Cav's Place

One important difference between The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance is that the latter features far more action. Worldbuilding remains a major aspect, however, as does the philosophy and wisdom, the tackling of topics such as customs, religion and prejudice. Some reminders are included, but it largely moves past the basic, obvious elements […]

This is a masterpiece of worldbuilding, proving Sanderson a grandmaster. Elements can be seen in his other works, possibly tried, experimented with, but here they all come together to create a complete world, different from what the reader would be familiar with. Philosophy, religion, ethics and, perhaps most of all, prejudice are also tackled. That […]

It’s unusual for me to even be able to stand a person, and next to impossible to actually like one, so finding characters infuriating, human or human-like ones in particular, tends to be the norm. Therefore, coming from me, it’s high praise to find it hard to name a character I disliked, and even more […]

Elantris starts slowly, major developments relatively few and far between in its almost exclusively political first part. That led to me focusing on that aspect as well and noting when the author was unable to make characters as wise as quite clearly intended, even if overall that’s another limitation that he works around better than […]

This just isn’t done, taking a fantasy world forward, skipping centuries and having its level of development actually change drastically, yet Sanderson did it anyway. I still much prefer more typical fantasy settings, and an Industrial Revolution keeps making me think of the environmental damage caused, but must admit that a fantasy world having its […]