Originally posted on 06 Dec 2023

1 minute read

Despite the many, many books he’s written, this may be the first Sanderson I’ve actually read. I’d walked away from The Wheel of Time series long before he picked up that baton, and none of his other titles managed to cross my path when I had the attention span for it.

Which means that, unlike most people picking up this book, it was my first exposure to the author’s work. I confess, despite a lot of people liking his stuff a lot, I came into this with low expectations. By the time I left it, I was so fed up with the glacial pace of Wheel of Time that Sanderson suffered in my estimation for his association with it.

Despite that, I gave this book a try and am glad I did. It was a light, fun read. The story was good, well expressed, and flowed well. Some of the character elements were just witty enough to avoid being annoying. Sanderson tied off the story, but had sprinkled enough other world building in there to build upon for more books should he want.

And I suspect he will want. How else will we find out what the heck is up with [redacted], mentioned several times in the book but not resolved? Time will tell whether he picks up that thread and pulls.