It was really interesting reading this book after binge reading the first three in the series back in 2021 and loving them. They definitely helped propel me back into being a Reader and I'm glad for that. But now I have a lot more books under my belt and am a *little* more critical. Maybe one day before book six comes out I'll reread the whole series and find out how I really feel about it. But for now, I barely had the strength to just get through this one.

It's too long. That's the main complaint, if I had to narrow it down to one. But the length is one of the Things about this series. They have to be long and be getting longer because they're the Stormlight Archive. But in reality, there is no reason it had to be over 1200 pages. It even felt like some of the repetition wasn't cleaned up just to pad out the word count. It really didn't help that the first part was so slow to get going and only made it feel that much longer. I wasn't really *excited* to pick the book up until after the halfway point. That's like two whole other books I could have read in that number of pages.

It was also the first time reading this series that I could feel the Cosmere easter eggs flying over my head. I know I'm missing out by not reading the rest of the connected universe, but I'm going to die on the hill that I shouldn't *have* to. It's only my enjoyment being hindered blah blah but there's only so much time!! I can only read so many books!! And for as much as I enjoyed the first three in this series, there are so many other authors I want to give a try instead. So, yes, I get to enjoy the feeling of missing out of inside references instead. Whatever.

For as much as I'm complaining, I'm still giving it four stars. Maybe a little generously when I really think about it, but I do love these characters. Adolin's growth this book was definitely a highlight. Kaladin... my man. I think it's really important for his depression to be such an important part of the plot, but at times it only felt like a plot point rather than a part of his character. Maybe it's because of other books I've read recently that had excellent portrayals of depression/trauma, but there was something about this one that felt... dare I say convenient? Preachy? Oversimplified? Something like that. Same with Shallan. I appreciate her story and the way she faces her trauma, but the climax of her arc felt very abrupt. That whole plot line felt a little forgotten at the end, tbh. Still love them though. And while Sanderson's prose isn't great, I do get a certain sense of comfort from it. Like I get to turn my brain off and just watch a marvel movie or something, you know? A really long one, anyways.