My first big issue is that a lot of these plotlines are too similar to plotlines already done in Oathbringer. A group of heroes attempting, and failing, a hopeless defence of a city from a Singer invasion. A group of heroes getting lost in a different realm, attempting to return in time for an imminent battle. The main conflict resolving with a direct confrontation between Dalinar and Odium. The circumstances are certainly changed, but it feels like a lot of WaT is a rehash of storylines already told. It was different enough to make it not unenjoyable, but I think it came dangerously close to treading ground that was already walked. The parts of this book that were much more unique, Kaladin/Szeth’s story as well as Shallan’s early infiltration of the Ghostblood base, were, in my opinion, the best parts.
Está leyendo el quinto libro de una saga de fantasía épica, que cierra un arco narrativo, que es lo que se espera? Que de repente Kaladin se vaya a criar cabras a Shinovar, que Shallan se convierta en pescadora en Lagopuro y que Szeth se ponga a dar clases de Matemáticas a Urithiru?
Quizás el problema son las expectativas que tenía esta persona.
My second issue is that the storylines don’t connect. One of the best parts of a Sanderson novel is his ability to bring multiple plotlines together for a single, climactic ending that is fast-paced, exciting, dramatic, suspenseful, invigorating, and every other positive descriptor you could probably think of. Oathbringer has, in my opinion, the quintessential Sanderlanche. Every plotline comes together to bring all of our heroes to a single location where the final conflict resolves itself, and every character plays a meaningful role in that conflict. In contrast, everything in WaT felt very disconnected, and nobody’s plotlines ended up combining for the finale. This book desperately deserved to have an ending on the level of Oathbringer, but instead it felt like every character was Shallan from The Way of Kings. Nothing that Kaladin or Szeth did in their storyline ended up mattering to what Shallan, or Dalinar, or Jasnah, or Sigzil did, and similarly from them to anyone else (other than two quick moments between the Shallan group and the Dalinar group). We want and expect people’s storylines to eventually intersect, but they never do. Everyone’s battle was separate, and it felt like we’re reading multiple separate stories instead of one interconnected story. Something like that can work earlier on for a long-run epic fantasy, but it’s a severe letdown for the finale of the first arc of a series that is well known for grand, connected endings. I think this contributes to the feeling that I have that the ending was not as satisfying as it could have been, which I will elaborate on further in another section
Esto es directamente mentira, Sanderson no conecta en cada libro todas las historias de todos los personajes. O es que la historia de Shallan en el Camino de los Reyes conecta con alguien que no sea Jasnah? Y la de Kaladin en Juramentada y el Ritmo de la Guerra conecta con quién? o la de Shallan y Adolin que están por ahí de paseo en Shadesmar.
Sí, todos los libros tienen un momento clímax pero no todos implican la interacción de todos los personajes, eso solo ocurre en Juramentada, en ningún otro libro.
De nuevo pienso que las expectativas le han jugado una mala pasada a esta persona.
Gavinor as champion.
Todium swaps Gavinor out for an Investiture dummy at the last second when Navani leaves the Spiritual Realm, providing a grown-up Gav for Dalinar to face at the contest of champions. I’ll recognize that it was being setup throughout the book by having Gav hear the voice of “Elhokar”, but I still think that it not only felt awkward and forced, but that it felt too obvious because of the foreshadowing of the suckling child and because there was no other character being considered for champion, so it felt like Todium had no other choices available.
You might argue that it doesn’t actually matter who Todium picked — that the result would have been the same if he had selected any innocent person for Dalinar to face — but I would argue that it still matters to us, the readers, because the contest is the dramatic event that the entire 5-book arc has been building towards, and therefore the identity of Odium’s champion holds great significance. Just like how the culprit in a detective novel can’t be Joe Shmoe — it has to be a character the reader has met before — the champion in this book couldn’t have been just any innocent, it had to be someone that mattered to us. I don’t think Gavinor mattered enough. We haven’t really spent any amount of time with him outside this book, and he spent the entirety of this book being a weird anchor for Navani to carry around as they traversed the visions, getting exposed to his grandfather’s failures. It seems like his entire purpose of existing in the story, at least at this point, is to be Odium’s champion, a role that’s too important to the readers to be given to a character who only exists to do that. He needed to be a character in his own right, someone we know and care about and is fleshed out for things beyond a single moment. It’s not enough to simply know that Dalinar cares about him and understand how painful the decision is for him; we need to feel that pain, too. For this reveal to have worked, he needed to be more of a character before this.
