I agree that the Way of Kings sure has a very slow start. It took me 3 tries before I actually finished the book. And after finishing every Stormlight Archive book I think that the Way of Kings has the best possible pacing that sets up more books.
This book introduced me to Brandon Sanderson and the Fantasy genre. It's still remains the best fantasy novel I have ever read. The last 300 pages are just mind blowing...
Great video! Short thing to clear up some of your confusion. Dalinar and the other highprinces aren't technically Kings, but they do rule their own individual lands somewhat autonomously. Elhokar's dad fought a war to force them under his rule, so they are sort of strenuously controlled after his death. Also, your understanding of stormlight will increase with the other books, but I think it'll help to know that the light is (as far as I know) only stored in gemstones.
Wonderful review! I had a great time reading The Way of the Kings and love the way you described the prologue, characters, and world-building. I personally don’t believe books can be overhyped. If people are being genuine in loving what they love and happen share that love with a wide audience, then that just points to what’s popular at the time. If I didn’t love a book as much as the masses, then that doesn’t mean the masses are wrong (even if I had expectations shaped by those masses). I guess that’s why I won’t say a book is “overhyped.” However, marketing can play a role in building hype and people’s elevation of a book can be influenced by others. 🤷🏻♀️ I digress! Really great video! 😅
Thank you so much! That is a very interesting point! I suppose that hype can change people's expectations to a pick which sometimes can lead to disappointment. However, if people love a book then I want them to shout their praises!
I gave Way of Kings 4 stars because it was really slow and I was confused a lof of the time. But it's probably the book most likely to become a five star upon re-read. However, the foundation this book sets just leads to unbelievably satisfying payoffs. Absolutely loved the sequel Words of Radiance and it made me appreciate the foundation set by Way of Kings.
Great review! Glad that this is one of the first videos you chose to do! Way of Kings is my all time favourite SA book, Words of Radiance is technically better but I love Kaladin's story more. Dalinar definitely had the best scene in the entire series IMO in Way of Kings
Great review, loved hearing your thoughts! So happy to see that you enjoyed this. I also gave it 4.5 stars on my first read, but I have a strong feeling that rating will go up when I reread it. The next three books were easy 5 stars for me, I love them so much. Like you said, it really feels like you enter another world when you are reading this series, because there are just so much fun and intriguing worldbuilding elements (and larger cosmere implications!!). Also, I am here to defend Shallan!! Yes, she is a bit messed up (you will find out more about that in the next instalments), but gosh... she is fascinating and I love her. Can't wait for you to continue on with this series. I am sure you are going to have a blast!! :)
Im currently reading this book and im in the third chapter. Intriguing is a great word to describe it. Slow is accurate as well. Its one of the readons i decided to look up a review to see if its worth my time. Ill def keep reading!!! More excited to see how the story unfolds!!! Thank you
Kaladin is definitely the best WoK character but Dalinar is my favorite fictional character ever. Great review. Dalinar and the others are highprinces and Elhokar is the King, think a king and a bunch of governors of provinces. Words of Radiance is tied for my favorite book (along with Storm of Swords), so I hope you end up loving it!
Wit is my favorite character and then Kaladin is a close second but I enjoy reading Shallan's story just as much. Not really a fan of Dalinar but I am only on chapter 17 so far.
In my opinion The Way of Kings is a book that on 1st read through is about a 3.5 - 3.75 out of 5. It's on the rereads as you get through more of the series that it really shows what a masterpiece it really is. So many tiny subtle seemingly inconsequential things are hints and and foreshadowing from interludes to epigraphs to small lines that are only mentioned once or twice at turn out to be major plot points even in book 4 and I'm sure in book 5 as well.
Appreciate your review, I have some questions - will skipping the interlude mess up the book or it doesn’t affect the story at all? Second of all did you read his other SA books or they are DNF? I’m worried about the pacing many people say his book are 3/4 dull, waste of time reading them?
The interludes usually aren't required for the book that they are in, but they do set up for stuff that comes later so you will be missing things that you should know for the later books. As for the other SA books, I tend to find them faster passed. The second one is about 30 pages longer, but felt considerably shorter.
I just finished this book a few hours ago and my thoughts is that it was very very slow with the plot, like every chapter you read the character's arc took only a small shuffling step forward in progressing the plot. With that said, that was my only complaint (i am also not one for super powered characters but thats just a preference in what kind of tropes i see in my fantasy reads) But where I will say it excelled is fleshing out the histories, mysteries and philosophies of this world which are big wins in my book. Worldbuilding isn't my biggest concern when reading books but I will say that Brando Sando did an excellent job of it. However I will point out though that some times with these characters periods of philosophizing, they philosophized about the same thing shortly after and it felt a tad repetitive, but it didn't bother me that much to hinder my enjoyment of the text. The last 200-300 pages is when plots and twists REALLY started to hook me I found and they paid off so I was left satisfied at the end of the book. Will definitely pick up book two!
Excellent video. I love this book so much though I agree it starts a bit slow. It took me 2 tries to actually finish the book. Without spoiling anything each subsequent book does a deep dive into a different character's past while also still developing the other characters in the present
I’ve read all four books that have so far been published of Stormlight. It is one of the best series I’ve read. My only criticism of Sanderson’s writing concerns the interludes. I found them mostly irrelevant fluff that distracted from the story. After I’d read one, I’d find myself thinking what did that have to do with anything.
they're definitely separate short stories to flesh out the world, rather than organic parts of the main storyline. I found them overall to be a good change of pace.
