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Sep 22, 2011

Jacob rated it:

(First Reads win)

The great voiceover artist Don LaFontaine died in 2008, and previews for upcoming films have never been the same. But perhaps it was a blessing, as Don was mercifully spared the nightmarish task of narrating the trailer for The Way of Kings: The Film Of The Book:

"Ready when you are, Mr. LaFontaine, sir."
"Thank you. *Ahem* 'IN A WORLD where the damned rule heaven, the protectors of mankind will abandon their--' "
"Cu More...

58 comments like (83 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

Jon rated it:

The initial installment of the Stormlight Archives epic fantasy series stormed through my early September. Filled with the whispering wind of world building, the clatter and clamour of conflicted and conniving characters, the fermenting furor and flustering foreshadowing all building to a thundering tumultuous tempest that is yet the calm before the impending Everstorm.

Sanderson built a world far removed from our own, a rocky seemingly barren continent repeatedly ravaged by highsto More...

12 comments like (32 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

Messie rated it:

I loved so many things about this novel, the world, the various magic systems introduced, the different characters, etc. I was so anxious for Dalinor and Kaladin to meet and share ideals, or for Shallan to show her mysterious drawings. I had no idea the the voidbringers would be who they are and I thought that every scene with Szeth was amazing. Also I think that this book leads into, from what it sounds like, an amazing story.

Here is my objection. Where is the story line for t More...

8 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Becky rated it:

This book. Wow.

I kinda don't even know what to write about this book. The scope of it, the detail, everything is just so... epic. And then I think about the fact that there are a proposed nine more books, and I just...

The EPICNESS.

As I was reading this, I admit to being unable to see how this story, already ginormous all on its lonesome, could expand to a whopping 10 book series and do it well. Keep the pacing, the excitement, the world, the magic system, t More...

12 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Ron rated it:

It's a very good story, very well told, but not quite a five. (Unlike other books I've rated five stars, I have no desire to read this tome again. In fact, I probably won't buy any of this series. The price is ridiculous, assuming the other nine will cost as much as the first.) Lots maps and illustrations, about half of them necessary.

I like maps but get frustrated (as here) when they do not quite fit the story. Example: The Shattered Plain is illustrated and described as being hundre More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

It takes a huge commitment to pick up a 1000+ page book and see it through to the end. Oh, but how worth it when that book is such a compelling, deep, emotional read. Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings is an Epic triumph! You are epic! (I ♥ Brandon Sanderson...he's just such an amazing writer)

Ok, so admittedly the prologue is a little confusing (but only if you're like me and you're impatient and want to know what's going on....don't be like me). However, as soon as I decided to j More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2011

Derrick rated it:

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 80 More...

7 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 07, 2011

Anila rated it:

I'm running out of superlatives.

Seriously, after praising The Well of Ascension as a reader's dream book, I was worried. What would I say if The Hero of Ages was better? Even finding the perfect GIF for that book didn't solve the problem - because soon enough, there'll be The Alloy of Law, and I still haven't read Elantris.

And then this book came along.

Now, I'll admit that I took my sweet time. About six months, off and on, actually. For a lot More...

49 comments like (21 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2010

Craig rated it:

If you are one to only read reviews from people who have actually finished the book you might want to move along because, in this case, I certainly am not one of them.

Overhyped, overwrought, and overrated. What a colossal waste of time this book is. I got a third of the way through it and realized it for what it was: a 1000-page, jumbled, meandering prologue to a 10 book fantasy "epic". Ooooh no you don't, Sanderson! I learned that painful lesson with The Wheel of Time bo More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

I have to admit, I was worried for the first 500 pages. This book is slow going at first. Early on, I found it difficult to really root for Kaladin (who wallowed in his own crapulance a lot) and for Dalinar (who has a crisis and withdraws from life). Fortunately, the Shallan/Jasnah storyline kept me pulling through and was, for me, the best of the three throughout.

All the main characters are vividly drawn and their personalities are intact and consistent throughout, which gets high More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Cillian marked it as to-read

Possible read along (don't know when) with my dear Karen Salt, because I must have my Karen for a long ass fantasy reading.

Major editing!
Way of Kings read along club members: We'll start reading it in spring. Read along will be hosted in Karen's review, if anyone else wants to join, please sign up there.

