Before I even started reading the first book in this series, I had read a lot about it from a couple of online book clubs I am in, and heard a fair amount about it from several Booktubers I used to follow, all of which invariably gave it glowing reports and lead me to believe it was probably the best fantasy series ever written.
My own thoughts, now having started to read the series is that it is good, with interesting, well defined characters that continue to evolve and grow from book to book, a plot that grand in scope and vast in scale, and a world that detailed both in its phyical locations, but also in its geo-political and spiritual belief diversity. However, I have read books that cover all these areas equally well or better.
These are enjoyable and engaging books to read, and even though they have double the number of pages of most books I read, I have not had to struggle through any boring or uninteresting parts, however, they only occasionally capture that essential something that makes them an addictive page turner.
I would encourage anyone who enjoys fantasy books to read these, as they are certainly worth the time you will invest in them, and you would miss out on characters like Kaladin and Shallon.
According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed...
They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armour and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won.
Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself - and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.
On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight.
What happened deep in mankind's past?
Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?
Format
Kindle EditionDate Acquired
11th December 2021Retail Cost
£9.99Number of Pages
1005Year Read
2022Return to a planet swept by apocalyptic storms, a world tipping into war as aristocratic families move to control the shard blades and shard plates, ancient artifacts from a past civilisation that can win wars.
As the world tips into a war for control of the mythical artifacts of power made from Shard, characters are swept up into new dangers which will threaten their integrity and their lives.
Format
Kindle EditionDate Acquired
1st April 2024Retail Price
£7.46Number of Pages
1088Year Read
2025In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe whose numbers are as great as their thirst for vengeance.
The Alethi armies commanded by Dalinar Kholin won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, and now its destruction sweeps the world and its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the true horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that their newly kindled anger may be wholly justified.
Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths the dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put Dalinar's blood-soaked past aside and stand together - and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past - even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not avert the end of civilization.
Format
Kindle EditionDate Acquired
1st June 2024Retail Price
£12.99Number of Pages
1241Year Read
2025After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar's crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.
Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin's scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.
At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition's envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.
Format
Kindle EditionDate Acquired
27th March 2023Retail Price
£12.99Number of Pages
1224Year Read
2025Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare-and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium's place has thrown everything into disarray.
Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide-Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.
At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium's champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
Format
Kindle EditionDate Acquired
1st April 2025Retail Price
£30.00Number of Pages
1329Year Read
2025