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# Book Review: Words of Radiance
- URL: https://newsletter.ryansouthwickauthor.com/book-review-words-of-radiance/
- Published: 2018-12-29T08:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-05-01T17:36:43.000Z
- Description: A worthy successor that introduces one of my favorite characters of all time.
- Author: Ryan Southwick
- Tags: Blog, Book Review

Sanderson does it again with *Words of Radiance*. His well-drawn characters, who all struggled in the first book, are coming into their own, and in their own ways. The character conflicts are clear, varied, and intertwined, driven by personal goals and an inexorable doomsday deadline.  
  
Voidbringers, the harbingers so ancient that current society has little record of who or what they really are, are prophesied to return, and not Kalidin, Shallan, or even the exalted Dalinar have a clue how to stop them. This book focuses on not only 3 separate hero journeys, but discovery and further world building. New factions with questionable intent are pulling strings, but to what end, only a few know.  
  
One of the most memorable and surprising parts was an interlude with a new character, Lift, who I found charming and endearing. Lift is tweenager with a tragic backstory and indominable spirit who made me feel alive through her sheer exuberance. When I learned that the side novel, Edgedancer, focused on her, I was overjoyed, and will certainly be reading that next.  
  
If you enjoyed *The Way of Kings*, then you'll love *Words of Radiance*.

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