The Way of Kings by Brandon SandersonPublishing information: Hardcover; 1008 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; 31 August 2010
ISBN 10: 0765326353
ISBN 13: 9780765326355
Series Book one of the Stormlight Archive (10 books planned for the series)
Copy out of pocket
Reviewers
Yagiz and
TysonInside the Book "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.
Speak again the ancient oaths,
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again."TysonThe Way of Kings is Sanderson's baby. He has spent years nurturing it at it has finally came to fruition. It is epic in scale and weight. There are a few points of view that we switch to over time which allows the reader to just get comfortable with one character before being whisked off to follow the adventures of another. This was not a problem as it allowed the pace to stay up and allowed time for medium sized infodumps along the way.
The world building in
The Way of Kings is minimal as we only get a glimpse of a few areas on the planet and have several other locations mentioned but very little background on them. It gives me the impression that many of the places mentioned will have light shed upon them in the upcoming volumes of the series. With a lot of the world's history destroyed or forgotten many of the locations have been lost to the various races that inhabit the land.
The magic system is massive, we have individuals that have the ability to take in light and use it for various purposes, we have people that have either won or inherited massive swords that can be called within seconds and have devastating effects. When they are combined with similar armor the bearer is nearly invulnerable, and we have items called Fabrials which when used properly can create anything the user wishes. Any one of these objects would be enough to write a story around but by having them all involved it makes for one interesting world. Sanderson is well known for his magic systems and he has out done himself with this opening book in the series. The possibilities do seem to be endless.
The individuals that we follow are all fairly interesting, by the end of
The Way of Kings we have a fair understanding of everyone's motivations and roles in the books to come. While there are a few wild cards still in the mix, everyone seems to be well defined. The route Sanderson took us in this book was a really fun ride. There are a few twists and turns and it made for a satisfying read. I would like to get into specifics, but I fear that I will more than likely give something away and do not want to spoil things for anyone who has not read the book. This was one of the novels that I had been looking forward to reading since its announcement and I am pleased say that I will be staying with this series. While I have not read everything by Sanderson (only
Warbreaker and
Way of Kings), I am really starting to appreciate his genius and I am told that anyone who has stayed with him through his previous works will appreciate the hidden gems found inside. Particularly the character of Wit as he should be familiar to another character from another of his books.
While the book is massive it should be noted that it starts out a bit slow but once it picks up speed it is hard to put down. If nothing else you should gain some muscle from holding this book up for long periods of time.
The Way of Kings is also has some great colored maps and other extras with drawings of locations, creatures, and objects found in the world. All of the artistry is impressive and only adds to the value of the novel. Highly recommended.
Plot 9
Characters 9
Style 9
Overall 9.5/10Yagiz"Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination." - Lost Radiants' Motto
How many times we've held a book in our hands with expectations as high as Mount Everest, to see them crumble down one by one as we turn the disappointing pages. Shouldn't we expect anything from a book to avoid disappointment? Is anticipation not a big part of our lives? And isn't it a bigger delight when the expectations are met, after waiting so long?
There are always some books on my
"most anticipated" list and
Brandon Sanderson's
The Way of Kings was on this list. I was excited when I first held it in my hands, I was more excited when I turned the first page and now I'm even more excited about the second installment of the series.
The Way of Kings is a big book. Big and beautiful. And after reading the first dozen or so pages, I'm certain a satisfied smile appeared on my face. I knew I was in for a treat.
"What... what are you?" The guard’s voice had lost its certainty. "Spirit or man?"
"What am I?" Szeth whispered, a bit of Light leaking from his lips as he looked past the man down the long hallway. "I'm... sorry."
In
The Way of Kings, the reader gets her first glimpse of the amazing world that Sanderson has created. It is a planet constantly assaulted and scarred by very strong storms. It is such an unstable world that seasons last only a few weeks. This not only shapes the geology of the planet but also has an impact on the flora and fauna.
On Roshan, there are a large number of crustacean species among the earthbound lifeforms. They need tough shells to survive the hurricanes that throw rocks and boulders around. They also need to be able to survive torrential rains and floods. For instance, plants are pictured like anemones. They can retract themselves in their burrows or shells at will. There are many human races and strange animals, like chulls pulling wagons or carts like oxen or skyeels that look like flying moray eels or axehounds that serve the purpose of dogs. There are also not so friendly crustaceans such as the 14-legged Chasmfiends that look like giant clasfish, having claws as big as horses.
