The Stormlight Archive #5
Wind and Truth
by Brandon Sanderson
Dalinar Kholin has challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions, and the Knights Radiant and the nations of Roshar have a mere 10 days to prepare for the worst. The fate of the entire world―and the Cosmere at large―hangs in the balance.
Overview
Wind and Truth is the fifth and final volume of the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. At 491,000 words and 147 chapters, it is the longest book in the series — and it carries the weight of four massive novels’ worth of setup.
The contest of champions is upon Roshar. Dalinar Kholin must face Odium’s chosen warrior in a battle that will determine the fate of the world. But the flashback chapters belong to Szeth-son-son-Vallano, the Assassin in White, whose tortured history and rigid devotion to truth illuminate the themes of the entire series.
Every thread woven across the previous four books converges here: the nature of the Oathpact, the truth behind the Recreance, the future of the Knights Radiant, and the deeply personal struggles of characters we’ve followed for thousands of pages.
Themes
- Truth and lies — Szeth’s obsession with truth versus a world built on comfortable deception
- Endings and beginnings — Closing one era while opening another
- The price of oaths — What happens when the words you swore demand everything
- Legacy — What remains when the story moves on
Why Read It
This is the payoff. Fourteen years of storytelling, five massive novels, and two novellas all converge into a conclusion that honors the journey. Sanderson delivers on promises made in The Way of Kings while setting the stage for the second half of the series. If you’ve come this far, this is what it was all for.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.”