We finally set a date: April 1st.
If any of you can't start the read along on that date, leave a comment on Karen's review, sil vous plait. More...

42 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Marcus rated it:

Wow. Brandon Sanderson is incredibly creative. The world he builds in The Way of Kings is phenomenal. This is the first book I've read by him and if it's any indication of his work, he has a fabulous talent for creating conflict in imaginary worlds. I love how he gradually weaves his characters and plots together in ways that raise interesting moral and philosophical issues but still move the story along in intricate and unexpected directions. In that way, The Way of Kings is excellent.

More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Marianne rated it:

I am pretty stingy with my star ratings. I would honestly give this book 4.5 stars only because it took me 150 pages just to get into the book....not that it was slow - just confusing trying to figure out the new words, places, etc. But I can't give it 4 stars. It deserves 5.

I can't remember the last time that a chapter in a book made me feel the way the last battle scene did in this book. My jaw literally dropped, my heart was racing. I wanted to find out what happened so badly More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2011

Francine rated it:

This novel, as the anchor for a proposed 10-part epic novel, was actually quite well-conceived. A little confusing (especially at the beginning when Sanderson drops you in media res with no explanation of the world and no lexicon at the beginning to explain away the new words he's created) at times, but Sanderson definitely took the time to create a whole new world, filled with a variety of creatures both human and humanoids. He's crafted an interesting religion, a a novel form of currency, a More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2010

Dve rated it:

I, like a lot of Brandon Sanderson's audience, discovered the author when he was selected to carry forward the WOT series. I have been following the WOT series since my sophomore year in college. Twelve years of reading and waiting and re-reading and waiting. I typically make it through the series at least once a year. When I told my friends that I felt that the Mistborn series was better than WOT it got their attention.

My first introduction to "The Way of Kings" was t More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 24, 2011

Jesslyn rated it:

This is classic epic fantasy at its best. As always, Mr. Sanderson does a great job with character and story development, and of course gives you a well-thought out world with a imaginative new magic system. IMO, this series has the potential to rival the appeal of LOTR.

As a reader I'm a little dismayed by the fact that there are supposed to be ten books in the series. So I guess that means hoping that at least a book a year gets published. I realize that you can't hurry creativit More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 01, 2011

Judah rated it:

One more reason to love my Nook...the ability to get a free preview/sample. And not just a little one either. I don't know what the average page-count for a sample is, but for The Way of Kings it was 196 pages!

I was more than hesitant to purchase a full copy of this book. Sanderson's work is hit-or-miss for me. I enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy, Elantris was okay, and Warbreaker...well...sucked. Shelling out a chunk of change for a 1,000 page behemoth that many reviewers say could have More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Brian rated it:

After finishing the Way of Kings, I tried to remember a fantasy book that I had enjoyed as much! I know it is not my favorite Fantasy book ever. I have been reading Fantasy for 30 years, and it's can't be my favorite, right? I just can't think of any Fantasy book that I have liked better at the moment.

Way of Kings is a amazing weave of story lines, each one so good that you don't want to go to the next one.

Enjoy, but read it fast. Brandon is the one author out the More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Jorge rated it:

I began reading this book with a frown. The Prelude lasts barely more than 3 pages, and it assaulted me with 'Desolations', 'Dustbringers', 'Shardblades', 'Oathpact' and 'Radiants', all of them thrown about without care or explanation. The first chapter is no better: more meaningless words strewn carelessly. Worse, the opening sccene is a first-person narrative of a white-clad assassin who engages in a dizzying (confusing) set of gravity-manipulating acrobatics (which involve more arbitrary name More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

ConnieM rated it:

This book has a lot of meat. It's grindingly hard to read because of the desperate situations the characters are in - Dalinar, a high prince who is quickly falling out of favor with the king, his nephew; Kaladin, a mighty soldier who was betrayed, sold as a slave and finds himself in a posistion in the army he onced served that puts him and those around him in harms way, with no way to defend or protect themselves; Shallan, a young woman sent on a desparate mission to help save her family with More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Sarah rated it:

At 1001 pages (hardcover), this is not the kind of book you pick up lightly. Literally. It weighs a lot. That, and it's also a serious time commitment. Knowing that I was going to be spending a great deal of time in one particular world - with a pillow on my lap to help support the weight of the thing - it was easy to get lost in the storyline and the world that Sanderson has created.
The cover art makes it appear that this is another pseudo-medieval society, and I suppose you can draw what More...

