First, I seriously love both books. I can understand when people don't care for "unnecessary dialog", but to be honest I don't mind it. Heck, I am one of those weird people that loved the WHOLE Wheel of Time series, whereas some people don't like all the seemingly unnecessary details that was part of Robert Jordan's writing style, etc. Anyway, back to The Stormlight Archive...

At first I was a bit 'meh' about Shallan in the first book, but with what is revealed about her past in the second book I came to really really like her. I love how each book develops and focuses on the history of one of the characters (book three will be about Szeth). I think it's brilliant the way Brandon develops the characters.

There is a lot about the books that I could ramble on about, but I don't want to write a novel at the moment...so I will just mention something that is one my favorite parts about Words of Radiance. First, it is dependent upon reading one of the other books in the whole Cosmere that Brandon Sanderson is creating - Warbreaker.  One of the main characters from Warbreaker is a man named Vasher (a very awesome dude).  He shows up in Words of Radiance, and is the guy named "Zahel" that trains Kaladin with the sword.  Going along with that, the part that really blew my mind and makes me uber excited about what is to come was something that happend at the end of Words of Radiance - when Szeth was given a specific sword.  The sword's name is Nightblood, and was created by Vasher/Zahel and some others.  The sword is nuts - as it is sentient and basically just wants to kill things.  As to how Vasher and Nightblood ended up on Roshar is a mystery at this point, but I'm hoping that in the second Warbreaker book it is either revealed or hinted at.

Anyway, if you haven't read Warbreaker yet - you definitely should while The Stormlight Archive is fresh on your mind.