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December 2024 Retrospective

It has been four years and 19 days since the release of the last The Stormlight Archive book. Back in November 2020 I wrote:

Overall I would say the first 20% and last 20% of Rhythm of War are fantastic. Both the worldbuilding and the storytelling are top notch. It is the middle 60% that wavers. There are entire story threads that could have been removed, put into a novella and it would not have changed the overall tone of Rhythm of War. Literally what the cover of the book depicts could be omitted and you would not care because much more interesting stuff happens outside of it.

I could probably write another 10 paragraphs on Rhythm of War (I really should start a podcast or YouTube channel where I can just rant) but I am going to force myself to stop here. It is a solid entry in The Stormlight Archive and I am still beyond excited for book five. I actually just did the math and realized that I am on the hook to follow Brandon Sanderson's books for the next 20 years if I want to see how the Cosmere ends...

On December 6th we finally got book five. Am I still excited to be on the hook for 20+ more years of Brandon Sanderson? Or we have reached the same point as A Song of Ice and Fire and The Kingkiller Chronicle?

Wind and Truth

I decided to do things a bit differently this time. I actually wrote a little paragraph before I started reading Wind and Truth to see if I could predict how'd I feel.

I am writing this down before I have started the book to try and predict what my feelings will be. I think overall I will be disappointed with Wind and Truth because the scope of The Stormlight Archive has become so vast that it is really hard to enjoy it anymore. We have got to a point where everything is so broad and so far from an ending that, while it can be super interesting in the moment, it almost feels like it doesn't matter because so much will change. I am finding myself enjoying Brandon's "self-contained" (a term I use very loosely) trilogies because they usually have very defined beginnings, middles, and ends. Both Mistborn eras excel here because even though they add a lot of lore to the greater Cosmere, most of the characters go through very concrete arcs and then you're done. But we're going to be five books into The Stormlight Archive and to a certain degree most of these characters haven't even reached their midpoint.

So how did my predictions go? Well let's follow this up with a paragraph I wrote almost immediately after I finished reading.

I am writing this immediately after I finished reading Wind and Truth, 6 days after its release. By now I don't think it is any surprise that Brandon Sanderson is very consistent in his writing. This book has all the highs and lows anyone who loves or hates Brandon's work would expect. I don't think it is anything special when looked at in a vacuum, but on the whole it is a decent conclusion to the first half of The Stormlight Archive. Not everyone is going to enjoy what that conclusion is but at least we get some answers to questions that we have been desperately seeking for the last 14 years. "Journey Before Destination" to be sure.

It has been almost three weeks since I finished Wind and Truth and I think I have soured on the book a little more than that previous paragraph would indicate. I did get the answers to literally dozens of questions that have been living rent free in my head for years now. But the more I thought about those answers while ruminating on the events of the book, I started to feel less satisfied and more melancholic. I found myself not really caring about what comes next especially since we're not going to get book six until 2031, at the minimum, which means we're probably not seeing the "true" end to The Stormlight Archive until 2045. Oh sweet Jebus I just did the math and realized how old I will be then, if I'm still alive.

After Wind and Truth I can now unreservedly say that Mistborn (particularly Era Two) is my favourite Brandon Sanderson series. I love that they have very concrete beginnings, middles, and ends to each era that have left me fulfilled and hopeful for the future. Both eras were contained to a single planet but we got little tastes of the larger Cosmere which never overpowered what was happening on Scadrial. My understanding was that The Stormlight Archive was supposed to never require you to read any other Cosmere books but after the ending to Wind and Truth I don't see how that is possible.

I want to continue writing about my feelings on Wind and Truth but I cannot think of way to do so without going into spoilers. So if you don't want me to ruin Wind and Truth (and potentially other books in the Cosmere universe) you stop reading right now and jump to the next section of this retrospective.

The tropey way to describe the ending would be "This is the Cosmere's The Empire Strikes Back". To quote Dante from Clerks, "It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings." But to say the ending to Wind and Truth is a down note would be a pretty big understatement. I honestly struggle to think of anything to truly be hopeful for. Don't get me wrong I am thankful that Azir was defended and that the Listeners hold the Shattered Plains but everyone else is under Odium's heel and is going to be subjugated for at least the next 10 years until we get book six. I don't doubt that interesting stories can be told in this scenario, but I also think they could tell interesting stories if they jumped 80 years into the future and we got a whole new cast of characters like the Mistborn eras.

I am being too negative right now so how about this. Let's break this up into sections where I first talk about what was good, then was what was bad, and end on what was middling.