I went straight to this after finishing TLOTR. It’s not more of the same and is really good in different ways. I’m enjoying it so far. Remember it’s of a different age which shows when some of the scenes feel like playing an RPG ect. It definitely feels epic in scale too. The characters are interesting and fun. I’d say give it a go wether you’re a Tolkien fan or not.
Hi 👋 it’s one of my favourite book series way of the kings!! By Brandon Sanderson and mistborn I also like aswell!! Great read video!!! Enjoy the rest of the books!! 🎥📓📖🎬
Just finished this book. I quite enjoyed it. I always wish Sanderson had more evocative prose and was a little more organic with explaining the "magic", but I don't expect those things from him and am ok with that. I enjoyed the characters a lot. I enjoyed the story a good deal. I thought some parts were kinda slow. But overall I am really happy with my reading experience. There was a lot more theme work than I expected, and it managed to evoke a number of emotions in me.
Loved the book. Your favorite characters were the exact opposite of mine lol. Dalinar and Shallan(specifically Jasnah in Shallans chapters) were my favorite characters
@@libraryofaviking I am still deciding if I should read a standalone before going into another massive book like Words of Radiance. It took me almost a month for Way of Kings. Loved every bit of it, but its definitely a commitment to read
Okay, people talk about the slow start, but like-- if it wasn't that slow, would the hook 1/3 of the way in be as good as it is? It's the perfect buildup. Setup and payoff. It's what makes this series satisfying!
This is so good , finally a balanced review. I had mixed feelings with Sanderson so far .. DNFed the first Mistborn due to the hype, hard magic and YA feel. However getting my expectation right , I did find Warbreaker to be a 4 🌟 for me. So looking forward to read Stormlight Archives with the right expectations. Sometimes overhype does impact reading as you set it on a higher pedestal and get disappointed , imo. Glad I listened to Petrik and subscribed to your channel !
I think Sanderson had the fame to do what he did. He could do the following: write a book that the fans WILL read and continue. And we did. And worth it. Also: it's not Malazan Book of the Fallen. Try that. It's even better than this but try to read it. A lot drop it at the 1st book with a good ( ? ) reason. But will worth to continue and that is why it is considered as top tier.
I love this series so far, have only read the first two books and yes Words of Radiance is better than The Way of Kings. Started the series in April last year, but I had bought Brandon's published books in Cosmer in the summer of 2020 plus I bought The Way of Kings Leatherbound through kickstarter (Tier 6). I do not regret anything. Very good review and I like the loins on your videos 10-20 min long is absolutely perfect if you ask me
I keep hearing praise for Words of Radiance! The leatherbounds are definitely worth it🙌 Thank you for the feedback and compliment! I am trying to keep the videos between 10-20 minutes!
Younger readers have different standards than older ones. I did the audiobook because I can't read Sanderson for you long because the writing isn't compelling enough for me to sit and read 1K+ pages. Plus, I'd seem all the tropes in the story in other books. That said, it was entertaining (if overly drawn out for my tastes) and there is good character work. The common speak took me out of the immersion but I enjoyed it. No way I'm reading six other books of 1K each but it was fun while it lasted, and lasted and lasted.
I can’t wait to start this series, but sadly gonna wait till next year to read it,since I have so much to read,have my firstborn being born soon,and next year SA 5 coming out,so my mind will be fresh for it!
I feel like I’m the only person left in the world who doesn’t love Brandon Sanderson. I only managed the first Mistborn book. I read the Way of Kings during the first lockdown and I loved the prologue and the last 100 pages. But not quite enough to read the next book. I might give them another try in the future.
I have read the first 2 Mistborns and Warbreaker. The latter two books were a real slog and I went in with high expectations based on the reviews. But, those low reviews that point to the slow pace and the immature characters resonated with me. Nevertheless, I follow his podcasts and his social media because he is an intriguing person and writer even though I have not found a book of his that has made me a fan of his actual work. Needless to say, I have been thinking about giving Way of Kings a try...LOL.
No, consider yourself fortunate not have a taste for this bland writer. Imagine developing a taste and preference for McDonald's. Evidently all these adoring fans love their happy meals.
I feel like Mistborn is also really slow, I can hardly get through the beginning...how will I possibly get through his whole works? With patience, I suppose...
The beginning of the book is so much more interesting on rereads when you realize how much foreshadowing is in there and how much you've missed the first time.
How on earth did you buy 3 editions of this book before reading it? 🤣 Dude you are crazy!!! Hahaha Im rapidly making my way through the Cosmere 🤣 Only got 2 books left to finish to only have Stormlight left, that's when Im gonna get into it hahaha l
I struggled through this book and did manage to finish it. Overhyped? In my opinion, Yes! Waaay too long and not that interesting. I’m a big reader of fantasy for decades now and was hoping that this book would wow me. Oh well, plenty of other fantasy series out there for me to explore.
