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Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings--Book 1 Stormlight Archive

This is a book that I've wanted to read for years, but I've always been a little daunted by its size. If you haven't seen The Way of Kings it's about 1,000 pages. I usually love Sanderson (he's probably my all-time favorite fantasy author), but I just didn't feel like I had the time to dedicate to reading this book. That changed when I started driving more than an hour a day and decided to take the plunge into Audible. I bought this book with one of my first credits even though I owned the paper copy. At 33 hours, I figured I could complete the book in about a month, especially since I upped the speed. In all, I did really enjoy it.

The Way of Kings follows three main characters: Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar. Shallan is a girl from a destitute noble house. She tracks down Jasnah Kholin, the princess, in an attempt to become her student and steal her magical device. Kaladin is a slave who was once a soldier. He is transported to the Shattered Plains, the sight of a prolonged war between races. Once there, he is assigned to Bridge 4, the worst place for any slave, essentially a death sentence. Dalinar is a prince, the brother of the murdered king. He is honor bent, determined to hold to the codes. By the end of the book, the characters' stories do start to meld, and it is apparent that they will continue together in future books.

I did ultimately enjoy The Way of Kings. Somethings that I loved about it:

  • Sanderson is a master of magic. I love his magic systems in all of his novels, and this one is no different.
  • Sanderson is also a master of planning and foreshadowing. One of the great beauties of all of his novels, in my opinion, is the amount of careful planning that goes into every one of his novels. The scenes included always end up having a purpose, something that some authors forget.
  • I loved the rotation between characters. This is one of the beauties of his shorter but also well-written fantasy Elantris, and it is even more masterfully done here in The Way of Kings. Some authors dabble in this, but they don't truly master it as well as Sanderson.
Some things that were a struggle:
  • I got tired have having to keep track of the massive cast of characters, especially when I took breaks while reading the book.
  • I struggled for a while to get into the book. There is just so much background that goes into understanding a book of this complexity. It made it tough for me to stay engaged.
In all, if you are not prepared for a long book in a long series, this one isn't for you. You really have to be dedicated to understand the sheer beauty of the book.

In all, I rate this book:
  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • PG-13 for violence

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