The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Archive, 1)

Storm Father be praised, I have found it. At long storming last. For years I've searched, high and low. Six books in, The Wheel of Time couldn't do it. Wizard of Earthsea couldn't do it. None of the many fantasy novels I've picked up only to put down again in short order couldn't do it. What is it you ask? Well, let me explain.

Back in 2012 I picked up Gorge R.R. Martins A Song of Ice and Fire after falling in love with HBO's Game of Thrones. I've always been an avid reader, and I credit Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with making me so. But for some reason, though I've always been a huge Tolkien fan, with the exception of the Narnia and Dark Tower books, I never returned to the genre which inspired me to read (and later to write) in the first place. A Song of Ice and Fire changed all that, and I've been looking ever since for a series match its greatness. Of course The Wheel of Time was the first place I turned, but after six overly long, yawn inducing books I don't think I have the stomach to go on. To Earthsea I went, and found its narrative boring, the style of writing not really doing anything for me.

In The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, I have found that series. High praise, considering that I'm comparing it to Song after only one book, but believe me it is worth every word of praise I can give it, and then some. It is in every way A Game of Thrones equal, and if I may be so brash to say Wheel of Times superior. I realize Sanderson is a huge Jordan fan and drew huge inspiration from his work, but in this readers not so humble opinion Sanderson is ten, nay twenty, times the writer Jordan was. No disrespect intended towards Jordan, a true pioneer in the genre, but I'm sorry it’s the truth.

The first thing one will notice that sets this book apart is the setting. Yes, Sanderson goes with a traditional mid-evil setting in many ways, but WoK is just as striking with how different it is. Everything about this world, from its plant life, the creatures which inhabit it, and human culture, have evolved to contend with a series of brutal storms known as High Storms which sweep through the land every couple of weeks with hurricane like winds and rain. Plants recoil into the ground when the winds approach, animals evolve with huge shells to protect themselves, and human beings build their structures with roofs slanted towards from the storms. The world Sanderson creates is truly alien, more in line with a science fiction novel then a fantasy one, though technology remains mostly fantasy based. This level of detail is evident in every aspect of this world. Sanderson creates fictional philosophers with contradicting theories regarding various subjects, religious and cultural beliefs are deep and well thought out, and its magic system is exciting and rule based. It’s hard to imagine such a thorough world exists. The level of detail poured into it is simply incredible.

The characters are varied and, at first at least, spread throughout the world. From Kaladin, a slave with a mysterious past forced to make suicidal charges at enemy positions, to the artistic Shallan, and the High Prince Dalinar, every single one had me fully invested in their stories. I'm not a man prone to emotion. Rare is the film that can bring me to tears, and rarer the book. Out of the hundreds of books I've read I believe only A Thousand Splendid Suns has ever come close to bringing me to tears. So understand that when I say this book brought me to the edge of tears that I mean that as the highest praise I can possibly give. I don't think Martins Red Wedding even got that kind of emotion from me. Maybe the Purple Wedding, though that was more excited cheers then tears, I’m sure you’ll understand. Only an author with a firm grasp of his characters, their personalities, quirks, wants, desires, motivations, etc, can even hope to illicit such a response, and Sanderson has proven with this one novel that he is a master of characters. Impressive, considering how completely he mastered his world building as well. Not many writers are good at both. Even fewer are masters of them. Sanderson is one of those few.

Will the Stormlight Archive prove as good as A Song of Ice and Fire? Only time will tell. One book is hardly enough to source material to make a fair comparison between the two. The stories are also vastly different, with Sanderson focusing more on mysticism and magic rather than the gritty realism of Martins tale. Even so, I can firmly say that I am more than excited to dig deeper into the world of the Stormlight Archive and follow along with Sanderson for as many books as he wishes to write. What's that? He's going to write TEN? Ten freaking books? Funny thing. After The Eye of the World, the prospect of reading Jordan's tale to the end seemed more like a chore then a pleasure. Not here. If the remaining books are even half as good as Way of Kings, I will happily read whatever Sanderson gives me.

As one of the most popular fantasy series of the last few years, it should be no surprise that the first book in this series sucked me in from the very beginning. It's epic in scope, well-developed, and hard to put down with all of the action and political machinations and, of course, magic. Huge recommendation for fans of high fantasy.

It's nearly impossible to summarize a 1200+ page book in a few sentences, as there are so many characters and sub-plots that run through the story, but the main characters stay consistent in their frequency of appearance in the chapters. Kaladin is a young former soldier of prodigious talent with a spear, who we discover through the book was betrayed by his commander and sold into slavery as a "bridgeman," a worker whose sole purpose is to carry portable bridges to span the chasms on the plains where his nation is fighting a war against a strange race of human-like beings; Kaladin is a natural leader with a painful past, but an ability to encourage men to unite and better themselves. Dalinar is a middle-aged highprince, part of the light-eyed nobility of his nation, brother to a king who had been murdered by an assassin a handful of years ago, sparking the current war, and uncle and principle advisor/general to the current king; Dalinar is plagued with strange visions of the past featuring the Knights Radiant, a near-mythological group of ancient knights with magical weapons, armor, and abilities, some of which have drifted down through history to be held by regular individuals in the current age. Adolin, Dalinar's son, is an excellent solider and duelist, and at times a spoiled prince, who tends to rebel against his father's need to stick to outdated Codes outlining the honorable conduct of a soldier. Shallan is a teenaged girl blossoming into womanhood, left with the weight of saving her declining house from total bankruptcy after her father had lost all fortune and the respect of his peers; Shallan has a brilliant mind, a quick wit, and a true talent for artistry that seems almost supernatural, and seeks to gain the trust of Jasnah, niece of Dalinar and sister of the king, who is a respected and erudite scholar, and just maybe a bit of a heretic against her own culture's religion. The cast of characters is voluminous, but most chapters revolve around these main ones, as they seek to understand the world and their roles in it, and possibly avert a world-changing disaster they've just become aware is brewing.

The plot is epic in all meanings of the word: big, lengthy, involved, full of emotions and motivations and purpose, stretching to all points of the world that Sanderson has created out of whole cloth. It's clear that the author has spent a great deal of effort planning the millenia of backstory that predates the setting of the novel, and that plan is detailed and rich. There are multiple independent systems (or sources) of magic, each with its own rules and users, some seeming to be created from nature, others seeming to be fabrications of men and women. The history of the novel's world is deep, and trickles out in small bits throughout the long story, such that once the reader feels the dominant religion/mythology is finally understood, a new bit of ancient history is revealed that shows just how that religion has changed over time and may not be fully grasped by either the reader or the religion's current adherents. The characters are very well-developed, each with his or her own motivations and reasons for being where he or she is in life. All told, the plot is thick and convoluted, but in such a good way that the reader feels each character is growing and developing, while the action and plot still move along at a quick pace. This is one of those books that is incredibly hard to put down, so you may find yourself up all night reading.

