Solid but some parts dragged

I have loved this series since 2013 when I first read The Way of Kings. I’ve read every scrap of literature I could afford that was written by Brandon. This book while mostly amazing and very informative of the cosmere in larger scale than any of his works before has left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth by the openly woke agenda pushed throughout the book. I was looking forward to eventually reading these books to my son as an introduction to the fantasy genre and now I feel I’m unable to because I refuse to read him something that might influence him towards that dark path. As for myself, I’m steadfast in my own beliefs and I’m willing to continue reading in part because a lot of the book was fantastic. The ending left more to be desired than I would’ve liked but I understand the need for a good cliffhanger coming into a new arc. I guess we will see if I continue to be a loyal fan and reader but it would be dishonest if I didn’t at least give you the first of my reviews for your books a less than 5 stars. Please don’t let the woke agenda take my favorite books and turn them into something unreadable

I read all the previous books and loved the series and other Sanderson books. This one was a bit more difficult to read at the beginning than the others. Then came the big woke surprise (started at about 21%). I enjoyed reading some of the books with my kids since they were very silent when it came to sex, orientation, etc. l now have no interest in finishing this book. No interest in exposing my children to any more woke agenda either. For sure won’t buy any more books from Mr. Sanderson. Best of luck… I just end with one word… Disney

Ug, I am 21% of the way in and Brandon has gone woke. I just don’t care for the bait and switch. If you want to read a woke story, this is now it. If you wanted the original Stormlight I expected, well sorry. It’s not happening… I so loved this series but to get to 21% progress it’s taken me a month of painful reading. It’s just a let down.

Very rich, a long and rewarding tail, can’t wait for book 6

Felt a bit off compared to the other books and maybe it was anticipation. I also thing the modern world might have slipped in and broken my immersion too many times. Although the 10 day structure was cool I did truly miss the original structure of 5 parts. Excited for stormlight 6 and think this book will age very well as long as Brando keeps writing.

Around 500 pages in I started to get a picture of how blatant the agenda in this book is… I loved the previous books, but this one took a turn for the worst and I have no interest in reading the rest of this book or any of the others now. In general, it’s not smart to insert divisive political opinions into an otherwise popular franchise, particularly ones that decisively alienate a massive portion of the population due to their sincerely held religious beliefs. Beyond that, for a guy who’s been writing books about truth and self discovery to not know the difference between a man and a woman— which there are clear and irrefutable scientific differences— well, I guess I’m not interested in reading books based on truth and self discovery from a guy who obviously has no idea which way is up. So, I’m done. I’ll read something else.

Cringe. Therapy for dummies by dummies. Not the “Sanderlanche” but “Sandercringe”. All that was less cringy than this book. It’s a 1 star because of my anticipation. Did not live up to the hype for me. It has made me question the first four books. Where they actually as good as I remember?

I have loved this series up until now but this slog has shifted my feelings quite a bit on where this story is heading. Certainly has a couple good moments, but overall a poor showing to end the first half of the series. Never skimmed so many sections out of boredom in my life. Godawful dialog, the constant POV jumping gets so old, and every single character being soooo in their feelings every freaking second had me debating if its even worth it to finish.

I read through the entire book, but, unlike every other Sanderson title this was an absolute slog to get through. All the previous books were nearly impossible for me to put down, but this one required me to take breaks because of the sheer force of will required to read through all of the pages of filler to follow the actual storyline. It seems clear that Sanderson’s views have shifted, but I think that he would have been better served by issuing a public statement and maintaining the narrative integrity of his books, instead of diminishing a great story with this “everything, everywhere, is political” ideology.