Words of Radiance

Development

The release of Words of Radiance was delayed because Sanderson was committed to writing the final book of The Wheel of Time. Sanderson initially planned to title the volume The Book of Endless Pages, after the tome Shallan receives at the end of the first volume, but changed the name after his editor questioned naming a very long, very thick fantasy book The Book of Endless Pages. At 1088 pages, it was the maximum printable size for Tor Books and became the largest book the company had printed up to that point.

Sanderson announced on his official Twitter account on July 1, 2013, that he had finished the first draft. Two days later, Tor Books released an early excerpt containing the beginning of an interlude starring Taravangian, the King of Kharbranth. On December 10, 2013, Tor announced that Sanderson had turned in the manuscript, and released a second excerpt featuring an interlude with the new character Lift. On December 30, 2013, Tor revealed the endpapers painted by American artist Michael Whelan, depicting Shallan painting at the Shattered Plains.

Whelan stated that when Irene Gallo proposed a second painting for the book, he immediately knew it would be Shallan, as the story had become as much Shallan's as Kaladin's.

Plot

Jasnah Kholin's first trip into Shadesmar happened during a peace conference with the Parshendi, where she also learned to Soulcast. Right after that, she saw Szeth kill her father, King Gavilar, and the Parshendi admitted they ordered it because they were scared of what Gavilar was planning. This pushed Jasnah to dig into the Parshendi's past, her Shadesmar experience, and the Last Desolation. She and Shallan Davar sailed for the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah talked her mother Navani into betrothing Shallan to Adolin.

Shallan met a spren she called Pattern, became friends with it, and started showing her own powers. Assassins attacked their ship, and Jasnah seemed to die; Shallan got away, grabbed Jasnah's research, and kept going, figuring out that the Parshendi and the Voidbringers were the same thing. After saving Dalinar Kholin, Kaladin and his old Bridgemen became royal guards for House Kholin, including King Elhokar. Kaladin had a hard time with his anger toward lighteyes, trained to use his Windrunner powers, and worked on his bond with his Honorspren, Syl.

Even though he was a darkeyes, he sat in on a lot of Dalinar's strategy meetings. Things got trickier when Brightlord Amaram showed up to back Dalinar's plan to unite the Highprinces. Dalinar found strange messages counting down to something called the Everstorm, chose to bring back the Knights Radiant, and let his son Adolin fight other lighteyes for their Shards. In the Parshendi village of Narak, the researcher Venli found a new form that could call up powerful storms.

Even though some worried it would bring Voidspren, the council let her try it. Venli's sister Eshonai, the last Parshendi Shardbearer, offered to be the first to take Stormform. Adolin won a duel and got Shards for Dalinar.

Reception

Words of Radiance hit number one on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list during its debut week. It also claimed the top spot on the combined print/ebook list and the Kobo Bestseller list. The book placed third on the National Indie Bestseller list and sixth on the Southern California Independent Bookseller Association’s hardcover fiction list. In the UK, publisher Gollancz saw it debut at number two on the Sunday Times of London Bestseller list. Rob Bricken of io9 described the novel as a massive, old-school fantasy reminiscent of the 1990s, noting that while Sanderson deepens his characters—especially revealing Shallan’s past—the story stays focused on a single, driving plot that pushes toward an undeniably epic conclusion. The Lincoln Journal Star praised it as a deeply satisfying read, calling it a model for how an epic fantasy series should begin.