The Way of Kings

“What is a man's life worth?”
“The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams.”
“And what do you say?”
“A life is priceless.”

It took me five months of casually dipping into The Way of Kings in between other books to finish my reread. Well, not true. It took me five months to read the first half. It took me three days to read the second half. Oops.

Well, I think I’m in it for the long haul now. I *impulsively* decided to start reading the stormlight archive so I could *hopefully* read the first four books in time for the release of Wind and Truth.

*I’m breaking this section up into multiple parts to make it not as stream of consciousness*

After only reading two standalones of Brandon’s coupled with nothing but positive reviews from people, I knew that I could expect a pretty amazing fantasy series. Also, given my first impressions of the previous Brando books I’ve read, I knew that this guy really knows how to write some seriously incredible worlds, characters, and plots. Yet, one thing I could have not anticipated was just how well he would seemingly do this in the stormlight archive.

For starters, I’m a big fan of the origin story flashbacks. I like how they’re their own chapters, and that you’re getting more and more tidbits of someone’s life as the book goes along. I’ve been told this only continues in the books to follow and I think it’s a vital piece of the full story.

Notably, the world building is spectacular. Not only does he create a very intricate world, but he does it so methodically. He’s not dumping the entire encyclopedia on how the world works on you in the beginning, but gives you little sprinkles as you go along. He’s giving you some facts but also allowing YOU to figure out how his world works simultaneously as the CHARACTERS are figuring things out themselves. I think it’s a clever way of giving the reader just enough information to understand in the moment, and question and build upon what they’ve already learned as the story goes along.

In addition, the Brandoavalanches bury you in snow - like I don’t know how you can make it out of one without reading the whole thing until the end. This avalanche *allegedly* starts at chapter 65 when Sadeas leaves Dalinar hanging out on the battlefield. The events that followed…. my jaw was on the floor for at least 5/6 of it.

Overall, the writing style blew me away. Trying to keep someone engaged for 1000 pages straight seems like a daunting task, but Brando has absolutely no trouble at all.

He also somehow builds the best characters?! First of all, Shallan is awesome. She’s an intelligent woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind / question someone / be a badass and has some INSANE drawing abilities (if you can’t tell she’s my favorite). But Kaladin! What a life that guy has had dear god. His whole flashbacks about becoming a surgeon and his brother Tien were so interesting but also heartbreaking. He’s also a pretty damn good leader but even more a great friend and brother to many. Rock though was probably my favorite of the Bridgemen (would love to try a soup of his). Don’t even get me started on my sus feelings for Kabsal and Sadeas since THE BEGINNING. I KNEW they were both snakes from early on and Sadeas was a very well crafted villain for sure. The whole Adolin courtship plot line is pretty hilarious and I’m glad that’s the first thing we learn about the guy. Dalinar is an interesting man - and all his visions are quite the whirlwind. Jasnah too is interesting and im curious to see how her character will develop in the stories to come. Oh and SZETH. The opening chapter of him was pretty sick and an intense way to start a book. Don’t forget my spren Syl either - she’s a g. Anywho , clearly there’s a lot of characters I could mention but all in all Brando did an immaculate job casting the characters that he did.

So, yeah, I get the hype with this book. I was afraid that *maybe* in some parallel universe that I wouldn’t but now that I’ve read it, there’s no alternate reality where I don’t like this book.

Well done Brando.

5⭐️

The prologue was very interesting, then the first chapter started and it had nothing to do with it. It takes too long to introduce the protagonist, which at the point I stopped reading there was two of them. I'm sure their stories would connect at some point, but up to that moment they were very uninteresting, specially the woman protagonist part.

I hate when an possible interesting story is littered with boring fillings in order to what? Build the world with excessive descriptions? Narrate every single aspect of a characters perspective? Add dialogs that do not further the plot and reveals only how tame the protagonist is?

From what I could gather there was this Kaladin fellow who was a very good fighter and then he was captured. Then there was this Shallan woman who did nothing for many, many pages.

