The Way of Kings Book Review

Major Spoilers are included in this book review. Please read with caution.

When people talk about the greatest fantasy series, they usually find a way to bring up Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. Okay. Maybe not Game of Thrones anymore, but the point I’m trying to make is that another epic fantasy series needs to be talked about.

The Way of Kings, written by Brandon Sanderson and published in 2010, is the first book—out of a planned ten-book saga—in a series called the Stormlight Archive.

Not going to lie, this first book took me about four to five months to finish. It has roughly 1,000 pages, and the pacing in the beginning was a struggle. The exposition in the beginning was dense and made the story somewhat boring, which made the plot slow as a result.

The first book has countless POV characters that build on the vastness of Roshar, but the story mainly follows Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Adolin. Kaladin is a solider forced into slavery, Shallan is a scholar-in-training with ulterior motives, Dalinar is a war general plagued by visions, and Adolin is Dalinar’s son and a master duelist, worried for his father’s sanity.

The story takes place thousands of years after the Knights Radiant betrayed mankind and left their legendary weapons (Shardblades and Shardplates) behind for anyone to claim. This resulted in wars and politics revolving around them.

While the characters live in a fantasy world, there are realistic themes present in the narrative that deal with racism, anxiety, and depression. However, the racism isn’t based on the person’s skin color in this world, but rather it’s based on the person’s eyes. Lighteyes are the “nobles” and the darkeyes are those who are treated less so. This is a major part of the world, particularly in Kaladin’s character story as he is darkeyes.

Kaladin is my favorite character in the first book. The portrayal of his depression was emotionally raw, enhanced by a flashback story that provided us a closer look into his character. His background as both surgeon and solider proved vital in his quest to free Bridge Four. My investment in his journey kept me reading for the first 500 pages.

Dalinar is a close second favorite character. He and his son Adolin had amazing fight scenes, as they both have Shardblades and Shardplates. Their political civil war with war general Sadeas and the mysterious visions plaguing Dalinar were also solid story arcs with good payoff.

Shallan was my least favorite POV character, but she grew on me by the ending. Her constant quips were somewhat annoying, but to me, it was annoying in an endearing way. She has potential for more character work in the next book, Words of Radiance.

The worldbuilding and intricate magic system are always pluses in Brandon Sanderson’s novels. It’s not a Sanderson novel without the fantastic worldbuilding and the magic system that follows a set of consistent rules. This makes the fight scenes more intense as you’re able to follow how the magic is playing out in a logical manner. There’s also more to the world of Roshar beyond the first book, and how the interludes of minor POV characters helped allude to what may be expanded upon in future books.

Overall, I enjoyed the first book immensely. It might take a while to read, but the payoff was astounding. Especially if you had already read some of Brandon Sanderson’s other book series like Mistborn. There were a few Easter eggs in The Way of Kings that connected to his Cosmere universe.

I’m excited for the second book—Words of Radiance—to come in the mail. I’m preparing for the fourth book’s release in November 2020.