I know that this is a crazy thing to say about a book that takes 50+ hours on audiobook, but it’s part of a series, I really think that you need to read all of the released books in the series to fully appreciate it, to be honest to understand Stormlight best you should also have read Warbreaker, Mistborn era 1 and perhaps Elantris before starting it. I agree that the first part of WoK is quite slow, however the prologue makes more sense after a few books
I’m sorry, I only made it through one Sanderson book & that was The Final Empire. DNF, The Way of Kings, Elantris, & Warbreaker. I think I’m not into a hard magic system that Sanderson writes. Plus I find a lot of the dialogue between characters very corny. But again that’s me. I glad other people can enjoy it👍🏼
you must know that the way of kings is not the best book in the series, that's the problem. Word Of Radiance is!! So the way of kings introduce you to the stormlight archive but Word Of Radiance make you vote the stormlight archive as one of the greatest fantasy ever
So I started reading the way of kings and I’m currently on page 350 and I still don’t care for any of the characters, they are very one dimensional, the entire world is not really interesting either, there was no fun magic system so far, just people surrounded by agony and death and bad fortune… 😬 I don’t understand the hype so far.. maybe it will get better and more interesting but 350 pages in and it’s just boring and agonizing..
I notice Priory of the Orange tree took inspiration from a way of kings with major world building and the quick climax towards the end. But that ending would make no sense without all that previous context. I think Brandon is a master at his craft even if he is a bit longwinded. Priory felt rushed and unfinished.
1st 2 books have a really great story and lots of amazing payoff but it gets kind of lame and cringey after that. (Except dalinar, he is s-tier the whole time)
I bought the first three Stormlight books having never read Sanderson but having heard overwhelming adoration for Sanderson as a writer. Well, I should have remembered that people also use the word "awesome!" For things like butter and string cheese. The Way of Kings, what little I read of it, was definitely a McNovel by a McWriter. Extreme popularity is no indicator of superior quality. Go to Tolkien or Abercrombie if you want fine dining/reading. You want a Happy meal super sized? McSanderson's is the place for you.
You are stating it's not a good novel by stating you read almost none of it. Interesting choice. I prefer Stormlight to First Law and even LotR, for what it is worth. They are all good. Congratulations on feeling good about yourself for trashing a book and author you haven't read.
After that opening with the Assassin, the book takes a hard ass nose dive. The world is literally too stupid and unbelievable due to the fact that the men who are the leaders don't read. Reading is seen as feminine and girly.... BOY! That's stupid. From a world building perspective that is too ridiculous to believe. Kaladan is extremely boring because he spends all day crying and being indecisive, while also being the best of the best perfect soul. Then he gets an Honor Sprin... Sprins are another stupid world building concept because they are not consistent. Dallinar is a bad leader. Opening scene he's debating rather or not hunting an animal or finishing a war. I would think winning a war is more important than big game hunting. Shallan... omg she comes off as an air head. I think Sanderson should look up what the word wit means. The light eyes vs dark eyes is a very piss poor metaphor for racism. Racism bad we know. This book doesn't deserve an adaptation. The internal world building and logic is so extremely flawed. Overrated is an understatement. Plus it's 1000 pages long with only 400 pages worth of content. This is the 1st of 10 books each 1000 pages. Ambitious yes, but you should have the content to fill it.
I pray they won’t make a screen adaptation. We all know it would be woke A.k.a. bastardized for political propaganda. Maybe in 10 years they might stay true to the books.
I just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury. Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all? And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing. There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage. For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way. It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be original and show off... It's like something interesting pops up on half a page, and then tons of letters about something boring. The characters are teI just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury.
Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all? And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing. There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage. For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way.
It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be originalI just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury. Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all?
And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing.
There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage.
For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way. It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be original and show off... It's like something interesting pops up on half a page, and then tons of letters about something boring. The characters are terribly annoying. Kaladin, here's a simple, "Oh, I'm cursed, everyone around me is dying, ouch, I give up... NO, I don't give up! I'm good. А... no, I'm giving up. No, I don't give up!" Shalan: "Oh, how I love learning... but I'm here to betray my teacher... but I like it so much... but that's not why I'm here..." and it's creepy. Dalinar and Adolin: "Oh, I'm having glitches, I believe they're true. Or maybe not? But probably yes. And what if they're not? What if? Nah, that's nonsense, of course it is. I'll probably deny it. Or maybe not." And yet events are so leisurely that it's easy for a snail to outrun them. There are books that sometimes have sags in the plot, there are books that have no sags at all, and this book itself is one giant sag in the plot. Every Sanderson book is like an alarm clock. You wait a long time for the bell to ring. If you look closely at the endings of his books, you might even compare them to a bombshell. Especially in this novel. It ticks long and tediously and then explodes. It is very unbalanced. Lots of flashbacks, stretched and misplaced, a ton of self-indulgent protagonists mousing over the same thing. It's tiresome, really. The book could have been nicely "evaporated," leaving it without too much water. I wasn't very impressed with the detail of the world. Unless there's some future plotting that reveals all those stonepoles and slatecorners. In the meantime, I don't quite understand why you would HAVE to detail aspects of the flora and fauna on every page. Seriously. It's a very long lead-in. Very long. All the action starts on page 1000, you might say. You're waiting like a fool for Kaladin to be the one, but he's still not there. It's not until the final battle that we are shown what the reader is tired of waiting for and on page 600 and 700.
I agree that the Way of Kings sure has a very slow start. It took me 3 tries before I actually finished the book. And after finishing every Stormlight Archive book I think that the Way of Kings has the best possible pacing that sets up more books.