El campeón, en caso de que tuviese que ganar Taravangian, tenía que ser una persona que Dalinar no estuviera dispuesto a matar y que aceptara por propia voluntad serlo, debido a las cláusulas del contrato. Una opción era Adolin, que desde el cuarto libro está cabreado con Dalinar por la revelación del asesinato de la madre pero que a pesar de ello nunca iba a aceptar enfrentarse a su padre, la otra opción es Navani, que no sabe combatir, y la otra opción era Gavinor, que desde el principio Brandon deja escrito que Gavinor quiere vengarse de la persona que mató a su padre, así que la opción está clara.
Si es cierto que no me gusta como está llevado el tema de que Taravangian se haga con los servicios de Gavinor, me parece medio forzado que de repente le haya dado el cambiazo así sin más con el tema de la dilatación temporal. Me hubiese gustado mucho más que le estuviera manipulando desde el primer momento en el que Gavinor se pierde por el reino espiritual, pero de todas formas necesitaba una excusa para darle un entrenamiento de combate ya que aún es un niño.
Adolin suddenly being able to manipulate plate has not been similarly established, especially since those spren are not conscious and aware the way Radiant spren are. His ability to manipulate his plate on the same level as a 4th oath Radiant feels like it comes out of nowhere, in a way that was very convenient, and I think it could have been better hinted at. Convenience can get the heroes into a problem, but it should never get them out of one. The entire scenario of the Singers predicting that the defenders would make a play for the throne room, and allowing it to happen simply so they could catch them, felt convenient and contrived as well. Why would they have risked the entirety of the Azir empire just for a chance to bargain for the location of the emperor? They clearly knew that the throne room was the only room that truly mattered, and yet they only brought 100-200 guards to secure it, and they didn’t even station them inside the room. This success, of all the ones enjoyed by the heroes this book, felt the most like it had to happen for plot reasons.
Dos libros lleva Brandon avisando de que la relación entre Adolin y Maya no es vinculo nahel tradicional. Maya ha ido a lo largo de los libros despertando y hablando más con Adolin, afianzando su relación. Que Adolin pueda manipular su armadura esquirlada no es más que el resultado de un vinculo spren distinto al vínculo Nahel y al Luhel. Es algo que entiendo que se va a desarrollar más en los próximos libros.
El tema de los fusionados prediciendo que iban a ir a por el trono no tiene mucho misterio, es que en el contrato se dice que al finalizar los 10 días el bando que controle Azir se queda con el territorio. De que manera se controla un imperio? Haciéndote con el control del trono. Y lo de que se queje solo lleven 100-200 soldados y que no estén dentro de la sala me hace pensar que no se ha leído el libro. Se dice que la sala del trono está hecha de aluminio, así que no pueden usar dentro sus poderes, por eso Adolin tampoco puede invocar a Maya dentro de la sala.
This one I think didn’t work simply because it was overused. I think if only one of them did this, probably Dalinar, the impact would have been far greater. The fact that we see multiple characters renounce their oaths and abandon their spren makes it feel less shocking. Szeth in particular felt like he had no reason to do so other than for setting up future plotlines (in TSM.)
No funciona porque se usa muchas veces, pos vale, buen argumento xd.
This section is about how this book fits into the larger narrative structure that the series has been working within all this time. Many stories follow a fairly simple 3-act setup: the first act establishes the world, the characters, and the conflict. The second act has our heroes fail and brings them to their lowest points. The third act has the heroes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and emerge victorious. This setup is common because its dramatic and exciting and suspenseful and, most importantly, it works. You’ll find that many of the cosmere stories follow something at least similar to this format. A good example is Oathbringer, which follows it quite closely. At the beginning of Oathbringer, we establish the conflict with the Singers and the current state of the world. The middle of Oathbringer has our heroes at their lowest point when Elhokar dies and Kholinar falls. The end of Oathbringer has our heroes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat when they save Thaylen City. I think Wind and Truth broke from this setup, and I think it suffered for it. There wasn’t any dramatic low point for our heroes, and the only one who managed an unexpected victory was Adolin, for who’s ending I’ve already given a short explanation of why I think didn’t work. And this 3-act setup can be applied to more than just individual books. It can work for a set of multiple books, or for whole series as well. Books 1 – 3 had, and completed, this 3-act setup. The Way of Kings established the characters, the world, and the conflict. Words of Radiance ended with our heroes failing to stop the Everstorm and the return of the Voidbringers, putting them at their lowest point. Oathbringer had our heroes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Thaylen City when Dalinar successfully rebuffs Odium and repels the invasion.
