Words of Radiance

Words of Radiance

First edition book cover
Author Brandon Sanderson
Illustrator Isaac Stewart
Ben McSweeney
Dan dos Santos
Cover artist Michael Whelan
Country United States
Language English
Series The Stormlight Archive
Genre Epic fantasy
Publisher Tor Books
Publication date
March 4, 2014
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, e-book
Pages 1087 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-2636-2
OCLC 889161015
813/.6
LC Class PS3619.A533 W67 2014[1]
Preceded by The Way of Kings
Followed by Oathbringer

Words of Radiance is a 2014 epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the second book in The Stormlight Archive series.[2] The novel was published on March 4, 2014 by Tor Books.[3] Words of Radiance consists of one prologue, 89 chapters, an epilogue and 14 interludes. It is preceded by The Way of Kings and followed by Oathbringer.

In 2015, it won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel.[4] The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.[5]

Development

The release of the book was delayed due to Sanderson's commitment to writing the final book of The Wheel of Time.[6][7]

Initially, Sanderson planned that this volume would be named after the tome Shallan is given at the end of the first volume: The Book of Endless Pages. However, the name was changed after the editor commented "Uh, are you sure you want to name a very long, very thick fantasy book The Book of Endless Pages?”[2] The book, at 1088 pages, is the maximum printable size of a book for its publisher, Tor Books, making it the biggest book ever printed by the company.[8][9]

On July 1, 2013, Sanderson announced on his official Twitter account that he had finished the first draft of Words of Radiance.[10] On July 3 Tor Books officially released an early excerpt of the novel, containing the beginning of an interlude starring Taravangian, the King of Kharbranth.[11] On December 10, 2013, Tor Books announced on its official website that Sanderson had turned in the manuscript of the book, commenting that production could now begin.[12] On the same day a second excerpt of the novel was released, containing an interlude starring the new character Lift.[13]

On December 30, 2013, Tor Books revealed the endpapers for Words of Radiance, painted by American artist Michael Whelan.[14] It pictures Shallan while painting at the Shattered Plains. In the same article Whelan states, "When Irene Gallo proposed a second painting for Words of Radiance, I immediately knew it was Shallan we were talking about. Indeed, like many fans, I had felt that the story was becoming as much Shallan’s as Kaladin’s; she merited equal representation in the book’s design, as far as it was possible to do so."

On January 8, 2014, Tor Books released the prologue and first two chapters of the book as previews with points-of-view of Jasnah, Shallan and Kaladin.[15] A week later, on January 14, Tor Books released the 3rd, 4th and 5th chapters of the book,[16] followed by the 6th, 8th and 9th chapters on January 21.[17] The last chapters to be released before the publication of the book, Chapters Ten, Twelve, Fourteen and the first Interlude, were released on January 28, 2014.[18]

Tor Books revealed the dates and locations for the Words of Radiance book tour on January 29, 2014.[19] On February 4, 2014, Tor announced 'The Glimpses of Radiance', a series of daily previews of the book running from February 11 to March 4, 2014.[20] Non-spoiler reviews were released by Alice Arneson[21] and Carl Engle-Laird[22] on the Tor website and by 17thshard.com, the official fansite of Brandon Sanderson, 17th Shard calling the book, "truly an achievement. It expands on its predecessor, fulfilling the promises it sets up, and manages to surpass it".[23] Samples of interior art painted by Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewart were released on February 26.[24]

Plot

Years ago, Szeth-son-son-Vallano, the Assassin in White, was sent by the Parshendi to assassinate the Alethi king Gavilar Kholin because he was about to do something dangerous. This murder resulted in the Vengeance Pact among the highprinces of Alethkar and the War of Reckoning against the Parshendi. Now Szeth is active again, using powers that were long thought lost, and tries to kill Highprince Dalinar Kholin, brother of the slain king, who is widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne.

Kaladin, once a slave and bridgeman on the Shattered Plains, is given command of the royal bodyguards to protect King Elhokar Kholin and Dalinar from perils and the threat of the Assassin. Meanwhile, he struggles to master the powers of a Windrunner that are linked to his honorspren, Syl.

