Lianne's Review of The Way of Kings (Cosmere Universe) (Stormlight Archive, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

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 ten 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. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars are fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten 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 overpowering 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 the eminent scholar and notorious heretic Jasnah Kholin, Dalinar’s niece. 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.

The result of more than ten years of planning, writing, and worldbuilding, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Edit: I recently re-read this book as part of a read-along. Commentary/review will be posted on my blog sometime in March.

Wow, the scope of this novel is quite impressive, it definitely highlights Brandon Sanderson's ability of creating a unique world complete with an intriguing landscape, an intricate history and complex religious and social hierarchies and structures. The characters were also well-developed and with the length of the novel and from the possibilities of where the story will head, it was good there was time taken for the characters to develop and for the reader to truly understand their motivations and desires. In the same vein, there were a couple of instances when I was reading where it felt like the story dragged and my mind started wandering a little, something that never happens to me when reading any of Sanderson's works. Overall, it's a colossal and impressive start to his new epic series, the last two hundred pages were certainly quite exciting.

You could read my full review of the novel over at my blog: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=4751

The Way of Kings (Cosmere Universe) (Stormlight Archive, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by Lianne on Jun 1, 2012

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