I really did struggle to find something to criticize in this book, but I did find a few things. While I know the author has his main characters trying to build a better world while battling their society's own shortcomings, there is still a startling undercurrent of racism to the culture being described: the main opponents of the war on the Shattered Plains are a mostly dark-skinned race seen as primitive, whose more docile cousins are used by the other nations as slave labor and described as all looking alike, which is viewed as normal and almost necessary for the culture of the mostly light-skinned and -eyed, and supposedly more noble, race on the other side of the war. At one point, the author made the surprising use of the word "moolie," which shocked me -- its use was as a pejorative nickname for a mute, and not a racial slur, but still it's a choice that the author made that perhaps wasn't well thought out and struck me as unnecessarily offensive when he could have used literally any other existing or made-up word.

There was also the problem that I find all too pervasive in many fantasy books, a genre I love: there is a stark overuse of names using the letters A, K, L, and N (e.g., Kaladin, Dalinar, Adolin, Adalar, Elhokar, Navani, Jasnah, Shallan, etc.) -- after a while, all the names seem to have come from a standard Boggle tileset with only a few letters or syllables to choose from. I know that this may be passed on as distinctive for the racial/linguistic setting of the novel, but its similarities to many other names in many other fantasy series leaves me with the taste that such overuse of certain syllables is derivative, rather than original. Also, a surprising number of these names, when combined with the character's family name, follow a strange rule that Aleister Crowley (the occultist) set out that the best-sounding names are a dactyl (three syllables with emphasis on the first syllable) followed by a spondee (two syllables of equal emphasis), as if they were all created specifically for fitting in a certain poetic meter -- I'm not sure if I'm impressed by this, or if I view this as another example of derivative names.

As for the writing mechanics, the book is incredibly clean. Sure, there are a few split infinitives and a handful of examples of "most everyone" or "most all," but in a book more than 1200 pages long, the number of grammatical or syntactical errors is actually miniscule compared to a lot of books out there these days. I enjoy Sanderson's writing style, which hints at both "high" fantasy writing and colloquial conversational banter. It's nice to read such a long book without wanting to throw it against the wall every few pages because of an egregious writing error.

Overall, I'm excited to be into this series at long last. I understand it's intended to be a 10-book series, and so far there are only 3 released (with a fourth maybe coming later this year?), so I fully expect to be enjoying this rich world Sanderson has built for another few years. A huge recommendation for anyone who even kind of likes high fantasy series.

I felt when putting a title on this review that the final words of "The Lord of the Rings" would be somewhat appropriate. I, like Samwise the Brave, have returned from a great journey.

That journey lies within the pages of Brandon Sanderson's novel, "The Way of Kings".

There are a couple bottom lines I'd like to make clear before I discuss this book in more depth, and I'll go ahead and set them up here to prevent anyone from unnecessarily spending their valuable time.

1. "The Way of Kings" is the best book I've read in a while. 9.5/10 on my scale.
2. I've noticed a lot of reviews draw comparisons between "Kings" and Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World" / "The Wheel of Time" series. This got me thinking - it's probably good that I make clear what I think of the three prevalent fantasy-series touchstones before I discuss this book so whoever reads this knows how my mind works. This reader loved "A Game of Thrones" as well as the subsequent series, but found books 4 and 5 quite tedious. My reactions to Robert Jordan's WoT series are lukewarm at best - I found "The Eye of the World" to be derivative, predictable, and a lot of the time very poorly written. This being said, yes, I enjoyed it for what it was. I loved "The Lord of the Rings," but have clearer and fonder memories of "The Hobbit".
3. Books like "Dune" tax my patience. Heavily.
4. I hate reviews with spoilers. Be at peace, wary reader. Here, there be no dragons.
5. This book is over 1200 pages long. I've spent about three weeks reading it. This review is going to be long as well, and arguably nowhere near as well written.
6. Did I mention that I didn't like "Dune"?

Now that we've gotten the introductions out of the way, on to "The Way of Kings" itself. I'll go ahead and call it TWOK from here on out. It sounds cool and it's easier to type. So. Here we go.

ATMOSPHERE: As I think I already made clear, this book absolutely blew me away. Carried me away might be a better phrase, actually, or transported me Elsewhere with a capital E. It did everything I want a fantasy book to do - took me out of my world and introduced me to one so fantastic, so alien, so unforgettable and yet so believable that I found myself thinking about it...well, all the time. I would describe the world in detail, but so many other reviews have beaten me to it I'll skip that and relegate myself to saying this - imagine an ocean floor without the ocean. I think someone may have actually already written that. Well done, anonymous person. You hit it right on the head.

There are more mysteries in this world than there are answers, and whenever one question is answered another four sprout up in its place. The nature of the highstorms (and their somewhat ominous sounding "Origin") was of particular note to me, not to mention the nature of "spren," the strange spirits that accompany basically everything in the world. If I were to pick a character to fall in with, I'd roger up with Axies the Collector, a side character from one of the Interludes who I sincerely wish Sanderson would make into an entire storyline. When you find yourself fascinated by the daily life of characters that have no bearing whatsoever on the overall storyline, you know the author has done something right with their Worldbuilding. This, actually, brings me right into my next point of review.

CHARACTERS: The book focuses on four main characters, or maybe it would be more accurate to say three and a half. Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan account for the majority of the book, and though he appears far less frequently, Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar (Yes, that's his name) accounts for what remains. There are a smattering of side characters, some utterly forgettable and others utterly unforgettable (Axies the Collector, for instance, who travels the world studying spren) and they form the interludes between parts. In the end, you'll care about some more than others. Fortunately, Sanderson did this on purpose. The result is that when one chapter ends, you're angry because you don't want to leave their storyline. And then you finish the next chapter, and feel the same way. And so on and so forth. It's similar to what Martin did with his Song of Ice and Fire series, except without the Sansa chapters.

I noticed that one of the chief complaints about this book was that it has a lack of gray characters. This fascinates me, because gray characters tend to grate on me after a while. Again, I'll go ahead and reference that Other (pun intended) epic fantasy series, "A Song of Ice and Fire," for a reference point here. I love it when characters surprise me. I don't like it when there aren't really any heroes I feel like I can root for. George Martin, I'm talking to you here. But I digress. Are the characters in TWOK relatively one dimensional? I suppose maybe they are.

