Just started Stormlight Archive - Is it normal to be confused?

Yup it's normal. Lot of information getting hit at you pretty quickly. You'll understand more as you read.

me reading chapter 2 wondering what the fuck a chull is and why these mfs are so scared of a thunderstorm

The interludes, generally, are little vignettes that help break up the main story. They partially exist to show you characters/locations you otherwise wouldn’t see, and partially exist to slow roll the introduction of plot elements.

Don’t worry about them being a little confusing. Just try to read them as neat little short stories, and if a connection happens later then great. I can’t think of an interlude that is essential to understanding the overall plot, although plenty of them provide interesting context.

A bit chunk of Sci-fi / Fantasy is understanding that you absolutely will not understand everything from the start. Consider, you're entering a world / universe that has thousands or millions of years of history, there's only so much you can inform a reader.

Information that is necessary to really understand will be provided along the way. There will be chunks even when you're done that will not be fully explained, and that's okay. Some of it you'll find out in other books, some you may never find out. Again, that's okay.

It’s pretty normal. Sanderson himself recommends not to use Stormlight Archive as your first book of his because if you don’t have faith in him, it can be easy to bounce off of the unfamiliar world. But you seem hooked enough that you aren’t having that problem.

It can be pretty confusing at first. Just remember the whole world is a mud hole and every creature that isn't human is some variation of a crab.

the interludes, until much later, are generally side stories with new characters or outsider views on events in the story

Yeah, you kind of need to push on through and the pieces kind of start to get sorted out. Interludes are weirder. You're getting whipped around the world to the perspective of someone you probably never heard of, and often it happens just as things are getting good with the main story.

The thing is, they are really mostly independent. What they do is flesh out the world. At least in WoK.

I would treat most interludes as short stories in the world to give background on what else is going on. In the same way that there are eventually tie-ins from many other novels in the Cosmere to what is going on on Roshar, the short stories mostly tie in or give background to things going on... eventually.

The Purelaker interlude for example, that was just a shout-out to a few neat people you may recognize from other stories.

It is high fantasy (this is a common 'issue' with high fantasy - lots of characters, lots of places and a whole lot of world building).

Only for 400 or so pages lol

The Interludes are pretty much intermissions between the big chunks of story.

There are usually 3, where 1 adds to the direct story, 1 adds to the world building of Roshar, and 1 adds to the world building of the greater Cosmere.

You’re DEFINITELY not expected to understand 100% of it on the first read through but afterwards (especially if you read more of the Cosmere works), you’ll start to see more of the scene that BrandoSando is setting.

Yes

lol absolutely.

Yes. I had a beta copy of TWoK through Goodreads and it took me until 2017 to actually read it.

Anything that’s actually important will be repeated. Sanderson is good at that

Treat the interludes as micro stories that show you a location that hasn't come up on the main story yet. It's world building at this point.

You will also notice some poetry you don't fully get. That's fine too.

Also the first scene in the novel is pivotal (and frankly epic AF) to the entire series and we keep coming back and learning more about who was there and why as we go forward.

Keep pushing, the first half of twok is a bit of a slog.

Trust in the brando sando!

I had to get halfway through the book before it started really clicking

I was super confused.

It's ok. Eventually you'll catch up and be just as confused as the rest of us! Just about different things!

No but seriously the first book only answers a few questions, you will leave it with plenty of questions, but that's because the characters have questions.

Bran San tends to be consistent about that. You get to know when the character gets to know. It makes the growth more impactful as a reader.

Yes

Just keep reading. I was overwhelmed too. There will definitely be points where you’re really thrown off or you suddenly realize you were misunderstanding something. You eventually feel more at home. Maybe try going back and reading an early chapter to see if there were things that you didn’t understand on a first read that you’d understand now

The interludes are usually about someone somewhere else that will give you some small pearls of context for stuff that’ll happen later on. Like sometimes you’ll be a good ways later into the book before you’re like oohhhhhh that interlude was context for some background that I’m reading right now

Yeah. It's normal for epics to begin in medias res, and SA is Sanderson's most "authentic" epic. You'll pick up things as you go. Imo Stormlight is a rough start, it really feels like you're expected to have read something in the series already. But you should be fine by the end of the book.

