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From 1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion. 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. The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making. 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. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive ● The Way of Kings ● Words of Radiance ● Edgedancer (novella) ● Oathbringer ● Dawnshard (novella) ● Rhythm of War The Mistborn Saga The Original Trilogy ● Mistborn ● The Well of Ascension ● The Hero of Ages Wax and Wayne ● The Alloy of Law ● Shadows of Self ● The Bands of Mourning ● The Lost Metal Other Cosmere novels ● Elantris ● Warbreaker ● Tress of the Emerald Sea ● Yumi and the Nightmare Painter ● The Sunlit Man Collection ● Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series ● Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians ● The Scrivener's Bones ● The Knights of Crystallia ● The Shattered Lens ● The Dark Talent ● Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson) Other novels ● The Rithmatist ● Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds ● The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England Other books by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners ● Steelheart ● Firefight ● Calamity Skyward ● Skyward ● Starsight ● Cytonic ● Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson) ● Defiant Read more
Publisher : Tor Fantasy
Publication date : May 24, 2011
Edition : First Edition
Language : English
Print length : 1280 pages
ISBN-10 : 0765365278
ISBN-13 : 79
Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
Dimensions : 4.15 x 1.95 x 6.75 inches
Book 1 of 5 : The Stormlight Archive
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Mass Market Paperback
It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a good epic fantasy. The operative word being "enjoyed." The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson may have been over 1,000 pages long, but it didn't read like it. He's one of my favorite authors - I've read Elantris 7 or 8 times by itself - and I'd been looking forward to this book for some time. The main storyline revolves around the war sparked when the black-and-red-skinned Parshendi assassinated the Alethi King. Ten years after the war began, it has devolved into a competition between the Alethi princes for the gemstone hearts of the giant crustacean-like monsters who inhabit the battlefield. Only one of the princes, the Brightlord Dalinar Kholin, sees a problem with this, but his nightmarish visions of the end of the world have alienated him from his peers and made his judgment suspect. The plot was incredible complex, mostly following the stories of several main characters: a former soldier turned slave, forced to labor under the infamous "bridge crews" who are essentially human shields to protect the real warriors from enemy arrows. A thief masquerading as a scholar to steal a priceless magical artifact and save her family. A paranoid young king who sees assassination plots in even his most trusted of advisors. An enslaved assassin with the ability to manipulate the forces of gravity who despises the murderous acts his masters force him to commit. A spren - largely unintelligent, fairy-like creatures attuned to very specific elements like pain, wind, or glory - who is becoming sentient as the human she is fixated with grows back his soul. All the worldbuilding is detailed and very well done, but it does make for a somewhat slow start. So if you mean to dive into it, bring your patience.There was a good amount of repetition throughout the book; for example, I lost count of how many times Sanderson repeated that the Parshendi were not the same creatures as the enslaved parshmen, even though they looked exactly alike. I kept waiting for that to become relevant, but it didn't - at least in this book. There isn't much action for it being 1,000 pages long, and, as it is apparently the first novel in an anticipated 10-novel-long series, nothing is really wrapped up by the end. It's a thousand pages long, but at the end you feel like nothing's happened yet. That being said, it was brilliantly written and engaging, I cared about all of the characters, and it read very quickly despite its length. I'm definitely going to read the next one even if it's 2,000 pages. The world itself was staggering in scope but not so unfamiliar that it alienated the reader; humans are humans and dogs are dogs, although most other life forms seem to be giant crustaceans (which is actually kinda cool; the last time I encountered any kind of giant crustacean was in Stephen King's The Drawing of the Three). Each nation was well-crafted and explored, and each vastly different that the last. One nation is plagued by 'Highstorms' so powerful that they whip building-sized boulders through the air likfe confetti and the plants themselves have learned how to move out of the way. Another is filled with creatures who consider all forms of stone holy. I could go on for a long, long time about this book. But if you enjoy epic fantasy, you'll enjoy this. I really liked it, and I'll probably read it again just before the next book comes out.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2011 by Beckahrah
Format: Kindle
