My son got me started on the Stormlight Archives series from Brandon Sanderson and I fell in love with the story. They were complex, filled with interesting characters and a world that was richly defined. None of that is present in this book. Edge Dancer takes places after book 2 of the Stormlight Archives and focuses solely on one character that appeared in a brief aside in book 2. One of the strengths of the previous books was the multitude of characters, all of whom had different perspectives and opinions.
This book is told from the perspective of what we are told is a 10 year old child. Not only is the dialogue skewed and inconsistent (at times talking much older, at other times much younger), the character is really annoying in what she focuses upon. Even worse, this short novel (about 250 pages) does NOTHING to advance the story of the Stormlight Archives. I literally have no idea why this was even written. It takes a minor character, turns her into the focal point of the novel, and does not really tie it into the larger more complex story.
It has been a while since I have had a hate read, but I kept hoping things would improve or it would be integrated into the overall story. Nope, not at all, other than some references to the storms ravaging the world. I have been told that the focal character of this tale, Lyft, matures and becomes more tolerable later in the series. She certainly could not get worse. I am not going to stop reading a series whose first 2 volumes I greatly enjoyed because of one massive misstep, but the margin of error going forward is very small for me.
Avoid this book
