[10] On July 3, Tor Books officially released an early excerpt of the novel, containing the beginning of an interlude starring Taravangian, the King of Kharbranth.

In the same article Whelan states, "When Irene Gallo proposed a second painting for Words of Radiance, I immediately knew it was Shallan we were talking about.

[20] Non-spoiler reviews were released by Alice Arneson[21] and Carl Engle-Laird[22] on the Tor website and by 17thshard.com, the official fansite of Brandon Sanderson, 17th Shard calling the book, "truly an achievement.

[24] Six years before the main events of the book, at the festival celebrating the Alethi peace treaty with the Parshendi, Jasnah Kholin encounters a mysterious Spren and falls into the realm of Shadesmar, where she discovers the power to Soulcast (transform matter) using Stormlight.

After departing Kharbranth, Jasnah and her ward Shallan Davar travel by ship to the Shattered Plains with their discovery of the Voidbringers' true nature and the coming Desolation.

Injured and stranded, Shallan is rescued by a group of slave merchants, but manages to recover Jasnah's research notes and resolves to continue their mission to the Shattered Plains.

Dalinar, shaken by his visions revealing that the Almighty is dead, begins finding cryptic messages scrawled in his chambers that count down to "the Everstorm."

To counter this and his belief that a Desolation is coming, Dalinar decides to restore the Knights Radiant, the ancient order of Stormlight wielders who defended mankind from the Voidbringers.

He gives his son Adolin permission to duel other lighteyes for their Shardplates and Shardblades, hoping this will weaken his political rivals, particularly Torol Sadeas, the fellow Highprince who betrayed him.

Venli's sister Eshonai, the last Parshendi Shardbearer and leader of their warriors, would rather parlay with Dalinar to end the war peacefully, but volunteers to become the first Stormform.

Shallan and the slave merchants are trailed by a group of deserters from the warcamps and encounter a caravan of local travelers who were previously raided by bandits.

With the King, Navani, Renarin, and the others quickly escaping, Dalinar, Adolin, and Kaladin fight the Assassin In White but are outmatched by his Lashing abilities.

During the melee after landing, Szeth sees Kaladin use Stormlight and flees from the duel, realizing that the Radiants are back and he is not Truthless as his people told him.

While Kaladin recovers the bodies of guards, he finds Hobber, one of the bridge men he rescued earlier, injured from Szeth's attack and decides to retire him as a military cook.

After suffering injuries from Szeth's attack, Adolin struggles to regain his fighting ability while Navani devises an observation platform for archery.

With her discovery of her light weaving ability, she can change an Alethi character form based on her drawing and takes the name "Veil," hoping to learn more about the legendary city of the Radiants, Urithiru, and the Voidbringers.

Graves, leader of the assassins, insists that they are patriots determined to stabilize Alethkar by removing Elhokar from the throne due to his lack of leadership.

After learning about the Herald, Shallan visits Talenel (escorted by Hoid) for further research and records most of his repeated lines before Amaram's arrival.

Fed up with public humiliation, Dalinar outs himself by performing the speech and confessing the truth about his visions after which he plans on ending his vengeance pact by silencing the crowd.

When the army goes to explore the Shattered Plains, an assassination attempt, orchestrated by Sadeas to dispose of Dalinar, sabotages the bridge causing both Shallan and Kaladin to fall into the chasm but survive using their Stormlight.

During their journey, Shallan discovered that the Shattered Plains chasm is formed on cymatics and confirmed that the abandoned city, known as Stormseat later named Narak, is located at the center.

They ride out a high storm together and survive, but Kaladin has lost all contact with Syl due to his conflicted involvement over his decisions on Elhokar's life.

In Kholinar, the capital city of Alethkar, riots suddenly erupt when Elhokar's wife Aesudan Kholin, and the Alethi Elites, order the execution of the young ardent Pai who questioned their faith.

While testing his intelligence level based on his age, Taravangian and his advisors arrived at the battlefield of Jah Keved where most of the Vedens celebrate his support.

As the army approaches Narak during the Weeping, Shallan completes her cartographic sketches of the Shattered Plains and decides to travel to the ruins along with Renarin, an ardent, and scholars for assistance.

With Elhokar safeguarded by Bridge Four's Herdazian, Lopen, and the Vengeance Pact fulfilled, the Alethi settlers from the Shattered Plains begin to desert their war camps and plan to settle Urithiru.

Shallan remembers the incident, revealing that she had bonded a cryptic that manifested her surgebinding when she was young, causing her mother to panic and plot to kill her.

Szeth awakes from a near-death experience and meets the executioner named Nale, Herald of Justice and leader of the Skybreakers, who has healed him before he could truly die of injuries sustained while fighting Kaladin.

[26] A review written by Rob Bricken of io9 called the book an old-school, "90s fantasy-style behemoth",[27] also commenting, "While Sanderson continues to build his characters and reveal who they are (especially in the case of Shallan's past) it still clings to one overarching plot that drives relentlessly to an ending that can only be described as 'epic'.

"[27] The Lincoln Journal Star called the book "an extremely satisfying read that shows what the beginning of an epic fantasy series should look like.