Suzanne
·🦉 Word Whisperers: Laura, Library of a Viking, Tori, Eli, Kerryn, Rob, Felix, Don, Melissa, April, Antonella, Koya, Yessi, Anni, Lindy, Emma, Lisa, Morgan, Lizzie, Susanne, Elena, Caroline, Mira, R. Allen, Happy Knitter, Richard, Stefan, Tha's Cool Biz, Varvara

Timestamps:
00:00 Wind & Truth non-spoiler review
00:52 What to do to enjoy Wind & Truth to the maximum!
02:31 Structure
06:03 Characters
08:35 General Thoughts
13:20 Rating

[Transformers]

I really love Wind and Truth. It has its flaws, but the Sanderlanche was fantastic and emotionally impacting.

[Morfeusm]

I am in the middle of this mammoth and having a good time but it’s just me or these characters talk about their feelings a lot more than usual? Like sometimes it feels like a therapy session 😂

[nicodemogawronski]

No spoilers.
What I loved: finally we get some answers. We also setup pretty well for Books 6-10 (incredible how it will feel something different entirely). Loved some of story arcs.
What I didn't like: God what happened to the prose? In some parts it felt like reading a modern book with teenage dialogues. The first 600 pages (more or less) take forever to get going. Some discussions about mental health are a bit too direct, ok, yes, it will help some people to read those words but they feel out of place.

[nazimelmardi]

This book by far the worst in Stormlight and not necessarily in just that.
The prose dropped and the bar wasn’t high. He used TikTok level language mixed with modern medical terminology, it had nothing to there then the overwhelming explanations, cringe dialogues that even turned into info dumps, etc…
The pacing of the book is awful. He is not Steven Erikson and here the bad prose pushed to worse. If you want to use jumping POVs you have to use good prose and you have to be very precise. He wasn’t. His method of “Sanderlanch” failed in micro and macro levels because he tried to change characters all the time.
The debate for the city was ridiculous and absurd.
The Kaladin arc was the Mary Sue version of mental health therapist.
Dalinar didn’t even behave like Dalinar. It wasn’t a good idea. And bringing back is a cheap move.
The female characters in general except Shallan had meh stuff.
Adolin’s so called battle was a one man show. We saw nothing just his emotions represented.
The Shattered Planes was actually short.
Overall the book could be cut by 400 pages and nobody would notice. He is suffering by toxic positivity from the fandom. They don’t tell him that something is actually bad. Or this is what it looks like. Because it’s nonsense that nobody noticed the gen z bs in the text.

[jordansprinkles]

in the process of rereading/relistening 1-4. currently in the middle of oathbringer and cant wait to get to wind & truth

[ThomasMeli]

I'm currently 340 pgs in and already losing my mind at how vast it is. Reassured by your rating and can't wait to enjoy the ride!

[NGaspardABWX]

Yall gotta check out ryan cahill's bound and broken series. If you like this you'll love that series. His fourth book comes out at the end of March. He's no where as famous as Sanderson but he self publishes and writes at a good clip too, and his stories are incredible epic fantasy at it's best. He really invokes Tolkien as well. I'll be getting into more of Sanderson's stuff eventually.

[valliyarnl]

ISA this is insane. I'm still on Day 2 😭
I'm so glad it has ur stamp of approval <3

[jadencasto]

Totally agree with the pacing - this was for me by far the best paced Stormlight book. In all of the first 4, there were either long stretches of page time or character POVs that were really slow. This book is the longest in the series, but it is the one that I went through the fastest and had the hardest time putting it down

[MarineBridge]

I thought the book was good, however I didn’t like where every character ended. It makes me question how big of a time jump we’re going to get in the next book. There were three lines that completely took me out of the book I won’t say who said them, but one was the word slut, another one was let’s kick some fused ass, and the last one was I’m his therapist. 😂

[gvitzman]

Great review, and i really want to read this, but Im struggling to get through Rythms of War!

[AmnesiaDream]

Halfway through Day 9, and it's pretty great so far. Revelations left and right, great flashbacks this time, merciless pacing from Day 5 or 6 onward, surprisingly coherent and impactful even for a non-cosmere guy like me. Feels like the planet Roshar is a main character now. This particular book has really been the planet's story

[VoyagesIntoImagination]

I didn't do any rereads or recaps, but I just started the series in June. Very Satisfied.

[samirghosh]

Read first two books two years back . Next year starting from the 1st book again . Supper excited. Great review .❤

[bobkeane]

Wow you read that quick, I'm impressed.

[kevinjette]

Delightful review! As you said, as massive as this book is, it is so immensely readable and addictive. I wanted to take it slow and savour the journey, but I could not put it down and ended up tearing through it in about 48 hours 😂. Will definitely reread it at a slower pace in the following months.

I will have to digest it to give it a definitive ranking, but it is definitely in the top tier of SA books for me (which is big praise considering this is my favorite series ever).

Some of those character arcs… wow

[rcc_]

450 pages in and I have NEVER been a quick reader. This is easily the fastest I've ever read a book.

[melaniechapleau]

Can't wait to start this book . The stormlight archive is such an unique reading experience. All about the world building and the goosebumps when the pieces are coming together. If this book has more of that I am in for a treat ;)

[ArtSnob]

Juepucha ni puedo esperar! XD mi esposa me lo compró para navidad, entonces aqui estoy esperando con ganas de leerlo tanto. Gracias por el vídeo.

[Fieryxjoe]

I'd be careful linking to coppermind as "catchup" material as that page is likely to be updated soon with very Spoiler-y info. Either the new interpretations of those deathrattles or any new deathrattles in the book.

Could perhaps add a link to the time machine page of the coppermind before that link so people can make sure they only get info pre-W&T