I am glad you were able to finish it! I am excited to continue with this series!
This book introduced me to Brandon Sanderson and the Fantasy genre. It's still remains the best fantasy novel I have ever read.
The last 300 pages are just mind blowing...
Glad you enjoyed it! I totally agree with you about the last 300 pages!
BRIDGE UP!!
Dalinar may be my favorite character, but bridge four was such a great read. I felt like I was right there with them on every run!
I love the slow pace in way of kings. Getting to know the world and these characters is just a pleasure.
Great video! Short thing to clear up some of your confusion. Dalinar and the other highprinces aren't technically Kings, but they do rule their own individual lands somewhat autonomously. Elhokar's dad fought a war to force them under his rule, so they are sort of strenuously controlled after his death. Also, your understanding of stormlight will increase with the other books, but I think it'll help to know that the light is (as far as I know) only stored in gemstones.
Thank you so much for clearing that up! That is really helpful!
Great review, one of my favorite books of all time! I also loved the following books, so keep going!
Thank you for the kind words!
The Way of Kings was my first Cosmere book, and I was absolutely instantly hooked, and I absolutely loved it.
Wow this review might have pushed The Way of Kings up to the next book I'll read on my TBR list. Phenomenal review my man, keep it up
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the kind words!
Wonderful review! I had a great time reading The Way of the Kings and love the way you described the prologue, characters, and world-building. I personally don’t believe books can be overhyped. If people are being genuine in loving what they love and happen share that love with a wide audience, then that just points to what’s popular at the time. If I didn’t love a book as much as the masses, then that doesn’t mean the masses are wrong (even if I had expectations shaped by those masses). I guess that’s why I won’t say a book is “overhyped.” However, marketing can play a role in building hype and people’s elevation of a book can be influenced by others. 🤷🏻♀️ I digress! Really great video! 😅
Thank you so much! That is a very interesting point! I suppose that hype can change people's expectations to a pick which sometimes can lead to disappointment. However, if people love a book then I want them to shout their praises!
To a book*
I gave Way of Kings 4 stars because it was really slow and I was confused a lof of the time. But it's probably the book most likely to become a five star upon re-read. However, the foundation this book sets just leads to unbelievably satisfying payoffs. Absolutely loved the sequel Words of Radiance and it made me appreciate the foundation set by Way of Kings.
Glad you enjoyed WoK! I can't wait to read Words of Radiance
Fantastic review and I've been waiting to be able to reread this! 💚
Thanks mate! Maybe we should reread it in 2023 😂
Great review! Glad that this is one of the first videos you chose to do!
Way of Kings is my all time favourite SA book, Words of Radiance is technically better but I love Kaladin's story more.
Dalinar definitely had the best scene in the entire series IMO in Way of Kings
Great review, loved hearing your thoughts! So happy to see that you enjoyed this. I also gave it 4.5 stars on my first read, but I have a strong feeling that rating will go up when I reread it. The next three books were easy 5 stars for me, I love them so much. Like you said, it really feels like you enter another world when you are reading this series, because there are just so much fun and intriguing worldbuilding elements (and larger cosmere implications!!).
Also, I am here to defend Shallan!! Yes, she is a bit messed up (you will find out more about that in the next instalments), but gosh... she is fascinating and I love her.
Can't wait for you to continue on with this series. I am sure you are going to have a blast!! :)
Thank you! I can't wait to continue reading this series! I loved Shallan in WoK!
@@libraryofaviking Then you'll probably be happy to hear that book 2's flashbacks are from her past ;) Lots of good stuff to look forward to!
Im currently reading this book and im in the third chapter. Intriguing is a great word to describe it. Slow is accurate as well. Its one of the readons i decided to look up a review to see if its worth my time. Ill def keep reading!!! More excited to see how the story unfolds!!! Thank you
Kaladin is definitely the best WoK character but Dalinar is my favorite fictional character ever. Great review. Dalinar and the others are highprinces and Elhokar is the King, think a king and a bunch of governors of provinces. Words of Radiance is tied for my favorite book (along with Storm of Swords), so I hope you end up loving it!
I can't wait to continue to see why you love Dalinar so much! Thanks for clearing that up! Thank you 😊
Wit is my favorite character and then Kaladin is a close second but I enjoy reading Shallan's story just as much. Not really a fan of Dalinar but I am only on chapter 17 so far.
@@ling2186 chapter 17 of which book?
@@readbykyle3082 The way of kings. I just started reading it last week
@@ling2186 then how is Wit your favorite? He's been in like three scenes at this point haha
In my opinion The Way of Kings is a book that on 1st read through is about a 3.5 - 3.75 out of 5. It's on the rereads as you get through more of the series that it really shows what a masterpiece it really is. So many tiny subtle seemingly inconsequential things are hints and and foreshadowing from interludes to epigraphs to small lines that are only mentioned once or twice at turn out to be major plot points even in book 4 and I'm sure in book 5 as well.
I was so ready to throw punches when you started the video like that XD
Sorry about that 😂
Appreciate your review, I have some questions - will skipping the interlude mess up the book or it doesn’t affect the story at all? Second of all did you read his other SA books or they are DNF? I’m worried about the pacing many people say his book are 3/4 dull, waste of time reading them?
