The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: This book 1200 friggen pages what the HECK!

The Way of Kings 

by 

Brandon Sanderson

Roshar is a harsh world. Highstorms, storms of awesome magnitude where exposure means certain death, sweep across the earth; two countries are locked in a bloody war that’s more for profit than the revenge they tout and a mysterious past involving impenetrable armor and angelic warriors who turned their back on humanity becomes a matter of life and death as history repeats itself.

Caught unwillingly in said war, Kaladin, a disgraced soldier now a slave, fights to survive in the deadly post as a bridgeman. Bridgemen are better known as live bait for the enemy to waste their time on while the real soldiers go unharmed. With nowhere to run and a group of men who have given up Kaladin fights not only to survive, but to live.

On the opposite side of the spectrum Brightlord Dalinar commands one part of the disjointed army. Plagued by visions of the past that may or may not be real Dalinar flounders in the politically and physically deadly game that is the Brightlords warcamps.

Across the ocean, prospective scholar Shallan helps her mistress Jasnah research the ancient armor and the warriors, the Radiants, all while planning a theft that could save or destroy her family.

Basically, crap is about to hit the fan. Because that’s, apparently, how Sanderson rolls.

Characters

Kaladin: Is the main character by default, because he’s always narrating. The book is split into parts with two narrators per part, to keep your brain from melting out your ears. Kaladin has had a rough a go at it; first he was going to be a surgeon, then he became a spearman in the local army, then he was dishonorably discharged and branded as a slave for reasons unknown. I love Kaladin.  He’s a brilliant main character. Because with all the things that are pressing down on him Kaladin breaks. He’s not the super macho hero whose troubles seem to bounce of them, he’s depressed in all honesty. It makes every struggle and every small victory seem that much more important because it’s a tiny step away from the Kaladin who was physically incapable of caring. It was powerful and so moving.

Shallan: is more secrets and intrigue than stabby, stabby or die-y, die-y. 

Which is, on one hand, pretty nice. You get these short little breaks from the death and looming sense of doom. On the other hand it’s kind of awkward when the main female character is the only one who isn’t on the battle field. Still, if I’ve read the foreshadowing right, she might be the most powerful character in the entire book and I am so ready for that. Can you imagine a tiny little scholar girl who likes to draw being twice as powerful as the two war hardened soldier characters? I can and I love it.

Dalinar: The second hardened soldier. He’s a little duller than Shallan and Kaladin, but I love him anyway. Mostly because he’s the only guy in power who isn't completely corrupt. At first it felt a little gimmicky, the Honorable One trope I guess, but as the story progressed it was helpful to have a place to ground yourself. Also, he might be completely bonkers. Good to know.

And a crap-ton more because this is Sanderson: And I feel kind of bad for not mentioning some of them because they’re really important! But, dang it! I can’t afford to be here all friggen’ day so there you go.

Likes

Everything felt so big: Sanderson is jaw-droppingly good at this. There’s just so much meat to this world that I don’t even know where to start. There’s a bunch of diverse cultures and offshoots of all of them. There are ancient heroes, wars, and old rivalries. Everything has a past that makes sense, while at the same time being vastly different from their compatriots. It’s awesome and I could rave about it all day.

The odds: This is kind of the same idea as the ‘everything is so big’ thing but a bit more specific. Normally, books have a bit of a problem with putting their characters in danger because the world feels like it revolves around the character. Regardless of how well the author writes there’s still a sense of well nothing to bad is going to happen to them, after all they’re the main character! But in the Way of Kings, the world feels so big that the characters seem almost inconsequential. You feel like they could just die right then and there because there’s so much going on that no one would miss them except you. I experienced this specifically with Kaladin but also a little bit with Shallan and Dalinar. It’s terrifying enough when it’s just one or two things trying to kill them. But Sanderson just keeps piling problem after problem onto them until you expect them to break completely. It’s so well done.

I, as usual, had no idea what was going to happen 80% of the time: I swear I read Sanderson just because I can be surprised for once. But I’ve talked about that quite enough as it is, so I’ll just move on.

Small side note on the writing: Have Y’all ever felt that tingly feeling when characters give awesome speeches and such? It happens a lot in movies and tv shows (because they have music backing them) but it can occasionally happen in books. The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill comes to mind. But Sanderson is darn good too. Kaladin specifically induced the awestruck tingly feeling at least four or five times. Which is really impressive because a lot of authors try to induce feelings like that and fail utterly, hello me, so color me impressed. There was also a really funny moment when I was reading Way of Kings on the plane while listening to music (to drown out the engine noise) and just as Kaladin began his ‘we are going to survive’ speech the theme from The Day of the Doctor came on. It was brilliant. 

Dislikes

It was so dense: Oho I thought Mistborn was heavy, but nope! That’s nothing compared to Way of Kings. While I will rave about this book til Kingdom Come, I do have to squint a bit at the page count. Did you really need all those chapters Sanderson? Couldn’t a few of them be cut or squished together? Why do I get the feeling that your editor just straight up refuses to cut anything for fear of it being important in a later book. It’s cool and all, really it is, but it took me a full week to finish the silly thing. Just a thought.

Despite that, I had so much fun with this book. Even if it’s larger than the average history textbook I was almost always motivated to read it. I understand that it’s not for everyone, the size alone would prove that, but I’ll recommend it for anyone who loves high fantasy. It’s definitely worth the read. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go start the second one before it magically doubles in size while I’m not looking.

Note from the Editor: Ciao Tutti! Sorry I was short on witty comments and information today. I'm neck deep in my own Sanderson novel, Mistborn, and I still fell like I don't really know what's going on. Maybe I'll share my thoughts on this book after I've read it.