On November 17, Brandon Sanderson’s new book Rhythm of War will be released, and the fantasy-loving section of my brain (which, let’s be honest, is all of it) is screaming with delight. Acting like a drug dealer who gives out free samples, Sanderson has actually released the first several chapters of the book online, so I have been listening to it every chance I get. 

The trouble is, Rhythm of War is the fourth book in his Stormlight Archive series. The last book, Oathbringer, released in 2017. I read the first book, The Way of Kings, nearly ten years ago. In all that time, a lot of what I used to know about the series has been lost.

And so, in an effort to regain my past understanding of the world of Roshar and Alethkar and all that jazz, I have undertaken the task of re-reading the first book in the series, The Way of Kings. I’m glad that I did. It’s as excellent as I remember, probably even better. That’s why, this week, our geek together revolves around The Way of Kings (and, to some extent, Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, and Oathbringer . . . but I don’t want to spoil those too much, so mostly just The Way of Kings).

A Story Worthy of the Heralds

The Way of Kings is 1007 pages. No, that’s not a typo. There really are two zeroes in there. That makes for an audiobook that’s over 45 hours long. Don’t get me wrong, the time absolutely flies by when you’re reading this book. The storytelling and worldbuilding is so ding-dang good that you almost don’t notice how late into the night you’re reading. But, it means that there are a lot of story elements. There are multiple point-of-view characters and story threads, most of which do not really begin to weave together until the end of the story. Hence, trying to summarize the story can get a wee bit . . . difficult.

*inhales deeply* Here we go.

Gavilar Kholin, King of Alethkar, had just finished signing a peace treaty with a newly discovered race of people, the Parshendi, when an assassin in white took his life. The assassin disappeared, but the Parshendi took credit for the assassination.

Now, five years later, the kingdom of Alethkar has besieged the Parshendi near their homeland on the Shattered Plains—a vast, open area riddled with deep chasms and high plateaus that are nearly impossible to traverse. In those five years, the Alethi armies have never seen the Parshendi’s actual homeland, and they seem to have become content with little skirmishes designed not to destroy the Parshendi, but to capture valuable gemhearts from great beasts known as chasmfiends. 

Dalinar Kholin, Gavilar’s younger brother, is at a crossroads. Once a feared Alethi general, Dalinar has softened since his brother’s death. Visions of devastation plague him, and his sons, Adolin and Renarin, worry that he is going mad. But Dalinar trusts the visions, and he wants to obey their command to unite the Alethi high princes.

At the same time, someone has been attempting to take the life of Gavilar’s son, now-King Elhokar. Dalinar and his sons must protect the king, investigate the attempts on his life, determine whether Dalinar is going crazy, try to unite the high princes, and end the war with the Parshendi. Whew. That’s a lot.

Kaladin Stormblessed isn’t feeling so “blessed” anymore. Although he used to be a well-respected leader in Brightlord Amaram’s army, he has been sold into slavery. Now, he’s been assigned to labor as a bridgeman in High Prince Sadeas’s army. Bridgemen carry the heavy bridges that Sadeas uses to cross the chasms of the shattered plains to engage the Parshendi army. Oh, and Sadeas essentially uses them as bait when they arrive at battlefields with the Parshendi. So, it’s not exactly a “desirable” position. But Kaladin cannot simply lay down and die for Sadeas. He’s determined to find a way to save himself and his bridge crew and carve out a better existence.

Shallan Davar has chased Jasnah Kholin, sister to King Elhokar, all across Roshar. Now that Shallan has finally found her in Kharbranth, her plan is simple: Step One, become Jasnah’s ward. Step Two, steal her soulcaster (a nifty doodad that allows the user to transform one substance into almost any other). Step Three, get away (somehow) to return to her homeland and use the soulcaster to save her family from financial ruin. 

Well, I have heard worse plans. Most of them my own.

After successfully becoming Jasnah’s ward, Shallan is in a prime position to steal the soulcaster. But then she discovers how much she loves learning under Jasnah. Suddenly, Shallan must choose between staying with Jasnah to pursue her own goals and saving her family. Decisions, decisions.

*panting* 

Okay, I think that covers it. Hopefully.

That Storming Book

Sanderson’s skill as a writer is readily apparent in The Stormlight Archive. The characters have stunning depth, even the ones you meet only briefly, and the story is complex and engaging. But Sanderson is probably best-known in the fantasy community for his magic systems and his worldbuilding, and it’s easy to see why in this book.

The world of Roshar feels lived in. The characters and locales feel like they exist apart from the reader’s imagination. Sanderson accomplishes this both through what he tells the reader directly and through what the reader must pick up on their own.