There are others who suggest the characters found in this book are largely derivative. I disagree, except to say that they are very typical heroes. I think I like that, though. I like that Sanderson has heroes who are capable of heroic things. Who else would a fantasy writer choose to follow? The uneventful people? Would that be like Holden Caulfield goes to Middle Earth? I don't know. Maybe it could work. The point is that Sanderson has characters I can get behind, characters I can fall in love with, who I can fear for (I'm thinking of one character in particular here) and who when they are in genuine danger I can start gnawing my fingernails. I thought the characters in this were great, for what they were. And let's be honest here. The last 75 pages have more twists and character revelations packed into them than the other 1125 pages combined. This brings me around to the next part of my thoughts.

PLOT, PROSE AND PROGRESS: One of the chief complaints about "The Way of Kings" is that nothing much happens in it. I blame this sentiment (and yes, I use the word blame because I think this is a shortcoming of us as readers) on the fact that we live in a largely instant society. We want everything NOW. Take, for instance, the adoration a lot of people have for "The Eye of the World". Things start happening pretty fast in that book and they don't really let up. For a reader like me, that's boring. TWOK is more about setting up a storyline. It's a 1200 page introduction to a 10 book mega-epic that demands an enormous setup. It's the kind of book that has a prelude and a prologue, lots of interludes and lots of parts.

This being said, I never once felt like the book was lacking in action. There are battles galore, intrigues, mysteries, romances and failures. There's a real sense of wonder and mystery in this world - its inhabitants are as baffled by it as we are as readers. This comforts me. I liked that I didn't feel stupid reading this book. A lot of the time, I was sitting there going "Wait, what's this now?" only to discover a character a few pages later going "So wait...what was that, then?" Sanderson is trying something interesting here, introducing a world where characters don't know what's happening. Unlike most other books, which have the standard Wise Old Person to tell them exactly what is happening, this book doesn't have one (yet). The characters, readers and story wander around in the dark with a candle, looking for something while hearing frightening sounds coming from the shadows. The Alethi Kingdom is at war, and yet everyone has a strange sense of creeping dread that we the readers are infected by. We know SOMETHING is coming - we just don't know what. Something called the Night of Sorrows. The True Desolation. What that means and who its bringing, we never do quite figure, but it sure doesn't sound like they're bringing sweeties.

Brandon Sanderson has a strange way of writing. I say this fondly. His prose is never astonishing. When I read George Martin, for example, I usually come across a paragraph/line or two that I savor in my mouth for a bit before carrying on. Patrick Rothfuss does this too, and so does R. Scott Bakker. There are always those zingers that I text to my friends, often annoying them with my enthusiasm. Sanderson has none of that. His paragraphs are simple, his words elemental. He sets out to tell us a story, not wow us with his language. I'm wowed anyway. Prose this transparent, this clear, this unpolluted and convincing...it's a gift. In other words, his writing is deceptively intelligent. I was in awe for reasons I've never really been in awe before. In fact, when someone asked me for a good quote from the book, I was genuinely stumped. The book itself is a quote. It cannot be separated from itself.

OTHER FACTORS: One of the things that impressed me most about this book was the storyline of Kaladin. Kaladin himself may be your run of the mill hero (the general who became a slave, the slave who became a gladiator, the gladiator who defied an emp - oh, wait, wrong movie, I mean book, I mean - aw phooey...) but he's approached differently than I've ever seen a character like this approached in fantasy. Here, Kaladin earns his place as a leader by a painstaking process which unfolds over literally hundreds of pages. Leadership isn't a microwave meal, and neither is Kaladin's story. His struggles, his dilemmas, his obstacles and solutions are all strikingly realistic. As a current United States Marine, I found myself thinking a lot about some of the people I serve with while I read this. The portrayal of what it means to be a leader that Sanderson has created here is uncannily accurate, and really gives some good guidance on what it means to be a better leader. This, needless to say, is quite impressive.

I noticed some complaints that the women have hardly any role in this book. This is true. Only one of the three main characters is female, and she only has one of the biggest character twists in the story. (If you haven't caught the sarcasm dripping from my words, here's your cue to chuckle.) Look, I'm not going to deny that the women in this book are pretty much the same spunky independent females you get in most fantasy books, but I think that can boil down the fact that it's surprisingly difficult to write a female character everyone can get behind. The closest thing I can think of off the back of my hand is probably Katniss from the recent "Hunger Games" trilogy, and even she had her nay-sayers. Plus, she was written by a woman, which definitely helps. This is a story about war, and the women in it are certainly subject to a patriarchal society. I for one have a hunch they will play a bigger role later on in the series (in fact, the twist I mentioned in Shallan's storyline basically assures this).

Magic is used in a way unlike anything I've really seen before. Rather than dying out in the world of Roshar, it's coming back, and no one really knows what it is or how to handle it. The result is exhilarating - magic feels mysterious, dangerous and intriguing. Exactly the way magic should feel, in my opinion - unless its in "Harry Potter". For example, in TWOK, gems hold stormlight in them which is used to power magical armor called Shardplate or to light a street. Different colored gems means multicolored lanterns. As a result, streets at night turn into little disco parlors. This is just one of the many ways Sanderson uses magic in this world.

Most importantly, I think, is the sense of wholeness that Sanderson's world has here. The amount of detail with which he can see the imaginary is nothing less than astonishing. The book comes with a copious amount of artwork inside it, which adds to the story in a way I've never seen used before. The art is beautiful and masterfully done, to the point that I want to buy the hardcover edition of this book just so I can have larger copies of it.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Not much. I mean that honestly. I noticed one of the chief complaints amongst readers was that the book was too long. This made me chuckle a little bit. It reminded me of when I went to see "The Return of the King" in theaters, knowing full well that the film was going to run over three hours, and yet my friends still complained about how long it was. Friends and fellow readers. Please, for the love of everything that is holy, don't pick up a book that is 1200+ pages and then complain that it is long. Yes, it is very long. It was intended to be. It's a comprehensive, detailed look at a magical world. Not every moment is going to be spent in swashbuckling glory. There are going to be times when characters need to sit around campfires discussing the strange natures of markings on other character's chests. This book didn't come out of a microwave. Someone sat down and wrote out 1200 pages of great material that culminated in a great book with a distinct beginning, middle and end. I dare you to try the same.

