WIND AND TRUTH - Latest criticism and fandom reaction to the book

Ok, it has been officially one month since Truth has arrived and most of this sub might have read it and at least shared an opinion on the internet.

It is pretty common to find a lot of comments and posts criticizing the passing, plot points, lack of that and too much of this, modern language being frequently introduced and also, a comparison to the Mistborn Era 1 trilogy, especially The Hero of Ages book, the ending of this book, so on and so forth.

First and foremost: we are human beings. It is ok to not like something. Some people love Elantris and others loathe it. Some people love Era 2 of Mistborn and others simply dislike it. That's how life is. And please, with this post I do not wish to shut down anyone for disliking the book or criticizing. I just want to invite to some reflection and questioning, as a good Elsecaller. There will be spoilers down below to this book and other works of his.

Mistborn Era 1 finale - Hero of Ages

Ok. It has been some time that Sanderson emphasized that SA5 would NOT be a Hero of Ages like book. If you make a comparison, yes, they share similarities, but Sanderson himself stated several times that this was not the case and that there are still 5 more books that will finish the Stormlight Archive AND THEN, we might have another Hero of Ages like book.

I know. I was one of those that held the same expectations, but remember that The Stormlight Archives series is a bold project. 10 books, multiple characters, connections to a wider universe, time to write everything and keeping everything tight. But then and again, the first book of this series was launched ALMOST 15 YEARS AGO. Bear that in mind and this will lead to my next point, which is:

Continuity

As mentioned above, Sanderson wrote the first SA book almost 15 years ago. From there until now, he wrote the full Era 2 of Mistborn, Secret History, Dawnshard and the Secret Projects,. That is a lot for a writer. And it is hard to keep everything completely tight and organized, which is ok to see some plot holes, uncomplete plot lines or other forgotten ones (such as, so far, Adolin killing Sadeas, Ialai's death and other examples). Including those, would lead to much bigger books and that would be way too much even for Sanderson.

Just for the record, the SA series has almost 16 to 20 different POVs with completely different characters which some arcs are still not finished and others appear in other books, plus worldbuilding and sticking a schedule so everything in the future age of cosmere is connected

Think about that for a minute. It is already insane what he does for minor characters, let alone 14 of these being major players in the 5 books. There is too much to cover, and Sanderson is a human being.

Writing

It is no surprise up to this point that Sanderson's prose is an easy read for everyone. Now, there were lots of posts and comments about inserted modern language within the book and Sanderson himself has commented on that. But I want to shed light to a specific point, which is the most important one:

Sanderson's writing style 14 years ago is not the same as nowadays. We, as readers, can binge-read the whole SA series and see how it differentiates, but speaking in our world's time, that is a lot of time and people change. Our world has changed over these past 14 years. An entire generation with entire different problems and concerns has grown ever since. The problems of back then are nothing like the problems of nowadays. Do I say this and agree that everything was all flowers? No. I agree that there were somethings that could have been written better, but honestly, books mostly are written and read as per the current age. It is hard to find a 18th century-like writing nowadays.

Lastly, the plot points:

Again, this story is not yet complete. There are still 5 more books to come and lots more to be covered. Please, let us be patient, and also be more considerate with what we receive. I cannot think of another author who gives so much to his fandom as Sanderson does. And honestly, the Cosmere fandom is one of the, if not, the most respectful sub there is towards epic fantasy, due to its uniqueness. Let us do as the book teach us, which is: consider, understand, question, change and also, accept.