I think this one was really overrated
This is definitely my least favorite book by Brandon Sanderson. I'm probably not going to read any of the others in the series, nor recommend this to anybody. I will stick with the Stormlight Archive instead.
The premise was very interesting and the story was engaging enough to keep me interested, so I at least managed to finish reading it.
I didn't particularly like any of the characters, and that's a big problem for me. Raoden was one of those characters whose purpose seems to be to educate and be awesome, which reminds me too much of Richard Rahl, minus the Ayn Rand objectivism. Sarene was apparently very clever, or so the book kept telling me repeatedly. Also that she was so much better than other women, most of whom were silly little airheads. She was not like other girls, okay? The book will remind the reader of this over and over and over and over. Hrathen was difficult to get through. I rarely enjoy antagonist POVs, and Hrathen was not an exception. His story eventually went in a somewhat interesting direction, but for most of the book, I ran out of steam and temporarily lost interest every time I got to one of his chapters.
There is so much religion in this book. It's really about the characters' religion. Multiple monotheistic religions that the book makes a point to indicate are all based on the same thing. I'm sick to death of the monotheistic religious arguments in the real world, so I'm just not into having to put up with it as part of my escapism as well. This is something that I recognize many people will still enjoy just fine, though.
I feel pretty lukewarm on this whole series. I hope the next installment in the Stormlight Archive comes out soon.
The premise was very interesting and the story was engaging enough to keep me interested, so I at least managed to finish reading it.
I didn't particularly like any of the characters, and that's a big problem for me. Raoden was one of those characters whose purpose seems to be to educate and be awesome, which reminds me too much of Richard Rahl, minus the Ayn Rand objectivism. Sarene was apparently very clever, or so the book kept telling me repeatedly. Also that she was so much better than other women, most of whom were silly little airheads. She was not like other girls, okay? The book will remind the reader of this over and over and over and over. Hrathen was difficult to get through. I rarely enjoy antagonist POVs, and Hrathen was not an exception. His story eventually went in a somewhat interesting direction, but for most of the book, I ran out of steam and temporarily lost interest every time I got to one of his chapters.
There is so much religion in this book. It's really about the characters' religion. Multiple monotheistic religions that the book makes a point to indicate are all based on the same thing. I'm sick to death of the monotheistic religious arguments in the real world, so I'm just not into having to put up with it as part of my escapism as well. This is something that I recognize many people will still enjoy just fine, though.
I feel pretty lukewarm on this whole series. I hope the next installment in the Stormlight Archive comes out soon.