As you zoom out from a single book, to multiple books, to 5-book arcs, each one, in my opinion, can and should get to follow the 3-act setup, but it failed to do so for the 5-book arc. And I think this was intentional. There’s one more zoom out, from 5-book arc to full series, all 10 books. I suspect the entirety of the series will follow something similar to this setup as well, and right now we’re in the middle. The second act where the heroes need to fail and reach their lowest point, which they did. But it should’ve been done in a way where the 5-book arc still got to complete the 3-act setup somehow, because I believe it’s left the ending less satisfying than it could’ve been. Right now, Books 1 – 3 feel like a more complete and satisfying story than Books 1 – 5, and I don’t think it should. (And I know that books and series don’t, by any means, need to follow this 3-act setup for the story to be good. However, I think that Sanderson does it often and to good effect. Books 1 – 3 do it and I think that, because of it, the first three books form a more satisfying set than the first five books, and I think that’s a problem when the first five books are explicitly and intentionally a full and complete arc.)
Por su cojones morenos que una historia debe seguir la estructura narrativa de Introducción-Nudo-Desenlace y como este libro no lo sigue porque el es último de un arco narrativo de 6000 páginas se pone a llorar.
De nuevo creo que se ha dejado llevar demasiado por las expectativas y por la idea de, se ha imaginado el libro en su cabeza y como no ha cumplido con ciertas ideas preconcebidas que tenía pues lo critica.
Wit:
I think Wit Witted a little bit too hard around the beginning of the book. The events occurring are undeniably dramatic and of unfathomable importance, not only to Roshar but to the entire cosmere, and Wit is interrupting meetings with a string of curses that go on entirely too long. Wit seems to bounce back and forth between seriousness and excessive levity within the same conversation, and I think its to the detriment; I don't think you can have him start cracking crude jokes again once you’ve established that he’s taking the situation very seriously. Later in the book, when he becomes mostly serious, I think its a big improvement. I also think his character was overused in the beginning of the book. I think his type of character, someone who clearly knows far, far more than anyone else and generally stays behind the scenes, works better when used seldomly, only to come out to drop hints or when all is ready to be revealed. He's clearly not revealing everything, and the things he is revealing have a lot to do with his own shortcomings, like being manipulated by Todium or needing to consult wiser beings than himself for answers, things that feel very out of character for the knows-everything character. He should still pretend to know everything, and the dropping of the facade feels weird. Again, I think this is improved later in the book as the scenes involving him decrease. I don’t necessarily think he shouldn’t be playing a bigger role in the story, but just that it shouldn’t be so in the reader’s face at this point. I think there will be a time for the curtain to fall and for us to finally be in the know, but Hoid's character is not ready to be in the spotlight yet and I think he got pushed into it a bit too much.
La presencia de Hoid en este libro tiene más sentido que nunca, Hoid ya no es el personaje que está entre bambalinas contándole historias a los personajes, es un personaje que tiene su propia historia que tiene que ser desarrollada. Y si te has leído el Hombre Iluminado sabes perfectamente por qué Hoid hace lo que hace en este libro.
Creo que esta persona no conoce el Cosmere o le molesta que El Archivo de las Tormentas sea una saga dentro de un universo.
I think some of the dialogue was awkward, or unrealistic, or just corny. A lot of Kaladin's was, like calling himself a therapist, or when he repeated his line about Honor being dead when he chose to become a Herald. I won't harp on this one too much because I understand that some of the dialogue was intentionally awkward, like between Kaladin and Szeth, and because Brandon does somewhat corny dialogue often since he likes to portray people as maybe unrealistically earnest or straightforward, but I do think it deserves mentioning because I think this book was particularly bad about it.
Debería releerse los primeros libros. Al menos ahora Brandon se anima a escribir sobre amor, sexo y temas más controvertidos. Su escritura ha evolucionado mucho.
