Book Review – White Sand Volume 2

Title: White Sand Volume 2 by Brandon Sanderson
Release Date: February 20th 2018
Tags: Graphic Novel / Adult / Fantasy / Adult Fantasy
Other books in this series I reviewed / White Sand Volume 1
Other books by this author I reviewed  Steelheart / Firefight / Calamity

Possible spoilers for the previous books in the series

Synopsis

Following the loss of most of his colleagues in a violent ambush, Kenton has become Lord Mastrell of the few remaining Sand Masters, magicians who can manipulate sand to do their bidding. With the ruling council poised against him, the hot-headed Kenton must become a diplomat to have any hope of preventing the eradication of his people forever. However, there’s another complication: assassins are coming for him from all directions, and Kenton’s only true ally is Khriss, a visitor from the other side of the planet who has an agenda of her own to pursue.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review

Two years ago I was lucky enough to read the first volume of White Sand. As mentioned in that one the world building happened to rapidly and the characters could not really capture me. But it still had a lot of potential.

This second volume was a small step up when it comes to the world. There was less world building as a lot of that had been done in the first volume. It was easier to settle into the story and the characters. However I think the shortness really works against this story. I feel like I am getting such a small fraction of the story and there is not one small story line that really gets wrapped up in this volume. Like it will just continue on from the same point. It is a shame and I think this would have possible worked better in bigger volumes or even just a different format. On the other hand there already was almost two years between these volumes which does not work in its favor either.

I do think the story where we follow Kenton trying to get into the political side is very interesting. We see more so the dislike that there seems to be for sand mages as Kenton. That their talents are seen as magic and/or blasphemy.

Character wise both Kenton and Chriss gained more of my interest as it focused a bit more on their development than the first one did. Kenton is really trying to step up his game and to become a leader to the others. Chriss shows a bit of a different side to her where she is clearly in this for her own gain. Their unlikely partnership will prove to show some interesting scenes in the future I am sure.

But when it comes to the side characters, they are almost completely forgettable. I can’t keep straight between Chriss’ party of people. I keep mixing up some of the guys