Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive 5)
- Author: Brandon Sanderson
- Page count: 1330
- Started on: 2026/06/22
- Finished on: 2026/07/22
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
-
Although I discovered Brandon Sanderson’s writing relatively late and still have plenty of his prolific output to explore, I try to limit myself to one of his books per year. That’s because the books in The Stormlight Archive series are all very, very long and tend to disrupt my reading schedule. Wind and Truth clocks in at 1,330 pages, the longest in the series so far - and it marks the end of the first half of what’s meant to be a 10-book series. 🤯
The Stormlight Archive series is set on storm-ravaged Roshar, where warriors, scholars, rulers, and magical Radiants try to unite humanity while confronting ancient enemies, political backstabbing, and personal trauma. Wind and Truth covers a span of 10 days during which Dalinar, leader of the human coalition, prepares for a decisive contest with the god Odium, while all of his allies wage battles of their own in different places and planes.
The build-up to the final confrontations is, long but very eventful, which feels like a recurring issue throughout this series. The writing is good and engaging; there’s just so much of it! This could easily have been two decent-sized books, which feels like a common theme for the series too. I regularly wished that Sanderson had taken a similar approach to Awaken Online, with a main story arc and then side-quest books that further explore specific characters and their adventures.
Wind and Truth is a solid entry in the series and a good capstone to the first main story arc, but I am also somewhat glad to be done with it. I might at some point explore some of Sanderson’s other writing in the same Cosmere universe.
