The Way of Kings

Overview: A confusing start, then a slow beginning that leads to an awesome story and a world that just sucks you in.The Cons: I've known of this book for a long time - if you like Epic Fantasy this is pretty much the biggest thing around, but I've been put off by two things:1: It's smegging huge. There are five books and counting and book 1 is 1000 pages. If you want resolution you've got to be in it for the long haul!2: The beginning. I tried to read this a couple of times before and basically read the first chapter and just thought “What the heck did I just read?”.OK so lets deal with issue 1 - the size. After reading several of the author's other (shorter) books I've developed a bit of a trust for him. I've seen how he always seems to have a plan and a goal. He builds to a grand satisfying ending - but still throws in enough development and excitement that you don't feel bored along the way. So I decided to trust him and really give this epic a go. Which left me with...Issue 2- The baffling opening. I decided to just power on through the “What the heck?” opening. I still had not a clue who anyone was or what was happening or where this took place. I ended that section with pretty much a sum total of 0 info gained. Then I carried on reading. By about two thirds of the way through the book I'd figured out what that chapter is for:If you are thinking of reading this book - Important info: You are not meant to understand the opening yet.Instead the opening is just a bunch of clues to be figured out as the plot unfolds. Also it takes place in ancient history (think of Sauron's loss of the ring in LotR).So what I'm saying is, don't worry if you don't get it, it's nothing like the rest of the book.The Pros: Once you get past the barriers to entry, you are introduced to a rich and different world, and to characters that are fascinating and a plot that slowly unfolds more like a world-spanning murder mystery than anything else. I particularly liked the character of Dalimar myself, but really all the characters were great.The world is really different. This is not your classic Medieval England riff, this is a world with a very different ecology and set up. I was somewhat reminded of the Pern series by [a:Anne McCaffrey 26 Anne McCaffrey https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1666324369p2/26.jpg] in the way that the ecology and society has developed in strange ways to cope with extreme weather-ish conditions. I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time just thinking about the world and the Highstorms and imagining what it must be like to live there.And then there is the action. As always with Sanderson the action is tied up with the characters and so rewarding there is one utter classic moment...a classic for all fantasy when BRIDGE FOUR GOES BACK! that makes the hair on my arms stand on end just thinking about it.I'm already reading book 2 and loving it.