Geek of Oz

When  Words of Radiance  first came out, it was famously quite big. The manuscript was  large enough to sink a yacht , the word count would've made Robert Jordan blush, and the final published version of 1088 pages was  the largest-possible book Tor could ever have bound  at the time. When I wrote my review of  The Way of Kings , I said that although a doorstopper could be intimidating because of its sheer length, The Stormlight Archive  was one of the rare examples of a series which needed all of its space to get the job done right. Oathbringer , the third book, clocks in at 1243 pages for the UK/Australia edition, more than any other Brandon Sanderson book. It's the longest novel I've ever read. Some folk said it seemed an untenable length. Well, initially I might’ve agreed with them. Picking up right after the end of Words of Radiance , the Alethi have taken control of Urithiru, ancient city and font of knowledge for Roshar’s past....

To celebrate the upcoming release of Brandon Sanderson's  Oathbringer , book three of  The Stormlight Archive , Chris reviews both of the previous books. No scores at the end, but suffice it to say that they're worth reading. Click here for Chris' review of The Way of Kings. --- Unite them . These are the words that drive Dalinar Kholin, given to him in visions from the Almighty, the closest thing Roshar has - or, rather, had - to God. They urge that the storm is coming, the Voidbringers are returning, and the end draws nearer. The only way to survive is to bring the scattered peoples of Roshar - long separated by warfare, politics and greed - together into a unified whole. Easier said than done, right? Where The Way of Kings gradually started the process of establishing our host of characters, Words of Radiance goes deeper in what they need to do to survive. Sometimes, they may not like the answers they find. Freed from slavery and now a ...

To celebrate the upcoming release of Brandon Sanderson's   Oathbringer , book three of   The Stormlight Archive , Chris reviews both of the previous books in the series. No scores at the end, but suffice it to say that they're worth reading. --- Epic fantasy books are often colloquially called "doorstoppers". These are the stories that are close to a thousand pages in length, and could be used to solidly prop up a door, build a house or bludgeon a home intruder to death. If it's written by Terry Goodkind, it's also an excellent source of birdcage liner. Doorstoppers can be scary even to devout fans of the genre. To the casual observer, a doorstopper's plot unfurls across a   Lord of the Rings -esque amount of pagecount. They can have dense worlds full of oddly-named characters who each have magical superpowers which the reader can only keep track of through a flow chart and encyclopedia of notes. The sense of immense plot and character expans...