The Way of Kings

[Daryn]

I just got done reading this latest book by Brandon Sanderson. I have to say that this is likely one of his best works. It is the first book of his new Stormlight Archive.

It starts of rather chaotic, throwing around several seemingly unrelated characters. Then as the book goes on it to weave things together.

The world he creates is quite intriguing, with a culture and society that have some seemingly strange customs.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the 10 consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where 10 armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

If you want a great work of Fantasy, you need to check this one out. It is fantastic!

[Rick Canaan]

Finished this book a little over a month ago, myself.

And like, wow.

Brandon Sanderson has developed a razor edge to his writing over the years that I very much like. His characters are hard hitting, their personalities have great depth, his world in this book is absolutely stunning in how strikingly and spectacularly unique he made it. And I could just go on and on!

But most of all, I want to touch on how the story was done, and more importantly, how completely cool Sanderson did it:

From the very beginning, you have a bunch of disassociated cells - like in a biology experiment where you're watching cells drift about under a microscope.

Well, Sanderson brings you to one cell, examines it with you, then to another cell and examines it with you, too. Then, when the two examinations are over, you realize that the two cells you've just examined are melded into a cell that is larger. And then suddenly, Brandon is saying "Look out!" While you weren't looking, that larger cell just merged with two more cells!

And that is the way whole book goes. At first, all of the elements of the story seem very disconnected. But right before your eyes, as you read, you get to watch the story form into an actual living, breathing organism.

And I mean almost literally, too!

When I was finished reading The Way of Kings, I sat back, literally stunned by what I had just read. The sheer vibrancy of it, getting to watch as all of the elements of the story came together so sneakily and sublimely, but getting to watch it all along, trying to predict what was going to happen next, then watching as my jaw dropped as Sanderson came at me with an angel I completely did not expect!

If you're even marginally into fantasy, do yourself the favor of getting this book. I have read only a very few books that even began to approach it for its sheer vibrancy and depth, and none which created such a sense of expectation and awe as did this book.

The Way of Kings - by Brandon Sanderson

Get it. Read it. You will not be sorry that you did!

[Daryn]

Yeah, it really was an excellent book. I can't wait to read the next book of the Stormlight Archive, whenever he decides to get to it. I believe that he's got quite a few projects going, not the least of which is the finale of The Wheel of Time.

This book though, it really does have something special going for it. Not just the characters, but also little details like the samples of dialog at the start of each chapter. Lots of books do that, but few tie that into something larger.