The Way Of KINGS by Brandon Sanderson | BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: The Way of Kings  (Book 1 of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE series) AUTHOR: Brandon Sanderson PUBLICATION YEAR: 2010 GENRE: High Fantasy PAGE COUNT: 1252 FORMAT: Mass Market Paperback AVAILABLE  AT : amazon

It took me almost a month to finish this mammoth of a book “ The Way of Kings “ by Brandon Sanderson. It was a huge commitment and  I enjoyed every bit of it. At first glance, you may feel a bit intimidated but I urge you to give it a try. It is totally worth your time. Throughout this whole month , I was so immersed in this story and its characters that I was constantly thinking about it even when I was not reading the book. I might have made atleast a million theories and multiple predictions about the story . Honestly, I have never been so involved in a story to this extent.

This post may seem less like a review and more like me singing praises for this book. I am going to cite out reasons why you should give this book a try.
Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of perspectives but as I got into the groove and things started to intertwine , I had no problems whatsoever.

All the characters in this book were top notch. Although, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact main leads, but the synopsis at the back of the book talks specifically  about 4 main characters - Kaladen, Dalinar, Shallan and Szeth.  I loved tearing apart these characters and getting to know them .Brandon Sanderson masterfully unfolded the mindset and thoughts of each of them with every passing chapter.
 I loved Shallan’s character . She has become my all time favourite surpassing Liesel from The Book Thief and Hermoine from the Harry Potter series. I was constantly looking for her parts in the book. She was a young girl who wanted to steal something precious from her tutor Jasnah. She was fun, courageous and bold .
It is strange that in this almost male dominated novel, I was constantly drawn to the stories of the female characters . Apart from Shallan , I also loved Jasnah’s character. She was bold and righteous and did what she felt was right. She spoke her mind which made her annoying at times but it enhanced my  liking for her.
Let's also not forget about Syl. This character was not exactly human. She was like an angel figure to Kaladen . I was personally  bored after a point when it came to Kaladen’s perspective, but Syl made his parts a tad bit interesting to go through. 

As far as the main male leads are concerned , I was intrigued by Szeth’s character. He was somewhat mysterious and brave but I was constantly trying to make sense of him. His parts in the book were extremely limited for reasons I believe has something to do with maintaining an overall  mystery about him.

Dalinar ‘s part was alright . He was shown as a general who has become wise with age . He is a bold strong father figure and he represented the typical male lead who people look upto when in trouble. I loved his relationship with his sons- Adolin and Renerin. I have  a feeling that Dalinar and Kaladen are  probably going to be the main lead in the upcoming books in the series.

Kaladen was obviously the main protagonist of this story but unfortunately his parts bored me . He started out as an interesting character to follow but then almost every chapter of his had him tortured by practically everyone. At first , my heart went out to him when he was going through tumultuous times but then after a point I was exhausted reading about it. There was just too many  torture scenes of him. However  his backstory kind of gave a little relief because those weren’t so brutal and exhausting . Also, as mentioned before , I loved Syl. Kaladen was always surrounded by her which made his parts a little bit bearable. Fortunately his story took a major turn towards the end and he came out as a hero and did some really cool stuff which made his parts interesting enough to read.

The absolute best thing about this book is the amazing pacing. Although it took me a month to finish this 1250 page long book but there was not a single time when I thought it was slow or boring. The thing with such epic fantasy series is that it becomes slow either at the beginning or at the middle but this one was fast paced throughout .
Also, this  book has an amazing mix of character driven and plot driven content- so we get the best of both worlds. I personally prefer plot driven narratives but I was thoroughly enjoying learning about the characters.

And what can I say about the world building . It is absolutely fascinating. It is set in the fictional world called Roshar which is frequented by highstorms that causes devastation.  In this world, men do the physical stuff like go into battle etc  and women are into creative works and studies  . But in no way are women discriminated in this world. Infact, I found it extremely fascinating that women  were bought to battle fields because they were the one's who were able to read and write and hence communicate .

The political intrigue displayed  in this book  were the most fun to read. I swear the political drama is much more juicier and spicier than any relationship drama that you can think of. The different kingdoms /cities have a lot of political strife with each other and the characters keep up with this complex political web. There is blood, betrayal and war which makes it  potential to be adapted into a compelling TV series – something like Game of Thrones.

It also touches upon class issues . People are divided into lighteyes and darkeyes depending on the colour of their eyes. Lighteyes represent the upper class  and dark eyes are somewhat middle to lower middle class, they are the working class. There were also another section of people called parshmen who were treated as slaves. Some religious groups were called ardents. All these societal prejudices made this world a bit familiar.

The battle scenes in this book were extremely visual and entertaining . I absolutely loathe war sequences in books . I don’t even like it on a visual medium . So when I liked what I was reading , it was a first for me. I have never enjoyed battle /war scenes as much in any book or movie .
As far as the magic system is concerned , I found it pretty easy to understand. The previous Brandon Sanderson book that I had read was the Mistborn trilogy and my issue with that one was that I wasn’t able to fully grasp its magic system and hence the fight sequences felt a bit jarring to me . But in this book, I was able to understand all the nitty gritty details about the magic. Hence the battle sequences and the fight scenes were as entertaining as the political intrigue.

My enjoyment for the book in the last fifty pages was amplified tenfold when we encountered one plot twist after the other.  A lot of  theories and revelations were unveiled which made me anxious in a good way. I cant wait to get my hands on the second book “ The Words of Radiance” in this series.

This book is not recommended if you are new to fantasy or Brandon Sanderson . This might intimidate you and you may end up not liking this genre ever. It is a huge commitment that requires full attention and patience to fully understand this magnificient epic story.

But for all fantasy lovers out there, I can't recommend it enough.

RATING – ☆☆☆☆☆ ( 5/5 )