Starting to re-read the Stormlight Archive...

So, I read the first two books in 2014, when the second book came out. After remembering how much I loved Sanderson (thanks, Elantris!) I decided to re-read so that I could get to Oathbringer.

I'm now a little past the part in WoK where

Spoiler

Dalinar has his first vision (that we see) during a Highstorm / Sadeas has just been made Head Knight of Investigations or whatever the title was

and I'm realizing just how little I remember of the first book. I have this niggling thing about Sadeas (and helloooooo, foreshadowing) but I literally can't remember if

Spoiler

he can be trusted or if he betrays Dalinar

and it's killing me inside.

How have you all managed to remember anything about the books, especially so many years after they came out? Do you always re-read?

 

I generally resort to relistening to the audiobook version of the older books before the new book comes out.

 

I did a re-listen to WoK before I listened to WoR for the first time (and now I'm on Oathbringer) and I'm sooooo glad I did, because I forgot TONS of things, which I don't usually do

 

I didn't start reading until Oathbringer came out, so I just read them all back-to-back in the span of 3 weeks.

 

OMG I also recently started a reread. I'm a bit ahead of you. I won't say where as to avoid spoilers for you, but I seem to remember more than you, though still not a lot. Like I remember mostly how the second thing you mention ends up, but not the specific details of how.

It's nice reading through the early stuff while having a better understanding of how the world works, because the early stuff makes more sense to me now.

Anyway, yay reread buddies!

 

Ooooh now I wanna catch up to you! Funnily enough I remember some of the Kal storyline and more of the Shallan one, but Dalinar is just...

 

I read WoK back before WoR came out and hated it. Like, it was one of those books where I forced myself to finish it, because hey, so many of my friends loved it, I must just be missing something... Nope, two reads through, hated it.

Then Audible gave me the WoK for free (I forget why ). And I really like Michael Kramer and Kate Reading (even if she can't pronounce "legionaire." ) And I find that I really enjoy Sanderson's work being read to me, but I can't stand reading it myself. I find his phrasing odd, his editor needs sacked, and the little niggles in text irritate me if I read it myself. But somehow, I can ignore that when it's being narrated. The odd niggles are still there, but they're not as annoying to me.

Anyway, to come back to the original question - having read WoK twice, I thought I knew the story quite well. Blimey, I'd forgotten a lot For example (spoilers for near the end of the book):

Spoiler

I was fairly sure that Dalinar challenged Sadeas to a duel and that somehow Adolin died...
I also thought that Kaladin's father died.
I remembered Shallan becoming Jasnah's apprenctice/ward without being poisoned. And I didn't remember the dodgy priest dude being a true bad guy.

So... yeah. It's amazing how one's mind mixes things up.

 

Yeah, I am not a big fan of WoK, but I consider WoR some of Sandersons best work. It may be because I have very little patience with Kaladin

 

She pronounces it "legion-ah-rey"

 

lolwut? wwhhhyyyy?

Shallan is actually my least favorite of the 4 main characters. I think for me it's Kaladin, Szeth, Dalinar, Shallan. But I like the Shallan bits because I love Jasnah so damn much.

 

I have no idea why. I did even go back to the books to make sure it wasn't spelled a weird way, but nope... Pass!

I was trying to decide who I found most irritating in the series... Most of the characters irritate me a lot of the time. Perhaps this is why I found the books so difficult to read

 

I have a problem with people who go around feeling sorry for themselves and are almost constantly depressed. Like Kaladin

 

One thing I had forgotten was how Szeth's story plays out. I remembered where he ends up at the end of WoK but couldn't remember how he got there.

But i just read the part where

Spoiler: actual spoilers!

his stone is acquired by the karbaranth king, though we don't technically know that yet, and he gets the list of important people to kill

 

I can agree with you on always feeling sorry for themselves, but I think Sanderson did a decent job showing what clinical depression as a mental illness can look like. I know from his forward that he even consulted at least one psychologist to help with that aspect.

 

Oh, it is accurate, but that doesn't mean I have to like it

 

So I quoted your post to say just HOW MUCH I want to click on the spoiler thing but won't because I don't actually want to be spoiled... and of course it showed the spoiler typed out in the quote section because BBCode (luckily I closed my eyes fast enough that I didn't read anything by accident except I think the word 'kill' and then squinted just enough to see where I was deleting but not what... )