Shallan Davar, together with her mentor Jasnah Kholin, tries to prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and their civilization-ending Desolation. The secret to this task can be found at the Shattered Plains, but arriving there is more difficult than she could ever imagine. Shallan meets her spren Pattern while sailing to the Plains and becomes betrothed to Adolin Kholin, son of Dalinar.

Dalinar wants to recreate the Knights Radiant, so tells Adolin to duel the other shardbearers, with the shardplate and shardblade going to the victor. This plan is also being executed in order to disarm the other highprinces.

During Shallan's sailing, the new sailors kill the regular sailors and Jasnah, so Shallan soulcasts the bottom of the ship to sink it and use the confusion to try to help the sailors and she washes ashore. On the beach, Jasnah's notes and books are found in a waterproof trunk. Shallan finds a group of slavers to escort her and the trunk to the Shattered Plains.

One of the Parshendi, Venli, discovers a stormform that allows Parshendi to summon highstorms and turn the tide of the war. Some Parshendi believe using stormform will summon the Voidbringers, but the ruling council allows the form. Eshonai wants to parlay with Dalinar to bring an end to the war before stormform is used.

Szeth attempts to murder Dalinar but is stopped when Dalinar catches Szeth's shardblade with his hands. Kaladin ends the attempt by knocking himself and Szeth into open air. During the melee after landing, Szeth see Kaladin use stormlight and flees from the duel, realizing that the Radiants are back and he is not Truthless.

Eshonai and surviving Parshendi transform to stormform and summon a highstorm during a battle. Instead of a normal highstorm, an Everstorm is summoned that is a storm that never ends and brings the Desolation that can end the world.

Shallan and Adolin, using their shardblades teleport to Urithiru, the legendary city of the Radiants. Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan and Renarin become Knights Radiant.

Viewpoint characters

The primary chapters within the book are told from the viewpoint of several major characters, while the book's interludes are told from the viewpoint of other characters (not all of which repeat).

Main

Interludes

Reception

Critical response and sales

In its first week of release, Words of Radiance debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list.[25] It also reached No. 1 on the combined print/ebook bestseller list and the Kobo Bestseller list.[25] It was at No. 3 on the National Indie Besteller list, and at No. 6 on the Southern California Independent Bookseller Association bestselling hardcover fiction list.[25] The UK publisher of the book, Gollancz, debuted with Words of Radiance at No. 2 on the Sunday Times of Londen Besteller list.

A review written by Rob Bricken of io9 called the book an old-school, "90s fantasy-style behemoth",[26] also commenting, "While Sanderson continues to build his characters and reveal who they are (especially in the case of Shallan's past) it still clings to one overarching plot that drives relentlessly to an ending that can only be described as 'epic'."[26]

The Lincoln Journal Star called the book "an extremely satisfying read that shows what the beginning of an epic fantasy series should look like."[27]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result Ref
2014 Whitney Awards Best Speculative Fiction Won [28]
Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fantasy Novel Nominated [29]
2015 Audie Award Best Fantasy (audiobook) Won [30]
David Gemmell Legend Award Best Novel Won [4]

Audiobook

An audiobook version was released by Macmillan Audio on the same day as the hardcover version read by narrator team Kate Reading and Michael Kramer, who also read The Way of Kings.[31] A 5-part GraphicAudio version of Words of Radiance was released from September 2016 to January 2017.

Sequel

According to a 2014 newsletter written by Sanderson, work on the third Stormlight book would start somewhere later that year, as not to let fans wait as long as between the first two books. However, he ended up postponing his start-date for the book until June 2015, deciding to refresh himself by writing several less heavy-duty books. Before starting the third book, tentatively titled Oathbringer, Sanderson finished Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning, two sequels to The Alloy of Law in the Wax and Wayne series, and Calamity, the final installment in his Reckoners trilogy. Though he originally planned on including Szeth's flashbacks in the third book, he decided upon prewriting that Dalinar's flashback sequence was a better fit;[32] he also abandoned the title Stones Unhallowed, which he had been considering for Szeth's book, due in part to its similarity to the projected title of the third book of Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle series, The Doors of Stone.