45 HOURS of audio book COMPLETE! All in all it took me about 3 months of commutes (though I didn't listen to it every commute). This was my first time listening to a fantasy book (other than my mom reading to me as a kid), and I'm not sure I liked it — but that could also be unique to this book. I found it hard to get into a good rhythm with it. The interludes were more confusing. I got kind of bored during the bridge crew sections and during battles, probably would have skimmed if I were reading. The narration was also super cheesy and the male narrator's “feminine” voice made me cringe, along with every time he said “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” (See: cheesy). The female narrator was less monotone, but pronounced names inconsistently and differently from the male narrator, which was distracting.

In terms of the book itself: I didn't find this universe's magic system as compelling, or easily grasped, as Sanderson's others. There were few moments when I felt truly engrossed and like I needed to know what would happen next — but again, this could be because I listened to it disjointedly and never for long enough to get in a rhythm.

At some point I'll finish up the series, but I don't think I'll listen to any more as audiobooks. I gave it 3 stars to mirror my enjoyment level. Sometimes felt like a chore and while it was at times enjoyable, I'm excited to move on to something else.

There should be a separate star system for the stormlight archive. I’ve given plenty of books 5 stars but this reread made me realize how much more of a 5 star book this is compared to others. It’s a daunting reread but so worth it with all the Easter eggs for the rest of the series I had no idea about on my first read that had me excited every time something important was casually mentioned.

My review of the wager was all about how audiobooks didn’t work for me but I felt the opposite in this situation. Maybe to enjoy an audiobook all I needed was for it to be a reread of my favorite series of all time. The jury’s still out on audiobooks as a whole for me but I will continue with them as my stormlight reread preparing for Wind and Truth.

As a reader (or listener in my case), The Way of Kings is a commitment, but it pays off. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads epic fantasy or to anyone who has enjoyed other Sanderson books and can readily place faith in the author to deliver a good story. The plot is incredibly slow at many points, but I found that this slowness made the ending more thrilling and exciting. It feels like a solid foundation for an incredible series, so I look forward to reading the next two published books. Sanderson is a master at world building and creating interesting characters, and these skills show in this book. I particularly enjoyed the storyline with Shallan and Jasnah, a female tutor-advisor relationship, which we don't get to see often in fantasy. I found the character Dalinar a bore at first, but grew to like him and his storyline.

This is an epic fantasy if I ever read one. It is immensely long and sometimes hard to get through because it starts off very slowly, but the ending and its many reveals and twists are worth quite the wait. I do wish Shallan and Jasnah could have been slightly more involved but I suspect we will see much more of them in the second book. 

The length of all the books in this series is definitely holding me back however. Luckily I read a lot of books in a year but finishing this still feels like a whole ass achievement. I am sure I will be reading the next one, but I will definitely need a fucking break in between, damn. 

If you like fantasy you NEED to read this book.

The Way of Kings is a journey through a world like nothing I've imagined before. A place ravaged by storms so harsh that topsoil is alien and the only living Flora have adapted to hide in porus rock or retract into shell-like exoskeletons. Horses have been replaced by giant hermit crabs, and man's best friend has antenna and six legs. To top it all off, the ruling class are determined by their eye colour and the most powerful kingdoms are those that posses “shards” and “plates”; magical swords and armor leftover from a forgotten era. More I learned about the world the more I grew to love it, and despite being so alien it was never so off-putting that I was pushed away. It pulled me in and kept me wanting to experience more.

The story is told through the perspectives of wildly different characters: an uncle to a king, a slave in the king's army, and young woman on a quest to become a renowned scholar. There wasn't a single character I didn't want to know more about, and when the perspective changed from one to the other I was always eager to progress through their personal journeys.

This book has everything. Magic, epic battles, politics, tragedy, humor, redemption, forgiveness, betrayal, and delicious campfire stew. I seriously can't recommend it enough. Do yourself a favour and read this book!

