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.