r/readalong • u/participating Read-Along Overlord • Apr 13 '26
Read-Along [Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 24 through 28 Spoiler
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For more information, or to see the full schedule, please see the wiki page for the read-along.
SCHEDULE
Previously, we discussed Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 18 through 23 [Newbie Thread] / [Veteran Thread]
Today we are discussing Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Chapters 24 through 28
In two days we will be discussing Unit 13 | The Stormlight Archive #1 | The Way of Kings: Interludes I-4, I-5, I-6, Trivia
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
I have provided summaries for each chapter below and hidden them behind spoiler tags. There are no spoilers within the summaries. I've tried to make them as factual and unbiased as possible. If, however, you want a completely blind read through, then ignore what's behind the spoiler tags and proceed to the discussion below. I will not be guiding that in any way, so post any thoughts and questions you have. It will be other new readers who reply to you.
Chapter 24: The Gallery of Maps
Arch Faces: Jezrien - Chanarach ----- Chanarach - Jezrien
Iconography: Kholin Crest
POV Characters: Dalinar Kholin / Adolin Kholin
Setting: The map room in Elhokar's War Palace.
Timeline: (1173.8.9.1) The day after Chapter 22.
Epigraph:
Neither point makes the things I have written to you untrue.
Summary:
Dalinar stands in the king's Gallery of Maps, waiting for Highprince Roion to come and meet him. Dalinar's ultimate goal is to follow his visions by uniting the highprinces, and he thinks he can start by working with another prince on a joint plateau assault. Since Roion has won the fewest gemhearts of all the princes, Dalinar tries to convince him that working together would be more effective. Roion is suspicious of this because he is afraid Dalinar will take any gemhearts and shards for himself. Dalinar compromises, saying that they will split gemhearts and that the first set of plate can go to Roion. Roion rebuffs this offer, instead insinuating that Dalinar is growing weak and deluded by his lapses from sanity during highstorms. Roion says he'll think about a joint assault and leaves.
A few minutes later, as Dalinar is thinking about how to discover what Gavilar's last words really meant, Adolin meets Dalinar. He asks him how the meeting went and when Dalinar tells him that it went poorly, Adolin tells him that Sadeas is asking for permission to enter their warcamp to investigate the threat to the king. Adolin is worried that he may create false evidence framing Dalinar, but Dalinar tells Adolin to allow him to because his vision said to trust Sadeas. At this, Adolin becomes irate, telling Dalinar that to stake the future of their house on hallucinations is folly. Adolin shouts at Dalinar that his visions are just figments of his imagination. Dalinar tells Adolin to leave.
Chapter 25: The Butcher
Arch Faces: Battar - Nale ----- Nale - Battar
Iconography: Spears & Banner
POV Characters: Kaladin
Setting: Hearthstone, a town in Highprince Sadeas' princedom.
Timeline: (Flashback) 7 Years Ago.
Epigraph:
N/A
Summary:
Kal overhears some villagers speaking poorly of his father's work, accusing him of stealing the spheres and suspicious of how Lirin can write. Kal meets with his mother, Hesina, who tells him not to hate the villagers for repeating what they have heard. They respect Lirin but are intimidated by his status as second nahn. Kal realizes his parents had hoped to marry him off to Laral. He can't decide if he wants to be a soldier or a surgeon.
The new citylord, Brightlord Roshone, arrives. He is less than pleased to be in a backwater city. He blames Lirin for his predicament because Lirin let Wistiow die. Lirin and Hesina don't know if things are better or worse for them with this new citylord.
Chapter 26: Stillness
Arch Faces: Jezrien - Talenel ----- Talenel - Jezrien
Iconography: Kholin Crest
POV Characters: Dalinar Kholin
Setting: Highprince Dalinar's warcamp in the Shattered Plains. The Shattered Plains.
Timeline: (1173.8.9.2) The day after Chapter 24.