The interludes usually aren't required for the book that they are in, but they do set up for stuff that comes later so you will be missing things that you should know for the later books.
As for the other SA books, I tend to find them faster passed. The second one is about 30 pages longer, but felt considerably shorter.
I just finished this book a few hours ago and my thoughts is that it was very very slow with the plot, like every chapter you read the character's arc took only a small shuffling step forward in progressing the plot. With that said, that was my only complaint (i am also not one for super powered characters but thats just a preference in what kind of tropes i see in my fantasy reads)
But where I will say it excelled is fleshing out the histories, mysteries and philosophies of this world which are big wins in my book. Worldbuilding isn't my biggest concern when reading books but I will say that Brando Sando did an excellent job of it. However I will point out though that some times with these characters periods of philosophizing, they philosophized about the same thing shortly after and it felt a tad repetitive, but it didn't bother me that much to hinder my enjoyment of the text.
The last 200-300 pages is when plots and twists REALLY started to hook me I found and they paid off so I was left satisfied at the end of the book. Will definitely pick up book two!
I didn't like the way of kings'. Should I try the words of radiance?
Excellent video. I love this book so much though I agree it starts a bit slow. It took me 2 tries to actually finish the book. Without spoiling anything each subsequent book does a deep dive into a different character's past while also still developing the other characters in the present
Thank you! I can't wait to learn more about the different characters!
I’ve read all four books that have so far been published of Stormlight. It is one of the best series I’ve read. My only criticism of Sanderson’s writing concerns the interludes. I found them mostly irrelevant fluff that distracted from the story. After I’d read one, I’d find myself thinking what did that have to do with anything.
they're definitely separate short stories to flesh out the world, rather than organic parts of the main storyline. I found them overall to be a good change of pace.
I went straight to this after finishing TLOTR. It’s not more of the same and is really good in different ways. I’m enjoying it so far. Remember it’s of a different age which shows when some of the scenes feel like playing an RPG ect. It definitely feels epic in scale too. The characters are interesting and fun. I’d say give it a go wether you’re a Tolkien fan or not.
I’m curious how did you read the book, paperback, hardback the beautiful leather bound or kindle?
Absolutely loved The Way of Kings. It’s my all time favorite fantasy book. I have read this and Words of Radiance thrice.
It is a fantastic book! I can imagine this series is amazing on reread!
Hi 👋 it’s one of my favourite book series way of the kings!! By Brandon Sanderson and mistborn I also like aswell!! Great read video!!! Enjoy the rest of the books!! 🎥📓📖🎬
I am looking forward to continuing this series! Thank you so much!
Just finished this book. I quite enjoyed it. I always wish Sanderson had more evocative prose and was a little more organic with explaining the "magic", but I don't expect those things from him and am ok with that.
I enjoyed the characters a lot.
I enjoyed the story a good deal.
I thought some parts were kinda slow.
But overall I am really happy with my reading experience. There was a lot more theme work than I expected, and it managed to evoke a number of emotions in me.
Loved the book. Your favorite characters were the exact opposite of mine lol. Dalinar and Shallan(specifically Jasnah in Shallans chapters) were my favorite characters
I am glad you enjoyed it! I look forward to reading Words of Radiance!
@@libraryofaviking I am still deciding if I should read a standalone before going into another massive book like Words of Radiance. It took me almost a month for Way of Kings. Loved every bit of it, but its definitely a commitment to read
Twok is my favourite fantasy book ever ! 😁
Okay, people talk about the slow start, but like-- if it wasn't that slow, would the hook 1/3 of the way in be as good as it is? It's the perfect buildup. Setup and payoff. It's what makes this series satisfying!
This is so good , finally a balanced review. I had mixed feelings with Sanderson so far .. DNFed the first Mistborn due to the hype, hard magic and YA feel. However getting my expectation right , I did find Warbreaker to be a 4 🌟 for me. So looking forward to read Stormlight Archives with the right expectations. Sometimes overhype does impact reading as you set it on a higher pedestal and get disappointed , imo.
Glad I listened to Petrik and subscribed to your channel !
Thank you for the kind words! Hype can definitely ruin the reading experience!
I think Sanderson had the fame to do what he did. He could do the following: write a book that the fans WILL read and continue. And we did. And worth it. Also: it's not Malazan Book of the Fallen. Try that. It's even better than this but try to read it. A lot drop it at the 1st book with a good ( ? ) reason. But will worth to continue and that is why it is considered as top tier.
loved the book but completely agree took me over a month to read the first 2 parts after that I read the rest in like a week.
I love this series so far, have only read the first two books and yes Words of Radiance is better than The Way of Kings.
Started the series in April last year, but I had bought Brandon's published books in Cosmer in the summer of 2020 plus I bought The Way of Kings Leatherbound through kickstarter (Tier 6). I do not regret anything.
Very good review and I like the loins on your videos 10-20 min long is absolutely perfect if you ask me
I keep hearing praise for Words of Radiance! The leatherbounds are definitely worth it🙌 Thank you for the feedback and compliment! I am trying to keep the videos between 10-20 minutes!
Younger readers have different standards than older ones. I did the audiobook because I can't read Sanderson for you long because the writing isn't compelling enough for me to sit and read 1K+ pages. Plus, I'd seem all the tropes in the story in other books. That said, it was entertaining (if overly drawn out for my tastes) and there is good character work. The common speak took me out of the immersion but I enjoyed it. No way I'm reading six other books of 1K each but it was fun while it lasted, and lasted and lasted.