The Good

1) The worldbuilding. I've already mentioned this multiple times but we really did learn a lot about Roshar and the Cosmere. I'm sure some people may even say we learned too much because the curtains were pulled back on a lot of things this time.

2) Adolin was easily the high point of the book for me which is funny because he was one of my more hated characters during the first few books for his pomposity, which I'm sure was true for a lot of readers. But he really did grow over these five books into one of the few people that I truly care for. His time in Azimir didn't just have the best combat scenes but his interactions with Yanagawn, Mayalaran, and the various soldiers were fantastic. His struggle on going from the most important person on the battlefield to playing second fiddle to the Fused and Knights Radiant was compelling. All of this paying off with him being able to summon full Shardplate because of his bond with Mayalaran was outstanding.

3) I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed Szeth this time because his stoicism and directness would usually tip over to being annoying. Not saying that made him a bad character, it actually allowed him to be the perfect contrast a number of times. But we finally got to see his backstory and his point of view chapters really hammered home how broken and seeking help he was but no one stepped up.

4) I was shocked at the how much detail we got of Honor's backstory. It was basically everything I had ever wanted to know. I'm not going to pretend that I liked everything that happened but reading that for the first time had me absolutely engrossed. Those chapters as well as Dalinar's point of view regarding Honor were easily the ones that I looked forward to the most. I really wish it was possible to just gather them all together so I could just read them linearly. I am sure there are even more details I didn't fully grok because of how much time there were between these massive info dumps.

5) Closely tied to Honor's backstory is the amount of time we spent seeing things from a Vessel's point of view. It has been stated numerous times across many Cosmere books that Vessels are fallible beings shaped by the Shards they possess. Wind and Truth is the first book where we really got to hear the inner workings of a Vessel's mind and see them interact with one another. I always envisioned Honor as this regal character who believed with unyielding conviction in what he was doing was right and we got to literally see his psyche degrade in a way that I did not think was possible.

The Bad

1) While I was a fan of what we learned in the Spiritual Realm, I am not a fan of how it "worked", for lack of a better term. The whole place seemed to run on deus ex machina where things happened only for the sake of the plot. What was so bizarre was that when Hoid came up with the idea of accessing the Spiritual Realm he is so adamant that you can't get lost or else you're most likely doomed to wander aimlessly for eternity. Yet eight people entered the Spiritual Realm and basically everyone seemed to be able to navigate it just fine to move flawlessly between every plot point necessary in the perfect amount of time. We were told mortals cannot comprehend the Spiritual Realm and it will shred their minds which happened to no one. The only issue is they can't get home so basically we're stuck in an episode of Sliders.

What really made it annoying was how much it dragged on because of the random other characters that were there. If you removed every point of view chapter from Shallan, Renarin, and Rhlain you wouldn't actually be changing the overall plot of the book. Sure you can make a case for their character development but really the only thing that we needed to see happen was the shattering of Ba-Ado-Mishram's prison.

Oh actually no the worst thing about the Sprititual Realm was how Odium found a clone of Dalinar so he still got a champion to lead his army.

2) The contest was as predictable and anti-climatic as it could have been. The idea of agreeing to a duel to the death with a god was obviously the stupidest possible idea and could only be remotely interesting if one thing happened. Dalinar became a god, and lo and behold he does. But first Odium had to do the most obvious thing and pick someone who Dalinar wouldn't kill. Now it doesn't really matter who is chosen because Dalinar wouldn't kill most people at this point in his character arc. But instead of just picking an innocent soul that Dalinar would refuse to fight and still take up Honor's power, Odium had to chose Gavinor. And not just child Gavinor, no we had to use the "magic" of the Spiritual Realm to age him up 20 years and make him all angry. Basically we are fighting Connor from Angel.

I wonder how much of this was Brandon writing himself into a corner and just couldn't think of a good way to have the contest.

3) Jasnah losing the debate was where the book started to take a turn for me. Jasnah is one of my favourite characters and I could have dealt with her losing. But she lost in the worst possible way. Effectively what happened was Hitler (Odium) threatened Britain (Fen) with The Blitz but said he would let them be autonomous if they joined him. And the reason why Britain should trust him is because the US (Jasnah) has at one point in time drafted up a theoretically plan to invade Britain. It was the stupidest possible reasoning and fucking Queen Fen of Thaylenah was all "Sorry Jasnah, you may invade me one day so I gotta ally with the guy who is currently invading me". Jasnah is the very first of the reformed Knights Radiant, Queen of Alethkar, one of the world leading scholars, and yet she loses in what wouldn't even be a high school level mock trial.