Reading a book like this one, one can notice how details can be crucial to make a good and captivating story. To further explain something casually mentioned, such as the "worming season" may seem trivial but it all adds to the realism of the story. Picture the reader standing in the middle of a world devoid of anything. Do you remember the white virtual world that we saw in Matrix, almost like a blank 3D canvas? In my mind, each little detail is created on this blank canvas surrounding the reader. Ideally, the reader never wants to glimpse a blank spot on this canvas. To immerse fully in a fantasy book, for me, starts with a well-thought out and well-built environment. And I must say, Sanderson has done a great job on this.
But obviously a setting is not merely a coherent collection of flora and fauna. Sanderson created a great magic system originating from the nature and the neverending storms. This planet reminded me of the one where
Celia S. Friedman's
The Coldfire Trilogy takes place. And when the author mentioned
sprens, I could't help but thinking about
James Cameron's
Pandora. Sprens seem to be the nature's reaction to various emotions and events. Some of them are triggered by emotions such as anticipationspren and fearspren and others are created or made visible by events such as creationspren, flamespren, logicspren, rotspren or deathspren. They say they are always around but mostly invisible.
This first book of the
Stormlight Archives series takes its name from the ancient book called
The Way of Kings mentioned in the story. It is part of a much larger history and mythology of the world that Sanderson has imagined. It is a superstitious world. Tales of mythical creatures such as Voidbringers come from their mythology. Nobody knows what they really are but they are blamed when bad or strange things happen.
The social rules governing the societies are very intriguing as well. To begin with, there's a cast system with the lighteyes forming the aristocracy and the ruling elite. The brown eyes are lower class citizens. People can own slaves for various reasons.
Women's left hands are their
safehands and they are kept hidden. Only their right hands, called
freehands, are visible. Men and women eat different things and sit at different tables. Female foods are mostly sweet and male foods happen to be spicy.
There are two types of written languages: glyphs and writings. Men are only allowed to read glyphs. Reading and writing are female attributes. Men do not read or write.
As I already mentioned, the magic system seems to be tightly coupled with the nature and the storms. The source of magic is the use of powerful gemstones, that are stormlit and that can be recharged during a storm. Those spheres serve also currency. Moneychangers would exchange dun spheres with infused ones for a fee.
Magic is used in various places. For example, people can send messages across great distances using
spanreed. They work like two linked reed pens. The one of the receiving end mimicking what the writer does with the other one, producing the same writing on both sides.
There are also the magic on the battle field:
Shardblades and
Shardplates (The UK cover is based on this concept). Those are magical and mighty weapons and armors whose origin lies deep in the ancient history of Roshan. They almost undestructable and give their bearers extraordinary strength. It takes ten heartbeats to summon one's Shardblade and each one has a distinct name. Dalinar's one is called
Oathbringer. Elhokar's is
Sunraiser. Adolin's is
Sureblood. There are many of them across various nations. And I'm expecting, just like many other things in this book, that we are going to learn about them in the future books of the series.
"And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived."
Sanderson has also created some great characters. I loved all the protagonists (Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan (whose mind works like a camera), Jasnah and the intriguing Szeth-son-son-Vallano - the Truthless of Shinovar). Furthermore I really appreciated reading about an atheist protagonist. Throughout the book, there are many character introductions with lesser or very insignificant parts. I'm guessing they will be important in the future installments. I'm looking forward to the day I meet them again.
Last but not least, the book is very pretty. It has beautiful maps and sketches. The art work goes well with and enhances the spirit of the story.
In The Way of Kings, Sanderson has shown that he has what it takes to start what can become one of the best epic fantasy series of all times. He's created an amazing setting coupled with great characters in this first book of
The Stormlight Archives. Highly recommended for the lovers of epic fantasy.
Quotes "Bitterness is repaid more often than kindness." - Livin (Kaladin's Father)
"A man's emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child." - Dalinar
"It's good to care when you fight, so long as you don't let it consume you. Don't try to stop yourself from feeling. You'll hate who you become." - Tukk
"When we are young, we want simple answers. There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be as it should. As it has ever been." - Jasnah
Plot 9
Characters 9.5
Style 9
Overall 9.5/10
