Books › The Way of Kings
The Way of Kings
1258 pages
A colossal, storm-swept epic that rewards patience with staggering world-building and intensely cathartic triumphs.
What it feels like
Reading this massive epic feels like weathering a relentless storm, only to emerge into blinding, triumphant sunlight. The narrative pace is deliberately steady, asking for your patience as it meticulously constructs a harsh, alien world of stone and tempest. You are immersed in an atmosphere of heavy burdens and desolate landscapes, feeling the crushing weight of despair right alongside the characters. Yet, the underlying tone remains fiercely earnest and hopeful. The prose is transparent and functional, acting as a clear window into intricate magic systems and deep lore rather than drawing attention to itself. It is a deeply rewarding experience for readers who crave sprawling, immersive journeys where profound emotional struggles—like battling depression or the crushing weight of leadership—culminate in explosive, fist-pumping catharsis.
- Mood
- storm-swept
- desolate
- awe-inspiring
- triumphant
- Tone
- earnest
- epic
- philosophical
- determined
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- overcoming despair · the burden of leadership · finding purpose in suffering · honor and duty · systemic inequality
- The writing
- Accessible, transparent, and highly functional, prioritizing clear world-building and cinematic action over lyrical flourish.
- The arc
- Moves from crushing despair and powerlessness to hard-won resilience, culminating in explosive, triumphant catharsis.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love massive, immersive worlds with hard magic systems, deep lore, and character arcs that reward long-term emotional investment.
Content notes
- slavery
- depression and suicidal ideation
- war violence
- classism
- grief
About the book
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.
Speak again the ancient oaths,
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.
Description from Open Library.
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