On July 4, 2014, Sanderson read an excerpt from the third Stormlight book at FantasyCon in Salt Lake City, from the point of view of Kaladin Stormblessed.[33] In July 2015, Sanderson started writing the first draft of the book. In December 2016, Tor Books announced that the first draft of Oathbringer was completed and that it will be published on November 14, 2017.[34]

References

  1. "Words of radiance" (first edition). LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "The Title for Brandon Sanderson’s Second Stormlight Archive Book Has Been Revealed". Tor.com. February 28, 2013. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  3. De Groote, Michael (March 1, 2014). "Words of wonder: Brandon Sanderson seeks, delivers 'something big' in epic fantasy". Deseret News. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Liptak, Andrew (August 9, 2015). "Here's The Winners Of The 2015 David Gemmell Awards". io9. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  5. "Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive): Amazon.co.uk: Brandon Sanderson, Kate Reading, Michael Kramer: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  6. Sanderson, Brandon. "Tweets Dec 19-21 2011". Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  7. "Words of Radiance Release Date has Moved". Tor.com. July 30, 2013.
  8. "Words of Radiance and the Art of Creating Epic Fantasy". Tor.com. March 4, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  9. "Twitter / BrandSanderson: The press Tor is using cannot". Twitter.com. December 19, 2013. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  10. "I just sent in the completed first draft of Words of Radiance". Brandon Sanderson on Twitter. July 1, 2013.
  11. "Words of Radiance: Interlude: Taravangian (Excerpt)". Tor Books. July 3, 2013.
  12. "This is How Big the Words of Radiance Manuscript Is!". Tor Books. December 10, 2013.
  13. "Words of Radiance: "Lift" (Excerpt)". Tor Books. December 10, 2013.
  14. "Michael Whelan's Endpapers for Words of Radiance, Featuring Shallan". Tor.com. December 30, 2013. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  15. Brandon Sanderson (January 8, 2014). "Read an Excerpt from Words of Radiance: Prologue, Chapters One and Two by Brandon Sanderson". Tor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  16. Brandon Sanderson (January 14, 2014). "Read an Excerpt from Words of Radiance: Chapters Three, Four, and Five by Brandon Sanderson". Tor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  17. Brandon Sanderson (January 21, 2014). "Read an Excerpt from Words of Radiance: Chapters Six, Eight, and Nine by Brandon Sanderson". Tor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  18. Brandon Sanderson (January 28, 2014). "Read an Excerpt from Words of Radiance: Chapters Ten, Twelve, Fourteen, and Interlude I-1 by Brandon Sanderson". Tor.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  19. "Announcing the Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson Book Tour". Tor.com. January 29, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  20. "Announcing Glimpses of Radiance: Daily Previews of Words of Radiance". Tor.com. February 4, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  21. "Reflections of Radiance: Spoiler-Free Reactions to Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance". Tor.com. February 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  22. "Worth the Wait: A Non-Spoiler Review of Words of Radiance". Tor.com. February 25, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  23. "Our spoiler-free Words of Radiance review - Brandon and Book News - 17th Shard News". 17thshard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  24. "Interior Art from Words of Radiance". Tor.com. February 26, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  25. 1 2 3 "Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance Debuts at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List!". Tor.com. March 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  26. 1 2 3/11/14 1:30pm 3/11/14 1:30pm. "Words of Radiance puts the "epic" back in epic fantasy". Io9.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  27. Mason-D'Croz, Michael. "Book review: 'Words of Radiance' long but engrossing and action-packed". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  28. "2014 Whitney Award Winners". May 18, 2015.
  29. "Best Fantasy Novel". Goodreads. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  30. "2015 Audie Award Winners". May 29, 2015.
  31. "Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive): Brandon Sanderson, Michael Kramer: 9781427233073: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. March 4, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  32. "Brandon Sanderson on Twitter". Twitter.
  33. "Brandon Sanderson Reads First Chapter From Stormlight Archive Book 3!". Tor.com.
  34. Tor.com. "Brandon Sanderson Has Completed the First Draft of Oathbringer, Book 3 of The Stormlight Archive". Retrieved March 21, 2017.
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