The Way of Kings
By Brandon Sanderson
“There’s so much more to say, but overall, the Stormlight Archive is shaping up to be one of my favorite series yet. The strong, likable characters, the rich fantasy setting, the fascinating magic systems, and the compelling plot immediately drew me in. I can’t wait for book two!”
Summary
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
My Thoughts
I started this dense-looking, incredibly long book without high expectations. Every other high fantasy novel I’ve read in the past has taken forever to finish, way too much concentration during the reading (fantasy worldbuilding can be complex), and by the time I finish, I realize that I didn’t even enjoy the book because I was too busy trying to understand an entirely new world while wading through way too much pretentious writing.
From the first chapter, I knew The Way of Kings would be different.
For one, even though I started out reading very carefully and paying close attention to every new term or name, my understanding of the world of Roshar cleared up extremely fast, and I soon found myself being sucked into the story without worrying about missing important information. The world of the Stormlight Archives almost immediately felt familiar and cozy, and I became very comfortable with the creatures, political structure, and religious background.
Roshar is one of the richest and most developed fantasy worlds I’ve ever read about. The world descriptions were so lush and realistic, I could totally imagine every location clearly without feeling as though the plot slowed down. A few things confused me at first, but everything was eventually either explained or understood through context clues as the story went on. Every piece of lore made sense and fit with all of the other lore, and the beautifully creative histories and myths developed such an immersive experience. It felt impossibly huge too, with so many conflicts and revelations that it will definitely be a feat for Sanderson to resolve everything within the planned ten books.
And the pacing! Oh boy, the pacing. Most thick paperbacks like my copy (shoutout to the friends I borrowed it from – you know who you are) spend most of the book on either worldbuilding or needless plot distractions, with few properly established transitions (or too many). Not The Way of Kings. One plot point moved seamlessly into the next, with no unnecessary details or unwanted drama. I felt pulled along throughout each chapter, aching to know what happened next even if the last scene had no action or huge revelations.
Everything was well explained and sensical (at least as sensical as fantasy gets) with solid magic system rules – always trust Brandon Sanderson to develop the most beautifully complete magic rules – and understandable cause and effect outcomes. There was no deus ex machina (one of my least favorite devices), no sudden powers appearing out of nowhere, just solid storytelling and foreshadowing.
My favorite part of The Way of Kings was probably the characters. Each one displayed amazing strength of character and likability (except for Shallan – more on her later), without being insufferably perfect. Their fatal flaws weren’t simply there to make them more interesting and make them more relatable either. Every piece of their personalities worked perfectly with their situations and pasts. Each one felt amazingly three dimensional and I fell in love with probably everyone I met. Kaladin especially! The best scenes in the whole book were during Kaladin’s experience as a bridgeman. The whole strategy was fascinating to think about and created a lot of interesting situations for the bridge crew members. The dynamic Kaladin created with his men felt so authentic and fun. Everytime I got to one of his chapters I got really excited and just had to read it all the way through even if I needed to be doing something else.
The only main POV character I was not a fan of was Shallan. I liked her a little more as the story went on and a lot of her pagetime had some really cool plotlines, but she felt overly humble and shy at the beginning. People kept flirting with her and telling her how pretty she was, and she just made a bunch of comments on how she hated when people said that and never felt worthy of them. Sure, humility is a good trait, but it just made her annoyingly perfect. Later on, of course, she got more interesting, but it took some effort to trudge through her chapters.
The book also made some really profound conversations regarding morality, religion, honor, and war. Sanderson made arguments for both sides whether or not they served his characters well, making them seem even more like real people. Every decision, every outcome, had so many facets and ways to think about it that you couldn’t help but feel truly immersed and active in the character’s thought processes.
I loved Sanderson’s writing style as well. While it did feel complex and required a lot of attention to understand (at least at the beginning) – as it is with most complicated fantasies – there were no unnecessarily uncommon words or strings of boring setting and character description. The action never slowed even when the reader was learning new world information or meeting characters. His heavy use of foreshadowing made everything so much more interesting too! I couldn’t wait to discover more secrets and connections as the story wove itself together. Sanderson’s strategic withholding of information not only made the worldbuilding more effective, but also brought the readers that much closer to the characters by giving them an understanding of the pure anticipation that comes with investigating the many secrets and stories.
There’s so much more to say, but overall, the Stormlight Archives is shaping up to be one of my favorite series yet. The strong, likable characters, the rich fantasy setting, the fascinating magic systems, and the compelling plot immediately drew me in. I can’t wait for book two!