Book notes: The Way of Kings

By Brandon Sanderson.

Whew, what an adventure! Now I know there are 2 kinds of books… those with a Shardblade and those without. :-) My son just finished this book and highly recommended it when I went looking around the house for a fiction book. 1252 pages, but it really picks up speed in the second half. As a major battle played out in the last 200 pages I felt myself fully infused with Stormlight, nearly lashing myself to the ceiling.

The nearest comp would have to be Lord of the Rings… epic story arc, map of the world, medieval weapons, magic. Rather than orcs and elves there are different races of people: Alethi, Shin, Parshendi, etc. LOTR is still #1 but this is in the running.

The world is fantastic. Many things are similar to the real world but have a fun exotic spin. The grass in Alethkar retreats into the ground as people/animals approach. Chulls - large crustacean-like animals - pull carts and heavy loads. Part of the world is the “Shattered Plains” which is a high rocky plain broken up into several rock towers with flat tops. Large chasmfiend monsters live in the chasms between. Probably the most interesting part of the world is the spren. They are little wisp-like creatures that fade in and out of reality, that some can see and others can’t. Painspren come out when someone is in pain, fearspren when someone is frightened, deathspren when someone is close to death. There are a couple dozen different kinds mentioned in the book.

A running theme in the book is morality, and what is right or wrong. All of the main characters struggle with this. Kaladin is the worst. Who to save? Is it ok to kill the Parshendi? Should he save other bridge crews? He is equal parts hero and guilt-trip. Shallan wrestles with wether or not to steal the Soulcaster, as well as the moral choices Jasnah makes while baiting and killing four thief/murderers. Dalinar tries to walk the high road with his Codes. Even for poor Szeth the killing “eats away at my soul”, though he dutifully follows orders.

Shardblade, Shardplate, and Szeth (and perhaps Kaladin) are too powerful. More powerful than a queen in chess, or a quarterback in football. They can single-handedly beat an army. It makes no sense that something could be that powerful. If some of your enemies are Shardbearers, don’t fight them on a battlefield. Kill them in their sleep or poison them or something. Find out that someone is an evil Truthless dude? Don’t trade them away as a slave to someone else.

There are some head-scratching-terrible decisions. Shallan stealing the Soulcaster. Elhokar swapping his horse saddle. Kaladin not taking the Shardblade.

A few things turned out really well. I was relieved that Jasnah was able to take Shallan back. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I really enjoy their witty banter! Dalinar rediscovers his badass self and moves to become Highprince of War, and to Elhokar: “Your mother and I are courting. You’ll want to start growing accustomed to that.”

So much left unresolved. They really want you to buy all 4 of the books. Szeth and Kaladin are set for a showdown. Does Syl go and slap Szeth’s spren person? Spren seem important, what exactly are they? Will there be a Parshendi uprising? I bet the script flips in later books: the Parshendi are good and Alethi are evil. Was Taln, the 10th Radiant, the voice in Dalinar’s visions? Who really had Galinar killed? What’s the deal with Wit? I’ll probably read the next book to find out.