We’re very happy to share with you the UK cover art for Brandon Sanderson‘s WORDS OF RADIANCE! The second volume of the internationally bestselling Stormlight Archive fantasy series, WORDS OF RADIANCE is due to be published in 2014 by Gollancz. Here is the early, rather brief synopsis from the publisher’s page…

Return to a planet swept by apocalyptic storms, a world tipping into war as aristocratic families move to control the shard blades and shard plates, ancient artifacts from a past civilisation that can win wars.

As the world tips into a war for control of the mythical artifacts of power made from Shard, characters are swept up into new dangers which will threaten their integrity and their lives.

The first book in the Stormlight Archive, THE WAY OF KINGS is available now in eBook and in paperback (split into two volumes – it’s an immense, engrossing tome of a novel!).

Here is a little more information about the second Stormlight novel, from an introduction to WORDS OF RADIANCE on Brandon’s website…

In [THE WAY OF KINGS], we were introduced to the remarkable world of Roshar, a world both alien and magical, where gigantic hurricane-like storms scour the surface every few days and life has adapted accordingly. Roshar is shared by humans and the enigmatic, humanoid Parshendi, with whom they are at war. Among those caught up in the conflict are Highprince Dalinar Kholin, who leads the human armies; his neice Jasnah, a renowned scholar; her student Shallan, a brilliant but troubled young woman; and Kaladin, a military slave who, by the book’s end, was beginning to become the first magically endowed Knight Radiant in centuries.

In WORDS OF RADIANCE, their intertwined stories will continue and, as Sanderson fans have come to expect, develop in unexpected, wonderfully surprising directions. The war with the Parshendi will move into a new, dangerous phase, as Dalinar leads the human armies deep into the heart of the Shattered Plains in a bold attempt to finally end it. Shallan will come along, hoping to find the legendary, perhaps mythical, city of Urithuru, which Jasnah believes holds a secret vital to mankind’s survival on Roshar. The Parshendi take a dangerous step to strengthen themselves for the human challenge, risking the return of the fearsome Voidbringers of old. To deal with it all, Kaladin must learn to how to fulfill his new role, while mastering the powers of a Windrunner.

Brandon Sanderson is represented by Zeno in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.