0 comments like

Jan 19, 2012

Stevie rated it:

This book is the best book I have ever read! This is not said lightly, but with true passion and conviction.

The book starts in a very disjointed manner slipping between time periods and characters, but once familiar with this format, you become so sad when each section ends (as you have become completely immersed in the current chapter's plot). This is a common format in Fantasy novels, but, unlike most, each plot is so immersive that, instead of skimming through the chapters of cha More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2012

Alytha rated it:

The book is set in a world where highstorms regularily blast through the lands, and infuse gemstones with unearthly light. Some people have the power to use this light to fight, or to create or change substances, and infused gemstones are used to power the Shardplates, near-indestructable powered armour. Mighty warriors carry shardblades, which can only be summoned out of thin air by their owners, and can cut through everything, except shardplate.
Due to the raging highstorms, most plants ei More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2012

Deanna rated it:

The Way of Kings is grand. Grand in style, depth, pace, world-building, prose, story, and characters. This was all pulled together magnificently. A world - a story of brilliant epicness was created. Reading this epic story has left me in utter awe of Brandon Sanderson’s talent.

Sanderson crafted a story that was far from one dimensional yet not confusing at all. He crafted a story that paid attention to detail yet was not bogged down. His fabulous world-building was amazingly int More...

0 comments like

Dec 14, 2011

Scott rated it:

A near masterpiece. Sanderson understands people, especially group dynamics and leadership. The Way of Kings illustrates in detail how a man, unfairly made a slave, could slowly build a fellow group of slaves into a cohesive family, binding them together with love and loyalty. For too many people who play fantasy games and read fantasy, "charisma" is a black box concept: they don't understand how it works, what its components are, and why people care about each other. They might unders More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 30, 2011

Whittney rated it:

Sanderson does it again. I've said before that you can't go wrong with a Sanderson novel, and you really, really can't.

But this one is particularly good.

Like most of Sanderson's books, it takes a while to get a grasp on what the heck is going on. What the magic system is, who the main forces of the story are, what the world is like. There's not a lot of exposition - his books are always very much tales where you pick the details up as you go. Which can be confusing at first, More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Jordan rated it:

I would like to give this book 5 stars but the first quarter of the book (literally 1/4 of the book) was work to read. A lot of jumping from character to character but with only minimal development. Simply setting the geography and putting the characters into play. Not sure how it could have been handled better but I almost gave up on this book.

After the first quarter, though, things really pick up.

The mains (Dalinar and Kaladin) and the secondaries (Szeth, Jasnah, Sha More...

0 comments like

Nov 12, 2011

Natasha rated it:

What to say, what to say? Hmmm. This book has some serious flaws, but I still liked it anyhow. To explain this I probably tell you how I read tedious parts of books; I skip over them, whole paragraphs, sometimes several pages. So where was the freakin' editor? At 400,000 words, it clearly needed some whittling down. So I did some editing for them.

The beginning was also difficult because in traditional Branderson style there are so many complicated names, countries, religions, god More...

0 comments like

Nov 04, 2011

Kat rated it:

"The Way of Kings" is an excellent book. But if I didn't know, love, and trust Sanderson's writing, I never would have finished this book.

One of Sanderson's greatest abilities is world-building. He creates such depth, history, and culture in his worlds that I often feel he would be able to fill shelves with mere descriptions and explanations of his worlds. (He probably has.) But the world in "The Way of Kings" is so different, so distinct, and has so many places, More...

0 comments like

Oct 29, 2011

Andy rated it:

After finishing the 6th major draft of my own book I decided to tackle this 400,000 word hunk of "light" reading. Sanderson is the relatively young fantasy author who is finishing the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and this is the first volume of a new massive epic fantasy of his own. Surprisingly, despite its tome-like weight, it was a fast read. Maybe three days, and gripping enough all the way through. Sure, I would have chopped about 30,000 words worth of interlude chap More...

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