Way of Kings - Review || Spoiler Free

Way of Kings – Spoiler free review

Hey angels and biscuits! Todays tea! A spoiler free review of Brandon Sanderson’s, The Way of Kings.

So, what is The Way of Kings? I’ll give a description of the world and set up the book a little bit for those that maybe haven’t heard of this series or to give people an idea what will be in this book. It’s the first installment of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive’s epic fantasy series. There’s a lot of complex world building and character development, not to mention all the books thus far are 1000+ pages. They’re chonky. The world falls into Sanderson’s Cosmere which is the overarching universe he has with many of his books. There are subtle connections between all his Cosmere books but you don’t need to read one series to read another.

Now, specifically back to Way of Kings and Stormlight, we have an original world Sanderson built along with a hard magic system. Most of his series use hard magic systems. Meaning there are sets of rules and limitations to the magic. Way of Kings introduces us to the world of Roshar and follows mostly four characters. There’s others but there are four who take the focus.

Those characters are Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan, and Szeth. Kaladin is the son of a surgeon, turned soldier, turned slave. Dalinar is a noble, uncle to the current king of Alethkar, a high-ranking warrior, and a shardbearer. Shallan is the daughter of a minor noble house, an artist, and a scholar. Szeth someone who considers himself truthless and must bear the burden of many bad deeds. Szeth is rather complicated. Way of Kings takes a lot of focus on Kaladin. We see his backstory, and spend a lot of time with him. More than the others. This is his book. Each book in the series will give us backstory on one of our main characters.

Some important things in this book to note. Shardbearers are men who have either armor or sword that is infused with stormlight. Stormlight comes from the highstorms that plague Roshar. Highstorms are incredibly destructive wind and lightning storms. If a person is caught out in one unprotected they are as good as dead. These shardplates and shardblades are remnants of warriors that used to protect mankind in the past. There were maybe hundreds once upon a time, now less than a hundred are known. These shardbearers are enhanced when fighting with the plate and sword. Plate grants you inhuman strength and speed while the sword will cut through non-living material like butter. The sword also will cut through living material but leave no wound, it merely kills the area dead leaving it ashen. If it strikes where it would be fatal the eyes burn out and the person is left dead. These shard items are heavily sought after, particularly in times of war.  

In the past the protectors were the heralds and the radiants, who had powers and abilities beyond that of any normal person. Say the powers of a shardbearer without needing the shardplate. Though we don’t get much details on what those powers are in this book.

Stormlight is also used in the currency and other technology of Roshar. These spheres used for currency have a gemstone inside that holds the Stormlight. Leaving them out in during a highstorm will recharge them. They can be used to light homes, heat a fireplace, send messages. The spheres are also used in soulcasting which is a way to turn material into something else. Say wood into food. Stormlight is key to many of the magical elements in the series.

We also have Spren in this magic system. They seem to be almost fairy-like in nature and appear with various actions and emotions. Like if you’re wounded rotspren may appear when there’s infection. Firespren appear sometimes when there’s fire. Fearspren when you’re scared. There’s also special Spren connected to the past and the magic of then.  

There is caste system in this series. People with light eyes are considered of high status and people with dark eyes lower status. A dark eyed person can gain the status of a lighteyes it’s said by obtaining shardplate/Shardblade. We don’t know when this system started as it seems this wasn’t always the case. This is mostly seen within the Kingdoms of Alethkar and Jah Kaved. Other nations may judge status differently. But we see a lot of these two kingdoms.

The landscape of Roshar is also heavily shaped by the rough highstorms. There’s a lot of rock, some lands essentially barren wastelands. The closer to where the highstorms originate the rougher the landscape. There’s more to what we would be accustomed to in the far west of Roshar. more green, animals we would recognize. But most of Roshar is inhabited by creatures that resemble insects or creatures with carapaces. Roshar is also still one solid continent as opposed to many separated ones.  

Way of Kings finds humanity in the midst of a war. The prior king of Alethkar, Dalinar’s brother, was murdered and as far as Dalinar and the other Alethi Highprinces knew it was at the behest of this race of beings, not human, known as the Parshendi. They are considered distant cousins to a similar group used by the humans of Roshar as slaves and servants. So Alethkar is at war with them in this book. They remain a mystery through most of it though we get some clues towards the end. Though how much truth there is to it remains to be seen. We also see Kaladin’s journey from surgeon, to slave, to more, as well as his mental journey.  

So. What did I think of this introduction to the Stormlight Archives?  

Like a lot of Sanderson book’s or rather starts to a series it starts of a little slow. He has to introduce us to this world and the characters and that doesn’t just happen. It’s got to be built up to. So, we get a little bit of a slow start. But Sanderson is so great at building it up and I know now to expect a little bit of a wait before we get going so it wasn’t too bad this time around. Mistborn I almost DNF’d because of it but I’m so glad I didn’t. Way of Kings is long but once you get into it it feels like it goes by so fast.  

We have this book where we follow four different main stories. Eventually some of them will intersect but we have Kaladin fighting to stay alive, Dalinar fighting his own mind and other highprinces, Shallan who is fighting her own morality and desire for knowledge, and Szeth the murderer in white.

Kaladin and Dalinar provide the higher stakes portions of the book. Kaladin fighting for his own life as well as his fellow bridgemen. Bridgemen is what many slaves, criminals or unwanted people in society end up becoming. One of the highprinces, Sadeas, uses men to carry bridges as they fight the Parshendi. The bridges allow the soldiers to cross large chasms in the Shattered Plains. This is highly dangerous and until Kaladin tries to change things men often die on these runs. Many men. Dalinar is integral to the war so he too gives us high stakes but in the form of battles. He doesn’t use bridgemen but he is a shardbearer so we see him fighting quite a bit.  

