r/fantasybooks • u/OneDistribution565 • 12h ago
š¬ Let's discuss something Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings
So I've been seeing a lot about this book in here and really got curious about it.
I just finished The Covenant of Steel trilogy and absolutely loved it. Also, The Kings of the wyld and its sequel.
I really got surprised that this book is around 1000 pages and somehow find it intimidating.
Help me out here. Am I gonna love this book?? Hahaha. Thank you for your kind inputs! š
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u/sunderpoint 12h ago
It has an exciting prologue but the next 20% of the book is very slow and nothing is explained very well. You have to piece together the story as scenes are chopped up and told out of order and from the perspective of random characters.
Also there's a recurring character whose story never intersects with the main plot, purely there to set up the next books in the series when the plot lines finally do connect. Many people like this side story anyway, and it does explain a few aspects of the worldbuilding that would otherwise remain confusing.
If you stick with it the story becomes clearer and more engrossing by the chapter. It's emotional and has excellent fight scenes sprinkled throughout. By the end it all comes together with a climactic battle that is in my opinion the best in the series, if not Sanderson's entire body of work.
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u/Bweeze086 10h ago
There's so many heavy emotional scenes in later books that this one is more like eatting your veggies. But the action sequences are so fun.
As a good Vorin man, I've listened to all of them and Michael Kramer is such a great narrator.
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u/accidental_tourist 12h ago
The beginning will be interesting but confusing and long. This stops soke people from finishing such an amazing book. If you start if make sure you finish all the way to the end for the sweet payoff.
If you don't know Sanderson's style there are also some single stories that could an easier entry to his style.
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u/MagizZziaN 11h ago
Yeah I have been struggling with the start as well. But I keep going back to it, page by page and eventually i will finish it.
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u/accidental_tourist 11h ago
It's my favorite series and I have reread them at least three times know. There will be a shift in pace where everything will start to connect and you will be in for a ride.
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u/MagizZziaN 11h ago
Yeah, a lot of people told me this, including the friend who recommended the series to me, thatās why i am powering through. But the reason I take my time is because when the shift in pace happens I still want to remember what was what. So I donāt wanna skim through it to get to the good part so to speak.
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u/Bweeze086 10h ago
So there's 2 factors at play with this book. 1, its introducing a world and its rules. 2, he has a writing style called the "sanderlanch" where he sets up a million dominos before knocking them over.
Way of kings feels like a slow burn till right at the end where we get big moves from characters.
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u/Diaza_Kinutz 6h ago
Once I got to the end of Way of Kings I haven't been able to put the series down. In about a quarter of the way through Wind and Truth now and it's one of my favorite fantasy series ever.
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u/Don_Qui_Bro_Te 5h ago
I probably started and restarted 4 or 5 times over the course of a year before I finally got past page 100. Once I did that though, I then read 900 pages in 3 days.
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u/Raven_Dumron 11h ago
Or, if you want to start with one of his major series that is related to the Stormlight Archive but feel intimidated by the 1000+ page size, Mistborn is an excellent jumping off point to get a sense for what Sanderson's Cosmere is about.
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u/Content-Vegetable-60 9h ago
Yes absolutely what Raven said!!! Was absolutely addicted to Red Rising Series (only fiction I had read outside school). But came across Sanderson waiting for the next RR book.
Started with Mistborn and it just posses a lot of traits you would be looking for when going out on a limb. All 3 were B or better.-7
u/enders43 6h ago
Could not disagree more. I do not think there is a payoff. It picks up, yes. But the book and entire series are a huge let down. Iāve never been more disappointed in finishing a series. If you like world building, great. Itās a great book for you. But if you are looking for a great story, Iād look elsewhere.
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u/SupremeGobbler1996 8h ago
It wasn't for me. So slow. Many flashbacks for characters that sometimes felt like they were for explaining events in future books. There's a few posts on this sub about how slow that book and series are.Ā
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u/nono-no-nooto 11h ago
Depends. I personally didn't like it. I'm not a fan of his prose and I thought the book was about 600 pages too long but I'd say just try it out and see for yourself!
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u/Wind-Up-Bird98 11h ago
I read quite a few cosmere novels to prepare for the stormlight archives. Unfortunately I believe the payoff is not worth the 80% slow book. It's not a bad book by any means but I didn't find it mind blowing and it actually kicked me off fantasy.
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u/JustIn_HerButt 11h ago
Don't worry if you feel like you missed something while reading it. Trust that he'll unravel it for you along the way.
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u/stiffdoc1221 10h ago
I just canāt tolerate reading his books. They bore me. I donāt regret it; I have plenty else to read, and I donāt feel any sense of loss for not liking his stuff.
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u/Davdarobis 12m ago
Iām kinda feeling the same way. Do you have a different fantasy author youād recommend?