Are there some parts of the story where the language gets carried away with itself? Sure. As long as I'm being honest, I actually had to put down the book a couple times to rub my eyes when a couple of the characters had incredibly emo moments. I also had to put a belt between my teeth early on to avoid breaking all my molars at the shockingly immature use of the word "storm" as a swear word. It's funny - the story addresses mature themes such as suicide, murder, rape, the controversy of religion - and yet when it comes to swearing, characters say things like "Storm you!" or even "Storm off!" I think my favorite was "Storm off!". I wondered the first time I read that if I had made a terrible mistake.

Are there slow parts? You bet. There were a few slow parts in a couple other books that come to mind, such as "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina," "The Brothers Karamazov," even "East of Eden". "But Sanderson is neither Russian nor a Depression era Californian!" some people cry. Sure. He's not. He's a 21st Century American writer who wanted to tell a story about a war and a whole lot more than that. A few slow parts in a 1200 page book really isn't that bad. If you are looking for instant gratification, STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK. If you're looking for a world to roll around in and delight in, please, buy it and encourage this man to write more. I honestly don't know what I'm going to be doing for the next year.

Last but not least, the real subject matter of the book - namely a couple of the twists towards book's end - made me hesitate. Understand now that this book has a very serious undertone to it, and when it hits you what this series is really about, you'll know. I can think of another fantasy trilogy which addresses themes Sanderson brings up late in this book, but I'm willing to operate on a little faith here. (For those who have read the book, you'll get the pun there.) The twists are great. A couple of them I genuinely didn't see coming, and they blew me clean off my rocker. One was underwhelming. One was genuinely bewildering. So it goes.

In the end, I can't recommend this book enough. It's got great - albeit one dimensional - characters, an utterly original storyline with just enough of the familiar fantasy trope to make us feel at home in our own genre. The world it introduces to us is breathtaking, one which we will have no problem whatsoever spending 10 books frolicking in. The questions it raises at books end are tantalizing, not to mention dangerous. It is very well written, and the best thing I've read since I first met the Others north of the Wall over two years ago, shivering in the snow.

Bravo, Mr. Sanderson. Bravo.

9.5/10

EDIT: Upon re-reading "The Way of Kings" in preparation for "Words of Radiance," I feel confident in its original score. I will keep a tally of the overall series here as it comes out, as well.

Book 1: The Way of Kings - 9.5/10 Book 2: Words of Radiance - 8.8/10, Excellent but unfulfilled due to pacing issues. My full review can be found here on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/review/R2GY81SK3HT0F/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_1

STORMFATHER! This book was amazing. All the stars.

This review may be spoilerish?!

It has been a few years since I have read a high fantasy/epic fantasy such as this one. I just recently finished The Name of the Wind and that one is high fantasy, but it does not compare to The Way of Kings.

I love books that are about war, swords and fighting just do something for me. I love books that go into detail of war, and strategy and the ins and out of how a war is fought. I sometimes even like the politics, in some books it's over done and some it's done just right. For me, it was done just right in this one. When I felt like it might be too much, the scene changed.

The world building was amazing, the descriptions and the fashions of the different lands was awesome. I like to falling into a book that can take me away from every day life. I need a book to do that for me. I mean I even need a book to change my damn vocabulary. Now when I'm mad, I say "Storm it", or surprised "Stormfather!", or mad "Damnation!" Yeah, I think my family and co-workers think I am psycho. I need to want more, to fall in love with strong characters and want to give up my life so I can train in the art of sword fighting. I want two horses, one white and one black, just so I can name them Gallant & Sureblood. I want a ginourmous sword that I can name Oathbringer.

If you haven't guessed yet, I love this book. I love it so much, I devoted a whole month to it and only was able to squeeze in three other books. THREE!! I normally read 15-20 books a month! And guess what, I am starting book two in three days! So I need to catch up on other reads before that starts.

119 Status Updates! 119! I think that's the most I have ever left for a book. My kindle app has already crashed from trying to upload all the highlights, notes, and marks I left. I think I might have highlighted half of the book...or more..

"The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather...we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes."

Dalinar Kholin, oh Dalinar you sexy man you. Of all the characters he is my favorite. Dalinar Kholin is an Alethi Highprince, he is fighting a war to avenge the death of his brother, the King, Gavilar. He is called the Blackthorn, and is a Shardbearer. To become a Shardbearer one has to win it in battle. You have to kill another Shardbearer and take their Shardplate and Shardblade. His only downfall, he has visions, hallucinations that can bring down him and his house. Dalinar believe in a united Alethkar and fights to bring it together and impose the code on his soldiers.

Alethi Codes of War

Readiness-The Officer will be prepared at all times for battle. Never drunken on wine never without his weapon.

Inspiration-The Officer will wear his uniform when in public to look ready for war and to give strength to his troops.

Restraint-The Officer will refrain from needless duels, arguments, or squabbles with other officers in camp, to prevent injury to men who may be needed to command.

Leadership-The Officer will require no action of his soldiers that he would not be willing to perform himself.

Honor-The Officer will not abandon allies on the field, nor will he seek to profit from the loss of his allies.

Before Gavilar dies he tells leaves a message for Dalinar.

You must find the most important words a man can say

THE THRILL!

Dalinar took a deep breath, feeling the Thrill build for the approaching battle. He strode from the war room, footfalls firm and solid. Attendants and servants scattered before him, making way. Wearing Shardplate again after a long period without was like waking up after a night of feeling groggy or disoriented. The spring of the step, the impetus the armor seemed to lend him, made him want to race down the hallway.

He broke into a sprint. Teleb and the others cried out in surprise, rushing to keep up. Dalinar outpaced them easily, reaching the front gates of the complex and leaping through, throwing himself off the long steps leading down from his enclave. He exulted, grinning as he hung in the air, then slammed to the ground. The force cracked the stone beneath him, and he crouched into the impact.

^^Favorite scene.

Kaladin is the most honorable of heroes I have read. I thought Kvothe was amazing, but Kaladin takes the cake. He is a surgeons son, and now a slave. He fought in Amarams and was eventually betrayed. He's lost his brother, his family and many many people around him. He's an accomplished spearman, and a natural leader. He is sold to Sadeas as a bridgeman and is now apart of bridge four. From the beginning he is determined to keep his team alive, and he does everything he can to win his team over.

Gadol spit up blood, coughing. "They break the land itself!" he hissed, eyes wild. "They want it, but in their rage they will destroy it. Like jealous man burns his rich things rather than let them be taken by his enemies! They come!"

He gasped. And then he fell still, his dead eyes staring upward, bloody spittle running in a trail down his cheek. His final, haunting words hung over them.

