in the past, i’ve fine with these longer books. i really enjoyed the first few in the series, and i didnt have much trouble getting through them, despite each book being over a thousand pages.

but that’s probably because these actually had things going on in them.

with wind and truth, for about 75% the time the plot was just slowly, painfully, inching its way forward, that i honestly couldn’t read more than a few chapters at a time before i had to put it down. the book is 1,329 pages— it feels like this page count could easily be halved if brandon sanderson would just be a tad more efficient with the time he gives himself in this book.

take, for example, shallan’s plotline, which was probably the most useless thing the entire book.

another issue that caused such a bloated page count is brandon sanderson trying to do too much. there are so many plot lines happening—azir, the shattered plains, szeth’s pilgrimage, dalinar’s search for the power of honor through the spiritual realm (which is entirely separate from rlain and renarin’s search for ba-ado-mishram in the spiritual realm, which is entirely separate from shallan’s hunt for the ghostbloods in the spiritual realm)—not to even mention all the random things going on in the interludes. like, for instance the irali just randomly all following cusicesh through a portal, never to be seen again. there’s just so much going on.

and the thing is, half of these things don’t even end up mattering at the end.

like, when odium talks to battah, the herald, in one of the visions. it seems like it’s going to be super important, and greatly affect something later down the line. but she’s mentioned, like, twice by name after this, and only in visions. this scene does nothing.

and to bring up the irali again: one would think that, you know, the disappearance of an entire people group would raise some eyebrows. but again, this is a thing solely for the interludes.

when renarin and rlain release ba-ado-mishram, she literally just goes off somewhere. nothing happens. todium doesn’t even care.

szeth’s journey has no impact on literally anything. shinovar has been, at best, unimportant, this entire series. maybe if them being under ishar actually affected anything within the war, it would be noteworthy. however, they’re not doing much in books 1-4, so their status doesn’t do anything in book 5

also, szeth’s backstory was kind of boring ngl. i didn’t find any of the people in his backstory, or shinovar in general, particularly compelling.

the thing that bothers me the most, however, is moash. he has been such a major antagonist for kaladin in the previous books. i don’t really want to go into an in-depth analysis of the two right now, but i just want to say: it’s criminal that these two never interact this book. it makes me want to shake brandon sanderson.

kaladin literally is in his therapist arc right now, who is now called the Herald of Second Chances (dumb name, could’ve been the Herald of Redemption) and you’re telling me he doesn’t get to have an gripping internal conflict about his broken relationship with this man?

he wasn’t able to grapple with if moash, who has sided with the enemy murdered some of his best friends, is also deserving of redemption and healing??

and moash wasn’t able to reject this offer of a second chance, thus ultimately proving himself as a tragic character??

i’m sorry but anything would’ve been so much more interesting than Kaladin Fixes Everyone and Moash Just Kinda Likes Murdering People

and i have considered the fact that "oh! he's setting up things for the next five books of the series! you just have to watch it play out!" the thing is, though, is that he's advertising this final book as the end of an arc. you would expect that this would at least feel a bit final. it's fine to set up things for the next arc, but it has to be more like "oh, there's more to come, more to suffer, but this stage is done, and i have grown as a person."

i think the ending of kaladin's arc does that concept well, as his basically says, "well, we will still have to return to roshar and fight once more, but we have fought so much, and now we must rest and recover." the war isn't over, but at least this part of his journey is. this ending feels, in some sense, final.

but it really does not feel that way across the entire thing, what with all the hanging plot threads just left there. it's just. i feel as though wind and truth isn't a satisfying end to this series. you shouldn't be trying to start plot lines in the same book that you're also supposed to be ending everything.