I made a very unusual, very serious mistake in reading this book. The series is not finished, and likely won't be for... oh many years yet. Typically, I make sure that a series is complete before I start it. Not so in this case, and boy was I disappointed to find out that it's actually an in-process event. Nevertheless. This book is fantastic. Incredibly well written, with unusual and well thought out world building, it engages from the very first. Unlike some other epic fantasy series, like the Malazan Book of the Fallen, for example, the story takes off from the beginning. In the Malazan series, the reader is thrown immediately into the action but in a way that made me wonder at first if I missed something and started on Book 2. It was difficult to keep up with the characters at times and hard to understand exactly what was going on; though I still count the Malazan series among my favorites of all time. This series distinguishes itself by keeping the cast of characters fairly simple. Don't get me wrong: there is a plethora of interesting characters here, but we spend enough time with them to really get to understand them, and the way they are organized (with specific chapters of perspective) keeps it logical and allows the reader to flow from one perspective to the next without any disturbance. We don't know just yet, since this is the first in a ten book series, how exactly these characters will all come together - but we know they will. As with most of the great fantasy novels, these are characters that are difficult to assign a simple "good" vs. "evil" description - they all seem to have a little of both. The world building and the magic is phenomenal. The descriptions of all of the plant life makes me see this world as one that is constantly filled with movement: almost as if the flora has been moved from underwater to above ground. The illustrations throughout help the reader to visualize some of these descriptions, and are really well done (though it's hard to read some of the notes on the illustrations on my Kindle - in this case, a hard copy may be better). The non-human creatures are inventive and original. The use of magic - the stormlight - is incredibly unique and captivating. I find myself holding my breath as they breathe in the stormlight... haha! I'm in love with Kaladin's character, and I keep thinking "please don't kill him off, please don't kill him off..." :) One other note: I've read Sanderson's Mistborn series and while I thoroughly enjoyed that, it seems that the Stormlight Archive is so far beyond the Mistborn books with regard to quality that it almost seems like they were written by two different people. If I had to nitpick to find any negatives about this book (very hard to do), it would be the form of cursing used. It didn't take long for me to be annoyed with phrases like "Storm it!" and "Storm you!" and "That's storming idiotic!". This seems to be a common problem I have with most fantasy novels, though. I just wish they'd stick to normal cursing. But like I said, this is an extreme nitpick and really the only negative thing I could think of. Love, love, love this book and hope I don't have to wait TOO long before #3 comes out. **ETA: I alluded to this above, but one point should be underlined: the Kindle version will NOT do justice to the illustrations in this book (and the next). If you don't want to get the full effect by buying a hard copy version, you can check out Brandon Sanderson's website for the illustrations. I highly suggest you do this, as the color in some of the pictures changes everything. **ETA: I actually forgot to mention something I feel is very important. While the rest of the series won't be published for a while, I really do appreciate that Sanderson has left the series (and now I'm really talking more of the second book rather than the first but felt it appropriate to include here) on a good note. While there are of course unanswered questions, and we as readers want to know what happens to all of these folks and how they come together, it still has the sense of a complete ending. I love that he didn't really end with a cliff hanger, at least as far as the action is concerned, and we are not stuck in frustration for the duration. It left me feeling satisfied with the ending, while maintaining my curiosity about the future of this world. On a similar note, I also appreciate that the beginning of the second book wasn't TOO much of a recap of the first. I really hate it when a book within a series repeats the previous books as if the reader is picking up with that version - it just seems a little condescending. I like that the author assumes (as he should) that the reader has already waded through the history prior to arriving at the present and only includes brief references as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Sanderson, for that.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2014 by LJ
Format: Mass Market Paperback
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I read. I am going to do my best to explain why this one made it into my favorites list which is not easy to do given the total number of books I've read. First, I will say that I am a relative newcomer to Sanderson's work. I read the Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set last year and Elantris earlier this year. I knew after just reading that first Mistborn book that Sanderson would be one of my must-read authors and by the end of that trilogy I had vowed to read everything he writes, even if it means traversing the entire Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan just to get to those final volumes by Sanderson. I had not actually intended on reading Way of Kings next, mostly because of the sheer size of it. Size, in and of itself, doesn't bother me and I've read numerous "doorstoppers" before. But they can sometimes seem too drawn out and slow moving and I was simply worried that the same might happen to my beloved Sanderson. But no, it was not to be. Sanderson has written the near perfect novel here. His world building, as incredible as always, is beyond my ability to describe adequately. While complicated, the cultural, religious, and political systems upon which the plot is developed makes sense and yet still does not divert the reader from where his/her attention should be focused: upon the plot and the characters. Same goes for the magic system that we get to explore with the characters, discovering its nuances at the same time as the characters. And speaking of