The next novel plus extremely full-length novel in this series. Reading these, and Rhythm of War especially, had me thinking about what it is that I read genre - and (including) literary fiction - for. There's a relatively heavy emphasis on character here, and particularly on mental illness and disability, in a way that's impressive for a fantasy novel but would be only passable in lit fic - along with the depth of the world (and universe) being built, and the moments and crescendos of excitement and intrigue. I'd like it if Sanderson went a bit darker, in a way that was hinted at in parts of the first in the series, but that's a matter of taste rather than a reflection of quality. All told these continue to be pacy, richly imagined stories told in a way that doesn't insult the intelligence (at the level of both prose and characterisation), and a good way to escape for a time.