4) I honestly wish there wasn't a single point of view chapter for Kaladin. Everything about him was difficult to read this time. Him being appointed Roshar's first therapist by Hoid was awful and it just got worse from there. It reads like someone who has never actually seen (or even talked to) a therapist. Everything was so dismissive as to how you just ask someone how they are doing repeatedly and eventually they crack and have a breakthrough. What is worse is that this modern framing of "therapy" and "mental health" didn't need to be this verbose. Kaladin just listening to Szeth is a crucial aspect and could have occurred without being told by a 10,000 year old space wizard that Kaladin needs to be a therapist. Ugh I don't wanna right anymore about this because it is just going to be frustrate me further.

So let's pivot instead to Kaladin becoming a Herald. Why was this necessary? Jezrien died 10 days ago but Ishar had this plan he could enact to reform the Oathpact at a moments notice and just sat on it for centuries? If Ishar was able to separate the Heralds minds from their bodies so they could be tortured on Braize forever why was he waiting? Why did it take Roshar's first therapist to simply suggest this to him for it a magically become an option? Ishar is supposedly completely insane and yet he was able to construct this perfect plan which was only suddenly able to be used when a "therapist" shows up and swears the fifth ideal?

5) The time dilation to sync up Roshar with Scadriel is another super boring deus ex machina.

6) I'm not expecting Game of Thrones level of deaths but come on, so many people are wearing plot armor. Almost no dies and even one who did is coming back as a clone from his more murderous years. Heck even those who get maimed somehow manage to comeback stronger. At this point I am certain that Shallan will eventually become immortal somehow because that woman is faceplanting upwards through life. Also she is apparently pregnant so I cannot wait to read about her 10 year old daughter who is somehow a Lightweaver and is the greatest spy in all of the Cosmere. Mark my words!

7) Fuck Moash.

Middle Ground

1) I didn't hate the defense of the Shattered Plains, I just cared about everything else more. Every time a chapter focused on the Shattered Plains I was anxious to get back to Adolin or Dalinar or Szeth. This is another example of a story that I would enjoy reading but all at once, not spliced throughout the rest of the book. If this was a novella that was released a month or so after Wind and Truth I would gobble it up. But nothing that happened here affected the overall outcome of the book. It will affect the future of Roshar and the Cosmere undoubtedly but we've learned about things of this magnitude in novellas before. For fuck's sake we had a novella for the discovery of a Dawnshard, one of the most powerful artifacts in the entire Cosmere, why did we need to spend all this time learning about Odium's perpendicularity?

To be clear, I did enjoy Sigzil's point of view and his interaction with his spren. But since I had read The Sunlit Man first it became obvious quite quickly that Wind and Truth was trying to set-up everything we read about in The Sunlit Man. Sigzil was going to have to lose his spren and gain the Dawnshard in Wind and Truth, two major events that happen in relatively quick succession. Not saying that isn't realistic, just that I wish I hadn't known about it beforehand. Reading The Sunlit Man after Wind and Truth definitely is the correct order.

2) Odium and Honor combining to become Retribution. I don't hate this but it was already done on Scadriel with Preservation and Ruin so it was one of the most obvious outcomes. What also wasn't clear to me was why Dalinar couldn't just release Odium anyway. His plan was to renounce his oaths, let Taravangian take up the Shard of Honor, and that would immediately put him on the radar of all other Vessels. If Dalinar breaks the contract but is the embodiment of Honor he's not going to be forced to serve Odium right? And even if he was wouldn't that mean Dalinar had a better chance to guide what Odium's army is doing rather than just saying "peace out" and letting basically all of Roshar be conscripted by Odium?

This feels like an appropriate time to mention Brandon Sanderson's first law of magic:

An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.

Based on what we've seen with Harmony it seems pretty clear what will happen to Retribution. Just like how Harmony has difficulty embodying both Presentation and Ruin (two completely opposing forces) Retribution is also going to struggle with Odium and Honor. I'll predict right now that the Honor portion will learn the difference between oaths and truly "honorable acts" and this will cause Retribution to expose themselves to being attacked by other shards. I pray that I am wrong but at this point I'm not really expecting to have my expectations subverted anymore.

What do now?