characters, many other lengthy books or series in the fantasy genre that I've read suffer from too many characters, too many points-of-view. And there are a lot of characters here as well, but Sanderson chooses to focus on a select few so that we readers don't get bogged down, flipping back pages to try and remember who so-and-so is. And each of his focus characters is intriguing in their own ways. They have complex backgrounds and motivations and none of them are all good or all bad. They are real. And each time a new chapter opened and returned me to that particular character, I would instantly sink into their part of the story. And the plot. I won't rehash that here; I could never do it justice. Suffice it to say that all the elements of good story-telling are here: intrigue, peril, action, romance, noble honor, dastardly betrayal...I could go on and on. But to put it all together and make it soooo enjoyable requires the genius of Brandon Sanderson. Usually when I read a long work such as this, I churn through the final hundred pages or so to get that feeling of finally conquering that mountain of pages. But with this one I found myself stalling, not wanting it to end, despite its page length. As I write this I actually am feeling a little in withdrawal about the whole thing. And this is the beginning of what is reportedly a 10-book series? I don't know how I will wait until the next volume is out. I know this sounds like total fanboy gushing but reading this novel really did effect me more than 99% of the novels I read. And I'm the type of reader who likes most of what he reads. So if you haven't discovered Sanderson yet, I suggest you still start out with Mistborn: The Final Empire and work your way through from there. For me, I still have several of his other books that I still get to enjoy and by then, hopefully, Book 2 of this series will be ready. Highest possible recommendation!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2013 by Benjamin Thomas
Format: Hardcover
The Way of Kings is the first novel of an expected ten in the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. The rather complex plot revolves, at least so far, around a conflict between the dominant empire of the time and what they see as a group of savages, fought over a massive series of disconnected plateaus called the Shattered Plains. But the novel isn't really about the war, nor is there a lot of fighting or battle scenes. Instead, the novel focuses on building up an incredibly complex, imaginative and realistic world, and populating it with a wide array of people and magic. There are quite a few main characters, but the novel focuses more on three particular ones. The first, Kaladin, is a former spearman turned slave, who is sold into a bridge crew, whose mission is to carry portable bridges into battle to allow the troops to cross from plateau to plateau, which is, in effect, a death sentence as the unprotected bridgemen are regularly struck down by enemy arrows. Kaladin struggles through depression, regret and hopelessness and he tries to find a way to save both himself and the other bridgement. Dalinar is the king's uncle, struggling with his sanity as he suffers from repeated hallucinations that weaken his position as the fractious princes jockey for power and influence. Shallan is a timid girl forced out into the world by necessity, with a dangerous goal in mind, who becomes enmeshed with one of the great scholars of the time. Sanderson typically excels in three things. The first is character development. He has the remarkable ability to create incredibly real and complex characters, and he can plumb the depths of human emotion with aplomb. Some might be put off by the fact that the main characters tend, on the whole, to be good people, so those who prefer grayer main characters may want to look elsewhere. The second thing that Sanderson excels at in the Way of Kings is in world building. I recall another review referring to the world Sanderson built as a character unto itself. After reading the Way of Kings, I can honestly say that the world is the most fascinating aspect of the novel. It's incredibly complex and rich, but shares very little in common with Earth. It has unique wildlife and plantlife that are vividly described. Yet, most importantly, it all makes sense. Some authors create weird creatures just to have something different, but in no way do they seem plausible. Everything Sanderson creates seems like it could be real. The third thing that Sanderson excels at in the Way of Kings is the development of his magic systems. This praise, like the others, is typical of a Sanderson work. He consistently manages to create unique and fascinating magic systems that are, at the same time, extremely well-constructed and follow very specific rules. This isn't vague, unexplainable power or amorphous waves of magic being thrown across a battlefield. The magic system isn't, perhaps, as well defined and manageable as was the alomancy system in Sanderson's Mistborn series, but it is still very well done. Sanderson doesn't do anything badly in the Way of Kings, but some areas are less spectacular than others. Pacing has never been Sanderson's strong suit. As with his other novels, the first 75% of the novel seems to plod on before blitzing to a conclusion in the last couple hundred pages. This weakness is more noticeable in the 1000 page Way of Kings, where it seems like 700-800 pages plod on before coming to a screeching conclusion. Although I enjoyed every page of the novel, the Way of Kings definitely moved very slowly for quite a while. A large part of this is, perhaps, that he spends so much time developing his world and his characters that he puts plot development to the side. The novel probably could have been a much tighter, more evenly paced 800-850 pages. Further, because Sanderson doesn't seem to focus too much on plot, there were very few surprises. In fact, pretty much all of the major plot turns were fairly predictable. As I mentioned at the start, the Way of Kings is the first novel in a planned 10 novel series. If each one weighs in around 1000 pages, you are looking at a major time commitment. After reading the Way of Kings, and having read five other Sanderson novels, I have little doubt that the series will be worthwhile. If nothing else, I can't wait to spend more time in the world Sanderson built. I'm giving the Way of Kings four stars, primarily because the pacing was far, far too slow and uneven and because the novel was rather predictable, but keep in mind that the Way of Kings really is just a protracted introduction. There is so much more coming, and Sanderson has laid the ground work for a truly remarkable series.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2011 by Jason
