“I gots magic spit.”
You’re likely going to get sick of me talking about Brandon Sanderson, but, as you’re aware, it is indeed the year of Sanderson. My second February selection is Edgedancer, a “novella” (though arguably more of a novel) that is part of The StormLight Archive. I believe it’s best referred to as #2.5, fitting neatly between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer, that brings us back to an “Interlude” in Words involving a young street urchin named Lift. Lift is smart-mouthed, uncouth, and forever hungry. And yeah, she “Awesome” because she is, of course, a Radiant. Bound a child, Lift’s spren, Wyndle, assumes a bit more a babysitting role with her, his frustration and disappointment a mask for the feelings he has readily developed for the young girl. She doesn’t know the rules, and he can’t tell her. So, he just has to make sure she doesn’t kill them both.
A man with a shardblade, an executioner known as Darkness, is seeking her and others like her out; his mission, while tied to that of the Assassin in White’s, is a little different. He is trying to stop the return of the Radiants; he just doesn’t understand he is too late.
Edgedancer is a bit different because it’s much shorter, a snapshot of moment for this Radiant, a little more juvenile, and Lift is an extremely annoying (and lovable) child. I’m fascinated that her powers are fed by literal food not stormlight, making her a bit of an oddity. She’s nomadic, never wanting to stay in one place long, and struggling with choices she made, expectations, a power that is still a mystery to her, and a hunger that gnaws at her.
Sanderson better not make her and Wyndle a casualty of the storm.
A Girl Named Tommi 