Courtesy of Jacob lending me his ARC, I finished it last night as well.

This is definitely a character driven story. The major characters are Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar with a decent number of minor characters that vary in how well they're developed.

Kaladin was most engrossing, but he's the most frequently "shown" character as well. My biggest complaint is that a good part of the time he's wallowing in despair, which got old. This is balanced by what I consider the most exciting "personal climax" I've read in a long time. In essence, he's the Young Hero archtype with some trauma thrown in to put a new spin on it to keep from becoming stale.

I found Dalinar interesting only some of the time; those of you who've read it can probably guess what those are. To me, Dalinar's purpose in the story was to provide a lot of the necessary world building, though I personally did not feel it to be a contrived info-dump which in itself was refreshing. I think Sanderson did a better job with that here than Erikson has done in his novels (and I say that as an Erikson fan). Dalinar's action sequences were good, but given the character's background they weren't particularly exciting: a nigh-invincible veteran warrior slaughtering enemy troops doesn't exactly elicit a thrill of imminent danger. More interesting are his character and moral development, particularly those that occur in the midst of battle.

Shallan is my favorite character so far. I found her intriguing, as her story begins fairly straightforward but quickly complicates itself. Just when things appear to be wrapped up, they take a complete right turn away from their former path in what to me was the biggest "Surprise!" moment of the book. Right on its heels is the genuinely monumental "Oh, no!" moment that establishes this book as merely the beginning of what will be a long, bloody, epic struggle for creation itself - and had me practically swearing outloud.

Szeth, Rock, Sadeas, Elkohir (sp?), and a host of other supporting minor characters all help populate the world in which the major characters move. I was actually somewhat disappointed at the lack of development in Elkohir, whom I felt was a victim of telling and not showing to some extent. How Szeth deals with his commands are some of the most human moments in the story, giving him more of a persona than his limited pagetime would suggest.

In all, I think it's a well written, solid book that provides the foundation for what Sanderson says is the story he's wanted to tell for half his life but is only now able to. The characters seem like real people, flaws and all, in an ancient world heavy with its own history. I was unable to put this book down, and am excited for the actual release since I'll have to return Jacob's ARC. Definitely two thumbs up.



EDIT: Corrected "Erickson" to "Erikson", per Larry's chastisment.