Format: Paperback
I just finished my first book of the year, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, book one of The Stormlight Archive, and it’s an easy 5 out of 5. This is a massive, well-told story set in a vast world that feels real because the characters drive the plot, not the other way around. Dalinar was my favorite—his struggle to live by honor and do right by his kingdom and king is deeply relatable. Kaladin’s story hit hard too, especially when he speaks the Second Ideal, “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves,” which perfectly captures who he is. Shallan’s chapters were a great change of pace and a smart way to deliver lore without it ever feeling like homework. Even at nearly 1,000 pages, the book never felt daunting. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first Cosmere read, but for any fantasy fan willing to invest the time, this book delivers on everything it promises.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2026 Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2026 by Michael Boesen
Format: Kindle
It is epic, it is foreboading, it is filled with lore and it is down right amazing. The overall plot intrigue of just this first installment in the continuing Stormlight Archive series, is enticing and gratifying. I don’t read fantasy generally, though I have dabbled with it in senses of horror fantasies and some previous engagements with Neil Gaiman, and even Brandon Sanderson already. This was my second novel ever read by him and bam, what an easy hook. This book has everything. EVERYTHING. Brandon Sanderson, although relatively new to me personally, should and possibly already is regarded as one of the greatest writers of this time period. He has dynamics and characters so appealing, this will be the most interesting slow read you’ll ever have the pleasure to ingest. It’s slow in reference to action but that in no way holds this writing back. It’s dark and holds depth that will make you well up for these characters. I felt never ending impending doom the entirety of reading this 1100 page tale. And it’s only just begun. Im enthralled. I need more now. All of the build, the care and devotion into creating his lore and character ensemble. You’ll have favorites, you’ll despise others and, those who you will never trust and then the others you would trust with your own life. The imagination of this man astounds me. So many things are being alluded to the entire time but you get the pleasure of falling in love with these characters and learning about who each of them are or have the potential to be. He flaws in one area for me personally though. While his male characters are so strong in development, depth and versatility within themselves and with others which make them feel so raw and real, the women are extremely more lacking. They have some depth and some intrigue, but overall they feel extremely overshadowed and created with less care. There are far more similarities within their design then within his male characters and most do not show much of their true personalities making them somewhat tiresome to read about. It also feels as if he has a somewhat recurring theme to how he writes female characters. In Elantris, his debut novel, his male and female setups were somewhat generic and too stagnant. He had progressed extremely with all other aspects of his writing from that novel to Way of Kings, whereas his female characters seem to mimic his original creation of a female lead. It is not anywhere near making this an unenjoyable story, but it is somewhat dull at certain times because of it, and doesn’t give much way of attachment to the females. That being said, I have higher hopes for their development in the continuing series and everything else was brilliant. He has so many elements all at play, so many underlying mysteries and a tone that will change with every storyline you get into. This book probably made me experience every emotion. It hits and it hits hard. You won’t want to put this down. As you find out more and more, you’ll find yourself asking for more and more. It is masterfully written and full of heroics and depression so overpowering you will binge read to continue to get as much information as possible to stop drowning in the pain of not knowing what will happen next. What does it all mean? What is real? You will question everything but put full faith into those you trust in this book. You never know what will really happen because there’s always a seed of doubt in every step. This is war after all and all is fair in love and war. I couldn’t have asked for more out of a fantasy. I am now mid second installment and it’s just getting better. With every word I fill with anticipation. I love the dynamics and plot building. If you want to enter the world of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, this is the best and worst place to start. It has so much that is tied to other areas of his works but still delivers so much on its own. This. This is what we read for. This promotes all feelings you want from a book. I don’t think I’ve read many books with this much depth and all encompassing satisfaction. This has made me a Brandon Sanderson fan to the fullest.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2020 by Amanda Bedingfield
