The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
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I did it. I finished my first Brandon Sanderson book. I also finished my first 1k+ page book and this one took me 2 and a half months to finish but I! Did! It!
So, here goes:
First off, what on earth is The Way of Kings about?
Well, to put it simply: we have
Kaladin, a soldier-turned-slave
Shallan, an ambitious girl who is on a mission to save her family after her father mysteriously died
Dalinar, the uncle of the King
Adolin, Dalinar’s eldest son
and Szeth-son-son-Vallano (No, not a typo)
Those aren’t the only POVs that we follow, the whole book is in third person POV. There are a number of interludes as well that follow different minor characters to add more background information to the world. That doesn’t exactly answer the question, huh…Okay so Kaladin, the soldier-turned-slave was actually a physician’s apprentice who was supposed to go to another city to study further but in a turn of events, ends up as a soldier and then a slave. He gets sent to the war camp of Highprince Sadeas where he is part of Bridge Four, one of the bridge crews who have to carry these big bridges (don’t ask me to explain how because…I literally have no clue how to explain it) across these plateaus of earth known as the Shattered Plains.
Shallan, on the other hand, is trying to track down a scholar named Jasnah who also, coincidentally has a Soulcaster, a device that can be used to cast things into existence basically. Jasnah is a very revered but also despised person - in some ways, people respect her and in others, well, let’s just say that one religious group have been trying to lure her in despite her saying no. Shallan is the youngest of her siblings and she is also the most sheltered - she had rarely gone outside of their home to travel unlike her father and siblings. She also has an affinity for drawing - she takes a sort of snapshot with her eyes and then she can accurately re-draw it.
Dalinar and Adolin are relatives of King Elhokar, the King of Alethkar, one of the main kingdoms. At the beginning of the book (not a spoiler), Galivar, Elhokar’s father, is killed by Szeth. Dalinar is Galivar’s brother and Adolin is Dalinar’s son. Phew, a lot of people in a short span of time lol. The plot with Dalinar is that all of Alethkar is in a war against this group called the Parshendi. They battle over these gemstones as well as Shardblades which are these big staffs that sort of are bonded to the specific person who wins it or who it is given to. They battle on the Shattered Plains - essentially it’s a field but there are shattered plateaus and those are surrounded by chasms (picture below for reference)
The official illustration of the Shattered Plains.
Dalinar is plagued by something - during the High Storms (they are as the name suggests: incredibly powerful storms), he gets these visions of what seems to be the past except the problem is - he often doesn’t know who he is with or where he is and the knowledge of what happened in the past is very limited and is constantly contested by scholars and often texts and stories differ in what seems to be minor details. Dalinar is a High Prince, a position of much respect, power, responsibility and well, wealth. Given that he is having these visions, his power is slowly failing because those around him think that he is going mad and is not well enough to continue ruling. Adolin, on the other hand, is Dalinar’s eldest son who is set to inherit his father’s position of High Prince when his father steps down. He is Elhokar’s cousin and Dalinar’s right-hand man essentially.
I don’t think I wanna say anything else lest I say something wrong or accidentally spoil something. Before I get to the bulk of my review, I do want to preface it by saying: it’s best that you just dive in. Yes, it’s long and confusing and there is so much world-building and so many minor plot lines but it is so worth it. I honestly didn’t know much going into the book, I had just gotten it because I had finally wanted to dive into the Cosmere world that Sanderson had created and that everyone (Daniel Greene, Emily Fox, Elliot Brooks, and others) have not shut up about. So, as an almost-exclusively-fantasy-reader, I decided I would give it a shot. (Don’t ask me why I didn’t start with something like Mistborn, apparently I like making myself miserable by choosing long books instead).
This book was fricking fantastic. Clearly, it’s long - I started on the 31st of January and officially finished it on the 18th of April at like 1 o’clock in the morning. I was determined to finish it and oh boy did it suck me back in so quickly! I had a bit over 130 pages left and I am still in shock as to how so many things managed to happen in the last 130 pages? It was insane and I could hear my heart beating so loud as I continued reading because I needed to find out what happened.
My favourite character is definitely Kaladin. I really love how he didn’t let his status as a slave and then as a bridge runner get him down (although there were definitely some instances where Kaladin felt like a useless piece of crap). Being a bridge runner was clearly rough, they were basically placed as bait for the Parshendi warriors, especially the archers and there was a hierarchy within the bridge runners. They were also treated worse than soldiers, sometimes they didn’t even have proper medicine or even clean bandages. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Kaladin decided to work his way around the problem and think outside the box. He decided to train those i n Bridge Four using his expertise as a soldier (clearly he was a damned good one) and trying to figure out how to protect his crew (he becomes the Bridge leader) from the incoming Parshendi archers.
The magic system, especially the whole concept of Stormlight was SO fascinating. There may be spoilers ahead so if you have NOT read The Way of Kings, do NOT continue. There will be nothing else that is non-spoiler. See ya!
Rating: 5/5 stars (if it wasn’t obvious enough)
*****
Okay, can we talk about that last battle scene with Kaladin??? I was reading it with wide eyes and my heart dropped to my feet because I was so scared.
Live footage of me reading the final battle scene at 12 a.m. (minus the glasses but the expression is the same)
Also can I just say that when Dalinar offered to buy Kaladin and his crew from Sadeas, AND WILLINGLY GAVE UP HIS SHARDBLADE?, I was a) shocked b) relieved and c) Dalinar had gone up my list of favourite fictional characters cause this guy is honourable as HELL and honestly, hats off to the guy, clearly giving up his Shardblade must have been hard, especially to a traitor like Sadeas.
Last but not least, the Parshendi reveal had me SO shook like I had to re-read the sentence several times to fully grasp. Does this mean that the Parshendi could have sent in spies and so said spies became like slaves and such and treated lowly but in reality, they were gathering information? Yes? No? Actually, don’t tell me because I don’t want spoilers.
You can get the book here!
And that’s all for today!
Rating 5/5 stars
Love,
Mila