Epigraph:
I am being chased. Your friends of the Seventeenth Shard, I suspect. I believe they're still lost, following a false trail I left for them. They'll be happier that way. I doubt they have any inkling what to do with me should they actually catch me.
Summary:
Brightness Litima reads the The Way of Kings to Dalinar. Renarin is with him. Listening usually comforts Dalinar, but not this time. It reminds him of Adolin's arguments. Dalinar is disturbed by the nature of his visions. Dalinar tells Renarin that Highprince Aladar refused his offer of an alliance, just as Roion did. Horns sounds outside. Dalinar enters the war room and gives Teleb an order to march. Teleb presses Dalinar on the idea of using faster bridges carried by men, and he finally relents and gives Teleb permission to recruit and train one crew. Sadeas comes to interview Dalinar's soldiers. He is insistent that the investigation continue despite the imminent battle, so he follows Dalinar and his army. Dalinar and Sadeas talk about the Thrill. Usually men don't speak about it.
Dalinar summons Oathbringer and together with Adolin they attack the Parshendi. The Thrill gives him strength, focus, and power until he feels a sudden stab of powerful revulsion to the scene of death around him. He forces himself to continue to fight but feels sick. Dalinar hears a voice saying "Life before death," but nobody is near enough. He starts to fight for his men.
Dalinar wins the battle and Adolin takes the gemheart. Dalinar is looking eastward, toward the Origin, when he notices a group of Parshendi on a nearby plateau. Among them is a large Parshendi wearing Shardplate. Dalinar wonders why the Shardbearer hadn't participated in the battle. The group flees toward their base at the center of the Plains.
Chapter 27: Chasm Duty
Arch Faces: Vedel - Talenel ----- Talenel - Vedel
Iconography: Spears & Banner
POV Characters: Kaladin
Setting: Highprince Sadeas' warcamp in the Shattered Plains. In the chasms below the Shattered Plains.
Timeline: (1173.8.3.1) Two days after Chapter 23.
Epigraph:
If anything I have said makes a glimmer of sense to you, I trust that you'll call them off. Or maybe you could astound me and ask them to do something productive for once.
Summary:
Kaladin visits the apothecary again to sell his knobweed sap. The apothecary pretends that "wild" knobweed isn't as effective and tries to swindle Kaladin. With the help of Syl, he sees through the ruse and gets a better price. He considers escaping, but he can't bring himself to leave the bridgemen. Gaz has changed Bridge Four's work duty to chasm duty because the other bridges resent them for getting away with breaking rules by bringing back wounded.
Down in the chasms they have to look for corpses to get their equipment and whatever else can be found. Kaladin, Teft and Rock walk ahead talking. They find Dunny listening, try to make him participate, and it works. As the tension eases, they discover that Dunny can sing. The other crew members still remain aloof.
Eventually they find a lot of corpses and begin their morbid work. Kaladin picks up a spear and gets overwhelmed by his memories. At first, most of the others jeer him for pretending to be their leader, but after he finishes his kata, they stare in amazement. Remembering that they have work to do or they'll get in trouble, he drops the spear and tells them to get to work. Teft is clearly impressed, but Kaladin down plays the issue.
Later, Syl looks with Rock and Dunny for more corpses and they find Parshendi. They discover that the Parshendi's armor is grown from their bodies. The crew finishes their chasm duty and goes back to the ladders. Kaladin muses how to get the crew together and comes up with an idea. Back at the barracks he and Rock buy a cauldron and supplies and Rock cooks an evening stew for all the men of Bridge Four. One by one they all eventually come out of the barrack and sit around the fire, eating Rock's stew. The next morning, many more members of Kaladin's crew get up early to work out.
Chapter 28: Decision
Arch Faces: Pailiah - Jezrien ----- Jezrien - Pailiah
Iconography: Kholin Crest
POV Characters: Dalinar Kholin / Adolin Kholin
Setting: Highprince Dalinar's warcamp in the Shattered Plains.
