In this very, very long novel, it seemed like 90% of it is setup, and 10% is the realization of this setup, which isn’t a great ratio of action and consequence to setup. I’ve been enjoying the Stormlight Archives series to this point, and I did generally like this novel as well, but some of the flaws became a bit more prominent in this novel. The biggest problem is that this book is overly long. I listened to the audio, and it was over 57 hours of recorded audio. That’s not a problem in itself. If it were, I would never have endeavored to set out to listen to this. But there is so much that I think can be cut. I would say about a quarter of the book can be cut. There are significant parts that are just very slow moving, and the pace of this novel is its biggest problem. I think there is a lot of bloat, and although it is not as severe as the later novels in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, it still could use an editor with a hatchet to cut it down. My other issue is that there at times significant actions that happen that aren’t explained well, which seems crazy given the length of this novel. Although most of the novel is overwritten, there are key parts that are underwritten.
Now, I don’t want to be overly negative. Brandon Sanderson is a great writer, and the writing in this novel is top notch. The worldbuilding is also very strong, and I find myself wanting to learn more about the cosmic nature of the story and how it relates to other worlds. The characters are also very well developed. There’s enough here to make me want to read the finale, but I’m not certain that if the first book were written in this manner that I would have reached the same conclusion.