Words of Radiance

The Stormlight Archive, Book 2

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

Length: 48 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

From number one New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance, audiobook two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes". Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson:

• The Cosmere
• The Stormlight Archive
• The Way of Kings
• Words of Radiance
• Edgedancer (Novella)
• Oathbringer

The Mistborn trilogy:

• Mistborn: The Final Empire
• The Well of Ascension
• The Hero of Ages

Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series:

• Alloy of Law
• Shadows of Self
• Bands of Mourning
• Collection
• Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels:

• Elantris
• Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series:

• Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
• The Scrivener's Bones
• The Knights of Crystallia
• The Shattered Lens
• The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series:

• The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson:

• The Reckoners
• Steelheart
• Firefight
• Calamity

©2014 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

Can't wait for book 3

Great job on the performance as well as the author. Be ready to listen to this one more then once. If you're in for a quick thrill this is not your book. But if you want to get into it like a masters degree then this is a good book. Wow is an understatement.

an amazing sequel!!!

Listened to book 1 and 2 back to back. excited for book 3. Sanderson is an amazing talent.

beautifully written, outstanding

the best series of books i,'ve heard since starting audible. can't wait for book 3.

Attention wheel of time fans!!

Check this out. Very different but would recommend to a fan of wot series. Not as many characters to follow... Kind of a plus.

Remarkable work by Sanderson (and the Narrators !)

Even better than The Way of Kings, the first volume in the Stormlight Archive series, and that's saying a lot. It is very long (over 40 hours), but I was sorry to have it over and know we'll be waiting quite a while for the 3rd volume. Both a satisfying "ending point" for this volume, and plenty of anticipation for the next. Sanderson continues to amaze, and is my favorite living fantasy author. Both of the narrators did a wonderful job.

A Class by Itself

If you could sum up Words of Radiance in three words, what would they be?

Epic Fantasy Immersion

What did you like best about this story?

Branden Sanderson writes characters in a way that makes you care. How may times have you turned off a novel when you even THOUGHT a favorite character might die? This was the first time I ever did something like that. Sanderson's world is incredibly rich, his prose adapts to his characters and helps show their evolution as individuals. His world physics are always unique and fresh...

Have you listened to any of Michael Kramer and Kate Reading ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

They do a wonderful job bringing this book to life. Usually I listen to books out of necessity but prefer to read them. In this case, Michael and Kate are an integral part of bringing the story to life.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

It was an enemy of total destruction that only the Gods could have defeated. But with humanity abandoned by the Gods, what mortals would dare stand against the coming storm?

Any additional comments?

Greatest epic in scope and story since Dune...Sanderson doesn't write novels; he births new realities

My memory palace is in this world.

What did you love best about Words of Radiance?

Sanderson world-builds through his characters discoveries and perspective.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Words of Radiance?

Shallan and Kaladin in the basin of the Shattered plains is the most profound human interactions I've seen created. It's real.

What about Michael Kramer and Kate Reading ’s performance did you like?

They are both vivid and powerful readers who performance is phenominal.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

There's always another secret.

Any additional comments?

This is my favorite book of all time. Sanderson is an enthralling author in the fantasy world.. But the series is his masterpiece and it sinks into your heart.

So worth the wait!

This book sealed it for me. "Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author" I loved this book as much as I loved the first one and can not stress enough how glad I am that I started reading this series. I read this a while back and have just purchased the next in the series Oathbringer...super excited to get started.

This is a fantastic series and you will be missing out on a wonderful journey if you don't read!

A solid second book, not as strong as the first

After many years now (though, certainly not GRR Martin long) we finally get the next volume of the Stormlight Archive. The Way of Kings was a captivating book and showed me that Sanderson was the right man to carry on with Robert Jordan's style of epic fantasy - building on his lessons and taking them to new levels.

So, how does this second volume stand up? Overall, it was most enjoyable, though I don't think it quite measures up to the first book. Some of that is just perspective - TWOK introduced a whole new world with its set of characters, magic, and history. WOR builds on that and takes us deeper into the lives of the central players and expands upon what we know about this corner of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere.

The first four parts and the interludes that connect them are all quite solid and enjoyable. This book focuses more on Shallan as a character and we live through flashbacks of her history much as we did through Kaladin's in TWOK. She proves to be every bit as interesting a character with this book to help us get to know her better.

Where the book falls short, IMHO, is in the final section. It's hard to describe exactly what doesn't quite click with it. There is much going on and the juggling between viewpoints doesn't seem to be handled as well this time. Also, while I appreciate Mr. Sanderson's writing style and humor, some of the dialog and metaphors in the last section become a little to hokey and they threw me out of the story a few times. Perhaps once more through editing was needed for this last part.

Still, the book overall succeeds in taking us deeper into Sanderson's newest world and revealing both the potential of the epic danger and heroism that we can look forward to. From getting to hear him talk about the series at a recent book signing, I'm convinced for now that he knows where this series is going and I'm ready to continue on the journey. I still solidly recommend the series.

Audiowise - Kate and Michael once again given excellent performances. Having these two on board as the narrators together is always a treat.

Great book

Way better than the first but you have to listen to the first to understand this one.
All in all a extremely captivating sequel to the first!