Currently Re-Reading (Because it’s that Good)

       
(Books 1 and 2 of The Stormlight Archive)

As an English major, I usually have so much reading for my classes that I’m seldom able to read purely for pleasure. So when I do have time, my bar for books is set high. Last summer, I started reading The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson which far surpassed my literary bar.

For any high fantasy lovers out there, Brandon Sanderson should be a must-read author. The Stormlight Archive is my favorite ongoing series of his, but he has other incredible works (check out his website here to find out more). But be warned – these books are not for impatient or light readers. There are only two books out of a predicted ten book series and they are between 1,200 and 1,300 pages each. In preparation for the third book’s release later this year, I am rereading the first two in an act of unprecedented commitment.

If you’re wondering why I’m so obsessed with these books, bluntly put, I’m a book snob. I can’t seem to turn off that analytic part of my brain that has been honed in countless English classes and from editing numerous papers. So when I settle into bed with a mug of hot chocolate and an “absolute page turner!” I got from my friend, the last thing I want to be doing is finding stylistic mishaps, lazy writing, or cringe worthy dialogue.

The Stormlight Archive has none of these problems. True, it takes about 400 pages to get into it, but only because Sanderson is creating a world for the reader, so complex and nuanced, that the slow-moving plot is entirely forgivable. There are no corners cut and no unexplained phenomena attributed to unexplained magic (one of my pet peeves in the fantasy genre): there is only meticulous and masterful writing.

The books focus on four different characters from very different classes within the social structure of the world in a rotating perspective. It takes place during war time, and as such, two of the main hubs that the book rotates around are politics and power. These four characters – one a slave, one a minor noblewoman, one an army general, and one an assassin – each give a particular insight into the building of the novel and the world within it.

It is difficult to summarize because the plot is so layered and I don’t want to do it a terrible injustice, so I’ll share some of my favorite lines from the book to show the beauty of Sanderson’s writing.

“What did you put in the fire?” Kaladin said. “To make that special smoke?”
“Nothing. It was just an ordinary fire.”
“But, I saw-”
“What you saw belongs to you. A story doesn’t live until it is imagined in someone’s mind.”
“What does the story mean, then?”
“It means what you want it to mean,” Hoid said. “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.”

“Too many of us take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes.”

“He saw it in her eyes. The anguish, the frustration. The terrible nothing that clawed inside and sought to smother her. She knew. It was there, inside. She had been broken.
Then she smiled. Oh, storms. She smiled anyway.
It was the single most beautiful thing he’d seen in his entire life.”

“Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.”

There are plenty more of great quotes from the books here and here, so check them out if you want to whet your appetite a little more.

In short, if you’re someone who appreciates high fantasy, who appreciates the absolute escape that genre can provide, you will rarely find a world so complete and immersive as the one The Stormlight Archive provides. I love this series, from the plot to the punctuation, and I hope I’ve helped at least one reader out there discover something new.

 

Best,

Merav