Also I can not mention Syl, she's so funny and cute. I hope for a love match or something between her and Kaladin.

"Soon you'll hardly be a spren at all. You'll be a little translucent philosopher. We'll have to send you off to a monastery to spend your time in deep, important thoughts."

"Yes," she said, "like how to best get the ardents there to accidentally drink a mixture that will turn his mouth blue."

She smiled mischievously.

Then there is Shallan. She is from Jah Keved and she is in Kharbranth seeking out the heretic Jasnah Kholin. She wishes to be become her ward and steal her precious soulcaster. I don't want to go into anymore without giving away what happens, but there are a lot of things we learn about Shallan and still a lot of things we do not know.

"Father," Adolin said, feeling pained, "if there's something wrong here, it's that we're not trying hard enough. You think the highprinces are playing games? Well, show them the way it should be done! Instead of talking of retreat, we should be talking of advancing, striking at the Parshendi instead of besieging them."

Adolin Kholin, I was expecting to dislike him through out the entire book, but that changed the more I got to know him. Adolin love to court women, love to duel and has fierce loyalty to his father and family. He's very much Dalinar's son but unsure of things and unsure of himself. I guess any 23 year old would be. But he does worry about his father and his visions and if his father is really loosing his mind. I think the redeeming part for me is when he is actually fighting by his fathers side and confesses to believe all that his father has told him.

The last 20% just threw all over the place. I was sad, happy, angry, in shock, dumbfounded. I wanted to throw the phone/kindle/book across the room. I screamed! I yelled! And then I was determined to read the next damn book to find out what the hell is going on! There are no words to describe the last 20% and I see this review is probably the longest I have written. But know this, I will probably have 200 update statuses for the next book and have an even bigger book hangover having to wait MONTHS for the next. I can say that I am a new Brandon Sanderson addict. I need more..I want more...I will die if I don't get more!

So if you love high fantasy, want to loose a month out of your life...please read this. Better yet, get the audio. So you can loose time while you washing clothes, walking to the car, driving to work, cleaning you house, working out at the gym, and while waiting for the doctor. Do it!

P.S. There are way to many quotes and descriptions to put here but I will leave you with some of my favorites.

MEN RIDE THE STORMS NO LONGER. The voice thunder, crashing in the air.

THE OATHPACT IS BROKEN, CHILD OF HONOR.

"I don't understand!" Kaladin screamed into the tempest. A face formed before him, its eyes full of stars.

ODIUM COMES. MOST DANGEROUS OF ALL THE SIXTEEN. YOU WILL NOW GO.

ODIUM REIGNS

He roared, striking down four Parshendi as two more hit him from behind, making his armor vibrate. He spun and killed one, the other barely dancing out of range. Dalinar began to pant, and when he moved quickly, he left trails of blue Stormlight in the air. He felt like a bloodied prey beast trying to fend off a thousand different snapping predators at once.

Never fight other men except when forced to in war.

Bang!

Let your actions defend you, not your words.

Bang!

Expect honor from those you meet, and give them the chance to live up to it.

Bang!

Rule as you would be ruled.

Bang!

I picked up Way of Kings for three reasons. • I was told to - This is the real secret of twitter: having book recommendations shoved at you at lightning speed. • It was free via iTunes - I had no reason to say no. (Even though I ended up buying my own copy before I ever touched the ebook. What can I say? I'm 'physical book preferred' reader.) • I LOVED his Mistborn series - (The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages) Since I loved Mistborn so much, I asked which of his series to try next. The answer was unanimous, The Stormlight Archive series.

Even though the book was a trillion pages, when I actually managed to sit down and read, they flew by. It may have taken me exactly one month to finish this massive book, but that was including time spent on vacation, with family for the holidays, and finishing up other books that I was concurrently reading.

The world-building is what you would expect from a Sanderson book: EPIC. Seriously, you won't even realize how these seemingly insignificant details from the beginning turn into these massive themes and plot-points. Was that a random backhanded complement, or a prelude to something more?

There is a lot thrown at you early on. When the book first starts, in the prelude, you are watching men fighting a war you don't understand, abandoning a cause you have no prior knowledge of. Then we jump a huge period of time and watch a king we never met be attacked. And you are filled with questions and confusion, and the only answer you have is to keep on reading.

So you do.

From there, oh boy, does the world get complex. Brandon Sanderson builds this world from the ground up. We have several different countries with their own customs and traditions. The world around them bends to the fury of the Hightstorms, and from creatures to plants, you see plenty of evidence of this as our heroes fight on the Shattered Plains. It might not seem like much, but these tiny details flesh out the world and allowed me to completely envision the unfolding events in my mind.

Everything from people's daily lives to their gods/mythology they believed in is unique for each culture, and yet, you begin to see how each one connected to truth from the past. As time passed, truths changed and evolved as the people lived and died, until no one alive now knew what truly happened thousands of years ago. Just who were the Heralds really? And what about the Radiants, did they truly betray mankind? Then there are the Soucasters and Shardbearers running around with their fantastical abilities and highly coveted pieces. But where did the swords, plates, and Soulcaster devices really come from? How do they work?

One of the things that won me over in The Final Empire was the world he created. It felt real, it felt believable, and I think he may have outdid himself with The Way of Kings.

There were a trillion characters, to match the trillion pages, in this book. There were probably closer to a dozen point of view characters alone. Normally, I'd back away in fear because so often writers fail at simply having two, but I had faith. And my faith was rewarded. With different cultures woven into their backgrounds, each character came from a different kind of place and Sanderson pulls those different threads together and proves he is a master of characters and point of view. Add in some personality quirks, and some backstory horrors, and you are left with quite the collection of characters.

I could go on and on about all the characters, but there were two (well, three if we count Wit, but he is still such a mystery) that I absolutely loved.

Kaladin: I knew I was going to love him from the conversations fellow bloggers were having about him on twitter. And then he swooped down to the aid of a young man and I worshiped him from the then on. Kaladin was such a fascinating character. He has this power and charm from the beginning, he made you want to follow him. Then things happen, and he had a lot to overcome. You don't know for sure what happened in that key moment until pretty late in the book, as his past storyline was something of a subplot with it's own chapters mixed in throughout the story. By time you learn the truth, you have already guess at some of his scars and have refallen for the man who struggled to rise again. You feel his anger, and you get his devotion to his people. It's that 'ah' moment where the reader finally, truly understands his mind.

