Original review: NOW IT IS TIME FOR WIND AND TRUTH
(but I have another two weeks to wait)
Updated long review: First off, I had a whole thing written and it got lost on Goodreads, how bizarre. Doesn’t it save automatically?
So well to quickly recap (and I won’t give away who the main character/Nomad is until later on, if you want to avoid):
– it’s funny how there’s SO MUCH plot crammed into these small novels between the giant paving stones (and really, they are also literally physically small novels, like the size of two playing cards or so). the entire concept of Dawnshards is introduced in one of these books! What??
– I liked the way Canticle works, and how the denizens are really clever and smart at ways that involve moving through their world. Since the Sun is both a source of light and a source of death (the rays are so bright and Invested that they’ll quickly grow a plant from seed to harvest during the dawn, but then anything left behind by full daytime will be burnt to a crisp) they’re amazing engineers when it comes to anything to do with moving/flying/surviving but have never thought about moving vertically (why would they move closer to the death sun?)
Two main points:
First, the Cinder King is the right sort of villain for a novel like this. It also makes the MCU and their insistence that every villain be world-ending look pretty silly! And yes, for the people that our main character Nomad encounters the Cinder King is truly evil. but once you’ve faced Todium who is actually a universe-ending baddie, the Cinder King is rightly just…a minor annoyance. That’s how it has to be! Otherwise you’ll end up not caring about the stakes for any arc, because it seems fake to have yet another world-ending calamity on hand.
Second…why is it that all stories that involve bonds between humans and any sort of sprite/daemon/spren/familiar always include TEARS? Surprise surprise, our main character is Sigzil, and our spren is…Auxiliary, formerly of Szeth??? Having not read Wind & Truth at this point, you’re left with about 100000 questions as to how we got here from there, but you can’t spend too much time thinking about those because you’re about to get a front row view to yet another heart-wrenching spren/human interaction? Aux and Sigzil have a clear and comforting bond, and Aux is going to sacrifice himself (like Maya!) for Sigzil to make a choice and save the Beaconities, and you’re going to sit there crying because spren are too good for us all.
Doubly so because you learn in W&T
Sigzil makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Vienta, and while she understands she doesn’t want to speak to him again, which means that they haven’t spoken since. BUT MAYBE THEY WILL BOND AGAIN, I remain hopeful
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