Format: Kindle
There will be some MINOR SPOILERS here. This is going to be one of my longest reviews yet. The Way of Kings is the first book in Brandon Sandersons supposed challenger to the Wheel of Time series. Brandon Sanderson himself is the man who finished the Wheel of Time series with the last two books at the behest of the Estate of Robert Jordan, so he has the chops to write. Further, Sanderson has written quite a few books that I personally have enjoyed, including the Mistborn Saga and Steelheart, and the Rithmatist. It’s safe to say, I enjoy this man’s writing. In the Way of Kings, the world is constantly ravaged by “highstorms” which basically appear to be Hurricanes. The world has adapted to it, and there is some sort of magical quality to these storms as the currency, these gemstones, absorb “Stormlight”. The gems act as both a lightsource frequently, and the currency as well. The book follows three primary storylines using point of view styled storytelling, along with interludes using tertiary characters. The primary characters are Kaladin (an ex soldier turned slave turned bridgeman), Shallan (the sheltered daughter of a dead nobleman trying to save her house), and Dalinar (a Highprince and uncle to the king). Each character has their own goals and wants, and the storylines are all interesting in their own rights. The book is LONG, at just over 1000 pages. But I found myself reading it nonstop as its very character focused. Each character was interesting and while seperate, eventually their stories start to intersect. The story starts with an assassin, called The Man in White, killing the King of the Aleshi, on the night of their treaty signing with this group called the Parshendi. The Parshendi take credit for the killing, and a war breaks out. It has been 6 years since the war had started when our story begins. Kaladin’s story focuses on his trials as a slave turned bridgeman, a person who has to run large wooden bridges for a highprinces army. The bridgemen as expected to die as they are basically bait for the Parshendi archers. Kaladin is basically a broken man but eventually starts to overcome his own issues and tries his best to rally his fellow Bridgemen and keep them alive. Shallan however, is the daughter of a noble who has died, and his family has decided to hide his death in an attempt to avoid creditors. She goes chasing after the kings sister, Jasnah, to steal an item called a Soulcaster. She eventually learns several amazing things about herself and discovers a love of learning, as Jasnah is primarily a scholar. A lot of her story is focused on learning about the world and the history of the world. And finally, Dalinar is the uncle to the King and a Highprince, basically a leader of a country. He is a very honorable man who dislikes the games his fellow highprinces play with the war, and follows a very strict “Code” and forces his children to follow it as well. He bodyguards his nephew against assassins as well. Dalinar is plagued by visions throughout the book and a great deal of his story is him trying to figure out if he is going mad or not, along with dealing with the politics of war. By the end of the story all three plot lines begin to tie together, and the ending was satisfying while also making me want to read the next book to see how things turn out. Some things that are truly fascinating to me is the usage of racism as a way of life. The characters in Aleshi, the main country, are divided by the Lighteyes, and the Darkeyes. Your eye color determines your station and if you are a noble or not. A Darkeyes cannot be a noble and generally must obey the orders of the Lighteyes. Kaladin is a Darkeyes, as an example, while Dalinar and Shallan are lighteyes. Further, woman are the scholars in Aleshi, while men deal with war and the like. In fact, Men do not learn to read or write, having their wives handle such things. Its quite interesting as beyond there, the gender’s are basically equal. The Parshendi are, at least for now, an Enigma. Not much is known about them from the character’s point of view beyond the fact that they sing nearly constantly, and they hold their dead with the highest reverence. Whats really interesting is that there is a race of people who are totally subservient to the Aleshi called Parshman, which appear to be cousins of the Parshendi. The last thing I want to touch on is the magic system. As with all Sanderson novels, there is a magic system here, but there seem to be only a few practitioners. First there is Soulcasting, which is something Jasnah and others like her can do. It basically lets them transmute any one thing into anything else. Like turning stone into bread for example. This is something that people do with the aid of Soulcasters. There is also Surgebinding, of which the only one the reader knows about at the start is the Assassin in White. Surgebinding lets him defy gravity, push or pull objects, and stick objects together. Surgebinding requires Stormlight to use, and a Surgebinder absorbs the Stormlight that is stored in the various gems. Finally, there are the Shardblades and the Shardplate. These are more magical artifacts, left over from a time when a group of beings called Radiants walked the world. These weapons are bound to a person. Shardplate is basically power armor in fantasy form, increasing its wearers strength, speed, and defense. Shadeblades are almost like plasma swords. They can cut nonliving material likes it nothing, and living matter they “kill” without actually damaging it. Get hit by a Shardblade in the arm, the arm itself dies and can never be used. Shardblades also must be summoned, and if the carrier is disarmed of one it vanishes into mist. The Way of Kings is an interesting book and looks like a great intro to a new series. My only real issue is with its length, as some people may put off from its sheer size. But if you enjoyed Sandersons previous works or want a fantasy novel that is not the same old same old, give Way of Kings a try.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2015 by ClayTN