My other big favorite is Dalinar. Dalinar started out, at least by the time we meet him, as this sort of by the book, chivalrous knight. Honor, trust, loyalty, those things are all big with him. At first you think Dalinar is going to be obnoxious and self-riotous, but then we see him in action. And if that man demanded I wore my uniform all the time, I'd sure as heck wear it- part in awe and part in fear. And then there are his visions. Oh, I loved his chapters. I loved learning more about this world and the past as he struggled to understand what was happening to him.

And Wit! I mentioned him, so I should talk about him right? I loved his humor, and I loved the way he saw things no one else did or in a way that makes you as the reader start to think about their world, as well as ours.

A five star rating, you say. But surely no book is perfect?

And, no, I cannot say that this book is. In all seriousness, my paperback copy is 1252 pages long. And there were several chapters in the middle with new characters, far outside of the bubble the main guys lived in. Yes we learned some important information regarding the past, and yes, these events were connected to the main plotlines. But I found myself less interested in these chapters. Maybe it was because they were slower compared to say Kaladin's chapters, or maybe it was because I already found my favorites to root for, but I kept wanting to return to the characters I already knew and loved.

Does that mean I hate those chapters? No. Does that mean they are less important than the main guys? This is Sanderson we are talking about. The last time I assumed something was insignificant, well, I was very wrong. You know what happens when you assume something right? (You make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me.' Thank you math teacher for your corny joke that will forever ensure I know how to spell assume correctly.)

Words To Live By “Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs. The means by which we achieve victory are as important as the victory itself.” “Sometimes we find it hardest to accept in others that which we cling to in ourselves.” “Words aren’t meant to be kept inside, you see. They are free creatures, and if locked away will unsettle the stomach.”

Overall Brandon Sanderson tosses you into The Way of Kings alone, and leaves you set adrift in a Highstorm. But as the pages go by, you start to realize that he didn't abandon you. Lifelines are scattered about the pages, and by the time you read the end of the novel, you will wonder how you ever lived without reading this book. My notebook is full of quotations, whether humorous or inspirational, from this book because it both entertains you and makes you question your own beliefs and assumptions.

While The Way of Kings is not technically a YA novel, I see not reason that an older teen cannot enjoy this book. Therefore, regardless of your age, if you are a fan of fantasy novels with detailed worlds, and a spectacular cast, READ THIS BOOK.

I’m not usually a fan of fiction, but Brandon Sanderson’s "The Way of Kings" really hooked me in. This first book in The Stormlight Archive series is a real treat, even for someone like me who doesn't often dive into fantasy. Set in the unique world of Roshar, where magical storms are the norm and ancient legends come to life, this book is all about epic adventures and unforgettable characters.

The story unfolds through the eyes of several characters, each bringing their own flavor to the tale. Sanderson does a fantastic job of developing these characters, making you care about their struggles and triumphs. You’ll find yourself rooting for them as they face all sorts of challenges, both big and small.

One of the coolest things about this book is the magic system. It's original and deeply woven into the story, adding a layer of excitement and mystery. The action scenes are thrilling and the pacing keeps you hooked from beginning to end.

The themes of honor, sacrifice, and power struggles add some depth to the story, making it more than just a fun read. Sanderson’s writing style is engaging and easy to follow, so even if you're new to his work, you won't have any trouble diving into this world.

All in all, "The Way of Kings" is an epic start to The Stormlight Archive. Whether you're into fantasy or not, you'll love the adventure and magic Sanderson brings to the table. This book sets the stage for an incredible series that you won’t want to miss.

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.

There are times when I hate having grown up to be a fantasy fan. Most of the time it's when I pick up a book that seems promising - maybe because it's from a familiar author, or because you heard from a friend of a friend that it was good - but it turns out to be disappointing. Stock characters, old and tired plotlines, and a world that's basically Tolkien with some greasepaint and false noses added on. Given the number of people who write fantasy, the odds of coming across a truly interesting world with compelling characters and a story that has some surprises is difficult indeed.

Fortunately, it looks like Sanderson has managed to pull it off.

The world of Roshar is a strange and tempestuous place. The seasons come and go in unpredictable ways, sometimes bringing with them great highstorms that are so powerful that even the plants of this world have evolved ways to hide from them. It is a world filled with spirits, ubiquitous beings called spren, which pop up for almost any reason. There are the spren of nature - windspren, firespren, rotspren, riverspren and the like. There are spren that seem attracted to humans, like alespren, gloryspren, anticipationspren and logicspren. No one really knows what they are or why they exist, but they are everywhere in this world.

The greatest kingdom in Roshar is that of Alethkar, which is barely a nation at all. A loosely bound alliance of ten high princes, the people of Alethkar are a hostile, ambitious, violent folk whose first and greatest love is battle and winning. Since the assassination of their king by the savage Parshendi, they have been involved in a seemingly endless siege of revenge on the great Shattered Plains.

The greatest warriors of Alethkar - or any nation - are those who wield the amazing shardblades. Swords that seem to condense out of mist, the shardblades can cut through anything, though if they cut through a person their effects are a little more subtle. A warrior armed with a shardblade, wearing shardplate armor, can use the incredible power of stormlight to achieve feats that no normal man could survive. Bound within glowing gemstones and restored by the howling winds of the highstorms, stormlight is Roshar's greatest treasure.

Within this world we follow an ensemble cast which, while adhering to certain fantasy archetypes, still is made interesting and worth watching. Dalinar, the brother to the dead Alethi king, is searching for a way to hold together the weak nation that his brother formed. He has been learning of the old ways, the teachings of the vanished and reviled Knights Radiant, in the hopes that they can help hold his people together.

On the other end of Alethi society is Kaladin. Once a promising young surgeon, Kaladin joined the army in hopes of being able to fight on the Shattered Plains. He made it there, but not as a soldier - as a member of a bridge crew, one of the most expendable resources in the entire war. He became the lowest of the low, forced to find a reason to stay alive.

In a city far from the fighting, young Shallan Davar has fought to become the ward of the great heretic scholar Jasnah Kholin. While she has ostensibly come to learn from the woman, her true purpose is to steal Jasnah's soulcaster, a device which, if used properly, can turn something into something else - stone into smoke, glass into blood, a man into fire. With this, Shallan hopes to revive her family's flagging fortunes after the death of her father. What she discovers with Jasnah, of course, is far, far more.

Then there's Szeth-son-son-Vallano, truthless of Shinovar. Poor, poor Szeth. From a race of people known for their peaceful and easygoing natures, Szeth is the most powerful assassin the world has seen. He can harness the stormlight to manipulate gravity, making him able to do the impossible while he uses his shardblade to cut down anyone in his way. In truth, though, Szeth wishes only one thing - to find someone who is good enough to kill him, and end his tormented life.

