The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.
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 were 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 to protect his little brother, 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 over-powering 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 an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. 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 over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, 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.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson
The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
● The Way of Kings
● Words of Radiance
● Edgedancer (novella)
● Oathbringer
● Dawnshard (novella)
● Rhythm of War
The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
● Mistborn
● The Well of Ascension
● The Hero of Ages
Wax and Wayne
● The Alloy of Law
● Shadows of Self
● The Bands of Mourning
● The Lost Metal
Other Cosmere novels
● Elantris
● Warbreaker
● Tress of the Emerald Sea
● Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
● The Sunlit Man
Collection
● Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
● Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
● The Scrivener's Bones
● The Knights of Crystallia
● The Shattered Lens
● The Dark Talent
● Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson)
Other novels
● The Rithmatist
● Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
● The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Other books by Brandon Sanderson
The Reckoners
● Steelheart
● Firefight
● Calamity
Skyward
● Skyward
● Starsight
● Cytonic
● Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson)
● Defiant
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Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
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Readers say *The Way of Kings* offers phenomenal worldbuilding and a balanced blend of political, religious, and philosophical themes, creating a thou...
One note: I do think perhaps the enslavement of the Parshmen could have been handled better; it feels a bit lacking in this current climate and probably should be explored more (with some sensitivity readers helping out.) But for now, with ~7000 more pages of book to come I’ll wait and withhold full judgement on that.
One thing I love about Sanderson's writing is how complex each and every character is. No two characters are a like and I love reading how their minds work. Each character explore their values, beliefs, and how they make decisions in various situations. This and of course the amazing world building and unique magic systems. It's hard not to love the characters because I've been hurt by all the Mistborn books but I really love all these characters.
"Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right."
Kaladin my poor sweet man. I love him, I think it's safe to say that because I think he is going to live for most of the books (I am scared). I get him being depressed and having very low times, it's written so damn well but please stop torturing my sweet man. He deserves so much happiness and i need him to have that. The flashbacks between him and his father provide such a learning experience. Some of his flashback gutted me to my core. I love how he stands next to his men and always chooses the right thing to do. His relationship with Sly and reading about her changing and learning who she is is just a magic on it's on.
I am obsessed with the bridge four men. I really tried not to like any of them because well this isn't my first Sanderson novel and we know how he hurts us.
Dalinar or who my friend and I coined daddinar because he is daddy and he is just the best. Im really interested in everything that is happening in his mind and his moments with his son's. I feel like you mostly get moments of him thinking he's losing his mind and BAM daddy pulls some amazing moves and saves the day or makes you swoon.
Shallan is so damn interesting and I adore her mind and personality. She is so fresh in a sense and I absolutely love for her chapters and her moments with Jasnah.
I'm still on the fence on where I am with Adolin, Jasnah and Szeth. I like them all enough but im not sold on them. Im pretty sure we will get more of them in the future books.
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