Way of Kings
Stormlight Archives #1
Brandon Sanderson
Fantasy
2 Stars
(Combined Review from Old Blog & Goodreads)
The first in a 10 book series [or so touted by the publishers with no denial by Sanderson]. Epic fantasy. This was very hard to get into. I was over the 500page mark before I really found things getting interesting. Things were broken up between 3 main characters and I felt like not enough time was given for each character at once, ie, needed bigger chunks at a time for each character. Then in the interludes we get short little threads about side characters we know nothing about but it appears will be appearing in future books. Overall, I felt like I had been duped into spending a very large amount of time on something I didn’t really enjoy. I kept expecting things to “get better” but it took until over the 800page mark for that to happen. I doubt I will be reading these books as they come out, but will wait til 3 or 4 have accumulated, then play catch up. Felt like this book failed to live up to its hype, which is sad since I’ve really, really enjoyed everything of Sanderson’s so far [well, except for War Breaker].
So far, everything Sanderson has put out I have thought was fantastic. Even Warbreaker.
That being said, this book was overhyped and it failed to capture me.
At over 1000 pages, Sanderson needed to make me care about the characters, the world, the plot. I didn’t actually start getting into the book until after the 500page mark. If this had been another author, I wouldn’t have finished the book.
Thankfully, I did finish it. That being said, it was only from the 800page mark and on that I actually got excited about the story. I know this is supposed to be a 10book series and hence the first book is going to be a huge “world setting up”, but the reader still needs to be drawn in and captivated.
Given how this was written, I will probably wait until 3 or 4 books are out before reading any more. Nothing in this first novel really made me want to read 10books worth of it.
I am sad. Because like I said at the beginning, I have LOVED what Sanderson has written so far. Maybe a re-read in 5 or 6 years will change my perspective; I sure hope so.
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
You noted you might re-reading in 5-6 years, any possibility?
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Nope.
He’s taking his time with this magnum opus so I’ll be waiting until all 10 volumes are out, or the series is finished, before I re-read Way of Kings and dive into the future books.
It will also allow me to see if he starts fully investing into the SJW thought process. There have been enough hints of it in his mistborn series that I’m no longer auto-reading everything of his.
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Are you talking about Era 2 Mistborn when talking about SJW thought process?
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Yes.
I can’t tell if it is something the publishers are pushing on him to include or if it’s his own idea. From the little I got from him when we were friends on facebook, way back in ’06 or 07, I’m surmising it is his own idea.
I say “friends”, but it was very much a fan/author thing, you know what I mean 🙂
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I’m just curious because I heard (maybe incorrectly) that he wrote something that offensive to women or that something happened to one of his female characters that was felt over the line in the last book of Era 2 Mistborn.
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Oh, nothing like that that I noticed.
He just made a very blunt “inclusion” of a homosexual woman as a minor character that felt very much like a “check, got the diversity covered” kind of thing
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mmm, okay. I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m weary of throwing around the SJW label b/c it does get misused (I’ve heard people say the Wonder Woman film was SJW, I saw it…it was not even close).
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Well, if it helps, any time sexual deviancies are pushed as normal, or ok, or good, I qualify that as SJW crap.
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Gotcha.
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