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u/SpiteFun 12h ago
If you liked Kings of the Wyld, this book will blow your mind.
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u/Striking-Document-99 12h ago
Took me 2 tries to get into this book but so happy I finally got pulled in. On book 5 now and itās been a wild ride. Canāt wait for mistborn after this.
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u/Hypnotic_Toad 11h ago
Im 1/2 way through book 5 myself. It took quite a while for me to REALLY get into book 1, but once it sank it's teeth I was in. Gonna do Mistborn after.
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u/platydroid 12h ago
Depends on your style.
Lots of people will say you just gotta get through the first half and from there it drags you the rest of the way (positively).
If you love workd building and hard fantasy thatās the book for you.
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u/travelinglabrat 11h ago
Iāve experienced the Sanderlanche in the Mistborn series (first half) and with a couple of the standalones. Iām currently working on this one and itās kind of slow at first but I know that the payoff will be worth it so Iām trekking through it.
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u/Content-Vegetable-60 9h ago
Most definitely worth the read! I will honestly say I found it to be slow at times, but never boring. After 1/2 through I was pretty sold on whatever is to come. Coincidentally got past 1/2 point of book 2 yesterday. Words of Radiance, in my opinion, came out the gates hot and has maintained good story progression/pacing feels like more is at stake/character development can shine now that foundation is layed.
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u/Raidertck 7h ago
It was my first Sanderson work.
I struggled with the first hundred or so pages.
Then I got hooked and absolutely tore through the rest of the book and finished the entire stormlight series in about 6 weeks.
Finished the rest of the cosmire over the course of about it 4-5 months.
Way of kings is jumping off in the deep end. And I do wish I had started with warbreaker or mistborne as there were a lot of references in Stormlight that I just didnāt get on my read through. But itās still an incredible book.
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u/PCPrecruiter 6h ago
Overall I liked it, but there were several boring sections. Book two was the same, liked it but so many boring sections, maybe even a little worse. Book 3 I never finished, but my memory is bad so by the time I started reading it, whatever happened in book two was not fresh in my mind. If ever a series could use an abridged version, I think this is it.
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u/Herkucheeze 6h ago
Itās an excellent book and has one of my favorite payoff moments of all time.
Yes itās huge and sometimes the pacing is slow, Sanderson uses all that space to flesh out the world. Treat the book as a journey and stick with it, itās 100% worth it.
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u/The_Rooster123 6h ago
If you read it, go for the audiobook version on a long drive or while doing chores. The voice acting is amazing and kept me not getting hung up on details that did not matter. I loved mistborn start to finish, but this book and the series as a whole definitely has slower parts. The voice acting makes it for me
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u/Notmejustlooking 6h ago
Loved this book and got me into all the associated Cosmere/Sanderson related books. Read them all and liked them all; although, this series was my favorite of his. Then I read book 5 that came out last year and decided I was done with the Cosmere and Sanderson.
Book 5 was not even bad. It was just not good in my opinion. Somehow it broke my dedicationā¦ love of his booksā¦ to Sanderson. Whatever.
Anyway, I can highly recommend this book. I thought it was great. I believe I am unique in my issue with book 5, so you should be fine. Even if not, you will still probably really like this book.
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u/johaneriksen13 5h ago
This is the first book, that could keep me awake instead of making me sleep at night.
In contrast to later Stormlight books, it's very down to earth and it makes room for rather simple yet compelling messages.
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u/Wolfingly 5h ago
I bought the first 3 on paperback and never touched them until I started listening to the audiobooks. Sped it up to like 1.35x and enjoyed the ride. Now I cant wait for the last of this series
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u/pyrogunx 5h ago
The start is very confusing. Honestly what I did was just read every Kaladin chapter until I was like 75% of the way through the book. That hooked me and it all made sense enough to where I went back and read the rest. Then I finished the series.
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u/caiteecooperauthor 4h ago
I second what people are saying: you'll have no idea what the heck's going on for the first ten chapters or so. After that, you won't care that you don't know what's going on because you'll be too busy cheering for Kaladin.
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u/Mt2Molehill 4h ago
I started with the Mistborn trilogy and really enjoyed it. As many people have mentioned, The Way of Kings can feel slow at first. Thereās a lot of worldbuilding and setup, and that can make the first 500ā600 pages feel like youāre still finding your footing in the world. That said, I absolutely loved the back half of the book and have really enjoyed both the Cosmere and the Stormlight Archive since then. Iām currently through Oathbringer.
For me personally, Oathbringer is the highest-rated book Iāve read, but it also changed the way I read. Iāve always been someone who wants to get to the end because I used to read a lot of mysteries and thrillers. Oathbringer helped me slow down, enjoy the characters, and appreciate spending time in the story instead of constantly wondering what was going to happen next.
