The Way of Kings is the first installment of the Stormlight Archive, which Brandon Sanderson considers to be his magnum opus, and is considered by many others to be one of the best fantasy series ever written. Since the fifth book in the Stormlight Archive, Wind and Truth, is coming out on Friday, I thought I’d give my thoughts on the rest of the series, as it stands.
The Story
For being the beginning of a fantastic book, the first half of this brick of paper is really, really confusing. It starts out with one guy, then in the next chapter jumps forward 4,500 years later (for perspective, 4500 years ago in Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Giza was being built) to another guy who then dies, and then jumps again to a third character in the third chapter. Later it jumps to yet two more characters.
When I first read The Way of Kings, I remember calling my mom when I was about halfway through and saying, “Mom, I’ve read half of this book, and I don’t know who the main character is, what this world is we’re in, where the story is going, or what the point of this book is, and yet there’s something oddly compelling about it. I think I’ll keep going.”
This was only the second book of Sanderson’s I’d ever read, so I only had my experience with Mistborn: The Final Empire to go off of. I had little reason to trust that the story would work out. But I kept going, and I’m so glad I did. The ending of The Way of Kings was one of the most nail-biting endings I’d ever read.
If you’ve started reading The Way of Kings and you’re struggling with its length or the confusing mess of characters, keep going. The payoff is at the end.
My Review Conundrum
While prepping to write this review, I found myself in a bit of a quandary. Usually when I write a review, I can point out the things an author did well and some other things they didn’t do as well (or did really badly). Usually, if a book’s structure is off, the book will collapse in on itself and end up being hard to read (or watch—I’m looking at you, Star Wars: The Acolyte).
The Way of Kings starts out jumbled. It is hard to read. It took me six months to get through the first half of the book, a length of time usually reserved for classical literature for me. But somehow, Sanderson works some kind of magic and many of us readers end up loving this book that defies all attempts to be summed up in an elevator pitch (at least of average length elevators). How is this possible?
If the structure of The Way of Kings is so unconventional at the beginning, what makes people keep reading? How was I supposed to write a review of a book that, by modern storytelling standards, does everything wrong, and yet ends up being so good?
This is the part of analyzing books that I love—picking them apart from the point of view of a reader, seeing what parts I loved and hated, and then seeing how I can apply that to my own books (and avoid the pitfalls). If you happen to be a fiction writer, I highly recommend you try it.
**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!**
The Characters
For me, the people are always going to be the main reason I read a book. If I like the characters, I’ll keep reading to find out what happens to them. I liked Kaladin well enough, but Dalinar was—and still is—my favorite character. He’s so earnest in trying to do what’s right, even when he’s floundering around. He also is a great dad figure for Kaladin at certain points.
The camaraderie of Bridge Four was fantastic, as well. I love how, as Kaladin trains them, you start to learn more about the characters as well, like they’re opening up to us, the readers, as well as each other.
I also enjoyed the drama between Dalinar, Sadeus, and Kaladin. Sanderson did a great job at making Sadeus really despicable and clever enough to cause real problems for the characters that I wasn’t sure they’d be able to get out of. The antagonism between Sadeus and the others plays a central role in the climax of The Way of Kings and had me flipping pages like a madwoman trying to find out what happens.
The Magic of Stormlight
Another thing that really kept me going was the magic system. Brandon Sanderson is well-known as the “magic system guy” because he comes up with extremely detailed magic “systems,” or rules for magic. In fact, he came up with Sanderson’s Laws of Magic, which I talk about in my article on magic systems.
A major part of The Way of Kings is the introduction to the magic system of Roshar, which Sanderson calls Stormlight because it is generated from powerful storms called highstorms (well, seemingly, but he doesn’t go into more detail on that until later books). Highstorms are able to charge spheres, which are glass spheres that contain gemstones, and the magic users of Roshar, called Knights Radiant, utilize this magic in various ways according to their Orders.
It’s a complicated and detailed magic system that continues to get fleshed out throughout the series. If you like to nerd out about how magic works in the book you’re reading, these books are for you.
The World of Roshar
The last thing that really kept me reading was the world of Roshar. Sanderson created this world around the idea of Stormlight and highstorms. So many little details were considered: if powerful storms ravage the landscape, can anything grow? What would it look like? How would it not be killed if these storms can level cities?
His answer was to make Roshar somewhat resemble undersea life, which I absolutely loved. I grew up near the coast in Northern California and spent a few years living in Monterey. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I learned all about the Monterey Canyon, an underwater canyon in the Monterey Bay twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. This submarine canyon is stuffed full of amazing, bizarre life, from giant crabs and sharks that can withstand much colder temperatures and pressures, to sea turtles, otters, and giant kelp forests. So when I read about crustacean-inspired chasmfiends, I was thrilled.
Conclusion
If you like extensive worldbuilding and sometimes meandering stories that eventually culminate in a heart-pounding ending, The Way of Kings is a great book. I highly recommend you start with this book when reading the Stormlight Archive. This book serves as the foundation upon which all the rest of the Stormlight books are based.
Note: If you enjoyed the Stormlight Archive, check out my epic fantasy series, The Realm War Chronicles on Amazon. It’s about a gladiator named Cadmus Brand who lives on Muspelheim, one of the Nine Realms of Norse mythology, but in the future, after the cataclysmic events of Ragnarok. The realm has been sealed off to contain creatures called kashmari, who have taken control of the realm and become the overlords of the remaining humans. Cadmus Brand must dodge their manipulations and reclaim his role as the last pharmakon, magic users sworn to fight the kashmari.
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