Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson ISBN: 9781250166609
Series: The Stormlight Archive #2.5
Also in this series: The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance
Published by Tor Books on October 17, 2017
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 272
Format: eBook
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, a special gift edition of Edgedancer, a short novel of the Stormlight Archive (previously published in Arcanum Unbounded).
Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.
Characters: 9, this primarily centers around Lift, but there’s character growth for several in here, and some fun side characters (as well as a callback to a throwaway character from book 1). Lift was entertaining but also a bit annoying to me when she popped up in book 2, but this book redeems her as we get a look inside her deeper motivations, fears, and her glorious stubbornness. This did have me craving pancakes, though.
Atmosphere: 9, I could somewhat picture Yeddaw (like Azir, it’s really defined by the culture more than the buildings), but the energy of the scenes was mostly palpable. No spoilers, but the uncannily creepy scene was actually unnerving, even though the climax didn’t feel as tense to me as I’d expected (mostly because of Lift’s attitude, I think).
Writing: 10, I’m fully a Brandon Sanderson fan. He does a lot of head nods and Easter eggs, and I keep worrying that I can’t retain info well enough to connect the dots….yet somehow he’s able to remind me without it feeling like I’m being spoon-fed. And his writing doesn’t rely on memory for plot, thankfully.
Plot: 9, I’m not sure why we got the intimacy with the female captain of the guard’s perspective as we did, given she really doesn’t make a difference to the plot and apparently isn’t a recurring character. It dragged a little in some spots, but honestly, Lift is such a ridiculous character that I was never bored. The reveals were (as always) peppered into the story in a way that was entirely additive and not distracting…and still left me wanting to know more about Lift.
Intrigue: 8, I wouldn’t say I was jonesing to read this. Part of that might be that I burned out a little on reading at the end of April (whoops), or that I’ve just been exhausted and slammed with countless to-dos this month so far. But when I was reading it, I was in it fully. And even though it took me 6 days to read, the time spent reading it flew by.
Logic: 9, characters, systems, and the greater forces of the world followed their established motivations and logic, for better and worse. Lift’s deepest motivations aren’t clear until the end, but there’s enough there to feel like it’s consistent. The exception is that Lift is somehow able to touch/grip Wyndle in his spren form, even though that’s not supposed to be possible.
Enjoyment: 9, I was amused, and then I was captivated. I killed two hours at the Toyota dealership reading this and it saved my sanity. I’m eager to continue with the series!
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