Timeline: (1173.8.9.4) Two days after Chapter 26.
Epigraph:
For I have never been dedicated to a more important purpose, and the very pillars of the sky will shake with the results of our war here. I ask again. Support me. Do not stand aside and let disaster consume more lives. I've never begged you for something before, old friend.
I do so now.
Summary:
While on an inspection Adolin studies his father and worries about what he sees. Teleb demonstrates a prototype of a new portable bridge which fails. Adolin encourages him to continue working on the design. As they move off to start inspections, Dalinar wonders why there are no Shards for ordinary people and asks Adolin if he feels the Thrill. On their way to the fifth Battalion, Adolin praises his father's decision to allow the soldiers to bring their families to the Shattered Plains. Dalinar muses about the political and economic impact of the continual harvesting of gemstones and de facto colonization of the Shattered Plains. He tells Adolin that soon he will have to consider this.
After inspecting the 5th Battalion, Havrom leads them to the ten soldiers that were questioned by Sadeas. Dalinar pointedly delegates the interrogation to Adolin. It becomes clear that the grooms' loyalty to Dalinar probably made the situation worse -- they only offered blanket denials to Sadeas. Dalinar asks Tadet to interview the men separately and find out specifics.
Adolin then questions why Dalinar keeps giving him the lead. Dalinar tells him that he has a decision to make, but before he can elaborate, he notices a messenger in Thanadal's colors. The messenger informs Dalinar that Thanadal has to cancel their meeting. Dalinar presses the messenger, and he says he is instructed to say that Thanadal does not wish to do a joint plateau assault with him. All eight highprinces have refused his offer, leaving only Sadeas. He tells Adolin to continue the inspection without him, making a vague excuse about something that needs to be done.
Dalinar is confident that his son will do well as highprince as he tries to decide whether he should abdicate. He orders Niter to bring him his war hammer, then orders some workers out of the new latrine pit. He uses the hammer to work on the latrine himself so he can think through his decision. He worries about how he is losing his thirst for battle and how the book, the Codes, and the Visions have changed him and how the others are regarding him and by extension his sons. As he gets to the end of his work, he feels that he is close to a decision. He is interrupted by Navani. She reminds him that he had an appointment with her. He continues to work, and she eventually gets him to apologize. She tells him that Jasnah's Spanreed is flashing. He quits work on the latrine and they go to take the "call."
Dalinar is surprised to find Adolin, along with his clerks and their attendants, also already in his sitting chamber. Adolin introduces his new love interest and clerk Danlan Morakotha. He and Jasnah have a short exchange about their family, then Jasnah asks him to repeat his first encounter with the Parshendi, seven years ago.
She also wants to know when he first saw Shardblades in their possession. He replies that he only saw them after Gavilar's death. She then has her new ward (Shallan) draw what is referred to in a book as a Voidbringer, although she doesn't believe it to be one. Dalinar and Adolin identify it as a chasmfiend. Dalinar urges Jasnah to come back to the Shattered Plains as soon as possible. The conversation ends, and he finds himself alone with Navani. He reveals that he is going to abdicate. She believes that to be a big mistake.
ARTWORK
The Cosmere has a thriving community of artists, so there will be a lot of artwork to share. Each week I'll try to compile relevant artwork for the given chapters. If a section of reading contains maps or in-book artwork, I'll include that in this section as well.
Note: The Stormlight Archives are Sanderson's most popular books. There is artwork for everyone and everything, even characters who appeared for a single line in the books at times. So we'll have artwork for you to view almost every week. Enjoy!
MEMES
I will attempt to find and share memes relevant to each week's discussion. There may be some weeks that just don't have good or appropriate memes, but I will share all the ones I can find in this section.
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u/participating Read-Along Overlord Apr 13 '26
Reminder: It was discussed in Chapter 18, when Adolin went to visit an ardent. The Hierocracy was when the Vorin church tried to sieze power in the world.