The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Book Review:
The Way of Kings
by Brandon Sanderson
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Oh this reread was so much fun. I could see characters in a state of naivety to the events that would befall them. There were also so many little things that get forgotten or just glanced over on a first read. Now how to break this review down to such a wonderfully complex book.
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Well, let's start as we always do with the world-building. This is a daunting task as Sanderson puts so very much into his world. The story takes place in the world of Roshar, an interesting planet where high storms reign causing life to be quite different than what we might expect. Planets evolved to shelter themselves when people or storms draw near. Creatures have hard shells of carapace more often than fur it seems. The content is broken up into several kingdoms but for the bulk of the story, we are at the Shattered Planes with the Alethi army. Another prominent location is the kingdom of Kharbranth, renowned for its hospitals and training of surgeons. In these two locations and a few of the other countries the ruling class is based around eye color, those with lighter shades of eyes called Light eyes or Bright Lords are supposed to be the Almighty's chosen leaders. While those with dark brown or black eyes are seen as lesser. There is also a breakdown of the rank or nahn of each of the groups. The higher your nahn the more important and privileged.
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The magic system that this world possesses is only vaguely touched on in the first book. Due to this, I feel that I should not say much for this review. However, we can say that much of what it is has been lost to the ages. The stormlight and gemstones are quite important as can be seen from the first chapter. However, for most of the book, we do not receive more of an explanation as to the why and how.
Well kind of spoilers, I shall be vague. The difference in how Shallan and Kaladin began to discover their "abilities" (no idea how to call it what it is without spoilers) is awesome. It's something I didn't really think about as much on the first read through but is kind of opposites of each other. Then there is Elhokar and Jasnah Kholin, I'm not sure as I don't quite remember any other siblings mentioned but I find it odd that they both seem to have the same order possibility..png)
As with most epic fantasies, this story will follow several characters. While we see from almost a dozen perspectives there are only three (maybe four) that drive this particular story. The first would be Kaladin, a slave at the time we meet him but a man with so much more ahead. Kaladin has suffered a lot in the month leading up to our meeting and at this point has given up his will to fight for survival. Throughout the book, all the flashback chapters are from his perspective. Then there is Shallan, a bright-eyed young woman seeking a way to save her struggling house. Shallan has been sheltered for most of her life, even so, she is incredibly witty and an incredibly talented artist. In the second part of the book, we are introduced to our final major character, Dalinar Kholin, uncle to the king of Alethkar and one of their kingdom's high princes. Dalinar is an old warrior who keeps to the codes of war and honor. Through recent times he has begun to have visions during high storms causing rumors to spread through the war camps. Finally, our other character would be Szeth, who begins the prologue that sets all events in motion. Szeth only appears in interludes (until the last part) in this story, showing us his movements from the prologue until the end.
In this first book, our plot revolves largely around a war with the Parshendi people after the death of the previous Alethi king. Half the story takes place at the Shattered Planes where the war has been slowly fought in a seige style for several years. As the war is dragging out the various high princes of the realm are becoming more comfortable here instead of wanting this war done with. Battles are no longer fought for honor or vengeance even but for wealth and prestige. Even so, a time of change is coming to the world as ancient forces begin to move about the world again. In far Kharbranth Shallan and her mentor search for answers to what happened to the old king and who were the Voidbringers.
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The end of this book builds up to an epic battle and reveal, happening in two separate locations. Through this, at least two of our characters have been brought together even if they are not quite aligned yet. In my memory, Kaladin was more epic at that first meeting but still getting to the second ideal was impressive. Then the reveals about Dalinar's visions and Jasnah's discovery are just perfect cliffhanger details.
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