I can’t wait to start this series, but sadly gonna wait till next year to read it,since I have so much to read,have my firstborn being born soon,and next year SA 5 coming out,so my mind will be fresh for it!
I hope you will enjoy it when you get to it! I wish you all the best!
I feel like I’m the only person left in the world who doesn’t love Brandon Sanderson. I only managed the first Mistborn book. I read the Way of Kings during the first lockdown and I loved the prologue and the last 100 pages. But not quite enough to read the next book. I might give them another try in the future.
That's all right! Not every author is a good match! Atleast you've tried!
I have read the first 2 Mistborns and Warbreaker. The latter two books were a real slog and I went in with high expectations based on the reviews. But, those low reviews that point to the slow pace and the immature characters resonated with me. Nevertheless, I follow his podcasts and his social media because he is an intriguing person and writer even though I have not found a book of his that has made me a fan of his actual work. Needless to say, I have been thinking about giving Way of Kings a try...LOL.
No, consider yourself fortunate not have a taste for this bland writer. Imagine developing a taste and preference for McDonald's. Evidently all these adoring fans love their happy meals.
I feel like Mistborn is also really slow, I can hardly get through the beginning...how will I possibly get through his whole works? With patience, I suppose...
Mistborn has a breakneck speed compared to the way of kings
The beginning of the book is so much more interesting on rereads when you realize how much foreshadowing is in there and how much you've missed the first time.
I can definitely see that!
How on earth did you buy 3 editions of this book before reading it? 🤣 Dude you are crazy!!! Hahaha Im rapidly making my way through the Cosmere 🤣 Only got 2 books left to finish to only have Stormlight left, that's when Im gonna get into it hahaha l
You're not supposed to be able to understand the prelude or interludes until laaaater on 😁 Little by little they start to make sense
Not you saying Dalinar is boring 😭 My poor old boi 😭
I will keep reading untill I understand! I didn't say Dalinar is boring 😂
I struggled through this book and did manage to finish it. Overhyped? In my opinion, Yes! Waaay too long and not that interesting. I’m a big reader of fantasy for decades now and was hoping that this book would wow me. Oh well, plenty of other fantasy series out there for me to explore.
Yes. Yes I can say I review fantasy books without having read way of kings lol. It’s on my list though.
Love it 😂 I hope you will enjoy it!
I know that this is a crazy thing to say about a book that takes 50+ hours on audiobook, but it’s part of a series, I really think that you need to read all of the released books in the series to fully appreciate it, to be honest to understand Stormlight best you should also have read Warbreaker, Mistborn era 1 and perhaps Elantris before starting it. I agree that the first part of WoK is quite slow, however the prologue makes more sense after a few books
It is actually the best fiction novel of all time!
😂😂😂😂 You're funny
I'm 8 pp in. 'Will let you know how I progress..
Great review! Kaladin is one of my favorite characters of all time. I’m currently reading Shadow of the Gods and Varg reminds me a lot of Kaladin.
Just me sat here feeling even more guilty I've still nor started any Sanderson lol
I would recommend starting with Mistborn!
First book was amazing second was decent and couldn’t even finish the third he started focusing the story on the characters I liked the least
I have to say I fell for the hype as well. It was just OK.
I’m sorry, I only made it through one Sanderson book & that was The Final Empire. DNF, The Way of Kings, Elantris, & Warbreaker. I think I’m not into a hard magic system that Sanderson writes. Plus I find a lot of the dialogue between characters very corny. But again that’s me. I glad other people can enjoy it👍🏼
Atleast you gave it a try!
never tried it because mistborn felt YAish sorry fans just felt that way.....maybe I will give this one a try
400 pages huh?....you could read a whole other book in that time. Can we just start on page 400?
The first 400 pages aren't bad though!
Character names are NOT spoilers lol
you must know that the way of kings is not the best book in the series, that's the problem. Word Of Radiance is!!
So the way of kings introduce you to the stormlight archive but Word Of Radiance make you vote the stormlight archive as one of the greatest fantasy ever
So I started reading the way of kings and I’m currently on page 350 and I still don’t care for any of the characters, they are very one dimensional, the entire world is not really interesting either, there was no fun magic system so far, just people surrounded by agony and death and bad fortune… 😬
I don’t understand the hype so far.. maybe it will get better and more interesting but 350 pages in and it’s just boring and agonizing..
I notice Priory of the Orange tree took inspiration from a way of kings with major world building and the quick climax towards the end. But that ending would make no sense without all that previous context. I think Brandon is a master at his craft even if he is a bit longwinded. Priory felt rushed and unfinished.
I read 1000 pages of this book and finally gave up - way overhyped
Sorry it didn't work for you!
1st 2 books have a really great story and lots of amazing payoff but it gets kind of lame and cringey after that. (Except dalinar, he is s-tier the whole time)
So overrated. Not bad, but unnecessarily long, repetitive, and ponderous. Bolstered by TWOT fandom.
Buying Multiple version of the same book ✋same here Brother ! 🤝
Love it!