It's hard to write a review of a book that was mind-blowing and so epic that I feel like my words aren't enough to describe it. I've loved every book I own by Brandon Sanderson, but with this one I'm giving him my eternal devotion. Even if he publishes the alphabet, I'm sure he'll find a way to make it epic. So, yeah, I need more stars to rate this book. The grandness of this book is as big as the Cosmere!

i guess this book is just a beginning of something really big :) a wonderful beginning :)
so i'm looking forward to reading the next volume next year. hope Brandon will manage to publish both memory of light and Stormlight Archive's next book during 2011 :)

and please don't kill Dalinar Kholin :D i like the guy

This is the first book of Brandon Sandersons, The Stormlight Archive series – which at the time of this writing has only 2 books released for it with about 10 total to be written. The story follows a number of characters involved in a world at war with the Parshendi, a mysterious race close by. Like other Sanderson novels, there is a magical element which is slowly revealed. Although I enjoyed Mistborn more, I identified with the characters in Way of Kings more.

Executive Summary: I loved this book. It's not perfect, but it instantly was added to my favorites shelf. Will you love it too? Well that depends on what you're looking for. I've seen some people call that slow, but not me. I think book sets up what could become my new favorite series depending on what Mr. Sanderson does in the books that follow this one.Full ReviewI first heard of Mr. Sanderson, like many I suspect, when he was announced as the one chosen to complete [a:Robert Jordan 6252 Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1175475715p2/6252.jpg]'s Wheel of Time series. The first book I read by him was [b:The Gathering Storm 1166599 The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1) Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312064325s/1166599.jpg 1920889] and I loved that too.I went on to check out his Mistborn series shortly after and loved those books. When this came out however, I held back. I didn't really want to jump into what he promised to be a maybe 10 book series. I wanted to wait for it to be done/nearly done.Fast forward a few years, two more excellent Wheel of Time books by Mr. Sanderson, and there was suddenly a hole in my reading. I got to meet him in February at a signing for [b:A Memory of Light 7743175 A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time, #14; A Memory of Light, #3) Robert Jordan http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336055749s/7743175.jpg 10558806] and I felt bad that I had nothing that was exclusively his to sign in hardcover. That pretty much settled it for me and I managed to find a new first edition copy of the book online.There is a lot of world building in this book. That's to be expected from book one of what looks to be a long series. There is a lot of time jumping, especially at the beginning.After the brief first scene ends, we jump 4500 years into the future. Then there is a short prolouge, where we meet a bad-ass (though reluctant) assassin named Szeth. Then it jumps another 5 or 6 years before the main story gets rolling.As the story begins we meet Kaladin Stormblessed. No he's not a farm boy suddenly thrust on an unexpected adventure, he's a unit commander in the military. He's a little bit older (19) than your typical fantasy trope hero as well. That isn't to say he doesn't suffer from any tropes, but he feels like a refreshingly original character. I also appreciated the way Mr. Sanderson introduces him to you, in what I can only assume to be a nod to the prototype fantasy protagonist.Mr. Sanderson makes use of flash back chapters starting 9 years in the past and slowly moves them forward in time filling you on how Kaladin came to be where he was.We are next introduced to Shallan, a young noble woman set out on a mission to save her family from ruin. I've seen complaints that her parts of the book are “pointless” to the plot of this book, but I disagree. While she has no roll in the main plot, Mr. Sanderson is building out his world and some of the key players in it. By the end of this novel it's apparent just how important Shallan's story line will be.The first and third books of this novel deal with these two characters. Starting in the second book, and continuing in the fourth, we are introduced to Dalinar and his son Adolin the Uncle and cousin of the King of Alethkar respectively. Their chapters replace Shallan's while Kaladin's continue on.It becomes apparent early on that Kalodin story is on a collision course with Dalinar but the journey to get there was enjoyable. Not to mention that the events surrounding their meeting as just pure awesomeness.The final book makes use of all the character perspectives, and sets things up for the next novel. This novel is not stand-alone by any means, but I knew that coming in. That said, I think Mr. Sanderson found a good stopping point to conclude on.I now eagerly await [b:Words of Radiance 11543195 Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) Brandon Sanderson /assets/nocover/60x80.png 16482835], and I suspect the many other books to follow.