Hello again Jared,
Since I finally read Words of Radiance I figured I needed to go and read this novella after skipping it in Arcanum Unbounded. I’m glad I did.
Title: Edgedancer
Series: The Stormlight Archive; Novella
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: Cosmere, Magic, Big Swords
Synopsis: 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.
Recommendation: This book (& everything Sanderson) is highly recommended!
Lift, the main character, is first introduced in Words of Radiance in one of the interludes. Her part is minor and mostly serves to show that other important things are happening across the globe. Now in Edgedancer I feel like it would have been better left out and her story solely told here. We don’t get a good intro to her character here in the novella and this split between the main story and the side story is more annoying than anything else right now.
I don’t like Lift as a person. She’s annoying and I couldn’t find anything endearing. That said, her characters is interesting and I enjoyed discovering more about her as she discovered more about herself.
Mr. Sanderson notes at the end that he plans to use this character much later in the main series and this was mostly to flesh out her backstory. It also served a dual purpose in showing a key moment for another character. The one Lift calls “Darkness”. His story was just as interesting, if not more, than Lift’s own.
The plot is simple but it perfectly parallels Words of Radiance and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two of them bundled together now that Edgedancer got it’s solo release last month.
In a separate but related note, this novella is 40 thousand words! Another 10k and it would be a novel in its own right! I’m not complaining. Sanderson can do what he wants, I just think this could have gone that next half step and been better for it.
Robert
Reading Over The Shoulder 