I’m only 44% through after 3 months…. It’s so slow! I hope it picks up or I may never finish it

You were dropped into a completely alien world with tens of thousands of years of history. Yes, you should be confused. But if SA disorients you this much, let me suggest you never read Malazan. SA is kid level high fantasy.

WoK in particular really takes its time establishing the setting. It's a pretty alien setting, and a lot of the first book is there to really drive that home.

Just keep reading because the other prologues will make sense in time (like for the first one you learn about that in books 2-4).

You understand what needs to be understood now... that they are fighting on the plains and clearly something happened to Kaladin where he is no longer in the army and is now a slave.

This is adult fiction where they kinda throw you in the deep end and expect you to pick up things through context clues and while there is a learning curve it makes more sense in time.

If you want to learn more about the world you could try the lore primer from Invicta it's really good.
https://youtu.be/xL4M7Yx0SSE?si=led93SZY0-ccea2W

That's a pretty normal reaction to starting the series, even if you've read Sanderson's other work.

Totally normal. It was my first book of his, and I basically say making mental note of all these concepts and words being thrown around that I didn't quite understand.

The interludes are so opaque it’s ridiculous.

It’s intentional, they tend to be for worldbuilding and vibes mostly, although if you dive deep in cosmere lore you’ll find a ton of sneaky stuff in there. I’d save worrying about that for re-reads though

The first half of WoK is very slow and confusing but necessary setup. The second half is perfection. Keep going!

Absolutely I had no idea what was happening until for the most part until after WoR .. maybe it clicked earlier. I dunno. I think that's why it kept kalidan story as a main storyline easy enough to follow his POV and combine them all.

Then it was amIng 7 months later finished the cosmere, and I just was curious and did a relisten with graphic audio and it's so much better knowing what the heck is happening ! The prologue with Szeth fighting galianr.

Just stay in there.

It's normal. Definitely meant to be read, go explore the Cosmere, reread, read again...yeah. My friend who put me on to the series after I finished part 1 of WoK said something to the effect of "Just wait. This series is not about what you think it's about." and at first I was like "WTF do you mean?" Then by the end of WoR it's like "ohhhhh so that's what this shit is about 😅"

Yes. I've read through the series multiple times and I'm still confused

Yes it’s a big confusing book with a lot of characters. Most interludes are world building. I’ve gone back through on rereads and just read some characters chapters. Also if you do audio books they are amazing

me after finishing Malazan

Yeah, it’s a lot at once. To help you simply with the part that was hardest for me;

Dalinar is the old man and brother of the dead king

Elokar is the current king and son of the dead king

Adolin is a prince and son of Dalinar, thus the nephew of the dead king and cousin of Elokar

Renarin is a prince, the younger brother of Adolin, the son of Dalinar, the nephew of the dead king and cousin of Elokar.

You're getting thirty proper nouns thrown at you every five pages; yes, it's normal to be confused. Just take your time with it and enjoy.

It took me til about part 2. I was so confused I left it aside and read Alloy of Law in the meantime while I powered through Way of Kings, then suddenly I was hooked. Keep going

Don't worry about being confused by the interludes. They're fun jaunts to other parts of the world that sometimes tie in to the main story, but not necessarily in obvious ways. I'd say read them, but don't lose your mind trying to understand them. Might be good seeing if you can find place names in the text and seeing where those are on the map of Roshar.

But yeah the interludes are just what it says on the tin, you're taking a short break from the story to see what's going on somewhere else for a bit.

The interludes are Sandersons way of showing you „There are some other interesting things going on in the world.“ The only genuinely plot relevant interludes in book 1 are the Szeth interludes. The others are more enjoyable once you’ve read more books and can go back to see that you now understand this interlude.