I bought the first three Stormlight books having never read Sanderson but having heard overwhelming adoration for Sanderson as a writer. Well, I should have remembered that people also use the word "awesome!" For things like butter and string cheese. The Way of Kings, what little I read of it, was definitely a McNovel by a McWriter. Extreme popularity is no indicator of superior quality. Go to Tolkien or Abercrombie if you want fine dining/reading. You want a Happy meal super sized? McSanderson's is the place for you.
Agree. I could not understand how the book got so many good reviews
This sounds like an ad for McSandereon
Me capperino detected
Tell me you didn’t finish the first book without telling me lol. Lazy hate comment.
You are stating it's not a good novel by stating you read almost none of it. Interesting choice. I prefer Stormlight to First Law and even LotR, for what it is worth. They are all good. Congratulations on feeling good about yourself for trashing a book and author you haven't read.
After that opening with the Assassin, the book takes a hard ass nose dive. The world is literally too stupid and unbelievable due to the fact that the men who are the leaders don't read. Reading is seen as feminine and girly.... BOY! That's stupid. From a world building perspective that is too ridiculous to believe. Kaladan is extremely boring because he spends all day crying and being indecisive, while also being the best of the best perfect soul. Then he gets an Honor Sprin... Sprins are another stupid world building concept because they are not consistent. Dallinar is a bad leader. Opening scene he's debating rather or not hunting an animal or finishing a war. I would think winning a war is more important than big game hunting. Shallan... omg she comes off as an air head. I think Sanderson should look up what the word wit means. The light eyes vs dark eyes is a very piss poor metaphor for racism. Racism bad we know. This book doesn't deserve an adaptation. The internal world building and logic is so extremely flawed. Overrated is an understatement. Plus it's 1000 pages long with only 400 pages worth of content. This is the 1st of 10 books each 1000 pages. Ambitious yes, but you should have the content to fill it.
I pray they won’t make a screen adaptation. We all know it would be woke A.k.a. bastardized for political propaganda. Maybe in 10 years they might stay true to the books.
I just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury. Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all? And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing. There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage. For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way. It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be original and show off... It's like something interesting pops up on half a page, and then tons of letters about something boring. The characters are teI just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury.
Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all? And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing. There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage. For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way.
It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be originalI just hate this book. I'M ANGRY, I'M DISAPPOINTED, I'M TIRED... And I absolutely do not care how fans of this author react, but the fact that "The Way of Kings" is solid water, a thousand pages of boring, empty pseudo-intellectual philosophical chatter about nothing, WAILING with endless reflection on and off, illogical narration and character motivation, as well as stupid unrealistic dialogues - all this is personally for me an undeniable fact. What is this continuous abyss of emptiness and despair that keeps swirling around in this perishable book? And I'll tell you what, or rather what consists of this "Masterpiece", and start with the main problem of this precious epic, and it's as I pointed out above - WHINING, WHINING AND WHINING again, and this WHINING here is truly epochal in scale, because constantly everyone who is not lazy are doing here empty self-discovery with waterfall tears, as well as no less omnipresent total self-injury. Then, when you think that somewhere in the middle of the book all this WHINING must end and finally some action or a little plot shift must begin, then this very WHINING comes with renewed vigor, and you have no hope that it will ever end. Where's the plot here, huh? Where's the interesting characters here, huh? Where's there anything to hold anyone's interest at all?
And I'll tell you where it's all - but nowhere. There's just very little of it here, if you look for it with dogs and torches in the daylight, you won't find it, that's all. I saw how useless this book was. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I wasted so much time on this nonsense that I just couldn't contain the outrage multiplied by other negative emotions. And let all those people who praised this book so much, worshipped it so much, fool me once again... Go down the all-destroying storm and you will be swallowed by the abyss. At least I crossed off another talentless writer, thanks to you! I'm already putting this author on my top list as one of the worst fantasy writers in this long-suffering world, and I advise you to do the same, if your time is more precious than endless whining, talking about nothing and plotting on the spot. But if you still want to kill time usefully? Then you'd better re-read the cycle "A song of ice and fire," believe me there is more meaning and plot. The author managed to spoil everything with absolutely cardboard characters, complete lack of plot development for the huge interval of paper pages when any intrigue is already getting tired. Instead of a big picture you get a kind of chamber novel in which all the main POV's trampled in place going from corner to corner, or from crack to crack, and whatever the denouement at the end does not relieve from the accumulated negativity. Sanderson's writing is so-so. The unnatural dialogues, the unnatural behavior of the cardboard characters, the strange, to say the least, motivation for their actions - all this, alas, hinders the enjoyment of the read. And the wild absurdities of the plot - such as the senseless mass slaughter of "bridge workers" - simply reduce it to nothing. I don't understand this high rating and the buzz around this "masterpiece"! A cardboard world. Cardboard characters. It's verbose, it's nerdy. Picked up the book several times, tried to read - and each time put it off as I drowned in unnecessary details and constant switches to unrelated plot lines. I read the reviews, not much motivation appeared, and I had already lost count, but I did read the book on God knows how many attempts. The multiplicity of characters made the reading feel like a sort of sci-fi treatise, with a distinct lack of not only original ideas, but thoughts in general. The attempt to create an epic work of epic proportions does not justify the lack of dynamics: even in the description of the battles one wants something to distract oneself from. There is a lot of noise, but there is no point. You could cut a third of the text from The Way of Kings and the book would lose nothing.
