Paperback, 1008 pages
English language
Published Dec. 30, 2010 by Gollancz.
I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and yet we lost it. Victory proved to be the greatest test of all. Or was that victory illusory? Did our enemies come to recognize that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer will forge steel into a weapon, but if you abandon your sword, it eventually rusts away.
There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to forsake healing to fight in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar's mantle over the heart …
I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and yet we lost it. Victory proved to be the greatest test of all. Or was that victory illusory? Did our enemies come to recognize that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer will forge steel into a weapon, but if you abandon your sword, it eventually rusts away.
There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to forsake healing to fight in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar's mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the prince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the ancient past as his thirst for battle wanes.
The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days become ours again. These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us. And one of them will destroy us.
From Brandon Sanderson-who completed Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time-comes The Stormlight Archive, an ambitious new fantasy epic in a unique, richly imagined setting. Roshar is a world relentlessly blasted by awesome tempests, where emotions take on physical form, and terrible secrets hide deep beneath the rocky landscape.
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!
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.