Push through the confusion, it gets better and it's so worth it. My favourite series of his!!

The interludes will continue to be confusing. Consider the majority to be extra flavor/world building unless you recognize a character like the Assassin in White or something.

I remember being so confused about historical events. Aharietam? The Recreance? The Hierocracy? They all got mixed in my head. Brandon does a good job of reminding you which is which during reading. Don't worry, things settle in to place.

Something that helped me get settled was this spoiler free intro video by Invicta called welcome to Roshar. The world was just so alien to me I had a hard time visualizing it, once I did that everything else fell into place and now TWoK is my favorite book in my favorite series

You’re good! I remember starting the book like four times cause I didn’t know what was going on haha then I just read it and loved it. It will eventually click all together. And then when you decide to read it again you’ll keep discovering new things!

Yeah it's a lot to take in at 1st but by the end of the book you should be up to speed Started a second read through the other day and with all the context their is so much more going on then I realised the 1st time around

I feel that way at the beginning of most fantasy stories because I gotta get used to the setting, that’s why I usually will read a recap of the first few chapters after I read them as a form of like reassurance that I understood what I read.

Yes it is even normal to be confused in book 4 if you don't read the stuff Brandon says outside of books or haven't read other books

Was same for me. I'm glad I had it on audiobook while I worked otherwise om not sure I'd have gotten through it. I struggle with to many characters. So glad I stuck with it tho it does get easier to follow and it's easily my favourite book series now I listen to it from start to finish once a year. Just finished all the current books last week. Going through mistborn again now. It gets even more fun once u start to recognise the cosmere links. I never see them on the first go round and still.miss loads

Yes. You've just set foot onto a new world, of course things will be a bit confusing.

Using the map helps a little, it’s extremely non-spoilery. answers in this series come in a very leapfrog-manner, and there is plenty of material in book one that hasn’t been answered / is still being explored through book 4. but despite that, the storytelling arcs of the characters contained in each book do have very distinct elements / plot points and resolutions, there’s just also an enormous world around them that is also growing and changing. It’s a wonderful series to both blitz through getting the wavetops and the first ‘hit’ of the big points, and to reread and get surprised by the foreshadowing. and again to see deeper connections to other books. and maybe another read just for fun… I should probably start way of kings again.

Worldbuilding of Roshar is gonna take the entire book, because after the stage is fully set, Sanderson is going to pull a ripcord and send you spinning like a top. And this is gonna happen literally every book.

Make it to the end of WoK and then if you don’t like it, fair enough to walk away. But you don’t actually know what’s going on til you finish the Sanderslanche. And even then… there’s always another secret.

It’s totally normal. Roshar is a huge and complex world, there are tons of characters being introduced all over the place, a lot of terms to remember… it’s a lot. Plus, iirc, people use terms that mean basically nothing to you because a lot of the background information hasn’t been explained yet. Things become clearer later on, but yes, I was confused for like most of TWoK. I just finished Oathbringer myself, and while I mostly understand everything, I still find myself checking the coppermind website (avoiding spoilers as best I can) every once in a while for clarification on certain terms and such

Interludes are there to fill the world. Most of them will have some level of relevance to the main story eventually, but usually not right now. They are there so that on rereads you go “wait I recognize a thing” and get more information the more context there is. On a first read, yes, the interludes are pretty confusing

im on my third re-read of the series and can confidently say i am still confused

I was honestly proud of myself getting through it, but it's my least favorite SA book still on 2nd reread.

The interludes are definitely all over the place. For now, just think of them as random stories and snapshots that flesh out the world but don't necessarily connect to the main narrative in an obvious way, similar to the text snippets at the start of each chapter. 

Eventually as the books go on, some of the characters and places introduced in the interludes will gain more relevance and start to make more sense.

Have you read much fantasy before? I'm curious Why you think you should know those people, nothing in those sections suggests that they have been introduced before.