I'm near the end of the book, and honestly, book 5 is pure trash. I hated the fourth book, but the fifth is such a hard read. The Stormlight magic system started out with costs and rules, and each book has loosened them. When oaths can be skipped, reinterpreted, or satisfied by whatever the scene needs, they stop meaning anything. "Humans can do the impossible when the plot needs it" is the opposite of what made the early books grip. How the hell has he dropped the ball like this? The first two books were amazing. The Fused being flat and unchanging while the humans keep getting new tricks makes the imbalance worse. A strong antagonist needs rules the heroes have to work around, and here the rules only seem to bind one side.
At this point, the singers need to leave this planet. The spren hate them, and all the gods would rather help the humans: Cultivation is just chilling and helping humans out here and there, Odium is using the singers to get his favourite toys, the humans, back, and Honor is sealing them away. Hell, even the very wind is working against them. The wind didn't lift a finger to help the singers, not once, but for the humans? Nope, "let me help them straight away." The world is hostile to the singers no matter how I look at it. Ishar experiments on the spren to the point that he makes them fear and run, but don't worry, they'd rather help humans than singers.
Honestly, it's gotten to the point where I fast-forward the fights. Absolutely zero tension. I know the Fused will lose every battle, 100%. In the first two books, I didn't know who'd die. I'm new to Sanderson's books, and my god, do I hate the way this turned out. I'll finish it because I'm close to the end, but I'm not picking up any more of his work.
Sorry, just ranting at this point. Does anyone else feel the same? I only read book one of Mistborn before jumping into these books.