Shallan and Szeth have the lower stakes. Szeth, without giving to much away, is typically unmatched in his tasks. You don’t feel he’s ever in danger. His stakes come from the consequences of his actions taken but we don’t feel them in this book. Shallan is safely tucked in a city outside of the Shattered Plains, a city known for research and medicine.  

The world is quite different but Sanderson does a great job creating visuals. I enjoyed the characters or most of them anyway. Sanderson also does a great job getting you emotionally invested in these characters.

There wasn’t much that didn’t work for me in this book. Most of my complaints are going to be character related. And I really only have two. I would like to have had more background with the radiants and heralds but at the same time I know that’s being built up to and saved for later books.

So then, what are my complaints? My biggest one was I just didn’t enjoy Shallan that much. So the time spent with her was not as enjoyable. I’d rather have been reading about Jasnah. Shallan, to me, seems like a character who tries to not seem entitled but at the same time is. She has an attitude about her I just don’t like. She was judging Jasnah for doing some potentially questionable things when her entire arc was centered around stealing from Jasnah. Hypocritical maybe? Shallan rubs me the same way many YA main characters do. Young, immature, but thinks they know what’s what.

My other character issue was with Kaladin. Now overall, I love him. He’s one of my favorite characters. But sometimes his hatred of the lighteyes just got on my nerves. Like it felt just too much sometimes. I get it I do, Kaladin has been through so much, and a lot of the betrayal he has suffered is by lighteyes, but sometimes the hate was over the top in my opinion.

If I’m being picky, I could also throw in the potential relationship between Dalinar and his brother’s widow, Navani. I’m not that opposed to it but we only have a lot of implied history between the two of them. Being friends prior to her marriage to his brother, his strong feelings for her, things like that. I love Dalinar and I love Navani but I think Sanderson could have given us perhaps a little more of their past in detail before having them pursue something. I’m sure some of that history will be seen in in Dalinar’s focused book but until then I’d have liked more.

Everything else I have to say worked for me. This is an amazing first book. The world is interesting and I loved how the plant and animal life has adapted to the highstorms. We see how drastically different it is in one of the interludes when some traveling merchants who venture far west of the Shattered Plains and highstorms are not a problem. The political elements with the Highprinces and King Elhokar are not too much. It’s balanced with enough action and other elements.

We are slowly introduced to the past, mostly through Dalinar. But we get bits and pieces from many characters like Wit or Hoid, Jasnah, and the bridgemen. I really liked how this was done. It wasn’t an info dump and we learn along with the characters. It’s an organic process.

Kaladin is our focus and we see him mostly as a bridgeman in the Shattered Plains and even that doesn’t feel too dull. Sometimes when your stuck in one location in a book for long stretches of time you get a cabin fever almost but I didn’t get that at all. Even Dalinar’s mostly situated on the Shattered Plains but the story is always moving even if the location isn’t.

The characters. Sanderson really knows how to make you feel attached to a character. Kaladin, while wasn’t my initial favorite, really became one of my top favorites. He has so much depth and you just feel his struggles. He’s also the character that has essentially a battle with depression so many probably can relate to Kaladin in that aspect. He’s a character who has every right to be what society has pushed him to be but he is bound and determined to still be honorable. Still protect those who can’t protect themselves. Normally I don’t like those characters but with Kaladin, he has enough flaws to make him likable for me. And he isn’t morally just good. He does have some morally grey aspects to his character even though he wants to be good.  

Dalinar is in a similar boat. Like Kaladin, he is trying to be this ideal, this example. But he’s not perfect and he is flawed. Much of the book has Dalinar questioning his own sanity and it’s beautifully done. He’s been having these visions that show him the past and he’s trying to decide if they are real or if he’s losing his mind. These visions have been shaping how Dalinar makes choices regarding the war and others including his son, Adolin, are concerned. Not to mention other Highprinces. Dalinar might be my favorite character from Way of Kings. The ending or part five of this book has some really amazing Dalinar content and it was GOOD. We see Dalinar really come into his own. We know he has had a past as this vicious general, The Blackthorn. Also a drunk. His changes are relatively recent, his brother’s death is what changed him. And I love seeing Dalinar move from this cruel general to an honorable man.  

Another character that really came into their own was Syl, the spren we see following Kaladin around early on. She goes through some changes throughout the book and her character really became one of my favorites. I can’t wait to see where she and Kaladin go from here. I won’t talk too much about Syl because that would venture into spoilers but she is amazing.

Some characters we spent less time with that I enjoyed, Jasnah and Adolin. Adolin, while a bit brash and full of himself at times, wasn’t necessarily wrong in his opinions. He’s also a shardbearer like his father, Dalinar. But Adolin is the pretty boy, he’s charming, but an excellent fighter and duelist. Jasnah comes off cold and superior but the way she’s written it’s not a bad thing. We learn she’s cold and suspicious for a reason and she’s honestly one of the smartest characters in the book. The last character I really love is Wit or Hoid. We meet him as Wit and he’s the king’s wit. That means he insults people, basically, but doing it in a witty way. We see him come and go as he pleases which is unusual for someone employed by the king. We see him show up later with Kaladin where he will tell a story with music, it was such a vivid scene, I felt I was there right along with Kaladin. It’s also where we see that Wit isn’t what we initially thought, or that there is more to him than meets the eye.

This is hard to really express how much I loved it and just how amazing it is without spoilers because of how dense and detailed it is but I highly recommend it if you’re into epic fantasy. It’s dense, like I said, Lord of the Rings comes to mind for a comparison, but it draws you in. Paints an amazing picture in your mind. And really makes you feel for the characters.

 And That’s The Tea

8/10 Biscuits