A lot of epic fantasy writers recognize that the world they have created is foreign to the reader. They feel the need to explain or compare every single detail of their world to the real world so that the reader will pick up on it right away. But all of that exposition and yammering gets tedious and interrupts the immersion process. Sanderson understands this. Rather than pausing the story every time something new pops up to explain its origin, history, blood type, astrological sign, and favorite flavor of ice cream, Sanderson has characters behave in a way that assumes familiarity. They act as a normal person of their world would act under those circumstances.

With consistent enough exposure to the world’s lore and behaviors, the reader eventually catches up. This is perhaps clearest with the way Sanderson treats the world’s various religions. Rather than waste pages on a full treatise on Alethi religion (which would be super long and unnecessary), the various characters can be witnessed performing their religion or contemplating it periodically. One character will burn a prayer but won’t explain what that means or why they do it that way. Others discuss modesty standards, but the standards are never given a full explanation in any single location in the book.

As the reader spends more time in the world, more is revealed. We learn about the ancient orders of the Knights Radiant, who had magical abilities and used to protect mankind before they betrayed and abandoned humanity. We learn about the high storms that rage across the land, bringing destruction to the unwary, life to the world, and stormlight to all. We learn about the shards—ancient weapons and armor with magical properties—that wars are fought over. We learn about the fabrials that harness stormlight to do magical things. We learn so much through this drip-feed system, and it’s just beautiful.

More than just creating a nifty world, though, Sanderson has crafted unique, dynamic characters to populate it. Shallan’s quick wit and impetuosity get her into (and out of) several scrapes. Kaladin’s instincts and upbringing make him protective of others who cannot defend themselves, but his time as a slave has hardened and broken him, making it difficult to decide on a course of action. Dalinar and Adolin clash frequently because of Dalinar’s stubborn adherence to codes and tradition. No two characters feel like clones of each other, and each of them is enjoyable to read about.

On top of the already complex story being told about the present, each book in the series also uses a series of flashbacks to give a relevant backstory for one of the characters. The Way of Kings tells us how Kaladin grew up, joined the army, and ended up as a slave running bridges for Sadeas. Words of Radiance focuses on Shallan, and Oathbringer on Dalinar. These help to flesh out the characters and provide solid context for their current personalities, struggles, and positions.

I could sing the series’s praises all day. It’s among my favorites to read because it is so engrossing. But I will add a small caution to readers who haven’t dabbled in epic fantasy before. If you’ve never had experience with epic fantasy, this may not be the best book to start with. The Way of Kings is deep, complex, and frankly it can be emotionally taxing to make it all the way through. It’s an involved story, and there is a lot to keep track of in this world. I have known folks who love fantasy, but couldn’t get into The Way of Kings because of its scope and depth. But, after reading some of Sanderson’s other works, they returned to The Way of Kings and found it more to their liking. If that sounds like you, it might be better to try one of Sanderson’s other books that’s a little bit more accessible, like Elantris or Mistborn, before reading The Way of Kings. But if you’re already a fan of epic fantasy, then The Way of Kings is an absolute must read.

Who to Read With

The Way of Kings is a book to enjoy with your adult family members. Or, if you have older teenagers (I was 16 when I read it), then I imagine that would be fine too. This is largely due to the violence inherent in a book about war. There is a lot of fighting in this book, and a lot of people dying. For most of the battles, Sanderson does a good job of letting the reader imagine as much (or as little) gore as they darn well please. But sometimes, to make a particular point or show the effect of a situation on one of the characters, Sanderson will give more involved descriptions of what’s happening. To its credit, the book does a good job of showing gore only when it is for the purpose of highlighting the terrors of wartime. Most of the time, I would compare the violence to something out of a Marvel movie.

Violence aside, the book was clearly written with adults in mind, but it is never gratuitous. The themes are deep and mature, as are the writing and plot progression. While it’s acknowledged that the war camps have brothels and that soldiers may frequent them, none of the main characters go there or engage in anything inappropriate or sexually explicit themselves. One of the benefits of a fantasy world is that they can have their own swear words. So, while some real-world curse words make their way into the book, characters typically use the in-universe curses to get their points across.

Listen Together

Michela and I have both read the hard copy of The Way of Kings and listened to the audiobooks for the rest of the series. Both are equally excellent ways to enjoy it, although Michela prefers to listen to books that are as long as this one. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading narrate the book fabulously, and they bring a lot of life to the characters. I would say the only downside to listening to the book is that you don’t get to see the super cool artwork that appears from time to time. You can look that up online, though, so enjoy it however you want.

You can pick up a copy of The Way of Kings on Amazon or Bookshop. Or, if you’ve got it already and are looking to pick up the others, they are also available on Amazon or Bookshop (including Rhythm of War).

As an aside, buying books from Bookshop will help support local bookstores, so we highly encourage it if you need a gift for your bibliophile friends and family. Local bookstores can really use a boost in these challenging times.