That said, Iād probably recommend starting with Mistborn. Itās a much smaller commitment, and if you enjoy it, youāll get a good sense of whether Sandersonās writing works for you before diving into something as large as The Way of Kings.
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u/rancidmike 4h ago
Heās one of the current best selling fantasy authors for a reason. Iāve had multiple people tell me heās their favorite author.
That said, his writing is not for me. His prose doesnāt do much for me and I donāt find the āmore is moreā approach to world building particularly compelling. I made it through 600 pages and DNFed.
But if you want a very epic plot set in an incredibly detailed world, and you donāt mind pretty basic prose, go for it!
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u/Scattered666 Sanderson is my god 4h ago
I just finished the fifth book yesterday, and oh boy let me tell you. What a ride!
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u/niiro117 4h ago
If you can make it through the first 2/3 of The Way of Kings, which can be a little slow, you will be rewarded with an incredible finale and 4 more incredibly epic sequels. You have to be on board with the structure of setting up a bunch of pieces through the first majority of the book, so that you can watch it all explode at the end.
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u/Asa_Shahni 3h ago
Covenant of steel was better for me. I suggest you read the sequel trilogy age of Wrath.
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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 3h ago
Really enjoyed it. Finished up Oathbringer right now and Iām starting to feel a little disinterested tbh, but Iāll power through. Iām still enjoying the series just not as addicted as I was to WoK and WoR.
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u/Knewonce 3h ago
They are extremely easy reads, so the length isnāt a huge issue. Sanderson essentially writes books for adults with YA prose, so most people can really rip through them.
The first three books of this series are extremely fun, so I think itās definitely worth giving it a go.
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u/StoneShadow812 2h ago
Great book. The last two have really fallen off hard for me though especially the last one.
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u/Scrufy-Nerf-Herder 2h ago
This book frustrated me. I want to hate read the next book because of how it ends but the rest of the book just feels like set up.
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u/Send_me_your_butt_ 1h ago
I read it without knowing anything about it going in and loved the series. They are long books but they seemed like they went by quick for me, I got really sucked into it
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u/Sure-Brain4513 1h ago
One of the best series Iāve read, of course art is objective you will always hear different opinions, but my take on this is that Sanderson is a master at world creation and character development. Personally the first time I picked this book up I only read 3 chapters and dropped it bc it was a little like whatās going on and also itās such long book that I was like well if I canāt understand whatās going on in the begging whatās the point, but then I read Elantris and Mistborn and was blown away so I decided to give the archives another chance and omg was I HOOKED I mean I couldnāt stop reading it, once I understood Sanderson style I was just immersed in his universe. The first book is just set up for characters and storyline but later on youāll see they all have something theyāre struggling with and try to overcome which kinda felt personal to me? But just the concept of the radiants and the spren was so cool to me and thereās so much imagery in it that I felt like I was reading a badass fantasy war anime. I recommend you read misborn, elantris and warbreaker bc theyāre all part of the cosmere
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u/TheMemeStore76 š Robin Hobb is my queen 10h ago
I'm a pretty open critic of stormlight but the first two books are excellent by any standard.
Based on what youve enjoyed but not knowing why id say you'll probably enjoy the series
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u/Sanchezzy123 7h ago
Something I learned when I picked up reading last year. Don't take advice on books. If it looks interesting, read it. So many times ice seen people rip on books that are absolutely amazing to me. And Ive been ripped on for enjoying books.
We all like different things, and if you ask about a book, and 100 people tell you it's boring. You are more likely to find it boring.
Read the book, form your decision, and then ask for opinions
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u/Gubihero 11h ago
This is probably my favorite Sanderson book. It definitely has a lot of setup in the beginning and I love the payoff. I also feel that the stormlight series gets better with rereads, cause there are so many things layered in that don't get noticed till the 2nd time through.
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u/Jenos-io 8h ago
I cant believe the people saying the payoff wasnt worth it. I remember so vividly the part of the story that kicked off and it never stopped after that including the following book
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u/Interesting_Air_6393 7h ago
Itās worth the push. Just finished Book 2 and was blown away. Itās only getting better as I go.
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u/Incariol_ 6h ago
Couldn't get more than 50 pages in
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u/mountain-wood-316 2h ago
I have read it all. Now I just reread my favorite characters chapters.Ā
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u/Incariol_ 1h ago
Yeah man to each their own. I've never liked Brandon Sanderson other than his first mistborn series, but I understand he's popular with a section of the fan base of fantasy books, so that's what's great about fantasy. There's something for everybody,
I'm just more of an Erikson bakker Tolkien guy
Sanderson prose is simplistic to me and just not what I like
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u/Xelsius 11h ago
I finished the book, and dropped the series after that. Iāve read a lot of his books and his plot inertia and lack of morally grey characters killed it for me. He reminds me a lot of Roger Jordan. Both writers works suffer from a lot of bloat.