The Way of Kings
Ratings1,522
Average rating4.6
Brandon Sanderson! Spinner of yarns and stretcher of story! I was hooked by the story all the way through but this was a long ass book where very little happened and I don't trust the journey to be worth the destination, heresy though that might be.
Contains spoilers
Well, I think I’m in it for the long haul now. I *impulsively* decided to start reading the stormlight archive so I could *hopefully* read the first four books in time for the release of Wind and Truth.
*I’m breaking this section up into multiple parts to make it not as stream of consciousness*
After only reading two standalones of Brandon’s coupled with nothing but positive reviews from people, I knew that I could expect a pretty amazing fantasy series. Also, given my first impressions of the previous Brando books I’ve read, I knew that this guy really knows how to write some seriously incredible worlds, characters, and plots. Yet, one thing I could have not anticipated was just how well he would seemingly do this in the stormlight archive.
For starters, I’m a big fan of the origin story flashbacks. I like how they’re their own chapters, and that you’re getting more and more tidbits of someone’s life as the book goes along. I’ve been told this only continues in the books to follow and I think it’s a vital piece of the full story.
Notably, the world building is spectacular. Not only does he create a very intricate world, but he does it so methodically. He’s not dumping the entire encyclopedia on how the world works on you in the beginning, but gives you little sprinkles as you go along. He’s giving you some facts but also allowing YOU to figure out how his world works simultaneously as the CHARACTERS are figuring things out themselves. I think it’s a clever way of giving the reader just enough information to understand in the moment, and question and build upon what they’ve already learned as the story goes along.
In addition, the Brandoavalanches bury you in snow - like I don’t know how you can make it out of one without reading the whole thing until the end. This avalanche *allegedly* starts at chapter 65 when Sadeas leaves Dalinar hanging out on the battlefield. The events that followed…. my jaw was on the floor for at least 5/6 of it.
Overall, the writing style blew me away. Trying to keep someone engaged for 1000 pages straight seems like a daunting task, but Brando has absolutely no trouble at all.
He also somehow builds the best characters?! First of all, Shallan is awesome. She’s an intelligent woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind / question someone / be a badass and has some INSANE drawing abilities (if you can’t tell she’s my favorite). But Kaladin! What a life that guy has had dear god. His whole flashbacks about becoming a surgeon and his brother Tien were so interesting but also heartbreaking. He’s also a pretty damn good leader but even more a great friend and brother to many. Rock though was probably my favorite of the Bridgemen (would love to try a soup of his). Don’t even get me started on my sus feelings for Kabsal and Sadeas since THE BEGINNING. I KNEW they were both snakes from early on and Sadeas was a very well crafted villain for sure. The whole Adolin courtship plot line is pretty hilarious and I’m glad that’s the first thing we learn about the guy. Dalinar is an interesting man - and all his visions are quite the whirlwind. Jasnah too is interesting and im curious to see how her character will develop in the stories to come. Oh and SZETH. The opening chapter of him was pretty sick and an intense way to start a book. Don’t forget my spren Syl either - she’s a g. Anywho , clearly there’s a lot of characters I could mention but all in all Brando did an immaculate job casting the characters that he did.
So, yeah, I get the hype with this book. I was afraid that *maybe* in some parallel universe that I wouldn’t but now that I’ve read it, there’s no alternate reality where I don’t like this book.
Well done Brando.
5⭐️
“What is a man's life worth?”
“The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams.”
“And what do you say?”
“A life is priceless.”
It took me five months of casually dipping into The Way of Kings in between other books to finish my reread. Well, not true. It took me five months to read the first half. It took me three days to read the second half. Oops.
Possibly one of the worst books I've read in my life. This is more of a video game manual than a legitimate novel.
There should be a separate star system for the stormlight archive. I’ve given plenty of books 5 stars but this reread made me realize how much more of a 5 star book this is compared to others. It’s a daunting reread but so worth it with all the Easter eggs for the rest of the series I had no idea about on my first read that had me excited every time something important was casually mentioned.
My review of the wager was all about how audiobooks didn’t work for me but I felt the opposite in this situation. Maybe to enjoy an audiobook all I needed was for it to be a reread of my favorite series of all time. The jury’s still out on audiobooks as a whole for me but I will continue with them as my stormlight reread preparing for Wind and Truth.
This is an epic fantasy if I ever read one. It is immensely long and sometimes hard to get through because it starts off very slowly, but the ending and its many reveals and twists are worth quite the wait. I do wish Shallan and Jasnah could have been slightly more involved but I suspect we will see much more of them in the second book.
The length of all the books in this series is definitely holding me back however. Luckily I read a lot of books in a year but finishing this still feels like a whole ass achievement. I am sure I will be reading the next one, but I will definitely need a fucking break in between, damn.
If you like fantasy you NEED to read this book.
The Way of Kings is a journey through a world like nothing I've imagined before. A place ravaged by storms so harsh that topsoil is alien and the only living Flora have adapted to hide in porus rock or retract into shell-like exoskeletons. Horses have been replaced by giant hermit crabs, and man's best friend has antenna and six legs. To top it all off, the ruling class are determined by their eye colour and the most powerful kingdoms are those that posses “shards” and “plates”; magical swords and armor leftover from a forgotten era. More I learned about the world the more I grew to love it, and despite being so alien it was never so off-putting that I was pushed away. It pulled me in and kept me wanting to experience more.