Format: Hardcover
Title: The Way of Kings This is the first book of the upcoming Stormlight Archive. Author: Brandon Sanderson Genre: Fantasy/SciFi This book is the story of three main characters and there role in the world, all connected in some way. Along with Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan, we see a cast of supporting characters, as well as a few brief appearances by other minor characters. Most important in my opinion is Kaladin. We follow his life throughout the book in both the present and the past, and therefore spend more time with him than the other characters. Kaladin, an amazing fighter and surgeon, just as he is beginning to make something of himself, finds his whole life shattered, and all of his hopes and dreams torn away from him as he abruptly drops to the bottom of the world's order. He finds himself at the bottom of the chain, a slave, but finds there is even worse to come with the life of a Brideman. In his new life he finds death around every corner, surrounding him, making him nearly yearn for it himself. But what he instead finds is not at all what he expected. In the lowliest station imaginable, he finds not hopelessness, but instead a second chance. A second chance at leadership, a second chance at succeeding, and most importantly, a second chance in his life to protect. Along with this story line we also move, although quickly, through his life up to that point. Starting in Kaladin's childhood, and moving up months or years at a time throughout, we venture into the makings of himself as a person, and learn why he thinks and is the way he is. This gives us a rare and direct insight into the inner workings of one of the main characters, that would usually go unseen. The next main character is Dalinar Kholin, a Highprince of Alethkar. Him as well as his son, are seen at the Shattered Plains, a rugged terrain where there 6 year old war with the Parshendi, a savage sect of the otherwise meek and tamed Parshmen that serve as property of most of the civilized world. Dalinar is plagued with visions of the past, and above all a cause to unite the Highprinces, for reasons far above him, that even he does not understand. In this book Dalinar is struggling with himself, his changing views of the world, and strained relationship with his son, and with his King. His story is one of truly finding himself and truly striving to do what needs to be done, no matter the cost. Thirdly is Shallan. Shallan finds herself seeking the oppurtunity of a lifetime, to learn under one of the world's most renowned scholars, yet her true purpose is one much darker. Truly she seeks to steal a powerful item of great worth that is possessed by that scholar. Haunted by things in her past she has already done, she at first sees this as a simple task, after all, it seems it will be the only way to save her family's house after the death of her father, a secret her family desperately is trying to keep. As she becomes intoxicated by the things she is learning, and people she is meeting, it becomes something much more difficult to accomplish. In the end she has to make decisions that will decide much, life or death even. Now there are a few characters as I've stated, that only appear once in the book, and are mainly there just to show a certain place or event. The last character of import, though with little screen time, is Szeth. Szeth is a Truthless, one bound to whatever master holds his oath stone. After assassinating a monarch, he is for a while cast aside, rotting in his guilt and haunted by his past deeds, bringing him to near insanity. He is happy at least to be of no more use than a slave, at least then he wasn't made to kill. His station changes however, and he is once again forced to do acts of unthinkable atrocity and cruelty, once again and still wanting nothing more than to die. His targets become much more important, until soon, the very fate of the world could be decided on whether or not he succeeds. Ok I'd like to first say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and thought it was a great piece of literature. Brandon Sanderson definitely breaks away from many of his not much liked aspects of his writing style in this book, and definitely sounds much more experienced in his writing. One of the bigger complaints about Sanderson is that in much of his work, all the characters seem to be inherently good, and this too I think he is able to break away from in this book. I thought the flow of the book was excellent. Sanderson arranges each section with certain characters and certain parts, and then places the minor characters in between sections in what he calls the `interludes'. I thought that this style of organization works well because it keeps the main characters and unnecessary characters separate, helping along the events of the plot, and keeping it flowing well, with breaks instead of slow parts. During the beginning the only thing I didn't like about the storyline was Shallan's parts, which while interesting, I found a bit dry. I found this quality later redeemed for the most part, and also found it not that big of a deal, considering she was the least of the main characters. Overall I would rate this book a 9.5/10. I don't think I could give it a full 10, though it was very close. I definitely can't wait for the next book, and think this could be the next epic series of near Wheel of Time proportions.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2011 by Talmanes