Wind and Truth : my review.

Soooooooooo.... I finished Wind and Truth last night, and I'll be honest. I didn't love it.

I saw a tweet saying that every other scene felt like a BetterHelp commercial, and "What a disaster! It's like he took a page out of D&D 5e and made the cosmere into fantasy Seattle."

Unfortunately, I think that description is pretty accurate (although I think he really meant D&D 2024).

It's a story that takes place in a total of 10 days, and yet there are ~900 major characters -- every one of whom is going through some mental health crisis that can apparently be resolved by basic platitudes and therapy jargon within a few days.

It's also just absolutely full of "woke" junk with the rushed (almost out-of-left-field) inclusion of trans and 'non-binary' characters, a barely coherent gay relationship, some literally 'suicidal empathy', and honestly a whole bunch of plot points and character moments that felt like ultra-cringe circa 2019-2020.

It took me out of the book in part because of the lack of verisimilitude, but also because it meant that the 1300 page book felt deeply unfocused and scattered. It's simultaneously slow and boring in parts and insanely rushed in others, mainly because it was trying to deal with a gazillion characters (at least a dozen explicit POVs), most of which aren't actually relevant to the main story and because it put lots of emphasis on introducing modern real-world, ideological crap that felt wildly out of place for the series.

None of it felt particularly in line with the previous books, except for the last handful of chapters.

Meanwhile, as I said, the plot of the book takes place over just 10 days and it's supposed to be the final boss battle against one of the best villains I've ever seen in literature. But instead of focusing on the immense, galaxy-ending threat, the book is focused on rehabilitating a vicious and completely insane killer, a budding gay relationship, various gender-identity issues, and the emotional insecurities of every major character.

Half the time I kept wanting to scream at the characters in the book to remind them that they actually have a job to do, and maybe now isn't the time to do a therapy session or worry about whether or not the guy you like likes you back.

It's the end of the world in 10 days, people! Act like it.

There are some great moments, of course. Sanderson is a hell of a writer in general. But I'd be hard pressed to call this "High Fantasy" if the definition of that term is "characterized by its setting in an alternative, fictional world that is distinct from the real world".

So much of this book felt like it was pandering to the idiots who dominate the current American publishing industry, instead of concluding an incredibly unique and interesting story on its own terms.

I dunno. Kinda disappointed, and I really hope Sanderson finds his way back to the inventive and unique world-building he's done in the past.