The story is told through the perspectives of wildly different characters: an uncle to a king, a slave in the king's army, and young woman on a quest to become a renowned scholar. There wasn't a single character I didn't want to know more about, and when the perspective changed from one to the other I was always eager to progress through their personal journeys.
This book has everything. Magic, epic battles, politics, tragedy, humor, redemption, forgiveness, betrayal, and delicious campfire stew. I seriously can't recommend it enough. Do yourself a favour and read this book!
45 HOURS of audio book COMPLETE! All in all it took me about 3 months of commutes (though I didn't listen to it every commute). This was my first time listening to a fantasy book (other than my mom reading to me as a kid), and I'm not sure I liked it — but that could also be unique to this book. I found it hard to get into a good rhythm with it. The interludes were more confusing. I got kind of bored during the bridge crew sections and during battles, probably would have skimmed if I were reading. The narration was also super cheesy and the male narrator's “feminine” voice made me cringe, along with every time he said “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” (See: cheesy). The female narrator was less monotone, but pronounced names inconsistently and differently from the male narrator, which was distracting.
In terms of the book itself: I didn't find this universe's magic system as compelling, or easily grasped, as Sanderson's others. There were few moments when I felt truly engrossed and like I needed to know what would happen next — but again, this could be because I listened to it disjointedly and never for long enough to get in a rhythm.
At some point I'll finish up the series, but I don't think I'll listen to any more as audiobooks. I gave it 3 stars to mirror my enjoyment level. Sometimes felt like a chore and while it was at times enjoyable, I'm excited to move on to something else.
As a reader (or listener in my case), The Way of Kings is a commitment, but it pays off. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads epic fantasy or to anyone who has enjoyed other Sanderson books and can readily place faith in the author to deliver a good story. The plot is incredibly slow at many points, but I found that this slowness made the ending more thrilling and exciting. It feels like a solid foundation for an incredible series, so I look forward to reading the next two published books. Sanderson is a master at world building and creating interesting characters, and these skills show in this book. I particularly enjoyed the storyline with Shallan and Jasnah, a female tutor-advisor relationship, which we don't get to see often in fantasy. I found the character Dalinar a bore at first, but grew to like him and his storyline.
The prologue was very interesting, then the first chapter started and it had nothing to do with it. It takes too long to introduce the protagonist, which at the point I stopped reading there was two of them. I'm sure their stories would connect at some point, but up to that moment they were very uninteresting, specially the woman protagonist part.
I hate when an possible interesting story is littered with boring fillings in order to what? Build the world with excessive descriptions? Narrate every single aspect of a characters perspective? Add dialogs that do not further the plot and reveals only how tame the protagonist is?
From what I could gather there was this Kaladin fellow who was a very good fighter and then he was captured. Then there was this Shallan woman who did nothing for many, many pages.
Gave up at 10%.
Everything I read was alright. I expect a book of that size to have a lot of build-up, so I'm not complaining about it being too slow. And I liked the characters and the premises and the world building. But—call me narrow-minded all you want—I had a hard time taking anything Sanderson's written seriously after I found out he's a Mormon.
Great writing, but frustrating to spend 75% of the book waiting for something to happen.
Very enjoyable read, a classic and consistent fantasy in every right, but Jesus does Sanderson yap for too long sometimes.
Solid book. It answered quite a few questions while subtly preparing the next six books in the series. I appreciated the depth of characters and less of “we don't know what to do”. Took me two days to finish, which I guess is expected given how long it is. Belive it or not, I wish it was longer. Which is about the highest praise I can give a book.
Brandon Sanderson creates such intricate and amazing places, unique from anything I've read before (plants grow from rock!). Every character, big and small has personality and back story. I've never know Sanderson to create a flat character. The story is part action and part mystery, and always engaging and witty.
I cannot wait for book 2!
Ciężko mi było się wciągnąć, książka wolno się rozkręca, poznajemy kolejne postacie, lokalizacje, intrygi... Końcówka jednak fantastyczna. Ogólnie 6-7/10. Liczyłem na więcej. Na kolejną część się jednak zdecyduję.
Lectura que te atrapa. Como describe la depresión de forma tal clara sin caer en cliches ni con las mismas frases de todos los autores. Como conectas con todos los personajes, aunque todos tienen luces y sombras. Entiendes sus decisiones y te entristeces por sus vidas.
Feliz de que exista mucho más que leer de este mundo y estos personajes.
This book was over a thousand pages of setup and a few hundred pages of payoff, but I was literally never bored, it never felt slow, and always felt intentional and well paced. I was always interested in the characters and events I was reading about. What a wonderfully written book with satisfying climaxes.
I overdosed on Sanderson a few years ago and have had difficulty finding my way into his books since then. So, this audiobook was started in June and finished today.
I did like it in the end, though.
Don't have anything to add to what has not already been said about the book. It is focused on setting up the world of Roshar and has a satisfying end, leaving you wanting more.
Very well written and wonderful world building, but I found the characters somewhat wanting. The best part are the interludes, which look at a handful of other characters outside the main plot. They focus much more on the world building, and so I found myself excited to learn more about the universe the story took place in. Let me repeat that: I was EXCITED for the INTERLUDES. Still, decent enough stuff.
The book that got me out of a years long reading slump after high school. One of my all time faves, flaws be damned. No one makes a climax quite like Sanderson. Definitely slow, definitely a bit of a slog, but oh how worth the journey is that destination.