After writing down all of these thoughts I am finally realizing how true my first prediction was. The Stormlight Archive has grown so vast and Brandon seems focused more on how the world works compared to the characters that I am struggling to care anymore. While a lot of interesting information was proffered in Wind and Truth there weren't any real scenes that stand out as defining moments. Dalinar giving up Oathbringer to save the bridge crews in The Way of Kings. The Duel in Words of Radiance. "You cannot have my pain" in Oathbringer. Among many others. But when I think about Wind and Truth (as well as Rhythm of War) I think about pieces of information were were given. Not moments that defined a character and pushed them forward. In these last two books we are jumping between two dozen characters at breakneck speed that is has become hard to not only care about them but even understand them. We're not seeing things through their eyes as much as we used to.

I know Brandon said Wind and Truth was not the end but I am starting to view it as such. We may get another Stormlight Archive book in seven years but I'm no longer sure that I'll be invested in the series by then. I will first channel my energy into Mistborn Era Three and hope another trilogy with a satisfying conclusion is on the horizon.

Last but not least, Daniel Greene is a YouTuber who was able to vocalize a lot of very valid criticism so I highly recommend you give his review a watch.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

I regret paying full price for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. While is a very pretty game everything I wrote about the first one applies to the second. Maybe if I had spent only $30-40 I would be fine but unfortunately I'm more disappointed as to what could have been.

What amazes me the most is how Halo perfected the shield / health mechanic over 20 years ago and developers today still refuse to learn from it. Space Marines are supposed to effectively be walking tanks that use guns so large they are actually rocket launchers. They rush headlong into combat because their speed is otherworldly and their armor nigh indestructible. Swords with chainsaws attached to them are their melee weapon of choice which they use to literally bathe in their enemies blood. So how come in Space Marine 2 I am so fragile that after a few seconds of melee combat I have lost all of my shield, most of my health, and need to retreat and plink enemies to death. I really want to know what play tests for this game looked like because I cannot imagine anyone had fun spending 90% of their time on the verge of death looking for health packs which were rendered useless almost immediately after use.

I had such high hopes for Space Marine 2 but in 2024 if I am looking for a co-op shooter I would much rather play Helldivers 2 or even any of the Left 4 Dead games.

Astro Bot

One of the big surprises for the launch of the PlayStation 5 was actually a tech demo called Astro's Playroom. It did a great job showcasing the capabilities of the PS5 without dragging the game out more than necessary. I think nearly everyone left Astro's Playroom wanting more and four years later we got it in Astro Bot, a full-fledged sequel.

Like its predecessor, in Astro Bot you are trying to repair your damaged spaceship. To do this you must traverse five galaxies that are comprised of numerous planets where you rescue lost bots to challenge the galaxy's boss. Defeat it and you unlock a final planet that contains a missing piece of your spaceship. For the first several hours I was playing Astro Bot very casually and was not trying to rescue every bot, or collect every puzzle piece, or find every lost galaxy portal. This was where I was having the most fun.

If you own a PlayStation 5 there is no doubt in my mind that you should give Astro Bot a try. It is a very solid platformer that I truly believe will appeal to nearly everyone. While it isn't on the same level as Super Mario Odyssey it is a fantastic sophmore effort from Team Asobi. I ended up playing Astro Bot for 16 hours and even got the platinum trophy because I was so obsessed with it.

But there are a couple of major wrinkles in the game, at least in my opinion. The controls and camera were not as precise as I would have expected and on numerous occasions I felt that I was fighting them in ways which consistently lead to my death. Perhaps I just need to "git gud" but I don't remember having issues like this in better platformers such as Mario. There is also the bizarre decision of having you die in a single hit so any time so you mess up the controls there is no way to recover. You're simply kicked back to the last checkpoint and have to try again. If I was able to take three hits and recharge them by collecting coins I think that would drastically improve Astro Bot and yes I am aware this is incredibly similar to the game mechanics of a certain mustachioed plumber.

I also took issue with the linearity of a lot of the levels. This isn't necessary a bad thing but there were two key gameplay mechanics that sometimes made it frustrating. First is if you miss rescuing a certain bot you gotta go back and potentially replay the entire level. Second there are times when a level has two different "exits" which again means you are forced to replay the entire level to find the other one. But these are minor gripes that are probably only going to affect perfectionists like myself.

I am very interested in seeing what Super Mario game Nintendo releases next year alongside the Switch 2 because that sort of competition is only going to push Team Asobi to greater heights.

Repaired most of the holes in my house's drywall

Fuck repairing drywall. Dust, dust everywhere!!!

Review December Goals

January Goals

#MonthlyRetrospective