As you may have guessed, it's a complicated tale, and Sanderson doesn't hold to this whole "Give the reader time to get used to it" style of writing. If you're not paying attention from the beginning, you are likely to be very, very lost within the first chapter or so. But once everything settles down, the story turns into a fast-paced, multi-leveled adventure that takes place in a world that is imaginative and fascinating.

The characters are enthralling, too, with many levels and - most importantly - flaws. While Kaladin is a brilliant organizer and leader, he has to fight continually against the despair of realizing what his life has come to. The easy thing would be to allow himself to die, but he knows he can't let himself do that. Dalinar, plagued by visions of what might be Roshar's ancient past, is fighting centuries of Alethi martial tradition by trying to bring the high princes together and end the war, rather than allowing it to go on. He's pulled between the love of his nephew, the king, and his frustration that the king won't be strong enough to do what needs doing. Shallan, who left her home with a clear purpose, is finding that nothing was what she thought it would be. Jasnah isn't an evil woman, despite being a heretic, and her plan to steal the soulcaster becomes less and less certain the more she learns.

All of these characters are at the front edge of thousands of years of history, much of it shrouded in uncertainty - legendary Knights Radiant who fought Voidbringers before giving up their duty and turning against mankind. What actually happened is unknown, and perhaps won't ever be known. But the effects of those events echo to the present day, causing problems which our characters will eventually have to deal with.

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give to Sanderson is that when I finished the book, I immediately went back to the first page and started reading again. There are very few books that have inspired me thus, but this one did - especially after the cascading Big Reveals at the end, which explain a lot, and cast a new light on a whole lot more.

What's more, I found myself wishing that I had access to an animation studio while I read the action scenes. Fights can be hard to do in written form - there's a tendency to either describe too much or too little, and very often the reader gets slowed down trying to visualize what's happening in the story. Sanderson is very, very good at writing action, something I first noticed in Towers of Midnight. Even when Szeth is hopping from floor to ceiling to wall, flinging people around like toys, the action was very clear in my mind's eye, and it's something I would love to see animated, if not done in live action.

And yes, to get back to why I hate being a fantasy reader sometimes, it is the first book in a series, which means I'm likely to be following it for quite some time. There's nothing truly wrong with that - there are plenty of series that I've followed in my day - but I never look forward to the waiting game that you have to play as the author works on the next book. To be fair, though, Sanderson is busy right now finishing up my favorite series, The Wheel of Time, so I think I can give him a little latitude.

In any case, if you're looking for a dense, fun new series to read, definitely pick this up. I plan on getting into some of his other books, mainly in order to have something to do while I wait for the next one of these.

---

"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that."

• Hoid, The Way of Kings

"The Way of Kings" is the first novel of Brandon Sanderson's "Stormlight Archive", a planned ten-book series as well as his magnum opus. Combining many traditional epic fantasy tropes with Sanderson's unique setting (as well as his talent for fast-paced execution), this novel is both a good read, and a welcome addition to the fantasy genre.

The novel is set in the fictional world of Rosher, on a continent that is frequently ravaged by brutal storm fronts called "highstorms". It centers around three primary protagonists (as well as a handful of minor characters with few chapters): Kaladin (the main character), Shallan, and Dalinar. Kaladin is a surgical-student-turned-soldier-turned-slave, who spends most of the book fighting for survival as a "bridgeman" (a near suicidal mission involving the placement of unprotected bridges under a hail of enemy arrows). Shallan is a young "lighteyes" woman (the equivalent of a noblewoman), who is carrying out a desperate heist in the guise of a scholarly apprenticeship. Dalinar is an aging lord and the late King of Alethkar's brother, who is seeking vengeance for his assassination while being wracked with visions from the past.

This book is a gigantic page-turner. Even with more than 1000 pages (long even by fantasy standards), it's an absolute breeze to read, and very difficult to put down. As is typical for Sanderson, the prose is fairly straight-forward and easy, with little ambiguity and difficulty in interpretation. It does occasionally slow down due to the frequent flashbacks, but they integrate relatively well into the narrative.

Much of the book encompasses traditional fantasy tropes executed well. Kaladin is cast into a desperate situation in which he tries to avoid despair, but there's little question that he will manage to find a way out of it. Shallan's storyline is also fairly predictable, although Sanderson throws in a bit of a twist at the end that reveals a good deal about the setting (Shallan's arc, in general, is frequently used for expository purposes). The least predictable section of the story is that of Dalimar's, although he unfortunately has the least dynamic character of the three. All of this is interwoven with considerable action, lots of battles described in detail, and a good deal of magic.

What makes the book truly different are two elements: the setting, and the magic system (an odd system including "lashing", a type of gravity manipulation). Sanderson seems to be carving himself a niche in world-building with the type of naturally ravaged world he creates with Rosher - the closest comparison to it is the ash-choked world of his previous fantasy series, the "Mistborn" Trilogy. He goes into a good amount of detail describing the unique creatures and plants that have arisen in the world, including hard-shelled crustaceans on land, as well as protected, retracting plants in a world where any topsoil is simply swept away. The only weakness is in the society that Sanderson portrays, which comes across as more of your typical european-style fantasy world than the type you might expect to evolve in such a world. All of this adds to the imagery of the novel, and none of it slows the pace down (as you might expect such detail to do).

While enjoyable, "The Way of Kings" is not without its weaknesses. One of them lies in the same element discussed earlier as a strength: its predictability. After stripping away the unique world and magic, this is a very typical fantasy novel in many ways. There is little doubt that Kaladin, Dalimar, and Shallan will overcome their hardships, and while they take the reader on an interesting ride, none of them are truly unique, difficult, or memorable characters. If you're looking for such characters, this may not be the novel for you.

There are two other concerns. One is the almost-total lack of overt sexuality, either implied or shown. Sanderson does throw in a mention of a prostitute or several, and the celibacy of the characters makes sense in-story, but it does affect the tone and characterization in a way that makes the book occasionally feel like a "young adult" novel. The other is the use of terminology: Sanderson occasionally uses terms and descriptions that don't really seem to fit the knowledge and perception of the viewpoint character, and it would sometimes pull me out of the story.

Nonetheless, this is a solid fantasy novel, and one of the best releases of 2010. I strongly recommend it to any fantasy fans, as well as readers interested in a fast-paced, occasionally dark beginning to a new series.

