Tenth Anniversary Dragonsteel Leather Edition The Stormlight Archive, #1
Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings, Volume 1 (Hardcover, 2010, Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC)
Leather Bound, 534 pages
English language
Published Aug. 31, 2010 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC.
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.
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 is about to swallow up a soldier, a brightlord and a young woman scholar.
Widely acclaimed …
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.
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 is about to swallow up a soldier, a brightlord and a young woman scholar.
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.
Following our 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Editions of Elantris, the Mistborn Saga Era 1 trilogy (Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages), and Warbreaker, Dragonsteel Entertainment is proud to present the 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition of The Way of Kings, book one in the The Stormlight Archive®.
We are committed to beautiful books, and we've elevated the quality even more than before with this edition. Unlike our previous leatherbound books, The Way of Kings comes in a beautiful two volume set, is bound in a genuine leather of an even higher quality than the bonded-leather used in our other books, and includes a cloth covered slipcase with the Stormlight Archive® symbol in blue foil on the front.
The Way of Kings is printed in 2-color offset black and blue inks on quality, acid-free paper, the pages are Smyth-sewn rather than glued like most regular books. These volumes also contain full-color endpapers by Michael Whelan, Howard Lyon, and Isaac Stewart, gilded pages, and two-color gold and blue foiling on the covers, spines, and backs. Each volume includes a bound-in satin-ribbon bookmark, and begins with an 8-page gallery of full-color artwork, including cover illustrations from around the world, commissioned pieces, and top-notch fan art. In addition to 2-color versions of all of the original interior maps and art, there are a few new 2-color pieces by Ben McSweeney and Käri Christensen, and five new end-of-part illustrations by the talented Steve Argyle. Spread across the two volumes are seven new full-color interior pieces by Miranda Meeks, Dan dos Santos, Micah Epstein, Audrey Hotte, Bryan Mark Taylor, and Steve Argyle. Additionally, Jian Guo has created stunning reimagined versions of the chapter arches.
This is an excellent way to celebrate 10 years of The Way of Kings, and will look great as the stand-out show piece on the shelf next to your other beautiful leatherbound books.
I can understand why this is one of the most popular fantasy series in the world.
But I still hated it... The so praised world building has a lot of parts that didn't make any sense. At least to me. I understand the ideas that went into it but I think it has some logical flaws. (Eg men rule but don't know how to read?) Also the fighting scenes, how do you fight an enemy for years and years without ever capturing and questioning one? Nothing is known at all about the mysterious enemy at all after all these years? And they haven't adapted their strategy all this time to actually try and win in a greater scale? The hero is so concerned about honor, but the way he acts, especially regarding the enemy I found horrible. Don't want to spoiler anything but the armour - wtf? And then, its so long without much happening at all. Yes some character development I guess but kaladins story …
But I still hated it... The so praised world building has a lot of parts that didn't make any sense. At least to me. I understand the ideas that went into it but I think it has some logical flaws. (Eg men rule but don't know how to read?) Also the fighting scenes, how do you fight an enemy for years and years without ever capturing and questioning one? Nothing is known at all about the mysterious enemy at all after all these years? And they haven't adapted their strategy all this time to actually try and win in a greater scale? The hero is so concerned about honor, but the way he acts, especially regarding the enemy I found horrible. Don't want to spoiler anything but the armour - wtf? And then, its so long without much happening at all. Yes some character development I guess but kaladins story just goes on and on and on and on. I didn't like he female characters at all and found them quite unrelatable. Won't be reading book 2 I guess.
This was a thick pocket book. Over 1250 pages of fantasy and adventure with a fair bit of violence, deception, magic and conflict. This book, or was it series of books has been compared to those by Tolkien although I would not go that far.
I found the story a bit confusing as it consists of many different threads, that only at the end of the book starts to come together.
I would recommend the book to anyone who is not intimidated by its thickness and weight, and likes good fantasy world building.
The Way of Kings is a worldbuilding masterpiece. Its characters are rich and internally complex, their stories are fascinating, and their motivations compelling (even when you disagree with them). The single exception to this is the Shallan arc.
This is not because Shallan is a bad character, but because she's a decent character surrounded by great ones, and because it takes too long for her arc to connect to the main story.
I highly, highly recommend reading this book, and most of this author's other works.