There could only be so much water in the ocean, and the pointlessness of the dialogues begins to tire after a hundred pages. The terms are introduced for their own sake, the plot moved the first 50 pages, at five hundredth I was still waiting when he makes at least one more step. I read the book that way, waiting for the story to develop. Reading it, I got very tired of: - irrelevant digressions (I wanted to skip entire episodes that had little effect on the plot structure), - constant reflection by the characters (always about the same thing), - tedious dialogues (over and over again!). Of the pluses (and to be fair): already noted by all the general idea, the originality of the world, an interesting description of magic. Otherwise, everything is just awful. A lot of pointless actions, a lot of self-indulgence of the characters, and it leads to nothing. Very strongly idealized world, where half-dead slaves who do not eat and sleep on stones in damp rooms, manage to find strength to drag mega-bridges, and even work out in the local gym. Nerdiness upon nerdiness and nerdiness pogoda. I read the whole book, expecting to start some action and be something interesting - for nothing. I can't admire such developments, no matter how wonderfully written they are. I even get scared: didn't the author contract the virus of verbosity while writing the sequel to Wheel of Time? Lots of small, constantly repeating details, repeatedly chewing over the same thoughts and ideas, soul-searching and tearful monologues. "Am I cursed?"-"No, no"-"Yes, yes!"-"Or, no?"-"Or, yes?"-"Or, maybe not?" - "Oh! I'm not cursed!" - and - let's go for another round - "Maybe I'm cursed?" -so eight hundred pages, although the idea behind all the quotes and visions about unity, honor and duty is simple and unpretentious/I can think of a couple of novels from "Wheel of Time" where that's all the characters are doing. Or maybe if it weren't for all that water, the book wouldn't have turned out so bad? I don't even know, this book was already drowned in it anyway. I do not even know, I do not leave the feeling that either I have no taste, or others. Maybe I do not understand literature and suffer from a complete lack of taste. Although it's more of a draggy epic. For in fact - to the plot itself refers only the first hundred pages and the last two hundred. The total would be three hundred. And there are more than a thousand in the book. Where's the other seven hundred? They have not gone anywhere - they are just drowned in the author's unstoppable verbiage.
For hundreds of pages, virtually nothing happens, the characters walk, sleep, eat, talk, even fight - but it doesn't move the plot itself in any way. It's like Groundhog Day or Haruhi Suzumova's Infinite Eight - done in a fantasy setting. Read on only from a desire to test myself - and if all the same begins, if it becomes interesting, whether you're strong-willed and determined person not to break and finish reading to the end? I finished, which I am sincerely proud of (and all regretted the lost time). Everyone praises Sanderson so much for his thoughtful world, and I praise him for it, and in the end, there are no pluses other than that world. So much is he addicted to thinking of everything and anything that there is nothing but this "thoughtfulness" and "originality" of the universe - just nothing! However, the author is a master at pouring water and this can expectantly discourage you from reading any further. But I did. Proud! Too many characters, another boring stranger is constantly introduced, you just get used to one, and then there's a change of plans. It's like I'm watching TV and someone with an attention deficit is switching channels. This makes it more and more boring with each new page, and the characters themselves don't do anything, but just talk and talk. This fragmentation into plot lines, episodes, flashes of thoughts from the very beginning makes you choose a line of behavior - either to remember and try to put all the pieces together, or forget about everything and go with the flow, saying I'll figure it out later. The attempt to create one's own, personal, unique world is laudable from a theoretical perspective, but it is rather intrusive. The world is artificial, through you can feel not so much inspiration and a living vision of the world described, as the desire to be original and show off... It's like something interesting pops up on half a page, and then tons of letters about something boring. The characters are terribly annoying. Kaladin, here's a simple, "Oh, I'm cursed, everyone around me is dying, ouch, I give up... NO, I don't give up! I'm good. А... no, I'm giving up. No, I don't give up!" Shalan: "Oh, how I love learning... but I'm here to betray my teacher... but I like it so much... but that's not why I'm here..." and it's creepy. Dalinar and Adolin: "Oh, I'm having glitches, I believe they're true. Or maybe not? But probably yes. And what if they're not? What if? Nah, that's nonsense, of course it is. I'll probably deny it. Or maybe not." And yet events are so leisurely that it's easy for a snail to outrun them. There are books that sometimes have sags in the plot, there are books that have no sags at all, and this book itself is one giant sag in the plot. Every Sanderson book is like an alarm clock. You wait a long time for the bell to ring. If you look closely at the endings of his books, you might even compare them to a bombshell. Especially in this novel. It ticks long and tediously and then explodes. It is very unbalanced. Lots of flashbacks, stretched and misplaced, a ton of self-indulgent protagonists mousing over the same thing. It's tiresome, really. The book could have been nicely "evaporated," leaving it without too much water. I wasn't very impressed with the detail of the world. Unless there's some future plotting that reveals all those stonepoles and slatecorners. In the meantime, I don't quite understand why you would HAVE to detail aspects of the flora and fauna on every page. Seriously. It's a very long lead-in. Very long. All the action starts on page 1000, you might say. You're waiting like a fool for Kaladin to be the one, but he's still not there. It's not until the final battle that we are shown what the reader is tired of waiting for and on page 600 and 700.
Total over hype and way longer than it needed to be