The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings is an epic and some times long-winded novel that follows three viewpoint characters in a world that is at war. There’s a little Game of Thrones to this novel where there is political maneuvering, mixed in with a larger, existential, non-human threat. The people are at war with a race of non-humans in a war that seems utterly pointless. The novel takes a long time to get going. I found it a little difficult to get into the first third of the novel. It didn’t seem as if it was going anywhere.



Eventually, the novel does get better, but it’s not until about the final third of the book that it really kicks into high gear. It’s a slow burn, which is a good thing, but it’s also overwritten in spots. I think it would have strongly benefited with an editor taking a machete to it and lopping off chunks of it.



By the time I found out what was really going on, what this novel and series was really about, it had me hooked. There were a number of interesting characters in the novel, but I especially liked the character of Kaladin, a former physician in training, turned warrior, turned slave, turned Spartacus-like leader of a bridge crew, which is kind of like a death sentence. He’s always looking out for the men in his crew and takes their deaths personally.



There were some negatives besides the long-windedness. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell what was going on in present time versus what was a flashback. Despite these flaws, I really enjoyed this novel. The writing was very good and there was some dynamite stuff in here, but a good editor could have taken this from good to great. That being said, I look forward to reading the next novel in the series.