"The Way of Kings" is the first book I've read on a Kindle, as the device was a Christmas 2010 present from my parents. I have to say that the Kindle is a lot more comfortable than holding a 1000-page book, especially when you travel. I'll first comment on the book generally as a work and then make a couple of Kindle-specific comments at the end. I don't intend for this to be a review of the Kindle, but I do think it's fair to comment on aspects of THIS book as I read it on that device so that others considering the e-book purchase will have the benefit (if any) of those thoughts. I also want to avoid spoilers. As one of the lead reviews said, I read it spoiler-free and I found that to be very valuable.

I was quite impressed with the book. I've read "Elantris," the Mistborn trilogy, and "Warbreaker," as well as the two Wheel of Time volumes, and as far as Sanderson's own work goes I think this one is the most mature work so far. I've always loved a good LONG book that will absorb you to the point where you can get deep into the story before the book is over. It frustrates me insanely when a book feels like it's over before it gets started. "The Way of Kings" definitely doesn't do that. But it's also not written to a depth that makes it impossible to follow what's going on or to track the multiple storylines. As much as I love the Wheel of Time, it can get frustrating trying to remember which character is doing what at any given point (a problem surely exacerbated by the slow publishing schedule, though I recognize the extenuating circumstances there in recent years). As other reviews have noted, this book focuses on three main characters and sticks with each one for several chapters at a time, allowing you to immerse yourself in that character's activity before the focus moves. I like that because it allows me to absorb myself more than the style where each chapter jumps you to a different place. That latter style can be effective in giving you a frenzied feeling if a lot is going on, or if storylines are converging, but "The Way of Kings" is the first volume of what is to be a massive series. The other thing Sanderson has done is that he's introduced some characters who will clearly play big roles in the future, but he's held off on focusing too much on them, perhaps so as not to fragment the story too much too quickly. I appreciate that. If you read this book, you MUST, and I underscore MUST, remember that you are reading the first volume of a very long series, so you cannot allow yourself to get too focused on a plot point that isn't explained or a character who only appears sporadically.

I also rather like the lack of explanation of a lot of things in the story. Sometimes I find it frustrating when a fantasy author introduces new concepts without explaining them. This is the first time Sanderson has done that; in the Mistborn trilogy, for example, I thought Kelsier explained Allomancy fairly well. In "The Way of Kings," we learn about the highstorms and the spren and some of the world's history, but we don't learn a LOT about them. We don't even necessarily learn a lot about some of the major characters, other than the backstory relating to Kaladin (told via a series of flashbacks). Robert Jordan would have used his famous line "RAFO" ("Read and find out") in reference to a lot of these things, and now that I've finished the book I think that a lot of the questions the book leaves open seem to me to have been written that way as plot points for future volumes. Sanderson loves to throw in some major plot twists that will surprise the reader, and this book is no exception. But here, those plot twists serve as major points that will--if you enjoy this book--whet your appetite for future volumes. I'll also mention that some other reviewers have noted that some of the magic in this book, particularly at the start, shows some similarities to the Allomantic material in the Mistborn trilogy. When I started reading the book I was initially a bit wary because I wondered if we'd be seeing something of the same sort (perhaps along the lines of how some readers criticized David Eddings's Elenium and Tamuli series for largely telling the same story that the Belgariad and Malloreon told). After reading the whole book, it's apparent that the particular type of magic in question is something that is to be developed in future volumes. So if you start reading this and your alarm bell goes "Mistborn Redux, I already read this," hit the snooze button on that alarm!

All in all, a very well-done work in my opinion. I thought that some of Terry Brooks's early Shannara books (the original trilogy and the Heritage of Shannara quartet) had a depth to the story that has been lacking in most of Mr. Brooks's more recent works, and (aside from the Wheel of Time) I've been waiting for another author to come up with a deeper story along those lines, as opposed to the shorter trilogies that have become common. Terry Goodkind came close with the Sword of Truth series, and while I enjoyed that series a great deal, some of the lengthy speeches and a few repetitive plot points (Richard feeling betrayed by Kahlan) took away from an otherwise good work. Where I think "The Way of Kings" differs from those works is that Brandon Sanderson has done more than simply inventing characters, countries, and a system of magic. He's invented a world in which he's contemplated the full ecosystem, if you will--the weather, the creatures, the history, the lost lore, etc. To put that differently--every author has weather involved somewhere. It snows on Caradhras (Tolkien). Belgarion nearly causes an ice age with a thunderstorm (Eddings). Sanderson has taken the weather and made it into an important--though by no means fully-explained as of yet--aspect of the plot. I'm going to be interested in seeing where he goes with this one.

I said I'd mention a couple of points about the Kindle edition. I would have given this book five stars, but I took off a point for the Kindle edition because I found the maps and illustrations extremely hard to read (in some cases, almost impossible). I would have liked to have studied the map of Roshar in detail, but the Kindle simply doesn't allow you to zoom in enough to do this in the level of detail I'd prefer to do. I found myself going back to the map fairly frequently, and the Kindle's "Back" button is very useful for returning to your point in the text when you do that. One of the lead reviews here on Amazon talks about the artwork in this book being outstanding and a rare addition to a book of this sort. That may be--but if you read it on the Kindle, as I did, don't expect much in terms of the artwork. I do not know whether the inability to zoom and move around the images is a limitation of the Kindle itself or a limitation set by the publisher. I suppose I should do some nosing around online (maybe Sanderson's site) to see if I can find a downloadable map of Roshar. The other thing I have to wonder is whether the chapter artwork might prove to have some meaning at some point. Like the other art, the chapter art just isn't really all that distinct on the Kindle, although I haven't looked at the hardback to compare it. I recall how in the Mistborn trilogy the quotations and other blurbs that began each chapter proved to be very important in terms of revealing things, so I can't help but wonder if the chapter illustrations here might prove similar. As someone who intends to continue reading future volumes of this series via Kindle, that concerns me a bit.

I think on the whole the illustrations aren't a huge issue and so I'd probably take off half a point, but Amazon does not allow half-star values in rating books. Therefore, I gave four stars because I didn't think it was right to give five when I thought there was a negative that bore mention. I don't want any potential Kindle reader to get put off by my comments about the illustrations. It's still well worth the read, and it's beyond dispute that reading a 1000+ page hardback is a lot easier when you read it as an e-book compared to hauling a hardback around everywhere you go. (I was so absorbed in this story that I've been taking my Kindle with me to Washington Capitals games so that I can read during intermission and between warmups and the start of the game. I would not have taken a 1000-page book to a hockey game!)